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	<title>Energy 2.0 &#187; Fossil Fuels</title>
	<atom:link href="http://energytwodotzero.org/category/fossil-fuels/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://energytwodotzero.org</link>
	<description>Energy &#38; Environment</description>
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		<title>&#8220;The Story of Cap and Trade&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/08/13/story-cap-trade-short-film/</link>
		<comments>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/08/13/story-cap-trade-short-film/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 13 Aug 2010 16:42:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>JesseGorden</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Fossil Fuels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics & Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cap and trade]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[carbon emissions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[video]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://energytwodotzero.org/?p=5946</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
<!-- TEXT: &lt;p&gt;&lt;img class=&quot;alignleft size-medium wp-image-5948&quot; src=&quot;http://energytwodotzero.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/The_Story_of_CAP_and_TRADE-300x153.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;300&quot; height=&quot;153&quot; /&gt;One possible step toward Climate Change mitigation, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emissions_trading&quot;&gt;cap and trade&lt;/a&gt; is a prominent topic of discussion among government officials and environmentally-concerned citizens alike. This very short film (by the creators of &lt;a href=&quot;http://energytwodotzero.org/2009/05/28/the-story-of-stuff/&quot;&gt;“Story of Stuff”&lt;/a&gt;)  offers a comprehensive look into the cap &amp; trade system, and carefully questions its legitimacy. This is an informative piece on a very comfortable level that will boost your understanding of what the true philosophies behind, benefits of, and concerns with cap and trade systems are. I recommend taking a couple of  minutes to check it out, and then sharing with your friends.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.storyofstuff.com/capandtrade/&quot;&gt;Or watch here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
 -->
<!-- LESS: &lt;p&gt;&lt;img class=&quot;alignleft size-medium wp-image-5948&quot; src=&quot;http://energytwodotzero.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/The_Story_of_CAP_and_TRADE-300x153.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;300&quot; height=&quot;153&quot; /&gt;One possible step toward Climate Change mitigation, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emissions_trading&quot;&gt;cap and trade&lt;/a&gt; is a prominent topic of discussion among government officials and environmentally-concerned citizens alike. This very short film (by the creators of &lt;a href=&quot;http://energytwodotzero.org/2009/05/28/the-story-of-stuff/&quot;&gt;“Story of Stuff”&lt;/a&gt;)  offers a comprehensive look into the cap &amp; trade system, and carefully questions its legitimacy. This is an informative piece on a very comfortable level that will boost your understanding of what the true philosophies behind, benefits of, and concerns with cap and trade systems are. I recommend taking a couple of  minutes to check it out, and then sharing with your friends.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;iframe src=&quot;http://player.vimeo.com/video/7908590&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;256&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.storyofstuff.com/capandtrade/&quot;&gt;Or watch here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
 --><div class="advanced_excerpt"><p><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5948" src="http://energytwodotzero.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/The_Story_of_CAP_and_TRADE-300x153.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="153" />One possible step toward Climate Change mitigation, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emissions_trading">cap and trade</a> is a prominent topic of discussion among government officials and environmentally-concerned citizens alike. This very short film (by the creators of <a href="http://energytwodotzero.org/2009/05/28/the-story-of-stuff/">“Story of Stuff”</a>)  offers a comprehensive look into the cap &#38; trade system, and carefully questions its legitimacy.&#8230;</p></div>]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/08/13/story-cap-trade-short-film/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Paid not to extract oil: Ecuador Sets Environmental Precedent</title>
		<link>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/08/05/paid-extract-oil-ecuador-sets-environmental-precedent/</link>
		<comments>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/08/05/paid-extract-oil-ecuador-sets-environmental-precedent/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 05 Aug 2010 18:54:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>trevort</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Fossil Fuels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics & Policy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://energytwodotzero.org/?p=5919</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
<!-- TEXT: &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/dejeuxx/4354008675/&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4042/4354008675_2b9925244d_m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Reflections, Yasuni by ggallice&quot; width=&quot;171&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; class=&quot;alignright&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; The idea of paying people not to do something is often met with unease and suspicion. However, sometimes it is the only realistic alternative when faced with the destruction of the environment. Even in the United States—a developed, first-world country—some farmers are paid annually not to grow crops in order to preserve soil quality, and this is only one example of many.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A similar program unfolding over the past few months has recently come to fruition. A group of countries—Germany, Spain, France, Sweden, and Switzerland—has agreed to pay Ecuador $1.5 billion out of an eventual $3.6 billion not to drill for oil in the Yasuni Rainforest. The oil reserve contains an estimated $7 billion of oil at today&#8217;s market prices, but it is located under one of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wri.org/stories/2009/01/ecuador-proposes-leaving-oil-untapped-protect-forests-and-people&quot;&gt;most biodiverse areas of the world&lt;/a&gt;. In fact, in just 2.5 acres acres of the Yasuni Rainforest, there are as many tree species as in all of the United States and Canada combined.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshbousel/4050996821/&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2626/4050996821_53c8b14e9a_m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Yasuni National Park by joshbousel&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; height=&quot;159&quot; class=&quot;alignleft&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; When one hears of a deal similar to this one, the first words that come to mind are extortion and blackmail: unless other countries pay Ecuador money, Ecuador will destroy the rainforest. However, one must keep in mind that Ecuador is accepting about half of the money that it otherwise would receive if it were to extract the oil. Also, the countries that paid Ecuador not to drill are receiving benefits themselves: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2010/2010-08-04-02.html&quot;&gt;400 million tons of carbon dioxide will be prevented from entering the atmosphere&lt;/a&gt; and many endangered species of both plants and animals will be protected.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the end, all benefit. Ecuador receives money &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100525103939.htm&quot;&gt;to promote development and reduce poverty&lt;/a&gt; in compensation for not developing their natural resources, while the rest of us can enjoy a healthier planet. Hopefully other countries will follow in the footsteps of the precedent that Ecuador so that the world will have one more tool in the fight against global warming and species extinction.&lt;/p&gt;
 -->
<!-- LESS: &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/dejeuxx/4354008675/&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4042/4354008675_2b9925244d_m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Reflections, Yasuni by ggallice&quot; width=&quot;171&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; class=&quot;alignright&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; The idea of paying people not to do something is often met with unease and suspicion. However, sometimes it is the only realistic alternative when faced with the destruction of the environment. Even in the United States—a developed, first-world country—some farmers are paid annually not to grow crops in order to preserve soil quality, and this is only one example of many.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A similar program unfolding over the past few months has recently come to fruition. A group of countries—Germany, Spain, France, Sweden, and Switzerland—has agreed to pay Ecuador $1.5 billion out of an eventual $3.6 billion not to drill for oil in the Yasuni Rainforest. The oil reserve contains an estimated $7 billion of oil at today&#8217;s market prices, but it is located under one of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wri.org/stories/2009/01/ecuador-proposes-leaving-oil-untapped-protect-forests-and-people&quot;&gt;most biodiverse areas of the world&lt;/a&gt;. In fact, in just 2.5 acres acres of the Yasuni Rainforest, there are as many tree species as in all of the United States and Canada combined.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshbousel/4050996821/&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2626/4050996821_53c8b14e9a_m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Yasuni National Park by joshbousel&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; height=&quot;159&quot; class=&quot;alignleft&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; When one hears of a deal similar to this one, the first words that come to mind are extortion and blackmail: unless other countries pay Ecuador money, Ecuador will destroy the rainforest. However, one must keep in mind that Ecuador is accepting about half of the money that it otherwise would receive if it were to extract the oil. Also, the countries that paid Ecuador not to drill are receiving benefits themselves: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2010/2010-08-04-02.html&quot;&gt;400 million tons of carbon dioxide will be prevented from entering the atmosphere&lt;/a&gt; and many endangered species of both plants and animals will be protected.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the end, all benefit. Ecuador receives money &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100525103939.htm&quot;&gt;to promote development and reduce poverty&lt;/a&gt; in compensation for not developing their natural resources, while the rest of us can enjoy a healthier planet. Hopefully other countries will follow in the footsteps of the precedent that Ecuador so that the world will have one more tool in the fight against global warming and species extinction.&lt;/p&gt;
