EU to ban cars from cities by 2050

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/8411336/EU-to-ban-cars-from-cities-by-2050.html

US: Most energy resources in the world and most incoherent energy policy.

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/03/26/us-most-energy-resources-in-the-world-and-most-incoherent-energy-policy/

Earth Hour may be losing steam as novelty wears off

http://edmonton.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110326/earth-hour-110326/20110326/?hub=EdmontonHome

The Toronto city skyline is pictured moments before the start of Earth Hour on Saturday March 26, 2011. (Chris Young/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

View larger image Downtown buildings go mostly dark to celebrate Earth Hour but lights stay on at the Saddledome, foreground, because of an event in Calgary, Alberta on Saturday March 27, 2010. (Larry MacDougal / THE CANADIAN PRESS)   View larger image Downtown Vancouver, B.C., is pictured with many lights turned off during Earth Hour on Saturday March 27, 2010. (Darryl Dyck / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Updated: Sat Mar. 26 2011 06:05:08

The Canadian Press

TORONTO — More Canadian municipalities are pledging to power down Saturday for Earth Hour, but an expert says interest in the event may already be fizzling.

Earth Hour has "done a great job of capturing the imagination of an awful lot of people around the world" to raise awareness of climate change issues, said Mark Sarner, who specializes in marketing for non-profits.

But "just more of the same gets old fast," he said Friday, noting most marketing campaigns will fade after a few years without something new to draw the public's attention.

"If I think back to last year's Earth Hour, I don't think it was as big a deal because, you know, novelty normalizes and this is no longer a novelty," he said.

"Unless something really dramatic is done to recreate it and reinvent it, I don't think Earth Hour will be a significant thing in the next five years."

Earth Hour began in Australia in 2007 and has since spread to more than 130 countries.

Canadians organized hundreds of grassroots celebrations -- from candlelit walks to astronomy parties -- for the country's first Earth Hour in March 2008.

Some have become annual traditions, while others have been discontinued.

It's hard to predict how many people will shut off the lights between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, but organizers said they aren't worried about losing steam.

More than 420 municipalities across Canada plan to participate this year, up from roughly 300 last year, said Steven Price of the World Wildlife Fund, the organization behind the event.

About one billion people worldwide are expected to take part, on par with last year, he said.

"I'm confident it will be dark (Saturday) night," he said Friday.

In Toronto, last year's Earth Hour efforts saved 296 megawatts of power, a reduction of about 10 per cent, according to Toronto Hydro.

That's less than in 2009, when the city saved 454 megawatts, or about 15 per cent.

Jennifer Link, a spokeswoman for Toronto Hydro, said she doesn't know whether the downward trend will continue.

Earth Hour shouldn't be judged based on how much energy it saves, said Sarner. Its real goal is to send a message to policy-makers that people care about climate change, he said.

"I would say after five years (Earth Hour) may have done its job," he said.

The challenge now, he said, "is going to be how to sustain, deepen and broaden the momentum of support for climate change-related policies, practices and behaviours."

Now is the time to re-launch the "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" campaign.

http://view.email.americansolutions.com/?j=fe5116727d630c747217&m=fec515717d62007b&ls=fdf41572716603757616757c&l=fec0157877620c7b&s=fe21117177660c74731c75&jb=ffcf14&ju=fe30167574670c7e751776&r=0

Gregory - The other week, my husband accidentally dented the bumper of my car right where I have my "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" bumper sticker. And I'll tell you, it made me think - it's time for a new one. Gas prices are soaring; it's $3.39/gallon where I live in Georgia. The Middle East is in disarray. A federal judge in Louisiana declared the Obama administration in contempt of court and ordered them to move faster to issue drilling permits. Now is the time to re-launch the "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" campaign. When American Solutions started this effort in the summer of '08, I signed on - along with over 1.6 million other Americans - and after all our hard work the decades-old ban on offshore drilling was finally lifted. But unfortunately, we're now back where we were. So today - for jobs, for energy independence, and for national security - we are restarting the "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" campaign. Below is a new video by American Solutions, meant to reintroduce the "Drill Here, Drill Now" campaign to every American frustrated with high gas prices and our ongoing dependence on foreign countries. I hope you'll take a minute to watch their short new video, and sign the petition. Once you watch the video, you can also get a brand new "Drill Here, Drill Now" bumper sticker. I'm ready to get the ball rolling here in Georgia, and I hope you'll get involved in your state as well. Hopefully, because of our efforts now, our children and grandchildren will never need a "Drill Here, Drill Now" sticker on their car, because they'll inherit an America with more American energy, more American jobs, and more opportunity for a better future. Thanks for getting involved. Sincerely, Wendy Bloedt Member, American Solutions Coweta County, Georgia

