Good Articles 11-20-08

U.S. intel office adds warming to warnings: Report looking out to 2030 cites danger of water, food shortages

A U.S. intelligence report coming out Thursday — and likely to grab President-elect Barack Obama's attention — is adding a new variable to the "traditional" mix of factors expected to destabilize the world into the near future.

Issued by the National Intelligence Council, the "Global Trends 2025" report includes warnings tied to climate change, the man behind the report said this week and in recent speeches.

The overall theme of the report is that the United States will have less influence across the globe at a time of growing climate, water and energy stresses, Thomas Fingar, chairman of the NIC and deputy director of national intelligence, indicated in recent weeks.

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Oil falls below $53 on fears of deep recession

Oil prices fell below $53 to almost a two-year low Thursday as investors, worried by plummeting stock markets, priced in lower crude demand as the global economic downturn shapes up to be the worst in decades.

Light, sweet crude for December delivery was down $1.23 to $52.39 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Europe. The contract fell 77 cents Wednesday to settle at $53.62, the lowest since January 2007.

Oil could fall to $40/bbl in 2009: Deutsche Bank

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices could fall to as low as $40 a barrel next year as more efficient refining capacity comes online and production costs for some regions fall, Deutsche Bank said in a Wednesday research note.

"The most underappreciated issue is the combination of poor demand with major new refining capacity additions and the extent to which that will undermine light sweet crude prices," the bank said in the note outlining the downside risk to its 2009 oil forecast.

Palin, Alaska grapple with lower crude prices

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) – Falling oil prices will take a bite out of Alaska's state budget and put a damper on oil-field investment, Gov. Sarah Palin told a conference of major North Slope oil operators on Wednesday.

Palin, the Republican party's vice-presidential nominee for the recent U.S. presidential election, said the days of oil-revenue budget surpluses are over.

"It's a wakeup call. We preached, when oil was at $140, that we had to prepare for the day when prices would drop," Palin told reporters. "We realized it today."

Frontline considering avoiding Suez due piracy

LONDON (Reuters) - Norway's Frontline, one of the world's biggest oil tanker owners, is "definitely considering" instructing its fleet to avoid the Gulf of Aden and the Suez Canal because of piracy, its acting chief executive officer said on Thursday.

China mulls tax options to reform oil pricing

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese policy makers may decide to increase a refined oil consumption tax rather than impose a new fuel tax, as some market participants are expecting, official sources familiar with the issue told Reuters on Thursday.

The consumption tax, currently levied on seven refined oil products rather than just the retail staples of gasoline and diesel, is paid by refiners and importers, who pass the cost on to their customers.

Nigeria army repels gunmen at Escravos oil terminal

LAGOS (Reuters) - The Nigerian military repelled an attack by gunmen in speedboats on Thursday close to the Escravos crude oil export terminal, a major facility in the Niger Delta operated by U.S. energy giant Chevron.

"They came in about 10 speedboats. The attack has been repelled," Brigadier General Wuyep Rimtip, a commander of the joint military taskforce in the western Niger Delta, told Reuters, adding two of the attackers' boats had been sunk.

Koch, Shell book supertankers for oil storage

DUBAI — U.S. oil trader Koch and Royal Dutch Shell have booked supertankers to store millions of barrels of crude, prompted by falling demand.

...Sliding demand and poor refinery profit margins have left sellers facing the choice of offering deep discounts to move barrels or risk paying for storage to sell later.

“All this oil has to go somewhere, especially if the refiners aren't running at capacity,” a Singapore-based crude oil trader said.

Statoil mulls closing Asia oil product trade arm - source

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Statoil Asia Pacific, trading arm of Norway's StatoilHydro ASA, is considering closing its oil products trading division, industry sources said on Thursday, as trading activity slows amid the global financial crisis.

Russia wants Ukraine to repay $2.4 bln gas debt

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has ordered gas export monopoly Gazprom to ask Ukraine to pay back its gas debt to Russia, which Gazprom estimates at $2.4 billion, local agencies reported on Thursday.

"We need to fully clarify ourselves with Ukraine's debt and recover it on a good-will or compulsory basis. Because it is stated in the current legislation and within the frames of our bilateral relationships," Interfax quoted Medvedev as saying to Gazprom's chief executive Alexei Miller at a meeting in the Kremlin.

Norway oil fund says it's on prowl for stocks

OSLO — Norway's $300-billion (U.S.) sovereign wealth fund will remain a big buyer of equities after raising its holdings to 1.25 per cent of European stocks and about half that proportion in markets elsewhere, its chief said.

