2008: May the road rise up to meet ya Santa Clara!

May the road rise up to meet ya, but not so fast as to hit your nose!

Getting hit in the nose is one of the main concerns with energy these days.

It's interesting to see how Santa Clara moved in the 1970s and 80s to avoid that - and is now reaping the benefits. The city bought land - a larger acreage than the city itself - for renewable energy.

"It's become popular, hasn't it?" said Don Von Raesfeld, Santa Clara's city manager at the time, chuckling about the city's unusual buying spree. By planning a chain of wind, water and steam plants on land that otherwise would go undeveloped, the city hoped to protect customers of its hometown power company from massive rate hikes.

More in the SJ Mercury

Santa Clara's increasingly wise looking investments includes both wind and geothermal energy. Wind is now cost competitive with fossil fuel energy. It has faced however 2 major criticisms. One is often local opposition due to wildlife concerns (valid in the case of older turbines on Altamont pass but now wholly addressed by newer larger turbines which turn slowly and better siting). The second issue has been "baseload" - the electricity isn't necessarily generated when you most need it.

However, solutions in these areas are being offered. Scientific American recently covered energy storage in it's excellent January 2008 article on solar.

Compressed-air energy storage has emerged as a successful alternative. Electricity from photovoltaic plants compresses air and pumps it into vacant underground caverns, abandoned mines, aquifers and depleted natural gas wells. The pressurized air is released on demand to turn a turbine that generates electricity, aided by burning small amounts of natural gas. Compressed-air energy storage plants have been operating reliably in Huntorf, Germany, since 1978 and in McIntosh, Ala., since 1991. The turbines burn only 40 percent of the natural gas they would if they were fueled by natural gas alone, and better heat recovery technology would lower that figure to 30 percent.

Studies by the Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto, Calif., indicate that the cost of compressed-air energy storage today is about half that of lead-acid batteries.

And smarter grids are another:

So for 2008, perhaps the old Irish blessing should be: May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always on your turbines. May the sun shine warm upon your solar cells!

More on BAAQMD's grants

The grants feature a number of outreach efforts but also support for Berkeley's solar financing initiative.

Stocking stuffers - BAAQMD grants announced

Just in time for the holidays the Bay Area Air Quality Management District announced its grants. Many cities in our region secured funding including Mt View, San Carlos, San Mateo, Sunnyvale, Redwood City, plus San Mateo County, Santa Clara County (not to mention a bunch more in other parts of the Bay Area). And organizations: Acterra and Sustainable Silicon Valley. That's sure better than coal in the stocking!

Interestingly, many of these are for cities to "Integrate climate protection into general plan". What this should mean is more support for transit options and placing more homes and amenities at rail stops. Success in providing transit alternatives is directly related to putting homes and businesses in the right place -not just more busses or trains. It reduces housing prices, reduces pressure to buy homes far a way with long commutes (and emissions) and encourages friendlier neighborhoods for walking. An excellent example is the Bay Meadows project in San Mateo. Oddly, one of the recipients of such a grant is Mt. View, which historically has done an excellent job of placing homes for our growing population near downtown or on the rail stops. But the city has been backpeddling due to an unsupportive council that continues to weaken excellent opportunities such as the Mayfair project right on the San Antonio Caltrain stop. A better location for homes could not be found.

More in the San Mateo County Times.

In related news, C/CAG approved $6,500 in grants for every city in San Mateo County for the ICLEI/Joint Venture Government Operations GHG Inventory. No information on the web site though and unfortunately word is the recent ICLEI training wasn't very good. Concerns have also been raised about the Metropolitan Transportation Committee's transportation emissions methodology. We'll what's Christmas without at least a little humbug...

The Jetsons: Aptera electric car

This isn't a Bay Area native but a neighbor. Aptera is a "future is now" electric car from Carlsbad. It's a lightweight super-efficient vehicle for two with excellent range (~120 miles per charge) and top speed (~90 mph). Soon it will also be offered in as a hybrid.

It's fair to ask if a vehicle like this will ever be more than a novelty like the ill-fated Corbin Sparrow. But despite the failure of the Sparrow and other entries in past years there seems to be increasing visibility, if not momentum, around a next generation practical two-seater. Vehicles like the Smart and Think show promise. Some will argue that no one wants a car that small but the allure of a hip small vehicle is well proven by the Mini Cooper. Even for families, a huge percentage of trips are short and with only one or two people. A practical 2-seater car makes sense not only for the young single urbanite but also a family's second car in many cases.

I wouldn't have minded one in my stocking...

See the clip from Popular Mechanics. Hat tip to former Cool Cities leader Pierre...

By the way, this blog will be renamed in January... Details soon...

Gutenberg would be proud

As Bay Area cities race to promote solar energy (with Berkeley, San Francisco, San Jose - and soon it appears San Mateo) with financing mechanisms or ambitious goals, home grown Nanosolar seems to be lining up to meet the challenge having "printed" its first production solar cells.

