Colorado Oil Shaleland

So, it comes as no surprise that President Obama is reversing more of former President George W. Bush’s policies on oil shale. In fact, his Administration recently removed the leases for another round of oil-shale development projects on federal lands in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Ken Salazar, Obama’s Interior Secretary, withdrew a proposal for additional research and oil shale leases due to economic and environmental concerns. He thought the previous proposal in January for research and development on 1.9 million acres was flawed. Salazar told MSNBC that new proposals will “help answer critical questions about oil shale, including about the viability of emerging technologies on a commercial scale, how much water and power would be required, and what impact commercial development would have on land, water, wildlife, and communities.” Now, that’s environmentally responsible leadership.

And President Obama has plans to put his money where his mouth is. His proposed budget, released by the White House recently, would call for $15 billion a year to develop clean-energy technologies, which include solar and wind power. The funding to fight climate change and the country’s dependence on foreign oil would come from auctioning off carbon pollution permits, starting in 2012 (more on this below). Obama’s commitment to tackling climate change is fantastic but Congress is ultimately in charge of the budgeting. And the House and Senate haven’t written a bill yet that regulates greenhouse gases and collects money to do so. Let’s see what Congress and the President can devise to stop global warming.

Environmental change calls for big bucks and a new funding system. To pay for his environmental budget to fight global warming, Obama proposes a “cap and trade” system. Basically, the federal government would require companies like power plants and industrial facilities that emit greenhouse gases linked to global warming to purchase permits. It’s like a costly swap-a-roo. If a company exceeds their greenhouse gases limit (read: cap), then they must buy credits from those that are emitting less.

This new revenue stream could bring in $78.6 billion to the Treasury by 2012. And the auctioning of emission allowances as outlined by the Obama plan is predicted to usher in a whopping $645.7 billion between 2012 and 2019. This is no small change and no small difference. The plan would “cut total emissions 14 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent below 2005 levels by 2050.”

And Obama’s thinking of the little guy too. His proposed plan would take 80 percent of the anticipated revenue (or $526 billion) and subsidize the higher energy costs of low- and middle-income folks through tax credits. And the rest of the dough would go towards alternative, clean energy initiatives. Good thinking Prez!

Free veggies anyone? More than 40,000 people showed up to pick free vegetables left over from the harvest at a Colorado farm about 37 miles north of Denver. The farm owners expected about 5,000 to 10,000 people to pick a few carrots and potatoes last Saturday. Instead, more than 11,000 cars showed up and the people picked the fields clean. Owner, Ms. Miller, told the Denver Post, “Overwhelmed is putting it mildly. People obviously need food.”

And in Los Angeles recently, Mayor Villaraigosa revealed his long-range plan to generate “enough solar power to meet one-tenth of the city’s energy needs by 2020.” His goal could be achieved if solar panels are installed on public and private energy generating facilities as well as on residents’ homes. This initiative will also help the city’s Department of Water and Power reduce its use of fossil fuels, like natural gas and coal, and benefit global warming reduction efforts. If the Mayor’s plan were successful, Los Angeles would become the “hub of the solar-energy industry.”

The White House may become a “green” house. In the recent Barbara Walters interview with President-elect Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, Obama said that he wants to make the White House green. He plans to work with the chief usher for house and evaluate his new home’s energy efficiency. When asked why the focus on greening the house, Obama said, “Part of what I want to do is to show the American people that it’s not that hard.”

Global warming is a global concern. Although the global economy is in the pits right now, HSBC bank’s second annual global poll found that 43 percent think climate change is a bigger problem than the financial crisis. And 78 percent of those polled want their countries to do their “fair share” of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Although the global citizens polled want their governments to fight global warming, invest in renewable energy (55 percent), and participate in climate talks (27 percent), as individuals, these people are less willing to change their own lifestyle than last year (47 percent in 2008 vs. 58 percent in 2007). Have they ever heard the expression that change begins with YOU?

So if you are a big greenie, where can you meet like-minded individuals? Funny you should ask. There is a new social networking site called Greenwala. The site is designed to help people learn more about being green, brag about their green works with family and friends.

Question: What do you call a religious gathering with hell-fire preaching?
Answer: A thermal mass.

I’ll understand if you stop reading now. But wait!  I hear that solar energy could generate 2.5 percent of the world’s electricity by 2025.  (Yawn.)

Two billion people in the world have no access to electricity and for most of them, solar photovoltaics would be their cheapest electricity source.  (Mehh.)

Renewable energy-notfeasible-don’t care, forever 21 is having a sweet pleather belt sale, rosco wants to play flip cup tonight but he didn’t want to see kung fu panda with me- blah lol blah rofl blah, yes?

(Alright, complacent stereotypes end here.)

A few years ago, the Green Party’s own ray of sunshine, lil’ Ralphy, retorted that solar energy was kaput because the oil industry does not own the sun.

If they did, they would have a flourishing film career! In any case, over 7,100 drilling permits utilized for more than 44 million acres of coal development were approved by the Bush administration last year. That is the most in history.

The rub: while G-Dub was going bananas signing drilling permits in all their short-sighted glory, guess which alternative, renewable energy source suffered a massive legislative setback?

As of last month, a two-year moratorium has been placed on the construction of solar energy projects on public land despite the fact that bolstering its presence could be a fantastic way to catalyze the energy industry.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” said Holly Gordon, vice president for legislative and regulatory affairs for Ausra, a solar thermal energy company in Palo Alto, Calif. “The Bureau of Land Management land has some of the best solar resources in the world. This could completely stunt the growth of the industry.”

No, people! I mean don’t you want this? And this?!

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said: “This is the wrong signal to send to solar power developers, and to Nevadans and Westerners who need and want clean, affordable sun-powered electricity soon.”

According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, photovoltaic solar projects grew by 48 percent last year in comparison to 2006. Currently, there are eleven functioning solar plants in the United States, and 20 are in various stages of planning or permit-seeking.

The majority of the 119 million surface acres of federally administered land across the West coast is primed for solar energy, particularly in Arizona, Nevada and Southern California, where bare flatlands are drenched in sunshine.

Solar companies have filed more than 130 proposals with the Bureau of Land Management in the past three years. These proposals center on the companies’ desire to lease public land for construction of solar plants to ultimately sell the energy to utilities.

According to the bureau, the applications, which cover more than one million acres, are for projects that could power more than 20 million homes.

In the early 1930s, Thomas Edison had a conversation with Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone. Edison quipped, “I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.”

Oops.  Solar-powered turbo sunglasses will have to wait.

On another note, did you hear the one about the nuclear physicist that had a sign on his door that said… “Gone Fission”?