Sustainable Depends Upon Comprehension of Sustainance.

Tokelau is getting a solar-and-palm oil energy generation scheme, funded by a few million dollars from New Zealand. It will be rotten and dead and forgotten within a decade and Tokelau will be back on diesel, and the "environmentally-conscious" people who stole the $6M from the good people of NZ will have forgotten all about it (unless they send a full-time bureaucracy to maintain this madness).

But, until it all turns solid rust-brown and the coconuts are stolen to feed the children, look how very sustainable it all is!

Good News is Bad News

The good news: Gas is getting cheaper

The bad news: because nobody is using it, because the economy is in the tank. Still.

Unexpectedly!


Click the image to go to the full story

The Very Question!

"What is left? If the government can do this what else can it not do?" Justice A. Scalia March 27, 2012

I cannot say how glad I was to hear with my own ears that this question was asked by one of the 9 black robed figures. Still, I pray.

********

Say all you like that health care payment is a nationwide problem, but it is still not a national problem. The payment by an individual, for the services rendered by a private company, in one State, is an individual matter - or at the most, a State matter. There is no-where a place for the federal Government to stick its nose in this business.

Hold on there

If it's a national problem, why then prior to Obamacare are we FORBIDDEN to commit ourselves to INTERSTATE COMMERCE and buy health care payment insurance across state lines?

****

I think one way to look at this set of cases is as follows: If Obamacare's individual mandate part is tossed out by the supreme Court, it is a net neutral for the 2012 election. A dramatic example of how the President is a Communist who doesn't know anything about America is offset by the national press corps telling you the REPUBLICANS STOLE YOUR HEALTH!!!!1! So, then, the election will be decided based on the price of a gallon of gasoline. Pre-election gas price drop in October in 3...2... Oh, did you not hear about the Saudis sending us a "wall of oil" because suddenly them making a profit is a problem? Let's review again, on whose watch the price of gas recently doubled, and who has prevented us from getting away from imported oil recently? Hmm....

What Goes Up, Dead Cat Edition

Long-time readers will recall that the current state of our national economy is described by experts* as "in the middle of a Dead Cat Bounce." It can be hard to make that point to people when the President is cheerleading a falling unemployment rate** but here it is in chart form:

Gasoline, that people use to get to work and back, is statistically off a cliff.



Yeah, and?

Some people might say the reason people use less gas in this extreme is that people are losing their jobs and/or stopping working in huge numbers . . . regardless of the unemployment rate published by somebody looking to get re-elected this year.

********

* that would be me
**fewer workers in the labor force = lower unemployment rate. More people by tens of millions but fewer counted "workers" than there were a decade ago. Lower unemployment just like that.

Well, Isn't This Cozy?

Disclaimer: it just smells funny is all. The timing of the events that look suspicious may be off and it's legit when you time it all out properly; and he might have legitmately got the job anyway without being on the Austin City Council, I don't know . . .

But isn't it iiiinteresting how Brewster McCracken is now the bighigh mucketymuck at the Pecan Street Solar Project after they got a choice spot in Austin and a bunch of grant dollars to develop their Next Big Ideas?

. . . I'm just sayin . . .

I Did It!

I actually conserved electricity on purpose today.

Yesterday the radio news said the local electrical generation stations were cranked up to 100% of capacity and they barely avoided rolling brownouts. Today they thought we might not avoid brownouts, so would everyone please conserve energy between 15:00 and 19:00? And I did.

Because rolling brownouts when you want A/C STINKS.

Self-interest: more powerful motivation than economics or the greater good.

********
If the Obama administration had their way, we'd have been in rolling BLACKouts for days already, and next year we just might be, thanks to EPA regulations coming soon to Texas

. . . because Texas hates Obama and the feeling is mutual.

hat tip: Instapundit

The Rent Gas Is Too D--n High!

. . . remembering all the while that the current price of gasoline and the slow increase to it were the desire of President Obama all the time . . .

The following was sent with slight variation to all three of my Elected Heroes in the District of Columbia:

Dear Personrichenoughtobuyanelection,

What else are we to think, but that this is intentional?

