The role of cities in climate change
By Darryl D’Monte
InfoChange News and Features
September 2007
The danger of treating climate change only as a man-made phenomenon that impacts nature’s systems is that it posits the problem in some distant remoteness and absolves all of us of immediate responsibility. The facts tell us that three-quarters of the carbon dioxide in the world, which is the biggest greenhouse gas, is emitted by cities
Sanctuary Asia magazine in Mumbai recently organised a major summit on climate change. A large number (unusual for such a conclave) of participants comprised bankers, the chairman of Shell in India, and industrialists. At a smaller preliminary meet that day, Bittu Sehgal, the indefatigable editor of Sanctuary, set the ball rolling when he cited how forests were at the receiving end of global warming. As many as 6 million people would be submerged in the Sunderbans -- a few islands have already disappeared off the face of the map as a result of rising ocean levels -- and ten times that many in Bangladesh, which is low-lying littoral country.
He introduced Digvijay Singh, former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, as someone hailing from the very epicentre of the country. The uninitiated may have assumed that this was because the state straddles its geographical heart. However, Sehgal soon clarified that this was also because Madhya Pradesh has the highest proportion of intact forests of any large state, implying that it is at the centre of the nation’s resistance to climate change.
Somewhat to my dismay, Digvijay Singh deplored the fact that under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), carbon credits were only available for afforestation and not for preserving existing forests as “lungs”. To use the protocol terminology, the former constitutes “sequestration”, while the latter, carbon storage. The politician, who is admittedly one of the most sensitive as far as social and ecological issues in the country are concerned -- during his reign, the Pani Bachao Abhiyan in his state saw hundreds of grassroots initiatives to harvest rainfall using small structures -- appeared unduly optimistic that the CDM would come to the rescue of his beloved forests, when there are many other measures that could accomplish this task more effectively.
The former chief minister did, however, express his unhappiness over the fact that many naturalists were targeting forest-dwellers for causing the destruction of this invaluable resource. This is an age-old debate, which was given a sharper edge with the report of the Tiger Task Force, chaired by Sunita Narain of the Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi, a couple of years ago. The new legislation reasserting the constitutional rights of such dwellers to forestland has, for exactly the same reasons, caused a storm of controversy. But naturalists need to pause to ask who is causing the destruction of the forests on an unprecedented scale -- after all, tribals have inhabited the forests for aeons in this country. And, above all, no one can easily answer Narain’s basic question: how is it that India’s poorest people live in the most resource-rich areas?
The antipathy of naturalists to forest-dwellers was made manifest with a remark by a conclave participant deploring the infestation of these very forests by Naxalites. It is now well established that Naxals have a presence in something like 175 out of around 600 districts in the country and, what’s more, have now closed ranks -- in sharp contrast to their internecine factionalism of the late 1960s and 1970s. While most people would condemn the armed conflict practised by these revolutionaries, the unanswered question remains: how is it that they have struck a chord among these most marginalised people left behind by India Shining, India Rising, Lead India and many other self-congratulatory campaigns of the upwardly mobile middle class? Left behind by the State, the adivasis who inhabit the forests, all the way from the outskirts of Mumbai to the fringes of Kolkata -- the entire swathe of central India, which Baba Amte has memorably christened the “cummerbund” of the country -- have received higher prices for forest produce like tendu leaves, thanks only to the strong-arm tactics of the Naxals. The only way to halt the Naxals in their tracks is for the State to recognise the rights of tribals and other backward communities to lead a decent life.
There was a disquieting tendency in the earlier meeting for participants to somehow imagine that the threat of climate change was “out there”, whether it was the forests or glacial melt in the Himalayas. It is natural for naturalists to be concerned with these threats to ecologically fragile zones, which are very real and alarming.
The refrain was picked up by Ranjit Barthakur, who runs the Balipara Tract and Frontier Foundation in Guwahati. At the main climate change conclave that followed, he released a thoughtful compilation titled Natureconomics: Nature and Economics -- Nurturing Interdependence. He runs a series of green initiatives through his Mumbai-based company, Globally Managed Services.
Since he hails from Assam, Barthakur is obviously concerned about the future of the northeast, which he describes as “the last carbon sink”. With his commitment to ‘Natureconomics’, a term that he has coined, he correctly advocates that the proper value ought to be applied to natural resources. Most economists, as the late economist Sudhir Sen often pointed out, are “resource-illiterate”. If the tremendous water resources of Assam were properly valued to reflect their scarcity and downstream use, Assam would have the third highest gross domestic product among the states, as against 27th presently.
Indeed, this would apply to all the Seven Sisters and Sikkim -- the entire northeast -- with its huge water and forest resources. The only truly large swathe of tropical forest is in Arunachal Pradesh, apart from tiny patches in the Western Ghats, and these are the most diverse ecosystems in the world. The northeast is listed, as Prabir Banerjea points out in Natureconomics, as one of the 12 mega biodiversity “hotspots” in the world, implying that it is endangered (not least, nationally, by China laying claim to Arunachal!).
In another contribution to the compilation, Pavan Sukhdev, who heads Deutsche Bank’s global banking operations in India and has launched an initiative called Green Accounting for Indian States Project (GAISP, under the Green Indian States Trust, GIST), estimates that the actual value of forests, if sustainably used, in terms of timber, other produce, eco-tourism, carbon storage, soil loss prevention, watershed protection and flood and drought prevention works out to a staggering Rs 500,000 for just 1 hectare. Foresters, on the other hand, calculate the average cubic metres of timber in a hectare of forest, multiply it by the current price in the market, and arrive at a figure that is obviously only a fraction of the calculation under GAISP. This is why ecologists paraphrase Oscar Wilde to allege that economists know the price of everything, but the value of nothing.
Anyone attending the earlier meeting or the conclave titled ‘Quo Vadis, India? Climate Change is upon Us’ would be forgiven for imagining that it was the forests which were the main safeguard against global warming, and that the “first frontiers” were either in the heart of India, in Madhya Pradesh, or its extended eastern limbs. Just as the Himalayas arrest the southwestward onset of the monsoons and make South Asia the only true monsoon region in the world, anyone might assume that the forests do the same by capturing carbon.
Indeed, some bankers and industrialists at the conclave were gung-ho about the commercial possibilities of the country selling carbon credits. An official of Jindal Steel Works went so far as to claim that “carbon was a source of economic development”. The Secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Forests proudly told a session at the international congress of environmental economists in Delhi late last year that deals in carbon credits had recorded a faster growth rate than the construction or IT industry, no slothful players in the marketplace.
The danger of treating climate change only as a man-made phenomenon that impacts nature’s systems, which it undeniably does, is that it posits the problem in some distant remoteness and absolves all of us of immediate responsibility. The science tells us another side of the story. Three-quarters of the carbon dioxide in the world, which is the biggest greenhouse gas, is emitted by cities. One has only to remember that half the population of the globe is urban today. Half this carbon dioxide is contributed by buildings, which need to heat or cool their interiors; the rest is generated by motorised transport, which is growing exponentially in this country. This puts quite a different spin on climate change: it locates the problem squarely in our midst, as urban-dwellers.
As a recent issue of Down To Earth, the fortnightly magazine from the Centre for Science and Environment, puts it, cities are “earthscrapers”, rather than pockmarked only by skyscrapers. They consume inordinate amounts of energy and materials and are thus parasitical by nature. Cities account for one-sixth of the fresh water the world guzzles, a quarter of the wood harvested, and two-fifths of the material and energy flows. According to the recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is the most authoritative source on the issue, cities are responsible for 26% of direct greenhouse gas emissions.
As is painfully evident from city after city in this country, urban development here is highly unsustainable. Many of the most successful architects revere the ghastly monstrosities of Shanghai and Dubai; some indeed have put up dizzy skyscrapers in the latter. A recent BBC-Travel and Living channel documentary extolled the (man-made!) wonders of Burj Al Arab, the hotel in the Burj Dubai complex. The highest tower in the complex will be 50% taller than any other construction in the world. One of the hotel’s highlights is a water fountain in the foyer, from the core of which emanates a flame even as it cascades. While the programme waxed eloquent about the ingenuity of the designers who could harness the molecules of oxygen present in water to put to this wondrous use, any sensitive architect who is conscious of the need to reduce the impact of a building would squirm at the very idea. The Palm Islands site in Dubai is shaped like the fronds of a palm tree and consists of reclaimed frond-like strips which extend into the sea.
Indeed, city-dwellers would do well to study their ecological footprint (for national data, see www.footprintnetwork.org). If all the productive resources on land and water were equally apportioned to each human being on earth, every person would be entitled to 1.2 hectares as a footprint -- the area from which he or she would obtain natural resources. Each American, who is no exemplar when it comes to sustainable development, occupies around 10 hectares. The UAE is actually one worse -- the world’s biggest offender, consuming resources from far beyond its national boundaries. No wonder, when one hears that it is proud to host snow sports -- bang in the middle of the desert! Global architects like Sir Richard Rogers, on the contrary, are always conscious of trying to reduce the footprint of their buildings.
As for Shanghai, which Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh wants Mumbai to emulate, the less said the better. The high-rise financial district of Pudong has come up on paddy fields in the island off the famed bund or river front, but the buildings lack any identity and are enormously wasteful of energy and materials. China, in fact, is the very epitome of everything that has gone wrong with urban development. Only 1% of the country’s 560 million city-dwellers breathe air considered safe by European standards. The International Energy Agency estimates that China will surpass the US as the country with the biggest greenhouse gas emissions by the end of this year; the Netherlands Environment Assessment Agency believes it has already breasted the tape.
Thus, both Dubai and Shanghai are models that ought to be avoided as they are examples of environmentally wasteful urban development. Not that our cities are success stories. None of the speakers at the Mumbai climate change conclave made any mention of the need to take a cold, hard look at the way cities are spinning out of control. Two factors -- excessive reliance on private motorised transport, and the terrible tendency to go in for glass and concrete construction for high-rise buildings which tend to trap the heat rather than shield the occupants from it -- should be enough to understand that the problem doesn’t lie out there. The fault, to paraphrase Shakespeare, lies not only in our forests and mountains, but in ourselves.
InfoChange News & Features, September 2007
http://www.infochangeindia.org/features440.jsp
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
CON EDISON SEEKING COMPANIES TO HELP CUSTOMERS REDUCE ELECTRIC USAGE
NEW YORK – Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. (Con Edison) yesterday issued a Request For Proposal (RFP) soliciting applications from qualified parties to supply the company with new demand side management (DSM) resources to be delivered in targeted areas of New York City and Westchester County.
The company is forecasting increased power use throughout its service area. At the same time, energy use in certain neighborhoods is projected to increase at a faster pace than in others. This growth results in the need for electric-delivery-system upgrades in those communities. As part of Con Edison’s effort to effectively manage this growth, the RFP seeks savings of approximately 158 megawatts in 10 neighborhoods over a multi-year period beginning in 2010.
Customers could see savings by installing DSM resources such as energy-efficient lighting, air conditioning, refrigeration, motors, clean distributed generation, and steam air conditioning. Residential and commercial customers may qualify, and there may be financial incentives to customers to help offset installation costs.
Qualifying proposals will be evaluated based on the proposed price, technical and financial qualifications of the respondents, and proposed implementation program.
To obtain a copy of the RFP and the DSM Agreement visit:
http://www.coned.com/sales/business/targetedRFP2007.asp.
Con Edison is a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison Inc, [NYSE: ED], one of the nation's largest investor-owned energy companies, with approximately $12 billion in annual revenues and $27 billion in assets. The utility provides electric, gas and steam service to more than 3 million customers in New York City and Westchester County, New York. For additional financial, operations and customer service information, visit Con Edison's Web site at www.conEd.com.
http://www.coned.com/sales/forms/DSM%20RFP%20Targeted%202007.pdf
NEW YORK – Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. (Con Edison) yesterday issued a Request For Proposal (RFP) soliciting applications from qualified parties to supply the company with new demand side management (DSM) resources to be delivered in targeted areas of New York City and Westchester County.
The company is forecasting increased power use throughout its service area. At the same time, energy use in certain neighborhoods is projected to increase at a faster pace than in others. This growth results in the need for electric-delivery-system upgrades in those communities. As part of Con Edison’s effort to effectively manage this growth, the RFP seeks savings of approximately 158 megawatts in 10 neighborhoods over a multi-year period beginning in 2010.
Customers could see savings by installing DSM resources such as energy-efficient lighting, air conditioning, refrigeration, motors, clean distributed generation, and steam air conditioning. Residential and commercial customers may qualify, and there may be financial incentives to customers to help offset installation costs.
Qualifying proposals will be evaluated based on the proposed price, technical and financial qualifications of the respondents, and proposed implementation program.
To obtain a copy of the RFP and the DSM Agreement visit:
http://www.coned.com/sales/business/targetedRFP2007.asp.
Con Edison is a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison Inc, [NYSE: ED], one of the nation's largest investor-owned energy companies, with approximately $12 billion in annual revenues and $27 billion in assets. The utility provides electric, gas and steam service to more than 3 million customers in New York City and Westchester County, New York. For additional financial, operations and customer service information, visit Con Edison's Web site at www.conEd.com.
http://www.coned.com/sales/forms/DSM%20RFP%20Targeted%202007.pdf
Wind turbines a blow for clean power
Nicholas Ning
2007-9-4
SHANGHAI has started building 10 new wind powered turbines on Chongming Island increasing its use of clean energy. The turbines will have the largest per unit capacity in the city, with their 71-meter windmill blades producing 15,000 kilowatts, according to the Shanghai Electric Power Co. The city has built three wind energy farms with a combined capacity of 24,400kw, helping answer the central government's call for green energy.
There are already three wind turbines in Chongming which the city government plans to turn into a model ecologically balanced island. The new project is expected to offer an additional 30 million kilowatt-hours electricity every year, enough for about 20,000 households. That is the equivalent to the energy provided from 15,000 tons of coal, which, however, also produces 21,000 tons of carbon dioxide.
The company said companies and residents can apply to use the green electricity, which will be a little more expensive than normal. The city is relatively richer in wind energy resources than other renewable energies such as solar and biological energies but suitable areas for wind farms are limited. The long-term goal is to boost wind power capacity to one million kilowatts, accounting for about four percent of the local capacity from the current level of less than one percent by 2020.
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2007/200709/20070904/article_329837.htm
Nicholas Ning
2007-9-4
SHANGHAI has started building 10 new wind powered turbines on Chongming Island increasing its use of clean energy. The turbines will have the largest per unit capacity in the city, with their 71-meter windmill blades producing 15,000 kilowatts, according to the Shanghai Electric Power Co. The city has built three wind energy farms with a combined capacity of 24,400kw, helping answer the central government's call for green energy.
