IF FOREIGN OIL SUPPLY IS THE PROBLEM WHY DON'T WE IMPORT GAS FROM MEXICO? By Bolt Greensparks
I have a vacation house in Mexico and drive back and forth across the border every week. GAS IS 2.62 A GALLON IN MEXICO! With gas prices topping 4.31 a gallon here in San Diego, it actually makes sense for locals to drive south and fill up because they will be saving 1.30 a gallon or more on gas. A popular attraction just south of the border is the Baja 500 and Baja 1000 race series that start in the city of Ensenada and four wheels across the Baja Peninsula. What you get very used to seeing is caravans of custom race vehicles, pit crew vehicles and trailers all loaded to the gills with extra gas containers to service their race car in the Mexican outback. THESE VEHICLES REGULARLY CROSS THE BORDER BACK AND FORTH WITH AS MUCH AS 100 GALLONS OF EXTRA GAS. Nobody checks or makes an issue out of it. Theoretically, anyone could cross the border with alot of gas containers and drive right through- not sure if there are laws or limits on this but there could be a healthy import business here. American oil and gas refiners are famous for refining custom blends that break down in about 6 weeks. If you've ever gummed up a lawn mower or home generator from non-use (leaving the old gas to break down into some nasty gunky stuff) then you know what I'm talking about. I beleive that gas companies design the gas like this on purpose to stop people from stock piling large quantities at today's prices as a hedge against the future. I'm not sure if Mexican gas is blended the same way BUT IT'S WORTH CHECKING INTO! Don't let anyone tell you that Mexican gas is bad for your engine or some bull. It's the same, they drive the same cars, and the gas has the same octane as the U.S. If we can make it legal for people to buy their prescription medication from Canada shouldn't we pass similar legislation for Americans to be able to import their own gasoline from Mexico? Maybe it's already legal and they'll have to pass a law to make it illegal- citing some kind of saety concerns or other bullcrap. If people start doing this I wager you will see a big stink from the oil companies lead by their puppets in Washington.
Speculation, not shortage driving up prices
WASHINGTON DC. Micheal Greenberger, Former head of the Futures, Commodities and Trade Commission said yesterday, " It is Investment Banks, Hedge Funds and Wealthy Investors that are driving up the price of oil, not OPEC as many suppose." Using a follow the money logic stream, Greenberger enumerates the multiple examples of fear mongering, energy rumor generation and false trades designed to artificially create a market which benefits commodities speculators. Greenberger's efforts at attacking illegal practices through legislation might as well have fallen on deaf ears as the Bush adminsitration refuses to do anything. Since 2001 the deregulatory atmosphere of the commodities market, made so famous by ENRON, allows questionable and unsupervised trading practices to occur with impunity, profit takers are feeding like pigs at the trough as oil prices soar at a pace that outstrips all logic or belief. As the average citizen watches their bank balance dwindle, market profiteers are inflating the price of oil by as much as 35% by some estimates. Every excuse from a small 70,000 barrel a day interruption of a pipeline in Nigeria to refineries undergoing routine maintenance are immediately leveraged as the latest gloom and doom story about oil supply shortages. OPEC themselves have repeatedly emphasized that there is no significant supply shortage. Do Goldman Sachs,MorganStanley and others get a pass when this country is hurting economically worse than ever? The 5 big oil company executives appeared before the Senate judiciary again last week and made it clear that the interests of the American people - and more specifically their economic pain, was not their responsibility. They just want access to more supply off the continental shelf and in the arctic wildlife refuge. No contractual guarantee of lower gas prices was on offer however, if such access was granted. Will it be five dollars a gallon by end of summer as some predict? Diesel fuel has already put the entire trucking industry in a crisis. It looks like this administration has an interest in not declaring a state of economic emergency or "recession" so the gouging by investment banks and big oil can continue indefinately. And what about the economic drain in Iraq? Military oil and gas use is greater than that of the entire US population. Jets, Helicopters and Tanks don't even get one mile per gallon. Is there a relationship here? Leadership means taking responsibility when things go wrong. Responsibility means the ability to respond. Can we even afford to wait until November for a different leader to get a response to this crisis?
