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Pollution spurs more Chinese protests than any other issue

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Another sign of the apocalypse: Coal is making a comeback in the U.S.

by kastijoo8753 Posted on February 15, 2013

Another sign of the apocalypse: Coal is making a comeback in the U.S.

If there were a war on coal — which, sadly, there isn’t — it appears that the tide of battle has turned. Coal is making a comeback.

In an extensive article entitled “Coal Claws Back,” the Rhodium Group, a think tank that assesses global trends, outlined the fuel’s resurgence in the U.S. In short:

While the decline in coal-fired power generation, driven in large part by cheap natural gas, has helped reduce emissions to levels most policymakers and climate diplomats thought impossible absent economy-wide legislation, it looks as though it has just about run its course. Natural gas prices bottomed out in April of last year at $1.82 per MMBTU at Henry Hub, and have since climbed to above $3. While still low relative to the high gas prices that had become the norm before the shale boom took hold, this rebound has been enough to stop the bleeding for coal-fired power. Coal’s share of electricity generation increased from 33% in April to 42% in November, the most recent month for which public data is available, and industry consultancy GenScape estimates that coal’s share stabilized at these levels through January.

The picture is more clear in graph form.

Last summer, we noted that electricity generation from natural gas had nearly matched that from coal. This is one reason our CO2 emissions plummeted recently. But the coal-versus-natural-gas trend hasn’t held. (Note: All of the data used below is from the Energy Information Administration; November 2012 data is the most recently available.)

In October and November, the gap between coal and natural gas increased. Coal clawed back.

One reason is that the price of natural gas used for electricity generation increased. Below, it’s compared to the always-cyclical price of residential natural gas. Since April 2012, the price has risen steadily — up 58 percent by November.

That uptick correlates with the trend away from natural gas in energy production. Higher natural gas price, less incentive to use it to power electricity generation.

And the Rhodium Group suggests that, at least for the next year or two, the cost difference between coal and natural gas will hold steady.

Rhodium Group

Click to embiggen.

The EIA, meanwhile, projects that coal will hold a consistent if smaller share of the generation market for another 30 years, with natural gas and renewables inching up in the percentage of generation. Overall amount of generation, which had fallen in recent years, will start going back up.

EIA

Click to embiggen.

More coal use and more electricity produced means more greenhouse gas emissions.

Rhodium Group

Click to embiggen.

Welcome back to the fight, coal. You weren’t missed.

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

Another sign of the apocalypse: Coal is making a comeback in the U.S.

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Posted in GE, LG, Uncategorized | Tagged climate, climate & energy, data, fuel, group, high, information, november, philip-bump, rhodium-group, sign, technology | Comments Off

New York might allow public input on fracking study; Yoko doesn’t wait

by HarralGeidl697 Posted on February 8, 2013

New York might allow public input on fracking study; Yoko doesn’t wait

In addition to people who’ve worked in the fracking industry, the state of New York might also let the general public weigh in on whether or not to allow fracking.

From the AP:

A coalition of 65 state lawmakers is asking New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to release the Department of Environmental Conservation’s review of potential health impacts of shale gas drilling for public comment before deciding whether to allow drilling to begin.

The group headed by Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton sent a letter to Cuomo on Tuesday. They said the Health Department’s evaluation of DEC’s “health impact analysis” should be transparent, but the public hasn’t been given any information about it. It’s expected to be complete within a few weeks.

Let the public comment? Bold.

One New Yorker isn’t waiting for the governor to solicit input. Her name is Yoko Ono.

I, for one, am astonished that Gov. Cuomo hasn’t met with this science expert. The ad will air in New York City, where the governor doesn’t live.

Which reminds me of one of the best tweets of all time.

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

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Seattle and San Francisco consider divesting from fossil fuels

by pedzacastrzala87 Posted on February 6, 2013

Seattle and San Francisco consider divesting from fossil fuels

By Susie Cagle

350.org

The divestment campaign that 350.org began in late 2012 has grown up so quickly! It seemed like just yesterday that Bill McKibben et al were convincing colleges to pull their money out of the fossil fuel industry and in turn feel much better about their moral selves.

