For every unit of fossil energy used to produce biodiesel, 3.2 units of biodiesel energy are created.
-- U.S. Dept. of Energy
Biodiesel reduces the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) being released into the atmosphere.
-- U.S. Dept. of Energy
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Current Environmentally Responsible Events
July 2007
America is addicted to foreign oil!
It's an addiction that threatens our economy, our environment and our national security. It touches every part of our daily lives and ties our hands as a nation and a people.
The addiction has worsened for decades and now it's reached a point of crisis.
In 1970, we imported 24% of our oil.
Today it's nearly 70% and growing.
As imports grow and world prices rise, the amount of money we send to foreign nations every year is soaring. At current oil prices, we will send $700 billion dollars out of the country this year alone — that's four times the annual cost of the Iraq war.
Projected over the next 10 years the cost will be $10 trillion — it will be the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind.
America uses a lot of oil. Every day 85 million barrels of oil are produced around the world. And 21 million of those are used here in the United States.
That's 25% of the world's oil demand. Used by just 4% of the world's population.
Can't we just produce more oil?
World oil production peaked in 2005. Despite growing demand and an unprecedented increase in prices, oil production has fallen over the last three years. Oil is getting more expensive to produce, harder to find and there just isn't enough of it to keep up with demand.
The simple truth is that cheap and easy oil is gone.
What's the good news?
The United States is the Saudi Arabia of wind power.
Studies from around the world show that the Great Plains states are home to the greatest wind energy potential in the world — by far.
The Department of Energy reports that 20% of America's electricity can come from wind. North Dakota alone has the potential to provide power for more than a quarter of the country.
Today's wind turbines stand up to 410 feet tall, with blades that stretch 148 feet in length. The blades collect the wind's kinetic energy. In one year, a 3-megawatt wind turbine produces as much energy as 12,000 barrels of imported oil.
Wind power currently accounts for 48 billion kWh of electricity a year in the United States — enough to serve more than 4.5 million households. That is still only about 1% of current demand, but the potential of wind is much greater.
A 2005 Stanford University study found that there is enough wind power worldwide to satisfy global demand 7 times over — even if only 20% of wind power could be captured.
Building wind facilities in the corridor that stretches from the Texas panhandle to North Dakota could produce 20% of the electricity for the United States at a cost of $1 trillion. It would take another $200 billion to build the capacity to transmit that energy to cities and towns.
That's a lot of money, but it's a one-time cost. And compared to the $700 billion we spend on foreign oil every year, it's a bargain.
An economic revival for rural America.
Developing wind power is an investment in rural America.
To witness the economic promise of wind energy, look no further than Sweetwater, Texas.
Sweetwater was typical of many small towns in middle-America. With a shortage of good jobs, the youth of Sweetwater were leaving in search of greater opportunities. And the town's population dropped from 12,000 to under 10,000.
When a large wind power facility was built outside of town, Sweetwater experienced a revival. New economic opportunity brought the town back to life and the population has grown back up to 12,000.
In the Texas panhandle, just north of Sweetwater, is the town of Pampa, where T. Boone Pickens' Mesa Power is currently building the largest wind farm in the world.
At 4,000 megawatts — the equivalent combined output of four large coal-fire plants — the production of the completed Pampa facility will double the wind energy output of the United States.
In addition to creating new construction and maintenance jobs, thousands of Americans will be employed to manufacture the turbines and blades. These are high skill jobs that pay on a scale comparable to aerospace jobs.
Plus, wind turbines don't interfere with farming and grazing, so they don't threaten food production or existing local economies.
A cheap new replacement for foreign oil.
Natural gas and bio-fuels are the only domestic energy sources used for transportation.
Cleaner
Natural gas is the cleanest transportation fuel available today.
According to the California Energy Commission, critical greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas are 23% lower than diesel and 30% lower than gasoline.
Natural gas vehicles (NGV) are already available and combine top performance with low emissions. The natural gas Honda Civic GX is rated as the cleanest production vehicle in the world.
According to NGVAmerica, there are more than 7 million NGVs in use worldwide, but only 150,000 of those are in the United States.
The EPA estimates that vehicles on the road account for 60% of carbon monoxide pollution and around one-third of hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide emissions in the United States. As federal and state emissions laws become more stringent, many requirements will be unattainable with conventionally fueled vehicles.
Since natural gas is significantly cleaner than petroleum, NGVs are increasing in popularity. The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach recently announced that 16,800 old diesel trucks will be replaced, and half of the new vehicles will run on alternatives such as natural gas.
Cheaper
Natural gas is significantly less expensive than gasoline or diesel. In places like Utah and Oklahoma, prices are less than $1 a gallon. To see fueling stations and costs in your area, check out cngprices.com.
