A miserable amount of money...  

I wonder how these measly sums thrown at research compare to the value of oil industry tax concessions in last year's energy bill?

Throw some chump change at the problem and talk it up.  Same 'ol same'ol.

I was surprised to see the word "conservation" actually does appear 2 times in the Advanced Energy Initiative webpage. No funding for conservation, though, and just $30 million to fund plug-in hybrids to improve fuel efficiency.

Methadone programs take heroin addicts, and change them into methadone addicts. Methadone is cheaper and usually allows people to function better.

So we're going to take an America that is addicted to oil, and [in theory] get it addicted instead to ethanol and hydrogen. But it won't be cheaper, and it won't help us function better. Shouldn't we try to reduce our dependency instead?

Hey everyone! Please read this article on petro-dollar posted by Prof.

Great stuff, without conspiracy teories or imperialism.

Conservation does not require neocon funding.
Once the price of oil rises enough, middle
America and the poor will be forced to buy less
fuel because they simply will not be able to
afford it. Demand destruction will solve much
of the US dependency on foreign oil, particularly
if the dollar plummets.

The Bush initiative are only concerned with the
welfare of the top 2% of American society.

Off the beat, just take a look at this:

http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/world/2006/01/31/sot.galloway.iraq.affl

I'm not anti-Bush or anti-whatever, but this is really humurous!

G'day people.First post - love the site.
Listened to POTUS on the radio in Oz today.
The US Govt is going to lead the way?
Excuse me.
US renewable energy consumption 1984 6430.7 Trillion BTU.
US renewable energy consumption 2004 6123.4 Trillion BTU.
Seems like renewable use peaked under Clinton 1996/1997.
Renewable use fell in first year of Bush by 830.3 Trillion BTU.

Get yourselves a new President and a new way of life -please!

On the radio this morning, the DJ played "Running On Empty," dedicated, he said, to all of us Americans who are "addicted to oil" like the president said.  

I don't take these people seriously. Remember when they built solar one? It was a big photovoltaic plant, lots of panels. It was billed as a solar power help but it was just a subsidy to the US electronics industry. The way it works is that, mostly, solar cells are built with subgrade silicon. The stuff that is good enough for chips is used for chips, the stuff that is defective and won't have a high enough chip yield is used for solar cells. A wafer might sell for a hundred dollars for chips and a dollar for solar cells if it wasn't up to spec.
So they bought up a lot of silicon to subsidize the electronics companies and claimed it was research and development for solar. Total scam.
And back then the government wasn't as corrupt as it is now. My bet is that they will find a way to extend the K street project to silicon or thin film. Find a company that has made donations to the Republican party, write them a check, give them a very vague deliverables responsiility and forget about it.
Think of those half empty cruise ships docked in New Orleans on your dime. About that level.

I've found some really beautiful commentary online regarding  recent events. Here's a few, for your viewing pleasure, that well summarize the basic problem.....
"It is us."

From Paul Roberts, Reagan's undersecretary of the Treasury:

"Two recent polls, a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll and a New York Times/CBS News poll, indicate why Bush is getting away with impeachable offenses. Half of the US population is incapable of acquiring, processing and understanding information.

Much of the problem is the media itself, which serves as a disinformation agency for the Bush administration. Fox "News" and right-wing talk radio are the worst, but with propagandistic outlets setting the standard for truth and patriotism, all of the media is affected to some degree.

Despite the media's failure, about half the population has managed to discern that the US invasion of Iraq has not made them safer and that the Bush administration's assault on civil liberties is not a necessary component of the war on terror. The problem, thus, lies with the absence of due diligence on the part of the other half of the population . . .

It is extraordinary that anyone would think Americans are safer as a result of Bush invading two Muslim countries and constantly threatening two more with military attack. The invasions and threats have caused a dramatic swing in Muslim sentiment away from the US.
Prior to Bush's invasion of Iraq, a large majority of Muslims had a favorable opinion of America. Now only about 5 percent do.

A number of US commanders in Iraq and many Middle East experts have told the American public that the three year-old war in Iraq is serving both to recruit and to train terrorists for al Qaeda, which has grown many times its former size. Moreover, the US military has concluded that al Qaeda has succeeded in having its members elected to the new Iraqi government . . .

And now with the triumph of Hamas in the Palestinian election, we see the total failure of Bush's Middle Eastern policy. Bush has succeeded in displacing secular moderates from Middle Eastern governments and replacing them with Islamic extremists. It boggles the mind that this disastrous result makes Americans feel safer!

