Jon Popham
January 6, 2009 | 7:43 pm EST
This afternoon Continental Airlines is testing a fuel made from algae and jatropha, a tropical shrub, in a Boeing 737 for the first ever biofueled, two-engine flight. Looking for a cheaper fuel alternative and hoping to reduce their carbon footprint, airlines are increasingly turning to alternative fuel sources. The New York Times reports:
At Pratt & Whitney, the engine manufacturer, Alan H. Epstein, vice president for technology and environment, said, “It’s the first time in the history of jet aviation that the world is seriously considering going to a totally new fuel.”
And while these greener fuels are exciting prospects, especially for those of us who feel uneasy about our airplane-sized carbon footprint, the implementation of the technology still has away to go. These plant-based fuels spew much less carbon into the atmosphere then their predecessors, and certainly less then coal or natural gas, which some companies are foolishly attempting to use as substitutes. However, growing plants for biofuels will require land, running the risk of competing with food crops, which has already proved problematic with ethanol production. Hopefully, researchers can find a plant that requires very little room and minimal fertilization.
takepart by learning how to reduce your carbon footprint when you fly.
Photo: Beautyredefined’s Flickr Photostream (Creative Commons)
Russia has cut the flow of natural gas into neighboring Ukraine, for the third year in a row, over a pricing dispute. The action has far reaching consequences given that 20% of the natural gas used to heat Europe during wintertime is passed through the very same pipelines where supplies have been reduced by the Russian state owned energy company Gazprom, on the orders of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Since the brutal election of pro-Western Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko in late 2004, early 2005 - an episode tinged with the unsuccessful poisoning of Yushchenko, allegedly by Russian clandestine services - relations between the two countries have been icy at best. However the two nations need one another. Ukraine is dependent on Russia for the natural gas it desperately needs for heating during winter. While Russia uses pipelines which run through Ukraine in order to transport natural gas not only to its neighbor, but to the rest of Europe to the West. But that still hasn’t stopped the bickering.
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Gazprom, Russia’s largest state run energy company, is negotiating a bailout with the Kremlin. In the span of less than a year the natural gas and petroleum corporate titan went from being the third highest market capitalized company in the world to being deeply saddled in debt. The reversal of fortune shows the perils of being so heavily dependent on the shifting market forces of the oil and natural gas industries. Last summer oil prices rose to more than $140 per barrel before plummeting to under $35 per barrel this week. During the same period natural gas prices peaked at over $13/MMBTU only to decline to $5.82/MMBTU this week.
Russia had seen a resurgence over the past several years riding the crest of steadily increasing energy prices to increased wealth. But the decline in the energy markets threatens to turn all that on its head given the lack of diversification within the Russian economy.
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Adding to the list of irreparable damages left for a legacy, President Bush and his cronies are now set to open 10,000 acres of public land in eastern Utah, to allow for drilling of natural gas and oil. The Bureau of Land Management plans to auction off the tracts of land, which border three national parks, conveniently one month before Bush leaves office, making it difficult for the next administration to reverse the plan. According to the New York Times:
National Park Service officials say that the decision to open lands close to Arches National Park and Dinosaur National Monument and within eyeshot of Canyonlands National Park was made without the kind of consultation that had previously been routine.
This is a lasting impression we can’t afford to let Bush leave behind.
takepart by supporting the National Parks Conservation Association and help protect these natural treasures.
Related: Inconvenient Truth of the Day
Photo: Arches National Park, NYTimes
Two Thirds of the Triumvirate Share a Handshake and a Smile
Russia, Iran and Qatar today announced they were forming a “big gas troika” for natural gas production similar to OPEC for oil. Just when it looked like falling oil prices might slow the roll toward alternative energy, another pressing reason pops up like a whack-a-mole game.
Natural gas is already a huge source of energy around the globe, with widespread usage of the greenhouse gas emitting fuel for home heating and electrical power generation. Recently it has even been seriously proposed by T. Boone Pickens for his own Pickens Plan as an alternative fuel source to power automobiles in the United States. However, as this recent announcement coming specifically from Iran and Russia (I don’t want to pick on little Qatar) clearly illustrates, increasing the usage of Natural Gas around the globe in place of oil will put us in the familiar and unenviable position of being beholden to some of the more troubling governments on Earth to satisfy our energy demands.
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The recent “Iran” TV spot from Billionaire T. Boone Pickens that had been rejected by NBC was approved by the network yesterday after T. Boone complained. The commercial, part of Pickens Plan for American energy independence, had been canned by the network for being “unproven”. The advertisement states that Iran is converting its cars to natural gas in an effort to fully capitalize on high oil prices by not needing to keep oil for their domestic market. It goes on to say “and we’re doing nothing here” which is apparently the part NBC had taken issue with, asking for proof that nothing indeed was being done in the US to convert cars to run on natural gas. None of the other major networks had any problems with the spot (seen below).
The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!
TakePart Gang:
Sudan Leader Charged with Genocide: What Are the Reactions? by Wendy Cohen
Inconvenient Truth of the Day: Al Gore Speaks on Climate Change by Joshua Tremblay
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Nicole Hughes:
“Farms in the Sky” a Solution to Global Food Crisis?
Wal-Mart Launches Eco-Bling Project
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NYC To Bring in 300 Hybrid Taxis Per Month
Coolio To Educate Students On Climate Change
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Jon Popham:
Pickens’ Plan for Energy Independence
On “Rent” Closing, the East Village, and Gentrification
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Gina Telaroli:
Batman Morals: Top 5 Lessons from the Capped Crusader’s Films
T. Boone Pickens has a plan for energy independence in the United States and he’s putting his money where his mouth is to promote it. The Billionaire Texas Oil Man and investor has been one of the loudest voices warning of peak oil for years now, but now he’s taking his push for alternative sources of energy for the USA a step further with Pickens Plan.
Pickens’ numbers cannot be disputed (And why would we? We’re arguing for the same thing on here every day.). The United States now imports 70% of its oil - up from a mere 24% in 1970. At today’s prices we are currently sending $700 Billion dollars overseas for the oil we need to run our economy, which is four times the annual cost of the Iraq War. Over the next ten years the projected cost for the oil we will import at present levels will be $10 Trillion, which will be the largest transfer of wealth in human history.
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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!
Katie Halper:
Brigitte Bardot Fine: Top 5 Bardotisms That Got Hot Sex Symbol In Hot Water
Obama Pound: In Historic Moment, White People Exposed To Fist Bump For First Time
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Nicole Hughes:
Get a Job: Top 10 Guides to Finding the Perfect Eco Career
Schwarzenegger Declares Drought in California
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Barcelona Fines Citizens for Using Drinking Water in Pools and Gardens
Coal Power Plants Waste Two-Thirds of Energy Input
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Jon Popham:
Megabus Expanding to the East Coast
Egyptian Blogger Freed from Prison
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Giulia Rozzi:
Diamonds In The Rough: A Ugandan Hip Hop Revolution
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Gina Telaroli:
Interview with Nina Davenport, Director of Operation Filmmaker
KidZui : Internet for Kids (and Those Young at Heart)
The laws of thermodynamics tell us that everything we do expends energy. Conversion efficiency, as it’s called, can never be 100 percent, which is why there’s no such thing as a perpetual motion machine. However, nowhere in those laws does it say that conversion efficiency must be as low as 36 percent. Which is the efficiency rate of power plants.
At present time, two-thirds of all energy that enters a power plant is lost before it creates the electricity we use.
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Andy Kondrat:
