EC October 2010

ec@lists.wvsierraclub.org

14 participants
37 discussions

Fwd: [GW-ACT-LEADERS] National Solar Jobs Census 2010
by James Kotcon 14 Oct '10

14 Oct '10

WOW!!!! Can we get copies of this report to our legislators? JBK >>> Edward Mainland <emainland(a)COMCAST.NET> 10/14/2010 3:07 PM >>> National Solar Jobs Census 2010 This is the most thorough, up-to-date job survey on the US solar industry, with data for every state. Nationally, solar energy provides 93,000 jobs in 2010 and is expected to grow another 24,000 jobs by August 2011. By comparison, coal mining employed 86,859 workers in 2008, a nearly 10-fold job reduction since 1920, even though we use far more coal today than in 1920. Coal supplies nearly half the nation’s electricity while solar energy provides much less than 1% of electric power and hot water. Employment in the California solar industry is forecast to grow about 4500 new jobs over the next year, increasing from 17,352 to 21,804. By comparison, fossil-fuel power generation is expected to grow only 210 new jobs in California, from 13,854 to 14,055. Fossil fuel is used to generate 60% the state’s electric power, while solar energy provides less than 1% of electricity and hot water. Link to download report: http://www.greenlmi.com/resources/ Final+TSF+National+Solar+Jobs+Census+2010+Web+Version.pdf+2.zip - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the CONS-SPST-GLOBALWARM-CHAIRS list, send any message to: CONS-SPST-GLOBALWARM-CHAIRS-signoff-request(a)LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp

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GOOGLE OFFSHORE WIND PROJECT COULD OBVIATE NEED FOR BOTH TRAIL AND PATH
by William V. DePaulo, Esq. 12 Oct '10