What does it say for democracy that half of the American population is unable to draw a rational conclusion from unambiguous facts?"
Excerpted from
http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts01292006.html

From the nice gents over at P!:

"'Malice in Blunderland: Further Adventures of the Idiocracy'
    Referring to Hamas' unexpected victory in the elections, which caught both Israel and the U.S. by surprise, Rice admitted the U.S. has failed to comprehend the depth of Palestinian hostility toward their leadership.

    "I've asked why nobody saw it coming," [US Secretary of State Condoleeza] Rice said, speaking of her own staff. "It does say something about us not having a good enough pulse," the New York Times quoted Rice as saying Sunday.

    "I don't know anyone who wasn't caught off guard by Hamas' strong showing," Rice added. "Some say that Hamas itself was caught off guard by its strong showing."

That's from Ynetnews, "Rice: We underestimated Hamas".OK, so hold on a minute, 'cuz there's this, too, from MRC News, "U.S. officials, Iraqi insurgents meeting":

    BAGHDAD, Iraq (UPI) -- American officials in Iraq are engaging face-to-face talks with high-level Iraqi Sunni insurgents, Newsweek reported Sunday.

    Americans are meeting with 'senior members of the leadership' of the Iraqi insurgency, Americans and Iraqis with knowledge of the talks told the magazine. The talks are taking place at U.S. military bases in Anbar province, as well as in Jordan and Syria.

    'Now we have won over the Sunni political leadership,' said U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. 'The next step is to win over the insurgents.'

    The groups include Baathist cells and religious Islamic factions, as well as former Special Republican Guards and intelligence agents, said a U.S. official with knowledge of the talks.

Leaving aside the hilarity of Khalilzad's comment, doesn't all this sound a little strange? I thought The Doubleduh-Cheney Gang had identified these insurgents as "terrists" and, of course, we don't negotiate with "terrists". Wassup wi'dat?

So we're not gonna talk to Hamas, either, 'cuz they're "terrists", too. And now folks wanna bring back the PLO, 'cuz Fatah couldn't handle it. But how are we making all these decisions if the NSA, CIA, DIA, and the rest of those folks don't know what's happening in real life on the ground?? Maybe the folks at Fort Meade are so busy listening to domestic phone calls they just lost track of how fucking mad these middle eastern types are. Letterman and Leno must feel like these idiots live just to write their monologues for them.

You may have noticed that I've been on a specific crusade (I was gonna say jihad, but the Ft Meadies are already overwhelmed) of my own of late: trying to convince y'all that The Doubleduh-Cheney Gang is NOT incompetent - that they've done quite nicely, in fact, of furthering their goals of creating chaos, diabling and dismantling our government, destroying democracy, and getting rich.

That's not to say, however, that there aren't any idiots or incompetents around. The State Department seems to be full of them. Mike "Heckuva Job" Brown is certainly a poster child. Delay, Frist, and Santorum seem to have a collective IQ of 6. And anyone with at least one brain cell coulda seen the Abramoff thingy comin'. Oh, yeah . . . and I will concede that Doubleduh is one of the stupidest people to walk the pollution-ravaged face of the earth - that's why they hired him. But I'm convinced that these are a few exceptions that prove the rule. Absolute power may corrupt absolutely, but that's corruption, not incompetence.

Lemme tell you who's really incompetent: we are. We are the Idiocracy. If we weren't, The Doubleduh-Cheney Gang woulda been on their way outta town a week after Enron broke, or at least on September 12, 2001. But they're still there, supported by hundreds of politicians that we elected to represent us. We are the Idiocracy because we haven't convinced but a few of the brighter dimwits in congress to impeach The Gang's sorry asses.

We are the Idiocracy because we don't wanna take responsibility for the fact that we not only let it all happen, but made it happen. Seen the commercial with the CEO type saying his cell phone plan was "his way of sticking it to 'the man' "? "But you're the man - so you're sticking it to yourself." "Maybe". NO NOT MAYBE. You can blame The D-C Gang all you want, but we did them to ourselves. At its heart, western democracy was supposed to be participatory self-government. That takes personal responsibility and a whole lot of work. Those two things don't resonate in the 21st century marketplace. Why are we so angry and surprised that we left democracy like a set of keys on the bar, and a bunch of smart thieves drove off with goods. Same old story - we have come to value all the wrong things, and we can't work for nor do we want to pay for the right things. The old Joanie Mitchell riff - "Don't know what you got 'til it's gone". Losers.

