Tag Archives: energy

Buffet Gets A Buffet From Obama

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According to an article on or in The Washington Times,  almost without “warning”.Warren Buffet stands to dine at the table set for him by Obama and his State Department’s lack of support for thousands of jobs in the USA. The Keystone XL pipeline, once to be built from Canada to Houston, Texas has been left exposed to the millionaires among environmentalists, green people and assorted other opponents to real job creation in this country. 

 Warren Buffett, whom President Obama likes to cite as a fair-minded billionaire while arguing for higher taxes on the wealthy, stands to benefit from the president’s decision to reject the Keystone XL oil pipeline permit.

Mr. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. owns Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC, which is among the railroads that would transport oil produced in western Canada if the pipeline isn’t built.

Obama’s rejection of the pipeline comes three years after the initial application was made to construct the pipeline and just when it amounts to political expediency and a thumbing of the nose toward energy independence for this country:

 “Whatever people bring to us, we’re ready to haul,” Krista York-Wooley, a spokeswoman for Burlington Northern, a unit of Buffett’s Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc., told Bloomberg News. If Keystone XL “doesn’t happen, we’re here to haul,” she said.

The Obama administration rejected TransCanada’s request for a permit on Jan. 18, saying there was not enough time to review the proposal by Feb. 21, the deadline imposed by congressional Republicans eager to see the pipeline built. The decision came from the State Department, although Mr. Obama said he agreed with it.

If completed, the $7 billion Keystone XL would deliver 700,000 barrels a day of crude from oil sands in Canada to Texas refineries on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. It would traverse about 1,600 miles.

Republicans, labor unions and even some Democrats have criticized the administration’s rejection of the pipeline permit, saying it would create up to 20,000 jobs. Critics accuse the president of buckling to pressure from environmentalists who oppose the project and are important to Mr. Obama’s re-election effort.

What was that about transparency?  Obama has consistently spouted transparency, has he not?  In addition to Buffet’s buffet and other railroad’s largesse, do you think there might be investors in renewables walking this project to the gallows?  Yep, me too.

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11 US Funded “Renewable” Energy Companies Short-Out (Kaput)

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That is to say they have lost their spark and our money or they are on the way to “cannot pay.”  This, as we know is a shame, a sham and another reason scientists should not assess government investments and why it is not wise for our government  to whiz away our money on projects best left to the private sector investors.

While a great deal of the blame rests with the Obama folks, some of the blame for approval is inside the pointy heads on both sides of the aisle.

cap flap to Cyberwiz Beezer at NMpolitics.org ,  RealPolitics and CBS News for the point and video:

11 Other Failed “Success” Stories

English: United States President Barack Obama ...Image via Wikipedia — Doling Our Dollars” Stories
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The Sand Is Their Home

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By Chuck Ring (GadaboutBlogalot ©2009 -2011

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A fellow,  Theo Jensen,  lives and works in Holland.  He says he wants to create life, but not in a manner of cloning, at least not in the normal sense.  Mr. Jensen’s material for creation is taken from PVC tubing for the most part.  Mr. Jensen touches here, tweaks there  until his creations move along their home turf through energy they derive from the winds.  Here,  without embellishments are Mr. Jensen’s Strandbeests:

Whether you agree with his metaphors or you believe he stretches the use of the words life and live,  you surely agree the contraptions are a form of eye-candy.

The video clip comes from BBC and their program, Wallace & Gromits World of Adventure.  Here are a few words from them on this project:

Kinetic sculptor and artist Theo Jansen builds “Strandbeests” from yellow plastic tubing that is readily available in his native Holland.

The graceful creatures evolve over time as Theo adapts their designs to harness the wind more efficiently. They are powered only by the wind and even store some of the wind’s energy in plastic bottle ‘stomachs’ to be used when there is no wind.

Be sure to access the links found below — particularly the last one.

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Drink It, Drive It Or Try To Forget It

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By Chuck Ring (GadaboutBlogalot ©2009 – 2011)

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I don’t imbibe, so I won’t drink it.  I drive, but I won’t use it in my vehicle.  It’s too expensive, so I can’t forget it.  I’m talking about ethanol again and it isn’t a friend of mine anymore than it was the last time I posted on the subject.

ReasonTV has a video about the stuff and its real cost to the United States and hungry people around the world, so I thought I would avail myself of their generosity in offering their great presentation to the few readers of my blog.

