Carbon Nation: The Surprising (and Common Sense) Benefits of Cutting Heat Trapping Carbon Pollution

Would well-designed legislation to stabilize our increasingly weird climate and free America from our dangerous oil dependence really wreck the economy, as media pundits and GOP policy positions warn?

Fortunately, as America seeks ways to create millions of jobs and revitalize our national morale and qualify of life, the answer is a resounding "no!"  The story of why is told in the new documentary, "Carbon Nation", according to GreenBiz.

The movie's directors paint a wonderfully positive and non-partisan picture of the promise offered by 21st century technologies and practices that are already helping companies thrive.  They tell the story of how:

"We learned that Dow Chemical had spent just under $2 billion on energy-efficient programs since 1994 and had saved nearly $10 billion so far."

In another story, based in Texas, farmers banded together to form a cooperative that allowed them to establish new income streams via wind energy:

Now, farmers who were solely dependent on their hit-or-miss cotton crops had a steady source of income, derived from the turbines: a royalty that ranged from $3,000 to $15,000 per year, per turbine. This changed lives.

Who wouldn't be happy with this kind of financial boost? On top of the money, of course, these good Americans get bragging rights: they're helping lead America's way off of our dependence on dirty energy like oil and coal.  I'm sure their friends are proud of them!

This is the kind of morale boost America reads right now - and a majority of Americans are ready.  As Carbon Nation's director states:

We know, from hundreds of conversations across the nation, that we are not a polarized country. Especially when it comes to energy efficiency, national and energy security, and even clean energy. There is great agreement for healthy solutions in the middle. It’s just that we’re constantly being told we’re a polarized country, mainly because our political leaders are polarized and TV networks make more money selling the idea of a polarized country. And good people are believing this stuff, and acting as if we are polarized. The old self-fulfilling prophecy.

But when you get down to it, listen to people, respect their opinion, and be open-minded, you will find, as I have, that the middle 60% of the U.S. would be on board if they were hearing the right stories. We’ve been lucky enough to find the right stories while making “Carbon Nation.” The folks in our film are heroes. If enough people hear from them, see them in action, then we can achieve our biggest aspirations: to have this movie influence lawmaking, to inspire companies to tie life-cycle costs to all purchases, and to push clean energy so that it simply becomes cheaper than coal. That would be huge.

Cheers to the folks who have brought us Carbon Nation -- the more folks hear these types of stories, the more the movement to revitalize our economy via a job-creating clean energy revolution will gain momentum.

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This Bodes Well - The Military Discovers Renewables and Efficiency Solutions

OK, here's a more optimistic piece -- about the military's lesson in the strategic importance of renewable energy on the battlefield: 

This was the first time a frontline commander had formally requested renewable energy backup in battle. Without alternative power sources, the memo continued, U.S. forces “will remain unnecessarily exposed” and will “continue to accrue preventable ... serious and grave casualties.” Put in civilian-speak: Too many of Zilmer’s troops were dying in fuel convoys, and the relentless gasoline demands of the diesel generators were partly to blame.

Renewable energy was not an environmental consideration for Zilmer, it was a tactical necessity—a matter of life and death, of victory or defeat.

This development bodes very well for our clean energy future.  Remember, game-changers like The Internet were first developed for military purposes...

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WaPost Covers Growing Community Renewable Energy Movement

Communities across the country are taking climate change and clean energy solutions into their own hands, making renewables both more affordable and more common:

Although most analysts consider it unlikely that neighborhoods or towns will one day exist entirely off the grid, believers in small-scale power see a growing role for local renewables, ranging from individual windmills and solar panels atop homes and big-box stores to larger clusters of turbines and panels wherever they will fit. In Rock Port, Mo., spinning turbines already are producing more than 100 percent of the town's annual energy requirements.

The Washington Post covers the story...

Yet another cool example of how these are truly exciting times...
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California Requires Utilities to Pay Customers More for Unused Wind, Solar Power Generation

In a move expected to give a nice boost to California's solar industry -- including by increasing commercial roof-top installations (taking good advantage of that otherwise wasted roof space) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has approved two major initiatives that will require utilities to pay consumers for generating extra power and will boost the payoff for certain solar facilities:

Homes, businesses and schools that have solar panels or wind turbines previously had no financial incentive to use less electricity than they generated. But AB 920, written by Assemblyman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), will encourage efficiency, supporters say.

SB 32, by state Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod (D-Chino), requires utilities to purchase solar electricity from facilities that produce up to three megawatts and could increase installations on unused spaces such as warehouse roofs. The old limit was 1.5 megawatts.

The two bills will go into effect Jan. 1. 

Unfortunately, the Governator also vetoed several bills that would have bolstered green jobs in California by not only mandating that 33% of energy comes from renewable sources by 2020, but limiting the amount of renewable energy that can be purchased from out-of-state providers.  Not sure what Arnold's rationale is there...

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Music To Our Ears: White House Announces New Energy Policy

Somebody pinch me -- this sounds too good to be true:

White House officials called for a new energy policy that would encourage renewable energy and fight global warming while, they say, making U.S. firms more competitive worldwide.

"If we create the right incentives on energy, it will drive demand for clean energy and efficiency that will foster the creation of new businesses and the jobs that come with them," said (Commerce Secretary, Gary) Locke, former governor of Washington state.

