Let’s get with the program America! With falling gas prices, we are once again returning to our gas guzzling ways, when will we ever learn? In his NY Times op ed column, Tom Friedman talked about an experience he had in Denmark, where they reacted quite differently to the earlier oil shortage:

“Denmark is much smaller than us and was lucky to discover some oil in the North Sea. But despite that, Danes imposed on themselves a set of gasoline taxes, CO2 taxes and building-and-appliance efficiency standards that allowed them to grow their economy — while barely growing their energy consumption — and gave birth to a Danish clean-power industry that is one of the most competitive in the world today. Denmark today gets nearly 20 percent of its electricity from wind. America? About 1 percent.

And did Danes suffer from their government shaping the market with energy taxes to stimulate innovations in clean power? In one word, said Connie Hedegaard, Denmark’s minister of climate and energy: “No.” It just forced them to innovate more — like the way Danes recycle waste heat from their coal-fired power plants and use it for home heating and hot water, or the way they incinerate their trash in central stations to provide home heating. (There are virtually no landfills here.)” Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/opinion/10friedman1.html?ex=1219204800&en=efb7eb36787aec28&ei=5070

How are we going to get Americans to see the light?  Time is running out and we must take responsibility for our actions.

In his recent statements reported in the Press Republican, ( Story: McHugh stresses need for energy independence ) U.S. Rep. John McHugh said he wants to get the United States off the foreign oil spigot. He touts alternative energy, conservation and bio-fuels as long as they are not derived from grain. All laudable positions, and in my mind, this is where we should be going not only as a nation, but as a planet. He gets off track however, when he incorporates nuclear power and drilling in ecologically sensitive areas. The wake up call has been yet another oil crisis; we are using too much carbon based energy that has been sequestered in the ground for millions of years. Now we are yanking it out and putting it in the environment at record pace with drastic consequences. Nuclear power however “green” it is with respect to carbon, is still problematic with respect to waste storage, and the potential for devastating accidents.

So what to do? We will have to face this problem head on sooner or later. Had we done this back in the ‘70’s this may have been a non-issue this time around, but we did not learn then, and if we drop the price of oil again, what to say we will learn this time around?  As I see it we have two main issues we do not want to confront, one is over population and the increasing wealth of much of the under-developed world. This has led to an increase in energy demand. Secondly, our inability to voluntarily sacrifice before we are forced to, is standard operating procedure for Americans. We cannot expect to continue our present standard of living with the current world population topping 6.8 Billion (it was 3.9 billion in 1970) the Earth does not have the reserves to sustain that many people. We are already depleting fish stocks, seeing over farmed land dying and fresh water disappearing. This stuff does not replenish itself in decades, if current projections are correct; the population will reach 9 Billion in 2042. Where will we get the resources to care for another 2 billion plus humans when we can not feed them all now?

It is time to bite the bullet now, and that means sacrifice now, not just the people of the United States, but the world, we can become leaders once again by setting the example and curbing our wasteful ways, reducing our carbon foot print and push our way back from the table. We are living in tough times, and we will need to make tough choices, but as history has proved, it you do not make them now, it will only get worse later. Is that the world we ant to leave our children?

With apologies to Steve Allen, I borrow the title to his hit song from the 1950's to give you a sense of what I attended last night.

City Counselor Mike Kelly, with assistance of Doug Butdorf, and about 9 other concerned folks sat around in the Community room of City Hall, and formed what will hope to be an advisory committee to the Common Counsel and the citizens of the City of Plattsburgh. The aim is to help us become a Greener Community. It was noted that we are pretty green already with the majority of our residents using electric heat from our Municipal Lighting Department. They distribute energy from the Power Authority of New York, and our contract with PASNY is a blend of primarily hydro-electric with some nuclear, both non green house gas emitters. Now I understand the the reason for this "Greeness" is purely economic with our electric rates among the lowest in the Nation, none the less it keeps our air clean and our carbon footprint small.

However we still have a long way to go and many improvements to make that could make us greener, our community better, and save the taxpayer money. In short, that is the committee's mission.

The committee realizes it needs the help and support of the community to be successful and will be looking for your input, so keep looking to this blog and the local media on how to contact it or become involved. But just for a minute imagine if every community had a Green Committee? That one by one they slowly turned their community away from fossil fuels and foreign oil? Planting trees and checking storm runoff? Developing Green industries to revitalize an economy on the brink of collapse. This Country has set some ambitious goals in the past and has met them, lets set a new one to give future generations a planet they can be proud of. This could be the start of something big!

