U.S. foresees gas-powered vehicles dominating through 2040

Washington — – The Energy Department is predicting gasoline-powered vehicles will continue to dominate the market through 2040.

The Energy Information Agency said in a report Tuesday that it also predicts a big rise in the fuel economy of the nation’s cars and trucks. It predicts the fuel efficiency of the nation’s cars and trucks will rise from 21.5 mpg in 2012 to 37.2 mpg by 2040. Overall energy consumption by the nation’s transportation sector is expected to fall by about 4 percent.

The agency predicts that in 2040, 78 percent of all cars and trucks will run on gasoline, down from 82 percent last year. It predicts a big upswing in micro-hybrids and other advanced fuel technologies to 42 percent of all vehicles by 2040. EIA predicts full hybrids will account for 5 percent of vehicles in 2040 — up from 3 percent today. Diesel vehicles will double to 4 percent from the current 2 percent.

It predicts just 1 percent of total sales will be plug-in hybrids and 1 percent full electric vehicles in 2040.

READ MORE: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20131217/AUTO01/312170108#ixzz2p3tKHsvq

Should Congress Extend Renewable-Energy Tax Credits?

Should policymakers vote to extend tax policies incenting renewable energy, including those for wind energy and biofuels?

This year is shaping up like ones past: Congress faces an eleventh-hour decision about whether to extend a slew of temporary tax provisions that expire at year's end, some of which affect energy industries. This time around, the debate is taking place while leaders on the tax-writing committees—House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., and Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont.—are working on long-term comprehensive tax reform, which could cloud efforts to pass a last-minute deal to extend temporary tax incentives.

Policies the energy industry is affected by include the production tax credit for wind power and several similar temporary incentives for the biofuels industry. Meanwhile, certain tax provisions the oil and natural-gas industries receive may be eliminated as part of comprehensive tax reform, if Congress really takes up such reform.

Should Congress pass an overarching "tax extenders" package like it does at the end of most years? What factors should Congress consider when making this decision? How does this eleventh-hour debate affect efforts to achieve comprehensive tax reform, and vice versa?

READ MORE:  http://www.nationaljournal.com/policy/insiders/energy/should-congress-extend-renewable-energy-tax-credits-20131216#comment-1167895157

Welcome to the Mexican Oil Rush of 2014

It seems to me that the biggest story that nobody’s really been paying much attention to over the last few days is the Mexican Congress’ vote to amend the constitution to open the country’s energy markets to foreign investment after 75 years of control by state-owned firm Pemex. On top of being a major victory for new President Enrique Peña Nieto, who came to power promising to reverse his country’s slumping economic growth, this is a development with profound implications for politics, business, and the environment.

Mexico could be sitting on the world’s largest unexplored oil reserves outside the Arctic, but the country’s output has been falling over the last decade as Pemex hasn’t had the means to explore it. The country’s exports to the United States dropped below 1 million barrels for the first time in 20 years last year. Mexico may also have the world's sixth-largest recoverable shale gas reserves.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_world_/2013/12/16/mexico_opens_oil_industry_to_foreigners_let_the_rush_begin.html?wpisrc=hpsponsoredd2

EIA Forecast: Fossil Fuels Remain Dominant Through 2040

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) just released its Annual Energy Outlook 2014 with projections through 2040. Although there is a major push by the Obama Administration to make renewable energy the fuel of choice, fossil fuels supply 80 percent of the nation’s energy in 2040, slightly less than their 82 percent share in 2012. Renewable energy increases its share from 9.3 percent in 2012 to just 11.8 percent in 2040 despite the subsidies and mandates that they receive.

