Category Archives: stewardship

Michelle Malkin(tent) And Energy Policy – Green means you’re a thief

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Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2010/12/michelle-malkin-dems-lame-duck-land-grab-wont-pass-without-fight#ixzz1BgnnDjMF

Michelle Malkin: Dems’ lame-duck land grab won’t pass without a fight

By: Michelle Malkin 12/15/10 8:05 PM
Examiner Columnist
Environmentalistshate sprawl — except when it comes to the size of their expansive pet legislation on Capitol Hill. In a last-ditch lame duck push, eco-lobbyists have been furiously pressuring Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to pass a monstrous 327-page omnibus government lands bill crammed with more than 120 separate measures to lock up vast swaths of wilderness areas.Despite the time crunch, Senate Democrats in search of 60 votes are working behind the scenes to buy off green Republicans. House Democrats would then need a two-thirds majority to fast-track the bill to the White House before the GOP takes over on Jan. 5.

Yes, the hurdles are high. But with Reid and company now vowing to work straight through Christmas into the new year (when politicians know Americans are preoccupied with the holidays), anything is possible. The Constitution is no obstacle to these power grabbers. Neither is a ticking clock.

The Democrats’ brazen serial abuse of the lame-duck session is as damning as the green job-killing agenda enshrined in the overstuffed public lands package.

Earlier this month, Reid assigned worker bees on three Senate committees — Energy and Natural Resources, Commerce, and Environment and Public Works — to draw up their public lands wish list. All behind closed doors, of course.

House Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., rightly dubbed it a “Frankenstein omnibus of bills” and pointed out that the legislation “includes dozens of bills that have never passed a single committee, either chamber of Congress, or even been the subject of a hearing.”

The sweeping bill bundles up scores of controversial proposals, including:

— A stalled land transfer and gravel mining ban in Reid’s home state of Nevada.

— The designation of the Devil’s Staircase Wilderness in Oregon as a federally protected wilderness where logging and road development would be prohibited.

— Multiple watershed and scenic river designations that limit economic activity and threaten private property rights.

— The creation of massive new national monument boundaries and wilderness areas along the southern border opposed by ranchers, farmers, local officials and citizens.

One New Mexico activist, Marita Noon, said the federal plans to usurp nearly a half-million acres in her state would result in an “illegal immigrant superhighway” off-limits to border security enforcement. Security analyst Dana Joel Gattuso pointed to a recent General Accounting Office report on how environmental permitting rules and land-use regulations have hampered policing efforts at all but three stations along the border

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I actually left out the energy part. It is near the bottom. If you can bear the the Washington Toiletpaper for even a moment, go see. More next week.

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God Bless You Martin Luther King – You gave your all

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Where ever you are Martin, thanks so very much for your legacy. You will always be remembered.

http://www.writespirit.net/inspirational_talks/political/martin_luther_king_talks/nobel_prize_acceptance_speech

Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech

Martin Luther King – Nobel Prize Speech

Martin Luther King’s Acceptance Speech, on the occasion of the award of the Nobel Peace Peace Prize in Oslo, December 10, 1964

Your Majesty, Your Royal Highness, Mr. President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:

I accept the Nobel Prize for Peace at a moment when 22 million Negroes of the United States of America are engaged in a creative battle to end the long night of racial injustice. I accept this award on behalf of a civil rights movement which is moving with determination and a majestic scorn for risk and danger to establish a reign of freedom and a rule of justice. I am mindful that only yesterday in Birmingham, Alabama, our children, crying out for brotherhood, were answered with fire hoses, snarling dogs and even death. I am mindful that only yesterday in Philadelphia, Mississippi, young people seeking to secure the right to vote were brutalized and murdered. And only yesterday more than 40 houses of worship in the State of Mississippi alone were bombed or burned because they offered a sanctuary to those who would not accept segregation. I am mindful that debilitating and grinding poverty afflicts my people and chains them to the lowest rung of the economic ladder.

Therefore, I must ask why this prize is awarded to a movement which is beleagured and committed to unrelenting struggle; to a movement which has not won the very peace and brotherhood which is the essence of the Nobel Prize.

After contemplation, I conclude that this award which I receive on behalf of that movement is a profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time – – the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression. Civilization and violence are antithetical concepts. Negroes of the United States, following the people of India, have demonstrated that nonviolence is not sterile passivity, but a powerful moral force which makes for social transformation. Sooner or later all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood, If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

The tortuous road which has led from Montgomery, Alabama, to Oslo bears witness to this truth. This is a road over which millions of Negroes are travelling to find a new sense of dignity. This same road has opened for all Americans a new era of progress and hope. It has led to a new Civil Rights Bill, and it will, I am convinced, be widened and lengthened into a super highway of justice as Negro and white men in increasing numbers create alliances to overcome their common problems.