This week, the E.P.A. chief rejected any obligation to regulate heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide under existing law, saying that to do so would involve an “unprecedented expansion” of the agency’s authority that would have “a profound effect on virtually every sector of the economy,” touching “every household in the land.”

This is nothing new from an administration that has consistently lacked vision and foresight. We sit on the precipice of a new era for energy consumption and production with the fate of the environment as we know it, in the balance. The Bush administration can not see these opportunities because of its fear of shifting power from the traditional energy producers.

The economy is already in the dumps and borrowing from China to give each taxpayer his or her $600 to go out and “stimulate” the economy by buying…….. What can you buy that is made here? Oh well the stimulus is probably being spent on gas anyway. I was taught by my parents that you borrow money to purchase things of value that will appreciate over time and contribute to your wellbeing; borrowing money for things that just make you feel good is short sighted and in the long run, leaves you further behind. We should be clamping down on emissions with the caveat that we invest in the technology and people who will help us get there. Now that would be a real stimulus package.

I know I am usually writing about environmental concerns, but as I was listening to NPR this morning there was a story about a flight attendant’s life with US Air.

She was lamenting about the problems she is now encountering while she tries to placate passengers who are becoming increasingly unhappy with their air travel experience. We all know what they are, but I have to say my recent experiences have been better since the oil increase, which is contrary to what is being reported. However it made me think of the differences in present life experience verses my remembrances of life growing up some fifty years ago.

Doing some research this morning, I found graphs and statistics plotting personal income verses oil prices, oil as a percent of GDP, miles traveled per capita, and energy as a percent of family expenses. There is enough information in cyberspace to derive many conclusions, depending on your particular bias.

I think what it all points to however, is that we are doing way more than we used to do, and it may not be all that healthy for us to continue.

Remembering back, I can think of one family vacation a year; my Dad was the only one to fly on a regular basis, and that was always on business. Neighbors got together weekly and had backyard parties (Parents had cocktails, kids ran around playing tag or kickball in the street.) If the weather was bad we may have come inside to watch the single color  TV that the neighbor owned which received its three channels over the antenna.

Your personal entertainment device was a transistor radio with an earplug. Bored? Read a book or go for a bike ride.

Now look around your home today and see what you have accumulated? If you have kids, how many plastic toys (petrochemicals) do they have? How many electronic entertainment devices do they have (do you have?)

Think of what your family had when you were a kid and the pace of life then, now think about the pace you are keeping now — is it just to be able to acquire all the stuff you have and all the stuff you think you want?

Maybe the inflated price of oil is the world’s way of saying “slow down”. 

With the price of gas over $4 per gallon, may folks are looking at trading their cars/suv's for more efficient ones. Here is a website that will help you see the realities of that decision. http://www.smartmoney.com/consumer/index.cfm?story=20080613-suv-versus-fuel-efficient-car . The real bottom line I suspect you will find, is to drive less and walk more. A help to your health and that of the planet.

The following paragraph was lifted from the Bernard the Bus website:

( http://www.bernardthebus.com/meet.shtml)

"When biodiesel displaces petroleum diesel, there is an estimated 78% average reduction of greenhouse gas emission per liter, compared with petroleum diesel, over the life cycle of the fuel " (National Biodiesel Board of the USA). In general, emissions from vegetable oil fuels are similar to diesel fuel except somewhat lower. Nitrogen Oxide emissions seem to be higher but Carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide as well as particulate matter emissions are reduced. Vegetable oil fuels degrade quickly in the environment and are nontoxic. Burning vegetable oil does emit greenhouse gas but is consider carbon neutral because any carbon dioxide emitted from vegetable oil was absorbed by the plant during its growing process in this life time. Burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide absorbed by plants millions of years ago.”

I found one estimate that in Brooklyn, NY alone, there is over 1,000,000 gallons of waste oil available, it did not say what the time period was for that amount, however it did say that already over 90% of that total was already recycled (into what I’m not sure). Now there are some new sophisticated plants coming on line that recycle using a new process.(http://www.mindfully.org/Energy/2003/Anything-Into-Oil1may03.htm) These plants are doubly attractive because they can reduce landfill stress by using  a process called thermal depolymerization a process that sounds almost too good to be true. The plants can take any form of waste, from municipal sewage to ground up computer parts (think of all those big desktops sitting around) and “cracks” them into various oils, there is one now working near the Perdue chicken processing plant, taking the organic waste and making oil from it. In any event, it seems if we can start using waste to supply energy needs we will be taking a step in the right direction.

