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I N · T H I S · I S S U E
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FLANIGAN'S ECO-LOGIC
The New Year!
Happy New Year! Our team at EcoMotion wishes you and yours
the very best – health, happiness, and prosperity --
in the coming year.
EcoMotion ended 2006 with a full head of steam and a
full palette of interesting and meaningful projects.
We continue to build the EcoMotion Network, to provide
advice to several clients – utilities, cities, property
owners, and developers – and our team is knee-deep facilitating
and implementing Solar Santa Monica. It’s been a year
of hard work buttressed with a great work environment,
dynamite colleagues – Virginia Nicols and Russell Flanigan
in particular, plus several fantastic interns – and
a year of connections and reconnections with so many
people who share our commitment to smart energy management
and securing a safe energy future.
We ended the year with a bang and some fun, distributing
392 compact fluorescent lamps to the riders of Los Angeles
Metrolink Train # 609 on December 21st.
The giveaway was a huge success, with 98% saturation
achieved and every rider made aware of the multiple
benefits of efficient lighting, and more importantly,
aware of the benefits of taking small, incremental steps
to make this world of ours a better place. Thanks in
particular to my initially reluctant fellow Santa –
Calvin Jung – and our commuter “buddies” Chris Kimbrell,
Mary Freeman, Dante Dionne, and Donna Connally. We hammed
it up a bit but lit up the whole train with some good
humor and a meaningful gift.
EcoMotion thanks our partner True Media Foundation
and SunPark Electronics for its generous donation.
We begin 2007 with a renewed sense of purpose and direction,
designing ever-more innovative efficiency programs,
moving squarely into the solar business, and reaching
out to help more and more individuals and businesses
go green. This past week EcoMotion hosted another successful
luncheon seminar, this time featuring Johnny Weiss,
Executive Director of Solar Energy International in
Colorado. Johnny is one of the world’s leading solar
experts and brought his decades of experience and teaching
to the group. Without question, those that attended
were truly inspired, and we thank Johnny for sharing
his passions and perspectives, and for becoming part
of the EcoMotion stable and network.
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CALIFORNIA'S NEW SOLAR HOMES
PARTNERSHIP
The California Energy Commission has announced the 2007 launch of the New Solar Homes Partnership. New homes that qualify for the program will be at least 15% more efficient than the current energy efficiency standards, incorporating Energy Star appliances and solar systems.
The partnership encourages builders to install solar on new homes as a standard feature for the home buyer, just like granite countertops. Beginning in 2011, builders will be required to offer solar as a standard feature in new home developments of 50 or more.
The New Solar Homes Partnership is a component of the
California Solar Initiative, which was signed into law
in 2006 under Senate Bill 1 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Senate Bill 1 establishes three goals: create 3,000 megawatts
of new solar- produced electricity by 2017, establish
a self- sufficient solar industry in which solar energy
systems are a viable mainstream option in 10 years, and
to place solar energy systems on 50% of new homes in 13
years. Currently, 200,000 new homes are built in California
each year. For more information, visit www.gosolarcalifornia.ca.gov.
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“Nice issue, Mr. Flanigan! [The Metrolink #609 Special]
I'm printing it out as we speak to use as a future reference.”
Jeanette Meyer, Burbank
Water and Power
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Big Winds of Change |
This week Southern California Edison signed an agreement with Alta Windpower Development. It is the largest wind energy contract ever signed by a U.S. utility, securing 1,500 megawatts (MW) generated by new projects to be built in the Tehachapi area of California.
The contract more than doubles SCE’s wind energy portfolio and will require more than 50 square miles of wind parks – triple the size of any existing U.S. wind farm.
Michael Peevey, President of the California Public Utilities Commission, applauds Edison and what he called a historic contract. “This contract will help California move closer to its goal of generating 20% or more of our electricity with clean, renewable energy.” The project depends on regulatory authorization for SCE to construct new and upgraded high-voltage transmission lines to deliver electricity from new wind farm.
SCE currently serves nearly 17% of its customers’ needs with renewable energy. It leads the nation in renewable power delivery, procuring more than 13 billion kilowatt-hours of renewable energy per year, more than any U.S. utility or state except for California. SCE’s renewable portfolio currently delivers more than 2,700 MW of electricity.
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Breaking
News: GM Plugging into the Future
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After abandoning its popular EV-1 a few years ago, and being lambasted for doing so in the feature movie “Who Killed the Electric Car?”, GM has returned to the electric car business with a potentially revolutionary design. Just this week, GM introduced its new Chevrolet plug-in hybrid called the “Volt.”
GM claims that the Volt is a preview of a high-mileage vehicle platform. Its battery pack system is designed to be recharged at home in 6.5 hours using an ordinary electric socket giving the Volt a 40-mile, all-electric range. For longer drives, a small, 3-cylinder on-board combustion engine will recharge the batteries. Industry experts claim that the timing of the Volt’s release depends on the development of the lithium-ion battery-pack systems.
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Sweden, Britain, and Denmark at Top of Climate Change
Efforts |
Climate Action Network – Europe has taken on an interesting
assignment, indexing nations around the world for their
level of effort in mitigating climate change.
The 1997 Kyoto pact obliges 35 industrial nations to reduce
emissions of greenhouse gases by 5% below 1990 levels
by 2012. The index – developed by Germanwatch -- takes
into account emissions levels, emissions trends, and climate
policies. It released this year’s ranking of the 56 nations
that either signed a 1992 climate treaty or that contribute
at least 1% of the greenhouse gas emissions in the world.
