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Power Hungry Page 37

by Robert Bryce


  19 Jing Yang, “China’s Wind Farms Come with a Catch: Coal Plants,” Wall Street Journal, September 28, 2009, A17, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125409730711245037.html.

  20 Kent Hawkins, “Wind Integration: Incremental Emissions from Back-Up Generation Cycling, Part 1,” MasterResource.org, November 13, 2009, http://www.masterresource.org/2009/11/wind-integration-incremental-emissions-from-back-up-generation-cycling-part-i-a-framework-and-calculator/comment-page-1/#comment-3244.

  21 Kent Hawkins, interview with author via phone, November 14, 2009. For more on Hawkins’s analysis of wind, see his blog, available at http://whitherindustrialwindpower.wordpress.com/.

  22 Global Wind Energy Council, “Global Wind Energy Outlook 2008,” 39.

  23 Ibid, 46.

  24 The math is straightforward: 731/18,708 = 3.9%.

  Chapter 10

  1 CBSNews.com, “Transcript: Obama’s Earth Day Speech,” April 22, 2009, http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/04/22/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry4962412.shtml.

  2 BBC, “Denmark ‘World’s Happiest Nation,’” July 3, 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7487143.stm.

  3 BBC, “Denmark ‘Happiest Place on Earth,’” July 28, 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5224306.stm.

  4 Cal Fussman, “The Energizer,” Discover, February 20, 2006, http://discovermagazine.com/2006/feb/energizer/article_print.

  5 Hannah Sentenac, “Denmark Points Way in Alternative Energy Sources,” Fox News, November 28, 2006, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,203293,00.html.

  6 Thomas L. Friedman, “Flush with Energy,” New York Times, August 9, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/opinion/10friedman1.html?_r=2&oref=slogin.

  7 Joshua Green, “The Elusive Green Economy,” Atlantic Monthly, July/August 2009, 79, http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200907/carter-obama-energy.

  8 Ibid., 86.

  9 Energy Information Administration, “Denmark Energy Profile,” http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/country/country_time_series.cfm?fips=DA#coal.

  10 BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2009, http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/reports_and_publications/statistical_energy_review_2008/STAGING/local_assets/2009_downloads/renewables_section_2009.pdf. In 2007, Denmark got 26 percent of its primary energy from coal, whereas the United States got 24.3 percent of its primary energy from coal.

  11 Energy Information Administration, “Denmark Energy Data,” http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/country/excel.cfm?fips=DA. See also Erik Matzen, “Danish Oil Reserves 200 mln Cubic Metres on Jan. 1,” Reuters, June 15, 2009, http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssEnergyNews/idUSLF39693020090615.

  12 Danish Energy Agency, “Energy Statistics 2007,” http://www.ens.dk/en-US/Info/FactsAndFigures/Energy_statistics_and_indicators/Annual%20Statistics/Sider/Forside.aspx.

  13 International Energy Agency, World Energy Outlook 2008, 166.

  14 BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2009. One ton of coal is equal to 7.33 barrels of oil.

  15 BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2009.

  16 Energy Information Administration, “Denmark Energy Data.”

  17 Tony Lodge, “Wind Chill: Why Wind Energy Will Not Fill the UK’s Energy Gap,” Centre for Policy Studies, June 2008, http://www.cps.org.uk/cpsfile.asp?id=1026, 7.

  18 David Pimentel, ed., Biofuels, Solar and Wind as Renewable Energy Systems (Ithaca, NY: Springer, 2008), 147.

  19 Lodge, “Wind Chill,” 7.

  20 Hugh Sharman, e-mail to author, August 11, 2008.

  21 BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2009, data from 2007.

  22 Danish Center for Political Studies (CEPOS), “Wind Energy: The Case of Denmark,” September 2009, http://www.cepos.dk/fileadmin/user_upload/Arkiv/PDF/Wind_energy_-_the_case_of_Denmark.pdf, 2.

  23 According to BP, Denmark’s total primary energy consumption in 1981 was 18.2 million tons of oil equivalent per year. That’s about 365,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. By 2007, the figure was 18.1 million tons of oil equivalent per year. Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2009.

  24 Energy Information Administration, “Electricity Prices for Households,” http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/elecprih.html.

  25 John Goerten and Daniel Cristian Ganea for Eurostat, “Environment and Energy,” 2008, http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-QA-08-045/EN/KS-QA-08-045-EN.PDF; “Dutch Gas and Electricity Prices Among the Highest in Europe,” May 3, 2007, http://www.cbs.nl/en-GB/menu/themas/industrie-energie/publicaties/artikelen/archief/2007/2007-2187-wm.htm.

  26 International Energy Agency, “Key World Energy Statistics, 2008,” http://www.iea.org/textbase/nppdf/free/2008/key_stats_2008.pdf, 43.

