Thursday, December 30th, 2010
SUSAN KRAEMER, - Clean Technica
Stephan: Green energy, and independence from oil can be achieved, it just takes political will. Some nations have it, others do not.
Those canny wee Scots! They know how to save money with fuel-free energy, that decade after decade, has a fuel cost of absolutely zero! The small nation combines great engineering aptitude with some of the most ambitious climate legislation in the world. A frugal understanding that investing in new energy now saves money over the long haul doesn’t hurt either.
Stunning new renewable deployment statistics out from the Scottish government reveals that the small nation is easily making its goals.
As of 2009, renewables already met more than 27% of its electricity use.
As of this year, with 7 Gigawatts of renewable power online or in process, Scotland is on target to meet its ambitious goal of getting 31% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2011, and a staggering 80% by 2020, thirty years ahead of the world.
Not only was the nation able to meet its own target but it also exported 24% to the UK, contributing to a sustainable economic growth with green jobs to match. Renewable energy production grew by 20% overall in 2009 to 10,744 Gigawatt hours, which included a 37% rise in wind, solar and wave energy.
The Scottish Government’s next target is to meet 80% of electricity demand […]
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Thursday, December 30th, 2010
MARION GOLDIN and MIKE CURZAN, - Politico
Stephan: It should be clear now, to even the dimmest, that American corporations do not have as a goal creating American employment. In this last year they have created less than a million jobs in the U.S. and 1.3 million aboard. Many of them also pay no income tax. So if we are going to stop America's precipitous decline, it is going to require a new approach, American based, and American built. Here is one possible way to do it using the railroads.
We should all be clear the only thing that is going to get this implemented properly is public funding of campaigns and elections and draconian punishments for those corporations that break the rules.
The leverage point upon which all social progressives should focus their attention is pressing to see public funding of the entire election process. Nothing is going to happen until the special interest money is taken out of the equation.
Myron P. Curzan is the chief executive officer of UniDev LLC. He served as a legislative assistant for the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. Marion Goldin won an Emmy as producer for '60 Minutes.
What would it take finally to get serious about rebuilding America?
Another Minnesota bridge collapse, with 13 lives lost? Another gas-line explosion in San Bruno, Calif., with an entire community decimated? Another colossal levee failure, like the one that devastated New Orleans? While America falls apart, successive administrations fiddle. Officials wring their hands over our deteriorating infrastructure but profess powerlessness in the face of the monumental task.
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There is, however, a smart way to approach this enduring problem – a bold and comprehensive plan to attack our crumbling bridges, railroads, dams, and water, sewer and power lines as well as our energy grid. All funded by new, special-issue Rebuilding Infrastructure Bonds.
This program could put America back to work. It could create more than 315,000 meaningful, long-term jobs in its first full year – with the number increasing each year, as additional projects are brought on-line. Over the life of this program, we estimate that more than 1 million jobs would be created, assuming that each project ran an average of three years.
The strength of this plan is that it is long term. It would extend at least 10 years, offering real, stable jobs – not temporary, make-work ones. It would […]
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Thursday, December 30th, 2010
BENOIT LEBOURGEOIS, - Los Angeles Times
Stephan: Here's more about the explosion of high-speed trains. Trains in the U.S. average 59 miles per hour, when you can find a passenger train that runs at all.
Train travelers can zip from Helsinki, Finland, to St. Petersburg, Russia, in less than four hours, thanks to a new high-speed rail service.
Finnish President Tarja Halonen and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin last week inaugurated the new route, the first such link to cross the former Iron Curtain. With top speeds of 140 miles per hour, the new Allegro train shrinks the 250-mile journey from five-and-a-half hours to about three-and-a-half hours.
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Round-trip fares sold by Rail Europe, (800) 622-8600, which markets the tickets to U.S. customers, start at $209 in second class and $322 in first class, which includes a newspaper, snack and coffee or tea. You can reserve up to two months in advance.
Engineers for the new service, a joint venture between VR Group (Finnish Railways) and Russian Railways, faced a number of challenges. They had to design the new locomotives and cars to cope with system incompatibilities between the two countries on signals, electrical current and even platform height.
Border control is handled on board, but the visa necessary to enter Russia must be secured ahead of time.
Two trains leave Helsinki daily, at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Return service leaves St. Petersburg daily at 6:40 a.m. and 3:25 […]
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Thursday, December 30th, 2010
Stephan: Yet another country planning high speed rail. Obama tried to get high speed rail started but Republicans in Congress as well as several Republican governors are trying as hard as they can to block it, or refuse to use it. There is no capacity in the conservative Federal vision for placing the interests of the country above ideology and party. Meanwhile the Chinese are building all over the world. As things are going we will be buying our locomotives, cars, and other rolling stock from China. It is hard to catch up, and it becomes cheaper not to. To let somebody else do it. And just buy what they produce. That's going to be a very different America. And we are getting very close to the tipping point.
BEIJING — China will not dance alone to the music of quick tempo.
The Lao National Assembly last week gave its permission to a plan of high-speed railway construction linking China to its capital of Vientiane. The project, 421 km in length, will be launched in April 2011.
This followed Thailand’s approval of a negotiation framework for a project for Thailand-China cooperation on high-speed railway in October.
Over the years, China has been a focus of world attention in high-speed railway with it trains continuously setting new speed records in test runs. It also enjoyed applause around the world as its ‘going global’ policy for domestic enterprises has formed perfect match-up with some countries’ desire to build their own high-speed railways, which are expected to boost economic and social development.
Apart from a high-speed railway system linking Kunming in China’s Yunnan Province, Vientiane of Laos and Singapore, Chinese companies were also assisting the metro rail project in Mecca in Saudi Arabia, and the Tinaco-Anaco railroad in mid-western Venezuela. They will also participate in the high-speed railroads building in Turkey.
Meanwhile, China, with both Russia and Belarus, is also studying the feasibility of constructing a railway system to connect Moscow and Minsk.
Since 2003, China has signed […]
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Wednesday, December 29th, 2010
Stephan: You ask yourself: How can a man this grotesque get elected to Congress? Didn't somebody, somewhere along the line look at him and say, 'No, this won't do.' Or is Ralph Hall exactly what the people of his district actually want? Certainly Big Oil wants him. His quote is so very strange, and I was particularly struck by its latent sexuality. It is a quote worthy of Dr. Strangelove.
Incoming House Science Chair Rep. Ralph Hall (R-Texas) plans to put big oil back in charge of his committee. In an interview with the Dallas Morning News this month, the climate zombie declared his intention to use the House Science and Technology Committee to investigate the ‘false statements’ of climate scientists, and ‘subpoena’ those who don’t appear willingly. Hall also explained why the BP disaster ‘didn’t dampen his enthusiasm for offshore drilling.’ He sees the BP explosion that killed 11 men, injured dozens, and led to the despoilment of the Gulf of Mexico as a ‘tremendous,’ ‘blossoming’ flower of energy:
‘As we saw that thing bubbling out, blossoming out — all that energy, every minute of every hour of every day of every week — that was tremendous to me. That we could deliver that kind of energy out there — even on an explosion.’
Hall has received $14,500 in campaign contributions from BP. In an extensive report today, The New York Times describes the explosion differently:
The worst of the explosions gutted the Deepwater Horizon stem to stern. Crew members were cut down by shrapnel, hurled across rooms and buried under smoking wreckage. Some […]
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