Well, look at us bloggers, all spiffy on the takepart front page, being all important and whatnot. And, if you’ve read us at all in the past, you know it’s times like these I like to lay down a big old buzzkill. You may have noticed gas prices going down recently, which of course is tied to the price of oil, and you’re all thinking, hey, great, I can drive again. Sweet deal.

Not so fast there, speedster. Nobuo Tanaka, the head of the International Energy Agency, has proclaimed that even with this dip in prices, “The low energy price age is over.” The New York Times also reports that Christophe de Margerie, chief executive of a French oil company, has a bleak outlook as well.

Mr. de Margerie said that when oil prices bounce back, they could reach unprecedented levels, making it wise for investors to keep investing in alternatives.

So, on the plus side of all this, though, is that this may lead to more investment in alternative energy. But once again, not so fast there tree hugger.

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In what appears to be a last ditch effort to appeal to Iowa voters, John McCain has changed his public stance on ethanol. Up until now the Arizona senator and Republican Presidential candidate had a been a vocal opponent of providing Federal subsidies to the corn based fuel. However in a speech at the University of Northern Iowa yesterday, McCain told the crowd, “We’ll invest in all energy alternatives: nuclear, wind, tide, solar, ethanol, biofuels.” McCain’s Vice Presidential running-mate Sarah Palin has also gotten in on the pander bear act, telling an audience during an Iowa speech, “harnessing alternative sources like the wind, and the solar and the biomass and the geothermal and the ethanol.”

This flip flop over “the ethanol”, as Governor Palin puts it, illustrates to me at least exactly what is wrong with McCain campaign these days. Like many, in the past I had admired the principled stances John McCain had taken, often against his own party to stand up for what he thought was right. But unfortunately those days are long gone for the Arizona Senator.

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As reported here by Danny, the massive $700 Billion+ bailout contained the much sought after extension of the renewable energy tax credit.   While the widely disparaged porkbarrel spending of the bailout bill may not be the most noble legislation around, it’s a large consolation to this taxpayer that there is a whole lotta Green Pork packed into this mother of all omnibuses.   Now that the bill has been more thoroughly combed over, let’s take a look at the spoils:

- Finally, the Renewable Energy Investment Tax Credit has been extended, a full 8 years, for investment in solar and wind energy.   This tax credit is vital to the growth of these industries going forward and makes a sector that was already a good bet, practically the best place around for capital in very uncertain financial times.   Plus, as a sweetener, the tax credit is paid for by a change to the tax code for oil and gas companies.  

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The State of New Jersey has announced plans to build a $1 Billion Wind Farm off its coast. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has picked Garden State Offshore Energy, a partnership between Public Service Enterprise Group Renewable Generation and Deepwater Wind, to construct an offshore wind farm capable of generating more 350 MW of electricity. The facility will be located in a rectangular grid situated between 16 to 20 miles off the coast of Cape May and Atlantic Counties, in South Jersey.

The location so far offshore will make the facility barely visible from land, as illustrated above in a visual presentation from PSEG, which alleviates the opposition of beachfront property owners and coastal communities to the technology. As much as people claim to love renewable energy, the “Not in my backyard” concern is still alive and well with these public works.

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Green jobs are on the rise! While other employment sectors continue to experience job losses, those in the green labor sector are reportedly on the up and up. Sustainable fields like those in renewable energy continue to expand their hiring capacity, while jobs in fuel industries like coal are on the decline. Ben Block at The Worldwatch Institute explores the expanding of the green job sector in this three-part series:

Part 1: In Windy West Texas, An Economic Boom
The center of U.S. wind energy development, Sweetwater, Texas, has undergone a major economic boom in the past four years. It may be a sign of green jobs to come.

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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!

Nicole Hughes:

Should Drive-Thrus Be Banned?

Eco-Moms Mad About “Greenwash” Barbie

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Andy Kondrat:

Home Depot Will Recycle Your CLF Bulbs for Free

Department of Energy Predicts 50% Energy Increase By 2030

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Jon Popham:

NYC Waterfalls Installation Starts This Week

Capt. John Smith Is Back…and Running for President

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Giulia Rozzi:

Yoga Across the Border

Emile Norman: By His Own Design

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Gina Telaroli:

Silverdocs 08: A Post-Fest Wrap-Up

Human Rights Watch 08: Letter to Anna

Hey, you know how there are all these awesome things like CFLs and solar power and wind energy and renewable this and rechargeable that, and so we’ll be energy independent and carbon neutral in no time at all?  Yeah, well, the United States Energy Department is really excited to rain on that parade.   Like, super pumped.   Turns out they’re guessing that by 2030, the global energy demand will rise by 50 percent, and everyone and their mothers will continue to rely on coal and fossil fuels.   Check out the buzzkill in the International Herald Tribune:

The projections by the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the Energy Department, said that without mandatory actions to address global warming, the amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide flowing into the atmosphere each year from energy use will be 51 percent greater in 2030 than it was three years ago.

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“Big Oil” Man T. Boone Pickens (you can’t make this stuff up) is moving into the wind power market with plans to develop the world’s largest wind farm in the Texas panhandle. The wind power facility will produce 4,000 megawatts of electricity per year, enough to power more than 1,300,000 homes.

The 80 year old Pickens told NPR’s Living on Earth this past weekend:

“For a number of years I’ve watched the wind turbines develop - and I feel like it’s time for it. I think that oil has peaked at 85 million barrels in the world. We’ve got to develop other forms of energy - wind, I think solar will be next, and I hope I’m still around to be in the solar deal.”

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by Kerry Trueman

Bloomberg News reports today that corn-based ethanol has earned the distinction of being “2007’s worst energy investment.”

Bill Gates and Archer Daniels Midland are among the supposedly savvy types who embraced ethanol as the solution to our energy needs. But it’s not reducing oil demand, it takes more energy to make than it gives off, and it does nothing to help the environment. On the contrary, stepped up corn production means more fertilizers and pesticides and threatens our dwindling water supply.

So distilleries are shutting down, ethanol stocks are tanking and there’s a glut of this stuff they can’t even unload. It all adds up to a losing proposition. Why didn’t these guys do the math?