The price of gasoline is eating my budget. I suppose it sounds like small change to someone whose gas and airfare are paid by the electorate instead of his own pocketbook, but $3.50/gallon for regular unleaded hurts.

Alaskan oil if properly tapped could make Alaska the 8th largest oil producer in the world, but we do not drill for it. Then there are the oil sands in the interior and very well-proven reserves in the shallows of the Gulf of Mexico. We have more than all the oil we need to meet demand while other, cleaner technology is being brought online. The only thing between me a reasonable cost of oil (and therefore gasoline) . . . is the American government!

The American government, in the name of the environment, is intentionally supporting artificially high gas prices. The effect is that people with little enough money are losing more and more disposable (and sometimes not so disposable) income to their gas tanks to go to work and back. And the taxes continue to crush us as well.

What else are we to think, but that this is intentional?

Gasoline Prices Rule Of Thumb: Confirmed!

Mish has access to charts I could only wish to have, and he pulled a couple as part of his Gas Price Seasonality, Where to from Here? posting.

Here they are, out of context:

Crude oil prices:



Gasoline prices:



And an overlay for those who missed the correlation:



It is nice to finally have graphical representation of me being right: My rule of thumb is (mostly) valid.Every $25 to $30 on the price of a barrel of oil gives you about $1 on the price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline after a very short delay.

Click any of those charts to see them full-sized. A big ol' hat tip to Michael Shedlock for the first two.

Gas Prices: Where Is The Outrage?

President Obama is getting his wish. He said he wanted gasoline prices to go to $4/gallon gradually (so it's not such a shock), and here we are creeping up through $3/gallon again. As the leftists in the press have their hero in office right now, this is not a problem like it was when the other guy's ox stood to be gored. Government interference with the energy market is screwing up the prices we pay for oil and gas. Still. This toying with our pocketbooks is something for which I previously criticized President Bush; but the treat-the-people-like-they're-stupid tactic has been brought out yet again. So, yet again, I will criticize.

The Department of the Interior says they will allow some drilling for oil to resume. The economy will take off like a shot now, surely!

Hold on there.

This is how the leftists try to convince the Useful Idiots out there that someone in D.C. has a clue what should be done. What should be done is briefly summed up as "Drill here, drill now, pay less" but there is a problem with that strategy. The problem is that the Democrats in Congress are beholden to watermelon environmentalist pressure groups. We CANNOT allow drilling here, now, for lower energy prices, because it prevents Democrats being supported by the leftist environmentalist-whacko base demographic. So what we'll do instead of "Something" is put out statements which sound nice but will have little short-term benefit.

When you tell a giant monster mega oil company they can't drill for oil anymore, they take their half-million-dollars-a-day-whether-they-are-drilling-or-not drilling platform somewhere they can, you know, actually drill. Scheduling this takes many many months. For Uncle to suddenly turn around and say "just kidding, come drill again!" will lead to relatively little effort in the short-term. Not only is it hideously expensive and time-consuming to relocate and start up a drilling rig, the payout is long-term. The roughnecks sometimes have to keep drilling for a while to produce a winner. It is even possible, if Exxon (or whoever) thinks Interior will turn right around and kick them off their oil lease again in six months

they
won't
bother

coming back. But you rubes in flyover country will hear that President Obama tried to get the oil companies to come play again but they wouldn't. The press can then whip up your feverish little mind to blame the Republicans now (closer to being) in power, and the Democrats escape blame for the damage their policies do. Great success!

Don't fall for it. Remember next November: incumbent politicians from BOTH parties allow the moratoria on new drilling to continue, year after year. Energy security? Is that a lobbying group?

Vote the bums out.

********

(spin)
In Related news, President Obama has failed yet again to live up to his promises to the environmental movement, and declared he will allow deep water oil drilling just like the Deepwater Horizon was doing before it blew up in the gulf . . .

Texas Attorney General Abbot Writes Like Me? Nice.

