The U.S. pressured the International Energy Agency (IEA) to overstate global oil production potential, reports London's Guardian, citing an anonymous whistleblower from within the IEA. See Terry Macalister, "Key oil figures were distorted by US pressure, says whistleblower" (Guardian, 11/9/09) The anonymous senior IEA official told the Guardian that U.S. pressure was influential in encouraging the IEA to underplay diminishing output from existing oil fields, and to overstate the chances of finding new oil reserves. The whistleblower said the IEA "has been deliberately underplaying a looming [oil] shortage for fear of triggering panic buying", reports the Guardian. The IEA source told the Guardian, "the Americans fear the end of oil supremacy because it would threaten their power over access to oil resources." >>> More

mp3 audio of Dr. Pollin's plenary address(19 MB download)

Speaking in Springfield Nov. 10th, UMass economics professor Dr. Robert Pollin reported that $150 billion a year in clean energy investment would generate 2.5 million jobs and would contribute heavily to an American economic recovery. Pollin, the co-director of UMass' Political Economy Research Institute, and co-author of its June 2009 Green Prosperity report, has been examining the economic impact of clean energy investment in a series of widely noted studies over the past two years. His views have been influential in the Obama administration's economic recovery policies and he is now consulting with the U.S. Department of Energy.

"Building the clean energy economy, or what we sometimes call a Green New Deal, is an enormous opportunity. It is needed, absolutely needed today to fight global warming. It's a basis on which we can enhance energy efficiency, and it will be a major engine of job creation," said Pollin. Pollin noted that every million dollars invested in clean energy creates 17 jobs, whereas every million invested in fossil fuel energy only creates 5 jobs. He made his comments in an opening plenary address to the 500 attendees of the Clean Energy Connections conference in Springfield, Massachusetts on November 10th. To hear Pollin's plenary address, click here. (19 MB mp3 download)

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To hear audio excerpts from the Oct. 24th climate rally in Times Square and 350.org founder Bill McKibben's summary of the latest climate science go to the Sustenance special audio report (20 MB download)

Thousands of demonstrations took place throughout the U.S. and across the world October 24th calling for urgent action to stop climate change due to greenhouse gases. The actions, loosely coordinated by the group 350.org, demanded swift policy changes to halt and reverse the massive contamination of the atmosphere by greenhouse gases, such as the large volume of human-generated carbon dioxide caused by burning fossil fuels. These gases are now understood by climate scientists to be raising the earth's temperature and destabilizing the climate, leading to droughts, floods, severe storms, coastal and island erosion, and increasingly, loss of human life and deadly impact to other species.

Demonstrations, marches, events and actions took place in 181 countries at 5,200 locations, from Antarctica to Times Square in New York City, according to 350.org. Thousands of photos from the amazingly diverse communities that took part in the day of climate action are posted at 350.org's website. 350.org founder Bill McKibben asserts that October 24th's climate actions were "the most widespread day of political action in the planet's history." (Hear the Sustenance special audio report (20 MB download).)

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The German section of the World Wide Fund for Nature recently released a study and plan for how to reduce Germany's greenhouse gas emissions by 95% from 1990 levels by the year 2050, without compromising the German standard of living, reports Living Planet (10/26/09). (See also Deutsche-Welle, "Germany can be virtually CO2-free by 2050, says new study". Living Planet is available through www.dw-world.de as well as through iTunes.)

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A new Congressionally-commissioned report by the National Research Council found that coal-fired electricity generation in the U.S. caused $62 billion in human health and environmental damages during the year the Council studied (2005). Coal-fired electricity caused this $62 billion in environmental impact even without factoring in damages caused by global warming / climate change caused by burning coal. The report, Hidden Costs of Energy: Unpriced Consequences of Energy Production, was sponsored by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and is being published by the National Academies Press.

Summarizing the report, the National Academies noted: "Coal accounts for about half the electricity produced in the U.S.  In 2005 the total annual external damages from sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter created by burning coal at 406 coal-fired power plants, which produce 95 percent of the nation's coal-generated electricity, were about $62 billion; these nonclimate damages average about 3.2 cents for every kilowatt-hour (kwh) of energy produced." (See the National Academies press release on the report, 10/19/09.)

The climate change impacts of this coal burning would add even more to the $62 billion hidden price tag of coal. The National Academies added: "Coal-fired power plants are the single largest source of greenhouse gases in the U.S., emitting on average about a ton of CO2 per megawatt-hour of electricity produced, the report says. Climate-related monetary damages range from 0.1 cents to 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, based on previous modeling studies." (National Academies press release)

The National Research Council report, released this month (Oct. 2009), also found $56 billion in hidden health and environmental costs of transportation in the U.S. >>> More

In September, a joint venture between Volkswagen and the German energy company LichtBlick announced it would begin producing a 20 kilowatt home power plant, dubbed "Eco Blue", a modified car engine converted to run on natural gas to produce both home heat and electricity for the grid, according to a report by Living Planet (9/17/09, available through www.dw-world.de or iTunes). (See also Green Car Congress, "Volkswagen and LichtBlick Partner on Home Combined Heat and Power Systems", 9/9/09, and Autoevolution, "Volkswagen and LichtBlick Form Energy Alliance," 9/10/09.) Such units, generating both heat and electricity, are often referred to as "combined heat and power" (CHP) or "co-generation" (co-gen) systems. By utilizing heating system waste heat to generate electricity, such units extract more useable energy from every Btu of fuel burned, substantially increasing the efficiency of energy production.

The Eco Blue units include a thermal storage system, so that home heat and hot water are available around the clock even though the unit may only run a few hours a day. >>> More

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concludes that the wind energy potential "in the contiguous United States, specifically in the central plain states, could accommodate as much as 16 times total current demand for electricity in the United States", if captured by a network of 2.5 megawatt (MW) wind turbines. The study, which was based on actual worldwide wind measurements, also concluded "that a network of land-based 2.5-megawatt . . . turbines restricted to nonforested, ice-free, nonurban areas operating at as little as 20% of their rated capacity could supply [greater than] 40 times current worldwide consumption of electricity, [and greater than] 5 times total global use of energy in all forms." The study, "Global potential for wind-generated electricty", was conducted by Harvard earth sciences professor Michael B. McElroy and others. (The study was published on-line before print, on June 22, 2009.) >>> More

On May 14, 2009, Ontario, Canada adopted the Green Energy Act (GEA), aimed at significantly increasing investment in alternative energy in Ontario.  Ontario hopes that adoption of the Act will make the province a leading center of green economy growth.  The GEA gives incentives for the development of wind, solar, hydro, biomass and biogas energy in Ontario, and may spur the creation of as many as 50,000 new jobs in the first three years, by some estimates.  In adopting the measure, Ontario’s Minister of Energy and Infrastructure asserted that “increas[ing] the standard of living and quality of life for all Ontario’s families . . . is best achieved by creating the conditions for green economic growth.” (See Ontario Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, “Ontario’s Green Energy Act”)

The GEA initiates the implementation of a so-called “feed-in tariff” program that guarantees specific, long-term payment rates to producers of renewable energy.  A feed-in tariff gives developers of alternative energy predictable income streams for years into the future, usually at fairly generous rates.  A feed-in tariff structure will likely strongly incentivize alternative energy production, and stimulate banks and other lenders to lend capital for alternative energy projects, secured against the income stream of long-term guaranteed energy payments.  >>> More

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