[GWSG] Gvt. by oil; green people/s.f.; Clarion's costs; Plan X; self-cleaning panels; NJ solar

[Tilley, Al]

1.  Following a secret meeting about peak oil, an unnamed official of the International Energy Agency said that “the Americans fear the end of oil supremacy because it would threaten their power over access to oil resources."  To make sense of the statement, you must understand our government as partly acting for the oil industry.  When it does, it acts against our best interest.  Our Senate has refused to regulate greenhouse gasses, which our Department of Defense has repeatedly identified as the greatest threat to our security.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/aug/22/peak-oil-department-energy-climate-change  Sometimes, as in the Gulf oil eruption, the relationship between our government and the industry creates a public relations problem.  (The article does not mention that over 3,000 wells continue to pump in the Gulf.)   http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100821/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_unlikely_partners  More usually, as in our use of fuel from Canadian oil sands, the sway of the industry over our practices goes largely unnoticed by the public.  See the Environmental Issues section of the linked article.  We are now getting over 10% of our oil from Canadian tar sands, and intend to get a lot more.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_sands

2.  Just as a top mpg hybrid car beats other motorized transport only when it is carrying at least two people, so a home is green only to the degree that its square footage per occupant is sufficiently small.  Rating systems should not go on gross floor area alone.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/20/AR2010082000026.html

3.  Peggy Tilley points out that I fumbled the cost of Clarion’s plug-in solar panels in my last email.  “Following the link to Clarion shows that 200W Sunfish panels sell for $599-$799, and the 5 panel 1kW cluster is $2995-$3995.  Still attractive.”   http://www.clariantechnologies.com/main/page_plugin_solar_power.html

4.  Watching the Arctic melt, Thomas Homer-Dixon imagines a Plan X for climate catastrophes, both as a way of coping and a way of motivating action on climate.  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/opinion/23homer-dixon.html?pagewanted=2&tntemail0=y&emc=tnt

5.  A layer of 4 grams of dust per square meter can reduce the power output of a solar cell by 40%.  A Boston University discovery allows cells to clean themselves.  The technology was originally developed for the solar panels on the Mars Rover, but will find lots of applications here on Earth.  http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=self-cleaning-solar-panels-could-fi-2010-08-22

6.  Innovative financing plans developed in California are leading to large gains in solar installations in New Jersey.  The state’s solar energy credit of $655 per generated megawatt is much the largest in the US and means a payback time of 5 years for a solar power array.  http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2010/08/clean_energy_laws_utility_cost.html