GOOD STORIES THERE WASN’T TIME TO GET TO THIS WEEK

A NewEnergyNews Friday feature.

RFK, JR (EPA), CAROLINE (UN) & COLIN POWELL (SEC DEF/SEC ED) EYED

Obama considers stars for cabinet
November 5, 2008 (Politico via MLive)

“President-elect Barack Obama is strongly considering Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Environmental Protection Agency…Obama’s transition planners are weighing several other celebrity-level political stars for Cabinet posts, including retired general Colin L. Powell for secretary of Defense or Education…RFK Jr.’s cousin, Caroline Kennedy, who helped Obama lead his vice-presidential search, is being considered for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, although some Obama officials doubt she would take it…”


PEAK LITHIUM?

Electric-car race could strain lithium battery supply
Martin LaMonica, October 31, 2008 (CNET)

“The headlong rush to create electric cars for green-minded consumers may come with a significant economic and environmental cost…Lithium ion batteries--the same used in electronic gadgets and laptops--have become the preferred battery type for plug-in hybrids and electric cars now starting to come to market…That swelling demand has some industry observers concerned that there will be a shortage of the metal lithium, the material used to make the batteries…In the short term, auto companies will be able to bring plug-in hybrid cars to market as planned in the next few years…Longer term, though, the picture is less clear…”


NEW ENERGY-EFFICIENT TV

New Televisions Could Have 30 Percent Energy Savings
Trey Granger, November 1 (Earth 911/LiveScience via Yahoo News)

“Starting [November 1], you can find U.S. EPA-approved televisions in your favorite electronics stores as the new ENERGY STAR-compliant TVs will be available for purchase…The new models are reported to be 30 percent more energy-efficient than conventional televisions. The U.S. EPA has compiled a list of TVs that fit the new specifications...The new TVs are being released in time for the holidays, and perhaps more importantly, the digital switch in February…”


CALL FOR ENERGY, INDUSTRIAL POLICIES

Sputtering With Energy and Industrial Policies
Warren Brown, November 2, 2008 (Washington Post)

“We have neither an industrial nor an energy policy. Is it any wonder our economy is a mess? … The United States, a onetime nation of broad-shouldered cities where goods were made and sold, is becoming the moral equivalent of the hollow corporation. It rapidly is turning into a place where little is designed, developed or manufactured -- except profits and losses gained and suffered from gambling on Wall Street…That is one reality…Another is that America, a onetime First World nation, is becoming a Third World country, one that has no manufacturing infrastructure but, instead, does the lowest-wage bidding of foreign-owned companies that have received hundreds of millions of dollars in tax incentives and other financial breaks to set up shop in "business-friendly" states…”


BIOFUEL MAKER TEETERING FINANCIALLY

Troubled ethanol producer VeraSun suspends startup of new plant amid bankruptcy proceedings
November 4, 2008 (AP via Yahoo Finance)

“Troubled ethanol producer VeraSun Energy Corp. said Tuesday it has indefinitely suspended plans to begin operating a new biorefinery in Janesville, Minn. … The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday…It said the lender it had lined up for covering startup costs at the new facility, which is still under construction, has not provided the necessary funding…VeraSun said it is looking for other ways to finance the refinery…The rest of VeraSun's 14 facilities, spread through eight states, will continue to operate…”


OBAMA WIN BRINGS CAP-AND-TRADE CLOSER

Global carbon market moves closer with Obama victory
James Murray, 5 November 2008 (BusinessGreen)

“...[T]he historic election of Barack Obama as US president brought the prospect of a global carbon market a major step closer to reality… Obama's victory coupled with the Democrat's expected dominance of the Senate and House of Representatives brings with it the prospect of a more ambitious and far-reaching carbon market…The president-elect is now expected to begin work on developing a cap-and-trade market modelled on the existing EU scheme that would aim to cut emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and then deliver deep reductions of 80 per cent by 2050…”