Portland Plans for Transit All Powered by Electricity

Hans van der Meer

FULLY COVERED A new solar-powered charging station in Portland, Ore., can also supply power to the electrical grid.

By KEN BELSON

New York Times

Published: August 26, 2011

PORTLAND, Ore. To drivers passing by on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, the structure rising above the parking lot is mostly unremarkable. But to the eco-elites who gathered in this green-leaning city in June for its unveiling, it represented a blueprint for the filling station of the future.

The roof of the 12-foot-tall steel canopy, built by EV4 Oregon, is covered with solar cells that generate power for a pair of ECOtality Blink Level 2 electric-vehicle chargers at the base. The facility is connected to the electrical grid, so any excess electricity from the solar cells can be sent to the local utility.

The canopy is more than just a sunny-day design: other installations will include an underground bank of batteries to store electricity for distribution after dark. As the electric vehicle population grows, more canopies can be added to create a covered parking lot.

“This is the future, my friends, and it will make a difference,” said Jeff Cogen, chairman of the Multnomah County Commission and one of several dignitaries to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “Hopefully, in 20 years, we can look back and say, ‘I remember when these were introduced.’ ”

With major automakers like General Motors and Nissan now selling plug-in vehicles, charging stations like this one are seen as a vital element in persuading drivers to adopt zero-pollution cars. Without a convenient place to replenish batteries away from home, electric cars would be a hard sell for consumers.

And finally coming online after years of false starts and schedule delays — even in a city that presents itself as a hub for all things electric — these chargers are a welcome sign that the logjams holding back the acceptance of electric cars may at last be breaking up.

Rather than just promote electric vehicles and the installation of charging spots, a coalition of government officials, carmakers, academics and local utilities is trying to integrate all forms of electric transportation into the city.

“Electric vehicles are just a part of the way we’re going to make cities smarter and more efficient,” said Deena Platman, a transportation planner at Metro, the regional planning agency. “It’s the next evolution in sustainability in the city.”

In many ways, electric vehicles are a good fit in Portland. The city is compact enough that the average day’s driving of most households, about 20 miles, is easily covered on a single battery charge. Three-quarters of the state’s residents live along the Interstate 5 corridor between Portland and Eugene, two hours south. Oregon also relies heavily on hydroelectric power, which produces no direct carbon emissions.

Portland has a dense street-car and light-rail network, and the city has the country’s highest per-capita ownership of Toyota Prius hybrids, according to George Beard, a manager in the Office of Research and Strategic Partnerships at Portland State University.

Portland’s embrace of all things electric is one reason why Toyota chose it as one of the cities where it is testing its new plug-in hybrid Prius, which is expected to be introduced in 2012. Green Lite, a local start-up, is creating a plug-in hybrid prototype that it says gets 100 miles per gallon. Eaton, an automotive supplier and infrastructure company, plans to build fast chargers at its plant in Wilsonville, south of Portland.

“Eaton Corporation is working to expand the electric vehicle charging infrastructure and ensure that drivers of these vehicles have the peace of mind they need when commuting,” said Tom Schafer, vice president and general manager of Eaton’s Commercial Distribution Products Division. 

These and other companies in Oregon are trying to tackle a key challenge to the electrification of the vehicle fleet: how to install enough chargers so drivers can get past their concerns of finding charging stations away from home.

Installing a charger in a homeowner’s garage is relatively straightforward. Putting chargers on public property is more complex. Who, for example, will install and maintain the chargers? How much will the electricity cost? Who is responsible if pedestrians trip over electric cords? How much should electric vehicles pay to park at chargers?

“The issues are insane,” said Mark Gregory, an associate vice president of finance and administration at Portland State University, which is part of the coalition studying various issues. “In two years, we hope to answer these questions.”

One laboratory for exploring these issues is a short walk from Mr. Gregory’s office. A one-block stretch of downtown, nicknamed Electric Avenue, was conceived as an oasis for all types of electric vehicles, and a vision of how these vehicles can fit into a broader transportation system. Indeed, the avenue runs adjacent to a transit mall on Sixth Avenue where buses, street cars and the light-rail network converge, making it a vibrant hub for residents on their way to work, class or a shop or restaurant.

Electric Avenue’s power lines, buried under the street, will provide the electricity for eight chargers made by seven different companies. Drivers pay normal parking rates, and the electricity for their vehicles is free, subsidized for two years by Portland State University. In all, the installation cost about $80,000.

“We are trying to figure out how to meld it into the urban landscape,” said Mr. Beard of Portland State, which spearheaded the Electric Avenue project with the city and Portland General Electric, the local utility. “We want to capture data on vehicles and chargers and gauge the public’s interest.”

