Topic: Renewable Energy

Category: Citizen

What is it? A blog post discussing Ontario’s planned system of renewable tariffs. Feed-in tariffs reward those who create more energy than they use and contribute it to the grid. Other tariffs will provide funds for building renewable technology such as wind turbines and solar panels. The tariff system will be the most comprehensive and highest paying in North America.

Author: Paul Gipe

Accessed: Mar 8, 2009

Support: George Smitherman, Ontario’s Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, who proposed the tariffs; and Ontario Power Authority, the organization responsible for planning the tariff system.

Usefulness: This plan to give monetary compensation to even the smallest producers of renewable energy could stimulate the growth of renewable energy. These programs have already been extremely successful in Europe, where a much higher percent of their energy comes from renewable sources, and we have the resources to generate more solar and wind than these countries. The only thing we need is a motivation to switch to renewable energy, and money usually gets quite a response.

Topic: Renewable Energy

Category: Citizen

What is it? A cautionary blog that warns of possible consequences associated with the construction of new transmission lines to carry electricity from renewable resources. Since the renewable resources are intermittent, there will often be room for coal and natural gas-generated power on the lines, and if there are no restrictions on what type of energy is allowed to be transmitted, emissions could actually increase. Senators are currently debating requirements for these lines.

Author: Steven Weissman

Accessed: Mar 13, 2009

Support: Environment and Energy Daily, which originally reported on the debate; Senator Jeff Bingaman, who is arguing against requiring lines to carry green energy; Senator Harry Reid, who recommends that 75% of new line capacity be reserved for renewables, and David Morris of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. He states that half of all states could meet or exceed their energy needs by using their own renewable sources.

Audience/Agenda: This is from a blog about environmental law associated with the University of California. The blog likely receives more visitors than is typical for WordPress, but it does not have its own domain. The target audience is professionals and students interested in environmental law, and the posts seem extensively researched and well-written. As with most university-associated media, it probably slants a little bit to the left.

Usefulness: This identifies one of the areas in the economic stimulus plan’s green initiatives that may not help as much as was thought. Now that money has been set aside for renewable energy, it will be necessary to closely monitor the positive and negative effects of the spending if we want to succeed in reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and negating the effects of the recession.

Renewables are only responsible for a small part of our current energy production.

Topic: Renewable Energy

Category: Institutional

What is it? A graph that shows the percent contributions of different energy sources to the total amount of energy produced in the United States. Renewable energy is only up 1% from the previous year. In 2006, it was contributing only 7% of our total energy need. Solar, which is often seen as a promising solution, only makes up 1% of the renewable energy produced.

Author: The Energy Information Administration

Accessed: Mar 9, 2009

Support: The EIA Office of Coal, Nuclear, Electric and Alternate Fuels provided the statistics for this chart.

Audience and Agenda: The EIA is responsible for making official government energy statistics available to the public. The EIA distributes information about energy stocks, prices, markets, and demand, and reports yearly energy consumption. Their audience is the American People, but those most interested are likely to be professionals and policy makers.

Usefulness: This shows how far we have to go to achieve the goals that were set in Obama’s energy plan. 93% of our energy still comes from nonrenewable sources, and it will take a massive effort to rebuild our energy economy. Our energy needs continue to grow every year, but fossil fuel production may already be at its peak. Rapid implementation of a complete energy overhaul and massive efficiency projects (such as weatherization) will be necessary if we are to continue our way of life for much longer.

Topic: Renewable Energy

Category: Mainstream Journalistic

What Is It? An NPR story that describes the green energy components of Obama’s stimulus plan, and how the money is going to be put to use. Weatherizing homes, building transmission lines for renewable electricity sources, and increasing tax credits for green energy use and implementation are some of the goals that may jump start the economy while increasing energy efficiency.

Author: Christopher Joyce

Accessed: Mar 11, 2009

Audience/Agenda: National Public Radio is a noncommercial, nonprofit radio show distributor and producer that specializes in news and talk. They distribute original content to more than 850 local affiliates, and have an audience of over 26 million people in the United States. NPR is supported by its listeners and is considered a liberal leaning medium, although that is largely a reflection of its audience.

Usefulness: The stimulus plan could help or hurt renewable energy because Obama has been extremely optimistic about the “green economy” and its role in mitigating recession effects. If the attempt to make our economy sustainable fails, even due to problems unrelated to renewable energy, public and private opinion will likely turn against this new technology. This could hinder further research and development. If the plan works in a relatively short period, the country will be poised to reform our entire economy to not depend on a finite natural resource that fluctuates unexpectedly in price.

Topic: Renewable Energy

Category: Stakeholder/Expert/Citizen

What is it? A phone interview with Bradley Clark, a nuclear engineer who advocates using nuclear power for base load energy.

Author: Josh Clark (No Relation)

Support: Dr. Clark is an expert on nuclear power generation and speaks on behalf of nuclear power, which he describes as a safe and efficient way to replace coal for electricity generation. According to Dr. Clark, we will need base load energy (energy that can be consistently generated) to supplement renewable energy sources, which can fluctuate due to natural causes.

Audience and Agenda: Dr. Clark formerly worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory, a joint venture between the University of California and the Department of Energy. He is presently researching methods to increase nuclear efficiency and trying to eradicate the misconceptions many people have about nuclear power. As a nuclear engineer, he has extensive knowledge of the subject, but this may make him slightly biased toward nuclear power.

