Another Green Monday
In the last few weeks, President Obama has been touting strong interest in nuclear energy, clean coal, and off-shore drilling for oil in gas - and he hasn't let a big speech go by in which he hasn't done so. First it was during his first State of the Union address, then a few days later at the House Republican retreat, then last week when he took questions from Democratic lawmakers, and then finally Thursday when he addressed the grassroots supporters of Organizing for America, the group that helped elect him (it was Obama for America but changed after he was elected and the organizers moved the operation into the Democratic National Committee). So what's with this Bush-like policy language you might ask? It's simple, it's politics.
With two sides of the isles unwilling to agree on anything... literally, anything, President Obama is taking the path of least resistance, and that path is full of concessions to both political parties in an attempt to pass a bipartisan energy plan.
*(This great podcast argues the other way, it's worth a listen.)
What does bipartisan energy policy look like? It will probably look like the health care bill. A failure. But unlike changes to the health care system, changing the course of our energy future cannot wait any longer. And if you thought the fight over health care was ugly, wait until you see the one over energy policy. This despite a new public opinion survey that shows while concern about climate change is waning among Americans, 70-85 percent of Americans support development of renewable energy. The problem being, big coal and other fat-cat lobbyists have stuffed the pockets of so many politicians for so long, that getting them to budge on this issue is going to be nearly impossible - and that's representatives from both sides of the isle.
Solutions? How about renewable energy sources that ARE actually clean - like wind, solar and hydro. Pumping government subsides into this sector will create just as much as a boom to job creation as so called "clean coal" or domestic oil and gas drilling. And if we may be selfish here, the West is positioned to be leader in this potential boom. There is no such thing as clean coal, nuclear power is too expensive to be player in the market right now, and our own oil supply is too small to meet demands - the answer seems clear to us. Hopefully the president gets it before he goes on his next media blitz.
Catch up on some stories you might have missed after the jump.
Mine cleanup takes a hit. Last week President Obama announced that he would seek to eliminate payments to states and Indian tribes that have completed cleanup of abandoned coal mines. However, lawmakers from mining states say the money is needed to create jobs and to clean up other mines, including hard rock mines, that continue to pose a danger. "I understand we need to tighten our belt and cut wasteful spending, but it makes absolutely no sense to cut a program that has such a strong record of job creation and quality results," Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont said in the AP story. Read more HERE.
Burning biomass instead of coal. Or something like that. That's what Portland General Electric is looking into for their Boardman power plant. You might recall that Boardman announced recently that it would shut down the plant in 20 years or discontinue the use of coal as a fuel source. Well now they are considering burning biomass in conjuction with coal, to reduce emissions. But would it? According to a wonderfuly reported piece in the Oregonian, "PGE is looking at whether it can replace all of the millions of tons of coal it burns a year at Boardman with plant material that has been pre-treated through a still experimental process called torrefaction." However, "the torrefied material has a high energy content [and] requires significant energy to produce, calling into question whether it's a truly renewable resource." Read more HERE.
More on alternative energy. According to a report by Oregon Public Broadcasting, Oregon and Washington added a combined 1200 megawatts of wind power in 2009, making the Northwest one of the fastest growing wind markets in the country last year. Read more HERE.
Know thy waste. Now Western Washington is getting out attention! (If you can't tell, we're looking to start a competition amongst the region's colleges and universities.) Members of WWU's Huxley chapter of hte Air and Waste Management Association spent last week gathering data on waste disposal in some residence halls for a recycling and composting audit. The results are kind of surprising. "What we've found is roughly 70 to 90 percent of it is not trash," said Nick Galvin, co-president of the club, "it can be composted or recycled." Looks like it's time to get to work Vikings! Read more of this story HERE.
Myface. How often do you use Facebook? We do. A lot of our friends do. So here’s the caveat: The social network site is apparently powered by coal, the biggest cause of climate change. Data center farm that create a cloud to brings your friends updates to your device will be powered by a coal plan in Idaho. Why not a renewable source? It’s cheaper.
From Seachdatacenter.com: With the price of hydropower increasing in the Northwest, Facebook opted to bet on the incremental price increases associated with coal rather than face tier-two pricing from BPA.
Brian Oley, a data center site selection expert at the real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle, said it's no secret that the Northwest's hydropower is getting tapped out. Oley expects that when tier-two pricing kicks in, prices will increase from two cents per kWh to six or seven cents.
Thanks to Spovegan for tipping us, ironically on Facebook.
“The Green Police.” What a Super Bowl that was. The city of New Orleans celebrated, the Who rocked, and we were treated to a hilarious Audi commercial for…The Green Police. Lightbulb crackdown. Police harrasment for a plastic bag and not composting an orange peel. All in a days work. Basically it was a series of funny mock public service announcements set to Cheap Trick’s classic “Dream Police”---which the band agreed to re-record for the PSA’s, not sounding aged at all---and it might become the official DTE theme song. Watch the clip HERE.
