Power Hungry

by Robert Bryce

  8 The Oregonian, “China’s Mercury Flushes into Oregon’s Rivers,” November 24, 2006, http://research.uwb.edu/jaffegroup/publications/116400a.pdf.

  9 WorldWideWords.org, “Mad as a Hatter,” http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-mad2.htm.

  10 Newsrx.com, Women’s Health Weekly: Environmental Health, “Maternal Exposure to Neurotoxins May Not Be Risk Factor for Fetal Neural Tube Defects,” June 29, 2006, http://www.newsrx.com/newsletters/Womens-Health-Weekly/2006-06-29/0629200633367WW.html.

  11 Jesse H. Ausubel, “Reasons to Worry About the Human Environment,” COSMOS (Journal of the Cosmos Club of Washington, D.C.) 8 (1998): 1–12, http://phe.rockefeller.edu/reasons-to-worry/.

  12 Environmental News Service, “Mercury Found in Blood of One-Third of American Women,” September 1, 2009, http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/sep2009/2009-09-01-092.asp.

  Chapter 17

  1 “Viewpoints: An Interview with Professor Kirk R. Smith,” Boiling Point, no. 56 (2009): 10, http://ehs.sph.berkeley.edu/krsmith/publications/2009%20pubs/BP56_Smith.pdf.

  2 Juan Forero, “Texaco Goes on Trial in Ecuador Pollution case,” New York Times, October 23, 2003, http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/23/business/texaco-goes-on-trial-in-ecuador-pollution-case.html.

  3 Twenty years ago, I published numerous articles about the pollution problems and bird kills caused by the oil and gas industry in Oklahoma and Texas. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, I wrote articles for the Tulsa Tribune and other papers about the thousands of migratory birds that were being killed in open oil waste pits. I also wrote about careless industry practices that were polluting aquifers. Three of my articles from that time period are: “Crackdown Due on Foul Water Holes: Birds Fall Victim to Slime in 3 States,” Tulsa Tribune, November 17, 1989, http://www.robertbryce.com/node/298; “Oil Wastes Taint Water Supply,” Christian Science Monitor, April 18, 1991, http://www.csmonitor.com/1991/0418/18061.html; and “Caustic Pits,” Field and Stream, March 1991. In 1991 I also wrote a long article for Texas Monthly that exposed the lax pollution enforcement of the Texas Railroad Commission, the agency charged with regulating the oil and gas industry in the Lone Star State. See Robert Bryce, “More Precious Than Oil,” Texas Monthly, February 1991.

  4 Transparency International, “Corruption Perceptions Index 2009,” n.d., http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2009/cpi_2009_table.

  5 Ian Urbina, “Taint of Corruption Is No Barrier to U.S. Visa,” New York Times, November 16, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/us/17visa.html.

  6 CBS News, 60 Minutes, “Gorillas: Kings of Congo,” December 9, 2007, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/12/07/60minutes/main3591264.shtml?source=related_story.

  7 Ibid.

  8 Wildlife Conservation Society, “What Is the Albertine Rift,” n.d., http://programs.wcs.org/albertine/WhatistheAlbertineRift/tabid/1998/Default.aspx.

  9 Gorilla.cd, “Who We Are,” n.d., http://gorilla.cd/who-we-are/.

  10 Emmanuel de Merode, e-mail correspondence with author, April 17, 2009.

  11 Gorilla.cd, “Briquettes, Gorillas & Virunga Need Your Help,” April 16, 2009, http://gorillacd.org/2009/04/16/briquettes-gorillas-virunga-need-your-help/.

  12 Ibid.

  13 Emmanuel de Merode, e-mail correspondence with author, April 17, 2009. For more information, see Gorillacd.org.

  14 Tom Knudson, “The Cost of the Biofuel Boom on Indonesia’s Forests,” The Guardian, January 21, 2009, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jan/21/network-biofuels.

  15 Ibid.

  16 Ibid.

  17 Kounteya Sinha, “‘Indoor’ Air Pollution Is the Biggest Killer,” Times of India, March 22, 2007, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1790711.cms.

  18 Fatih Birol, “Energy Economics: A Place for Energy Poverty in the Agenda?” The Energy Journal 28, no. 3 (2007): 3, 4.

  19 Kirk R. Smith, “Wood: The Fuel That Warms You Thrice,” Human Health and Forests (2008): 99, http://ehs.sph.berkeley.edu/krsmith/publications/2008%20pubs/Colfer%20book%20chapter.pdf.

  20 Sinha, “‘Indoor’ Air Pollution.”

  21 “Viewpoints: An Interview with Professor Kirk R. Smith.”

  22 Kirk R. Smith, “Editorial: In Praise of Petroleum?” Science, December 6, 2002, http://ehs.sph.berkeley.edu/krsmith/publications/02_smith_3.pdf, 1847.