Commonly known as “the oil fund”, the Government Pension Fund – Global invests Norway's oil and gas wealth in foreign stocks and bonds for when the “black gold” runs out. It held 0.77 per cent of Europe's stocks at the end of 2007.

Automakers can't afford to develop hybrids

LOS ANGELES — The arrival of more fuel-efficient cars and trucks promising cleaner air and more energy independence is being set back as automakers worldwide scramble to hoard cash in an industry meltdown.

Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Japan's Nissan Motor and France's Renault, on Wednesday warned that automakers "can't find the financing" for aggressive development of so-called green cars.

A sea of unwanted auto imports

LONG BEACH, California: Gleaming new Mercedes cars roll one by one out of a huge container ship here and onto a pier. Ordinarily the cars would be loaded on trucks within hours, destined for dealerships around the United States. But these are not ordinary times.

For now, the port itself is the destination. Unwelcome by dealers and buyers, thousands of cars worth tens of millions of dollars are being warehoused on increasingly crowded port property.

..."This is one way to look at the economy," Art Wong, a spokesman for the port, said of the cars. "And it scares you to death."

Greenwash: BP and the myth of a world 'Beyond Petroleum'

BP is keen to play up its investment in alternative energy with images of wind turbines and plants. But no amount of clever advertising can hide the fact that its billions of pounds of profit and investment is still all about fossil fuels.

Vietnam begins operating new oil field

HANOI, VIETNAM (AP) - Vietnam has opened a new oil field that will boost national crude oil output by 21 percent by the end of this year, officials said.

Peak Everything: Waking Up To The Century Of Declines

Everything in 20th century America pointed toward progress, growth, goods and services. Each generation enjoyed bigger houses, more cars and higher standards of living. Parents assured their kids, “You’re gonna’ have a better life than we did.” The human race raised its eyes to the moon, and amazingly, walked on it!

Up until 1975, Americans assumed everything and anything--possible!

However, in the 21st century, as the adage laments, “Everything that goes up, must come down.”

We're All Farmers Now

Here is some disturbing news. According to Patrick Holden, director of the Soil Association, next year is tipped to be "peak oil" year. This means that from 2009, fossil fuel extraction will start tailing off globally – most rapidly in western Europe. Pessimists say the situation will be acute by 2020.

It takes 10 calories of fossil fuel to produce one calorie of food in Western culture. "Anyone can see that this is not sustainable," says Holden, who predicts that the big issue for coming years will be "food security".

Use flower power to save Europe's bees: EU lawmaker

STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - Honey bees, whose numbers are falling, must be given flowery "recovery zones" in Europe's farmlands to aid their survival, a leading EU lawmaker said Wednesday.

Bees pollinate numerous crops and scientists have expressed alarm over their mysterious and rapid decline. Experts have warned that a drop in the bee population could harm agriculture.

Australia: Lower speed limit to tackle obesity crisis, say experts

SPEED limits in suburban streets should be slashed to 30km/h to encourage pedestrians and cyclists and tackle the obesity epidemic, experts say.

Griffith University transport planning researcher Matthew Burke said cutting speeds from 50km/h on local streets would not only reduce road trauma, it would also curb obesity rates by encouraging more people to walk and cycle.

Australia: Street design rethink to cope with changing population

AS southeast Queensland grapples with unprecedented population growth, one engineer is redesigning our streets to change the way we get around.

It may change how vibrant suburbs are and whether our streets are safe for kids to play in. Ultimately it will affect whether you can buy the type of house that suits you.

Transition Towns - special feature

GREEN thinking people across Taunton, Wellington and West Somerset are getting together to tackle major environmental issues at a local level through the Transition Towns initiative.

The scheme has been has been adopted across the area to make the community more aware of major environmental issues including peak oil and climate change.

Google CEO Schmidt lays out U.S. energy ideas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States should use part of any future economic stimulus package to connect wind turbines and solar energy to the nation's electricity grid, said Google Inc Chief Executive Eric Schmidt, an advisor to President-elect Barack Obama.

Crown Estate plans tidal power future in Scotland

The Crown Estate has invited proposals from developers to install the UK's first commercial marine power sites in the area around Pentland Firth in north Scotland.

This first round of development is intended to generate 700MW of clean electricity from wave and tidal sources by 2020.