I accept this award today with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind. I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the “isness” of man’s present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal “oughtness” that forever confronts him. I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsom and jetsom in the river of life unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.

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Go to the site to read the rest. More Tomorrow.

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John Stossel And Energy Policy – He fosters the misuse of the word independence

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All right wing conservatives have to pick there own facts or their own definitions to win arguments. Winning on the merits is never an issue. Family values of course has nothing to do with modern families. It is only about modern christian families. In this Stossel piece, independence is replaced by dependence on the cheapest source. What he side steps is the idea that a country with a balanced portfolio of wind, solar, geothermal, micro hydro, bio and natural gas energy sources is both its own producer, so it is independent from foriegn manipulation and independent in that it is not overly depended on one source of energy, thus insulated from natural interruptions.

August 20, 2008

The Idiocy of Energy Independence

By John Stossel

It’s amazing how ideas with no merit become popular merely because they sound good.

Most every politician and pundit says “energy independence” is a great idea. Presidents have promised it for 35 years. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we were self-sufficient, protected from high prices, supply disruptions and political machinations?

The hitch is that even if the United States were energy independent, it would be protected from none of those things. To think otherwise is to misunderstand basic economics and the global marketplace.

To be for “energy independence” is to be against trade. But trade makes us as safe. Crop destruction from this summer’s floods in the Midwest should remind us of the folly of depending only on ourselves. Achieving “energy independence” would expose us to unnecessary risks — such as storms that knock out oil refineries or droughts that create corn — and ethanol — shortages.

Trade also saves us money. “We import energy for a reason,” says the Cato Institute’s energy expert, Jerry Taylor, “It’s cheaper than producing it here at home. A governmental war on energy imports will, by definition, raise energy prices”.

Anyway, a “domestic energy only” policy (call it “Drain America First”?) is a fantasy. America’s demand for oil is too great for us to supply ourselves. Electricity we could provide. Not with windmills and solar panels — they are not yet close to providing enough — but coal and nuclear power could produce America’s electricity.

But cars need oil. We don’t have nearly enough.

That doesn’t keep the presidential candidates from preying on the public’s economic ignorance.

“I have set before the American people an energy plan, the Lexington Project — named for the town where Americans asserted their independence once before,” John McCain said. “This nation will achieve strategic independence by 2025”.

Barack Obama, promising to “set America on path to energy independence,” is upset that we send millions to other countries. “They get our money because we need their oil”

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Wonder who is picking up his tab. More tomorrow.

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Thomas Sowell On Energy Policy – The conservative illiteracy continues

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This  continues the meditation on conservative (read: right wing) public statements about Energy Policy.  According to Thomas Sowell global warming isn’t happening. For conservatives who don’t like facts they either make up their own or claim others are making them up.

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell022808.php3

Jewish World Review Feb. 28, 2008 / 22 Adar I 5768

Cold Water on ‘Global Warming’

By Thomas Sowell

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |

It has almost become something of a joke when some “global warming” conference has to be cancelled because of a snowstorm or bitterly cold weather.


But stampedes and hysteria are no joke — and creating stampedes and hysteria has become a major activity of those hyping a global warming “crisis.”


They mobilize like-minded people from a variety of occupations, call them all “scientists” and then claim that “all” the experts agree on a global warming crisis.


Their biggest argument is that there is no argument.


A whole cottage industry has sprung up among people who get grants, government agencies who get appropriations, politicians who get publicity and the perpetually indignant who get something new to be indignant about. It gives teachers something to talk about in school instead of teaching.


Those who bother to check the facts often find that not all those who are called scientists are really scientists and not all of those who are scientists are specialists in climate. But who bothers to check facts these days?


A new and very different conference on global warming will be held in New York City, under the sponsorship of the Heartland Institute, on March 2nd to March 4th — weather permitting.


It is called an “International Conference on Climate Change.” Its subtitle is “Global Warming: Truth or Swindle?” Among those present will be professors of climatology, along with scientists in other fields and people from other professions.


They come from universities in England, Hungary, and Australia, as well as from the United States and Canada, and include among other dignitaries the president of the Czech Republic.


There will be 98 speakers and 400 participants.


The theme of the conference is that “there is no scientific consensus on the causes or likely consequences of global warming.”

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More tomorrow.

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10 Ways Humans Helped The Planet – Well, at least were nicer to it

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This is tough to put up on the website primarily because I have never conquered Adobe Flash. But since their post is actually a summary of 10 of their articles from the last year I will put up the sitation  (yes I spelled it that way on purpose), the head line and a copy of part of their third story. The slideshow is pretty cool however so check all of the pictures out.

http://news.discovery.com/earth/earth-environment-green-2010-101228.html

How Humans Helped the Earth in 2010: Slide Show

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Here are parts of the third article. Complete with the photo I pray.

http://news.discovery.com/earth/wind-farms-float-away-from-nimbyism.html

Wind Farms Float Away from NIMBYism

Analysis by Zahra Hirji
Thu Jul 1, 2010 09:09 AM ET
WindFloatSeascape

One of the biggest complaints of offshore wind farms is the eye-sore factor. Apparently residents would prefer a giant coal-fired power plant polluting the planet from far away to a clean source of energy they actually have to look at. This is the essence of the NIMBY (“Not In My Back Yard”) whine.