CEO Martin Roscheisen reports in his blog the many leading edge qualities including:

- the world’s first printed thin-film solar cell in a commercial panel product;

- the world’s first thin-film solar cell with a low-cost back-contact capability;

- the world’s lowest-cost solar panel – which we believe will make us the first solar manufacturer capable of profitably selling solar panels at as little as $.99/Watt;

In fact, you can get yours here if you act now (Ginzu knives not included)

Hat tip C-Net

Live from Bali II

Bottom line from Bali - our local work to make climate impact reductions remains as important as ever. We are are the leaders of the United States both domestically and to the world. With US local leaders and pressure from other countries we are slowly turning the US.

1:15 pm: Plenary session reconvenes. President of Indonesia and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon lecture delegates on importance of coming to agreement. China chastizes Secretary-General of UNFCCC for allowing scheduling of two meetings simultaneously to interfere with orderly progress of meeting. Secretary-General, who is exhausted, breaks down and leaves meeting. There follows one of the most extraordinary sessions of an international negotiation any of us have ever seen.

India presents a new text stating how the undertaking of developing countries to participate in the preparation of a global plan of carbon limits will be formulated, which has been arrived at by the G-77 in their caucus. The U.S. rejects it. All this is happens without any scripting or planning, in open session, on the floor, with NGO’s and press filling the sides and back of the room. One by one countries and blocs rise – to support India. South Africa. Papua New Guinea asks the US to lead or get out of the way. China. The EU. The small island states. One by one they rise to ask the US to yield to the new language. Frankly, the new language is not sensational; but it represents for the first time the entry of the developing countries together into the global preparation of a plan for carbon limits, and it is their language. Canada is silent. Japan speaks, and no one can figure out what they mean, possibly including themselves. Not one voice among 190 countries is raised in support of the US. The pressure is like a huge, crushing weight in the room. And finally the US asks for the floor and yields. The room bursts into wild applause, and the Bali Roadmap is adopted. 3:10 pm, Saturday, December 15

CNN reports here. The US delegation actively obstructed every constructive effort so the late break was hardly lauditory. Reports say China was suprisingly constructive. In the end, the agreement was very modest incremental progress - important on the mechanism to reduce deforestation and the inclusion of underdeveloped nations. However, there are no hard targets.

The good, the bad and the sunny

The good: Following on the heels of Berkeley's outstanding initiative to make solar affordable, San Francisco follow suit. Word is that Newsom was upset that Berkeley stole his thunder. And while SF's plan may not be as strong as Berkeley's it's still good - adding momentum to efforts to fundamentally change the finances game and make solar readily accessible.

The bad: What looked to be an exceptional energy bill from Congress died yesterday by 1 vote despite having been passed by the House and showing prior support for its elements in the Senate. Instead we got a bill that raises auto fuel efficiency (CAFE) to an average of 35 mpg by 2020 but includes what many consider questionable "renewable fuel standards" which subsidizes ethanol. With the death of the good energy bill also died incentives for wind and solar which were to be funded by rolling back the outrageous give aways to the oil industry in the horrible 2005 energy bill. Clearly the bad.

The sunny: Despite the death of the federal renewable incentives California at least is maintaining strong momentum on distributed solar thanks to the state's Million Solar Roofs plus municipal and financial services initiatives. Nanosolar, one of the promising local "thin-film" solar manufacturers not only secured more funding this fall, but has started production. Let's just hope sunny California momentum can carry us through until the clouds break in Washington DC.

...it's really about water

Amidst all the attention to energy - rightly placed of course - one might miss however what it comes down to where California is concerned.

The issue is water.

For the first time, scientists have linked several specific trends in a regional water cycle to global climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions.

Since 1950, the Sierra snowpack has decreased by about 20 percent, the temperature in the Rocky Mountains has gone up 3 degrees and spring water flow in the Columbia River has decreased significantly.

"These signals are the same no matter where you go in the West," marine physicist Tim Barnett of Scripps Institution of Oceanography said Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. "We've got a real serious problem."

By scaling down global climate models to bring greater detail of the region, a team of scientists led by Barnett and atmospheric scientist Ben Santer of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory projected these trends into the future and found a grim picture for the West. By about 2040, the Colorado Rockies will be nearly barren of snow as early as April 1 each year. And a similar story will play out in the Sierra.

This affects not only the total volume of precipitation but also the rate and manner of precipitation. More rain, faster melt and runoff, and proportionately much less available water in the dry months.

As if that were not bad enough we have to further consider that most of the major models have underestimated the rapidity of climate change. Last year estimates about disappearance of Arctic summer ice put it at 2050 then early this year at around 2030. The most recent estimates put it at 5 years from now with serious consequences for global climate.

There is great urgency for all climate plans in the state and region to not only address efficiency and renewable energy but also water conservation. Unfortunately, the major water providers like CalWater have little incentive to promote water efficiency. Unlike California electrical utilities, water utilities make money in proportion to how much water they sell. The more that is wasted - the happier they are. Looks like it's time to "decouple" the water utilities - restructure their income model so income is not a direct function of volume sales - in much the same way electrical utilities are decoupled to create an incentive for the utilities to promote efficiency.

