Power Shift '09

Federal Dollars for Alternative Energy

Undeterred by the fact that ethanol is the worst type or alternative energy, the federal government is in love with corn ethanol, perhaps a bit too much. Over the years, the American farm lobby has worked and worked to get subsidies for corn growers and, more recently, ethanol producers. The result, as calculated the Environmental Working Group in a new report, is that ethanol (including made-from-corn biofuel) now receives more than three times as many federal dollars ($3 billion in 2007) than solar, wind, geothermal and other biomass combined. With ethanol, especially corn ethanol, losing its luster, the imbalance of the pie chart above will hopefully get the Obama administration and the new Congress to reevaluate how renewable energy resources are spent in the coming years. Cellulosic ethanol, algea fuels, solar and wind power all deserve a bigger slice, don't you think?

Via AutoBlogGreen

Save Hot Water

This time of year the plumbing pipes can be cold in the morning. So it takes a while for the shower to warm up. I must admit that more than once, I've gotten distracted by shaving or getting my clothes ready while waiting for it to warm up. Coming back later to find steaming hot water going down the drain; water that I am paying for and paid to heat.

Well, here is a solution, evolve's ShowerSmart technology. I have blogged about more complicated solutions that require plumbing changes. This solution is nice since it just attaches in place of your existing showerhead.

Here is how it works. While the water is cold, it runs. Then when the water gets warm, it shuts down to a trickle. Now when you are ready, you can flip it on and step in to a warm shower.

Link

500 Megawatts More Solar Power in California

The San Francisco utility, PG&E, plans to spend $1.5 billion of ratepayers' money on the photovoltaic project, which is expected to generate enough electricity to supply 150,000 homes when completed.

Via LA-Times

TheOnion: Survivors Mourn Tragic Loss Of Gasoline

Repower America

Repower and reempower America. An ad for the renewable electron economy.

Costs of Solar Going Down in U.S.

A new study on the installed costs of solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems in the U.S. shows that the average cost of these systems declined significantly from 1998 to 2007, but remained relatively flat during the last two years of this period.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) say that the overall decline in the installed cost of solar PV systems is mostly the result of decreases in nonmodule costs, such as the cost of labor, marketing, overhead, inverters, and the balance of systems.

“This suggests that state and local PV deployment programs — which likely have a greater impact on nonmodule costs than on module prices — have been at least somewhat successful in spurring cost reductions,” states the report, which was written by Ryan Wiser, Galen Barbose, and Carla Peterman of Berkeley Lab’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division.

Installations of solar PV systems have grown at a rapid rate in the U.S., and governments have offered various incentives to expand the solar market.

“A goal of government incentive programs is to help drive the cost of PV systems lower. One purpose of this study is to provide reliable information about the costs of installed systems over time,” says Wiser.

The study examined 37,000 grid-connected PV systems installed between 1998 and 2007 in 12 states. It found that average installed costs, in terms of real 2007 dollars per installed watt, declined from $10.50 per watt in 1998 to $7.60 per watt in 2007, equivalent to an average annual reduction of 30 cents per watt or 3.5 percent per year in real dollars.

Via Green Energy News

Better Living

The Better Living Show of Oregon is the Northwest's largest sustainable lifestyle event. The motto is "Live well and have fun doing it." 

Earth friendly products for you, your home and garden. From cutting edge technologies and eco-chic fashion to better energy efficiency and sustainable outdoor living...

The show is March 27 - 29 at the Portland Expo Center and has free admission. 

In addition to the many vendors there are several speakers and forums. Here is one of them that looks interesting. 

Smart Garage Innovation Forum
A revolution in the way citizens use energy

How can Portland be a pioneer in the next generation of energy supply and usage…in electricity, transportation and lifestyle? A smart utility grid powered by renewable energy and electric vehicles are on the horizon, and together they could transform how we use energy, while creating business opportunities and jobs. Getting ready and reaping the full benefits requires coordinated action across many sectors, including utilities, automakers, government, local businesses and the community. We will connect, learn and create alignment within the Portland community to welcome the next generation of energy technologies.

More Info

How Much Would You Pay For An EV?

Electric Vehicles have been announced by nearly every major auto manufacturer. Most of them are smaller 4-door cars. If you buy an EV, you'll save money on gas and maintenance and you'll spend a little more on electricity.

Would you be willing to pay more considering the operational savings? 

I'd like to try a poll ask how much you'd pay for an electric vehicle. For the purposes of this poll, assume you are in the market for a commuter and errand mobile. This EV is a little bigger than a Prius and has a range of 120 miles with a top speed of 100 MPH.