12 Oct '10

[image: The New York Times] <http://www.nytimes.com/> ------------------------------ October 12, 2010 Offshore Wind Power Line Wins Praise, and Backing By MATTHEW L. WALD<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/matthew_l_wald…> WASHINGTON — Google<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/google_inc/index.html…>and a New York financial firm have each agreed to invest heavily in a proposed $5 billion transmission backbone for future offshore wind farms<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/w/wind_power/i…>along the Atlantic Seaboard that could ultimately transform the region’s electrical map. The 350-mile underwater spine, which could remove some critical obstacles to wind power development, has stirred excitement among investors, government officials and environmentalists who have been briefed on it. Google and Good Energies <http://www.goodenergies.com/>, an investment firm specializing in renewable energy, have each agreed to take 37.5 percent of the equity portion of the project. They are likely to bring in additional investors, which would reduce their stakes. If they hold on to their stakes, that would come to an initial investment of about $200 million apiece in the first phase of construction alone, said Robert L. Mitchell, the chief executive of Trans-Elect<http://www.trans-elect.com/contact.htm>, the Maryland-based transmission-line company that proposed the venture. Marubeni <http://www.marubeni.com/company/data.html>, a Japanese trading company, has taken a 10 percent stake. Trans-Elect said it hoped to begin construction in 2013. Several government officials praised the idea underlying the project as ingenious, while cautioning that they could not prejudge the specifics. “Conceptually it looks to me to be one of the most interesting transmission projects that I’ve ever seen walk through the door,” said Jon Wellinghoff, the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission<http://www.ferc.gov/>, which oversees interstate electricity transmission. “It provides a gathering point for offshore wind for multiple projects up and down the coast.” Industry experts called the plan promising, but warned that as a first-of-a-kind effort, it was bound to face bureaucratic delays and could run into unforeseen challenges, from technology problems to cost overruns. While several undersea electrical cables exist off the Atlantic Coast already, none has ever picked up power from generators along the way. The system’s backbone cable, with a capacity of 6,000 megawatts, equal to the output of five large nuclear reactors, would run in shallow trenches on the seabed in federal waters 15 to 20 miles offshore, from northern New Jersey to Norfolk, Va. The notion would be to harvest energy from turbines in an area where the wind is strong but the hulking towers would barely be visible. Trans-Elect estimated that construction would cost $5 billion, plus financing and permit fees. The $1.8 billion first phase, a 150-mile stretch from northern New Jersey to Rehoboth Beach, Del., could go into service by early 2016, it said. The rest would not be completed until 2021 at the earliest. Richard L. Needham, the director of Google’s green business operations group, called the plan “innovative and audacious.” “It is an opportunity to kick-start this industry and, long term, provide a way for the mid-Atlantic states to meet their renewable energy goals,” he said. Yet even before any wind farms were built, the cable would channel existing supplies of electricity from southern Virginia, where it is cheap, to northern New Jersey, where it is costly, bypassing one of the most congested parts of the North American electric grid while lowering energy costs for northern customers. Generating electricity from offshore wind is far more expensive than relying on coal<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/coal/index.h…>, natural gas <http://www.nytimes.com/info/natural-gas/?inline=nyt-classifier>or even onshore wind. But energy experts anticipate a growing demand for the offshore turbines to meet state requirements for greater reliance on local renewable energy as a clean alternative to fossil fuels. Four connection points — in southern Virginia, Delaware, southern New Jersey and northern New Jersey — would simplify the job of bringing the energy onshore, involving fewer permit hurdles. In contrast to transmission lines on land, where a builder may have to deal with hundreds of property owners, this project would have to deal with a maximum of just four, and fewer than that in its first phase. Ultimately the system, known as the Atlantic Wind Connection, could make building a wind farm offshore far simpler and cheaper than it looks today, experts said. Environmentalists who have been briefed on the plan were enthusiastic. Melinda Pierce, the deputy director for national campaigns at the Sierra Club <http://www.sierraclub.org/>, said she had campaigned against proposed transmission lines that would carry coal-fired energy around the country, but would favor this one, with its promise of tapping the potential of offshore wind. “These kinds of audacious ideas might just be what we need to break through the wretched logjam,” she said. Projects like Cape Wind<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/29/science/earth/29wind.html>, proposed for shallow waters just off Cape Cod in Massachusetts, met with fierce objections from residents who felt it would mar the ocean vista. But sponsors of the Trans-Elect project insist that the mid-Atlantic turbines would have less of a visual impact. The hurdles facing the project have more to do with administrative procedures than with engineering problems or its economic merit, several experts said. By the time the Interior Department<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/i/interio…>could issue permits for such a line, for example, the federal subsidy program for wind will have expired in 2012, said Willett M. Kempton<http://www.ceoe.udel.edu/people/profile.aspx?willett>, a professor at the School of Marine Science and Policy at the University of Delaware<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/univers…>and the author of several papers on offshore wind. Another is that PJM Interconnection <http://www.pjm.com/home.aspx>, the regional electricity group that would have to approve the project and assess its member utilities for the cost, has no integrated procedure for calculating the value of all three tasks the line would accomplish — hooking up new power generation, reducing congestion on the grid and improving reliability. And elected officials in Virginia have in the past opposed transmission proposals that would tend to average out pricing across the mid-Atlantic states, possibly raising their constituents’ costs. But the lure of Atlantic wind is very strong. The Atlantic Ocean is relatively shallow even tens of miles from shore, unlike the Pacific, where the sea floor drops away steeply. Construction is also difficult on the Great Lakes because their waters are deep and they freeze, raising the prospect of moving ice sheets that could damage a tower. Nearly all of the East Coast governors, Republican and Democratic, have spoken enthusiastically about coastal wind and have fought proposals for transmission lines from the other likely wind source, the Great Plains. “From Massachusetts down to Virginia, the governors have signed appeals to the Senate not to do anything that would lead to a high-voltage grid that would blanket the country and bring in wind from the Dakotas,” said James J. Hoecker <http://www.huschblackwell.com/james-hoecker/>, a former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/federal…>, who now is part of a nonprofit group that represents transmission owners. He described an Atlantic transmission backbone as “a necessary piece of what the Eastern governors have been talking about in terms of taking advantage of offshore wind.” So far only one offshore wind project, Bluewater Wind off Delaware, has sought permission to build in federal waters. The company is seeking federal loan guarantees to build 293 to 450 megawatts of capacity, but the timing of construction remains uncertain. Executives with that project said the Atlantic backbone was an interesting idea, in part because it would foster development of a supply chain for the specialized parts needed for offshore wind. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/ken_salazar/in…>, whose agency would have to sign off on the project, has spoken approvingly of wind energy and talked about the possibility of an offshore “backbone.” In a speech this month, he emphasized that the federal waters were “controlled by the secretary,” meaning him. Within three miles of the shore, control is wielded by the state. Nonetheless, if the offshore wind farms are built on a vast scale, the project’s sponsors say, a backbone with just four connection points could expedite the approval process. In fact, if successful, the transmission spine would reduce the regulatory burden on subsequent projects, said Mr. Mitchell, the Trans-Elect chief executive. Mr. Kempton of the University of Delaware and Mr. Wellinghoff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said the backbone would offer another plus: reducing one of wind power’s big problems, variability of output. “Along the U.S. Atlantic seaboard, we tend to have storm tracks that move along the coast and somewhat offshore,” Mr. Kempton said. If storm winds were blowing on Friday off Virginia, they might be off Delaware by Saturday and off New Jersey by Sunday, he noted. Yet the long spine would ensure that the amount of energy coming ashore held roughly constant. Wind energy becomes more valuable when it is more predictable; if predictable enough, it could replace some land-based generation altogether, Mr. Kempton said. But the economics remain uncertain, he warned, For now, he said, the biggest impediment may be that the market price of offshore wind energy is about 50 percent higher than that of energy generated on land. With a change in market conditions — an increase in the price of natural gas, for example, or the adoption of a tax on emissions of carbon dioxide from coal- or gas-generated electricity — that could change, he said.

