Alliance To Save Enerby-News You Can Use - February 27, 2006
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February 27, 2006
Listed below is news coverage on areas of interest in energy
efficiency. If there is an article that you think would be of interest to
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Alliance News You Can Use
POLICY
1. High cost of energy hurts local farmers
Feb 27, 2006 Citizens Times (NC) &Gannett
Farm lobby groups may ask Congress to help pay for their fuel
and energy bills in a disaster relief bill that might be considered this
year. "We are just trying to put Band-Aids on real severe wounds," said
Stanley Reed, an Arkansas cotton grower who farms 4,000 acres and is
president of the state farm bureau.
2. A Car Seller Who Favors Fuel Taxes
Feb 25, 2006 New York Times
And he's wondering when Washington will deliver a new energy
policy. Following are excerpts: Q. Can you sum up your views on gasoline
taxes and America's energy policy? A. Any policy should address the supply
side, address the technology side, but it also has to address the consumer
side.
EDITORIAL
3. The carbohydrate economy
Feb 26, 2006 Sacramento Bee, Opinion
Bill Gates put $84 million into Pacific Ethanol, a company
headed by former California Secretary of State Bill Jones. The technology
that could bring us energy relief is much closer, if not here. He was
director of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley's energy office during much of the
1970s energy shocks.
4. Look before you leap onto alternative energy bandwagon
Feb 27, 2006 Newark Star Ledger
Look before you leap onto alternative energy bandwagon President
Bush's push to end the nation's oil addiction has the stock market abuzz
about alternative energy companies. But like so many companies trying to
capitalize on the promise of renewable energy, Hydrogenics is not a
profitable venture. Over the past three years, the Department of Energy has
awarded about $500 million for research by universities, companies, and
national laboratories.
REGIONAL
5. The Sunshine State's Potential For Power
Feb 26, 2006 Tampa Tribune
Butts estimates he'll save 40 percent on his monthly energy
bill. The maximum rebate for residential systems would be $20,000, according
to the proposed bill. Companion bills in the state House and Senate call for
the creation of the Alternative Energy Technology Center that would promote
research, conservation, distributed generation, advanced transmission,
pollution and renewable energies, including solar power.
6. Hawai'i's energy future bright with possibilities
Feb 26, 2006 Honolulu Advertiser, Opinion
And more is coming, including expanding garbage-to-energy, wind
power, and a type of energy called pumped hydro-storage ? a man-made river
in a pipe. This is perhaps the most exciting part of the legislation.
Hawai'i's energy future depends on working together to make it happen.
7. Ohio urged to scrap cleaner gasoline requirements
Feb 25, 2006 Akron Beacon Journal
Ohio may have trouble getting special cleaner gasoline this
summer for the Cincinnati and Dayton areas, where E-check vehicle emissions
testing has ended.
8. Editorial | The Lightning Round
Feb 25, 2006 Philadelphia Inquirer
The state followed four others, including New Jersey, in
proposing stricter, faster emissions reductions than planned by the Bush
administration.
9. In development post, it wasn't easy being green
Feb 25, 2006 Boston Globe
...emissions, though Romney later proposed loopholes in a carbon
dioxide regulation. Disappointments: * The governor abandoned the Regional
Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a landmark effort by Northeastern and
Mid-Atlantic states to limit pollution that contributes to climate change. *
The administration has failed to deliver portions of the state's Climate
Protection Plan, including allowing hybrid cars to drive in HOV lanes or
reducing the number of state-owned SUVs. * The Conservation Law
Foundation...
THE BUSINESS OF ENERGY
10. U.K.'s National Grid to Buy KeySpan of U.S. for $7.3 Billion
Feb 27, 2006 Wall Street Journal
British utility National Grid PLC said it agreed to acquire New
York utility and natural-gas distributor KeySpan Corp. for $7.3 billion and
the assumption of debt.
11. It takes fuel to make fuel
Feb 26, 2006 Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
...reduce emissions that cause global warming, and free the
United States from dependence on foreign energy. There is only one catch:
Turning corn into ethanol takes energy. For every gallon that an ethanol
manufacturing plant produces, it uses the equivalent of almost two-fifths of
a gallon of fuel, usually natural gas, and that does not count the fuel
needed to make fertilizer for the corn, run the farm machinery or truck the
ethanol to market. The use of all that fossil fuel to make ethanol...
12. All Business: Be cautious about alternative energy rally
Feb 25, 2006 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
By Bruce Meyerson, The Associated Press NEW YORK -- President
Bush's push to end the nation's oil addiction has the stock market abuzz
about alternative energy companies. But like so many companies trying to
capitalize on the promise of renewable energy, Hydrogenics is not a
profitable venture. Over the past three years, the Department of Energy has
awarded about $500 million for research by universities, companies, and
national laboratories.
13. Many people want ethanol, which bodes well for farmers
Feb 25, 2006 Minneapolis Star Tribune
The ethanol industry also is being boosted by requirements in
federal energy legislation approved last year that requires an increasing
amount of the additive to be used. Energy analysts said ethanol reduces some
oil use. The additive does not include as much energy as gasoline and
results in fewer miles to the gallon.
14. Utilities will reveal cost of being clean
Feb 25, 2006 Kansas City Star
The shareholder resolutions were withdrawn after successful
negotiations to disclose the possible costs from foreseeable regulations to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide.
TRANSPORTATION
15. Many cruise lines tacking on fees to cover fuel hikes
Feb 27, 2006 Chicago Tribune
Cruise ships, after all, don't run on air. In recent months,
several cruise lines have begun levying fuel surcharges to offset hikes in
their own energy bills.
16. Fill'er up -- at home
Feb 25, 2006 Boston Globe
The device would also allow consumers to have all their gas
expenses on a single bill. They ''are clean-burning, low-emission
alternatives to traditional-fuel cars," said Nick Stavropoulos, KeySpan
Energy president. For another $20,000 it was converted to CNG, said James W.
Hunt III, Boston's chief of environmental and energy services.
17. Ethanol plants
Feb 26, 2006 Daily Herald, Chicago
That growth will be aided by the Energy Policy Act of 2005,
which gives ethanol producers sizable subsidies, including a federal tax
credit for small refiners. Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings, Inc., an
ethanol producer based in Pekin, has started distributing to major oil
companies like ConocoPhilips Co. and Chevron Corp. Six states have passed
laws that require ethanol-blended gasoline, and nine others are considering
similar legislation, according to the American Coalition for Ethanol.
18. Greener fuel or corny ploy?
Feb 26, 2006 Chicago Sun-Times
While ethanol cuts carbon monoxide emissions, Becker says it
increases smog-forming emissions.
INTERNATIONAL
19. Government offer 'green grants'
Feb 27, 2006 BBC News
Details of a multi-million pound scheme to promote renewable
energy in Northern Ireland have been announced. NI Secretary Peter Hain said
almost £60m has been set aside for the scheme.
20. Alternative Energy Is the Greatest Task Before the Nation
Feb 27, 2006 The Chosum Ilbo (Korea)
For Asian countries, the lifeline is the Middle East. The United
States imports 60 percent of its energy, but only 20 percent comes from the
Middle East. South Korea, Japan and Taiwan import their entire energy
demand, and 75 percent come from the Middle East.
21. Energy: Italian Fury at French Merger
Feb 27, 2006 Adnkronosinternational
Italy's industry minister, Claudio Scajola on Monday cancelled a
visit to the French capital, Paris, describing as "neo-protectionism" the
newly announced 73 billion euro merger between two leading French energy
companies, state-controlled Gaz de France and the power and water group,
Suez.
IN THE KNOW.....
22. J. Craig Venter's Next Little Thing
Feb 27, 2006 Washington Post
Venter is convinced that "genomics is going to do for the energy
and chemical field what it did in the early 1990s for medical
biotechnology."
23. Twin Paths to the Conclusion Climatic Change Is Real
Feb 27, 2006 New York Times
Both bring up the ice-coated Hollywood doomsday scenario in "The
Day After Tomorrow." Both deplore the Bush administration's reluctance to
agree to the Kyoto Protocol limiting carbon dioxide emissions.
1. High cost of energy hurts local farmers
Feb 27, 2006 Citizens Times (NC) &Gannett
By Leslie Boyd, STAFF WRITER and Pamela Brogan, GANNETT NEWS
SERVICE
February 27, 2006 6:00 am
HENDERSONVILLE ? Farmer Steve Fullam feels a little more pinched
every year.
Fullam, like thousands of farmers across the country, is trying
to cope with a dwindling income as higher energy prices cut a deep swath
through his profits.
The Hendersonville farmer, who owns 220 milk cows plus dozens
more that don't yet produce milk, has seen his bills for fuel and fertilizer
shoot up dramatically in the last year. Fullam also grows corn to feed his
cows.
"The price we're getting now (for milk) isn't much more than we
were getting 15, 20 years ago," he said. "Last year milk prices were good,
but it was so wet we had to buy a lot of grain. Everything we buy is higher,
but the price of fertilizer and fuel is the worst. ... It's a struggle all
the time."
Corn, cotton and rice growers and dairy, poultry and hog farmers
are seeing the biggest increases in their costs because their farms are
especially energy intensive in a time when energy prices are skyrocketing
Between 2003 and 2005, farmers' overall fuel and fertilizer bill
rose by 47 percent according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This
year, farmers' energy bills are projected to climb another $1.7 billion over
last year, according to USDA estimates.
Growers use more nitrogen fertilizer, made from natural gas, and
fuel for irrigation systems and operating farm equipment. Dairy, hog and
poultry farmers use more fuel for heating and equipment.
So growers "are screaming a blue streak" over higher energy
bills, said Arizona grower Kevin Rogers, who farms 7,000 acres of mostly
cotton. Farmers are "price takers, not price makers," he said.
"It affects us on a daily basis and it puts our budgets out of
whack," said Rogers, who is president the Arizona Farm Bureau. "It was
impossible to see what was coming."
Ken Justus of Fruitland sold the last of his beef herd last
year. He still farms apples, but he only gets 3 cents a pound if he sells
them for juice.
"It costs me $5 a pound to produce a 42-pound bushel," he said.
"Do the math. All I do now is pick-your-own and retail. I have to charge
more and some people complain, but I have to do it."
President Bush's energy proposals may offer some relief for
farmers over the long term as he seeks to reduce dependence on foreign oil.
By 2012, Bush wants to double alternative fuels production.
The president also has proposed a new tax on dairy farmers to
help reduce the national deficit. That's on top of Bush's proposed 5 percent
across-the-board cut in payments to dairy, grain and cotton farmers and a
new $250,000 cap on farm subsidies paid to individuals.
"I have expressed my displeasure" over the plan to Congress and
the administration, said dairyman Bill Bruins, president of the Wisconsin
Farm Bureau Federation and co-operator of a 600-cow dairy farm.
Farm lobby groups may ask Congress to help pay for their fuel
and energy bills in a disaster relief bill that might be considered this
year.
"We are just trying to put Band-Aids on real severe wounds,"
said Stanley Reed, an Arkansas cotton grower who farms 4,000 acres and is
president of the state farm bureau.
Keith Williams, a spokesman for the Senate Agriculture,
Nutrition and Forestry Committee, said solving energy problems involve
addressing complicated issues surrounding energy markets and supplies. It
also involves controversial proposals, such as increasing the production of
nuclear power.
"There's just not an easy answer," he said.
Contact Boyd at 232-2922 or lboyd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Contact
Pamela Brogan at pbrogan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
ON THE NET: www.fb.org, American Farm Bureau Federation;
http://agriculture.senate.gov, Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry
Committee.
return to the top
2. A Car Seller Who Favors Fuel Taxes
Feb 25, 2006 New York Times
By KEN JAWOROWSKI
Saturday Interview
Mike Jackson is saying things that some people may not want to
hear.
He's calling for a significant increase in the gasoline tax.
He's chiding American car companies for their sales strategies. And he's
wondering when Washington will deliver a new energy policy.
Mr. Jackson's views on such matters are hard to ignore. As
chairman and chief executive of AutoNation, he leads the largest auto
retailer in the country, with 281 dealerships, 27,000 employees and over $19
billion in revenue. Before joining the company, Mr. Jackson, 57, served as
chief executive of Mercedes-Benz USA, overseeing its American sales
operations.
Mr. Jackson spoke recently about the auto industry and
AutoNation's business. Following are excerpts:
Q. Can you sum up your views on gasoline taxes and America's
energy policy?
A. Any policy should address the supply side, address the
technology side, but it also has to address the consumer side. The American
consumer does have an addiction to cheap oil. It's almost as if it's a
divine right.
There needs to be a signal to the American consumer that the
party is over and that we're all going to have to be more responsible going
forward, and that higher energy prices are going to support the technology
that will give us significantly greater fuel efficiency.
We've called for a $1-a-gallon increase in gasoline taxes,
phased in over the next 10 years, so it's only 10 cents a gallon per year.
But since purchasing a vehicle is a long-term decision, the consumer will
factor it into his next purchase.
Q. What has been the reaction to your proposal?
A. If we called for this 5, 10 years ago, we'd be tarred and
feathered. What happened this time is our research shows that the majority
of the American consumers would support ? are you ready for this? ? an
increase in energy taxes, if it was part of a comprehensive policy designed
to address America's dependence on imported oil.