  27 Ibid.

  28 German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), “GTZ International Fuel Price Survey-Data: Super Gasoline and Diesel Retail Prices as of Mid-November 2008,” n.d., http://www.gtz.de/de/dokumente/en-international-fuel-prices-data-preview-2009.pdf.

  29 BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2008.

  30 European Environment Agency, “Greenhouse Gas Emission Trends and Projections in Europe 2008: Tracking Progress Towards Kyoto Targets,” http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/eea_report_2008_5/at_download/file, 13.

  31 Ibid., 19.

  32 Ibid., 23.

  33 For more on the company, see Energinet.dk.

  34 Energinet.dk, “Wind Power to Combat Climate Change: How to Integrate Wind Energy into the Power System,” n.d., http://www.e-pages.dk/energinet/126/fullpdf/full.pdf. (Note: In April 2009, the company’s website said the brochure on wind was “new.”)

  35 Ibid., 38–39.

  36 Ibid., 34.

  37 Ibid.

  38 Nelson D. Schwartz, “In Denmark, Ambitious Plan for Electric Cars,” New York Times, December 2, 2009, http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/in-denmark-ambitious-plan-for-electric-cars/.

  39 The annual reports are available online at http://www.energinet.dk/en/servicemenu/Library/Library.htm#.

  40 Energinet.dk, “Environmental Report 2008,” n.d., http://www.energinet.dk/NR/rdonlyres/EC3E484D-08D5-4179-9D85-7B9A9DBD3E08/0/Environmentalreport2008.pdf, 13, 17.

  41 Ibid., 27.

  42 International Energy Agency, “CO2 Emissions from Fuel Combustion 2009,” ttp://www.iea.org/co2highlights/co2highlights.pdf, 56.

  43 The 2007 number is an estimate based on demand in 2006, which was 34.7 billion kilowatt-hours. See Energy Information Administration, “Denmark Energy Data.”

  44 Central Intelligence Agency, World Factbook, “Europe: Denmark,” https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/da.html.

  45 Based on CIA data for 2008 and an estimate of 5.29 million in 1998 from Populstat, “Denmark: General Data of the Country,” http://www.populstat.info/Europe/denmarkg.htm.

  46 Based on a 1998 population estimate of 270 million from CIA available at http://www.populstat.info/. The CIA puts the U.S. population in 2008 at 303.8 million.

  47 Energinet.dk, “Environmental Report 2008,” n.d., http://www.energinet.dk/NR/rdonlyres/EC3E484D-08D5-4179-9D85-7B9A9DBD3E08/0/Environmentalreport2008.pdf, 5.

  48 Ibid., 12.

  49 Energy Information Administration, “World Carbon Intensity: World Carbon Dioxide Emissions from the Consumption and Flaring of Fossil Fuels Per Thousand Dollars of Gross Domestic Product Using Market Exchange Rates, 1980–2006,” http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/international/iealf/tableh1gco2.xls.

  50 Danish Energy Agency, “Large Drop in Energy Consumption and CO2 Emissions in 2008,” March 18, 2009, http://www.ens.dk/EN-US/INFO/NEWS/NEWS_ARCHIVES/2009/Sider/LargedropinenergyconsumptionandCO2emissionsin2008.aspx.

  51 International Energy Agency, “Key World Energy Statistics 2008,” 51, 57.

  52 Energy Information Administration, “World Carbon Intensity.”

  53 Energy Information Administration, “Denmark Energy Data.”

  54 Ibid.

  55 Ibid.

  56 Danish Energy Agency, “Close to DKK 35.9 Billion State Rev
enue from Oil and Gas Activities in 2008,” June 15, 2009, http://www.ens.dk/en-us/info/news/news_archives/2009/sider/20090615_oilgasandsubsoilusereport2008.aspx.

  57 In 2008, wind power production was 6.9 billion kilowatt-hours. See the Danish Energy Agency website, http://www.ens.dk/da-DK/Info/TalOgKort/Statistik_og_noegletal/Maanedsstatistik/Documents/El-MonthlyStatistics.xls, to download the latest data in Excel.

  58 Energy Information Administration, “Denmark Energy Data.”

  59 Friedman, “Flush with Energy.”

  60 Danish Center for Political Studies (CEPOS), “Wind Energy,” 2.

  61 Ibid., 37.

  Chapter 11

  1 TexasMonthly.com, “The Last Pickens Show,” September 2008, http://www.texasmonthly.com/multimedia/slideshow/13087.

  2 Slate.com, “80 over 80,” September 11, 2008, http://www.slate.com/id/2199926/.

  3 Matthew McDermott, “T. Boone Pickens Talks Natural Gas, Energy Independence, Peak Oil and Swift Boating with Katie Couric,” July 15, 2008, http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/07/t-boone-pickens-talks-with-katie-couric.php.