Live from Bali (not Al Gore)

Our actions have an impact a world away.

Cool Cities had a presence in Bali, Indonesia!

7:15 PM (6:15 AM EST) Bali, Indonesia
Folks, I am sitting in a huge hotel room here in the Bali Convention hall 20 minutes from when Al Gore will address us live. The UN Conference is winding down or heating up—one day remaining. The outcome is not clear as the US, as you might expect, is disrupting the negotiations at every turn. It has been a very educational two weeks. Carl Pope arrived two days ago and has been busy with press events, meetings and speaking engagements. The lobbying is intense with delegates from all over world—I have not really participated in the lobbying. I have been making many contacts with activists from all over the world.

The most compelling stories hear are of the people most vulnerable to climate change. People from small island nations like the Maldives and Tuvalu which are only a meter or two above sea level—they ask what will happen to our people. People from Africa, Asia, South America (the South) who are already bearing the brunt of climate and who are demanding action by the North—the rich countries (us)—action on mitigation (reducing GHGs), action on adaptation (addressing the changes occurring and to occur) on technology transfer and financing to provide the less developed countries with the technology and the funds to mitigate and adapt—simple justice!

When Tyla and I return, we will have a far deeper understanding of climate change and all its elements—geo-political; sociologically, ethically and the science. The world is demanding action and, sadly, the US, the Bush Administration, is further eroding our standing in the world. But Al Gore is getting the rock star treatment—and many people seem to understand that change is on the way. But the world can’t wait! All our work is worth it; is making a difference. Keep fighting. Failure is not an option.

Glen and Tyla

Glen heads up regional Cool Cities efforts in the Appalachian region and Tyla is a volunteer city lead in Richmond, Virginia which is doing lots of Cool stuff.

Belmont to form taskforce

Another city moves to establish taskforce:

The Green Advisory Task Force is scheduled to meet monthly, probably in the evenings and will advise the City Council about energy efficiency and conservation, green buildings, waste reduction and recycling, climate friendly purchasing, alternative energy and low carbon fuels and sustainable land use and smart growth, according to the city.

More at the San Mateo Daily Journal

Al Gore acceptance speech

SPEECH BY AL GORE ON THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE DECEMBER 10, 2007 OSLO, NORWAY

...Truth also has the power to unite us and bridge the distance between “me” and “we,” creating the basis for common effort and shared responsibility.

There is an African proverb that says, “If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” We need to go far, quickly.

We must abandon the conceit that individual, isolated, private actions are the answer. They can and do help. But they will not take us far enough without collective action. At the same time, we must ensure that in mobilizing globally, we do not invite the establishment of ideological conformity and a new lock-step “ism.”

That means adopting principles, values, laws, and treaties that release creativity and initiative at every level of society in multifold responses originating concurrently and spontaneously.

(my emphasis)

The full speech here.

San Mateo's climate plan nears completion

The San Mateo Daily News reports...

While "going green" is in vogue for cities around the Bay Area, San Mateo's plan reaches beyond token measures such as buying hybrid city vehicles. It calls for measuring the city's greenhouse gas emissions every year and reducing them steadily starting in 2009.

To do that, the plan proposes several policies aimed at reshaping the city and changing its residents' behavior. The city could start with relatively straightforward programs such as minimum green building ratings, then consider more controversial policies such as charging people to drive on congested freeways.

The eventual goal is to cut emissions in San Mateo to 1990 levels by 2020, and 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Those benchmarks mirror statewide goals laid out in the California Global Solutions Act of 2006.

While turnout was light at Saturday's public input session, there was strong support from the residents present. Newly installed mayor Carole Groom was present and there was valuable discussion and input to the Sustainability Advisory Committee.

Plan is due for completion at the end of December.

Two days left, applications for Mt. View's task force

Cities throughout the region are forming "green ribbon taskforces" to create plans to tackle climate change.

Through December 10th, Mtn View is accepting applications for people to join
a new Sustainability Task Force which will be in place for 6 months to
recommend actions to the city council. Details here.

Also, check out a mini report on Mt. View's Nov. 3rd Step It Up event. Beth and Dave put on an awesome event. And photos by Tian.

Sunnyvale is also forming a taskforce.

Santa Barbara, green building and the new economy

Things are moving fast. Just a few weeks ago the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) set a goal for getting all new construction in California to be climate neutral by 2030. Whether by accident or by design, this parallels the Architecture 2030 initiative led by American Institute of Architects, US Green Building Council, Pacific Gas & Electric and numerous others. The city of Santa Barbara had just passed an ordinance to implement Architecture 2030, the first public ordinance implementing the 2030 goals, almost simultaneously the CPUC decided to stake it’s claim on similar ground.

More in my post at ecoAmerica's blog

More on Berkeley solar

How will you ride the slide?

Hat tip Gristmill