There are already three wind turbines in Chongming which the city government plans to turn into a model ecologically balanced island. The new project is expected to offer an additional 30 million kilowatt-hours electricity every year, enough for about 20,000 households. That is the equivalent to the energy provided from 15,000 tons of coal, which, however, also produces 21,000 tons of carbon dioxide.
The company said companies and residents can apply to use the green electricity, which will be a little more expensive than normal. The city is relatively richer in wind energy resources than other renewable energies such as solar and biological energies but suitable areas for wind farms are limited. The long-term goal is to boost wind power capacity to one million kilowatts, accounting for about four percent of the local capacity from the current level of less than one percent by 2020.
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2007/200709/20070904/article_329837.htm
Conference: The Road to Energy Independence: New York City’s Alternative Transportation Future
October 5, 2007
9:00 am to 2:00 pm
The Center for Sustainable Energy convenes its 3rd Annual Conference on Alternative Vehicle Technology on the historic campus of Bronx Community College. Coinciding with the College’s 50th anniversary celebrations, the Conference brings the best of the past together with the technology of the present on our way to a sustainable energy future. The Road to Energy Independence is a gathering of alternative vehicle policy makers and stakeholders focused on getting energy efficient vehicles on New York City’s vast network of streets and highways. Concerns over energy security, climate change, economic development, and environmental justice make the time right for a new city alternative vehicle strategy. This conference will convene New York City’s alternative vehicle community to take stock of the progress made toward sustainable vehicular transport.
Agenda
8:30 a.m. - Registration
9:00 a.m. - Introduction / Remarks / Keynote Address
Introduction:
Tria Case, Executive Director, The Center for Sustainable Energy at Bronx Community College, The City University of New York
Remarks:
Carolyn G. Williams, Ph.D., President, Bronx Community College
Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, New York City Department of Transportation
The Honorable José E. Serrano, Member of Congress, 16th District of New York
Keynote Address
MaryAnn Wright, Chief Executive Officer Johnson Controls-Saft Vice President and General Manager Hybrid Systems Group Johnson Controls Inc.
10:00 a.m. - Session 1: Alternative Vehicle Technologies
What’s New Under the Hood: An overview of the technologies of alternative vehicles. What are they and how do they work?
Speaker: Rick Teebay, Chief of Fleet Management, Los Angeles County
Panel Discussion
Moderator: Luis Calcagno, Assistant Deputy Commissioner, New York City Department of Transportation
Panelists:Roger Slotkin, Odyne Corporation
Josh Lepage, Sales Manager, International Truck and Engine Corporation
Rick Teebay, Chief of Fleet Management, Los Angeles County
11:00 a.m. - Break
11:30 a.m. - Session 2: Policy Challenges and Incentives
How Fast, How Far: An overview of policies and opportunities for getting people behind the wheel of alternative vehicles?
Speaker: TBD
Panel Discussion: Getting Behind the Wheel and On the Road
Moderator: Tom Lubas [invited], PANY&NJ and Chair, NYC Chapter, National Association of Feet Administrators
Panelists:
Peter Schenkman, Assistant Commissioner, New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission
Rachel Beckhardt of Environmental Defense
12:30 - 2:30 pm - Lunch with Facilitated Table Discussions / Case Studies / Awards
Table Discussion Topics Include:
How to get Hydrogen Vehicles in NYC
Facing the Unpleasant Facts on Energy Supply
Advanced Transportation Technology/Hybrids
Realities of Alternative Vehicle Maintenance
Legislative Hurdles and Regulatory Challenges
Meeting Expectations of Fleet Managers
Fleet Vehicle Leasing vs Buying
What’s new with CNG
Today’s Biofuels
All Electric Vehicles
Congestion Pricing
….and much more
Case Studies
Ron Gulmi of Keyspan Energy on CNG
Steve Levy of Sprague Energy on Biodiesel
Award CeremonyCSE presents Sustainable Pioneer Awards in the categories of private citizen, private business and public entity in recognition of their efforts in support of alternatives to the prevailing fossil fuel economy. Sustainable Energy Pioneers are recognized for their commitment and contributions to a sustainable energy future: parties whose work reduces our consumption of energy as it spurs economic activity and employment, reduces pollution, and lessens our dependency on imported energy.
When
October 5, 2007 9:00 am - 2:00 pm
Where
Bronx Community CollegeThe Bronx
RSVP
Register online.
More Info
Center for Sustainable Energy at Bronx Community CollegeUniversity Transportation Research Center, Region II
October 5, 2007
9:00 am to 2:00 pm
The Center for Sustainable Energy convenes its 3rd Annual Conference on Alternative Vehicle Technology on the historic campus of Bronx Community College. Coinciding with the College’s 50th anniversary celebrations, the Conference brings the best of the past together with the technology of the present on our way to a sustainable energy future. The Road to Energy Independence is a gathering of alternative vehicle policy makers and stakeholders focused on getting energy efficient vehicles on New York City’s vast network of streets and highways. Concerns over energy security, climate change, economic development, and environmental justice make the time right for a new city alternative vehicle strategy. This conference will convene New York City’s alternative vehicle community to take stock of the progress made toward sustainable vehicular transport.
Agenda
8:30 a.m. - Registration
9:00 a.m. - Introduction / Remarks / Keynote Address
Introduction:
Tria Case, Executive Director, The Center for Sustainable Energy at Bronx Community College, The City University of New York
Remarks:
Carolyn G. Williams, Ph.D., President, Bronx Community College
Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, New York City Department of Transportation
The Honorable José E. Serrano, Member of Congress, 16th District of New York
Keynote Address
MaryAnn Wright, Chief Executive Officer Johnson Controls-Saft Vice President and General Manager Hybrid Systems Group Johnson Controls Inc.
10:00 a.m. - Session 1: Alternative Vehicle Technologies
What’s New Under the Hood: An overview of the technologies of alternative vehicles. What are they and how do they work?
Speaker: Rick Teebay, Chief of Fleet Management, Los Angeles County
Panel Discussion
Moderator: Luis Calcagno, Assistant Deputy Commissioner, New York City Department of Transportation
Panelists:Roger Slotkin, Odyne Corporation
Josh Lepage, Sales Manager, International Truck and Engine Corporation
Rick Teebay, Chief of Fleet Management, Los Angeles County
11:00 a.m. - Break
11:30 a.m. - Session 2: Policy Challenges and Incentives
How Fast, How Far: An overview of policies and opportunities for getting people behind the wheel of alternative vehicles?
Speaker: TBD
Panel Discussion: Getting Behind the Wheel and On the Road
Moderator: Tom Lubas [invited], PANY&NJ and Chair, NYC Chapter, National Association of Feet Administrators
Panelists:
Peter Schenkman, Assistant Commissioner, New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission
Rachel Beckhardt of Environmental Defense
12:30 - 2:30 pm - Lunch with Facilitated Table Discussions / Case Studies / Awards
Table Discussion Topics Include:
How to get Hydrogen Vehicles in NYC
Facing the Unpleasant Facts on Energy Supply
Advanced Transportation Technology/Hybrids
Realities of Alternative Vehicle Maintenance
Legislative Hurdles and Regulatory Challenges
Meeting Expectations of Fleet Managers
Fleet Vehicle Leasing vs Buying
What’s new with CNG
Today’s Biofuels
All Electric Vehicles
Congestion Pricing
….and much more
Case Studies
Ron Gulmi of Keyspan Energy on CNG
Steve Levy of Sprague Energy on Biodiesel
Award CeremonyCSE presents Sustainable Pioneer Awards in the categories of private citizen, private business and public entity in recognition of their efforts in support of alternatives to the prevailing fossil fuel economy. Sustainable Energy Pioneers are recognized for their commitment and contributions to a sustainable energy future: parties whose work reduces our consumption of energy as it spurs economic activity and employment, reduces pollution, and lessens our dependency on imported energy.
When
October 5, 2007 9:00 am - 2:00 pm
Where
Bronx Community CollegeThe Bronx
RSVP
Register online.
More Info
Center for Sustainable Energy at Bronx Community CollegeUniversity Transportation Research Center, Region II
To Ease a City’s Traffic, Shifting From 4 Wheels to 2
By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS
New York Times
September 4, 2007
On many mornings, as commuters pack themselves into subway trains and drivers squeeze onto the streets, Janette Sadik-Khan, the commissioner of the Department of Transportation, rides her bicycle to work. That the head of an agency long associated with car travel is an avid bicyclist symbolizes what might be a new way of thinking about how New York’s asphalt should be used. In recent months, the city has pledged to add bicycle racks and hundreds of miles of bike lanes on city streets and has been exploring a program similar to one in Paris in which people can use bikes at minimal cost.
The Bloomberg administration says it wants to develop cycling as a viable transportation alternative to ease traffic congestion, reduce carbon emissions and encourage physical activity. But the new attention to cycling has also encountered resistance in some neighborhoods, especially when it threatens to remove traffic lanes for cars and trucks.
Ms. Sadik-Khan said her time on two wheels has become an important part of her work. “It’s invaluable to get on a bike and see firsthand the conditions that our projects are trying to address,” said Ms. Sadik-Khan, who became the city’s transportation commissioner in the spring. “We are really emphasizing connectivity in the bicycle lane network, because all cyclists, myself included, know that it’s maddening to be coming along a lane and have it simply end and leave you off on your own on a big avenue.”
To that end, the Bloomberg administration has said it will add 200 miles of bike lanes by 2010 — the equivalent of the number added during the last 20 years. In 2006, for instance, New York — which officials said was the nation’s first city to build a bike path (along Ocean Parkway, in Brooklyn, in the 1890s) — created only two miles of new street bicycle lanes. By the end of the year, it will have added about 50 more. In its long-term environmental plan released this year, the city said that by 2030 it will have 1,800 miles of bike lanes and paths. There are now 270 miles of bicycle lanes along city streets and 200 miles of bike paths in parks and along greenways.
Because the lack of safe and adequate bicycle parking has become one of the primary concerns of cyclists, the city has said it will also pursue legislation requiring owners of large commercial office buildings to allow a place for bicycles to be parked indoors. Recent zoning changes in Long Island City, Downtown Brooklyn and the West Side of Manhattan have incorporated that requirement. Also, the city will install 1,200 new bicycle racks by 2009, in addition to the 4,000 existing racks. To enhance safety, the Transportation Department has begun to color bicycle lanes with bright green paint in neighborhoods where there are frequent complaints about cars and trucks driving or double-parking, forcing bikes into traffic.
Finally, a team of transportation workers is checking the condition of bike lanes in addition to its regular task of monitoring streets. As the workers check bike lanes for potholes and other hazards, they ride bicycles. “Cycling, until Bloomberg, had been left off the priority list,” said Noah S. Budnick, deputy director of Transportation Alternatives, a nonprofit advocacy group. “But things have really shifted quickly over the past year and a half.”
A number of other large cities, including Berlin, Chicago and Paris, have put bicycling at the center of transportation plans.
In July, for example, Paris made 10,600 bicycles available to the public — and will add 10,000 by the end of the year — for one euro a day, or about $1.40. Riders can get the bikes after swiping their credit cards at bicycle docking stations. Last year, Chicago officials said their goal was to have 5 percent of all trips carried out by bicycle by 2015. The city is also trying to build enough bike paths so that every resident lives within half a mile of one.
But the attention on bikes usually comes at the expense of cars, and some New Yorkers have not been enthusiastic about the changes.
In Brooklyn, the borough president and some residents have complained about the banning of cars in Prospect Park for most of the day, fearing it will worsen traffic around the park. And residents said that new bike lanes have upset the delicate alternate-side parking routines, as some officers have been quick to ticket anyone double-parking in the lanes. Bicycling in New York has never been for the timid, with its traffic, potholes, pedestrians, extremes in weather, aggressive drivers and high rate of bike theft.
There is even a cautionary tale among bicycle riders — the veracity of which is unclear — about a young man who had just bought a bicycle and was riding back to his apartment in the East Village, the bike’s price tag still attached to the handlebars. Two men with knives (sometimes described as two teenagers with guns) steal the bike and ride off. When the man reports the crime, a responding police officer tries to soothe him by saying, “That’s O.K., son, you would’ve killed yourself on that thing anyway.”
Still, Transportation Alternatives estimated that 130,000 people currently ride bicycles in the city every day, up from 90,000 in 1998. Jason Varone, 31, an artist from Brooklyn who rides 20 miles to and from work each day, said new bike paths have made cycling on city streets less treacherous, but more important, have sent a signal to the rest of the city. “Even if your daily commute is not affected,” he said of cyclists, “there’s a clear message from the government that they’re trying to do something.”
The tolerance for cyclists, however, has apparently not extended to Critical Mass, a loosely knit group of bike riders whose once-a-month mass bicycle rides have been met with squads of officers, summonses, bike confiscations and arrests. The rides, which a few years ago attracted as many as 2,000 riders, now bring out only about 150, organizers said. The Police Department, which did not respond to questions about Critical Mass for this article, has said that police enforcement was necessary because the group blocked streets and failed to obey traffic laws.
Bill DiPaola, director of Time’s Up!, an environmental advocacy organization that promotes Critical Mass and other group bicycle rides, said that while the city had improved bike access of late, the gains had not come without constant pressure from bicycle advocates.
“We realized a long time ago that the city is not very friendly to bicycling, so our idea was to create group rides,” Mr. DiPaola said. “We wanted to overwhelm the city with riders, and we got to the point where we could say: ‘Look, this is the wave of the future. You have to adapt to it.’ ”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/04/nyregion/04bicycle.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=nyregion&pagewanted=all
By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS
New York Times
September 4, 2007
On many mornings, as commuters pack themselves into subway trains and drivers squeeze onto the streets, Janette Sadik-Khan, the commissioner of the Department of Transportation, rides her bicycle to work. That the head of an agency long associated with car travel is an avid bicyclist symbolizes what might be a new way of thinking about how New York’s asphalt should be used. In recent months, the city has pledged to add bicycle racks and hundreds of miles of bike lanes on city streets and has been exploring a program similar to one in Paris in which people can use bikes at minimal cost.
The Bloomberg administration says it wants to develop cycling as a viable transportation alternative to ease traffic congestion, reduce carbon emissions and encourage physical activity. But the new attention to cycling has also encountered resistance in some neighborhoods, especially when it threatens to remove traffic lanes for cars and trucks.
Ms. Sadik-Khan said her time on two wheels has become an important part of her work. “It’s invaluable to get on a bike and see firsthand the conditions that our projects are trying to address,” said Ms. Sadik-Khan, who became the city’s transportation commissioner in the spring. “We are really emphasizing connectivity in the bicycle lane network, because all cyclists, myself included, know that it’s maddening to be coming along a lane and have it simply end and leave you off on your own on a big avenue.”
