Climate Files 63 / Steven Chu at Stanford
US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu spoke at Stanford University the 2nd week of March about clean energy , climate change science, innovation and education. It’s a science and solutions oriented talk so it’s valuable for everyone.
Secretary Chu met with students before the talk for a student round table discussion on energy. The event was followed in the evening by a panel called “Educating the Energy Generation,” focused on how the U.S. can build a competitive clean energy workforce as quickly as possible. See here for an article about Secretary Chu’s visit to Stanford, “The Biggest Speaker of the Year,” and why his perspective is important. On the DoE website, Chu asks,
What are the steps we must take as a nation to create new, clean energy jobs and ensure America’s long-term competitiveness? What are the consequences for our climate of inaction? How can science and technology offer us new and better choices - and how can America’s young people make a difference?
I recently returned to Stanford University, where I spent many years as a professor, to discuss these and many other issues with a great group of students. I’d like to invite you to watch a replay of my speech here, and then share your thoughts afterward on my personal Facebook page (www.facebook.com/stevenchu) to continue the conversation.
During the speech he said something to take notice of: “Humans are altering the destiny of the planet. . . . [but] it’s not too late.”
To watch a video of this event, see the Department of Energy homepage
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Music in the podcast:
1) Step it Up — The Gallerists
2) Lost in Detroit – Rolfe Kent
(more…)
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Climate Files 61 / Question the EPA
I attended the EPA Townhall Meeting and asked a good question. Everyone should question the EPA. Mine was about that nasty Canadian tar sands oil and the pipeline that is spilling oil into the beautiful northern part of one of the Great Lakes states. The EPA must not care very much about that, because they wouldn’t answer a simple question: how does a dirty oil pipeline fit in with the new green economy being promoted in the Great Lakes states? I like this EPA so much better than the last one, but it’s hard to believe it’s so easy to stump the EPA.
Also in this episode, what U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders said about climate change deniers, and what President Obama said about energy and climate in his speech to the business roundtable in Washington DC. Some headlines were covered too, including the exciting news about Bloom Energy, a new company making a revolutionary new type of stand-alone power station. It sounds almost too good to be true — fuel cells that run on oxygen and biomass? Yes, and it’s already being used by companies in Silicon Valley. Here is what I wrote about it on Futurism Now.
The Delta Institute website is here.
The EPA video page where you can watch the entire Townhall meeting from February 23rd is here.
News covered:
- Poor Nations Could Be Paid to Preserve Marine CO2: UN (Reuters)
- Curbing Smokestack Emissions Tops EPA’s 2011-2013 Enforcement Goals (Greenwire)
- Groups ID Toxic Coal Ash Sites in 14 States, Demand Regulations (ENN)
- Tackling Climate Change ‘Urgent,’ President Hu Jintao Says (China Daily)
- Italy Delays New Solar Plan Again, Industry Worried
- World’s Temperature Record To Be Re-analyzed (The Independent)
- Check out the Enbridge Pipeline in my Backyard blog.
- Waste could fuel part of Spain – read here.
- Did you hear about the 126,000 gallon oil spill in northern MN, the 2nd in months?
You can download this episode here, or subscribe on Climate Files Radio.
Final song is by Galactic, “Heart of Steel feat. Irma Thomas” from the MPR song of the day podcast.
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Climate Files 45 / Peak Oil and IEA Report
The new 2009 World Energy Report shows a decline in oil, but did the U.S. interfere in the final report to avoid a panic in the markets? The IEA denies the pressure.
Many experts think Saudi Arabia and other countries are inflating the numbers reflecting what oil they have left.
This was NaPodPoMo episode 11 of the November podcast marathon. (FN is now ending its involvement in NaPodPoMo.)
Many energy experts also think we have started peak oil already, and everything from here on is a decline. Worse, the US doesn’t want anyone else to know this, and has pressured the IEA to soften its language on peak oil and oil decline to prevent panic.
The November 10 IEA press release is here. Story about U.S. pressure on the IEA from The Guardian is here. The IEA has denied the claims that appeared in the Guardian from the anonymous whistleblowers. You can read what they said here.
