I really do love the coverage in the “Financial Times.” It goes deeper than a lot of sources to give you stories that really mean something, rather than just the latest media frenzy over some political brouhaha or celebrity gossip. It also lives in the critical interface between commerce, public policy and international relations. (You may need to register. If so, go here. You get 30 articles a month for free.)
Oil Sands – Here’s a bit of a bombshell: The new energy law that the US passed in December may bar the US government’s purchase of petroleum from Canadian oil sands. Canada warns US over oil sands is the recent “FT” headline. The story says that a “narrow interpretation” of The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, section 526 to be precise, would limit government procurement of alternative fuels that have lifecycle GHG emissions greater than conventional fuels, as oil-sand derived petroleum clearly does. (Elizabeth Kolbert, the pathbreaking “New Yorker” writer, had a characteristically great article, Unconventional Crude, on the Alberta tar sands in November.) The “FT” has even given us a copy of the letter from the Canadian ambassador in Washington to DOD Secretary Robert Gates, cc: the US secretaries of Energy and State. One energy expert said: “The Canadians do, in fact, have something to worry about, particularly from a Democratic administration.” A Canadian authority said: “Classifying fuel from the oil sands as non-conventional fuel … would unnecessarily complicate the integrated Canada-US energy relationship.” Yeah, but it might improve the world’s chances of avoiding catastrophic climate change. Does that count?
Jatropha – I’ve been pointing out studies that pinpoint biofuels as another badly misplaced priority , except, of course, for those making a great honking profit and the elected officials that profit politically from furthering bad policy. (See any number of posts under Biofuels and Agriculture.) The “FT” has a good piece on a non-edible plant that thrives on generally non-arable land: India finds cheap energy may be an easy nut to crack. (I wrote about jatropha’s promise here in September.) India hopes to radically accelerate the cultivation of jatropha for biodiesel over the next several years. The pilot projects they’ve been doing have been successful and, not surprisingly, they have no wish to displace food crops from productive land for biofuels cultivation, a strategy that has been increasingly identified as a recipe for disaster on several fronts. Shailendra Shukla, director of Chhattisgarh Renewable Energy Development Authority, is quoted: “If you’re growing soya for biodiesel, you’re wasting your time, money and land.” The project is also about providing power to the countryside. As the article says, “Alternative energy dovetails with the government’s aims to develop rural areas – including electrifying villages – to narrow a widening divide between rural and urban India.”
Gas Flaring – This is nearly universally practiced in the oil industry, yet it wastes truly enormous amounts of energy and adds prodigious amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. ( I wrote about this in September here. The post also includes a very instructive video from the World Bank’s Global Gas Flaring Reduction.) Qatar, Kuwait and Oman, according to the “FT” here, are getting on board the World Bank’s program. The total annual loading worldwide is 150bn cubic meters, producing 400m tons of CO2. “The three Gulf states set to join the World Bank’s partnership together contribute 7bn cubic metres a year ” Not chopped liver.
