For immediate release
January 18, 2012
Contact
Michael Briggs (202) 224-5141
WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a member of the Senate energy and environment committees, issued the following statement today after the Obama administration rejected a permit for TransCanada to build an oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico:
“The president made the correct decision today in rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline, and I will fight to ensure Congress does not overturn the decision.
“The United States must help lead the world in combating global warming and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It would be incomprehensible to give approval to a tar sands oil project when producing tar sands oil creates 82 percent more carbon emissions than conventional oil, and when it poses the risk of extremely damaging oil spills. I agree with NASA scientist James Hansen who has stated that fully exploiting the tar sands would mean ‘game over’ for our efforts to reverse global warming.
“If we are serious about protecting the planet and improving our economy, America’s energy future must focus on energy efficiency and renewable energy. We know that by improving the fuel efficiency of our cars and trucks to 54.5 miles per gallon, an easily achievable accomplishment, we can save up to three times more oil per day than Keystone XL would carry.
“In my view, this tar sands pipeline is a bad deal for the country and for our planet, and the president has acted in the best interest of the American people in saying no to Keystone XL.”
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I guess Sen. Sanders missed this writing by James Hansen on July 29, 2011, where Hansen says that believing that renewable energy can save the world is akin to believing in the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy:
http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2011/20110729_BabyLauren.pdf
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Bernie,
The president mentioned energy efficiency first and renewables after; he is a smart man; it is the proper order.
There is no point installing solar systems on houses and other buildings that are leaking energy like a sieve. One has to subsidize EE first, because it is THE rational way to the CO2 reduction goal.
http://theenergycollective.com/willem-post/71771/energy-efficiency-first-renewables-later
Here are some examples:
Annual Energy Use for Heating, Cooling and Electricity of Inefficient Government Buildings
NY State Office Building Campus/SUNY-Albany Campus; average 186,000 Btu/sq ft/yr. Source: a study I did in the 80s.
Vermont State Government buildings; average 107,000 Btu/sq ft/yr.
Not much can be done with such buildings other than taking them down to the steel structure and start over.
http://www.publicassets.org/PAI-IB0806.pdf
Annual Energy Use for Heating, Cooling and Electricity of Efficient Corporate Buildings
Building energy demand management using smart metering, smart buildings (including increased insulation and sealing, efficient windows and doors, entries with airlocks, variable speed motors, automatic shades on the outside of windows, Hitachi high efficiency absorption chillers, plate heat exchangers, task lighting, passive solar, etc.) were used in the Xerox Headquarters Building, Stamford, CT, designed in 1975 by Syska & Hennessey, a leading US engineering firm.
Result: The energy intensity is 28,400 Btu/sq ft/yr for heating, cooling and electricity, which compares with 50,000 Btu/sq ft/yr, or greater, for nearby standard headquarters buildings.
France and Germany are building high-rise office buildings that average less than 10,000 Btu/sq ft/yr.
China is building net-zero-energy, high-rise office buildings designed by Skidmore, Owens, Merrill, a leading US architect-engineering firm in Chicago, Illinois.
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Bernie, you missed the important factor. The Canadian tar sands will be developed with or without a new pipeline in the USA. Canada is already planning to build a pipe line to their west coast so they can ship the oil to Asia which has China with the huge need to import oil.