 --><div class="advanced_excerpt"><p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dejeuxx/4354008675/"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4042/4354008675_2b9925244d_m.jpg" alt="Reflections, Yasuni by ggallice" width="171" height="240" class="alignright" /></a> The idea of paying people not to do something is often met with unease and suspicion. However, sometimes it is the only realistic alternative when faced with the destruction of the environment.&#8230;</p></div>]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/08/05/paid-extract-oil-ecuador-sets-environmental-precedent/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>State of the World 2010</title>
		<link>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/08/04/state-world-2010/</link>
		<comments>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/08/04/state-world-2010/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 04 Aug 2010 23:15:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>LMcCloskey</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Fossil Fuels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics & Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Transportation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Utilities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[carbon emissions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Climate]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://energytwodotzero.org/?p=5833</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
<!-- TEXT: &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/get-file.php?report=global&amp;file=map-blended-mntp&amp;byear=2010&amp;bmonth=4&amp;year=2010&amp;month=6&amp;ext=gif&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/get-file.php?report=global&amp;file=map-blended-mntp&amp;byear=2010&amp;bmonth=4&amp;year=2010&amp;month=6&amp;ext=gif&amp;thumb=true/&quot; height=&quot;245&quot; width=&quot;300&quot; class=&quot;alignleft&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.noaa.gov/about-noaa.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration&lt;/a&gt; released its annual &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/?report=global&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;climate report&lt;/a&gt; last week and for the first time, confirmed that &#8220;global warming is undeniable&#8221;. This statement affirming &lt;a href=&quot;http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/climatechange/figure_4.jpg/image_view&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;climate change&lt;/a&gt; is the first by a US government organization and comes three years after the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ipcc.ch/organization/organization.htm&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change&lt;/a&gt; announced in its &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_and_data_reports.htm#1&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Fourth Assessment&lt;/a&gt; that climate change is &#8220;unequivocal&#8221;. The NOAA used a total of 37 measures in the State of Climate report, highlighting ten as especially relevant: humidity, sea-surface temperature, sea ice cover, snow cover, ocean heat content, glacier cover, air temperature in the lower atmosphere, sea level, temperature over land and temperature over oceans. Also, new data released by the NOAA shows that 90% of the heat trapped by greenhouse gases emitted over the past 50 years has been absorbed by oceans. The scientific community has long debated the validity of global warming and despite the fact that most scientists now agree that climate change is occurring, there is no way to know precisely how the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/globalwarming/temperature-change.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;increased carbon levels&lt;/a&gt; will impact the global environment. Some aspects of climate change have already become apparent, such as rising temperatures, melting glaciers and increasing storminess, but no model can exactly predict how the earth&#8217;s global ecosystem will act to balance the unprecedented levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The timing of the release of the State of the Climate 2010 is also interesting, as it comes several weeks after a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/22/AR2010072203614.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;comprehensive climate bill&lt;/a&gt; suffered a major blow in the Senate.&lt;/p&gt;
 -->
<!-- LESS: &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/get-file.php?report=global&amp;file=map-blended-mntp&amp;byear=2010&amp;bmonth=4&amp;year=2010&amp;month=6&amp;ext=gif&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/get-file.php?report=global&amp;file=map-blended-mntp&amp;byear=2010&amp;bmonth=4&amp;year=2010&amp;month=6&amp;ext=gif&amp;thumb=true/&quot; height=&quot;245&quot; width=&quot;300&quot; class=&quot;alignleft&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.noaa.gov/about-noaa.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration&lt;/a&gt; released its annual &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/?report=global&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;climate report&lt;/a&gt; last week and for the first time, confirmed that &#8220;global warming is undeniable&#8221;. This statement affirming &lt;a href=&quot;http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/climatechange/figure_4.jpg/image_view&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;climate change&lt;/a&gt; is the first by a US government organization and comes three years after the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ipcc.ch/organization/organization.htm&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change&lt;/a&gt; announced in its &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_and_data_reports.htm#1&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Fourth Assessment&lt;/a&gt; that climate change is &#8220;unequivocal&#8221;. The NOAA used a total of 37 measures in the State of Climate report, highlighting ten as especially relevant: humidity, sea-surface temperature, sea ice cover, snow cover, ocean heat content, glacier cover, air temperature in the lower atmosphere, sea level, temperature over land and temperature over oceans. Also, new data released by the NOAA shows that 90% of the heat trapped by greenhouse gases emitted over the past 50 years has been absorbed by oceans. The scientific community has long debated the validity of global warming and despite the fact that most scientists now agree that climate change is occurring, there is no way to know precisely how the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/globalwarming/temperature-change.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;increased carbon levels&lt;/a&gt; will impact the global environment. Some aspects of climate change have already become apparent, such as rising temperatures, melting glaciers and increasing storminess, but no model can exactly predict how the earth&#8217;s global ecosystem will act to balance the unprecedented levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The timing of the release of the State of the Climate 2010 is also interesting, as it comes several weeks after a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/22/AR2010072203614.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;comprehensive climate bill&lt;/a&gt; suffered a major blow in the Senate.&lt;/p&gt;
 --><div class="advanced_excerpt"><p><a href="http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/get-file.php?report=global&#038;file=map-blended-mntp&#038;byear=2010&#038;bmonth=4&#038;year=2010&#038;month=6&#038;ext=gif"><img src="http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/get-file.php?report=global&#038;file=map-blended-mntp&#038;byear=2010&#038;bmonth=4&#038;year=2010&#038;month=6&#038;ext=gif&#038;thumb=true/" height="245" width="300" class="alignleft"/></a></p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.noaa.gov/about-noaa.html" target="_blank">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</a> released its annual <a href="http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/?report=global" target="_blank">climate report</a> last week and for the first time, confirmed that &#8220;global warming is undeniable&#8221;. This statement affirming <a href="http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/climatechange/figure_4.jpg/image_view" target="_blank">climate change</a> is the first by a US government organization and comes three years after the <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/organization/organization.htm" target="_blank">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a> announced in its <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_and_data_reports.htm#1" target="_blank">Fourth Assessment</a> that climate change is &#8220;unequivocal&#8221;.&#8230;</p></div>]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The World Where Oil Flows Free</title>
		<link>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/07/12/world-oil-flows-free/</link>
		<comments>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/07/12/world-oil-flows-free/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:20:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>JesseGorden</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Alternative Energy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fossil Fuels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Heating]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics & Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[carbon emissions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ocean]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oil]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[video]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://energytwodotzero.org/?p=5386</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
