Gapminder is an organization dedicated to helping understand the world, and particularly environmental issues, by providing interesting tools for statistical analysis. They’re well-known for their Wonderbread-like bubble charts, and brief presentations by director Hans Rosling like the one at right on CO2 emissions from their “myth demolishing series.”
See also Worldmapper.
This week, the highly anticipated documentary “Coal Country” hits theaters. And, surprise, big coal is not thrilled with its release. From mountaintop removal footage to interviews with those most impacted—local residents of Appalachia—Coal Country exposes and breaks down the business of coal mining into its dirty parts. For one, an American Lung Association study shows that 24,000 Americans die each year from from coal-fired plant pollution (grist).
In addition, coal-fired power plants are major emitters of CO2, NOX, and SO2 into the atmosphere; NOX & SOX factor into acid rain. Another source of pollution may occur before the coal is even burned. In the controversial practice of mountain-top removal, a devastating process that strips off the living layers of a mountain for the sake of simpler coal extraction, heaps of tailings and overburden are often dumped as fill into valleys below or placed into poorly managed heaps whose runoff pollutes local waterways. This impacts not only those immediately adjacent to the plant, but also those further downstream. Coal remains “cheap” however, and many developing countries like China have immense deposits at their disposal, leaving the world to ponder: Will we ever break out of our addiction to coal? One can only hope. The movie opens in King Coal’s back yard on July 11th.
If you’ve got time and bandwidth to kill, you might want to check out TechTV. In the spirit of OpenCourseWare, MIT hosts videos of various guest lectures and conferences. For instance, Energy forecast for the rest of the century. Although I don’t personally agree with all of the professor’s interpretations—many conflict with the more pragmatic views portrayed in “Sustainable Energy,” which is incidentally available via OCW—it was an interesting presentation, and could probably serve as a good introduction for the uninitiated nevertheless. I also appreciated his putting the scope of human influence in perspective by comparing it with natural flows. It reminded me of prolific environmental author Vaclav Smil’s excellent Cycles of Life : Civilization and the Biosphere.
An article from yesterday’s Guardian in the UK provides a thorough, yet somewhat disappointing, analysis of recent electricity usage from their National Grid. Consumption is provided in half-hour increments and reveals the largest drops in demand occurred when industry and business would be expected to use a large majority of power from the grid. At 7:30am and 6pm, when people are either preparing to leave their homes or returning for the evening, electricity demand is only down a few percent, whereas consumption figures from 4am when demand comes mainly from factories and other commercial buildings is down over 10%. This indicates household consumption has not dropped significantly-calling into question the effect of recent energy efficiency campaigns in the UK, but where is the analysis of the campaigns they are trashing?(Of course, this is The Guardian we’re talking about) And why is John McEnroe trying to fix the washing machine?
How can we measure what we can’t see? Electricity provides a particular challenge in this regard. Even though we’re told turning off lights saves energy and money, many people continue to leave lights on, unaware of how much power they’re actually consuming. What’s more, many devices we use today maintain a low-level of power usage, often referred to as “vampire power” or standby power, even when we think the device is off. Electronics such as computers, stereos and televisions are highly to blame in this regard. There is however light at the end of the tunnel. Google has recently released a new application called PowerMeter that will allow individuals to connect to their utility and view their up-to-date energy usage via iGoogle. While testing is still in progress and the complete version is planned for roll-out later this year, the idea is a brilliant one, and one that may change the way we look at and use electricty moving forward.
Recently, we’ve begun some efforts to analyze and map energy use data in the City, and a volunteer created this compelling graph that roughly demonstrates how far Cambridge is from meeting its goal to reduce emissions to pre-1990 levels. Of course the graph actually plots electricity use, and not emissions but the two are well correlated, and we hope to have a more complete graph of emissions including natural gas in the future.
Cambridge's Efficiency Goal Gap
Note: Due to limitations in the available data, energy use for some apartments is included in “Commercial.”
If you’d like to learn more about improving energy use in your home or office and receive an audit visit the Cambridge Energy Alliance.