Concerns emerge about environmental effects of wave-energy technology

Tapping the power of waves and tidal currents to generate electricity is promoted as one of many promising alternatives to the fossil fuels that contribute to global warming.

But no one knows exactly how the technologies will behave in the water, whether animals will get hurt, or if costs will pencil out. The permitting process is expensive and cumbersome, and no set method exists for getting projects up and running.

Wal-Mart in wind energy deal with Duke Energy

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Thursday that it had entered into a partnership with Duke Energy to have wind power supply up to 15 percent of its energy load for roughly 360 of its stores and facilities in Texas.

U.S. company auctions 300,000 U.N. carbon credits

NEW YORK, Nov 20 (Reuters) - U.S.-based online exchange World Energy Solutions Inc said on Thursday it has completed an auction for carbon credits that can be used for compliance under the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol on global warming.

Arctic to offers new energy

BRUSSELS - THE Arctic offers new energy and fishing resources as a result of global warming and new technology, the European Union said on Thursday.

Melting ice also presented new navigation possibilities such as a short route to the Pacific Ocean, the EU executive said.

Politicians persuaded to save Canada boreal forest

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Politicians actually listened when experts told them to protect Canada's boreal forest, a potent weapon against global warming, and the plan for this vast green area could work on some of the world's other vital places, scientists told Reuters.

Canada wants North America cap-and-trade system

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's Conservative government, shifting positions in the wake of Barack Obama's election as U.S. president, said on Wednesday that it would work to develop a North America-wide cap-and-trade system to limit emissions of greenhouse gases.

The Conservatives, who walked away from the Kyoto protocol on climate change after taking power in 2006, have until now focused on cutting the intensity of emissions rather than imposing outright curbs.

Governors pledge to fight global warming together

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, his counterparts in 12 states and regional leaders from four other countries signed a declaration Wednesday pledging to work together to combat global warming, a move Schwarzenegger said will help push heads of state to curb their nations' greenhouse gas emissions.

Colombian VP says cocaine destroying rain forests

Colombia's vice president said Tuesday that Britain's middle classes, who recycle and haul shopping home in reusable cloth bags, should realize that they are destroying the rain forests by taking cocaine.

"These people, who have good jobs and drive a hybrid car or cycle to work because they care about the environment, may go to party and do some lines of coke and they are thinking it is no problem," Francisco Santos told The Associated Press Tuesday. "They are absolutely unaware of the ecological impact of their drug taking and we want to change that."

Climate change momentum fading: Asia-Pacific survey

LIMA (AFP) – Climate change is fading as a priority in the Pacific Rim as the gloomy state of the global economy takes precedence, a survey of opinion leaders showed Wednesday.

The private Pacific Economic Cooperation Council released an annual survey of leaders in government, business and media ahead of a summit in Peru of 21 Asia-Pacific nations, which account for more than half the global economy.

Paul Wagler: Obama's One-Time Opportunity: to Restructure the American Economy

from Breaking News and Opinion on The *Huffington Post* by Paul Wagler

With worldwide equity markets down by 40 - 50%, it seems virtually certain that we are already falling into a depression. Hopefully it will be far smaller than the Great Depression of the 1930's

The Real Source Of Washington Corruption

from The Daily Dish | By Andrew *Sullivan* by Andrew Sullivan

Spencer Ackerman nails it. It's the think-tank lunch:

Here I'm going to reveal an open secret in Washington. The best free lunch in town -- by far -- is at the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute. I remember a panel discussion on Iraq a couple years ago at which AEI wheeled out a massive amount of succulent, just-grilled chicken shwarma. Rice that had been seasoned. With almond slivers! The whole thing displayed a stunningly real Middle East expertise, or at least what a Washington Jew thinks passes for real Middle East expertise. And that is how you succeed in this town...

America’s First Green President?

from Peak *Oil* News

The world expects Barack Obama to do more for the climate and the environment than George W. Bush. But can the next president of the United States deliver climate friendly energy and environment policies in the depths of a recession?

Google CEO Schmidt lays out U.S. energy ideas

from Peak *Oil* News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States should use part of any future economic stimulus package to connect wind turbines and solar energy to the nation's electricity grid, said Google Inc Chief Executive Eric Schmidt, an advisor to President-elect Barack Obama.

Canada wants North America cap-and-trade system

from Peak *Oil* News

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's Conservative government, shifting positions in the wake of Barack Obama's election as U.S. president, said on Wednesday that it would work to develop a North America-wide cap-and-trade system to limit emissions of greenhouse gases.

