Weather, Water, Energy 7-19-07

All you need to know about the value of ethanol and nuke power for our energy future right here. Guiliani endorses them as the solution. While David Roberts gets another well-placed whack in on liquefied coal and promotes the much more sensible plug-in hybrids here. . . . Wolf in the henhouse. The National Petroleum Council is suddenly agreeing that oil supplies won’t meet demand in the near future and calling for greater efficiency . . . and the wasteful development of oil shale and other similar difficult fuels. Interesting to me that Daniel Yergin, who has been pooh-poohing peak oil and doomsayers is the actual author of the report, proving to me that the guy who wrote Energy Future has indeed become a giant sellout to the industry. Sad what money can do to people. . . . If peak oil were on the horizon, one of the things you’d look for would be predictions that the price of a barrel of oil could hit $100 by next year. Good thing that’s not happening. . . . Another Western state getting serious about water planning and regulation. This time, ID, while states getting high on ethanol are finally cluing into how much stress that fuel puts on a state’s water supply, this time IA. . . . Apparently now some folks are trying to let China off the hook by claiming that a lot of the greenhouse gases spewing out of there are from Chinese industries but from industries of other countries that China permitted to manufacture there. Wuhhh? . . . The FL gov is obviously trying to get placed as the green Repub alternative for a national race someday with all kinds of greenhouse gas emission and other legislation, but he keeps sticking his foot in it when he admits that he likes his mansion chilly and keeps the thermostat down low. I hope the Dems are keeping a file on this guy. . . . Clinging vines (the real ones, not the icky sweetheart ones) are taking over Southern forests in some places. Turns out they thrive with increased CO2. So, even more to look forward to. Even better, poison ivy is one of them.