Domestic Fuel

I thought it would be apropos to tie this week’s book review into a common New Year’s resolution -weight loss. Enter “The End of Energy Obesity,” by Peter Tertzakian. While this book has the same theme as most energy books these days, breaking America’s energy addiction, it varied from the most common used parallels and likened our country’s energy addiction to our country’s food addiction. It is an effective analogy.

Tertzakian writes, “Over the last decade, specifically in North America, our energy appetite has soared to such an extent that we are now energy obese.”

Throughout the book, Tertzakian outlines how America became energy obese as well as the way our country can curb its energy appetite as this will need to be done, in part, through a new energy diet that is compelling. He explains that energy sources, both renewable and nonrenewable will need to meet nine energy attributes. The higher the score, the better chance the energy source has of being successfully incorporated into our energy diet. The nine attributes include: versatility, scalability, storability and transportability, deliverability, energy density, power density, constancy, environmental sensitivity, and energy security.  Ultimately, Tertzakian feels that renewable energy has limited potential and his winning solution is increasing the use of natural gas.

For the most part, he stays the course with his metapor through the first two parts but he begins to wander off topic in part three as he delves into conservation, dissolving distance and the development of communication technologies. I also disagree with him in the sense that relying on an increase in natural gas is not the best way to go. Natural gas is a limited resource that fluctuates heavily in terms of pricing. An increase in the use of this energy source could cause our energy prices to become even more volitale. Yes, energy prices will increase as we ramp up the integration of alternative energy sources but over the long-term, prices will become more stable than they are now.

Ultimately the book presents some interesting ideas to mull over but if you’re short of time, just focus on the first half of the book. To read this book or any book I review, click here.

My eyes are still a bit fuzzy from all the reading I did last week so last night in honor of all of those snowed in in the Midwest, I watched a documentary – Gas Hole. As the title indicates, this movie is about America’s dependence on oil. Beginning in the 1970s during the first oil crisis to now, it details our country’s attempts to unsuccessfully shed itself of its addiction to foreign oil.

It baffles my mind, as I’m sure it does your mind, that with all our alternatives and technology, we can’t seem to make any headway towards a country not dependent on fossil fuel based energy. “We do not have a national energy policy that fits the 21st century,” said Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-California.

The movie is ripe with conspiracy theories as told by politicians, celebrities, alternative energy enthusiasts and witnesses. One of the main threads of the film is the invention of the “Oglemobile,” a car that could achieve nearly 100 miles per gallon (mpg) on vapor. The inventor was a man by the name of Tom Ogle who lived in El Paso, Texas. This feat was achieved in 1977. Ultimately he sold the patent, was told he could never produce another vehicle using the technology, and then died shortly thereafter under mysterious circumstances.

According to the movie, Shell was behind another of the conspiracies to keep fuel economy technology out of the marketplace. A former shell researcher noted that fuel economy testing began in 1939 with a car that could achieve 40-50 mpg and by 1977 and broken the 1,000 mpg barrier. The narration asks, “What have we been doing while scientists have been getting 1,000 miles per gallon?”

That is a good question. Although this movie is a little slow-moving, for those people who want to know the answer to the posed question, this is a film to be reckoned with.

I’ll leave you with the words of Eshoo, “It’s not enough to say something. We have to do something.”

This morning the Copenhagen Climate Conference kicked off. As I mentioned in earlier posts, the two big issues are the reduction of CO2 and the halting of deforestation. As I noted in other writings, there are Climate Alarmists and Climate Skeptics. Climate Alarmists, which Al Gore would be considered, believe that if we don’t curb global warming now, the earth will face unprecedented consequences. The climate skeptics, as Bjorn Lomborg would be considered, offer the view that the problem has been blown out of proportion or is focused on the wrong culprits. Actually there would be nothing more fun than a Lomborg/Gore debate.

On Friday, I presented a ‘skeptics’ view…today I will present an ‘alarmists’ view. For the third book review, I chose Al Gore’s, “Our Choice A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis.” Most people know that Gore helped to put the global warming debate on the map with his first book and movie, “An Inconvenient Truth.” These efforts led to a shared Oscar and co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. Gore will also be playing a major role in Copenhagen over the next two weeks.