MORE ON THE ADMINISTRATION'S ENERGY BOONDOGGLES

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/03/028589.php

I just watched documentary "Inside Job". A comment I posted below.

http://www.insideredbox.com/movies/?i=3376

Movie and good directors commentary included on Redbox rental.  I've watched the CNBC "House of Cards" and the PBS shows on the crash several times.  This is like an upgraded version of the PBS show.

It has criticism of Obama but has a mild left wing tilt similar to the PBS documentary versus a History or Discovery Channel documentary on the same subject.   Not a strong tilt but it is there.  For example Rep Barney Frank claimed that thirty years ago mortgages were made by the banks which received payments.  Actually, this type of "It's a Wonderful Life" type mortgages from demand passbook account money was responsible for the S&L bailout when interest rates rose.

I bought FHA fixed in 1986.  My mortgage was resold several times.  They were bundled and the idea then was diversification so you don't have all the eggs in one basket if a city has an natural disaster or major industry closure. (Think New Orleans after Katrina).

Also, they discussed Iceland mentioning the "raping of the environment" to use geothermal and build dams to generate electricity primarily for aluminum refining.  They showed basically glacier scarp "badlands" to build dams and other facilities.   An implication but not description of any significant environmental or financial harm caused by this development  beyond subjective "visual pollution".

As far as I can tell the aluminum production business (which requires huge amounts of electricity) will be a "cash cow" for Iceland for many decades.  Unless we eventually develop a "hydrogen economy" which is unlikely with "fracking" natural gas finds, the surplus Iceland electricity is basically useless except for aluminum refining.

The director, in the commentary admits he didn't do enough to delve into US gov Fannie and Freddie which repurchased these subprime trances and gave them US government insurance.  Big flaw!

As to the Academy Awards, they totally ignored the far more meaningful "Waiting for Superman" (which was against the Hollywood sacred cow, unions) but gave nomination to this and the highly flawed documentary "Gasland".

That said, if taken with a grain of salt Inside Job is a good documentary on the financial collapse.  Basically because I had other "pots on the stove" I had all my investments in low risk fixed interest placement.  Very little loss but I am constantly running into people who lost 40% or more in their investments.

That said, worth the Redbox rental if just for the excellent cityscape views.  If you can't understand some of my comments here you get it all from the DVD but some of it will sink in.

To say it is complicated is an understatement.

Don’t count on constant electricity under renewable energy, says UK electricity CEO.

http://opinion.financialpost.com/2011/03/05/lawrence-solomon-don%E2%80%99t-count-on-constant-electricity-under-renewable-energy-says-uk-electricity-ceo/

Wind power will require lifestyle change

Electricity consumers in the UK will need to get used to flicking the switch and finding the power unavailable, according to Steve Holliday, CEO of National Grid, the country’s grid operator. Because of a six-fold increase in wind generation, which won’t be available when the wind doesn’t blow, “The grid is going to be a very different system in 2020, 2030,” he told BBC’s Radio 4. “We keep thinking that we want it to be there and provide power when we need it. It’s going to be much smarter than that.

“We are going to change our own behaviour and consume it when it is available and available cheaply.”

Holliday has for several years been predicting that blackouts could become a feature of power systems that replace reliable coal plants with wind turbines in order to meet greenhouse gas targets. Wind-based power systems are necessary to meet the government’s targets, he has explained, but they will require lifestyle changes.