The American consumer has watched what's happened in the world
globally, and is well aware of the exposure this is to the country, and is
willing to do something. Now, whether anything will happen in Washington,
that is another story entirely.
Q. What must American car companies do to stop losing market
share?
A. There's some irony here in that the American car companies,
the quality of their product is the best ever today. But they are paying for
ignoring the consumer for quite a long time in the past. And that opened up
the door to competition. And now the situation is if you want to win the
American consumer back, it's not good enough just to equal the competition:
you're going to have to surpass that, and then give them a reason to come
back. And that's a very difficult thing to do.
I think a positive example is Chrysler. They've gone with
dramatic, bold design that is polarizing: you either love it or hate it. But
it certainly gives you a reason to buy. And I think G.M. and Ford have
realized that they need to be more bold in design, and are moving in that
direction. But the lead time is still two, three years.
I think the other issue for them is that their marketing
strategy ? that is, namely, that they're in the business of selling rebates
and discounts, not selling a product and a brand ? is at a dead end. And
they've been slow to switch to everyday value pricing.
Q. Why should someone invest in AutoNation?
A. We have a very resilient and adaptable business model that
generates tremendous positive cash flow, almost by definition, in that the
foundation of our business is service and parts. We have 93 percent fixed
coverage. That means the profits coming from our recurring service and parts
business pay 93 percent of our fixed costs. Meaning before we go out and
start selling cars and trucks, we are almost break-even. I'm 93 percent
happy when I get up in the morning.
Q. What did you drive to work today?
A. I drove a Mercedes-Benz CLS55. Everybody knows I grew up
fixing Mercedes and ended up the C.E.O. of Mercedes-Benz. I do own other
vehicles. But at the end of the day, most of the time I'm driving a
Mercedes-Benz.
return to the top
3. The carbohydrate economy
Feb 26, 2006 Sacramento Bee, Opinion
Mark Braly -- Special To The Bee
A cliché and seeming footnote, the denunciation of the U.S.
addiction to oil was the hit of the former oilman's State of the Union.
President Bush, noted for his past indifference to renewable energy
alternatives, went on to name what probably are the nearest-term solutions:
biofuels and plug-in hybrids.
Buzz is rising about home-grown ethanol and other biomass
fuels - the only renewable liquid fuels for transport available. Practical
hydrogen fuel is decades away.
Loyd Forrest, chief of a leading biomass energy consulting firm,
TSS Consultants in Rancho Cordova, says he has never seen such interest by
big-time investors in biomass energy. Bill Gates put $84 million into
Pacific Ethanol, a company headed by former California Secretary of State
Bill Jones.
Ninety-three ethanol plants are in operation today, most of them
in the Corn Belt. Fifteen are under construction and another 40 to 50
announced. Production is less than 2 percent of gasoline demand. Because of
last year's Energy Policy Act, this will rise to perhaps 7.5 percent by
2012. As a gasoline additive, ethanol makes a huge market, but it won't be
putting Saudi Arabia out of business any time soon.
The excitement comes from new technology that could create more
energy from organic sources. Two California biotech firms, both
Danish-owned, have been working to reduce the cost of making fuel out of
cellulose materials - crop wastes, weeds, forest underbrush, urban garbage
or nearly anything organic. Novozymes' bioenergy operation in Davis says it
has proved a 30-fold reduction in the cost of the enzymes needed to break
down cellulose material for fermentation into alcohol.
Glenn Nedwin, president of Novozymes' biomass operation, thinks
the technology is almost here. He sees two to five more years of work on
reducing costs of other steps of the ethanol process. But even today
cellulosic biomass energy might be competitive, depending on the cost of oil
and corn: "Corn costs $40 a ton, but garbage might be free."
The technology has been demonstrated in a pilot plant by a
Canadian firm, Iogen.
It appears these feedstocks exist or could be cultivated
economically in such abundance that oil independence by mid-century is
possible. Equally important, the benefit for climate change and the
environment is so evident that environmentalists, who have been leery of
Midwest corn ethanol because it consumes so much fossil fuel to grow, are
coming on board.
The National Resources Defense Council concluded in their 2004
report, "Growing Energy," that cellulosic biomass energy - not made from
crops like corn but from waste or grass, among other things - could replace
about half of current transportation petroleum in 40 years, raise farmers'
incomes and reduce the nation's fuel bill and trade deficit, while cutting
transportation greenhouse gas emission by more than 80 percent.
The United States already has the world's second largest ethanol
industry and 5 million flex-fuel cars, which run on gasoline or 85 percent
ethanol, on the road.
"This is nothing they haven't been doing in the hills of
Kentucky for 200 years," said Terry Kulesa, vice president of Pacific
Ethanol, as he briefed a busload of experts and enthusiasts at the
construction site of the firm's new Madera plant, 10 miles north of Fresno.
It was better known as moonshine then.
But biomass fuels on the scale of America's need would seem like
a pipedream if it weren't for Brazil. The Latin American giant, having
committed itself to ethanol in the 1970s, expects to be energy independent
this year. The industry, using sugar cane, supplies more than 40 percent of
its gasoline demand and is growing so fast it is looking for $10 billion in
new investment capital to expand. Even Ford makes a flex-fuel car in Brazil
that will run on gasoline, ethanol or both.
Meanwhile, gasoline consumption in the United States keeps
growing. For ethanol or other biofuels to have a major impact, they need to
be used in more efficient vehicles - dramatically more efficient. For this,
President Bush called for more research on better batteries for hybrid and
electric cars, with a special nod to something new: plug-in hybrids.
Hybrid electric and gas vehicles such as Toyota's hot-selling
Prius don't have to be plugged in to recharge their batteries. But if they
were, and had a better battery, they could run mainly on electricity. A
range of 30 miles would cover most of the driving most people in the United
States do in a day. State-of-the-art lithium ion batteries would double
electric-powered miles and weigh half as much, but they would add thousands
of dollars to the price.
Andy Frank, a UC Davis professor of mechanical engineering, is
probably the father of the plug-in hybrid. He recognized the potential
almost 30 years ago. He and his students have converted several
American-made SUVs to plug-in gasoline-electric hybrids and are working on
an ethanol plug-in with a lithium battery. He thinks lithium ion batteries
for vehicles are close to commercial. (Computers and cell phones use them
now.) With a little more refinement and mass production they might add only
about $4,000 to the price of a car, "what some people pay for a sunroof and
fancy navigation system." For that, he figures, you'd get the equivalent of
a gallon of gasoline at about 70 cents.
Daimler Chrysler has made a few plug-in hybrid versions of its
Sprinter delivery van, but Toyota says it has no plans. It has just managed
to get across to its customers that the Prius doesn't have to be plugged in,
as did the failed GM electric cars that could leave you stranded about 70
miles from home. But UC Davis' Frank thinks Toyota may be working on plug-in
hybrids now: "They said they weren't going to make hybrids until they
started selling them."
A cautious Toyota spokesman noted, correctly, that electricity
is only as clean as the fuel used to generate it. U.S. electric utilities
burn oil to generate only 3 percent of their power, but more than half comes
from coal. This will grow as natural gas becomes more precious.
The fuel mix for California power plants is much cleaner, but it
could get better with biomass fuels. A new report from the California
Biomass Collaborative and state Energy Commission concludes that the state
currently has available enough biomass material to generate 12 percent of
the state's demand.
Led by UC Davis Professor Bryan Jenkins, the researchers saw
biomass conversion as an economical opportunity to deal with the state's 100
million-ton production of biomass, a growing disposal and environmental
problem. This potential biofuel comes in about equal parts from agriculture,
forestry and urban waste.
The forestry portion suggests an overlooked opportunity to
reduce the growing economic losses and environmental impact of wildfires,
driven by the small trees and uncollected deadwood that litter forest
floors. Collecting this for energy could slash the more than $1 billion
annual cost of fighting wildfires and repairing damage.
Converting urban waste to energy has a long, contentious history
in the state. Fierce public opposition to incineration and the unfriendly
regulatory climate have stopped new projects. But technology has improved.
Despite Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's commitment to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and promote renewables, California has not resolved
regulatory hurdles. The state's Integrated Waste Management Board is bound
by law to promote recycling over energy recovery from waste. And the state's
Air Resources Board thinks that low blends of ethanol in gasoline could
increase some smog ingredients. Biodiesel, which is made from vegetable oil,
or even used restaurant grease, requiring little refinement, is stalled by
similar concerns. With pure ethanol or high blends, such as the E85 mixture
sold in the Midwest, these emissions do not seem to be a problem.
"There is no perfect fuel," Energy Commissioner John Geesman
ruefully remarked at a biomass conference in Fresno.
The sight of 110-car trains rolling into California weekly with
110,000 tons of Midwest corn to feed Pacific Ethanol's Madera plant may
raise hackles in these parts. But, the firm's Kulesa cheerfully asks: "Would
you rather get your energy from the Middle West or the Middle East?"
Could California make its own energy? Maybe. Bill Jones, whose
firm is building the Madera plant, says he is out to break the hydrocarbon
monopoly: "You want fuel diversified so that people have a choice when they
drive up to the pump. Gasoline or ethanol? Which is cheaper?"
The Madera plant itself could use half of California's current
feed-corn crop. The state, says Jones, is already a net importer of corn,
mostly for animal feed. What his firm is doing is diverting some of this to
make ethanol before the cattle get it. This co-product of the ethanol plant
is a high-protein animal feed left over after ethanol is distilled from the
grain, and it is 20 percent of revenues.
The state also has 1.5 million acres of idle degraded farm lands
that could grow salt-tolerant energy crops, according to the UC Davis
report. Elsewhere in the United States, switch grass is considered a prime
candidate for a biomass crop along with other fast-growing, high-yielding
trees and grasses. Switch grass is a native prairie grass that is a
perennial crop, needs less water and fertilizer and actually improves soil.
The president's mention of it brought prestige to what is considered a weed
by most farmers.
All this suggests that a government interested in energy
independence will have to come up with some serious money to bridge the gap
between the possible and the commercial. The money could come from a
transfer of agricultural subsidies, which are under attack anyway from the
World Trade Organization and developing countries.
The nation's 35 million-acre U.S. Agricultural Department
Conservation Reserve now pays farmers an average of $48 an acre a year to
grow soil-building crops that are not sold, cutting down on traditional crop
surpluses. Energy crops such as switch grass would do the soil-building and
could be sold.
Many advocates of increased energy self-sufficiency have called
for a government-led Apollo-or Manhattan-type project to create this better
energy future sooner rather than later. But those efforts sought to create
technology out of basic science and dreams. The technology that could bring
us energy relief is much closer, if not here.
Rather, the daunting task is to put the world's largest economy
on a different energy footing. This will mean reconciliation of interests so
complex they are almost impossible to sort out. It will mean reallocation of
government budgets, smart interventions in the marketplace, redirecting
consumer demand and dealing with economic, bureaucratic, economic and
environmental interests that are difficult, perhaps impossible, to align.
This will be much harder than locking our best scientists and engineers in a
room and throwing money at them.
What it does have in common with those past heroic national
efforts is the need for inspiring, galvanizing leadership.
About the writer:
* Mark Braly has followed environmental and energy issues for 30
years. He was director of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley's energy office
during much of the 1970s energy shocks. He sits on the City of Davis
Plannning Commission and is a freelance writer. Reach him at
mbraly@xxxxxxxxxx
return to the top
4. Look before you leap onto alternative energy bandwagon
Feb 27, 2006 Newark Star Ledger
Look before you leap onto alternative energy bandwagon
President Bush's push to end the nation's oil addiction has the
stock market abuzz about alternative energy companies. Again.
Even if the renewed zeal for renewable energy proves lasting
this time, investors should try not to get too giddy about the companies
that would benefit from new demand for ethanol, solar power and fuel cells.
For starters, anyone hoping to ride the sudden wave of optimism
for a quick gain may be too late. The shares of many such companies began
rallying weeks before the State of the Union address, as word spread among
the "smart money" that the president would stress developing new fuel
sources.
One new stock index tracking 18 companies engaged in alternative
energy technology and supply rose more than 17 percent between its
early-January debut and the Jan. 31 speech. Another index of 40 stocks
jumped nearly 27 percent during January. Among individual names, Evergreen
Solar rose almost 45 percent, and Ballard Power Systems, a fuel cell
producer, jumped 36 percent.
The sector began pulling back almost immediately after the
address as the early birds locked in gains. Many individual stocks
fluctuated wildly immediately before and afterward, no doubt burning some
investors who piled into the most speculative names.
This was particularly true among companies focusing on ethanol,
which drew especially strong emphasis by Bush. The shares of a small venture
named Pacific Ethanol nearly doubled over the final week of January, then
tumbled nearly 20 percent the day after the speech, a gyration that's
continued in recent weeks.
But more important to keep in mind than short-term stock market
results are the memories of fuel fads past, as well as the simple fact that
many alternative energy companies are losing money.
It was only three years ago that Bush used his State of the
Union to call for more investment in hydrogen fuel-cell research. Many of
usual suspects that rallied last month also shot higher back then as the
president pledged "a new national commitment" to take fuel- cell powered
cars "from laboratory to showrooms" within 20 years.
