Dr. James Hansen, the NASA scientist known for sounding an early alarm about climate change, will join student protesters at a “sleep out” in Boston this weekend.

The students, from Boston-area and other Massachusetts colleges, have been sleeping out on Boston Common and at various campuses to push the state to pass a law committing to clean energy. Their target goal: Have Massachusetts pledge to be using 100 percent clean energy by 2020.

They’ve asked Gov. Deval Patrick, already known for signing the Global Warming Solutions Act, to again put the state at the forefront of combatting climate change by introducing clean energy  legislation before the legislature adjourns later this month. The students have won a meeting with the governor on Nov. 17.

The sleep outs began two weeks ago, with the overnight campouts followed by lobbying with legislators on Monday mornings. Four Last week, police ticketed the campers for trespassing, student leaders said.

This weekend the group expects at least 100 student activists to meet with Dr. Hansen (whose Phd is in Physics from the University of Iowa) at a 4 p.m. Sunday rally, followed by the camp out. Dr. Hansen is scheduled to hold a press conference at 9:30 a.m. Monday morning (Nov. 9).

In June, Dr. Hansen, along with actress and environmental activists Daryl Hannah, was arrested for civil disobedience for blocking a road at a coal plant protest in West Virginia. The pair, along with several local residents, were protesting mountaintop removal.

Known for his testimony to Congress in 1988, alerting leaders to the dangers of greenhouse gases, Hansen has said that the world needs to move away from burning coal to create electricity.

The student sleep out was inspired by the idea that protesters would not rely on the “dirty energy” heating their homes and dorms until lawmakers pledged to move in a new direction.

It could be colder in Boston this time of year. With overnight lows in the upper 40s, it’s not the worst or best condition for sleeping outside.

"Sleepers" gather in Boston

Still, that’s what dozens of college students and environmental activists across the state have decided to do to make a point about clean energy and press Gov. Deval Patrick to promote a bill that would power Massachusetts with 100 percent clean energy by 2020.

The students, organized through the student-led Leadership Campaign, began their “sleep out” protest this past weekend with about 70 students and community members sleeping out in Boston Common.

Participants came from Harvard and Boston Universities; from Clark University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute and even from Westfield State College and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in the western part of the state. Community members came from all over the state and included ordained clergy, according to organizers.

The plan: To sleep outdoors instead of in dormitories and houses powered by “dirty electricity”, until a plan is in place to power homes with clean electricity. Monday morning, after the first sleep in, students lobbied legislators at the Statehouse.

How long will the students shiver in the night? They’ll be back every Sunday night in Boston Common, and on other campuses students will continue to sleep out through the week,  until early December, if necessary. The activists want Patrick to introduce and pass a bill before Dec. 7, when global climate negotiations begin in Copenhagen. (Find out more about sleeping out on their website.)

“Massachusetts has already led on this issue,” said protest coordinator Craig Altemose. “When the science said 450 parts per million [of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was the safe upper limit], the Legislature passed a bill putting the Commonwealth on track with this target.

“But now the science says 350 is the highest safe level.  We’re now at 390, so we know that the Legislature and the Governor will again step forward and lead us to a clean energy future with accurate science-based targets.”

What the students and activists are asking for is realistic, says Dan Abrams, a spokesman for the Leadership Campaign.

Tents in Boston

“…There have been numerous reports that state that we can get a very high percentage of our energy in Massachusetts from wind and solar alone.  I have read a report that says we can get around 60% of our energy from wind alone. I also have heard of a report from the Union of Concerned Scientists that says we can get 92% of our energy from wind and solar (and that doesn’t include off shore wind or energy conservation),” Abrams said.

But moving to clean energy is not really a choice dictated by how easy or not it will be to shift the infrastructure and electricity generation, he said.

“The science has clearly stated the world needs to cap the carbon in our atmosphere at 350ppm and we must do whatever it takes to get us below that number; 10 years is how long we are giving our government because it’s very scientifically possible to get to this goal much sooner but it is the politics that take a little bit longer.”

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Massachusetts has been pledged $25 million in federal stimulus money to move ahead on the state’s Wind Technology Testing Center, according to an announcement today by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.

The infusion of cash is expected to create hundreds of new jobs in the Charlestown area, the site of the planned testing center, which will test commercial wind turbine blades to try to reduce their cost, improve efficiency and get the next generation of blades to market quickly. The Autoport facility will be able to study the longest wind turbine blades, a capability currently only available in Europe.

