Oil proponents are quick to point out that we can’t shift to renewables overnight - but a 5-10 year timeframe gets into “not overnight” territory - provided we start moving. It may very well be strategically (though unlikely environmentally) sound to consider adding more drilling in the future - but that path only makes sense if its part of an overall shift away from the oil - which isn’t likely given the short term thinking of the policy makers on this issue.

The Question: If there are no rigs availabile, might discussions about opening up more of the U.S. outer continental shelf to offshore drilling prove to be moot?

http://industry.bnet.com/energy/2008/08/04/rig-demand-driving-profit-at-ensco-intl/

I like your idea, what you are getting at is the biggest opportunity we have in renewable investment today - conservation technologies and techniques. The U.S. is 50% less efficient in its energy use than Switzerland when measured by oil barrels per dollar of GDP. This means there is a ton of room for improvement. Were we to cut that gap by only half we wouldn’t need to import a drop of oil (now unfortunately a big chunk of that problem is transportation) - but buildings are a big problem too.

I am not certain how you execute the vision that you speak about - a more likely solution is for energy auditors and consultants to come in and become part of the construction process or be hired by building owners to create efficiencies. My buddy Frank Gerber, who writes FranklyGreen.com, has a company Sustainable Spaces that does such work - you should check it out.

I’m trying to pull together curricula for existing (construction) workers so that they can spot energy leaks, water leaks, and other opportunities for repair, even before the building owner requests it. This may be just good customer service, but it DOES save resources (as most vigilant maintenance and mechanical upgrades should).

My dilemma is providing some measure of demand for an administration that rightly wants to strengthen the competitiveness of its work force and lead it to some measure of future security.

It ain’t easy. Maybe the best we can expect out of these reports is an interesting array of numbers that push us to get more detail.

Thanks

Amy B., greenGoat
(a green demolition, green building consultant)
Somerville, MA

Granted if you want to get a check from the electrical distributor you would need to meter the amount going into the grid - either digital two way meters or a second analog meter - but that should be a cost that the generator (homeowner) should bear - hell the utilities in CA are trying to get the homeowner to bear that anyway just to cut down on their meter reading costs.

Lastly, I understand your point about the grid being fragile -though that is decidedly more about dereg, bad planning on the transmission owner’s side and moving large amounts of power from the large private generation plants (the ones we are pointing out are tough sells right now) through long distances than potential imbalances caused by 1 watt solar installs on people’s homes. As such its going to need to be upgraded anyway - whether or not we see an explosion of micro generation.