Currently, our domestic production of crude oil, is roughly the same as the amount we import from Canada and Saudi Arabia, with slightly lesser amounts from Mexico, Nigeria and Venezuela, meaning domestic production accounts for roughly 16% of our needs, this makes us very vulnerable (see why opening up ANWR means little in real terms) Yet if we can harness our waste stream, we could do double duty by using carbon already in the system and keeping the sequestered carbon in the ground. According to the EPA, in 2006, Americans generated about 251 million tons of trash and recycled 82 million tons of materials, which is 32.5 percent. We recycled 1.5 pounds of our individual waste generation at a rate of 4.6 pounds per person per day. Turning waste into energy is the modern day alchemist’s dream.

That phrase was once heard in a skit by the late great comedian Jack Benny. When uttered by a would be robber, Benny stood there quietly, when prodded by the robber to respond, Benny (who had created a cheap persona in his act) replied “I’m thinking!” Well it looks like the Earth has said to humanity, “Your money or your life!” but unlike Jack Benny, we no longer have the time to ponder the question according to NASA scientist, Jim Hansen. He believes time has nearly run out on humankind to stop the progression of global warming as a result of putting excessive green house gasses into the atmosphere. The story is on page two of today’s Press, unfortunately I could not find it in the online Press, but you can read it by following this link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/23/nasa-scientists-global-wa_n_108789.html

This is a real issue unlike the recent spike in oil prices which is based on speculation (oil consumption increased by only 2% where prices nearly doubled thanks to the ENRON loophole Congress created.) The link between carbon dioxide and global temperature increase is universally accepted, how to limit the continued increase is not. The bottom line is, we have to get used to paying more for energy production if we are to rely on coal fired plants. Although coal is cheap and plentiful here in the U.S. (and China, our overseas manufacturing facility), it is very polluting. Expensive scrubbers must be employed to keep emissions down. That cost must be passed on to the consumer. Hence the phrase “Your money or your life.”

Oh by the way, anyone notice the City beach was closed because of sewage overflow during our last storm?

With the Falcon power agreement ending in 2009; it looks like a good time to find out more than just the PILOT aspect.

Remember when the natural gas lines came in, energy users were told they would be saving a lot of money by switching to natural gas. Has this been the case?

Just how much electricity has Falcon produced over its life time?

Something to consider too, is that the price of natural gas has not risen at the same rate as oil and it is currently just about half the cost per btu. This would seem to make it a better source for electricity generation, which in turn would make Falcon more viable and valuable. (see chart).

Fool me once shame on thee, fool me twice, shame on me. Didn’t Bush try share those words with the American public at one time? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKgPY1adc0A )

Now he is trying to fool us again into opening sensitive areas for oil exploration, the oil of which will not reach the pump for over a decade.

Instead of dealing with remedies that could have a more immediate impact, such as conservation, more public transportation, upping CAFÉ standards, he is trying to funnel more money into the already overflowing oil company coffers.

We are an amazing populace, able to adapt and come up with innovating ways to deal with adversity. Why should the oil “shortage” be any different? The majority of the world's developed nations pay higher prices at the pump than we do. Why not take this opportunity to withdraw from our addiction?

It’s about the environment, dummy!  With all the noise generated about the high price of gas lately, we have drowned out the sounds of the real issue.

It appears that we (Americans) seem to feel we have a right to burn as much energy as we wish, and feel that the rising price is getting in the way (unfair?).

Let’s remember we have elected (elected?) officials who protect the rights of business to make as much money as the market can bear with little to no regulation. The rising price is mostly speculation and oil companies are making record profits, score one for free enterprise.

What we fail to realize is that this problem is offering us the opportunity to learn to live more responsibly in the world and wean ourselves from the energy teat. Yet instead, we cry about how unfair it is.

Bush is calling for drilling in the Arctic. This will yield even more profit for oil companies and, get this: Save us a whopping ONE CENT per gallon of gas. Sounds like a good deal to me.

So why not a similar tax on carbon, instead of a cap and trade? The revenue could be put towards alternative energy programs, building up rail transportation and other mass transit projects.