Congress Steps into the Light

From VoteSolar.org

After such a long drought in federal leadership on renewables, we find ourselves pleasantly surprised by Congress' newfound love for the sun. Congress just passed an economic recovery package that makes good on Obama's promise to unleash the economic development engine that is clean energy. Nearly all of the solar provisions on the table made it into the final bill. Serious kudos to our hard-working friends at SEIA who traversed the halls of Congress until the 11th hour, and to all of our members who chimed in online to make their voices heard.

Click here to read about the solar provisions in the bill. The recovery package will immediately spur job creation along each link in the solar supply chain- from PV panel manufacturers to solar hot water system installers.

Next up on the federal solar agenda - a Renewable Electricity Standard. We are working to ensure that this important policy tool effectively deploys solar from coast to coast. As always, we will be counting on you to help deliver the message. Stay tuned, it may only be February, but it's already shaping up to be a great year for solar victories.

Onwards,

Annie + Vote Solar Team
The Vote Solar Initiative
300 Brannan Street, Suite 609
San Francisco, CA 94107
www.votesolar.org

You Can Improve Solar Power

Thin film solar has the potential to make solar power ubiquitous. It can be made cheaply compared to crystalline silicone based PV. Its only drawback is that it is not very efficient and needs a large area to generate significant power. 

You can help to change that. The spare cycles on your PC can be used test tens of thousands of new materials to determine which are the best candidates for the next generation of affordable solar cells.

Once a cheap, efficient solar is available, there is no reason not to cover anything electronic with it. Solar shingles could cover homes and buildings, and the tops of plug-in cars could be covered by thin film. A sunny day in a parking lot could get you a free mile or two. As the panel efficiency improves over time and cars move to lighter materials like carbon fiber, these panels could incrementally provide more of the vehicle's (and more of our world's) power needs.

Thin Film Photovoltaic

If you want to join in the fun and put your spare CPU cycles to work click on this link: 

World Community Grid.org

and look for "How You Can Help".

This takes you to the World Community Grid, a project sponsored by Harvard University, IBM and others. Once you've installed the software you can select from projects to: 

• Discover Dengue Drugs
  
• Fight AIDS
  
• Conquer Cancer 
  
• Fold Human Proteome
  
• Discover Nutritious Rice for the World 
• Discover Clean Energy Materials
  

Select "Clean Energy Materials" and you are on the way to helping build a better future. 

MPQ

Tree Planting

We spent the morning of Valentine's Day planting trees in the Hiteon Creek area. This was a solv.org event. 

Hiteon Creek is a tributary of Fanno Creek, which then empties into the Tualatin River. The Tualatin River then joins with the Willamette River. From there it is on to the Columbia and then the Pacific Ocean. It is thought-provoking to look at this little neighborhood creek, that you can easily step over, and realize this water will be part of the Pacific Ocean and that what happens here will influence all these other rivers. Something to consider next time you are working on your yard.

From the event description, "Planting native trees and shrubs along the banks of the stream will improve water quality, protect the banks of the stream, provide habitat for wildlife, and capture carbon."

The trees were just small rooted twigs. This made it much easier to plant them than other times when I have planted trees, since you did not need to dig a big hole. 

I enjoy walking, geocaching, and playing disc golf in Greenway Park. Fanno Creek flows through this park and I have seen geese (I think they were Canadian geese, but I am not going to racially profile them :) )

Links

solv.org

Meeting Shai Agassis

I am scheduled to meet Shai Agassis of Better Place on the 20th. This is very exciting. He is one of the 'rock stars' of the EV world.

I'll give all the details after the meeting.

If you are not familiar with Better Place, you can see what they are up to in the video below.

Future of Personal Transportation?

From the Aptera Newsletter

Oil is incredibly energy dense, we make plastics and fertilizer and lots of other things out of it, and most importantly, it gives us unlimited mobility. That's why humans protect it and even fight over it. But if our history is peppered with conflict over oil, and so many of the world's economies have an increasing demand for it, why are oil prices so low? Well, please don't forget how OPEC and foreign concerns can manipulate us because we're addicted to oil.

For a company like Aptera, it's easy to be distracted by current bargains at the gas pump, but, truth is, we're not worried. Many folks are mesmerized by low gas prices right now and are wondering if we need energy efficient vehicles at all. They reason, "Gas is back down to $1.75, I'll just drive my SUV and I don't need vehicles like Aptera." I believe there is a different, certain truth to our future with oil. It's sort of the elephant in the room, or the crazy aunt locked in the basement that no one wants to talk about: the world consumes as much oil as it can produce.