Oil Production
EIA projects that the production of crude oil and lease condensate will increase from 6.5 million barrels per day in 2012 to 9.6 million barrels per day in 2019, 22 percent higher than in last year’s forecast, as producers locate and target the sweet spots of plays currently under development and find additional tight formations that can be developed with the latest technologies. After 2019, domestic crude oil production declines, but remains at or above 7.5 million barrels per day through 2040. Tight oil production increases from 2.3 million barrels per day in 2012 (35 percent of total crude oil production) to 4.8 million barrels per day in 2021 (51 percent of the total). Tight oil production declines after 2021, as more development moves into less-productive areas. Offshore crude oil ranges between 1.6 and 2.0 million barrels per day from 2015 through 2040, as the pace of development activity quickens and new, large development projects, predominantly in the deepwater and ultra-deepwater portions of the Gulf of Mexico, are brought into production.

READ MORE:  http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2013/12/17/eia-forecast-fossil-fuels-remain-dominant-through-2040/

North America to Drown in Oil as Mexico Ends Monopoly

The flood of North American crude oil is set to become a deluge as Mexico dismantles a 75-year-old barrier to foreign investment in its oil fields.

Plagued by almost a decade of slumping output that has degraded Mexico’s take from a $100-a-barrel oil market, President Enrique Pena Nieto is seeking an end to the state monopoly over one of the biggest crude resources in the Western Hemisphere. The doubling in Mexican oil output that Citigroup Inc. said may result from inviting international explorers to drill would be equivalent to adding another Nigeria to world supply, or about 2.5 million barrels a day.

READ MORE:  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-16/north-america-to-drown-in-oil-as-mexico-ends-monopoly.html

Study: Earth was warmer in Roman, Medieval times

If you think the Earth is hot now, try wearing plate armor in the Middle Ages.
A Swedish study found that the planet was warmer in ancient Roman times and the Middle Ages than today, challenging the mainstream idea that man-made greenhouse gas emissions are the main drivers of global warming.

The study, by scientist Leif Kullman, analyzed 455 “radiocarbon-dated mega-fossils” in the Scandes mountains and found that tree lines for different species of trees were higher during the Roman and Medieval times than they are today. Not only that, but the temperatures were higher as well.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/12/13/study-earth-was-warmer-in-roman-medieval-times/#ixzz2nk6IMQL2

Mark Landsbaum: Climate alarmists' search for proof going cold

Even China’s coal-burning is offered to explain lack of global warming.

Recall global warming hysteria’s halcyon days? Just 13 years ago, Dr. David Viner, senior scientist at Britain’s University of East Anglia’s climatic research unit, confidently predicted that, within a few years, winter snowfall will become “a very rare and exciting event.”

“Children just aren’t going to know what snow is,” he said.
Of course, that doesn’t mesh with what happened. This past October, the UK Express headlined, “Worst winter for decades: Record-breaking snow predicted for November.”
By the end of November, Brits were shivering, “as Britain faces snow, ice and plummeting temperatures,” reported the Mirror newspaper. “Most of Scotland has been issued severe weather warnings for ice, and temperatures are expected to remain low, causing problems with snow and ice across the country.” Winter yet lay ahead.

READ MORE:  http://www.ocregister.com/articles/warming-593355-global-temperature.html

Sierra Club celebrates the 'war on coal'

Sierra Club officials praised the planned closures of one-third of America's coal plants over the next decade, further promoting the “war on coal.”

Rather than promote other forms of energy in an effort to compete coal out of the market, the Sierra Club seems to be more interested in crushing the coal industry to force Americans to purchase more expensive, less efficient forms of energy like wind and solar.

The Sierra Club called the coal plant closures a “significant milestone” in its effort to remove coal from the market by 2030.

READ MORE:http://washingtonexaminer.com/sierra-club-celebrates-the-war-on-coal/article/2540567

Cold dis-comfort: Antarctica set record of -135.8

WASHINGTON (AP) — Feeling chilly? Here's cold comfort: You could be in East Antarctica which new data says set a record for "soul-crushing" cold.

Try 135.8 degrees Fahrenheit below zero; that's 93.2 degrees below zero Celsius, which sounds only slightly toastier. Better yet, don't try it. That's so cold scientists say it hurts to breathe.

