Director Blue reports: General Motors and General Electric are two companies that have been in the political crosshairs lately. GM stands accused of “crony capitalism,” while GE is under fire for paying no Federal income taxes in 2010. The two companies share more than that though, with GE placing an order for 12,000 Chevy Volts and other hybrid vehicles.
A memo leaked to
Green Car Reports lays out GE’s plans for their new fleet of Volts, and as expected, it has some people crying foul.
The memo, sent to employees of GE Healthcare Americas team explains that
all sedan, crossover, and minivan purchases in 2012 will be replaced by the Chevy Volt. Only field engineers are excepted from having to drive a company Volt.
GE will offer estimates for installation Level 2 Charging Stations, though all-gas use will be allowed when there is no electric option
. Any employees who opt out of the Volt program will not be compensated for their expenses. Those who do choose to drive the Volt will be reimbursed for public charging and home charging costs, in addition to gas uses.
...GE is positioning itself as a big player in the EV charging market.
Getting employees into Volts also means getting charging stations into homes. ..
http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2012/02/its-crony-capitalism-trifecta-ge.html
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The UK Daily Mail writes: Wind turbines are a ‘public menace’, the chairman of the National Trust chairman has said.
Sir Simon Jenkins dismissed wind as the ‘least efficient’ renewable power.
The honest admission is surprising coming from the the head of the charity, as it champions green energy as part of its conservation work.
‘We are doing masses of renewables but wind is probably the least efficient and wrecks the countryside,’ he said.
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The UK Daily Mail writes: U.S. energy officials have set a bullish target for wind farms to generate one fifth of the country’s electricity by 2030 - but Mother Nature certainly isn’t going to make it easy.
Academic experts at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, say half of the turbines at four proposed offshore wind farms are likely to be destroyed by hurricanes in their 20-year life.
The proposed wind farms at Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina and Texas could cost $175million each, but the researchers believe current designs of turbines mean many will not survive
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2101766/Experts-predict-half-proposed-wind-farm-turbines-destroyed-just-20-years.html#ixzz1mY9VMckS-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[The ever-present indoctrination of our young children, and old, rears its ugly head again, as EPA Abuse writes]: Universal Studios
is releasing “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax” on March 2 to theaters throughout the U.S. Partnering with Universal is the EPA, which is using Lorax to teach children how to be green and to fight rampant industrialism (capitalism, the engine of progress).
The Lorax character is a creature who “speaks for the trees” and fights against the capitalist system. How cute.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is overjoyed by this propaganda blitz against our children.
http://epaabuse.com/4962/editorials/epa-hollywood-use-lorax-to-brainwash-kids-on-green-energy-and-anti-capitalism/
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Yaleedu writes: From Yale University, no less comes this: The use of electric cars in China
produces more particulate matter pollution than gasoline-fueled vehicles, according to a new study. In an analysis of five vehicle technologies in 34 major Chinese cities, U.S. researchers found that the power generated to run electric cars produces significantly greater particulate matter emissions because 80 percent of China’s electricity comes from coal-burning power plants.
http://e360.yale.edu/digest/electric_vehicles_in_china__pollute_more_than_gas-fueled_cars/3329/
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Arise Energy enlightens us: [This is so ingenious!!! One man has changed everything!
How amazing and creative is this? We take something so simple as windows and sunlight for granted - a luxury in a third world country. click here for an incredible video.]
Astonishing though it may be, there are some parts of the world where Edison’s light bulbs haven’t yet reached. And these are the slums in certain third-world countries. Nonetheless, the slum dwellers have found their way out —
and how!
MyShelter Foundation helped them by bringing to life a sustainable lighting project that aims to deliver the eco-friendly “solar bottle” bulb to underprivileged communities. First experimented with in the Philippines, the ingenious project in the slums of Manila gives thousands of poor Filipinos solar light via plastic bottles filled with water and bleach and inserted into the roofs of their homes. The project is known as Isang Litrong Liwanag (literally, “A Liter of Light”).
http://ariseenergy.com/soda-bottle-creates-solar-light-for-those-in-darkness
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Hot Air writes: An extension of the Wind Production Tax Credit (PTC), a federal incentive allowing for the wind energy industry to remain competitive with traditional forms of energy production, has been left out of a payroll tax cut extension currently making its way through the U.S. House of Representatives.
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/02/16/panic-in-the-wind-power-lobby/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RedState writes: In a true “what the frack” moment, the State Department, in association with the USC School of Cinematic Arts, has included the film
Gasland in a list of
29 films to be showcased around the globe as part of an “international cultural diplomacy initiative”. The initiative, called “The American Film Showcase”, takes a panel of directors, film experts, and assorted talking heads to events the world over to screen the selected films and discuss them.
Gasland, you may recall, made quite a splash for the now famous scene featuring flammable tap water. The film (we hesitate to use the term “documentary” so loosely) is an opus to anti-natural gas drilling, and uses the fears of families about their drinking water to great dramatic effect. However, the infamous flammable tap water turns out not to have anything to do with “fracking”, despite what filmmaker Josh Fox would have audiences believe. That scene, that most pivotal scene, is not what it appears to be. As our own
Steve Maley has pointed out, both the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, among others, have debunked Fox’s claim:
http://www.redstate.com/absentee/2012/02/17/state-department-promoting-gasland-other-enviro-films-to-foreign-audiences/
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Hot Air reports: Stand by for the backlash from environmentalist groups. One of the mainstays in the green movement and their efforts to derail domestic energy production is the widely touted liberal doctrine that
fracking is bad. (For those just joining our program, fracking is the common nickname associated with hydraulic fracturing.) Various political, agenda driven activists like
Josh Fox have made a fine living blaming fracking for everything from exploding sinks to earthquakes. (No…
seriously.)
In the past, when a series of studies have shown the majority of these claims to be nonsense, activists responded by claiming that the institutions performing the studies must have deep, secret ties to the energy industry. Therefore the results must be suspect. But now a new study is out, and
this one comes from academia.
The hydraulic fracturing of shale formations to develop natural gas has no direct connection to groundwater contamination, according to a study released Feb. 16 by the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin.
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/02/18/university-study-fracking-hasnt-contaminated-groundwater/
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Chron.com reports: The number of rigs in U.S. oil fields has more than quadrupled in the past three years to 1,272, according to the Baker Hughes rig count. Including those in natural gas fields, the United States now has more rigs at work than the entire rest of the world.
"It's staggering," said
Marshall Adkins, who directs energy research for the financial services firm Raymond James. "If we continue growing anywhere near that pace and keep squeezing demand out of the system, that puts you in a world where we are not importing oil in 10 years."
The technology that fueled the national shale gas rush is moving into oil fields. The pairing of fossil fuel production techniques called horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing allowed companies to access previously hard-to-reach natural gas trapped in dense shale rock.
"As far as drilling and production, it's going to be really good and robust," said
Michelle Michot Foss, chief energy economist for the
University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geology. "But consumers will be upset because gasoline prices will continue to be high."
http://www.chron.com/business/article/U-S-oil-gusher-blows-out-projections-3341919.php
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