  4 Steve Hargreaves, “Pickens’ Wind Plan Hits a Snag,” CNNMoney.com, November 12, 2008, http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/12/news/economy/pickens/index.htm.

  5 PickensPlan.com, http://www.pickensplan.com/media/.

  6 Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/Pickensplan?ref=s.

  7 Pickens Plan e-mail, August 16, 2009.

  8 Forbes.com, “The 400 Richest Americans,” September 17, 2008, http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/54/400list08_The-400-Richest-Americans_NameProper_12.html.

  9 Gregory Zuckerman, “Pickens Funds Down About $1 Billion,” Wall Street Journal, September 24, 2008, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB 122221505732769415.html.

  10 Elizabeth Souder, “Pickens Paring Down Wind Farm Project,” Dallas Morning News, July 6, 2009, http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/industries/energy/stories/DN-pickenswind_05bus.State.Edition1.19e1daf.html.

  11 Ibid.

  12 Energy Information Administration, “Natural Gas Navigator,” http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/ng/hist/n3045us2a.htm.

  13 International Energy Agency, “Natural Gas Market Review 2009,” 109.

  14 PickensPlan.com, n.d., http://www.pickensplan.com/theplan/.

  15 Energy Information Administration, “Imports by Area of Entry,” http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_imp_dc_NUS-Z00_mbblpd_a.htm.

  16 NGVAmerica.org, http://www.ngvamerica.org/media_ctr/fact_ngv.html.

  17 NGVAmerica.org, “Fact Sheet: Potential Contribution of NGVs to Displacing 35 Billion Gallons of Non-Petroleum Fuels by 2017,” n.d., http://www.ngvamerica.org/pdfs/PotentialNGVs.pdf. While the 1,500-gallon figure is used here, keep in mind that the average personal car in the United States only uses about 600 gallons of fuel per year. Thus, any move toward NGVs in the passenger car fleet will have an even smaller impact on overall oil consumption.

  18 To convert gallons per year to barrels per day, divide by 15,330.

  19 International Association of Natural Gas Vehicles, “Natural Gas Vehicle Statistics,” n.d., http://www.iangv.org/tools-resources/statistics.html.

  20 FWS.gov, “Utility Giant to Pay Millions for Eagle Protection,” July 10, 2009, http://www.fws.gov/news/newsreleases/showNews.cfm?newsId=750629CF-E286-4B51-379292C1D9377C41.

  21 Amy Littlefield, “ExxonMobil Pleads Guilty to Killing Protected Birds,” Los Angeles Times, August 14, 2009, http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-exxon-birds14-2009aug14,0,626783.story.

  22 “Migratory Bird Treaty Act,” http://alaska.fws.gov/ambcc/ambcc/treaty_act.htm.

  23 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, “Utility Giant to Pay Millions for Eagle Protection,” July 10, 2009, http://www.fws.gov/news/newsreleases/showNews.cfm?newsId=750629CF-E286-4B51-379292C1D9377C411.

  24 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, “Bald Eagle Management Guidelines and Conservation Measures: The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act,” May 27, 2008, http://www.fws.gov/midwest/Eagle/guidelines/bgepa.html.

  25 Alameda County Community Development Agency, “Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area Bird Fatality Study,” July 2008, http://www.altamontsrc.org/alt_doc/m30_apwra_monitoring_report_exec_sum.pdf, 1–3.

  26 The Encyclopedia of the Earth points to a study done in 1994 at Altamont that discussed the raptor deaths but doesn’t give specific numbers. The encyclopedia also mentions that a 2003 study estimated the annual bird kill at 1,000, including 24 gold eagles. See Encyclopedia of the Earth, “Altamont Pass, California,” n.d., http://www.eoearth.org/article/Altamont_Pass,_California. A 2004 study estimated that as many as 4,700 birds per year were being killed at Altamont. See Golden Gate Audubon Society, “Reducing Bird Kills at Altamont Pass,” The Gull, May 2005, http://www.goldengateaudubon.org/html/thegull/archive/2005/2005-05-thegull.pdf, 1.

  27 Carl G. Thelander, “Bird Fatalities at Wind Energy Facilities: An Overview,” BioResource Consultants, June 27, 2006, http://www.fws.gov/midwest/GreatLakes/windpowerpresentations/Thelander.pdf.

  28 Michael Fry, interview with author by phone, August 21, 2009.

  29 AWEA.org, “Wind Energy and Wildlife,” n.d., http://www.awea.org/pubs/factsheets/Wind_Energy_and_Wildlife_Mar09.pdf, 1.

  30 U.S. Department of Energy, “20% Wind Energy by 2030: Increasing Wind Energy’s Contribution to US Electricity Supply,” July 2008, http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/pdfs/41869.pdf, 7.