A new look at NASA satellite data revealed that Earth set a new record for coldest temperature recorded. It happened in August 2010 when it hit -135.8 degrees. Then on July 31 of this year, it came close again: -135.3 degrees.

The old record had been -128.6 degrees, which is -89.2 degrees Celsius.

READ MORE:  http://bigstory.ap.org/article/cold-dis-comfort-antarctica-set-record-1358

EPA says taking over private property will benefit the economy

Can the EPA run your property better than you? The Environmental Protection Agency says that its proposal to extend its regulatory powers over wetlands and waterways would produce economic benefits.
Republican lawmakers warn that the agency is trying to extend its power to regulate private property.

The EPA’s rule would redefine the term “waters of the United States” to include all “tributaries, regardless of size and flow, and all lakes, ponds and wetlands within a floodplain” reports E&E News. Other bodies of water, “such as geographically isolated wetlands, would have to be shown on a case-by-case basis to have a significant chemical, physical or biological effect on larger waterways downstream — a major point of concern for environmental groups” E&E added.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/12/09/epa-says-taking-over-private-property-will-benefit-the-economy/#ixzz2nBryyJaM

NY farmers reject anti-hydrofracking position at Farm Bureau meeting

LIVERPOOL, N.Y. - Farmers today shot down a proposal to oppose hydrofracking, the deeply divisive natural gas drilling process that has split New Yorkers from tables to farms.

The decision from delegates of the New York Farm Bureau was no surprise. The 25,000-member group has a strong voice in Albany and has long-supported hydrofracking as a way to improve economies for individual farmers and the state's rural counties.

Some farmers who live near the Pennsylvania border, where fracking is allowed, say they see jobs and money overflowing from the wells. Many are frustrated that Gov. Andrew Cuomo hasn't made a decision on whether to allow fracking just a few miles north.

"With us and our farm, that's our livelihood," said Judi Whittaker, a delegate and dairy farmer from Broome County whose milk ends up in Chobani yogurt. "With no decision, we're stuck."

READ MORE:  http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2013/12/ny_farmers_reject_anti-hydrofracking_position_at_farm_bureau_meeting.html

An incredible story of how the American energy revolution could have been stopped in its tracks, but was accidentally saved.

SPECIAL REPORT: Special Report: How 'Halliburton Loophole' Spawned the Shale Boom 

 http://www.energyintel.com/Pages/Eig_Article.aspx?DocId=827579

Although technologies such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing are largely credited with clearing the path for the US unconventional gas revolution, the origins of the "shale boom" can also be traced to language buried within a 551-page energy bill enacted in 2005.

Known as the "Halliburton Loophole," Section 102 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 banned the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating hydraulic fracturing under its underground injection control program.

This spared oil and gas firms from red tape and litigation that would have been possible under regulation by the EPA -- which can exert control even on private land, where shale gas has blossomed in recent years. 

Explainer: Putting Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act in Perspective

This article references New Jersey, but will apply equally to Delaware

Law to increase insurance rates could spell trouble for residents of the Jersey Shore

What it is

The Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 makes a number of changes to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP),including increasing flood insurance premiums so the rates people pay will more accurately reflect their risks. Many discounts and subsidies policyholders received in the past -- including those for second homes -- are being eliminated or will be phased out over the next several years. The act also calls on FEMA to incorporate sea-level rise into its future flood maps.

There’s a common misperception that all these new rules are going into effect as a result of Sandy, but that’s not the case. Biggert-Waters was passed months before the storm, and these changes were already due to take place. It's just a coincidence that Sandy happened around the same time.

READ MORE:  http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/13/11/11/explainer-putting-biggert-waters-flood-insurance-reform-act-in-perspective/

 

 

Behind the windfarm scenes

Readers may remember Gordon Hughes' report about the lifetimes of real-world industrial wind turbines and the finding that this is much shorter than assumed in government cost projections. The reasons for the short lifetimes centre on wear and tear on the turbine blades and on the gearboxes.