Gore begins, “It is now abundantly clear that we have at our fingertips all of the tools we need to solve the climate crisis. The only missing ingredient is collective will.”

Throughout the book, Gore uses a combination of words, graphics and pictures to demonstrate the climate change debate, detail many of the solutions and offer policy recommendations. There is one area where I think Gore did a great job, and that is explaining what the six categories of global warming pollution are: carbon dioxide, methane, black carbon, sulfur hexaflouride, tetrafluoroethane, carbon monoxide, butane and nitrous oxide. To date, the biggest focus has been on carbon dioxide and Gore’s focus throughout the book is no different.

Along those same lines, Gore advocates that the most effective way to curb CO2 is through putting a price on carbon. He writes, “An effective plan for solving the climate crisis must include aggressive remedies for our erroneous reliance on deceptive market signals in carbon-based energy.”
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What is the greatest crisis in the history of civilization? Global warming. Well, at least according to the media’s portrayal. However, according to Bjorn Lomborg, the author of “Cool It“, and the second review in my Copenhagen Climate Conference three views in seven days series, while global warming is an concern, it is not the most pressing worldwide issue.

Lomborg writes, “That humanity has caused a substantial rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels over the past centuries, thereby contributing to global warming, is beyond debate. What is debatable, however, is whether hysteria and headlong spending on extravagant CO2-cutting programs at an unprecedented price is the only possible response.”

He continues, “Such a course is especially debatable in a world where billions of people live in poverty, where millions die of curable diseases, and where these lives could be saved, societies strengthened, and environments improved at a fraction of the cost.”

Has the worldwide frenzy surrounding global warming caused us to lose our common sense?
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Yesterday, in the post Countdown to Copenhagen, I mentioned that there are still quite a few scientists around the world who agree that climate change exists, but don’t agree about the cause. To kick off my three views in seven days series, is a review of the book, “The Chilling Stars A New Theory of Climate Change.” The authors are climate physicist Henrik Svensmark and award winning science writer Nigel Calder.

Let me start off by acknowledging that the majority of scientists believe that greenhouse gas emissions, primarily CO2, are causing global climate change. However, here is what Svensmark and Calder say about carbon dioxide. “To correct apparent over-estimates of the effects of carbon dioxide is not to recommend a careless bonfire of the fossil fuels that produce the gas. A commonplace libel is that anyone skeptical about the impending global-warming disaster is probably in the pay of the oil companies.”

They continue, “In fact, there are compelling reasons to economize in the use of fossil fuels, which have nothing to do with the climate–to minimize unhealthy smog, to conserve the planet’s limited stocks of fuel, and to keep energy prices down for the benefit of the poorer nations.”

So if climate change is not driven in part by CO2, as argued by the authors, then what is the primary driver of climate change?

The premise of Svensmark’s climate change theory is that the interplay between clouds, the sun and cosmic rays, have a greater effect on climate than man-made carbon dioxide. For those who don’t remember much of any science from high school or college a cosmic ray is comprised of sub-atomic particles from exploded stars.
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Remember that old wives tale told to children that babies come from storks? Here is the addendum to the tale…and everything else comes from oil. When President Bush delivered his now famous quote, “We’re addicted to oil,” I don’t think he quite realized how prolific that was. He obviously meant in the form of gasoline/energy use but petroleum by-products are used to make plastics, fertilizer, pharmaceuticals (like you lotion and makeup) and even your clothes, and author Amanda Little takes you on this journey in her new book, “Power Trip“.

Little traveled the country for two years, starting her journey on the “Cajun Express,” an offshore rig located miles from the coast of Louisiana, and ending her trip back in Louisiana, spending time with Hurricane Katrina victims as they move into their near zero emission homes as part of the Make It Right program. In the middle, she spent a good bit of time visiting companies developing alternative energy sources.

