Tag Archives: Oil

China to Enact Strict Plan for Energy Conservation

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A Coal-Fired Power Plant in Shuozhou, Shanxi, China

A coal-fired power plant in Shuozhou, Shanxi, Chin

Unrest in the Middle East has yielded change in the region, but the effects of anti-government protests are slowly being felt globally as oil soars to its highest price in over 2 years. The New York Times reported that Chinese Energy Specialists revealed that the government plans to announce strict goals for energy conservation.

Make no mistake, this is not an altruistic attempt by the world’s leading energy consumer and greenhouse gas emitter to go green or make strides to curb carbon footprint (energy security far out ways climate change in Chinese policy priorities). China views energy as a national security issue; the concern here is how rising oil prices will effect inflation, export competitiveness, and the country’s pollution problems, according to the NYT article.

China still sees oil as its most important energy source, but as Zhang Guobao, former Energy Czar in China, said, “Oil security is the most important part of achieving energy security,”he went on to say, “Preparations for alternative energies should be made as soon as possible.” China is looking to avoid getting stuck trying to fuel a booming economy on oil while prices skyrocket.

Despite the fact that China is the world’s biggest producer of wind turbines and solar panels at the lowest cost, a majority of its electricity comes from coal. When oil use increased dramatically along with the rise of automobile use, the government pushed extensively for electric cars. This decrease in oil consumption only increased the use of coal. Still, electricity plants tend to be much more efficient than the combustion of gasoline, and stay within the energy use goals China has in mind.

Looking at China’s imported energy sources, the concern coming from Beijing is understandable. Oil from the Middle East, along with the increasing price, gets to China via shipping lanes controlled by economic rivals India and the United States. Iran is also a large importer of crude oil to China. The instability of Iran leaves Russia as China’s most stable oil importer, but only 3% of crude oil imports to China come from its neighbors to the north.

Some are worried that the mostly state run energy industry in China would have to start allocating the limits on energy use. This could cause the decrease in production of certain products, like metals for instance. Stuart Burns on MetalMiner explains;

But who decides, with no free market to set prices on the basis of supply and demand? The impact that could have for resource-hungry activities like steel, aluminum and zinc smelting could be profound in the first half of this decade. China may decide it would rather import metals than import energy, reversing the trend of the last decade. Having temporarily idled some of the 20+ million tons of aluminum capacity, could the Chinese really close a significant portion of it permanently?

As china responds to the effects of rising oil prices, the rest of the world may end up feeling the effects of China’s energy policy. In the more immediate future, China may be looking at energy shortages as their own supplies may not be able to keep up with its rapid economic growth. China’s efforts in lowering energy consumption will no doubt have a number of other benefits along with the primary goals of securing its energy future. The reducing of greenhouse gas emissions will save money not only on energy but on health care costs as the environment in China becomes cleaner and safer for its citizens. The decisions made here will have significant effect on China’s role in energy in the region, as well as its role as a major contributer to climate change.

The World Where Oil Flows Free

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Bubbling crude, La Brea by antgirl The Gulf Oil Spill has been the event at the top of everyone’s mind for many weeks now, almost to the point of our adapting to the initially shocking concept. The images that have surfaced have been heartrending enough, though, that the shock factor hasn’t been allowed to completely fade. Predictions of the results to come in the next weeks and months are concerning to say the least, and the estimate of how much has been leaking each day continues to rise. BP comes up with a new method to “fix” the problem every few weeks, each seeming promising with a side-serving of bad news.  Effects on humans are starting to surface, some gruesome news and some simply tragic projections. With all of this on our plates, it’s understandably hard to think about, let alone discuss, other similar issues.

One more brick was added to the weight of environmental concern when, on June 11th, another oil spill was reported, this time in Utah. How could an oil spill happen in the middle of the continent? This time it wasn’t an oil rig that failed; in the mountains south of the Great Salt Lake, an oil-transporting pipeline was breached around 10pm. Residents who reported a strong petroleum scent around 7am the next day allowed for the leak to be stopped less than 24 hours after it began. Regardless of the speed with which it was stopped, 33,000 gallons of crude oil were leaked into Salt Lake City creeks and a pond- but not the Lake. Because of the national disappointment with and disdain for the oil giant BP, Chevron responded quickly and aggressively with cleanup devotions.

This leak was obviously a dramatically smaller scale than the spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Instead of a pipeline tapped directly  into natural oil stores being busted, a quarter-sized hole was melted in the controllable pipe transporting oil in UT, and it was all over in 24 hours.

The BP underwater pipe has been gushing tens of thousands of gallons each day, for two and a half months. In the UT spill, around 300 Canada Geese and ducks were covered in oil, and fewer than 10 were killed; one endangered fish species was threatened by the spill. The Gulf of Mexico’s biota are threatened in a much, much broader sense- as you might imagine, considering the unimaginable quantity of poison being spewed into the ocean.

