Putting Australia’s natural resources on the grid

Posted on March 24, 2009 by Anthony Butler

Australia

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.

Daylight Saving. Does it also mean energy savings?

Posted on March 11, 2009 by Anthony Butler

sundial_

Now that we’ve all had the chance to get up and stumble into work an hour earlier, it’s time to examine if extended daylight savings is actually doing what it’s supposed to do. The original intention of giving us an extra hour of daylight between March and and the first week of November–beyond increasing the time available for outdoor activities–was to put a little less strain on our electrical grid. With sunlight coming into our homes for another hour each evening, we would need less light and–for the first months in the North East–less heat.

Warm Home Cool Planet has seen lots of opinions on both sides of the issue. The consensus seemed to be yes, it does reduce our energy needs. But not to the degree you might expect.

The US News and World Report publishes a correction of sorts stating their previous article on that matter, which claimed that daylight savings is an energy drain, was incorrect. This is on the heels of the Department of Energy Report documenting that electricity demands declined by an average of 0.5% for each day of extended daylight. That comes out to 0.03% of total electricity demand. It doesn’t sound like much until you realize it adds up to 1.3 billion kilowatt-hours, enough to power about 122,000 average U.S. homes for a year.

Lost in this smaller calendar debate is the fact daylight savings for 38 weeks of the year will save enough electricity to power 1.16 million homes. To put that into perspective, enough electricity to power every home in Boston, Cambridge, Newton and Somerville.

Compulsory Energy Audits on the Way?

Posted on March 6, 2009 by Anthony Butler

In the last week of February, the Ontario legislature presented the Green Energy Act. The Act includes renewable energy development plans that could generate as many as 50,000 jobs for the Canadian province. Amongst the other parts of the bill is a provision that makes it mandatory homes for sale in Ontario have an energy rating attached to it.

This rating will be generated by a home inspection using standardized evaluation criteria yet to be finalized. The controversy is around what a negative rating might do to home prices throughout Ontario.

The appliances we put in our house all have energy ratings and we certainly pay attention to these when we make consumer choices. Could a ratings for the whole house be far behind? An informal survey of local real estate agents revealed that home buyers often request energy bills from the seller before putting in an offer. So the question is: Will our state or federal government make home energy ratings compulsory as part of a larger energy efficient initiative?

Warm Home Cool Planet would like to remind all Cambridge residents and businesses they can arrange a FREE energy audit for their home or business. Why not do it while you still have the choice?

To learn about the other major initiatives in Ontario’s Green Energy Act, read this interview with George Smitherman, Ontario’s minister of energy and infrastructure at Green Inc., the New York Times energy blog.

Will the Stimulus Bill produce a surge in energy efficiency projects?

Posted on February 28, 2009 by Anthony Butler

When President Obama was interviewed on 60 Minutes a couple of months ago, he was asked if the drop in energy prices caused by the recession would cause him to delay many of the renewable energy and energy efficiency project he had talked about during his campaign.

His unequivocal answer to interviewer Steve Kroft: “It’s more important to do it now.”

The President has been good as his word, including close to $100 billion within the recently passed stimulus package. Yesterday’s New York Times details how that money will find its way into local communities and provide a much needed boost to their flagging economies.

BusinessWeek Rains on Germany’s Green Energy Parade

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Anthony Butler

german_windmill

Businessweek has discovered the dirty little secret behind he success of Germany’s renewable energy industry.

Germany’s renewable energy companies are a tremendous success story. Roughly 15 percent of the country’s electricity comes from solar, wind or biomass facilities, almost 250,000 jobs have been created and the net worth of the business is €35 billion per year.
But there’s a catch: The climate hasn’t in fact profited from these developments. As astonishing as it may sound, the new wind turbines and solar cells haven’t prohibited the emission of even a single gram of CO2.
Even more surprising, the European Union’s own climate change policies, touted as the most progressive in the world, are to blame. The EU-wide emissions trading system determines the total amount of CO2 that can be emitted by power companies and industries. And this amount doesn’t change – no matter how many wind turbines are erected.

This is a story that we all need to read and understand. The bottom line is did we really save anything? Did we really reduce carbon? Carbon cap-and-trade frameworks will have to be modified as green energy alternatives come online. The citizens of Germany must continue to demand both the development of alternative energies and the immediate reduction of CO² emissions levels. Otherwise, renewable energy producers are simply making things easier for their carbon producing counterparts, who find the price of CO² emissions certifications dropping to almost nothing.

What remains unsaid here is that EU’s carbon neutral system, while it won’t save the planet, is still ahead of the US who over the last decade has outsourced much our carbon emissions to China. Whose environmental problems are a whole other story.

What this article reveals is that while the technology to solve our problems is developing, our governments has to step up to the plate and constantly spur further progress through new standards.

Stimulus Package Passes Senate. Our greener future?

Posted on February 11, 2009 by Anthony Butler

us_flag_green After a great deal of political posturing, the Senate passed its version of the stimulus bill yesterday.