The end of her journey is spent with the leaders of tomorrow, but these are not your typical Generation Xers or a group of kids who feel “entitled” to everything. These are the people who are refining the new environmental justice movement. These are children who are growing up in areas that have shouldered most of the hidden costs of our country’s fossil-fuel based lifestyle, and they’re making change door-to-door, not via the power of Capital Hill lobbyists.
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I’m writing this review as I fly on a plane and I’m feeling guilty about the amount of CO2 that is emitted when flying – on average, flying contributes about 10 times as much carbon dioxide to the atmosphere as a similar journey by train. And no, I didn’t buy carbon offsets for this trip….

The guilt is being fostered by this week’s read, a Green Series, published by Chelsea Green Publishing. I read four in the series, all co-written by Jon Clift and Amanda Cuthbert: Energy; Water; Greening Your Office; and Climate Change. Also in the series: Reduce Reuse Recycle; Composting; and Biking to Work.

I liked how easy the series is to read, many bullets points and quick facts, as well as their, “If you do one thing” pointers and the way they have the, “spend nothing save less,” and spend little, save more.” On the negative side, the books don’t have any real background on the issues, but the authors do have a list of resources at the end of each book.

I’m going to leave you with this thought, since many who are pushing environmental responsibility often go to far as they live further and further off the grid. (Let’s get a grip. It is not in our country’s best interest to revert back to the pioneer days).

“We can take control of the situation and reduce our energy and reduce our consumption. We don’t have to live shivering in an unheated room with no modern appliances; we’re just talking about being more energy efficient – reducing the need for so much power.”

To read these books or any I review, click here, and if you have a book you’d like me to review, email me at jomschro2071@gmail.com.

What do salt and oil have in common? In its time, the world was overdependent on the strategic commodity (oil today and salt more than 100 years ago).  Our country (nor the world) is “salt dependent” but the world is oil dependent, but not in the way that most people define oil dependence. “That is what energy independence means: that it no longer matters who holds the reserves, that oil becomes much less relevant to global affairs, that it becomes just another commodity,” writes Gal Luft and Anne Korin, in “Turning Oil Into Salt Energy Independence Through Fuel Choice.”

The authors, who co-founded Set America Free Coalition and are also co-directors of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS), continue,”Contrary to popular conception, energy independence does not mean autarky – it doesn’t mean walling ourselves off from the global market. Independence means not having to kowtow to the various petrodictators that sit on the bulk of the world’s oil reserves. Independence requires that oil become just not that important any more.”

The meat of the book delves into what energy independence looks like and the strategies that are currently in place, which the authors note are not effective and write that, “America’s energy policy still suffers from institutional paralysis.” They discuss terrorism at length but make a point that most authors fail to make, “Energy independence will not stop terrorism and will probably not prevent rogue regimes from obsessively pursuing nuclear weapons.” (The reason the U.S. is supposedly in a war with Iraq.)
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I have written often that the best way for our country to transition to alternative energy is through the community – not through the government. As such, the book, “The Citizen-Powered Energy Handbook Community Solutions to a Global Crisis,” by Greg Pahl fits nicely into my thesis.

“Community-supported energy (CSE) is similar to community-supported agriculture (CSA), except that instead of investing in carrots, tomatoes, or chicken, local residents invest in greater energy security and a cleaner environment. Local ownership and control allows the community to create a project that meets its particular needs while addressing its concerns about size, scale, and location.”

Pahl covers all forms of energy from wind to solar to hydro-electric to biomass to biofuels. He even touches on the never-going-to-happen technologies, Thermal depolymerization (TDP), a process that turns virtually any carbon-based waste material like tires, old computers and plastic bottles into energy. The second form is zero point energy. This involves harnessing the universe’s “dark matter” and converting it into energy. Very interesting stuff.

The author definitely has some creds for the topic he chooses and he and his wife have installed various forms of solar energy and wind in several of their Vermont homes. But like the trap that Friedman finds himself stuck in, so is Pahl. Too much technical information bogs the reader down from the need to know info. But aside from that, if you are interested in helping your community create its own energy and economic wealth, then this book is a good place to start.