Attorney General Greg Abbot and Dr. Bryan Shaw, head of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality are pulling no punches when it comes to the discussion about the EPA trying to crush the economy of hick cowboy redneckland regulate CO2 emissions down in Texas. The opening paragraphs:

"In order to deter challenges to your plan for centralized control of industrial development through the issuance of permits for greenhouse gases, you have called upon each state to declare its allegiance to the Environmental Protection Agency's recently enacted greenhouse gas regulations - regulations that are plainly contrary to United States Law. 75 Fed. Reg. 31,514, 31,525, & 31,582 (June 3, 2010) (hereinafter, the "Tailoring Rule"). To encourage acquiescence with your unsupported findings you threaten to usurp state enforcement authority and to federalize the permitting program of any state that fails to pledge their fealty to the Environmental Protection agency (EPA).

"On behalf of the State of Texas, we write to inform you that Texas has neither the authority nor the intention of interpreting, ignoring, or amending its laws in order to compel the permitting of greenhouse gas emissions"

And a few other highlights:

"Notably absent from your rules is any evidence that they would achieve specific results; in fact, you assiduously (and correctly) avoid ascribing what environmental benefit may be achieved by mandating permits to emit a uniformly distributed, trace constituent of clean air, vital to all life, that is emitted by all productive activities on earth."
. . .
"Your view is not enough. Applicable law provides to the contrary."
. . .
"In other words, you have asked Texas to agree that when it promulgated its air quality permitting program rules for pollutants "subject to regulation" in 1993, that Texas really meant to define the term "subject to regulation" as set forth in the dozens of paragraphs and subparagraphs of EPA Rule 51.166, first promulgated in 2010."
. . .
"EPA has shown no intention of following the Clean Air Act procedures . . . ."
. . .
"Each of these objections to EPA's demand for a loyalty oath from the State of Texas would suffice to justify our refusal to make one. Indeed, it is an affront to the congressionally-established judicial review process for EPA to force states to pledge allegiance to its rules (or forfeit their right to permit) on the final day by which states must exercise their statutory right to challenge those same rules. Texas will not facilitate EPA's apparent attempt to thwart these established procedures and ignore the law. In the event a court concludes EPA's actions comport with the law, Texas specifically reserves and does not waive any rights under the federal Clean Air Act or any other law with respect to the issues raised herein."

They also note that EPA seems to be saying they can regulate CO2 because they feel like it, because just following the law would mean they couldn't regulate CO2. They assert that the whole shebang is (to paraphrase) beside the point, because the rules the EPA put out regulating CO2 emissions were not properly adopted in the first place (and therefore void). Indeed, they come right out and say the EPA got the whole thing exactly bass-ackwards and is trying to make an end-run around Congress! It's truly astonishing stuff. It kinda sounds like the stuff secessions are made of, but Pretty Boy Rick Perry seems not to be a fan of that (yet).

The trial lawyers of America were set for the next decade or so, the moment President Obama was sworn into office. Stuff like this is going to be tying up the federal court system for years, if not generations. It is my sincere hope that Texas will lead the way (or at least be in the van) when it comes to ignoring the illegal attempts of the leftist watermelons in the Obama administration to run the country just how they like, laws to the contrary notwithstanding.

********
All emphasis is mine.

Tip of the 10-gallon hat to Uncle

The Little Things That Make Big Differences.

How about a retrofit for your jumbo jet's wingtips that saves 600,000 gallons of jet fuel, per year, per airplane? Consider how small a change this is, then have a look at half the reason your old pickup only gets 13MPG:



Even the vaunted Prius has about a zillion little drag points underneath it.



Mythbusters added 800lbs of dimpled clay to a Ford Taurus and got ~10% better fuel economy. That's not exactly a "little thing" but it does prove a point.

What's your point, VFD?

It took legislators bullying them to do it, but finally OEMs are budging a little. With two relatively minor changes, Ford bumped a heavy pickup's fuel economy ~10% and nobody died because the thing had to me made lighter/weaker so it crumples like a tin can to achieve the difference.

Next time you hear someone complaining about CAFE standards being increased by the watermelons in D.C. (to include ME being the complainer) remember: making a car lighter is not the only, and not even the easiest, way to dramatically improve fuel economy. With the frikken ridiculous new CAFE standards recently passed into law by the watermelons in D.C., I suppose this sort of thing will be increasingly popular with car makers.

