Given the scientific certainty that tar sands oil is a recklessly dirty form of energy – as well as fresh evidence from Oil Change International debunking the claims that increasing our dependence on Canadian oil would be helpful for U.S. national security – it should be a no brainer for the Obama administration to say no to TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline.
But powerful oil industry lobbying, as well as pressure from the Canadian government, seem to have deflated and cast aside this administration’s stated commitments to science-based decisionmaking. Rather than working to transition the nation to a clean energy future now, an Obama administration approval of Keystone XL would further solidify our dirty fossil fuel addiction.
TransCanada and its right wing allies claim the pipeline will create 13,000 – 553,000 jobs. The State Department says only 5,000-6,000 jobs will be created over a 3-year construction period. The vast difference in job projections is because TransCanada and its allies rely upon small print qualifiers for their math. So much so, that TransCanada even included lawyerly disclaimers in a press release citing creation of 13,000 jobs.
This sort of event would get banner headlines. A series of events, with people being arrested every day, would be banner headlined in every single newspaper, every single day, with panicked discussions on the Sunday talk shows, lights on late in the night in the White House …
Distressingly, too few Americans are even aware of these protests. Yesterday’s arrest of Darryl Hannah certainly opened the aperture a bit. After all, a beautiful movie star is a draw not just in the movie theater. Along with movie stars, arrestees have included religious leaders, Nobel Prize-winning scientists, grandmothers, college students, and hundreds of others. These arrests of people seeking to help foster decision-making that will improve America’s chances to navigate the dangerous perfect storm of Peak Oil and Climate Change have had fitful, at best, attention from the national media.
Let us call out, for a moment, one outlet: National Public Radio. Today, Talk of the Nation covered this with: Canadian Oil Pipeline Plan Meets Resistance. This session options with “every day over the past two weeks, a small group of demonstrators has gathered outside the White House”. Over 700 arrestees outside the White House and, well, NPR has finally come around to doing its first story. Imagine the uproar against this supposed ‘lefty’ media outlet if 7 Tea Party-ites arrested at the White House didn’t receive coverage for over ten days. And, their efforts were commented as ‘small group’ … Honestly, the substantive discussions of the Tar Sands and the pipeline fits
Right now, the President faces a decision — does he kowtow to Canadian financial interests waging a disinformation campaign to influence American policy toward a dirtier energy future that will, inevitably, undermine American security and prosperity? Or, will he stand up to
There are those that assert that President Obama cannot act to stop the Keystone XL pipeline since it will expose him to attacks that his policies drive up gasoline prices at the pumps. Let us face facts, the interests making those arguments will make them no matter what is going on in the White House. As with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, they are not interested in good policy but simply in assuring that President Obama is a one-term president. Even though oil profits are atmospheric at this time, these are not sufficient profit rates and they see themselves as even richer with a Republican President. And, well, if they fail in getting that, they will leverage every moment for every extra cent of profit — no matter the energy security, health, economic, or environmental implications. To understand this, how many Americans realize that domestic oil production has actually increased during President Obama’s time in office and that drilling rates are higher than any time since record keeping began in 1987? Policies that promote draining America’s oil reserves as fast as possible (DRILL, BABY, DRILL) don’t seem to make much sense when the U.S. economy represents over 20 percent of global demand while domestic reserves are just a few percent of global reserves. Pumping our reserves faster simply means greater reliance on foreigners tomorrow.
If a group of Tea Partyites risked arrest to have their views heard, it seems almost certain that the American media outlets would bend over backwards to give them (more than) their time in the spotlight. Here are people calling, in peaceful civil disobedience, for the President to live up to the standards he set for himself and for the President to pursue policies in accord with scientific knowledge and the media spotlighting of these efforts is — generously speaking — flickering.
August 31st, 2011 · Comments Off on Finding another currency …
Day in, day out, for two weeks dedicated and impassioned Americans of all creeds, races, (adult) ages, have made a choice that likely would have been thought unthinkable just less then three-years ago when President-Elect Barack Obama stated that climate change mitigation would be the top agenda item for his Administration: they have chosen to have themselves arrested and carted off to jail in the face of the President’s seeming weakening resolve to take climate change seriously in policy decision-making.