Searaser floating pump will use the ocean's waves to generate power

from Engadget by Joseph L. Flatley

Oil could fall to $40/bbl in 2009: Deutsche Bank

from Peak *Oil* News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices could fall to as low as $40 a barrel next year as more efficient refining capacity comes online and production costs for some regions fall, Deutsche Bank said in a Wednesday research note.

Auto Industry Bailout Vote Canceled By Senate

from Breaking News and Opinion on The *Huffington Post* by The Huffington Post News Editors

WASHINGTON — A Democratic Congress, unwilling or unable to approve a $25 billion bailout for Detroit's Big Three, appears ready to punt the automakers' fate to a lame-duck Republican president. Caught in the middle of a who-blinks-first standoff are legions of manufacturing firms and auto dealers _ and millions of Americans' jobs _ after Senate Democrats canceled a showdown vote that had been expected Thursday. President George W. Bush has "no appetite" to act on his own.

Mary Ellen Harte and John Harte: The Methane Bomb is Ticking: Here's an Energy Plan to Defuse It

from Breaking News and Opinion on The *Huffington Post* by Mary Ellen Harte and John Harte

Writing for the Yale School of Forestry website a few weeks ago, award winning journalist Susan Stranahan interviewed a Norwegian scientist, who noted that methane is beginning to seep up from the melting submarine permafrost of the shallow Arctic continental shelf. What little data exists -

Otec-Plumbing the oceans could bring limitless clean energy

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026836.000-plumbing-the-oceans-could-bring-limitless-clean-energy.html?full=true

Good Articles 11-19-08

Moore’s Curse and the Great Energy Delusion: It is delusional to think that the United States can install in 10 years wind and solar generating capacity equivalent to that of thermal power plants that took nearly 60 years to construct.

“Energy transitions” encompass the time that elapses between an introduction of a new primary energy source oil, nuclear electricity, wind captured by large turbines) and its rise to claiming a substantial share (20 percent to 30 percent) of the overall market, or even to becoming the single largest contributor or an absolute leader (with more than 50 percent) in national or global energy supply. The term also refers to gradual diffusion of new prime movers, devices that replaced animal and human muscles by converting primary energies into mechanical power that is used to rotate massive turbogenerators producing electricity or to propel fleets of vehicles, ships, and airplanes. There is one thing all energy transitions have in common: they are prolonged affairs that take decades to accomplish, and the greater the scale of prevailing uses and conversions the longer the substitutions will take. The second part of this statement seems to be a truism but it is ignored as often as the first part: otherwise we would not have all those unrealized predicted milestones for new energy sources.

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Consumer prices in record decline

Inflation falls by a record 1% in October, worrying economists that falling prices will become a disturbing trend.

Byron King: Unsustainable Energy Trends

Just over the horizon, things are about to become dicey. This week, the International Energy Agency (IEA) will release a new report on the future of world energy. In its World Energy Outlook, the IEA will state categorically that "Current global trends in energy supply and consumption are patently unsustainable."

There's not much wiggle room in that statement. According to the IEA, despite the recent fall in oil prices, the medium- and long-term outlooks for energy supply are grim. Conventional oil output is destined to decline. Demand will still grow, however, especially in the developing world. And the twain shall only meet by prices rising to clear the market. "It is," as our Arab friends like to say, "written."

Russia: Electricity Providers Face Bankruptcy

Electricity suppliers across the country are cracking down as the number of delinquent private and corporate customers surges. They have little choice.

The dilapidated industry is mired in debt linked to unpaid consumer bills and the multibillion-dollar investment programs that investors signed onto when they acquired electricity assets from the state during the privatization of Unified Energy System, which wrapped up just weeks before the financial crisis struck. A chunk of the industry also operates on a system of short-term loans — funds that have dried up in the crisis.

Kyrgyzstan: Energy Crisis Threatens Country's Stability

It is the main topic of conversation at every dinner table in the country. After nine months of erratic blackouts and broken government promises, the Kyrgyz are growing restless. Many are even saying the situation is worse than before the Tulip Revolution in 2005.

Jordan: Cabinet addresses fuel crisis

AMMAN - The Cabinet on Tuesday looked into alternatives to the controversial pricing mechanism of oil derivatives, which was adopted after fuel subsidies were removed in February, a government official told The Jordan Times after the Cabinet’s weekly meeting.