Good.

Solar Powerplant In/For Pflugerville . . . Qui Bono?

I am not sure who benefits how, exactly, but some investors in India have agreed to part with their money. A 600-acre plot of land near the city (my the city) is going to be made into a power plant. Not a nuclear plant, where the M would be a G, but a 60MW solar plant. Acres and acres of glass gathering the sunlight. The City and the ISD want in on that "Green Energy" action, and the company somehow thinks they are going to make money by GIVING away three-quarters of a BILLION dollars worth of equipment. The city won't annex (read: tax) the land, but the investors will pay the city a couple of million dollars for Pflugerville being such swell cats.

Leaving aside for the moment that mass-produced solar panels still take more energy to make than they will ever produce, this sounds all well and good. One supposes they will make money by selling the electricity generated by God shining the sun on the panels. Good jobs will be available while the place is being built (5 permanent jobs when it is up and running). But I just can't help but wonder if those investors in India, the City of Pflugerville, or both, are being screwed over without realizing it (yet).

We'll see, I suppose.

Lawsuit!

The people who are without a job since the moratorium on deep water exploratory oil drilling was arbitrarily imposed by President Obama have filed a lawsuit. They claim that the moritorium was arbitrarily imposed, and will lead to the loss of many jobs.

The government calls their claims speculative.

Environmentalists Fighting Environmentalists

It makes me smile.

San Diego, California is one of those parts of the world where the watermelons and NIMBYs would never allow construction of a power plant of any sort. Transmission lines for power to the area are at very near full capacity, and the population is growing.

So build a new transmission line, right? How hard was that? I mean, you can put wind farms, solar farms, and dams where they will [deleted] up somebody else's view of the ocean, and you get the electricity through the new wire! WIN!

Except that you have to get approval from the forest service before you can build the transmission line. And they're worried about bambi's reaction to the construction.

FAIL. haha.

NATO Gives Iran Enriched Uranium?!!

For Iran to meet with Brazil and Turkey and come to this agreement is a disparaging gesture toward President Obama. and I hope the news hits Barry like a sack of bricks.

********

Related stories? You decide. Nato unveils new mission statement that involves keeping Iran from developing the bomb. Iran comes to an agreement in talks with Brazil and Turkey on the disposition of its low enriched uranium.

So, we are going to allow this? Or are we going to be the world's Nanny In Chief some more? Iran has agreed to give up 3.5% enriched uranium to be held out of country, in exchange for 20% enriched uranium ostensibly "for peaceful purposes" to run a reactor making chemotherapy poison. This is the part where we all are supposed to breathe a sigh of relief because for some reason Iran is supposed to be unable to convert this 20% Uranium to 90%. Color me skeptical.

The next couple of years will be veeeeeeery interesting, when it comes to what happens with this deal, and what happens to all that Uranium.

AtticFoil.com Radiant Barrier Sample: Wow.

Regular readers will know I have been hurting for a radiant barrier in my attic this summer. I finally ordered a free sample of the only thing they sell at AtticFoil.com: heavy weight attic radiant barrier material. I expected to be underwhelmed. I figured all the positive stuff they have on their website was just spin to sell their junk.

I. Was. Wrong.

I was considering using plain aluminum foil (from Costco) and stapling it up between the rafters in my attic. I was, to put it mildly, skeptical of the high praise AtticFoil has for their own product. I mean, how tough can you really make aluminum foil?

The sample came and I put it to the test straight out of the envelope by grabbing a fistful on either end and yanking a little. Aluminum foil would have split immediately, and the AtticFoil sample held. I yanked harder, and then I tugged on it as hard as I could, trying to use my back muscles to pull this stuff apart. Then I smoothed it out again and it was a tiny bit stretched-out. This stuff is nails.

Okay, so it's tough, says I, but how does it cut? My knife says it cuts like butter. Surely that means it will tear, right? HA! You couldn't tear this stuff if you tried. I slit my sample and tugged on both sides of the cut. I had to put a pretty good effort in, but I finally got the weave to start pulling apart.

