Category Archives: green economy

Local Food Lobbying Day – What a lot of work

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Sorry this post is so late but I had to go to lobby today. It was fun. Exciting in some cases and I got to attend a hearing on the Fraking Bill in the Ag Committee. But it makes this post way late. Anyway here was the deal:

http://www.ilstewards.org/blog

Posted 2/11/2011 5:09pm by Lindsay Record.

On April 6th, local foodies, farmers, and citizens from across the state will come together in Springfield to encourage their legislators to support local food and farms. Illinois Stewardship Alliance invites you to join us for our 2nd annual local food and farm lobby day in Springfield on April 6th, from 10a.m. – 3p.m. at the Pasfield House and IL State Capitol Complex in Springfield.

Local Food Awareness Day will consist of a legislative update, orientation, lobbying 101 training, and lunch at the Pasfield House. Following lunch we will descend upon the capitol to educate legislators about the importance of local food systems and advocate for positive policy solutions that promote and support local food systems in Illinois.

Cost: $15 (FREE for members) – includes lobbying training, orientation and lunch at the Pasfield House

*Additionally you may become a member now for $25 (1 year membership) which will allow you to attend lobby day for free.

Registration: To register for the 2011 Local Food Awareness Day @ the Captiol click here. Registration deadline is March 30th.

Payment can be made by sending a check to Illinois Stewrdship Alliance, 401 W. Jackson Parkway, Springfield IL, 62704 (Please make sure you register at the link above before sending a check) or by calling the ISA office at 217-528-1563 (ask for Dee). Or use paypal online by clicking here.

For more information contact ISA’s Policy coordinator, Wes King at wes@ilstewards.org

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And

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Posted 2/3/2011 6:06pm by Lindsay Record.

Removing Barriers to Local Food Entrepreneurship

We are excited to announce that Senator David Koehler (D-Peoria) is introducing and sponsoring the Illinois Local Food Entrepreneur and Cottage Food Operation Act. The legislation removes prohibitively burdensome barriers to aspiring entrepreneurs producing non-potentially hazardous food and enables preparation in home kitchens for sale at farmers markets for Illinois.  The legislation is in line with at least 17 other states that have similar cottage food laws allowing the production of non-potentially hazardous food items in home kitchens for sale at farmers markets; including most of Illinois fellow Midwestern states.

The cottage food operation bill is one step in an on-going effort to create food rules and regulations that encourage and support local food producers and entrepreneurs by applying scale and risk appropriate regulations. The Illinois Local Food Entrepreneur and Cottage Food Operation Act creates a stepping stone for potential local food entrepreneurs to experiment with recipes and business models by eliminating the costly barrier of constructing or accessing a certified kitchen as the current regulations require.

The proposed legislation will allow entrepreneurs to produce non-potentially hazardous food in their home kitchen to be sold at farmers markets provided certain conditions are met:

  • Products are labeled to include: the name and address of the producer, the common or usual name of the product, the ingredients of the food product, the date the product was processed and the following phrase: “This product is homemade and no subject to state inspection.”
  • Gross receipts from the sale of products does not exceed $25,000 in a calendar year.
  • The name and residence of the person preparing and selling products as a cottage food operation is registered with the Department of Public Health and the Department of Agriculture.
  • The person preparing and selling products as a cottage food operation has an approved Food Service Sanitation Management Certificate.

ISA is a small non-profit so if we are going to make the Illinois Local Food Entrepreneur & Cottage Food Operation Act a reality in Illinois we are going to need your help spreading the word and lobbying your elected officials to support our efforts. Please keep your eyes peeled for more information about this legislation coming soon!

You can access the legislation by clicking here.  View a factsheet about the legislation here. If you are interested in supporting or learning more about the Illinois Local Food Entrepreneur & Cottage Food Operation Act contact ISA’s policy coordinator

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More tomorrow.

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Electric Cars Are Here To Stay – Finally after 100 years

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But will they do any good? I am not sure if I agree with this analysis but it is pretty detailed. Please go see the rest here:

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_17767977?nclick_check=1

Will buying an electric car make an environmental difference?

Sure, you might get a carpool sticker and a tax break. But if you buy an electric car, will it make much environmental difference?