He added that the government discussed the current crisis in the local market due to a severe fuel shortage that prevailed over the past few days, adding that authorities are considering feasible solutions and alternatives “to neutralise the profits and losses of gas station owners” when updating fuel prices.

Owners of hijacked tanker in ransom talks-Saudi FM

ROME (Reuters) - The owners of a hijacked Saudi supertanker with a $100 million oil cargo are in negotiations over a possible ransom payment, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Wednesday.

With gas prices dropping, commuters get back in their cars

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority just released their statistics for October ridership: with the exception of the subway, ridership fell slightly from September as gas prices began their free-fall.

Medvedev Warns Crisis Is Spreading

MOSCOW -- President Dmitry Medvedev warned that the crisis gripping Russia's banks and capital markets has spread to the real economy and pledged to use the Kremlin's still-massive oil wealth to provide more state aid for stricken industries.

His comments, his frankest on the subject yet, came as the World Bank cut its growth forecast for Russia next year by more than half because of the country's acute dependence on oil prices. The bank said it expects the ruble to keep softening as it tracks oil prices lower.

Ruble May Slide 13% Against Basket on Oil Decline, Survey Shows

(Bloomberg) -- The ruble may weaken 13 percent by the end of next year as the plunging price of oil and the erosion of Russia's current-account surplus compels the central bank to devalue the currency, a survey of analysts and investors showed.

Oil prices fall below $54 a barrel

VIENNA, Austria – Oil prices slipped further Wednesday, dipping below $54 on fears of global economic weakness that have sent crude down more than 60 percent in four months.

But analysts suggested that prices might be bottoming out as they moved closer to the psychologically significant $50 mark.

Consumer Prices in U.S. Probably Tumbled as Spending Slumped

(Bloomberg) -- The cost of living in the U.S. probably slid in October by the most in almost six decades as fuel costs plummeted and retailers discounted merchandise to entice shell-shocked customers, economists said before a government report today.

Consumer prices probably dropped 0.8 percent last month, the most since 1949, after being unchanged in September, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. Excluding food and energy, so-called core prices may have risen 0.1 percent for a second month.

Shell, Aramco, Petrobras Speed Project Spending Cuts

(Bloomberg) -- The biggest oil companies including Saudi Aramco, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Petroleo Brasileiro SA are accelerating spending cuts and delaying projects as the world enters a recession, said Morgan Stanley & Co.

As many as 44 projects have been delayed and faced cuts in investments as of Nov. 18, compared with 19 in a Nov. 5 report, analysts Theepan Jothilingam and James Hubbard said in a note today.

Aramco projects unscathed by crisis

"All our projects are long-term projects and not short-term ones therefore we don't see an impact," Abdullah Naim, vice president for petroleum engineering and development at the state-run conglomerate told Al Arabiya television.

"We don't think this crisis would be a long one. It will be a short one. It will pass like previous ones did," he added.

Petrobras postpones 28 rig tenders

Brazilian state oil company Petrobras has postponed construction tenders for 28 deep-sea drilling rigs to the coming year.

The rigs were to be tendered exclusively to Brazilian construction companies this year.

Chevron Says Nigeria Oil Link Breach May Halt Exports

(Bloomberg) -- Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. oil company, suspended export obligations on some Nigerian production following a pipeline breach at the Escravos oilfield.

The so-called “force majeure” clause, invoked yesterday after the loss of 90,000 barrels a day last week, will last until Dec. 31, company spokesman Scott Walker said in an e- mailed statement.

China to impose fuel tax "very soon": paper

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will impose a long-awaited fuel tax "very soon," the head of National Development and Reform Commission's (NDRC) Energy Research Institute said in comments reported on Tuesday by the China Daily.

"The announcement will come very soon, and actually specific plans have already been suggested to the government long ago," Han Wenke, director general of the research body, was quoted as saying.

The perils of cheap oil

On Sunday, "60 Minutes'" Steve Kroft asked President-elect Barack Obama if the astonishing drop in gas and oil prices made dealing with energy issues "less important." Obama responded forcefully: "It makes it more important." He observed that there is a cycle of "shock and trance" in American attitudes toward energy. When gas prices go up, there's a "flurry" of activity, but when they go back down, well, never mind.

That's exactly what I want to hear from my president, because the truth is that the current low gas and oil prices are engendering a false sense of security. We are being set up for an even more painful energy crisis in the very near future.