We are the Idiocracy because in the last month a whole bunch of scientists have raised the cry that we've reached an environmental point of no return, environmental calamity will happen in the next 20-30 years, not in a few hundred or thousand, and nobody's panicking!!! Because Al Gore finally grew a set of cojones last week, everything's gonna be OK?? That pig won't flah, son! Kee-rist you are slow! Panic awreddy!"
Excerpted from
http://newpropop.blogspot.com/

From OpEdNews, "Standing At The Brink":
"How, then, do we find ourselves in the condition of a rat inescapably suffocating within the coils of a Boa Constrictor, gasping its final breath?
The end is coming and it is coming soon, if we do not awaken from our collective stupor. The life is being strangled out of us and we do not even struggle to free ourselves. We think we are a free people with inalienable rights, as the reptile prepares to swallow its prey. Naiveté, as well as ignorance, can get us killed.

The probability that another self inflicted terrorist attack will occur on American soil has already been planted in the public conscience; even as the Bush cabal, with the aide of its chief ally in empire--Israel, is preparing to instigate war with Iran. As was the case with Iraq, Iran's threat will be grossly exaggerated and its leadership demonized in the Western media. This war, connived amid the same gross lies and distortions that resulted in the invasion and occupation of Iraq--the modern Viet Nam--may well be waged with nuclear munitions far worse than the depleted uranium used against Iraq. Iran's defense infrastructure lies beneath many feet of concrete and only nuclear weapons are capable of penetrating them.

A US-Israel attack on Iran is eminent, probably no later than March or April; or it might come as late as June. When this occurs the Middle East will become a vortex of fire and brimstone that is beyond control. It will assume a life, a momentum of its own, with global consequences. The Boa Constrictor is tightening its grip on power, as it acts to defend the imperialist dollar against the more equitable Iranian Bourse.

If and when another self inflicted terrorist attack is launched on American soil, the constitution will likely be suspended, martial law declared, and a full blown dictatorship will be unleashed upon us. A significant segment of the citizenry, bred on ignorance and nourished by fear, will welcome the event with open arms, just as did the citizens of Germany in 1933.

In truth, however, it is not turban-wearing terrorists of Middle Eastern decent that threaten our lives and our freedoms; it is the domestic terrorists that hold public offices who will destroy us. The real enemy stealthily moves unencumbered in our midst, posing as our protectors, as guardians of democracy. The dangers now facing us as a people are truly beyond exaggeration."

Exerpted from
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_charles__060128_standing_at_the_brin.htm

German renewable energy production has been growing at rates in excess of 30%/year for well over a decade (PV and wind), and at a somewhat lower rate for solar thermal.  More than 30%/year!  And the total contribution to their primary energy use comes out to 0.03%, 1.6% and 0.06%, respectively, for PV, wind and solar thermal.  To be more generous, the numbers work out to Those numbers say a lot about the challenges ahead for renewables.

Sorry about the extra half sentence near the end.  Again:
German renewable energy production has been growing at rates in excess of 30%/year for well over a decade (PV and wind), and at a somewhat lower rate for solar thermal.  More than 30%/year!  And the total contribution to their primary energy use comes out to 0.03%, 1.6% and 0.06%, respectively, for PV, wind and solar thermal.  Those numbers say a lot about the challenges ahead for renewables.

No one ignores it!

Jeroen van der Veer CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil giant, speaking to NEWSWEEK, summed up the prevailing mood: "The era of easy oil is most likely over."

Thierry Desmarest, the CEO of French oil company Total, predicted that at current levels of consumption, the production peak of oil will be reached as soon as 15 years from now.

Read the rest here : Fossil-Fueled Worries

Unfortunately, Bush's No. 1 answer beyond oil is more of the "hype about hydrogen." (I found the book of that title very informative.) I believe that because, in many ways, a hydrogen economy for transportation would be the one most amenable to the big oil companies and their infrastructure, that's part of why Bush touts it the most.

Note what the AEI does not include. One mention of natural gas in a boilerplace paragraph at the top of the page. No mention of how imports of LNG (liquified natural gas) will increase of energy dependence--especially with the Middle East where we are making big deals with Qatar.

This is the most imminent crisis we face and it is not mentioned.

Proposal:  Replace Payroll Tax with a Petroleum Fuel Tax
(For your consideration, a slightly modified copy of a previous post)

I used to say that the suburbs are dead;  the suburbanites just don't know it yet.  

