It has been an interesting week in the world of energy. Oil got up to $112 a barrel and (on a personal front) my local fuel oil supplier just raised my #2 fuel oil price to $4.19 per gallon . That is triple what it was just three years ago. Not a pretty picture. What I find interesting is that all of the media energy experts seem totally baffled by all of this. I was watching CNN a couple of days ago and they kept commenting upon the fact that U.S. oil reserves are at a 5 year high and there is currently no shortage of supply. Standard economic theory would suggest this price rise just shouldn't be happening. It would be easy to just chalk it up to a single word "GREED" but I suspect the real answer is a bit more complex than that. I suspect closer to the truth is the fact that while the oil company's won't admit it (peak oil ... what peak oil) the people with the money have realized that oil is a commodity that is rapidly running out. This isn't a short-term play, this is a long-term play.
Commodities, including oil, have been on a roll lately and I believe that is because there are investors out there who have enough money to truly think in the long term. Long term financial strategies call for buying things that will run out while they are still cheap so they can charge exorbitant prices when the supplies start running out. Oil is now in that category and so is being boosted by long-term speculators. So don't let the oil companies tell you that we have not yet started to run out of oil. The guys with the big money know better. Just follow the money!
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Natural Gas vs Heating Oil
Every now and then people write to us at EnegyBible.com with questions which strike us as the kind of thing a lot of people might be asking themselves. When that happens we will talk about the question on this blog and add them to our FAQ. Here is the question we got this morning along with our response. We hope you find it informative:
The AFUE ratings indicated a higher efficiency for gas over oil. I am about to replace my boiler. Would switching to gas make sense: economically, environmentally?
Ric thanks for your message. You are asking a very common question and unfortunately it is not all that easy to answer. You are correct that many natural gas boilers have a higher AFUE rating then some oil boilers. However, it depends somewhat on what kind of oil boiler you are talking about. Some types of oil boilers, particularly condensing oil boilers, have AFUE ratings that are as high as for natural gas boilers. Therefore, in order to make a good decision you have to look at factors such as boiler maintenance and the price of fuel going forward. Most heating and cooling experts we have talked to feel that in general oil boilers require more frequent maintenance than natural gas boilers. We have found that for most homeowners it is very important to have good regular maintenance of their boiler for both efficiency and safety considerations. A properly maintained boiler is less costly in the long run. You might want to consider a boiler maintenance plan if your utility company provides this service, and most do. You can compare service plan costs from your utility company or companies for each type of fuel. If the maintenance costs are similar then this may not be a factor but we have found that in many cases natural gas maintenance plans are less costly.
Boilers last a long time so in our opinion we think the biggest economic difference over time is probably going to end up being the cost of fuel. Therefore in order to judge which is best you are left in the unfortunate position of having to prognosticate the difference in natural gas vs fuel oil prices for the next twenty years. If you were to look at it today the pendulum would swing strongly in favor of natural gas. Fuel oil prices shot up by 97% in 2007 as opposed to natural gas which rose about 11%. As we enter the era of post peak oil we think it is likely both natural gas and fuel oil will continue to increase in price. However, we believe the competition for oil resources will be greater than for natural gas and so it is likely that the proportional increase in fuel oil prices will be greater. This is however a best guess based on limited economic data so please take this observation with a large grain of salt.
The AFUE ratings indicated a higher efficiency for gas over oil. I am about to replace my boiler. Would switching to gas make sense: economically, environmentally?
Ric thanks for your message. You are asking a very common question and unfortunately it is not all that easy to answer. You are correct that many natural gas boilers have a higher AFUE rating then some oil boilers. However, it depends somewhat on what kind of oil boiler you are talking about. Some types of oil boilers, particularly condensing oil boilers, have AFUE ratings that are as high as for natural gas boilers. Therefore, in order to make a good decision you have to look at factors such as boiler maintenance and the price of fuel going forward. Most heating and cooling experts we have talked to feel that in general oil boilers require more frequent maintenance than natural gas boilers. We have found that for most homeowners it is very important to have good regular maintenance of their boiler for both efficiency and safety considerations. A properly maintained boiler is less costly in the long run. You might want to consider a boiler maintenance plan if your utility company provides this service, and most do. You can compare service plan costs from your utility company or companies for each type of fuel. If the maintenance costs are similar then this may not be a factor but we have found that in many cases natural gas maintenance plans are less costly.