Hold on there.

The weave? Yeah, the weave. This stuff is made of Aluminium that is somehow bonded to plastic strips and woven tight. Each strip is frikken strong, so the finished product is strong as all get-out.

So I did the only logical next thing to do: I measured my roof and figured out I have a couple-few hundred dollars that need to be worked in to the family budget. You can do your own comparison shopping as easily as I can, but the prices at AtticFoil.com will take some doing to beat.

********

Man, I just proof-read this post and I sound like an AtticFoil.com sales weasel! Well, there it is. Before you accuse me of being a shill, I'll go ahead and say "I ain't one." I'm getting this stuff for my own use as soon as I can afford it. If you are still skeptical, you might consider this post where I deprecated a product the sale of which would benefit me personally, financially, or this post where I review something I paid money for and the manufacturer doesn't even know I exist.

Gas At $1 Coming Soon?

"That is the largest and longest continuous glut of supply that I have seen in 30 years of following energy prices . . . It's a huge surplus. There has never been anything like it."
-Philip Verlerger, expert on energy markets at the University of Calgary

There is now serious talk of $20 and $30 oil coming our way because of huge excess oil inventories stored around the world. One of the commenters at Naked Capitalism points out that China is (wisely) taking an opposite tack to what the fools in D.C. are doing, and buying oil while the buying is cheap. Every nation in the world should be trying to increase their strategic petroleum reserves, not talking about selling them off in a misguided attempt to relieve momentary price spikes!

Gee, I wish somebody, anybody, could have seen the low oil prices coming. Oh, wait.

By the way, according to my rule of thumb, oil in the $20 to $30 range will get us gasoline at ONE DOLLAR per gallon. At that price point, federal and state taxes start making my rule break down a little, but it's still "close enough for horse shoes and hand grenades."

Keen observers will note that falling fuel prices will probably spur economic development just as the "stimulus" package spending really kicks off. These two factors will combine to form an illusory 'recovery' in the economy. Don't worry, pessimists. When the work (NOT jobs) created by the stimulus package dries up, the economy will dry up again as well, and then we're STILL left with huge overcapacity in every sector of the international economy except energy, and there will follow a possibly-very-nasty Double Dip. MIchael Shedlock already made the call for a triple-dip in 2010 or 2011. We'll see.

Ships Run On Oil, Why Again?

The world's giant container ships with engines bigger than your house that burn (basically) asphalt for fuel, pollute more than a car that runs on propane. Who knew?

Interesting snippet: The USN has accumulated over 5400 "reactor years" of accident free experience and currently opreates more than 80 nuclear powered ships. Yes, nuclear powered. As in, a nuclear reactor or six in the hold of the ship. Instead of burning tar, they burn nothing, emit no pollution, and need refueling at decades-long intervals. Of course the watermelon fascists hate nuclear energy for a variety of reasons, but for the shipping companies, aside from the initial cost equipment and ongoing training of operators, we must ask:

Why not go nuclear?

Gas Prices: On The Money.

Note the historical price of gas: Adjusted for inflation, it has cost just under $2/gal. for the past couple of decades, excluding a couple of major spikes. That is, for the whole of the time I've been paying attention, the price of a gallon of gasoline has bought about the same amount of stuff.

Right now, gas costs. . . just under two dollars a gallon. I have been having the feeling recently that it was a good price for gas to be, but now my hunch is looking even better considering the price of gas vs. the value of a dollar. This chart from calculatedrisk is talking about oil recovery (drilling) investment in the US, but I think you are all smart enough to see blue the gasoline price trendline I'm talking about. Click the image to see it full size.



By the way, my rule of thumb for gas prices relative to oil prices is also holding up pretty well. Right now we're just about $47/barrel.

1GW of Free Electricity From the Ocean

Ho-hum. Hey Austin how about something more like this here than inefficient solar panels that take more energy to make than they produce?

The device sits on a coastal seabed and moves with waves. It drives a piston that forces water up to an onshore station to turn a conventional generator. No heating, no polluting, just reuse of an infinitely self-renewing resource.

Also a good way to save a beach, it would seem to me.

Wow.