To read this book or any other book I’ve reviewed, visit this link.

“They’ll panic at first and stop all gasoline delivery. They’ll ease restrictions when they figure out which supplies are still clean. Because you can’t order Americans to stop driving. It’s like telling them to stop eating. They think God gave them cars.”

They say that fiction is truth sprinkled with a few well placed lies. In this week’s book, “Black Monday,” by Bob Reiss, the truth has been contaminated with sludge. This fiction novel is based on the world’s near end when a foreign company doing business in the oil industry, sets off a catastrophe of monumental proportions. The crime – introducing a heat resistant bacteria, known as Delta-3, into the oil supply infecting the oil and rendering it unusable. Planes begin dropping from the sky, killing thousands. Cars stop dead in their tracks on the road. Heating oil rendered useless.

In a mix between Stephen King’s, “Cell” and William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies,” the world must learn how to live without oil. Fighting occurs, looting becomes commonplace, people begin starving, and ultimately people form “tribes” to survive. The main character, Gregory Gillette, fights to save the world and his family by discovering how the bacteria infected the oil supply and ultimately the antidote.
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The Sundance award winning documentary, “FUEL” is set to open up in 150 theaters across the U.S. tomorrow. The “FUEL” team will be on hand in New York for the nationwide premiere, which is being hailed by people who have had the opportunity to pre-screen the film as “eye opening,” “insightful,” and “powerful”. The film was directed by Josh Tickell (who is also the star) and produced by Rebecca Harrell.

A little background. The film was nearly a decade in the making. Born in Australia, his family moved back to his mother’s home state of Louisiana where he lived near the dozens of oil refineries. The pollution was tremendous and the consequences to the health of his family and neighbors was oftentimes devastating. As he grew older, he knew there had to be a better way to produce fuel than oil. The answer: biodiesel. It’s environmentally friendly and sustainable. So he began his journey in his “Veggie Van,” which he drove across the country on used restaurant grease and promoted the benefits of biodiesel.

I had the opportunity to preview the film and I must say, despite my not agreeing with everything in the film, overall, it was very inspiring. The film does a wonderful job of delving into all areas of the issues that affect the success of biodiesel. And I must say the graphics were sensational, well-placed and informative. Some areas that were really well done include the way Tickell lays out the world’s current love-affair with oil and the consequences that will ensue if the world continues down this path. He also does a great job of discussing America’s current energy policy.
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I was going to begin my review with a bad cliche, “solar never sleeps,” but alas it does since it harnesses the energy of the sun. But I couldn’t think of anything else clever so I decided to run with it. This week I reviewed the book, “Investing in Solar Stocks: An Investor’s Guide to Winning in the Global Renewable Energy Market.” With our economy you might think you can’t win in any investment but according to author Joseph Berwind, Founder of Alternative Energy Investing, this is not true. You just need to learn what factors will determine the winners and losers.

Now, I’m a loser when it comes to all things financial and investing is no exception. That’s why I have “people”. That being said, I struggled with the terminology but someone who dabbles in investments will find reading this book a breeze and full of great advice.

Here are a few key points. You can tell which technologies are most promising with three criteria: cost is everything, manufacturing matters, and conversion efficiency matters. From here, Berwind explains how to determine whether the technology is promising, how to assess the success of a companies manufacturing strategy and how to determine the efficiency factors of the technology.

Bertrand also talks about the importance of legislation and subsidies and their roles in the success or demise of the industry and the companies. He has some great charts to explain this including one that includes all the U.S. states’ renewable energy mandates.

In the end, he points out that no industry, including solar, has no risk, but learning how to understand these risks will help you pick the winners.

To read this book or any book I review visit my bookstore. If you have a book you’d like me to review, email me at jomschro2071@gmail.com.