The findings from the Electric Avenue study will complement a $100 million federally financed project to install 1,100 public chargers around the state. About 100 of the chargers have been installed, though the project is about a year behind schedule.

The ultimate goal, though, is to make available more of the direct-current fast chargers that will replenish a battery in half an hour or less. A handful already exist in Portland, and the Oregon Department of Transportation has chosen AeroVironment, of Monrovia, Calif., to install another 22 of these fast chargers. But because there is not yet a uniform standard for their plugs, their introduction has been slower.

At least in Portland, where the appetite for electric vehicles is strong, the fast chargers cannot come soon enough.

“We’re idled at the green light of opportunity,” Mr. Beard said.

A version of this article appeared in print on August 28, 2011, on page AU2 of the New York edition with the headline: Portland Plans for Transit All Powered by Electricity.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/28/automobiles/portland-plans-for-transit-all-powered-by-electricity.html?src=recg&pagewanted=all

Energy-efficient homes seem to sell faster, fetch higher prices

Some research projects in California, Oregon and Washington offer hints that energy efficiency and sustainability certifications for homes may result in easier sales and higher prices.

By Kenneth R. Harney

August 28, 2011

Home energy efficiency and sustainability have been major policy priorities for the Obama administration, but lurking in the background are two consistent questions: Beyond the documentable savings on utility bills, do such steps add to the resale value of a home? And do they make it easier or faster to sell your property?

Housing groups and housing officials say that definitive statistical data covering multiple regions of the country are scarce. But some localized research projects in Oregon, Washington and California offer promising hints.

In a study covering existing and new houses sold from May 2010 through April of this year, the Earth Advantage Institute, a nonprofit group based in Portland, Ore., found that newly constructed homes with third-party certifications for sustainability and energy efficiency sold for 8% more on average than noncertified homes in the six-county Portland metropolitan area. Existing houses with certifications sold for 30% more.

The raw sales data in the study were provided by the Portland Regional Multiple Listing Service. "Certified" houses were defined as those carrying Energy Star or LEED for Homes designations or Earth Advantage home certifications. (LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.) The latest study was the fourth in an annual series conducted by Earth Advantage, each of which has shown clear price premiums for certified houses.

But officials caution that using average sales prices pulled from MLS data without trying to measure "comparable" homes against one another directly may not be conclusive. For instance, newly constructed certified houses may be more expensive to start, and existing certified homes may be larger and more likely to be in higher-cost neighborhoods where homeowner adoption rates for energy-efficiency measures are higher.

Nonetheless, said Dakota Gale, Earth Advantage's manager of sustainable finance, looking back at four years of studies, "we can still see a consistent trend that third-party certification continues to result in a higher sales price, even during the past year when home sales were down."

A study conducted two years ago by the institute in Seattle and Portland identified what may be another plus: Homes marketed with energy-efficiency certifications appear to sell faster on average than those without. The study tried to come up with rough comparability in appraisal terms between certified and noncertified properties, and it found that in Portland, certified homes spent 18 days less time on the market after listing than noncertified counterparts. In both Portland and Seattle, researchers documented price premiums — 9.6% in Seattle, 4.2% in Portland — in a statistical analysis with a 95% confidence level.

A recent study on houses in San Diego and Sacramento published by the National Bureau of Economic Research took a different tack: When you install photovoltaic solar panels on your roof, how much do you get back in market resale terms, beyond monthly energy savings?

Researchers examined a sample of home sales in the $500,000 range in both metropolitan areas between 2003 and 2010 and found that, on average, solar panel installations cost owners $35,967. But with federal and state subsidies, the net average cost came down to $20,892. This net expenditure, in turn, yielded an increase in appraised value by $20,194 — a 97% rate of recovery on the investment.

Though less than 100%, the rate is much higher than most home improvements in the most recent "Cost vs. Value" study conducted by Remodeling magazine — well above major kitchen and bathroom renovations.

Kevin Morrow, senior program manager for green building at the National Assn. of Home Builders, says that although many newly constructed homes come with energy and sustainability certifications, banks don't necessarily recognize their value when it comes to providing mortgage money.

For example, bank underwriters often do not include reduced monthly utility costs in the household income/household expense ratios that affect the maximum mortgage amounts available to buyers.

"The case needs to be made" to lenders, he said, "that, hey, these houses will cost less to operate, so they should be worth more."

Morrow added that appraisers are part of the issue as well if they don't have the training to recognize and credit extra value to houses that have money-saving solar installations, geothermal heating and cooling, Energy Star appliances, water conservation features and other green improvements.