In that vein, you may be interested in this recording from a forum for windfarm operators in which some of these problems are discussed in fairly plain terms. Having listened, you realise that the factors affecting performance are legion, including not only wear and tear, but dirt build-up on the blades, icing. These factors can severely impact upon performance, and because they tend to unbalance the blades they then increase wear and tear on the mechanical parts of the turbine. But icing is even more serious, as the last speaker on the recording notes:

The icing issue in Northern Europe is huge...there was a [wind] park in Northern Sweden...and it iced up for 21 days....you are talking about a complete shutdown...do the maths...everything else becomes insignificant...there will be huge PR problems...you are looking at if we will invest in wind farms or wind energy ever again.

READ MORE:  http://www.bishop-hill.net/blog/2013/11/26/behind-the-windfarm-scenes.html

Moniz taps Union of Concerned Scientists’ leader for chief of staff

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has recruited the president of the Union of Concerned Scientists to be his chief of staff.

Kevin Knobloch has headed UCS for a decade, and in a statement today, he said it was a post he would leave only “for a call to public service of this order.”

“The priorities of Secretary Moniz and the DOE, including reducing carbon emissions, expanding clean renewable energy, and reducing the threat of nuclear weapons and fissile material, have been passions throughout my career,” Knobloch said. “This is a strong opportunity to improve the health and safety of all Americans.”

Knobloch became president of UCS in 2003, after serving as executive director for four years and, years earlier, as the group’s legislative director for arms control and national security. His environmental credentials are extensive, including a stint as the chairman of the Green Group, a coalition of the CEOs of national environmental organizations. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Environmental League of Massachusetts.

In an email to staff this afternoon, Moniz announced that Knobloch would begin at DOE on Monday.

READ MORE:  http://www.governorswindenergycoalition.org/?p=5943

Sierra Snub: ‘Climate Champion’ John Kerry Touts Natural Gas

Just when it appeared that the Sierra Club couldn’t be any further marginalized, it happened: Secretary of State John Kerry – who, throughout his career, has made climate change one of his top issue priorities – officially disagrees with the Sierra Club’s position on natural gas.
Here’s what Secretary Kerry said earlier this week:

“If we harness the power of the wind in Mexico and the biomass in Brazil, the sunshine in Chile and Peru, the natural gas in the United States and Argentina, then the enormous benefits for local economies, public health, and of course climate change mitigation could reach every corner of the Americas and beyond.”

Let’s take a moment to recognize why this is so important. The Sierra Club has lauded Secretary Kerry as “one of the strongest champions for climate action,” while the Natural Resources Defense Council said he is a “champion for action against climate change.” Both of these groups are critical of future natural gas production, claiming it is inconsistent with reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Most scientists and energy experts disagree with that position, but Secretary Kerry’s rebuke still holds enormous significance.

READ MORE:  http://energyindepth.org/national/sierra-snub-climate-champion-john-kerry-touts-natural-gas/

Wind and Natural Gas: Best Friends, Worst Enemies

DENVER—Managing wind power makes flying a kite look easy.

Wind usually blows the most between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. when people need electricity the least. But every now and then, the weather gets surprisingly windy at other times. That's when a handful of people on the 10th floor of a downtown Denver office building suddenly get very busy.

"They're really scrambling during that time frame," said Mike Boughner, Xcel Energy's manager of generation control and dispatch, while giving a recent tour of the company's "trading floor," where traders buy and sell electricity and other employees manage the power of the company's entire electric-grid operations throughout the Western and Central U.S., 24 hours a day, seven days a week. "They're calling all the plants, both natural gas and coal, and telling them to back down as fast as they can."

This happened one recent Tuesday—which just happened to be Election Day—because it got much windier during the daytime than both the pair of meteorologists and advanced forecasting systems employed by Xcel Energy had predicted.

READ MORE:  http://www.nationaljournal.com/new-energy-paradigm/wind-and-natural-gas-best-friends-worst-enemies-20131124