At the same time that all companies in the fossil fuels industry (oil, gas, and coal) are reporting record earnings, Bush has hunkered down to give them another handout.  This time, it's not a tax break.  Instead, the New York Times is reporting that Bush and Friends simply failed to collect the money that the gas companies are supposed to pay for fuel extracted on public lands.

At a time when energy prices and industry profits are soaring, the federal government collected little more money last year than it did five years ago from the companies that extracted more than $60 billion in oil and gas from publicly owned lands and coastal waters.

In previous diaries, I've argued that our cheap energy culture is fragile, precariously balanced, and likely to die a messy death unless we begin devoting a lot more effort to shoring up our future.  I've also diaried the idea that we're falling far short of that goal, and that for a number of reasons we're likely to fail, leading to... bad stuff.  In short, I have been a gloomy Gus.

But not today.  Today, I'm going to bring you a more hopeful vision of the future.  In fact, you might consider this a religious diary.  Because if Ray Kurzweil is right, immortality is right around the corner.

So, say Amen and pass the microchips, because we're heading for the singularity.

From the CSMonitor via the UN Foundation's UN Wire:

Low-cost lamps brighten the future of rural India

KHADAKWADI, INDIA - Until just three months ago, life in this humble village without electricity would come to a grinding halt after sunset. . .That all changed with the installation of low-cost, energy-efficient lamps that are powered entirely by the sun.

[edit]

The innovative lights were installed by the Grameen Surya Bijli Foundation (GSBF). . .The lamps use LEDs - light emitting diodes - that are four times more efficient than an incandescent bulb. After a $55 installation cost, solar energy lights the lamp free of charge.

Properly configured a LED lamp has an approximately 100,000 hour life (it's a semiconductor), and runs on low-voltages (1.8 - 3.6 VDC).  

Coming soon to your house.

[cross-posted at And, yes, I DO take it personally]

Yesterday, the Boston Globe reported on a very interesting development involving Venezuela and the state of Massachusetts.

With the greatly increased energy prices and the winter already here for many in the northern states, this is really good news and puts our domestic oil companies to shame.

   

A subsidiary of the Venezuelan national oil company will ship 12 million gallons of discounted home-heating oil to local charities and 45,000 low-income families in Massachusetts next month under a deal arranged by US Representative William D. Delahunt, a local nonprofit energy corporation, and Venezuela's president, White House critic Hugo Chávez.

Today, Argentine President Néstor Kirchner is meeting in Caracas with Chávez.

The third draft of the Energize America proposal for a Democratic energy plan is now up over at DailyKos.

Believe me, I'd not normally use this space just to trumpet a diary, but this is not an ordinary diary.  Energize America represents not only a comprehensive energy plan, it also represents something of a first triel for "open source politics," in which a group submits ideas publically, works through the revisions, resubmits, and continues with the ultimate goal of getting Democratic law makers to sign on to the plan.

This plan has grown tremendously over the course of a month, but we still have a long way to go.  And we need your help!  Please take a look.