Tweet-a-Watt? Gadget Twitters Your Energy Use

A new gadget, revealed at the Greener Gadgets competition, has the power to embarrass you into improving your energy consumption habits. For less than fifty bucks, you can hack a Kill-a-Watt power monitor so that it automatically reports your energy use to all of your Twitter followers. It’s an interesting combination of creative gadget hacking, social networking and environmental accountability.

From Core 77, via Inhabitat:

Using “off-the-shelf hardware”, we have modified a Kill-a-Watt(TM) power meter to “tweet” (publish wirelessly) the daily KWH consumed to the user’s Twitter account (Cumulative Killowatt-hours). We are releasing this project as an “Open source hardware” project – in other words, anyone can make these, modify them and make a commercial product from the ideas and methods.

Here’s how it works: The modified Kill-a-Watt uses a “super-cap” to slowly recharge itself. Once there is enough power it turns on the Xbee wireless module which transmits thedata to a nearby computer (or internet connected microcontroller, like an Arduino). Once the power usage for the day is recorded it uses a predefined Twitter account (it can be your own) to publish your daily KWH consumption for the day. Multiple units can be used for an entire household.

This is pure genius. The whole process is explained in detail, including photos with notes, at Ladyada.net so you can DIY. This kind of gadget not only enables you to keep track of energy use trends in your household, but keeps you honest by telling all of your Twitter buddies every time you use a lot of energy.

Link [Core77] + [Ladyada.net] via [Inhabitat]

How Green is Obama’s New Team?

Now that Barack Obama is officially President of the United States, we’ve got four years of new leadership to look forward to and his team will undoubtedly get started on new measures so fast it’ll make our heads spin. But, when it comes to that new team – from the EPA chief to the National Security Advisor – how much can we expect in terms of environmental progress? Just how green is Obama’s new staff?

Naturally, Grist.org has the scoop. They’ve compiled background information on each team member and what the environmental community thinks of them.  Here are a few of the top names – see the rest over at Grist.org.

EPA Administrator: Lisa Jackson

While many enviros have had nice things to say about Jackson, she’s been a controversial figure in New Jersey, where she served as commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection from February 2006 to November 2008. Some N.J. groups say she’s done great work on climate, energy, and clean water, but others have been critical, particularly of her handling of toxic waste sites.

More background on Jackson.

Secretary of Energy: Steven Chu

Background on Chu.

Watch Chu talk about climate change and renewable energy.

Secretary of the Interior: Ken Salazar

Some grassroots conservationists from the West are unhappy with the Salazar nomination, though some big, national green groups are saying nice things about him.

Background on Salazar.

Secretary of Agriculture: Tom Vilsack

The sustainable-agriculture community is disappointed in the choice of Vilsack, who has been a big booster of agribusiness and genetically modified crops. But a long-time Iowa organic farmer and food activist says Vilsack is someone progressives can work with.

Read a 2007 interview with Vilsack.

Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change: Carol Browner

Background on Browner.

Browner, who was EPA administrator during the entire Clinton administration, has been a long-time acolyte of Al Gore.

Link [Grist.org]

Why Lower Gas Prices are Bad for Us

The Good Human is reminding us all why these low-by-last-year’s-standards gas prices aren’t a good thing. People around the country have been breathing a sigh of relief as gas prices have slid from highs above $4 a gallon to less than $1.50, and it’s easy to understand why. After all, the economy is in the toilet and people are losing their jobs left and right – it’s one less thing to worry about.

But when gas prices were high, there was a lot more motivation to find a cleaner, renewable solution. There was a mad rush to trade in SUVs for smaller, more efficient vehicles and a huge increase in public transit patronage. Now, people are going back to their old habits.

From The Good Human:

I do realize that when gas shot up to $5 a gallon in major cities that people stopped buying oversized school buses to commute alone to work in. I also realize that more people started taking public transportation, too. I get that, it’s a good thing, and it was about time. While the rest of the world has been downsizing their automobiles, riding Vespas, and investing in high-speed efficient rail travel, we were on a binge for what Doug Fine calls “ROAT’s” – Ridiculously Oversized American Trucks. (If you have not read Fine’s book Farewell, My Subaru, you are missing out big time – here is my review.) We could not get enough of these vehicles, and they kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger – until they became a joke unto themselves. I will never forget the time I was in France at an outdoor cafe and a Hummer drove by on those little skinny streets they have. The people at the table next to me (about 3 inches away – this is France we are talking about here) started pointing and laughing at the driver, making fun of the truck. I laughed along too, as I think they are dumb…but a lot of people don’t and found themselves with these behemoths sitting still in their driveway because they could not afford the gasoline to run them anymore. And while the gas prices were hurting my wallet as well, I could not help but be happy that the prices were going to make people think long-term about the cars and trucks they buy; but then gas prices started falling.

