Energy | November 30, 2007 |
Renewable Energy Advocates Call for Carbon Price Tag
Washington, DC -- A diverse group including investment bankers, energy executives, government officials and clean energy advocates came together in agreement that the environmental cost of energy should be factored into its price, and that Congress must develop policies that move away from fossil fuels.
The money managers on Wall Street, self-described conservatives, a Bush Administration official and energy company BP spoke as one in declaring that fossil fuels have gotten a free ride in emitting greenhouse gases, and that the day of reckoning is long overdue.
Speaking at the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE)'s Phase II of Renewable Energy in America meeting on Thursday, Katrina Landis, the Vice President of BP Alternative Energy said she is "looking forward to a world with an industry wide carbon price." Landis, whose employer is one of leading sellers of fossil fuels in the world, said she favored a cap and trade system of selling emission credits over a carbon tax.
Landis, speaking at an event housed in and sponsored by the House of Representatives, echoed many of the speakers in calling on the Congress to act to craft more sustainable policies. She supports a federal renewable portfolio standard that would require energy to purchase renewable energy because "stopgap policies tend to increase cost." The current process of one-to-three year incentives is frustrating consumers and producers of clean energy, she said.
Legislators should create bold programs for incentivizing the use of renewable energy such as California's solar initiative because "the effective policies have been the agressive ones."
Vijay Vaithesswaran, who writes for The Economist, says the U.S. must change its ways to set an example for the world in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Emerging nations can't follow the path taken by the U.S., he said. Adapting a quote from Gandhi that referred to British imperialism to today's environmental challenges, Vaithesswaran said "if every Chinese person used energy like an American" by driving an SUV, than "how many planets would we need" to sustain ourselves?
"We have to pay an honest price for energy," says Vaithesswaran, who supports free market economics. He recommended that Congress create a revenue neutral carbon tax that would create as much revenue in the market as it extracts. Vaithesswaran did not recommend subsidies for cleaner energy such as biofuels, but instead called for an end to pro fossil fuel tax policies. "It's not about adding subsidies but about leveling the playing field," said Vaithesswaran, who recommends taking away the billions of dollar per year in federal oil and gas subsidies.
Clean energy advocates should convince elected officials that promoting energy that is less harmful to the environment is not a risk to industry but an opportunity. Janet Sawin, a Senior Researcher and Director of the Energy and Climate Change Program at the Worldwatch Institute said we "need to convince political leaders that renewable energy is about creating job opportunities." She said that 2.5 milion jobs have been created worldwide in renewable energy, and that clean energy prevented 100 million tons of CO2 from being emitted.
Renewable energy is not only good for the environment, it is also good for investors, said John Cavalier, the Vice Chairman of investment firm Credit Suisse. He said the investment community is already planning for the cost of carbon emissions to be added to energy companies in the future. The "smart money is betting on a federal renewable portfolio standard," Cavalier said.
Cavalier said the U.S. is spending $1 billion per day in carbon-emitting oil, with much of it being spent on imported goods that takes money out of the economy. Producing clean energy from wind and solar creates American jobs while also cleaning up the planet.
By 2016 annual global investmens in clean energy will be $750 billion, according to Cavalier. He said that there would be more investment if politicians could assist in creating stable demand for renewables. Many investors aren't investing in clean energy because they "refuse to invest in an industry that depends on subsidies that are at the whim of [politicians]."
Renewable energy is also a good bet for investors because the stock prices are less volatile than the rest of the market, according to Michael Liebreich, Chairman and CEO, of clean energy investing information service New Energy Finance. Politicians should stop treating clean energy as a "marginal industry" as it is becoming a key economic driver, he says. In 2007 approximately 8 percent of all energy investment went to renewable energy, a figure that will rise to 15 percent, Liebreich said.
Another key theme at the annual event, which is focused on influencing policy making, was that caring about the planet is no longer polticially divisive. Instead of placing blame and trying to make it a partisan issue, Democrats and Republicans should find common ground in developing appropriate courses of action.
Andy Karsner, an Assistant Secretary of Energy at the Department of Energy, said that politicians and industry have (clmate change) "problem identification in spades, but not enough problem solving." While defending the Bush Adminstration for its recent progress on renewable energy (citing the President's "addicted to oil" mantra) Karsner called for more action on fuel economy and renewable fuels to reduce oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
Karsner said that the government's decoupling the price of oil from the price of renewable energy in purchasing energy is a "significant watermark," and encouraged more people inside and outside of the political process to become "agents of disruption." He said that fuel economy options for vehicles-- such as biofuels and hybrid motors -- should be as ubiquitous and as readily available ad mud flaps."
ACORE will next hold the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC 2008)in March of 2008, which will follow up on the policy recommendations of this meeting to suggest more specific goals.
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Comments By Readers
ear Friends,
I believe I have come up with the only viable solution to the global warming problem and to our future energy needs. Please bear with me as I lay the ground work for your understanding of the conceptual principles by which this machine will function and how the physical actions of this machine will function to benefit our world and oceans.
