The Oil Drum

This was sent in by a TOD Reader:

A glimpse at the New York State 70-meter modeled wind speed map suggests Lake Ontario is an area of rich wind power potential. But as wind from offshore sites is currently more expensive to harness than from comparably windy sites on land, relatively little attention has been given to wind power development on Lake Ontario. Utilizing electrical infrastructure from existing power plants on the lakeshore is one way to help reduce project costs within the range of economic viability.

This article explores the feasibility of a hypothetical offshore wind farm on Lake Ontario proximal to an existing nuclear power plant with respect to net energy, CO2 intensity, and economic cost/benefit. Two turbine manufacturers and models are included in the analysis: the General Electric 1.5 MW model sl and Vestas V82 1.65 MW. Both options yield favorable results and suggest a positive outlook for a Lake Ontario wind farm in terms of energy payback, CO2 reduction, and economic profitability.

Something for Spitzer's folks to consider!

Early last year, then NY Governor Pataki (R) who had presidential ambitions at the time, touted ethanol as part of his sustainable energy plan for NY State. Since then much of the world has seen as corn ethanol has major sustainability problems of its own. That's not to say that biofuels or even some types of ethanol might not play a role, but it just shouldn't be the centerpiece of a sustainable energy plan.

And it seems that NY's new Governor Spitzer (D), an openly peak oil aware governor has figured this out too. See a PDF of Spitzer's full speech here.

Eliot Spitzer is way up in the polls for the Democratic nomination for Governor - he now leads Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi by 63 percentage points. And with the Republicans divided between Weld and Faso, with Faso now likely to run an insurgent Conservative Party run if he doesn't get the GOP nod, Spitzer looks likely to win in a walk in November.

That means his stance on energy, environmental and transportation issues will be very important to all New Yorkers. The Governor controls many of the state authorities like the MTA, Tri-boro bridge authority, the NY half of the Port Authority and controls a massive $100 Billion state budget. In some recent speeches, he has started to stake out his policy positions on some very important issues that TODers often talk about.

[Editor's Note by peakguy] Pataki signed the gas tax cap into law yesterday despite earlier concerns that oil companies might not pass on the savings to consumers.

[editor's note, by peakguy] Yankee and I both wrote parallel articles about this and posted them within 15 minutes of each other (hey great minds think alike!) I have combined them as best I could in this one post.

[editor's note, by Yankee] Since this post is on TOD:NYC, it obviously focuses on the proposal to cut state gas taxes in the NY legislature. But note also that similar proposals have cropped up in North Carolina, South Carolina, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Delaware, and I'm sure we'll see some others soon.

The President has said that we are "addicted to oil". An addiction needs to be treated seriously, not actively enabled. But this is exactly what NY State's legislature wants to do. They are set to approve a 4-9 cent reduction in the gas tax in yet another attempt for politicians to look like they are doing something about increase gas prices.

Although I tend to think that a federal gas tax increase* would actually be a good thing, I can understand the political distaste for such a decision. However, I don't understand why they won't let the current status of the state tax just stand. Once the gas tax is lowered, it will be politically difficult to raise it later on, regardless of whether the wholesale prices of oil either raise or lower. That is, one day the politicians might wake up and understand why a stiff gas tax may be the best thing for us, despite high wholesale prices. Or prices might (temporarily) lower, in which case they'll want to raise the tax again, but could face a public outcry.

From the NY Times today we also hear that nobody's promising that this will even trickle down to customers (drug users/abusers?) at the pump:

In George Pataki's final State of the State address, and perhaps his opening speech of his 2008 presidential bid, he talks about oil dependence:

Let's envision the New York State the next generation will inherit from us - let's consider the limitless potential the future holds for the great State of New York.
[snip]
We don't have to look far for evidence that the time to transition away from foreign oil is now - it is right there on the gas pumps and in our home heating bills.

Not just here in New York, but across the nation, our reliance on foreign oil is hampering the financial freedom of our working families and their employers; it is hurting our economy, damaging our environment and enriching regimes that support, harbor and encourage the terrorists who threaten our national security.

I'm glad that Pataki is raising these issues as not just environmental do-gooding, but integrating financial and security issues. As a state with little fossil fuel reserves, stimulating development of renewables is critical for New York's survival in a peak oil world.