Remember, this is the same ethanol that was to help save the world and the folks living on it.  Also remember, that it was our friend Al Gore, the fellow who now says that warm is cold and cold is hot, who also said that Ethanol would be one of our saviors from dependence on foreign oil.  The Mr. Gore who recently admitted that his reason for saying so, was to impress the folks in the corn-growing part of our farm belt, that he would make sure the farmers and refiners would get their subsidies if they agreed to grow and refine ethanol.  Surprised?  Me neither, nor should we be so.

I trust you’ll watch the video just below and then you’ll follow any links you find toward the bottom of this article.  Thanks to ReasonTV and all the fine folks who work for and with them.

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Finally A Gore We Can Believe In — Somewhat

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Al Gore's Hearing on Global Warming

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By Chuck Ring (GadaboutBlogalot ©2009 – 2010)

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This information is new only because it comes from Mr. Gore as a sort of revelation to himself.  Well, not really; as the story now goes, Mr. Gore was a little more than a lot disingenuous with his support of corn ethanol.  I wonder if this is a convenient or An Inconvenient Truth for the gentleman.  Let’s allow Mr. Gore, through the Reuters reporter, Gerard Wynn to give his confession:

ATHENS, Nov 22 (Reuters) – Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore said support for corn-based ethanol in the United States was “not a good policy”, weeks before tax credits are up for renewal.

U.S. blending tax breaks for ethanol make it profitable for refiners to use the fuel even when it is more expensive than gasoline. The credits are up for renewal on Dec. 31.

Now, we next see where the wheels start to come off the wagon and the confession begins:

“It is not a good policy to have these massive subsidies for (U.S.) first generation ethanol,” said Gore, speaking at a green energy business conference in Athens sponsored by Marfin Popular Bank.

“First generation ethanol I think was a mistake. The energy conversion ratios are at best very small.

The above is from Mr. Gore’s recent statements as quoted by Mr. Wynn.  We, the collective we, can only pick our bottom jaws up off the floor as we marvel at the effrontery of Mr. Gore’s unabashed touting of the global warming agenda, as he used his power to seek political office.  Of course it was a mistake and all the skeptics in the world said so, but Mr. Gore and the rest of the Warmers were not interested.  They were hell-bent to extinguish the fires of hades, while insuring that the refiners and growers of corn got the subsidies and Mr. Gore got the votes in return for his support … or so it seems from Mr. Gore’s own words:

“It’s hard once such a programme is put in place to deal with the lobbies that keep it going.”

He explained his own support for the original programme on his presidential ambitions.

“One of the reasons I made that mistake is that I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee, and I had a certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa because I was about to run for president.”

Thanks to bad memory or  Mr. Gore’s very own epiphany of major proportions, we now know the truth after an unnecessary period of dog and pony shows.  In the story filed by Mr. Wynn, Mr. Gore reveals yet more information that logically follows what he has said thus far into the article.  We’ve included a link to the entire story, so the readers can sample the corn syrup.  Shuck this link and shell it.

Whatever may have happened with Climategate, “GoreGate” is very revealing, coming as it does at the closing demise of the current Congress.

Flaps of the cap to Reuters and Mr. Wynn for their story AND Mr. Gore for confessing.

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Big Guns Loading Up Against Governor Appointed Board

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By Chuck Ring (GadaboutBlogalot ©2009 – 2010)

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Yesterday and today the New Mexico Business Weekly reported on the efforts of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber Of Commerce and Public Service Company Of New Mexico to garner support against cap-and-trade regulations suggested by the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board (EIB)… a seven member board appointed by the Governor and approved by the legislature:

Local business groups urged their members to build a grass-roots effort to block state-based regulation of greenhouse gas emissions on Tuesday.

The Albuquerque luncheon event – organized by the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce and the Public Service Co. of New Mexico – sought to encourage more business and economic development groups to get involved in hearings by the Environmental Improvement Board to consider legal caps on local carbon emissions.

Opposition to the regulations proposed by the board has built with opponents hitting on what they say will be a killer for recruitment of businesses from out-of-state and harmful for businesses established in the state who the opponents say will be less competitive with businesses outside of New Mexico.

A Santa Fe based company (New Energy Economy) along with the state players are pushing a scheme that would allegedly reduce the level of carbon emissions from firms which emit more than 25,000 metric tons of the substance per year.  New Energy Economy’s  and other supporters’ counter to the assertions from opponents is to say:

New Energy and state advocates say the lack of federal action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions makes state-level action critical. The U.S. House passed a comprehensive climate change bill last year, but a similar initiative in the U.S. Senate has languished for the past 12 months and collapsed in July.

A suit by opponents to prevent deliberation by the EIB on the new regulations was filed in the 5th Judicial district and was subsequently  appealed from that court’s jurisdiction  through action of the EIB and the State.  The suit was dismissed by the New Mexico Supreme Court earlier this year.  The court essentially ruled that there was no basis to contest the EIB’s actions while deliberations were continuing.

