Archive for January, 2010
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Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
The following guest essay is by Frank Weigert, a retired DuPont chemist who was involved in some of DuPont’s early work on alternative fuels in the mid-1970’s. This work spurred a lifelong interest in a renewable hydrocarbon economy. Recently Frank sent me an e-mail in which he described his views on [...]
Events in Venezuela
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
I have seen a number of interesting stories on Venezuela this week. First was:
The Chávez Spiral
With petroleum prices down around $71 a barrel from a high of $147 the Venezuelan government is struggling to make up for the revenue shortfall to save programs that placate the poor by providing cheap food, [...]
Feeding Your Family: Cheap and/or Green
Submitted by PlasticLess.com Blog
I bought potatoes in a big jute bag this morning. In retrospect, the greener choice may have been filling up a shopping bag with local potatoes. I am faced with shopping on a tighter budget these days and these seemed like a good value. There are lots of blog posts floating around [...]
Real Estate and the 4th World
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
During the Cold War, we had the First World (the West), the Second World (the USSR and allies) and the Third World (mostly poor countries). When the Soviet Union and Eastern Block disintegrated in 1989-1991, the standard of living for people in those areas went from “decent” (potable tap water, cheap flights, [...]
The Disaster in Haiti
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
I know very little about it, but I do know that years of incompetent and corrupt government contributed to deaths.
Feel free to add more information in the comments.
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Flashback: 10 — 16 January 2009
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
These posts are still important, so please comment.
BEST: Me on Bloomberg Radio — a wide-ranging interview.
Environmental Civil War — the Nature Conservancy goes for the Peripheral Canal; it helps that they will — if they are “team players — get lots of Delta restoration money.
BEST: Fishes… and Seas — how institutions fail [...]
8 Water Myths
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
GZ sent this, and it’s worth reading.
Myth #1: Water is a public good.
Water is essential to life. Therefore, some argue, it should be considered public. Food is also essential to life, but one rarely hears an argument that food and farmland are, or should be, public property. In fact, if farmland and [...]
Lester Snow puts some lipstick on that pig
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
BP sent me this summary of Lester Snow’s talk on the water bills:
He touted that the mandatory conservation did apply to agriculture. He said that:
All irrigation districts will have to “measure their water” and develop a pricing system that at least in part considers how much water a farmer uses.
All irrigation districts [...]
Speed blogging
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
“Both ENDS supports organisations in developing countries to fight poverty and to work towards sustainable environmental management.”
Bolivia’s glaciers are melting faster with global warming; the poor will suffer more.
[old news] Our tap water may be legally drinkable but not healthy. Bureaucrats understand measurement, not results.
Tata (of India) releases a cheap water purifier. [...]
Was China wrong?
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
If only one child per female was born as of now, the world’s population would drop from its current 6.5 billion to 5.5 billion by 2050, according to a study done for scientific academy Vienna Institute of Demography.
-By 2075, there would be 3.43 billion humans on the planet. This would have immediate [...]
Iraq Oil & Gas Production: Geopolitical Compromises and Kurdish Autonomy
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
The following guest essay is by Kevin Kane. Kevin is a market analyst, economist, Asia political affairs strategist, and Korean language linguist living in Seoul, South Korea. Kevin previously published American Freedom from Oil: A Bipartisan Pipedream.
——————-
Iraq Oil&Gas Production: Geopolitical Compromises and Kurdish Autonomy
By Kevin Kane
As Royal Dutch Shell and other [...]
Travelblog: A few notes from Indonesia
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Syngenta was either running trials or actively marketing GMO corn south of Toraja, on Sulawesi. I think the varieties were “33″ and “99,” but I may have the numbers wrong.
The food here is sometimes predictable (rice and fish) and sometimes not (grilled cheese with sweetened condensed milk or chocolate pancakes with cheese [...]
Speed blogging
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
San Diego apartment owners want water submeters on apartments; submeters will allow them to charge tenants for water consumption, lowering owners’ water bills (shifting responsibility) AND lowering their cost of compliance with conservation regulations (because a drop in demand saves more water than conservation gear). Good.
Beijing has water shortages so they are [...]
Poll Results — Climate Variation
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Hey! There’s a new [fortnightly!] poll on the right!
For me, increases in weather variation due to climate change will be
Fun! I love variation!
21%
15
Annoying! I will have to spend money/change some habits
21%
15
A real problem! My life will fundamentally change.
29%
21
Deadly. My community and I may not make it.
10%
7
Whatever. I don’t think that climate change [...]
Wood Versus Fuel
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
I know it has been a week since I put up something new. Some readers have also noticed that I haven’t been commenting much lately, and my e-mails are piling up. Things have just been really busy. I have a few guest posts that should be ready to go within a [...]
Postering with Less Plastic
Submitted by PlasticLess.com Blog
There were a lot of posters being put up in Gozo last month – promoting everything from live nativity reenactments to The Penis Monologues. Many of them are attached to the metal utility poles with plastic zip ties. Long after the events are forgotten and the posters have fallen victim to wind [...]
Monday Funnies
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Cat and trade?
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Farming politicians instead of crops
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
A lot of people are interested in the fish vs farms debate. Here’s some more grist for your mills:
This 1996 report [pdf] on California salmon finds that California “Department of Fish and Game policies instead have the State presiding over a succession of extinctions over our wild salmon runs.” Who wrote it? [...]
Flashback: 3 — 9 January 2009
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
These posts are still important, so please comment.
BEST: Amending AB2882 — add “reliable” to California’s law on conservation pricing and get REAL conservation.
Golf Courses don’t “waste” water — compared to agriculture.
Madoff’s Ethanol Accounting — a breakdown of the various subsidies and distortions with ethanol.
Ecosystem Markets at the USDA. How’s that going? Speaking [...]
Why isn’t this a law?
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
“Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators or Representatives, and Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States.”
That (via JWT) would [...]
Travelblog: Islam in Indonesia
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
I’ve been in 15-20 countries with heavy or dominant Muslim populations. As many have noted, the flavors of Islam are as diverse as the flavors of Christianity.
I was therefore curious to see what Islam was like in world’s largest Muslim country (population 250 million, 90+ percent Muslim).
Indonesia is, of course, an archipelago [...]
Innovation on water quality
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
I’ve talked in the past about the need for a simple, cheap water quality tester for consumers. (The kits on the market now are neither user-friendly nor “cheap.)
It occurred to me that the consumer market often follows the business market, where early adopters are willing to pay more and their custom drives [...]
Corruption in Context
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
I took some time to read through Transparency International’s 2008 Global Corruption Report because it had a focus on water and corruption, two topics dear to my heart.
To understand why water provision is especially vulnerable to corruption, consider this “equation”:
Corruption = monopoly + discretion - accountability.
Thus, you see why I spend so [...]
The Wheels Come Off the Biodiesel Wagon
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
Domestic Biodiesel Production Plummets
One of my Top 10 Energy Stories of 2009 involved the actions taken by the EU against U.S. biodiesel producers. U.S. tax dollars had been generously subsidizing biodiesel that was being exported out of the U.S. European producers couldn’t compete against the subsidized imports, so the EU effectively [...]
Wordless Wednesday: Recycling
Submitted by PlasticLess.com Blog
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