World oil to run out in 4 years

[waltky]

Solar power from space via satellite?...

'Drilling up' into space for energy
Sun Dec 23, 2007 : While great nations fretted over coal, oil and global warming, one of the smallest at the U.N. climate conference was looking toward the heavens for its energy.

The annual meeting's corridors can be a sounding board for unlikely "solutions" to climate change — from filling the skies with soot to block the sun, to cultivating oceans of seaweed to absorb the atmosphere's heat-trapping carbon dioxide. Unlike other ideas, however, one this year had an influential backer, the Pentagon, which is investigating whether space-based solar power — beaming energy down from satellites — will provide "affordable, clean, safe, reliable, sustainable and expandable energy for mankind."

Tommy Remengesau Jr. is interested, too. "We'd like to look at it," said the president of the tiny western Pacific nation of Palau. The Defense Department this October quietly issued a 75-page study conducted for its National Security Space Office concluding that space power — collection of energy by vast arrays of solar panels aboard mammoth satellites — offers a potential energy source for global U.S. military operations.

It could be done with today's technology, experts say. But the prohibitive cost of lifting thousands of tons of equipment into space makes it uneconomical. That's where Palau, a scattering of islands and 20,000 islanders, comes in. In September, American entrepreneur Kevin Reed proposed at the 58th International Astronautical Congress in Hyderabad, India, that Palau's uninhabited Helen Island would be an ideal spot for a small demonstration project, a 260-foot-diameter "rectifying antenna," or rectenna, to take in 1 megawatt of power transmitted earthward by a satellite orbiting 300 miles above Earth.

That's enough electricity to power 1,000 homes, but on that empty island the project would "be intended to show its safety for everywhere else," Reed said in a telephone interview from California. Reed said he expects his U.S.-Swiss-German consortium to begin manufacturing the necessary ultralight solar panels within two years, and to attract financial support from manufacturers wanting to show how their technology — launch vehicles, satellites, transmission technology — could make such a system work. He estimates project costs at $800 million and completion as early as 2012.

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[waltky]

Switchgrass better than corn for ethanol...

Grass Makes Better Ethanol than Corn
January 8, 2008 - GRASS GAS: Midwestern farms prove switchgrass could be the right crop for producing ethanol to replace gasoline

Farmers in Nebraska and the Dakotas brought the U.S. closer to becoming a biofuel economy, planting huge tracts of land for the first time with switchgrass—a native North American perennial grass (Panicum virgatum) that often grows on the borders of cropland naturally—and proving that it can deliver more than five times more energy than it takes to grow it. Working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the farmers tracked the seed used to establish the plant, fertilizer used to boost its growth, fuel used to farm it, overall rainfall and the amount of grass ultimately harvested for five years on fields ranging from seven to 23 acres in size (three to nine hectares).

Once established, the fields yielded from 5.2 to 11.1 metric tons of grass bales per hectare, depending on rainfall, says USDA plant scientist Ken Vogel. "It fluctuates with the timing of the precipitation,'' he says. "Switchgrass needs most of its moisture in spring and midsummer. If you get fall rains, it's not going to do that year's crops much good."

But yields from a grass that only needs to be planted once would deliver an average of 13.1 megajoules of energy as ethanol for every megajoule of petroleum consumed—in the form of nitrogen fertilizers or diesel for tractors—growing them. "It's a prediction because right now there are no biorefineries built that handle cellulosic material" like that which switchgrass provides, Vogel notes. "We're pretty confident the ethanol yield is pretty close." This means that switchgrass ethanol delivers 540 percent of the energy used to produce it, compared with just roughly 25 percent more energy returned by corn-based ethanol according to the most optimistic studies.

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[waltky]

The $100 question...

Security implications of rising oil prices
10 January 2008 : Oil prices have been steadily rising since 2004, evoking comparisons with the two oil price shocks of the 1970s.

Prices surpassed the USD100 per barrel mark on 2 January for the first time in history and are currently near the inflation adjusted peak of USD101.70 per barrel reached in April 1980, posing significant risks to the global economy. However, the prospect of a sustained oil price environment also offers the prospect of mounting security risks as governments struggle to address the implications of higher energy prices.

Rising oil prices will have differing security implications for countries that are net oil importers or net oil exporters. For oil exporters, higher revenue flows could bolster authoritarian regimes, reducing domestic political risk while potentially increasing international belligerence. For oil importers, the rising cost of imports will put heavy pressure on government and consumer accounts. For the wealthier economies this will result in only minor disruption to the population, potentially increasing political risk. However, for more marginal economies the financial burden could put heavy pressure on incomes, increasing the risk of social unrest.