To that end, the Bloomberg administration has said it will add 200 miles of bike lanes by 2010 — the equivalent of the number added during the last 20 years. In 2006, for instance, New York — which officials said was the nation’s first city to build a bike path (along Ocean Parkway, in Brooklyn, in the 1890s) — created only two miles of new street bicycle lanes. By the end of the year, it will have added about 50 more. In its long-term environmental plan released this year, the city said that by 2030 it will have 1,800 miles of bike lanes and paths. There are now 270 miles of bicycle lanes along city streets and 200 miles of bike paths in parks and along greenways.
Because the lack of safe and adequate bicycle parking has become one of the primary concerns of cyclists, the city has said it will also pursue legislation requiring owners of large commercial office buildings to allow a place for bicycles to be parked indoors. Recent zoning changes in Long Island City, Downtown Brooklyn and the West Side of Manhattan have incorporated that requirement. Also, the city will install 1,200 new bicycle racks by 2009, in addition to the 4,000 existing racks. To enhance safety, the Transportation Department has begun to color bicycle lanes with bright green paint in neighborhoods where there are frequent complaints about cars and trucks driving or double-parking, forcing bikes into traffic.
Finally, a team of transportation workers is checking the condition of bike lanes in addition to its regular task of monitoring streets. As the workers check bike lanes for potholes and other hazards, they ride bicycles. “Cycling, until Bloomberg, had been left off the priority list,” said Noah S. Budnick, deputy director of Transportation Alternatives, a nonprofit advocacy group. “But things have really shifted quickly over the past year and a half.”
A number of other large cities, including Berlin, Chicago and Paris, have put bicycling at the center of transportation plans.
In July, for example, Paris made 10,600 bicycles available to the public — and will add 10,000 by the end of the year — for one euro a day, or about $1.40. Riders can get the bikes after swiping their credit cards at bicycle docking stations. Last year, Chicago officials said their goal was to have 5 percent of all trips carried out by bicycle by 2015. The city is also trying to build enough bike paths so that every resident lives within half a mile of one.
But the attention on bikes usually comes at the expense of cars, and some New Yorkers have not been enthusiastic about the changes.
In Brooklyn, the borough president and some residents have complained about the banning of cars in Prospect Park for most of the day, fearing it will worsen traffic around the park. And residents said that new bike lanes have upset the delicate alternate-side parking routines, as some officers have been quick to ticket anyone double-parking in the lanes. Bicycling in New York has never been for the timid, with its traffic, potholes, pedestrians, extremes in weather, aggressive drivers and high rate of bike theft.
There is even a cautionary tale among bicycle riders — the veracity of which is unclear — about a young man who had just bought a bicycle and was riding back to his apartment in the East Village, the bike’s price tag still attached to the handlebars. Two men with knives (sometimes described as two teenagers with guns) steal the bike and ride off. When the man reports the crime, a responding police officer tries to soothe him by saying, “That’s O.K., son, you would’ve killed yourself on that thing anyway.”
Still, Transportation Alternatives estimated that 130,000 people currently ride bicycles in the city every day, up from 90,000 in 1998. Jason Varone, 31, an artist from Brooklyn who rides 20 miles to and from work each day, said new bike paths have made cycling on city streets less treacherous, but more important, have sent a signal to the rest of the city. “Even if your daily commute is not affected,” he said of cyclists, “there’s a clear message from the government that they’re trying to do something.”
The tolerance for cyclists, however, has apparently not extended to Critical Mass, a loosely knit group of bike riders whose once-a-month mass bicycle rides have been met with squads of officers, summonses, bike confiscations and arrests. The rides, which a few years ago attracted as many as 2,000 riders, now bring out only about 150, organizers said. The Police Department, which did not respond to questions about Critical Mass for this article, has said that police enforcement was necessary because the group blocked streets and failed to obey traffic laws.
Bill DiPaola, director of Time’s Up!, an environmental advocacy organization that promotes Critical Mass and other group bicycle rides, said that while the city had improved bike access of late, the gains had not come without constant pressure from bicycle advocates.
“We realized a long time ago that the city is not very friendly to bicycling, so our idea was to create group rides,” Mr. DiPaola said. “We wanted to overwhelm the city with riders, and we got to the point where we could say: ‘Look, this is the wave of the future. You have to adapt to it.’ ”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/04/nyregion/04bicycle.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=nyregion&pagewanted=all
Monday, September 03, 2007
Wind turbines turn full circle – from wood to carbon fibre and back again
EngineerLive.com
Paul Stevens
http://www.engineerlive.com/features/18634/wind-turbines-turn-full-circle-from-wood-to-carbon-fibre-and-back-again.thtml
Wind energy is a renewable and environmentally-friendly alternative to fossil fuels but wind turbines must operate efficiently if their benefits are to be maximised. One crucial aspect of their design that has a direct bearing on both their sustainability and efficiency is the materials of construction.
_______________
Three hundred years ago a millwright had little choice of materials for constructing a windmill, except that different types of wood were available from which to make the various parts. Wood was in plentiful supply, it could be readily worked to fabricate anything from gear teeth to cladding, and the parts lasted well and could be repaired or replaced if they became damaged. Indeed, numerous examples of seventeenth century windmills are still in existence, though the earliest horizontal-axis windmills in North Western Europe were built in the late twelfth century.
With industrialisation and, later, the construction of electricity plants powered by fossil fuels, wind had become a little used source of energy by the mid-twentieth century. However, by the end of the twentieth century and the start of the twenty-first century, wind was being recognised again as a useful source of renewable energy. Once installed and operating, wind turbines do not generate greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide or other pollutants, and the energy supply is free and cannot be depleted (though wind speed is certainly not constant in Northern Europe).
Instead of millwrights, today we have multinational companies that can take on the complete design, construction, installation and maintenance of wind turbines. Danish company Vestas, for example, started manufacturing wind turbines in 1979 and has concentrated exclusively on wind energy since 1987. Vestas is now a global high-technology group with more than 13,000 employees, supplying turbines capable of generating nominal power outputs of 850kW to 3.0MW, with corresponding rotor diameters from 52m to 90m.
Blade technology has played a crucial role in the development of modern wind turbines. Glass-fibre reinforced composites are the material of choice for many turbine manufacturers, but carbon-fibre composites offer a higher stiffness-to-weight ratio. This enables the blades to be lighter and stiffer (depending on the detailed design), which helps to improve the turbine's performance and reduce the costs associated with transport to site and installation. Given that each blade is only manufactured once yet is required to operate for 20 years, a small increase in manufacturing cost for an improvement in operating performance is an attractive proposition. So this is the approach adopted by Vestas for its latest V90-3.0 MW turbine.
Vestas has also gone to considerable lengths to optimise the design of the support tower in its V90-3.0 MW turbine. Not only has a higher-strength steel been used to reduce the volume required (and to reduce weight as well), but the company says that it has pioneered the use of magnets to fasten internal components to the tower walls, thereby helping to improve fatigue strength compared with traditional welding or fastening methods.
Wood and bamboo
While the ancient problem of how to extract useful energy from wind has resulted in the application of some high-technology solutions, it should not be forgotten that natural materials still have a lot to offer for turbine blades. Wood - which is a natural, renewable fibre-reinforced composite - has superb fatigue characteristics and an unbeatable strength-to-cost ratio. Twenty years ago khaya (African mahogany) was used, but this was superseded first by poplar and, more recently, by Finnish birch.
In the UK, wind turbine blades have been manufactured from wood since the early 1980s. Thousands of these have been produced, and the early blades have completed 20 years of trouble-free service. These blades are constructed with a hollow shell moulded in two halves with a shear web bridging between the two halves. Wood represents approximately 70 per cent of the blade mass, with the remaining 30 per cent made up of glass cloth, resin and metal inserts for connecting the blade root to the rotor hub.
However, there is another natural alternative that is currently being developed, especially with a view to wind farms planned for China. Bamboo is often referred to as a wood but, in fact, it is a grass. For turbine blades, good quality bamboo actually offers better properties than Finnish birch and, given the vast and sustainable supply of bamboo available in China, it is an excellent material for wind turbine blade construction. Dr Jim Platts of Cambridge University, who established a company called Composite Technology (now part of Vestas) over 20 years ago, has been helping China to develop its wind turbine industry.
Horizontal versus vertical axis
This 'propeller' type of wind turbine, referred to as a horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT), has a number of benefits. These include the ability to vary the blades’ angle of attack to maximise the amount of energy extracted from the wind, the turbine’s self-starting characteristic, and the way the turbine can be mounted on a tall tower to access stronger winds higher above ground level. Disadvantages include the difficulty of transporting and installing the towers and turbines, and unpopularity due to their obstruction of views and high noise levels.
Vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) designs are also available. These are generally claimed to be easier to transport, install and maintain, and they are quieter and do not need to be turned into the wind. A higher aerofoil pitch angle also provides improved aerodynamics as well as decreased drag at low and high speeds. Overall efficiency, however, is approximately 50 per cent lower than for HAWTs, partly because of the additional drag caused by the blades rotating into the wind, and VAWTs are not as good at self-starting as HAWTs.
Nevertheless, one Darrieus-type VAWT that has entered production is the Quietrevolution QR5, designed by XCO2 and marketed by Quietrevolution of London. The QR5 is designed for use in urban environments, being quiet, compact (5m tall by 3.1m in diameter) and capable of extracting useful amounts of energy from the turbulent wind conditions encountered in the vicinity of buildings. Carbon fibre and epoxy resin are used for the three helical blades, spars and torque tube, with a 6kW direct-drive inline generator incorporated at the base of the turbine. Quietrevolution says the QR5 can either be mounted as a standalone generator or in groups within a Y-shaped frame.
The Darrieus wind turbine is probably the most well known design of VAWT, but another is the Savonius wind turbine. Although these are less efficient than other types of wind turbine, they are simpler and cheaper to manufacture, and require very little maintenance – any one of which could be a deciding factor in a limited number of applications.
Llumarlite, a company best known for lighting products, is a distributor for the Ropatec VAWTs that feature aerofoil-shaped vanes (as with the Darrieus concept) and a central cylindrical element that diverts the air (somewhat similar to the way Savonius blades divert air onto each other). The result is claimed to be a low-maintenance turbine that stalls at high wind speeds (to prevent damage), yet at lower speeds delivers an output comparable to that of a HAWT. Llumarlite says the Windrotor can be used either as a source of dc power for applications such as battery charging, or it can be connected to an inverter for delivering ac power or connected to a grid. Being a low-noise turbine, it can be located within urban environments. Interestingly, Ropatec manufactures its Windrotor turbines largely from aluminium.
Back to bamboo
Researchers in India have been investigating ways to improve the design of Savonius wind turbines for small-scale electricity generation. UK Saha et al of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, and the Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, have published a paper Twisted bamboo bladed rotor for Savonius wind turbines in the Journal of the Solar Energy Society of India (SESI), Vol. 4 (2005). This follows on from earlier work that led to the development of a twisted-blade Savonius rotor fabricated from sheet metal.
Experiments with the bamboo-bladed rotor showed a slightly lower rotational speed than the twisted metal blades, but the researchers believe the low cost and the ease of fabrication could make this type of design useful for small-scale power generation in rural areas. The design proposed by the researchers uses sheets made out of woven bamboo, cut to size and stitched at the edges for strength and durability. A paper covering gives an improved surface finish and aerodynamic performance.
Whether the application is a small-scale, low-cost Savonius turbine or a full-size aerofoil turbine blade, there is an additional environmental benefit in using natural materials. Vestas says it has performed a life-cycle assessment (LCA) on its V90-3.0 MW offshore wind turbine and established that it has to generate electricity for just 6.8 months before it has produced as much energy as was consumed throughout its design lifetime. However, carbon-fibre composites require considerable amounts of energy to manufacture, which will have slightly increased this pay-back time. By using natural materials such as wood or bamboo for a turbine's construction, the environmental benefits can be even greater.
EngineerLive.com
Paul Stevens
http://www.engineerlive.com/features/18634/wind-turbines-turn-full-circle-from-wood-to-carbon-fibre-and-back-again.thtml
Wind energy is a renewable and environmentally-friendly alternative to fossil fuels but wind turbines must operate efficiently if their benefits are to be maximised. One crucial aspect of their design that has a direct bearing on both their sustainability and efficiency is the materials of construction.
_______________
Three hundred years ago a millwright had little choice of materials for constructing a windmill, except that different types of wood were available from which to make the various parts. Wood was in plentiful supply, it could be readily worked to fabricate anything from gear teeth to cladding, and the parts lasted well and could be repaired or replaced if they became damaged. Indeed, numerous examples of seventeenth century windmills are still in existence, though the earliest horizontal-axis windmills in North Western Europe were built in the late twelfth century.
With industrialisation and, later, the construction of electricity plants powered by fossil fuels, wind had become a little used source of energy by the mid-twentieth century. However, by the end of the twentieth century and the start of the twenty-first century, wind was being recognised again as a useful source of renewable energy. Once installed and operating, wind turbines do not generate greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide or other pollutants, and the energy supply is free and cannot be depleted (though wind speed is certainly not constant in Northern Europe).
Instead of millwrights, today we have multinational companies that can take on the complete design, construction, installation and maintenance of wind turbines. Danish company Vestas, for example, started manufacturing wind turbines in 1979 and has concentrated exclusively on wind energy since 1987. Vestas is now a global high-technology group with more than 13,000 employees, supplying turbines capable of generating nominal power outputs of 850kW to 3.0MW, with corresponding rotor diameters from 52m to 90m.
Blade technology has played a crucial role in the development of modern wind turbines. Glass-fibre reinforced composites are the material of choice for many turbine manufacturers, but carbon-fibre composites offer a higher stiffness-to-weight ratio. This enables the blades to be lighter and stiffer (depending on the detailed design), which helps to improve the turbine's performance and reduce the costs associated with transport to site and installation. Given that each blade is only manufactured once yet is required to operate for 20 years, a small increase in manufacturing cost for an improvement in operating performance is an attractive proposition. So this is the approach adopted by Vestas for its latest V90-3.0 MW turbine.
Vestas has also gone to considerable lengths to optimise the design of the support tower in its V90-3.0 MW turbine. Not only has a higher-strength steel been used to reduce the volume required (and to reduce weight as well), but the company says that it has pioneered the use of magnets to fasten internal components to the tower walls, thereby helping to improve fatigue strength compared with traditional welding or fastening methods.
Wood and bamboo
While the ancient problem of how to extract useful energy from wind has resulted in the application of some high-technology solutions, it should not be forgotten that natural materials still have a lot to offer for turbine blades. Wood - which is a natural, renewable fibre-reinforced composite - has superb fatigue characteristics and an unbeatable strength-to-cost ratio. Twenty years ago khaya (African mahogany) was used, but this was superseded first by poplar and, more recently, by Finnish birch.
