Luft calls for open fuel standard to break oil dependency, promote competition in fuel sector… video
Is an open fuel standard the answer to ending the United State’s dependency on foreign oil? Should the market be given the opportunity to choose which fuel to use? During today’s OnPoint, Gal Luft, executive director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security and co-founder of the Set America Free Coalition, explains why he believes an open fuel standard is the most viable option for our future transportation fuel policy. He discusses OPEC’s influence on current energy prices and analyzes the energy plan recently proposed by oilman T. Boone Pickens. Luft explains why he believes relying on natural gas to fuel our vehicles, as Pickens has suggested, would essentially create a new dependency issue for the U.S..
If you prefer to read, here is the transcript

Some very good points in this interview.

Peace,
Bruce

This is a very interesting article that is addressing exactly the same issues we are facing here in the US with moving toward decentralized energy distribution. Note the bold text below. It is exactly what Rob, myself and others have been saying about decentralized renewable energy.

In-joy,
Bruce

excerpts from:

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Will Renewables Trump Nuclear in Ontario?
by Stephen Lacey, Staff Writer and Lily Riahi, Correspondent
Ontario, Canada [RenewableEnergyWorld.com] July 2, 2008

In Canada these days, it’s almost impossible to talk about renewable energy without talking about nuclear power. With the recent freezing of Ontario’s Renewable Energy Payment (REP) system and a proposal from the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) to procure 14,000 megawatts (MW) of nuclear power over the coming decades, many in the industry question whether politicians and regulators in the province are serious about developing renewable energy.

Now Ontario — considered Canada’s most progressive renewable energy market — has become a staging ground for a philosophical war over how to develop the future energy market. The battle cry from the renewable energy industry was sounded at the World Wind Energy Conference in Kingston, Ontario last week, as advocates and businesses called on the OPA and government officials to make distributed generation a priority over centralized generation.

To illustrate that nuclear does not have to play such a prominent role, OSEA has rolled out a Green Energy Act campaign to raise awareness about the possibility of Ontario meeting 100 percent of its electricity demand from renewable resources within the same time frame proposed in the recent IPSP. But only when renewables are made a priority over nuclear can the province achieve such an ambitious goal, say advocates of the Green Energy Act.

“The government priorities are a bit puzzling. You wonder why renewable energy acquisition is put on hold while at the same time big announcements are made about nuclear energy,” said CANREA’s Peters. “It’s a bit difficult to understand how the government can say that renewable energy is the cornerstone of a good policy, while at the same time make such big investments in nuclear.”

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Full Article

Here are a few new discussions on Renewable Energy & Peak Oil…. very interesting.

Keep in mind the whole point of identifying the Peak OIl situation is to motivate us toward taking action with solutions. Debating and getting mired in the problem solves nothing

No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it. - Albert Einstein

Peace,

Bruce

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With Amory Lovins, Randy Udall, Marvin Odum. Moderated by Jack Riggs. The Aspen Institute and National Geographic magazine host the first ever Aspen Environment Forum, in Aspen, Colorado—a powerful, three-day exchange examining the future of our shared environment.

Aspen Environment Forum

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Here is a wonderful education in the explanation of peak oil from a congress man.

This part 1 of an 8 part series..

Congressman Roscoe Bartlett on Peak Oil [Part 1]

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Dr. Hirsch Discusses Peak Oil on CNBC

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T. Boone Pickens (a Texas Oil Man) on CNBC Discussing Peak Oil, Wind & Solar and cleaning up coal. 5/20/2008

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This REPORT:

Freeing the Grid, report no. 02-07, November 2007

is an excellent resource for understanding the net-metering changes happening accross the country.

Here is an excerpt:

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“Since the 2006 edition of Freeing the Grid, there have been great strides in bringing more clean energy to the grid. Many states have taken the lead with reforming their clean energy policies and goals. But we are still far from conquering the “Energy Trilemma”—a world of energy strained by the three forces: financial stress, environmental constraints and security risks.

As a former rate-regulator, I know it is a tough situation when a utility comes to say, “We need to increase rates to cover new investments in transmission and distribution.” So, when we have a chance to recruit and encourage folks who will install their own small, clean generation that serves its own load, the message is: “Many hands make lighter work; welcome to the task that we all face!”

In this 2007 edition, the Network for New Energy Choices teamed up with the Solar Alliance, the Vote Solar Initiative, and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council to bring the most up-to-date analysis of statewide interconnection standards and net-metering rules. These groups, in the forefront of the field, bring with them more than twenty-five years in institutional experience to draw on best policies and practices.

What are some of the key lessons of this edition?

••• States are taking up the challenge of meeting our national needs; Colorado and Pennsylvania have joined New Jersey in the top ranks of net-metering rules.

••• Interconnection standards and good net-metering policies are vital parts of a larger effort to supplement our current centralized, fossil-fired, electric grid with clean, secure, and cost-effective energy resources. States that have poor net-metering rules and interconnection standards are essentially telling the clean energy industry—with its great potential for job creation—that they are, “Closed for Business”.

••• States can take on the best practices, detailed within, to ensure success in fulfilling clean energy goals.

••• Last, but certainly not least, to encourage, not discourage, small, clean, distributed investments that can help on all three fronts of our energy trilemma—finance, environment, and security.

As we think back on the past year, it is important to remember that each state still needs the tools offered here. So my message, to the legislatures and commissions, is: “Let’s put these tools and lessons to work now.”

By Michael Dworkin
Professor of law and director of the Institute for Energy and the
Environment at Vermont Law School, has also been a litigator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a management partner in an engineering firm, and a utility regulator. Professor Dworkin was chair of the Vermont Public Service Board from 1999 to 2005, and he chaired the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ (NARUC)
Committee on Energy Resources & the Environment. Michael is now a non-utility trustee of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and was elected to the board of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE).
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