Boilers last a long time so in our opinion we think the biggest economic difference over time is probably going to end up being the cost of fuel. Therefore in order to judge which is best you are left in the unfortunate position of having to prognosticate the difference in natural gas vs fuel oil prices for the next twenty years. If you were to look at it today the pendulum would swing strongly in favor of natural gas. Fuel oil prices shot up by 97% in 2007 as opposed to natural gas which rose about 11%. As we enter the era of post peak oil we think it is likely both natural gas and fuel oil will continue to increase in price. However, we believe the competition for oil resources will be greater than for natural gas and so it is likely that the proportional increase in fuel oil prices will be greater. This is however a best guess based on limited economic data so please take this observation with a large grain of salt.
From an environmental standpoint frankly both natural oil and fuel oil are bad for the environment. They both take trapped underground carbon and release it into the atmosphere which increases global warming. Both types of fuel add to air pollution and both disrupt the land when we drill for them. All in all when it comes to fuel oil versus natural gas it is a lose-lose proposition.
There are a couple of suggestions we would make since you are considering replacing your boiler. You did not specify whether or not your boiler was for water heating or home space heating. If it is the latter then we would also recommend that you put in a new thermostats at the same time you put in a new boiler. Modern digital thermostats can provide much greater control over how you use heating in your home and are very inexpensive considering the improvement they can make in your energy costs. If you are using the boiler only for hot water heating you might also want to consider going with a solar hot water heater. These types of water heaters have improved dramatically over the last twenty years and are an extremely effective way of reducing your energy costs. In addition they do absolutely no damage to the environment. Most systems cost between $4000 and $7000 and can pay for themselves in just a few years. In addition, many states now provide tax incentives and rebates for solar hot water heaters which can further reduce the cost.
That was our response to our reader's question. Let us know what you think!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Is Religious Environmentalism Taking Hold?
In creating the EnergyBible.com Website one of our goals was to provide the broadest and most complete perspective on the issues of energy use and renewable energy. Towards that end we have included within the site information about moral and spiritual perspectives on the environment because we have found that for many of us issues such as global warming, energy use and environmental stewardship are not simply political issues, they are moral ones. So from time to time on this blog we will be talking about what is going on in the world of faith-based organizations as they, like us, struggle to find the best solutions for out planet moving forward. This week there was a lot happening on that front.
Most of the major religious organizations have been debating envionmental issues for some time. However, as the scientific realities of global warming have begun to sink into our consciousness many organizations are seeing pressure from within to begin to become more actively involved in addressing environmental issues. This was the case with at the Southern Baptist Convention this week . The Southern Baptist Convention is a conglomeration of Southern Baptist churches and they have a yearly meeting, which (just to add to the confusion) is also called the Southern Baptist Convention. This week at their annual conference 44 of their leaders made a significant departure from the Southern Baptist Convention’s official stance on global warming by backing a declaration calling for more action on climate change, saying its previous position on the issue was “too timid.”
In many ways this action represents a major step forward in the area of religious environmentalism. The Southern Baptist church is a huge organization with over 16 million members and is the largest denomination in the United States after the Roman Catholic Church. Moreover, the Southern Baptist Church has always been extremely conservative when it comes to environmental issues. This may be about to change given that its current president, the Rev. Frank Page, signed the initiative, “A Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change.” Two past presidents of the convention, the Rev. Jack Graham and the Rev. James Merritt, also signed. These church leaders stated that “We believe our current denominational engagement with these issues has often been too timid, failing to produce a unified moral voice,”
As recently as 2007 the Southern Baptists passed a resolution which took a very skeptical view of global warming. In contrast, the new declaration says that “Our cautious response to these issues in the face of mounting evidence may be seen by the world as uncaring, reckless and ill-informed. ”The document also urges ministers to preach more about the environment and for all Baptists to keep an open mind about considering environmental policy. The leaders said that current evidence of global warming is "substantial," and that the threat is too grave to wait for perfect knowledge about whether, or how much, people contribute to the trend.
Because the Southern Baptist Convention is an aggregation of individual churches such announcments are not in any way binding upon the individual churches. This is not the Catholic Church we are talking about. Yet because many of the signatories were both present and past church leaders it is likely that many Baptist preachers and members will give such announcements considerable thought. That strikes us as a good thing. A basic tenet of the Christian faith, and for that matter of most faiths, is to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I sincerely believe that most of us would like to live in a clean, pollution free world where no one suffers as a result of our mishandling of the environment. I also sincerely believe that most of us want to survive period! Global warming threatens all of this. We certainly would not want our neighbors doing things that might threaten our environment and therefore our own existance. Consequently we should avoid doing these things ourselves.