Experts say that depends on three factors: What were you driving before? How is your electricity generated? And how many other electric cars are going to be sold?

In many cases, people who trade gasoline-powered cars for electric ones won’t be dramatically lessening the smog they emit. But when it comes to global warming, even when emissions from generating the electricity are taken into account, electric vehicles have a much smaller carbon footprint than gas-powered vehicles because they are much more efficient. However, it will take a decade or more until enough electric vehicles are on the road to make a significant impact.

“If you have a person who is driving a nice, newer car, having them switch to an electric car, there isn’t going to be much benefit in reducing smog,” said Tom Cahill, a professor emeritus of physics at UC Davis. “But there could be a whole lot of gain in climate change.”

Because all-electric vehicles like the Nissan Leaf burn no fossil fuels, and plug-in hybrids like the Chevy Volt burn only small amounts of gasoline, tailpipe emissions from electric cars are basically zero. In smoggy cities like Los Angeles, driving one on summer days may actually clean the air because the tailpipe emissions contain less pollution than the air.

Yet most people currently buying electric cars weren’t driving old, smog-belching vehicles. They are often affluent motorists who drove newer-model gasoline cars. And because California has for 50 years had the toughest tailpipe standards in the nation, a 2010 gasoline-burning car puts out only 2 percent or less of the pollution spewed by a 1980s model.

Along with the national-security benefits of reducing America’s use of foreign oil, the main societal benefit of electric cars might be their dramatically smaller global warming footprint.

A 2008 study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions, which include emissions from both manufacturing and operating a vehicle, are 32 percent less from plug-in hybrids than from gasoline-powered cars.

That finding was based on America’s electricity mix: 45 percent of U.S. electricity is generated from coal, 23 percent from natural gas, 20 percent from nuclear, and 12 percent from dams, solar, wind and other sources.

The global warming footprint of electric cars varies by region. Some states get nearly all their electricity from coal, the most polluting fuel. But only 15 percent of California’s electricity comes from coal, nearly all imported from other states, with 46 percent from natural gas, 15 percent from nuclear power, and 24 percent from dams, solar, wind and other sources.

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More tomorrow.

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The Cure For Nuclear Disaster – Solar panels on your roof

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Go there and buy some.

http://www.dasolar.com/solar-energy/residential-solar-energy

Residential solar energy the top investment

Residential electricity rates have grown by an average of 25% over the last 6 years.  This is one reason that residential solar energy is growing rapidly.  The new 30% federal tax credit has created a dramatic boost to the residential solar energy market.  Falling solar panel prices have also added to the financial incentives.  In some locations, with combined federal, state and local incentives, the payback on the initial residential solar energy investment can be as short as 6-10 years.  Since the beginning of 2009, residential solar energy installations have grown by 50%.

The economics of residential solar energy

With electric utility rates increasing substantially every year, estimates are that the average homeowner will spend over $100,000 in the next 25 years on electricity.  With costs that high it makes sense to turn that expected cost into an investment that yields numerous dividends.  Returns on a residential solar energy system can be as high as 20-25%.  This figure reflects the lower cost of investing in a solar energy system now – combined with the increase in value to your home.  According to the National Appraisers Institute, the value of your home increases 20x the annual savings in electricity. So if you save $1,000, your home value increases $20,000 without increasing property taxes.

Net-Metering and feed-in tariffs

Most residential solar energy systems will be connected to the grid through a meter enabled for net-metering.  This means that when your solar panels are generating more power than you are using, the excess power will be fed back into the grid and your meter will actually spin backwards.  Your electric utility will give you credit for the energy you generate, deducting money from your bill.  In some locations that are using feed-in tariffs, the utility company is required to pay consumers up to 300% more for the power generated.  While feed-in tariffs are not currently widespread, you can see the impact they have on consumer demand for residential solar energy.  Ask your solar installer if there are feed-in tariffs working in your area

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More tomorrow.

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Inproved Solar Panels By Transphorm – What is in an element

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Gallium nitride makes the DC to AC conversion process much more effective.

http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/solar-research/google-transphorms-solar-efficiency/

Google Startup ‘Transphorms’ Solar Efficiency

google transphorm energy efficiency

The name of the company is Transphorm, and since its inception in 2007 it has been busy transforming the very nature of energy.

