Sustainablog

By Stacy Feldman, originally published June 24, 2009, at SolveClimate.com

Washington is starting to wake up to something that’s been obvious to marine scientists for years. The winds blowing off U.S. waters could be a key to a national clean energy and green jobs revolution.

On Tuesday, the federal government awarded five leases to three companies that want to develop wind turbines off the New Jersey and Delaware coasts for the production of renewable energy.

They’re the first such leases the Department of Interior has ever issued for the Outer Continental Shelf. If this official statement is any indication, they won’t be the last:

“We made the development of offshore wind energy a top priority for Interior. The technology is proven, effective and available and can create new jobs for Americans while reducing our expensive and dangerous dependence on foreign oil.”

The declaration comes as the U.S. Congress is in the midst of a debate over a proposal that would create a costly long-distance “transmission highway” to carry land-based wind energy (among other clean and dirty sources) from the Great Plains to the power-hungry cities of the American East.

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When the headlines told us that the global warming debate was over, it seemed like we environmentalists could breathe a collective sigh of relief. The United States elected a cap-and-trade-sympathetic administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency says it is going to exert some of the “P” in its acronym after it formally labeled carbon dioxide a pollutant last month. So now that the debate is over, has the discussion ended?

Much of what I assumed to be climate consensus has been turned on its head since I moved to the Midwest from New York. Meaning, there a lot of people here in the Middle who care about environmental issues but are not convinced climate change is related to human activities and/or is as dire as predicted. I believe it is. . .and I also believe that in order to get buy-in from such diverse constituents, it’s imperative that we engage in dialog with those who hold differing opinions.

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By David Sassoon. Originally published May 28, 2009, at Solveclimate

If Florida embraced its solar and wind power potential and got 20 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2020, it would create 37,000 new jobs, generate more than $16 billion in economic activity by 2025, and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 319 million tons, a new study commissioned by the state Department of Environmental Protection shows.

The just-released report examined 28 policy measures in Republican Gov. Charlie Crist’s 2008 Climate Action Plan, including the 20 percent by 2020 renewable electricity standard.

In all, it found that implementing the full Climate Action Plan could add almost 150,000 new jobs and bring almost $40 billion in increased economic activity to the Sunshine state.

Unfortunately, the Florida legislature undermined the governor’s efforts to turn that renewable energy standard into law this spring during what longtime observers of the statehouse said was one of the most dysfunctional and depressing legislative sessions in memory.

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By Mindy S. Lubber, president of Ceres, a leading U.S. coalition of investors, environmental groups and other public interest organizations working with companies to address sustainability challenges such as global climate change. Originally published at SolveClimate.

Tom Benson, owner of the World’s Largest Laundromat in Berwyn, Ill., is tired of listening to conservative industry groups’ bluster that climate change legislation is bad for business.

That’s because clean energy saved his.

When Benson bought his business a decade ago, all that hot water helping scrub everything from Speedos to sheets ate up a staggering 25 percent of total monthly revenues. With 153 washers using thousands of gallons of hot water daily, you can only imagine the energy costs. And that’s before factoring in the 148 dryers.

So to cut his natural gas costs, Benson installed a solar hot water system on his roof. Three dozen 10-by-4-foot solar panels now produce more than 2,400 gallons of hot water daily, saving him some $25,000 a year.

“Our energy bills could have sunk this business,” says Benson. “Now, they’re a source of pride.”

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So, what exactly are green jobs? The answer to that question largely depends on an individual’s skills, training and experience: construction workers, computer programmers, and public relations professionals could all find themselves labeled as green collar in the right circumstances. For Dave Foster, a former official with the United Steelworkers, the phrase has a specific definition: ”A green job is nothing more than a blue-collar job with a green purpose.”

Today’s Post-Dispatch provides us with yet another example of how organized labor and mainstream environmental groups are joining forces to promote a green economy. Writer Steve Giegerich took note of steelworkers and Sierra Club members marching together recently to protest the loss of jobs at Granite City, Illinois’ U.S. Steel plant. As you can see in both the video above, and the article, blue collar workers around the country increasingly “get it”: green industry provides one of the most promising means of rebuilding a manufacturing economy in the United States.

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Written by Stacy Feldman. Originally published May 14, 2009, at SolveClimate

Solar photovoltaics (PV) in the UK will be as cheap as grid-sourced fossil fuels much sooner than expected, a new study by Solarcentury finds.

For homeowners, PV will cross the “grid parity” mark in 2013. For commercial customers, it will occur around 2018. The magical parity date for PV is generally assumed to be 2020 in the UK. Says Solarcentury:

“The proximity to parity heralds the prospect of PV being a compelling investment for the individual, without subsidy, in only a few years time.”

The 14-page report by the UK’s largest solar firm is described as the most “up-to-date and accurate analysis on the investment case for PV in the UK.”

Its main point is that solar PV has precisely what it takes to move beyond a British niche and into the energy mainstream: Its energy potential is massive. It’s getting cheaper all the time. And it’s fast-approaching the holy grail of the solar sector, grid parity.

Time to tap it.