Within the bill are several important measures aimed at increasing our energy security, encouraging investment that will create new green jobs and start to addresss climate change. Given the last eight years of inaction on these fronts, Warm Home Cool Planet is hoping that this spending–which adds up to just under $100 billion of the $815 billion approved–will prove to any doubters that the interests of business and the environment can be mutual. Indeed, it would be impossible for one to have much of a future without the other.

As with all things political nothing is settled until the ink is dry on President Obama’s signature. There are some significant differences between the Senate Stimulus bill and the one passed by the House last month. Here’s the breakdown on energy spending for the respective bills. How those differences are resolved will decide how good the Stimulus Package is for our economy–and our planet.

The President has already made his feelings known on energy efficiency provisions within the bill. From yesterday’s press conference on the Stimulus package:

“When people suggest that, ‘What a waste of money to make federal buildings more energy-efficient.’ Why would that be a waste of money?
We’re creating jobs immediately by retrofitting these buildings or weatherizing 2 million Americans’ homes, as was called for in the package… that right there creates economic stimulus. We are saving taxpayers when it comes to federal buildings potentially $2 billion. In the case of homeowners, they will see more money in their pockets… we’re reducing our dependence on foreign oil in the Middle East. Why wouldn’t we want to make that kind of investment?

Warm Home Cool Planet encourages you to contact your local members of Congress and make your voice heard. Here in Cambridge, our House member is Michael Capuano, the former mayor of Somerville.

To find your local member/s, go here and type in your zip code.

It’s not easy being green

Posted on February 4, 2009 by Anthony Butler

kermit_log From a recent Reuters Report:

The Obama administration has high hopes that millions of “green” jobs will be created by investing billions of dollars in renewable energy, but a report on Tuesday warned not all those workers would earn good pay.
“Green jobs are not automatically good jobs,” according to the report commissioned by several U.S. labor and environmental groups, which looked at pay practices at renewable energy companies.

One of the things you’ve probably heard floating around with all the talk of ‘stimulus package’ and ‘green jobs’ is they are the answer to bringing high-paying jobs back into our economy. The Reuters article highlights that the manufacture of renewable energy technology will end up being ruled by global economic realities. If the manufacturing capability exists for it to be made in China–it will be– just like the toy you bought at Walmart. Capital continually searches for the cheapest source of labor. With oil prices unlikely to bounce back for a couple of years, transport costs from these labor sites won’t be a barrier for the next few years.

Warm Home Cool Planet sees this as a double edged sword. While the growth of the renewable energy industry is unlikely to lead to a revival of the US industrial base, overseas manufacture of products has made many consumer items affordable for middle class Americans. Remember how expensive HD TVs were before they became a staple in every American living room? If lower cost labor makes renewable technologies more affordable, America will still benefit in many ways. It will lead to lower energy bills, which frees up disposable income for many families. It should also be noted the marketing, distribution and installation of these products is not something that can be outsourced to another country.

One hopes that companies who do manufacture renewable energy products in China and other places insist on environmental standards far stricter than those currently imposed.

Cambridge Energy Alliance on NOW

Posted on February 1, 2009 by Anthony Butler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhYwgx449Nk

This PBS NOW show from last year is still an interesting watch for those interested in the Cambridge Energy Alliance’s model for immediate, real-world energy savings with proven, here-and-now tools and technologies. The folks at Warm Home Cool Planet always enjoy cutaway clips of our fair city: the show contains the following unattributed fun factoids and figures:

Cambridge is one of the greenest city in the country
(according to POPSCI.COM we’re actually number 6, after Boston at 5.)
80% of Cambridge’s carbon footprint comes from buildings
25% of Cantabridgians walk to work
Cambridge is replacing its streetlights with LED-based models

Energy Efficient also means Energy Safe

Posted on February 1, 2009 by Anthony Butler

Have you noticed it’s been a little chilly recently? Here in Cambridge, the famous Charles River has frozen solid. At Warm Home Cool Planet headquarters, we seem to have spent the last two months with either an ice chipper or a snow shovel in our hands. Of course, there is also the monthly ‘surprise’ of our heating bill.

It’s big.

Anyone who hasn’t pulled in a Wall Street bonus this month might be tempted to try some ‘alternative’ heating methods in their home–leaving the oven door open or small space heater with the door closed–to save a few bucks. This clip from a TV station in Wisconsin (we hear it’s cold there too) reminds us why that could end up costing you so much more.

We also recommend this article from the Department of Energy on guidelines for safe use of portable space heaters.

Join Al Gore-Repower America

Posted on January 29, 2009 by Anthony Butler

If you’re like Warm Home Cool Planet, you’ve probably seen a lot of ads on TV with the little green ‘we’ logo. This is part of a campaign from an organization called REPOweR AMERICA. It’s all part of a plan to build up grass roots support for developing alternative energy and putting it on the grid. Al Gore wants to send a message to your local congressman. Let them know we need to include the development of alternate energy in the economic stimulus plan being developed by the Obama Administration. You’ve seen what the power of Internet can do for politics. Let’s see what it can do for our country-and our planet.

Warm Home Cool Planet

Sustainability begins at home

Category Archives: Politics & Policy