You would think that people would have learned a lesson from super high gas prices and realize that another price increase is inevitable. Some people did, and some didn’t, but one thing’s for sure: this isn’t going to last. Reality is going to hit again, and soon.

Link [The Good Human]
Photo credit: Flickr user scottfeldstein

World Energy Outlook ‘Patently Unsustainable’

Grim news from the International Energy Agency this week. The organization’s annual World Energy Outlook reports that the earth simply can’t sustain current trends in energy supply and consumption, and that we’ve got to cut back, stat – but it won’t be easy.

Nobuo Tanaka, the IEA’s Executive Director, says rising imports of oil and gas from the increasingly concentrated production in a small number of countries puts us at even bigger risk of major disruptions. At the same time, our greenhouse gas emissions will continue to rise, putting the world on track for a global temperature increase of up to 6 degrees Celsius.

From The Daily Green:

If government policies don’t change, the world will spend $1 trillion on energy — much of it fossil fuels — and demand will grow 45% by 2030, a slightly slower rate of growth than was predicted last year because of the economic crisis. China and India would account for half the growth in world energy demand, and world cities would account for three-quarters of total demand.

Demand for oil would rise nearly 25% and will remain the world’s “main source of energy” for years to come, even under the most “optimistic” alternative scenarios. But it could come at an increasing cost, as supplies dwindle, oil supplies are nationalized, sources shift to non-traditional forms like oil shale, oil sands and deep-sea deposits, and political instability disrupts supply. “The era of cheap oil is over,” Tanaka said.

Renewable energy, even under current government policies, will become the second-biggest source of electricity sometime in the next few years.

Carbon dioxide emissions will increase 45% by 2030, if current trends continue unabated. Three-quarters of the increase will come from China, India and the Middle East. Reducing emissions to prevent a 3-degree (C) rise in temperature would take a $4.1 trillion investment ($17 per person per year) by 2030 primarily in energy efficiency so that vehicles, homes and appliances demand less energy. That investment would deliver fuel-cost savings of $7 trillion or more. But to prevent a 2-degree temperature increase, the cost would rise to $9.3 trillion, as the world invested heavily in non-polluting forms of energy, and the fuel-cost savings drops to just $5.8 trillion.

Scary. I don’t know about you, but things like this make me even more grateful that we’ve at least got President Elect Obama about to take charge, instead of another Republican who’d continue the status quo. This is no time to let oil industry buddies influence how we move forward on such a pressing problem.

Link [The Daily Green]

The Truth About “Clean Coal”

The coal industry has spent over $40 million on misleading advertising that touts coal as the next great thing to solve the energy crisis. It’s time for a reality check. Watch this video released by the Sierra Club to learn more about the deception of the coal industry and how it stands in the way of real solutions such as wind and solar. Better yet, learn the facts and join the conversation at coalisnottheanswer.org/

Obama Responds to McCain’s Backfiring ‘Tire Gauge’ Attacks

When Obama recommended conserving energy through measures like keeping tires inflated as an alternative to offshore drilling, he was ridiculed by the McCain camp, who then distributed tire gauges labeled “Barack Obama’s Energy Plan”. But then it was proven that Obama’s suggestion was right on target, and simple conservation efforts like properly inflated tires and regular tune-ups can save as much oil as offshore drilling would produce. Now, Obama’s got a few things to say to McCain about the episode.

From Yahoo! News:

“It will be interesting to watch this debate between John McCain and John McCain,” Obama said as he campaigned in Indiana with Sen. Evan Bayh, widely considered a top-tier candidate for running mate.

