Not gas. Not biomass. Not wind. Not hydro. But solar.
A stunning 100% of the new generation in California in the second half of 2013 will be solar.
http://planetsave.com/2013/05/25/almost-100-new-electricity-to-be-from-solar-in-california-in-2nd-half-of-2013/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter.
That's simply amazing and unthinkable even just 5 years ago.
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Drilling In Loyalsock State Forest Is Another Reason Why PA Support For Gas Drilling Drops Below 50%
How does support for gas production in Pennsylvania decline to a plurality of 49% approving and 40% disapproving, as measured by the recent poll done by the University of Michigan and Muhlenberg College?
In addition to no drilling tax and too many accidents and spills, driving down support is the belief that no place is off limits to gas drilling, not parks, not even the Loyalsock State Forest, a spectacular, wild place.
The fate of the Loyalsock State Forest is becoming a test of whether there are limits on gas drilling that regulation or the gas industry itself voluntarily would impose. People from many walks of life and with divergent political opinions are all rallying to stop gas drilling in the Loyalsock.
http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2013/06/03/drilling-opponents-pack-dcnr-meeting-on-loyalsock-state-forest/.
More than 250 Pennsylvanians took their time to attend a public hearing in Williamsport, Lycoming County, where gas drilling on private lands is also widely practiced and has considerable support. But not one of those attending testified at a public hearing in support of gas drilling in the Loyalsock. The contrast is stark between opinion about drilling in one of Pennsylvania's most special state forests and the desire of waiting private landowners who are eager for gas drilling to be done on their properties.
The gas industry must respect public opinion, whether it likes that opinion or not, if it is to maintain the slim support it now has. Indeed, it cannot afford to win battles like the Loyalsock, if it wishes to avoid losing the public opinion war.
In addition to no drilling tax and too many accidents and spills, driving down support is the belief that no place is off limits to gas drilling, not parks, not even the Loyalsock State Forest, a spectacular, wild place.
The fate of the Loyalsock State Forest is becoming a test of whether there are limits on gas drilling that regulation or the gas industry itself voluntarily would impose. People from many walks of life and with divergent political opinions are all rallying to stop gas drilling in the Loyalsock.
http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2013/06/03/drilling-opponents-pack-dcnr-meeting-on-loyalsock-state-forest/.
More than 250 Pennsylvanians took their time to attend a public hearing in Williamsport, Lycoming County, where gas drilling on private lands is also widely practiced and has considerable support. But not one of those attending testified at a public hearing in support of gas drilling in the Loyalsock. The contrast is stark between opinion about drilling in one of Pennsylvania's most special state forests and the desire of waiting private landowners who are eager for gas drilling to be done on their properties.
The gas industry must respect public opinion, whether it likes that opinion or not, if it is to maintain the slim support it now has. Indeed, it cannot afford to win battles like the Loyalsock, if it wishes to avoid losing the public opinion war.
Japan Becomes World's Largest Solar Market To Replace Nukes
For most of the last 10 years, the biggest national solar market was in Europe. But this year the world's largest solar market will be in Asia, with either China or Japan likely to install the most solar.
After installing 1,500 megawatts in the first quarter, Japan is on course to take the top spot in 2013
http://www.imsresearch.com/press-release/japan_set_to_become_world%E2%80%99s_largest_solar_revenue_market_in_2013_as_installations_boom_in_q1.
Japan's rush to solar is driven by its love and now hate relationship with nuclear power, following the Fukushima disaster. Unlike nuclear that requires about 10 years from beginning to end to build a new nuclear plant, solar can be built quickly.
And Japan will install an amount of solar this year that is greater than one new nuclear reactor. And that is just the start of Japan's solar push. Don't be surprised if Japan builds an amount of solar in the next 10 years that are equal to 20 or more nuclear plants!
After installing 1,500 megawatts in the first quarter, Japan is on course to take the top spot in 2013
http://www.imsresearch.com/press-release/japan_set_to_become_world%E2%80%99s_largest_solar_revenue_market_in_2013_as_installations_boom_in_q1.
Japan's rush to solar is driven by its love and now hate relationship with nuclear power, following the Fukushima disaster. Unlike nuclear that requires about 10 years from beginning to end to build a new nuclear plant, solar can be built quickly.
And Japan will install an amount of solar this year that is greater than one new nuclear reactor. And that is just the start of Japan's solar push. Don't be surprised if Japan builds an amount of solar in the next 10 years that are equal to 20 or more nuclear plants!
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
US Ends Using Oil To Make Electricity: Is Transportation Next?
Addictions of any sort are hard to break, and President George W. Bush famously described the US as addicted to oil. Well, it is time to give Uncle Sam real credit for breaking his oil addiction, at least for using oil to make electricity.
As recently as 1973, the US used large amounts of oil to make electricity, but Uncle Sam has cut by 94% his consumption of oil to keep our national lights on. Consumption fell from 3,515 to 218 trillion BTU.
http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/pdf/sec3_25.pdf.
