Conservation could eliminate the need to drill for any oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

The U.S. consumes about an almost unimaginable amount of oil every day: 20,680,000 barrels of oil per day (and see here). Keep in mind that each barrel contains 42 gallons. Thus, Americans currently use 20,680,000 barrels per day = 239 barrels per second = 10,000 gallons of oil per second.Therefore , we desperately need to maintain almost 4,000 drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico in order to keep drilling for oil, right? Not so fast. Why aren’t we seriously discussing our ability to entirely eliminate offshore drilling by getting just a little bit serious about conservation? Consider the following statistics, which should be on the front page of every newspaper in the United States because [caption id="attachment_12529" align="alignright" width="210" caption="Image: creative commons"]Image: creative commons[/caption] they prove that we don't need offshore drilling but that we do need to seriously implement conservation measures for many reasons (one of which is impending peak oil):

Projecting ahead to the year 2016, the total oil production from the Gulf of Mexico will never exceed 2.1 million barrels of oil per day. Within the next 10 years, total GOM oil production is expected to exceed 1.7 million barrels of oil per day (MMBOPD), a projection based on existing shallow and deepwater operator commitments as shown in Table 2 and Figure 2. If industry-announced discoveries and undiscovered resources realize their full potential, production could reach 2.1 MMBOPD.

This information comes from page 12 of “Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Production Forecast: 2007-2016,” published by the U.S. Department of the Interior. See also, this chart, Figure 2 on page 14 of this same report:

Continue ReadingConservation could eliminate the need to drill for any oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

Peabody Coal Company argues that coal is “green coal” and “clean coal”

A few months ago one of my neighbors, a proudly conservative man, saw me carrying a package of high-efficiency light bulbs into my house. He gave me a disappointed look loudly said: “Buy some real light bulbs, Erich.” This neighbor has repeatedly made it known that that liberal concerns and proposals regarding energy are unnecessary because there is plenty of oil and coal, and we should make it our national priority to keep digging and burning these resources. I know that my Republican neighbor is not the only “conservative” in the U.S. willing to scoff at conservation. I previously argued that this anti-energy-efficiency climate–science-denial attitude like my neighbor’s outlook has become a badge of group membership among conservatives. It has become a salient display that one believes, above all, in the alleged power and wisdom of the “Free Market,” an unsubstantiated leap of faith so incredibly bold that I once termed it the Fourth Person of the Holy Trinity (and see here and here). These free-market fundamentalists are contemptuous at well-informed suggestions for using energy resources more efficiently and for reducing our reliance on dirty and dangerous fossil fuels. Many of them consider national policy aimed at energy conservation to be totally unnecessary and ridiculously expensive. Proposals that we should be smarter consumers of energy annoy and anger them and they offer no evidence-based alternatives for peak oil (and see here and here and here ). They refuse to consider the damage being done to our environment, our health and our budget (especially our military budget) as a result of our reliance on fossil fuels . My neighbor displays a startling lack of curiosity regarding the ramifications for continuing to attempt to drill and dig our way to energy independence. This same attitude is found in many conservative politicians, the most prominent being Sarah Palin. Based on an extraordinary video of a recent debate at Washington University in Saint Louis, this same attitude is also embraced by of the executives at the largest private coal company in the United States, Peabody Coal Company.

Continue ReadingPeabody Coal Company argues that coal is “green coal” and “clean coal”

Proof that I’m working hard

I haven't had much time to share my thoughts at this website lately--too much legal work to do. I've never written so much as I have in the past few weeks, including co-authoring a long book chapter on the topic of "Arbitration," another article on products liability, two appellate briefs and probably a dozen legal memoranda. Yes, I'm looking for a bit of sympathy! Now, if you want proof that I've been working maniacally at the keyboard, take at look at my keyboard: the letters are wearing off. img_1062-1What you're seeing is part of my actual computer keyboard at the law office. Ignore all the dust between the keys, please (it doesn't look quite this dusty in person). The "M" key is almost gone, as is part of "L." I completely lost my comma and period keys. Losing the label of one key is not too bad, but losing several in a row is annoying--I was finding myself often pausing to figure out which key is the period and which was the comma when I was in editing mode (when typing a rough draft, none of this much of a problem, because my fingers usually know where to go and I don't need to look down). I like fixing things rather than throwing things away, so I "invented" the above-illustrated method of putting pieces of customized label on top of the distressed keys. I'm thinking that I ought to coat the labels with something clear to keep the image readable--maybe clear nail polish?? Perhaps someone out there has a ideas for coating the label or for otherwise repairing a keyboard that is losing its letters . . . here's your chance to be an environmental hero, because I would bet that there are many people out there with this same problem, and a good idea could save thousands of keyboards. BTW, I think I lost the comma and period because I type so intensely fast that I need to pound those pause/stop keys repeatedly in order to slow myself down. That's my theory.

Continue ReadingProof that I’m working hard

Wondering about mowing

I'm still wondering how one of my neighbors (no, Pete, it's not you) can spend 44 minutes (I clocked it precisely with my watch this time) mowing his back yard with a loud gas-powered lawn mower, given that his back yard is only about 50 feet by 40 feet. This particular fellow, who seems to be in good health, is not the only guy who zones-out while pushing a noisy lawn mower. I've seen others do it--the loud noise seems to put some people into Zen-like trance. It's the same look I notice in other folks who get to that same mental state by simply walking down a street or through a park. I'm wondering how my neighbor would react if I offered him a chance to exchange his noisy mower for a cheap green mower like the one I've owned for ten years - - it has no engine, so it's fume-less; it's also human powered. I suspect that he'd miss the roar.

Continue ReadingWondering about mowing