what i learned today

That’s an email sent by Brett Cocales, a BP official on April 16, regarding an insufficient number of centralizers that would be used during the cementing process of drilling.

It appears that BP officials performed a series of cost-benefit analyses and basically got them all wrong. We’ve seen a number of reports of the egregious shortcuts that led to the disaster. And now Congress has released their investigation.

It is in letter form, from Waxman and Stupack of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, addressed to BP CEO, Tony Hawyard. In it they cite five crucial decision made by BP that seem to be shortcuts to speed finishing the well. They are

1. the decision to use a well design with few barriers to gas flow
2. the failure to use a sufficient number of “centralizers” to prevent channeling during the cement process
   (“It will take 10 hrs to install them…I do not like this,” per an April 16 email from John Guide BP’s well team leader.)
3. the failure to run a cement bond log to evaluate the effectiveness of the cement job
4. the failure to circulate potentially gas bearing drilling mud out of the well
   (This option “saves a good deal of time/money,” per a March 30 email from BP drilling engineer in Houston. It will add an additional $7-10MM to the completion cost.”)
5. the failure to secure the wellhead with a lockdown sleeve before allowing pressure on the seal from below

The entire letter is pretty incredible and worth a read. 

That’s Rep Edward Markey in the BP congressional hearing last week.

I’ve been fascinated by this oil spill and the lack of solutions to stop it. You can watch the recently released videos of oil and natural gas just spewing out of a big hole in a pipe on the ocean floor. An estimate of 200,000 gallons are leaking each day. And they don’t know how to stop it? It seems unfathomable, doesn’t it.

And meanwhile we have all involved parties blaming the other. The reason for the spill was an accident - a well blowout which caused an explosion. There is a “blowout preventer” that is supposed to clamp down and cut off spilling oil in the event of such an accident. BP’s internal documents show their blowout preventer was broken - there were at least four significant problems on a device that can have 260 possible failure spots. How is there no backup plan for a device with 260 possible failure spots? So now BP is blaming the manufacturer of the device, Cameron, and Cameron is likewise blaming BP. More props to Obama here - he was angry at this blame game, stating “I did not appreciate what I considered to be a ridiculous spectacle during the congressional hearings into this matter. You had executives of BP and Transocean and Halliburton falling over each other to point the finger of blame at somebody else.” Right on.

So how is it that there is no solution? BP’s plans to stop the leak have proven unsuccessful - a huge dome to cover the leak, a smaller top hat to capture escaping oil and siphon it to a ship, heavy chemicals to break up the oil. They’ve come up with a “junk shot” of golf balls or old tires, or a pipe inserted within the broken pipe to divert the oil backwards. They even have a suggestion box, and have received 60,000 calls and over 10,000 tips, 700 of which have moved on “to the next phase.” One of which was a project backed by Kevin Costner, who since 1989 has been funding a project led by his scientist brother to create a centrifuge that separates oil from water. BP just yesterday agreed to test six centrifuges. If you build it.. 

I’ve been meaning to write about this guy since I saw him speak at a business conference back in March. I just finished reading his book The Green Collar Economy.

Van Jones is the voice of the green collar economy, promoting green jobs as the cure for our economic, socioeconomic and environmental problems. What’s a green-collar job? Jones describes it as “a family supporting career-track job that directly contributes to preserving or enhancing environmental quality.” He says “think of them as the 2.0 version of old-fashioned blue collar jobs, upgraded to respect the Earth and meet the environmental challenges of today.” Here are his views..

Green-collar jobs could cure our economic problems: In 2006, renewable energy created 8.5 million jobs, $970 billion in revenue and over $100 billion in industry profits. Instead of giving away over half a trillion dollars for oil, we can reinvest in our own economy, replacing the millions of jobs that have been lost in manufacturing and construction.

Green-collar jobs could cure our socioeconomic problems: Did you know that the richest 1% of people have more wealth than the bottom 90% of people in the US. The bottom 90%! Jones argues green-collar jobs will be equal opportunity, provide pathways out of poverty, and rebuild a strong middle class while strengthening urban and rural communities.

Green-collar jobs could cure our environmental problems: Jones argues we have lost our accountability. Apparently, the Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy states “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” I like that. We, instead, have abandoned this notion and instead have built our country with the easiest, quickest means and methods only to now realize such actions are rather unsustainable. By employing blue-collar employees, we can retroactively weatherize buildings, we can install solar panels, build wind turbines, etc.