It’s Earth Day, 2009. What have you done this year to lessen your carbon footprint, save energy, and shop responsibly? I remain imperfect although I claim to be “green.” I educate myself, take public transit to work, turn off lights, shop with reusable bags and keep the heat off as much as possible. Still, is this enough? I’ve decided it’s important to not get overwhelmed and instead do what you can using the “every vote counts” motto.
For example, a simple way to support renewable energy is a mere few clicks away. Just recently I learned Boston-area residents have the option to support clean wind power under NSTAR Green. This program makes it easy for consumers to support wind energy by demanding their electricity be provided by wind, not coal. You have the option of choosing between 50% and 100% wind power. And no, it’s not that expensive. So, on this Earth Day, do your part by checking out NSTAR Green and switching from coal-generated electricity to wind.
Last week’s Earth Day featured some of the world’s most recognisable buildings turning off their lights and going dark for the evening. Check out this link to the Boston Globe to see the Acropolis, Eiffel Tower, Sydney Opera House and ‘The Cube’ from last summer’s Beijing Games disappear into the Night.
Various reports from our friends Down Under indicate Australians have also been looking at readily available alternatives to the use of non-renewable, greenhouse gas emitting forms of energy. And decided using less energy overall is the first and easiest step to take.
This report from an Warm Home Cool Planet colleague visiting Queensland:
One of the best things I’ve noticed, which is all over the place on TV and billboards, is the ClimateSmart Home Service. It’s run by the Queensland Government to save energy, money and the environment, and is part of the ClimateSmart Living Intitiative. For just $50 a qualified and licensed electrician comes to your home to install a wireless energy monitor for you to keep and conduct a constant energy audit of your home. You also get free water-and-energy efficient shower heads, and up to 15 free energy efficient light bulbs.
There is, however, another reason why are utility company trucks are prowling the streets of Australia’s capital cities handing out free Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs.
If Australia continues to grow demand for electricity at historic rates, energy retailers will need to generate 70,000 GWh/year in renewable energy to meet the Australian Government’s 2020 Mandatory Renewable Energy Targets (MRET). Penalties will be up to $40 for every MWh they fall short.
With current renewable energy generation in Australia around 25,000 GWh/y, tripling the amount of renewable energy on the grid over the next 1o years will be challenging to say the least. Energy retailers have decided that helping consumers to reduce their energy consumption should dampen overall energy demands, making MRETs more achievable.
With Obama Administration’s stated intention to focus on energy policy as soon as the current economic crisis subsides, will Renewable Energy Targets soon be enacted here? If they are, look for the price of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) to skyrocket.
A couple of weeks ago Warm Home Cool Planet featured a story on the 2010 Chevy Volt–the car that will save GM–and the first mass market example of transport technology that might save us all in the end. But will the public buy it.
This article about the Tesla (the all electric roadster favored by environmentally-conscious celebrities such a George Clooney) demonstrates there is a market for these cars, as long as they are appropriately targeted to customers.
The most interesting part of the article examines the company’s financial arrangements with customers to replace the car’s battery, which they estimate has a lifetime of approximately 7 years or 100,000 miles. As you can imagine, you don’t simply undo the cables and hand swap them like a vehicle powered by an internal-combustion engine. Currently, Tesla imagines the cost of replacement at $32,000. But they will take an upfront payment of $12,000 when you plunk down $105,000 for the Roadster.
If you can afford 100 grand for a car, the $12,000 upfront rather than sounds like a pretty good risk, particularly in this investment climate. It brings up a interesting point about the marketability of electric and hybrid cars. If the battery on this these cars has a finite lifespan, owners already paying a premium to cut down their CO2 emissions will be hit with a substantial repair bill after owning the car for a number of years. This will affect the the resale of these vehicles, making them a less attractive new car purchases.
By taking the money upfront Tesla is taking a gamble too. They are betting that by the time these batterries need to be replaced, technology will them to install a new power source for their car at closer to the $12,000 they took from each new car buyer.
GM has not made any definitive statements about the lifespan or replacement cost of the electric batteries in Volt. But even $12,000 is almost half the cost at which they plan to sell the car. Warm Home Cool Planet’s advice to all planning on buying a Volt… bank that rebate check and compound that interest–you may need it.
Stay tuned for more on this subject.