Get Energy Smart! NOW!

Okay, I am a big (BIG) fan of PHESBs: Plug-in Hybrid Electric School Buses. With all the (welcome) focus on PHECs (Plug-In Electric Cars) like the Volt, Prius, and others, the real potential for some gamechanging through fleets of large fleets seem to be falling by the wayside. In fact, school buses offer some quite serious opportunities for breakthrough benefits and merit serious attention. Happily, we are seeing some serious news advancing the possibility of actually seizing these benefits.

Recent test results show that the IC Bus PHEBs, using hybrid-drive systems from Enova Systems, “can improve fuel efficiency by more than 70 percent compared to standard diesel-powered school buses.” In addition to the fuel economy savings, other benefits include:

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This year could be a breakthrough year to truly change the nature of dialogue and action in Washington, DC, and nationwide. On the tip of the toungue: will there be a super majority in the Senate (59 Democratic Party, OneOne Socialist (Sanders), and the only Connecticut for Lieberman Senator)? One of those seemingly long-shot, now truly competitive race that could help achieve this change: the race for Alaska’s next Senator.

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My six-year old son is addicted to the Berenstein Bears. One of his first successfully read books: Ready, Get Set, Go which teaches adjectives and suggests that no one is best at everything. How many times read between us? 10? 25? Maybe 50? As any parent can tell you, a favored book like that becomes imprinted in your brain.

“Good, Better, Best …” is the tag line in Ready, Get Set, Go. Well, in the past few days, we’ve seen an example of this in reverse, something more from the film world. When it comes to politics and energy, we’ve had a display of Dumb, Dumber, Dumbest.

Clinton, McCain, Bush.

Energy Dumb. Energy Dumber, Energy Dumbest.

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Robert Samuelson has a real talent, a real expertise in turning fact into truthiness when it comes to the economics of energy and global warming issues. Whether arguing the futility of doing anything about Climate Change (see also J’Accuse, Robert Samuelson, J’Accuse!) or laying out a path for dealing with gas prices, Robert J Samuelson’s truthiness provide recipes for disaster rather than sensible policy concepts.

With Start Drilling Samuelson is pandering to George W. Bush’s sad parody of energy policy as enunciated in his press conference yesterday and providing a sad parody of sensible energy concepts on the opinion pages of The Washington Post.

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Montgomery County, Maryland, is moving toward a stronger building code, with requirements for new homes to meet the Energy Star home building parameters. This is the type of measure rapidly implementable across the country to help foster the move toward a more sensible building infrastructure such as envisioned by Architecture2030 (which has a plan to a deCarbonized building infrastructure by 2030).

The move to Energy Star construction, as the minimum standard, will mean a reduction of energy consumption by at least 15 percent over existing building code.

But they’re being opposed in their efforts by … [drumroll] … the Bush administration.

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Being skeptical about Global Warming skeptics’ arguments has proven, to date, to be a healthy and sensible way to deal with their truthiness claims and arguments.  The Heartland Institute‘s distribution of a list of scientist supposedly doubting Global Warming yet again verifies the value of being skeptical about Global Warming skeptics.

DeSmogBlog decided to take a look at Heartland‘s list: emailing the scientists to ask them about the situation. From 500 Scientists with Documented Doubts of Man-Made Global Warming Scares:

• The Heartland “article purports to list scientists whose work contradicts the overwhelming scientific agreement that human-induced climate change is endangering the world as we know it.”
• “DeSmogBlog … emailed 122 of the scientists … calling their attention to the list.”
• “in less than 24 hours – three dozen of those scientists had responded in outrage, denying that their research supports Avery’s conclusions and demanding that their names be removed.”

Hmmm, maybe Heartland should change the title from 500 scientists to 464 scientists maybe have documented doubts of man-made global warming scares until, of course, they are asked whether they agree with this article’s assertion.

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Two Washington Post articles in the past week provide an interesting little localized contrast of the challenges related to finding a path toward an Energy Smart future.
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The Astroturf Organization Formerly Known As ABEC has come out with a doozy of a first ad.

In the battle to protect our future, the alphabet list of astroturf organizations working to undercut a habitable tomorrow is an ever-growing soup.  Tracking the  $35 million+ associated with “Americans for Balanced Energy Choices provided easily full-time employment for some dedicated people.

Perhaps, these astroturfers felt some pressure.  Recently formed, just in time for Earth Day, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.

When you hear/see that term, think Clear Skies and other Bushisms … “Clean Coal” is a euphemism for Sort-of Less Dirty Coal, Somewhat Less Polluting Coal, Supposedly Less Deadly Coal.

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For several years now, various agencies of the US government have been sponsoring a monthly evening lecture series on energy issues: The Energy Conversation.  Held in Crystal City, Virginia, these lectures (conversations?) bring together an eclectic mix of people who generally share a passion about one issue: concerns about the US approach to energy and a desire to see a shift toward more sensible approach toward energy within the United States (and globally). 

Tonight’s lecture:  Lester Brown (register for this free event, $10 for dinner) whose resume and background are too much for a single post.  Founder of Worldwatch Insitute, founder/president of the Earth Policy Institute, author/co-author of 50 plus books, etc …   In 2006, he published Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble.  This year, he has upgraded to 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization. 

This is, of course, quite late notice for a lecture this evening but for the web community / world, one value is that there is an archive of past speakers (not all there, but being filled in) that have included John Marburger (President Bush’s Science Advisor), Amory Lovins (Rocky Mountain Institute), US Department of Defense experts in facilities’ energy efficiency and energy management, ‘green’ architect Bob Fox, a facilities executive from Walmart, the Director of the Center of Advanced Materials for the Purification of Water with  Systems to speak about the future of America’s water supplies, etc …

Sitting down for these “lectures” (at round tables, normally, to facilitate conversations rather than passive listening) is somewhat different than at many other professional events. Beside you, on one side, might be an officer from the Joint Chiefs of Staff and, on the other side, an activist from an environmental organization. Others at your table might include an executive from a renewable energy technology firm and someone from the oil industry … The eclectic nature of attendess (of participants) promotes an interaction, an Energy Conversation if you will, that might not occur otherwise. 

Around the world, albeit not aggressively enough, governments are taking actions small and large to change our paths when it comes to energy and resource use. For example, multiple governments have taken action to reduce or eliminate disposable plastic shopping bags. Ireland, for example, has come close to eliminating plastic bags. In Ireland, businesses and interest groups fought the policy but …

Today, Ireland’s retailers are great promoters of taxing the bags. “I spent many months arguing against this tax with the minister; I thought customers wouldn’t accept it,” said Senator Feargal Quinn, founder of the Superquinn chain. “But I have become a big, big enthusiast.”

Sadly, around the globe, business interests work to inhibit sensible moves forward. This ranges from “clean coal” front organizations to companies fighting efforts to reduce or eliminate plastic shopping bags.

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