The Appraisal Institute, the largest group representing that industry, says it has sponsored "green" appraisal courses for 2,300 appraisers during the last two years. It says it strongly supports efforts to better incorporate energy and environmental factors into mortgage underwriting and home valuations, including a possible congressional mandate requiring it.

kenharney@earthlink.net

http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-harney-20110828,0,111611.story

Con Ed 'optimistic' no Lower Manhattan shutdown

Associated Press

NEW YORK — A spokeswoman says Con Edison is "cautiously optimistic" that it won' t have to turn off power to about 17,000 people at the southern tip of Manhattan. The area encompasses the nation's financial capital, ground zero and the luxury high-rise apartments of Battery Park City.

The utility had considered a shutdown to protect its underground equipment if Tropical Storm Irene pushed seawater over a flood wall and swamped the area. But flooding there has been minimal.

Spokeswoman Sara Banda says "the situation is looking better and better" in lower Manhattan, but Con Ed is still watching conditions there. She says the utility's focus is shifting to other areas, where overhead power lines have been damaged.

About 95,000 Con Ed customers are without power in the city and suburbs.

http://online.wsj.com/article/AP79038149617c41cfa0db223ab58355f6.html

Con Ed’s Decision on Shutdown Likely Sunday Morning

By Michael Howard Saul

Wall Street Journal

Power could be shut off in Lower Manhattan — specifically hitting Wall Street — as a precaution against storm surges as Hurricane Irene strikes, authorities said. A final decision will likely come Sunday morning.

Consolidated Edison Co., the power company for about 3.3 million buildings, homes and businesses in the New York City area, estimated Saturday afternoon that 6,500 downtown customers, all south of the Brooklyn Bridge, could face a preemptive shutdown as early as Sunday morning.

John Miksad, Con Edison’s senior vice president of electric operations, said the utility is particularly concerned about the financial industry and has reached out to Wall Street firms about the potential shutdown.

“The New York Stock Exchange, and all the exchanges, have power generation on site that they could run,” he said. “We’ve actually reached out to them to sort of get a better understanding of what else we could do to support that. And, again, all of this is worst-case scenario, assuming the storm and the tides align (and) we need to make that decision.”

Con Ed has already made the decision to turn off part of the city’s underground steam system, a move that affects 50 customers along 10 miles out of the 110-mile network. These customers, most living downtown, would lose hot water as a result.

As for the 6,500 customers most in danger of a preemptive power shutdown, Mr. Miksad predicted a decision on that front would be made around 8 a.m. Sunday.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, at a news conference Saturday, said people in Lower Manhattan should expect to have their power turned off.

http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2011/08/27/hurricane-irene-lower-manhattan-power-shutdown-decision-on-sunday-morning/

No Plans to Cut Power in Lower Manhattan, Con Edison Says

August 27, 2011, 12:41 PM

By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM

NewYork Times

Officials at Consolidated Edison said on Saturday they had no current plans for a pre-emptive shutdown of electrical power in parts of Manhattan. But the utility said its most vulnerable substations on the island, most of which are by the waterline in the financial district, would be monitored for any severe flooding conditions.

If a shutdown of those substations did become necessary, the affected area would be the southeastern tip of Manhattan, bordered by the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Broadway on the west and the East River on the south and east, said Chris Olert, a spokesman for Con Ed.

Mr. Olert said about 6,400 customers, including some large office buildings and multidwelling apartment houses, might potentially lose power in that scenario.

In a news conference earlier on Saturday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg warned of the specter of an electrical shutdown in parts of downtown Manhattan because of the vulnerability of low-lying Con Edison substations.

“It’s conceivable that in downtown Manhattan, for example, there will be no electricity, as well as a lot of water in the streets,” the mayor said.

A shutdown in the area would occur only if a substation were flooded during the storm, Mr. Olert said. Such action would be taken to prevent more severe damage to electrical circuits and to allow power to be restored more quickly once the storm had passed.

But the utility is far more concerned with the overhead electrical wires on Staten Island and in Queens, the Bronx and parts of Westchester County, Mr. Olert said. Con Ed will be closely tracking wind conditions in those areas, and it has warned residents to look out for, and stay away from, any downed wires.

As for Lower Manhattan, Mr. Olert said, “we are not doing any shutdowns today, unless something erupts.”

Power Substations in Manhattan Are Seen as Vulnerable to Flooding, Officials Say

By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM

Published: August 27, 2011

New York Times

A slice of Manhattan’s southeastern tip may be especially vulnerable to a loss of electricity from Hurricane Irene, Consolidated Edison said Saturday, and officials at the public utility said it could be forced to pre-emptively shut off power in low-lying parts of New York City. 

