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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 first Energy COOLs focused on bike-sharing programs as Paris looked to enter the game with Vélib. Less than a year in, the judgment on Vélib:  Roaring Success.  And, Paris is launching into a new venture:  Voiturelib’ (free car).

The Automobiles-en-Libre-Service will

start with 2,000 electric-powered vehicles that subscribers can drive off without booking at dozens of sites 24 hours a day and then leave anywhere in the city.

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Time for an Energy Conversation …

An Energy Conversation about the Democratic Party presidential candidates and their approaches to energy and, closely related, global warming.

For too long, I’ve owed it to myself to seek to write a discussion of the Democratic field and their energy policies.  The rather absurd challenge: that 100 pages of notes, quotes, and otherwise look more appropriate for a monograph (or a Steve Gilliard-like series, even if it would be a shadow of his work) rather than a single posting.  My note-taking and contemplating has inhibited, rather than facilitated, contrasting the candidates thus, instead, this diary seeks to provoke and promote a conversation rather than reach some definitive statement.

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Who could’ve thunk it?

GHW Bush lies at the core of a driving motivation in my life.

The eldest President Bush was facing a reelection battle against Bill Clinton, and so advisers persuaded him to attend the world environmental summit in Rio de Janeiro, possibly the most optiistic moment in recent history.  Before he went, however, he told a press conference that “the American way of life is not up for negotiation.”  If that’s true, if we can’t imagine living any differently, then all else is mere commentary.

One thing that should unite us is a drive to imagine a different life, a different world, a better one, a better path forward … and we all, in our own ways, fight to achieve those visions.  

I am imagining life differently. One path terrifies me.   am terrified at the world that we are creating at a head-long pace.  Global Warming … I am terrified at economic prospects in coming years … Peak Oil.  

And, I imagine life differently and it energizes me to fight to Energize America.

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The Lieberman-Warner American Climate InSecurity Act (A-CISA) has, as its core centerpiece, a poorly structured Cap and Trade program, inadequate for achieiving required reductions in US (and Global) GreenHouse Gase (GHG) emissions while giving away $500 billion (and likely more) to serial polluters, making the task of reducing America’s fossil-fuel addiction that much more costly and that much more difficult.

Rather than a Cap and Trade with mass give-away of permits (40% over the first twenty years), a better structure is a Cap-Auction-and-Trade (CAT), with 100% of pollution permits auctioned, with the resources being used to speed pollution reduction and lower the inequities that such a program will inevitably foster.

Another route exists, placing a carbon fee on pollution: directly charging a fee on the polluter.  And, using the raised funds (again) for reducing inequities and speeding reductions in pollution.

A CAT has the benefit of some certainty as to maximum GHG emissions and certainty in reducing emissions.  A carbon fee as the benefit of greater certainty as to financial resources but less certainty as to total emissions.

Truth be told, a better path (one not in consideration in A-CISA) would be a combination of the two: A CAT combined with some based level carbon fee.  This diary discusses a Global Warming Impact Fee.

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Message to message, my inbox demonstrates a split mentality, item A frequently seeming to be from a different world than item B.  My mailbox is confused.

Let’s take e-mails from two warriors against Global Warming:

• Senator Barbara Boxer sharing with me magnificent news about huge progress on the Global Warming front.
• Bill McKibben letting me know that top scientists are confirming that what I’ve feared, that we need to figure out how to not just reduce our CO2 emissions, but need to figure out how to reduce the absolute levels in the atmosphere (and oceans).

Senator Boxer exhorts us to cheering, letting us know that there is more to be done, but that our hearts should be swelled with joy at the achievement of moving the Lieberman-Warner Climate InSecurity Act (CISA) from her committee to the Senate.  In an email entitled “A huge step forward”, Barbara tells us

Our progress on moving global warming legislation through the Environment and Public Works Committee this month and sending it on to the full Senate was a huge step forward for America, and personally, it was one of my proudest accomplishments over my 30 year career in public service.

Wow, it sounds like her committee made some form of great achievement that will make the world a far better place. …

Now, the following paragraphs do tone down that excitement … a little bit.