  23 Robert Bryce, “An Interview with Kirk R. Smith on Indoor Air Pollution and Why the Rural Poor Need Propane and Butane,” July 23, 2009, http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm?aid=2110.

  24 Zeke Hausfather, “Black Carbon and Global Warming: A Promising Short-Term Approach?” Yale Forum on Climate Change and the Media, July 9, 2009, http://www.yaleclimatemediaforum.org/2009/07/black-carbon-and-global-warming/.

  25 Ibid.

  26 Bryce, “Interview with Kirk R. Smith.”

  Chapter 18

  1 Bill Kovarik, “Henry Ford, Charles F. Kettering and the Fuel of the Future,” Automotive History Review, no. 32 (Spring 1998): 7–27, http://www.runet.edu/~wkovarik/papers/fuel.html.

  2 Eric Kroh, “Food Prices and Shortages Boost Support for Next Generation Ethanol,” Medill Reports, May 5, 2008, http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=88157.

  3 Joel Wendland, “Obama Pushes Cellulosic Ethanol, Wind Energy, and Solar Power,” Political Affairs, May 14, 2008, http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/view/6852/1/334/.

  4 Amanda Little, “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Woolsey?” Grist.org, June 7, 2005, http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2005/06/07/little-woolsey/.

  5 Amory Lovins, testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, March 7, 2006, http://energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Testimony&Hearing_ID=1534&Witness_ID=4345.

  6 T. Boone Pickens and Ted Turner, “New Priorities for Our Energy Future,” Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2009, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB 10001424052970 203863204574348432504983734.html.

  7 Amory Lovins, “Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken?” Foreign Affairs, October 1976, 82.

  8 Commercial paper makers have reportedly been producing ethanol from cellulose for years. But the quantities of ethanol being produced by the paper makers are nowhere close to the volumes envisioned by Congress for consumption as motor fuel.

  9 Amory Lovins, E. Kyle Datta, Odd-Even Bustnes, Jonathan G. Koomey, and Nathan J. Glasgow, Winning the Oil Endgame: Innovation for Profits, Jobs, and Security (Snowmass, CO: Rocky Mountain Institute, 2004), executive summary, 3, http://www.oilendgame.com/ExecutiveSummary.html.

  10 Lovins testimony, March 7, 2006.

  11 S. David Freeman, Winning Our Energy Independence: An Energy Insider Shows How (Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith, 2007), 176.

  12 Ibid., 59.

  13 Ibid.

  14 Robert Bryce, “The Senator from Big Corn,” Guardian, September 4, 2008, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/04/uselections2008.biofuels; Nancy Pelosi, “Statement on Passage of Farm Bill,” May 15, 2008, http://www.house.gov/pelosi/press/releases/May08/farm-bill.html.

  15 American Coalition for Ethanol website, http://www.ethanol.org/index.php?id=78&parentid=26.

  16 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.

  17 Barack Obama and Joe Biden, “New Energy for America,” n.d. (approximately August 3, 2008), http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/factsheet_energy_speech_080308.pdf.

  18 PBS, “In Iowa, Questions Arise on Impact of Ethanol Production,” January 28, 2009, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/environment/jan-june09/mixedyield_01-28.html.

  19 Steven Chu, “Pulling the Plug on Oil,” Newsweek, April 4, 2009, http://www.newsweek.com/id/192481.

  20 See transcripts of two Obama speeches from October 23 and October 27, 2009, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-challenging-americans-lead-global-economy-clean-energy and http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-recovery-act-f
unding-smart-grid-technology.

  21 Jan F. Kreider and Peter S. Curtiss, Kreider and Associates, “Comprehensive Life Cycle Analysis of Future, Liquid Fuels for Light Vehicles,” September 2008, http://www.fuelsandenergy.com/presentations/Kreider_LCA.pdf, 36.

  22 Jesse Ausubel, in his article in “The Future Environment for the Energy Business,” APPEA Journal (2007), http://phe.rockefeller.edu/docs/ausubelappea.pdf, 8, uses 0.4 W/m2. Note that Vaclav Smil, in Energy: A Beginner’s Guide (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2006), 73, puts the sustainable power density of wood harvests at 0.2 W/m2.

  23 Vaclav Smil, Energy at the Crossroads: Global Perspectives and Uncertainties (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003), 265. Smil puts corn ethanol at a maximum of 0.7 W/m2.

  24 In 2007, the United States got an average of 2.16 million barrels per day from the Persian Gulf. That includes these countries: Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. 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.

  25 From 2004 to 2007, daily consumption averaged 20.7 million barrels per day. Energy Information Administration, “Product Supplied,” http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_cons_psup_dc_nus_mbblpd_a.htm.