No bumps on solar cells, no cars that run on jellied jellyfish. Transphorm, emerging at the head of the class after three years of sitting in the back row, has discovered a technology that could ultimately capture some of the power lost in converting from alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC).

This is done by your regional electric utility, which transmits electricity in DC and delivers power to the plug-ins in your home as AC. Why? It’s cheaper, for one thing. It’s also safer, and the amount of power lost to heat during transmission is minimal.

dot dot dot as they say

Increasing energy efficiency is one of the best ways of achieving that  “green energy” economy we all want and need. Waste not, want not, as my mother used to say, and this particular waste-not strategy benefits not only large power users (factories and control centers, for example) but also the smallest user, which means you and I. This is because the cost of lost power is built into the cost per kilowatt-hour charged by the utility.

Transphorm’s secret weapon? Gallium nitride, a material that has to be fabricated, making it initially more expensive but consistently more efficient than silicon. It is, according to CEO Umesh Mishra, “a miracle material.”

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for more on that see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallium_nitride

Gallium nitride (GaN) is a binary III/V direct bandgap semiconductor commonly used in bright light-emitting diodes since the 1990s. The compound is a very hard material that has a Wurtzite crystal structure. Its wide band gap of 3.4 eV affords it special properties for applications in optoelectronic, high-power and high-frequency devices. For example, GaN is the substrate which makes violet (405 nm) laser diodes possible, without use of nonlinear optical frequency-doubling.

Its sensitivity to ionizing radiation is low (like other group III nitrides), making it a suitable material for solar cell arrays for satellites. Because GaN transistors can operate at much hotter temperatures and work at much higher voltages than gallium arsenide (GaAs) transistors, they make ideal power amplifiers at microwave frequencies.

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More tomorrow.

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Wind Power Blows – So this is the alternative energy Presidency

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You think it has been a bad year for nuclear power or Japanese grown vegetables?

http://www.frontlinestocks.com/hrte/

Wind energy declines in USA

28 July 2010

Wind power installations to date this year have dropped by 71% from last years level, according to the latest quarterly report from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).

Only 700 MW of wind turbines were added in Q2 2010, down 57% from comparable 2008 levels and down 71% from 2009.

Even with 5.5 GW of wind power under construction and a more active second half of the year anticipated, AWEA projects that total 2010 installations will be 25% to 45% below 2009 installations, depending on policy developments.

Combined Q1 and Q2wind energy installations in 2010 are 1239 MW, 57% below 2008 half-year levels and 71% below 2009.

AWEA and a coalition of renewable energy, labor, utility and environmental groups are calling on the US Congress to enact a strong national renewable electricity standard (RES) to spur demand for green power, attract manufacturing investment and save (and create) jobs.

“Strong Federal policy supporting the US wind energy industry has never been more important,” says Denise Bode of AWEA. “We have an historic opportunity to build a major new manufacturing industry.”

“Without strong, supportive policy like an RES to spur demand, investment and jobs, manufacturing facilities will go idle and lay off workers if Congress doesn’t act now – before time runs out this session,” she adds.

US wind energy now in ‘coasting momentum’

There is no demand beyond the present “coasting momentum” and, without stable policy, without demand and new power purchase agreements and without new wind turbine orders, the domestic industry is sputtering out, the group notes. “Passage of a strong national RES will boost demand and fire up the industry’s economic engines.”

The US wind energy industry has repeatedly criticized the ‘boom-and-bust’ cycles which result in layoffs and also discourage investment in new manufacturing facilities. The USA is losing the clean energy manufacturing race to Europe and China, which have firm long-term renewable energy targets and policy commitments in place, warns AWEA.

According to a national poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, an RES is popular among US voters with strong support from 65% of Republican voters, 69% of Independents and 92% of Democrats.