Looking at this battle from earlier actions of both sides and barring a favorable ruling in a later suit filed by the opponents, it seems this issue will continue for at least another six months to a year.

You can read the complete article here and see the other groups that participated in the meeting. Also, be sure to read the story found through the link found below.

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Google Pitches A Gaggle Of Money At Mariah

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By Chuck Ring (GadaboutBlogalot ©2009 – 2010)

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Mariah the Wind, that is.  Google has committed some 38 million dollars to a wind generation farm in North Dakota.  They will partner with another company or companies with the total investment for the project to be 190 million.  The turbines are to generate some 170 Megawatts of electricity or enough power to serve 55,000 homes.  Google has invested a great deal of money toward buying or investing in other projects this  according to Tech Crunch they have recently:

… (bought) 3D interface startup BumpTop, and invest in mobile payments company Corduro …

Google has previously invested in renewable energy companies, but this is said to be the first time it has invested in a wind or other renewable energy project, that i, except for direct investment for its own use.  The article states:

Google has $26.5 billion in cash, so it needs to find something to do with all of that money.

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Wind Festival & Green Energy Fair — Wildlife West (May 1st & 2nd)

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A Different Model — But, With Different Results?

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By Chuck Ring (GadaboutBlogalot ©2009 – 2010)

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The above title with the built-in question tries to address the issue of whether or not a huge solar power component manufacturer with a different business model can be successful in the United States.  The question is asked because recent reports have told stories of large solar equipment manufacturers shutting down their operations in the United states and moving to China and other locations in an attempt to gain a more competitive position in the market. See: Not So Sunny…

According to New Mexico Business Weekly, a new company manufacturing solar components from the bottom up will attempt to answer the question posed above.  The company, which will build facilities in Rio Rancho expect to start delivering product in 2011 will deliver an economic boost to Rio rancho and New Mexico.  The following is taken from  the April 7th digest of New Mexico Business Weekly:

A new solar energy manufacturing company said Wednesday it will spend $500 million over the next five years to build a 1 million-square-foot plant in Rio Rancho that eventually will employ 1,500 and have an annual payroll of $64 million.

Green2V CEO Bill Sheppard, who ran Intel Corp.’s Rio Rancho plant in the 1990s, said the company expects to break ground on the 124-acre site in the next few weeks.

What is different with Green2V is the total manufacturing process will be handled, start-to-finish by the company under its facility in Rio Rancho:

Green2V will manufacture solar cells and modular glass frames and will design, install, operate and finance the systems, Sheppard said.

“We are a fully integrated renewable energy company, and our motto is ‘Sand to kilowatts,’” Sheppard said. “We will take sand and make wafers and glass and produce solar cells and the modules and the frames that the glass will go in.”

You can read the full article here.  Here’s hoping Green2V will not go the way of  BP Solar (see story above and the links below.)

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Not So Sunny For Solar Manufacturing In The United States

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By Chuck Ring (GadaboutBlogalot ©2009 – 2010)

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There has been more than a little excitement about solar manufacturing in the United States and how it will would surely create thousands of  jobs for United States citizens.  Something must have happened on the way to success as the hype seems to be much greater than actual results.  According to this March 27th article from the American Spectator, solar manufacurers are not as keen on the United States as indicated a year or so ago.  Here is what was said back when things were rosy:

As impressive as the current boom is, Mike Eckhart, president of ACORE (American Council of Renewable Energy), forecasted an even brighter future for solar at the same CDMA event, particularly for the United States, which has only recently thrown the full weight of government subsidies and tax benefits behind the technology. “My prediction is in two years, solar will really take off,” Eckhart said. Admitting that the U.S. is the “laggard” in solar, Eckhart said he believes the country will catch up to the current market leader, Germany, which had 2000 MW of new solar capacity installed in 2009.

Let’s move to the present and and look at an article from The Washington Post as quoted in The American Spectator. The outlook forecast above doesn’t seem to gibe with the present facts:

BP will close its solar-panel manufacturing plant in Frederick, the final step in moving its solar business out of the United States to facilities in China, India and other countries….

…“We remain absolutely committed to solar,” BP chief executive Tony Hayward said in an interview Friday. But he said BP was “moving to where we can manufacture cheaply.

An article on The Foundry website seems to have been a harbinger of what BP and other industry “giants’ are not building here as they leave the United States for China, India and maybe, Pacific Rim locations.  Here’s a link to the article.  By the way, The Foundry is a publication of  The Heritage Foundation, a conservative organization.


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