With oil prices approaching USD100 per barrel, oil producers are receiving significantly higher revenues than they had originally budgeted for. For those governments that depend primarily on oil revenues to fund their budgets, such as Iran and Venezuela, this represents a significant windfall and can be used to bolster the government's domestic and international standing. The impact for Iran is obvious, as the country's growing power as an oil exporter gives it significant leverage on the international stage. Not only will high oil revenues compensate to some extent for the impact of United States-imposed economic sanctions, but Tehran will calculate that such demand for oil will reduce the political will of other countries to back US calls for unified action on Iran. This would therefore increase Iran's confidence, or belligerence, when negotiating either bilaterally or multilaterally.

Similarly, increased oil wealth will fuel the belligerent rhetoric of Venezuelan President Hugo Chàvez, who has founded his left-wing, anti-US political agenda on the promise of oil-fuelled social spending programmes. Despite the impact of a worsening business environment, mounting economic asymmetries and political polarisation, rising oil revenues have allowed high social spending, shoring up his regime.

More The $100 question - Security implications of rising oil prices - Jane's Country Risk News

[waltky]

Well, it was here just a minute ago...

Oil Crisis As Barrels Go Missing, According to Audit
January 10, 2008 - How do you not notice when 308,000 barrels of oil go missing?

That's the question government auditors were asking after they looked into the Department of Energy's management of oil received for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a critical program to assure energy stability in the U.S. in case of an oil crisis. To help add to the reserve, DOE receives a portion of the royalty oil that the Department of the Interior gets in return for allowing petroleum companies to drill on government lands and waters. The department's Inspector General Gregory H. Friedman and his auditors found that in 28 percent of the oil transfers they examined, the amount received did not match the estimated amount to be shipped by the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service.

"To illustrate our findings regarding discrepancies, during a four-month period in Fiscal Year 2005, two Department contractors reported receiving 308,000 barrels of royalty oil less than the amount that MMS had scheduled for delivery to the market center. Yet, despite this significant shortfall, the Department took no action to resolve the discrepancy and to ensure that it had received all of the oil shipped by MMS," according to the audit. Eventually, the auditors received documentation from MMS to explain reasons for the discrepancy, including "a decision by MMS to sell royalty oil rather than ship it to the Department," although 32,000 barrels could still not be accounted for in the above example.

Reached for comment, a spokeswoman for the department issued a statement. "We are confident that all royalty oil transferred to DOE was properly delivered to the SPR. However we recognize the need for enhanced controls and as such, we have followed the recommendations of the report and taken steps to strengthen the RIK program by collecting additional supporting documentation for oil receipts and increasing coordination with MMS to facilitate monthly confirmation of the quantity of oil transferred."

Last year, the Interior Department's MMS was investigated by the Government Accountability Office for losing track of billions of dollars in royalties. A GAO report in May 2007 determined that an increase in the royalty rates, which were among "the lowest government takes in the world," could potentially increase revenue by $4.5 billion over 20 years and help ensure "a fair rate of return for the American people from oil production on federally leased lands and waters."

The Blotter: Oil Crisis As Barrels Go Missing, According to Audit

[waltky]

Iceland ship moving from fossil fuels...

Hydrogen ship soon to set sail
Feb 2, 2008 - In a few weeks time, the Icelandic whale watching ship Elding will become the world’s first hydrogen-powered commercial ship, transporting Iceland one step further from fossil fuels.

Hydrogen will initially only be used to power the vessel’s lighting system, but it marks an important first step in Iceland’s goal of converting their entire transportation system to hydrogen by the year 2050. Because the lights on Elding will run on hydrogen fuel cell, the ship will be able to do away with the loud diesel auxiliary engine currently in use. Not only is the use of the hydrogen good for the environment, it’s also good for the ship’s whale watching clients.

In the past, when the crew sighted a whale, the ship’s main engines were stopped in order to let tourists hear the sounds of the whales swimming and blowing water. However, the sound of the auxiliary engines often marred the experience. Ship owner Vignir Sigursveinsson said: “When we have the hydrogen machine, the boat will be completely soundless, which will make the experience of seeing the whales in their natural habitat even more magical.”