A major oilfield hasn't been discovered in 50 years, and all of the big ones are losing steam, so to speak. Simple supply and demand dictate that as time goes on -- our current anomalous economic conditions aside -- there will be less oil, there will be more consumers and the price will continue to rise. Additionally, the price swings will be much greater with smaller perturbations. Think about it, all of us saw $4 per gallon just over a year ago, but before the holidays it was $1.90 here in Carlsbad. Now it's $2.20. Do any of us honestly think it's going to stay there? C'mon, really?

Let's restate all of this a different way. Aptera is going to stay ahead of the energy curve. We fundamentally believe oil will become too expensive and too precious for us to burn off at the rate of one gallon for every 24 miles. This, however, is not a gloom and doom message. On the contrary, it's a message about opportunity. You see, Americans cherish their freedoms -- their freedom to move, the freedom of individual mobility.

While the old world will be getting around in big, boxy steel dinosaurs that tear and shred the air as they claw their way through, they will become as archaic as the dinosaurs themselves. In the new world, where efficiency is sought and praised, Aptera will be there to deliver mobility with safe, comfortable, desirable vehicles that are the most efficient in the world.

by Steve Fambro, Founder Aptera

Tesla Model S

Tesla is the maker of the Roadster. The electric sports car that is wicked fast, 0 to 60 MPH in 3.9 seconds for the standard Roadster and 3.7s with the Sport model. However, at $109,000+ price tag, not too many people I know (OK none) are likely to be buying one anytime soon.

Tesla has long publicized their plan to start with a ~$100,000 car, then add a ~$60,000 car, and finally a ~$30,000 electric. With each vehicle being "no compromise" compared to gas cars in its class. The Roadster with its 125MPH top speed and over 200 miles of range delivers. And now the Model S, the ~$60,000 car, 4 door sedan is one step closer to being a reality in 2011.

$60k is still a lot to spend on a car. It opens the market up to many more people and I hope is a sign that Tesla can make it as a company and eventually deliver that ~$30,000 car that can have a mass impact on how we fuel our driving.

From Elon Musk's blog:

Unveiling the Model S and DOE funding!

On March 26th, at the Tesla design studio located within the SpaceX rocket factory, we will unveil a street-drivable prototype of the Model S four door sedan.  Our objective with the Model S was to create one of the most functional, intuitive and beautiful vehicles on the road.  Tesla Roadster customers and select VIPs invited to the event will have an opportunity to judge for themselves firsthand whether we have succeeded.  

Regarding funding, I am excited to report that the Department of Energy informed Tesla last week that they may disburse funds from our $350M Model S loan application within four to five months.  The Obama administration has thankfully made it a top priority to move quickly on the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loan program, as this will both generate high quality jobs in the near term and lay the groundwork for a better environment in the future.  

This will keep us on track for production to start in 2011.  As a gesture of gratitude for their early support, Roadster owners will receive a $10,000 discount off the price of the Model S Signature series and automatically be first in line for the sedan.  

Earth Hour 2009

Dear Earth Hour Supporter, Excitement is building all over the US and around the world. Here's a quick update on what's developed this week for Earth Hour: More cities turning out: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York, San Francisco, St. Louis and the Village of Homer Glen, Illinois. We've heard rumblings from Houston and Seattle as well and would also love to get Washington, DC on board. If you're a DC resident, let Mayor Fenty know you want the city to turn out! Help us turn out the lights on the US Capitol Dome—write to your Senators or Member of Congress. What goes on in Vegas doesn't always stay there: Earth Hour officially launched in Sin City at a press event featuring a Panda Bear and Vegas showgirls. The Strip will indeed go dark for the full 60 minutes—the only time the lights have been dimmed except briefly in 1998 in honor of Frank Sinatra's death. Other city news: Chicago held its official launch event last week, with Mayor Daley again pledging his support. Next up? Nashville, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Dallas! The city of lights goes dark: Paris and 27 other French cities announced they'll take part in Earth Hour, with the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame going dark. A total of 405 cities in 74 countries have pledged to participate—double the number of countries from last year. Download a very cool Shepard Fairey poster: The famed Obama-portrait artist has created a series of "Vote Earth" posters urging people to turn off their lights during Earth Hour. Available at www.earthhourUS.org in either the tools or media section. EH for kids, too: In addition to creating teaching guides for K-12 students, we've also created a special section of the website just for young people. Check it out at www.earthourkids.org, where there's information about how students can promote Earth Hour at their school or within their community. And don't forget to mark your calendar...Earth Hour is March 28, 2009, at 8:30 pm. Turn out. Take action. Thanks! The Earth Hour Team Turn Out. Take Action. March 28, 2009 8:30 pm www.EarthHourUS.org www.EarthHourKids.org

Key Topics

What is this blog is about? I added a new sidebar that has links to the more important ideas we've covered. If you read this via a reader, rather than the blog proper, you don't get to see the sidebar so here is the list. It will be ever growing. Enjoy.