Under the so-called “smart grid” that the UK is developing, the government-regulated utility will be able to decide when and where power should be delivered, to ensure that it meets the highest social purpose. Governments may, for example, decide that the needs of key industries take precedence over others, or that the needs of industry trump that of residential consumers. Governments would also be able to price power prohibitively if it is used for non-essential purposes.

Smart grids are being developed by utilities worldwide to allow the government to control electricity use in the home, down to the individual appliance. Smart grids would monitor the consumption of each appliance and be capable of turning them off if the power is needed elsewhere.

Holliday’s startling comments on BBC Radio 4 were reported by The Daily Telegraph.

Shocker: EPA air chief ignorant of atmospheric CO2 level

http://junkscience.com/2011/03/01/shocker-epa-air-chief-ignorant-of-atmospheric-co2-levels/

Shocker: EPA air chief ignorant of atmospheric CO2 level

March 1, 2011

At today’s House Energy and Power Subcommittee hearing on EPA’s job killing greenhouse gas regulations, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) asked panel witness Gina McCarthy — chief of EPA’s air programs, including the agency’s greenhouse gas regulations — whether she had any idea of what the atmospheric level of carbon dioxide is, SHE ADMITTED THAT SHE DID NOT!

(MY QUICK ANSWER, NITROGEN 80%, OYGEN 20%, CO2 IS TRACE AROUND 350 PARTS PER MILLION.  TO GIVE A $100 DOLLAR BILL AS AN ANALOGY CARBON DIOXIDE/CO2 IS 3.5 CENTS OF THE $100)

A comment I just left for moderation approval at Minnpost.com (I expect it to be approved but go down to comments on link.)

http://www.minnpost.com/bradallen/2011/03/01/26213/north_dakota_oil_fields_benefiting_from_mideast_unrest

Sites like the Bakken depend on a "floor" on oil prices of $40 to $50 per barrel.  To some extent the genie is out of the bottle with technologies like fracking and horizontal drilling.   (to turn and oil drilling pipe ninety degrees horizontal requires a turn of at least 600 feet.  Think of the quarter turn on a highway cloverleaf where you go from north to east.)

This technique requires special alloy drilling casings.  A typical Bakken well is one mile vertical and two miles horizontal, to use some comprehensible measures.  A well project costs five to seven million dollars.  The portion bearing oil and gas is only 100 to 150 feet thick.  In the past you would drill down, strike oil and gas but the well would "peter out" by the time you sobered up from the celebration.  Horizontal drilling solves this problem.

The viability of the Bakken and other "non-traditional" oil and gas sources depends on a sustained "floor" price oil in the $40 to $50 per barrel range.  This basically translates to $2 per gallon retail gasoline with current taxes.

As for the claims in the movie "Gasland" that the oil and natural gas seep up to water wells, this is a natural occurance.  In Bakken there is a requirement of putting gas detectors and water testing at wells near the or under the drilling.  Often these are detected before the drilling starts so you have have a "baseline". There is a thick layer of impermeable clay/shale above the oil bearing shale.  Basically the volcanic caldera under Yellowstone Park blew up at least twice showering more than six feet of volcanic ash in and around the Bakken area.

If you believe Wikileaks State department messages the Saudi oil reserves are 40% less than the optimistic claims.  If true, Saudi Arabia can no longer flood the market with cheap extraction oil like they did in the 1990's.   If true we will never see sustained gasoline under $2 per gallon and the Bakken will be "for real".  Williston, ND went bust when oil prices dropped dramatically in the 1990's.  Now it is again booming.

The Mideast turmoil "juiced" the Bakken stocks but the fundamentals are good so long as retail gasoline is more than two dollars a gallon.

A comment I saw posted. USC now says that heqavy snow is due to global warming.

http://intensedebate.com/people/wgc1959


Funny, this is what the UCS was saying in 2006: The Union of Concerned Scientists’ (UCS) Climate Choices web site (published in 2006) says: “here in the Northeast, the climate is changing. Records show that spring is arriving earlier, summers are growing hotter, and winters are becoming warmer and less snowy. These changes are consistent with global warming, an urgent phenomenon driven by heat-trapping emissions from human activities. I guess they forgot they published that in 2006, or maybe they can't make up their mind, or more probable, they have no idea what their talking about.