Whatever the method, it is clear we must reduce emissions, any ideas?

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressed world leaders this week who were gathered in Rome for the opening of the High-level Conference on World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bio-energy. He told the leaders: "Before this emergency, more than 854 million people in the world were short of food. The World Bank estimates that this figure could rise by a further 100 million," Ban said. "The poorest of the poor already spend two thirds or more of their income on food. They will be hardest hit." (I ask you, what percent of your income do you spend on food?) To put that into perspective, that figure of 854 million who are short of food, is more than two and a half times the total population of the United States.

    Also addressing the conference, UN Food and Agriculture Organization Director-General Jacques Diouf, who said “ In 2006,the world spent $1,200 billion on arms while food wasted in a single country could be valued at $100 billion. Excess consumption by the world's obese amounts to $20 billion.” While military spending has been increasing, money for agriculture has decreased by 58% since 1984. Major contributing factors to the food crisis are rising energy costs, poor harvests in major grain producing countries, and greater use of export restrictions. Only two to three percent of the rising cost could be laid to increased production of biofuels.

According to the US DOE: “Wind energy is one of the lowest-priced renewable energy technologies available today, costing between 4 and 6 cents per kilowatt-hour, depending upon the wind resource and project financing of the particular project.” It also appears that wind generation is one of the least polluting sources of energy we have today.

Yes, it does take up quite a bit of space, and it is considered an eyesore by many, but is it really all that it is cracked up to be here in the North Country?

Looking at the DOE map of wind energy potential, we find much of the Clinton site location is located in the marginal area. (see maps) I will try to find the other site maps to compare their location and DOE’s estimate of resource viability.

Why should we care? Isn’t all renewable energy good energy? Well, if we are looking at real solutions for energy production in this country, especially at a time when financial resources are spread pretty thin, I would suspect we would want to make good investments, not ones that are designed just to take advantage of favorable tax and investment incentives.

I have been asked to comment on the environment with respect to the business community, very fertile ground.

The wind generators are coming on line. An unattributed paragraph in the Press Republican’s article Sunday said: “The $360 million investment has created jobs and will help to reduce taxes while generating enough clean energy to power 60,000 homes and bringing an estimated $231 million in revenue to the rural economy over the next 20 years.”, a claim that has yet to be proven.

Over the next few weeks I hope to look into this and see what are the actual inputs and outputs of the system and see what the actual environmental impacts of the wind farms are.

Let me say up front that I am in principle a proponent of wind generation, but in the back of my mind I have the memory of what I saw in Southern California, on a trip to New Mexico: Huge landscapes covered with wind generators, many of which were not turning because they blew out or were damaged in some way.

Is this the best way to feed America’s addiction to energy?

Well here we go, my first entry into the blogosphere. I’m approaching this with a fair amount of trepidation, but there are times when I get so worked up over issues, that I think this may be just the place to rant and lower my blood pressure at the same time.

To start, a brief word about me so you can get a feel of where I am coming from.

I am a transplant to the North Country, but it happened so many years ago, that the operation must have been a success. I really can’t think of anywhere else I would rather be. (Well, maybe New Zealand’s south island for reasons that will become apparent in future blog entries.)

I have lived here since 1970, coming to Plattsburgh State right out of a Westchester county high school. I fell in love with the openness of the land and the people here in the North Country, and liked the intellectual balance that a military base and college in the same community could give.

Unlike Westchester, people here from many social-economic backgrounds, mixed socially, based on interests rather than wealth. My only concern was that I saw some local politicos and business leaders here want to make the North Country just like any other place in the United States, under the misguided notion that attracting factory jobs and people to the area would translate into a better community. I grant you it would make the North Country grow, but not necessarily a better place to live. This was a community where business was often done on a handshake and people looked out for each other in ways that were not always apparent. We could handle the infrastructure without breaking the bank, and sitting in traffic was not part of your commute.

There was a vibrant downtown and no “mall sprawl”.  But that was then and this is now, and I believe we are at another fork in the road. Rising gas prices may make the new “big box” store the big box that sits on your desk (or lap as the case may be).

The inflated dollar is fast losing its cache in world financial systems and Wall Street greed has yet brought another plague to our economy. (Note: the home mortgage crisis is not apparent in those communities where lenders know their borrowers, but they are paying for it just the same because of the tie in to their retirement securities.) The long and short of this is that local barter is making a comeback.