Month: April 2015
In Wisconsin, Say “Cheese”, but not “Climate”
Obviously, for some politicians, in some states, “climate” has become an unwelcome topic. The increasingly popular answer?
Ban it.
Discussing climate change is out of bounds for workers at a state agency in Wisconsin. So is any work related to climate change—even responding to e-mails about the topic.
A vote on Tuesday by Wisconsin’s Board of Commissioners of Public Lands, a three-member panel overseeing an agency that benefits schools and communities in the state, enacted the staff ban on climate change. “It’s not a part of our sole mission, which is to make money for our beneficiaries,” said State Treasurer Matt Adamczyk, a Republican who sits on the board. “That’s what I want our employees working on. That’s it. Managing our trust funds.”
Adamczyk raised his concern at a public meeting on Tuesday that the board’s executive director, Tia Nelson, had spent on-the-job time working on global warming. Nelson did indeed work on climate change a bit in 2007 and ’08—at the request of the governor. Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, who stepped down in 2011, appointed Nelson as co-chair of a global warming task force (PDF). “It honestly never occurred to me that being asked by a sitting governor to serve on a citizen task force would be objectionable,” she said.
Nelson is the daughter of Gaylord Nelson, the U.S. Senator from Wisconsin who established Earth Day in 1970. For 17 years before joining the public land agency, she ran the Nature Conservancy’s climate change initiative.
The measure affecting a small number of Wisconsin state workers follows an alleged effort by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to stop employees from using the terms “climate change” and “global warming” in official communications.
The prohibition on “engaging in global warming or climate change work while on BCPL time,” said state treasurer Matt Adamczyk, a Republican who sits on the board, is nothing but an attempt to cut down on government spending. “It’s not a part of our sole mission, which is to make money for our beneficiaries,” he explained. “That’s what I want our employees working on. That’s it. Managing our trust funds.”
But others are suspicious of Adamczyk’s motives, to say the least, describing it as a “witch hunt” targeting Tia Nelson, the agency’s executive director, who committed the offense of working, on state time but at the request of then-Governor Jim Doyle, on a 2008 global warming task force that sought to “make Wisconsin a leader in implementation of global warming solutions.”
“Having been on this board for close to 30 years, I’ve never seen such nonsense,” said Wisconsin Secretary of State Douglas La Follette, who opposed the measure.
Continue reading “In Wisconsin, Say “Cheese”, but not “Climate””
Utilities at Fork in the Road
When you come to a fork in the road, take it. – Yogi Berra
As an accompanying post on this page indicates, Utility companies fear that their business model can’t compete in a solar and renewable energy world. They have good reasons for that.
Problem is, just trying to oppose or suppress new technology has never been effective. If the recent history of Internet and cell phone adoption has shown us, when technologies are compelling enough, they reach a certain critical mass and become an overwhelming force. Sometimes reaching criticality takes a while, but with renewables, we are there.
Chris Mooney in the Washington Post:
Not Just “Climate Change” – the Other Words You Can’t Say in Florida
Solar. Energy.
Back when Paige Kreegel was a state representative in 2009, he had an idea that he thought simply made sense. Florida, the Sunshine State, should become a model for solar power.
As chairman of the state House’s Committee on Energy, Kreegel was in a position to change Florida laws that have restricted the growth of rooftop solar panels. As a self-described free-market Republican, he wanted to get government out of the way of a growing industry.
But Kreegel soon discovered his fellow committee members wouldn’t discuss solar energy, and the fact that he brought it up made him an outcast. When he walked the halls of the Legislature, other lawmakers would shut their doors.
“You know how Tallahassee has an in-group and an out-group?” said Kreegel, a physician in Punta Gorda who left the House in 2012. “I didn’t know I was on the outside until I went against the public utilities, and then — holy hell.”
Kreegel isn’t alone. Other lawmakers and lobbyists say that anyone who has attempted to expand the rooftop solar industry has been ostracized. The reason, some lawmakers say, is that Florida’s largest utilities have invested heavily in state political campaigns to fend off competition.
