Archive for Energy
Thinking Outside The Service Economy Box
Posted by: | CommentsFrom the Citizen-Times January 14:
$800,000 in stimulus funds go to Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministries to help train 600 workers for green jobs
Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministries will get $800,000 in federal stimulus funds to help train up to 600 workers for jobs weatherizing homes, installing solar panels and helping produce biodiesel fuel.
The jobs could pay $9 to $14 an hour. Sounds great. Now, show me the jobs and show me the money.
Everyone wants to transform the economy with “green” jobs. But so far the term is mostly a trendy, feel-good catchphrase. Few people can tell you what a green job is, how to count them, or what makes one job green and not another.
The Christian Science Monitor asks, “Are all workers at an automaker green if a few of them make hybrid cars? Does the janitor’s position at a wind-turbine factory count as a green job? What about the urban planner who designs a mass transit system one year and a strip mall the next?” The problem is, the Des Moines Register notes, “There is no national definition of green jobs.” For Ashevillians, a green job means installing weather stripping or solar panels, as the AC-T lede suggests. So, that’s it?
Job Growth and Energy Independence
Posted by: | CommentsVice Mayor Brownie Newman will present the Asheville Energy Independence Initiative Tuesday night at our City Council meeting. You can get a flavor for the program by having a look at this nifty Powerpoint:
I’m 100% behind this initiative. Highlighted in my campaign again and again, this program will allow voluntary retrofitting of homes and businesses without the up front cost to the consumer. It will create jobs, reduce energy use, and save people money. It’ll be revenue neutral or better for the City, meaning it’ll pay for itself. If you’re in favor of implementing this fantastic opportunity, please spread the word.
Devise Your Conservation Strategy and Get a Cheap Energy Audit
Posted by: | CommentsFrom Mtn. X:
Administered by the Buncombe County Cooperative Extension, the program aims to help local residents stay warmer for less money — starting with a Thursday, Jan. 21, workshop that qualifies attendees for discounted home-energy audits.
Residents who complete the workshop qualify for a price cut: If your home is 2,000 square feet or less in size and more than 5 years old, you may be eligible for an audit that costs $100, normally a $350 service.
[...]
“You must attend the E-Conservation workshop to receive the subsidized energy audit. Pre-registration for the workshop is necessary, as space is limited. To register, call 255-5522. The extension office, part of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension, is located at 94 Coxe Avenue. The workshop starts at 5:30 p.m.”
Want Not Waste Not
Posted by: | Comments
Since my first foray into the world of Sunday Morning Music seemed to go over like a wet fart in church, I submit for your consideration this juicy bit passed along by loyal reader Monica over at the blogalicious Cucina Naturale. Maybe it’ll be enough to get your vinyl panties in a wad. Scary stuff.
From the Organic Consumers Association’s website:
Nuclear Waste Pools in North Carolina
One of the most lethal patches of ground in North America is located in the backwoods of North Carolina, where Shearon Harris nuclear plant is housed and owned by Progress Energy. The plant contains the largest radioactive waste storage pools in the country. It is not just a nuclear-power-generating station, but also a repository for highly radioactive spent fuel rods from two other nuclear plants. The spent fuel rods are transported by rail and stored in four densely packed pools filled with circulating cold water to keep the waste from heating. The Department of Homeland Security has marked Shearon Harris as one of the most vulnerable terrorist targets in the nation…
Source & text of full article at Project Censored
Stimulus Money Creates Lasting Savings in Asheville
Posted by: | Comments
If you didn’t catch David Nash’s presentation at the Council meeting, then you missed hearing about the profound transformation happening in Asheville’s public housing. Check out these numbers:
Stimulus money awarded to Housing Authority of the City of Asheville (HACA) -
$5.9 million
Anticipated Energy Performance Contract Extension in 2010 -
$3.6 million
Eleven new employees on Modernization Crew
Number of windows to be replaced in public housing developments -
3,000 in Pisgah View
2,200 in Hillcrest
1,250 in Deaverview
To be done under contract extension -
313 new dual flush toilets
970 lower flow toilet retrofits
3,600+ lower flow aerators and shower heads
970,000 square feet of living space weatherized
Guaranteed Annual Energy Savings -
680,000 kWh of electricity
180,000 therms of natural gas
41 million gallons of water
$757,000 per year of guaranteed energy cost savings
[This is what's guaranteed, so you can count on it being a lowball estimate]
Annual Carbon Dioxide Reduction -
490 metric tons re: electricity reduction
900 metric tons re: natural gas reduction
Windiana
Posted by: | CommentsOur trip to Chicago this week took us up I-65 through Benton County, Indiana and past the midwest’s newest and largest wind farm, the Fowler Ridge Wind Farm 90 miles north of Indianapolis.
A project of BP Wind Energy and Virginia-based Dominion Resources, the site is now producing about 400 MW of power, enough for 120,000 homes. It is slated to expand up to about 750 MW.
GE makes 1.5MW turbines in Greenville, SC, but these are V82-1.65MW Vestas, made in Denmark.
Of course, we had to get off the road and get closer look. You had to strain to hear any sound from them – at best an almost inaudible “whh-whh”. (Someone else shot this video earlier this year. They were spinning a tad faster on Wednesday.)
Wednesday Reading
Posted by: | CommentsI’m nursing a cold this morning, and I thought I’d share some of the good reads I’ve found while sipping hot beverage and blowing my nose.
While the singularly uninspiring Harry Reid announces that the President’s energy bill won’t be taken up in the Senate until spring, others are making it clear that putting off a new energy agenda will slow our economic recovery and maintain the status quo.
Thomas Friedman makes another excellent pitch for greening our economy and calls out the opponents of Obama’s energy bill.
A new study of the impact of a new energy agenda for our nation “offers a state-by-state look at the economic implications posed by comprehensive federal climate policy.” Hint: More jobs, lower energy costs.
Lots more after the jump in ReadMoreland —> Read More→
Future Building
Posted by: | Comments“Our goal is for the phrase ‘green building’ to become obsolete, by making all building and retrofits green — and transforming every job in our industry into a green job,” said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chairman of USGBC.
“The authors” of a new study from the US Green Building Council “found that efforts to make buildings more energy efficient already supports more than 2 million jobs and contributes $100 billion in gross domestic product and U.S. wages.”
[...]
“Greening up the building sector will save $6 billion in energy costs over the next four years. That adds up to 45 million metric tons of planet-warming emissions averted — the carbon equivalent of removing 8 million cars from the road and avoiding 10 new coal plants.”
The bad news in this article is that the Senate version of the Energy Bill does not include the timelines that are in the House version for increasing building efficiency. There’s a long way to go on this, so we’ll see if the Senate will take the plunge and commit to moving America in the direction of sustainability and responsibility.
Further, Faster
Posted by: | CommentsA Green Economy is not the wave of the future. It’s happening right now. If we’re not leading then we’re trailing behind.
Bike Story
Posted by: | CommentsThis video documents how Boulder, Colorado planned for multimodal transportation and implemented a high-functioning bike system. Let’s learn these lessons and make it happen here in Asheville.
http://www.vimeo.com/6666520