In mocking Obama, McCain told a motorcycle rally in Sturgis, S.D.: “My opponent doesn’t want to drill, he doesn’t want nuclear power, he wants you to inflate your tires.” The Republican National Committee widely distributed tire pressure gauges labeled “Obama energy plan” and suggested that was the Illinois senator’s only idea for reducing oil imports, although both candidates have offered multifaceted energy proposals.

You can see Obama here:

The RNC’s gift of tire gauges may be the single most helpful thing they’ve done for the country in the past decade. Not that they knew that when they passed them out, of course. Dumbasses.

Link [Yahoo! News]
Photo credit: Flickr user marcn

TCPR’s Campaign of Misinformation about Al Gore’s Energy Use

There’s a lot of misinformation out there about Al Gore’s energy consumption, and the Tennessee Center for Policy Research is behind most of it. This ‘research organization’, which declines to identify where it gets its funding, has now put out two press releases detailing what they call Al Gore’s “massive home energy use”, citing information from the Nashville Electric Service.

According to the TCPR, Gore, who they call a “global warming alarmist”, is wasting tons of energy while laughing all the way to the bank with “global warming hysteria” profits. From their June 17th, 2008 press release:

“A man’s commitment to his beliefs is best measured by what he does behind the closed doors of his own home,” said Drew Johnson, President of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research. “Al Gore is a hypocrite and a fraud when it comes to his commitment to the environment, judging by his home energy consumption.”

In the past year, Gore’s home burned through 213,210 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, enough to power 232 average American households for a month.

Since taking steps to make his home more environmentally-friendly last June, Gore devours an average of 17,768 kWh per month – 1,638 kWh more energy per month than the year before the renovations. By comparison, the average American household consumes 11,040 kWh in an entire year, according to the Energy Information Administration. The cost of Gore’s electric bills over the past year topped $16,533.

Their first press release on the subject, released last February the day after Gore won an Academy Award for his documentary An Inconvenient Truth, trumpeted similar claims. The problem is, the data that the TCPR gained from public records is from a period of time when Gore’s home was in the midst of a three-year renovation, which naturally caused a temporary increase in power usage. Since then, the home has been praised as one of the country’s most environmentally friendly.

‘Short of tearing it down and starting anew, I don’t know how it could have been rated any higher,’ said Kim Shinn of the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council, which gave the house its second-highest rating for sustainable design. [Denver Post]

Al Gore’s spokesperson Kalee Krieder refuted the TCPR’s allegations to the Nashville Post on June 18th:

I am happy to provide more information about this from the Gores’ perspective. First, this release yesterday are [sic] a mere re-release of old bills. If any of you have ever worked with contractors, you know that renovations take years. The Gores renovated a 80 year old house from stem to stern. This took about 3 years to go through all the ducwork [sic], to install a geothermal system, to replace all the windows, to put in solar panels (which used to be illegal in Bellemeade and took 6 months to reverse).

So, to be clear, the Gores’ achieved Gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification in November 2007. The reduction in the electricity and natural gas bills–you need to look at both in order to truly evaluate their carbon footprint, really kicked in in 2008. At that point, evaluating both, there is about a 40 percent reduction.

Their natural gas bill has seen the biggest reduction as a result of the geothermal system. For electricity, they purchase green power through their utility, which is called “Green Power Switch.” It isn’t an offset, any customer can purchase green power (solar, wind, methane gas) and its a wonderful program.

Indeed, the TCPR chose to ignore the fact that the energy used by Gore’s home is now all green power, an omission that was repeated by Fox News’ Brit Hume on an airing of Special Report.

That’s not all. MediaMatters.org reports that on a February edition of MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Olbermann stated that the TCPR’s claims “omits several other key facts. The former vice president’s home has 20 rooms, including home offices for himself and his wife, as well as a guest house and special security measures. Furthermore, the Gores buy energy produced from renewable sources, such as wind and solar. Tonight, Countdown confirmed with the local utility officials that their program, called the Green Power Switch, actually costs more for the Gores — four dollars for every 150 kilowatt hours. Meaning, by our calculations, our math here, that the Gores actually chose to increase their electric bill by $5,893, more than 50 percent, in order to minimize carbon pollution.”

Furthermore, Gore donates all of the proceeds from An Inconvenient Truth – both the DVD and the companion book – to environmental causes. He also donated 100% of his Nobel Peace Prize award as well as his salary from the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers to the Alliance for Climate Protection.