Campaign records show utility companies have sunk $12 million into the campaigns of state lawmakers since 2010.
That money comes from the bills paid by customers of the state’s four largest utilities — Duke Energy, Gulf Power, Florida Power & Light and Tampa Electric.
Those donations include contributions to every member of the Senate and House leadership. The recipient of the most utility money since 2010 is Gov. Rick Scott’s 2014 reelection campaign, which took in more than $1.1 million through two political action committees.
Continue reading “Not Just “Climate Change” – the Other Words You Can’t Say in Florida”
New Aluminum/Graphite Battery Charges in One Minute
More evidence that energy storage technology is following a curve similar to what we’ve seen with other hi-tech areas in recent decades. When engineers begin to focus on a problem, solutions arise.
This new battery technology out of Stanford relies on cheap and widely available materials, aluminum and graphite, can be recharged very quickly, and seems much safer, comparitively, than prevailing lithium-ion technology.
The team’s aluminum-ion battery sounds like a dream come true for gadget manufacturers — a perfect battery with few flaws.
Until now, aluminum-ion batteries weren’t able to produce a high enough voltage, especially after many recharge cycles. But the prototype created by the Stanford researchers consists of an aluminum anode and a cathode made of graphite — a combination of materials that allows for producing sufficient voltage (about two volts), even after thousands of recharge cycles.
The battery can recharge in one minute, it’s flexible (meaning it can be bent to fit more snugly into various gadgets), and it’s potentially inexpensive, since aluminum is cheaper than lithium. Furthermore, the materials are safer than the ones in lithium-ion batteries, which can catch fire in certain situations. In contrast, the aluminum-ion battery won’t catch fire even if you drill a hole through it while it’s working.
–In the video posted on YouTube by the Stanford researchers (below) you can see a prototype of the battery powering an LED light while being bent and drilled through. The battery is also seen powering a smartphone, and another potential application mentioned is storing energy on the electrical grid.
As Climate Denial Implodes, The Record Will Haunt Politicians
Words have consequences. Words mean things. And words have a way of following you…
If it’s true, that even the most staunch purveyors of climate denial are now in full retreat (see below) – that makes for some pretty interesting campaign contortions for candidates who have wedded themselves to science denial, and who still have to face a rabidly crazy, self selected slice of the Republican electorate in upcoming Presidential primaries next year.
Tom Steyer’s climate-focused political group is already gearing up for the 2016 presidential race, announcing on Monday a new effort that will focus on putting Republican candidates on the defense when it comes to global warming.
NextGen Climate’s chief strategist, Chris Lehane, said in a call with reporters that the group’s mission heading into 2016 is to “disqualify” candidates who deny that climate change is real or caused by human activity by proving that “they don’t have what it takes to be president.” The effort will be called Hot Seat, and NextGen Climate says it will involve media and on-the-ground campaigns in key electoral states aimed at linking Republican deniers to the Koch brothers and other interests that seek to undermine climate science.
The idea, NextGen says, is to force Republican candidates who are skeptical of climate change to defend their views right out of the gate.
“If you’re in a position that is different from 97 percent of scientists, that does raise basic competency questions in terms of whether people are going to want to give you the keys to the White House,” said Lehane.
Their first target, Lehane said, is Rand Paul, who is expected to announce his candidacy Tuesday in Louisville, Kentucky. The group is planning to hit Paul with a stunt involving a “lie detector test” to force him to go on the record about his views on climate change, and will also follow the candidate to Iowa. Paul has previously questioned the consensus view among scientists that greenhouse gas emissions are warming the climate, but has also tried to moderate his stance somewhat in recent months.
The group intends to portray Republican candidates who deny climate change as being subservient to the will of major donors like the Koch brothers, the conservative fossil-fuel billionaires. “[The Kochs] have acquired the Republican Party and purposed it,” said Lehane. “Now they have these various Republican candidates saying they don’t believe in the science.”