One of the things I love about America is “freedom of the press” and the ability for people to disseminate “conspiracy theories”. Conspiracies are driving amuck in the quest for the ‘winning’ technology to replace gas guzzlers. The best way forward, according to author Nevres Cefo – electric vehicles. The worst way forward – hydrogen.  In his new book, “Two Cents Per Mile: Will President Obama Make it Happen with the Stroke of a Pen?” Cefo says that the government is in collusion with the Little Autos (formerly known as the Big Autos) and Big Oil to determine what is best for our future – hydrogen – and not moving forward with technologies that are best for the people – electric vehicles.

“We are at a pivotal juncture in in history–a showdown between hydrogen and electric powered vehicles,” he writes. While Cefo has some interesting insights into the development and ultimate adoption of electric vehicles, at first blush, I somewhat disagreed with his view of government support for hydrogen. The hydrogen program was suspended and only brought back from the dead this past July. But just yesterday, the DOE announced that it would award a $1 million for the best “breakthrough” hydrogen technology.

Regardless of whether you are a fan of electric vehicles, hydrogen both or neither, Cefo writes something that should resonate with everyone  – especially as our country continues to suffocate under a recession caused by our addiction to oil.

“People may feel that their elected officials do not hear the voice of their constituent, or at least not as much as they pay attention to corporate influence, power and money. That is exactly what Big Oil and the Big Three are counting on–the belief that we, the average American, cannot do anything to change the course they outlined for us.”

On this issue, I agree and ultimately “Two Cents Per Mile” is a call for action for every one of us to get involved in our future.

To read this book or any book I review visit my bookstore. If you have a book you’d like me to review, email me at jomschro2071@gmail.com.

Hey all you marketers out there – listen up! This week I reviewed a book on how to successfully market your environmentally friendly product through the “Gort Cloud”.  What is the Gort Cloud you ask? “The vast but invisible community that has the power to make or break green brands and much of this community and interaction is done online. The Gort Cloud is the discovery of marketing and branding expert Richard Seireeni who is the author of this week’s book, The Gort Cloud: The Invisible Force Powering Today’s Most Visible Green Brands.

The book consists mainly of a number of case studies from varying industries including energy, that detail the marketing and branding strategies green companies have taken to become powerful brands. Most of these brands have never used traditional advertising such as print ads and TV ads, but have used the power of public relations and the immense network of green adopters who have created communities on the web.

Some components of the Gort Cloud include providers, provider support, rule makers and watchdogs, advocacy groups, special – interest authorities, information disseminators, green search engines, social networks, lifestyle movements, reuse, recycle, in-person exchange, competitions, campaign and fundraisers, education and career. Seireeni talks in detail about these components and how to tap into them.

The Gort Cloud is one of the best marketing books I’ve read with regards to developing a green brand and marketing it. As more and more traditional media disappear and the internet becomes an even more powerful medium, this book will help you navigate the web to better reach your target audience.

You can buy this book or any book I read by visiting “Joanna’s bookstore“. In addition, if you have a book that you would like me to review, email me at jomschro2071@gmail.com.

Why are so many people in denial that the price of gas will rise again, and continue to go up? Why are businesses and towns who are already drowning under the weight of higher energy prices not doing more to wean themselves off of oil? Could the high cost of oil take out behemoth companies like Wal-Mart? The answer is yes, according to Christopher Steiner in his new book, $20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better.

The $6 gallon of gasoline could be reality in the U.S. in three to four years, says Steiner, and he predicts that will kick start some dramatic changes in how we live and where we work. Steiner notes that as big as the changes were when gasoline topped $4 per gallon in 2008, most of America denied it would stay that high.

In an interview on NPR, Steiner commented, “I think $6 is a serious tipping point for Americans psychologically. We’re going to say at that point. There is no turning back. This is reality. Let’s change how we do things.” And this could come sooner then many Americans think as several energy experts have predicted that a barrel of oil will top $200 and it could happen as soon as the end of 2009 or early 2010.

One possibility Steiner proposes in his book is that Wal-Mart’s business model will succumb to the high price of gasoline and consumers will return to buying mostly local goods sold by local merchants. This also means the concept of “Big-Box” stores which were built on the back of cheap gasoline could vanish into a time capsule.
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