In the UK, wind turbine blades have been manufactured from wood since the early 1980s. Thousands of these have been produced, and the early blades have completed 20 years of trouble-free service. These blades are constructed with a hollow shell moulded in two halves with a shear web bridging between the two halves. Wood represents approximately 70 per cent of the blade mass, with the remaining 30 per cent made up of glass cloth, resin and metal inserts for connecting the blade root to the rotor hub.
However, there is another natural alternative that is currently being developed, especially with a view to wind farms planned for China. Bamboo is often referred to as a wood but, in fact, it is a grass. For turbine blades, good quality bamboo actually offers better properties than Finnish birch and, given the vast and sustainable supply of bamboo available in China, it is an excellent material for wind turbine blade construction. Dr Jim Platts of Cambridge University, who established a company called Composite Technology (now part of Vestas) over 20 years ago, has been helping China to develop its wind turbine industry.
Horizontal versus vertical axis
This 'propeller' type of wind turbine, referred to as a horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT), has a number of benefits. These include the ability to vary the blades’ angle of attack to maximise the amount of energy extracted from the wind, the turbine’s self-starting characteristic, and the way the turbine can be mounted on a tall tower to access stronger winds higher above ground level. Disadvantages include the difficulty of transporting and installing the towers and turbines, and unpopularity due to their obstruction of views and high noise levels.
Vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) designs are also available. These are generally claimed to be easier to transport, install and maintain, and they are quieter and do not need to be turned into the wind. A higher aerofoil pitch angle also provides improved aerodynamics as well as decreased drag at low and high speeds. Overall efficiency, however, is approximately 50 per cent lower than for HAWTs, partly because of the additional drag caused by the blades rotating into the wind, and VAWTs are not as good at self-starting as HAWTs.
Nevertheless, one Darrieus-type VAWT that has entered production is the Quietrevolution QR5, designed by XCO2 and marketed by Quietrevolution of London. The QR5 is designed for use in urban environments, being quiet, compact (5m tall by 3.1m in diameter) and capable of extracting useful amounts of energy from the turbulent wind conditions encountered in the vicinity of buildings. Carbon fibre and epoxy resin are used for the three helical blades, spars and torque tube, with a 6kW direct-drive inline generator incorporated at the base of the turbine. Quietrevolution says the QR5 can either be mounted as a standalone generator or in groups within a Y-shaped frame.
The Darrieus wind turbine is probably the most well known design of VAWT, but another is the Savonius wind turbine. Although these are less efficient than other types of wind turbine, they are simpler and cheaper to manufacture, and require very little maintenance – any one of which could be a deciding factor in a limited number of applications.
Llumarlite, a company best known for lighting products, is a distributor for the Ropatec VAWTs that feature aerofoil-shaped vanes (as with the Darrieus concept) and a central cylindrical element that diverts the air (somewhat similar to the way Savonius blades divert air onto each other). The result is claimed to be a low-maintenance turbine that stalls at high wind speeds (to prevent damage), yet at lower speeds delivers an output comparable to that of a HAWT. Llumarlite says the Windrotor can be used either as a source of dc power for applications such as battery charging, or it can be connected to an inverter for delivering ac power or connected to a grid. Being a low-noise turbine, it can be located within urban environments. Interestingly, Ropatec manufactures its Windrotor turbines largely from aluminium.
Back to bamboo
Researchers in India have been investigating ways to improve the design of Savonius wind turbines for small-scale electricity generation. UK Saha et al of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, and the Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, have published a paper Twisted bamboo bladed rotor for Savonius wind turbines in the Journal of the Solar Energy Society of India (SESI), Vol. 4 (2005). This follows on from earlier work that led to the development of a twisted-blade Savonius rotor fabricated from sheet metal.
Experiments with the bamboo-bladed rotor showed a slightly lower rotational speed than the twisted metal blades, but the researchers believe the low cost and the ease of fabrication could make this type of design useful for small-scale power generation in rural areas. The design proposed by the researchers uses sheets made out of woven bamboo, cut to size and stitched at the edges for strength and durability. A paper covering gives an improved surface finish and aerodynamic performance.
Whether the application is a small-scale, low-cost Savonius turbine or a full-size aerofoil turbine blade, there is an additional environmental benefit in using natural materials. Vestas says it has performed a life-cycle assessment (LCA) on its V90-3.0 MW offshore wind turbine and established that it has to generate electricity for just 6.8 months before it has produced as much energy as was consumed throughout its design lifetime. However, carbon-fibre composites require considerable amounts of energy to manufacture, which will have slightly increased this pay-back time. By using natural materials such as wood or bamboo for a turbine's construction, the environmental benefits can be even greater.
Some ideas to alleviate China's environmental nightmare
Christine Loh
Commentary
The Daily Star
Monday, September 03, 2007
Two countries - the United States and China - remain aloof from global efforts to create a new post-Kyoto framework on climate change. Fifty years ago, the rest of the world might have carried on with remedying the problem of conventional and greenhouse gas emissions and let China and the US stew in their own waste. But the world is now so interdependent that what happens in one place affects all others.
For example, visitors and residents alike have long thought of Hong Kong as a beautiful city clinging to the South China coast. But, for at least five years, Hong Kong's citizens have found themselves starting to cough and wheeze from the city's increasingly degraded air. Corporate employers are even complaining about not being able to attract overseas talent. Pollution from Hong Kong's own power generation plants, growing number of vehicles, and burgeoning shipping industry can certainly be reduced. But the lion's share of this industrial haze - like the growing pollution of its coastal waters - is a direct result of the rapid industrialization of the Pearl River Delta across the border in China's Guangdong Province. China is exporting not only more and more goods, but also its environmental degradation.
The inescapable truth is that the futures of Hong Kong and China are integrally linked. There are roughly 58,000 factories in the Pearl River Delta with Hong Kong connections, and together they employ more than 10 million workers. Guangdong accounts for about 30 percent of China's total foreign trade, while Hong Kong is China's international finance center. Officials in both Hong Kong and Guangdong are powerless to clean up their environmental problems on their own. In fact, development plans in China may be heading in the opposite direction.
Political heavyweights in Guangdong still favor a form of development that relies on speed and quantity while ignoring overall environmental quality. And Hong Kong's economic blueprint also focuses on accelerating large infrastructure projects whose environmental impact has not been rigorously examined. It will not be easy for leaders on either side of the border to reverse gears, but there is still chance that people and companies can make a difference.
Increasingly loud complaints about deteriorating air quality have goaded Hong Kong and Guangdong into embarking on a joint program in which a series of monitoring stations now provides emissions data. Hong Kong's data have been released regularly, and in 2006 Guangdong's data were made publicly available for the first time. There is now also talk about monitoring water quality. These are laudable steps for China, given its poor record on transparency.
Indeed, the joint air-monitoring network provides a foundation for the region to develop a sophisticated regional air management program. Furthermore, new coal-fired power plants may no longer be allowed on either side of the border, necessitating greater use of natural gas and renewable energy sources.
The first challenge for authorities is to regulate power generation very differently. People are used to paying for the electricity that they actually use. But, to optimize efficiency, utilities need to be rewarded for what they help consumers save. In other words, utilities must be given incentives to help consumers use less power.
This idea is clearly feasible. Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute has proposed what he calls the "negawatt," or energy that is never used. All that is needed are the right financial incentives to induce utility companies to produce less electricity (and still be more profitable) and consumers to reduce their use (and gain savings without sacrificing comfort). This can be done by refitting households with high-efficiency light bulbs and other technological improvements, and by retrofitting industrial plants with energy-saving technologies.
Another innovative idea that Hong Kong and Guangdong are exploring is the "P2E2" scheme. To help industries in the region upgrade environmentally, firms can now obtain special loans for which the Asian Development Bank assumes the risk - a program made possible by Hong Kong's sound banking practices. Another initiative worth watching is the Hong Kong stock exchange's exploratory project to offer a trading platform for emissions derivatives, which will most likely include conventional pollutants as well as carbon. The exchange will undertake a study this summer, with trading to begin as early as 2008.
If these reforms are not trumped by efforts to maintain high growth at all costs, the region could not only clean itself up while continuing to prosper, but could also establish a model for all of China. Nothing is more necessary in a country that, according to the United Nations Development Program, contains 16 of the world's 20 most polluted cities. Hong Kong's leaders to do not want to end up on that infamous list. By saving themselves, they may also be able to play an instrumental role in saving China.
Christine Loh is CEO of Civic Exchange, a public-policy think tank based in Hong Kong. THE DAILY STAR publishes this commentary in collaboration with Project Syndicate (c) (www.project-syndicate.org).
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=5&article_id=84986#
Christine Loh
Commentary
The Daily Star
Monday, September 03, 2007
Two countries - the United States and China - remain aloof from global efforts to create a new post-Kyoto framework on climate change. Fifty years ago, the rest of the world might have carried on with remedying the problem of conventional and greenhouse gas emissions and let China and the US stew in their own waste. But the world is now so interdependent that what happens in one place affects all others.
For example, visitors and residents alike have long thought of Hong Kong as a beautiful city clinging to the South China coast. But, for at least five years, Hong Kong's citizens have found themselves starting to cough and wheeze from the city's increasingly degraded air. Corporate employers are even complaining about not being able to attract overseas talent. Pollution from Hong Kong's own power generation plants, growing number of vehicles, and burgeoning shipping industry can certainly be reduced. But the lion's share of this industrial haze - like the growing pollution of its coastal waters - is a direct result of the rapid industrialization of the Pearl River Delta across the border in China's Guangdong Province. China is exporting not only more and more goods, but also its environmental degradation.
The inescapable truth is that the futures of Hong Kong and China are integrally linked. There are roughly 58,000 factories in the Pearl River Delta with Hong Kong connections, and together they employ more than 10 million workers. Guangdong accounts for about 30 percent of China's total foreign trade, while Hong Kong is China's international finance center. Officials in both Hong Kong and Guangdong are powerless to clean up their environmental problems on their own. In fact, development plans in China may be heading in the opposite direction.
Political heavyweights in Guangdong still favor a form of development that relies on speed and quantity while ignoring overall environmental quality. And Hong Kong's economic blueprint also focuses on accelerating large infrastructure projects whose environmental impact has not been rigorously examined. It will not be easy for leaders on either side of the border to reverse gears, but there is still chance that people and companies can make a difference.
Increasingly loud complaints about deteriorating air quality have goaded Hong Kong and Guangdong into embarking on a joint program in which a series of monitoring stations now provides emissions data. Hong Kong's data have been released regularly, and in 2006 Guangdong's data were made publicly available for the first time. There is now also talk about monitoring water quality. These are laudable steps for China, given its poor record on transparency.
Indeed, the joint air-monitoring network provides a foundation for the region to develop a sophisticated regional air management program. Furthermore, new coal-fired power plants may no longer be allowed on either side of the border, necessitating greater use of natural gas and renewable energy sources.
The first challenge for authorities is to regulate power generation very differently. People are used to paying for the electricity that they actually use. But, to optimize efficiency, utilities need to be rewarded for what they help consumers save. In other words, utilities must be given incentives to help consumers use less power.
This idea is clearly feasible. Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute has proposed what he calls the "negawatt," or energy that is never used. All that is needed are the right financial incentives to induce utility companies to produce less electricity (and still be more profitable) and consumers to reduce their use (and gain savings without sacrificing comfort). This can be done by refitting households with high-efficiency light bulbs and other technological improvements, and by retrofitting industrial plants with energy-saving technologies.
Another innovative idea that Hong Kong and Guangdong are exploring is the "P2E2" scheme. To help industries in the region upgrade environmentally, firms can now obtain special loans for which the Asian Development Bank assumes the risk - a program made possible by Hong Kong's sound banking practices. Another initiative worth watching is the Hong Kong stock exchange's exploratory project to offer a trading platform for emissions derivatives, which will most likely include conventional pollutants as well as carbon. The exchange will undertake a study this summer, with trading to begin as early as 2008.
If these reforms are not trumped by efforts to maintain high growth at all costs, the region could not only clean itself up while continuing to prosper, but could also establish a model for all of China. Nothing is more necessary in a country that, according to the United Nations Development Program, contains 16 of the world's 20 most polluted cities. Hong Kong's leaders to do not want to end up on that infamous list. By saving themselves, they may also be able to play an instrumental role in saving China.
Christine Loh is CEO of Civic Exchange, a public-policy think tank based in Hong Kong. THE DAILY STAR publishes this commentary in collaboration with Project Syndicate (c) (www.project-syndicate.org).
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=5&article_id=84986#
Put wood waste into economy, not the landfill
Sarah Grimm
The Register-Guard
September 2, 2007
While the world searches for alternative energy sources, communities and urban centers are still struggling with the steady increase of garbage generation. Researchers and institutions are working fast and furious to develop new technologies in wave energy, cellulosic ethanol, hydrogen and more. But let's not forget the simple step of maximizing our available resources and other tried-and-true solutions.
One example is the recovery of wood waste. In Lane County, 100,000 tons of wood waste is available. In spite of an annual recovery of more than 58,000 tons of wood waste, data from waste composition studies indicate that we are still dumping more than 39,000 tons of wood into our landfills. At 15 percent, wood waste is the fourth largest component of our waste stream after paper, food and other organics.
While wood waste does help to generate energy, through the Eugene People's Utility District's methane generators at the Short Mountain Landfill, diverting wood from the landfill so it can contribute to the local economy is a more efficient and sustainable way to make use of its energy potential. The Lane County Public Works Waste Management Division is dedicated to maximizing the recovery of materials for better and more sustainable use in the community - not only because it extends the life of Short Mountain Landfill, and not only because Oregon lawmakers long ago charged local solid waste managers with the responsibility of giving reduce, reuse and recycling priority over landfill dumping, but because it serves the interests of the community to keep materials flowing through the economy instead of into the landfill.
If we compare the two possible paths of wood waste from the Central Receiving Station in Glenwood, we can clearly see the community benefits of recovery. When wood goes into the pit (an estimated 14,000 tons in 2006), heavy equipment is first used to manipulate, compact and load the material for transport to the landfill. At the landfill, several dozers and compactors are used to place and compact materials for final interment. The cost of all that manipulation and transportation, not to mention the cost of the infrastructure, is only compensated by the small amount of energy generated by EPUD's methane generation program.
On the other hand, when wood waste is placed in the wood waste boxes that we haul to Lane Forest Products (500 tons in 2006), it is ground up and either sold and transported as a fuel for large factories and mills, or as a manufacturing feedstock for local paper mills and particle board manufacturing plants. The cost of this transportation path is compensated by production of goods and services and renewable fuel for Oregon businesses.