• » See also: Solar Panel Community Bargaining in Sonoma County, CA
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The resource potential from mounting PV on every UK building is huge, around 460 terrawatt hours (TWh) each year. That’s more than the country’s current electricity consumption of 400 TWh. Solarcentury says harnessing just a fraction of that absolute potential:

“would represent a substantial contribution to the UK energy mix and to addressing renewable energy and carbon targets”

On top of that, the price of solar PV is falling “rapidly,” while the costs of fossil fuels are rising. The long-term prognosis for the technology is more of the same, significant cost reductions. That prediction, writes Solarcentury, is “driven by the nature of the manufacturing process for crystalline silicon PV.”

Other research supports this claim. According to a recent report by New Energy Finance, polysilicon prices could fall as much as 43 percent in 2009 compared with 2008 levels.

With substitution to thin film, PV prices could drop even more. (See In a League of Its Own: First Solar Breaks the $1-a-Watt Barrier).

There’s another major factor that will surely drive down PV costs in Britain – the nation’s proposed feed-in tariff, which is expected to be implemented in April 2010. The tariff would guarantee an above-market price for commercial and residential customers selling solar power back to the grid. The plan would boost demand for solar panels and substantially cut costs in the long term.

Jeremy Leggett, executive chairman of Solarcentury, called it an absolutely “vital” measure to help accelerate consumer adoption of solar panels. It will also help the nation achieve its 2020 target to source 15 percent of its electricity from renewables, which it is struggling to meet.

“A burst of premium-pricing for solar energy, of the kind now on offer in 18 European countries, will stimulate a very fast-growing market.”

This isn’t your average energy subsidy, he explains:

“The feed-in tariff will be ramped down over a few years. This is not like nuclear, where the market has to be underwritten with public money essentially for ever.”

The PV market has been exploding in recent years, particularly in Europe, thanks in large part to generous feed-in tariffs. The world’s solar PV installations increased by 110 percent in 2008 to 5.95 GW, according to Solarbuzz’s annual report, Marketbuzz 2009.
Europe accounted for 82 percent of world demand last year.

The UK made up just a tiny fraction of that growth. It could snatch up a much bigger slice.

It’s a bet worth taking for Britain, and for any government, for the jobs potential alone. Don’t forget: Solar PV is one of the biggest job-creating industries on the planet. The striking numbers, from Solarcentury’s report:

“UNEP estimate PV job creation at 7 to 11 per MWp installed; this figure is supported by the German solar experience, where over 50,000 jobs have been created since 2000.”

See also:

• In a League of Its Own: First Solar Breaks the $1-a-Watt Barrier
• Germany’s Coal Boom Highlights Nation’s Big Energy Dilemma
• Why Isn’t the U.S. Embracing Feed-in Tariffs?
• Polysilicon Price Plunge Provides a Ray of Hope for Solar Industry

Image credit: Dominic’s pics at Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Duke Energy is the one of America’s largest coal-burning utility – so why would its chairman, Jim Rogers, back a cap on carbon emissions? “Because America has to start making smart choices,” he says in a 30-second spot that begins airing nationally today (see video below). “A well-designed cap that provides a smooth transition to clean energy will keep electricity affordable and protect your family’s budget,” Rogers adds.

Duke Energy is joining the Environmental Defense Action Fund in a national advertising campaign that supports a “smart cap” on carbon emissions as the climate change solution that protects consumers.

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By Lester R. Brown, Earth Policy Institute

In 1543, Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus published “On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres,” in which he challenged the view that the sun revolved around the earth, arguing instead that the earth revolved around the sun. With his new model of the solar system, he began a wide-ranging debate among scientists, theologians, and others. His alternative to the earlier Ptolemaic model, which had the earth at the center of the universe, led to a revolution in thinking, to a new worldview.

Today we need a similar shift in our worldview, in how we think about the relationship between the earth and the economy. The issue now is not which celestial sphere revolves around the other but whether the environment is part of the economy or the economy is part of the environment. Economists see the environment as a subset of the economy. Ecologists, on the other hand, see the economy as a subset of the environment.

Like Ptolemy’s view of the solar system, the economists’ view is confusing efforts to understand our modern world. It has created an economy that is out of sync with the ecosystem on which it depends.

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Editor’s note: This post was originally published on Friday, May 1, at SolveClimate.

It is time for President Obama to mobilize us all to help build the new energy economy.

He has begun shaping the public policies we need. Now he needs to launch an Apollo project, interstate highway project, war effort and Marshall Plan all rolled into one.

For starters, he should call on us all to pick up our caulking guns and enlist in the war against energy waste – a national clean energy surge.

The potential for savings through efficiency improvements and conservation is enormous.

As Obama noted during the campaign, the United States is only the 22nd most energy-efficient major economy in the world right now. With very few exceptions, every vehicle, home, power plant, factory, community and state is hemorrhaging energy, energy dollars and greenhouse gas emissions.

Consider just a few examples: Read the rest of this entry »

Photo by David Gilbert, http://www.uncontacted.com/

A documentary or any feature film, like a good dessert, needs good texture. Some docs offer light delicate flavors, while others serve up crisp tawdry offerings but Crude, the latest feature documentary from director Joe Berlinger (Brother’s Keeper, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster) brings a feel so viscous its some wonder that the film and the emotions within it don’t just ooze into the theater.

And why wouldn’t the film be viscous with center of the film swirling around a legal case about the black gold being pumped out of the jungles of Ecuador. Some have called the case the “Amazon Chernobyl” but whatever the name, Berlinger delves head first into this the David versus Goliath story that circles around one of the longest and most controversial legal (not to mention environmental and human rights) cases ever. Read the rest of this entry »