The money is in keeping with Obama’s plan to make sure the U.S. leads the world in capturing clean energy jobs, said Secretary Chu, on site for the announcement.

“As the world moves toward a significant expansion in wind power, the test blade facility will help make sure that the best, most efficient wind turbines are built right here in America,” Chu said. “Not only will it create jobs and help us achieve energy independence, it will mean cleaner air, cleaner water, and fewer greenhouse gas emissions.”

Governor Patrick expressed his pleasure that Massachusetts would be at the center of wind development, noting that: “Testing the next generation of wind turbines here will make Massachusetts a hub for the fastest-growing energy source in the world.”

Massachusetts was chosen as the site for the facility in June 2007, when the Department of Energy pledged $2 million for the project. The Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust has committed $13.2 million in grants and loans for design and development expenses.

The money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act puts the project on a pace in which construction can begin in September and be completed by 2010. Four Massachusetts companies and the University of Massachusetts also received seed money to address specific challenges facing the industry. The university, for instance, will get $252,687 to develop courses pertaining to offshore wind development.

(Photo credit: U.S. Department of Energy)

National Grid has announced it will file a plan today with the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities to build and operate a smart grid pilot in Worcester, Mass. The company said the pilot will involve about 15,000 customers and is believed to be the largest and most comprehensive in New England.

National Grid said the two-year pilot is the first step toward creating a more efficient, environmentally responsible modern grid. The project would provide customers with “improved energy use information, automation, and savings as well as an unprecedented amount of choice and control over how they use energy.” Another expected benefit of smart grid technology is better reliability of electric system.

The company said information learned from the pilot will be used in the future to develop a smart grid on a wider scale.

A smart grid is a network for electricity transmission and distribution systems that uses two-way, state-of-the-art communications, advanced sensors, and specialized computers to improve the efficiency, reliability and safety of electricity delivery and use. Smart grids also provide environmental benefits by helping to reduce energy use during peak hours and facilitating the connection and addition of distributed generation facilities and renewables to the grid.

“Smart grid is the way of the future, and I’m glad to see National Grid proposing this pilot project for Worcester,” Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray said in a statement. “If the pilot moves forward as planned, consumers will get new ways to manage their energy use and find new ways to save money.”

Under the Massachusetts Commonwealth’s Green Communities Act, utilities are required to submit proposals and develop smart grid technologies.

National Grid said its pilot program will cover more than one percent of its Massachusetts customer base and includes a wide variety of customers – single and multi–family and small business — from urban, suburban and rural settings with variable electricity usage.

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The solar energy sector enjoyed record growth last year, according to a new report from the Solar Energy Industries Association.

The 2008 U.S. Solar Industry Year in Review notes that 1,265 megawatts of solar power of all types were installed in 2008, increasing total U.S. solar power capacity by 17 percent to 8,775 megawatts. That increase included 342 megawatts of solar photovoltaic power, 139 thermal equivalent of solar water heating, 762 thermal equivalent of pool heating and an estimated 21 megawatts of solar space heating and cooling.

“Despite severe economic pressures in the United States, demand for solar energy grew tremendously in 2008,” Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the solar association, said in a statement. “Increasingly, solar energy has proven to be an economic engine for this country, creating thousands of jobs, unleashing billions in investment dollars and building new factories from New Hampshire to Michigan to Oregon.”

The report said grid-tied photovoltaic power led with a growth rate of 81 percent for the amount of installed power — 292 megawatts in 2008, up from 161 megawatts in 2007. Solar water heating installation grew at a 50 percent rate, but pool heating growth slowed by 3 percent in 2008.

While no concentrating solar power plants went online in the U.S. last year, 2009 projects in the pipeline will add more than 6 gigawatts of capacity. Among these are projects planned for California’s Mojave Desert, Arizona and Florida. The association says four gigawatts of solar energy can power up to a million households.

The industry also notes that several states have added or expanded incentives or requirements for solar energy, including California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri and Ohio. A total of 28 states have renewable portfolio standards that require a defined amount of energy be generated from renewable sources, with 19 of these states mandating a portion come from solar or distributed sources.

But the emerging industry says it must have continued support from the federal government to realize it long-term potential. A total of 42 states and the District of Columbia now have net metering rules allowing owners of solar energy systems to sell excess electricity back to the grid. However, these rules differ from state to state and solar association executives say a unified national policy is necessary.