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More tomorrow…

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Illinois HB 14 Is A Very Bad Idea – Utilities try to escape regulation again

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Monopolies are a bad thing if you listen to most capitalists. Except when you supply public services like supplying electricity or natural gas. OK so then everyone agrees that those companies need CLOSE regulation to make sure they do not cheat. Well not quite everybody.

http://www.whig.com/story/news/Electric-rates-031111
Published: 3/11/2011 | Updated: 3/19/2011

By DOUG WILSON
Herald-Whig Senior Writer

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Ameren Illinois electric customers would pay an additional $5 a year — less than 50 cents a month more — so the utility can upgrade electric and gas delivery under a plan being considered by state lawmakers. State Rep. Jil Tracy, R-Mount Sterling, is concerned about those higher rates. She is researching the proposed legislation that would allow the rate increase and permit utilities to adjust their rates each year under a different regulatory system. “I think it’s very much a work in progress. We have been having public hearings, and I’m not sure how the bill will end up,” Tracy said of HB 14. As a member of the House Public Utilities Committee, Tracy attended a Tuesday hearing on the rate hike and the regulatory issue. “I don’t want to see bills rise, but there’s no doubt we need to improve the grid,” Tracy said. The $5 annual charge for each Ameren Illinois customers would improve delivery systems for the electric system and the gas system. “These investments will provide significant benefits to the state of Illinois and our energy customers, and will allow Ameren Illinois to provide the safe, reliable and affordable service our customers expect,” said Craig Nelson, Ameren senior vice president.

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http://foresightdesign.org/blog/2011/03/illinois-environmental-council-opposes-hb14-legislature-holds-hearing-on-electric-utility-proposal/

Illinois Environmental Council Opposes HB14: Legislature Holds Hearing on Electric Utility Proposal

Thursday (Mar 17) was the deadline for legislation in both the Illinois House and Senate to move out of committee.  While some legislation may receive extended deadlines, most proposals that don’t meet the Thursday deadline will not move further.  Check out IEC’s legislative tracker to determine which bills have not yet moved out of committee.

HB14:
Last week, on March 10, the House Public Utilities Committee and Senate Energy Committee held a joint subject matter hearing on HB14, a proposal from ComEd.  HB14 would change the way ComEd and Ameren are regulated.  It would allow them to receive automatic rate increases if they invested in both the existing grid and in smart grid technology.   At the hearing, ComEd suggested that this rate increase would be about $3/month for each customer, in addition to any normal rate increases.

David Kolata, Citizens Utility Board executive director and IEC board member, expressed concern at the hearing that this legislation would give consumers the “bill without the benefits.”  Smart grid technology uses digital two way communications with a consumer’s home.  Smart grid done right should increase energy efficiency, lower bills for consumers, and otherwise prepare for a clean energy future.  As written, HB14 does not include any renewable energy or energy efficiency provisions.

On the same day as this hearing, Exelon CEO John Rowe was quoted by Crain’s as saying, “Smart grid we are reluctant to embrace, because it costs too much and we’re not sure what good it will do.” Exelon owns ComEd. Read more in Crain’s about this disconnect between the discussion of smart grid technology that occurred Mar 8th and comments by Exelon’s CEO.

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More tomorrow

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I Am Tired – Of being ripped off by the North American wealthy elite and

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I am tired of the death and destruction in Japan. So today it is kids fun.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energy.cfm?page=riddles

Q: How did Benjamin Franklin feel when he discovered electricity?

A: Answer

Image of a man fishing.

A: Goes fission.

Cartoon image of a baseball batter. 

Q: How is energy conservation like a baseball team?

A: Answer

Image of a light switch.

A: They can both use a switch hitter.

image of a half moon and a car 

Q: What is burned by cars driven late at night?

A: Answer

image of a clock and oil can

A: Midnight oil.

Image of a beach. 

Q: How are renewable power plants like people who enjoy going to the beach?

A: Answer

Image of sun, wind, and water.

A: They all like sun, wind, and water.

Image of a criminal behind bars. 

Q: In which part of the jail are energy criminals kept?

A: Answer

Image of a fuel cell diagram behind bars.

A: The fuel cells.

Image of a school. 

Q: What is a renewable energy source that is used every day at your school?

A: Answer

Image of gears inside profile of a head.

A: Brain power!

image of a cloud with a face 

Q: What did the solar cells say to their cloudy boss?

