Energetics Cliff Notes - Tuesday Edition

• The Atlantic provides graphics that depict the frightening scale of the oil slick in the Gulf, courtesy of Google Earth.
• The California Public Utilities Commission has unveiled SASH, a program to help low-income households install solar systems to their rooftops.
• PG&E has acknowledged that thousands of its Smart Meters are providing inaccurate billing information.
• David Zetland at Aguanomics discusses the human right to water (spoiler: he's not a fan).
• The White House is cracking down on the Minerals Management Service, the government agency that was at least partly responsible for the Gulf Spill (industry capture!).
• The New York Times' Room for Debate is always illuminating, and this time they take on the Gulf Spill.
• Krugman lends his voice to the chorus on the Spill.
• Roger Pielke Jr. discusses the modus operandi of climate action in response to a letter from 255 scientists.
• Fred Palmer of Peabody Coal calls burning fossil fuels "the Lord's work."
• The House recently passed Home Star, a $6 billion rebate program for energy efficiency.

Kingsolver on Water

In the latest issue of National Geographic, Barbara Kingsolver writes eloquently about the interplay of water in ecological and anthropocentric systems:

Who owns the water? How can I call it mine when its fate is to run through rivers and living bodies, so many already and so many more to come? It is an ancient, dazzling relic, temporarily quarantined here in my glass, waiting to return to its kind, waiting to move a mountain. It is the gold standard of biological currency, and the good news is that we can conserve it in countless ways. Also, unlike petroleum, water will always be with us.

Despite our extensive understanding of the hydrological cycle, and the fact that water is our most abundant resource, expect intensifying water scarcity as a result of failed infrastructure/pricing policies, increasing evaporation due to climate change, and rerouting water resources to nuclear power plants and solar farms.