Despite many laudable steps — such as incorporating clean energy in the Stimulus Package, appointment of stellar people like Secretary of Energy Chu, and issuance of a Presidential Directive calling for sustainability planning in the Departments and Agencies — the President’s record relative to energy and climate change might most accurately be recorded as “Unsatisfactory” or, perhaps generously, “Incomplete”. (As Joe Romm concluded, inadequate energy and climate policies underpin the failed presidency of Barack Obama …) To emphasize that President Obama has been far better than George W. Bush is true but, well, does not begin to suggest that it is anything close to adequate in the face of our combined economic, energy, and environmental challenges.
We have to find another currency to work in. Our currency is our bodies, our creativity, our spirit …
There are many arguments “for” the Keystone XL pipeline. In what should not be surprising, many of these to turn out to be hollow. For example, any argue that the pipeline will provide secure oil supplies for Americans. Oops, the plan is for the Keystone XL-derived oil to be shipped to foreign markets. In a related fashion, others argue about the importance for national security without addressing the very serious issue of oil pipelines becoming an ever-more tempting target for insurgents (including, well, armed militias) and terrorists around the globe. When it comes to environmental risks, the State Department’s examination essentially said that if the company does what it supposed to, then the environmental risks aren’t too serious. Hmmm … if the various involved parties had done what they were supposed to, then the risks of a Deepwater Horizon blowout wouldn’t have been too serious.
Exploitation of tar sands would make it implausible to stabilize climate and avoid disastrous global climate impacts.
Almost uniformly, those concerned about climate change and seeing the need to move forward aggressive with a clean energy agenda supported Barack Obama’s candidacy. With anti-science syndrome suffering rejection of climate change science a necessary qualification (or lack of qualification?) for any ‘serious’ candidate for the Republican nomination, it is hard pressed to see how any of these 2008 voters will turn out in droves for the Republican candidate come 2012. On the other hand, one has to wonder how hard people seeing the necessity of getting arrested outside the White House will work to assure President Obama’s election. One might ask if they will begin to conclude Presidentt Obama’s reelection campaign will get
August 31st, 2011 · Comments Off on Four Transport Alternatives to Canadian Tar Sands
Yet another guest post from the thoughtful BruceMcF.
There has recently been a flurry of activism regarding regulatory approval of the “XL Pipeline” in support of bitumen production from Canadian Tar Sands. Along with hundreds arrested in front of the White House, this is an issue that has attracted substantial attention from a variety of bloggers. Since Tar Sands are billed as a Crude Oil substitute, and about 70% of US Petroleum consumption goes to transport, I thought it was time to look at the issue.
As the proponents of bitumen production from Tar Sands are selling it as a Crude Oil Substitute, I thought that what I would do would be to see what alternatives there are out there.
But the XL Pipeline itself is a bit small of a target to aim at, so the question I am looking at is, what alternatives would there be to entire potential output of Canadian Tar Sands bitumen? Hence, four transport alternatives to Canadian Tar Sands.
August 30th, 2011 · Comments Off on A retirement meriting simply celebration … goodbye Potomac River Coal Plant
Retirements often create uncertainty. They can be times for celebrating accomplishments and marking an individual’s opportunity to move forward to something that they crave to do (whether political activism, fishing, spending time with grandkids, or …). These events are usually tinged by sadness, as they are also life transition moments with someone passing into, as the French put it, their ‘troiseme age’ (Third Age) and can be seen as marking a terminal point in a spiral toward the grave. Sometimes, however, that morbid element can actually contribute to the celebration.