Welcome to the CelticSolar blog

Solar Incentives

The Future or the Past

Hypermiling

Plug-in Cars Get Kick Start

Our Green List

Save Energy, Save Money, Save the Planet

Eat For Life

The Coming Plug-in Transportation Revolution

Future Fuels

Global Climate Destabilization

Plug into the Coming Electric Vehicle Revolution

Although gas prices have fallen dramatically since last summer, many automakers are still moving ahead with plans to introduce plug-in vehicles. As Wired put it in a review of the 2009 Detroit auto show "The future of the automobile was sealed at North America's biggest auto show, where all of the hottest new cars and concepts had extension cords."

Coming Soon?

The showroom floor is not the same as the dealership floor. They are not here yet. Will they make it this time? Henry Ford was fascinated with electric cars and collaborated with his close friend Thomas Edison on an ultimately unsuccessful plan to bring one to mass market. If you change the names above, that could be the story of many EV start-ups or even the major car company's today. They have dreams of bringing a practical, affordable, electrically powered, mass produced car to market.

So why is this time different? There are advances both technologically and politically. At the bottom of this post there are dozens of links to stories of auto makers' plug-in plans and municipalities installing plug-in infrastructure.

Electron Tipping Point

This time it looks like there is momentum that will not be quiesced by cheap gasoline. As Andy Grove, of Intel fame, put it "the drumbeat of electric transportation ...is like nothing I've ever seen in my life. It must be done. Everything else is secondary". Electron fueled transportation is domestic, cleaner, (and still) cheaper. This time it is over the tipping point. The links below tell of cities, states, and even entire countries deploying infrastructure for plug-in transportation. None of the auto companies want to miss out on this industry's 'inflection point'.

The big guys have to play in this new space to protect their position and the little guys are hoping that an early to market solution can help them move up in the rankings. No one can afford to ignore what might be the next big car market. 

Hydrogen War Over

It may not be over for good, but there is at least a 5 year truce. Politically, the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle has been used to defer the battery electric car. Only now are the automakers realizing that fuel cell cars are at least another decade away and they have been "a decade away" since the 1960's. No longer can automakers wait. The Toyota Prius has shown what is possible and every automaker wants to be the next one to have a big hit car. They can no longer wait for hydrogen. Even Iceland, where they were trying to build the "hydrogen economy" is looking for plug-in cars. They have a hydrogen infrastructure but the cars are currently just too expensive.  Tesla Roadsters are bashed for being expensive, well for the true cost of a hydrogen fuel cell car, you can buy 9 or 10 Roadsters. Fuel cells will get cheaper, call me back in about a decade. This political fight is over for now. Hydrogen has lost. 

Electric Car V3.0

Electric cars are not new, in the early 1900's most cars on the road were electric. Ford's wife even drove one. Then in the late 1990's, thanks to California's zero emission mandate, EVs made a brief comeback. See Who Killed the Electric Car? to find out how that ended. 

Technologically, several things have improved for plug-in cars since the GM EV1; batteries are lighter and cheaper, carbon fiber materials... However, the one thing that I think is the most important change since the 1990s is the range extender. If you have never driven an EV, to hear that it has a 50, 60, or even 90, or 100 mile range, sounds short. Most people drive less than 40 miles per day, but if you tell them that is ALL they could drive, well, they don't like it. We Americans love freedom and the ability to jump in your car and drive off to anywhere is a strong representation of that freedom. The extended range EV (E-REV or REEV) gives you this freedom, while having an electric range that meets most days driving needs.

E-REV now, EV later

For Joe (or Jane) American, after owning an E-REV it will become obvious how infrequently you need more range, then if it fits your driving needs, your next car could be a pure EV. Then for those few times you do need more range you can rent or borrow an E-REV car or have a "gasser" in your family fleet that you only use when you must. Battery technology continues to improve 6-8% per year. That is 6-8% more range, or cheaper per year. You will be able to buy a significant range EV at a reasonable price within a decade. E-REVs bridge the gap as affordable EV solutions can be developed and charging infrastructure can be rolled out. 

