Gov. Says Saving Energy Takes Just "One Thing"

Governor Rell here in our state has launched a energy saving campaign some time ago called "One Thing" while the name can be cathchy I recently discovered that some people did not exactly know what this "one thing" was.

This blog today will hopefully make it clear as to the intentions behind the Governors campaign, now featured on highway billboards, newspapers, and just about everywhere you could get the word out. The purpose of the campaign is to promote energy conservation here in our state.

It does not take an expert to open an electric bill look at the amount due for just 30 days and realize something is alarmingly wrong, high energy expenses in Connecticut has already crippled our economy, and contributed to a boom in foreclosures. Rep. Cafero said Connecticut is ranked 50th out of 50 states, dead last, for being the least favorable state in America to conduct business in. Our leaders in Hartford for the first time in a long time are showing signs that our state finances are unraveling as a result, and the state is now taking on new debt and being forced into spending its surplus money.

The "One Thing" program asks you and your family to practice energy conservation, Rell believes that if every person in the state turned off one or two lights each day that would be over one million lights out, over the course of a year this could add up to billions of lights out saving an enourmous amount of energy.

By simply turning off a light each day you are helping your family save on energy, helping the environment by reducing greenhouse gas, and helping others by reducing demand for energy. Reduced demand will make future energy more affordable.

Turning off our lights is not a matter of "cheapness or stinginess" but rather an issue of "ignorance and selfishness" on the part of those who wrecklessly disregard others or trivialize the true impact a person can have on the environment.

Rell's program, is just a start and I personally believe that it is a great program if we follow it. Please talk to your family and kids about energy conservation and get as many as you can onboard. See the "One Thing" Website.

UI Intends To Seek Another Rate Increase

United Illuminating just had its conference call to its investors this week. The electric that they sold showed yet another double digit increase in their profits, however UI's CEO Mr Torgensen complained that they sold too little electric and was disappointed so many people were "turning off the lights." He also was not happy with the level of uncollected receivables and told the shareholders that he planned on recouping their lost profits through yet another Decoupling Bill.

Mr. Torgensen and crew will be up in Hartford lobbying the DPUC, who regulates the cost of electric, with the written Decoupling request to help restore their, yet again lost profits. Last time such a bill was introduced, no one in the legislature even read it, actually it was introduced one hour before it was voted on. That bill was H.B. 7432, introduced earlier last year.

Rep. Megna of New haven opposed that bill citing that concessions were in order as energy was increasing faster than people could afford to pay. Should UI succeed in this latest decoupling bill it may push our electric bill has high as 100% in eight years.

To hear the entire UI Conference call scroll to the end of the audio clip listed below.

Click HERE to start the UIL earnings Call.

Sakhalin & Environmentalists challenge "Peak Oil"

The notion of "Peak Oil" may soon be a myth, with the re-emergence of the Russian empire at its helm. While many old timers during the Reagan Gorbachev era thought Russia had gone bankrupt and then into a group of dissenting rogue colonies, may soon be disappointed to know that this could become cold war history.

The Russian oil empire, is growing again, and this time the success of Lukeoil may be pale in comparison. At the farthest reaches of the Russian empire every major corporate giant and their friends are building the largest oil and gas project ever created. This project is so enormous that the Discovery channel has featured it on their "Building the Ultimate" series. Some of the oil exploration rigs can only be built at the largest shipyard on earth of which is located in South Korea.

This construction is currently underway on the economically challenged island of Sakhalin. This area once a struggling fishing and timber based community has now become a international city comprised of five thousand foreigners from the oil and gas exploration and construction industry.

The local, Russian natives, needless to say are not happy with the unwelcome intrusion and have staged several environmental protests including the obstruction of routes and aggravated construction delays and protests. With Global billions in international investment already made, all environmental and ecological concerns are being placated but not tolerated insofar as stopping the completion of this mammoth project. Oil and Gas is expected to begin flowing within the next three years alleviating most peak oil concerns for a while.