What motivates the TCPR to put out this misinformation? Is it a desire to make sure the public has the facts, or an attempt to kill the messenger by a group that seeks to discredit global warming?

TCPR is a global warming denial group actively working to discredit information about climate change and anyone who works to educate the public about it. The TCPR reportedly joined the ‘Civil Society Coalition on Climate Change’, a group that claims to have “been established as a response to the many biased and alarmist claims about human-induced climate change, which are being used to justify calls for urgent action by governments.”

TCPR ‘staff and scholars’ are made up of individuals who have supported anti-environment causes and/or received support from anti-environment groups. TCPR president Jason ‘Drew’ Johnson has a long background of working for groups that deny global warming and seek to discredit it. Others have openly called environmental activism “destructive”. MediaMatters.org has some of the details:

Further, as part of the Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow Program, Johnson interned at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in 2002. As MSNBC host Keith Olbermann noted on the February 27 edition of Countdown, Johnson worked at “the same American Enterprise Institute that takes money from big oil, cheerleads the war in Iraq, and consistently, and now to pretty consistent laughter, downplays global warming.” Indeed, AEI has received nearly $1 million in funding from ExxonMobil in recent years. Moreover, according to The Washington Post, AEI “has been soliciting critiques” of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released in February and “has offered $10,000 to academics willing to contribute to a book on climate-change policy.”

TCPR scholar Charles Van Eaton also serves as a trustee for the Lincoln Heritage Institute (LHI). The institute’s “About LHI” page declares: “We … cannot stand idly by and allow … destructive environmental activism … to become an accepted way of life in America.”

The Department of Revenue commented to the Nashville Post – in a story that has since been deleted from their website – that the TCPR is “not a legitimate organization”.

When it comes down to it, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research’s attempts to discredit Al Gore and paint him as a hypocrite are a pathetic effort to derail the climate change awareness movement. As important as Al Gore has been and continues to be for climate change awareness, he is only a very small part of a growing urgency to act. The world is starting to wake up, and no matter how hard groups like the TCPR may try to stop it, the movement to act on climate change is going to keep on rollin’.

Link [TCPR] + [MediaMatters.org] + [Washington Post]

Green Meme Killers: Nukes Are Good For You

There’s been a lot of discussion lately about the viability of nuclear power; the loudest and most obnoxious voice in the chorus has been Wired magazine, who took it upon themselves to launch a bright orange cover telling us wacky enviro types that we should start gunning down spotted owls, guzzling pesticides, and give nuclear power a big hug.

Totally safe. For real. We promise this time. From Stuckincustoms.

The reason behind all this lunacy? Carbon Dioxide. Wired thinks that it’s the Holy Grail of the environmental movement, and the only concern that any of us should have for the next 75 years or so. Environmentalism, the magazine trumpets, is too important to be left to the environmentalists. Because we care too much about spotted owls to actually save the world.

Look at the environmental protection agency’s CO₂-per-kilowatt-hour map of the US and two bright patches of low-carbon happiness jump out. One is the hydro-powered Pacific Northwest. The other is Vermont, where a 30-year-old nuclear reactor, Vermont Yankee, keeps the Ben & Jerry’s cold.

Vermont! (Pub: I wonder what Simon Slade would say) How interesting that you bring that up, since it you assail it elsewhere in your arrogant little shot across the bow of the green community. But that’s merely a pet peeve. Let’s look further into that low-carbon happiness; the Pacific Northwest does draw power largely from hydro-plants, but once upon a time, it was on the nuclear bandwagon, as well. Actually, the Hanford Site, in Washington State, led the way for nuclear power in America: it was established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project, and has nine plutonium production reactors. What’s going on there? “Cocooning,” a process where the reactor is entombed in a case of steel, concrete, and lead, designed to be water, fire, tornado, and earthquake resistant for 75 years. Because maybe by then we’ll know what to do with the stuff inside. They don’t know what to do with it in Vermont, either: the Yankee’s storage pools are almost full, and still waiting for a federal repository to open somewhere. Because you know, Nuclear power is great in my state, but the leftovers need to go to somebody else’s. Of course, they may just be able to seal it off as well: a 2007 reactor SCRAM, the last safety option before a meltdown, has placed the operating license of the Vermont plant at risk. [Read more]

Playstation 3 is a Huge Energy Hog

Wow. If you’re trying to ‘go green’ and you have a Playstation 3, you may want to consider switching to a Wii. An Australian consumer group found that the Sony Playstation 3 consumes five times more energy than a medium sized refrigerator – 10 times as much as the Wii.