“To maintain our industry’s growth, create jobs and meet President Obama’s goal of doubling renewable energy production in the next three years, we need smart federal policies, such as a renewable portfolio standard with a specific solar provision that help to develop and deploy vast solar resources around the country,” said Resch. “Today’s solar technology combined with the right policies will help us double solar production in the United States and move us to a clean, energy future.”

U.S. photovoltaic manufacturing capacity grew by 65 percent, creating new jobs in states such as California, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon and Tennessee, the report says.

“The growth of solar manufacturing jobs in the U.S. was a breath of fresh air for communities hit hard by the recession. The recently enacted manufacturing tax credit will give further incentive to manufacturers, such as my company Suntech America, to invest in new operations in the U.S.” Roger Efird, chairman of SEIA and President of Suntech America, Inc., said in a statement. “With the right policies, solar deployment will continue robust growth and thousands of new green-collar jobs in manufacturing will be created in states where jobs are needed most.”

The association noted that the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 extends by eight years the federal solar investment tax credit that has helped spur U.S. market growth in recent years. The report predicts the extension will aid long-term planning and stimulate investment in solar.

Here are the states that led in grid-tied photovoltaic installation:

• California — 178.6 megawatts (MW)
• New Jersey — 22.5 MW
• Colorado — 21.6 MW
• Nevada — 13.9
• Hawaii — 11.3 MW

For solar water heating systems, Hawaii led states, installing 37 percent of the total U.S. systems in 2008, followed by Florida (20 percent), California (7 percent), Colorado (5 percent) and Arizona (5 percent). The Mid-Atlantic States, an important emerging region for solar, installed 7 percent of solar water heating systems.

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President Barack Obama today ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to review its previous refusal to allow California and more than a dozen other states to raise emissions standards above and beyond the national standard. The Bush administration had denied the requests.

“Instead of serving as a partner, Washington stood in their way,” President Obama said. “The days of Washington dragging its heels are over.”

And in what he called “a down payment on a broader and sustained effort to reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” President Obama directed the Department of Transportation to establish higher fuel efficiency standards for carmakers’ 2011 model year. The standard, known as Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE), was established in 1975 in the wake of the Arab Oil Embargo.

Here are states that are seeking to regulate auto emission standards, according to the Pew Center on Global Climate Change and the National Resources Defense Council:

California – On July 22, 2002, former Governor Gray Davis signed AB 1493, a pioneering measure to protect California’s health and environment by reducing global warming pollution from all new cars and trucks sold in the state, America’s largest automobile market.

New Jersey – On January 14, 2004, Governor James E. McGreevey signed legislation that adopted California’s vehicle emissions standards to automobiles sold in New Jersey.

Connecticut – On May 4, 2004, Governor John G. Rowland signed the Clean Car Act, PA 04-84, requiring the Department of Environmental Protection to adopt regulations implementing California’s vehicle emissions standards, and to keep the Connecticut regulations current with changes California makes.

Oregon – In December 2005, the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission (EQC) adopted temporary rules requiring Oregon to meet California’s vehicle emissions standards. On June 22, 2006, the EQC permanently adopted rules requiring all new motor vehicles sold in Oregon to meet California’s vehicle emissions standards.

Washington – On May 6, 2005, Governor Christine Gregoire signed HB 1397, adopting California’s vehicle emissions standards for Washington, conditional on Oregon’s adoption of the standard.

Rhode Island – On October 13, 2005, Governor Don Carcieri announced Rhode Island’s intention to adopt California’s vehicle emissions standards. The standards were officially adopted on December 22, 2005 with approval of Air Pollution Control Regulation no.37, Rhode Island’s Low Emission Vehicle Program.

Vermont – On November 7, 2005, the Vermont Air Pollution Control Division adopted a rule amending its low emission vehicles regulation to be identical to that of California’s vehicle emissions standards.

New York – On November 9, 2005, the New York State Environmental Board approved State regulations that require significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles by adhering to California’s vehicle emissions standards.

Maine – In December 2005, the Board of Environmental Protection adopted amendments to Chapter 127, New Motor Vehicle Emission Standards, which incorporated California’s vehicle emissions standards for new motor vehicles sold in Maine.

Massachusetts – On January 9, 2006, Secretary of Environmental Affairs, Stephen R. Pritchard announced the state’s adoption of California’s vehicle emissions standards, designed to produce cleaner air and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Massachusetts. The standards take effect in Massachusetts starting with 2009 model year vehicles.