How did Uncle Sam break his addiction to oil for making power? He found better substitutes.
From 1973 to 1993, coal and nuclear power was largely responsible for replacing oil to make electricity. Starting around 1990, natural gas also began to reduce the use of oil to make electricity, and the substitution of gas for oil picked up pace with the shale gas revolution around 2006. In recent years, growing renewable energy generation has contributed as well.
America's experience in getting off oil for making electricity shows the oil addiction can be beat. And what has already happened with the use of oil to make power has started in transportation.
Oil consumption for transportation peaked in 2007 at 28,335 trillion BTU. By 2012, oil usage in transportation had fallen to 25,800 trillion BTU or a decline of nearly 10%. The decline is a function of better fuel efficiency in vehicles, a decline in miles traveled, and growing oil substitutes for transportation like natural gas, electricity, and biofuels.
It took 40 years for America to break its oil addiction for making electricity, and it will take at least that long to do the same in transportation. But the data show the addiction to oil for moving around is already weakening.
As recently as 1973, the US used large amounts of oil to make electricity, but Uncle Sam has cut by 94% his consumption of oil to keep our national lights on. Consumption fell from 3,515 to 218 trillion BTU.
http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/pdf/sec3_25.pdf.
How did Uncle Sam break his addiction to oil for making power? He found better substitutes.
From 1973 to 1993, coal and nuclear power was largely responsible for replacing oil to make electricity. Starting around 1990, natural gas also began to reduce the use of oil to make electricity, and the substitution of gas for oil picked up pace with the shale gas revolution around 2006. In recent years, growing renewable energy generation has contributed as well.
America's experience in getting off oil for making electricity shows the oil addiction can be beat. And what has already happened with the use of oil to make power has started in transportation.
Oil consumption for transportation peaked in 2007 at 28,335 trillion BTU. By 2012, oil usage in transportation had fallen to 25,800 trillion BTU or a decline of nearly 10%. The decline is a function of better fuel efficiency in vehicles, a decline in miles traveled, and growing oil substitutes for transportation like natural gas, electricity, and biofuels.
It took 40 years for America to break its oil addiction for making electricity, and it will take at least that long to do the same in transportation. But the data show the addiction to oil for moving around is already weakening.
Electric Vehicle Sales In May Are On Pace For 80,000 Per Year
America has a little more than 100,000 electric vehicles currently on the road, but more are coming every month. May sales look to be between 6,500 to 7,000, according to Green Car Reports
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1084535_may-plug-in-electric-car-sales-nissan-leaf-passes-chevy-volt.
Given the May sales numbers, electric vehicles are now selling at a rate of approximately 80,000 cars per year. The next EV milestones will be an annual sales rate of 100,000 vehicles and 200,000 cars on the road. Both will happen in the next 15 months.
The road ahead for electric vehicles looks straight and open to the horizon.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1084535_may-plug-in-electric-car-sales-nissan-leaf-passes-chevy-volt.
Given the May sales numbers, electric vehicles are now selling at a rate of approximately 80,000 cars per year. The next EV milestones will be an annual sales rate of 100,000 vehicles and 200,000 cars on the road. Both will happen in the next 15 months.
The road ahead for electric vehicles looks straight and open to the horizon.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Cabot Fuels Dimock PA War With Another Study
Cabot Oil & Gas is out with another study designed to convince that its mistakes in gas drilling had nothing to do with high levels of methane in 18 water wells in Dimock, Pennsylvania. Indeed, methane levels became so dangerous at some properties that one water well exploded. Here is a link to the Cabot study:
http://the-daily-digger.blogspot.com/2013/05/study-says-methane-in-pa-groundwater-is.html.
This particular Cabot study finds that large numbers of water wells in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania have methane gas in them, a finding that is not news and why the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection spent large amounts of resources to determine whether gas in water wells was "natural" or a result of gas drilling. The study's implication is that Cabot's gas drilling did not cause methane to reach anyone's water well in Susquehanna County, though the study does not explicitly say that.
Look no further than Cabot's continuing Moby-Dick-like obsession to shift responsibility for mistakes it made in Dimock to understand why so many people lose confidence about the industry's commitment to operational excellence.
To recap, following an explosion of a water well in Dimock, Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection did an extensive investigation of 60 water wells in the Dimock area, starting in 2009. The investigation used repeated water testing and comprehensive isotopic testing of methane in water wells to determine what water wells, if any, had been contaminated by gas drilling and whether or not methane found was "natural." That testing found that 18 of 60 water wells had gas that was not "natural" or pre-existing, but was a result of gas drilling errors in the area.
The investigation also found that several Cabot gas wells showed clear signs of poor cementing, design, or other failures. Indeed, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection strengthened the statewide gas well design, casing, and cementing regulations, in part due to its findings in Dimock.