But we’ve still got many more steps to take over the coming years to fight global warming and save our planet for our kids, our grandkids, and generations to come. …

As Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, leading the fight against global warming will continue to be my top priority.  And, if 2008 goes our way, I may soon be working with a new Democratic President and expanded Democratic majorities in Congress who share our commitment to that fight.

But we’re not going to solve the climate change crisis with just one bill, a better Congress, or a Democratic President.  Fighting global warming is going to require many years of focus, dedication, and leadership to see things through.

Guess what, it is a fundraising letter.   But, again, this is entitled “A Huge Step Forward”, talking about moving forward with the Lieberman-Warner American CISA (Climate InSecurity Act). 

The L-W CISA version of a cap-and-trade would give-away $500 billion (or more) in pollution permits (about 40 percent through 2032), not start cap until 2012, enable polluters to borrow today against tomorrow’s permits, and is set with an inadequate target reduction of in the range of 65 percent of today’s emissions (60 percent of 1990 emissions). 

As a note, this “huge leap forward”, every single Democratic Presidential candidate has a target of at least 80 percent and we’re to celebrate L-Ws inadequate measures.

But just how inadequate we are far from fully understanding.

Bill McKibben‘s email was entitled “A New Wrinkle” and began “Just to make everyone’s life a little more difficult” with a link to his OPED in Friday’s Washington Post, Remember this: 350 parts per million. 

This month may have been the most important yet in the two-decade history of the fight against global warming. Al Gore got his Nobel in Stockholm; international negotiators made real progress on a treaty in Bali; and in Washington, Congress actually worked up the nerve to raise gas mileage standards for cars.

Note that Lieberman-Warner didn’t make the list. (And, note what seems to be sarcasm about “courage” to raise gas mileage standards, an action supported by a large majority of Americans.)

But what may turn out to be the most crucial development went largely unnoticed. It happened at an academic conclave in San Francisco. A NASA scientist named James Hansen offered a simple, straightforward and mind-blowing bottom line for the planet: 350, as in parts per million carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It’s a number that may make what happened in Washington and Bali seem quaint and nearly irrelevant. It’s the number that may define our future.

350 ppm!  We are already at 385 and going up at a faster rate.  Thus, rather than simply slowing the rate of growth, hoping for some pause at 450 or 550, as if that would avert disaster, we should be thinking about ‘working backwards’ ASAP … truly ASAP.

And we’re already past 350. Does that mean we’re doomed? Not quite. Not any more than your doctor telling you that your cholesterol is way too high means the game is over. Much like the way your body will thin its blood if you give up cheese fries, so the Earth naturally gets rid of some of its CO2each year. We just need to stop putting more in and, over time, the number will fall, perhaps fast enough to avert the worst damage.

That “just,” of course, hides the biggest political and economic task we’ve ever faced: weaning ourselves from coal, gas and oil. The difference between 550 and 350 is that the weaning has to happen now, and everywhere. No more passing the buck. The gentle measures bandied about at Bali, themselves way too much for the Bush administration, don’t come close. … To use the medical analogy, we’re not talking statins to drop your cholesterol; we’re talking huge changes in every aspect of your daily life.  

From Bill’s email, a driving necessit to think differently, to go beyond where thought necessary, to drive urgency where science (rather than political calculation) demands.

One way to look at it is: if the co2 concentration is 385 ppm and the Arctic is quickly melting, why exactly are we talking about 450 ppm. That said, I realize it pushes the boundaries of the possible,  politically, economically, technologically and indeed physically.

Putting the emails together

By declaring moving the Lieberman-Warner Climate InSecurity Act (CISA) out of the Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) “A huge Step Forward,” Barbara Boxer might simply be letting us know that the “boundaries of the pollible, politically” are simply inadequate, that the American political system is unable to provide a meaningful response to Global Warming’s challenge.

The Lieberman-Warner CISA would, if pursued, would keep CO2 below 500 ppm.   If we’re lucky, that is … 

Yet, the top expert is pointing out that 385 is already too high. That it is time to be thinking about how we move the  needle backwards rather than simply seeking to slow its growth gradually, heading toward a peaking significantly higher than today.