Now the movement’s graduated and moved on to lobbying municipal governments to do the same. So far Seattle and San Francisco’s city employee pension funds are both looking at divesting from fossil fuel companies.

From the Financial Times:

If the Seattle retirement scheme were to divest from such companies completely, it would be the first to take such a step, said Stephanie Pfeifer of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change, which represents some of Europe’s largest pension funds and asset managers.

Mindy Lubber, president of the US-based Ceres investor advocacy group, agreed, saying the move underlined the mounting push for investors to acknowledge the long-term risk of investing in fossil fuel companies, as policies to curb climate change keep emerging.

“The divestment movement without question is re-raising the question of whether fossil fuel companies are the best investment and I think over time they’re not going to be,” she said.

Seattle’s $1.9 billion pension fund currently holds $17.6 million in investments in oil and gas companies.

Today in San Francisco, City Supervisor John Avalos introduced a resolution calling for his city’s $16 billion retirement fund to divest from fossil fuel companies.

“San Francisco has aggressive goals to address climate change,” Avalos said in a statement. “It’s important that we apply these same values when we decide how to invest our funds, so we can limit our financial contributions to fossil fuels and instead promote renewable alternatives.”

McKibben says it’s “a show of Pacific solidarity.” A climate change to one is a climate change to all! But will the movement hit other, less traditionally progressive city governments as well?

Editor’s note: Bill McKibben serves on Grist’s board of directors.

Susie Cagle writes and draws news for Grist. She also writes and draws tweets for

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If named secretary of defense, Chuck Hagel will leave Chevron’s board

by oks23po Posted on January 30, 2013

If named secretary of defense, Chuck Hagel will leave Chevron’s board

secdef

Chevron board member Chuck Hagel.

A spot of good news: If Chuck Hagel is confirmed as defense secretary, he will resign his seat on the board of Chevron. While it seems likely that the oil company would prefer he remain, helping guide its strategy as he simultaneously made determinations about the deployment and structure of the largest military in the history of the world, others disagreed.

From The Wall Street Journal:

Chuck Hagel will shed hundreds of thousands of dollars of stock in Chevron Corp. CVX -0.46% and private equity firm McCarthy Group LLC if the Senate confirms him to be the next defense secretary, according to his financial disclosure. …

Mr. Hagel’s assets were valued between $2.9 million and $6.1 million in total. … In addition to his stock holdings, Mr. Hagel earned $116,000 in director fees from Chevron and between $5,001 and $15,000 in dividends.

In addition to divesting Chevron and McCarthy holdings, Mr. Hagel said he would resign his positions with both firms and 25 other entities.

Why? “One conservative outside group, the American Future Fund, said that the Chevron holdings could have posed a potential conflict of interest because of the company’s fuel contracts with the Pentagon.” Oh, right. The massive conflict of interest. Thanks for pointing that out, conservative outside group.

Once Hagel resigns from Chevron’s board, he will forget all about the company’s priorities and its ongoing arguments for expanding the use of its products in the military. He will not fall back on the many discussions he had as a compensated member of the board and as a shareholder in the company when determining how the military should operate.

Leaving Chevron in the same unhappy position in which Halliburton found itself after its CEO Dick Cheney resigned to become vice president.

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

If named secretary of defense, Chuck Hagel will leave Chevron’s board

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Our Response to API’s E15 Report

by Posted on January 29, 2013

Our Response to API’s E15 Report

Posted 29 January 2013 in

National

Big Oil unveiled a new report today, filled with misleading claims and half-truths about one of our favorite renewable fuels: E15. Our response:

Today’s report from oil-lobby backed research group Coordinating Research Council displays clear bias and ignores millions of miles and years of testing that went into EPA’s approval of E15.

CRC’s bias is clear – API is a “sustaining member” of the group – and so it’s no surprise that the CRC is negative about E15. They’re playing right in to API’s misguided ploy to overturn the Renewable Fuel Standard.

Over 6.5 million miles of testing, equivalent to 12 round trips to the moon, makes E15 the most tested fuel, ever.