A: Answer

Image of sun and a solar cell.

A: We need rays!

image of a man of a ladder 

Q: How many energy students does it take to change a light bulb?

A: Answer

image of fluorescent light bulb

A: None! They’re smart enough to use energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs, which rarely need to be replaced.

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More yucks tomorrow.

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Greening UP In Springfield – LLCC pitches in

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Like I said yesterday, I am not going to post about high gasoline prices and the middle east unrest because they are both concoctions. Muammar is just being the despicable killer that he always has been. Gas prices have nothing to do with market conditions. The head of the National Association of Oil and Gas Producers said today, the problem is not supply. There is plenty of oil available today, it is the money (speculators) flooding the market that is driving price. So the next time you complain about gas prices and someone says, well it is because we are so dependent on foreign oil. Tell them they are full of it. In the mean time.

http://www.illinoistimes.com/Springfield/article-8406-the-greening-of-springfield.html

Thursday, March 3,2011

The greening of Springfield

LLCC leads the way to renewable energy

By Karen Fitzgerald


Welcome to the most eco-friendly home in Springfield. You’d never guess the carpeting is made of recycled plastic grocery bags, or the bathroom countertops come from recycled cardboard and paper. The speckled rubber flooring of a workroom consists of recycled tires, and the simulated wood deck is actually recycled plastic soda bottles. The place simply appears to be the beautifully designed home of affluent owners. The only clue to their commitment to the environment are the solar panels on the roof.

The three-year-old house on Spaulding Orchard Road has a passive solar design with a thermal wall rising above gorgeous dark cherry flooring of (hybrid) eucalyptus and other sustainable woods. It was the highlight of a tour given by Bob Croteau for a recent Lincoln Land Community College workshop on renewable energy. An energy auditor with City Water Light and Power who has been involved with solar power since the 1970s, Croteau believes the season has finally arrived for green technology in Springfield. “I used to be able to keep track of all the renewables, but so many are springing up everywhere now, I can’t keep track of them all.”

The tour included a stop at the Southwind Park visitors center, the first building in Springfield to be LEED-certified at the highest platinum level (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). When it received certification in December, Erin’s Pavilion, as it is known, was one of only 209 nonresidential buildings in the world with platinum status in the new construction category. It will soon add a wind generator to its solar panels and 15 geothermal heat pump systems. The Capital Area Career Center has an array of solar panels that track the sun throughout the day as well as throughout the season. At 12 kW, it was the largest solar installation in Springfield until a year ago when a 14 kW array went up on the Fit Club South.

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This a really long article so go to the IT and read it. More tomorrow.

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CWLP Talks About Joining The Future – How long do you think I can avoid talking about the Middle East

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I have not talked about local issues for awhile but the Illinois Times had several green stories this week so what the heck. Instead of talking about slaughtered civilians and mad men.  I will talk about civility.

http://www.illinoistimes.com/Springfield/article-8402-cwlp-readies-for-greener-future.html

Thursday, March 3,2011

CWLP readies for greener future

By Rachel Wells

A contract requiring Springfield’s public utility to be more environmentally responsible doesn’t expire for another six years, but local activists are already urging the city and its residents to start thinking now about how today’s decisions can determine City, Water, Light and Power’s seemingly distant future.

In 2006, the Sangamon Valley Group of the Sierra Club threatened costly delay to the construction of CWLP’s newest power plant if the city didn’t agree, among other things, to bring wind energy into its portfolio for at least 10 years. The city agreed, but local Sierra Club president Will Reynolds says the mayor and aldermen elected this April will determine the success of several additional “green” initiatives that CWLP is already researching. If those initiatives are successful, they could prepare Springfield for continued use and promotion of renewable energy, even without a contractual obligation.

“There’s not going to be, unless something really unexpected happens, another Sierra Club agreement that is just going to make CWLP buy all that wind power,” Reynolds said last week at a public forum where CWLP provided an update on its work in renewable energy and sustainability. “What happens next is going to be up to the next city council and the next mayor we elect and it’s going to be up to people organizing and putting on pressure for Springfield to use clean energy.”