In the run-up to the 2003 address, the shares of a fuel-cell
technology company named Hydrogenics soared 32 percent over the course of a
month. This time around, the Canadian company's stock rose 37 percent
between the start of January and the eve of this year's speech.
Notably, the stock now stands just below $4. That's down almost
10 percent from that recent peak -- which itself is 8 percent lower than the
speech-induced peak of early 2003. And those seesaws are only two of many by
the stock, which vaulted above $10 for a blink of an eye in early 2002, and
briefly rose above $7.50 in early 2004.
None of this is a commentary on Hydrogenics' technology and
products, which appear to be very well regarded by industry analysts. But
like so many companies trying to capitalize on the promise of renewable
energy, Hydrogenics is not a profitable venture.
Despite growing revenues, the Canadian company reported
Wednesday it lost $37.4 million in 2005. That followed losses of $33.5
million a year earlier, $22.1 million in 2003, and $20.6 million in 2002. In
other words, the trend has been worsening rather than improving.
The reality here is not unlike the boom-and-bust for upstart
Internet and telecommunications ventures not so long ago. The fuel- cell
technologies that Hydrogenics and others are developing may in fact be the
very ones that succeed in the market.
The same might be argued of Energy Conversion Devices, a solar
equipment maker planning to sell more than $200 million of stock to build
another factory -- or any number of other money-losing companies hoping to
capitalize on the surge in oil prices that has made alternative energy
sources appear cost-effective for the first time.
Many of the Internet technologies and telecommunications
networks created in the 1990s are generating profits today, only not for the
companies that developed them. Acquirers snatched them out of bankruptcy,
paying pennies on the dollar for innovations that required billions of
investment dollars. Global Crossing, for example, built the world's most
extensive fiber-optic network before entering bankruptcy in early 2002 with
debts of $12.4 billion. In 2004, Singapore Technologies Telemedia bought a
controlling stake in the business for $250 million.
It's a story that also played out more than a century ago in a
frenzy of railroad building.
Similarly, in the alternative energy sector, if rising sales
don't turn into profits soon, it may be other opportunists who reap fortunes
from the winning technologies and products.
The White House and Congress did in fact make good on the
president's pledge in 2003, injecting new money into the fuel-cell sector,
though not all of it goes to businesses. Over the past three years, the
Department of Energy has awarded about $500 million for research by
universities, companies, and national laboratories.
And while no specific dollar amounts were proposed with this
year's State of the Union, the energy bill passed in late 2005 could pump
more than half a billion dollars more per year into fuel cell development.
Nonetheless, investors shouldn't presume that all this spending
and optimism are a recipe for rising stocks. As the current share prices for
some likely beneficiaries may already reflect the best- case scenario, risks
abound.
Bruce Meyerson is a columnist for the Associated Press. He may
be reached at bmeyerson@xxxxxxx
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5. The Sunshine State's Potential For Power
Feb 26, 2006 Tampa Tribune
WILL RODGERS
PLANT CITY - Jon Butts knows the array of solar panels on the
roof of his barn won't pay for itself anytime soon. He's content knowing the
less power he buys from Tampa Electric Co. the more greenhouse gases can be
kept out of the atmosphere.
Even so, the power of the sun will help energize Butts' bank
account.
In January, he became the first Tampa Electric customer to
connect his home's solar electric system into the utility's power system
that serves Hillsborough County and parts of Pinellas, Pasco and Polk
counties.
Butts estimates he'll save 40 percent on his monthly energy
bill. The utility also will give him a credit equivalent to the cost of fuel
Tampa Electric won't have to burn to generate electricity because of Butts'
solar use.
It will take a long time for him to recoup the $16,000 he spent
on the solar panels and other equipment that help power his home at 4451
Needle Palm Road in Plant City.
"Obviously, I wasn't looking at it for a monetary payback,"
Butts said. "In Tampa, we have cheaper power than in most places because
we're using cheap, dirty coal" to generate electricity.
"I've read articles on people who have analyzed the whole thing
of doing a system," he said. "The payback is 16 years. Maybe, in the future,
it might be a really good investment on my part."
Tampa Electric's program to tie customers into the grid has
existed for six years, but no one, until now, had taken advantage of the
program, said Alan Denham, program manager for renewable energy at Tampa
Electric. The utility has just one other customer scheduled to be connected
to its power system.
That slow pace to adopt solar power can be seen throughout
Florida. In the Sunshine State, where one would think solar use would
sizzle, consumers have been cool to invest in either of the two types of
solar power: solar photovoltaic or electric, where the sun's energy is
converted to power for the home, and solar thermal, where the sun's rays are
used to heat water and pools.
Subsequently, in terms of installed solar systems and
manufacturing of solar equipment, Florida lags behind other states that have
a great deal of sunny days year-round: California, Arizona and New Mexico.
But the Sunshine State also trails a northeast and northwest contingent of
states, such as New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York, Washington and Oregon.
Those states have high electric rates and offer significant incentives,
making it reasonable for consumers to install solar systems, experts said.
The Sunshine State is behind because of the high cost of
installing a solar electric system ($20,000 to $24,000), relatively low
electric rates and very few financial incentive programs from the state.
Even at Progress Energy Florida Inc., the second-largest utility
in the state with 1.5 million customers, just 11 residential customers and
26 commercial customers have had their solar systems tied into that
company's electric grid.
Looking At Other States
Noah Kaye, a spokesman for the Solar Energy Industries
Association in Washington, said growth in solar installations, businesses
and jobs involved in the industry indicates locations that provide the most
financial incentives.
California and New Jersey are leaders in solar installations in
the United States because they have programs that help reduce their
residents' costs significantly.
The cost to produce solar power on average is six times the
5-cents-per-kilowatt-hour average of electricity generated by burning
natural gas. Although it can vary depending on the size of the system, the
average cost of a kilowatt-hour of electricity from solar power is about 30
cents, according to Solarbuzz Inc., an international solar research and
consulting firm based in San Francisco.
The cost of solar power competes directly with retail electric
rates, Kaye said.
Solar systems in the Northeast may not generate as much power as
those in the South, but because of higher electric rates, the impact on the
bills is the same.
Changes On Horizon
But experts expect Florida's role in solar power to change this
year.
Last year, President Bush signed an energy law that allows
consumers to take a tax credit of 30 percent, up to $2,000, for solar
systems installed from Jan. 1, 2006, to Dec. 31, 2007. Florida legislators
also have filed several bills that would encourage consumers and businesses,
beyond the current break on sales taxes and a program for new home builders,
to invest in solar technologies.
A bill filed by state Rep. Dorothy Hukill, R-Daytona Beach
Shores, calls for the creation of the Florida Solar Incentive Program by
July 1. House Bill 713 also would establish a $1.2 million fund each year
for five years to provide rebates for owners of solar photovoltaic systems
that tie into the state's electric grid. The maximum rebate for residential
systems would be $20,000, according to the proposed bill.
Another bill, HB 767, would create the Energy Efficiency
Incentive Program by July 1. Under the program, consumers could seek a
matching grant to pay for solar water heaters or low-interest loans to
purchase solar panels to generate electricity.
The average cost of a solar water-heating system is about
$4,000.
Companion bills in the state House and Senate call for the
creation of the Alternative Energy Technology Center that would promote
research, conservation, distributed generation, advanced transmission,
pollution and renewable energies, including solar power. Still other bills
seek to encourage contractors to install energy-efficient and
renewable-energy systems when building.
"I think the tax credit will increase interest" in solar energy,
said Kevin Lynn, a senior research engineer at the Florida Solar Energy
Center at the University of Central Florida in Cocoa. "Prices are coming
down. But no one is kidding anybody. Right now, it's not competitive with
utilities. You're not going to save money off your utility bill."
Lynn said many Floridians are considering solar power systems as
backup power for their homes after finding themselves in the dark for days
or weeks the past two hurricane seasons.
A Growing Demand
But experts suggest putting in orders early if consumers want to
get solar equipment in the near future.
Worldwide demand for solar photovoltaic and solar thermal
equipment is far outstripping supply, creating a shortage of the polysilicon
that makes up the solar panels and buoying prices.
Since 2001, the solar industry has grown 35 percent each year,
said Kaye, the spokesman from the Solar Energy Industries Association. From
2003 to 2005, the manufacture of solar equipment doubled, he said.
Solar power is a $15 billion industry worldwide.
Not surprisingly, the top two countries using solar power,
Germany and Japan, offer the most grandiose financial incentives, experts
said.
Kaye said Germany went from having 18 percent of the world's
solar installations to just less than 50 percent of the market last year.
"They sucked up 50 percent of the panels," he said. "The German
government rewards owners of photovoltaic systems by paying them a fixed
rate guaranteed for 20 years. It allows owners of the system to treat it as
an investment."
Although such a sweeping program is unlikely in the United
States and Florida, John Gambill, who runs Tarpon Springs-based Hotwire
Enterprises with his wife, Libbie Ellis, thinks the time for Florida
residents to begin investing in solar has arrived.
He designed the 16-panel, 2.8-kilowatt system Butts installed on
his barn, and Gambill is working on five more systems.
With all the new homes going up in Florida, he said, he doesn't
understand why homeowners and builders aren't taking advantage of SunBuilt,
a state program that helps reduce a builder's cost for a solar water-heating
system.
"It's just making sense, especially if you're building a new
house right now and you live where there is a lot of sunshine," Gambill
said. "You can incorporate the cost of the solar into the house. It's not
going to cost as much as if you were to retrofit it onto the house.
"Put it in the mortgage."
WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU?
Here are some federal and state incentive programs and policies
on solar power. For details on these and other programs, go to
www.dsireusa.org.
Federal
· Residential Energy Conservation Subsidy Exclusion (Corporate):
Corporate tax exemption for energy conservation subsidies.
· Residential Energy Conservation Subsidy Exclusion (Personal):
Personal tax exemptions for energy conservation subsidies.
· Business Energy Tax Credit: Increases tax credit to 30 percent
from 10 percent on equipment installed from Jan. 1, 2006, through Dec. 31,
2007. The credit reverts to 10 percent in 2008.
· Residential Solar and Fuel Cell Tax Credit: Personal tax
credit of 30 percent, up to $2,000, for installing solar system.
· Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements
Program: Grants and guaranteed loans for agricultural producers and small,
rural businesses.
· Tribal Energy Program Grant: Financial and technical
assistance for tribes to promote energy efficiency on tribal lands.
· Energy Efficient Mortgage: Benefits on most home mortgages to
help pay for solar technologies on a home.
· Veterans Housing Guaranteed and Insured Loans: Guaranteed or
insured loans for veterans to install solar systems at home.
Florida
· Solar Energy Equipment Exemption: No sales tax on solar
equipment purchases.
· Interconnection of Small Photovoltaic Systems: State rules on
tying solar electric systems up to 10 kilowatts into Florida's power grid.
The rules apply to investor-owned utilities, not municipals and
cooperatives. All customers must have $100,000 in liability insurance for
interconnected systems. Details vary from utility to utility. TECO, for
example, credits customers for the fuel it saves.
· Renewable Energy Access Laws: Florida law protects homeowners'
right to install renewable energy sources, including solar.
Source: Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy
LEARN MORE
People interested in installing a solar photovoltaic, or solar
electric, system on their home and tying it into the Tampa Electric Co.
power system can call Alan Denham, program manager for renewable energy,
through the utility's customer service center at (813) 223-0800.
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6. Hawai'i's energy future bright with possibilities
Feb 26, 2006 Honolulu Advertiser, Opinion
By Robbie Alm
If Hawai'i's energy future could be reduced to two words, they
would be "less" and "local."
Using less energy and more locally produced energy are the best
steps we can take to reduce our dependence on imported oil.
As a community, we should welcome and applaud the initiative
taken by the governor and by the Legislature to come up with energy policies
and plans to help this community take control of our energy use. We have
strongly supported these packages, with only a few reservations, and pledged
to help make them happen.
What does this mean for us as consumers?
We live in an electronic world. We rely increasingly on
computers at work and at home.
Our children's education, more and more relies on computers. Our
entertainment is increasingly electronic. Our comfort and convenience,
particularly air-conditioning and microwave cooking are electronic. And, for
many of us, health needs lead to electronic medical devices. Use less?
Yes, by efficient use of compact fluorescent lights, Energy Star
appliances, insulating our homes, solar water heaters on our roofs and by
changing cooling and lighting equipment in our workplaces. These steps will
help use less electricity even as we use more of these devices.
We all need help to do this. So what role does the Hawaiian
Electric Co. play in these programs?
Hawai'i has a great record in this area, especially in solar
water heating, where we lead the nation. The buck stops with Hawaiian
Electric delivering the power to your door, and we view these energy
efficiency programs as an important part of meeting that obligation.
* Concerning local fuels: Hawai'i already produces more than 100
megawatts of renewable power from geothermal, wind farms, hydropower on the
Big Island, H-Power on O'ahu and bagasse from the HC&S plantation on Maui,
along with all those solar roofs.
In the next few months, we will add 53 megawatts from two wind
farms on Maui and the Big Island. And more is coming, including expanding
garbage-to-energy, wind power, and a type of energy called pumped
hydro-storage ? a man-made river in a pipe.