Arizona – On September 8, 2006, Governor Janet Napolitano signed Executive Order 2006-13, which directs the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to coordinate with the Arizona Department of Transportation to adopt and implement California’s vehicle emissions standards.

Pennsylvania – On September 19, 2006, Pennsylvania’s Environmental Quality Board approved the Clean Vehicles Program, a plan to meet California’s vehicle emissions standards. On November 2, 2006, the state’s Independent Regulatory Review Commission approved the implementation of the plan. Despite support from Governor Edward G. Rendell, in late 2006, the Pennsylvania General Assembly debated SB 1025, a rollback bill threatening to block the state from implementing the Clean Cars Law. On November 22, 2006, however, Pennsylvania concluded its ‘lame duck’ session without having voted on the SB 1025.

New Mexico – On December 28, 2006, Governor Bill Richardson issued executive order 2006-69, establishing goals and timetables for steps the state can take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including adopting California’s vehicle emissions standards. The New Mexico Environment Department is charged with submitting a proposal to the Environmental Improvement Board no later than January 1, 2008 to implement a state clean car standard consistent with California’s. In November 2007, the Albuquerque-Bernalillio Air Quality Control Board and the Environmental Improvement Board adopted the vehicle standards

New Jersey – On January 14, 2004, Governor James E. McGreevey signed legislation that adopted California’s vehicle emissions standards to automobiles sold in New Jersey

Utah – In May 2007, Utah joined the Western Climate Initiative, a joint effort to reduce regional greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change. Other members include Arizona, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Manitoba. By agreeing to the Initiative’s regional goal, members commit to adopt California’s GHG standards for vehicles.

Florida – On July 13, 2007, Governor Charlie Crist signed Executive Order 07-127, requiring the Florida Secretary of Environmental Protection to develop rules adopting California’s vehicle emissions standards.

Colorado – On November 7, 2007, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter released Colorado’s Climate Action Plan, under which the Governor will issue an executive order directing Colorado’s Air Quality Control Division to propose clean car standards.

Sources: Pew Center on Global Climate Change and the National Resources Defense Council

Hollywood is known for conspicuous environmentalism, but its legendary movie studios were built many decades before anyone thought about a production’s environmental impact. Now a team including former Paramount Pictures president David Kirkpatrick hopes to change that by building “the first all-union built, green, SMART studio facility in the world” — in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

The team behind Plymouth Rock Studios announced this month that it “has registered its entire development project with the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) in order to pursue campus-wide, new construction certification under Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED(R)) standards.”

This will be no rinky-dink, hangar-plus-solar-roof affair. The entire project, scheduled to break ground in spring 2009 and open a year and a half later, is expected to cost $422 million and will include “fourteen sound stages, ranging in size from 18,000 to 24,000 square feet” in addition to “10-acre backlots [that] will provide easy access to the cobblestone streets of Paris or Rome, the bustle of Los Angeles or New York, the glamour of Beverly Hills or any other city in the world you wish to capture.” (The campus will go beyond production features as well, with a “studio as city” ideal that already has the developers recruiting office tenants.)

Designed by Gensler, an architecture firm that among other green achievements just built the country’s first LEED-certified car dealership outside Dallas, the site will not only produce solar- and wind-generated electricity, but promises to offer such unpredictable amenities as onsite organic gardens and composting facilities.

And for anyone asking “why Massachusetts?,” the branding-conscious entrepreneurs are quick to describe Plymouth as “America’s Hometown” and the area as a nascent “Hollywood East” with a history of regionally-shot hits like Jaws and Good Will Hunting under its belt. Big new tax incentives have brought productions like Martin Scorsese’s upcoming Shutter Island to the area, and one imagines this new studio could only sweeten the deal.

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

The residents of Hull, Mass., literally have the wind at their back.

Taking advantage of their location on the far east end of the Boston Harbor, the town is making the most of wind power. As its devoted 11,000 residents will tell you, wind energy makes sense. It’s clean, abundant, inexhaustible and local. Today, with wind turbines on either side of town, Hull receives about 12-13 percent of its electricity from wind.

We recently paid a visit to Hull to see how this seacoast community has achieved wind power, an energy source that could be incorporated throughout the United States with the proper resources, know-how and mentality. Wind is a key ingredient in powering America off foreign oil and achieving an emissions-free energy system; its giant turbines, parts of which are made in the U.S., could become symbols of green success.

“I love them,” says Wendy Love, a 16-year Hull resident who works at Weinberg’s Bakery. “When it’s windy, they are louder, but they don’t bother me. If energy costs go high enough maybe the U.S. will become more green like in Europe.”

