Solve Climate: Daily Climate News and Opinion

Smart Grid: Digging The Foundations

L.D. Gussin — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:30:57 -0700

Because today's energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies lack connective infrastructure, they provide only first steps toward climate change mitigation.

Quantitatively they only make dents. This applies to building efficiency methods, such as improved lighting and insulation, and transportation efficiency methods such as higher fuel economy standards. The same for onshore wind and concentrated solar thermal, the first (after hydro) competitively-priced renewable technologies. In almost all cases, they lack integration with long distance or even local distribution systems to reach their markets.

These limitations are the main reasons a “smart” electrical grid, empowered by $4.5 billion in federal stimulus funds, is starting to graduate from R&D into products and services.

It's not an easy transition, though, as it surfaces large technology challenges as well as the positions of competing business sectors, technologies, and interests, and the less Machiavellian problems of industries that are working together for the first time. Splashing around now in one pool are the electrical utility, energy feedstock, information technology, building design and management, transportation, and electrical devices and appliances sectors.

With so much taxpayer money involved, President Obama's energy team is mandating up-front standards to ensure that what is built by these disparate forces works and is efficient.

The initial results illustrate the technology and business challenges, but also, a culture of innovation and the experience in business and industrial reinventions of the IT sector.

Today's Climate: July 6, 2009

Stacy Morford — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:12:23 -0700

Oxfam: Hunger Rises as Climate Change Causes Crop Failure (Guardian)

Hunger may become the defining human tragedy of the century as the climate changes and hundreds of millions of farmers already struggling to grow enough food are forced to adapt to drought and different rainfall patterns, a report from Oxfam warns.

Blair: G8 Should Put that Good Will to Use on Energy Issues (Guardian)

"If we focus on clear, practical, and achievable goals, major reductions can be made in order to ensure that, whatever the precise interim target, the world will fashion a radical new approach," writes former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

South Korea to Spend $85B on Green Industries (Reuters)

South Korea will invest $84.5 billion, or 2 percent of its annual GDP, in environment-related industries over the next five years, the presidential office said today.

Nigeria: Country Faces Hard Times With Less US Need for Oil (This Day)

Nigerian government officials warn that their economy, largely depend on crude oil exports, may witness a major shrink in five years time because planned changes in U.S. consumption unless it aggressively pursues a policy of diversifying its revenue sources.

Ex-BP Chief: Make State-Run Banks Invest in Renewables (London Times)

State-controlled banks such as Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group should be forced to invest in renewable energy projects to kick-start a transition to a lower-carbon economy, former BP chief John Browne says.

California Solar Subsidy Program Approaches Limit (Los Angeles Times)

A key state Senate committee is expected to vote on a bill that seeks to quadruple the amount of electricity consumers with roof panels may sell. The solar industry supports it; PG & E, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric oppose the bill.

Terry Tamminen: The World's One-Man Climate Fixer

David Sassoon — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 07:56:12 -0700

Back in 2006, Time Magazine ran a global warming cover that has become a negative icon of the climate movement’s message: “Be Worried, Be Very Worried,” the headline proclaimed.

The dark cloud has yet to dissipate, even with Obama’s clean energy and green jobs optimism, because the polluter-friendly climate bill moving through Congress has weak targets and large loopholes, the talks paving the way to Copenhagen have shown little progress, and the body of scientific evidence documenting accelerating climate change each week grows larger and deeper.

None of that fazes Terry Tamminen, the world’s one-man climate fixer, whose unique understanding of global climate progress arms him with an infectious supply of hope. He’s too busy to sink into worry and unafraid to offer perspective you’d never hear inside the Beltway climate policy hothouse.

The Waxman-Markey climate bill, working its way through Congress? “It’s not the only game in town,” Tamminen says.

The bill’s passage in the Senate? “Actually it could tie our hands in Copenhagen.”

In other words, while all the rest of us seem to be worried, very worried, about Waxman-Markey and Copenhagen, Tamminen is skating to where nobody else can imagine the puck is going to be.

In the last three months alone he’s been to Bahrain, Norway, Holland, India, England, Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong and of course, Beijing. At every stop, he meets with business leaders, NGOs, policymakers and government officials.

Today's Climate: July 4-5, 2009

Stacy Morford — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 06:17:44 -0700

India: Watered Down Climate Declaration Likely at G8 (Reuters)

The world's worst polluters, meeting during the G8 summit in Italy this coming week, will likely agree on a token joint declaration because President Obama will be chairing the meeting, Indian officials say. The members plan to hold talks Tuesday.

Both Parties Try to Cash In on Climate Bill Vote (CQ Politics)

Within hours of the House passing sweeping climate legislation, the party fund-raising letters were already going out. Both parties are trying to use the landmark legislation to their advantage.

China Considering New Air Quality Rules (Reuters)

China is considering new air quality regulations as it looks to build on its success clearing Beijing's skies during the Olympics, environmental officials.

Energy Bonds Among 20 Radical Ideas for Climate Action (Guardian)

The British public could invest their savings in the UK's renewable energy revolution with energy bonds, similar to what they’ve done in the past with war bond, and reap the financial rewards of helping to save the planet, under one of several ambitious proposals being discussed this weekend.

China, India Protest US Carbon Tariff Plan (Financial Times)

China joined a growing clamor of complaint about the U.S. climate bill’s addition of a carbon tax on imports from countries without their own emission caps, warning it could set off a global trade war.

Older Cars Fouling DC Air (Washington Post)

Vehicles in the Washington, D.C., area are an average of six months older than they were in 2005. The increase, from about 7.9 to 8.4 years, is enough to push the region perilously close to violating its limits for traffic-related pollutants, regional planners say.

