Get Energy Smart! NOW!

Sometime it is hard to wrap one’s head around an issue. How can anyone be “for” mountain top removal? While I’d disagree, vehemently, economic necessity forcing an ugly choice at least would be a more reasoned starting point. But, as with caroling lumps of coal, there are those in the industry who heart MTR. And, for the vast majority of Americans, this is an out-of-line-of-sight, out-of-mind problem. Well, Robert F Kennedy, Jr, made an impassioned statement on MTR, a statement of first hand testimony, the type of first-hand witnessing that perhaps more Americans need and that they could have, at least vicariously, if only the television industry would give it to them.

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The incoming US Congress will be running full out in January to develop a stimulus package to have ready, potentially, for signature by President Barack Hussein Obama minutes into his Presidency. Organization after organization, business after business, motivated citizen after motivated citizen are knocking on every door conceivable with ideas for funding that range from great through good to indifferent to bad all the way to simply venally corrupt.

Just sent to the Transition team and en route Hill offices is, well, a truly “great” approach, a path that could massively stimulate economic activity throughout the United States while setting us on a path for a stronger tomorrow economically and in terms of global warming. As the 2030 Challenge Stimulus Plan summary concludes:

With a single investment, the U.S. can create jobs, strengthen the US economy, reduce CO2 emissions and energy consumption, and save consumers billions of dollars. Investing in the Building Sector is the only investment that can accomplish all of these objectives.

Coming from Ed Mazria and the Architecture 2030 team, this plan focuses on driving massive commercial and home owner investments in energy efficiency through a program of buying down mortgages and renovation (energy rehab) loans based on achieved level of energy efficiency.

Consider this as the cost of a loan to achieve improved energy efficiency:

• Energy efficiency 30 percent below code, 4.5% interest rate
• 50% below code, 4.0%
• 80% below code, 3.0%
• Carbon neutral, 2.0%

Would rates like that induce you to seek out a contractor? Insulation? New windows? new energy efficiency heating/cooling system? Energy-star plus appliances (of all types)? A high-efficiency wood stove or fireplace insert? Solar hot water or photovoltaiics? All of the above?

As for me, rates like that would induce me to strive for ‘carbon negative’ (average out sending power back to the grid, not using it) …

But the benefits and value will go far beyond the individual’s satisfaction at zeroing out their home’s carbon footprint.

• 8.5 million jobs over two years
• $140 to $200 billion of savings on home energy costs in the first five years
• Over 6000 TBtu of reduced energy use resulting in about 500 mega-tonnes of reduced CO2 emissions (or about 10% of one year’s US emissions) … in just that first five years.

Yes, this investment would cost a lot, at least upfront. Mazria is calling for $85 billion a year, for two years. Quite a high figure, it seems, but unlike the $700 billion (or is it $7 billion) that has gone into the financial industry, this program would provide a significant boost to Main Street (and every Main Street) across the nation. And, that boost, the economic activity and the millions of jobs would spark signficant economic activity in a multiplying effect. Those 8.5 million jobs mean fewer people seeking financial assistance (unemployment, food stamps and school lunch aid, housing assistance, welfare, etc …) and that many more paying income taxes. A rough, back of the envelope calculation suggests that the social security and federal (not even state) income tax payments from the 8.5 million employed, even without considering the quite significant avoided costs, would total even more than $85 billion per year.

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In a time of year when it can be hard to go into public
without being overwhelmed by Christmas carols, the sound of jingling bells can sicken many of us. And, it is hard for many to associate this season and carols with any form of religiousity due to the mass commercialization of across the spectrum of holidays of Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza, and …

And, basically every single religious song has been parodied or spun off in multiple ways so that any idea of purity seems dead. Thus, it surprised me that I was shocked at the latest parody of a set of Christmas Carols courtesy of the coal industry’s mouthpiece, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE): the “Clean Coal Carolers” with a set of lyrics that take their truthiness and deception to a whole new level of depravity.

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The Center for Public Integrity‘s Broken Government project has just put online a report and searchable database of 125 executive branch failures that merit serious attention and, well, Change.

Subjects include:

• Growth of foreign oil dependency
• Smart Grid development stalled
• Climate Change deceit
• Politicizing Science Policy

And, well, 100 other quite serious arenas.

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President-Elect Obama is hard at work, with his staff, at creating the structure and setting in place the priorities and paths for execution of his Administration. A core part of this, of course, is the selection of Cabinet members and core advisors. Some in the ‘blogging’ world (and others) question any questioning and ridicule any advice into this process. Asserting that appointees don’t matter, as if Barack Obama can make every single decision for the Federal Government in the coming eight years. Others seem ready to head for the hills on any rumor that seems to tilt against their preferences and belief structures. Neither of these extremes is right, neither is productive. We owe it to ourselves and our society to speak our voices, to express concerns and enthusiasm in a measured voice, seeking to find our position in supporting Change, even while seeking to help shape that change to something ever more positive.