One path feeds the landfill, the other path feeds the economy.
This fall, the Glenwood Central Receiving Station facility will make some changes that we hope will increase the amount of wood recovered. First, the receiving station will be expanding the list of items accepted in the wood recovery bins. Instead of "dimensional lumber only," guidelines for wood recovery will be "everything that is all wood except items with creosote, Formica and metal fixtures bigger than your finger."
So, "yes" to particle board, wooden chairs and boards with nails. But "no" to foam-core doors and railroad ties.
In addition, we will be encouraging residential customers to sort wood into the recovery boxes before dumping their load by giving them the reduced wood rate for the whole load if they take that extra step. Another big improvement will be that the receiving station will no longer require the self-haul residential customers with construction and demolition loads to go over the scales on the commercial side. Since the wood recovery boxes are more convenient to residential dumpers than to commercial dumpers, this is anticipated to maximize the likelihood that all the wood waste - estimated at more than 5,000 tons - from residential customers will be recovered.
These changes apply only to the Glenwood Central Receiving Station. The Cottage Grove and Florence transfer sites also accept wood waste, but because of equipment limitations, acceptance guidelines are not quite as broad as those mentioned above. Lane County citizens, businesses and local governments can be proud of the great strides in reducing, reusing and recycling that currently takes place in our area. And all of it contributes to Oregon's energy independence. Through conservation, alternatives and renewables, recycling and waste prevention efforts offer a perfect bridge from the here-and-now to the future of wave, hydrogen and other as yet undeveloped energy sources.
Sarah Grimm is a waste reduction specialist with the Lane County Public Works Waste Management Division.
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2007/09/02/printable/ol.recycling.0902.IFWR65SZ.phtml?section=oregonlife
Sarah Grimm
The Register-Guard
September 2, 2007
While the world searches for alternative energy sources, communities and urban centers are still struggling with the steady increase of garbage generation. Researchers and institutions are working fast and furious to develop new technologies in wave energy, cellulosic ethanol, hydrogen and more. But let's not forget the simple step of maximizing our available resources and other tried-and-true solutions.
One example is the recovery of wood waste. In Lane County, 100,000 tons of wood waste is available. In spite of an annual recovery of more than 58,000 tons of wood waste, data from waste composition studies indicate that we are still dumping more than 39,000 tons of wood into our landfills. At 15 percent, wood waste is the fourth largest component of our waste stream after paper, food and other organics.
While wood waste does help to generate energy, through the Eugene People's Utility District's methane generators at the Short Mountain Landfill, diverting wood from the landfill so it can contribute to the local economy is a more efficient and sustainable way to make use of its energy potential. The Lane County Public Works Waste Management Division is dedicated to maximizing the recovery of materials for better and more sustainable use in the community - not only because it extends the life of Short Mountain Landfill, and not only because Oregon lawmakers long ago charged local solid waste managers with the responsibility of giving reduce, reuse and recycling priority over landfill dumping, but because it serves the interests of the community to keep materials flowing through the economy instead of into the landfill.
If we compare the two possible paths of wood waste from the Central Receiving Station in Glenwood, we can clearly see the community benefits of recovery. When wood goes into the pit (an estimated 14,000 tons in 2006), heavy equipment is first used to manipulate, compact and load the material for transport to the landfill. At the landfill, several dozers and compactors are used to place and compact materials for final interment. The cost of all that manipulation and transportation, not to mention the cost of the infrastructure, is only compensated by the small amount of energy generated by EPUD's methane generation program.
On the other hand, when wood waste is placed in the wood waste boxes that we haul to Lane Forest Products (500 tons in 2006), it is ground up and either sold and transported as a fuel for large factories and mills, or as a manufacturing feedstock for local paper mills and particle board manufacturing plants. The cost of this transportation path is compensated by production of goods and services and renewable fuel for Oregon businesses.
One path feeds the landfill, the other path feeds the economy.
This fall, the Glenwood Central Receiving Station facility will make some changes that we hope will increase the amount of wood recovered. First, the receiving station will be expanding the list of items accepted in the wood recovery bins. Instead of "dimensional lumber only," guidelines for wood recovery will be "everything that is all wood except items with creosote, Formica and metal fixtures bigger than your finger."
So, "yes" to particle board, wooden chairs and boards with nails. But "no" to foam-core doors and railroad ties.
In addition, we will be encouraging residential customers to sort wood into the recovery boxes before dumping their load by giving them the reduced wood rate for the whole load if they take that extra step. Another big improvement will be that the receiving station will no longer require the self-haul residential customers with construction and demolition loads to go over the scales on the commercial side. Since the wood recovery boxes are more convenient to residential dumpers than to commercial dumpers, this is anticipated to maximize the likelihood that all the wood waste - estimated at more than 5,000 tons - from residential customers will be recovered.
These changes apply only to the Glenwood Central Receiving Station. The Cottage Grove and Florence transfer sites also accept wood waste, but because of equipment limitations, acceptance guidelines are not quite as broad as those mentioned above. Lane County citizens, businesses and local governments can be proud of the great strides in reducing, reusing and recycling that currently takes place in our area. And all of it contributes to Oregon's energy independence. Through conservation, alternatives and renewables, recycling and waste prevention efforts offer a perfect bridge from the here-and-now to the future of wave, hydrogen and other as yet undeveloped energy sources.
Sarah Grimm is a waste reduction specialist with the Lane County Public Works Waste Management Division.
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2007/09/02/printable/ol.recycling.0902.IFWR65SZ.phtml?section=oregonlife
Energy audits to save power use in office towers
By Rachel Yan
ShanghaiDaily.com
2007-9-3
OFFICE buildings along downtown Huaihai Road will receive an energy consumption check by architectural and environmental protection professionals. They will also work out tailor-made energy-saving plans for individual buildings over the next six months. Luwan District government has teamed up with Shanghai Energy-Saving Inspection Center and Shanghai Research Institute of Building Sciences to offer energy checks for major power consumers. The first round of energy checks will cover office buildings such as Jiushi Renaissance Mansion, Lippo Plaza as well as district government buildings and an innovation industry park on Zhizaoju Road.
Professionals will collect information about the building's past electricity, gas and water bills, and carry out on-site inspections on devices such as elevators, air-conditioners and lighting to determine their energy consumption. Inspectors are expected to diagnose hidden power overuse problems and give detailed suggestions for improvement, district officials said. "As energy saving has topped the work agenda of the whole city, these energy checks for buildings could be an effective approach for us to have a clear idea of consumption," said Jin Qunle, an official with Luwan's economic commission.
Previously, companies could only learn about their energy consumption by studying their bills. Neither the companies nor the government could identify opportunities for saving energy, Jin explained. He added that the government would expand the checks to 65 industrial manufacturers which consume more than 400 tons of coal a year and companies with an annual coal consumption of 500 tons.
The district government has also started to replace street lighting across Huaihai Road with energy-saving bulbs. That could cut the area's electricity consumption by 90 percent, officials said.The district has set a target to reduce energy consumption by 4.4 percent by December, higher than the city target.
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2007/200709/20070903/article_329625.htm
By Rachel Yan
ShanghaiDaily.com
2007-9-3
OFFICE buildings along downtown Huaihai Road will receive an energy consumption check by architectural and environmental protection professionals. They will also work out tailor-made energy-saving plans for individual buildings over the next six months. Luwan District government has teamed up with Shanghai Energy-Saving Inspection Center and Shanghai Research Institute of Building Sciences to offer energy checks for major power consumers. The first round of energy checks will cover office buildings such as Jiushi Renaissance Mansion, Lippo Plaza as well as district government buildings and an innovation industry park on Zhizaoju Road.
Professionals will collect information about the building's past electricity, gas and water bills, and carry out on-site inspections on devices such as elevators, air-conditioners and lighting to determine their energy consumption. Inspectors are expected to diagnose hidden power overuse problems and give detailed suggestions for improvement, district officials said. "As energy saving has topped the work agenda of the whole city, these energy checks for buildings could be an effective approach for us to have a clear idea of consumption," said Jin Qunle, an official with Luwan's economic commission.
Previously, companies could only learn about their energy consumption by studying their bills. Neither the companies nor the government could identify opportunities for saving energy, Jin explained. He added that the government would expand the checks to 65 industrial manufacturers which consume more than 400 tons of coal a year and companies with an annual coal consumption of 500 tons.
The district government has also started to replace street lighting across Huaihai Road with energy-saving bulbs. That could cut the area's electricity consumption by 90 percent, officials said.The district has set a target to reduce energy consumption by 4.4 percent by December, higher than the city target.
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2007/200709/20070903/article_329625.htm
Funds to help needy families pay electric bills running low
Aid agencies forced to turn away elderly, disabled, unemployed
September 1, 2007
RICHARD ABSHIRE / The Dallas Morning News
Every year, hot weather seems to outlast the money agencies set aside to help families in need pay their electric bills. "We're turning down 25 to 30 people a day," said Susan Boyd, director of Friendship House in Garland. "We get 25 calls a day, and we can only help about 25 a month."
But it's not as bad as last year and the year before. "The mild summer was a blessing," Ms. Boyd said.
In the first 45 minutes after Friendship House opened Friday morning, volunteers took seven calls from people looking for help with their utility bills. The callers are seniors, people with disabilities, parents of special-needs children, and people who are unemployed or underemployed. But there's only so much Friendship House can do. "We don't have any money," Ms. Boyd said.
The city of Garland gave $42,500 from Garland Power & Light to Friendship House this year and made larger grants to other agencies. After that money is gone, there won't be any more for utility assistance until the city's new budget takes effect in October. "It's not that we don't have a lot of money, it's just that so many people have needs," Ms. Boyd said.
Friday morning, a mother with two children at home sat in Ms. Boyd's office. The woman, a former caregiver who hasn't been able to work because of back and knee trouble, would be one of the last this year to get help – the maximum of $200 that will go with more than $124 of her own money to catch her up on her bill. It's the third time in three years that she's had to turn to Friendship House for help.
Ms. Boyd was summoned from the session to take a call from a senior looking for help. She is 80 and lives on $1,000 a month, and the utility bill for her one-bedroom apartment was $270. It was more than she could afford, but Ms. Boyd had to tell her there was no money available. There are rules about how often a person can be helped and how bad the need must be. "First of all, they have to qualify, so we have to screen them," Ms. Boyd said. "Secondly, it's first come, first served. I kind of lean toward the elderly and disabled, because it sometimes comes down to we have to make choices. So we have to look at the need and see whose need is greatest and what the possibilities are for that person as far as their accessing other funds."
It's the same financial difficulties with other agencies that provide utility aid – usually in conjunction with food and rent support – such as the Urban League, the Salvation Army and Good Samaritans of Garland. Kathy West, executive director of Good Samaritans of Garland, said the $56,000 she got from the city to help Garland Power & Light customers ran out in June.
TXU gives the agency $35,000 a year in quarterly installments for use in Garland, and some of that money is still available. But it's for TXU customers, and only about 15 percent of Garland residents use TXU. Across Dallas County this year, TXU has distributed $1.3 million to 17 social service organizations to help people with utility bills, spokeswoman Sophia Stoller said. Since the utility began its Energy Aid program in 1983, it has donated more than $40 million to help about 300,000 families across Texas, she said.
"It's a program to help people with temporary problems," Ms. Stoller said, "because it's difficult sometimes to pay bills when someone loses a job or they're going through a divorce." GP&L offers its customers the option of rounding up their payments and uses those extra funds and late fees to help agencies such as Friendship House and Good Samaritans.
Good Samaritans volunteers see people with the same needs as those at Friendship House – the old, the sick and the struggling. Some are unemployed, while others work but don't earn enough to pay for housing, food, transportation, health care and utilities. "People aren't getting paid enough, and they don't have benefits," Ms. West said. "Poor people are suffering."
Jami Russell of Mesquite Social Services said her agency was in pretty good shape this year, thanks largely to the cool, wet start of the summer. But demand ramped up with the temperatures in August. Her organization got about $125,000 this year – $45,000 from TXU's Energy Aid program and the rest from United Way and other sources. "We help about 10,000 people each year," Ms. Russell said. "That's not just utilities. That includes rent and food."
At Rockwall County Helping Hands, business manager Cary Smith said money is tight – most of the $104,000 budgeted for emergency utility assistance has been spent – and it will stay that way until October. "It's going to be a stretch for us," Mr. Smith said. For anybody who is inclined to help, he noted that Helping Hands is in the middle of a fundraising campaign.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/090207dnmetutilaid.2f2a73b.html
Aid agencies forced to turn away elderly, disabled, unemployed
September 1, 2007
RICHARD ABSHIRE / The Dallas Morning News
Every year, hot weather seems to outlast the money agencies set aside to help families in need pay their electric bills. "We're turning down 25 to 30 people a day," said Susan Boyd, director of Friendship House in Garland. "We get 25 calls a day, and we can only help about 25 a month."
But it's not as bad as last year and the year before. "The mild summer was a blessing," Ms. Boyd said.
In the first 45 minutes after Friendship House opened Friday morning, volunteers took seven calls from people looking for help with their utility bills. The callers are seniors, people with disabilities, parents of special-needs children, and people who are unemployed or underemployed. But there's only so much Friendship House can do. "We don't have any money," Ms. Boyd said.
The city of Garland gave $42,500 from Garland Power & Light to Friendship House this year and made larger grants to other agencies. After that money is gone, there won't be any more for utility assistance until the city's new budget takes effect in October. "It's not that we don't have a lot of money, it's just that so many people have needs," Ms. Boyd said.
Friday morning, a mother with two children at home sat in Ms. Boyd's office. The woman, a former caregiver who hasn't been able to work because of back and knee trouble, would be one of the last this year to get help – the maximum of $200 that will go with more than $124 of her own money to catch her up on her bill. It's the third time in three years that she's had to turn to Friendship House for help.
Ms. Boyd was summoned from the session to take a call from a senior looking for help. She is 80 and lives on $1,000 a month, and the utility bill for her one-bedroom apartment was $270. It was more than she could afford, but Ms. Boyd had to tell her there was no money available. There are rules about how often a person can be helped and how bad the need must be. "First of all, they have to qualify, so we have to screen them," Ms. Boyd said. "Secondly, it's first come, first served. I kind of lean toward the elderly and disabled, because it sometimes comes down to we have to make choices. So we have to look at the need and see whose need is greatest and what the possibilities are for that person as far as their accessing other funds."
It's the same financial difficulties with other agencies that provide utility aid – usually in conjunction with food and rent support – such as the Urban League, the Salvation Army and Good Samaritans of Garland. Kathy West, executive director of Good Samaritans of Garland, said the $56,000 she got from the city to help Garland Power & Light customers ran out in June.