Geri Calos, manager at Weinberg’s as well as administrator for the Hull Nantasket Chamber of Commerce, says, “The chamber is really into the green movement and working on strategies for more alternative energy.”

Richard Miller, operations manager of the Hull Municipal Light Plant (HMLP), says the town’s people have been very supportive of wind as an alternative energy source. “There has been no resistance on the part of the residents,” he says.

“Hull is a leader in wind power,” he says, noting that everyday he receives calls from towns who want to learn more about wind.
Using wind is nothing new to Hull. The area has been at the forefront of the wind movement since the mid 1820s when the Hull peninsula was dubbed “Windmill Point” in historical archives.

Beginning in the mid 1980s, the town of Hull began using wind power to provide a portion of the community’s electricity, specifically the local high school. The town put in a 40 KW turbine on an 80-foot tower located next to the school. The school’s electric bills were reduced by more than 28 percent, saving the town about $21,000.

After a windstorm destroyed the turbine in 1997, a group of residents and high school teachers decided to find a way to repower the site. The project was incorporated into the school’s physics class and was supported by Hull Municipal Light Plant. Eager to take the project to the next level, the Citizen Advocates for Renewable Energy (CARE) was formed, led by residents Malcolm Brown and Andrew Stern, along with Hull Light.

CARE worked with the Renewable Energy Research Laboratory at U.Mass Amherst on wind-resource assessments, noise level and hardware issues. The engineering report was presented to residents in June 2000. The townspeople were in favor of the project and a bid went out to a number of turbine makers. The group chose Vestas, a Danish company based on their bid as well as the company’s success in Denmark, where about 20 percent of the country’s electricity is generated by wind. Vestas is now the largest turbine maker in the world.

Hull Wind 1 was erected by Hull Light December 2001 for $780,000. It stands 150-feet high with 90-feet blades, rotating at 28.5 RPM. It produces 1,597,963 KWh of electricity. CARE estimates that an average home uses about 6,000 KWh per year, so Hull Wind 1 generates enough electricity to power about 300 homes.

The project was a hit with residents who clamored for another. Hull Wind 2 got underway in 2003. Located on the opposite side of Hull on top of a landfill, the second larger windmill began operating in May 2006. It rotates at 15 RPM and generates 4,088,000 KWh’s, or about 700 homes. The town now has plans to install a set of four turbines offshore that would be enough to supply the entire town of Hull with electricity. Financing issues currently are being debated. According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, early estimates are close to $40 million, about 10 times as much as the first two mills combined. <!–nextpage–>

“Hull was fortunate in that we haven’t had to issue a bond to raise money for our [current] windmills,” Miller says. Hull Wind One was built using money from the town’s rate stabilization fund. Hull Wind Two was financed from a settlement that put about $2 million in the bank. “Not having to use bond money was a big help,” says Miller.

Each windmill took about four years to build from start to finish and were built about five years apart in strategic locations to make the best use of the wind on either side of town. Hull Municipal Light Plant operates and maintains the windmills. They also are responsible for billing customers.

The residents of Hull overwhelming support the mills. The few who are not on board have raised issues about noise, the flicker effect, aesthetics and wildlife.

The turbine blades make a soft, whirring sound. Teenager Aaron Capen, who works at Nantasket Paint & Hardware, says he lives in the shadow of Turbine 2. “If the turbine fell, it would hit my house. At night, I can hear the windmill – a soft, whooshing sound. It’s very soothing,” he says.

CARE co-founder Stern says the flicker effect — the shadows created by the rotating blades — bothers some people, much the way a strobe light might. One woman, who lives near the second mill, complained until she realized that by drawing her curtains during one part of the day, the flicker effect became a non-issue.

The windmills are not eyesores to the residents of Hull. The two windmills stand on either side of town, kind of propping up the town, like two bookends. Aesthetics, however, have been a key complaint in the nearby, proposed Cape Wind project. The proposal recommends 130 wind turbines to be located about five miles off the shores of Nantucket. The wind farm would provide electricity for all of Cape Cod and the nearby islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. It has been bitterly debated, with opponents arguing that the off-shore project will ruin the aesthetics of the area, and some saying it will harm fish habitat.

Ken Hackel, owner of Carousels and Ships gift shop, says it’s too bad Cape Wind is facing so much criticism on appearance. “Five miles is pretty far away to be bothered about aesthetics,” says Hackel (pictured left, seated).