Domestic
Natural gas is our country's second largest energy resource and a vital component of our energy supply. 98% of the natural gas used in the United States is from North America. But 70% of our oil is purchased from foreign nations.
Natural gas is one of the cleanest, safest and most useful forms of energy — residentially, commercially and industrially. The natural gas industry has existed in the United States for over 100 years and continues to grow.
Domestic natural gas reserves are twice that of petroleum. And new discoveries of natural gas and ongoing development of renewable biogas are continually adding to existing reserves.
While it is a cheap, effective and versatile fuel, less than 1% of natural gas is currently used for transportation.
The Mechanics
We currently use natural gas to produce 22% of our electricity. Harnessing the power of wind to generate electricity will give us the flexibility to shift natural gas away from electricity generation and put it to use as a transportation fuel — reducing our dependence on foreign oil by more than one-third.
How do we get it done?
The Pickens Plan is a bridge to the future — a blueprint to reduce foreign oil dependence by harnessing domestic energy alternatives, and buy us time to develop even greater new technologies.
Building new wind generation facilities and better utilizing our natural gas resources can replace more than one-third of our foreign oil imports in 10 years. But it will take leadership.
On January 20th, 2009, a new President will take office.
We're organizing behind the Pickens Plan now to ensure our voices will be heard by the next administration.
Together we can raise a call for change and set a new course for America's energy future in the first hundred days of the new presidency — breaking the hammerlock of foreign oil and building a new domestic energy future for America with a focus on sustainability.
You can start changing America's future today by supporting the Pickens Plan. Join now.
Dec. 2007
Preliminary estimates of energy and carbon savings from energy bill passed in Senate
In 2007, the new Congress put energy legislation high on its agenda, with final legislation passing just before Christmas, 2007. The new legislation emphasizes energy efficiency and was driven by high energy prices, growing concerns about global warming, and a change in leadership in the House and Senate after the 2006 elections. This new law was enacted only two years after Congress passed the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Major efficiency provisions in the new 2007 law are as follows:
Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards. The legislation calls for a 35 mpg CAFE standard for cars and light trucks by 2020, with “maximum feasible” increases beyond this date. The provision also sets in motion the first fuel economy standards for heavy-duty trucks. The final bill also gradually phases out extra fuel economy credits for dual fuel vehicles, with the credits ending in 2020.
Appliance and Equipment Efficiency Standards. The new law contains many provisions setting new minimum efficiency standards based on consensus agreements between industry and ACEEE. Products for which standards are set include:
- Appliances: dishwashers and dehumidifiers (updates to current federal standard)
- Residential boilers (update to current federal standard)
- Electric motors (updates current standards and enacts new standards on many special- and definite-purpose motors as well as motors of 201-400 horsepower)
- Incandescent reflector lamps: applies 1992 standards to BR, ER and R20 lamps (categories previously exempted from 1992 law)
- External power supplies (federalizes standard adopted by California and other states)
- Metal halide lamp fixtures (based on standard adopted by California and other states)
- Walk-in coolers and freezers (based on California, Rhode Island and Maryland standards)
In addition, the law directs DOE to conduct new rulemakings on residential refrigerators and clothes washers, on standby power use of currently regulated appliances, and to revise all standards and test procedures on a regular schedule. The bill also allows DOE to expedite rulemakings in response to broad consensus agreements on recommended new standards.
More detailed summary of standards provisions in the new bill
Lamp Efficiency Standards. The bill sets lamp efficiency standards for common light bulbs, requiring them to use about 20-30% less energy than present incandescent bulbs by 2012-2014 (phasing in over several years) and requiring a DOE rulemaking to set standards that will reduce energy use to no more than about 65% of current lamp use by 2020. The initial targets can be met by advanced incandescent lamps the major manufacturers are just introducing to the market using halogen capsules with infrared reflective coatings. The longer-term targets will likely be met by compact fluorescent lamps and other advanced technologies such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and very advanced incandescent lamps now in development.
Regional Standards. The legislation allows DOE to set up to one regional standard for heating products and two regional standards for cooling products, in addition to the main national standard. The intent is to better accommodate the range of climatic conditions across the U.S. The provision only allows regional standards if economically justified, including consideration of economic impacts on manufacturers, distributors and contractors.
Industrial Efficiency Programs. The bill updates the authorization for DOE's industrial program to reflect challenges facing U.S. manufacturing. In particular, the bill addresses the need to develop new manufacturing processes and the ability to make use of alternative feed stocks in response to the increasing cost and scarcity of energy resources.