Driving an E-REV will change the way you look at fueling up at the pump. Say you forgot to plug-in, so now you have to stop for gas. You'll have to pay at the pump; all the time thinking "why didn't I plug it in? I could be driving now instead of sitting here and I could have paid one fourth the price." The best way to get better habits is by reward and punishment. Plugging in rewards you with the "EV grin" and filling up at the pump punishes your time and wallet.

E-REVs are a natural progression. It is going to take time to build up a charging network and to develop fast charging technology. We have a network of fueling stations now. E-REVs allow us to take advantage of it. Even if only for the peace of mind in knowing that you can pull-in and fuel up if your batteries drain.

Renewable Electron Economy

Don't get me wrong, to all my EV driving buddies out there, you are ahead of the curve. Eventually maybe people will come to see the "freedom" of gasoline as an illusion. Dependency on foreign oil is a ball and chain. We are borrowing money from China and sending it to the middle east. Let's kick off the renewable electron economy and move to a hometown powered, no war required, smart grid, EV transportation system that creates green collar jobs.

Enjoy the links below, here are a few of the more interesting quotes: 

“Investment banker Morgan Stanley forecasts 5,000 plug-in cars will be on the road in 2010, 30,000 in 2011 and 100,000 by 2012. Lowenthal describes those projections as conservative.”

“The company’s ambitious “low carbon” agenda calls for cranking out one million hybrids a year within the first half of the next decade and accelerating the development of small electric vehicles for mass production…”

“Our view is that oil production will peak in the near future. We need to develop power trains for alternative energy sources...”

"President Obama said he would like to see 1 million electric and plug-in cars on America's highways by 2015."

Links Galore

Industry

  Automakers Go Electric

  Automakers Sing the Body Electric

  Drive for electric gathers speed

  Will Electric Vehicles Be the Next 'It' Cars?

Auto Companies

  BMW Mini E

  Chrysler's plan to beat the Chevy Volt (2) (3)

  Ford accelerates electric-vehicle plans (2)

  GM and Chrysler's future business plans include EVs and hybrids

  Lotus

  Nissan

  Mercedes

  Miles Electric 

  Toyota (2)

  Electrifying the Nation by Tony Passowats of GM

Locations

  Australia

  Beijing

  Berlin

  Canada

  Germany

  Hawaii

  Indianapolis

  Ireland

  Israel

  Japan (2)

  New Zealand

  Norway (2)

  Portugal

  Oregon

  San Jose

  Switzerland

  Texas

  Washington DC

  20 Cities "Get Ready"

  28 US States Have Charging System Sales Office

Other

  Electric Car History

  Electricity Vending Machines

Everything Green

The "Everything Green" show will be at the Oregon Expo Center on Feb. 14-15, 2009.

Everything Green Oregon is about making good choices.
Saturday 10am-5pm
Sunday 10am-4pm

FREE ADMISSION!

Link

Oregon's Solar Powered Highway

I authored another guest posting on Solar Power Rocks. You can see it on their site or you can read it below.

In August 2008, Oregon hatched a plan to be the first US state to have highway-side solar panels. In the above picture, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski ceremoniously placed the first panel. 

Four months later, on the snowy 19th day of December 2008 the program flipped the switch and started generating a modest amount of power. 

This is a 104kW system, made up of 594 panels. Its annual production is estimated to be 128 megawatt-hours.  This is enough to power over 10 typical homes' complete annual electricity use. However, the Oregon Dept of Transportation (ODOT) is using it to power the lights at the I-5 & I-205 exchange. 

During the day when the lights are off and the sun is out, the PV panels will spin the meter backwards. The result is that ODOT will have a power bill for this area that is about one third less than it was last year. 

If ODOT is able to switch to more efficient bulbs in the future, these PV panels will become an even bigger percentage of their power needs. 

Below is an aerial view of the panels. 

Here is January 20th, 21st, and 22nd's power production for this system. There is no publicly available monitoring yet. If you are used to reading solar output charts, you can tell that the 20th (on the left) was a clear sunny day. The 21st & 22nd, on the other hand, were cloudy. 

This pilot program has gone well and is likely the first of many to come. Expect to see more solar panels along the highways of Oregon and possibly even on other ODOT facilities. 