But NIMBYist whinging is shrill, and for the residents of Nantucket Sound, powerful. Their opposition to the construction of an offshore fleet of wind turbines, part of the Cape Wind project, was enough to delay the project for years.

Enter the Windfloat.

Windfloat is an ocean-based floating wind turbine designed by the California company Marine Innovation & Technology. The turbine sits atop a 3-legged floating foundation that is based on the designs of offshore gas and oil platforms.

Due to the bulky structure of current coastal wind turbines, the structures are anchored in the seabed – limiting their positioning to shallow water depths ranging between 98 to 164 feet.

This new design, however, proves that a turbine’s size and weight need not be compromised for distance from shore. Researchers suspect that the Windfloat foundation can support a 5 megawatt turbine with a height of around 230 feet.

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More tomorrow.

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Energy Year In Review – Here they come

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This one is a pretty good for being sort of an over view.

http://www.good.is/post/year-in-review-2010-the-year-in-clean-energy/

  • December 22, 2010 • 8:00 am PST

Year in Review 2010: The Year in Clean Energy

It was a record year for solar power, and the electric car began its comeback but, thanks to our increasingly desperate need for fossil fuels, 2010 also saw the largest accidental marine oil spill in history. We’re getting closer to workable clean energy, but will we get there quickly enough? And can we do it without Congress’s help?

With the economy hemorrhaging jobs, President Obama kicked off 2010 with the January announcement of $2.3 billion dollars in tax credits for companies building clean energy technology—everything ranging from turbine blades to batteries to solar panels.

It’s not all just solar panels. Off the coast of Reedsport, Oregon, a New Jersey-based company called Ocean Power Technologies began building a wave-power farm, using giant plungers that rise and fall with the waves. It isn’t operational yet, but the plan is for 10 of these generators to collectively power about 400 homes.

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For the reast of it please see the blog post itself. More tomorrow.

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Merry Christmas Everyone – Hoping for a much greener world next year

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http://www.christmaslightsetc.com/led-christmas-lights.htm

LED Christmas lights are popular holiday lights due to their energy saving features and long bulb life. LEDs burn bright, and you will reduce your costs when choosing Christmas lights! When choosing LED bulbs, the size options range from the popular outdoor light sizes of C7 and C9 to the minis, small round G12 bulbs, and C6 teardrops. LED Christmas lights are available as net lights for bushes, icicle strands to hang from roof tops, and rope lighting and garland. Learn more by reading our detailed LED Christmas Lights Guide, which also shows actual bulb sizes.

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Home Energy Usage – Why can’t I get my power from Nebraska

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These guys are so cool. Because they are public, or nonprofit, I could probably put the whole thing up here BUT go see them for yourself.

http://www.nppd.com/My_Home/Product_Brochures/Additional_Files/electric_usage.asp

Electric Usage In Your Home

Energy Efficiency – Information, Calculators, and Recommendations

Pie chart showing how energy is used in an averge home with four family members.There Are Many Ways You Depend On Electricity

As your electric supplier, we’ve developed this brochure to help you determine your electric usage. We hope this will help you use your electricity as efficiently as possible.

This graph shows how energy is used in an average home with four family members. Your use may vary depending on your lifestyle, the size of your family and the size, age and efficiency of your appliances. The amount used also varies with the weather and the amount of insulation in your home’s walls and ceiling.
Appliances that are manufactured today are typically much more efficient. As appliances age, their efficiency decreases. Knowing the age and life expectancy of your electric appliances can help you understand your electrical use.

Average Life Expectancy In Years
Air Conditioner 18
Clothes Washer 8-10
Clothes Dryer 14
Dishwasher 11
Electric Range 12
Electric Water Heater 10-12
Freezer 15-20
Heat Pump 16
Refrigerator 15
Television 11-12

Replacement
If your appliances are at or nearing the end of their expected life, you may plan ahead. When replacing old appliances pay particular attention to energy efficiency. In most cases, the energy-efficient choice will save you money.

Look for the energyguide labelEnergy Guide Label
To promote conservation, the Federal Government requires manufacturers of large appliances to display energy information. The ENERGYGUIDE is designed to assist you in deciding what appliance would be less expensive to operate over the lifetime of the appliance.

Note: These figures are based on an electric price of 8.14¢ per kWh

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More tomorrow.