What the new bills at the Legislature do is substantially
increase the use of ethanol and other biofuels, as well as hydrogen, in our
transportation and electrical power areas.
This is perhaps the most exciting part of the legislation.
Agricultural energy, producing fuels locally as we replant our
Islands, helps free us of the need to go overseas for fuels; this affects
jobs, green space, keeping our money here by purchasing locally, and leaves
us less vulnerable to world events.
HECO built one of the first wind farms in the world in the
1980s. It failed, but we learned a lot. We tried and failed with a wind farm
at Kahe and are now working with the community in the Kahuku area on another
wind farm.
We also are working with developers on another four to 10
renewable energy projects.
* Consider transportation fuels: Two-thirds of our imported oil
is for transportation, and while we may not be able to work with jet fuel on
our own, we certainly can affect our automobile fuels.
The great support provided to ethanol and biofuels is critical
to our future. We need private-sector investment to help an ethanol future
come to pass, and that takes public support such as tax credits. Ethanol and
biofuels also help to generate electricity.
Do we agree with every word of every bill? We do not. We agree
on most of the specifics, and we absolutely agree with the purposes of these
bills. Hawai'i's energy future depends on working together to make it
happen. The good news is we are all poised to do so.
Robbie Alm is senior vice president for public affairs, Hawaiian
Electric Co. He wrote this article for The Advertiser.
Back
© COPYRIGHT 2006 The Honolulu Advertiser, a division of Gannett
Co. Inc.
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7. Ohio urged to scrap cleaner gasoline requirements
Feb 25, 2006 Akron Beacon Journal
Ohio may have trouble getting special cleaner gasoline this
summer for the Cincinnati and Dayton areas, where E-check vehicle emissions
testing has ended.
The American Petroleum Institute, a national trade group in
Washington, D.C., has written to Ohio to suggest that the state scrap plans
for selling less-polluting gasoline in southwest Ohio this summer.
Ohio has asked the U.S. EPA for permission to order the use of
less-polluting gasoline in the Cincinnati and Dayton areas and is awaiting a
federal decision, said Heidi Griesmer of the Ohio EPA.
Griesmer said the state had informed the industry of its plans
and no one had expressed a concern over Ohio ordering the use of a special
gasoline in the summer to limit air pollution.
But in a letter to the EPA last month, the petroleum institute
said that Ohio should ``revoke or scrap'' the requirement for what's called
Reid Vapor Pressure this year.
That's because there are overall gasoline supply concerns for
the summer and Ohio failed to provide sufficient lead time to the industry
for producing such a specialized fuel, Edward Murphy said in the Jan. 31
letter.
Suppliers may not be able to provide the desired fuel for the
Cincinnati and Dayton areas, Murphy said.
The trade group also questioned whether Ohio can legally mandate
the use of such fuels under federal clean-air rules.
Ohio wants to mandate the use of Reid Vapor Pressure gasoline in
place of E-Check, which was terminated in four counties around Cincinnati
and three counties around Dayton at the end of 2005.
The state must take steps to reduce the air pollution to make up
for the reduction lost with the elimination of E-Check.
The E-Check test remains in place in seven counties in the
Akron-Cleveland area for at least 2006 and 2007, although the state, not
motorists, will pay for the vehicle pollution test.
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8. Editorial | The Lightning Round
Feb 25, 2006 Philadelphia Inquirer
Storm in the ports
Sen. Rick Santorum (R., Pa.) penned an op-ed in this newspaper
on Wednesday decrying as "preposterous" the Bush administration's approval
of the sale of port operations in Philadelphia and other U.S. cities to an
Arab firm.
This prompted a rapid response from Democrats on behalf of
challenger Bob Casey Jr., noting that Santorum has voted against additional
funding for port security six times since 2003.
The election-time game of selectively decrying an opponent's
votes, while ignoring contexts, is often misleading.
That said, Casey may have a point here. Yes, all of those six
Santorum votes were on Democratic versions of bills. But one of his "no"
votes stands out. In March 2005, Santorum voted against a budget amendment
sponsored by Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D., Conn.) to restore $565 million to
first-responder programs, including $150 million in port security grants.
What stands out is that 18 Republican senators voted for the
amendment, which was approved, 63-37. Why wasn't Santorum one of them?
Mercury rules with teeth
Pennsylvania this week rightly took action in response to weak
federal efforts to protect children and pregnant women from toxic mercury
spewed from coal-burning power plants. The state followed four others,
including New Jersey, in proposing stricter, faster emissions reductions
than planned by the Bush administration.
Mercury falls from the air into lakes and streams and enters the
food chain through fish. It can cause brain damage and neurological
disorders. Pennsylvania is second only to Texas in mercury pollution.
Can't find it if you don't look
The Bureau of Land Management is so inundated with requests to
drill for oil and natural gas on federal land out West that it has
reassigned many of its wildlife biologists to processing lease paperwork,
according to the Washington Post. That's one way to deflect assertions that
drilling hurts antelope, deer, grouse and other wildlife in Wyoming and
Montana. If you don't look for possible harm, you'll never find any.
Tailored punishment
After all the high emotion surrounding the fatal collapse of a
Philadelphia police officer during a protest outside the June 2004
biotechnology-industry convention in Center City, you hoped for clearheaded
restraint in the official response.
Yet the city's District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham - "tough
cookie" no matter what - all but declared the protesters had caused the
officer's death. She was wrong, but her office proceeded to heap felony
charges on one protester, a Canadian.
The event was tragic. Yet, except for the officer's heart
failure, it would have been an unremarkable protest.
It's encouraging, then, to see that the courts concluded as much
last week, convicting the Canadian and another man of more appropriate, but
lesser, charges that warrant fines and probation. It was the right official
response, however delayed.
Disasters can be mastered
Philadelphia officials have their Witts about them - James Lee
Witt that is. The city has made a smart move in hiring James Lee Witt
Associates as an emergency-preparedness consultant.
He doesn't work cheap, however; the contract calls for a $1
million fee for six months' work.
Witt obviously doesn't mind capitalizing on the fine reputation
he built leading the Federal Emergency Management Agency during the Clinton
administration. While FEMA had its troubles then, Witt earned the nickname
of the "Master of Disaster" by professionalizing the agency and vastly
improving its performance.
It wouldn't be Philly if some councilman didn't grumble about
Mayor Street spending money on something. This time, it's Michael Nutter.
The cool million for Witt will prove a bargain, though, if the review helps
fill gaps in the city's ability to cope with a crisis - before the disaster
occurs.
More than a tourist attraction
The National Constitution Center has proven to be much more than
just another destination for tourists to check off on their Philadelphia
itinerary.
To further the center's work to generate civic discussion, the
Annenberg Foundation has awarded it a five-year, $6.4 million grant to
support four new and three existing programs. The new programs include the
Peter Jennings Institute, an annual two-day conference for professional and
student journalists. Also funded will be an annual Constitutional Convention
involving delegations from all 50 states.
Both the Constitution Center and the Annenberg Foundation
deserve applause for bringing American citizens together to share ideas and
fashion remedies to the great issues facing our nation.
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9. In development post, it wasn't easy being green
Feb 25, 2006 Boston Globe
Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff
Successes, setbacks marked Foy's tenure
When he joined the Romney administration, renowned environmental
lawyer Douglas I. Foy made clear that his agenda would cover issues both
sweeping and symbolic, from reducing power plant pollution to trimming the
number of state-owned sport utility vehicles.
Three years later, the state owns more gas-guzzling SUVs than
when Foy arrived, and the governor has proposed loopholes in the state's
landmark power plant regulations. And environmental advocates -- who long
held out hope that the persuasive Foy could coax the governor to be as green
as he initially appeared -- were left deflated this week when Foy announced
he was stepping down as secretary of the Office for Commonwealth
Development.
''I think he was an excellent standard-bearer, and I think he
kept his eyes on the prize," said Cindy Luppi, organizing director for Clean
Water Action, an environmental advocacy group. ''But I think he got played.
I think ultimately other voices within the administration squelched his
visionary leadership. And that's sad and disappointing for all of us."
Foy, 59, a dominant force on the Boston landscape for decades,
appeared to be a marginalized figure inside state government, some former
colleagues in the environmental community say.
While he found common ground with Governor Mitt Romney on
so-called smart growth, development designed to curb urban sprawl, Foy
failed to influence policy on some of the most politically charged issues of
the day. The governor is fighting a plan that would make Massachusetts the
home of the nation's first offshore wind farm and help reduce the state's
reliance on fossil fuels. Romney backed out of a regional initiative,
championed by Foy, for states to reduce greenhouse gases that contribute to
global warming.
As president of the Conservation Law Foundation for 25 years,
Foy was the hardball lawyer-advocate who coaxed and threatened politicians
into following or advancing environmental law, sometimes halting projects,
such as oil drilling off Georges Bank, and sometimes even spurring massive
projects, such as the cleanup of the Boston Harbor.
The big-bang theatrics of his private-sector tenure are a far
cry from his experience in the Romney administration, where his successes
emerged from quiet tinkering with complex bureaucratic systems: steering
state spending to communities with zoning that conserves natural resources
and creating a highway design manual, what he calls the ''bible of road
design" and a ''revolutionary change" for communities.
''Some of the most important changes that happen are
subterranean," Foy said in an interview yesterday with the Globe.
Environmental leaders applaud Foy's efforts -- and the Romney
administration's commitment -- in setting a bold agenda for smart growth in
Massachusetts.
''They did put it on the map," said Marc Draisen, executive
director of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, which works for smart
growth. ''This is really the first time in my recollection of working in
politics in Massachusetts that an administration put smart growth front and
center as an objective."
Foy says his proudest accomplishment is his very position -- a
Cabinet-level post that coordinates policy on environment, transportation,
and housing development. It is a novel approach that many agree will, in the
long haul, produce more environmentally sound planning.
''This is like turning a supertanker," said Foy, who plans to
leave his job in March and says he has no immediate plans. ''We have 50
years of terrible zoning practice in this state. . . . You're not going to
turn that around overnight."
But for decades, Massachusetts also had a reputation as a
national leader on environmental issues, a role that has been steadily
eroded in recent years and even further on Foy's watch, say environmental
activists.
''We're well behind," said Luppi. ''I think that we have
absolutely lost any claim to being an environmental trendsetter."
When Romney took office, he persuaded many in the environmental
movement that he would make dramatic advances, most vividly when he stood
outside a Salem power plant and pledged to stand by the past
administration's pledges to limit its pollution. Activists who were already
impressed that Romney chose Foy for his Cabinet were sold.
But over time, many environmentalists grew concerned that there
was diminished appetite for the heady initiatives that Foy tried to foster.
In May 2004, for instance, Foy released a state Climate
Protection Plan, outlining plans for reducing pollution from Massachusetts
that contributes to global warming. But the same day, Romney made an unusual
pronouncement: He wasn't sure climate change was happening.
Now, some of the most tangible aspects of the climate plan --
which Foy had called not just a declaration, but a promise -- lay fallow.
The idea of letting hybrid car drivers use high-occupancy
vehicle lanes has stalled, and rather than reducing the number of
state-owned SUVs, the fleet has increased slightly from 428 to 431,
according to the state Office of Vehicle Management.
Philip Warburg, Foy's successor at the Conservation Law
Foundation, said that though Foy set ambitious goals with the Climate
Protection Plan, the state has ''come up with next to nothing by way of
concrete actions to achieve those targets."
Warburg also pointed to the state's refusal to fund some transit
projects that Foy had demanded when he was head of CLF to help offset
increased air pollution from the Big Dig. Ironically, CLF is now suing the
state over those commitments.
''Those are all grounds for serious disappointment within the
environmental community, and they reveal serious shortcomings in the Romney
administration's commitment to addressing very real and pressing
environmental concerns," Warburg said.
''It's clear that Mitt Romney is not deeply committed to the
Massachusetts environment and that made it very hard for Doug Foy to address
key issues that we all care about."
Despite the misgivings from former allies, Foy betrays no
frustrations with his time in government.
''None, to be honest," he said. ''You can get vastly more
accomplished by working within the framework of government than you can
being outside as an advocate. . . . I loved every minute of it."
Foy's record
Accomplishments:
* State policy was redesigned to encourage so-called smart
growth, or development that discourages urban sprawl and encourages
development around train stations and village centers.
* A new highway design manual gives communities more flexibility
in shaping their streetscapes.
* Commonwealth Capital gives state funding priority to
communities that adhere to smart-growth principles.
* The state's first 20-year transportation plan was created.
* The state's dirtiest power plants were required to limit
pollution emissions, though Romney later proposed loopholes in a carbon
dioxide regulation.
Disappointments:
* The governor abandoned the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative,
a landmark effort by Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states to limit pollution
that contributes to climate change.
* The administration has failed to deliver portions of the
state's Climate Protection Plan, including allowing hybrid cars to drive in
HOV lanes or reducing the number of state-owned SUVs.
* The Conservation Law Foundation is suing over the state's
failure to build transit projects that were promised in return for building
the Big Dig.
Compiled by Stephanie Ebbert.