Exactly what is the best way to go about our lives such that we don't cause damage to the environment, our neighbors and ourselves is not always easy to see. It will require better understanding of the planet, of the environment and ultimately of our own nature. It was towards this end that the EnergyBible.com Website was created. As we continue to study and research the field of renewable energy and the environment, we hope you will share your own learnings with us so that together we can come up with the most effective solutions. Should you have any knowledge, experience or opionions that you think would be helpful please don't hesitate to write to us. We look forward to hearing from you!
Most of the major religious organizations have been debating envionmental issues for some time. However, as the scientific realities of global warming have begun to sink into our consciousness many organizations are seeing pressure from within to begin to become more actively involved in addressing environmental issues. This was the case with at the Southern Baptist Convention this week . The Southern Baptist Convention is a conglomeration of Southern Baptist churches and they have a yearly meeting, which (just to add to the confusion) is also called the Southern Baptist Convention. This week at their annual conference 44 of their leaders made a significant departure from the Southern Baptist Convention’s official stance on global warming by backing a declaration calling for more action on climate change, saying its previous position on the issue was “too timid.”
In many ways this action represents a major step forward in the area of religious environmentalism. The Southern Baptist church is a huge organization with over 16 million members and is the largest denomination in the United States after the Roman Catholic Church. Moreover, the Southern Baptist Church has always been extremely conservative when it comes to environmental issues. This may be about to change given that its current president, the Rev. Frank Page, signed the initiative, “A Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change.” Two past presidents of the convention, the Rev. Jack Graham and the Rev. James Merritt, also signed. These church leaders stated that “We believe our current denominational engagement with these issues has often been too timid, failing to produce a unified moral voice,”
As recently as 2007 the Southern Baptists passed a resolution which took a very skeptical view of global warming. In contrast, the new declaration says that “Our cautious response to these issues in the face of mounting evidence may be seen by the world as uncaring, reckless and ill-informed. ”The document also urges ministers to preach more about the environment and for all Baptists to keep an open mind about considering environmental policy. The leaders said that current evidence of global warming is "substantial," and that the threat is too grave to wait for perfect knowledge about whether, or how much, people contribute to the trend.
Because the Southern Baptist Convention is an aggregation of individual churches such announcments are not in any way binding upon the individual churches. This is not the Catholic Church we are talking about. Yet because many of the signatories were both present and past church leaders it is likely that many Baptist preachers and members will give such announcements considerable thought. That strikes us as a good thing. A basic tenet of the Christian faith, and for that matter of most faiths, is to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I sincerely believe that most of us would like to live in a clean, pollution free world where no one suffers as a result of our mishandling of the environment. I also sincerely believe that most of us want to survive period! Global warming threatens all of this. We certainly would not want our neighbors doing things that might threaten our environment and therefore our own existance. Consequently we should avoid doing these things ourselves.
Exactly what is the best way to go about our lives such that we don't cause damage to the environment, our neighbors and ourselves is not always easy to see. It will require better understanding of the planet, of the environment and ultimately of our own nature. It was towards this end that the EnergyBible.com Website was created. As we continue to study and research the field of renewable energy and the environment, we hope you will share your own learnings with us so that together we can come up with the most effective solutions. Should you have any knowledge, experience or opionions that you think would be helpful please don't hesitate to write to us. We look forward to hearing from you!
Monday, March 10, 2008
Bigger and Better
Its been a busy week here at the EnergyBible.com. We did a complete overhaul of the interface for the Website including making the overall physical dimensions a lot bigger. The reason is pretty simple. The site was originally built to support browsers with screen resolutions as small as 800 x 600 pixels. However, apparently most of you have been out buying big screen monitors and it had reached the point where the number of viewers at 800 x 600 resolution was less than 1% percent. So we redesigned the EB for 1024 x 762 resolution which gives us a lot more space for our content and means a lot less scrolling for our viewers.