Weekly Climate: June 27-July 3, 2009

Stacy Feldman — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 07:32:43 -0700

This week on SolveClimate we highlighted some important climate roles and progress made by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

In a decision that will reverberate nationwide, the agency granted California and 13 other states permission to set vehicle standards that are tougher than the federal government's and based on greenhouse gas emissions for the first time.

We learned that Obama's EPA is requiring Sunflower Electric to restart the permit process if it wants to build a controversial Kansas coal plant. Former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius had fought Sunflower's efforts, but her successor approved the coal plant in a back room deal six days after taking office.

The EPA was firm: The proposed coal plant must meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act.

Also on the topic of coal, the EPA released a once-secret list of 44 coal ash ponds that pose the highest danger to human life if they were to break.

Life on an Urban Oil Field

Leslie Berliant — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:50:34 -0700

The first thing I noticed was that although we were just 20 miles south of where I started, the temperature was a good 15 degrees hotter.

The smells of tar and sulfur permeated the air. After a while, my eyes started to burn and itch.

I wasn’t in Nigeria or Iraq or Venezuela. My guide, Jesus Torres, otherwise known as JT, had taken me to Wilmington, Calif., in Los Angeles County, just 20 miles south of the L.A. beach town where I live.

Wilmington is home to 53,000 people – 45,000 of them Latino, 24 percent below the national poverty level – living in the midst of oil wells, oil refineries and the Port of Los Angeles. It was one of the stops on the Toxic Tour of Los Angeles that the organization, Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) leads. The group advocates around issues of environmental justice showcasing how our dependence on fossil fuels has impacted low income neighborhoods across the country.

Of the more than 2 million barrels of oil refined in California each day, 650,000 of them come from five refineries in the Wilmington area run by BP, ConocoPhillips, Tesoro and Valero.

Greenpeace Expedition Documents Disappearing Greenland Glacier

Stacy Feldman — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:43:45 -0700

First-hand scientific data of the fast-vanishing Petermann Glacier in Greenland's remote North will soon be available, thanks to Greenpeace.

The organization set off on a three-month climate impacts expedition on June 23, just as a Manhattan-sized iceberg started hemorrhaging off the ancient Petermann mass.

The group, and its team of independent scientists, will document the disintegration of the world's northernmost glacier and conduct additional research on the accelerating polar melt.

"Travelling to Petermann Glacier is a rare opportunity to visit a remote, hard to reach location at the top of the world, and a chance to make observations usually well beyond the capabilities of conventional science," said Jason Box, a glacier expert at the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University and member of the Greenpeace expedition.

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New Business Model Cuts Up-Front Costs to Spur Energy Efficiency

Justin Moresco — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:08:59 -0700

Technological developments often are seen as the surest way to reduce society’s dependence on fossil fuels, but one young startup hopes to spur change with an innovative business model.

If successful, Metrus Energy's model could usher in a wave of investment in energy efficiency projects.

The idea is to enter into long-term contracts with commercial, industrial, and institutional facilities in which Metrus pays the upfront costs of installing energy efficiency measures, such as high-efficiency lighting or building energy management systems, and then shares the resulting savings from lower energy bills.

“We set the fee below what the customer is currently paying the electric utility,” said Bob Hinkle, chief executive of the San Francisco startup. “So the customer gets savings from the start.”

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Today's Climate: July 3, 2009

Stacy Morford — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:11:05 -0700

Emissions Must Peak by 2020, US Says in G8 Draft (Bloomberg)

The U.S. is joining other developed countries for the first time in saying global greenhouse gases should peak by 2020 and the average worldwide temperature shouldn’t rise more than 2 degrees Celsius, according to a draft from the Group of Eight industrialized nations.

Canada, Japan Blocking Copenhagen Progress? (Business Green)

Sir David King, former UK science adviser, accused Canada and Japan of blocking progress towards a meaningful international climate deal. "Copenhagen is faltering at the moment," he said.

EPA Allows TVA to Dump Coal Ash in Alabama (AP)

The nation's largest utility can dump millions of tons of coal ash from a Tennessee spill into an Alabama landfill, federal regulators determined, despite criticism that the plan is unfair to one of Alabama's poorest counties.

Kennedy: President Breaks Hearts in Appalachia (Washington Post)

“If ever an issue deserved President Obama's promise of change, mountaintop mining is it,” Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. writes. “Mining syndicates are detonating 2,500 tons of explosives each day – the equivalent of a Hiroshima bomb weekly – to blow up Appalachia's mountains.”

Carbon Chief Suspended Amid Reports of Dodgy Deals (Business Green)

Papua New Guinea's Office of Climate Change director was suspended following reports that he issued unofficial carbon credits from forestry projects worth millions of dollars.

Sen. Boxer Sets Hearings Starting Next Week on Climate (National Journal)

Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer has scheduled a four-pack of hearings in the next two weeks to draft climate legislation this summer and continue an ambitious Democratic push to get a plan through Congress this year.

LEED No Longer Stops at Construction: Version 3 Checks Up on Efficiency

Amy Westervelt — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:23:22 -0700

Green buildings have to operate efficiently to be truly “green,” and the U.S. Green Building Council is about to begin enforcing that simple rule.

The USGBC has had a busy week, announcing a couple of major changes to its Leadership in Energy and Efficiency Design (LEED) rating system.

First, it announced that as part of LEED v3, the latest version of the rating system, “buildings seeking LEED certification will begin submitting operational performance data on a recurring basis as a precondition to certification.”

The change gets at what has long been the primary complaint about LEED: That it stops once the building is built.

The new version, to be used by all new LEED applicants starting this week, also ties the green building rating system into the emergent smart grid, and it will likely increase demand for building energy monitoring systems.