That’s right, $200 Billion with a B. They plan to fulfill 10% of their energy needs with alternative sources by 2010 and 20% by 2020, a very agressive schule given the sheer size of their need.

This is a huge story for the US because it indicates that our largest competitor for fossil fuels understands that the supply is limited and they are willing to start moving away from it. Meanwhile we have no real national energy policy except that put together behind closed doors by Cheney and his oil company pals in 2001. Obviously that has worked out well (for them)…

Well, I finally got out and saw Al’s movie. What can I say? It should be required that every kid in the country see it and then send a copy home with them so they can make their parents watch it. As a film it is very well done, including autobiography that actually has a context for his interest in climate change. The presentation is visually stunning and I’ve never seen complex information conveyed so clearly. Nothing like a lecture at all.
I don’t know what happened to Al Gore but this is probably the best campaign spot ever made. He is confident, sensitive, humorous, and above all, real and passionate. This guy should run for President again so we can rectify the terrible mistake made in 2000.
More posts coming related to this topic- the film is terrifying and entertaining and thought-provoking. You don’t get that combo very often.

I try to avoid the ‘did we cause it?’ argument about global warming because there is an underlying religious context to the side of the argument that says: No way we caused it. Essentially, if the Christian Right admits that we screwed up the planet by burning too many fossil fuels then their belief in the supremacy of man will be threatened.

(more…)

In this week’s Economist, Chevron is running a series of ads on alternative fuels and sources of oil that are absurdly out of touch with reality. The first opens with this ‘amazing’ factoid:

"With current technology, one acre of soybeans yields 60 gallons of clean-burning biodiesel fuel."

Let’s think about this. Say I’m a farmer and I’m growing 100 acres of soy beans. If I turn them into fuel I’ll end up with 6000 gallons of biodiesel. At 55 gallons to the barrel, I’ll have 110 barrels of fuel. At $75 bucks a barrel I just spent an entire growing season to realize a gross of $8250. before any expenses. This makes no business sense at all unless the government is subsidizing this farmer to grow soy for fuel, which in fact is what’s going on. We’re paying huge amounts of money to generate fuel so we can sell it at a huge loss and declare ourselves to be dedicated to ‘alternatives’. Bunk!

The next ad is about Oil Sands as a source of fuel. They gloss over the fact that it not only costs more to produce than its worth, but also that it is extremely destructive to the environment.

At least British Pretroleum pays lip service to conservation and true alternatives like wind and wave power. However I don’t buy that line either.

These oil companies are not our friends, whatever they say.