And, today came news of such a reason to celebrate. While a valued tool in powering Washington, DC, area, the Potomac River Coal Plant’s onerous pollution load long ago begin to outweigh the benefits of its power production. Grandfathered under the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Potomac River Coal Plant owners saw it as more financially valuable to poison the plant’s neighbors and the atmosphere than to upgrade the plant to greater efficiency and lowered pollution loads. Sadly, the CAA’s grandfathering provisions enable owners to continue to eke out profits with inefficient (and generally increasingly dirty) coal plants that fall far below the minimal standards that a new power plant would meet. With this in mind, news that the Potomac River Coal Plant will retire come 1 October 2012 is tarnished only the reality that it would be better if it retired come 1 October 2011 and it would have been better if it had been retired prior to 1 October 2001 …
Sierra Club’s executive director, Michael Brune, commented
Retiring this major source of pollution in our nation’s capital signals a huge symbolic step towards moving the nation beyond coal. But the win today didn’t happen overnight.
It is a culmination of many years of hard work by local activists and concerned residents. Pollution from this coal-fired power plant has been making local residents sick since 1949 – contributing to heightened asthma rates, respiratory illnesses and other health problems. Retiring the Potomac River coal plant will mean cleaner air, cleaner water and healthier children and families.
For substantive and symbolic reasons, the Potomac River Coal Plant has long been a target of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign. Along with to many others who have helped make this happen, a tip of the hat to Beyond Coal for helping creating a retirement meriting celebration.
Comments Off on A retirement meriting simply celebration … goodbye Potomac River Coal PlantTags:Energy
The over 40-year-0ld condo building my husband and I bought into has lots of plusses ….
A spacious and sunny apartment (perfect for an indoor herb garden)
A short walk to a Metro station and a walk to a range of shopping (from great bagels to a grocery store, to 100s of stores)
An outdoor swimming pool that’s practically a private pool;
…
But, it has drawbacks too. Among those drawbacks is a relatively common and costly problem:
It is a master-metered building.
A simple reality: most people don’t give a hoot about energy conservation. Master meters exacerbate the problem as occupants (owners and renters) think they’ve got a bargain because they think they “don’t pay for utilities” (a comment sadly heard from too many of my neighbors). The opposite, of course, is true. People in master metered buildings often pay an extra 25% and more for utilities as part of their condo fee or rent. And, well, the conscientious energy ‘misers’ end up, seriously, subsidizing the energy spendthrifts. As has been documented, converting to individual meters ends in significant savings for all but the worst energy spendthrifts as most people end up using less energy then before and that extra 25 percent usage dissipates and ends up with money in the pocket. (NYSERDA, for example, estimates 15-30 percent savings via transitioning to submetering.)
Another problem with our building is it’s old. Old means most of the units still have original plumbing…not the now universally installed low flow shower heads and toilets. And things break and wear out…like the 22 vertical risers. There are periodic and serious leaks so the risers must be repaired, and at great cost…approximately $1.5 million. The work must be done. Each leak is hugely costly and threatens the condo’s insurance.
The Energy Conservation Grant
Afterour energy audit (funded by aState of Maryland grant), the board voted to fund a portion of the recommended upgrades at a cost of about $30,000 with matching funds anticipated from the local electric power company (PEPCO). Last year, Montgomery County announced its Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grant Program using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA — “Stimulus Act”) through the U.S. Department of Energy. The County solicited applications from businesses, not-for-profit organizations and multi-family communities. The grants would cover 50% of project cost (up to $150,000 in project costs).
This presented our condo with an opportunity to undertake more of the audit recommendations than originally authorized. Our Board applied and won a grant. Now the work has to be done.
Upgrades that will increase energy efficiency
While changing the behavior of the residents of our 220 unit, 16 floor building is a challenge and an on-going project, there are common systems that are operating inefficiently and that’s what the grant funded work will tackle. Often, management companies are so involved in the day-to-day hassles of the building’s operations they don’t think (have the energy, resources, motivation) to look at improving system efficiency. Just keeping them running is an accomplishment. Without a professional audit, we wouldn’t have known about cost-effective changes and the Board would have been unlikely to have funded those changes without the PEPCO incentives.
With the audit’s recommendations and the PEPCO’s incentives, reinforced with the County assistance, have led the Board to approve these five steps:
Improve air handling (1): Installation of equipment for calibration of a common air handling unit with a digital control system. The will reduce the amount of air that needs to be conditioned and put in controls to provide a function to make maximum use of outside air for cooling when the outside temperatures allow for it
Improve air handling (2): Replace two 15 HP motors powering the cooling tower fans and one 50 HP motor to better match actual loads.