Stephanie Ebbert can be reached at ebbert@xxxxxxxxxx
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
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10. U.K.'s National Grid to Buy KeySpan of U.S. for $7.3 Billion
Feb 27, 2006 Wall Street Journal
U.K.'s National Grid to Buy KeySpan of U.S. for $7.3 Billion
By DENNIS K. BERMAN and REBECCA SMITH
February 27, 2006 4:51 a.m.
British utility National Grid PLC said it agreed to acquire New
York utility and natural-gas distributor KeySpan Corp. for $7.3 billion and
the assumption of debt.
National Grid said Monday that KeySpan shareholders will receive
$42 in cash for each KeySpan share held. National Grid is also taking on
debts estimated at $4.5 billion. KeySpan's shares were up 32 cents at $41.41
on Friday.
National Grid said it expects to deliver $200 million a year in
savings.
Michael E. Jesanis will continue as president and CEO of
National Grid USA. Bob Catell, currently chairman and CEO of KeySpan, will
join the National Grid board as deputy chairman and will also become
chairman of National Grid USA, National Grid said.
The acquisition is to be completed by early next year.
KeySpan, based in Brooklyn, N.Y., is the largest
gas-distribution company in the Northeast, with more than 2.6 million gas
customers served by five utilities in New York City, Long Island and New
England that generate two-thirds of its profits. It also owns 6,600
megawatts of generating capacity in New York, making it one of the biggest
generators in the state.
The company was set to report its fourth-quarter results Friday,
but posted a single line on its Web site stating that an earnings conference
call had been canceled.
Three-year-old National Grid, which runs the electric grid and
gas pipeline system in Great Britain, has been trying to establish a larger
footprint in the Northeastern U.S. by branching into natural gas. It owns
utilities in four states that serve three million metered accounts.
KeySpan's Mr. Catell was able to shop his firm because Congress
last summer repealed a Depression-era law that had restricted gas- and
electric-utility mergers for 70 years. It enables foreign firms,
conglomerates and others to more easily buy utilities.
KeySpan is attractive, in part, because it has good internal
growth, with about 95% of its operating income from assets that either
remain regulated or have solid cash flow based on contractual arrangements.
Some observers thought it could as easily have been an acquirer as a firm
that is a target of a takeover. It recently has been raising its dividend
and now pays out about 70% of profits to shareholders.
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11. It takes fuel to make fuel
Feb 26, 2006 Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
Matthew L. Wald
AMES, Iowa · The endless fields of corn in the Midwest can be
distilled into endless gallons of ethanol, a clean-burning, high-octane fuel
that could end any worldwide oil shortage, reduce emissions that cause
global warming, and free the United States from dependence on foreign
energy.
There is only one catch: Turning corn into ethanol takes energy.
For every gallon that an ethanol manufacturing plant produces, it uses the
equivalent of almost two-fifths of a gallon of fuel, usually natural gas,
and that does not count the fuel needed to make fertilizer for the corn, run
the farm machinery or truck the ethanol to market.
The use of all that fossil fuel to make ethanol substantially
reduces its value as an alternative source of energy. Not that ethanol is
useless. For one thing, it is far easier than natural gas to use in motor
vehicles.
Production is expected to hit 5 billion gallons this year, equal
to more than 3 percent of gasoline supplies, and more ethanol distilleries
are being built. In his State of the Union message, President Bush called
for research on "cutting-edge methods of producing ethanol."
But if ethanol is to realize its potential, its proponents
recognize that they will have to develop new ways to make it without using
so much natural gas -- or coal, as some distilleries are doing to save
money.
"In this industry, you can't take a parochial view of your
business," said William A. Lee, general manager of Chippewa Valley Ethanol,
in Benson, Minn., and former chairman of the Renewable Fuels Association, an
ethanol trade group. "We have to be headed to a more sustainable future."
Engineers are trying a variety of methods.
Here are several of the most promising.
GET HELP FROM THE COW
Some companies are building ethanol plants next to
cattle-feeding operations, so that corn can go through the ethanol
distillery, and then residues from the operation -- basically corn, minus
the starch -- can go straight to the cattle as feed.
The corn passes through the cow, and the manure may come back to
the plant and go into a contraption called an anaerobic digester, which
mimics the conditions in a cow's stomach so that bacteria can produce
methane, a component of natural gas.
GET CLOSER TO THE COW
The corn residues, called distillers grains, can be exposed to
high-temperature steam, to turn their carbohydrates into hydrocarbons. If
the distillers grains are used as cattle feed, the resulting manure can also
be exposed to steam to produce hydrocarbons.
Ethanol takes energy to make because it requires a lot of steam.
Typically, the steam is used to blast cornstarch and water into a smooth
mixture, keeping the mixture at an ideal temperature for enzymes to break
down the valuable chemicals in the starch and for yeast to turn corn sugars
into alcohol. Then the mixture is heated to distill off the alcohol, and the
remaining distillers grains are usually dried to extend their shelf life
until they can be eaten by cattle.
Some ethanol producers skip the drying, if there are enough
cattle nearby that the grains can be eaten promptly. In Sioux Center, Iowa,
at the Siouxland Energy and Livestock Cooperative, local farmers opened a
plant in 2001 that is adjacent to a 10,000-head feedlot.
By not drying the grains, Siouxland has reduced its natural-gas
consumption to 24,000 BTU per gallon of ethanol -- meaning that the natural
gas it uses has an energy value less than one-third that of the ethanol it
makes, creating 85,000 BTU a gallon when burned. This calculation does not
count the electricity the plant uses, or the diesel fuel used to haul the
ethanol to a filling station.
MAKE A NEW KIND OF GAS
At the Iowa Energy Center, a state-financed lab amid the
cornfields near the Iowa State University campus, engineers are
experimenting with another technique.
A cluster of steam pipes, gleaming steel tanks, augers and
hoppers, assembled by a start-up engineering firm called Frontline
Bioenergy, is replacing natural gas with another gas on a small scale, for
now.
The new gas is made from the part of the corn plant that is not
the kernel, chopped into pieces half an inch long and dumped into a tank
with steam and a limited amount of air.
In a process called partial oxidation, the steam breaks apart
the plant's carbohydrates into two gases: elemental hydrogen and carbon
monoxide. Both burn nicely as a substitute for natural gas.
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12. All Business: Be cautious about alternative energy rally
Feb 25, 2006 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
By Bruce Meyerson, The Associated Press
NEW YORK -- President Bush's push to end the nation's oil
addiction has the stock market abuzz about alternative energy companies.
Again.
Even if the renewed zeal for renewable energy proves lasting
this time, investors should try not to get too giddy about the companies
that would benefit from new demand for ethanol, solar power and fuel cells.
For starters, anyone hoping to ride the sudden wave of optimism
for a quick gain may be too late. The shares of many such companies began
rallying weeks before the State of the Union address as word spread among
the "smart money" that the president would stress developing new fuel
sources.
One new stock index tracking 18 companies engaged in alternative
energy technology and supply rose more than 17 percent between its
early-January debut and the Jan. 31 speech. Another index of 40 stocks
jumped nearly 27 percent during January. Among individual names, Evergreen
Solar Inc. rose almost 45 percent, and Ballard Power Systems Inc., a fuel
cell producer, jumped 36 percent.
The sector began pulling back almost immediately after the
address as the early birds locked in gains. Many individual stocks
fluctuated wildly immediately before and afterward, no doubt burning some
investors who piled into the most speculative names.
This was particularly true among companies focusing on ethanol,
which drew especially strong emphasis by President Bush. The shares of a
small venture named Pacific Ethanol Inc. nearly doubled over the final week
of January, then tumbled nearly 20 percent the day after the speech, a
gyration that's continued in recent weeks.
But more important to keep in mind than short-term stock market
results are the memories of fuel fads past, as well as the simple fact that
many alternative energy companies are losing money.
It was only three years ago that President Bush used his State
of the Union to call for more investment in hydrogen fuel-cell research.
Many of usual suspects that rallied last month also shot higher back then as
the president pledged "a new national commitment" to take fuel-cell powered
cars "from laboratory to showrooms" within 20 years.
In the run-up to the 2003 address, the shares of a fuel-cell
technology company named Hydrogenics Corp. soared 32 percent over the course
of a month. This time around, the Canadian company's stock rose 37 percent
between the start of January and the eve of this year's speech.
Notably, the stock now stands at $3.89. That's down 9 percent
from that recent peak -- which itself is 8 percent lower than the
speech-induced peak of early 2003. And those seesaws are only two of many by
the stock, which vaulted above $10 for an eyeblink in early 2002, and
briefly rose above $7.50 in early 2004.
None of this is a commentary on Hydrogenics' technology and
products, which appear to be very well regarded by industry analysts. But
like so many companies trying to capitalize on the promise of renewable
energy, Hydrogenics is not a profitable venture.
Despite growing revenues, the Canadian company reported
Wednesday it lost $37.4 million in 2005. That followed losses of $33.5
million a year earlier, $22.1 million in 2003, and $20.6 million in 2002. In
other words, the trend has been worsening rather than improving.
The reality here is not unlike the boom-and-bust for upstart
Internet and telecommunications ventures not so long ago. The fuel-cell
technologies that Hydrogenics and others are developing may in fact be the
very ones that succeed in the market.
The same might be argued of Energy Conversion Devices Inc., a
solar equipment maker planning to sell more than $200 million of stock to
build another factory -- or any number of other money-losing companies
hoping to capitalize on the surge in oil prices that has made alternative
energy sources appear cost-effective for the first time.
Many of the Internet technologies and telecommunications
networks created in the 1990s are generating profits today, only not for the
companies that developed them. Acquirers snatched them out of bankruptcy,
paying pennies on the dollar for innovations that required billions of
investment dollars. Global Crossing Ltd., for example, built the world's
most extensive fiber-optic network before entering bankruptcy in early 2002
with debts of $12.4 billion. In 2004, Singapore Technologies Telemedia
bought a controlling stake in the business for $250 million.
It's a story that also played out more than a century ago in a
frenzy of railroad building.
Similarly, in the alternative energy sector, if rising sales
don't turn into profits soon, it may be other opportunists who reap fortunes
from the winning technologies and products.
The White House and Congress did in fact make good on the
president's pledge in 2003, injecting new money into the fuel-cell sector,
though not all of it goes to businesses. Over the past three years, the
Department of Energy has awarded about $500 million for research by
universities, companies, and national laboratories.
And while no specific dollar amounts were proposed with this
year's State of the Union, the energy bill passed in late 2005 could pump
more than half a billion dollars more per year into fuel cell development.
Nonetheless, investors shouldn't presume that all this spending
and optimism are a recipe for rising stocks. As the current share prices for
some likely beneficiaries may already reflect the best-case scenario, risks
abound.
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13. Many people want ethanol, which bodes well for farmers
Feb 25, 2006 Minneapolis Star Tribune
Justin Blum, Washington Post
ETHA022606
There are reportedly 34 plants under construction, eight of the
95 existing ones are expanding, and 150 more plants or additions are on the
drawing boards.
AURORA, S.D. -- Past miles of frozen corn and soybean fields and
signs warning of crows, a procession of trucks and rail cars ferrying corn
kernels is lined up at a plant producing an increasing amount of one of the
nation's hottest alternative fuels.
This sprawling plant is grinding massive amounts of corn and
turning it into ethanol -- an alcohol-based gasoline additive that was
recently touted by President Bush as a way to reduce dependence on Middle
Eastern oil, though some experts doubt its value. Mixing ethanol into
gasoline displaces some oil consumption and boosts octane levels to improve
vehicle performance.
The recently expanded VeraSun Energy Corp. plant in Aurora, a
tiny town an hour north of Sioux Falls, has become one of the country's
largest ethanol production operations, running around the clock and churning
out 120 million gallons per year. But it still cannot keep up with
increasing demand from oil companies that mix the additive with gasoline.
"There's a need for more," said Don Endres, chief executive of
VeraSun, "and we just don't have enough."
Workers unload thousands of pounds of corn at a time into
ground-level grates, making a noise like a heavy hail storm. The constant
cacophony speaks to the boom in the ethanol business. There are 34 new
plants under construction, according to the Renewable Fuels Association, an
industry trade group in Washington D.C. Eight of the 95 existing plants are
expanding. And 150 more new plants or expansions are in the planning stages.
Much of the activity is concentrated in the Midwest, near the
nation's biggest corn-producing regions. Most domestic ethanol production
comes from corn.
Additive being phased out
Demand is being driven by several factors, including declining
use of another fuel additive, called MTBE, which was once favored by the
nation's oil industry but is now being phased out because of state bans and
lawsuits alleging groundwater pollution.
The ethanol industry also is being boosted by requirements in
federal energy legislation approved last year that requires an increasing
amount of the additive to be used. Lawmakers argued that the requirement
would help decrease reliance on oil and help farmers. Some studies peg the
federal ethanol subsidy to producers at $3 billion per year.
The United States last year consumed an estimated 4 billion
gallons of ethanol, compared with 140 billion gallons of gasoline.
The typical ethanol-to-gasoline blend is 1 to 9, but now the
ethanol industry is pushing for more widespread use of an auto fuel called
E85, a mixture of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. The fuel is
meant for use only in some "flex-fuel" vehicles that are specially built to
accommodate regular gasoline or other blends, including the majority-ethanol
mixture.
