Power Hungry (50 page)

Export Import Bank of the United States

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Northwest Power and Conservation Council

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Overseas Private Investment Corporation

Tennessee Valley Authority

U.S. Agency for International Development

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. International Trade Commission

U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

House Agriculture

House Appropriations

House Armed Services

House Budget

House Energy and Commerce

House Foreign Affairs

House Homeland Security

House Natural Resources

House Oversight and Government Reform

House Rules Committee

House Science and Technology

House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming

House Transportation and Infrastructure

House Ways and Means

Senate Agriculture

Senate Appropriations

Senate Armed Services

Senate Budget

Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation

Senate Energy and Natural Resources

Senate Environment and Public Works

Senate Finance

Senate Foreign Relations

Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs

Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs

Source
: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2008,
http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/reports_and_publications/statistical_energy_review_2008/STAGING/local_assets/downloads/pdf/statistical_review_of_world_energy_full_review_2008.pdf
.

 

Source
: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2008,
http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/reports_and_publications/statistical_energy_review_2008/STAGING/local_assets/downloads/pdf/statistical_review_of_world_energy_full_review_2008.pdf
.

 

Source
: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2008,
http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/reports_and_publications/statistical_energy_review_2008/STAGING/local_assets/downloads/pdf/statistical_review_of_world_energy_full_review_2008.pdf
.

 

Source
: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2008,
http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/reports_and_publications/statistical_energy_review_2008/STAGING/local_assets/downloads/pdf/statistical_review_of_world_energy_full_review_2008.pdf
.

 

Source
: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2008,
http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/reports_and_publications/statistical_energy_review_2008/STAGING/local_assets/downloads/pdf/statistical_review_of_world_energy_full_review_2008.pdf
.

Sources
: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2009,
http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/reports_and_publications/statistical_energy_review_2008/STAGING/local_assets/2009_downloads/renewables_section_2009.pdf
. For ethanol data, see Renewable Fuels Association, “Statistics,”
http://www.ethanolrfa.org/industry/statistics/
. For U.S. wind and solar data, see Energy Information Administration, Table ES1.B, “Total Electric Power Industry Summary Statistics,”
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/tablees1b.html
.

1
Shannon Hale, “Write What You Don't Know,” Squeetusblog, December 10, 2008,
http://oinks.squeetus.com/2008/12/write-what-you-dont-know.html
.

1
For more information, see Joy Mining Machinery's website at
http://www.joy.com
.

2
Energy Information Administration, Table 9, “Major U.S. Coal Mines,”
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/page/acr/table9.html
; author communication with the mine's general manager, Eric Anderson, via e-mail, March 2, 2009. According to Anderson, the mine produced 5.75 tons of coal per employee per hour in 2008.

3
In 2007, the average for underground coal mines was 3.34 tons per employee per hour. Energy Information Administration, Table 21, “Coal Mining Productivity by State and Mine Type,”
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/page/acr/table21.html
.

4
Eric Anderson, interview with author, February 20, 2009. In 2008, the mine produced 5.6 million tons of coal. That's 15,342 tons per day.

5
A barrel of oil contains approximately 5.8 million Btu. Energy Information Administration, “Energy Calculators,”
http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/science/energy_calculator.html
.

6
Energy Information Administration, Table 1.1.A, “Net Generation by Other Renewables: Total (All Sectors),”
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table1_1_a.html
.

7
Converting electricity to oil terms is a straightforward calculation: One barrel of oil contains the energy equivalent of 1.64 megawatt-hours of electricity. Thus, 52,869,000 megawatt-hours, divided by 1.64 megawatt-hours (the amount per barrel of oil) = 32,237,195 barrels of oil equivalent from wind and solar for all of 2008. Dividing those 32,237,195 barrels of oil equivalent by 365 days (to determine daily energy production) gives us 88,321 barrels of oil equivalent per day from all solar and wind power generation in the United States.

8
Eric Anderson, interview with author, February 20, 2009. Wind-capacity data is from American Wind Energy Association, “Wind Energy Grows by Record 8,300 MW in 2008,” January 27, 2009,
http://www.awea.org/newsroom/releases/wind_energy_growth2008_27Jan09.html
.

9
I would like to thank Tulsa-based professional land surveyor Chris Cauthon for his tutorial on Points of Beginning. See also Andro Linklater,
Measuring America: How the United States Was Shaped by the Greatest Land Sale in History
(New York: Plume, 2002), 2.

10
Central Intelligence Agency, World Factbook, “North America: United States,”
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html#Econ
.

11
See Van Jones,
The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems
(New York: HarperOne, 2008), and Greenjobs,
http://www.greenjobs.com//files/22/38/63/f223863/public/index.aspx
. For Obama's statement, see his energy platform, available at
http://my.barackobama.com/issues/newenergy/index.php
.

12
For more on the corn ethanol scam, see my book
Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of “Energy Independence”
(New York: PublicAffairs, 2008).

13
The International Energy Agency puts recoverable global gas resources at 850 trillion cubic meters. See IEA,
World Energy Outlook 2009
, Executive Summary, 49. A cubic meter contains 35.3 cubic feet.