Spending the stimulus money: energy

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

President Barack Obama has left the U.S. Department of Energy with a difficult task: how spending $150 billion over the next decade will result in 25 percent of Americans using renewable energy sources by 2025.

At the Energy Information Administration's annual conference in Washington today, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said that government funding will drive scientific research to make renewable sources of energy more accessible and affordable.

A Nobel Prize-Winning Physicist, Chu said that with aggressive research, adequate government funding and public support, America will spark a technological and scientific revolution in the energy industry, making renewable energies more accessible and less expensive.

President Obama has committed to doubling the funding of basic science in the next ten years, and Chu believes the funds will have significant impacts.

Chu believes that economic prosperity is tied intimately to energy affordability and energy security, and cautioned against being misled into believing that there is any correlation between the amount of energy a country uses and that country’s economic prosperity. Citing numbers from the Human Development Index, Chu displayed that over the past several decades California’s energy consumption has remained consistent while its GDP per capita has nearly doubled.

President Obama has said repeatedly that his energy plan is one that will help the economy by creating green jobs which are not subject to the threat of outsourcing, but opponents criticize the costs involved.

The Energy policy laid out in January’s Stimulus Package allots over $16 billion to energy efficiency and renewable energy, which is part of the broader $32.7 billion that the Department of Energy was given overall.

Lights out: America’s energy future

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

President Barack Obama’s massive energy overhaul may be cruising towards the edge of a cliff if the U.S. doesn’t start manufacturing more. Such was said today before Congress by Jeff Metts, President of Dowding Machining, a manufacturer of wind turbines.

Obama’s energy policy focuses on having 25 percent of the country’s electricity come from renewable sources of energy by 2025. The Senate has introduced a bill, S.661, which sets a slightly different standard: 20 percent by 2025. Mett doesn’t believe that the U.S. can manufacture enough wind turbines quickly enough to meet either of these goals at its current pace. He said that in 2008 the United States produced approximately 4,000 wind turbines, but that it would have to produce over 10,000 turbines each year until 2025 to meet the energy goal. There are several large logistical concerns to this process, including the cost of transporting these massive components and the time taken to manufacture each one. The transportation costs make it difficult for foreign production of the necessary parts.

Mett presented a solution to the manufacturing problem, which would cut the production time of certain components down to an eighth of what it would otherwise be. His company is seeking investors for new manufacturing plants in the United States to build these turbines quickly and efficiently. Mett said that the improvements manifest in his manufacturing process would be “game changers” in making clean energy, and that they will be the new standard around the world overnight. This would place the U.S. in a competitive advantage in the energy market. David Roders, representative from the Department of Energy, said that tight capital markets have made it difficult for industries to invest in energy efficiency. On that topic, Mett said that the problem with innovations like this is finding the first investor – he is asking the Federal government to be that ice breaker.

This manufacturing investment would be included in the comprehensive energy legislation the Senate is putting together. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said that the Senate Bill will invest in America’s energy future. It will help industries be more productive while using less energy, create millions of new jobs, and keep America in its position as “a top innovator of clean energy technologies.” The intended byproduct of this would be lowered greenhouse gas emissions, which should slow climate change.

Today at Talk Radio News Service

Bureau Chief Ellen Ratner and Legal Affairs Correspondent Jay Tamboli will be reporting on the Presidential Debate in Nashville, Tenn.

White House Correspondent Lovisa Frost will be covering the President’s remarks on the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act in Chantilly, Va.

Pentagon Correspondent S. Dawn Casey will be reporting from the Pentagon.

The Washington Bureau will be covering the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on the AIG bailout, remarks by Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer on the release of National Biofuels Action Plan, a discussion on the function of the Electoral College at the National Archives, and the National Research Council’s briefing on protecting individual privacy in the struggle against terrorists.

The Washington Bureau will also be covering a National Press Club luncheon with artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude on the art project "The Mastaba" for the United Arab Emirates and the Energy Deparment’s 2008-2009 Winter Fuels Outlook Conference.

A penny a day keeps the oil crisis away

A hearing on the “Carbon Capture and Storage Early Deployment Act” was held before the Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) allows for the capture and storage of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel electric generation facilities by means of injecting the emissions into the ground.

Congressman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said that the bipartisan legislation was proof that both Republicans and Democrats could work together to combat climate change. Upton considered the bill a ‘no-regrets’ approach to dealing with climate change while heeding America’s economy and domestic energy security. Upton pointed out that it is crucial that America takes advantage of the nation’s vast coal reserves to produce clean and affordable energy. Upton referred to a Department of Energy assessment that approximately 89 billion barrels of oil could be recoverable by using carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technology.

Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) appeared most hesitant of CCS technologies as she brought up the liabilities and environmental consequences that need to be addressed. Blackburn said that the carbon dioxide injections into the ground could potentially enter groundwater and contaminate lakes. In addition, she discussed a finding from Columbia University which claimed that the excess carbon dioxide in the ground could induce earthquakes.

Witness Dr. Edward S. Rubin, alumni professor of environmental engineering and science at Carnegie Mellon University, estimated that CCS would cost an average U.S. residential customer ‘a penny a day per household’ or $3 to $5 per year which is less than the Committee’s $10 to $12 per year estimate.