From Intology:

They found out that a medium sized refrigerator of about 12 cu. ft. volume (60 inches in height) will cost $50 a year while Sony Playstation 3 will cost $250 a year even if it is not in use and only turned on. Microsoft XBox came second behind Playstation 3.

$250! Imagine what you could do with that money instead of draining energy unnecessarily. You could put it toward buying yourself a Wii! (No, Nintendo is not paying me to tell you that.)

Link [Intology]

Photo credit: Flickr user MNgillen

Coal is Clean! Get the Real Facts About the Coal Industry

As oil gets scarcer and more expensive, the coal industry is revving up their ad campaigns and propaganda to portray coal as a clean, patriotic energy source. So, when you visit the website Coal-is-Clean.com, you may not be too surprised to see images like that of a young boy in overalls and a cowboy hat waving an American flag, and headlines like ‘The Future of America’s Coal-Based Economy and National Security Depends Upon You’. Sick, right? Well, keep reading.

You may then notice ‘Health Workers for Clean Coal’ and ‘From Coal Mine to Golf Course’. Hmm. Then you’ll see ‘Move over java, it’s time for Hot Coal-Cappuccino!’ and ‘Check out what Dr. Coal has to say about the health benefits of coal for you and your family!’ If you’ve ever read The Onion, you know where this is going.

Click on any of the links on the page and you’re taken to Coal-is-Dirty.com, where everything is suddenly all flip flopped around on you. Coal is Dirty has gathered all of the straight facts about coal energy and put them together on one website where you can get info about how coal pollution is threatening our national parks, negative health effects of coal and how the coal industry has turned the greenwashing dial to 11 to convince Americans that it’s a clean source of energy.

The article ‘Clean Coal = Greenwash’ explains it perfectly. Here’s a snippet:

But in 2008 they are going primetime. Having tapped coal companies and utilities for money, the groups launched a $45 million TV, print and online advertising campaign to re-brand coal as clean and patriotic- trying to greenwash one of the dirtiest sources of energy on earth.

ACCCE’s campaign spin has taken over the election season, blitzing key state presidential primaries with clean coal propaganda in the form of billboards, advertisements and a blue sky painted “Power Van” driven by “volunteers” all over the country to political rallies and debates and loaded with clean coal propoganda handouts, t-shirts, hats etc…

Along with their print ad campaign and billboards, ACCCE paid CNN $5 million to be one of the main co-sponsors of six presidential debates, which gave them saturation advertising during the debates on television and on the CNN webpage. Grist noted the irony that during these debates, no questions have been asked about climate and specifically about coal.

Some startling figures really put it all into perspective. You may not have known that 24,000 people die every year from pollution from coal-fired power plants, or that smokestack emissions from coal fired power plants are the primary source of mercury pollution in the U.S. These are just a few of the facts you’ll find on the Coal is Dirty website, which is a joint project managed by The DeSmog Project, Rainforest Action Network and Greenpeace USA.

Once you’re done reading all of the sobering facts about dirty, dirty coal, check out the video ‘Clean Coal’ for a laugh that might help brighten up your mood a bit. Then pass on the link to everyone you know.

Link [Coal is Clean]

Conservative Group Plans to Waste Tons of Energy on ‘Carbon Belch Day’

Oooh, sometimes you hear a bit of news that makes you feel like you’re bordering on a killing spree fueled by murderous rage. This is one of those stories. Conservative grassroots organization Grassfire.org is calling for people to waste as much energy as possible on June 12th, telling people to do things like “hosting a barbecue, going for a drive, watching television, leaving a few lights on, or even smoking a few cigars”.

Information Week has it:

The point: the group wants to “help Americans break free from the ‘carbon footprint guilt’ being imposed by Climate Alarmists.”

Grassfire.org says it’s skeptical over claims that man-made sources of carbon dioxide emissions — from automobile exhausts to manufacturing plants — are raising the Earth’s temperature at a dangerous rate. Theories about global warming were highlighted by former Vice President Al Gore’s 2006 film, An Inconvenient Truth.

