Hot in here?

Being fortunate to live in a country not yet devastated by the impact of climate change and staggering energy and food costs, it's enlightening to watch the dialogue of the rest of the world, largely ignored in the US.

Petrol protests go global

Two killed as fuel protests intensify across the world

Fuel Protest Begins to Pinch in Spain

Fuel Protests Erupt in Asia As Oil Hits $139 a Barrel

The spread of protests over rising fuel prices

The dire warnings of scientists are included in the following for the upcoming G8 Summit:

Science academies urge 50 pct CO2 cuts by 2050, Reuters

Scientists warn G8 of climate peril to food AFP

Michael Klare offered the following:

If you thought things were bad, with a barrel of crude oil at $136 and the oil heartlands of our planet verging on chaos, don't be surprised, but you may still have something to look forward to. Alexei Miller, chairman of Russia's vast state-owned energy monopoly, Gazprom, just suggested that, within 18 months, that same barrel could be selling for a nifty $250. Put that in your tank and… well, don't drive it. It will be far too valuable.

What is always interesting is the knee-jerk American reaction of denying culpability, or tossing out the names of other nations that should reduce their consumption before Americans do likewise, or better yet, proclaiming that Americans are just soooo productive, of course we consume more energy.

For those content with the mindset above, the following charts quickly dispel those notions:
List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita

List of countries by ratio of GDP to carbon dioxide emissions

And of course, there's an Administration that folks willingly followed, until under court order, they were finally forced to acknowledge they lied and refused to tell Americans that Global Warming was caused by human activity, and we lost EIGHT YEARS in the process: Court Ordered Climate Change Report

ENN reported: A review of environmental skepticism literature from the past 30 years has found that the vast majority of skeptics, often identified as independent, are directly linked to politically oriented, conservative think tanks.

Much uninformed speculation regarding the cost of energy is circulated as fact from questionable sources and simplistic answers are offered to a complex question.

Paul Craig Roberts offered part of the the answer:

In my opinion, the two biggest factors in oil’s high price are the weakness in the US dollar’s exchange value and the liquidity that the Federal Reserve is pumping out.

The dollar is weak because of large trade and budget deficits, the closing of which is beyond American political will. As abuse wears out the US dollar’s reserve currency role, sellers demand more dollars as a hedge against its declining exchange value and ultimate loss of reserve currency status. ICH

Instead of focusing on the causes and the potential downside, the focus should instead be on the available solutions and directions we, as voters and consumers, should support and pursue.

The solution is US!

The time has long past for inaction and acceptance of partisanship. Energy, our pocketbooks and our environment have been sacrificed by allowing the discussion to revolve around industry and lobbyists and campaign contributions.

Any discussion of long term energy solutions is complex and demands consideration of sensible solutions. They're available and viable.

Rhode Island is moving forward to construct a wind farm:
Governor Carcieri has selected five people, including four state officials, to evaluate the proposals for building an offshore wind farm that were submitted last month by seven private companies.
“It is important to remember this would be the first offshore wind project in the country,” ....

ProJo

Environment Massachusetts

CapeCodTimes offered the following in March 2008:

Now, the Cape and Vineyard Electric Cooperative, launched last June by the Cape Light Compact in collaboration with the town of Barnstable and Barnstable County, hopes to help local towns enjoy those same benefits. The Compact is the regional energy group that purchases electricity through New York-based ConEdison Solutions on behalf of its 170,000 customers on Martha's Vineyard and Cape Cod.

.
Under the proposed plan, Cape and Islands towns would agree to build enough turbines on their combined lands to take care of municipal energy needs. The cooperative would finance and own the turbines and sell energy back to the towns.
Not every town would need to build a turbine, but those that did would be paid a leasing fee by the cooperative for the right to use the land. The cooperative would help insulate the towns against future increases in energy costs, says Maggie Downey, administrator of the compact..

Benefits of net metering
Massachusetts Maritime Academy currently pays the retail price, 17 cents per kilowatt-hour, for any electricity it needs beyond that generated by the school's 660-kilowatt wind turbine.
Currently, state law allows the owners of 60 kilowatt turbines, roughly one-tenth the size of the MMA turbine, to credit any surplus power they produce on windy days only against what they have to buy to meet their needs on calm days.
The net metering provision in the state energy bill would more than triple that size to 2-megawatt turbines.
MMA, which is now paid a wholesale price of 7 cents per kilowatt-hour for its surplus electricity, would be allowed to apply that power against its total electric bill, at the retail price of 17 cents perkilowatt-hour, making each kilowatt-hour worth more than double what it is now.
Sources: Massachusetts Maritime Academy and Cape Light Compact

Massachusetts seems to have a Governor who continues to obsess about casino gambling, licks the wounds of his legislative loss by working to replace the House leadership, instead of working to pass much needed and sensible state energy legislation.

Amending the pricing structure of Net Metering has caused the mushrooming alternative energy installations in Europe. How short-sighted are we that we continue to allow energy to be a political football, held hostage to lobbyists and campaign contributors?

ENN

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Energy company BrightSource Energy Inc said it will open a solar "power tower" in Israel this week to test new technology it will use when building power plants next year in California.
California utility PG&E Corp signed contracts with BrightSource in April to buy up to 900 megawatts of solar thermal power in the next few years, enough to power about 630,000 homes.

The move is part of a PG&E push to comply with California's requirement that at least 20 percent of its electricity supplies come from renewable energy by 2010.
A global race is on to find energy alternatives to replace fossil fuels, and entrepreneurs are scrambling for a slice of a clean energy market that analysts estimate was worth nearly $150 billion last year.

SAN FRANCISCO MAYOR NEWSOM PRAISES PASSAGE OF NATION’S LARGEST MUNICIPAL SOLAR ENERGY INCENTIVE PROGRAM

Supes OK rebates for solar power systems
SF Passes Largest City Solar Program in U.S. (Finally)
San Francisco greenlights solar rebates, looking ahead to more renewables
San Francisco Offers Solar Subsidies