dagblog - Comments for "Thoughts on Why Energy Will Be a Huge Part of the 2016 Election "

Just checked electric

PeraclesPlease — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 18:11:31 +0000

Just checked electric charging density for western Europe and its quite dense. Renewables installs are proceeding fast, and grid upgrades are the major focus in the EU. Wll be a bit slower elsewhere, but it's in action.

I definitely agree. We're

hollywhitman — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 17:17:46 +0000

In reply to Hi Holly, was going to post

I definitely agree. We're still a long way from any solid plans and actionable points but I'm hopeful that we're moving in the right direction.

If Sanders actually made the

Peter — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 16:20:32 +0000

In reply to Great post, Holly. I'm a bit

If Sanders actually made the statement about stopping oil and gas production i might disagree with him also because oil and gas will be needed to build the renewable future if there is such a future available.

Natural gas from whatever source is a replacement for coal not oil, you can't make plastic with it or pave roads with it. The environmental benefits of Gas over Coal are debatable and recent research shows little if any GW benefits due to the massive leakage of methane, a much more effective greenhouse gas than CO2 and then there is groundwater contamination and the occasional earthquake.

Tight oil production (fracking) reduced US oil imports dramatically but the US still imports about 8 Million barrels of oil every day. OIl prices collapsed from a combination of increased supply, from US production and a slowing of world demand. The Saudis only increased their production dramatically after the price collapse to maintain their market share and help shut down US tight oil production.

Low gas prices have helped US consumers to save some money but it has done nothing to stimulate the stagnant economy where the now permanent neoliberal austerity means we have cheap gas and nowhere to go.

Thanks Michael. I do

HSG — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 02:20:28 +0000

In reply to That is a very good idea.

Thanks Michael. I do apologize for the arrogant tone I employed in my previous post here. It was off-putting and unnecessary.

That is a very good idea.

Michael Maiello — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 02:01:42 +0000

In reply to The obvious solution, as I

That is a very good idea. Another idea would be to put the revenues into a sovereign wealth fund of some sort.

The obvious solution, as I

HSG — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 01:55:55 +0000

In reply to Great post, Holly. I'm a bit

The obvious solution, as I have repeatedly pointed out, is a very stiff and regularly increasing consumption tax on all fossil fuels - including natural gas - with the revenues rebated directly to the American people.

Great post, Holly. I'm a bit

Michael Maiello — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 01:23:46 +0000

In reply to Thoughts on Why Energy Will Be a Huge Part of the 2016 Election

Great post, Holly. I'm a bit torn. I guess I've never really believed that our politics has ever been, "a civil discourse about two ways to take positive actions that will benefit our country," and that it is instead a battle of competing interests. So, when Sanders says he wants to stop oil and gas production in the U.S., I'm not sure I can agree at all. A few reasons:

First, gas has environmental benefits and the U.S. has a lot of gas. We should exploit that. Not saying it doesn't have drawbacks, just that it is better than oil in a lot of ways and is plentiful and untapped in North America.

Prosperity makes energy efficiency more likely and possible and oil and gas E&P in America has been a big engine of economic growth since the financial crisis. Look back to 2009-2014 and a huge amount of the good paying jobs created were hydraulic fracturing jobs. A lot of the other jobs created, in hotels and home healthcare, sucked in terms of wages while people were entering the fracking industry making 6 figures.

Fracking also pushed the U.S. out of oil dependency, which caused Saudi Arabia to force OPEC to increase production to the point that the price of oil collapsed and this has been about the only stimulus that American consumers have had since the government shifted prematurely into austerity mode in 2011. Shutting down U.S. E&P would allow OPEC to ratchet the price up again, basically a tax against any American with a car. It would have an immediate, contractionary effect on the economy.

We definitely have to make a transition, but I'm not sure how to ameliorate the immediate sacrifices.

Hi Holly, was going to post

PeraclesPlease — Thu, 10 Mar 2016 21:13:51 +0000

In reply to Thoughts on Why Energy Will Be a Huge Part of the 2016 Election

Hi Holly, was going to post this in news, but your energy post came up timely - the role fracking plays - http://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2016/03/10/presidential_wannabes... (which ignores the political room its bought from the Mideast and Russia and China's south seas adventures).

I'm pleased with the progress of renewables, but this has been a 40 year effort. Tossing a bunch of money in will not necessarily speed it up - certainly we're not going 100% renewable in 8 years. We can discuss smart grids and electric cars and improved home & auto batteries and contribution energy and even liquid salt reactors.

Over 10 years we spent almost $2 trillion on just over 500GW non-hydro renewable energy. This article notes it would take $130 trillion to meet global needs thru renewables (and then we'd be stuck with this generation's tech for a long time): http://www.thoriumenergyworld.com/news/expectation-management-renewables

So the good news is we're designing our way out of our energy mess. The sobering side is it takes some time and careful reflection and intelligent choices. (And not clear the entire eco damage before it happens). Plus there are other positive developments to lower our enrgy, land, water and pollution footprints. Hopefully the politicians can lead well or not get in the way too badly.

Cheers

First, I'm really pleased to

Donal — Thu, 10 Mar 2016 20:46:39 +0000

In reply to Thoughts on Why Energy Will Be a Huge Part of the 2016 Election

First, I'm really pleased to see a post like this.

Second, photovoltaic is great in theory, but in practice it has become cheap because they moved manufacturing to countries with cheap labor and loose environmental regulations.