The CRC study by contrast doesn’t reflect a single mile driven, but rather, car components tested in isolation. By researchers’ own admission, testing also included an “aggressive” E15 blend that includes more water and acid than what consumers would use in their cars. Meanwhile, auto makers like Ford and GM have approved E15 for use in their new vehicles and some of the world’s most demanding cars and drivers at NASCAR use ethanol exclusively. This is a fuel that works and is already in use.

The oil industry is intent on maintaining its control over America’s fuel supply, and this kind of biased research is exactly why we must continue to protect the Renewable Fuel Standard and the investment it has supported. Luckily Congress had the foresight to create the Renewable Fuel Standard to ensure that drivers have access choices with renewable fuel at the pump.

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Sierra Club OKs law-breaking in battle against Keystone

by MayeskiLatouf679 Posted on January 23, 2013

Sierra Club OKs law-breaking in battle against Keystone

By Susie Cagle

The Sierra Club seems like the kind of folks who button the top button, not the ones who hang out on the barricades. Until now.

For the first time in the hallowed green group’s 120-year history, it will be engaging in civil disobedience at the Feb. 17 Washington, D.C., rally against the Keystone XL pipeline. Is the Sierra Club really getting wild? Well, probably not. The group won’t say what the civil disobedience will be exactly, but it will be invite-only (!), it’s been approved by the board of directors, and it’s a one-time-only event.

A 2011 Keystone XL protest at the White House.

From the Club’s Executive Director Michael Brune:

Next month, the Sierra Club will officially participate in an act of peaceful civil resistance. We’ll be following in the hallowed footsteps of Thoreau, who first articulated the principles of civil disobedience 44 years before John Muir founded the Sierra Club.

Some of you might wonder what took us so long. Others might wonder whether John Muir is sitting up in his grave. In fact, John Muir had both a deep appreciation for Thoreau and a powerful sense of right and wrong. And it’s the issue of right versus wrong that has brought the Sierra Club to this unprecedented decision. …

The Sierra Club has refused to stand by. We’ve worked hard and brought all of our traditional tactics of lobbying, electoral work, litigation, grassroots organizing and public education to bear on this crisis. And we have had great success — stopping more than 170 coal plants from being built, securing the retirement of another 129 existing plants and helping grow a clean energy economy. But time is running out, and there is so much more to do. The stakes are enormous. At this point, we can’t afford to lose a single major battle. That’s why the Sierra Club’s board of directors has for the first time endorsed an act of peaceful civil disobedience.

The Keystone XL pipeline fight has seen all manner of extralegal resistance over the last year from far scrappier characters than the Sierra Club. But for some people, engaging in civil disobedience can be a transformative, radicalizing experience. They say it’s one-time-only now, but what happens after they get their first taste of pepper spray?

Susie Cagle writes and draws news for Grist. She also writes and draws tweets for

Sierra Club OKs law-breaking in battle against Keystone

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RE-volv is making a community pot of solar gold

by olikellopas Posted on January 10, 2013

RE-volv is making a community pot of solar gold

By Susie Cagle

What if every dollar you donated to a worthy cause generated two, three, or more dollars? That’s the idea behind the RE-volv community solar fund project, currently closing in on the end of its first stage of fundraising.

Like Mosaic, RE-volv is tapping the collective for funding to back solar projects. But instead of individuals investing for their own individual good, RE-volv envisions a big pot-o-gold seed fund that would be invested and reinvested in community solar infrastructure. These are investments in solar’s future — essentially donations to RE-volv’s fund. Here’s how RE-volv explains it:

The Solar Seed Fund will use the donations to finance solar installations on community-serving organizations such as schools, universities, hospitals, and places of worship. RE-volv recoups the solar installation cost and earns a return on the investment through a 20-year solar lease agreement. The lease payments go back into the Solar Seed Fund allowing the fund to continuously grow, and finance an expanding number of solar installations.

According to the group’s numbers, once 14 RE-volv systems are in place, the revenue from those systems will be able to fund another solar-power system of roughly the same cost — and on, and on.

RE-volv has already raised almost $12,000 via its crowdfunding campaign at Indiegogo, surpassing its initial goal by nearly $2,000. Combined with $20,000 raised from other sources, that’s more than enough funding to install its first solar project.

“This confirms our idea that lots of Americans support renewable energy, and are excited to have a tangible way to invest in neighborhood solar as part of a collective effort,” said Andreas Karelas, executive director of RE-volv.