  26 This assumes that the average distance to the Moon is 240,000 miles.

  27 Oak Ridge National Laboratory, “Biofuels from Switchgrass: Greener Energy Pastures,” n.d., http://bioenergy.ornl.gov/papers/misc/switgrs.html.

  28 The math: 42.1 million acres / 640 acres per square mile = 65,781 square miles. Oklahoma covers 68,679 square miles.

  29 There are about 440 million acres now planted in the United States. See Dennis Avery, “Biofuels, Food, or Wildlife? The Massive Land Costs of US Ethanol,” Competitive Enterprise Institute, September 21, 2006, Available: http://cei.org/pdf/5532.pdf, 6.

  30 QuoteOil.com, “What’s in a Barrel of Oil: Understanding the Demand,” n.d., http://www.quoteoil.com/oil-barrel.html.

  31 International Energy Agency, “Medium-Term Oil Market Report,” July 1, 2008, 20.

  32 Ibid., 21.

  33 Energy Information Administration, Appendix Table A2, “Annual Energy Outlook 2009,” http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/pdf/appendixes.pdf, 112.

  34 Energy Information Administration, “Petroleum Navigator,” http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/mapupus1A.htm.

  Chapter 19

  1 Peter Tertzakian, The End of Energy Obesity, May 6, 2009, http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/45/04704354/0470435445.pdf, 5.

  2 Sebastian Blanco, “Audi of America President de Nysschen Calls Chevy Volt ‘a Car for Idiots,’ Slams Electric Vehicles,” autoblog.com, September 3, 2009, http://www.autoblog.com/2009/09/03/report-audi-of-america-president-de-nysschen-calls-chevy-volt/.

  3 Thomas Friedman, “Texas to Tel Aviv,” New York Times, July 27, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/opinion/27friedman.html.

  4 Daniel Roth, “Driven: Shai Agassi’s Audacious Plan to Put Electric Cars on the Road,” Wired, August 18, 2008, http://www.wired.com/cars/futuretransport/magazine/16-09/ff_agassi?currentPage=all.

  5 Alan Salzman, “Shai Agassi; the 2009 Time 100,” Time, May 4, 2009, http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1894410_1893209_1893476,00.html.

  6 Daniel Roth, “Driven.”

  7 Daniel Lyons, “Time for a Trade-In,” Newsweek, May 2, 2009, http://www.newsweek.com/id/195662.

  8 Ibid.

  9 Menahem Anderman, testimony before the U.S. Senate Energy Committee, January 30, 2007, http://evworld.com/article.cfm?storyid=1184&first=13911&end=13910.

  10 Eric Williams, “Plug-in and Regular Hybrids: A National and Regional Com-2 parison of Costs and CO2 Emissions,” Climate Change Policy Partnership, November 2008, http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/ccpp/ccpp_pdfs/plug_in_hybrid.pdf, 4.

  11 Ching-Shin Norman Shiau, Constantine Samaras, Richard Hauffe, and Jeremy J. Michalek, “Impact of Battery Weight and Charging Patterns on the Economic and Environmental Benefits of Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles,” Energy Policy, February 2009, http://www.cmu.edu/me/ddl/publications/2009-EP-Shiau-Samaras-Hauffe-Michalek-PHEV-Weight-Charging.pdf, 2653.

  12 Tomoko A. Hosaka, “Report: Honda to Sell Electric Cars in US,” Associated Press, August 22, 2009, http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=8388341.

  13 Economist.com, “Sticker Shock,” August 21, 2009, http://www.economist.com/sciencetechnology/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14292008.

  14 Sam Fletcher, “Mitsubishi iMiEV All-Electric Car Goes On Sale Next Month,” popsci.com, June 5, 2009, http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2009-06/mitsubishi’s -electric-car-goes-production. See also Autozone.com, “Mitsubishi i-Miev Specifications and Sample Pics,” http://autogang.blogspot.com/2009/07/mitsubishi-i-miev-specifications-and.html.

  15 Robert Bryce, “‘Galactically Stupid’ and Other Random (Tardy) Notes from CERAWeek,” Energy Tribune, February 27, 2009, http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm?aid=1377.

  16 Chuck Squatriglia, “Nissan Turns Over an Electric Leaf,” Wired.com, August 2, 2009, http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/08/nissan-electric-leaf/.

  17 Tomoko A. Hosaka, “Report.”

  18 John Reed and Jim Pickard, “Electric Car Buyers to Get £5,000 Grant,” Financial Times, April 17, 2009, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fb1643a6-2ae5-11de-8415-00144feabdc0.html.

  19 Ibid.

  20 Geir Moulson and Matt Moore, “Germany Invests Millions in Race for Battery-Powered Car,” Associated Press, August 27, 2009, http://www.detnews.com/article/20090827/AUTO01/908270354/1148/rss25.