While much of the oil spilled in Utah has been cleaned up, the efforts in the Gulf of Mexico have comparatively only just begun. The estimated clean-up time is months, possibly years; the truth is that the effected coastlines (their ecosystems, their businesses, their citizens), especially those closer to the epicenter, may never recover.

While the Gulf oil spill eclipses other fossil fuel issues in the eye of society at present, it also brings an important topic right to the surface of the pile of important current issues, and in some cases inspires reflection.

Would we still be discussing the Utah oil spill, were the BP tragedy not over-shadowing its significance?

The answer is “Maybe not;” spills are not uncommon, mishaps at drilling sites are not uncommon. What makes the BP spill different is the enormous individual scale, proximity to affluent nations, and resulting publicity.

We do not often hear about the ill effects of the oil industry that are happening in less-fortunate regions of our world.

If we ignore the intense sociological disasters surrounding the oil industry in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, there are statistics to look at that might make the president of BP’s hair curl. It’s estimated that from what are technically Shell and Chevron operations, there are three hundred small and large oil spills in this area each year, due to various factors including oil piracy, aging equipment, and worse-than-poor regulation. In this undeveloped region where locals see no benefit from the industry, oil spills surround the villages. An image of the ruined environment was painted potently by one BBC article;

“Visitors to the Nigerian village of Kpor, deep in the Niger Delta, are greeted by strange sights: silver frogs blink from gleaming puddles, sunlight bounces from an eerie black lake, and dragonflies hover over cauldrons of tar.”

This is a generally unillustrated tragedy, an example of what we are not seeing through the corporate veil. Information is not exposed for many reasons- too many to discuss here- but these events are significant enough to spend time digging for.

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Discussed above are only the results of our addiction to oil. What about the other common fossil fuels that we depend on? If we disregard the carbon emissions and their effects, related to burning any fossil fuels-

  • Coal mining means mountain tops destroyed, geology and topography both obliterated as removed mountain tops are filled into valleys; this is not to mention the pollution nightmares that come along with mining, or the health risks: 11,000+ injured (lowest number ever recorded), 69 killed most recently.
  • Natural gas mining–hydraulic fracturing/fracking— creates air-polluting ground-level ozone, poisons the surrounding groundwater and has severe effects on surrounding communities.

Maintenance of our presently strong socioeconomic bonds to fossil fuels are already fatal, both to operators and the surrounding environment. What will it be like when these limited resources begin to truly dwindle, when, if we haven’t changed the juice our society runs on, we are mining every potentially coal-filled mountain and drilling into every oil deposit the earth’s crust has left to offer? We can be assured worker safety and environmental health will not be more of a priority then, in the hour of desperation, than it is now.

It seems that now is time to start using the information we have already to start making changes in the way our energy system works.This is not to say that there won’t be risks associated with other energy practices, but after looking at the information surrounding the above-mentioned options, I would argue that finding an environmentally-friendly energy option that posed the same level of human and environmental health risks would be difficult. Environmental safety is an inherent property of an environmentally-friendly product, afterall.

Need to Know: It’s not impossible to ween ourselves off of coal & oil

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Need to Know PBS’ new weekly news magazine—Need to Know—has been covering some interesting stories. The fifth episode aired last week, and included the piece below on the Danish isle of Samso’s effective elimination of fossil fuels within the past decade. FYI: rapeseed is what most of the planet calls canola, and the Danish subsidies for wind appear to be less than those in the U.S. 1.

They’ve also had some compelling coverage of the gulf spoil including Big Oil’s Chernobyl and A chance encounter on the Gulf Coast with a BP engineer

1. Wind is subsidized at 30% of capital cost in Denmark. Ignoring any state incentives, there is a 2.2¢/kWh federal tax-credit. At typical costs and an average operating capacity of 50%, this amounts to a subsidy of up to: 2.2¢/kWh × 10yr × 8,760 hr/yr × 50% × 2.5MW × 1,000 kW/MW ÷ 100¢/$ = $2.4 million / $3.5 million = 68% (not accounting for erosion by inflation)

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Leaks On

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/uscgd8/4542937668/ On April 20th, 2010, in the open ocean 42 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana, a 560-million-dollar deep-water oil rig licensed to BP, experienced an explosion. Eleven workers were killed and 17 were injured in the explosion, with the other 98 on board exiting safely unharmed. After the initial explosion, the rig burned and two days later sank to the bottom of the ocean.

A few days after this shocking event made headlines, the resulting oil spill became apparent. Oil from the rig’s well immediately began to spew forth into the water column through a damaged well-head, forming a 5-mile long oil slick on the ocean’s surface in short time. Within two weeks, BP had tried and failed to use the well’s blowout protection, President Obama declared dedication of any and all available US resources to the purpose of resolving  the spread of this spill, BP stated that it would take all financial responsibility for legitimate claims and the cleanup of the spill, and began the two-month project of drilling a relief well.