<!-- TEXT: &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaienong/4083570670/&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2692/4083570670_4bcd784398_m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Bubbling crude, La Brea by antgirl&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; height=&quot;180&quot; class=&quot;alignright&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; The &lt;a href=&quot;http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/06/10/gulf-mexico-oil-spill-leaks/&quot;&gt;Gulf Oil Spill&lt;/a&gt; has been the event at the top of everyone&#8217;s mind for many weeks now, &lt;em&gt;almost&lt;/em&gt; to the point of our adapting to the initially shocking concept. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/photogalleries/100608-gulf-oil-spill-environment-birds-animals-pictures/#gulf-oil-spill-killing-wildlife-brown-pelican-wings_21352_600x450.jpg&quot;&gt;images&lt;/a&gt; that have surfaced have been heartrending enough, though, that the shock factor hasn&#8217;t been allowed to completely fade. Predictions of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.newsweek.com/blogs/the-human-condition/2010/05/05/oil-spill-answers-when-and-where-will-the-oil-slick-come-ashore.html&quot;&gt;results to come&lt;/a&gt; in the next weeks and months are concerning to say the least, and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127874305&amp;ft=1&amp;f=1025&quot;&gt;estimate&lt;/a&gt; of how much has been leaking each day continues to rise. BP comes up with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aolnews.com/surge-desk/article/bp-s-new-gulf-oil-spill-cap-what-s-different-this-time/19548690&quot;&gt;new method&lt;/a&gt; to &#8220;fix&#8221; the problem every few weeks, each seeming promising with a side-serving of bad news.  Effects on &lt;a href=&quot;http://amfix.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/27/is-oil-spill-sickening-fishermen/&quot;&gt;humans&lt;/a&gt; are starting to surface, some &lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jun/24/nation/la-na-oil-spill-grief-20100625&quot;&gt;gruesome&lt;/a&gt; news and some simply tragic &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B80E9VO0xdM&quot;&gt;projections&lt;/a&gt;. With all of this on our plates, it&#8217;s understandably hard to think about, let alone discuss, other similar issues.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;One more brick was added to the weight of environmental concern when, on June 11th, another oil spill was reported, this time in Utah. How could an oil spill happen in the middle of the continent? This time it wasn&#8217;t an oil rig that failed; in the mountains south of the Great Salt Lake, an oil-transporting pipeline was breached around 10pm. Residents who reported a strong petroleum scent around 7am the next day allowed for the leak to be stopped less than 24 hours after it began. Regardless of the speed with which it was stopped, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.abc4.com/content/news/top%20stories/story/Oil-spill-crews-still-at-work-in-Salt-Lake-City/2VVJZ9sICUmbrI6sNxVGGg.cspx&quot;&gt;33,000&lt;/a&gt; gallons of crude oil were leaked into Salt Lake City creeks and a pond- but not &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; Lake. Because of the national disappointment with and disdain for the oil giant BP, Chevron responded quickly and aggressively with cleanup devotions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This leak was obviously a dramatically smaller scale than the spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Instead of a pipeline tapped directly  into natural oil stores being busted, a quarter-sized hole was melted in the controllable pipe transporting oil in UT, and it was all over in 24 hours.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The BP underwater pipe has been gushing tens of thousands of gallons each day, for two and a half months.&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;In the UT spill, around 300 Canada Geese and ducks were covered in oil, and fewer than 10 were killed; one endangered fish species was &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cnbc.com/id/37684965/Chevron_s_Oil_Spill_Hasn_t_Reached_Great_Salt_Lake&quot;&gt;threatened&lt;/a&gt; by the spill. The Gulf of Mexico&#8217;s biota are threatened in a much, much &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?storyID=106670&quot;&gt;broader&lt;/a&gt; sense- as you might imagine, considering the unimaginable quantity of poison being spewed into the ocean.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While much of the oil spilled in Utah has been cleaned up, the  efforts in the Gulf of Mexico have comparatively only just begun. The  estimated clean-up time is months, possibly years; the truth is that the  effected coastlines (their ecosystems, their businesses, their  citizens), especially those closer to the epicenter, may never recover.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While the Gulf oil spill eclipses other fossil fuel issues in the eye of society at present,  it also brings an important topic right to the surface of  the pile of  important current issues, and in some cases inspires  reflection.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Would we still be discussing the Utah oil spill, were the BP tragedy &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; over-shadowing its significance?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The answer is &#8220;Maybe not;&#8221; spills are not uncommon, mishaps at drilling sites are not uncommon. What makes the BP spill different is the enormous individual scale, proximity to affluent nations, and resulting publicity.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We do not often hear about the ill effects of the oil industry that are happening in less-fortunate regions of our world.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If we ignore the intense &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zalqYjcjA2Y&quot;&gt;sociological disasters&lt;/a&gt; surrounding the oil industry in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=Niger+Delta&amp;ie=utf-8&amp;oe=utf-8&amp;aq=t&amp;rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&amp;client=firefox-a&quot;&gt;Niger Delta&lt;/a&gt; region of Nigeria, there are statistics to look at that might make the president of BP&#8217;s hair curl. It&#8217;s estimated that from what are &lt;a href=&quot;http://knowledge.allianz.com/en/news/viewdetail/nigeria_piracy_oil.html&quot;&gt;technically&lt;/a&gt; Shell and Chevron operations, there are three hundred small &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; large oil spills in this area each year, due to various factors including oil piracy, aging equipment, and worse-than-poor regulation. In this undeveloped region where locals see no benefit from the industry, oil spills surround the villages. An image of the ruined environment was painted potently by one &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10313107.stm&quot;&gt;BBC article&lt;/a&gt;;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;cite title=&quot;xhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10313107.stm&quot;&gt;&#8220;Visitors to the Nigerian village of Kpor, deep in the Niger Delta, are  greeted by strange sights: silver frogs blink from gleaming puddles,  sunlight bounces from an eerie black lake, and dragonflies hover over  cauldrons of tar.&#8221;&lt;/cite&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This is a generally unillustrated tragedy, an example of what we are not seeing through the corporate veil. Information is not exposed for many reasons- too many to discuss here- but these events are significant enough to spend time digging for.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&#8212;-&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Discussed above are only the results of our addiction to &lt;strong&gt;oil&lt;/strong&gt;. What about the other common fossil fuels that we depend on? If we disregard the carbon emissions and their effects, related to burning any fossil fuels-&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;strong&gt;Coal&lt;/strong&gt; mining means mountain tops destroyed, geology and topography both obliterated as removed mountain tops are filled into valleys; this is not to mention the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pollutionissues.com/Br-Co/Coal.html&quot;&gt;pollution nightmares&lt;/a&gt; that come along with mining, or the health risks: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.msha.gov/MSHAINFO/FactSheets/MSHAFCT2.HTM&quot;&gt;11,000+ injured&lt;/a&gt; (lowest number ever recorded), 69 killed most recently.
&lt;strong&gt;Natural gas&lt;/strong&gt; mining&#8211;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/whats-fracking/&quot;&gt;hydraulic fracturing/fracking&lt;/a&gt;&#8211; creates air-polluting ground-level ozone, poisons the surrounding groundwater and has severe effects on surrounding communities.

&lt;p&gt;Maintenance of our presently strong socioeconomic bonds to fossil fuels  are already fatal, both to operators and the surrounding environment.  What will it be like when these limited resources begin to truly  dwindle, when, if we haven&#8217;t changed the juice our society runs on, we are mining every potentially coal-filled mountain and  drilling into every oil deposit the earth&#8217;s crust has left to offer? We  can be assured worker safety and environmental health will not be more  of a priority then, in the hour of desperation, than it is now.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It seems that now is time to start using the information we have already to start making changes in the way our energy system works.This is not to say that there won&#8217;t be risks associated with other energy practices, but after looking at the information surrounding the above-mentioned options, I would argue that finding an environmentally-friendly energy option that posed the same level of human and environmental health risks would be difficult. Environmental safety is an inherent property of an environmentally-friendly product, afterall.&lt;/p&gt;
 -->
<!-- LESS: &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaienong/4083570670/&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2692/4083570670_4bcd784398_m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Bubbling crude, La Brea by antgirl&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; height=&quot;180&quot; class=&quot;alignright&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; The &lt;a href=&quot;http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/06/10/gulf-mexico-oil-spill-leaks/&quot;&gt;Gulf Oil Spill&lt;/a&gt; has been the event at the top of everyone&#8217;s mind for many weeks now, &lt;em&gt;almost&lt;/em&gt; to the point of our adapting to the initially shocking concept. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/photogalleries/100608-gulf-oil-spill-environment-birds-animals-pictures/#gulf-oil-spill-killing-wildlife-brown-pelican-wings_21352_600x450.jpg&quot;&gt;images&lt;/a&gt; that have surfaced have been heartrending enough, though, that the shock factor hasn&#8217;t been allowed to completely fade. Predictions of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.newsweek.com/blogs/the-human-condition/2010/05/05/oil-spill-answers-when-and-where-will-the-oil-slick-come-ashore.html&quot;&gt;results to come&lt;/a&gt; in the next weeks and months are concerning to say the least, and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127874305&amp;ft=1&amp;f=1025&quot;&gt;estimate&lt;/a&gt; of how much has been leaking each day continues to rise. BP comes up with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aolnews.com/surge-desk/article/bp-s-new-gulf-oil-spill-cap-what-s-different-this-time/19548690&quot;&gt;new method&lt;/a&gt; to &#8220;fix&#8221; the problem every few weeks, each seeming promising with a side-serving of bad news.  Effects on &lt;a href=&quot;http://amfix.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/27/is-oil-spill-sickening-fishermen/&quot;&gt;humans&lt;/a&gt; are starting to surface, some &lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jun/24/nation/la-na-oil-spill-grief-20100625&quot;&gt;gruesome&lt;/a&gt; news and some simply tragic &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B80E9VO0xdM&quot;&gt;projections&lt;/a&gt;. With all of this on our plates, it&#8217;s understandably hard to think about, let alone discuss, other similar issues.