Whispering in one ear, Senator Boxer …  

Celebrate the good times …

In the other ear, Bill McKibben …

Be even more terrified than before …

 In both ears, people perhaps speaking truth about reality, or at least truth about reality as they see it. In one ear, sweet soothings about ‘political’ reality.  And, into the other ear, reality outside convenient hearing rooms, ‘smoke-filled’ backrooms, and political calculations … Into that other ears, speaking from outside the beltway and with the power of science.

To which ear should I pay attention.

Which voice provides greater assurance as to a path to guard the future of the baby in my arms?

PS: Today’s Washington Post had an atrocious article about George Bush and Global Warming.  Schizophrenia in the Post as well?  On the Post, see GreenMiles discussion, The Washington Post & George Bush: Partners in Greenwashing.

Suzanne Vega … Toni Childs … Roberta Flack … voices with lyrics that, through my life, have found their ways to touch my soul.  

Tracy Chapman’s haunting voice is one that does not just touch, but often sears my soul, with lyrics that speak to me in new ways almost every time that I pause to listen.  

The video below comes from Paul, a green builder in the New Orleans area, who made this video after receivng Tracy Chapman’s “Rape of the World …”

I live in a place experiencing the rape of the world …

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Energize America has long had a FeeBate incorporated into it to encourage a more rapid move toward more fuel efficient, lower polluting vehicles. Charge a sliding FEE on low mileage, high polluting vehicles and give a reBATE to high mileage, low polluting vehicles. Balance this such that the collected Fees pay a good share of the reBate costs.

Slowly, the FeeBate concept is gaining momentum around the world. Earlier this month, the French government announced a FeeBate system with the “Ecological Bonus” applying to vehicles with low CO2 emissions. The highest bonus, 5000 Euros (roughly $7500) applies to super-low emitters, less than 60 g de CO²/km which includes electric vehicles (especially in France, with so much of the electricity from nuclear power).

The worst offenders will pay penalties of 2500 Euros. And, the regulations are planned with a constant strengthening, with 5 g de CO²/km reduction in each category every two years.

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By Jamaica Pond, in Boston, Dominic Luberto comes close to defining excess when it comes to lighting.   Having spent over $10,000 on lights, just this year, he will have over 250,000 lights up.  Estimated electric bill of $2000 per month (although, to be honest, this sounds like an embarassed understatement of actual costs).

“But, when you see the smiles on the kids … every penny is worth it.” 

But, he’s hoping to cut into those costs.  Now, he isn’t planning to go energy efficient, with LED lights.

His electric bill this month runs $1,900. He claims that NStar may help ease the tab next Christmas, but an NStar person says no, the much-reviled utility won’t be picking up his tab

“Much-reviled”?  In other words, NStar get your act together and help subsidize this  energy profligacy.  In fact, they already are, as they’ve had to install additional electrical equipment to support his light displays.

Every year, the lighting goes on earlier (now Halloween) and stays on longer (through the end of January).

 Mr. Luberto says he does it “for the kids.” He believes that the tradition of Christmas lights is dying and he’s out to revive it single-handedly. “They love it” he insists. Not all his neighbors do, however. They complain of not being able to sleep for all the super-bright light pouring in their windows; they complain of not being able to get into or out of their driveways due to the crush of traffic up and down their street all night, they complain that the display is just plain vulgar.

Dominic Luberto is not to be disheartened. His goal is to have a house that can really be seen — from space.

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Adelaide, Australia, has become the home for an-all electric city bus, the Tindo.  The icing on the cake: the Tindo (aboriginal word for sun) will get its electricity from a $AU550,000 solar PV system on Adelaide’s central bus station.  Even better: rides are free as part of Adelaide’s public transport system.

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Now, at this time of midnight mass, perhaps it is worth a moment to take a look toward Rome and Pope Benedict XVI’s message for the World Day of Peace, 1 Jan 2008:

Humanity is one great family

6. The social community, if it is to live in peace, is also called to draw inspiration from the values on which the family community is based. This is as true for local communities as it is for national communities; it is also true for the international community itself, for the human family which dwells in that common house which is the earth. ….

We have a common house. A house that we need to maintain, clean, guard together.

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