Online Resources

Topics :

World Energy Use (including oil and coal)

Energy Policy (local, national, international)

Climate Change

Coal

Oil - Drilling

Oil - Environmental Issues

Oil - Refineries

Oil - Supply and Demand

Oil - Human Rights Issues

Oil - Politics

Oil - Unconventional Oil

Alternative Energy - Environmental Issues

Alternative Energy - Biofuel

Air Quality

Legislation

Google Earth Files

Other Tools

World Energy Use [top]

• World Energy 2009 - A statistical review from BP
• Key World Energy Statistics 2009 - From International Energy Agency
• Wood to Coal - A short history of a past enery revolution
• Energy and Human Evolution - An article from Population & Environment on human energy use

Policy - National & Local Issues Regarding Earth Resources [top]

• Oil - President Obama's New Energy for America Plan

Coal [top]

• Appalachian Mountaintop Removal - A Google Earth KML file showing mountaintop removal coal mines in the Appalachians (produced by an environmental activitst group).

Climate Change [top]
Post-Kyoto

• 2009 May - China signals "maybe" on emissions limits - The Guardian article
• 2009 Nov - China pledges emission cuts before Copenhagen Summit - The L.A. Times article
• 2009 Dec - China vs. U.S. in Copenhagen Summit - The BBC article
• 2009 Dec - China on Copenhagen Summit Results- The Guardian article
• "What did the Copenhagen Summit Achieve?"
• NY Times Op-Ed Piece: A Smoking Dragon in Sheep's Clothing
• BBC Op-Ed Piece: Why Copenhagen Failed

Oil - Drilling Issues [top]

• An economic perspective - Kotchen et al. 2007

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Pro-Drilling

• ANWR.org -"Top 10 reasons to support ANWR development"
• ANWR.org -"Making the Case for ANWR"

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Anti-Drilling

• Oil on Ice -"Exploring the Issues"
• Alaska Wilderness League -"Campaign for ANWR"
• Natural Resources Defense Council -"Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Why Trash an American Treasure for a Tiny Percentage of Our Oil Needs? "

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Government Reports

• US Fish & Wildlife 2001 Report -"Potential Impacts of Proposed Oil and Gas Development on the Arctic Refuge's Coastal Plain: Historial Overview of Issues and Concerns."
• EIA 2008 Report -"Analysis of Crude Oil Production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge."
• NRC 2003 Report -"Cumulative Environmental Effects of Oil and Gas Activities on Alaska's North Slope."

Drilling in Other Areas

• Off California Coast - Senator Barbara Boxer San Francisco Gate Op-Ed article taking the "No" position
• Off California Coast - Op-Ed Pro-Drilling

Oil Well Fires

• Oil Well Firefighters - An article from the NYT about oil well firefighter Red Adair
• Fires of Kuwait (IMAX) Part 1 2 3 4

Oil - Environmental Impact [top]

• Sources of oil in U.S. oceans - National Academy of Science Report (2002)
• Oil Spill Bioremediation in the Middle East
• Otters after the ExxonValdez spill
• Oil Spill - Commedy Routine :-)
• Oil Survey Work Dead Whale - Comedy Routine :-)

Oil - Refineries[top]

• 1999 House Investigation: - Oil Refineries Fail to Report Missions of Pounds of Harmful Emissions.
• Waxman cap-and-trade bill - Washington Examiner Op-Ed piece

Oil - Human Rights Issues [top]

• The price of our oil addiction - 10 November 2008 - A short video from CNN on how oil production has affected the people of the Niger Delta.
• Nigeria and Oil- an article from Global Issues.
• Drilling and Killing: Landmark Trial Against Chevron Begins Over Its Role in the Niger Delta - A DemocracyNOW! Documentary by Amy Goodman (the report on Nigerian oil starts around 25:40 in the video)
• Gas Flares in Nigeria

Oil - Supply and Demand [top]

• Who Has the Oil? - Cool B.P. infographic.
• What's Your Consumption Factor? NY Times Op-Ed by Jared Diamond - January 2008
• Nontechnical guide to petroleum geology, exploration, drilling, and production by Norman J. Hyne (2001) - A good overview of many issues in looking for and drilling oil.

Oil - Politics [top]

• Iran's Two-Edged Bomb - 2010 Op-Ed in NYTimes.

Oil - Peak Oil [top]

• A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash - 2008 -A 90-minute documentary on our dwindling oil resources.
• You can also watch it on YouTube: Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
• The Hirsch Report: 2005 DoE Report on Peak Oil
• Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy, by Matthew Simmons, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Oil - Unconventional Oil [top]

• Shell's Oil Shale Resources

Alternative Energy - Environmental Issues [top]

• National Audubon Society's Map of Environmentally-Sensitive Areas that they believe should not be tapped for alternative energy production techniques

Alternative Energy - Biofuel [top]

• Biofuels take to the skies in airline test - 8 January 2009 - A Continental Airlines jetliner flew with one engine powered by a mix of oils from algae and jatropha plants.
• Once a Dream Fuel, Palm Oil May Be an Eco-Nightmare - 31 January 2007 -Palm Oil was once hailed as an environmentally-friendly alternative to oil, but may cause more damage than oil production.

Air Quality [top]

• AirCompare - An EPA Tool for comparing counties

• ScoreCard - Air and water quality scorecards by city

Legislation [top]

• H.R.2454 -"American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009"

• Background from the Washington Post
• Environment360: The Waxman-Markey Bill: A Good Start or a Non-Starter? -- A good overview of the various opinions on this bill
• In favor:
  • National Resource Defense Council - Statement
• Opposed:
  • Small Oil Refineries - News Story
  • National Petrochemical & Refiners Association - Official Statement
  • Greenpeace - Official Statement

H.R.2454 - Summary and Key Provisions

Google Earth Files [top]

• Green Buildings Across the U.S.
• Renewable Energy Locations (in Michigan only)
• World Oil Consumption
• The World's Worst Oil Spill Disasters
• The Scale of CO2 Emissions
• Oil Wells in Alaska
• Oil Wells Offshore of TX, LA, AL
• Oil Well Fires
• Oil Refineries in United States
• Estonian Oil Shales
• Canadian Oil Sands

Other Tools [top]

• Convert Barrels of Oil to Tons, BTU, or megajoules (or vice versa)
• World Government Data - A tool from the Guardian that allows you to search for environmentally-related data files (many in KMZ format!)