These countries make up 90% of global carbon dioxide emissions.
The ranking was released at the Nairobi, Kenya United
Nations conference in November attended by 180 nations
and that focused on extending the treaty that expires
in 2012. Matthias Duwe summarized the research findings
by stating that, "We don't have any winners, we only have
countries that are better compared to others." Even the
best nations’ efforts are “not nearly enough” the report
found.
Sweden tops the list. The report cited that country’s
accomplishment with renewable energy (providing 25% of
the country’s electricity), and the Stockholm bus system
that runs on biogas and ethanol.
The United States and Australia are the only major industrialized
countries to reject the 1997 Kyoto Protocol which calls
for mandatory cuts in greenhouse gases. The U.S. is ranked
by Germanwatch at number 53 of 56, with only China, Malaysia,
and Saudi Arabia doing worse. Climate Action Network claims
that Saudi Arabia has “policies [that] generally block
attempts to reduce greenhouse gases.”
U.S. greenhouse gas emissions grew by 16% between 1990
and 2004, according to a recent U.N. report. That doesn’t
bode well with the 5% reduction specified by the Kyoto
Protocol. The U.S. emitted 7.15 billion metric tons of
heat-trapping greenhouse gases in 2005, up 0.6% from a
year earlier. The good news is that the rate slowed from
an average annual growth rate of 1% since the EIA began
measuring the gases in 1990. Better yet, data also reflects
the decoupling of emissions and economic growth, as the
U.S. economy grew by 3.2% while greenhouse gas emissions
grew by 0.6%.
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New Jersey Solar
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New Jersey more than doubled its solar capacity in the
first nine months of 2006, resulting in 1,840 solar electric
systems across the Garden State with over 26 MW of installed
capacity. The rapid growth in solar installations is due
to New Jersey's Solar Financing Model which has driven
solar investments by combining state financial incentives
with net metering benefits, electric cost savings, federal
tax credits, and clean energy credits.
Business and residential customers have taken advantage
of state's Customer Onsite Renewable Energy (CORE) rebates,
which reduce the upfront costs for the installation of
renewable energy technologies including solar, wind and
biomass by as much as 50%. During the first nine months
in 2006, New Jersey reports over $46 million dollars in
rebates to NJ ratepayers for the installation of over
10 MW of solar photovoltaics. An additional $56 million
in CORE rebate commitments was made available in September.
The Office of Clean Energy estimates that an additional
200 installations representing an additional 5 MW of solar
capacity will be completed within the fourth quarter.
In comparison, between 2001 – 2005 New Jersey installed
a total of 9.9 MW of solar.
"Despite this success, rebates
alone are not sufficient to drive growth and investment,"
said Michael Winka, director of the Clean Energy Program.
"Only when combined with the state's Solar Renewable Energy
Certificate (SREC) Program does the payback period drop
to within ten years or less. " SRECs provide long term
financing for solar systems by compensating the solar
generators for each MWh of clean, solar electricity produced.
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Other Coastal Solar Highlights |
New Jersey is in the limelight for its ascent as a solar
leader. The State’s solar installations include a 454-
kilowatt system at Monmouth University dedicated in mid-November.
The Long Island Power Authority dedicated the 750th residential solar power system on Long Island in early October. LIPA attributes the growth in solar power to its Clean Energy Incentive rebate.
Massachusetts reports on the installation of the largest solar system in New England. A 425-kilowatt system using Schott solar modules was dedicated in Brockton in late October. Brockton also is home to New England's first condominium project that is 100% solar.
With 23,000 solar installations and counting, California continues to lead the nation in solar developments: Among the state's recently completed solar power installations is a 1.14-megawatt system installed by PowerLight Corporation in a development in Rohnert Park (north of San Francisco) and a 910- kilowatt system installed by Chevron Energy Solutions on a U.S. Postal System facility in Oakland.
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Responsible Appliance Disposal
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Each year Americans dispose of 13 million refrigerators
and freezers. Many of them – and notably those manufactured
before 1995 -- contain chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which
deplete the ozone layer and contribute to climate change.
About 23 million U.S. households have secondary units
in their basements or garages, which are often older,
less efficient models that may consume 3-4 times more
energy than newer units.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and nine utilities
have launched the new, voluntary Responsible Appliance
Disposal program to promote environmentally responsible
appliance disposal and to reduce emissions and save consumers
money. The new partnership will help utility companies
encourage the retirement and proper disposal of older
units while ensuring that CFCs, both in the insulation
foam and in the refrigerant, are captured and destroyed
or recycled. The program also will promote the recovery
and proper disposal of PCBs, mercury, and used oil contained
in the appliances.
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Electronics Recycling |
Just where do you take your electronics to be properly
disposed of? It depends, and if you don’t know, call your
local city or county government to find out. In Orange,
Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties here
in California, one call will have your old computer (monitor
and CPU), servers, batteries (auto and UPS back up), televisions,
printer cartridges, cell phone equipment, PC boards, metals,
cables, picked up and recycled for free. In 2003 California
added a surcharge to electronic equipment to pay to certified
collectors to “jumpstart” the recycling process. For readers
in our neck of the woods, call Miguel for a free pick-up
at (714) 553-4735.
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