It's probably more accurate to say that the suburban commutes are dead; the suburban commuters just don't know it yet.

This is probably a pipe dream, but in my opinion an excellent proposal is to abolish the payroll tax (Social Security + Medicare) and replace it with a liquid transportation (petroleum) fuel tax.  We can take the assets in the "Trust Funds" and use them to pay off the liabilities that the Treasury Department has.  Of keep them--it doesn't matter, there is no real value there either way.

The majority of American households pay more in the payroll tax than in the income tax.  This would be a tax cut for most households and it would a massive tax increase on those who are profligate in their use of energy.  No matter where you live, your cost of goods would go up, but if you lived close to where you work, your effective tax rate would go down. Of course, those who persisted in long commutes would pay the price.

There would of course be very powerful forces opposed to this idea--the housing industry; auto industry; airlines; trucking--the list goes on.  But the fates of these industries are sealed.  It's not a question of if they will contract/collapse; it's just a question of when.  The sooner it happens, the better off we all will be.  This idea would cause an immediate across the board push for greater energy efficiency.  As energy consumption falls, we keep jacking up the tax rate to keep the money flowing for Social Security and Medicare, which causes an even greater push for energy efficiency, and the cycle goes on.

BTW, a high gasoline gas does not necessarily equate to a lower standard of living.  Norway, with the highest gasoline tax in the world, has the highest standard of living in the world, perhaps partly because their car ownership per 1,000 people is about half of what it is in the US.  

There would be some other benefits.  As we turned to walking, biking and mass transit, our health would improve.  There is pretty much a linear correlation between obesity rates and total miles driven (here in the US, we are the world champs in both categories).

Also, the tax could be levied on just petroleum derived fuels--and not on ethanol, which would cause demand for ethanol to skyrocket.

According to BP the proved reserves of ME account for 60% of world total proved reserves. Consequently the ME production in some years will grow up to 60% of total production and even more because now it is much less and the depletion rate of the non-ME World must be higher. Since non ME-World is a much greater consumer than ME it must be a smaller exporter. This means that by 2025 ME will export more than 2/3 of total oil exports. By that time - according to current rate of depletion - the US production can be 4-5 mbpd. If President Bush wants to cut imports from ME more than 75%, it means that he is considering a total US oil consumption not greater than 10 mbpd, less than half current consumption. If that goal is really true, it is as if he is thinking about a world production going to peak within a few years (before 2010).

OPEC replies to the State of the Union address.

G'day Jamie, fallout & everyone

The post was in a thread relating to the SOTU speech by POTUS so wasn't directly a case of pointing the finger at the US. The speech is purportedly a summary of the state of the nation and an outline of current and future Government policy- although I think a lot of people might make a different case for what the speech has become.
It doesn't deal with what other nations are doing other than how their actions are perceived to affect the US (meaning US Govt policy).

If it was a State of the Planet speech I would for sure have included some of your points.

I hope you don't expect me to get defensive and argue against most of the points you raise . I couldn't agree more to nearly all of them.

I have a British passport and have been living in Australia for 40 of my 51 years.

The point which I hoped to make in my post was that in an examination of rhetoric it is often useful to look at the statistics (bearing in mind that they will always be to some extent flawed)to see if they support what the speaker is saying.

The main point was that the US appears to have sourced less of its total energy from renewables in 2004 than it did in 1984. It appears that the US Govt,industry and business has been sitting on its hands regarding renewables for almost a generation.

The last sentence was a plea for the US public to get mad as hell and say we're not going to take it anymore(as in the movies).

As most of us posting here realise we are preaching to the converted but new visitors to the site will include many members of the US public.

I certainly don't want to excuse Australians from changing their lifestyle and if you think that I am critical of the US Govt you should hear what I have to say about the Australian one.

I can't imagine too many people around the world tuning into the radio to hear our PM Howard,(the Washington Press corps seem to think he is John Major- ex UK PM and Carlyle Group member), doing something like a State of the Commonwealth address.

I spent an hour listening to someone I can't stand speaking from the other side of the globe because I know that what this fundamentalist says will very likely affect the lives of my children.

Lord knows the finger needs pointimg at the US, and Australia and Canada and New Zealand and undeveloped nations - anybody that is not doing the right thing by the planet.

What the US does matters most because too many times it assumes the lead. Too many times it sets a bad example.
We never had SUV's - we used to have 4WD's that were used almost exclusively by farmers.

 Will write again later with some more stats about Australia.

I have two boys of military age