Combined Heat and Power, Recycled Energy and District Energy. The bill contains important new provisions that promote combined heat and power (CHP), recycled energy and district energy systems. Provisions:
- Direct the quantification of the potential for recycled energy
- Authorize the expansion of Regional CHP Assistance Centers
- Encourage the rationalization of utility grid access for CHP and recycled energy systems
- Authorize a new generation of energy efficiency programs for public buildings with funding through a grant program for construction of infrastructure including CHP, recycled energy and district energy systems.
Commercial Building Initiative. Provision authorizes a Commercial Building Initiative (CBI) combining research, development, and deployment, to be run by DOE with input from an industry consortium. The goal of the initiative is for all new commercial buildings to use zero energy on net by 2030 (i.e. they produce as much energy as they use) and all existing buildings to meet the same goal by 2050. The provision authorizes substantial funding but it's unclear how much funding the program will get through the Congressional appropriations process.
Dec. 2007
Google funds R&D to make clean energy cheaper than coal - (Renewable Energy < Coal)
Google has made a humongous announcement -- which goes without saying, since everything Google does is humongous -- of plans to heavily fund R&D of renewable-energy technology, focusing on wind, solar, and geothermal power. Calling the project Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal (or RE<C), Google has an end goal of cleanly produced electricity that's less expensive than dirty-black-rock power -- and "within years, not decades," no less. The company has no intention of being froogle: it will allocate hundreds of millions of dollars total to the project, and tens of millions in 2008 alone. The Google motto, "Don't be evil," never seemed so apt.
Our current energy use is like leaving your front door open in the middle of the winter: wasteful and unnecessarily expensive. But just as you can close the door, there's a simple solution to reducing our energy use: making common products more energy-efficient.
in 2004, Ohio imported 57 percent of our coal, 89 percent of our natural gas, and 98 percent of our oil. Volatile natural gas prices and dwindling oil reserves cause Ohio to spend billions of dollars on energy imports. Fossil fuel markets are notoriously volatile, as the recent spike in natural gas and petroleum prices has demonstrated. Fluctuations in demand, production capacity, weather, conflict over seas, and other factors can lead to dramatic jumps or declines in fossil fuel prices, putting a strain on the pocketbooks of consumers and threatening the stability of our economy.
Ohio’s dependence on fossil fuels will continue to weaken our economy as these resources are further depleted. Oil and natural gas supplies are declining nationwide. In 2002, the number of producing natural gas wells in the U.S. hit an all-time high, yet aggregate production decreased from the year before due to declining well productivity. The average natural gas well operating in 2002 produced half as much gas per day as the average well in operation in 1980, despite improvements in extraction technology. By increasing the energy we produce from Ohio’s wind, we will decrease our nation’s dependence on fossil fuels.
How You Can Help
Shop for energy-efficient products. The EPA has labeled many of these with the Energy Star logo; you can learn more about the Energy Star program here.
We Need to Stop Wasting Energy
Energy use is growing almost three times as fast as our population, but that's only part of the problem. From the time a power plant burns a ton of coal or splits an atom, to the time we turn on the lights, we lose two-thirds of that energy. As we shift to clean, renewable energy sources like solar, wind and biomass, we also need to be reducing our energy use now.
Energy efficiency is the quickest, cheapest and cleanest way to get smart about energy use and cut down on the waste. We can start by passing statewide efficiency standards.
Dirty, Dangerous, Expensive Sources
A Polluting Mix: Over 90 percent of Ohio's electrical generation relies on outdated fossil fuel technologies. The other 10 percent comes from nuclear power plants.
Widespread Damage: Midwestern farmers lose up to $650 million annually from ozone crop damage. In some parts of Ohio, up to 50 percent of this ozone comes from the electric industry.
Rising Costs: In the winter of 2004-05, home heating costs increased by up to 20 percent. With deregulation impending, our rates could go even higher.
The Time Is Now
A Close Look At Energy Policy: In anticipation of deregulated energy markets, rising energy costs and our dependence on oil from volatile parts of the world, Ohio's General Assembly is considering long-term energy policies. They need to hear from Ohioan’s —and consider our environment.
Strong Voices For Energy Waste: Ohio power companies like First Energy profit from energy waste—so they don't want to fund consumer energy-efficiency programs. It is up to state leaders to help all Ohioans live energy-smart.
A Clean, Simple Solution
Improving Everyday Products: We need to set minimum standards so that the things we all take for granted use less energy. These technologies already exist, like those in Energy Star products. It makes sense for consumers, businesses and the environment.
Making A Big Difference Now: Setting minimum efficiency standards is the cheapest, quickest, cleanest way to get us on the smart energy path right now. By 2030, we would save over $2.3 billion for consumers and small business owners alike.