Electrolysis is the process of using electricity to split water molecules into Hydrogen and Oxygen gases. If this were accomplished at the bottom of the ocean (25,000 ft.), the gases would rise for 20 minutes and produce a constant state of lift equal to about 9 lbs. per gallon of air produced (over 100,000 lbs. of lift moving at a constant rate of 20 ft.per second).
To catch this lift a machine would be necessary and a slight loss in torque would occur due to moving resistance.
If we dropped a cement block to the bottom of the ocean and attached a 25,000 ft. electrical cable to carry the electricity to the bottom of the ocean,we could create these gases.
We could then use air bags to float chains or cables in the ocean and then attach gear stems into this cable run. we will wrap these gear stems with wide nylon sheeting or cable connectors to create a pulley system and then attach conical-shaped buckets to the pulley run to catch the air and convert this lifting force to torque.
At the top of each pulley run the gas will released over the top and we will catch this gas in a hood vent and direct it into the next cable run above it, thus we can stack these pulley runs from the bottom of the ocean to the top.
From 25,000 ft. this system would contain 12,500 buckets (1 bucket every 2 ft.) and at 9 lbs. of lift per bucket this system would create a total of over 100,000 lbs. of lift at a constant rate of 20 ft. per second. Torque x RPM = Horsepower and therefore if these buckets existed and were connected on a 3 ft diameter gearing wheel this system would produce 100,000 torque x 180 rpm = 18,000,000 horsepower.
1 horsepower is calculated as being needed to produce 1kilowatt of electrical power. Equal to the calculation of 18,000 Megawatts of electrical power, or enough to power entire metropolitan areas!!!!!!!
At the surface we plan to catch the hydrogen gas and compress it by sinking this hydrogen back into the ocean and thus no mechanical compression will be needed. Hydrogen is the most clean burning fuel source we know of, and it has not been developed as the cost of electricity or harmonics used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen makes this process cost prohibitive.
The Oxygen will be released into the atmosphere to help cool it as it will be cold after rising from the depths. Also the aeration of the oceans and the inter-mixing of the thermal layers will help cool them and bring nutrients to the surface to allow the oceans to become more productive. I have never seen an aquarium survive without being aerated.
Furthermore, the greenhouse gases most abundantly produced by man, Carbon Monoxide and Carbon Dioxide are both soluble in water and become more soluble when placed under pressure. For this reason, I believe we should pump air into the ocean and release it where the the great pressure of the ocean will favor the absorption of these greenhouse gases, thus cleansing the atmosphere. This air when released into the cold deep ocean will re-enter the atmosphere clean of greenhouse gases and at a colder temperature, and this help cool the atmosphere, immediately.
We could build huge hoses made of 6" steel cable wrapped in a double helix pattern (for structural stability as well as flexibility) and wrap this hose with rubber compounds (for durability). The hose would reach into a block house at the bottom. The top section of this block house will contain high pressure tanks capable of withstanding the pressure of the ocean depths. A second high pressure pump would then have to be developed to shoot this high pressure air into this high density water.
Thus, this machine would accomplish the following functions:
(a) Cleanse the atmosphere of green house gases thus reducing man's contributions to global warming;
(b) Release the air back into the atmosphere at a much colder temperature due to the time the air has spent in the cold depths of the ocean, also combating rising temperatures.
(c) aerate the worlds oceans while intermixing the thermal layers to help cool it and will also add nutrients into the upper surface layer.
Each of these actions will thus combat the problem of global warming. (Aquila Alaska is a company that has been in the process of developing this high pressure pump for over a year at my request and the behest of "The Virgin Earth Challenge" award)
To cleanse the atmosphere of greenhouse gases, you must pump the atmosphere, and this system will do so while supplying the power to run itself.
A single block of concrete 30'x30'x15' could contain 30 pulley systems and could produce a combined torque of over 3,000,000 lbs. Further this block would process 18,000 gallons of air per minute or over 1,000,000 gallons of air per hour.
Any malfunction in a cable set could be easily repaired by towing the entire cable and block back to the surface to make repairs and then the block can be re-lowered and re-set in its place.
Cheap, easy, efficient, electricity, good for the environment and hydrogen fuel to boot! A floating cable tower that will generate power to see to the needs of our future generations which are entrusted to us to continue.
The following theory may seem far fetched to those of you who have accepted the meteorite theory of the dinosaurs disappearance without question, but you should read it anyway, with an open mind, for many of the facts known by science during this time period do not fit the meteorite theory concerning this extinction process.
THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT
At the time of the dinosaurs extinction scientists agree that the atmosphere was "steamy" and there is a law of gases states, "As the temperature of a gas increase, its ability to absorb and retain moisture will increase proportionally".
Thus a" STEAMY" atmosphere would be indicative of a" HOT" atmosphere as the above law of gases makes clear.
I believe all early dinosaurs were herbivores (plant eaters) and laid 100s of eggs each season, this caused a population explosion and the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as the planet was over grazed. (IE. global warming)
The storms during the time must have been horrific as moisture and Temperature (IE.Pressure) differences are what drive storms, and a hotter atmosphere holds more moisture. Thus the rain falling through the hot atmosphere deposited warm waters into an already heating ocean.