We've also been busy adding fresh content to our site. Look for two new articles today in our Solar Energy section. The first is about the revolutionary new capabilities in solar outdoor lighting made possible by the combination of low-cost solar panels and liquid crystal emitting
diode (LED) lights. These new type of outdoor lights are far brighter than solar lights of the past and come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and designs. Solar lighting is inexpensive, friendly to the environment and incredibly flexible. Because solar lights do not require any wiring they can be placed anywhere in your yard or garden you want. In reviewing the products that are now available for this article we were impressed by the tremendous variety in designs that manufacturers have come up with. Ligths are being created in all sorts of designs from ultra-modern looking walkway lights, New Orleans styled street lamps, to garden ornaments of everything from frogs to fairies.
Another growing application of solar energy is water pumping. By combining a single solar panel with specialized direct current (DC) pumps it is possible to move a great deal of water at very
little cost. These types of systems have proven to be a huge boon to many parts of the developing world in Africa, India, and Asia where electricity for operating well pumps is scare or non-existant. Solar pumps have also caught on in the U.S., particularly with ranchers who need to get well water to their cattle. The solar pumps are far cheaper than using a wind mill and require very little maintenance. Instead of having to constantly move the cattle to where the wells are they can put in more wells and use a solar pump to run them. Solar pumps are also catching on in landscaping. Because they require no wiring they can easily be put into just about any pond or stream for use as fountains or waterfalls.
Check out these new articles and the new solar products we have found. Also, let us know about other areas you would like us to research. Our goal is to make the Energy Bible the most informative renwable energy site on the Web so help us keep the public informed by sharing with us your interest and experiences. Thanks in advance!
We've also been busy adding fresh content to our site. Look for two new articles today in our Solar Energy section. The first is about the revolutionary new capabilities in solar outdoor lighting made possible by the combination of low-cost solar panels and liquid crystal emitting
diode (LED) lights. These new type of outdoor lights are far brighter than solar lights of the past and come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and designs. Solar lighting is inexpensive, friendly to the environment and incredibly flexible. Because solar lights do not require any wiring they can be placed anywhere in your yard or garden you want. In reviewing the products that are now available for this article we were impressed by the tremendous variety in designs that manufacturers have come up with. Ligths are being created in all sorts of designs from ultra-modern looking walkway lights, New Orleans styled street lamps, to garden ornaments of everything from frogs to fairies.Another growing application of solar energy is water pumping. By combining a single solar panel with specialized direct current (DC) pumps it is possible to move a great deal of water at very
little cost. These types of systems have proven to be a huge boon to many parts of the developing world in Africa, India, and Asia where electricity for operating well pumps is scare or non-existant. Solar pumps have also caught on in the U.S., particularly with ranchers who need to get well water to their cattle. The solar pumps are far cheaper than using a wind mill and require very little maintenance. Instead of having to constantly move the cattle to where the wells are they can put in more wells and use a solar pump to run them. Solar pumps are also catching on in landscaping. Because they require no wiring they can easily be put into just about any pond or stream for use as fountains or waterfalls.Check out these new articles and the new solar products we have found. Also, let us know about other areas you would like us to research. Our goal is to make the Energy Bible the most informative renwable energy site on the Web so help us keep the public informed by sharing with us your interest and experiences. Thanks in advance!
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
The Marketing of Fear
I was watching the news on NBC last night and one of their stories was about some house fire that was being attributed to "eco-terrorists". The paranoid part of me would like to say this was just another attempt by the current administration to promote bad environmental policies by playing the terrorist card but unfortunately it is not that simple. The fact is that nearly every story NBC presented last night involved some form of fear mongering, or perhaps I should say fear "marketing". The story that followed was about obesity issues (kids not getting enough breakfast which lead to increased obesity) and the one after that was some fear generating story about the recession.
The whole experience got me thinking about what is the difference between the marketing of fear and just reporting on the news, which is after all the job of any news organization. In thinking about it I tried to contrast the mainstream NBC news (CBS and ABC would be no better) and that of the other news program I watch, the PBS News with Jim Lehrer. My conclusion is that it all comes down to time. In the half hour mainstream news each story last between 30 seconds and two minutes because when you take away the commercials the actual news time is only 15 minutes. In a couple of minutes it is only possible to roughly outline problems. There is never enough time to go into the complete details behind a problem much less to discuss possible solutions.
Compare this to the stories on the PBS news. Besides an initial news summary that last usually 3-4 minutes, the rest of the 60 minute broadcast is devoted to covering three or four stories in depth. Because there are few if any commercials each story gets abut 8-10 minutes of coverage. This usually allows enough time to not only present the problem being discussed but time to explore potential solutions that people are currently being explored.