(Energy Secretary, Stephen) Chu announced that the Department of Energy will soon issue billions of dollars in loan guarantees for renewable energy. But, he added, further action is needed.

"Comprehensive energy legislation will unleash the American innovation machine to create new industries and clean sources of energy to power our economy," Chu said. "It is the single most important step we can take to secure our economic prosperity and leave a healthier planet for future generations."

It's really nice to have the reality-based community in charge.  But we still have a lot of work to do to give Congress the support it needs to pass the comprehensive energy legislation that Chu underscores as crucial.

You can reach your Congressional Representatives at 202-224-3121.  Folks in swing states, especially, please call your Senators and urge them to support and strengthen the Senate's "Kerry/Boxer Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act."

These policies are investments in our energy future, economic stability, and natural heritage that will pay off bigtime for generations to come.
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Nuclear Power - Legitimate and Cost-Effective Climate Fix?

As the debate over climate change and clean energy legislation ramps up, one major difference between America's two political parties is that Republicans, much more so than Democrats, are pushing to include big money for building nuclear power plants in the bill.

But is nuclear power a legitimately cost-effective way to reduce emissions?  Is it realistic to think we can build enough plants at the speed needed to help us reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% below 1990 levels by 2050?

Treehugger has the rundown, with some good quotes from Rocky Mountain Institue's Amory Lovins...

How to Overcome the Up-Front Costs of (Energy Efficiency and Clean Energy) Retrofitting

You want to make your home energy efficient and solar powered.  You know the pay-back is good, and that within 2-20 years, your investments will yield returns greater than many tech stocks ever did.  But the up-front costs seem daunting.

How can you get this stuff done affordably?

Fortunately, there are good minds working on solving this problem, and coming up with innovative financing and government programs that help.

Our friends over at The Triple Pundit update us on some the latest approaches.

Dear U.S. Senate, Please Grow Yourselves a Pair On Climate and Energy

Dear U.S. Senate:

Please read this article about how China is taking the clean energy and vehicles lead and is poised to leave us in the dust in the next great economic boom - green technology.

Every day, it seems, I read something like this. Could it be any more clear just how important it is to our economic recovery, not to mention our national security, that you grow yourselves a friggin pair and pass a climate bill that packs the punch needed to propel the rise of our new green economy?

I don't care about bipartisanship, Senator Reid -- if Congressional Republicans' views on climate and energy are unfortunately somewhere between Fantasyland and The Flinstones, that's their problem (and is a big reason they are in the minority). I care about passing a bill that gets the job done.

Let's do this while you've got the votes -- because if you don't get the job done, you won't have those votes for long...

Yours truly,

Jon

Where Has All the Oil Gone? Is Solar/Electric, Not Biofuels the Answer?

Does the price of oil and gasoline seem almost nonsensical to you?

In response to those who point to Peak Oil as the cause of increasingly volatile and rapidly rising oil prices, have you heard the counter-argument that "shenanigans" in the oil markets are as much to blame?

Well, the Wall Street Journal has a very interesting article on the subject...

My guess is that the answer is a complex combination of the above (and other) factors. But it's a fresh reminder of why I continue to push for the day that I can buy a solar-charged plug-in hybrid or plain electric vehicle. We've just got to move beyond reliance on oil for our energy and transportation needs - before a very unpleasant crisis forces the matter.

According to this UC Berkeley professor's presentation, biofuels just won't be the answer. Fascinating stuff!

What Solar Power Needs Now (Because We Need Solar Power Now!)

GreenerBuildings has posted a short article by distinguised UC Berkeley Professor, Daniel Kammen, titled, What Solar Power Needs Now.

It discusses the types of government programs that have helped accelerate the development and installation of solar technologies in places from Germany to Japan to to Kenya to California.

Kammen suggests that the world follow the lead, especially, of Japan:

A tremendously compelling case...is that of the Sunshine solar energy program in Japan. Over the course of almost two decades, starting in the late 1980s, Japan developed and then implemented a remarkably coordinated, well-designed solar development and dissemination effort.

The Sunshine program is not just pretty on paper, it really worked. During the program annual PV installations grew to over 300 MW of solar/year, and the rate of cost decreases grew to almost 10 percent year.

With intelligence websites such as Debka warning of yet another imminent Middle East war, which could send energy prices through the roof, the types of programs described in this article need to be implemented at a wide scale around the world with the greatest of urgency. They will help fight climate change, reduce the ecological, health and economic impacts of fossil fuel-derived pollution, and to boost our energy and economic security in the face of increasingly unstable fossil fuel supplies and prices.

The good news is that the proliferation of such programs will be coupled with a current rapidly advancing state of solar technologies - both in terms of solar panel power generation and in terms of battery storage. For example, have a look at this article and this one - it's some hopeful stuff!

Once again, the solutions are there - or very much on the way. Hopefully it doesn't take a disastrous explosion in Middle East hostilities to motivate the actual policy actions Professor Kammen calls for.

Top Five Drivers of Renewable Energy

Goldman Sachs has laid out what it believes are the five events necessary in order for the booming renewable energy sector to continue its rapid growth...

Most are policy and tax solutions (forcing utilities to purchase minimum amounts of renewable energy, passing a carbon tax), but one event is absolutely going to happen - the 2008 Presidential election. Goldman believes that regardless of the party of the winning candidate, he or she will favor the proliferation of renewables. Good news for the climate. Good news for us!