That concept faces hurdles. First, a small number of cars sold
in the United States are flex-fuel vehicles. And of the 180,000 gasoline
stations around the country, only an estimated 600 sell E85. Plus, stations
charge more for E85 than gasoline, even though it carries cars fewer miles.
VeraSun is trying to persuade some stations in the Midwest to
sell its branded E85 with modest success. A BP station near the Aurora plant
sells the fuel and has a video screen on the pump that gives information
about E85.
Corn farmers are pleased
Ethanol producers foresee steady increases in production --
thrilling corn farmers, who have found a new market for their crops. But the
industry expects that in a decade it will max out available corn and grain
crops, producing 15 billion gallons of ethanol a year from those sources.
The industry is hoping eventually to increase production using a
different type of ethanol, called cellulosic ethanol -- using plant material
and agricultural waste, including wood chips, stalks or the formerly obscure
switch grass mentioned in Bush's State of the Union address. Though
technology exists to produce cellulosic ethanol, the process is too
expensive to be competitive.
In the address, Bush called for more money to be spent on
research into cellulosic ethanol production. "Breakthroughs on this and
other new technologies will help us reach another great goal: to replace
more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025," Bush
said.
Energy analysts said ethanol reduces some oil use. But there
have been conflicting studies about whether more energy is used to grow corn
and produce ethanol than it provides as a fuel. Electricity -- typically
produced from natural gas or coal -- is needed to operate ethanol plants,
for instance, and farm equipment uses petroleum products.
Tad Patzek, a professor of geo-engineering at the University of
California at Berkeley, said ethanol production uses far more energy than
making gasoline and releases more greenhouse gases, which have been linked
to global warming. He co-authored a study last year that said corn ethanol
requires 29 percent more energy to make than it produces.
Well, 'it's not gasoline'
The industry disputes Patzek's conclusions, saying the making of
ethanol is cleaner and more environmentally friendly than gasoline
production.
Environmentalists have not been sold on ethanol. "The greatest
thing to recommend it is that it's not gasoline," said David Hamilton,
director of the Sierra Club's global warming and energy program. "What is
oil dependence worth versus a very high amount of energy it takes to make?"
Still, he said cellulosic ethanol holds more promise than corn-based
ethanol.
There are other issues, as well. The additive does not include
as much energy as gasoline and results in fewer miles to the gallon.
Corn-based ethanol, the skeptics say, has been competitive on price only
because of big corn subsidies and tax breaks for blending the additive with
gasoline. And the logistics of supplying ethanol are complicated; it cannot
be shipped in pipelines because ethanol can be contaminated.
Whatever the downsides, this much is clear: Ethanol has boosted
local economies and the fortunes of corn farmers.
VeraSun opened its plant in
Aurora in late 2003. The company has another plant in Fort
Dodge, Iowa, and one under construction in Charles City, Iowa. And VeraSun
is considering doubling capacity at its existing plants.
Farmers who supply the plant are excited about their prospects.
David Diedrich, who farms 4,500 acres about 8 miles from the
Aurora plant, is sending all of his corn to VeraSun, a change from several
years back, when he sent corn to the West Coast for export to Asia. He said
he makes more money selling his corn to the ethanol plant.
"It's just kind of a dream come true, really, for us," Diedrich
said. "It's using our own resources, renewable resources, to produce energy.
It's improving our economy here. The economy for the corn growers themselves
has just been a huge thing to help support our prices and get demand."
©2006 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
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14. Utilities will reveal cost of being clean
Feb 25, 2006 Kansas City Star
STEVE EVERLY
reducing greenhouse gas emissions
The Kansas City Star
Great Plains Energy Inc. is one of a handful of U.S. electric
utilities that have agreed to disclose what it could cost to meet
environmental regulations in the future.
The agreement comes after shareholder resolutions were filed
with the companies seeking the disclosures, which are being pushed by the
Investor Network on Climate Risk, an alliance of about 50 institutional
investor groups organized by Ceres, a coalition of investment funds and
public interest groups that pursue environmental and social issues.
The shareholder resolutions were withdrawn after successful
negotiations to disclose the possible costs from foreseeable regulations to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide.
New York City's pension plan for municipal workers, which
collectively has $95 billion in assets, filed several of the shareholder
resolutions with companies in which it is an investor, including Great
Plains, the parent of Kansas City Power & Light.
Kenneth Sylvester, assistant comptroller for pension policy for
New York City, said climate change was one of the biggest issues of the day
and from a fiduciary standpoint companies needed to disclose more about the
effects of meeting regulations to cut pollution linked to global warming.
Sylvester, who was involved in the negotiations, said Great
Plains had been open to discussing the disclosures and had been
"constructive" in reaching an agreement.
"Quite frankly, I was very pleased in the manner in which Great
Plains handled this," he said.
Tom Robinson, a spokesman for Great Plains, said the company
planned to have a report ready later this year and would work with Ceres in
developing the disclosure.
The shareholders resolution, which would have been voted on by
all of the company's shareholders, was filed with Great Plains earlier this
year because of its plans to build a coal-fired power plant near Weston.
The other utilities that recently agreed to the disclosures also
have plans to build coal-fired plants. Those utilities are Alliant Energy,
WPS Resources and MGE Energy, which are based in Wisconsin. No agreement was
reached with Dominion Resources in Richmond, Va., and Peabody Energy in St.
Louis. The resolutions filed with those companies have not been withdrawn.
Peyton Fleming, a spokesman for Ceres, said that in the past two
years, about a dozen U.S. electric power companies have either published or
agreed to publish climate risk reports.
The Investor Network on Climate Risk has also filed resolutions
with companies in other types of businesses, including auto and oil
companies, to make similar disclosures.
First glance
¦ A coalition of environmental groups secures an agreement from
Great Plains Energy Inc. and other utilities about meeting future
regulations.
To reach Steve Everly, call (816) 234-4455 or send e-mail to
severly@xxxxxxxxxx .
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15. Many cruise lines tacking on fees to cover fuel hikes
Feb 27, 2006 Chicago Tribune
By Arline and Sam Bleecker
Feb. 27, 2006 (KRT News delivered by Newstex) -- Rising fuel
prices not only will have you digging deeper into your wallet at the gas
pump but also at sea. Cruise ships, after all, don't run on air.
In recent months, several cruise lines have begun levying fuel
surcharges to offset hikes in their own energy bills. The pass-alongs could
pump up some cruise fares an extra five dollars a day on average, although
cruise lines aren't exactly shouting this from the bridge.
Among lines levying surcharges, American West Steamboat, which
operates a paddlewheel fleet in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest,
implemented a $5 per person per day fee on upcoming departures, retroactive
to all booked passengers. In a statement issued late last year, the line
noted it is absorbing the majority of the actual fuel increase, which it
says runs roughly $15 to $20 per day per person. Should gas prices fall to
spring 2005 levels, American West will reimburse all passengers for the
imposed fuel surcharges.
In the fiercely price-competitive cruise market, not all lines
are keen on visibly topping off your cruise bill. And, for now, that course
of action falls mostly to the smaller cruise lines with perhaps slimmer
profit margins and luxury lines for whose passengers the increase may not
matter much.
For instance, luxe lines Radisson Seven Seas Cruises and Crystal
Cruises were the first to initiate such a surcharge in response to the
wildly escalating oil prices last summer and fall.
Radisson levies a flat $5 per person per day on its 2006
cruises, up from $2.85 last year.
Crystal is adding $4 per person per day.
Crystal implemented its fuel surcharge in mid-2005. "Even with
those additional charges," says Crystal spokeswoman Mimi Weisband, "our fuel
costs were $4- to $5 million more than we budgeted."
According to Weisband, the surcharge will end with Crystal's
2007 cruises. "Since we already had the pricing in effect for 2006, the
surcharge continues through 2006 -- unless of course there is a huge drop in
fuel costs."
It might seem a moot point for those sailing with ultra-luxe
Silversea Cruises to shell out a few extra bucks, and the line never "really
(implemented) a fuel surcharge," says spokesman Brad Ball. "But Silversea
did raise (its) prices back in November to cover commodity increases."
The line let travel agents know that, on all cruises departing
this year, it is levying an "across-the-board operational price increase of
2 percent on its published fares ... as a means to deflect more than just
the line's own fuel increases, but the rising costs of suppliers" --
everything from fruits and vegetables purveyors to linen companies that are
raising their own prices in response to higher fuel costs.
In some instances surcharges can run a lot more than $5 per day,
as popular Internet travel site CruiseCritic.com discovered. After rooting
around the Web, CruiseCritic found a $365 per person fuel and air tax
surcharge buried in the fine print of an ad for a nine-night Silversea
cruise from Egypt to Athens this month. "By our calculations," CruiseCritic
notes, "that works out to a not-unsubstantial $40.55 per-person, per-day
surcharge."
No fuel surcharges are planned by mass-market lines ... yet.
According to Princess spokeswoman Karen Tetherow, the Love Boat
line, for instance, has "no plans at this time." However, Norwegian Cruise
Line spokeswoman Susan Robison says, "The price of fuel is so volatile we
certainly can't rule (it) out."
------
(c) 2006, Chicago Tribune.
Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at
http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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16. Fill'er up -- at home
Feb 25, 2006 Boston Globe
Chris Reidy, Globe Staff
Refueling device would power natural gas-burning cars right in
your garage
Homeowners who heat with natural gas may someday be able to
refuel their cars without leaving the garage.
KeySpan Energy Delivery, which distributes natural gas, plans to
exhibit a home refueling appliance for vehicles that use compressed natural
gas, or CNG, during the New England Home Show, which starts today at the
Seaport World Trade Center.
Currently, CNG vehicles are rare and must use one of about a
dozen special filling stations statewide. But the 95-pound appliance, called
''Phill," can be mounted on a garage wall and could make CNG vehicles more
attractive to consumers.
The device would also allow consumers to have all their gas
expenses on a single bill. For KeySpan, it offers a potential new revenue
stream.
And CNG vehicles are better for the environment than
gasoline-fueled ones. They ''are clean-burning, low-emission alternatives to
traditional-fuel cars," said Nick Stavropoulos, KeySpan Energy president.
According to the Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition, most of the
country's estimated 130,000 CNG vehicles are operated by companies and
government agencies with large fleets. For example, more than one-third of
the roughly 1,000 buses operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation
Authority use CNG.
Honda hopes to take CNG vehicles mainstream with a special
version of the Civic, the GX, which debuted last year in California. Honda
says the conventional Civic gets slightly better highway mileage than the
CNG version, 38 miles per gallon versus 34. The CNG version outdoes the
conventional Civic in the city, 30 miles to 29.
But will consumers pay about $4,500 more for a Civic powered by
CNG than the $17,300 the same gasoline-fueled one costs, especially if the
CNG model can't be refueled conveniently?
That's where Phill could have an impact. Made by FuelMaker Corp.
of Toronto, it takes natural gas from a consumer's home line and compresses
it into the tanks of CNG vehicles. It's priced at about $3,400, and
professional installation costs about $1,000.
Refueling with Phill can take several hours, and a vehicle like
the Civic GX can travel about 200 miles on a full tank, said FuelMaker
spokesman Jeff Harju. He said the refueling process is safe because, ''If
there are any leaks, natural gas dissipates quickly. It is lighter than air
and therefore cannot spill or pool."
But it is unclear whether those who buy the Civic GX and a Phill
device can recoup their investment via lower energy bills, tax incentives,
and time savings.
At its launch last year, Honda said potential Civic GX buyers
would qualify for a $2,000 federal tax deduction. In some states, CNG
vehicle drivers also can ride solo in high-occupancy-vehicle lanes, said
Richard Kolodziej, president of the Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition. Traveling
in an HOV lane can save California commuters 90 minutes a day, he said.
Natural gas companies, auto makers, and government agencies
could offer more incentives as the technology becomes more widely available.
According to the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, 6,132 CNG
vehicles were registered in the state on Jan. 1 out of a total of nearly 4.7
million vehicles.
According to KeySpan, CNG has generally been 20 to 30 cents less
expensive than a gallon of gasoline in recent years in the Greater Boston
market, but lately CNG sold at local retail stations has been costlier than
gasoline. Advocates say that's because the Gulf Coast hurricanes temporarily
affected CNG retail prices.
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino is among those riding around in a
CNG vehicle. His Chevy Tahoe cost $39,000. For another $20,000 it was
converted to CNG, said James W. Hunt III, Boston's chief of environmental
and energy services. The conversion costs were not paid for by taxpayers, he
said. Menino's choice was partly motivated by his commitment to
environmental issues, Hunt said.
Other consumers could make similar decisions.
A geopolitical argument could also be made for CNG vehicles.
According to KeySpan, 95 percent of the natural gas supply comes from North
America, so CNG vehicles lessen US dependency on foreign fuel.
''Every gallon equivalent of natural gas we use is one less
gallon of oil we have to import," Kolodziej said.
Chris Reidy can be reached at reidy@xxxxxxxxxx
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
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17. Ethanol plants
Feb 26, 2006 Daily Herald, Chicago
GARNETT, Kan. ? On early mornings at East Kansas Agri-Energy,
trucks pack the driveway loop to unload bushels of dry, yellow corn into a
hopper. By nighttime, those kernels are ready to transform ? they'll turn
into fuel.
