2016 is the most significant energy election this century. … unfortunately, we won"t be able to replace with a green energy industry for many decades.
At CERAWeek Fossil Fuel Leaders Should Make a Moral Case for Their Industry
Showing posts with label fossil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fossil. Show all posts
Friday, 19 February 2016
At CERAWeek Fossil Fuel Leaders Should Make a Moral Case for Their Industry
At CERAWeek Fossil Fuel Leaders Should Make a Moral Case for Their Industry
Thursday, 23 April 2015
Poll: Just 1 in 3 Know Wind Energy Depends on Fossil Fuels
Only 35 percent of voters know about wind energy’s dependence on fossil fuels, according to a poll recently commissioned by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Results of the poll also showed that even fewer, just 30 percent, of voters were aware of health and safety issues that may be associated with wind energy.
“Based on the way those polled responded to the questions, I think it is safe to say that — at best — only about one-third of voters are aware of wind energy’s alleged weaknesses,” said Mark Grebner, president of Practical Political Consulting. “Somewhat more respondents said they knew about wind energy’s dependence on fossil fuels than said they knew about the possible health and safety issues associated with wind energy. Correspondingly, more said they were surprised upon hearing about health and the safety issues associated with wind energy than said it surprised them to hear about wind energy’s reliance on fossil fuels.”
Grebner conducted the poll, which took place on April 1, 2, and 4 and consisted of calls to 4,000 voters likely to participate in the upcoming May election. Those polled were read three statements about wind energy in Michigan and asked (1) if they found it surprising, (2) if they hadn’t heard it before but didn’t find it surprising, or (3) if they already knew it.
Statement No. 1 was, “Wind is so undependable that fossil fuels have to be available to supplement it over 50 percent of the time.”
Nearly three in ten respondents (28 percent) said they found it surprising, 37 percent said they hadn’t heard it before but didn’t find it surprising, and 35 percent said they already knew about it.
Statement No. 2 was, “There’s a debate whether the use of wind to generate electricity should be redefined as a form of fossil fuel, because so little of the generation actually comes from wind.”
Of those polled, 39 percent said they found it surprising, 35 percent said they hadn’t heard it before but didn’t find it surprising, and 27 percent said they already knew about it.
Statement No. 3 was, “Health and safety problems with wind turbines have caused some neighbors to move into their basements, or sell their homes, or file lawsuits.”
Roughly two out of five (42 percent) said they found it surprising, 28 percent said they hadn’t heard it before but didn’t find it surprising, and 30 percent said they already knew about it.
When this portion of the poll was completed, respondents were asked, “How good of a job have news media done covering the debate over whether wind energy in Michigan is efficient and safe?”
Respondents could choose between three answers.
(1) They’ve done a good job in bringing the issue to the public’s attention.
(2) They’ve failed to adequately cover the issue.
(3) They’ve actually been concealing the issue from the public, by making false reassurances.
Only 19 percent said the news media had done a good job; 53 percent said it had failed to adequately cover the issue, and 27 percent said the news media has been concealing the issue from the public.
“Perhaps not surprisingly, when we compare those responses to the party preference recorded for each voter, we discover Democrats are more willing to believe in the media’s good intentions while the Republicans are more likely to smell a rat,” Grebner said.
Wind energy’s reliance on fossil fuels has been attested to by energy experts and reported by alternative news sources on both the political left and the political right. Possible health and safety issues associated with wind energy appear to have generally only received news coverage locally with the exception of a few articles and some radio coverage by larger news sources.
Mason County declared the Lake Winds wind plant south of Ludington out of compliance with its noise ordinance after residents filed a civil suit claiming the $250 million, 56-industrial turbine facility was making them sick. Consumers Energy took Mason County to court, lost at the Circuit Court level and the case is now in the Michigan Court of Appeals.
It appears that this story has only received coverage from the Ludington Daily News, Michigan Capitol Confidential and some radio stations.
Of the 4,000 likely voters called for the poll, 6.4 percent responded to at least one of the wind energy statements. That respondent rate is approximately the same as that of a PPC poll conducted last October poll.
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See also:
How Wind Energy Creates More Dependence on Fossil Fuels
Natural Gas to Wind Energy: You’re Nothing Without Me
Wind Energy Allegations Deserve Hearing
Poll: Just 1 in 3 Know Wind Energy Depends on Fossil Fuels
Sunday, 12 October 2014
Buried Sunlight: How Fossil Fuels Have Changed the Earth
Acclaimed Caldecott Artist Molly Bang teams up with award-winning M.I.T. professor Penny Chisholm to present the fascinating, timely story of fossil fuels.
What are fossil fuels, and how did they come to exist? This engaging, stunning book explains how coal, oil, and gas are really “buried sunlight,” trapped beneath the surface of our planet for millions and millions of years.
Now, in a very short time, we are digging them up and burning them, changing the carbon balance of our planet’s air and water. What does this mean, and what should we do about it?
Using simple language and breathtaking paintings, Bang and Chisholm present a clear, concise explanation of the fossil-fuel energy cycle that began with the sun and now runs most of our transportation and energy use in our world.
