Wednesday, 09 Nov 2005

Hillary Clinton has joined a growing claque of both Democrats and Republicans swigging from the cup of clean-energy Kool-Aid. The junior senator from New York and likely 2008 presidential contender looks to be making eco-conscious energy independence a core campaign issue -- and she's certainly not the only one. Muckraker takes a look at the energy proposals she's unveiled in an increasingly crowded field.

Cabal and Chain

International Energy Agency predicts grim future

Unless the industrialized world gets off its ass and starts weaning itself from oil, the future holds sky-high energy prices, a more than 50 percent rise in greenhouse-gas emissions over the next 25 years, and near-total dependence on a small cabal of Middle Eastern countries. This grim portent comes not from peak-oil doomsayers but the International Energy Agency, which represents the consensus of mainstream developed-world experts. The IEA's just-released "World Energy Outlook" warns that after decades of under-investment in oil-production and refinery capacity, oil prices are almost certain to rise and stay high. Even if the countries that produce the lion's share of the world's oil invest heavily, says IEA economist Fatih Birol, "we are ending up with 95 percent of the world relying for its economic well-being on decisions made by five or six countries in the Middle East." This, she says, "is not a sustainable energy future." Says IEA's William Ramsay, "We would be quite happy to see our reference scenario made irrelevant by good policy decisions." Us too.


These days, one of our most endangered species is water. OK, it's not really a species, but let us metaphor it up here. Two authors have taken on the life-giving liquid as their topic in new books. A former Newsweek journalist pens a paean to ice in all its forms, while a Canadian scribe imagines the intrigues of a world run dry. Elizabeth Grossman dips her toe into both for an Arts and Minds review.

Nuke Rest for the Wary

Lawmakers slash funding for Yucca Mountain nuke dump

In a season of setbacks for President Bush, Congress delivered yet another this week, cutting funding for the Yucca Mountain nuclear-waste dump well below the amount requested by the White House. House and Senate negotiators working on a funding bill for energy and water projects allotted $450 million for Yucca Mountain in 2006, not only below Bush's requested $650 million but far less than the project's $577 million budget for each of the past two fiscal years. Apparently ongoing delays at the Yucca site in Nevada have chilled estimations of the project's eventual success. "No matter what side of Yucca you're on," said Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), "the truth of the matter is Yucca is ... behind schedule." The Department of Energy responded via a spokesflack that it's still committed to opening the Yucca dump. Good lucka.


Most mornings, we have pretty much one requirement for coffee around here: let it be hot. But after we wake up a little, we -- like many other green-minded slurpers -- consider other factors. Is it organic, fair-trade, shade-grown? Today, a caffeine fiend from California asks advice maven Umbra Fisk how she can be sure her java meets those standards. As usual, Umbra stirs the pot.

Will Waters Never Cease?

Aussie firms extract both clean energy and drinking water from ocean

Among our many environmental problems, two of the most vexing are dwindling freshwater supplies and a dearth of clean energy. Now two Australian firms think they've hit on a way to tackle both at once: a desalination plant that could convert saltwater to freshwater, using only the power supplied by the ocean's waves, and produce surplus power to boot -- all without fossil fuels, greenhouse gases, or waste. The process can be run safely just offshore, say the companies, where the resulting salty concentrate can simply be released back into the ocean and the freshwater piped to land. Based on results from a prototype operating south of Sydney, the firms estimate their plants could generate electricity for as low as five cents per kilowatt hour, a rate competitive with coal-fueled power, while costing a relatively modest $1.6 million to build. G'day indeed, mates.