Improve air conditioning efficiency: Install automatic temperature control for the HVAC system’s two chillers to optimize system demand. This is currently done manually. This automatic control will occur when staff is not on site (evenings and weekends).
Lighting (1): The two levels of indoor garages now use 72 T-12 fxtures with magnetic ballast. Since there’s no daylight the bulbs are used 24/7. They will be replaced with T-8 bulbs with electronic ballast and equipped with occupancy sensors on 2/3 of the fixtures. (Note that simply replacing T-12s with T-8s can cut energy use by over 35 percent while improving lighting … The occupancy sensors will lead to total electricity savings of well over 50 percent compared to current usage.)
Lighting (2). Occupancy sensors will be installed in 16 trash rooms and 16 laundry rooms and the existing T-12s will be replaced by T-8s.
Moving past that, the next lighting step might be moving to LEDs (and potential OLEDs) for the buildings 50+ exit signs.
Here’s where priorities and the building’s age come into play. There is an interest in looking at the feasibility of solar hot water. However, the old building has a serious water piping problem and the staff is totally occupied with the riser replacements and the work involved with the energy efficiency grant with little spare energy or resources to look to ‘next steps’ and opportunities. Of course, thinking about ‘solar’ raises issues. For example, can this old roof support solar panels and related equipment? Structural engineers will have to take a good look at that. I hope we find it’s possible, but not, that’s not the priority.
Taking the estimates from the audit, our building should expect annual savings of more than $35,000 of an electric bill that was $291,311 in 2010. A total savings, without even beginning to address individual unit energy use and without any behavioral change, of about 12%. Hmmm … that doesn’t seem that bad as a first step. Maybe we’ll do better as we try to raise resident awareness. Turning off lights does matter, after all. And, perhaps the Board will move forward with solar hot water (heating hot water costs an average 13% of a household’s utility costs). And, in this building, windows are actually a serious problem and perhaps we’ll get more people to install energy conserving windows (about 75% are new windows). And, perhaps the board will take steps for common sharing of the costs to fix leaky faucets and update bathrooms with low-flow shower heads … In other words, that $35,000 in annual savings (some $175 per household) is simply a first step. There is lots of work left to be done and lots of savings to be had in this old master-metered building ….
The Climate Reality project is an interesting concept: > a global day-long event looking to the realities of climate science and climate disruptions impacts (existing and forecast), time zone by time zone. While not surprisingly under attack from the global warming denial machine (GWDM), we can expect that Gore and his team will assemble 24 hours of impressive discussions that will provide substance about the real world and those who are fighting to confuse people about it.
As part of this effort, The Climate Reality Project
partnered with Threadless, a cool community-driven online apparel store, to create a T-shirt for The Climate Reality Project. We invited designers from around the globe to illustrate the reality of the climate crisis and put it on a T-shirt. The winning shirt is pretty hot and we hope you like it.
There is, however, a sort of basic question about executing policy that fits within the agenda. Let’s face facts: any and all “products” demand energy and, nearly without exception, end up having some resource use and pollution concerns. And, the lifecycle of a t-shirt is certainly no exception from that rule (See video at end of post.) The question that, I would, The Climate Reality project would hope to foster when people go to buy a product:
is this done in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner?
Of course, there is the question of ‘saving the planet via consumption‘. I, for one, really like this design. It is really cool. Yet, I have 10s of t-shirts and does it makes sense to go out and buy yet another item? That is a point, however, beyond the one driving this post.
Returning to cotton t-shirts …
Cotton is an intensive crop and traditional cotton production cotton production has a wide range of environmental impacts.
conventional cotton uses 10 percent of all agricultural chemicals and 25 percent of the world’s insecticides — in the U.S., one-third of a pound of chemicals is needed just to grow enough conventional cotton for a regular T-shirt.
Threadless offers organic cotton t-shirts.