TXU gives the agency $35,000 a year in quarterly installments for use in Garland, and some of that money is still available. But it's for TXU customers, and only about 15 percent of Garland residents use TXU. Across Dallas County this year, TXU has distributed $1.3 million to 17 social service organizations to help people with utility bills, spokeswoman Sophia Stoller said. Since the utility began its Energy Aid program in 1983, it has donated more than $40 million to help about 300,000 families across Texas, she said.
"It's a program to help people with temporary problems," Ms. Stoller said, "because it's difficult sometimes to pay bills when someone loses a job or they're going through a divorce." GP&L offers its customers the option of rounding up their payments and uses those extra funds and late fees to help agencies such as Friendship House and Good Samaritans.
Good Samaritans volunteers see people with the same needs as those at Friendship House – the old, the sick and the struggling. Some are unemployed, while others work but don't earn enough to pay for housing, food, transportation, health care and utilities. "People aren't getting paid enough, and they don't have benefits," Ms. West said. "Poor people are suffering."
Jami Russell of Mesquite Social Services said her agency was in pretty good shape this year, thanks largely to the cool, wet start of the summer. But demand ramped up with the temperatures in August. Her organization got about $125,000 this year – $45,000 from TXU's Energy Aid program and the rest from United Way and other sources. "We help about 10,000 people each year," Ms. Russell said. "That's not just utilities. That includes rent and food."
At Rockwall County Helping Hands, business manager Cary Smith said money is tight – most of the $104,000 budgeted for emergency utility assistance has been spent – and it will stay that way until October. "It's going to be a stretch for us," Mr. Smith said. For anybody who is inclined to help, he noted that Helping Hands is in the middle of a fundraising campaign.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/090207dnmetutilaid.2f2a73b.html
Home grown apples can save the planet...
An oil crisis is coming, to add to our climate change woes. And the only practical solution is in our own back yards
John-Paul Flintoff
The Sunday Times
9/2/07
A few weeks ago, the climate activist and inventor Dave Wilks told me he’d hit on a new way to describe the warming of our atmosphere: it’s equivalent to nearly five Hiroshima bombs exploding per second, he said, and the rate is rising exponentially. I’ve also spoken to experts who believe there’s another threat facing us, no less significant than global warming: the end of oil. Our lives depend on ever-increasing amounts of cheap energy, and synthetic petroleum byproducts, and when oil production peaks we’re in trouble. Some believe that will happen as early as 2010.
And it will all, of course, be exacerbated by population growth. Last week researchers at a United Nations forum in Iceland said to keep pace with an increasing population more food will have to be produced world-wide in the next 50 years than during the past 10,000 years combined. We can look forward to economic collapse and literally billions of people starving to death.
In the 1970s, families abandoned the UK because they feared being wiped out by Russian nukes. That dreaded event didn’t happen but I’m aware of two such families, in the Bahamas and Australia, who don’t regret moving out. And it seems to me that the combined threat of climate change and “peak oil” is more menacing.
In fact, I’m starting to wonder about getting out of here – taking my wife and daughter from London before the trouble starts. In this I take my lead from the biblical patriarch Lot, whom Genesis records as having sensibly quit Sodom before it started to rain fire and brimstone; but also from the environmentalist George Monbiot, who turned his back on Oxford last year in favour of rural Wales.
In the three years since I first started to worry very much about climate change and “peak oil”, I’ve done a fair bit to address the problem. I changed electricity supplier, ordered local food to be delivered to my doorstep in a cardboard box, and replaced my lightbulbs. I bought an electric car, protested outside shops that kept their doors open in winter, and even devised an entirely new model for Britain’s energy infrastruc-ture – a community energy cooperative. Having sent an outline of my idea to virtually every politician I could think of, I found myself delivering an hour-long briefing to John Gummer, leader of the Conservative energy taskforce; and addressing a dinner of my local Liberal Democrats, who raised the idea of the energy coop at a meeting of the local council and won unanimous backing for it.
More recently, I got hold of several Electrisave meter readers, and leafleted hundreds of neighbours offering to lend them a meter at no cost so that they could reduce their domestic energy use. Only seven took up the offer, but – undaunted – I persuaded the local vicar to host a public meeting. Apart from the vicar himself, and a loyal friend of mine who belongs to the Green party, only one other person turned up – bless her.
I mention all this not because I want congratulations – nor commiserations – but because I dare say that many others are doing similar things, and probably feeling no less downbeat about the results. But there is hope. In the past few months I’ve become aware of a growing movement of people devising creative solutions to the problems facing us. Over the same period – and this is important – I’ve started to notice quite how many fruit trees and shrubs are growing in the streets near my home in northwest London – but more of them later.
The Transition Town movement was started by an Englishman, Rob Hopkins, after a stint working as a teacher in Kinsale, Ireland. “I had never heard about peak oil,” Hopkins says. “But then I showed students a film, The End of Suburbia, which I’d never seen and, at the same time, Dr Colin Campbell from the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas Ireland came to talk. I have to say it was traumatic and shocking.
“One of the other members of staff said to me, ‘What has happened to your students, they’ve been walking around looking grey all week!’ ” The film, and Campbell, made clear that no aspect of life will be the same after oil runs out. “When we got over the shock we set about looking at Kinsale. We examined how the town might look in 20 years if it adapted to peak oil instead of pretending it wasn’t happening.” The project lasted for seven or eight months. “We came up with a plan, a vision of how the town would be, and then backcast it to see how to get there, year by year.”
Returning to England, Hopkins helped to create a similar “energy descent” plan in Totnes, Devon, and the Transition Town movement was born. It’s grown incredibly fast. A year after Totnes launched, individuals and groups from 176 places have registered to become Transition Towns.
The first, Totnes, Lewes, Glastonbury and Stroud, were full of middle-class hippie types, but in Bristol it’s the poorer districts that have been most dynamic. And in Wales the impetus has come from the agricultural community. The concept central to transition towns is building resilience. “We have been doing work with people who remember the 1930s and 1940s, people who say it would have been insane to eat apples from New Zealand. Back then, all the food came from near the town. We don’t have that resilience any more. In the lorry strike of 2001, we had only three days of food in Totnes.
“If we don’t do anything,” says Hopkins, “there are all kinds of grim scanarios. But I like to think of those as like Dickens’s Ghost of Christmas Future – possible outcomes we can avoid.” The environmental movement, he believes, has promoted despondency and guilt. Transition towns, by contrast, actively create positive change – launching local currencies, planting nut trees, teaching survival skills. Until recently, people like Hopkins believed the most responsible thing to do was to move out, build a house and grow your own food. “But I came to question that. I thought this would only be sustainable if I was prepared to sit at the gate with a shotgun. What would I do with my carrots if the village up the road was cold and hungry?”
A little lugubriously, I point out that if cities don’t get their act together on climate change, and temperatures rise by six degrees, even people with remote smallhold-ings will be wiped out by great fireballs of methane shooting across the sky.
Looking for inspiration I travel to south London for a screening of the latest consciousness-raising film promoted by Transition Town Brixton. A few weeks ago, more people turned up to see a film about peak oil than bought tickets for Ocean’s 13. Tonight’s film has attracted the largest crowd yet. The Power of Community is about what happened to Cuba after Soviet oil supplies dried up and the US embargo curtailed other imports. It shows how Cubans gradually turned from reliance on carbon-intensive agriculture: urban spaces were cultivated, from window boxes to wasteland. The transition took years and Cubans had to forgo the equivalent of a meal a day – but, by the end, even people in cities were producing half their annual fruit and vegetable needs.
It’s an upbeat film, and the audience is clearly impressed. But before we clear the auditorium a man with a beard points out that there’s a long way to go. “There are people out there with fruit trees who don’t bother picking the fruit. We have to teach them how to do that again.” The point is well made. Next morning, I rise early and gather a stepladder and my three-year-old daughter for a spot of urban gardening. Without crossing more than one road, we pick 10 figs, a plum, and innumerable blackberries. By next year we may have planted some trees and shrubs of our own – but only if the methane fireballs haven’t torched us first.
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article2367054.ece
An oil crisis is coming, to add to our climate change woes. And the only practical solution is in our own back yards
John-Paul Flintoff
The Sunday Times
9/2/07
A few weeks ago, the climate activist and inventor Dave Wilks told me he’d hit on a new way to describe the warming of our atmosphere: it’s equivalent to nearly five Hiroshima bombs exploding per second, he said, and the rate is rising exponentially. I’ve also spoken to experts who believe there’s another threat facing us, no less significant than global warming: the end of oil. Our lives depend on ever-increasing amounts of cheap energy, and synthetic petroleum byproducts, and when oil production peaks we’re in trouble. Some believe that will happen as early as 2010.
And it will all, of course, be exacerbated by population growth. Last week researchers at a United Nations forum in Iceland said to keep pace with an increasing population more food will have to be produced world-wide in the next 50 years than during the past 10,000 years combined. We can look forward to economic collapse and literally billions of people starving to death.
In the 1970s, families abandoned the UK because they feared being wiped out by Russian nukes. That dreaded event didn’t happen but I’m aware of two such families, in the Bahamas and Australia, who don’t regret moving out. And it seems to me that the combined threat of climate change and “peak oil” is more menacing.
In fact, I’m starting to wonder about getting out of here – taking my wife and daughter from London before the trouble starts. In this I take my lead from the biblical patriarch Lot, whom Genesis records as having sensibly quit Sodom before it started to rain fire and brimstone; but also from the environmentalist George Monbiot, who turned his back on Oxford last year in favour of rural Wales.
In the three years since I first started to worry very much about climate change and “peak oil”, I’ve done a fair bit to address the problem. I changed electricity supplier, ordered local food to be delivered to my doorstep in a cardboard box, and replaced my lightbulbs. I bought an electric car, protested outside shops that kept their doors open in winter, and even devised an entirely new model for Britain’s energy infrastruc-ture – a community energy cooperative. Having sent an outline of my idea to virtually every politician I could think of, I found myself delivering an hour-long briefing to John Gummer, leader of the Conservative energy taskforce; and addressing a dinner of my local Liberal Democrats, who raised the idea of the energy coop at a meeting of the local council and won unanimous backing for it.
More recently, I got hold of several Electrisave meter readers, and leafleted hundreds of neighbours offering to lend them a meter at no cost so that they could reduce their domestic energy use. Only seven took up the offer, but – undaunted – I persuaded the local vicar to host a public meeting. Apart from the vicar himself, and a loyal friend of mine who belongs to the Green party, only one other person turned up – bless her.
I mention all this not because I want congratulations – nor commiserations – but because I dare say that many others are doing similar things, and probably feeling no less downbeat about the results. But there is hope. In the past few months I’ve become aware of a growing movement of people devising creative solutions to the problems facing us. Over the same period – and this is important – I’ve started to notice quite how many fruit trees and shrubs are growing in the streets near my home in northwest London – but more of them later.
The Transition Town movement was started by an Englishman, Rob Hopkins, after a stint working as a teacher in Kinsale, Ireland. “I had never heard about peak oil,” Hopkins says. “But then I showed students a film, The End of Suburbia, which I’d never seen and, at the same time, Dr Colin Campbell from the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas Ireland came to talk. I have to say it was traumatic and shocking.
“One of the other members of staff said to me, ‘What has happened to your students, they’ve been walking around looking grey all week!’ ” The film, and Campbell, made clear that no aspect of life will be the same after oil runs out. “When we got over the shock we set about looking at Kinsale. We examined how the town might look in 20 years if it adapted to peak oil instead of pretending it wasn’t happening.” The project lasted for seven or eight months. “We came up with a plan, a vision of how the town would be, and then backcast it to see how to get there, year by year.”
Returning to England, Hopkins helped to create a similar “energy descent” plan in Totnes, Devon, and the Transition Town movement was born. It’s grown incredibly fast. A year after Totnes launched, individuals and groups from 176 places have registered to become Transition Towns.
The first, Totnes, Lewes, Glastonbury and Stroud, were full of middle-class hippie types, but in Bristol it’s the poorer districts that have been most dynamic. And in Wales the impetus has come from the agricultural community. The concept central to transition towns is building resilience. “We have been doing work with people who remember the 1930s and 1940s, people who say it would have been insane to eat apples from New Zealand. Back then, all the food came from near the town. We don’t have that resilience any more. In the lorry strike of 2001, we had only three days of food in Totnes.
“If we don’t do anything,” says Hopkins, “there are all kinds of grim scanarios. But I like to think of those as like Dickens’s Ghost of Christmas Future – possible outcomes we can avoid.” The environmental movement, he believes, has promoted despondency and guilt. Transition towns, by contrast, actively create positive change – launching local currencies, planting nut trees, teaching survival skills. Until recently, people like Hopkins believed the most responsible thing to do was to move out, build a house and grow your own food. “But I came to question that. I thought this would only be sustainable if I was prepared to sit at the gate with a shotgun. What would I do with my carrots if the village up the road was cold and hungry?”
A little lugubriously, I point out that if cities don’t get their act together on climate change, and temperatures rise by six degrees, even people with remote smallhold-ings will be wiped out by great fireballs of methane shooting across the sky.
Looking for inspiration I travel to south London for a screening of the latest consciousness-raising film promoted by Transition Town Brixton. A few weeks ago, more people turned up to see a film about peak oil than bought tickets for Ocean’s 13. Tonight’s film has attracted the largest crowd yet. The Power of Community is about what happened to Cuba after Soviet oil supplies dried up and the US embargo curtailed other imports. It shows how Cubans gradually turned from reliance on carbon-intensive agriculture: urban spaces were cultivated, from window boxes to wasteland. The transition took years and Cubans had to forgo the equivalent of a meal a day – but, by the end, even people in cities were producing half their annual fruit and vegetable needs.
It’s an upbeat film, and the audience is clearly impressed. But before we clear the auditorium a man with a beard points out that there’s a long way to go. “There are people out there with fruit trees who don’t bother picking the fruit. We have to teach them how to do that again.” The point is well made. Next morning, I rise early and gather a stepladder and my three-year-old daughter for a spot of urban gardening. Without crossing more than one road, we pick 10 figs, a plum, and innumerable blackberries. By next year we may have planted some trees and shrubs of our own – but only if the methane fireballs haven’t torched us first.
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article2367054.ece
Expo to Show Urban Best Practices
Cities from across the globe are vying to bring a slice of their local life to the 2010 Shanghai Expo.
http://www.china.org.cn/english/international/222811.htm
A 15-hectare zone, called the Urban Best Practices Area has been set aside at the Expo, where, for the first time in the event's history, a number of cities will show off cutting-edge architecture and design concepts. The Bureau of Shanghai Expo Coordination announced on Friday that the selection process for cities vying to take part would be extended by a further five months to January 31 next year.