Grassfire.org president Steve Elliott, in a statement, said such theories are off the mark. “It’s time for Americans to purge ourselves of the false guilt that Al Gore and the Climate Alarmists have placed on us,” Elliott said.

Grassfire.org said it chose June 12 as the day it wants Americans to rev up their SUVs because it coincides with expected debate in Congress over a $1.2 billion carbon tax rebate program. “Carbon Belch Day will have at least as much impact on the so-called ‘planetary emergency’ of man-made global warming as the goofy save the earth mandates telling us to turn our lights off for an hour,” said Elliott.

If this sounds like an April Fool’s Day joke, check your calendar. It’s for real. There are actually douche nozzles like this out there in the world. These people really don’t get it – they’re living in a state of denial. No doubt, they’re part of the camp that thinks those of us who care about the planet we all live on and depend upon for survival are just trying to rob them of ‘the American way of life’. Because apparently, being an American means being a total self-absorbed asshole.

That’s right, conservative douchebags: watch out, we’re coming for you and your Norman Rockwell America. The one that exists SOLELY INSIDE YOUR OWN HEADS. We are bringing you reality, like it or not. Scratch that, you’re bringing it upon yourself with idiotic moves like Carbon Belch Day. Maybe you’ll be lucky and die before we start to see the real effects of how our wasteful lifestyle has harmed the planet, but your kids and grandkids may not be so lucky. So go on being selfish – it’s only the entire world at stake.

Link [Information Week]
Photo credit: Grassfire.org

Welcome to the Black Hole of Despair: High Oil Prices Cause Resurgence in Coal Mining

Sigh. This is not good, people. Just when you think the high price of oil will force people to turn to greener sources of energy, they turn back to the tried and true. As if afraid to give new forms of energy a shot, demand is back up for dirty, dirty coal. This is not going to be easy.

The New York Times has it:

But after decades of seemingly terminal decline, Japan’s coal country is stirring again. With energy prices reaching record highs — oil settled above $135 a barrel on Thursday — Japan’s high-cost mines are suddenly competitive again, and demand for their coal is booming. Production has jumped to its highest in nearly four decades, creating a sensation rarely felt in these mining communities: hope.

Soaring commodity prices have had distorting effects across the global economy, driving up food prices and prompting fears of future energy shortages. But they have been an unanticipated boon to the coal producing regions of countries like Japan that had written off coal mining as a relic of the Industrial Revolution.

Please, Oh Flying Spaghetti Monster, don’t let this turn into a worldwide trend. This would send us backward in our progress toward a greener planet. Where high oil prices could have spurred increased funding and interest in wind energy, solar power and other renewable forms of energy, we’re increasing carbon output. How incredibly stupid. Perhaps the human race is hell-bent on destroying itself, after all.

Link [The New York Times]
Photo credit: Flickr user mangpages

T. Boone Pickens Says Jump, Investors Act Like Crazed Kids on Pogo Sticks

T. Boone Pickens has gained a lot of clout lately. Let’s put aside for a moment the fact that he is one scary guy, and might become one of the people responsible for putting us into a very frightening situation with our water supply. He’s also known as being a billionaire oil tycoon and recently purchased a huge number of wind turbines. When he predicted that oil would hit $100 a barrel, investors laughed because it seemed so improbable – and then it happened. That’s why they’re now listening up to everything this guy has to say.

From Forbes:

Wall Street decided to treat T. Boone Pickens as the smartest guy in the room.

Light sweet crude prices soared 1.5%, or $1.88, to $128.93 a barrel, after the billionaire oilman said he expects it’ll hit $150 a barrel this year.

“There’s a feeling that some of these forecasts of $150 oil might be right, so why not buy it now rather than later,” Peter Beutel, president of Cameron Hanover, told Reuters.

Pickens gave more than a number though. According to TradeTheNews.com, Pickens also said that speculators have nothing to do with high energy prices, and that oil costs are not a bubble. He that he is investing long on natural gas. This kind of support from a name that holds such credibility gave other investors a renewed sense of confidence in how they played the commodity.