  21 This is known as the “gravimetric” energy density. The other common measure is “volumetric” energy density.

  22 For curb weight, see Tesla Motors, “2010 Tesla Roadster: Technical Specifications,” http://www.teslamotors.com/performance/tech_specs.php. For battery weight, see Tesla Motors, “2010 Tesla Roadster: Performance Specifications,” http://www.teslamotors.com/performance/perf_specs.php.

  23 Robert Bryce, “Energy Tribune Speaks with Bill Reinert, Designer of the Toyota Prius,” Energy Tribune, February 2, 2009, http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm?aid=1270.

  24 David Howell, “Progress Report for Energy Storage Research and Development,” U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Vehicle Technologies, January 2009, http://www1.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels/pdfs/program/2008_energy_storage.pdf, 4.

  25 Los Angeles Times, “Edison’s New Storage Battery,” May 19, 1901, 8.

  26 New York Times, “Foreign Trade in Electric Vehicles,” November 12, 1911, C8.

  27 Washington Post, “Prophecies Come True,” October 31, 1915, E18.

  28 Joseph C. Ingraham, “Old Electric Car May Be the Car of Tomorrow,” New York Times, July 26, 1959, X19.

  29 Bob Thomas, “AMC Does a Turnabout: Starts Running in Black,” Los Angeles Times, December 17, 1967, K10.

  30 Jerry Knight, “GM Unveils Electric Car, New Battery,” Washington Post, September 26, 1979, D7.

  31 Washington Post, “Plug ’Er In?” June 7, 1980, A10.

  32 Kim Reynolds, “First Drive: 2008 Tesla Roadster,” Motor Trend, March 1, 2008, http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/alternative/112_0803_2008_tesla_roadster.

  33 Anthony ffrench-Constant, “Tesla Roadster Review,” Telegraph.co.uk, June 4, 2009, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/carreviews/5446199/Tesla-Roadster-review.html.

  34 Reynolds, “First Drive.”

  35 Ibid.

  36 Phelps’s record is about 1:51. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh9F7DMMdVc; Wikipedia, “World Record Progression 200 Metres Butterfly,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_record_progression_200_metres_butterfly.

  37 U.S. Government Accountability Office, “Federal Energy and Fleet Management: Plug-in Vehicles Offer Potential Benefits, but High Costs and Limited Information Could Hinder Integration into the Federal Fleet,” June 2009, http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09493.pdf, 21.

  38 Josh Mitchell and Stephen Power, “Gore-Backed Fir
m Gets Large US Loan,” Wall Street Journal, September 25, 2009, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125383160812639013.html#mod=most_viewed_month.

  39 Steven Mufson, “A Jump-Start for New Battery Plants,” Washington Post, July 25, 2009, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/24/AR2009072403163.html?hpid=sec-tech.

  40 Phoenix Business Journal, “Phoenix Companies Get $99.8 Million in Stimulus Money for Electric Vehicle Network,” August 5, 2009, http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2009/08/03/daily39.html?jst=b_ln_hl.

  41 U.S. Department of Energy, “Recovery Act Awards for Electric Drive Battery and Component Manufacturing Initiative,” n.d., http://www1.eere.energy.gov/recovery/pdfs/battery_awardee_list.pdf.

  42 Katherine Brandon, “Spurring Innovation, Creating Jobs,” Whitehouse.gov, August 5, 2009, http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Spurring-Innovation-Creating-Jobs/.

  43 Associated Press, “China Drives Electric Bike, Scooter Boom,” July 27, 2009, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32172301/ns/world_news-world_environment/.

  44 For example, see Urbanscooters.com.

  45 Ultracapacitors.org, “How an Ultracapacitor Works,” n.d., http://www.ultracapacitors.org/ultracapacitors.org-articles/how-an-ultra-capacitor-works.html.

  46 Kevin Bullis, “Ultracaps Could Boost Hybrid Efficiency,” Technology Review, August 20, 2009, http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/23289/.

  47 Lawrence Ulrich, “A High-Mileage Masterpiece,” New York Times, November 20, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/automobiles/autoreviews/23-vw-jetta.html.

  48 BMWUSA.com, http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/Uniquely/BMWEfficientDynamics/ExploreAdvancedDiesel.aspx#Diesel_Vehicles/335d. The car sells for about $44,000.

  49 MBUSA.com, http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/#/greenBluetec/. See also Jerry Garrett, “Mercedes-Benz to Bring 4-Cylinder Diesels to the US?” New York Times, April 8, 2009, http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/mercedes-benz-to-bring-4-cylinder-diesels-to-the-us/?apage=3.

  50 Audi of America, http://www.audiusa.com/us/brand/en/exp/innovation/audi_tdi/audi_a3_tdi_2_0.html.