So far, 13 cities, including Liverpool, Zurich, Madrid and Sao Paulo, have filed formal applications to take part in the zone on the west bank of the Huangpu River, said the bureau. In addition, a further 58 cities or regions have approached the organizer for information and 26 have held discussions with Expo organizers, the bureau said. Selected cities will create blocks including real urban scenes with housing, streets and waterways.
The cities will also show how they are striving to protect historically important architecture and safeguard the environment. Zhou Hanmin, deputy director of the coordination bureau, said that cities showing how they are using clean energy or working to create a more comfortable living environment may be preferred. "I believe the development of Shanghai exactly reflects the transition from the use of traditional energy to environmentally friendly energy, and the conservation of local styles in traditional buildings while making them more comfortable to live in," he said.
An international selection committee will review all the proposals and have the final say, but the bureau did not say when the finalists would be announced. A total of 163 countries and international organizations have so far confirmed their participation in the 2010 Expo.
(China Daily September 1, 2007)
Cities from across the globe are vying to bring a slice of their local life to the 2010 Shanghai Expo.
http://www.china.org.cn/english/international/222811.htm
A 15-hectare zone, called the Urban Best Practices Area has been set aside at the Expo, where, for the first time in the event's history, a number of cities will show off cutting-edge architecture and design concepts. The Bureau of Shanghai Expo Coordination announced on Friday that the selection process for cities vying to take part would be extended by a further five months to January 31 next year.
So far, 13 cities, including Liverpool, Zurich, Madrid and Sao Paulo, have filed formal applications to take part in the zone on the west bank of the Huangpu River, said the bureau. In addition, a further 58 cities or regions have approached the organizer for information and 26 have held discussions with Expo organizers, the bureau said. Selected cities will create blocks including real urban scenes with housing, streets and waterways.
The cities will also show how they are striving to protect historically important architecture and safeguard the environment. Zhou Hanmin, deputy director of the coordination bureau, said that cities showing how they are using clean energy or working to create a more comfortable living environment may be preferred. "I believe the development of Shanghai exactly reflects the transition from the use of traditional energy to environmentally friendly energy, and the conservation of local styles in traditional buildings while making them more comfortable to live in," he said.
An international selection committee will review all the proposals and have the final say, but the bureau did not say when the finalists would be announced. A total of 163 countries and international organizations have so far confirmed their participation in the 2010 Expo.
(China Daily September 1, 2007)
Cities seek federal aid to buck U.S. stance on Kyoto
September 1 2007
By Michael Joe, Taryn Luntz, Janet Ahn and Jonathan Weinstein
Medill News Service
WASHINGTON Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox is one of more than 650 mayors nationwide who have signed the 2005 U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Change Agreement, called the “Cool Cities” agreement, pledging to reduce emissions to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. The agreement was created in response to the U.S. government’s refusal to sign on to the international agreement. Now, as the cities struggle to meet the 2012 reduction targets, the mayors are looking to Washington for help. In Tuscaloosa, Maddox said the city is taking steps to expand its curbside recycling program and is switching the fuel for its vehicles from diesel to biodisel.
He and the other mayors and the other mayors are coming up against surging demand for higher energy, a tight market for alternative energy sources, years of planned sprawl and the absence of a comprehensive national program. With cities responsible for 75 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions — primarily from burning gasoline, coal, natural gas, diesel and oil — mayors say they can’t complete the job without support from the federal government, possibly in the form of block grants to launch local energy-saving initiatives. “A lot of cities don’t have the money to do the kinds of things that are necessary,” said Mayor Douglas Palmer of Trenton, N.J., president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. “This is just the beginning. But just like any beginning you need startup money, you need capital, an initial investment to have long-term sustainable impact.
Palmer said what’s needed is a federal-local partnership.Adopting Kyoto goalsSix years ago, Bush criticized the Kyoto accord because developing countries like China and India were exempt from the requirements. Committing the U.S. to the limits outlined in the protocol would put the country at a competitive disadvantage and cause companies to relocate up to five million U.S. jobs overseas, Bush said. That attitude was at odds with most of the rest of the world. More than 170 other nations have ratified the agreement to cut greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, the chief contributor to global warming. The U.S. alone emits roughly one quarter of the globe’s greenhouse gases, though it has just 5 percent of the world’s population.
To fill the federal gap in environmental policy, cities are taking on the task themselves.In Burlington, Vt., hotels, the city’s electrical utility, and companies like Ben & Jerry’s have signed up to reduce emissions by 10 percent. In the Washington suburb of Takoma Park, Md., city vehicles run on biodiesel and the middle class residents are encouraged use alternative energy and make environmentally aware decisions in their homes.
In Tuscaloosa, all 250 pieces of city-owned equipment now run on diesel to biodiesel fuel, a mixture of 20 percent soybean oil and 80 percent diesel. “It will reduce the amount of diesel we’re burning by 100,000 gallons,” Maddox said. That reduces carbon monoxide by 12.6 percent, hydrocarbons by 11 percent, and air toxins by 12 percent, he said. The city also has plans to expand its recycling program. Although each of the city’s fire stations has drop-off recycling bins, curbside recycling is currently limited to select neighborhoods.
“In this year’s budget, we’re recommending a new recycling truck,” Maddox said. “Once it’s delivered it will increase our recycling by 4,500 homes.” A proposed landscape ordinance would increase greenspace in the city and reduce erosion, he said. Expanding the city’s site development permitting authority to include its police jurisdiction has helped control runoff into Lake Tuscaloosa. And the city has also formed an advisory committee to preserve the natural environment at Lake Nicol and Harris Lake.
Learning from cities
While the city of Northport has yet to make the strides Tuscaloosa has, Mayor Harvey Fretwell said he’s hoping to become a greener government within the year. He said the city already has a limited recycling program, with bins set up at the Public Works Facility and two schools. But Fretwell said he also hopes to employ strategies he’s read about elsewhere. Through a city and governmental planning magazine, Fretwell and planning director Katherine Ennis learned of Keene, N.H., a city of about 23,000 about 15 miles north of the Massachusetts state line.
Fretwell said Keene had begun using biodiesel to fuel the city’s fleet, using LED lights for traffic signals relying on bicycle police “We are looking at having an adviser come in and give us some information on that,” Fretwell said. “There are some great ideas, and it’s something I think we can move into gradually.” John Bailey, a research associate at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in Minneapolis, authored a study this year that examined the progress of 10 “Kyoto” cities. He said cities still need help. “The cities have committed to doing good things but they need the state or federal government to do things to help them,” he said.
Bailey found just one city, Portland, Ore., on pace to come close to the goal. Other cities in Bailey’s study included Seattle; San Francisco; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Austin; Boulder, Colo.; and Cambridge, Mass. Bailey found that the cities were counting on factors largely beyond their control, such as tighter state or federal standards for vehicle emissions and miles-per-gallon efficiency.
Federal aid obstacles
The block grant program that mayors are seeking was included in wide-ranging energy bills passed by the House and Senate aimed at alleviating climate change and relieving the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels and foreign oil. But it’s far from a done deal. The Senate and House versions still need to be negotiated, and Bush has threatened to veto the bills because they don’t increase domestic production of oil and gas. The president also opposes other major provisions sought by mayors and congressional Democrats, including mandatory caps on harmful emissions and national production targets for renewable fuels, like wind and solar power. Under the grant program, which would be administered by the Energy Department, financial awards based on population would go directly to larger cities and counties, and to states to allocate among smaller communities.
Bailey’s study, released in January, found that cities have been relying on state and federal grants and voter-approved special tax levies for green programs. Palmer said, however, that many city budgets are stretched by other priorities, such as law enforcement, recreation and senior citizen programs. And less tax revenue is likely to come in from property assessments caused by the nationwide housing slump. “The budgets are tight,” Palmer said. “We just can’t do it.”
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20070901/LATEST/70901006/-1/NEWS03
September 1 2007
By Michael Joe, Taryn Luntz, Janet Ahn and Jonathan Weinstein
Medill News Service
WASHINGTON Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox is one of more than 650 mayors nationwide who have signed the 2005 U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Change Agreement, called the “Cool Cities” agreement, pledging to reduce emissions to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. The agreement was created in response to the U.S. government’s refusal to sign on to the international agreement. Now, as the cities struggle to meet the 2012 reduction targets, the mayors are looking to Washington for help. In Tuscaloosa, Maddox said the city is taking steps to expand its curbside recycling program and is switching the fuel for its vehicles from diesel to biodisel.
He and the other mayors and the other mayors are coming up against surging demand for higher energy, a tight market for alternative energy sources, years of planned sprawl and the absence of a comprehensive national program. With cities responsible for 75 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions — primarily from burning gasoline, coal, natural gas, diesel and oil — mayors say they can’t complete the job without support from the federal government, possibly in the form of block grants to launch local energy-saving initiatives. “A lot of cities don’t have the money to do the kinds of things that are necessary,” said Mayor Douglas Palmer of Trenton, N.J., president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. “This is just the beginning. But just like any beginning you need startup money, you need capital, an initial investment to have long-term sustainable impact.
Palmer said what’s needed is a federal-local partnership.Adopting Kyoto goalsSix years ago, Bush criticized the Kyoto accord because developing countries like China and India were exempt from the requirements. Committing the U.S. to the limits outlined in the protocol would put the country at a competitive disadvantage and cause companies to relocate up to five million U.S. jobs overseas, Bush said. That attitude was at odds with most of the rest of the world. More than 170 other nations have ratified the agreement to cut greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, the chief contributor to global warming. The U.S. alone emits roughly one quarter of the globe’s greenhouse gases, though it has just 5 percent of the world’s population.
To fill the federal gap in environmental policy, cities are taking on the task themselves.In Burlington, Vt., hotels, the city’s electrical utility, and companies like Ben & Jerry’s have signed up to reduce emissions by 10 percent. In the Washington suburb of Takoma Park, Md., city vehicles run on biodiesel and the middle class residents are encouraged use alternative energy and make environmentally aware decisions in their homes.
In Tuscaloosa, all 250 pieces of city-owned equipment now run on diesel to biodiesel fuel, a mixture of 20 percent soybean oil and 80 percent diesel. “It will reduce the amount of diesel we’re burning by 100,000 gallons,” Maddox said. That reduces carbon monoxide by 12.6 percent, hydrocarbons by 11 percent, and air toxins by 12 percent, he said. The city also has plans to expand its recycling program. Although each of the city’s fire stations has drop-off recycling bins, curbside recycling is currently limited to select neighborhoods.
“In this year’s budget, we’re recommending a new recycling truck,” Maddox said. “Once it’s delivered it will increase our recycling by 4,500 homes.” A proposed landscape ordinance would increase greenspace in the city and reduce erosion, he said. Expanding the city’s site development permitting authority to include its police jurisdiction has helped control runoff into Lake Tuscaloosa. And the city has also formed an advisory committee to preserve the natural environment at Lake Nicol and Harris Lake.
Learning from cities
While the city of Northport has yet to make the strides Tuscaloosa has, Mayor Harvey Fretwell said he’s hoping to become a greener government within the year. He said the city already has a limited recycling program, with bins set up at the Public Works Facility and two schools. But Fretwell said he also hopes to employ strategies he’s read about elsewhere. Through a city and governmental planning magazine, Fretwell and planning director Katherine Ennis learned of Keene, N.H., a city of about 23,000 about 15 miles north of the Massachusetts state line.
Fretwell said Keene had begun using biodiesel to fuel the city’s fleet, using LED lights for traffic signals relying on bicycle police “We are looking at having an adviser come in and give us some information on that,” Fretwell said. “There are some great ideas, and it’s something I think we can move into gradually.” John Bailey, a research associate at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in Minneapolis, authored a study this year that examined the progress of 10 “Kyoto” cities. He said cities still need help. “The cities have committed to doing good things but they need the state or federal government to do things to help them,” he said.
Bailey found just one city, Portland, Ore., on pace to come close to the goal. Other cities in Bailey’s study included Seattle; San Francisco; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Austin; Boulder, Colo.; and Cambridge, Mass. Bailey found that the cities were counting on factors largely beyond their control, such as tighter state or federal standards for vehicle emissions and miles-per-gallon efficiency.
Federal aid obstacles
The block grant program that mayors are seeking was included in wide-ranging energy bills passed by the House and Senate aimed at alleviating climate change and relieving the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels and foreign oil. But it’s far from a done deal. The Senate and House versions still need to be negotiated, and Bush has threatened to veto the bills because they don’t increase domestic production of oil and gas. The president also opposes other major provisions sought by mayors and congressional Democrats, including mandatory caps on harmful emissions and national production targets for renewable fuels, like wind and solar power. Under the grant program, which would be administered by the Energy Department, financial awards based on population would go directly to larger cities and counties, and to states to allocate among smaller communities.
Bailey’s study, released in January, found that cities have been relying on state and federal grants and voter-approved special tax levies for green programs. Palmer said, however, that many city budgets are stretched by other priorities, such as law enforcement, recreation and senior citizen programs. And less tax revenue is likely to come in from property assessments caused by the nationwide housing slump. “The budgets are tight,” Palmer said. “We just can’t do it.”
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20070901/LATEST/70901006/-1/NEWS03
Spotlight: Jeremy Leggett of Solarcentury
By James Kanter
International Herald Tribune
August 31, 2007
LONDON: Jeremy Leggett knows it's not easy being green. In the late 1980s Leggett turned his back on a glittering career in oil exploration to join Greenpeace as the group's scientific adviser on climate change - much to the derision of his colleagues in industry. Seven years later, Leggett abandoned Greenpeace, disappointed by the group's inability to influence the debate over global warming. Now he heads solarcentury, a company he founded nine years ago to help other companies embrace solar energy.
"I consider that the environmental movement has failed," Leggett said during a recent interview on the roof of his company headquarters, on a busy street near the Waterloo train station in London. "We may have done some damage limitation," Leggett said of his years at Greenpeace, "but I don't feel there was a single point of substantial victory on climate change." Leggett, 53, started his professional life with the aim of earning enough money to have a plusher lifestyle than his parents. To the frustration of his father, an environmentally minded biology teacher, Leggett used his doctorate from Oxford to advise oil and natural gas companies on prospecting.
"I was a creature of the oil industry," said Leggett, who also became a lecturer at Imperial College, London, training the petroleum geologists and engineers of the future. The turning point for Leggett was in 1988, when he read articles in scientific journals modeling the effects of carbon dioxide emissions on global warming. During his career with Greenpeace, Leggett crisscrossed the world attending dozens of climate conferences to lobby against the influence of "the carbon club," Leggett's term for the oil companies and groups promoting coal that pressured governments to block a global treaty to cut emissions.