Some substations along the waterline of Lower Manhattan could be susceptible to severe flooding if the Hudson and East Rivers rise significantly because of the storm, said Chris Olert, a Con Edison spokesman.

If shut down, the substation — core power grids similar to the circuit panel in a home — would leave more than 6,000 buildings without power in an area south of the Brooklyn Bridge and east of lower Broadway, bounded by the East River, Mr. Olert said.

The affected customers might include large office buildings, including some banks, and apartment houses. In the worst-case situation, Con Ed workers could take two to three days to restore power, raising the possibility that the city’s financial sector would find it difficult to resume business on Monday.

The utility acknowledged that a fierce flood of storm water, particularly if aligned with high tide, would force workers to shut down power stations in low-lying parts of the city. Officials said that no decision was expected until early Sunday.

In a news conference, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg warned of the specter of an electrical shutdown in the utility’s vulnerable districts. “It’s conceivable that in downtown Manhattan, for example, there will be no electricity, as well as a lot of water in the streets,” he said.

A shutdown in Manhattan, where the company’s cables and pipes mostly run beneath the streets, would prevent more severe damage to electrical circuits and allow power to be restored more quickly once the storm passes. Still, while the utility was monitoring water levels in Lower Manhattan, officials said they were more concerned about damage to the overhead electrical wires that provide power to Staten Island and parts of the Bronx, Queens and Westchester County.

By Saturday afternoon, Con Ed officials said they had seen no sign of strains to the city’s electrical grid. But the utility did act to shut off steam from 10 miles of its 110-mile underground steam system in Manhattan. Some 50 customers south of 14th Street, including offices, banks and some public housing complexes, would lose hot water as a result.

More than 400 backup crews from states as far as Colorado and Texas traveled to New York to assist Con Edison. About 1,700 of the utility’s workers are on hand over the weekend to assess and repair damage.

The utility has sandbagged some of its low-lying properties and is using security cameras to check on water levels around the ring of Lower Manhattan.

Reporting for the hurricane coverage was contributed by Matt Flegenheimer, Christine Haughney, Thomas Kaplan, Anna M. Phillips, Liz Robbins, Noah Rosenberg, Fernanda Santos and Tim Stelloh.

In Auto Test in Europe, Meter Ticks Off Miles, and Fee to Driver

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

New York Times

Published: August 10, 2011

EINDHOVEN, the Netherlands — As Sander Van Dedem recalled watching the charges tick up every 10 seconds on the dashboard meter on the way to the airport, he resolved to try public transportation next time.  “Looking at the money makes you realize that a car isn’t always a good idea,” said Mr. Van Dedem, a commercial sales manager for I.B.M. here.

But his pricey ride was not in a taxi. He was driving his own Volvo XC60.

The car had been outfitted with the meter so that Mr. Van Dedem could take part in a trial of a controversial government tax proposal to charge drivers a fee for the miles they drive. The meter also factors in the cost to society in the form of pollution, traffic congestion, greenhouse gas emissions and wear and tear on roads.

Hooked up to the Internet wirelessly and to GPS, the system tabulates a charge for each car trip by using a mileage-based formula that also takes account of a car’s fuel efficiency, the time of day and the route. (Driving on busier thoroughfares costs more than driving on less-traveled roads.) At the end of each month, the vehicle’s owner would receive a bill detailing times and costs of usage, not unlike a cellphone bill, although participants in the trial did not have to pay the charges.

Governments in car-clogged regions of Europe, Asia and even the United States have shown an eagerness to explore such systems, but they face a nagging challenge in placing them in private vehicles. Even in environmentally conscious places like the Netherlands, voters and politicians often vehemently oppose the programs, citing privacy concerns about the monitoring of drivers’ whereabouts and the introduction of what amounts to a new type of tax.

In the Netherlands, where by some accounts residents have the highest average commuting time in Europe and a reputation for receptivity to environmental innovation, the government had planned to institute a nationwide system next year.  But the plan was shelved when a new government came to power in 2010.

“The winning party said, ‘If you elect us, there won’t be new taxes,’ and killed the plan,” said Ab Oosting, a city official in Eindhoven. 

Supporters of the meters contend that the charges are more equitable than current taxes like automobile purchase and registration fees, because they derive from actual use rather than mere ownership. If imposed, they could supplant gas and vehicle taxes as well as tolls. Governments could program  computers to require consistent gas guzzlers to pay higher rates, for example. 