If you’re looking to make your money back, Mosaic is a great, and feel-good, way to go. But RE-volv is kind of like a solar Rolling Jubilee, knocking out unsustainable energy by leveraging community cash. Collaborative consumption has become collaborative construction. Um, sharing economy, anyone?

Susie Cagle writes and draws news for Grist. She also writes and draws tweets for

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Cleantech investment fell off a cliff in 2012

by RubinkJoseph Posted on January 8, 2013

Cleantech investment fell off a cliff in 2012

By Lisa Hymas

Shutterstock

“You could call it the cleantech cliff,” writes the San Jose Mercury News:

Global clean-technology venture investment plunged to $6.46 billion in 2012, down 33 percent from the $9.61 billion invested a year ago, according to San Francisco-based research and consulting firm Cleantech Group.

Why such a big drop-off?

The low price of natural gas has made it harder for renewable energy to compete on cost. Venture capitalists are shying away from capital-intensive deals after seeing companies like Santa Clara-based Misasolé sold at fire sale prices. And global economic uncertainty took a toll: Several privately backed cleantech companies, including Oakland’s BrightSource Energy, were forced to shelve their IPO plans and raise additional funds from existing investors.

Political uncertainty contributed too, according to Sheeraz Haji, CEO of Cleantech Group. “That said, the entire venture capital industry contracted in 2012, so cleantech is not alone in experiencing this pullback,” he added.

The Mercury News reports that the “one bright spot belonged to SolarCity, a San Mateo-based solar financier and installer that had a successful IPO Dec. 13. SolarCity slashed its share price but ultimately raised $92 million.”

The cleantech sector is already looking brighter in 2013. Last week, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway spent as much as $2.5 billion on a huge solar project, sending solar stocks soaring.

But why leave cleantech investing to the big boys? If you live in California or New York, you can get into the game yourself via just-launched Solar Mosaic, a crowdfunding service for rooftop solar projects. Don’t let Warren Buffett have all the fun.

Lisa Hymas is senior editor at Grist. You can follow her on

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Cleantech investment fell off a cliff in 2012

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Notorious Mexican drug cartel branches out into a ‘more lucrative’ venture: Coal mining

by ansonsten Posted on January 4, 2013

Notorious Mexican drug cartel branches out into a ‘more lucrative’ venture: Coal mining

Los Zetas are a notorious cartel that evolved from a paramilitary force created by the Mexican government. In 2009, the U.S. government labelled the gang the “the most technologically advanced, sophisticated and dangerous cartel operating in Mexico.” Savvy and brutal, the Zetas don’t constrain themselves to making money off drugs. They also seek other lucrative opportunities.

Like coal mining. From Al Jazeera:

Speaking to Al Jazeera, [Coahuila ex-governor Humberto] Moreira says that the Zetas gang is fast discovering that illegal mining is an even more lucrative venture than drug running.

“They discover a mine, extract the coal, sell it at $30, pay the miners a miserable salary … It’s more lucrative than selling drugs.” …

His accusations have been borne out by the federal government, which also announced that it has found evidence of criminal infiltration in Coahuila’s mines. Two hundred government inspectors are heading to the region to investigate mines it suspects are tied to organised crime. …

The State of Coahuila presents a tempting target for any organised crime group looking to diversify from drug smuggling, kidnapping and extortion. It produces 95 percent of Mexico’s coal, churning out 15 million tons a year. Unregulated “pozos”, small roadside mines which are often little more than a hole in the road, abound; easy targets for those looking to make quick money.

lololulula

A member of the Zetas is arrested in Guatemala.

There is no equivalence between the actions of the Zetas and domestic coal production. There is no equivalence between the Zetas and the rest of Mexico’s coal industry. The group is criminal, horrifying.

But the fact that mining coal could be as lucrative as trafficking drugs is at least astonishing and certainly ominous. As the global market for coal expands, prices will go up. If criminals can continue to extract and sell coal illegally and without concern for treatment of the miners, the urge for criminals to exploit those economics will only grow.

Source

Mexican drug gangs dig into mining industry, Al Jazeera

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.