If the projected estimates of the attainable gas and oil are correct this project will save the world from the fear of peak oil for the next several decades, and in the process will make Russia the dominant oil superpower in the world. Russia's thirst for oil is still not over, even despite this large discovery, believe it or not they are claiming the North Pole all its oil, Gas, and Minerals, to include valuable gems for themselves.

Without any doubt the debate over who owns the North Pole is now alive and well with every nation on earth doing its bidding. This scenario is an eerie repeat of who owned America after Columbus discovered it in 1492, hopefully Global warming now, making oil exploration more viable, will not lead to a repeat of history where the world is at war over these new found territories and their associated resources.

Should the Sakhalin's oil rich regions stave off peak oil, this should be our cue to to come up with our alternative energy plan, to include a hydrogen based economy. To say that this environmental disaster of a discovery, (and project) without some sort of an alternative energy lesson is without merit, would in fact be a sad future energy agenda.
This dicovery should hopefully help alleviate the energy crisis in the US some time in the future.

A Crude Awakening Oil is expensive.

The price of gasoline has gone up over the weekend and is expected to go a even higher, even though the price per barrel dropped today. My quest to get to the truth about our local oil shock always drives me to research and find answers.

This drive of mine increased when my local gas station at the corner of High St, and the Post Rd. dropped his franchise and became an independent operator. His gas station is now called "USA Fuel" and shortly up the Post Rd. there is yet another patriotic gas station called "Patriot" fuel.

The frenzy to compete on gasoline is causing these gas stations to dump their franchisers with the result of lowering the price per gallon. My first impression was that these gas stations are making a lot of money with the high price of gas, but in reality the price hurts the local station because it reduces demand for the gasoline and most franchises only pay the stations for a fixed profit per gallon.

Wanting to know more I went to the Post mall and bought a documentary called "A Crude Awakening." This was the best thing I ever did in truly understanding the energy and oil situation not only here in Milford but in all of America.

The overall message of the movie is that Americans believed our oil would never run out, that it would be here forever. This is proving to be the biggest mis-perception of the century. Every nation on earth is now copying the great consumptive life we have built for ourselves in America. China, India, and Europe all aspiring for individual ownership of a car, a home, and the countless cheap plastic products we have come to enjoy so much.

There is only one problem, and that is that our oil reserves cannot reasonably sustain the good life we have in America spanned across the globe. The worlds new found thirst for oil is causing all the major oil regions of the earth to peak pressuring more outrageous political pressures and competition for oil.

Every industrial government wants to fuel their energy needs, but the supply of oil is not capable of sustaining the rate of growth that the world economy demands. Oil dubbed as the black devil has been the subject of wars, including most recently the gulf war and Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. According to the "A Crude Awakening" documentary the only place left on earth that has not peaked in its oil production is the "war torn" Middle East.

America has no energy plan should our energy demands begin to wane below our needs. The consequences of not having a cheap source of energy are unthinkable, and too upsetting to even think about. Richard Branson of the Virgin Industries has called this problem "serious" and invested several billions of his own money to start "Virgin Fuel" of which I personally hope he succeeds.

The very embarrassment of the energy crisis has led to our political leaders not being honest, just reassuring the public that everything is under control while they know otherwise. This dire energy situation coupled with politics is akin to you or me making up a lame excuse for why our failure to afford our electric bill resulted in the lights going off. Even though America has not had its lights shut off, it has been served with a "shutoff notice." Unfortunately the 9 Trillion charged to the national credit card is now "maxed out."

Politicians cannot and do not want to campaign with bad news. The people of America are perpetually hopeful that America will remain the greatest nation on earth forever and are diseased with "selective reception" and "selective perception" and as such only lying politicians are getting elected. The sooner America wakes up the sooner we can soften what otherwise may be an abrupt crash caused by global energy competition. One last point to note is that, despite this documentary, the CEO of Exxon Mobil is of the opinion that we have plenty of supply to meet future deamand.

CNBC Video:



Who is telling the truth?