Distance charging also provides a means of replacing declining revenues from gasoline taxes as more people drive highly efficient, hybrid or electric cars, helping governments that have traditionally depended on gas taxes for road upkeep. 

Equally important, studies have found that the meters provide instantaneous negative feedback, the kind that psychologists say changes behavior.

“At the beginning you’re looking at it all the time and thinking of costs, and pretty quickly it starts to influence what you do,” said Mr. Van Dedem, whose rush-hour airport ride would have incurred a charge of just over $5 under the rates proposed in the Netherlands.

The effect has been lasting: even though the trial was two years ago and the meter has been removed, he now works from home more in the mornings and walks to the market, he said.

In Europe, countries like Germany and Denmark “were looking to the Netherlands to test the technology” and were disappointed when the plan was shelved, said Peder Jensen, a transportation expert at the European Environment Agency. Germany has already started using a GPS-based charging system for trucks, and France is planning to do so, a step that is less politically volatile than charging drivers of private cars.

In the United States, states including Oregon, Texas and Minnesota have explored mileage charging systems, but the first tentative proposals have faced obstacles there as well. A longstanding proposal in Oregon to introduce such charging for electric cars stalled in committee this spring and never made it to a vote. It suggested a transitional rate of 0.85 cents per mile in 2015 and 1.85 cents per mile by 2018. 

Although the program was primarily an attempt to recoup lost revenue from gasoline taxes, it was also intended to test the waters for distance charging that would eventually apply to all cars.

“We started with a new type of car where the policy argument was clear: electric vehicles don’t pay gas taxes,” said James M. Whitty, manager of Oregon’s Office of Innovative Partnerships and Alternative Funding. “But the idea was to get by the anxiety about what the new tax system was about, to see if it would be acceptable.”

The Oregon proposal did not envisage installing real-time GPS-based meters in each car, but merely recording the mileage though the odometer. An earlier trial using a GPS unit had stirred a public outcry even though the unit did not reveal locations as it relayed data to the state.  “The public didn’t trust that,” Mr. Whitty said.

Eric-Mark Huitema, a transportation specialist with I.B.M., which developed the system used in the Netherlands in collaboration with the semiconductor company NXP, said that the hardware and software performed well in the testing period.  

“The trials work well, but it’s first a psychological issue and second a political choice,” he said. “To do it you need support of the government, and it needs to happen when there is not an election because there’s always a bit of resistance.”

Under the shelved plan in the Netherlands, rates would have varied from 4.5 to 45 cents per mile. Government studies predicted that 60 or 70 percent of drivers would pay less than under the current system of car taxation.

The European Union continues to prod member states to try distance charging despite the setbacks. High car and gas taxes have failed to stem the growth of car use in Western Europe, leaving densely populated countries paralyzed at rush hour.

Belgium plans to start a small trial of 50 drivers in September. “Traffic jams are expected to double by 2020; the roads are full, full, full,” said Freidl Maertens, director of the pilot program in Leuven, Belgium. Singapore is also contemplating a mileage-based tax system, though so far the plans do not include a digital display, which some experts see as a crucial component.

According to data collected in the Eindhoven trial, watching the small charges add up changed driving habits.

“Seeing the meter helps,” Mr. Huitema said. “The old taxes don’t do that — you fill the tank, pay and try not to worry anymore.”

A version of this article appeared in print on August 11, 2011, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: In Auto Test in Europe, Meter Ticks Off Miles, and Fee to Driver.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/11/science/earth/11meter.html?ref=science

Bike hire schemes may save lives, researchers say

A study on the Barcelona bike hire scheme suggests averted carbon emissions saves 12 lives each year

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/bike-blog/2011/aug/05/bike-hire-schemes-save-lives

London homes to get free energy efficiency assessment

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About 55,000 homes in London are to get a free energy efficiency assessment which could lead to large reductions in residents' bills.

The RE:NEW programme follows a trial in nearly 9,000 homes, in which homeowners made savings of up to £154.

The scheme sees a report made of your home and a number of devices, such as low energy light bulbs and radiator panels, being installed for free.

Funded by the mayor of London, it runs until May 2012.

It also hopes to reduce fuel poverty by making sure householders are getting all the benefits and grants they are entitled to.

'Good economic sense'

Where appropriate, more substantial measures, such as loft and cavity wall insulation, will be offered.

These will be subsidised for those able to pay and free for those on qualifying benefits.

The project is supported by the Energy Saving Trust and the 32 London boroughs.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

This will save millions off fuel bills and fundamentally improve quality of life for Londoners”

Boris JohnsonMayor of London

London Mayor Boris Johnson said: "Cutting energy waste at a time of rising costs makes good economic sense and it benefits the environment by reducing carbon dioxide.