"That's the sound of money," said ethanol marketer Steve Rust,
against the roaring sound of crushed corn passing through the colored pipes
overhead.
Rust, who works for Colwich, Kan.-based ICM Inc., the nation's
largest designer of ethanol plants, says the factory sends streams of
patrons to Garnett's tiny supermarket and keeps Kansas farmers in business.
The tiny town of about 3,350 has also become part of a new
supply chain, where a small group of fuel distributors and ethanol barons
stand to make a mint shipping the alternative fuel from the Midwest, where
it's made, to major urban markets on both coasts.
Ethanol plants have attracted hundreds of investors, including
Microsoft Corp.'s Bill Gates ? who sunk $84 million into West Coast producer
Pacific Ethanol Inc. ? and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, who is seeding
BC International, which will make fuel from switchgrass. But just a handful
of companies in the corn belt hold the keys to distributing the fuel, which
will prove crucial to making ethanol available at pumps across the country.
"They don't grow a lot of corn in New York or New Jersey. It's
going to be a very profitable situation," said Jim Jordan, a Houston-based
consultant to the ethanol and transportation fuels industries. "Kansas is
obviously pretty well positioned."
The U.S. ethanol industry now has 95 plants nationwide. Analysts
say by 2012 it will double in volume, from producing 4.3 billion to 7.5
billion gallons of biofuel. That growth will be aided by the Energy Policy
Act of 2005, which gives ethanol producers sizable subsidies, including a
federal tax credit for small refiners.
Archer Daniels Midland Co. Chairman and CEO G. Allen Andreas
told analysts Tuesday he expects producers will get another bump since
ethanol companies' rising demand for American-grown corn will push corn
prices higher. ADM, headquartered in Decatur, is one of the world's largest
corn processors.
It's not the first time ethanol exuberance has swept over the
Midwest? a spike in oil prices sparked initial enthusiasm in the early 80s ?
but this time analysts think the fuel stands a chance at becoming a viable
and accessible alternative amid fresh calls from President Bush to reduce
U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
ICM President Dave Vander Griend and his brother developed the
country's first fuel alcohol in 1978. He said his company has since grown so
large ? earning $200 million in revenue last year ? that it spun off its
distribution business. Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings, Inc., an ethanol
producer based in Pekin, has started distributing to major oil companies
like ConocoPhilips Co. and Chevron Corp. Agriculture giants ADM and Cargill
Inc. are in the shipping business, too.
But as states like California, Texas and New York roll out
legislation forcing gas stations to sell a more environmentally friendly
energy mix, they may also be tapped to spend public money to help move the
fuel to its final destinations.
Kansas, in the heart of ethanol country, is preparing to offer
an extra layer of incentives. Last month, the Kansas Select Joint Committee
on Energy recommended a legislative package offering biofuel industries
public money to build railroad terminals to export ethanol and biodiesel,
another renewable fuel made from recycled oil, across the country. One
recommendation would offer state-backed financing and a 12-year property tax
exemption.
Subsidies and rule changes are probably necessary to get the
market going ? after all, it took more than a century to build the nation's
underground oil pipelines. Brazil, a major competitor to the U.S. ethanol
industry, is considering building a $225 million pipeline to carry ethanol
from the country's interior to the coastal state of Sao Paulo to open up new
export opportunities for the federal energy company Petrobras.
"Both state and federal support is critical to building a real
ethanol industry," said Professor Dan Kammen, an expert on ethanol
production at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of
California, Berkeley. "Real action is needed, and the $150 million per year
President Bush promised is wholly insufficient."
American producers are still grappling with how to meet rising
domestic demand. Six states have passed laws that require ethanol-blended
gasoline, and nine others are considering similar legislation, according to
the American Coalition for Ethanol. Kansas and Missouri both are considering
proposals to require that all gasoline sold in each state contain 10 percent
ethanol by 2010.
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18. Greener fuel or corny ploy?
Feb 26, 2006 Chicago Sun-Times
MARY WISNIEWSKI
Business
Tucked among the regular unleaded and diesel fuels at Gas City
on North Clark Street is a green and yellow pump, dispensing fuel made
mostly from products grown in the Midwest -- rather than pumped out of the
Mideast.
"More people know about it now, so it's getting a little
busier," said Alejo Garcia, store manager at Gas City, about the station's
pump for E85, a fuel much touted lately for its environmental friendliness
"It's about as busy as the other ones."
E85 is composed of 15 percent regular gasoline and 85 percent
ethanol, an alcohol fuel made mostly from corn.
Gas City is one of a small number of gas stations around the
country offering E85 -- only about 600 outlets out of 170,000, confined
mostly in the corn-rich Midwest.
E85 is high-octane fuel, with a rating of over 100, which can
boost engine performance. But cars burn 1.4 times as much E85 as gasoline to
drive the same distance, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Advocates of E85 say it will cut greenhouse gases and U.S.
dependence on foreign oil. Both Ford and General Motors are pushing for more
E85 gas stations to fuel the approximately 5 million vehicles that can
handle both E85 and regular gasoline, including recent models of Ford's
Explorer and GM's Avalanche.
Critics say E85 is, at best, a less efficient, costly gas
alternative, and at worst, a way for U.S. automakers to create more gas
guzzlers while hiding behind a green screen.
Since 1988, car companies have received credits toward meeting
federally mandated fuel-economy standards for making cars that can burn both
gasoline and an alternate fuel. Earning the credits permits companies to
escape penalties for making low-mileage cars and trucks -- even if people
who buy the flexible fuel vehicles never use E85.
"They get to make a lot more gas guzzlers," said Dan Becker,
director of the Sierra Club's Global Warming Program. "It's really a very
cynical ploy by the auto companies that makes vehicles theoretically capable
of running on ethanol and never seeing a drop of the stuff."
Becker is also dubious about ethanol's environmental benefits,
touted by companies such as Decatur-based Archer Daniels Midland, the
leading ethanol producer. While ethanol cuts carbon monoxide emissions,
Becker says it increases smog-forming emissions. It also takes energy to
make ethanol -- requiring tractors, fertilizers and farmland.
Curt Magleby, director of state and local affairs at Ford Motor
Co., admits that most drivers with flexible-fuel vehicles don't use E85. But
building flex-fuel vehicles and pushing for more E85 gas stations will help
make ethanol a practical alternative, along with hybrids and other options
that cut dependence on oil.
"We need to move from hundreds of stations to thousands to make
this a viable choice," Magleby said.
Ford is promoting E85 stations through a partnership with
ethanol producer VeraSun. Ford will help offset the cost of converting gas
pumps to E85, while VeraSun provides branding and marketing.
GM is promoting E85 this year with its folksy "Live Green. Go
Yellow" ad campaign. On its Web site, shaggy-headed young people stand in
fields of corn, talking about ethanol while a jangly guitar plays in the
background.
Biofuels are also getting a push from the White House, with
President Bush asking for $150 million to promote biofuels in his fiscal
year 2007 budget. One of the goals of the initiative is to accelerate
research to make cellulosic ethanol -- ethanol made from non-food based
matter such as cornstalks and switchgrass -- cost-competitive by 2012,
potentially displacing up to 30 percent of the country's current fuel use by
2030.
Terminals that receive ethanol and distribute it to retail gas
stations receive a federal income tax credit of 51 cents per gallon,
according to the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition. Most gas sold in the
Chicago area contains 10 percent ethanol.
On average, retail E85 is priced 25 cents to 30 cents cheaper
than regular unleaded gasoline, according to Jim Tarmann, field services
director for the Illinois Corn Growers Association.
The cost to use E85 is actually higher when E85's lower mileage
is taken into account.
The E85 price at Gas City was discounted at $1.99 -- 50 cents
lower than regular unleaded gasoline at the station. But using the Energy
Department's mileage estimate, gas would have to be 80 cents higher for E85
be an equal value.
The NEVC's mileage is more optimistic -- figuring E85 mileage at
5 perecent to 12 percent less, depending on the vehicle and driving
conditions.
Not everyone is driven by price, said Sherrie Childers Arb,
director of communications for GM Environment and Energy. "There are people
who make environmental choices and pay more for it, like they'd pay for a
hybrid. What's neat about a flex fuel vehicle is if you want to make a
choice, you can."
Magleby at Ford said it's important to look beyond the current
moment, when ethanol's total use is low. "Viability is increasing. Is it
still in its infancy? Absolutely."
Maglebly said credits for producing flexible fuel vehicles are
still necessary to "support ongoing volume production."
Bob Brooks, an automotive engineering journalist, said society
would be better off if more effort were given to improving fundamental
vehicle energy efficiency.
mwisniewski@xxxxxxxxxxxx
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19. Government offer 'green grants'
Feb 27, 2006 BBC News
Government offer 'green grants'
Details of a multi-million pound scheme to promote renewable
energy in Northern Ireland have been announced.
NI Secretary Peter Hain said almost £60m has been set aside for
the scheme.
The scheme includes grants worth up to 50% for homeowners to
install items such as solar heating and systems for geothermal energy.
"This £59m fund will help NI harness the natural resources all
around us to provide heat and power and reduce our reliance on fossil
fuels," he said.
As part of the scheme, solar hot water systems will be installed
in hundreds of Housing Executive homes.
The Warm Homes Scheme, which provides energy efficiency measures
for those in fuel poverty, will also receive more than £9m in additional
funding.
At government level, the fund will result in the Stormont estate
being powered by a new biomass plant and the integration of solar energy
systems on other government buildings.
It will also lead to enhanced energy efficiency measures in
public sector buildings, with an emphasis on schools.
There will also be a programme of research into the potential
for energy crops, waste and geothermal resources to generate heat and
electricity.
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20. Alternative Energy Is the Greatest Task Before the Nation
Feb 27, 2006 The Chosum Ilbo (Korea)
Alternative Energy Is the Greatest Task Before the Nation
by Kim Dae-joong
Look at our roads and highways and think about the chaos that
would ensue if the supply of oil and gas is suspended. The mind boggles to
think what would happen to our industries, which are heavily dependent on
fossil energy. We would be ruined. Oil and gas have poisoned us, and our
addiction is on the way to becoming incurable.
This is not confined to us. Asian countries that heavily depend
on foreign oil and gas are filled with trepidation. A not-so-funny joke has
it that when China develops to a level where it consumes as much energy as
Japan, we will need another globe. Add India with its rapid development, and
we might need three.
For Asian countries, the lifeline is the Middle East. The United
States imports 60 percent of its energy, but only 20 percent comes from the
Middle East. South Korea, Japan and Taiwan import their entire energy
demand, and 75 percent come from the Middle East. India imports 75 percent,
80 percent from the Mideast; China imports 40 percent, 60 percent from the
Gulf. Their energy imports are expected to rise 8 and 10 percent a year. In
the event that America decides on military action against Iran, experts say,
oil prices would spiral to US$100 a barrel.
Then there is the danger that the clash between Islam and the
West will intensify. As the violent Muslim reactions to Danish caricatures
of the Prophet Muhammad demonstrate, a clash between the two sides could
move from the cultural to the physical level in the 21st century. If the
clash between Islam and the West moves onto a warlike footing and limited
energy resources reach the point of exhaustion, we here in Asia would have a
life-or-death crisis on our hands.
That is why a number of countries have put the energy issue on
top of their national agenda this year. U.S. President George W. Bush, in
his state-of-the-union address earlier in the year, put forward a policy of
reducing energy imports and investing in the development of alternative
energy resources. China, in a Jan. 20 directive issued to the provinces, set
all-out energy conservation and exploration efforts as a national task.
India, along with China, conducted oil diplomacy earlier in the year by
welcoming Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz.
China in 2004 risked an exclusive economic zone boundary dispute
with Japan in the East China Sea over its undersea gas exploration project.
It succeeded in developing gas reserves in four zones whose output is being
channeled to Shanghai and elsewhere through undersea pipelines. Japan, too,
belatedly started exploration in the disputed area last year. Disputes are
underway over the overlapping 45 sq. km of joint development zones between
Korea and Japan. China has been engaged in joint undersea resources
development with North Korea for 20 years and was caught by U.S. spy
satellites in the act of prospecting off Ongjin, North Korea. On Dec. 24,
North Korea and China concluded an offshore oil field development agreement.
Whether they will succeed in any venture is not known, but if
the agreement leads to development of offshore oil fields, experts expect it
to become a major factor that could change the situation on the Korean
Peninsula. Under a secret allied fleet program concluded with North Korea,
China has opened the ChuHaiKou port on the estuary of the Tumen River. In
addition to monitoring and checking Japanese naval activities, the Chinese
port is designed to secure development rights to oil and gas fields in the
North's EEZ.
Our president did not mention energy in his New Year's address
and press conference. Government officials stress he set up the state energy
advisory commission in 2004 and emphatically discussed ways of securing
energy resources in his talks in Russia, Kazakhstan, Brazil and Malaysia,
and that his visits to Egypt and Nigeria in March are related with the
energy issue. But even as it admits the president's efforts, the government
has failed to make energy into a national issue.
Instead, the government proposes to supply electricity to North
Korea. The people, too, fail to recognize the urgent need to conserve energy
and are intoxicated with the splendor and spoiled by the convenience of
having energy on tap. Securing energy supplies is important, but it is more
important to encourage the entire nation to conserve energy and cultivate
alternative sources of power.