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Geothermal power in WV!
by Jonathan Rosenbaum 11 Oct '10

11 Oct '10

This is an interesting story: http://wboy.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=87518 <http://wboy.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=87518> "If a geothermal well were to be drilled in West Virginia, it would use the same drilling rigs for drilling on Marcellus shale, as well," Anderson said. "In W.Va., the main difference is is it would be deeper to access higher temperatures. -Jonathan

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Fwd: Sierra Club nominating petition
by Jonathan Rosenbaum 11 Oct '10

11 Oct '10

What do people think about this? I know that #1, #2, #4 are true. Does anyone know if #3 is true? http://connect.sierraclub.org/post/Groups/Welcome_Michael_Brune/blog/watch_… -Jonathan -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Sierra Club nominating petition Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2010 22:58:48 -0400 From: Robert Jereski <mutualaid(a)earthlink.net> October 10, 2010 Dear Fellow Sierrans I have learned that an acquaintance of mine, the dedicated environmentalist and long-time member of the Sierra Club, Frank Morris, is running as a petition candidate for the national Sierra Club Board of Directors for 2011. I am delighted as I know that Frank would add much needed energy and vision to the work of the BoD. He is running as a petition candidate for the national board, because he is concerned with the direction of the national Sierra Club, including the following facts: 1. Sierra Club’s former leader Carl Pope has publicly supported the “Picken’s Plan”. T Boone Pickens is an oil and natural gas billionaire, who in 2004 undermined the Sierra Club’s endorsed Presidential candidate John Kerry by funding the Swift Boat Campaign. The Picken’s Plan is a pro-gas (fossil fuel) plan. 2. In one of his first public acts as new Sierra Club director, Michael Brune was on Cramer’s Mad Money advocating the purchase of natural gas stocks. Exxon Mobil recently purchased leading natural gas provider XTO energy. Does Mr. Brune now advocate owning Exxon Mobil as an environmental investment? 3. National Sierra Club Staffers and national board members, clearly and definitively, “advised “ NYS Sierrans against legislatively advocating for a ban on “Fracking” for natural gas in NYS. Fracking is a process, presently absolved from multiple federal environmental statutes including the Clean Air and Clean Water acts, where in chemically infused sand and water is used to “frack” or break, shale stone and release natural gas. 4. Sierra Club is now in the products endorsement business, and has sold its endorsement to Clorox and Coca Cola to support their “green” products. Frank Morris believes that innovative financing like PACE bonds, and a truly renewable energy infrastructure based on sun, wind, wave, efficiency, conservation, smart grid, back up battery power, and geothermal are available now, but these breakthroughs are being obfuscated by the club’s decision to support natural gas as an open ended “transition” fuel. Morris needs to collect 250 signatures from active Sierrans (petition attached). While the national board is always elected by the membership, there is a nominating committee that nominates members that play nice… That’s why Morris has to petition to allow members a real choice when elections are held early next year. There are 3 ways for Sierrans to complete this petition: Print, Sign, and snail mail to Frank Morris, 40 Exchange Place Suite 2010 NY NY 10005 Sign, scan, and email to fm(a)ecologicadvisors.us <mailto:fm@ecologicadvisors.us> Sign, print and fax to 1 206 984 4328 Frank is presently a member of the NYS (Atlantic Chapter) Sierra Club Executive Committee, and former Chairperson of Long Island Sierra Club 2007-2009. Please forward to other Sierrans that may be interested in supporting a grassroots, petition candidate beholden only to the interests of the club membership. Robert Jereski New York City Sierra Club member