With the looming announcement of the next Secretary of Energy, we have one of those opportunities to see which way the paths will work. Is Global Warming key? Is the move to a sensible and sustainable energy future key? The names bandied about as potential next Secretary of Energy suggest far different answers to those questions.

If, for example, rumors that Duke’s Jim Rogers or a long-shot of T Boone Pickens would be selected for Secretary of Energy, one would have to conclude that Barack Obama is not fully serious about his commitment to engage on Global Warming or shift the nation’s energy future to a prosperous and sustainable future. Rogers has given lip service to global warming concerns but, at the end of the day, falls far short of requirements as to the necessary changes and the urgency of action. T Boone Pickens continues to remind one of Dick van Dyke in the Music Man, offering up something that seems ever so appealing on first sell but that does not stand up to even the slightest amount of serious scrutiny.

On the other hand, there are people like Nobel Laureate deirection of the Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory (LBNL) Dr. Steven Chu who are considered to be ‘in the running’. Chu understands the potential for reducing GHGs via energy efficiency. He knows technology. He has vision and hope for the ability to create new solutions, even while executing on-the-shelf opportunities. And, Chu clearly understands the challenge that we face with Global Warming.

I will leave you with this final image. This is — I was an undergraduate when this picture was taken by Apollo 8 — and it shows the moon and the Earth’s rise. A beautiful planet, a desolate moon. And focus on the fact that there’s nowhere else to go.

A Rogers. A Pickens appointment would send one message about change.

A Chus. A Dan Reichert. A Kathleen McGinty. A Jay Inslee appointment would send a far different message about how Change could save the planet.

Since diving into the deep end when it comes to energy issues, almost every day sees new fascinating concepts, approaches, and technologies. Fascinating … exciting … even hope inspiring at times. And, as well, as the passion builds, so many of these are truly Energy COOL.

One of the most powerful images for a renewable energy future, a burning hot one we might suggest, is TREC, which is a grand vision for connecting solar power in North Africa, wind power from the Eastern Mediterranean to the North Sea, bio-mass, and hydropower with a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) system of power lines to provide assured renewable electricity for the Mediterranean basin and Europe.

This concept, which has seemed ever so Renewable Energy COOL to me from the first time I encountered it, looks to be moving down a path from fantastic innovative concept to potential reality as Europe is heading toward an initial investment of $10 billion dollars in DESERTEC.
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Having a readout on miles per gallon gets most drivers to drive better, in ways that increase safety and reduce fuel usage. With minimal additional cost, these feedback systems can help to improve fleet fuel efficiency through fostering changed behavior by the users (the drivers). This is an impact that better car design, hybrid technologies, and similar fuel efficiency systems do not inherently have. Thus, this is an additive effect on top of any other efforts to improve that fuel efficiency.

Improved car (transportation) fuel efficiency is critical to Winning the Oil End Game but is only a portion of the challenge of reversing our greenhouse-gas emissions patterns and turning away from the most dire Catastrophic Climate Change implications.

Real-time feedback works in cars and is increasingly part of new car dashboards. Where else could we install real-time feedback systems into our daily lives to change energy usage patterns and reduce energy use? Real opportunities exist in the home …

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Change.

Climate Change. That is change that we don’t want to believe we face, that many refuse to face, but it is change that is occurring, driving many through the stages from denial to determination.

In the face of Climate Change, how much Change can Barack Obama deliver?

And, in fact, does he and the building team for the next Administration recognize the extent of the necessary Change? Change to the Planet? And, that there might exist geoengineering solutions as part of the path toward necessary Change?

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That, after all, has to be one’s conclusion from the words and arguments of Texas State State Legislator Phil King,

Texas could go back into the dark ages, and you’ve got to say what impact does that have on global climate? King added You turn off every power plant in Texas, and the impact would be negligible for CO2.

This is a common type of argument, across so many battles related to any ‘tragedy of the commons’ issue. “I’m so small and such a neglible part of the problem, nothing that I do really matters anyway.” Truly, these type of arguments rate highly in the absurdity of the Inhofe Scale. Changing a light bulb doesn’t change the globe. Changing a million probably doesn’t. Changing a billion does. In reality, this is like saying “I’m just one person, what matters if I piss in the pool.” With just one person doing it, the diluted poison is probably meaningless. When a hundred people do it? A thousand? But, evidently, Phil King wants us to believe that the Great State of Texas simply doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. And, King wants to continue to have the right to continue to piss with impunity into our common pool of air.

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Today, Al Gore and a coalition of leading environmental organizations are launching This is REALITY.org. Simply put, despite all the glowing ads that you’ve seen and bipartisan romancing of clean coal, “clean coal” remains not much more than powerpoint slides and technological dreams that might (MIGHT) work in 20 years or so, at a very high cost. What is the reality today?

Simple fact: COAL IS DIRTY! From mountain top removal, through distribution, burning, and the waste, whether fly ash deposits, particulates into our lungs, mercury in the oceans, or CO2 in the atmosphere.

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