New Environmental Photographer: Justin Lee justinleephotography.com
As Earth Week Wraps Up
with various festivals and events across the country one asks, "are we better any off since we started having earth day?". Earth issues awareness is hitting home harder than ever with the cost of energy at the gas pump and in our untility bills closely tied to survival issues of food and making our rent and mortgage payments. Calls for conservation and changes in personal behaviors are making a difference in our air quality, trash at landfills and energy demands but we're not keeping up. Legislation and government policy is sadly lagging behind the needs and pain felt by the average consumer, or worse, is turning a deaf ear to the citizenry while the hole in our national financial bucket called Iraq shows no signs of being plugged anytime soon.
Many have called for a Manhattan Project style effort to address our national energy challenges, which of course, are closely tied to our environmental challenges, and there seems to be a consensus bulding that something major must be done. With energy legislation such as HR 6 stalled in the Senate, and economic stimulus opportunities in energy efficiency continue to be overlooked by a big-oil freindly administration. One can only look forward to a new administration and hope for a change. All three political candidates for our nations highest office have campaigned hard on their fresh approach to energy policy and the environment.
Whoever does get elected, let's hold their feet to the fire.
Washington Considers Release of Strategic Petroleum Reserve By Bart Berry
This week in Washington another house committee on energy debaetd the pros and cons of releasing some or all of the strategic petroleum reserve to help lower gas prices. Rep. Markey (D-Ma) presided over a panel of experts from consumer advocacy, MIT Energy Research fellows, and others who floated various ideas from suspension of gas taxes to switching expensive light crude for less expensive heavier crude reserves. Intentions are to provide a temporary cost reduction in gas prices as was accomplished in the 1980's under a similar release of strategic reserves, With between 50 and 75 million barrels of oil in US strategic oil reserves, price relief would be short lived but would send a message to OPEC and others that the US is not happy with current high prices in the market. Unfortunately, with the extreme demand for oil from developing nations including China and India, US influence over oil production and pricing continues to erode. Interestingly enough, Biofules, long considered to be on the fringe of US energy supply are increasingly accepted in calculations of energy resources we are in fact depending upon more and more. This hearing, once agin, banged the gong of our energy emergency, the need for more energy independence and the hope for a miracle in the short future through technology, drilling in US territory such as Anwar or rapid deployment of other energy alternatives.
Green Energy Could Be Good Bet For Avoiding Recession
The green and clean, renewable, sustainable, and alternative energy sectors have been holding up well under continuing bad news from just about every other segment of the US economy. Green Energy stands out as a bright spot in a otherwise gloomy economic picture. There are good reasons for the strengths in the 'new energy' sectors: Read More..
San Diego Celebrates Earth Day With Over 60,000 Attendees
Toward a bio-economy
TIM HAIG
April 16, 2008 at 10:08 PM EDT
The most significant opportunity confronting the world is the chance to grow beyond oil – to relieve the unhealthy dependency we have developed on fossil fuels and replace a substantial part of our energy mix with renewable biofuels such as biodiesel and ethanol. Read More..
Passive Solar Hot Water Systems Save Energy, and There's No Electricity Bill- What Could Be Easier?Most everyone has experience with passive solar water heating. How many times have you turned on the hose in the yard and nearly burnt yourself with hot water? While you weren't looking, old Sol was quietly working to give you hot water, even Read More..
Passive Solar Design in increasingly popular for commercial building design The best way to save energy is to design the building so you don't use as much. Read more..
American BIG OIL Execs Get 'What for' and Some Sweet Talk From House Select Energy Commitee
April 1 Washington DC Dragged or volunteered, the heads of the big 5 American Oil companies appeared before the House Select Energy Committee today to answer questions about everything from windfall profits and executive salaries to alternative fuels research. Republicans sweet talked their honored guests by sympathizing with their development and exploration cost burdens, excessive taxes and over-regulation by an environmentally sensitive governement. Democrats meanwhile, unleashed a more critical barrage of probing questions while banging the gong for everything ethanol and alternative.
It was true theater as weathered executives from Shell, Exxon, BP, Conoco Phillips, and Chevron danced around questions from various legislators, gave short advocacy speeches, threw in their own share of manure and fell into more than one beartrap. Read More..
Thermal Roof Coatings Achieve R-20, Save Energy Thermal-Ply21 Elastomeric Coating (TPEC), blended with Micro-Cells, was designed and developed to reduce heat for industrial, commercial, agricultural, and residential use. On exterior or interior surfaces, including unprimed and galvanized metal in any climate. As little as .5 to .8 mm of this Glass Sphere Thermal Barrier Liquid Applied Roof Coating, can give savings equal to 152+ millimeters of other types of insulation. Insulation values of R-20 can be realized. Read More..