Anyway, I guess there’s another book report for you. Van Jones is the head of Green For All, was one of Time Magazine’s 2009 Time 100 Heroes & Icons, and is now an advisor on green jobs to the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

of water go into making one Starbucks latte, says the CEO of WWF in a keynote speech at the Net Impact Conference.

Last week I attended the Solar Conference in San Diego. Here are some of the highlights:

Solar & Wind Powered Street Lights

These are street lamps that employ solar and wind power for electricity. The sun and wind charge a battery that is later used to light the streets. At the expo, I saw ones designed by Everlast.

Utility-Scale Photovoltaic Systems

These are photovoltaic panels made by Greenvolts that are designed for utility-scale solar energy production (>1mW). The reflectors and receivers reside on a two-axis tracker that follows the sun, which allows them to remain “on-sun” for 20% longer than fixed solar panels.  The electricity produced is delivered and sold to the grid and distributed thereafter.

Sexy Thin Film Solar Panels

Normal Photovoltaic Panels are made of solar cells which are made of silicon wafers. These solar cells are what convert the sunlight into electricity. Recently, new technology has led to thin film solar cells, which are created with less material. This reduces costs and allows the cells to be printed on lighter and more flexible substances. Often thin-film uses resources other than silicon, including copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS). I forget who makes these panels (Sharp Solar maybe?), but  it seemed that everyone at the conference thought the one on the right was tres sexy.

Big Belly

Actually, I didn’t see these guys there but I thought I’d share because they really excite me. This is a solar powered trash compacting system. It uses solar power to compact the trash, creating 5 times the waste capacity. It eliminates 4 out of every 5 collection trips, thus eliminating greenhouse gases from pick-up trucks. Watch the video.

How Solar Panels are Made

I am still not quite sure how they’re made, but this machine was fascinating to watch.

The Governator

“I know solar is everywhere. It’s the future. It’s now. It can’t be stopped. All this at this rate, the next time I see you I know I’ll be driving a solar powered hummer!”

Sun Chips made with Solar

I learned that SunChips are now living up to their name. They’re now produced with solar energy. Here’s how they do it.

Solar iPhone Holder

No, I didn’t see these there either, but as I began thinking of solar-related business ideas, a solar powered iPhone charger was on the top of my list. Here and here.

The ITC
The solar industry just saw a huge milestone, packaged up into the Economic Stabilization Package (aka the Bailout Plan). The Investment Tax Credit, which grants a 30% tax credit for investment in solar energy, was extended for eight years. The original campaign was set to end December 31, 2008 and the industry was skeptical of the possibility of an extension. But they got it. And not only that, the ceiling of $2,000 that was placed on residential ITC (that is, if I want solar for my home I get a tax credit of 30%, only up to $2,000), was lifted. That may provide a boost in residential solar demand.

It may soon be time to say goodbye to the gray whale, the gray wolf, the wild yak, and the iconic bald eagle (and 1234 others), and the laws that protect them. That’s because in his 11^th hour, Bush is trying to overhaul the Endangered Species Act.

The ESA was created in 1973 when Nixon decided current conservation acts were inadequate and called upon Congress to pass more comprehensive legislation to protect endangered species. The purpose of the ESA was to protect species and “the ecosystems upon which they depend.” There are currently 1238 endangered animals and 747 endangered plants on the list, which is updated daily.

Under the ESA, any project that may disrupt the ecosystem and impact an endangered species must be approved by the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service. For example, if the Department of Transportation wanted to build a bridge somewhere that could damage the ecosystem of the Florida Scrub Jay, the plan must undergo an independent review by scientists at the FWS or the NMFS. Between 1998 and 2002, the Fish and Wildlife Service conducted 300,000 consultations. And the National Marine Fisheries Service conducts about 1,300 reviews each year.

The proposed overhaul would allow the Department of Transportation to determine if the project would disrupt the ecosystem. The goal of such measures is to end one of many environmental reviews that federal agencies and developers blame for delays and cost increases on many projects. Federal agencies and private developers say the process of reviewing each project has killed some worthwhile projects. So I guess they’d rather kill the species than the project.

Luckily, Obama opposes the act, stating “we should be looking for ways to improve it, not weaken it.” McCain so far has no comment. The proposal was laid out in the Federal Register, and allows a public comment period of 30 days. Mind you, that public comment period was shortened from 60 days to 30 because per an Interior Department spokeswoman, “It was determined that we needed to move forward in a timely fashion.”