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Stimulating promotional "white paper" from manufacturer of smart grid equip - the pitch: avoid capital cost of new generation and transmission by efficiency.
by William V. DePaulo, Esq. 11 Oct '10

11 Oct '10

EXCERPT FROM INTRO, COMPLETE PAPER ATTACHED. The world has a huge appetite for electric energy, consuming thousands of billions of kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually, a figure that continues to climb as more countries become industrialized. The world’s electric consumption has increased by about 3.1 percent annually between 1980 and 20061), and is expected to grow to 33,300 billion kWh by 2030). The world’s electricity consumption for 2008 was 16,790 billion kWh so by 2030 the world demand for electricity is expected to have almost doubled. Currently a significant amount (about 10 percent) of electric energy produced by power plants is lost during transmission and distribution to consumers. About 40 percent of this total loss occurs on the distribution network. In 2006 alone, the total energy losses and distribution losses were about 1,638 billion and 655 billion kWh, respectively. *A modest 10 percent reduction in distribution losses would, therefore, save about 65 billion kWh of electricity. That’s more electricity than Switzerland’s 7.5 million people consumed in 2008 and equates to 39 million metric tons of CO2 emissions from coal-fired power generation .* As the demand for electricity grows, new power plants will have to be built to meet the highest peak demand with additional capacity to cover unforeseen events. The peak demand in a system usually lasts less than 5 percent of the time (i.e, just a few hundred hours a year). This means that some power plants are only needed during the peak load hours and their potential is utilized relatively infrequently. By active demand management on the distribution system, through demand response and VVO, the peak demand on the whole electric grid can be reduced. This eliminates the need for expensive capital expenditure on the distribution, transmission, and the generation systems. Even very modest reductions in peak demand would yield huge economic savings. For the United States in 2008, for example, the non-coincidental peak demand (i.e, the separate peak demands made on the electrical system recorded at different times of the day) was about 790 GW. *With every 1 percent reduction in the peak demand there would be a reduced need to build a 7,900 MW power plant.*

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News from WVSORO
by Jonathan Rosenbaum 08 Oct '10

08 Oct '10

http://marcellus-wv.com/news/wv-soro-win-ruling-in-well-spacing-case-favors… http://marcellus-wv.com/news/sierra-club-launches-campaign-to-regulate-marc… -Jonathan

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Re: [EC] [fom] Re: Gazette Poll
by Bob Kincaid 08 Oct '10