"I am determined to make buildings more efficient on an unprecedented scale to create jobs in a low carbon economy.

"This will save millions off fuel bills and fundamentally improve quality of life for Londoners."

Philip Sellwood, chief executive of the Energy Saving Trust, said: "The most successful energy efficiency programmes taken on area-by-area are those that offer something for everyone and where measures are installed on an individual, tailored basis.

"RE:NEW fits the bill on all counts - any householder, renting or owning, can benefit, and only the measures that will deliver carbon and bill savings for a given home will be considered."

RE:NEW teams are working in selected areas starting with the boroughs of Barking & Dagenham, Hackney and Waltham Forest.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14399271

U.S. cities, states require large buildings cite energy use - USATODAY.com

U.S. cities, states require large buildings cite energy use - USATODAY.com

Wonder how high the utility bills will be at that apartment you like? To help consumers and spur efficiency, U.S. states and cities are beginning this year to require that commercial buildings measure and disclose their energy use....

New York City's solar power map, money and big hopes - Jul. 25, 2011

New York City's solar power map, money and big hopes - Jul. 25, 2011

Energy Use Soars in City Under Grip of Scorcher

By PATRICK McGEEHAN

Published: July 22, 2011

The morning coffee had not gone cold at Consolidated Edison’s headquarters before its executives could see that trouble was brewing.

The utility’s customers, bracing for one of the hottest days in New York City’s history, were consuming considerably more electricity than they had on any morning before. At the rate they were plugging in and cranking up air conditioners, the previous peak of demand would not merely have been topped, it would have been torched.

That was a frightening prospect for the officials huddled in a makeshift command center at headquarters in Manhattan. They had prepared for an unprecedented draw on their network of underground cables and overhead wires, which spans the city and some suburbs to the north. But none of them knew just how far the system could be stretched without a major breakdown.

Then, at noon, the operator of New York State’s power grid rescued Con Ed by ordering many businesses and other large consumers of power to cut back. Managers of office and apartment buildings turned up their thermostats, dimmed lights and took some elevators out of service.

The New York Independent System Operator said those “demand response programs,” which provide incentives to commercial users for helping out in times of high demand, cover about 800 megawatts in New York City, on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley.

On Con Ed’s system alone, they may have saved 400 megawatts on Friday, said John Miksad, senior vice president for electric operations. He said city officials also pitched in by switching on backup generators at some facilities, including Gracie Mansion and two wastewater treatment plants. Those city properties did not go completely off the grid, but they sharply reduced the amount of power they drew from it, he said.

“We were going up at a rate of 1,000 megawatts an hour,” Mr. Miksad said, describing the spinning of the load meter projected on a floor-to-ceiling screen as “rocketing.” He said the total demand would have surpassed Con Ed’s projected peak for the day by 100 or 200 megawatts “if not for these programs.”

Even with them in effect, power consumption kept rising through the afternoon, briefly spiking above 13,200 megawatts. Officially, the new high is 13,189, which was the average load on Con Ed’s system between 3 and 4 p.m.

By then, the strain was showing: Con Ed reduced voltage in parts of all five boroughs and several towns in Westchester. It took that step, which keeps the lights and air conditioners on but with a little less hum, to try to head off equipment failures.

Meanwhile, the utility’s crews raced around the city repairing scattered problems that, at various times, left thousands of the company’s 3.2 million customers without power. Most of the failures were fixed within a few hours, though one feeder cable that failed near the Richmond Hill section of Queens was not expected to be back in service until Saturday morning.

Just before midnight on Friday, nearly 30,000 Con Ed customers in New York City and Westchester were without power. More than 25,000 of them were in New York City, primarily in Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island.

Saturday promised a combination of relief and added worry for the people charged with keeping the electricity flowing. Most commercial customers draw much less power after their employees take off for the weekend, but most of those workers are likely to spend much of Saturday hunkered in their homes in front of TV screens, air conditioners and fans.

“The residential areas tomorrow are going to be just as big a test as the other areas were today,” Mr. Miksad said.

Nearing the peak?

NYISO's all-time record peak of 33,939 MW occurred on August 2, 2006

Here's what demand looked like at 4 pm today (July 21, 2011) with Central Park temperature = 95 degrees F.