The 155 person vessel will be offering whale watching trips from April for just €43 and providing information on the viability of hydrogen power at sea. Jon Bjorn Skulason is the head of the venture which put hydrogen fuel aboard the Elding, a venture which includes academia, the government and Icelandic industry. “We think, with the testing we’re doing over the next two or three years, our society will be quite well prepared to accept this technology on a larger scale,” Skulason said.

Source

[waltky]

The sooner we switch to solar power, the better...

New polymer solar cell technique created
Feb. 11, 2008 -- U.S. scientists have created a new technique for fabricating organic polymer solar cells -- a step toward producing low-cost, plastic solar cells.

Researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and UCLA's California NanoSystems Institute used an electronic, glue-based lamination process, combined with interface modification, to create a one-step method for semi-transparent polymer solar cell fabrication.

The scientists said the method eliminates the need for expensive and time-consuming high-vacuum processes now used in fabrication, and the resulting device has the advantage of being low-cost and achieving high transparency for various applications.

The technique -- developed by Professor Yang Yang, former UCLA graduate student Jinsong Huang and research associate Gang Li -- appears in the January issue of the journal Advanced Materials.

Source

See also:

Biofuels Harming Indonesia's People, Contributing To Environmental Damage
February 11, 2008 - Biofuels were once viewed as the renewable solution to satisfying the seemingly unlimited, growing global appetite for fuel. But a new report on biofuels by Friends of the Earth Sawit Watch and LifeMosaic points out some of the global downsides of biofuels in detailing how it is hurting Indonesia's communities and people.

And the damage being done to human rights in Indonesia by growing palm oil to convert into biofuel is only a microcosm of the potential global damage to people and the environment from attempting to switch from fossil fuels to biofuel to fill vehicle gas tanks. According to the International Herald-Tribune, a ton of palm oil generates 33 tons of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide emissions, which is 10 times more carbon dioxide than the fossil fuel petroleum emits. The Friends of the Earth report is titled "Losing Ground."

It points out the irony of attempting to tackle the problem of climate change, which is damaging the earth's environment, by replacing greenhouse gas emitting fossil fuels with agrofuels because the production of those agrofuels causes more damage to the environment. Palm oil has become a favored crop to grow to produce biofuels and Indonesia, which produces most of the world's palm oil, is putting more land into palm oil production. According to the report, to do so Indonesia's government is in the process of clearing forest that currently covers a land area the size of England, the Netherlands and Switzerland combined to plant more palm oil.

However, destroying forests also destroys the livelihoods of from 60 million to 90 million people in Indonesia, who don't stand to profit from palm oil plantations. Destruction of the forests also robs endangered animals, birds, insects and plants - including many medicinal plants - of a place to live and directly threatens endangered species such as the orangutan and Sumatran Tiger. In Indonesia, property is not always owned by individuals. The forests have been managed by communities for generations. The 60 million to 90 million people living in those communities have used the forests to earn their livings by growing food and cash crops, harvesting medicinal plants, rubber for latex and other uses and building materials.

Part of the problem is Indonesia's 1945 Constitution that partially protects indigenous people's rights but also states that "land, water, and all natural resources that belong to common pools and public goods, are under state control and will be utilized for the maximum welfare of the people," according to the report's Executive Summary.

Biofuels Harming Indonesia's People, Contributing To Environmental Damage | February 11, 2008 | AHN

[waltky]

Mayor B. comin' out against it should catch peoples' attention...

Bloomberg slams US energy law over corn ethanol
Mon Feb 11, 2008 - A new U.S. energy law will cause an increase in global food prices and lead to starvation deaths worldwide because it continues to promote corn ethanol, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Monday.

"People literally will starve to death in parts of the world, it always happens when food prices go up," Bloomberg told reporters after addressing a U.N. General Assembly debate on climate change. The new U.S. law, which came into force late last year, increased fivefold the required amount of blending of biofuels like corn ethanol -- creating higher demand for the grain that will push up corn prices.

By 2022 some 15 billion gallons of the required 36 billion could come from corn ethanol, with the rest mandated to come from lower-carbon sources such as crop waste and switchgrass. The new law favored corn ethanol by continuing to subsidize it while taxing sugar ethanol, Bloomberg said. This is because corn ethanol is mainly domestically produced while sugar ethanol is imported from Brazil and subject to import tariffs.

Bloomberg joined other critics of corn ethanol production in saying it was not a net producer of energy, unlike sugar ethanol. That is, corn ethanol does not yield more energy than it takes to produce, transport and use it. Biofuels are seen by some people as a means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and boosting energy security by providing an alternative to fossil fuels.