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;One more brick was added to the weight of environmental concern when, on June 11th, another oil spill was reported, this time in Utah. How could an oil spill happen in the middle of the continent? This time it wasn&#8217;t an oil rig that failed; in the mountains south of the Great Salt Lake, an oil-transporting pipeline was breached around 10pm. Residents who reported a strong petroleum scent around 7am the next day allowed for the leak to be stopped less than 24 hours after it began. Regardless of the speed with which it was stopped, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.abc4.com/content/news/top%20stories/story/Oil-spill-crews-still-at-work-in-Salt-Lake-City/2VVJZ9sICUmbrI6sNxVGGg.cspx&quot;&gt;33,000&lt;/a&gt; gallons of crude oil were leaked into Salt Lake City creeks and a pond- but not &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; Lake. Because of the national disappointment with and disdain for the oil giant BP, Chevron responded quickly and aggressively with cleanup devotions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This leak was obviously a dramatically smaller scale than the spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Instead of a pipeline tapped directly  into natural oil stores being busted, a quarter-sized hole was melted in the controllable pipe transporting oil in UT, and it was all over in 24 hours.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The BP underwater pipe has been gushing tens of thousands of gallons each day, for two and a half months.&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;In the UT spill, around 300 Canada Geese and ducks were covered in oil, and fewer than 10 were killed; one endangered fish species was &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cnbc.com/id/37684965/Chevron_s_Oil_Spill_Hasn_t_Reached_Great_Salt_Lake&quot;&gt;threatened&lt;/a&gt; by the spill. The Gulf of Mexico&#8217;s biota are threatened in a much, much &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?storyID=106670&quot;&gt;broader&lt;/a&gt; sense- as you might imagine, considering the unimaginable quantity of poison being spewed into the ocean.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While much of the oil spilled in Utah has been cleaned up, the  efforts in the Gulf of Mexico have comparatively only just begun. The  estimated clean-up time is months, possibly years; the truth is that the  effected coastlines (their ecosystems, their businesses, their  citizens), especially those closer to the epicenter, may never recover.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While the Gulf oil spill eclipses other fossil fuel issues in the eye of society at present,  it also brings an important topic right to the surface of  the pile of  important current issues, and in some cases inspires  reflection.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Would we still be discussing the Utah oil spill, were the BP tragedy &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; over-shadowing its significance?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The answer is &#8220;Maybe not;&#8221; spills are not uncommon, mishaps at drilling sites are not uncommon. What makes the BP spill different is the enormous individual scale, proximity to affluent nations, and resulting publicity.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We do not often hear about the ill effects of the oil industry that are happening in less-fortunate regions of our world.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If we ignore the intense &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zalqYjcjA2Y&quot;&gt;sociological disasters&lt;/a&gt; surrounding the oil industry in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=Niger+Delta&amp;ie=utf-8&amp;oe=utf-8&amp;aq=t&amp;rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&amp;client=firefox-a&quot;&gt;Niger Delta&lt;/a&gt; region of Nigeria, there are statistics to look at that might make the president of BP&#8217;s hair curl. It&#8217;s estimated that from what are &lt;a href=&quot;http://knowledge.allianz.com/en/news/viewdetail/nigeria_piracy_oil.html&quot;&gt;technically&lt;/a&gt; Shell and Chevron operations, there are three hundred small &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; large oil spills in this area each year, due to various factors including oil piracy, aging equipment, and worse-than-poor regulation. In this undeveloped region where locals see no benefit from the industry, oil spills surround the villages. An image of the ruined environment was painted potently by one &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10313107.stm&quot;&gt;BBC article&lt;/a&gt;;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;cite title=&quot;xhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10313107.stm&quot;&gt;&#8220;Visitors to the Nigerian village of Kpor, deep in the Niger Delta, are  greeted by strange sights: silver frogs blink from gleaming puddles,  sunlight bounces from an eerie black lake, and dragonflies hover over  cauldrons of tar.&#8221;&lt;/cite&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This is a generally unillustrated tragedy, an example of what we are not seeing through the corporate veil. Information is not exposed for many reasons- too many to discuss here- but these events are significant enough to spend time digging for.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&#8212;-&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Discussed above are only the results of our addiction to &lt;strong&gt;oil&lt;/strong&gt;. What about the other common fossil fuels that we depend on? If we disregard the carbon emissions and their effects, related to burning any fossil fuels-&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Coal&lt;/strong&gt; mining means mountain tops destroyed, geology and topography both obliterated as removed mountain tops are filled into valleys; this is not to mention the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pollutionissues.com/Br-Co/Coal.html&quot;&gt;pollution nightmares&lt;/a&gt; that come along with mining, or the health risks: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.msha.gov/MSHAINFO/FactSheets/MSHAFCT2.HTM&quot;&gt;11,000+ injured&lt;/a&gt; (lowest number ever recorded), 69 killed most recently.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Natural gas&lt;/strong&gt; mining&#8211;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/whats-fracking/&quot;&gt;hydraulic fracturing/fracking&lt;/a&gt;&#8211; creates air-polluting ground-level ozone, poisons the surrounding groundwater and has severe effects on surrounding communities.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Maintenance of our presently strong socioeconomic bonds to fossil fuels  are already fatal, both to operators and the surrounding environment.  What will it be like when these limited resources begin to truly  dwindle, when, if we haven&#8217;t changed the juice our society runs on, we are mining every potentially coal-filled mountain and  drilling into every oil deposit the earth&#8217;s crust has left to offer? We  can be assured worker safety and environmental health will not be more  of a priority then, in the hour of desperation, than it is now.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It seems that now is time to start using the information we have already to start making changes in the way our energy system works.This is not to say that there won&#8217;t be risks associated with other energy practices, but after looking at the information surrounding the above-mentioned options, I would argue that finding an environmentally-friendly energy option that posed the same level of human and environmental health risks would be difficult. Environmental safety is an inherent property of an environmentally-friendly product, afterall.&lt;/p&gt;
 --><div class="advanced_excerpt"><p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaienong/4083570670/"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2692/4083570670_4bcd784398_m.jpg" alt="Bubbling crude, La Brea by antgirl" width="240" height="180" class="alignright" /></a> The <a href="http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/06/10/gulf-mexico-oil-spill-leaks/">Gulf Oil Spill</a> has been the event at the top of everyone&#8217;s mind for many weeks now, <em>almost</em> to the point of our adapting to the initially shocking concept. The <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/photogalleries/100608-gulf-oil-spill-environment-birds-animals-pictures/#gulf-oil-spill-killing-wildlife-brown-pelican-wings_21352_600x450.jpg">images</a> that have surfaced have been heartrending enough, though, that the shock factor hasn&#8217;t been allowed to completely fade.&#8230;</p></div>]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/07/12/world-oil-flows-free/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Obama pushes new tax credits for Green Companies</title>
		<link>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/07/12/obama-pushes-tax-credits-green-companies/</link>
		<comments>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/07/12/obama-pushes-tax-credits-green-companies/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:37:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>nikitaob</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Alternative Energy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fossil Fuels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Green Products]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics & Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wind power]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://energytwodotzero.org/?p=5667</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
<!-- TEXT: &lt;p&gt;Speaking at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, President Obama issued new proposals for issuing tax credits to renewable energy companies as a means of s&lt;a href=&quot;http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100709-709389.html&quot;&gt;timulating job creation&lt;/a&gt;. The President urged increasing the current funds already approved by the Congress totaling some 2.3 billion dollars. The problem is, there aren’t enough tax credits  to go around,” Obama told the crowd at the university.  “When we announced the program last year, it was such a success that we received 500 applications requesting over $8 billion in tax credits. But we only had $2.3 billion to invest. In other words, we had almost four times as many worthy requests as we had tax credits.”&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;President &lt;a href=&quot;http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dcnow/2010/07/obama-calls-for-5-billion-in-cleanenergy-tax-credits.html&quot;&gt;Obama&#8217;s trip to promote alternative fuels&lt;/a&gt; was also part of a larger effort to help push Senate elections this November back towards the Democrats, who have been consistently losing ground to the political right over the past several months. Indeed, Obama wasted no time criticizing top GOP leaders for being critical of his administration rather than offering up original solutions. “At every turn, we’ve met opposition and obstruction from leaders across the aisle,” said the president. “That’s why I’m glad I’ve got a boxer in the Senate, who’s not afraid to fight for what he believes in. The boxer, according to the President was none other than &lt;a href=&quot;http://reid.senate.gov/&quot;&gt;majority leader Harry Reid,&lt;/a&gt; who has been a key ally of the administration&#8217;s efforts across the board, including climate change and the move towards renewable energy products.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;However, for Obama to even consider enacting massive initiatives such as removing national dependence on foreign petroleum, the President has recognized that he must first secure a firm majority in both houses of Congress. Indeed, the November Elections will truly be a referendum on the policies of Obama and Congressional Democrats.&lt;/p&gt;
 -->
