Top 10 Energy Stories Of 2008
Posted by Sonja Ebron
From where I sit, it’s very difficult to distinguish energy from foreign policy, especially when your country uses more energy than any other country. So here, in no particular order, are my picks for the most significant energy-related stories this year:
- Iran’s proposal for an OPEC-like consortium of the major natural gas producers
- Russia’s threat to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline during its short war with Georgia
- The 10-week scramble for gasoline in the southeast following Hurricanes Gustav and Ike
- The massive increase in disconnections of utility services in deregulated areas
- The $100 swing in oil prices, with gasoline dropping from $4.00 to $1.50 in six months
- The promise of Barack Obama’s Green Team and some new thinking on energy
- Mass awareness — but no real debate — of T. Boone Pickens’ plan to sell lots of natural gas
- Iraqi journalist throws shoes at outgoing U.S. president Bush
- U.S. failure to find African host country for AfriCom
- Expulsion of U.S. diplomats from energy-rich Venezuela and Bolivia
There’s only one thing left to say –> Happy New Year!
Happy Holidays From blackEnergy
Posted by Sonja Ebron
It’s said you learn the most during challenging times. If so, blackEnergy earned a PhD this year. We owe our survival to the prayers of well-wishers, including our staff, our advisers, our nonprofit partners, our patient suppliers and vendors. Most of all, we are grateful for our customers — the lifeblood of any business — who send us money, good will and good cheer throughout the year.
Just this week, we received a call from a customer who’d purchased several bulbs from us for his solar shower. He wanted to know if we carried a part that would allow them to work on a 12-volt system. (We didn’t but referred him to another vendor.) He thanked us for the assistance and indicated he had two more questions:
Customer: Your answer to the first will determine the second one. You ready?
Agent: Yes, sir, go ahead.
Customer: First question - Are you married?
Agent: Yes, sir, I am.
Customer: Second question - What is the difference between an in-law and an outlaw?
Agent: There’s not a bit of difference, sir. You can’t squeeze a ray of light between them.
Customer: Wrong! You wanna know the difference?
Agent: Yes, sir?
Customer: The outlaw is wanted. You all have a Merry Christmas!
That’s the kind of love that keeps us going. Happy holidays from blackEnergy.
Low-Cost Solar Heater Made From Soda Cans
Posted by Sonja Ebron
The green economy is here, and those seeking to profit from it must keep an ear to the ground for new business ideas. As a sign that green thinking has reached the grassroots, I recently found a Daily Kos diary describing how to heat your home with soda cans. The materials are easy to find at most hardware stores, and the process is relatively simple. This could be a great money-maker for an industrious entrepreneur with a little mechanical skill.
Here’s what you do:
- remove the ends of 240 soda cans,
- glue 16 cans together with caulk to make a column,
- repeat step (2) until you have 15 columns and let them dry for 2-3 days,
- drill 15 circular holes into two 2 x 6’s to make column manifolds,
- fit the soda can columns between the two manifolds,
- make a rectangular box with a plywood base and line with aluminum foil,
- place the cans and the manifolds inside the box,
- cover the box with Lexan sheeting and seal the edges,
- connect the columns with flex duct on the top and bottom of the box,
- attach some piping, an in-line fan, a thermostat and other accessories.
Despite all the high- tech research on new products to save energy and the environment, these are the proven, low-tech, low-cost concepts that will see most of us through.
Jim Powell for Georgia PSC
Posted by Sonja Ebron
Georgians heading to the polls on December 2nd should be sure to vote in the race for Georgia Public Service Commission. Since we lost David Burgess in 2006, there have been no progressive or pro-consumer voices on the PSC, save for Angela Spier, a Republican who chose not to run for reelection this year. Her seat is sought by Jim Powell, a career U.S. Department of Energy executive and Democrat, and Bubba McDonald, a former commissioner who paid far too little attention to consumer rights during his tenure. Angela Spier crossed party lines to endorse Powell because of his commitment to fight for both consumers and for renewable energy sources. “I think it’s time to move Georgia out of the dark ages and into the 21st century,” Powell recently told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “We need to have a long-term plan, take a hard look at how we generate electricity 20 to 30 years out.” For an energy regulator in a coal-hungry southern state, you can’t get more progressive than that. Vote Jim Powell on December 2nd!