The Climate Reality t-shirt, however, is ordinary cotton and not organic.
There is no way to get around the fact that organic cotton items are anywhere from 10 to 45 percent more expensive than conventional cotton products. But before you put back those stylish organic cotton jeans or absorbent organic cotton bath towels, remember what you are paying for: clean water, fresh air, healthy farmers, fair wages, global economic progression, sweatshop-free production and more.
And, well, I have yet to find evidence that Threadless uses renewable (clean) energy or offsets carbon implications from shipping its products — both things that might mean greater expense for their products.
There’s a price to pay for saving the planet?
If so, perhaps that is a price that The Climate Reality Project is seeking to get people to pay — because the bill, for all of us, of not making that investment is just too high.
It is too bad that the marketing of The Climate Reality Project seems at odds with its core message. Did those arranging for this t-shirt not ask the question: “Is this done in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner?”
July 31st, 2011 · Comments Off on Engage the Debt via Win-Win policies
Sadly, we have seen the evolution (devolution) of the discussion of the nation’s finances to a battle over government debt. And, with a passable imitation to two-year olds screaming “no” when faced with a healthy dinner option (in this case, a mix of revenue enhancements (mainly through reduced tax expenditures) and reasoned program cuts), the Republican Party (and its Tea-Hadist wing) have driven the nation toward the brink of one of the most profoundly flawed decisions ever in the national politics (yes, ever) that will create an illusion of reducing the debt on the future while, in fact, it fosters conditions that will worsen — across essentially all fabric of society and the economy — the debt burden that we are creating for ourselves and others into the indefinite future.
We have, in America and elsewhere, been living off our capital and borrowing off tomorrow (both near and long term) for too long. And, the costs are coming home to roost — and this agreement will only worsen these debts.
When it comes to the situation, today, the ‘tea-hadists’ have it right to focus the discussion about the future and the burdens we are creating for tomorrow. Sadly, however, their rhetoric doesn’t confront the reality of the debts we are creating through our spendthrift habits.
We are living off our capital: our air, our water, our natural resources, our past infrastructure (schools, roads, rail, sanitation) investments, and, yes, even our fundamental fiscal credit worthiness.
This “deal” will exacerbate all of these. The government needs to present the world a rational budget and budgetary process. The national economy needs stimulus, not budgetary cuts. And, we need to stop eating up our capital — of all types.
Reality-based policies can do all of this and more.
See after the fold for just a few of the items that a rational policy world would be discussing and embracing that are simply not on the table in ‘polite company’ of Washington, DC, bipartisanship compromise uber alles world.
We should look for Win-Win-Win policies that help put the nation on a more solid fiscal footing (WIN) while improving lives today (WIN) and creating a path toward a more secure tomorrow (WIN).
July 26th, 2011 · Comments Off on A Filibreather for all of us
Monday afternoon, 25 Representatives stood to speak out against moves to devastate protections for America’s environment: from measures to open up the Grand Canyon for uranium miners to measures to eliminate monitoring of polluters. This two-hour call for sanity was a joint move between the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) and the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) that gained the twitter call out Filibreather. In other words, a (mini) filibuster undertaken to protect Americans’ ability to breathe clean air.
Amid the insanity of efforts to capitulate to Teahadists on devastating America’s economy through slash and burn tactics on the budget and deficit, House Republican plans and actions to devastate funding for environmental protection programs seems beneath attention — based, at least, on traditional media reporting.
This spending bill represents one of the most egregious assaults on the environment in this nation’s history. … If this bill passes our air will be smoggier, our climate will be hotter, our water will be more polluted, our public lands will become more despoiled. Siimply put, this legislation is so toxic that you better handle it wearing a hazmat suit.”
With over 700 people arrested so far in the Keystone XL tar sands action taking place at the Obama White House, and widespread distrust and criticism of the State Department’s final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), this is a critical moment in the fight against a disastrous proposal to build a tar sands pipeline between Alberta and oil refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast.
There has recently been a flurry of activism regarding regulatory approval of the “XL Pipeline” in support of bitumen production from 