<!-- LESS: &lt;p&gt;Speaking at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, President Obama issued new proposals for issuing tax credits to renewable energy companies as a means of s&lt;a href=&quot;http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100709-709389.html&quot;&gt;timulating job creation&lt;/a&gt;. The President urged increasing the current funds already approved by the Congress totaling some 2.3 billion dollars. The problem is, there aren’t enough tax credits  to go around,” Obama told the crowd at the university.  “When we announced the program last year, it was such a success that we received 500 applications requesting over $8 billion in tax credits. But we only had $2.3 billion to invest. In other words, we had almost four times as many worthy requests as we had tax credits.”&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;President &lt;a href=&quot;http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dcnow/2010/07/obama-calls-for-5-billion-in-cleanenergy-tax-credits.html&quot;&gt;Obama&#8217;s trip to promote alternative fuels&lt;/a&gt; was also part of a larger effort to help push Senate elections this November back towards the Democrats, who have been consistently losing ground to the political right over the past several months. Indeed, Obama wasted no time criticizing top GOP leaders for being critical of his administration rather than offering up original solutions. “At every turn, we’ve met opposition and obstruction from leaders across the aisle,” said the president. “That’s why I’m glad I’ve got a boxer in the Senate, who’s not afraid to fight for what he believes in. The boxer, according to the President was none other than &lt;a href=&quot;http://reid.senate.gov/&quot;&gt;majority leader Harry Reid,&lt;/a&gt; who has been a key ally of the administration&#8217;s efforts across the board, including climate change and the move towards renewable energy products.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;However, for Obama to even consider enacting massive initiatives such as removing national dependence on foreign petroleum, the President has recognized that he must first secure a firm majority in both houses of Congress. Indeed, the November Elections will truly be a referendum on the policies of Obama and Congressional Democrats.&lt;/p&gt;
 --><div class="advanced_excerpt"><p>Speaking at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, President Obama issued new proposals for issuing tax credits to renewable energy companies as a means of s<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100709-709389.html">timulating job creation</a>. The President urged increasing the current funds already approved by the Congress totaling some 2.3 billion dollars.&#8230;</p></div>]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/07/12/obama-pushes-tax-credits-green-companies/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>California&#8217;s global warming fight in jeopardy</title>
		<link>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/06/29/californias-global-warming-fight-jeopardy/</link>
		<comments>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/06/29/californias-global-warming-fight-jeopardy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Jun 2010 20:59:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>JesseGorden</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Alternative Energy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fossil Fuels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics & Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[carbon emissions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Climate]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://energytwodotzero.org/?p=5546</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
<!-- TEXT: &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/jarfilms/2301611128/&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2332/2301611128_2e8fb7c454_m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;pollution by Gilbert R.&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; height=&quot;157&quot; class=&quot;alignright&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; As of this month, it&#8217;s &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-climate-initiative-20100623,0,3859850.story?track=rss&quot;&gt;official&lt;/a&gt; that California&#8217;s residents will be voting on the November ballot as to whether they would like to suspend the law that has been put in effect to help the state take responsibility for its greenhouse gas emissions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;When they announced a cutting-edge legislative initiative to fight the climate change caused by Global Warming in late 2009, California was hailed as ambitious, meant positively by some and negatively by others. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/ab32/ab32.htm&quot;&gt;Assembly Bill 32 &lt;/a&gt;(AB 32) was designed to aid California in meeting its goals of reaching 1990 level emissions by the year 2020, using a cap and trade program &lt;em&gt;as well as&lt;/em&gt; other methods. The contention of some, was that cap and trade methods do not work to reduce the act of pollution but simply shift it around to those with the deepest pockets, and others suggested that the regulations would force citizens to purchase more costly energy options than other parts of the nation. Many were simply happy that someone was doing something concrete to fight Climate Change.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Thus far, a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.arb.ca.gov/board/books/2010/042110/10-4-1pres.pdf&quot;&gt;good portion&lt;/a&gt; of the law&#8217;s components have been approved and gone into effect. The industry of alternative energies has begun to bloom in California, but these successes may all be shut down in short order, should the people take the bate and vote it into suspension.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This move is, of course, backed by the oil industry that AB32 was designed, in part,  to subdue. More surprising, perhaps, is that it is not only supported by  those who make money through the oil industry, but it originated in the meeting rooms of Texas oil giants Valero Energy Inc. and Tesoro Corp. What they are calling the &#8220;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jobs2010ca.com/&quot;&gt;California Jobs Initiative&lt;/a&gt;&#8221; paints AB 32 as a tax on homeowners, further suggests a definitive (unexplained) connection between this law and job loss, and devalues any and all progress that has been made and could be made in the direction of clean energy. The campaign, born in oil bureaucracy, uses the word &#8220;bureaucrat&#8221; to give AB 32 a negative taste several times in the few paragraphs on its home page.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The good news (for us, for Governor Schwarzenegger, for California, for the planet) is that there has been a push back- an organization called &#8220;Californians for Clean Energy and Jobs&#8221; has been formed by environmentalists and green tech professionals alike. They seem to be a group to reckon with, based on the bold imagery evident immediately upon arrival at their website&#8217;s &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stopdirtyenergyprop.com/&quot;&gt;home page&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As the opposing sides battle this controversial proposition out over the next 5 months, hopefully all truths will come to light so that citizens of California may make the most wise decisions, unskewed by false information.&lt;/p&gt;
 -->
<!-- LESS: &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/jarfilms/2301611128/&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2332/2301611128_2e8fb7c454_m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;pollution by Gilbert R.&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; height=&quot;157&quot; class=&quot;alignright&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; As of this month, it&#8217;s &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-climate-initiative-20100623,0,3859850.story?track=rss&quot;&gt;official&lt;/a&gt; that California&#8217;s residents will be voting on the November ballot as to whether they would like to suspend the law that has been put in effect to help the state take responsibility for its greenhouse gas emissions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;When they announced a cutting-edge legislative initiative to fight the climate change caused by Global Warming in late 2009, California was hailed as ambitious, meant positively by some and negatively by others. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/ab32/ab32.htm&quot;&gt;Assembly Bill 32 &lt;/a&gt;(AB 32) was designed to aid California in meeting its goals of reaching 1990 level emissions by the year 2020, using a cap and trade program &lt;em&gt;as well as&lt;/em&gt; other methods. The contention of some, was that cap and trade methods do not work to reduce the act of pollution but simply shift it around to those with the deepest pockets, and others suggested that the regulations would force citizens to purchase more costly energy options than other parts of the nation. Many were simply happy that someone was doing something concrete to fight Climate Change.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Thus far, a &lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000ff;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.arb.ca.gov/board/books/2010/042110/10-4-1pres.pdf&quot;&gt;good portion&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; of the law&#8217;s components have been approved and gone into effect. The industry of alternative energies has begun to bloom in California, but these successes may all be shut down in short order, should the people take the bate and vote it into suspension.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This move is, of course, backed by the oil industry that AB32 was designed, in part,  to subdue. More surprising, perhaps, is that it is not only supported by  those who make money through the oil industry, but it originated in the meeting rooms of Texas oil giants Valero Energy Inc. and Tesoro Corp. What they are calling the &#8220;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jobs2010ca.com/&quot;&gt;California Jobs Initiative&lt;/a&gt;&#8221; paints AB 32 as a tax on homeowners, further suggests a definitive (unexplained) connection between this law and job loss, and devalues any and all progress that has been made and could be made in the direction of clean energy. The campaign, born in oil bureaucracy, uses the word &#8220;bureaucrat&#8221; to give AB 32 a negative taste several times in the few paragraphs on its home page.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The good news (for us, for Governor Schwarzenegger, for California, for the planet) is that there has been a push back- an organization called &#8220;Californians for Clean Energy and Jobs&#8221; has been formed by environmentalists and green tech professionals alike. They seem to be a group to reckon with, based on the bold imagery evident immediately upon arrival at their website&#8217;s &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stopdirtyenergyprop.com/&quot;&gt;home page&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As the opposing sides battle this controversial proposition out over the next 5 months, hopefully all truths will come to light so that citizens of California may make the most wise decisions, unskewed by false information.&lt;/p&gt;
