tagged w/ Steven Chu
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An opportunity to watch Steve Chu, US Energy Secretary, running us through a list of the technologies which he hopes will help America reassert itself in the rapidly intensifying struggle for competitiveness and maybe even its very survivalAn opportunity to watch Steve Chu, US Energy Secretary, running us through a list of... more
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Gas is well over $4 a gallon in most places in California — and soaring elsewhere as well. But are such high energy prices good or bad?
That should be a stupid question. Yet it is not, when the Obama administration has stopped new domestic offshore oil exploration in many American waters, curbed oil leases in the West, and keeps oil-rich areas of Alaska exempt from drilling. Last week, President Obama went to Brazil and declared of that country’s new offshore finds: “With the new oil finds off Brazil, President [Dilma] Rousseff has said that Brazil wants to be a major supplier of new stable sources of energy, and I’ve told her that the United States wants to be a major customer, which would be a win-win for both our countries.”
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Consider the logic of the president’s Orwellian declaration: The United States in the last two years has restricted oil exploration of the sort Brazil is now rushing to embrace. We have run up more than $4 trillion in consecutive budget deficits during the Obama administration and are near federal insolvency. Therefore, the United States should be happy to borrow more money to purchase the sort of “new stable sources of energy” from Brazil’s offshore wells that we most certainly will not develop off our own coasts.
It seems as if paying lots more for electricity and gas, in European fashion, was originally part of the president’s new green agenda. He helped push cap-and-trade legislation through the House of Representatives in 2009. Had such Byzantine regulations become law, a recessionary economy would have sunk into depression. Obama appointed the incompetent Van Jones as “green-jobs czar” — until Jones’s wild rantings confirmed that he knew nothing about his job description “to advance the administration’s climate and energy initiatives.”
At a time of trillion-dollar deficits, the administration is borrowing billions to promote high-speed rail, and is heavily invested in the federally subsidized $42,000 Government Motors Chevy Volt. Apparently the common denominator here is a deductive view that high energy prices will force Americans to emulate European centrally planned and state-run transportation.
That conclusion is not wild conspiracy theory, but simply the logical manifestation of many of the Obama administration’s earlier campaign promises. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu — now responsible for the formulation of American energy policy — summed up his visions to the Wall Street Journal in 2008: “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.” I think Chu is finally figuring out the “somehow.”
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/262941/man-made-energy-crisis-victor-davis-hanson?page=1Gas is well over $4 a gallon in most places in California — and soaring... more
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It's Obama's last day in China and one of the big headlines of the day was that he and President Hu Jintao promised their countries would work together on clean energy. (posted by WakeUpPeople)
The work will be anchored through a new U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center. The $150 million funding over five years will be shared equally between the countries. "That's more than talking," [Energy Secretary Steven] Chu said.
The research center and other clean-energy projects should help show international negotiators who are working on a global climate-protection treaty that the U.S. and China, the world's two largest sources of greenhouse gases, are serious about reducing emissions, Chu said.
Yes, you could make that argument. However it was also reported today that the Senate is going to put off trying to pass a climate change bill until the spring. Supporters of the Senate bill are worried about economic (read: political) costs of any possible cap and trade schemes. But that means no US climate bill before Copenhagen in December. Which means no global deal. This is what a group of Asian leaders and President Obama offered instead:
United Nations leaders had called for a new, binding global agreement in Copenhagen to set caps on greenhouse-gas emissions. But at a meeting in Asia, leaders including Mr. Obama said they would try instead to use the Copenhagen gathering to forge an agreement that is "politically binding," with specific commitments by countries to reduce emissions and help poor countries fight climate change. A legally binding deal would come later; diplomats point to mid-to-late-2010.
If you want to know more about why Copenhagen is important, Leah at Current Green has a great introductory post on why you should be paying attention to Copenhagen.