In the following month, a fishing ban was extended to 19% of the Gulf of Mexico’s waters, all new drilling projects in the area were suspended, and several different remedial attempts were made, some simply failing and others actually increasing the oil’s flux into the ocean. The rate of the spill that began 51 days ago has not yet been determined, due to several factors including communication barriers between BP and external scientists, but the official government estimate is between 12 and 19 thousand barrels per day.

Although it was once thought that the spill could be contained offshore, the oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico has now reached over 120 miles of coastline. Tar balls are washing up on shore, animals are being covered in oil with a plethora of horrifying effects. It is not clear what the effect of the toxic oil dispersants being used will be on the delicate marine and coastal wildlife. Though it sounds extreme, it has been discussed that there is serious potential for this oil spill to be considered ecocide, or to reach that level in the coming months or years. I won’t link you to the videos of oil-covered struggling or already-deceased wildlife—seek them out at your own risk (of heartbreak).

As these negative events continue to affect the shorelines, locals are concerned. The fishing ban is necessary, but is just a concrete representation of the loss of money on the part of the fishing industry. The coasts are soaked in oil, animals are dying, and the tourism business is not looking good, either. “My concern is after everything is cleaned up, if they can clean it all up, and they leave, what is our business going to be like?” said Dudley Gaspard, owner of the Sand Dollar Marina and Hotel on hard-hit Grand Isle, Louisiana. While all of these local businesses are concerned, so are the oil drilling workers who operate in the Gulf. The six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling that has been imposed has the potential to eliminate as many as 20,000 jobs, according to some; the ban on shallow water drilling has been lifted. BP’s stock value has dropped dramatically, as would be expected during a crisis such as this.

On June 4th, a partially successful capturing system was put into place. BP has lowered a cap over the leaking well, sucking some of the leaking oil up through a mile-long pipe it is connected through. There are vents in the dome-shaped cap that allow some oil to escape, and oil is also billowing out from below the hood. While this is not a large step forward, it is a step: some oil is being captured. BP’s most recent estimates suggest they were able to capture 10,500 barrels of oil in 24 hours using this method, and they expect they will soon be able to use an additional containment system to increase this control. They have even made preparations for the event of a hurricane.

Here is a video of the underwater spill in action:

There is some murmur that this oil spill may be the push that the U.S. needs to secure clean energy and energy efficiency legislation. Thus far, concrete statements have only been made about the wish to change legislation revolving around oil drilling. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, after meeting with several committee heads, told reporters a wide range of legislation was being considered, including oil leasing reform, liability reform, ensuring worker safety and the “integrity of the certification process” when oil companies want to start a new offshore drilling project.

“If it was my home”

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Deep Horizon oil spill superimposed on Belgium From Strange Maps:

The oil spill is the worst environmental disaster in US history. But it’s a catastrophe of the creeping, cumulative kind, composed of images familiar from earlier ecocides. How to get a grip on its width and breadth? Obviously: a map. Ingeniously: a map of the area affected by the oil spill transposed on your geographic location of choice – your home, for optimum shock effect.

Gulf Oil Disaster

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Oil Slick on the San Juan River Just Above Log Boom. A Burst Pipeline at Shiprock, New Mexico, Spilled About 285,000 Gallons of Crude Oil. The Oil Flowed Downstream More Than 200 Miles before the Booms Contained It. EPA Supervised Clean - Up of the San Ju by The U.S. National Archives By now, news of the catastrophic BP off-shore oil rig explosion in the Gulf, and now massive resulting oil leak, has circulated national and international press. Referred to as one of the worst environmental disasters on record, with an oil spill predicted to be double that of the Exxon Valdez in 1989: at a rate of 25,000 barrels a day, a total of 2.2 million gallons of oil spilled, if the well isn’t tapped; a process experts say can take up to three months. Ironically, this event couldn’t have occurred at a more inopportune time for the President, who just a month ago announced a halt on the longstanding off-shore drilling moratorium along the US Eastern seaboard in order to expand off-shore oil and natural gas exploration. Sadly, this type of horrific environmental disaster has happened time and time again, and will continue to happen as long as we continue to rely on fossil fuels for the majority of our energy supply. The more important question to ask is: when is enough enough?

Paul Krugman correlates the recent BP disaster to the start of the environmental movement in the 1970s, when pollution was physically visible much more so than it is today. While existing EPA regulations, a result of the 1970s environmental movement, helped to cap much of the visible pollution of that time, today Americans are, ironically, less aware of environmental damage because we rarely see it. Climate change is a perfect example. Clearly there are visible products of climate change: weather shifts, species eradication and impacts on habitat, but in reality, how often do we actually stop and see these impacts? The implications are so long-term it’s often hard to comprehend.

As for BP, the oil spill happened and we cannot undo the subsequent damage. We can, however, learn from this event and wake up this time around. We have the chance to shift to a clean energy future; we have the technology, the brain power and the interested institutes and Universities. We now need strong, unfaltering leadership. No longer can we rely on such dirty and dangerous methods of energy production – the damage surely out weights any benefit.