  31 AWEA.org, “Wind Energy and Wildlife.”

  32 Justin Blum, “Researchers Alarmed by Bat Deaths from Wind Turbines,” Washington Post, January 1, 2005, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39941-2004Dec31.html.

  33 Brian Handwerk, “Wind Turbines Give Bats the ‘Bends,’ Study Finds,” National Geographic News, August 25, 2008, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/08/080825-bat-bends.html.

  34 Todd Woody, “Judge Halts Wind Farm over Bats,” New York Times, December 10, 2009, http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/judge-halts-wind-farm-over-bats/.

  Chapter 12

  1 Rebuttal Testimony and Exhibits of Thomas A. Imbler, Before the Public Utilities Commission of the State of Colorado, June 9, 2009, http://www.xcelenergy.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/docs/CRPImblerRebuttal.pdf.

  2 Bonneville Power Administration data. For current wind generation information, see: bpa.gov, especially http://www.transmission.bpa.gov/business/operations/wind/baltwg.aspx.

  3 Cameron Walker, “Blowout,” Outside, August 2007, http://outside.away.com/outside/destinations/200708/dams.html.

  4 Robert F. Kennedy Jr., “How to End America’s Deadly Coal Addiction,” Financial Times, July 19, 2009, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/58ec3258-748b-1 1de-8ad5-00144 feabdc0.html.

  5 Pöyry, “Impact of Intermittency: How Wind Variability Could Change the Shape of the British and Irish Electricity Markets,” July 2009, http://www.ilexenergy.com/pages/documents/reports/renewables/Intermittency%20Public%20Report%202_0.pdf, 23.

  6 International Energy Agency, “Natural Gas Market Review 2009,” 114.

  7 Ibid.

  8 “Colorado: Incentives/Policies for Renewable Energy,” n.d., http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/incentive.cfm?Incentive_Code=CO24R&re=1&ee=0.

  9 Xcel Energy, http://www.xcelenergy.com/Company/AboutUs/Pages/Temp.aspx.

  10 Xcel Energy, “2008 Wind Integration Team, Final Report,” December 1, 2008, http://www.xcelenergy.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/docs/CRPWindIntegrationStudyFinalReport.pdf, 2.

  Chapter 13

  1 This group is also sometimes referred to as lanthanoids. Among the best interactive periodic table of the elements is available at http://www.dayah.com/periodic/.

  2 Mark P. Mills, “Go Long on Lithium,” Forbes.com, May 5, 2008, http://www.forbes.com/2008/05/05/lithium-batteries-electricity-pf-ii-in_mm_0505energyintelligence_inl_print.html.

  3 Peter Day, “Prosperity Promise of Bolivia’s Salt Flats,” BBC.co.uk, August 15, 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8201058.stm.
/>
  4 Robert Farago, “Editorial: The Truth About Rare Earths and Hybrids,” International Business Times, July 23, 2009, http://www.ibtimes.com/contents/20090723/editorial-truth-about-rare-earths-and-hybrids.htm.

  5 Energy Information Administration, “U.S. Imports by Country of Origin,” http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_ep00_im0_mbblpd_a.htm.

  6 BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2009, http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/reports_and_publications/statistical_energy_review_2008/STAGING/local_assets/2009_downloads/renewables_section_2009.pdf.

  7 For the first ten months of 2009, OPEC production was about 28 million barrels per day. Global consumption is about 84 million barrels per day. See MEES.com, “OPEC Crude Oil Production,” n.d., http://www.mees.com/Energy_Tables/crude-oil.htm.

  8 Wikipedia, “Deng Xiaoping,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deng_Xiaoping. For Deng quote, see Farago, “Editorial: The Truth About Rare Earths and Hybrids.”

  9 “Molycorp Minerals: Global Outlook,” n.d., http://www.molycorp.com/globaloutlook.asp.

  10 Farago, “Editorial: The Truth About Rare Earths and Hybrids.”

  11 Leo Lewis, “Crunch Looms for Green Technology as China Tightens Grip on Rare-Earth Metals,” Times (London), May 28, 2009, http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article6374603.ece.

  12 Steve Gorman, “As Hybrid Cars Gobble Rare Metals, Shortage Looms,” Reuters, September 2, 2009, http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-BusinessofGreen/idUSTRE57U02B20090902; Keith Bradsher, “China Tightens Grip on Rare Minerals,” New York Times, September 1, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/business/global/01minerals.html?_r=1&sq=neodymium&st=Search&scp=1&pagewanted=all.

  13 Gorman, “As Hybrid Cars Gobble Rare Metals.”

  14 David Trueman, interview with author by phone, August 31, 2009.

  15 National Science Foundation, “Science and Engineering Indicators 2008: Presentation Slides,” January 2008, http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind08/slides.htm.

  16 Ibid. See slide entitled “World Share of High-Technology Manufacturing by Region/Country: 1985–2005.”

 

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