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Cutting Home Energy Costs – Something that is easy to do

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Save Energy – Save Money. That is the mantra of Communty Energy Systems.

http://www.powerscorecard.org/reduce_energy.cfm
Reduce Your Energy Consumption

Twenty Things You Can Do to Conserve Energy

Conserving energy, by taking actions like insulating/weatherstripping your home and purchasing Energy Star certified (high efficiency) appliances, is usually the smartest, most economical and most potent environmental action you can take. Cleaner, greener energy supplies may provide the cleanest supplies of needed electricity, but minimizing the energy we need is still the first step to take before selecting the cleanest, greenest supplies.

Whenever you save energy, you not only save money, you also reduce the demand for such fossil fuels as coal, oil, and natural gas. Less burning of fossil fuels also means lower emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the primary contributor to global warming, and other pollutants.

You do not have to do without to achieve these savings. There is now an energy efficient alternative for almost every kind of appliance or light fixture. That means that consumers have a real choice and the power to change their energy use on a revolutionary scale.

The average American produces about 40,000 pounds of CO2 emissions per year. Together, we use nearly a million dollars worth of energy every minute, night and day, every day of the year. By exercising even a few of the following steps, you can cut your annual emissions by thousands of pounds and your energy bills by a significant amount!

Home improvements

Consider some of these energy-saving investments. They save money in the long run, and their CO2 savings can often be measured in tons per year. Energy savings usually have the best payback when made at the same time you are making other major home improvements.

  • Insulate your walls and ceilings. This can save 20 to 30 percent of home heating bills and reduce CO2 emissions by 140 to 2100 pounds per year. If you live in a colder climate, consider superinsulating. That can save 5.5 tons of CO2 per year for gas-heated homes, 8.8 tons per year for oil heat, or 23 tons per year for electric heat. (If you have electric heat, you might also consider switching to more efficient gas or oil.)
  • Modernize your windows. Replacing all your ordinary windows with argon filled, double-glazed windows saves 2.4 tons of CO2 per year for homes with gas heat, 3.9 tons of oil heat, and 9.8 tons for electric heat.
  • Plant shade trees and paint your house a light color if you live in a warm climate, or a dark color if you live in a cold climate. Reductions in energy use resulting from shade trees and appropriate painting can save up to 2.4 tons of CO2 emissions per year. (Each tree also directly absorbs about 25 pounds of CO2 from the air annually.)
  • Weatherize your home or apartment, using caulk and weather stripping to plug air leaks around doors and windows. Caulking costs less than $1 per window, and weather stripping is under $10 per door. These steps can save up to 1100 pounds of CO2 per year for a typical home. Ask your utility company for a home energy audit to find out where your home is poorly insulated or energy inefficient. This service may be provided free or at low cost. Make sure it includes a check of your furnace and air conditioning.

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    There are many more tips at that site. Please go there and read more. Get going today. More tomorrow.

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    Saving Money And Energy In Your Own Home – New site.

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    Here are 10 of the several dozen energy saving tips from this cool new site.

    http://www.fypower.org/res/tools/energy_tips.html

    Free and Low Cost Recommendations

    Replace Light Bulbs

    • Replace standard incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) and save 75% off lighting costs.

    Unplug Electronics

    • Unplug electronics, battery chargers and other equipment when not in use. Taken together, these small items can use as much power as your refrigerator.

    Save Water

    • Installing faucet aerators and low-flow shower heads will cut water heating costs by 50% and save up to $300 per year. It will also cut water use by up to 50%. As much as 19% of California electricity is used to pump, transport and treat water.

    Adjust Your Thermostat

    • Setting your air conditioner 5° higher will save up to 20% on cooling costs.

    Buy Energy Efficient Appliances

    • Always buy ENERGY STAR qualified appliances and equipment – they’re up to 40% more efficient. Find rebates and incentives in your area using our rebate finder.

    Adjust Your Water Heater

    • Turn your water heater down to 120° or the “Normal” setting when home, and to the lowest setting when away. Water heating accounts for about 13% of home energy costs.

    Keep Cool With Ceiling Fans

    • Reduce air conditioning costs by using fans, keeping windows and doors shut and closing shades during the day. Most ceiling fans use less energy than a light bulb.

    Be Smart About Lighting

    • Turn off unnecessary lighting and use task or desktop lamps with CFLs instead of overhead lights.

    Power Down Your Computer

    • Enable “power management” on all computers and make sure to turn them off at night. A laptop computer uses up to 90% less energy than bigger desktop models.

    Wash Clothes in Cold Water

    When possible, wash clothes in cold water. About 90% of the energy used in a clothes washer goes to water heating

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    Over the last couple of days these guys asked for complimentary links:

    http://www.fiddlewiddle.com/

    http://www.aessolar.com

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