Links: 

Oregon Solar Highway

2008 Solar Powered Driving

I started EV driving in Feb 2007 and then later that year in November our solar panels powered on. So 2008 was the first complete year that we had both an EV and the PV. Looking at the gold line in the graph, you can see in the above graph that my driving was net zero early in July. 

In 2008 the PV system generated 3.7 megawatts and my 5200 miles of EV driving used 3.6 megawatts.  It was a good thing I was able to work from home much of December, this allowed us to end the year with a small surplus. 

The red line shows that my driving used 200 to 400 kWh per month. This was much more consistent than the blue line for PV generation, which looks like Mt Hood, and varied from 600 kWh to less than 100 kWh. 

Plug-ins may get cut from fed stimulus

From Plug-in America:

This year Plug In America, along with a team of entrepreneurial electric vehicle companies from coast to coast has worked with Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), John Kerry (D-MA), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and Bill Nelson (D-FL) to get critical plug-in vehicle tax credit language into the upcoming stimulus bill. We are very close to success!

But now our efforts are threatened - we hear that the tax credits for all plug-ins and plug-in hybrid conversions may get removed from the stimulus bill.

We need your help - and we will do most of the work. Please take just a moment to click through the link below and send a strong message to your representatives in Congress and the President telling them that you want plug-in electric vehicles to be successful along with the truly green jobs they can create. Show Washington just how serious you are about wanting affordable plug-in vehicles on the road now:

http://www.pluginamerica.com/stimulus

It is time to ask Congress to advance the next generation of transportation options. Each and every voice they hear will make a difference.

Let us do the work for you - Just click the link below and in less than a minute you can get your message to Congress about this key issue:

http://www.pluginamerica.com/stimulus

Thank you!

Jay Friedland
Legislative Director
Plug In America

A Green Federal Recovery Bill? With Your Help It Will Be.

From VoteSolar:

The sun came up this morning, ready to help.  How about Congress?

Congress is in the midst of debating an economic recovery bill that could funnel billions towards jumpstarting our domestic renewable energy economy.  Can you take action to make sure that the solar provisions are as strong as possible?

Since solar creates more jobs per megawatt than other energy resources and projects can be up and running within months, it is an obvious economic recovery tool.  Last week, the House passed a version of the stimulus bill with $32 billion in clean energy funding.  This week, the Senate takes up the debate, and the current Senate version of the recovery bill is missing several key solar provisions. Our friends at the Solar Energy Industries Association have put together a handy guide detailing the solar provisions that need to be included in The Recovery Act. Check it out here.

If added to the final bill, these solar provisions-from a renewable energy grant program, to putting solar on federal buildings to a manufacturing tax credit--will help create close to 200,000 new jobs and install 3 gigawatts of solar over the next 2 years.

Take action here.

Onwards,

Annie + Vote Solar Team

Oil On Ice

My father-in-law recently asked me what I thought about drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) of Alaska. I replied that I would prefer that we move as quickly as possible to making petroleum a 'secondary' fuel only (with electricity as the primary fuel). Then we would not need to drill anywhere else for a long time. And during this time we could work on better alternatives. 

As far as ANWR specifically, I didn't know anything about it. However, I am sure that unless we curb our demand, we will end up drilling there eventually (and anywhere else we can find oil), whether it is the right thing to do or not.

After this conversation, I started looking into ANWR more. Alaska is beautiful.

In 2002 I took an extended vacation in Alaska and Canada. We didn't go to ANWR. We ferried up the inside passage of the Alaskan pan handle stopping at Ketchikan, Petersburg, Sitka, & Juneau. On the first night we were lucky enough to see the auroraborialis. The ferry captain announced it and said that this was the farthest south that he had ever seen it. It was white sheets waving in the night sky, not the colorful aurora that you see in pictures. Whales swam beside the ferry each day. We went to Haines AK, hiked and watched for wildlife. Here is one of my favorite pictures of an eagle from that trip.

We traveled to the Yukon (that is me in the picture above) and here we saw the aurora again. It was bigger and more colorful this time but I could not get a good picture. Here is an artist's rendition. I admit it was not that colorful, but beautiful none the less.

One last comment about my travels, if you are ever in the Northern British Columbia area be sure to stop at the Liard Hotsprings. We stumbled on to it just looking for a place to camp for a night. It was great. After days of driving and with the cold days of late Sept this was a generous largess from nature. Below is a picture of the hotsprings.

When I was looking into ANWR, I found a documentary that discusses exactly the topic my father-in-law had asked about. What would be the impact of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It is worth watching. It is called Oil On Ice. Here are a couple links about the movie.

Links: 

On IMDB

Netflix