Cool Cities is a national Sierra Club program encouraging cities to reduce their carbon footprints. Springfield’s Cool Cities advisory group is already working on preliminary goals for increasing Springfield’s energy efficiency, growing its sustainability-linked economy and conserving land and water. Once the group’s goals are finalized, members will meet with the new mayor.

“If we can take sort of this global, high-level wish-list, at the moment, to the mayor and we get affirmation that ‘OK, this makes sense. I will put the name of my administration behind this,’ then at that point it goes public,” says CWLP Energy Services Office manager Bill Mills. “If there is not affirmation, basically we take our toys and go home because we were told to quit playing.”

Mills’ office is also researching programs that, if adopted, could encourage growth of solar energy production and the use of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles by CWLP customers.

At the point when solar power peaks – on hot summer afternoons – CWLP customers and their air conditioners are using the most energy. Increased solar panel use by CWLP customers means the utility is under less stress to power their homes and businesses and can sell more of the energy it produces to the wholesale market. Doing so brings in more money for the utility to use on environmental initiatives, Mills says. Because installation cost is a significant barrier for increased solar power, CWLP is now studying the economics of starting a solar-panel rebate program this fall.

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Read more there. More tomorrow.

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“There are no technological or economic barriers to converting the entire world to clean, renewable energy sources,”

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Key word here is nothing.

http://www.greencarreports.com/blog/1055509_rearchers-100-percent-green-energy-possible-by-2050

Researchers: 100 Percent Green Energy Possible By 2050

John Voelcker February 16th, 2011 John Voelcker By John Voelcker Senior Editor February 16th, 2011

wind farmwind farm 

Enlarge Photo

We approach energy policy with care here, since GreenCarReports is largely about … well, cars.

But a recent article claims it could take just 40 years to convert the bulk of the world’s global energy usage from fossil fuels to renewable energy, primarily wind and solar power.

That’s not only vehicle fuel, but also electric-power generation, home heating, and the many other global activities that rely on the remarkably high energy density of the hydrocarbon molecules in coal, oil, and natural gas.

Beijing smogBeijing smog 

Enlarge Photo

Researchers from Stanford University and the University of California-Davis published their analysis in the journal Energy Policy.

Measuring costs vs benefits

The main challenges, say the authors, will be summoning the global will to make the conversion. “There are no technological or economic barriers to converting the entire world to clean, renewable energy sources,” said author Mark Jacobson, a Stanford professor, saying it is only a question of “whether we have the societal and political will.”

Another challenge: accurately accounting for both the costs (which are comparatively easy to tally and project) and the benefits (which are tougher).

Power lines by Flickr user achouroPower lines by Flickr user achouro 

Enlarge Photo

When looking at the cost of junking half a century’s worth of existing power plants, for example, how can electric utilities benefit from the tens of billions of dollars in public health costs that will be avoided in the future once those emissions are no longer being generated?

Those public-health benefits might include saving 2.5 to 3 million lives each year.

And then there’s the benefit of halting climate change, not to mention reductions in water pollution, and increased energy security as more of each nation’s energy is generated from within its own borders.

Step One: New generation from renewables

The authors assessed the costs, benefits, and materials requirements necessary to convert the bulk of the world’s energy usage to renewable sources.

Nissan lithium-ion battery pack plant under construction, Smyrna, Tennessee, Jan 2011Nissan lithium-ion battery pack plant under construction, Smyrna, Tennessee, Jan 2011 

Enlarge Photo

Just as it will do over the next few decades for cars, electricity will play an increasingly large role, with 90 percent from wind turbines and various forms of solar generation.

Hydroelectric and geothermal sources would each provide about 4 percent of the total, with another 2 percent from wave and tidal power.

Vehicles would run either on electricity provided by the power grid, or hydrogen stored under high pressure and converted to electricity in a fuel cell. Airplanes would be fueled with liquid hydrogen. But, crucially, the hydrogen would all be produced electrically, with the electricity coming from those same renewable sources: wind, sun, and water.

Geothermal Power Plant in IcelandGeothermal Power Plant in Iceland 

Enlarge Photo

The analysis shows that the land and raw materials needed won’t pose a problem. What will be needed is a much more robust electrical grid.

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Have a great weekend. More next week.

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