So, after six weeks, it's getting clearer that this really is not a crisis that is going to go away anytime soon. We should have been investing sooner in wild and crazy energy ideas, but maybe it's still not too late. So, while you're thinking about how to cope today, take some time to think about how to help down the road...

Our duly elected House of Representatives has prepared a bill to establish an organization to research means to reduce our dependence on oil. That bill, H.R. 364, is called, "Establishing the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) Act." It:

establishes an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy within the U.S. Department of Energy. Modeled after the Department of Defense’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, ARPA-E is a new program charged with the mission of reducing US dependence on oil through the rapid development and commercialization of transformational clean energy technologies. This bill follows on the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences’ report “Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future.”

So here's the mission. Three steps.

Step 1: Read the proposed bill; here's the text: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_cong_bills&docid=f:h4435ih.txt.pdf

Step 2: Write to your representative and tell him or her what you think of it. Good or bad. Even if you don't think the bill is good, you can tell your representative that you think it IS important to reduce our dependence on oil and that the Congress should keep trying. Here's where you can get the contact information to learn where to send your comments on the legislation: http://www.house.gov/writerep/

Step 3: Add a comment to this entry to report in that you read the bill, formed an opinion (the unstated step!) and add the name of the representative with whom you shared your opinion to the tags for this entry.

For extra credit, round 1, find the references in the National Academy of Sciences report on which this legislation is based. Here's the link: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11463#toc

For extra credit, round 2, forward the information to others you know who are concerned about our energy crisis and encourage them to communicate to THEIR representatives.

Ok, enough political action for one day. I'm going to go take a nap!

Tags: alternative, energy, house of representatives, legislation, mission, research
Current Mood: determined

I knew it was going to be a bad evening when I came home and saw this. Someone has been stealing the copper out of people's heat pump and air conditioning systems. It's been pretty cool so people probably don't need them and it's not like anyone can afford to run their systems very long anyway. There's a metalworks plant here that has been in business for as long as the town's been here, but they're hurting. The cost of their supplies is skyrocketing. Including copper. I know they're paying top dollar for the materials they need, but I can't believe they'd be buying it if they knew it had been stolen. How can you tell the difference between scrap today and someone's -- my! -- heat pump yesterday?



http://www.kndu.com/global/story.asp?s=6450063

So it used to be we collected aluminum for recycling because it was the environmentally correct thing to do. My friend Paul tells me he's made a deal with the owner to barter the aluminum for gas. Actually, I'm surprised Paul was willing to leave "his stash" in the bed of his truck.

I think I need to drink less wine and buy more beer! I could do this!

Tags: air conditioning, aluminum, barter, copper, economics, strategic metal, supply, theft
Current Location: Sitting behind my locked gate
Current Mood: angry

You'd think they would have to hold a city council meeting to approve it, or something. And maybe they do this all the time. But I noticed when I went to bed last night that it was dark outside. Wait - I know that sounds stupid. What I mean is, that of the dozen or so street lights I can see from my house, only two were lit. It was dark. People usually walk the neighborhood around here at all hours. But it was dark. Should I go to the city council and advocate taking money out of other programs to keep the streets lit? Which programs? Library? Parks? Police? The budgets are already strained to the max. Thank goodness this is such a safe area, but I imagine other cities will have to look at doing things like this too. If they have to turn off the street lights to save city funds, the streets will be dark. That can't be good.

Tags: city council, crime, darkness, streetlights, world without oil, wwo
Current Mood: worried

Well, it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. $4 a gallon? Renegotiated contracts? That sort of thing happens all the time. Look at what's going on in Venezuela! 

I must admit, though, I did tank up yesterday. I am lucky - my car gets about 25 mpg, it's about 10 miles from the house to work, no stop-and-go traffic - I use about 4 gallons per week.  Yesterday when I tanked up, the cost of gas was $3.05. At $4.15 per gallon, it'll cost me another $4 per week, conservatively. Although, I'm pretty sure I drive more than that! When I look at the whole year, according to Quicken, last year I spent almost exactly $1500 on gas for the past year. With a $1 increase in cost per gallon, if I drive the same, I can expect to pay about $500 more. If I drive the same. If gas prices go up even more, I may have to get serious about alternatives!

The government announced today they're thinking of starting a gee-whiz research agency, like the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, for research into energy. Check it out: 

http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199202149 

And here's the proposed legislation: H.R. 364 Maybe this is something we should all get more familiar with, so we can tell our Representatives if we think it's a good idea!

Well, I am optimistic things will get back to normal soon!

Tags: cost, energy, gasoline, world without oil, wwo
Current Mood: relieved
Current Music: On the Road Again...

We're pretty lucky in the Pacific Northwest - lots of hydroelectric dams, growing wind farms, and where we live (not ! Seattle) lots of solar gain, at least from spring until fall. We also have nuclear energy and a high concentration of the few nuclear scientists and engineers left in the country. But these other energy sources have issues too. The hydroelectric dams may interfere with the salmon spawning runs - possibly leading to the extinction of species of salmon. As for nuclear, there's no question that the handling and storage of the spent  fuel that stays radioactive for thousands of years requires a lot of work. But there are other issues with nuclear power. Most of the existing reactors are approaching -- or beyond -- their designed operating life expectancy. They are getting old. And without other sources of power to take their place, when the old reactors need to be shut down, that will put even more strain on available energy supplies. We could build new ones but that brings up the other issue. Since we haven't built any new nuclear reactors in so long, there aren't very many nuclear scientists and engineers graduating from our colleges and universities. And the scientists and engineers who built the ones operating now, well, we don't want some of them driving anymore, much less building nuclear reactors! We don't have the body of expertise needed to sustain greater dependence on nuclear energy. And if there was a major disruption in the global oil supply on April 30 or any day soon, it would take a long time to train and educate the people we would need to build and safely operate any new nuclear reactors.

It is funny, though, how people's priorities change. Last year salmon, this year ...

Tags: arg, education, energy, nuclear, solar, wind, world without oil, wwo
Current Mood: pensive

This is a picture of a rainbow I saw last week as I was waiting for my plane to board at Reagan National Airport in Washington DC. I was returning from meetings in DC to my home in Washington state. Notice how the arc of the rainbow looks freaky? So this is the first thing I think of when I wonder about a crisis in the world oil supply. What would I do if I was on the East Coast and could not get back to the West Coast where my daughter, my house, my cats are? 

When the terrorists struck the Twin Towers in 2001, many of the people from work were on the road - all over the country. Airports were closed, flights were cancelled, rental cars became extremely scarce, hotels were booked to capacity from stranded travelers. Groups of travelers joined together to drive across state and across the country in order to get home when it wasn't clear when the airlines would be back in business.

Because of my job, after the terrorist attacks, and the anthrax attacks through the mail, I was travelling almost constantly. That has tapered off since there haven't been any more attacks. But in a weird way, if there is a crisis, I may need to travel more - I may not have the luzury of traveling less. 

At the moment, I don't think I'll be on travel April 30th. but usually my trips come up quickly with little warning. And if I got stuck on the opposite side of the country, I'm pretty sure my daughter could take care of herself. While I figured out how to get home. 

Let's see, if I walked, and it's about 1800 miles, at 4 miles an hour, ...

Tags: arg, world without oil, wwo
Current Mood: contemplative