08 Oct '10

To my way of thinking, that's not very astute. Unlimited wealth is NEVER easy to defeat. Unlimited wealth coupled to unlimited Citizens United money is all but impossible to remove from office, once entrenched. There's no hog harder to move than the one's already go front AND back feet in the trough. Bob On Thu, Oct 7, 2010 at 3:02 PM, Beth Little <blittle(a)citynet.net> wrote: > A politically astute friend of mine is voting for Raece on the premise > that he will be easier to defeat in a future election. > > ------------------------------ > *From:* ec-bounces(a)osenergy.org [mailto:ec-bounces@osenergy.org] *On > Behalf Of *Jim Sconyers > *Sent:* Thursday, October 07, 2010 12:52 PM > *To:* Harvard; Bob Kincaid > *Cc:* Clarissa Matthews; George rutherford; Theresa Chiotos; Blair > Nomination List Serve; All of FOM list; Pearl Reardon; Lyn Widmyer; Sally > Fitzgerald; Robbie Glenn; Lynn Yellot; Tyler Oyler; John Maxey; Barbara A. > Humes; Terry Thorson; Jenny Allen; ec(a)osenergy.org; Ed Snyder > *Subject:* Re: [EC] [fom] Re: Gazette Poll > > Or is this an election where King Coal wins regardless of which party, > Dem or Rep? Both kiss His ass feverishly. > > Jim Sconyers > jim_scon(a)yahoo.com > 304.698.9628 > > Remember: Mother Nature bats last. > > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Harvard <Harvard(a)boone.net> > *To:* Bob Kincaid <bobkincaid(a)gmail.com> > *Cc:* Clarissa Matthews <cmathews(a)shepherd.edu>; George rutherford < > gruther1(a)msn.com>; Theresa Chiotos <theresa(a)radlib.com>; Blair Nomination > List Serve <bmg(a)lists.berkeley.edu>; Lynn Yellot <lyellot(a)direcway.com>; > Pearl Reardon <hugorance(a)comcast.net>; Lyn Widmyer <lynwidmyer(a)gmail.com>; > Sally Fitzgerald <fitzwrt(a)comcast.net>; Terry Thorson < > tkthorson(a)comcast.net>; All of FOM list <fom(a)lists.riseup.net>; Tyler > Oyler <thegreatrepublic(a)hotmail.com>; John Maxey <maxey(a)ddi.radlib.com>; > Barbara A. Humes <bhumes1(a)comcast.net>; Robbie Glenn < > rglenn51989(a)gmail.com>; Jenny Allen <jbeallen(a)earthlink.net>; > ec(a)osenergy.org; Ed Snyder <esnyder(a)shepherd.edu> > *Sent:* Thu, October 7, 2010 9:32:54 AM > *Subject:* Re: [fom] Re: Gazette Poll > > Hear! Hear! I like it. Go Bob. Harvard > > > At 04:57 PM 10/6/2010, Bob Kincaid wrote: > > Personally, I think there IS a great deal of disenchantment w/ Manchin > (and, by extension, w/ Raese). > > > > Hopefully, I'll have an OpEd coming out in the Gazette pointing up that > lack of enthusiasm for both candidates, and pointing out the alternative. > > > > Again, personally, I think Manchin is so stuffed-to-popping with his own > hubris that it doesn't even dawn on him that he's alienated a significant > portion of the Democratic voting base via his sycophantic devotion to Big > Poison. I don't think it dawns on Rahall, either, for that matter. > > > > As Hunter Thompson once noted, "Big darkness, soon come." This may be > one race where coal can't keep the lights on for either candidate. > > > > Bob > > > > > > > > On Wed, Oct 6, 2010 at 11:55 AM, Harvard <<mailto:Harvard@boone.net> > Harvard(a)boone.net> wrote: > > Regina- I'm surprised to see the 3rd party vote up at 44%. There must be > a lot of unhappiness with Manchin and the R. Or we are loading up the > voting. Since the question was asked in the hypothetical, I voted. Harvard > > > > > > > > At 11:27 AM 10/6/2010, Regina Hendrix wrote: > > West Virginians: > > > > Please go to <<http://www.wvgazette.com/>http://www.wvgazette.com/> > http://www.wvgazette.com/ > > > > On the lefthand side scroll down to the survey question and vote for 3rd > party representation in WV. Ken Hechler and Larry Gibson have called this > to my attention and we need some votes in favor of 3rd parties. > > > > Regina Hendrix > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > "A normal person, functioning well on the upper levels of a prosperous, > industrialized society, can hardly hear his conscience at all." -Kurt > Vonnegut > > > > -- "A normal person, functioning well on the upper levels of a prosperous, industrialized society, can hardly hear his conscience at all." -Kurt Vonnegut