No plans to restore broad drilling ban

WASHINGTON – House Democrats have no interest in restoring the broad ban on oil and gas development off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts but will seek to "delineate areas available for drilling" when Congress returns next year, the second-ranking Democrat in the House said Tuesday.

Advocating for Urbanism

With the global mortgage and climate crises making sprawl less and less sustainable, planning issues can no longer be consigned to the fringes of progressive politics. Barack Obama seems to realize this and promised during his campaign that if elected, he would establish a White House Office of Urban Policy. At a meeting of African American columnists last week, Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett confirmed such an office would exist but didn't give more details.

Vietnam president in Venezuela to boost energy ties

CARACAS, (AFP) – Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet arrived in Venezuela where he was set to promote oil and gas cooperation during a two-day official visit, the first by a head of state from the communist nation.

Indian navy destroys pirate boat, more ships taken

MOGADISHU (Reuters) – An Indian warship destroyed a pirate ship in the Gulf of Aden and gunmen from Somalia seized two more vessels despite a large international naval presence off their lawless country.

The buccaneers have taken a Thai fishing boat, a Greek bulk carrier and a Hong Kong-flagged ship heading to Iran since Saturday's spectacular capture of a Saudi supertanker carrying $100 million of oil, the biggest ship hijacked in history.

The explosion of piracy off Somalia this year has driven up insurance costs, made some shipping companies divert around South Africa and prompted an unprecedented military response from NATO, the European Union and others.

Suspected US missile strike kills 6 in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – A suspected U.S. missile strike hit a village deep inside Pakistani territory Wednesday, officials said, killing six alleged militants and indicating American willingness to pursue insurgents beyond the lawless tribal regions.

China eyes cheaper electricity for aluminium firms

HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's electricity producers have started cutting the fees at which they sell power to aluminium producers, smelter and power sources said on Wednesday, which could help smelters avoid further output cuts and boost flagging demand for electricity.

The aluminium industry in the world's biggest producer and consumer of the metal uses around 6 percent of the country's electricity output, but has been cutting back sharply in the face of lower prices.

GM's possible bankruptcy weighs heavily on Detroit

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Devastating.

That's the word being used to describe the impact on Michigan and its largest city, Detroit, should financially ailing automaker General Motors file for bankruptcy protection.

Consumers will suffer if GM goes under

Higher car prices, the end of incentives and vehicle shortages could occur if GM and other Big Three automakers don't get a bailout, according to experts.

Will Detroit's cash crisis kill the electric car?

With its cash dwindling and U.S. auto sales crashing to 25-year lows, GM has joined Ford Motor Co and Chrysler LLC in seeking $25 billion in federal handouts, which are under consideration this week by the U.S. Congress.

That has critics concerned that a meltdown for Detroit could delay the rollout of green cars like the Volt. Others see a chance to prod GM and rivals to move faster as a condition of providing funding the industry says it needs to survive.

Toyota will show hybrid vehicle fueled by CNG

Toyota will reveal a Camry hybrid concept at the Los Angeles Auto Show with an engine that uses compressed natural gas.

The concept signals that Toyota's hybrid technology will be used with engines that operate on a variety of fuels.

Sumitomo Rubber plans tires free of oil

TOKYO (Reuters) - Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd, Japan's second-biggest tire maker, plans to start selling in Japan tires that include no petrochemical materials by 2013, a company spokesman said on Tuesday.

The company has set a medium-term strategy to fight climate change by introducing a tire which uses as little raw material made from oil as possible and at the same time that spins more smoothly to save more fuel than a conventional tire.

German group SolarWorld bids 1bln euros for Opel car plants

FRANKFURT (AFP) – German solar energy company SolarWorld has prepared an offerfor the four German auto factories owned by Opel, a division of US giant General Motors, worth one billion euros (1.26 billion dollars), a statement said on Wednesday.

The solar panel maker would offer 250 million euros in cash and 750 million euros in the form of a bank credit under certain conditions, the statement said.

The Impact Of The Slowdown In Construction Of Wind Generation

The last few months have seen a significant stalling in plans and proposals to build new wind-based power generation. These delays and cancellations have significant implications for two important components of American energy: (1) the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPSs) that have been passed in many states and (2) the reliability of the North American electric grid.

U. S. greenhouse gas regime will impact exporters

As if a credit crunch and recession aren't enough for Canadian manufacturers to deal with. Now those exporting to the United States have to watch how their greenhouse gas emissions will impact their business.

UK: Financial crisis gives green builders a welcome boost

Government climate change targets and the financial crisis are giving green builders added incentive.