Richard Branson, the billionaire British entrepreneur and head of Virgin Group, agreed that sugar ethanol was preferable to corn-based biofuel. It would make more sense, he said, for the United States to grow food and let countries like Brazil use their land to produce sugar for biofuels. "I think if America got rid of the importation duty on sugar-based ethanol, that's what would happen and I think the world would benefit from that," Branson told reporters.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro blasted the Bush administration's biofuels policy as "genocidal" in a series of articles last year, saying they threatened to worsen global hunger by pushing up prices for food crops used to make ethanol.

GLOBAL WARMING IS AS BAD AS TERRORISM

[waltky]

Something we should consider doing...

Venezuela's Chavez says may create windfall oil tax
Sun Feb 17, 2008 - Venezuela may create a windfall tax on oil profits generated by rising oil prices, President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday, extending the OPEC nation's efforts to increase revenue from the oil industry.

The leftist leader said Venezuela could sue Exxon Mobil for unpaid oil taxes, just days after revelations that Exxon won court orders freezing up to $12 billion in Venezuelan assets to ensure compensation for a nationalized oil project. Chavez also repeated threats to cut oil sales to the United States if Washington attacks the South American nation.

The windfall tax would represent the fourth increase in oil taxes in as many years as part of Chavez's drive to increase revenue from the oil industry and increase state control over oil fields, a crusade that sparked the current legal tussle with Exxon. "If the price of oil continues to strengthen between $80 and $100 per barrel, I think it is necessary to apply this tax," Chavez said during his weekly broadcast held at the Cerro Negro oil project once run by Exxon.

"Soon I want to be presented with a recommendation for what we could call the tax on sudden earnings." Chavez in 2004 raised royalties on four heavy oil projects, and in 2006 created an "extraction" tax and boosted income tax on the same projects.

More Venezuela's Chavez says may create windfall oil tax | International | Reuters

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dey gougin' us `fore the oil runs out...

Oil breaks $100, hits new all-time high
February 19 2008: Oil prices hit new record highs Tuesday as a Texas refinery fire and fears of an OPEC production cut pushed crude to settle at over $100 a barrel for the first time ever.

U.S. crude for March delivery jumped $4.51 to settle at $100.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, topping the previous settlement record of $99.62 set Jan. 2. Oil also hit a new all-time trading high of $100.10 a barrel, besting the previous high of $100.9 set Jan. 3. A weekend refinery explosion in Texas and the possibility that OPEC will cut production next month are driving prices higher, although analysts say there isn't a single factor to explain the move. The refinery in Big Spring, Texas is owned by Alon USA. It processes nearly 70,000 barrels of oil a day. Officials say it could be closed for as long as two months.

"The refinery fire in Texas is making people a little concerned," said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research Inc. in Amherst, Mass. March gasoline jumped 11.4 cents to $2.6078 a gallon, and March heating oil rose 10.41 cents to $2.751 a gallon. The dollar fell Tuesday, giving investors another reason to buy oil. Crude futures offer a hedge against a falling dollar, and oil futures bought and sold in dollars are more attractive to foreign investors when the greenback is falling.

For the moment, investors appear to have put aside concerns about the economy that have sent oil prices down into the mid-$80 range twice since crude peaked above $100 last month. Traders are instead focused on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which will meet early next month to map out production plans, and Venezuela, where President Hugo Chavez made conflicting statements this weekend about the country's legal dispute with Exxon Mobil Corp.

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[waltky]

Maybe speculators tryin' to get ever'body to beat their swords into plowshares...

Indonesia slashes defence budget in wake of oil price hike
27 February 2008 - Soaring oil prices have led Indonesia to cut defence expenditure

Spiralling oil prices have forced the Indonesian government to reduce all ministerial budgets - including defence - by 15 per cent, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani announced on 26 February.

The government announced a Fiscal Year 2008 (FY08) defence budget of IDR36.4 trillion (USD3.9 billion) in January, a 10 per cent rise on the 2007 figure of IDR32.6 billion. The government's retrenchment effort, however, could see the Southeast Asian country's defence budget fall to IDR30.6 trillion, or around 0.7 per cent of GDP.

In comments published by Indonesia's state-run media, Mulyani said that the decision was taken following the increase in the price of oil to a record USD100 per barrel, which in turn had increased government subsidies to the oil sector.

Indonesia slashes defence budget in wake of oil price hike - Jane's Defence Business News