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21. Energy: Italian Fury at French Merger
Feb 27, 2006 Adnkronosinternational
ENERGY: ITALIAN FURY AT FRENCH MERGER
Paris, 27 Feb. (AKI) - Italy's industry minister, Claudio
Scajola on Monday cancelled a visit to the French capital, Paris, describing
as "neo-protectionism" the newly announced 73 billion euro merger between
two leading French energy companies, state-controlled Gaz de France and the
power and water group, Suez. "If neo-protectionism prevails, the political
and economic destiny of the European Union will be compromised," he said.
"Neo-protectionsm damages the rights of consumers and the
chances for businesses to develop," he continued . The EU executive said on
Monday the merger does not appear to breach EU rules on the free movement of
capital.
The merger comes only days after Italian energy giant, Enel,
announced it was mooting a hostile takeover bid for Suez and its Belgian
energy subsidiary, Electrabel, the leading utilities company in Belgium, the
Netherlands and Luxembourg. Scajola's calls were backed by politicians from
across the political spectrum. Observers say the pressure on Enel to seek
industrial alliances or acquisitions outside Italy is unlikely to relent:
the 34 percent state-owned company is cash-rich and legally banned from
strengthening its domination of the domestic energy market.
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22. J. Craig Venter's Next Little Thing
Feb 27, 2006 Washington Post
J. Craig Venter's Next Little Thing: The man who mapped the
human genome has a new focus: using microbes to create alternative fuels.
By Michael S. Rosenwald
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 27, 2006; D01
J. Craig Venter, maverick biologist, wants to cure our addiction
to oil. To do so, he proposes creating a designer microbe -- the heart of a
biological engine -- from scratch, then adding genes culled from the sea to
turn crops such as switch grass and cornstalks into ethanol.
While he's at it, he'd like to modify or devise microorganisms
to produce a steady stream of hydrogen.
Either could prompt a major shift in the economics of the energy
industry and in the process bring Venter to a secondary goal: showing the
world he can be as successful running a company as he was at sequencing
human DNA.
"We are on a crusade as much as it is an economic goal," Venter
said. "This is one of those crusades that only works if it becomes really
profitable."
Five years after antagonizing government scientists while racing
them to map the human genome, Venter is back, making the typically bold
statements that have long polarized opinion about him. Either he is one of
this era's most electrifying scientists, or he's one of the most maddening.
He is apt in conversation to compare himself to Robin Hood. Or Darwin.
"Yes, Craig confronts," said Alfonso Romo Garza, a Mexican
billionaire, controller of a decent chunk of the world's commercial
vegetable seeds and a backer of Venter's latest undertaking. "Of course,
he's antagonistic. He's controversial. But I love controversial people
because those are the people who change the world."
Bearded from a three-year, Darwinesque yacht trip around the
world, Venter also now sports an extensive collection of genetic material
scooped from the sea on his journey -- and that's the raw material for his
alternative fuel project. With $15 million from Garza, he has launched a new
company in Rockville called Synthetic Genomics Inc.
It is a small firm with classic Venter ambition. Create life.
Use it to make fuel.
There are caveats, to be sure.
Venter's business career made him rich, but his record running
Celera Genomics Corp. was spotty. The company's original business plan --
selling access to the genetic data Venter helped develop -- faltered because
the information became public through the government's efforts.
Celera has since waxed and waned with other business plans that
haven't yet worked out.
He insists this time that things have changed.
"I started Celera because I wanted to map the human genome," he
said. "It's different now. We actually do have a great idea for a business."
There are a number of other companies that say they are ahead of
Venter in the quest to use biotechnology to make energy, and they contend
that they have more near-term and less complicated methods. Vinod Khosla,
co-founder of Sun Microsystems Inc. and a prominent Silicon Valley venture
capitalist who has turned his investment focus to new energy, said of
Venter's new company, "There are too many technical risks cascading
together."
But Venter loves the challenge. The formation of the new company
solidifies ideas he has been investigating for several years through his
various research foundations in Rockville. The Venter Institute and the
Institute for Genomic Research have received several Energy Department
grants to explore using genomics -- the study of genetic material in the
chromosomes of organisms -- for energy purposes. Venter launched the new
business with his longtime collaborator, Hamilton O. Smith, who won a Nobel
Prize for physiology and medicine and is a noted expert in DNA manipulation
techniques.
Perhaps Venter's biggest personnel coup to date was the hiring
earlier this month of Aristides Patrinos, who directed the Energy
Department's biological and environmental research and launched its efforts
to solve energy and environmental problems using microbes. Patrinos is an
influential proponent of new energy technologies and a force behind
President Bush's recent focus on innovative fuel production in the State of
the Union address. Patrinos, whom Venter describes as his last friend in
government, led the federally funded Human Genome Project, which raced
Venter to decode human DNA.
"I think it's a very significant message to the world that Ari
has agreed to take on this challenge to build this enterprise," Venter said.
So far, the company has raised about $30 million, according to
Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Venter has generally avoided
taking venture capital money in order to maintain tight control, something
he didn't have at Celera, where he was ultimately fired.
At this point, Synthetic Genomics is a virtual company, housed
at the sprawling Rockville headquarters that is home to Venter's institutes.
The company is mostly using Venter's existing research staff. Venter said
there could be a significant ramp-up soon, including separate office space
nearby, if development talks with major energy firms are successful. Venter
said he is in discussions with several companies.
Venter is convinced that "genomics is going to do for the energy
and chemical field what it did in the early 1990s for medical
biotechnology."
In the case of energy, the problems are well known. Oil prices
have skyrocketed. There are national security concerns over relying so
heavily on foreign oil sources. Energy companies are pursuing any number of
alternatives, including increasing production of ethanol.
The problem with current production methods is that they rely on
using corn kernels, which are converted into sugar, fermented to produce
alcohol and then distilled into ethanol. Meeting the country's energy needs
using that method could eventually strain the food supply, particularly for
animals that feed off corn.
Ethanol can be produced other ways, though it is more difficult.
One way is to use plant matter such as switch grass, cornstalks or corn
husks and break it down into cellulose using a combination of enzymes. Until
energy prices skyrocketed, that option was far more expensive than using
oil, and the cost of building a plant was prohibitive. More modern
technology is bringing the cost down, and biotech companies are lining up to
advance the technology even further. There are no commercial-scale
facilities online yet, though one in Spain could open this fall.
Patrinos thinks Synthetic Genomics can reduce costs even further
by using either a soup of microbes or genetically designed ones to perform,
in essentially one place, all of the biological functions needed to break
down the plant material and turn it into ethanol.
"Anytime you add steps, you add costs," Patrinos said. "The
ideal situation would essentially just be one big vat, where in one place
you just stick the raw material -- it could be switch grass -- and out the
other end comes fuel that you could drive it on to the gas station."
This will not happen tomorrow. Venter's scientists will need at
least several years to sift through the millions of organisms he collected
on his around-the-world yacht trip, which ended last month. The hope is that
something in that menagerie will provide the key to more efficient energy.
As evidence of what he thinks he can deliver, Venter pointed to
DuPont Co.'s efforts to use organisms in somewhat similar ways. Scientists
at the chemical company, in a project dating to 1995, have genetically
modified E. coli germs in such a way that they turn corn into propanediol, a
compound typically made from petrochemicals that can be used to toughen
fabrics such as polyester. DuPont will open a $100 million plant to make the
material later this year.
It is also working on many other projects, from energy to hair
care and skin care. "Imagine dipping your entire hand into a jar of color
that only sticks to the nail surface, not the skin, not the nail bed," a
company official said.
Biotech changed the way drugs are developed. For Venter and
others, there is more work to be done.
"Sometimes you get a new idea that is better than the old idea,"
he said. "It wouldn't be the first time I've done that."
© 2006 The Washington Post Company
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23. Twin Paths to the Conclusion Climatic Change Is Real
Feb 27, 2006 New York Times
By JANET MASLIN
Books of the Times | 'The Weather Makers'; 'The Winds of Change'
An irrefutable fact about climate change is this: The subject is
heating up at a breakneck pace. Thanks to giant leaps in research
techniques, most notably the extraction (completed in 2004) of a
two-mile-long layered sample from the ice sheets covering Greenland,
paleoclimatology has moved to the cutting edge of scientific research. This
subject rewards close study not only because so little could be proven about
it previously but because wild weather is so apparent to the naked eye.
The more intriguing and important this field becomes, the more
we need clear, unbiased explications of what its evidence reveals. But
writing about advances on this particular scientific frontier is
problematic. First of all, the material is complicated: climate science is
the study of shifting, interrelated and sometimes paradoxical patterns. For
instance, although the melting of Arctic ice alters the salinity of the
North Atlantic, it does not signal more warm weather. But the melting can
slow down the Gulf Stream in ways that threaten a subsequent freeze.
Second, the subject is loaded: its scientific facts and
hypotheses are difficult to separate from their political and religious
implications, which are obviously fraught. Analysis of Antarctic ice trumps
even Darwin, since it presupposes weather events dating back almost a
million years. The phrases "global warming" and "greenhouse gases" lead
directly to debate about government policies. And even for scientific
writers caught up in the excitement of new breakthroughs, enthusiasm is
difficult to ignite. The overview is simply too bleak.
But two overlapping new books do their best to intrigue and
galvanize the armchair climatologist. "The Weather Makers," by Tim Flannery,
is the more volatile and flamboyant; "The Winds of Change," by Eugene
Linden, is more measured and takes a more penetrating historical view. And
their lingering effects are different. While Mr. Linden ponders links
between current circumstances and the destinies of earlier civilizations,
Mr. Flannery provides much more urgent, specific evidence of imminent peril.
He also makes sure that you will never again look at an electric-light
switch in quite the same way. In a field of expertise that has already been
popularized by writers as different as Jared Diamond (admired by both of
these authors) and Michael Crichton (regarded as the Antichrist), some
points are staples. Both books refer to James Lovelock's vision of Earth as
the immense single organism he called Gaia. Both cite the temperature
changes that occurred in the few days when airplanes over America were
grounded after Sept. 11, 2001. Both discuss El Niño and Hurricane Katrina.
Both bring up the ice-coated Hollywood doomsday scenario in "The Day After
Tomorrow."
Both deplore the Bush administration's reluctance to agree to
the Kyoto Protocol limiting carbon dioxide emissions. Both note that 9 of
the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 1990. For all their
common ground, slight discrepancies in some of their statistics and
numerical estimates illustrate the difficulty of nailing down any
climate-related data with certainty.
Mr. Flannery, a globe-trotting adventurer with much anecdotal
knowledge of how climate has affected frogs, eels, krill and salp, gives his
material a more impassioned, fiery tone. And he conveys a stronger sense of
alarm. Chapters here have titles like "A Warning From the Golden Toad," "The
Last Act of God?" and "Last Steps on the Stairway to Heaven?" With
interlocking and sometimes breathlessly delivered sets of data, he builds a
galvanizing, intentionally polarizing case for the urgency of altering our
patterns of energy use. American readers will find it only dimly comforting
that Mr. Flannery considers his own native land, Australia, to be the
world's worst offender in this regard.
"The Weather Makers" works hard to make its points ? too hard,
at times. When a quotation about carbon use has been translated into
English, why show off by identifying the source as "Arvid Gustav Hobgom, 'Om
Sannolikheton FoSekulara Forandringar I Atmosfarens Kolsyrehalt?' " When
dealing in sweeping generalities, why make them needlessly confusing? "We
must remember," he writes, "that if we act now, it lies within our power to
save two species for every one that is currently doomed." But in the next
sentence: "If we carry on with business as usual, in all likelihood three
out of every five species will not be with us at the dawn of the next
century." In any case, there is no mistaking his overall point. And "The
Weather Makers" is detail-packed to the point of terrible fascination.
Meanwhile, Mr. Linden's common-sense approach finds its own illustrations in
larger, more fundamental human certitudes, not least of them the reluctance
of editors and television producers to illuminate tough, confusing issues
when snap judgments will do. And he appreciates the value of complex,
ambiguous data in forging roundabout paths to new discoveries. As one of his
sources in oceanography says admiringly of another, "Republicans would call
him a flip-flopper, but he's really just a good scientist."
"The Winds of Change" can be overly levelheaded. (One part of
the book studies insurance companies' fiscal view of increasingly violent
weather.) But its scope and seriousness are impressive, even if Mr. Linden
insists on characterizing climate as "a serial killer." And its links
between areas of study are very valuable. Mr. Linden credits the
archaeologist Harvey Weiss "for breaking down the barriers that previously
confined climate scientists and ancient historians to parallel universes
that rarely intersected."
With that in mind, these studies prompt renewed interest in the
mother of all climate-historical synergy: the much-reviled, still dazzling
cosmic theories of Immanuel Velikovsky, whose 1950 book "Worlds in
Collision" postulated that global meteorological cataclysms could be pieced
together by analyzing the texts of ancient civilizations. The author's
weather mysteries, explicated with a scholarly fervor that brings to mind
"The Da Vinci Code," remain mind-blowing. There was a time when
extrapolating historical events by studying oxygen isotopes trapped in ice
bubbles would have seemed just as strange.
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