Below, the New Republic explores case in point, Presidential contender Rand Paul:
Continue reading “As Climate Denial Implodes, The Record Will Haunt Politicians”
Washington Post: Climate Deniers Officially on the Run
Here’s a follow-up on yesterday’s news that the far right wing American Legislative Exchange Council is now threatening to sue anyone that looks at their long record of denying climate change, and calls them climate deniers.
Dana Milbank of the Post adds some new wrinkles. Is it really true that the Heartland Institute is giving up climate denial?
Going into the election, this is going to be veeery interesting…..
Dana Milbank in the Washington Post:
The problem for ALEC is that as recently as 2013, it was still reaffirming “model legislation” calling on states to consider “legitimate and scientifically defensible alternative hypotheses” to the “mainstream scientific positions” on climate. The proposed legislation states that there is “a great deal of scientific uncertainty” about the matter and suggests states treat possible beneficial effects of carbon “in an evenhanded manner.”
The turnabout at ALEC follows an about-face at the Heartland Institute, a libertarian outfit that embraces a description of it as “the world’s most prominent think tank promoting skepticism about man-made climate change.”
But on Christmas Eve, Justin Haskins, a blogger and editor at Heartland, penned an article for the conservative journal Human Events declaring: “The real debate is not whether man is, in some way, contributing to climate change; it’s true that the science is settled on that point in favor of the alarmists.”
Haskins called it “a rather extreme position to say that we ought to allow dangerous pollutants to destroy the only planet we know of that can completely sustain human life,” and he suggested work on “technologies that can reduce CO2 emissions without destroying whole economies.”
Continue reading “Washington Post: Climate Deniers Officially on the Run”
ALEC – You’re a Bunch of Meanies – We Aren’t Climate Deniers – We’re Calling the Waahmbulance,
If a nest of orcs like ALEC is distancing itself from climate denial, you know there’s a shift going on.
Facing a loss of high-profile corporate sponsors, a conservative state-level policy group — the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) — threatened action in recent weeks against activist groups that accuse it of denying climate change.
Attorneys for ALEC sent letters to Common Cause and the League of Conservation Voters asking them to immediately “cease making false statements” and “remove all false or misleading material” suggesting that ALEC does not believe in global warming.
ALEC officials insist that their nonprofit state-level policy organization does not deny climate change and that they have been overhauling their organization to be more transparent and more welcoming to divergent views. ALEC’s attorneys cite the organization’s model legislation, distributed to state lawmakers, acknowledging that “human activity has and will continue to alter the atmosphere of the planet,” which “may lead to demonstrable changes in climate.”
ALEC is panicking because so many corporations that have formerly supported their promotion of anti-environment, anti-climate, anti-science legislation and ideas have been fleeing recently, as polls show majorities of Americans now get it that climate change is a serious issue that needs to be addressed, and that groups like ALEC are, in the words of Google chairman Eric Schmidt, “literally lying”, about the science of climate change.
In August, Microsoft announced that it’d be severing ties with ALEC, citing its opposition to renewable energy projects; in September, Google chairman Eric Schmidt said his company would be leaving as well, in part because ALEC is “just literally lying” about climate change (the group tried, and totally failed, to reform its stance). But despite the tech exodus that followed — Facebook, Yahoo and Yelp are no longer ALEC-affiliated — the group is sure to be buoyed by the favorable results of the midterm elections, Nick Surgey, of the Center for Media and Democracy, told reporters during a press call Wednesday.
And according to Aliya Haq, the climate change special projects director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, it ”will actually be escalating its attacks on environmental safeguards.”
The “most extreme” proposal getting attention at this week’s conference, according to the NRDC, is a plan to have Congress disband the EPA, slash funding for environmental protections by 75 percent and replace the federal agency with a group of 300 state agency employees — even though the entire point of having the EPA is because pollution extends beyond state boundaries.
A quick look at ALEC’s website shows handy templates available for state legislators eager to stop a tax on carbon, withdraw from the Northeast’s Regional Greenhouse Gas initiative, or oppose the President’s efforts to rein in greenhouse gas and other pollution from coal fired power plants.
With Fossil Fuels Dying, Train Vets for a Growing Solar Industry
Why not take Wayne Gretsky’s advice, and skate to where the puck is going to be?