I am always struck by how different the PBS news feels than the conventional news. The conventional news leaves me feeling distraught and worried. I know there is a problem out there but I don't have enough details to analyze it so it sits there like some cloud of doom, amorphous but scary. Since no solutions are ever discussed one gets a sense of hopelessness and despair.
On the other hand on the PBS news I am presented with the same problems but I am given a much better explanation about the details behind the problem. This allows me to engage my intellect and figure out where in the grand scheme of things this particular issue should fit. Are there solutions? Does it really impact me personally? Because I have details and because potential solutions are discussed I come to envision it as yet one more challenge in a life where challenges are to be expected. Not necessarily a good thing but something that I am resigned to dealing with. A far different sensibility than what the mainstream news organizations engender.
Why do I bring this up on my Energy Bible blog? Simple, the environmental media is often as guilty as the mainstream media in playing upon people's fears. Its not that environmental problems are not important or even critical, its that too often the environmental media has been equally guilty of presenting critical topics like global warming or energy with the same lack of detail and analysis that we see on the nightly news shows. As an environmental activist I see it as our duty not to engage in the same type of self-serving fear marketing as the traditional media.
I am convinced that the United States, and the world for that matter, are facing a demanding set of problems caused by decades of poorly managing our production and use of energy. The problems are complex and will not be solved quickly. That being said I have tremendous faith in the ingenuity of human beings and am confident that the problems are something we can address and there are thousands of people around the planet coming up with practical solutions to our energy problems every day. The Energy Bible Web site is dedicated not just to pointing out the problems, but to sharing these solutions. We try hard to provide complete information on each energy topic with enough depth that a person can make good judgements as to how to proceed. To us, this type of detailed and comprehensive coverage of energy issues and solutions is the antidote to fear marketing. We hope you agree!
The whole experience got me thinking about what is the difference between the marketing of fear and just reporting on the news, which is after all the job of any news organization. In thinking about it I tried to contrast the mainstream NBC news (CBS and ABC would be no better) and that of the other news program I watch, the PBS News with Jim Lehrer. My conclusion is that it all comes down to time. In the half hour mainstream news each story last between 30 seconds and two minutes because when you take away the commercials the actual news time is only 15 minutes. In a couple of minutes it is only possible to roughly outline problems. There is never enough time to go into the complete details behind a problem much less to discuss possible solutions.
Compare this to the stories on the PBS news. Besides an initial news summary that last usually 3-4 minutes, the rest of the 60 minute broadcast is devoted to covering three or four stories in depth. Because there are few if any commercials each story gets abut 8-10 minutes of coverage. This usually allows enough time to not only present the problem being discussed but time to explore potential solutions that people are currently being explored.
I am always struck by how different the PBS news feels than the conventional news. The conventional news leaves me feeling distraught and worried. I know there is a problem out there but I don't have enough details to analyze it so it sits there like some cloud of doom, amorphous but scary. Since no solutions are ever discussed one gets a sense of hopelessness and despair.
On the other hand on the PBS news I am presented with the same problems but I am given a much better explanation about the details behind the problem. This allows me to engage my intellect and figure out where in the grand scheme of things this particular issue should fit. Are there solutions? Does it really impact me personally? Because I have details and because potential solutions are discussed I come to envision it as yet one more challenge in a life where challenges are to be expected. Not necessarily a good thing but something that I am resigned to dealing with. A far different sensibility than what the mainstream news organizations engender.
Why do I bring this up on my Energy Bible blog? Simple, the environmental media is often as guilty as the mainstream media in playing upon people's fears. Its not that environmental problems are not important or even critical, its that too often the environmental media has been equally guilty of presenting critical topics like global warming or energy with the same lack of detail and analysis that we see on the nightly news shows. As an environmental activist I see it as our duty not to engage in the same type of self-serving fear marketing as the traditional media.
I am convinced that the United States, and the world for that matter, are facing a demanding set of problems caused by decades of poorly managing our production and use of energy. The problems are complex and will not be solved quickly. That being said I have tremendous faith in the ingenuity of human beings and am confident that the problems are something we can address and there are thousands of people around the planet coming up with practical solutions to our energy problems every day. The Energy Bible Web site is dedicated not just to pointing out the problems, but to sharing these solutions. We try hard to provide complete information on each energy topic with enough depth that a person can make good judgements as to how to proceed. To us, this type of detailed and comprehensive coverage of energy issues and solutions is the antidote to fear marketing. We hope you agree!
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