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- Real Recovery: This week's about the freelancersIt's Obama's last day in China and one of the big headlines of the day was... more
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President Obama acting on a pledge to support nuclear power, will propose tripling U.S. loan guarantees for new reactors to more than $54 billion. The additional loan guarantees in Obama’s budget are part of an effort to bolster nuclear-power production after the president called for doing so in his State of the Union address.President Obama acting on a pledge to support nuclear power, will propose tripling... more
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The rising cost of oil could damage the world economy just as it begins to rebound, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said on Tuesday.
Wide swings in oil prices are difficult for industries to manage and the U.S. government is concerned about another price spike, Chu said.
"Even $80 is making me nervous," he told the Reuters Washington Summit.
Oil prices hit record levels above $147 a barrel last year, before crashing as a global recession cut energy demand. Crude prices are one again climbing.
Chu said a sharp upswing in oil prices could hinder a global economic recovery. He pointed out that last year's oil price spike was a "disaster" for the world economy.
"We've repeatedly said what the world wants and needs is stable prices," Chu said. "They have been inching up recently and it's a little bit concerning."
Oil price volatility can also harm the alternative energy sector, Chu said. He said the fall in energy costs after the oil price shocks of the 70s and early 80s wiped out many clean energy companies.
To help stabilize crude prices, Chu said the administration is working to improve market transparency. In particular, he said the Energy Department is focused on teaching developing countries how to compile energy data.
"The more information one has, the less there are these uncertainties, which would prompt swings (in prices)," Chu said at the summit, held at the Reuters office in Washington.
Crude oil prices hit a one year high above $80 a barrel on Tuesday, before slipping to around $78 in morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The rising cost of oil could damage the world economy just as... more
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Holdren, who served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2006, holds views that are seriously out of touch with reality and totally out of synch with actual climate data. ...Holdren, who served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of... more
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The Energy Department may proceed with a "modified" plan to build a prototype coal-burning power plant that would capture and store carbon dioxide as part of new efforts to expand international collaboration on carbon-management technologies, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said today.
His comments are the strongest indication yet that DOE might reverse a Bush administration decision to pull the plug on FutureGen, a federal-industry project that was to be built in Illinois and has faced significant cost overruns.
"We are taking, certainly, a fresh look at FutureGen, how it would fit into this expanded portfolio," Chu told reporters after his appearance at a Senate hearing on DOE research and development programs.
Chu said he has been working with foreign ministers and energy ministers to ensure greater international collaboration on what projects proceed to ensure that a range of carbon-management technologies are pursued.
A greater collaboration on deciding what projects to fund and how to "parcel out turf" would allow a FutureGen project to pursue a smaller range of missions, he said.
While the FutureGen plant was to have been a test bed for several technologies, if another nation plans to pursue one particular project, it would not have to be part of FutureGen, Chu said. This could help reduce project costs that otherwise could have been more than $2 billion, he said.
"There are many, many good things about it," Chu said. "We want to go forward in some modified way on that."
Several nations are planning carbon capture and storage demonstration projects, including 10 to 12 planned in the European Union, but greater multinational planning is needed, Chu said.
"It is being done essentially independently of one another," he said. "This does not make any sense to me. When I have been seeing a number of energy ministers, foreign ministers that have been coming through. In each instance, I said ... we know we need to explore a half-dozen technologies."
"Why not decide which ones we will explore? We could have people in various countries there on the ground participating in this," he continued, citing the prospect of "true engineering collaboration."The Energy Department may proceed with a "modified" plan to build a... more
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[TURN YOUR VOLUME UP]
In his his first interview since taking office, Energy Secretary Steven Chu didn't hold back on what's at stake for California if the nation doesn't act to stop global warming: vanishing vineyards, fading farms, and major cities abandoned.
Why so dire? Because some of the anticipated impacts of climate change include water shortages in the Upper Midwest and West, which could decimate California's agricultural production -- the largest in the nation. One worst case scenario he described would have 90% of the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountain range -- one of the state's major storehouses of fresh water -- disappearing as global temperatures rise.