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Fwd: Fw: DAILY UPDATE 8 October 2010. News of interest to Mon river watershed denizens.
by James Kotcon 08 Oct '10

08 Oct '10

On average, 84 % of trucks received citations, and 18 % were in such bad shape that state Police took them off the road immediately. JBK 208 trucks out of service after safety enforcement effort 10/8/2010 3:34 AM State police placed 208 trucks out of service during a three-day enforcement effort that focused on commercial vehicles hauling wastewater from Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling operations in the state, Commissioner Frank E. Pawlowski announced today. "Pennsylvania is experiencing heavy truck traffic in areas where Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling operations are taking place, particularly in Bradford, Clearfield, Susquehanna, Tioga and Washington counties," Pawlowski said. "The process of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, requires significant amounts of water to be delivered to the sites and later trucked away." Pawlowski said 140 of the vehicles placed out of service were trucks hauling waste water from the drilling operations. In total, 1,135 trucks were inspected during "Operation FracNET," which was conducted Sept. 27-29. In addition to placing vehicles out of service, state police also issued 959 citations and placed 64 drivers out of service. The most common problems involved faulty brakes, exterior lighting issues and hauling permit violations. In Troop B , which takes in Allegheny, Fayette, Greene and Washington counties, there were 343 inspections, 60 vehicles placed out of service and 168 citations. Copyright Observer Publishing Co.

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Re: [EC] [fom] Re: Gazette Poll
by Harvard 07 Oct '10

07 Oct '10

Hear! Hear! I like it. Go Bob. Harvard At 04:57 PM 10/6/2010, Bob Kincaid wrote: >Personally, I think there IS a great deal of disenchantment w/ >Manchin (and, by extension, w/ Raese). > >Hopefully, I'll have an OpEd coming out in the Gazette pointing up >that lack of enthusiasm for both candidates, and pointing out the >alternative. > >Again, personally, I think Manchin is so stuffed-to-popping with his >own hubris that it doesn't even dawn on him that he's alienated a >significant portion of the Democratic voting base via his >sycophantic devotion to Big Poison. I don't think it dawns on >Rahall, either, for that matter. > >As Hunter Thompson once noted, "Big darkness, soon come." This may >be one race where coal can't keep the lights on for either candidate. > >Bob > > > >On Wed, Oct 6, 2010 at 11:55 AM, Harvard ><<mailto:Harvard@boone.net>Harvard(a)boone.net> wrote: >Regina- I'm surprised to see the 3rd party vote up at 44%. There >must be a lot of unhappiness with Manchin and the R. Or we are >loading up the voting. Since the question was asked in the >hypothetical, I voted. Harvard > > > >At 11:27 AM 10/6/2010, Regina Hendrix wrote: >West Virginians: > >Please go >to ><<http://www.wvgazette.com/>http://www.wvgazette.com/>http://www.wvgazette.com/ > >On the lefthand side scroll down to the survey question and vote for >3rd party representation in WV. Ken Hechler and Larry Gibson have >called this to my attention and we need some votes in favor of 3rd parties. > >Regina Hendrix > > > > > >-- >"A normal person, functioning well on the upper levels of a >prosperous, industrialized society, can hardly hear his conscience >at all." -Kurt Vonnegut

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Gazette Poll
by Regina Hendrix 07 Oct '10

07 Oct '10

West Virginians: Please go to http://www.wvgazette.com/ On the lefthand side scroll down to the survey question and vote for 3rd party representation in WV. Ken Hechler and Larry Gibson have called this to my attention and we need some votes in favor of 3rd parties. Regina Hendrix

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EC October 2010