yearofplenty

Euan Mearns at the Oil Drum has put together a couple of helpful charts that illustrate the current status of renewable energy production. Ironically, BP's annual worldwide energy survey provides the data.

This first chart shows the rapid growth in renewable energy production (wind, solar, geothermal).

The rapid growth of wind power is impressive until you see the other chart below where renewables are such a small sliver of world energy production that they are barely visible.

Looking at these charts, it's hard not to a get a little apocalyptic about a future with constrained supplies of fossil fuels. Not quite time to buy that Mad Max leather jacket, but maybe time to do a little window shopping.

The BP report is worth scanning through. They may not do well with deepwater oil wells but they sure do put together a great report on world energy. Click through for more charts and data from BP's world energy survey.

h/t Good

The above map via TPM shows the system of natural gas pipelines in the US, and while it doesn't show oil wells, it very plainly illustrates the intensity with which the Gulf region has been mined for natural resources. I remember when I first flew into Houston, TX (my home for 7 years), I couldn't believe how many refineries and chemical plants lined the city's shores.

This map of US refineries also tells the tale;

The Texas and Louisiana Coasts are some of the most intensely industrialized shorelines in the world and the region is no stranger to BP enabled industrial calamity. Odds are that at some point something like the current oil spill crisis was going to happen and odds are that it was going to happen in the Gulf. It's a testament to the skill of workers in the industry that there hasn't been more calamity.

The remarkable thing is that even in the midst of all the industrial development along the Gulf Coast, in my experience, the waters of the Gulf are a thriving ecosystem of fish and sea life. I was big into kayak fishing and remember vividly the experience of being right on top of the water with thousands of mullet jumping in a fury all around me while predators harassed them from below. I remember throwing a bait cast net into the surf of Galveston with fish slicing through the waves. I've never seen so much active sea life in a body of water.

I guess the question is, while the Gulf has shown itself to be a remarkably resilient ecosystem despite all the industrial activity, at what point can it not adapt and bounce back like it has in the past. How much is too much for it to handle? It looks like we're going to find out.

There are some rumblings out there of people wanting to boycott BP in response to their fumbling of the Gulf oil spill. The Atlantic Monthly has a piece up highlighting the futility of such an effort. They argue that all of the oil companies are bad actors and any source of energy, electric or otherwise, is attached to these large energy companies.

I did some research on the sourcing of local fuels when we were trying to consume everything locally and have some perspective to add to their observations. In my research I learned that gasoline is like milk in the sense that it is gathered from different sources, whether it's BP or Exxon refineries, and all mixed together in pipelines and storage tanks. At the retail level it is branded for sale to consumers. In other words, you can drive up to an Exxon station as an alternative to a BP gas station, but some of the fuel coming out of the Exxon nozzle will have originated from a variety of sources including BP owned oil wells, refineries and pipelines.

Here's what I reported back in 2008 after talking with a variety of industry sources;

There are two primary ways refined fuels get to Spokane. There is a pipeline from Billings, Montana that runs through Spokane to Moses Lake. There are three refineries in Billings that process crude oil coming from Canada, probably the Calgary area.

There is a pipeline from Pasco to Spokane that transports fuel from a pipeline in Utah (that often is actually the fuel processed in Billings), or from fuel transported by barge from Portland along the Columbia River. This Portland fuel comes primarily from four refineries in Western Washington; Anacortes, Ferndale, and Tacoma, These refineries get their crude oil from Canada, Alaska and "foreign sources".

All this refined fuel is not only mixed together in the pipelines and tankers, but is also mixed together in holding tanks once it arrives in Spokane. This fuel is than pumped into the trucks with the proprietary cleansers and mixers that make the fuel a Conoco, Exxon or Costco etc. product.

So I can say with some certainty that most of the fuel at gas stations in the Spokane area comes from crude oil in Canada and Alaska, but there really is no way of sourcing fuel by choosing one gas station over another. They are all getting their fuel from the same pot of mixed up fuel sources.

The only way to boycott BP effectively is to dramatically change our lifestyles to make them less dependent on fossil fuels - walking and biking to work and living more locally. It may ease our conscience to buy gas at a Chevron station, but in some ways we have to all acknowledge our complicity in what's going on in the Gulf. Our insistence on oil enabled lives leaves us with oil stained hands. We can't just wash our hands of the whole ordeal with mild changes to our brand choices.

Fruit smoothies, organic foods, vegetated bio-swales, biodiesel from Burgerville USA and Kettle Chips, and even a cool guy on a laptop. See for yourself here.

In my previous post I set a goal of sourcing our fuel to see if there are any meaningful decisions we can make around our gas purchases. Here's what I've discovered so far.

There are two primary ways refined fuels get to Spokane. There is a pipeline from Billings, Montana that runs through Spokane to Moses Lake. There are three refineries in Billings that process crude oil coming from Canada, probably the Calgary area.

There is a pipeline from Pasco to Spokane that transports fuel from a pipeline in Utah (that often is actually the fuel processed in Billings), or from fuel transported by barge from Portland along the Columbia River. This Portland fuel comes primarily from four refineries in Western Washington; Anacortes (2), Ferndale, and Tacoma, These refineries get their crude oil from Canada, Alaska and "foreign sources".

All this refined fuel is not only mixed together in the pipelines and tankers, but is also mixed together in holding tanks once it arrives in Spokane. This fuel is than pumped into the trucks with the proprietary cleansers and mixers that make the fuel a Conoco, Exxon or Costco etc. product.

So I can say with some certainty that most of the fuel at gas stations in the Spokane area comes from crude oil in Canada and Alaska, but there really is no way of sourcing fuel by choosing one gas station over another. They are all getting their fuel from the same pot of mixed up fuel sources.

I did find out that Grays Harbor, WA is home to one of the largest biodiesel refiners in the country, but after a year in operation it's not going so well. I wonder, is anyone in Spokane using cooking oil from local restaurants to run their cars?