Usefulness: Nuclear Power is highly misunderstood, and it is the only emissions-free way to guarantee a steady supply of power in any environment with existing technology. Most of this electricity is currently generated by coal. Dr. Clark explained that nuclear power can produce base load energy safer and more efficiently than coal, and that fears of nuclear reactors are largely unfounded. They are typically based on a lack of knowledge, and as people learn the truth about nuclear, they tend to warm up to it.

Ian dean is a stakeholder in the renewable energy debate just as all Americans are. He is a college student that owns a car, rents an apartment, and often rides his bike. He drives from Eugene to Ashland fairly often to visit his friends and relatives.

Topic: Renewable Energy

Category- Citizen Interview

What is it? An interview with an average young citizen in the pacific northwest to see how the everyday people who will be affected later in life by our energy choices feel about renewable energy and fossil fuels.

Author: Josh Clark

Support: Ian Dean

Audience/Agenda: Ian Dean is a reserved young man who doesn’t often speak to large groups or give interviews. He is neither an outspoken critic of fossil fuels nor a supporter of renewables. He has no political reasons for taking a particular side on this issue, and is admittedly more concerned about the effects our energy choices will have on him.

Usefulness: Ian reflected society as a whole by stating his preference for renewable and clean energy while disliking the idea of having to pay extra for these fuels. He would love to have his apartment weatherized, and sees that as the landlord’s responsibility. Many apartments are even less efficient than houses because the tenant is typically responsible for the heating bill. An increase in gas prices, although upsetting, would encourage him to drive less, and tax credits or discounts would sway him toward a more efficient vehicle. People need incentives (monetary, preferably) to go green in their everyday lives, and they seem poised to live more sustainably as long as they don’t have to spend more money.

The photovoltaic industry is booming.

Topic: Renewable Energy

Category: Institutional

What is it? A graph showing the exponential growth in photovoltaic cell shipment. The tenfold increase over the past nine years is promising if growth continues at this pace, but if it levels off, solar could become a marginal and underdeveloped technology. Developments in solar panels that lead to less expensive or more efficient energy production could change everything, and would be a major asset to the new renewable economy.

Author: The EIA.

Accessed: Mar 10, 2009

Support: Official Government Statistics were used to create this chart.

Audience/Agenda: The EIA is responsible for making official government energy statistics available to the public. The EIA distributes information about energy stocks, prices, markets, and demand, and reports yearly energy consumption. Their audience is the American people, but those most interested are likely to be professionals and policy makers.

Usefulness: The demand for renewable energy sources is already growing at an exponential rate, but they constitute such a small part of our national energy portfolio that the difference in total percentage of energy generated is hardly noticeable. Unreliable availability, expensive costs, and cheap fossil fuels have undermined the growth of these industries, but the stimulus package should boost the amount of renewable energy generated, making it cheaper and more efficient. This will be catalyzed by an increase in research and development.

Topic: Renewable Energy

Category: Institutional

What is it? An ExxonMobile commercial claiming that we need to figure out how to power a growing world in an environmentally responsible way and touting natural gas as “one of the world’s cleanest fuels.”

Author: Produced by ExxonMobile

Accessed: Mar 15, 2009

Support: Claudia Napolitano, engineer; Allen Kelley, President of Global Lubricants and Specialties; and Emma Cochrane, natural gas specialist. All of these sources work for ExxonMobile. This commercial attempts to sound authoritative on the subject of energy research by showing employees who work in that field, but their conclusions are questionable as they work for a company that depends on fossil fuels.

Audience/Agenda: This is a commercial that was broadcast internationally, giving it a huge audience. The agenda is to soften the image of the oil company and create a picture of a business that cares about people and the environment. This commercial uses such questionable facts in regard to natural gas’ cleanliness that it has been banned in England.

Usefulness: Energy companies are going to need to be regulated by the government more if we are to see any changes in attitude from these powerful groups. They have the potential to be a catalyst for a changing world economy, and to profit greatly from their effort. There is now more subsidies for renewable research and development from the US government, but large corporations that profit mostly from oil and coal are hesitant to make change. The administration may have to step it up somehow if they want to get the ball rolling.

Somehow this seems promising...

Topic: Renewable Energy

Category: Citizen

What is it? A photograph of a wind farm at sunset.

Photographer: Michael D. Menefee

Accessed: Mar 12, 2009

Support: None.

Audience/Agenda: Menefee is an amateur photographer, but he has one of the most popular photostreams on flickr. His nature photography is regarded as perhaps the best on the website, and he even sells prints online. This photo was released under a creative commons license. Menefee is pro-environment, but this is not relevant to the photo as much as it is to the title.

Usefulness: In contrasting this photo with the one of the nuclear facility, I realized the completely opposite connotations of the two. The wind farm pictures feel clean, optimistic, and hopeful. The nuclear plant looks ominous and unsafe. I think most U.S. citizens would feel the same way. I know that I would prefer to look out my window and see the wind farm, but even these have problems. Birds are frequently killed by the turbines and people who live by the farms often complain of the noise and aesthetics of the towering windmills.

Somehow this seems worrisome...

Topic: Renewable Energy

Category: Citizen

What is it? A photograph of the Hameln-Pyrmont nuclear power plant billowing steam at dusk.

Photographer: Yvonne Martejevs

Accessed: Mar 12, 2009

Support: None

Audience/Agenda: Martejevs is an amateur photographer who posts photos to her Flickr page. Although she is not a professional, Martejevs’ photostream is one of the most popular on the web site. This picture alone received over 100 comments.

Usefulness: The composition works well, and although this is a beautiful picture the stacks make it seem dark and foreboding. It could even be post-apocalyptic. This negative connotation is largely the effect of our conceptions about nuclear energy, which most people have little understanding of.