Readers will be mesmerized by this engaging fourth book in the award-winning Sunlight Series by Bang and Chisholm.
Click Here For More Information
Buried Sunlight: How Fossil Fuels Have Changed the Earth
Tuesday, 30 September 2014
The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels
Could everything we know about fossil fuels be wrong?
For decades, environmentalists have told us that using fossil fuels is a self-destructive addiction that will destroy our planet. Yet at the same time, by every measure of human well-being, from life expectancy to clean water to climate safety, life has been getting better and better.
How can this be?
The explanation, energy expert Alex Epstein argues in The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels, is that we usually hear only one side of the story. We’re taught to think only of the negatives of fossil fuels, their risks and side effects, but not their positives—their unique ability to provide cheap, reliable energy for a world of seven billion people. And the moral significance of cheap, reliable energy, Epstein argues, is woefully underrated. Energy is our ability to improve every single aspect of life, whether economic or environmental.
If we look at the big picture of fossil fuels compared with the alternatives, the overall impact of using fossil fuels is to make the world a far better place. We are morally obligated to use more fossil fuels for the sake of our economy and our environment.
Drawing on original insights and cutting-edge research, Epstein argues that most of what we hear about fossil fuels is a myth. For instance . . .
Myth: Fossil fuels are dirty.
Truth: The environmental benefits of using fossil fuels far outweigh the risks. Fossil fuels don’t take a naturally clean environment and make it dirty; they take a naturally dirty environment and make it clean. They don’t take a naturally safe climate and make it dangerous; they take a naturally dangerous climate and make it ever safer.
Myth: Fossil fuels are unsustainable, so we should strive to use “renewable” solar and wind.
Truth: The sun and wind are intermittent, unreliable fuels that always need backup from a reliable source of energy—usually fossil fuels. There are huge amounts of fossil fuels left, and we have plenty of time to find something cheaper.
Myth: Fossil fuels are hurting the developing world.
Truth: Fossil fuels are the key to improving the quality of life for billions of people in the developing world. If we withhold them, access to clean water plummets, critical medical machines like incubators become impossible to operate, and life expectancy drops significantly. Calls to “get off fossil fuels” are calls to degrade the lives of innocent people who merely want the same opportunities we enjoy in the West.
Taking everything into account, including the facts about climate change, Epstein argues that “fossil fuels are easy to misunderstand and demonize, but they are absolutely good to use. And they absolutely need to be championed. . . . Mankind’s use of fossil fuels is supremely virtuous—because human life is the standard of value and because using fossil fuels transforms our environment to make it wonderful for human life.”
Click Here For More Information
The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels
Friday, 16 May 2014
Renewables the solution to UK's critical fossil fuel shortage – report
Renewables the solution to UK’s critical fossil fuel shortage – report
The UK faces a desperate shortage of natural resources such as oil and coal, according to a troubling new report that underlines the need for significant investment in renewable energy.
In new analysis, researchers from Anglia Ruskin University’s Global Sustainability Institute (GSI) have comprehensively mapped known international reserves of resources, also looking at supplies of food and water.
They found that the UK’s own reserves contain only enough oil to last 5.2 years at the current rate of consumption, with just 4.5 years of coal and three years of gas.
This means the UK is slightly better off than some of its neighbours – France, for example, has less than a year’s worth of oil, gas and coal.
However, some other European states are far better off. Russia has enough oil to sustain itself for over 50 years, with over 100 years of gas and more 500 years of coal, based on current internal consumption.
Norway has enough natural gas to last itself 420 years, while further afield, Qatar could continue consuming its gas reserves at the current rate for over a millennium.
“These maps show vulnerability in many parts of the EU and they paint a picture of heavily-indebted European economies coming under increasing threat from rising global energy prices”, said Dr Aled Jones, director of the GSI.
Prof Victor Anderson, also of the GSI, added that the report highlighted the need for alternative energy sources.
“The UK urgently needs to be part of a Europe-wide drive to expand renewable energy sources such as wave, wind, tidal and solar power”, he said.
Above: European resource maps for coal, gas and oil (click to enlarge).
Increased energy security is one of the biggest advantages that domestically produced renewable energy brings.
This came after the Conservative party pledged to cut support for onshore wind projects and the Coalition government altered subsidies for solar power, making investors uneasy about the prospects of renewable projects.
The analysis is the first phase of the GSI’s ambitious Global Resource Observatory project, a survey that will provide an international database of national demand, supply and flow figures relevant to global resource security.
The first published findings also include a map of food reserves, finding that while Europe, America and Russia are well stocked, Africa the Arabian Peninsula and the Caribbean are highly dependent on imports.
Photo: johnny choura via Flickr
Further reading:
Guy Hands: Ukraine crisis shows importance of renewable energy
MPs criticise government’s short-termist national energy security plan
Energy security, fuel poverty and social change: the lowdown on renewables
Investments in renewables must increase, warns UN
Global Sustainability Institute to map effects of global resource shortages
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Renewables the solution to UK"s critical fossil fuel shortage – report
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