 --><div class="advanced_excerpt"><p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jarfilms/2301611128/"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2332/2301611128_2e8fb7c454_m.jpg" alt="pollution by Gilbert R." width="240" height="157" class="alignright" /></a> As of this month, it&#8217;s <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-climate-initiative-20100623,0,3859850.story?track=rss">official</a> that California&#8217;s residents will be voting on the November ballot as to whether they would like to suspend the law that has been put in effect to help the state take responsibility for its greenhouse gas emissions.&#8230;</p></div>]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/06/29/californias-global-warming-fight-jeopardy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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		<title>Increasing Solar Efficiency (and why its important)</title>
		<link>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/06/21/increasing-solar-efficiency-important/</link>
		<comments>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/06/21/increasing-solar-efficiency-important/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 21 Jun 2010 18:43:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>nikitaob</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Alternative Energy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Electricity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fossil Fuels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Green Products]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Other]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics & Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Utilities]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://energytwodotzero.org/?p=5449</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
<!-- TEXT: &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/argonne/3974231329/&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2649/3974231329_1663d96c3a_m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Natural Palette by Argonne National Laboratory&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; height=&quot;180&quot; class=&quot;alignleft&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; If there&#8217;s one clear cut hope for the future of energy, its that a completely clean and renewable source of energy, like the sun, could one day come to completely replace our current addiction to fossil fuels. Solar energy, if applied properly could provide the Earth with years of nearly endless power with virtually no environmental drawbacks. However, there are some major hurdles to clear before this dream of a sustainable future through solar energy could become a reality. Currently, the biggest drawback to solar panels is the low efficiency of these devices, even under constant sunlight. Most photovoltaics today only run at a top efficiency of 20%, making them mere complements to other energy sources, rather than complete replacements.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Despite these setbacks, new research from across the world has recently made some large leaps towards higher solar efficiency. A team working at the University of Michigan has recently begun testing the use of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rdmag.com/News/2010/06/Energy-Solar-Energy-Researchers-Clear-Major-Hurdle-In-Road-To-High-Efficiency-Solar-Cells/&quot;&gt;quantum dots made of selenide&lt;/a&gt; rather than silicon; their experimentation has shown that using selenide lowered the rate of heating in the semiconductor metals, thereby increasing the amount of total solar energy that is transferred into direct current. At the current rate, the team estimates that this new way of building solar panels could raise the overall efficiency up to 66% or higher. This is a very promising result,” said U of M graduate student William Tisdale. “We’ve shown that you can pull hot electrons out very quickly – before they lose their energy. This is exciting fundamental science.”&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In addition to the work being done by U of M students, the Dutch government is currently planning to&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.azom.com/news.asp?newsID=22229&quot;&gt; give out grants&lt;/a&gt; to prominent scientists for work in developing solar panels using nanorods, which can increase the maximum efficiency by more than 30%, and can be built in a cost-effective manner. &#8220;If the Netherlands wants to timely participate in a commercial exploitation of nanowire solar cells, there is a great urgency to get on board now.&#8221; says Jos Haverkort, one of the researchers receiving the grant. With continuing research, Haverkort hopes to be able to present a nanorod based cell with an efficiency of around 65%. If solar panels are to become a cost-effective solution to the energy crisis facing contemporary society, increasing their total electrical output will have to be a key priority. And with the rate of technological innovation moving forward at an astounding rate, the dream a renewable and sustainable energy may only be years away.&lt;/p&gt;
 -->
<!-- LESS: &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/argonne/3974231329/&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2649/3974231329_1663d96c3a_m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Natural Palette by Argonne National Laboratory&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; height=&quot;180&quot; class=&quot;alignleft&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; If there&#8217;s one clear cut hope for the future of energy, its that a completely clean and renewable source of energy, like the sun, could one day come to completely replace our current addiction to fossil fuels. Solar energy, if applied properly could provide the Earth with years of nearly endless power with virtually no environmental drawbacks. However, there are some major hurdles to clear before this dream of a sustainable future through solar energy could become a reality. Currently, the biggest drawback to solar panels is the low efficiency of these devices, even under constant sunlight. Most photovoltaics today only run at a top efficiency of 20%, making them mere complements to other energy sources, rather than complete replacements.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Despite these setbacks, new research from across the world has recently made some large leaps towards higher solar efficiency. A team working at the University of Michigan has recently begun testing the use of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rdmag.com/News/2010/06/Energy-Solar-Energy-Researchers-Clear-Major-Hurdle-In-Road-To-High-Efficiency-Solar-Cells/&quot;&gt;quantum dots made of selenide&lt;/a&gt; rather than silicon; their experimentation has shown that using selenide lowered the rate of heating in the semiconductor metals, thereby increasing the amount of total solar energy that is transferred into direct current. At the current rate, the team estimates that this new way of building solar panels could raise the overall efficiency up to 66% or higher. This is a very promising result,” said U of M graduate student William Tisdale. “We’ve shown that you can pull hot electrons out very quickly – before they lose their energy. This is exciting fundamental science.”&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In addition to the work being done by U of M students, the Dutch government is currently planning to&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.azom.com/news.asp?newsID=22229&quot;&gt; give out grants&lt;/a&gt; to prominent scientists for work in developing solar panels using nanorods, which can increase the maximum efficiency by more than 30%, and can be built in a cost-effective manner. &#8220;If the Netherlands wants to timely participate in a commercial exploitation of nanowire solar cells, there is a great urgency to get on board now.&#8221; says Jos Haverkort, one of the researchers receiving the grant. With continuing research, Haverkort hopes to be able to present a nanorod based cell with an efficiency of around 65%. If solar panels are to become a cost-effective solution to the energy crisis facing contemporary society, increasing their total electrical output will have to be a key priority. And with the rate of technological innovation moving forward at an astounding rate, the dream a renewable and sustainable energy may only be years away.&lt;/p&gt;
 --><div class="advanced_excerpt"><p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/argonne/3974231329/"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2649/3974231329_1663d96c3a_m.jpg" alt="Natural Palette by Argonne National Laboratory" width="240" height="180" class="alignleft" /></a> If there&#8217;s one clear cut hope for the future of energy, its that a completely clean and renewable source of energy, like the sun, could one day come to completely replace our current addiction to fossil fuels.&#8230;</p></div>]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Need to Know: It&#8217;s not impossible to ween ourselves off of coal &amp; oil</title>
		<link>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/06/12/not-impossible-ween-coal-oil/</link>
		<comments>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/06/12/not-impossible-ween-coal-oil/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 12 Jun 2010 16:44:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>JPierce</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Biofuels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fossil Fuels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wind power]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oil]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[video]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://energytwodotzero.org/?p=5317</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
<!-- TEXT: &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/wp-content/themes/ntk/images/logo.gif&quot; height=&quot;95&quot; width=&quot;164&quot; alt=&quot;Need to Know&quot; class=&quot;alignleft&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; PBS&#8217; new weekly news magazine&mdash;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/&quot;&gt;Need to Know&lt;/a&gt;&mdash;has been covering some interesting stories. The fifth episode aired last week, and included the piece below on the Danish isle of Samso&#8217;s effective elimination of fossil fuels within the past decade. FYI: rapeseed is what most of the planet calls canola, and the Danish subsidies for wind appear to be less than those in the U.S. &lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;#1&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They&#8217;ve also had some compelling coverage of the gulf spoil including &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/environment/big-oils-chernobyl/1298/&quot;&gt;Big Oil’s Chernobyl&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/environment/a-chance-encounter-on-the-gulf-coast-with-a-bp-engineer/1370/&quot;&gt;A chance encounter on the Gulf Coast with a BP engineer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a name=&quot;1&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.geni.org/globalenergy/policy/renewableenergy/subsidies/wind/denmark/index.shtml&quot;&gt;Wind is subsidized at 30% of capital cost in Denmark&lt;/a&gt;. Ignoring any state incentives, there is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://dsireusa.org/incentives/incentive.cfm?Incentive_Code=US13F&amp;re=1&amp;ee=1&quot;&gt;2.2&#162;/kWh federal tax-credit&lt;/a&gt;. At &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.windustry.org/how-much-do-wind-turbines-cost&quot;&gt;typical costs&lt;/a&gt; and an average operating capacity of 50%, this amounts to a subsidy of up to: 2.2&#162;/kWh &#215; 10yr &#215; 8,760 hr/yr &#215; 50% &#215; 2.5MW &#215; 1,000 kW/MW &#247; 100&#162;/$ = $2.4 million / $3.5 million = 68% (not accounting for erosion by inflation)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