[load map courtesy the NYISO:  http://www.nyiso.com/public/markets_operations/market_data/maps/index.jsp]

PACE: Legislators introduce bill to resuscitate PACE program for green upgrades to homes - latimes.com

PACE: Legislators introduce bill to resuscitate PACE program for green upgrades to homes - latimes.com

Wrapping the cost of energy improvements into a mortgage - ContraCostaTimes.com

Wrapping the cost of energy improvements into a mortgage - ContraCostaTimes.com

By Eve Mitchell
Contra Costa Times

Stuck with soaring utility bills in a home that's a glutton for energy? Buying a home that has a lot to be desired in terms of energy-efficient features?

There's hope. An under-the-radar program that has been around since 1995 can help buyers save on their utility bills by letting them fold the cost of energy improvements into their mortgage. The program, dubbed Energy Efficient Mortgage, can be used by homeowners with both Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Administration loans....

If Indian Point Closes, Plenty of Challenges

By MATTHEW L. WALD

July 13, 2011

Peculiarities of the electricity system in New York State, including its unusual independent status, would make it difficult and expensive to replace electricity from the Indian Point nuclear power plant if Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo succeeds in shutting it down, experts on the grid warn.

Closing the plant could also increase the frequency of power failures, officials who run the state’s high-voltage grid say, given that New York has weak ties to generation capacity in other states.

Citing safety concerns, Mr. Cuomo warned Indian Point’s owner, Entergy, last month that he would insist that the plant’s two reactors in Westchester County be retired in 2013 and 2015, when their initial 40-year licenses expire. He maintains that some combination of new generators and new transmission lines could be ready in time to cope with summer 2016, the first peak demand period that power-hungry New York City and Long Island would face without both reactors.

But industry experts are skeptical that new generators or transmission lines could be built that quickly in the New York metropolitan region’s cumbersome regulatory environment. Obtaining construction permits, countering legal challenges and then building a plant or transmission line almost always takes more than five years, they note.

While a downstate coal or natural gas plant could step up production once Indian Point closed, that electricity could prove far more expensive, industry analysts say. And a lighting strike or other event that knocks out a transmission line — a problem that the system can usually ride through today — could lead to rotating blackouts, they add.

“The answer is pretty simple: prices will be higher and reliability will be lower,” said Edward Kee, vice president of the firm NERA Economic Consulting.

Up to 2.1 million customers in southern New York would be vulnerable to power interruptions from 2016 to 2020 if Indian Point shut down, Rick Gonzales, chief operating officer of the New York Independent System Operator, or I.S.O., told a State Senate committee in May.

Officials at the I.S.O., which runs the state’s grid, estimate that Westchester and New York’s five boroughs will use about 64,500 gigawatt-hours this year. Indian Point will generate about a quarter of that, or 16,000 gigawatt-hours.

If both Indian Point reactors were to close, wholesale electricity prices would rise about 12 percent, or $1.4 billion a year, according to a projection from Consolidated Edison, which serves more than three million customers in New York City and part of Westchester.

In New York’s daily energy auctions, the I.S.O. prices electricity by matching offering bids from suppliers against the amount of energy that utilities say they need to serve their customers. Nuclear plants always submit relatively low offers because their costs are the same whether they are running or not, and they want to be assured of having a market.

If Indian Point closes, the list of successful bidders will eventually include more plants fired by coal or natural gas. Their operating costs are higher and they will therefore bid higher, analysts say. And in a quirk of New York’s system, every supplier is paid at the price of the most expensive megawatt-hour needed to satisfy the region’s demand, which will magnify the rise in prices.

The price impact would be smaller if the state added some low-cost generation or transmission. So far, Mr. Cuomo has not been specific about where substitute power would come from, but aides say proposals are certain to emerge, now that he has taken a hard line on closing Indian Point.

“We recognize the window is relatively short,” said an aide, referring to the time it takes to build plants and transmission capacity. The aide spoke on the condition of anonymity because the policy has not been made final.

Some experts on New York’s electricity system suggest that existing transmission lines could be rebuilt to operate at higher voltage and thus provide more capacity. A proposal for a new line running from Quebec to New York City under Lake Champlain and the Hudson River is inching forward, for example, and sponsors say it could be completed by 2015.

Ashok Gupta, an energy expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, has suggested that some generators in northeastern Queens that run on natural gas could be replaced by newer ones that get more power out of a given amount of fuel. Such steps should be taken regardless of Indian Point’s fate, he and others contend.

“Everything we’re saying should be done if Indian Point should be shut down — should be done anyway,” he said, referring to proposals for cleaner and more efficient technology and new transmission lines.

The challenges facing electricity suppliers in New York are rooted partly in the way the system is administered. While New York City is in a densely populated region, it is only loosely tied to power generators in neighboring states. The city is served mainly by five big transmission lines that run from upstate New York, squeezing through the narrow stretch where Westchester is corseted by New Jersey and Connecticut to deliver a mix of power from energy sources in Quebec, Ontario and upstate.