Rainforest nations want coordinated carbon effort

MILAN (Reuters) - Rainforest nations will lobby the United Nations to set up a single body to coordinate the use of carbon credit trading to stop deforestation at a conference next month in Poland, an official from the countries said on Tuesday.

"A new body should be built to coordinate initiatives (on cutting emissions from deforestation) that are going around now," Federica Bietta, Deputy Director of New York-based Coalition for Rainforest Nations, which represents about 40 countries, told Reuters on the margins of a deforestation conference in Milan.

Green groups ramp up attacks on oil sands

CALGARY - Environmental organizations in Canada and the United States are stepping up their campaign to derail Alberta's oil sands and seeking funding from deep-pocketed endowments, including the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

Schwarzenegger opens climate summit with Obama

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger opened his international climate change summit on Tuesday by upstaging himself with an even bigger political star — President-elect Barack Obama.

Schwarzenegger, a Republican whose efforts to combat global warming in California have generated worldwide acclaim, wants to show that governments can balance environmental protection and economic growth. He hopes his summit will influence negotiations over a new climate treaty during a U.N. gathering in Poland next month.

UK: MPs pass landmark climate change bill

LONDON (AFP) – MPs have given final approval to a bill committing Britain to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050 -- the first country to have such a legally binding framework on climate change.

Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said on Tuesday that the bill, which must now be signed into law by the queen, "makes Britain a world leader on climate policy".

Bush Tries to Kickstart U.S. Oil Shale Development

from *Common Dreams* | News & Views by jon

WASHINGTON, DC - The Bush administration finalized regulations to govern the commercial development of oil shale on federal lands on Monday, rebuffing concerns that the rules are premature and ignoring the serious environmental concerns about tapping the resource.

A New Chapter but Same Old “Solutions”

from *Oil* Change by Andy Rowell

American President-elect Barack Obama sent a video-taped message to a conference on climate change in Los Angeles yesterday that, under his administration, he would to promise a “new chapter in America’s leadership on climate change”, leading to a “new era of global cooperation” on the issue.

The perils of cheap oil

from Peak *Oil* News

...On Sunday, "60 Minutes'" Steve Kroft asked President-elect Barack Obama if the astonishing drop in gas and oil prices made dealing with energy issues "less important." Obama responded forcefully: "It makes it more important." He observed that there is a cycle of "shock and trance" in American attitudes toward energy. When gas prices go up, there's a "flurry" of activity, but when they go back down, well, never mind.

The Impact Of The Slowdown In Construction Of Wind Generation

from *Energy* Bulletin by Simone

The last few months have seen a significant stalling in plans and proposals to build new wind-based power generation. These delays and cancellations have significant implications for two important

Crude Oil Is Steady Amid Forecasts of Increased U.S. Supplies

from Peak *Oil* News

Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil was little changed in New York amid forecasts that a report will show U.S. oil supplies increased for an eighth week as a recession erodes global demand.

Will Detroit's cash crisis kill the electric car?

from Peak *Oil* News

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Call it an economic and environmental murder mystery in the making: Will a cash-strapped Detroit kill the electric car -- again?

Status quo or competing policy option= stupid

What is the point of framework? It's to prevent cheating. One kind of cheating is making debate not about "policy". This could be the neg reading a poem, doing an interpretive dance or some such nonsense. How often does this happen? In high school basically never. So what is the point of this framework?

Most teams who make this argument are trying to say that the plan needs to be the focus of the debate, i.e. that the only reason you can vote negative is because the plan is bad (i.e. links must be to the plan). This may seem like a trivial distinction, but I think its important when you are reading framework in the 1AC. The reason for this is that you can't change your fwork argument after the 1NC when you do that. This means the neg can still cheat and you have now handicapped yourself. Some examples

1. The anarchy CP- is a policy option, directly competes with the plan. Fits in your framework with the statism K. Other examples might be the everyone stop being capitalist alternative, though that might be government plus. The point is people think this fwork excludes those arguments because they arent a "policy". However, this distinction is tenuous at best. Most people think policy= government, which is highly contestable. Also there are many kritiks of this conception of policy the neg will read as new offense, and against these k's of your fwork you can't use your plan as offense because they aren't linked to the plan. So the neg takes you farther away from the ground you want.