His talk with the Los Angeles Times echoed two recent reports -- one, released in January, projected global crop shortages as a result of climate change. A study last year by UC Berkeley researchers suggested that about $2.5 trillion of the state's real estate is at risk, including land used for agriculture.
"I don't think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen," Chu said. "We're looking at a scenario where there's no more agriculture in California...I don't actually see how they can keep their cities going," either.[TURN YOUR VOLUME UP]
In his his first interview since taking office, Energy... more
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Any questions about whether the Obama administration views global warming seriously were answered today by Nobel-prize-winning physicist Steven Chu, the new energy secretary.
If the United States does not act to curb global warming, California's farms and vineyards could vanish by the end of the century, Chu said today. He also warned of water shortages that loom in the West and Upper Midwest.Any questions about whether the Obama administration views global warming seriously... more
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This has been of concern to me as well: Oil companies spinning their reputations to now say they seek ways to be more sustainable just to gain more power over sustainable projects to hold them back or tweak information. Is it proper to align with such companies, or should the projects be publicly funded? BP has already renegged on some promises it had made regarding alternate energy sources. This is also why I have not said much about this appointment. Let us hope he is truly all he is said to be. However, this relationship honestly concerns me.This has been of concern to me as well: Oil companies spinning their reputations to... more
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CHICAGO (Reuters) - Insisting on the need to develop new forms of energy, U.S. President-elect Barack Obama on Monday chose as his energy secretary a Nobel physics laureate who is a major promoter of alternative fuels.
Obama named Steven Chu, the winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize in physics who was an early advocate for finding scientific solutions to climate change, to head the Energy Department.
"In the 21st century, we know that the future of our economy and national security is inextricably linked with one challenge: energy," Obama told a news conference. "All of us know the problems that are rooted in our addiction to foreign oil. It constrains our economy, shifts wealth to hostile regimes and leaves us dependent on unstable regions."
"To control our own destiny, America must develop new forms of energy and new ways of using it. And this is not a challenge for government alone -- it's a challenge for all of us."
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Do you think Steven Chu, the Nobel Prize winner has what it takes to help find scientific solutions to climate change?
Do you think that Steven Chu will be able to help us to find alternative energy?CHICAGO (Reuters) - Insisting on the need to develop new forms of energy, U.S.... more
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Obama announced his energy team yesterday, nominating Nobel physicist Steven Chu to head the Department of Energy, former-EPA administrator Carol Brower to a new White House position overseeing environmental, energy, and climate policies, and Lisa P. Jackson, chief of staff to New Jersey Governor John Corzine, to head the EPA. Marc Ambinder notes that Chu is "untainted by Washington's caution on climate change" and "the left loves him." There is a wider picture showing Obama is changing the way the White House monitors government departments. Whereas Bower's duties may have traditionally gone to a domestic policy adviser, Ambinder notes, Obama has divided domestic issues between environment, to Bower, health care, to Tom Daschle, and the economy, to Larry Summers. "These positions will probably become equivalent in function to their respective policy areas as national security adviser's role in national security."
Read it at Marc AmbinderObama announced his energy team yesterday, nominating Nobel physicist Steven Chu to... more
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President-elect Barack Obama is likely to name Steven Chu, a physicist who runs the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, as his energy secretary, three Democratic officials close to the transition said.
The three officials said the announcement is expected next week in Chicago, Illinois, and that Obama will also name Carol Browner, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in the Clinton administration, as the newly created "climate czar" inside the White House.
Chu won the 1997 Nobel Prize in physics and is highly respected in energy circles. But some Democrats have privately expressed concern that Chu has no political experience as he takes on the monumental task of passing a landmark energy reform bill early next year.
Although Browner is seen as a shrewd inside player who could help the incoming energy secretary navigate Capitol Hill, Obama will face questions about how effective his team will be going up against oil companies and other special interests that do not want to change the status quo.WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President-elect Barack Obama is likely to name Steven Chu, a... more
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