Time Running Out For Commercial Building Owners and Tenants To Get Their Energy Savings Tax Deductions The Energy Policy Act of 2005 was extended through 2008 for building retrofits affecting HVAC, Lighting, and Building envelope. Tax deductions of up to 1.80 per square foot are available in addition to energy savings from new technology, utility rebates, and other incentives. There is simply no better time Read More..
Life in the 'Burbs: Heavy Costs for Families, Climate
Morning Edition,March 31, 2008 · Millions of Americans have moved to the suburbs in the past 60 years, drawn by the lure of larger houses and cheaper prices. But until recently, few were aware of the impact those choices had on the environment. Read More
Feb 25, 2007 National Governor's Association Hears James Woolsey, Former CIA Director and John Doerr of KPCB Venture Partners on Topic of Emerging Energy Technologies. By Bolt Greensparks
Wooley stressed vulnerability of America's electricity grid to terrorism, transportation dependence on OPEC with 97% of cars utilizing fossil fuel sources. Woolsey urged breaking OPEC's monopoly on transportation energy and a manhattan project/Apollo Project type approach to reinvigorating America's economy through an emphasis on energy independence. A primary strategic direction, according to Woolsey involves the use of plug in electric hybrids that would boost transportation efficiencies by more than 150%.
"We're Borrowing One Billion Dollar A Day To Pay For Our Oil Imports" -James Woolsey, Chairman Paladin Capital Group, Former CIA Director
Early Adopters; The Cost of Buying A Hybrid Car As automobiles become more technologically advanced, they begin to rely more and more on computers. While all vehicles use multiple computers, hybrid cars have raised the bar significantly higher. In fact, recently, the Toyota Prius needed a software upgrade to fix a few lines of buggy code. Suddenly, the automotive world sounds just like the software world. Perhaps soon such upgrades will simply require the Prius, and other hybrids, to connect to the Internet to download future software updates. Read More..
Build Your Own Wind Turbine- What You Need to Know Wind energy is both green and fun, so the idea of building one's own wind turbine is a good one. The following will give you an idea of what is involved and point you toward sources of information on the subject. Read More..
New Solar Panel Developments Of Interest Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) controllers. These new controllers can increase the output of any solar panel by 15-20 percent by trading volts for amps (and vice versa) to adjust the array output to changing conditions (clouds, snow on the ground, the angle of the sun). They also accept high voltage input directly, Read More..
Water Heater - Next to heating and cooling, water heating is the largest energy user in the home. New gas water heaters are very economical. They use less energy and have a faster recovery time than electrical heaters. Many Utilities offer rebates to switch to more energy efficient models.
Energy Tax Credit Bill HR5351 Passes House, Now On To The Senate MyEnergyPlanet.com February 27 By Bart Allen Berry
The latest energy bill, HR5351 features extension of production tax credits and other measures for renewable energy sources such as solar, biofuels and wind energy. Projected to cost 18 billion over ten years, the measure also targets the freezing of manufacturing tax incentives for the five largest oil companies, which Democrats argue they don't need in light of the highest profits ever reported by any corporation in history. Heated debate was fueled by a Republican effort to tie terrorism surveilance legislation to domestic energy issues Read More..
2008 Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell - Car News General Motors' fuel-cell effort is more than vapor.
BY AARON ROBINSON September 2006
General Motors wants the world to know that its efforts to build hydrogen-powered cars are more than just vapor. In 2007, the company plans to put a fleet of 100 fuel-cell sports-utilities on the road, some of which will be given to families for everyday use. It is also continuing work on a surf-board-like vehicle platform called AUTOn-omy that packages the fuel-cell powerplant and its associated batteries and high-pressure hydrogen tanks below the floor. GM plans to build 100 fuel-cell test vehicles in third-quarter of 2007 based on its Chevrolet Equinox mid-size sport-utility. The cars will be assigned to three test markets: New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles for three-month loans to families, business, and policy-makers.
Advantages Of Micro-Hydro Efficient energy source It only takes a small amount of flow (as little as two gallons per minute) or a drop as low as two feet to generate electricity with micro hydro. Electricity can be delivered as far as a mile away to the location where it is being used. Reliable electricity source Hydro produces a continuous supply of electrical energy in comparison to other small-scale renewable technologies. Read More..