The IEA book site is here, and here are the available downloads of the World Energy Report 2009.
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Climate Files 18 / TERAWATTS OF POWER
In this episode: News and a speaker from CIT on Powering the Planet and what it will take.
The stone age didn’t end because we ran out of stones . . . . people got smarter. We need to get smarter and move on to renewable energy. Where are we going to get terawatts of new renewable power?
We have at most 10 years to put into place new renewable forms of energy to replace the ones we have. Fossil fuel use has to end. The energy problem is so serious, “business as usual” is already in our rear-view mirrors. It’s more than a problem of political will. It’s what is physically and scientifically possible. This is where research and development and technology come in.
News covered: Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann reports that Republicans have come up with a new energy plan that is just like their old energy plan. It includes lots and lots of fossil fuels, so it’s completely unacceptable and inappropriate.
Biofuel is the fuel that won’t die. Read more about different kinds of new biofuels here on the Futurism Now news blog. There are several articles about new forms of biofuels that are being researched this year and late last year that sound somewhat promising.
Steven Chu was featured in last week’s Rolling Stone magazine — a very revealing interview. It’s called The Secretary of Saving the Planet — try to find it online (not available without a subscription). This episode discusses the article. Steven Chu is a big fan of cap and trade legislation, unfortunately. He also makes some revealing statements in this article.
New report: Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States. Download the report in full or in segments on this page.
Jane Lubchenco, the Undersecretary of Commerce makes a statement that is played in this episode, announcing the report. (The entire press conference will be a separate podcast to come.) She is also the head of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Coal broadcast from ABC Environment — Australian Broadcast Corp., Environmental show
Oil Shale is being pushed by Republicans. Here’s how bad it is for the environment.
The final speaker played in this episode is Nate Lewis of the California Institute of Technology describes the greatest problem of our time – energy use and production, and the prospects for addressing it. This talk first aired on 5/13/2009 from UCTV.
The average total energy consumption rate is 13 trillion watts in 2001, last year it was well over 14 trillion watts. You have to solve this problem, not just get a few cars off the road. The U.S. consumes 96 quadrillion British thermal units in a year or 3.2 terawatts. 85% of it is fossil fuels. How can renewable energies make up for this?
The speaker, Nate Lewis, points out the challenges we are facing, and it is extremely daunting, but he also offers solutions.
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Music by Afrocelt Soundsystem, Issa Bagayogo, and Kasabian on the end.
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Climate Files 13 / Busta Myth
Busting the myths of the cost of changing energy and capping emissions. But is the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 cap and trade bill right for right now or is it a waste of time? I gaze into my cloudy crystal ball and find — the answer is not so clear. It’s tough to predict the future.
The cap and trade bill is rushing through Congress yet it provides huge giveaways for polluters and focuses an awful lot on coal funding and the myth of clean coal. Will carbon capture and sequestration ever work? Steven Chu is betting 2.4 billion that it will. Many scientists say it’s just not feasible. There is no such thing as clean coal!
Read about the new superfund lawyer here.
Disturbing news about the EPA approving 42 out of 48 permits for mountain top removal in Appalachia and their response, which is lame.
Two interviews are played in this episode; one with John Berger of Standard Renewable Energy, and the other with Björn Stigson, president of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, during the Energy Efficiency Global Forum. You can find more news and interviews at E&ETV. You will also hear from Kevin Knoblach, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
There are a lot of myths about what is happening in the rest of the world — one myth is that the EU’s emissions trading is not working and it is (reportedly) working. And yes, China is doing a lot on climate change. China is in the process of greening up their country, and spending a lot on doing it too. Spending more than the U.S. in fact. China and India should not be used as an excuse for the U.S. to not act aggressively on climate change!
Various news stories on the climate bill that might be of interest. An analysis of the cap and trade bill from the Wall Street Journal article that I discussed is here: “Panel Adds Free Permits to CO2 Bill”
This cap and trade bill does not go far enough on emissions and it makes too many allowances, especially for coal. Why? The top 3-takers of coal money, are Democrats — Dingell, Boucher, & Hoyer. Follow the coal money.
