Re/Action on Climate Protection

Cost of Wind vs Cost of Nuclear to Replace Coal

One of our commenters, David Bradish, has asked how wind is more cost effective than nuclear to replace coal. The short answer is: It is cheaper to build, cheaper to operate, and it is a lower risk to investors, which means that the cost of financing for wind is lower on private capital markets.

Replace Coal with Wind

Can wind power replace coal in the US for generating electricity? The answer is YES, and it can be done more cost-effectively than using nuclear.

Some Items of possible interest

Due to a glitch in the email subscription system, the notice did not go out for this post, Connecting the Dots - Wind, Nuclear and Local Action on Climate Protection.

Also, I have been having an exchange with Per Stromsjo on his blog, hereon the recently announced "Oil Free Sweden" initiative. Per is a Swedish citizen who thinks these efforts miss the mark, and feels that Sweden should go nuclear.

Powering the world with wind

After reading the article, "Stabilization Wedges: Solving the Climate Problem for the Next 50 Years with Current Technologies" by Pacala and Socolow, I was curious about exactly what it would take to "power the world with wind." Is it possible, and what would it take.

An Unorthodox Proposal - Outlaw the gasoline engine

Researching the production of biodiesel from solid waste feedstocks, I came across this article. It mentions diesel/electric hybrids. With biodiesel produced from algae, and only diesel/electric hybrid engines being installed in new vehicles, gasoline demand could be dramatically decreased, or even phased out.

Apollo Alliance

The Apollo Alliance is promoting an energy policy that emphasizes efficiency and renewable energy. It stands in stark contrast to the current energy bill just passed by Congress. The vision of the AA policy is American energy independence, but their policy is a model for how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at a national level. www.apolloalliance.org

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > State -- Utility worker error cuts power to millions in Los Angeles

Link: SignOnSanDiego.com > News > State -- Utility worker error cuts power to millions in Los Angeles.

Here is a perfect example of how addressing global warming can have a triple impact. This power outage could just as easily have happened as a result of a terrorist attack. It is a little known fact that our power grid is highly vulnerable to attack. This is because of the centralized "radial" design of the power grid. There are key points in the grid that, if cut, disrupt the power flow from the power plants to the distribution network that carries the power to where it is used.

To make this architecture less vulnerable, one approach is to distribute or decentralize the power generation. Over the past decade or so, small scale renewable power generation has become financially very attractive. This would include solar photovoltaic, small wind turbine, certain types of combined heat and power (CHP) systems, biogas, small scale hydro, even diesel generators powered by biodiesel. Small generating systems such as these, distributed throughout the grid, make the entire system much less vulnerable to the type of failure seen in Los Angeles.

Since these systems are renewably powered, they are insulated from fossil fuel price increases. Most importantly, they are net zero carbon. Their operation does not increase the level of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Thus, investment in small scale renewable distributed power systems has a triple impact: It makes the electric power grid less vulnerable to attack, it decouples the electric power rates from increases in fossil fuel prices, it makes an electric power system that does not contribute to global warming.

Energy Efficiency is Key to Reducing Emissions

Reducing energy use by improving energy efficiency is the most cost effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In California, the state Public Utilities Commission has recognized this and has mandated the collection of a charge on every utility bill of every ratepayer in the state. This charge, known as the Public Goods Charge (PGC), that is intended to fund "public goods research, development and demonstration, and energy efficiency activities, and possibly to support low income assistance programs." This year, the state is funding energy efficiency programs that are developed and administered by the Investor Owned Utilities in the state.

Climate Protection Campaign has partnered with Quantum Consulting, an energy efficiency consulting firm based in Berkeley, CA to develop a PGC funded energy efficiency program. Beginning in 2006, this program will deliver a menu of energy efficiency services to residences, large and small business and governments in Sonoma County. These services include building tuneups, lighting retrofits, efficiency improvements to water and wastewater systems. These are direct install programs, that result in immediate energy savings. This results in greenhouse gas emissions reductions for the communities.

The Sonoma Partnership for Energy Efficiency is groundbreaking because of the focus on greenhouse gas emissions reduction. Sonoma County has set six national precedents for setting greenhouse gas reduction targets in the operations of all municipalities in the county, as well as county government and the community. This achievement was recognized as opening the door for energy efficiency improvements in both government operations and the community.

Here is a description of some of the other partnerships: http://www.pge.com/rebates/alliances/

Achieving Zero Net Carbon

At Climate Protection Campaign, we have developed a strategy called "Carbon Removal". We look at each of the GHG emitting sectors: existing buildings, local energy system, transportation, water/wastewater, solid waste, agriculture, new development and forestry in the context of government, residential, commercial and industrial uses.

We then formulate what must be done to remove carbon emissions completely from each sector. Generally, these actions fall into two categories: demand side and supply side. On the demand side, we have found that energy efficiency measures top the list for fast, cost-effective GHG reductions. On the supply side, we are developing ways to transition our local energy supplies to renewable sources.

In my next few posts, I'll give some examples of the types of measures we are working on. I hope that other folks out there will share their experiences with working toward zero net carbon.

Energy Tracking System

One of our activities over the past year at Climate Protection Campaign has been to set up an energy tracking system for all nine municipalities in Sonoma County, along with the County and the Water Agency. This system allows us to generate reports that show all the electricity and natural gas use by municipal, county and water agency operations. Our database contains five years of historical billing data with usage amount and cost for over 2000 accounts that exist at over 600 physical sites.

We can aggregate by facility type (building, water/wastewater, streetlighting) and by city. We can also show trends in energy use, and show the effect of energy efficiency measures. Using this tool, we can calculate the total GHG emissions due to electricity and natural gas use from city operations. This is the tool we will be using in Sonoma County to track progress toward the GHG reduction goal set by each city. Using this tool, we can also track emissions from fleets, and due to solid waste.

We developed a "data-mining 'bot" to automatically collect billing data for our nine cities from the PG&E website. This requires authorization from the city governments. All of our data collection activities have involved obtaining authorization from the governments for the utility, which then sends us data electronically. We can import the data into the database automatically.

One of our cities is a municipal utility district. The only way they could supply us with billing information was in paper form. They gave us a big box full of paper bills. All of that had to be entered manually.

We do extensive quality control work on the sites associated with the energy consumption data. We verify the address, facility type and square footage. This enables us to report energy efficiency metrics such as kWh/sq ft, or btu/sq ft.

We use a program called Utility Manager Pro. It was developed by Save More Resources