Get Electric and Get Legal People who are interested in trimming their reliance on traditional cars are turning towards electric-powered vehicles as a suitable alternative for reliable transportation. Although requirements for emissions, licensing and insurance may be less stringent with these "light vehicles," you will still want to be legal when you drive.
Different categories of light vehicles have different registration and insurance requirements, and these vary from state to state. Read More..
What is Net-Metering? "Net-metering" is a simplified method of metering the energy consumed and produced at a home or business that has its own renewable energy generator, such as a wind turbine. Under net metering, excess electricity produced by the wind turbine will spin the existing home or business electricity meter backwards, effectively banking the electricity until it is needed Read More..
Energy Saving Ultra Compact Candle These ultra long life, extra compact candles are the smallest ever, as well as the healthiest and safest for the environment. Better yet, they are rated for 15,000 hours use and come with a protective silicone sleeve that protects you from shattered glass should the bulb accidentally be broken. All Megaman RoHS compliant bulbs use lead-free soldering and a lead-free glass tube, as well as water-based adhesives to prevent the release of toxic substances during operation. Available in 7w (equivalent to 35w traditional bulb) OR 9w (45w) in warm white (2700k).Rated for an amazing 15,000 hours - that's 15 times the life of a normal bulb!
Real Goods Carlson Solar: Installation of Solar Electric Systems for Residential and Commercial Buildings.
Heart And Solar Energy UnlimitedWe are a Sustainable Lifestyle and Energy Consultancy specializing in Photovoltaic (PV) Solar system leasing and rental for US homeowners. Our line of environmental solutions includes energy efficient products designed to encourage minimal use of natural resources, while providing the consumer with superior satisfaction and performance.
Alliance Engineers Green, LEED, Mechanical Engineering San Diego and Southern California Area
San Diego Energy Rebate Utility Rebate Processing, Energy Policy Act Federal Tax Deduction Certification
BSE Engineering Specializing in Electrical Engineering, Lighting Design of Public and Commercial Buildings/Schools, Fire Systems, Communication and Data, Industrial and Commercial Power Systems
Lighting Technology Services Full Service Lighting Management Company Specializing in Commercial lighting, energy efficiency retrofits
McBride Electric Energy Conservation, Technology Rollouts, Critical Systems
Solar System For Sale. Moving to Chicago, selling ranch. 12 panels, suntracker, all up to date battery system etc. $11,000 OBO 888-341-7484 Robin.
57 Chrysler Imperial Converted to Propane. Clean Body and Interior, runs great. Drive big iron at smart car mpg. Make Offer Georgek@gmail.com
GE Profile 25 cu ft side-by-side refrigerator-freezer. Almond. 36w x 68h x 30d Very good working condition. $200 GE Profile 30" gas range. Very good working condition. Almond. $200. Sold separately or together. 626-242-3802
Brita Hot and Cold Water Station $50. All you have to do is fill the water jug with tap water from your sink and the 2 Brita filters inside do the rest! Simply pull the cold or hot lever and you have nice, clean, filtered water any time! PLus, there are 3 hot settings and 3 cold settings! Measurements: 4 ft tall 10" wide 8" deep Call with questions or to come check it out 310-666-2201 Ask for Nicki
Top Of Pole Racks For 6 sq-75 Modules These are brand new Top-of-Pole racks There are (3) Three racks available, take one or all your choice. One rack has been opened and looked at and the other two have never been out of the original boxes. If you have Shell or Solar World modules, or if you are willing to re-drill the racks for other modules (the modules are about the same size as many other modules of this wattage range) you can have brand new Power-Fab racks at way less than wholesale! List Pricing on these racks are $920.00 each. Requires purchase of a new or used 6 inch schedule 40 mounting pipe (purchased locally). Schedule 40 pipe is 6.625 inches outside diameter, so the gimble fits over this size pipe only. Call Tom for mounting tips 888-826-0939. FOB Utah. Can ship UPS to your location, 1 rack is 4 boxes or can ship truck freight (Cheaper) if you want all three racks 499. ech plus freight.
"If we want to be responsible for all forms of life in this generation and the next...we need to act" Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman Intergovernmental Climate Change and Nobel Peach Prize Winner
Time Running Out For Commercial Building Owners and Tenants To Get Their Energy Savings Tax Deductions
Feb 25, 2007 National Governor's Association Hears James Woolsey, Former CIA Director and John Doerr of KPCB Venture Partners on Topic of Emerging Energy Technologies.