As coal plants are shuttered due to increasing regulation and competition from cheap natural gas and renewables, coal industry jobs are being shed by the thousands, according to new research from Duke University.
From 2008 to 2012, the U.S. coal industry, from mining to power plants, lost nearly 50,000 jobs, about 12 percent of the total during the five-year period. The research did not include coal jobs that weren’t associated with electricity production.
During the same period, wind and solar added about 79,000 jobs and natural gas tacked on more than 94,000 jobs. When the researchers also accounted for indirect jobs, natural gas, wind and solar brought in nearly 220,000 jobs. Hydro and nuclear were not included as the numbers were relatively steady throughout the timeframe.
The figures for coal are probably even starker since 2012. Coal’s dominant position in the U.S. electricity market is increasingly under threat with every passing year, a trend that is only gaining momentum.
In 2014, the U.S. Energy Information Administration increased its short-term coal retirement prediction by nearly 50 percent, with an estimate that about 60 gigawatts will retire by 2016. Meanwhile, a report from The Solar Foundation found that there were more than 173,000 solar jobs in the U.S. in 2014, an increase of nearly 22 percent over the previous year.
The research paper from Duke, led by Drew Haerer at the Nicholas School of the Environment, did not take into account construction, installation and manufacturing, but it did account for operations and maintenance such as mining, extraction, transportation and distribution. For fossil fuel jobs, construction and installation are regarded as short-term work, such as when power plants are being built, and they make up only a fraction of the overall jobs picture.
But for wind, the number of O&M jobs compared to construction and installation is about equal, and for solar, O&M is the lower figure, the researchers noted. The methodology somewhat skews the results, particularly because it does not account for distributed solar and those installation jobs. The report from The Solar Foundation, for instance, is projecting that nearly 119,000 of 210,000 solar jobs in 2015 will be in installation.
As coal struggles, oil and gas remain on a roller coaster of increasing uncertainty. Meanwhile, renewables only gather speed.
An enormous new survey of industry experts shows how fast things are moving. Recently, DNV GL, an international energy consulting company, asked 1,600 people who actually work in the field — at equipment manufacturers, power producers, utilities, policy-making agencies, energy retailers, regulators, and equity investment firms — about the future of renewables. One of the main questions: How quickly will renewables be generating 70 percent of the energy in the markets you work with?
Almost half of the survey respondents said they could see that happening by 2030. And almost all of them — about 80 percent — thought renewables would dominate by 2050.
Here’s why they’re optimistic about renewable energy:
Continue reading “With Fossil Fuels Dying, Train Vets for a Growing Solar Industry”
Chemical Giant Makes Big Bet on Wind
Dow Chemical Co., the largest U.S. chemical maker by sales, has agreed to buy 200 megawatts of capacity from a wind farm under development in Texas.
A subsidiary of Bordas Wind Energy LLC is building the wind farm, which is expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year, Midland, Michigan-based Dow said Friday in a statement. The project, which will span almost 35,000 acres, will supply Dow’s Freeport, Texas, manufacturing facility. Terms weren’t disclosed.
“By entering into this agreement, Dow is taking a serious approach to our future energy needs in Texas and cost-competitive wind energy is a great opportunity,” Jim Fitterling, vice chairman of business operations at Dow, said in the statement.
Dow is seeking to increase its use of renewable power to 400 megawatts by 2025. About 900 megawatts of wind capacity will be built this year in the U.S. as almost 60 gigawatts of onshore wind power is installed globally, according to data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
So, what does Dow’s huge wind deal say about our energy landscape and the future of power generation? Three things:
1. Accelerating technological innovation and deployment at scale is driving down the cost of renewable energy.
Since 2009, the delivered cost of wind energy from many parts of the country has declined more than 50%. The Energy Information Administration recently released data showing that renewable energy generation provided 47 percent of new electrical generating capacity installed in the US during 2012 and 2013. In 2014 the US had installed a generating capacity of 65,879 MW of wind; this is approximately ten times the installed capacity of wind energy generation at the end of 2004.