Save Energy At Home And Get A Higher Bill?
Posted by Sonja Ebron
We’re about to get ripped off again by our electric utility companies. Regulated utilities have sought repeated rate increases from state regulators as the costs of oil and natural gas rose the last few years. Deregulated firms have collectively raised their rates with impunity. With rare exceptions, few have lowered those rates now that prices have declined for both fuels.
The Wall Street Journal reports that consumers are using much less electricity this fall and winter than in past years. Just as we limited our driving when gasoline prices rose, it appears we’ve also lowered our use of electricity as electric rates have climbed. Perhaps the milder weather this winter reduced the need for electricity to heat homes and businesses. Or perhaps the slow economy shuttered businesses and forced people from their homes, reducing the demand on power plants. But some utilities report residential use down as much as 9%, a much greater reduction than could be caused by abnormal weather and economics combined. “Something fundamental is going on,” says Jim Rogers, chief executive of Duke Energy. Perhaps the real reason is that people are finally getting serious about energy efficiency and conservation and simply eliminating wasteful practices in their homes.
Shopping Online Is Eco-Friendly
Posted by Sonja Ebron
The number of shoppers buying online grows every year. Consumers cite the convenience of staying home and a lesser need to see products before buying. Now there’s evidence that shopping from home actually helps the environment. According to a study by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, shopping online prevents the emission of a key greenhouse gas.
An estimated 30 percent of holiday gifts will be purchased online this year, saving half a million metric tons of carbon dioxide from getting into the atmosphere. Some of these savings are offset by commercial delivery trucks, but they make several deliveries per truckload, compared to one delivery per brick-n-mortar shopper. Savings are also reduced by the online shoppers’ computer usage, which is typically powered by burning fossil fuels. Still, the environmental costs of shopping are much lower for those buying online. This year, consider shopping from home to find gifts for your favorite people.
Obama Discovers A New Form Of Energy
Posted by Sonja Ebron
Barack Obama will be the first post-peak oil president of the most oil-hungry country on the planet. The Financial Times, London’s best daily, just previewed an International Energy Agency report that estimates global oil production is now falling 9 percent per year. To be clear, excess oil is the ‘capital’ in capitalism, and it no longer exists. We will see capitalist economies (are there any others?) shrink by at least the rate of oil decline, so we are in for a societal transformation much different than the turn of an economic cycle. Economic activity based on carbon (is there any other?) needs to shrink even faster than oil decline. A recent World Wildlife Fund report suggests our globe is warming five times faster than predicted, and the pace is accelerating. Change is necessary to address the twin crises of peak oil and climate change.
A Change Is Gonna Come
Posted by Sonja Ebron
Thank you, Madelyn Dunham. This Sam Cooke classic is for you:
Drop In Gasoline Prices Is Not Good News
Posted by Sonja Ebron
Gasoline prices have dropped more than 50 cents over the last two weeks. With prices over $4 this summer, many are sighing with relief, but this is good news only for those with secure sources of income. For prices to drop, there must be either an increase in supply or a decrease in demand. Oil production has been flat for much of the year, and OPEC just announced a cut of over a million barrels a day. What has happened, instead, is a dramatic destruction of demand for gasoline, like something you’d find in an economic crash.
Indeed, the stock market is trending way down and the pain is spreading. Unemployment and food prices are up, and retirees and others on fixed incomes are in bad shape. Small business is terrified. This means people are using a lot less energy — driving less, buying less stuff — and the fall in consumption is outpacing the fall in supply. We should all be worried, because the recession is just beginning.
2008 Energy Town Hall Meeting In Atlanta
Posted by Sonja Ebron
We hear a lot about energy and the economy in Atlanta, and for good reason. While gasoline prices have come down, supply is still spotty due to Hurricane Gustav, and the almost daily reports of job losses are worse than I can ever recall. National pundits blame our economic crisis on the housing bubble bust, but historical oil prices have always predicted recessions. Despite a dramatic decline in oil prices, we’re still paying three times the historical average in today’s dollars. Like all crises, this one hits Black people first. Add the impact of climate change, and it’s clear we have some difficult times ahead.