2. Reps K's - these are probably the most prolific form of cheating. This fwork stinks against the reps K because since most of them question the accuracy of your representations (security for example) they do deal with should the plan be done, although obviously that is usually not the brunt of the negatives position. Also, the floating pic to do the plan sans the reps is usually a policy option (whether or not it competes is another issue obvi). Plus these kritiks always have evidence that says "reps affect policy" and there is basically zero evidence that says "no they don't".

3. Related to reps, any prior question k (methodology, ontology etc) these k's dont say you can't evaluate policy, they say something is logically prior to doing so. This puts the aff in a tough position because they somehow have to say its a good idea to exclude arguments that call the value of their policy into question in order to discuss policy.... which is logically suspect.

4. The evidenced defenses suck- most affs have an advantage, and they are ready to defend it against most k's. Say, hegemony. They have some realism good cards and are good to go. Then they read fwork with a Rawls card. Now the neg is reading k's of participatory democracy and citizenship, which the aff has no cards against. Now the aff is hosed because they have gift wrapped an arg for the neg they have no offense against. A similar thing occurs when teams change their impacts to avoid K's. They take out the heg adv and just read poverty, then the neg reads a different K like biopower and the aff is hosed cause they have no defenses of their poverty adv re: biopower . One of the best ways to keep K teams on your ground is actually to read your big stick advantages like leadership or terrorism. It is hard for them to read obscure k's of those issues that your generic offense won't apply to. Realism good does not answer every k, but when your advantage is hegemony it answers a pretty large number of them.



So what should you do instead? I think your basic framework should be that the plan is the focus of the debate. Thats it. Then in the 2AC make link arguments about why the negative is not effectively testing the plan. For example

1. Anarchy CP- a reciprocity argument that says in order to test the plan there needs to be a fair comparison
2. Reps K- you can sever discourse, you are only forced to defend the plan

AT: Zizek- Cap K-Article from the future

Copyright 2008 The New Republic, LLC
The New Republic
December 3, 2008
SECTION: Pg. 30

LENGTH: 6947 words

HEADLINE: The Deadly Jester

BYLINE: Adam Kirsch

BODY:


In Defense of Lost Causes



By Slavoj Žižek

(Verso, 504 pp., $34.95)

Violence

By Slavoj Žižek

(Picador, 272 pp., $14)

I.

Last year the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek published a piece in The New York Times deploring America's use of torture to extract a confession from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the Al Qaeda leader who is thought to have masterminded the attacks of September 11. The arguments that Žižek employed could have been endorsed without hesitation by any liberal-minded reader. Yes, he acknowledged, Mohammed's crimes were "clear and horrifying"; but by torturing him the United States was turning back the clock on centuries of legal and moral progress, reverting to the barbarism of the Middle Ages. We owe it to ourselves, Žižek argued, not to throw away "our civilization's greatest achievement, the growth of our spontaneous moral sensitivity." For anyone who is familiar with Žižek's many books, what was striking about the piece was how un-Žižekian it was. Yes, there were the telltale marks--quotations from Hegel and Agamben kept company with a reference to the television show 24, creating the kind of high-low frisson for which Žižek is celebrated. But for the benefit of the Times readers, Žižek was writing, rather surprisingly, as if the United States was basically a decent country that had strayed into sin.

Sick Security K Article

Philip Slater: REALPOLITIK VS. REALITY

from Breaking News and Opinion on The *Huffington Post* by Philip Slater

Obama's election provides an opportunity to reconsider the utility of realpolitik, the guiding principle of American foreign policy for the past sixty years. Realpolitik is supposed to be 'practical', but one can't escape the feeling that it would be better termed dummheitpolitik, since it has been the major cause of almost every foreign policy problem we face in the world today. Building up Osama bin

Obama Victory FX on Topic

Some articles you should cut for DA U post election


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New York Times, United States - 5 hours ago
By Kate Galbraith We solicited comments from environmental and renewable industry

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Instead, the Obama presidency is expected to first push for smaller yet significant measures,

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Bloomberg - USA
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>

Climate change climbing corporate priority list, report says
The Canadian Press - OTTAWA
The Tories have pledged to lower greenhouse gases 20 per cent from 2006
levels by 2020 through regulations, a cap-and-trade system, investments in
green ...
<http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jBos6OquFBOQ6BM-Bt1TbTZCOnFg>
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What Obama's victory means for US foreign policy
guardian.co.uk - UK
To confront global warming, Obama has said he is ready to adopt a
European-style cap-and-trade system of mandatory limits on emissions for
the world's major ...
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/05/uselections2008-barackobama6>
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