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FN08 — Earth the Sequel
Highlights from the Discovery Channel’s presentation of Earth the Sequel, a “documentary” based on the book by Fred Krupp and Miriam Horn. I don’t agree with everything in this show, but it’s a good introduction to some real alternative energy sources that are being worked on and implemented today. Some of them are very good ideas. Others, not so much.
Biofuels are not something I think we should be pursuing unless we are burning waste, because often the biofuels come from sugar cane or waste planted on land where a forest or rainforest once stood. That works against fighting climate change, so it’s really not helping.
Cap and trade markets are discussed as though they would be a good thing, and they would not be a good thing, but they may be the only way Congress can sell emissions caps to the public. Pursuing renewable energy needs a boost for everyone because unfortunately, it has become a political issue. We have a uber-capitalistic culture and that thing itself is the cause of the climate change problem. Let’s see if we can restore some bravery in the U.S. Congress in the next two years. So far, their political will is very weak.
Otherwise it’s an interesting look, if a very capitalistic one, at where renewable energy is moving towards in the U.S. The book is better because it’s not so super-capitalistic and focuses more on climate change, but obviously this “documentary” is meant to sell these ideas to the public in general.
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FN02 / Stimulus and Energy
Ben Franklin discovers electricity
The economy and the environment, the stimulus package and energy. What do Congress and the new President have planned concerning all of these things, and how serious are they about climate change? There are a lot of indicators in the stimulus package.
This episode goes over a lot of what is in the stimulus bill and other things the Congress is doing about climate change now and has planned for later this year.
The stimulus bill has now passed the Senate. It now heads into conference committee for reconciliation. What’s in it for Green Energy?
Senate-passed stimulus package by the numbers provided by Scientists and Engineers for America
“Here we provide a breakdown of spending in the stimulus package that passed the Senate last night it includes a lot of money for science.”
Australia is suffering from horrible wild fires, caused in part by climate change.
“Scientists said Australia needed to prepare for more extreme weather events due to global warming, while the Greens and environmentalists said the fires and floods proved the government needed to toughen its targets to curb Greenhouse emissions.”
Earth Tech, and what’s been left out of the stimulus package from the House version.
Greenpeace commissioned report:
Carbon Footprint Analysis of Economic Recovery Package
Tech people are very happy about the stimulus package, read about it here.
What is a green job? It’s not necessarily a blue collar job. As you can see from the stimulus package, it can be just about in any field, doing a wide variety of things.
Hidden Tech Winners in Obama’s Green Stimulus Bill
Joe Romm is from ClimateProgress and he was interviewed by Earthbeat Radio, an excellent podcast.
See Spain’s highspeed trains here.
Song at end: Tevaka — Our Ocean
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News and Commentary #03
Before this was a climate podcast . . . it was a news broadcast. This episode covers climate change, news about Karl Rove, news about diplomatic efforts, and the 819 billion dollar stimulus package that Obama wants passed. No Republicans voted to pass it in the House on Wednesday night and it passed anyway. That’s because President Obama has a mandate and intelligence on his side. Anyway, I defend the spending bill and one reason is the money for transportation and energy and the new electric grid, all of which we need badly. However, it’s true this spending bill won’t be nearly enough because it doesn’t yet tackle climate change seriously.
See this train? Other countries have super-fast commuter trains and we don’t. Why is that? Could it be due to Exxon or BP? We need super-fast, super-efficient transit in the U.S. and it’s ridiculous that we don’t have any. Something or someone must be obstructing their development. There are even solar-powered bullet trains in development, but I bet the U.S. will be one of the last countries to get one, thanks to the obstructionist Republicans.
I play a short clip of Al Gore’s very long testimony in front of Congress on Wednesday. I will have the entire recording (3 hours) shortly, and it will be available on Podcast Liberally (here) only.
Music: Runaway Train by Eliza Gilkyson
You can download this episode here.
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