Frankly Green

Thomas Friedman: Win, Win, Win, Win, WIn...

New York TImes
Op-Ed Columnist
By Thomas L. Friedman

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How many times do we have to see this play before we admit that it always ends the same way?

Which play? The one where gasoline prices go up, pressure rises for more fuel-efficient cars, then gasoline prices fall and the pressure for low-mileage vehicles vanishes, consumers stop buying those cars, the oil producers celebrate, we remain addicted to oil and prices gradually go up again, petro-dictators get rich, we lose. I’ve already seen this play three times in my life. Trust me: It always ends the same way — badly.

So I could only cringe when reading this article from CNNMoney.com on Dec. 22: “After nearly a year of flagging sales, low gas prices and fat incentives are reigniting America’s taste for big vehicles. Trucks and S.U.V.’s will outsell cars in December ... something that hasn’t happened since February. Meanwhile, the forecast finds that sales of hybrid vehicles are expected to be way down.”

Video: Front Fell Off (Humor)

A little humor from my friend Elicia V. about a mock interview with an Australian politician regarding an oil tanker off the coast of Australia that split in two, dumping 20,000 tons of crude oil.

Front Fell Off

Flush With Energy - Thomas Friedman Op-Ed

By Thomas L. Friedman
Copenhagen

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The Arctic Hotel in Ilulissat, Greenland, is a charming little place on the West Coast, but no one would ever confuse it for a Four Seasons — maybe a One Seasons. But when my wife and I walked back to our room after dinner the other night and turned down our dim hallway, the hall light went on. It was triggered by an energy-saving motion detector. Our toilet even had two different flushing powers depending on — how do I say this delicately — what exactly you’re flushing. A two-gear toilet! I’ve never found any of this at an American hotel. Oh, if only we could be as energy efficient as Greenland!

Scientists Find Bugs That Eat Waste and Excrete Petrol

Thanks to Frank P. and Terry G. for this article!

The Times
Chris Ayres

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Silicon Valley is experimenting with bacteria that have been genetically altered to provide 'renewable petroleum'

“Ten years ago I could never have imagined I’d be doing this,” says Greg Pal, 33, a former software executive, as he squints into the late afternoon Californian sun. “I mean, this is essentially agriculture, right? But the people I talk to – especially the ones coming out of business school – this is the one hot area everyone wants to get into.”

He means bugs. To be more precise: the genetic alteration of bugs – very, very small ones – so that when they feed on agricultural waste such as woodchips or wheat straw, they do something extraordinary. They excrete crude oil.

Unbelievably, this is not science fiction. Mr Pal holds up a small beaker of bug excretion that could, theoretically, be poured into the tank of the giant Lexus SUV next to us. Not that Mr Pal is willing to risk it just yet. He gives it a month before the first vehicle is filled up on what he calls “renewable petroleum”. After that, he grins, “it’s a brave new world”.

Burned Up About the Other Fossil Fuel

Thanks to Bruce W. for sending this!

By Dana Milbank

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Here's something to ponder as you park your Prius: What if gas guzzling isn't the problem?

That rather counterintuitive theme emerged yesterday from a visit to Washington by James E. Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute and one of the first to sound the alarm about global warming in a congressional hearing 20 years ago yesterday. As he undertook a commemorative, I-told-you-so tour, from Diane Rehm's radio show to ABC News to the National Press Club to the House of Representatives, he made a point of saying the biggest worry isn't what we put in our cars, but what we put in our power plants.

U.S. Gas: So Cheap it Hurts

Relatively low taxes have kept pump prices far below most other developed nations, which some say is precisely why the current run up is so painful.
By Steve Hargreaves, CNNMoney.com staff writer

Thank to Frank P. for sending this article

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Despite daily headlines bemoaning record gas prices, the U.S. is actually one of the cheaper places to fill up in the world.

Out of 155 countries surveyed, U.S. gas prices were the 45th cheapest, according to a recent study from AIRINC, a research firm that tracks cost of living data.

The difference is staggering. As of late March, U.S. gas prices averaged $3.45 a gallon. That compares to over $8 a gallon across much of Europe.