Photo plankton is a plant that grows in our worlds lakes and oceans and produces over 70% of our worlds oxygen. Photo plankton is also the basis of the marine food chain, and it does not grow in warm water.
During the dinosaur extinction over 97% of marine life died from starvation due to the disappearance of phytoplankton. And the oxygen levels dropped due to the fact that photo plankton could not grow in the warm waters of the oceans. No animal life form over 22 lbs. survived through this time period. The reason being the limitations of oxygen needs, which of course are governed by the size of animals.
During this time of oxygen depletion, debris falling into the atmosphere from space would not have been able to vaporize as oxygen is the only component in the atmosphere that allows vaporization occur. So that upon entering the atmosphere this space debris would have melted or turned to ash and spread out to rain upon the earth everywhere.
This is the reason for the iridium layer at the time of the dinosaurs extinction.
Further, the change of states, from water to ice or from ice to water costs our atmosphere 144 btu's per lb. of water. Thus the forming and melting of ice dissipates 288 btu's per lb. of water, each year. As less snow and ice form these 288 btu's per lb. will not be lost to this physical law governing the change of states, but will remain in the atmosphere to further heat the planet.
We are , I believe, treading a path of destruction. For ozone is made from oxygen, and an ozone depletion problem would be indicative of an oxygen depletion problem. If oxygen depletion is the cause of ozone depletion it would make perfect sense for the largest of these holes in the ozone layer to be right above Antarctica where no plant life exists to produce oxygen.
Chlorofluorocarbons are 1000's of times denser than oxygen and thus retain heat much longer than does oxygen! And 90% of CFC's are produced in the northern hemisphere, why is this hole in the ozone layer so far from where CFC's are produced? This as we continue to burn fossil fuels, heat our homes and the simple need of respiration produces the means of our own destruction. We are about to destroy ourselves as we are abusing "a planet" that can and will eliminate all who upset its balance.
Salmon avoided a stretch of water, and deviated from their course due to a 5 degree water temperature rise: there was no photo plankton in this water!. The coral reef in Australia is dying. We have chopped down all the forests and laid down asphalt and buildings to absorb and retain this heat. We produce heat, and we produce carbon gases, and we are too many upon this earth to live the way we have.
Storms will grow more powerful and more numerous as the temperature climbs, more moisture will be in the atmosphere, and the rains continue to warm our worlds oceans, which cuts down on its ability to support life and create oxygen. And we are not doing enough to solve these problems.
We ignorantly treat the earth as though it were not some giant body that could easily cause our demise. Chlorofluorocarbons are 1000's of times better at retaining heat than is oxygen! This as we continue to burn fossil fuels, heat our homes and the simple need of respiration produces the means of our own destruction. I just had to say that again!
Dear Friends,
This idea will revolutionize the power production industry by producing both electricity and hydrogen (for hydrogen fuel) at a production cost that cannot be equaled by any business, anywhere. Last year America alone spent 278 billion dollars on the production of electricity. In America and the world it is those who control the power industry that control economy and thus control the direction of the world. It is for this reason I write these following things as I do not want control of the world. (but this is my wish list)
It is my hope and prayer that our nation can come together to bring electrical power to the world and that we may run water pumping systems to pump water into some our world's deserts and water shortage areas. The hydrogen and oxygen gases could be put into pipes separately and then pumped to shore where it could be recombined to create heat to run internal electrical production facilities and will result in pure water to proliferate plant growth and food production that we might deal with the problems of rising sea levels caused by global warming and over population as well as increasing the oxygen production capabilities on our planet, I further believe that we should pump the rivers and lakes full of this fresh water and build dammed lakes to store the water of the oceans as fresh water that can be used to create electricity as well.
We should begin building electro magnetic train systems across our country and world to facilitate cost effective Transportation of goods and people at high speed, with little or no environmental impact. Further if Americans socialized electricity and built these electro-magnetic trains to carry their electric cars our way of life would become sustainable, despite our past ignorance of the ecological repercussions of our actions.
I believe we should use prisoners to supply the labor and when released from prison these people could be given $10,000 dollars, and this
money could be used to begin a new life upon their release from prison.
In the Prison system that presently exists prisoner's are given $100 Dollars and are released back into the very same situation from which their "Crime" had arisen. Are we treating these people justly?? Or are we being irresponsible by not allowing these "criminals" the opportunity of rehabilitation! The recidivism rate in some states is over 95% and this money is put into supporting the millions of workers that work in police dept. welfare dept, homelessness system as well as the prison judicial system, and the politicians who are allowing this travesty of justice and goodness.
This would allow children whom have spent their whole lives poor, men who have spent their lives in and out of prison a real opportunity to get an apartment, phone, transportation, clothing and a little time to find a job. (how many of you could be put onto the streets of a city with $100 and create an new life for yourself? In reality I believe we are asking to much of these men.
I hope that we manage to save ourselves, and to continue to bring a kinder, gentler, life that is more in tune with the ways of nature. Especially if we are going to live on this planet another 10 billion years!!.
My name is Angelo and you may E-mail me at angelothane@ yahoo.com. Thank you
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