Pickens is positioning himself as an energy expert, and a powerful one at that (cue ‘impending doom’ music). While we’re glad that he has made some good choices in renewable energy, this guy doesn’t have the scruples to be trustworthy – it’s all about the money for him, so if he sees big bucks in an industry that could still harm the planet, he’ll likely jump on it. We’re crossing our fingers that he sticks to renewable energy and drops the creepy water privatization plans.

Link [Forbes]
Photo credit: Flickr user sfslim

Sierra Club Seeking National Online Organizer to Fight Coal Industry

Down with the coal industry! The Sierra Club has posted a job announcement seeking someone who can take over the efforts to fight the coal industry and push clean renewable energy in the U.S. Let’s help them find a good candidate for this important job! Here are the details – spread it around and email it to anyone you know who might be interested.

The Sierra Club, the nation’s largest grassroots environmental group has launched a nationwide campaign to stop the construction of new coal plants and end destructive mining practices in Appalachia. The campaign is part of the overall strategy to move the United States beyond coal and slash global warming pollution. Organizers or campaigners of all backgrounds are encouraged to apply for this full-time, paid position.

From the Sierra Club:

The National Coal Campaign online organizer will work alongside our top campaigners to stop the coal rush by fighting individual power plants, stopping mountain-top removal, and speeding up the deployment of clean and renewable energy sources across the US.

To apply, email natalie.foster -at- sierraclub =d0t= org with “Coal Online Organizer application” in the subject line. This position is geo-flex, full-time, and includes a competitive salary and full benefits.

Key skills we’re looking for:

- An organizer at heart. You should be eager to empower and engage others in the democratic process and work well with all types of people.

- Passionate about protecting the planet by building grassroots power. Saving the world is your life, not just your job.

- Calm under fire. When the Kansas legislature reverses the veto of Governor Sebelius to stop a coal-fired power plant, you quickly, strategically and coolly swing into gear.

- Leadership experience. You start projects, rally people, inspire others.

- Excellent writing skills. Your writing should be sharp, personable, and hard-hitting.

- Strong self-starter, entrepreneurial. You don’t need someone to tell you what to do.

- Willing to do what it takes to make a project come off. Low ego, high focus on getting stuff done.

- Hard worker, can do flexible hours and manage your time independently. You know that changing the country doesn’t always happen between 9 and 5.

- At ease with technology. You don’t have to know HTML, but you should know what HTML is.

Link [Sierra Club]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Old Gas Pumps Roll Over and Die as Gas Hits $4 a Gallon

Old fashioned gas pumps with rolling mechanical dials are throwing in the towel. As gas rises to $4 a gallon and beyond, these dinosaurs are admitting defeat – they only go up to $3.999 per gallon and can only count up to $99.99 for the total sale. That’s leaving owners of old gas stations out of luck, since upgrading them to new pumps isn’t an option for most of them.

From MSNBC:

As many as 8,500 of the nation’s 170,000 service stations have old-style meters that need to be fixed — about 17,000 individual pumps, said Bob Renkes, executive vice president of the Petroleum Equipment Institute of Tulsa, Okla.

At Chip Colville’s Chevron station in this eastern Washington town, where men in the family have pumped gas since 1919, three stubby, gray pumps were installed when gas was less than $1 a gallon. They top out at $3.999, only 30 cents above the price of regular gas at Colville’s station.

“In small towns, where you don’t have the volume, there’s no way you can afford to pay for the replacements for these old pumps,” Colville said. “It’s just not economically feasible.”

The problem is worse in extremely rural areas, where “this might be the only pump in town that people can access,” said Mike Rud, director of the North Dakota Petroleum Marketers Association.

The companies that make or rebuild the parts needed to update the pumps are backlogged with orders right now from stations that have enough money to retrofit their existing pumps. New pumps cost as much as $10,000 to $15,000 each, an expense that most gas station owners can’t afford considering they barely make a profit on gas despite high gas prices.

To deal with the problem, some states are allowing gas stations to charge by the half gallon and settle up the price with a calculator. Other stations will have to temporarily close down and many will likely go out of business.

All of this just contributes to the perception (and hopefully fact) that oil is on its way out. These mechanical gas pumps represent an old way that just doesn’t work anymore. Time to move on!  It’s sad for the owners of these gas stations, though – hopefully they’ll find a way to land on their feet.