The U.S. has always fought to keep gas prices low, and the current debate among presidential candidates on how to keep them that way has been fierce.

But those cheap gas prices - which Americans have gotten used to - mean they feel price spikes like the ones we're experiencing now more acutely than citizens from other nations which have had historically more expensive fuel.

Commentary: $8-a-Gallon Gas - Eight Reasons Higher Gas Prices Will Do Us Good

 By Chris Pummer

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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- For one of the nastiest substances on earth, crude oil has an amazing grip on the globe. We all know the stuff's poison, yet we're as dependent on it as our air and water supplies -- which, of course, is what oil is poisoning.

Shouldn't we be technologically advanced enough here in the 21st Century to quit siphoning off the pus of the Earth? Regardless whether you believe global warming is threatening the planet's future, you must admit crude is passé.

Think Gas Prices Are High? Try $11 in Turkey!

MSNBC.com
Drivers around the world are fighting back as gas prices skyrocket
The Associated Press

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PARIS - Americans are shell-shocked at $4-a-gallon gas. But consider France, where a gallon of petrol runs nearly $10. Or Turkey, where it's more than $11.

Drivers around the world are being pummeled by the effects of record gas prices. And now some are hitting back, staging strikes and protests from Europe to Indonesia to demand that governments do more to ease the pain.

It's a growing problem in a world that's increasingly mobile and more vulnerable than ever to the cost of crude oil, which is racing higher by the day and showing no signs of stopping.

Dumb as We Wanna Be

Another great piece by Friedman! Once again, he nails it. When I heard this news, I was so aggravated that I began talking to myself out loud about the short-sightedness of this silly proposal.

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The New York Times
April 30, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
By Thomas L. Friedman

It is great to see that we finally have some national unity on energy policy. Unfortunately, the unifying idea is so ridiculous, so unworthy of the people aspiring to lead our nation, it takes your breath away. Hillary Clinton has decided to line up with John McCain in pushing to suspend the federal excise tax on gasoline, 18.4 cents a gallon, for this summer’s travel season. This is not an energy policy. This is money laundering: we borrow money from China and ship it to Saudi Arabia and take a little cut for ourselves as it goes through our gas tanks. What a way to build our country.

When the summer is over, we will have increased our debt to China, increased our transfer of wealth to Saudi Arabia and increased our contribution to global warming for our kids to inherit.

No, no, no, we’ll just get the money by taxing Big Oil, says Mrs. Clinton. Even if you could do that, what a terrible way to spend precious tax dollars — burning it up on the way to the beach rather than on innovation?

The McCain-Clinton gas holiday proposal is a perfect example of what energy expert Peter Schwartz of Global Business Network describes as the true American energy policy today: “Maximize demand, minimize supply and buy the rest from the people who hate us the most.”

Good for Barack Obama for resisting this shameful pandering.

How Presidential Candidates Can Use Dollars and Cents to Win the Climate Issue

Thanks to Jim A. for this article. I especially like the green Apollo mission idea. This is something Thomas Friedman wrote about a few years ago - issuing a challenge to the American people to seek ways to break our dependence on foreign oil, along the lines of JFK's challenge to put a man on the moon.

Speaking of putting a man on the moon, I made an earlier post on the fantastic movie In the Shadow of the Moon. This movie gave me a new appreciation as to just how audacious the goal of putting a man on the moon was at the time. I highly recommend this movie!

From JFK's "Man on the Moon" address (May 25, 1961) - First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.....

Paint the House Green
By David Roberts

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You hear chatter about climate change everywhere from corporate boardrooms to fashion runways these days. But in presidential-campaign coverage, nothing. What gives? I recently helped moderate the first candidate forum on climate and energy, in which John Edwards and Hillary Clinton offered similar explanations for the silence: Voters just aren't there yet. They aren't demanding answers from candidates, and until they do, the issue won't penetrate the Beltway press bubble.

If a business like GE can stoke mass interest in sustainability (i.e., ecomagination), then why can't a presidential contender? The candidate that connects will be the one that skips the icebergs, polar bears, and far-off dangers in favor of pragmatically making business a partner, not an enemy. Here's how.