I scanned a nice article at NYT forecasting how our energy needs will change over the next decade.

But it really is the progress our nation has made over the last five years that astounds me.

We are really close to seeing America as a net oil exporter!

Alternative sources of energy are cutting our dependency on coal.

Alternative sources of energy are creating jobs!

New sources of traditional fuel are creating jobs; real jobs paying good money.

(Just as an aside I recalled Mitt forecasting that his proposed programs would create 12 million jobs over a four year term. It looks like the creation of 12 million jobs will occur under this Second Obama Administration. Do you realize how the right wing press would be praising Mitt right now if he had won? And there is no praise for Obama at all!)

ENERGY AND JOB CREATION

But it’s worth keeping in mind that job creation isn’t the point of energy production? If you were too instead look at energy production from coal and solar, you would see vast, readily apparent differences. According to the most recent data from the EIA, in the last year through February, coal electricity production has clocked in at 1,536,564 gigawatt hours, while all non-hydropower renewable-energy sources, which includes wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass produced 222,407 gigawatt hours. Coal has been responsible for 38 percent of all electricity generation in the last 12 months. (This figure has been consistently falling—coal was 45 percent of all electricity generation in 2010.) According to the EIA, by contrast, solar accounted for a mere .04 percent of electricity generation in 2011. Of course, solar-electricity production is growing rapidly. Since 2007, solar production has increased by at least 28 percent every year....

Although solar is still a small portion of the nation’s energy portfolio, it is one of its fastest-growing components. According to a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission report of the 1,880 megawatts of new installed energy capacity in the first quarter of 2013, 537 megawatts came from solar, 958 from wind, 340 from natural gas, and zero from coal. Solar installers are clearly continuing to hire.

Large retailers including Ikea, Walgreens, Walmart and Costco are going solar.

How long do solar panels last?

40 years and longer.

Costs of solar panels have dropped 80% in only five years?

WIND

How long do wind turbines last?

20-25 years.

Wind turbine costs down 30% in last five years!

Wind energy is creating jobs; good paying jobs!

ENERGY STORAGE

EV battery costs down 40% over the last five years!

Battery tech is creating jobs; lots of jobs that pay well.

NATURAL GAS

Shell going big in natural gas.

Natural gas cuts emissions by Half.

New investments in natural gas create jobs.

IMPORTS/EXPORTS

And natural gas imports as well as crude oil imports are way way down over the last decade.

(see also)

If we begin exporting natural gas it might bring us to the point where our energy exports are greater than our energy imports.

BAD NEWS

Is there bad news?

Of course. As a former Speaker of the House used to say:

NOTHING FOR NOTHING!

We must always perform a balance test with regard to energy just as we do with Civil Rights including Free Speech or Freedom of Religion or scores of other freedoms we are supposedly guaranteed.

FRACKING

Fracking uses a lot of water.

Fracking may poison other sources of fresh water.

Fracking actually causes earthquakes.

But what is needed in any discussion of our energy needs is a balancing test.

The real cost of fracking has to be put on the corporation; profits should not be taken by the company until all these costs are taken into consideration.

The use of the water itself in the fracking process should be priced. And that cost must be put upon the corporation.

Pollution can be insured and potential harm to the environs can be spread out. The real costs of clean up can be estimated. And those costs must be put upon the corporation seeking profit from fracking.

Loss of the use of neighboring property owners who are adversely affected by energy extraction should be taken into consideration at all times and those owners properly compensated for their losses.

The fact is that North Dakotans are swimming in money and they aint gonna put the kibosh on their new success story.

PIPELINES

Pipelines present a series of issues.

After all, what type of resources are being transported by these pipelines?

The issues surrounding the Keystone project (and we must admit that pipelines are being installed across the country on a daily basis) include the problems related to processing lower grade crude oil.

World wide, CO2 is on the upswing; reaching new and more deadly amounts every year.

(See also.)

But there is evidence that air pollution is decreasing by a significant rate over the last decade in this country.

(See also.)

Cars are becoming more energy efficient.

(There are drawbacks to efficiency I guess?)

Electric cars are becoming cheaper to to own.

Again, there are more than a few problems with nuclear power.

If you doubt this just give out a call to Japan!

Jobs and import/export stats and air quality and water quality and our economy are all subjects that are interrelated.

President Obama's initiatives:

http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/#/Obama%27s+energy+record

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/16/us/politics/obamas-2-billion-plan-to-replace-fossil-fuels-in-cars.html?pagewanted=all

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/23/business/energy-environment/inching-toward-energy-independence-in-america.html?pagewanted=all

Oh well, that is enough for today.

I have just come across so many articles on this subject over the last few months, I thought I might throw out the issues to Dagblog.

What is is, and what is not is not.

There are huge huge developments in this Nation as well as the rest of the world.

We are forced to take the good with the bad; hoping that things will get better.

I personally think that things are looking up!