Leggett chalked up some notable victories, at one point joining forces with the leaders of small island states to focus attention on rising seas that threaten the existence of countries like Tuvalu. But his faith in the potential of nongovernmental organizations to influence events was eroded, he said, as he saw recommendations by scientists at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change watered down by lobbyists. Leggett's greatest disappointment was failing to persuade the $2 trillion insurance industry to start divesting its holdings in fossil fuel companies and to channel capital into solar energy. Leggett had thought he could persuade the insurers that the best way to curb losses from increasingly violent storms and floods was to hasten the end of the fossil fuel era.
Leggett founded solarcentury in 1998 to instigate fundamental changes in energy markets. These days Leggett has a staff of about 60. His company helps other companies integrate photovoltaic cells into roofs and walls. Sales in 2006 were £13.8 million, or $27.7 million. Clients include Gazeley, a unit of Wal-Mart Stores that builds and leases vast warehouses. Nick Cook, development director at Gazeley, said huge companies like DHL were increasingly demanding installation of photovoltaic systems. Leggett's company also is working with British property developers like Berkeley Homes to build solar cells into the roofs of new houses.
Leggett acknowledged that he still had work to do on his own company's carbon footprint. Solarcentury's offices are poorly insulated. The photovoltaic panels on his office roof supply only a small fraction of the electricity used by the company. He envisions moving into a new headquarters wired for solar and renewable energy, "but we have to hit our growth plans first," he said.
Some of Leggett's peers fault him for exaggerating the potential of solar power, particularly in cloudy Britain. For Leggett "to suggest that solar panels erected in the U.K. can make a major difference and enable us to retire a large number of thermal power stations is misleading," said George Monbiot, a visiting professor of planning at Oxford Brookes University and the author of "Heat," a book on climate change. "I honestly don't think I've hyped it," said Leggett, referring to solar. The real problem, he added, is that "too many people still don't believe that grown-ups get their energy this way."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/31/business/wbspot01.php
By James Kanter
International Herald Tribune
August 31, 2007
LONDON: Jeremy Leggett knows it's not easy being green. In the late 1980s Leggett turned his back on a glittering career in oil exploration to join Greenpeace as the group's scientific adviser on climate change - much to the derision of his colleagues in industry. Seven years later, Leggett abandoned Greenpeace, disappointed by the group's inability to influence the debate over global warming. Now he heads solarcentury, a company he founded nine years ago to help other companies embrace solar energy.
"I consider that the environmental movement has failed," Leggett said during a recent interview on the roof of his company headquarters, on a busy street near the Waterloo train station in London. "We may have done some damage limitation," Leggett said of his years at Greenpeace, "but I don't feel there was a single point of substantial victory on climate change." Leggett, 53, started his professional life with the aim of earning enough money to have a plusher lifestyle than his parents. To the frustration of his father, an environmentally minded biology teacher, Leggett used his doctorate from Oxford to advise oil and natural gas companies on prospecting.
"I was a creature of the oil industry," said Leggett, who also became a lecturer at Imperial College, London, training the petroleum geologists and engineers of the future. The turning point for Leggett was in 1988, when he read articles in scientific journals modeling the effects of carbon dioxide emissions on global warming. During his career with Greenpeace, Leggett crisscrossed the world attending dozens of climate conferences to lobby against the influence of "the carbon club," Leggett's term for the oil companies and groups promoting coal that pressured governments to block a global treaty to cut emissions.
Leggett chalked up some notable victories, at one point joining forces with the leaders of small island states to focus attention on rising seas that threaten the existence of countries like Tuvalu. But his faith in the potential of nongovernmental organizations to influence events was eroded, he said, as he saw recommendations by scientists at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change watered down by lobbyists. Leggett's greatest disappointment was failing to persuade the $2 trillion insurance industry to start divesting its holdings in fossil fuel companies and to channel capital into solar energy. Leggett had thought he could persuade the insurers that the best way to curb losses from increasingly violent storms and floods was to hasten the end of the fossil fuel era.
Leggett founded solarcentury in 1998 to instigate fundamental changes in energy markets. These days Leggett has a staff of about 60. His company helps other companies integrate photovoltaic cells into roofs and walls. Sales in 2006 were £13.8 million, or $27.7 million. Clients include Gazeley, a unit of Wal-Mart Stores that builds and leases vast warehouses. Nick Cook, development director at Gazeley, said huge companies like DHL were increasingly demanding installation of photovoltaic systems. Leggett's company also is working with British property developers like Berkeley Homes to build solar cells into the roofs of new houses.
Leggett acknowledged that he still had work to do on his own company's carbon footprint. Solarcentury's offices are poorly insulated. The photovoltaic panels on his office roof supply only a small fraction of the electricity used by the company. He envisions moving into a new headquarters wired for solar and renewable energy, "but we have to hit our growth plans first," he said.
Some of Leggett's peers fault him for exaggerating the potential of solar power, particularly in cloudy Britain. For Leggett "to suggest that solar panels erected in the U.K. can make a major difference and enable us to retire a large number of thermal power stations is misleading," said George Monbiot, a visiting professor of planning at Oxford Brookes University and the author of "Heat," a book on climate change. "I honestly don't think I've hyped it," said Leggett, referring to solar. The real problem, he added, is that "too many people still don't believe that grown-ups get their energy this way."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/31/business/wbspot01.php
Condos take energy savings to new level
By Paul Beebe
The Salt Lake Tribune
08/30/2007
A patch of ground where three drug houses once cast a pall of fear over a West Temple neighborhood has been brought back to life by a Salt Lake City company that builds super-efficient dwellings.
Earlier this week, the Blue Conservancy took the wraps off of the Rowhaus Condominiums - two buildings containing 24 condominiums that look like East Coast row houses but take energy efficiency to new heights.
"We're trying to provide comfortable living spaces that have a long life span and utilize energy-efficient design and building techniques," Mark Wisniewski, principal officer of the conservancy and a freelance anesthesiologist, said earlier this week.
The condos at 1130 S. West Temple St. are separated by foot-thick insulated concrete partition walls that virtually stop sounds from traveling between units. The same material was used recently to construct sound-proof walls at movie theaters in West Jordan and Ogden, Wisniewski said. Floors withstand ground temperature fluctuations, cutting heating costs. White membranes covering the roofs reflect summer solar energy away from the building. Gas-heat and air-conditioning units are mounted on the roof to minimize interior noise. Each unit is priced around $300,000, which buys 2,000 square feet of living space - there is virtually no wasted area in the building, Wisniewski said. Each condo also comes with a 500-square-foot garage and a yard with sprinklers for gardens or xeriscaping. Perhaps best of all, pets are allowed.
The neighborhood around 1100 South and West Temple used to be a high-crime area. That began to change 15 months ago after the drug houses were burned down by the Salt Lake Fire Department and construction began on the Rowhaus project. Over time, as some of the condos were sold, children returned to a park across the street that police say was notorious for drug-related crime.
"The Rowhaus project not only turned a former crime scene into a much-needed training experience, but also served as a catalyst in turning the neighborhood around," Salt Lake Police Chief Chris Burbank said. "Where we used to get four or five calls per day to investigate criminal activity at the park, we now see a true community gathering place where people can walk safely," the chief said.
The conservancy has constructed 12 energy-efficient houses in Virginia, Montana and Salt Lake over the past decade. The Rowhaus project is the group's biggest effort, Wisniewski said. So far, nine condos have been sold. Buyers include a University of Utah professor, a retired couple, a young family with one child, and two professional couples without children. "They appeal to a wide range of people," Wisniewski said. Another two units are for sale, and the rest will come onto the market at a rate of about two a month. Babs DeLay, owner of Urban Utah Homes and Estates, is the agent.
"There are certainly other projects that utilize sustainable design elements. But Rowhaus is an outstanding project in terms of energy-efficient design and efficient use of electricity and other resources," said Patrick Thronson, a spokesman for Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_6765790
By Paul Beebe
The Salt Lake Tribune
08/30/2007
A patch of ground where three drug houses once cast a pall of fear over a West Temple neighborhood has been brought back to life by a Salt Lake City company that builds super-efficient dwellings.
Earlier this week, the Blue Conservancy took the wraps off of the Rowhaus Condominiums - two buildings containing 24 condominiums that look like East Coast row houses but take energy efficiency to new heights.
"We're trying to provide comfortable living spaces that have a long life span and utilize energy-efficient design and building techniques," Mark Wisniewski, principal officer of the conservancy and a freelance anesthesiologist, said earlier this week.
The condos at 1130 S. West Temple St. are separated by foot-thick insulated concrete partition walls that virtually stop sounds from traveling between units. The same material was used recently to construct sound-proof walls at movie theaters in West Jordan and Ogden, Wisniewski said. Floors withstand ground temperature fluctuations, cutting heating costs. White membranes covering the roofs reflect summer solar energy away from the building. Gas-heat and air-conditioning units are mounted on the roof to minimize interior noise. Each unit is priced around $300,000, which buys 2,000 square feet of living space - there is virtually no wasted area in the building, Wisniewski said. Each condo also comes with a 500-square-foot garage and a yard with sprinklers for gardens or xeriscaping. Perhaps best of all, pets are allowed.
The neighborhood around 1100 South and West Temple used to be a high-crime area. That began to change 15 months ago after the drug houses were burned down by the Salt Lake Fire Department and construction began on the Rowhaus project. Over time, as some of the condos were sold, children returned to a park across the street that police say was notorious for drug-related crime.
"The Rowhaus project not only turned a former crime scene into a much-needed training experience, but also served as a catalyst in turning the neighborhood around," Salt Lake Police Chief Chris Burbank said. "Where we used to get four or five calls per day to investigate criminal activity at the park, we now see a true community gathering place where people can walk safely," the chief said.
The conservancy has constructed 12 energy-efficient houses in Virginia, Montana and Salt Lake over the past decade. The Rowhaus project is the group's biggest effort, Wisniewski said. So far, nine condos have been sold. Buyers include a University of Utah professor, a retired couple, a young family with one child, and two professional couples without children. "They appeal to a wide range of people," Wisniewski said. Another two units are for sale, and the rest will come onto the market at a rate of about two a month. Babs DeLay, owner of Urban Utah Homes and Estates, is the agent.
"There are certainly other projects that utilize sustainable design elements. But Rowhaus is an outstanding project in terms of energy-efficient design and efficient use of electricity and other resources," said Patrick Thronson, a spokesman for Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_6765790
China builds another gas pipeline to fuel energy-thirsty east
www.chinaview.cn
2007-09-01
BEIJING, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday afternoon launched a gas pipeline that runs from the southwestern inland of Sichuan to coastal Shanghai, another "energy artery" to fuel the booming but energy-insufficient east following the grand West-East gas project. The 1,700-km pipeline is expected to channel 12 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from the Puguang field in Sichuan Province to the central and eastern regions that cover Hubei, Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang provinces and Shanghai.
Addressing the launching ceremony, Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan said the project will serve as another "energy artery" of the country in addition to the West-East gas pipeline, which runs more than 4,000 kilometers from northwesternmost Xinjiang to Shanghai and began operation in 2004. Zeng said the project offers an opportunity for the country's west, which boasts rich resources but lags far behind the east in economic growth, to tap its advantage in resources for development.
If things go well, the project, with an investment of 62.7 billion yuan (8.25 billion U.S. dollars), will start to channel gas to Shanghai at the beginning of 2010, according to Chen Deming, vice minister in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). When the project is completed, the clean energy resource is expected to help reduce carbon dioxide emission by tens of millions of tons annually, said Chen.
Proven reserves of the Puguang gas field may reach 430 billion cubic meters by the end of this year, said He Shenghou, an official with the China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. (Sinopec). China's proven reserve of natural gas has totaled 2.66 trillion cubic meters. The gas-rich country has been promoting the use of natural gas to improve energy buildup and cut air pollution.
Under an NDRC proposal on natural gas development, China aims to increase its natural gas pipeline to 4.4 trillion kilometers by 2010 to satisfy surging demand. Although China's natural gas output would reach 94 billion cubic meters in 2010 from 58.6 billion in 2006, the country would still need imports to fill a gap of 16 billion cubic meters a year, according to the China Business News.
In Shanghai, demand of natural gas has soared from four million cubic meters in 2003 to 1.9 billion in 2005. With the operation of the West-East gas pipeline, 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas is channeled to Shanghai from the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang every year.
China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) has decided to build a second West-East pipeline to carry gas imported from Central Asia to the Pearl River and Yangtze River deltas. Construction will begin in 2008 and gas supply in 2010. The designed annual production volume will be 30 billion cubic meters.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-09/01/content_6641812.htm
www.chinaview.cn
2007-09-01
BEIJING, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday afternoon launched a gas pipeline that runs from the southwestern inland of Sichuan to coastal Shanghai, another "energy artery" to fuel the booming but energy-insufficient east following the grand West-East gas project. The 1,700-km pipeline is expected to channel 12 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from the Puguang field in Sichuan Province to the central and eastern regions that cover Hubei, Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang provinces and Shanghai.
Addressing the launching ceremony, Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan said the project will serve as another "energy artery" of the country in addition to the West-East gas pipeline, which runs more than 4,000 kilometers from northwesternmost Xinjiang to Shanghai and began operation in 2004. Zeng said the project offers an opportunity for the country's west, which boasts rich resources but lags far behind the east in economic growth, to tap its advantage in resources for development.
If things go well, the project, with an investment of 62.7 billion yuan (8.25 billion U.S. dollars), will start to channel gas to Shanghai at the beginning of 2010, according to Chen Deming, vice minister in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). When the project is completed, the clean energy resource is expected to help reduce carbon dioxide emission by tens of millions of tons annually, said Chen.
Proven reserves of the Puguang gas field may reach 430 billion cubic meters by the end of this year, said He Shenghou, an official with the China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. (Sinopec). China's proven reserve of natural gas has totaled 2.66 trillion cubic meters. The gas-rich country has been promoting the use of natural gas to improve energy buildup and cut air pollution.
Under an NDRC proposal on natural gas development, China aims to increase its natural gas pipeline to 4.4 trillion kilometers by 2010 to satisfy surging demand. Although China's natural gas output would reach 94 billion cubic meters in 2010 from 58.6 billion in 2006, the country would still need imports to fill a gap of 16 billion cubic meters a year, according to the China Business News.
In Shanghai, demand of natural gas has soared from four million cubic meters in 2003 to 1.9 billion in 2005. With the operation of the West-East gas pipeline, 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas is channeled to Shanghai from the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang every year.
China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) has decided to build a second West-East pipeline to carry gas imported from Central Asia to the Pearl River and Yangtze River deltas. Construction will begin in 2008 and gas supply in 2010. The designed annual production volume will be 30 billion cubic meters.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-09/01/content_6641812.htm
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