Pennsylvania law also required that water well impacts within 1,000 feet of gas drilling (now 2,500 feet) are to be presumed to be caused by gas drilling, if no testing of the water well was done by the gas company prior to gas drilling. Cabot did no testing of the 18 water wells DEP found Cabot had contaminated with methane, before it drilled near them.
DEP ordered Cabot to plug and repair gas wells in the area to stop the methane migration, and repeated testing of the 18 water wells showed methane had been reduced to safe levels in 14 of them by December 2010.
The DEP investigation and repeated testing and subsequently still more testing by the Environmental Protection Agency also found that hydraulic fracturing itself had not contaminated the water wells. No chemicals or drilling wastewater had returned from depth to contaminate the water wells. The methane contamination in the 18 water wells was a result of casing and cementing errors in the gas drilling phase of Cabot's operations in the area.
Those are the real facts in Dimock, and the continuing efforts to obfuscate them only adds to public suspicion.
http://the-daily-digger.blogspot.com/2013/05/study-says-methane-in-pa-groundwater-is.html.
This particular Cabot study finds that large numbers of water wells in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania have methane gas in them, a finding that is not news and why the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection spent large amounts of resources to determine whether gas in water wells was "natural" or a result of gas drilling. The study's implication is that Cabot's gas drilling did not cause methane to reach anyone's water well in Susquehanna County, though the study does not explicitly say that.
Look no further than Cabot's continuing Moby-Dick-like obsession to shift responsibility for mistakes it made in Dimock to understand why so many people lose confidence about the industry's commitment to operational excellence.
To recap, following an explosion of a water well in Dimock, Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection did an extensive investigation of 60 water wells in the Dimock area, starting in 2009. The investigation used repeated water testing and comprehensive isotopic testing of methane in water wells to determine what water wells, if any, had been contaminated by gas drilling and whether or not methane found was "natural." That testing found that 18 of 60 water wells had gas that was not "natural" or pre-existing, but was a result of gas drilling errors in the area.
The investigation also found that several Cabot gas wells showed clear signs of poor cementing, design, or other failures. Indeed, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection strengthened the statewide gas well design, casing, and cementing regulations, in part due to its findings in Dimock.
Pennsylvania law also required that water well impacts within 1,000 feet of gas drilling (now 2,500 feet) are to be presumed to be caused by gas drilling, if no testing of the water well was done by the gas company prior to gas drilling. Cabot did no testing of the 18 water wells DEP found Cabot had contaminated with methane, before it drilled near them.
DEP ordered Cabot to plug and repair gas wells in the area to stop the methane migration, and repeated testing of the 18 water wells showed methane had been reduced to safe levels in 14 of them by December 2010.
The DEP investigation and repeated testing and subsequently still more testing by the Environmental Protection Agency also found that hydraulic fracturing itself had not contaminated the water wells. No chemicals or drilling wastewater had returned from depth to contaminate the water wells. The methane contamination in the 18 water wells was a result of casing and cementing errors in the gas drilling phase of Cabot's operations in the area.
Those are the real facts in Dimock, and the continuing efforts to obfuscate them only adds to public suspicion.
A Dispatch From The War On Oil: Biodiesel Production Jumps 43% & Sets Record
The war on oil continues. Oil substitutes--natural gas, electricity, and biofuels--are slowly displacing more and more expensive, dirty oil and are a major reason why US oil consumption is back to 1999 to 2000 levels.
While biodiesel is a small competitor to oil, the biodiesel David is growing, as it battles the oil Goliath that remains our top energy source. Biodiesel production jumped 43% in March, compared to February.
http://www.eia.gov/biofuels/biodiesel/production/table1.pdf.
Even more impressively, March 2013 production set an all-time record for biodiesel produced in the month of March. Moreover, March 2013 production of 98 million gallons was the fifth highest amount produced in any single month.
Biodiesel is a wonderful energy product, normally made from soy beans or restaurant grease. It has a vastly superior energy balance to either gasoline or corn ethanol, making it one of the cleanest transportation fuels available.
The all-time monthly record still stands at 109 million gallons in December 2011. Last year the monthly high was 100 million gallons in May. Chances of a new monthly record being set in 2013 are looking up.
While biodiesel is a small competitor to oil, the biodiesel David is growing, as it battles the oil Goliath that remains our top energy source. Biodiesel production jumped 43% in March, compared to February.
http://www.eia.gov/biofuels/biodiesel/production/table1.pdf.
Even more impressively, March 2013 production set an all-time record for biodiesel produced in the month of March. Moreover, March 2013 production of 98 million gallons was the fifth highest amount produced in any single month.
Biodiesel is a wonderful energy product, normally made from soy beans or restaurant grease. It has a vastly superior energy balance to either gasoline or corn ethanol, making it one of the cleanest transportation fuels available.
The all-time monthly record still stands at 109 million gallons in December 2011. Last year the monthly high was 100 million gallons in May. Chances of a new monthly record being set in 2013 are looking up.
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