Friend Ron Della Chiesa, a broadcaster and retired Dorchester deejay agrees. Both men like the windmills and don’t find them unpleasant to look at all. Chiesa, who has a local music program (Strickly Sinatra & Music America) , half-jokingly adds, “Maybe the sound of the windmills should be synchronized with classical music – we could hook up speakers.”

As for wildlife, local activist Stern says no birds have yet been killed by the mills’ blades. (The American Wind Energy Association says the concern over birds being killed by wind installations is a red herring.)

Stern is a longtime alternative energy advocate. An electrical engineer and graduate of Worcester Polytech, he made a solar car for his senior project, participating in the first collegiate solar car race, the 1990 Sun Race. He’s also been the lead advisor on the recent MIT solar house. Alternative energy is important, Stern says, but for beginning greenies, he recommends “SSO” – Shutting Stuff Off.

“Start with SSO,” he says, “and after that focus on solar and wind.”

Stern (pictured right) believes that wind farms, such as proposed by Cape Wind, need to be built all along the East Coast. “We need to install as much wind and solar as we have now, just to keep up with demand.” There’s also an economic advantage to wind and solar that shouldn’t be ignored.. “These projects will create lots of green-collar jobs – long-term, good-paying tech jobs.”<!–nextpage–>

Using wind, especially given global warming, is a no-brainer, says Stern. A wind turbine displaces 1,200 tons of CO2, seven tons of sulfur dioxide and five tons of nitrogen oxide, he says. More wind power results in less smog, acid rain and greenhouse gas emissions. Stern ticks off the reasons that make wind power powerfully appealing:

• Wind energy is abundant. Stern’s view that wind could provide 20 percent of U.S. electricity with turbines placed on only 1 percent of its land area is also the view of many official sources. This year, the Department of Energy, released projections that the U.S. could achieve 20 percent wind power by 2030. Many experts believe that’s an underestimation.

• Wind energy is renewable, unlike oil. In the U.S. today, Stern notes, “We are using more oil than we can produce.”

• Wind is domestic, so it would never be subjected to price shocks due to international conflict. Oil was $24 a barrel at start of Gulf War, he points out, and has risen, at times, to well over $100 a barrel during the war.

The East Coast is not the only place that’s looking to wind power. California, Texas, Minnesota and Iowa are among the other regions that are investing in wind.

In order to accomplish 20 percent wind power by 2030, an ambitious threefold boost in turbine installations is needed, according to Wind Powering America, an initiative of the Department of Energy’s. A recent WPA report states the installations will need to improve “from today’s 2,000 annual turbine installations to almost 7,000 per year by 2017.”

Finding new energy sources is no longer an option but a necessity, says Stern. It will cost money initially, he notes, but once it’s in place, the benefits will outweigh the costs.

“Industrialization was good, but now we need to start living more sustainable lifestyles,“ he says. “If the United States doesn’t get it and do it right, we can’t expect China, India and Africa to do it. The US has the expertise and the technology, we [now] need the leadership and execution.”

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

This week, for the first time in the United States, an auction was held allowing power plants to bid against each other for the right to spew carbon dioxide into the air.

The goal, of course, is to reduce atmospheric carbon by finding the best way of putting a price tag on it for polluters. Ten Eastern states — Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont — have formed the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (or RGGI, pronounced “Reggie”) to coordinate their efforts by placing mandatory overall caps on emissions levels, then auctioning off allowances for CO2 emissions that can be traded between companies. As a result, companies will have a financial incentive to clean up their own act as quickly as possible.

Other regions of the country, from the state of Florida to a Western Climate Initiative, are either studying or actively planning similar cap-and-trade programs; this one is the result of five years of research and planning and is partly inspired by earlier efforts to tackle acid rain. According to Thursday’s press release, “Under RGGI, the ten participating states will stabilize power sector carbon emissions at their capped level, and then reduce the cap by 10 percent at a rate of 2.5 percent each year between 2015 and 2018.”

A ten percent reduction over ten years, of course, is a far cry from what most activists would like to see. But it’s a more substantial measure than any being taken on a nation-wide level, and the states promise to invest the funds raised in “energy efficiency programs, renewable energy stimulus efforts and other programs to benefit consumers. As a result, RGGI will deliver economic and environmental benefits and improve energy security through reduced use of fossil fuels.”

Six of the participating states offered allowances yesterday, selling credits for over 12 million tons of carbon emissions. Other states will sell their credits in future auctions, the next of which takes place in December.

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media