Link [MSNBC]
Photo credit: Flickr user Mykl Roventine

Next thing you know ol’ Jed’s a Billionaire- Todays Oil Prices Make Clampetts Billionaires

Jed Clampett, the lovable old patriarch of the Clampett family who struck black gold one day while shootin for some food, would be an incredibly rich Hillbilly had that fortunate hunting accident happened today. You could say he’d be happier than a tornado at a trailer park.

Had Jed discovered that bubblin crude these days instead of 1962 he’d be worth a cool billion dollars. Back in ‘62 when Jed stuck oil in Bugtussel, the price per barrel was around $2.85. Kin folk told Jed move away from there, so The Clampetts loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly (Hill’s that is) with $25,000,000 in Mr. Drysdale’s bank.

Which means, if we do the math …that Jed uncovered around 8.7 million barrels of oil. At any price above $115.55/barrel Jed’s north of 10 figures (a Billionaire). A quick stop to Bloomberg Energy shows crude oil futures currently going for ~$118/barrel.

Wee Doggies!, imagine the party Jed, Granny, Jethro, Elly May, and Duke could throw with that kind of cash- the fancy vittles, moonshine and dancing out by the cee-ment pond. Which would make them all happier than cats a fish fry. Yeehaw.

ZapRoot: Deadly Quiet Hybrids, Stupid Politicians, Towel 2.0, and Swag

ZapRoot 035 in short: silent hybrids could be slightly more dangerous to a miniscule number of blind people, so of course some stupid politician wants to require carmakers to install noisemakers in their cars; Pategonia has a new site that lets you track the entire lifecycle of shirts they sell; Zaproot is looking for Green Earth Day Videos and is giving away swag to the ones they like best, some guy has created the Towel 2.0; ReadyMade is going digital (about fifty years late eh?); and Green Energy Wastebusters are saving people money off their energy biill and using cool ass tools and gadgets doing it.

Reuters Reporters Can’t Believe Billionaire Oilman Is Investing in Wind to Make Money

With a name like T. Boone Pickens, Jr., how could you not grow up to be a billionaire oilman?

80 year old T. Boone made his billions over the decades by growing his oil company through a flurry of mergers and acquisitions and is now setting his sites on the wind. His plan calls for spending $10B to build the worlds largest wind farm in Texas.

I found this news in a Reuters story, author Chris Baltimore seems blown away that someone actually expects to make money by doing something green. Check out:

But Pickens is not out to save the planet. He intends to make money.

Golly gee, a businessman invests in a green business and isn’t doing it to make the world a happier and shinier place? He actually will make money? Stop the presses, 1999 wants it’s storyline back.

Link [Reuters]

Home Refrigeration 2.0- The Oceania Refrigerator Brings The Sexy Green Noise

OK, I admit it- I hate my refrigerator. I hate it because I know just how inefficient of a design it is. Every time I open the door to get something the reservoir of cold air that had built up tumbles out into your kitchen. When you close the door the refrigerator has to re-cool the air, only to lose it the next time you need mayonnaise or Parmesan cheese. Open the freezer for some ice cream and you’ll get the same, only with colder air.

Seriously, try this sometime- lay down on the floor about 6-8 feet from your fridge and face towards it with your head at ground level. Have someone open the refrigerator door and wait a second- you’ll feel a wave of cold air puff at your face, a river of chill being dumped out of the fridge. That air is your money, and the health of the planet, being wasted away. If it’s winter time and you’re heating your house you’ll get hit with a double whammy of having to warm that air back up.

In short, we need a completely reimagined refrigerator.

Yanko Design points to such a thing- the Oceania Refrigerator, designed by Tez Patel.

Check out some of it’s VERY cool and green features:

• three tiers of compartments cooled by magnetic refrigeration and individually controlled with a digital interface.
• a fourth bottom compartment passively cooled with water and ceramic materials that is good for storing veggies, fruit, and bread.
• multiple sections means you don’t expose the entire unit to the air when you get something, and using pull out drawers reduces the cascade of cold air that happens with a traditional fridge.
• a clear drawer lets you browse before you open and it has the capability of tracking food in the fridge using RFID.
• all materials are biodegradable or recyclable.

Swing over to Yanko and check out the other photos, the thing is one sexy piece of machinery.

I want one.

Link [Tez Patel] via [Yanko Design]

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