 -->
<!-- LESS: &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/wp-content/themes/ntk/images/logo.gif&quot; height=&quot;95&quot; width=&quot;164&quot; alt=&quot;Need to Know&quot; class=&quot;alignleft&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; PBS&#8217; new weekly news magazine&mdash;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/&quot;&gt;Need to Know&lt;/a&gt;&mdash;has been covering some interesting stories. The fifth episode aired last week, and included the piece below on the Danish isle of Samso&#8217;s effective elimination of fossil fuels within the past decade. FYI: rapeseed is what most of the planet calls canola, and the Danish subsidies for wind appear to be less than those in the U.S. &lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;#1&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;embed src=&quot;http://player.theplatform.com/ps/player/pds/kj-5OcNN0M&amp;pid=_wpU7fjgec_rxZDEb79lkj31DaUToL9O&quot; width=&quot;512&quot; height=&quot;287&quot; type=&quot;application/x-shockwave-flash&quot; allowFullScreen=&quot;true&quot; bgcolor=&quot;#131313&quot;/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They&#8217;ve also had some compelling coverage of the gulf spoil including &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/environment/big-oils-chernobyl/1298/&quot;&gt;Big Oil’s Chernobyl&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/environment/a-chance-encounter-on-the-gulf-coast-with-a-bp-engineer/1370/&quot;&gt;A chance encounter on the Gulf Coast with a BP engineer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a name=&quot;1&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.geni.org/globalenergy/policy/renewableenergy/subsidies/wind/denmark/index.shtml&quot;&gt;Wind is subsidized at 30% of capital cost in Denmark&lt;/a&gt;. Ignoring any state incentives, there is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://dsireusa.org/incentives/incentive.cfm?Incentive_Code=US13F&amp;re=1&amp;ee=1&quot;&gt;2.2&#162;/kWh federal tax-credit&lt;/a&gt;. At &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.windustry.org/how-much-do-wind-turbines-cost&quot;&gt;typical costs&lt;/a&gt; and an average operating capacity of 50%, this amounts to a subsidy of up to: 2.2&#162;/kWh &#215; 10yr &#215; 8,760 hr/yr &#215; 50% &#215; 2.5MW &#215; 1,000 kW/MW &#247; 100&#162;/$ = $2.4 million / $3.5 million = 68% (not accounting for erosion by inflation)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
 --><div class="advanced_excerpt"><p><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/"><img src="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/wp-content/themes/ntk/images/logo.gif" height="95" width="164" alt="Need to Know" class="alignleft"/></a> PBS&#8217; new weekly news magazine&#8212;<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/">Need to Know</a>&#8212;has been covering some interesting stories. The fifth episode aired last week, and included the piece below on the Danish isle of Samso&#8217;s effective elimination of fossil fuels within the past decade.&#8230;</p></div>]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Leaks On</title>
		<link>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/06/10/gulf-mexico-oil-spill-leaks/</link>
		<comments>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/06/10/gulf-mexico-oil-spill-leaks/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:31:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>JesseGorden</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Fossil Fuels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics & Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ocean]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oil]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[video]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://energytwodotzero.org/?p=5230</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
<!-- TEXT: &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/uscgd8/4542937668/&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4038/4542937668_516e84361f_m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;100421-G-XXXXL-_003_-_Deepwater_Horizon_fire by uscgd8&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; height=&quot;180&quot; class=&quot;alignleft&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; On April 20th, 2010, in the open ocean 42 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana, a 560-million-dollar deep-water oil rig licensed to &lt;acronym title=&quot;British Petroleum&quot;&gt;BP&lt;/acronym&gt;, experienced an explosion. Eleven workers were killed and 17 were injured in the explosion, with the other 98 on board exiting safely unharmed. After the initial explosion, the rig burned and two days later sank to the bottom of the ocean.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A few days after this shocking event made headlines, the resulting oil spill became apparent. Oil from the rig&#8217;s well immediately began to spew forth into the water column through a damaged well-head, forming a 5-mile long oil slick on the ocean&#8217;s surface in short time. Within two weeks, BP had tried and failed to use the well&#8217;s blowout protection, President Obama declared dedication of any and all available US resources to the purpose of resolving  the spread of this spill, BP stated that it would take all financial responsibility for legitimate claims and the cleanup of the spill, and began the two-month project of drilling a relief well.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the following month, a fishing ban was extended to 19% of the Gulf of Mexico&#8217;s waters, all new drilling projects in the area were suspended, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/25/us/20100525-topkill-diagram.html&quot;&gt;several different remedial attempts&lt;/a&gt; were made, some simply failing and others actually increasing the oil&#8217;s flux into the ocean. The rate of the spill that began 51 days ago has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/us/08flow.html&quot;&gt;not yet been determined&lt;/a&gt;, due to several factors including communication barriers between BP and external scientists, but the official government estimate is between 12 and 19 thousand barrels per day.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Although it was once thought that the spill could be contained offshore, the oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico has now reached over 120 miles of coastline. Tar balls are washing up on shore, animals are being covered in oil with a plethora of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nwf.org/News-and-Magazines/National-Wildlife/Animals/Archives/2010/Oil-spill-species.aspx&quot;&gt;horrifying effects&lt;/a&gt;. It is not clear what the effect of the toxic oil dispersants being used will be on the delicate marine and coastal wildlife. Though it sounds extreme, it has been discussed that there is serious potential for this oil spill to be considered &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecocide#cite_note-3&quot;&gt;ecocide&lt;/a&gt;, or to reach that level in the coming months or years. I won&#8217;t link you to the videos of oil-covered struggling or already-deceased wildlife&mdash;seek them out at your own risk (of heartbreak).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As these negative events continue to affect the shorelines, locals are concerned. The fishing ban is necessary, but is just a concrete representation of the loss of money on the part of the fishing industry. The coasts are soaked in oil, animals are dying, and the tourism business is not looking good, either. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/07/gulf.oil.spill/index.html&quot;&gt;&#8220;My concern&lt;/a&gt; is after everything is cleaned up, if they can clean it all  up, and they leave, what is our business going to be like?&#8221; said Dudley  Gaspard, owner of the Sand Dollar Marina and Hotel on hard-hit Grand  Isle, Louisiana. While all of these local businesses are concerned, so are the oil drilling workers who operate in the Gulf. The six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling that has been imposed has the potential to eliminate as many as 20,000 jobs, according to some; the ban on shallow water drilling has been lifted. BP&#8217;s stock value has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6573FD20100609?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a49:g43:r1:c0.102564:b34700430:z0&quot;&gt;dropped&lt;/a&gt; dramatically, as would be expected during a crisis such as this.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;On June 4th, a partially successful capturing system was put into place.  BP has lowered a cap over the leaking well, sucking some of the leaking  oil up through a mile-long pipe it is connected through. There are  vents in the dome-shaped cap that allow some oil to escape, and oil is  also billowing out from below the hood. While this is not a large step  forward, it is a step: some oil is being captured. BP&#8217;s most recent estimates suggest they were able to capture &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6573HD20100609&quot;&gt;10,500&lt;/a&gt; barrels of oil in 24 hours using this method, and they expect they will soon be able to use an additional containment system to increase this control. They have even made &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6573HC20100608?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a49:g43:r3:c0.072829:b34688982:z0&quot;&gt;preparations&lt;/a&gt; for the event of a hurricane.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Here is a video of the underwater spill in action:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There is some murmur that this oil spill may be the push that the U.S. needs to secure clean energy and energy efficiency legislation. Thus far, concrete statements have only been made about the wish to change legislation revolving around oil drilling. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, after meeting with several committee heads, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65749D20100608&quot;&gt;told reporters&lt;/a&gt; a wide range  of legislation was being considered, including oil leasing reform, liability reform, ensuring worker safety and the &#8220;integrity of the certification process&#8221; when oil companies want to start a new offshore drilling project.&lt;/p&gt;
 -->