By contrast, the six New England states have been integrated for decades into a single system, which gives each far more flexibility in balancing supply and demand in peak periods. From New Jersey southward, PJM Interconnection — the letters once stood for Pennsylvania, Jersey and Maryland — manages supply and demand for all or part of 13 states and the District of Columbia.

Even in New York State, connections are weak, further limiting options. “New York’s grid is a patchwork,” said Mr. Gonzales of the I.S.O., which keeps a round-the-clock watch on how heavily the state’s power lines are loaded. The agency divides the state into 11 zones mimicking the former territories of utilities, and it prices electricity separately in each one because of the weak way they are interconnected.

As a result, some parts of the system are highly congested, and power in those places can sell for double what it does in better-connected areas with strong generation like northern New York. In a region that stretches from south of Albany down through Dutchess, Ulster, Orange, Rockland and Westchester Counties, the five boroughs and Long Island, prices are sometimes double what they are in upstate or western New York.

Sometimes wind turbines upstate generate electricity for which there is no local market, but the energy cannot be delivered to the New York area because of congestion on the grid. Wind power could one day help replace Indian Point, experts say, but not without more transmission capacity.

Yet construction of new lines or new plants tends to stir enormous opposition, industry experts say. Paul Steidler, a spokesman for an energy lobbying group largely financed by Indian Point’s owner, pointed to NYRI, a proposed 190-mile high-voltage link between upstate and downstate that was shelved in 2009 after major objections from people in areas it would pass through.

“Based on the NYRI experience, I do not think it is possible to underestimate the amount of opposition that the Champlain line will face,” Mr. Steidler said. “We shouldn’t count on it until it is up and running and all the lawsuits are resolved.”

Power plant construction in the New York City area faces yet another hurdle: because the air already violates the smog standard, for each ton of nitrogen oxides that any new power plant would emit, the Environmental Protection Agency requires the builder to cut output of that pollutant from another source by 1.3 tons. That means a developer wanting to build a new plant has to find another plant to clean up.

Closing the Indian Point reactors would, however, hardly be gloom and doom for everyone. Any company that runs a generator in downstate New York ends up selling its output at a higher price, and would share in the $1.4 billion a year that Con Edison says its customers will pay if the nuclear plant closes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/14/nyregion/closing-indian-point-plant-has-risks-experts-warn.html?_r=1&src=rechp

Green jobs pay better as clean-tech sector booms - USATODAY.com

Green jobs pay better as clean-tech sector booms - USATODAY.com

After two years of eco-living, what works and what doesn't

Interesting hands-on article about home-scale sustainability improvements.

After two years of eco-living, what works and what doesn't

Country watches as Boulder considers forming own electric utility - The Denver Post

Country watches as Boulder considers forming own electric utility - The Denver Post

State of the Environment report for London, June 2011

London’s Environment Revealed is the first joint report on the State of the Environment in London, produced by the Greater London Authority, Environment Agency, Natural England and the Forestry Commission. The report looks at the state of London’s environment today, highlights the improvements that have been made, and the challenges the city faces. The report also features many projects and schemes at a local level that have improved the environment in London in recent years.

  

The report looks at how the environment has changed over the last decade, and uses a series of indicators to illustrate the changes in the state of the environment within eight themes: Climate change, Flood risk, Water quality, Water resources, Waste, Air quality, noise and transport, Biodiversity, and Landscape and green infrastructure.

Open the report (PDF 3.3MB)

Download the data presented in the report (Excel 0.1MB)

Shanghai cuts power supply to over 1,000 industrial users due to shortfall

For the first time this summer, Shanghai's power company cut supply to 1,435 industrial users in suburban Qingpu and Songjiang districts yesterday due to a serious shortfall in the areas, the Oriental Morning Post reported today. 

As the power load hit a new record at 24.1 gigawatts about 10:45am yesterday, the power company had to switch off supply to some factories to ensure sufficient supply for residential use, the report said. 

By 3:30pm, power supply to industrial users resumed as normal, it added. 

As the city tries to juggle a tight power supply with spikes in demand, industrial users will be required to close when a potential power shortage occurs, as households will get priority, according to the local power company. 

The recent scorching weather has imposed high pressure on the local power grid, as sweltering residents crank up their air conditioning. 


http://www.shanghaidaily.com/nsp/Metro/2011/07/05/Shanghai%2Bcuts%2Bpower%2Bsupply%2Bto%2Bover%2B1000%2Bindustrial%2Busers%2Bdue%2Bto%2Bshortfall/