July 30, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: 3 Comments
With gasoline prices at record highs, and the strain on a weak American economy already at an extreme, Pres. Bush is pushing Congress to hold an “up-or-down vote” on renewed exploration of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) before its August recess. Opponents protest that none of any oil found there would be available for production for 10 to 15 years, and the OCS plan is an attempt to deliver oil firms an otherwise unjustifiable gift, taking advantage of the pressurized situation of exorbitant prices.
More on page 559
July 18, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: 4 Comments
The former vice president of the United States, Al Gore, yesterday announced an ambitious goal, which he says the nation can meet, of transitioning its entire domestic energy production to clean resources by 2018. The speech marks a major moment in the process of transition to the green technology boom, which will be the next step in the ongoing economic development of the United States and the world. Gore, however, warned that failing to meet the challenge to date means “the United States of America as we know it is at risk”.
More on page 491
July 17, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
Former US vice-president Al Gore is calling on the nation to marshal its resources and divorce itself from the combustible fuels economy. Gore says the US can produce all its energy requirements from renewable resources within 10 years, if action is taken. The bold initiative is designed to drive debate on the topic and move discussions about how to deal with high fuel prices toward the new opportunity they provide for funding renewable infrastructure development.
More on page 490
July 10, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
T. Boone Pickens has started what USA Today reports will be “the biggest public policy ad campaign ever” to promote a national economic shift from oil to renewable fuels, primarily wind. The campaign is centered on the PickensPlan website, which shows the oil tycoon explaining how and why the US can and must break its dependence on foreign oil —for which American consumers pay $700 billion per year— by transitioning to an energy economy founded on exploiting the massive wind resources of the Great Plains.
More on page 476
July 9, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Petroleum is the most pervasive base resource other than water in the global economy of the 21st century, and as demand is exploding, production is nearing its geological peak, and untenable price increases are hitting a strained economy hard. Oil prices could be in a stagflation lock, unable to readjust to consumers’ means, unable to compete as emerging energy sources repeatedly slash development and commercial prices. Whatever factors are at play, crude oil prices have jumped over 900% since 1998, and it looks like production cannot meet global demand.
More on page 469
June 23, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: 2 Comments
In a speech today in California, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) pledged to create a fund to grant $300 million to anyone who can invent a significantly more powerful car battery, which would make hybrid and electric automobiles more viable as a replacement for petroleum-fueled cars, and promised to give $5,000 tax credit automakers for every zero-emissions vehicle sold. He also demanded that automakers help make every new car “flex-fuel” vehicles, and speed the move away from petroleum powered automobiles.
More on page 453
May 26, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
According to the Financial Times, the United States is, however gingerly, beginning to break its dangerous reliance on foreign-sourced petroleum-based fuels. Foreign oil has been a major driving force in US economic and political trends for the better part of a century, and many in the US, both in politics and in private life, are increasing their calls for the country to move away from the resource that’s sown so much instability and propped up undemocratic regimes.
More on page 306
March 13, 2008 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
TheHotSpring.com :: The emergence of ecological economic trends, methods and industries, means that a wave of job creation could be the stabilizing factor which helps American industry recover both momentum and public appeal, potentially helping to ease pricing pressures and banks’ concerns about lending to individuals and small and medium-sized businesses.
An industry-environmentalist joint conference in […]
More on page 285
March 13, 2008 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
TheHotSpring.com :: The ongoing transition to an environmentally sustainable economy, focusing on energy and agricultural resources, is already opening the door to a range of new industrial and engineering services related to resource and ecosystem resilience (now understood to be vital to the stability of the natural environment whose own services underpin every element of […]
More on page 284
March 4, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
At its current growth rate, global installed wind power capacity will top 100,000 megawatts in March 2008. In 2007, wind power capacity increased by a record-breaking 20,000 megawatts, bringing the world total to 94,100 megawatts—enough to satisfy the residential electricity needs of 150 million people. Driven by concerns regarding climate change and energy security, one in every three countries now generates a portion of its electricity from wind, with 13 countries each exceeding 1,000 megawatts of installed wind electricity-generating capacity.
More on page 474
February 16, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
The coming green, renewable resource economyThe private investment fund Ceres, a group of institutional investors, has promised to devote $10 billion to investment in clean energy sources. The news comes as 3 of the world’s major oil companies call for coordinated policy on how to face climate change, constrain emissions, and a couple of months after 150 global corporations asked for a major boost in subsidized research into transitioning to clean energy technologies.
More on page 283
February 11, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
At a meeting of European scientists, in Stockholm, Sweden, the man who coined the term ‘anthropocene’ to describe the new geological epoch in which human influence dominates natural processes, announced that the term has gained acceptance in a growing number of fields. The real import of the term, and of its increasing relevance to what science is showing about the effects of human civilization on the environment, globally, is that ecological information is increasingly vital to implementing human ambitions in a responsible and sustainable way.
More on page 298
January 2, 2008 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
Sentido.tv :: 2008 will be a year in which the integrity of election processes, the quality and resilience of cultivated soils, the availability of credit to consumers, the affordability of homes and rentals, and access to affordable vital staples like food and water, as well as the cost of transportation, will affect economies the world […]
More on page 277
December 3, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
TheHotSpring.com :: Between the years 2008 and 2020, we are likely to see a still unimaginably sweeping shift away from fossil fuels and high-contamination modes of powering our economy. The transition will have a political component, but will be driven mostly by cost concerns, resource scarcity, and public demand for cleaner air and responsible […]
More on page 275
October 14, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
Sentido.tv :: Can the world prepare to face the potential economic fallout from increasingly intense weather phenomena, prolonged heat waves, desertification, ice-melt and flooding? While there is no clear proof Hurricane Katrina was a direct result of climate change, hurricanes of such intensity will become increasingly frequent as Gulf waters warm; the aftermath […]
More on page 270
September 23, 2007 :: l.johr :: No Comment Yet
The race to tap large quantities of underground, geothermal energy is heating up. In a recent bid to solve their country’s demand for clean energy, the Swiss are digging deep, and the Earth is responding. A scientist at MIT, in the US, says 40% of US geothermal sources could power the entire country’s energy needs in excess of 56,000 times.
More on page 217
August 3, 2007 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
As environmental groups, lobbyists and the general public push for more environmentally friendly industrial practices, scientists are finding innovative ways to bring down costs and increase the efficiency of renewable resources. The dye-sensitive solar cells (DSSC), with a pinkish sheen, now being developed at Ohio State University, are an example of the type of engineering innovation that could bring about a genuine green-power revolution.
More on page 478