<!-- LESS: &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/uscgd8/4542937668/&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4038/4542937668_516e84361f_m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;100421-G-XXXXL-_003_-_Deepwater_Horizon_fire by uscgd8&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; height=&quot;180&quot; class=&quot;alignleft&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; On April 20th, 2010, in the open ocean 42 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana, a 560-million-dollar deep-water oil rig licensed to &lt;acronym title=&quot;British Petroleum&quot;&gt;BP&lt;/acronym&gt;, experienced an explosion. Eleven workers were killed and 17 were injured in the explosion, with the other 98 on board exiting safely unharmed. After the initial explosion, the rig burned and two days later sank to the bottom of the ocean.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A few days after this shocking event made headlines, the resulting oil spill became apparent. Oil from the rig&#8217;s well immediately began to spew forth into the water column through a damaged well-head, forming a 5-mile long oil slick on the ocean&#8217;s surface in short time. Within two weeks, BP had tried and failed to use the well&#8217;s blowout protection, President Obama declared dedication of any and all available US resources to the purpose of resolving  the spread of this spill, BP stated that it would take all financial responsibility for legitimate claims and the cleanup of the spill, and began the two-month project of drilling a relief well.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the following month, a fishing ban was extended to 19% of the Gulf of Mexico&#8217;s waters, all new drilling projects in the area were suspended, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/25/us/20100525-topkill-diagram.html&quot;&gt;several different remedial attempts&lt;/a&gt; were made, some simply failing and others actually increasing the oil&#8217;s flux into the ocean. The rate of the spill that began 51 days ago has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/us/08flow.html&quot;&gt;not yet been determined&lt;/a&gt;, due to several factors including communication barriers between BP and external scientists, but the official government estimate is between 12 and 19 thousand barrels per day.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Although it was once thought that the spill could be contained offshore, the oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico has now reached over 120 miles of coastline. Tar balls are washing up on shore, animals are being covered in oil with a plethora of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nwf.org/News-and-Magazines/National-Wildlife/Animals/Archives/2010/Oil-spill-species.aspx&quot;&gt;horrifying effects&lt;/a&gt;. It is not clear what the effect of the toxic oil dispersants being used will be on the delicate marine and coastal wildlife. Though it sounds extreme, it has been discussed that there is serious potential for this oil spill to be considered &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecocide#cite_note-3&quot;&gt;ecocide&lt;/a&gt;, or to reach that level in the coming months or years. I won&#8217;t link you to the videos of oil-covered struggling or already-deceased wildlife&mdash;seek them out at your own risk (of heartbreak).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As these negative events continue to affect the shorelines, locals are concerned. The fishing ban is necessary, but is just a concrete representation of the loss of money on the part of the fishing industry. The coasts are soaked in oil, animals are dying, and the tourism business is not looking good, either. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/07/gulf.oil.spill/index.html&quot;&gt;&#8220;My concern&lt;/a&gt; is after everything is cleaned up, if they can clean it all  up, and they leave, what is our business going to be like?&#8221; said Dudley  Gaspard, owner of the Sand Dollar Marina and Hotel on hard-hit Grand  Isle, Louisiana. While all of these local businesses are concerned, so are the oil drilling workers who operate in the Gulf. The six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling that has been imposed has the potential to eliminate as many as 20,000 jobs, according to some; the ban on shallow water drilling has been lifted. BP&#8217;s stock value has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6573FD20100609?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a49:g43:r1:c0.102564:b34700430:z0&quot;&gt;dropped&lt;/a&gt; dramatically, as would be expected during a crisis such as this.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;On June 4th, a partially successful capturing system was put into place.  BP has lowered a cap over the leaking well, sucking some of the leaking  oil up through a mile-long pipe it is connected through. There are  vents in the dome-shaped cap that allow some oil to escape, and oil is  also billowing out from below the hood. While this is not a large step  forward, it is a step: some oil is being captured. BP&#8217;s most recent estimates suggest they were able to capture &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6573HD20100609&quot;&gt;10,500&lt;/a&gt; barrels of oil in 24 hours using this method, and they expect they will soon be able to use an additional containment system to increase this control. They have even made &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6573HC20100608?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a49:g43:r3:c0.072829:b34688982:z0&quot;&gt;preparations&lt;/a&gt; for the event of a hurricane.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Here is a video of the underwater spill in action:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;object width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;400&quot;&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;movie&quot; value=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/v/O-rJH9xB7fk&amp;fs=1&quot;&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;allowFullScreen&quot; value=&quot;true&quot;&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;allowscriptaccess&quot; value=&quot;always&quot;&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/v/O-rJH9xB7fk&amp;fs=1&quot; type=&quot;application/x-shockwave-flash&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;400&quot; allowscriptaccess=&quot;always&quot; allowfullscreen=&quot;true&quot;&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There is some murmur that this oil spill may be the push that the U.S. needs to secure clean energy and energy efficiency legislation. Thus far, concrete statements have only been made about the wish to change legislation revolving around oil drilling. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, after meeting with several committee heads, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65749D20100608&quot;&gt;told reporters&lt;/a&gt; a wide range  of legislation was being considered, including oil leasing reform, liability reform, ensuring worker safety and the &#8220;integrity of the certification process&#8221; when oil companies want to start a new offshore drilling project.&lt;/p&gt;
 --><div class="advanced_excerpt"><p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/uscgd8/4542937668/"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4038/4542937668_516e84361f_m.jpg" alt="100421-G-XXXXL-_003_-_Deepwater_Horizon_fire by uscgd8" width="240" height="180" class="alignleft" /></a> On April 20th, 2010, in the open ocean 42 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana, a 560-million-dollar deep-water oil rig licensed to <acronym title="British Petroleum">BP</acronym>, experienced an explosion. Eleven workers were killed and 17 were injured in the explosion, with the other 98 on board exiting safely unharmed.&#8230;</p></div>]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>&#8220;If it was my home&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/06/07/home/</link>
		<comments>http://energytwodotzero.org/2010/06/07/home/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:07:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>JPierce</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Fossil Fuels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[map]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oil]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://energytwodotzero.org/?p=5172</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
<!-- TEXT: &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ifitwasmyhome.com/#loc=Charleroi%2C%20Belgium&amp;lat=50.4114604&amp;lng=4.44424&amp;x=3.1808122656250104&amp;y=50.96825446954358&amp;z=7&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://energytwodotzero.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/BE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Deep Horizon oil spill superimposed on Belgium&quot; title=&quot;Deep Horizon oil spill superimposed on Belgium&quot; width=&quot;300&quot; height=&quot;200&quot; class=&quot;alignleft size-full wp-image-5171&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; From &lt;a href=&quot;http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2010/06/05/467-coming-soon-to-a-map-near-you-the-gulf-spill/&quot;&gt;Strange Maps&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;The oil spill is the worst environmental disaster in US history. But it’s a catastrophe of the creeping, cumulative kind, composed of images familiar from earlier ecocides. How to get a grip on its width and breadth? Obviously: a map. Ingeniously: a map of the area affected by the oil spill transposed on your geographic location of choice – your home, for optimum shock effect.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
 -->
<!-- LESS: &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ifitwasmyhome.com/#loc=Charleroi%2C%20Belgium&amp;lat=50.4114604&amp;lng=4.44424&amp;x=3.1808122656250104&amp;y=50.96825446954358&amp;z=7&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://energytwodotzero.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/BE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Deep Horizon oil spill superimposed on Belgium&quot; title=&quot;Deep Horizon oil spill superimposed on Belgium&quot; width=&quot;300&quot; height=&quot;200&quot; class=&quot;alignleft size-full wp-image-5171&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; From &lt;a href=&quot;http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2010/06/05/467-coming-soon-to-a-map-near-you-the-gulf-spill/&quot;&gt;Strange Maps&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;The oil spill is the worst environmental disaster in US history. But it’s a catastrophe of the creeping, cumulative kind, composed of images familiar from earlier ecocides. How to get a grip on its width and breadth? Obviously: a map. Ingeniously: a map of the area affected by the oil spill transposed on your geographic location of choice – your home, for optimum shock effect.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
 --><p><a href="http://www.ifitwasmyhome.com/#loc=Charleroi%2C%20Belgium&#38;lat=50.4114604&#38;lng=4.44424&#38;x=3.1808122656250104&#38;y=50.96825446954358&#38;z=7"><img src="http://energytwodotzero.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/BE.jpg" alt="Deep Horizon oil spill superimposed on Belgium" title="Deep Horizon oil spill superimposed on Belgium" width="300" height="200" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-5171" /></a> From <a href="http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2010/06/05/467-coming-soon-to-a-map-near-you-the-gulf-spill/">Strange Maps</a>:<br />
<blockquote>The oil spill is the worst environmental disaster in US history. But it’s a catastrophe of the creeping, cumulative kind, composed of images familiar from earlier ecocides. How to get a grip on its width and breadth? Obviously: a map. Ingeniously: a map of the area affected by the oil spill transposed on your geographic location of choice – your home, for optimum shock effect.</p></blockquote>
]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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