Re/Action on Climate Protection

Climate Protection Conference in Sonoma County

Last Friday, 7/14, the second Climate Protection: Everybody Profits conference was held in Sonoma County, CA. Speakers from local governments, businesses were featured along with a panel discussion of tools and solutions. The keynote speaker was Linda Adams, secretary of the California Environmental Protection agency. Here is a link to the article on the conference in the local paper. The Climate Protection Campaign presented a "report card" for the County, detailing emissions levels to date, and how far the County needs to go to reach its overall target of 25% below 1990 levels by 2015Download status_report_july_14_06.pdf

Back in business

After a long hiatus, we're going to ramp up the blog again. There is a lot of good stuff happening locally with climate protection, and I'm hoping to be able to capture some of it here.

Last word on nuclear

There has been a lively debate on nuclear power and wind power on this blog, and here over the last month or so. Unfortunately, it is time for me to move on to other topics.

Global Wind Power Capacity Increases 25 Percent in 2005

(From EERE Network News)
Last year established new records for wind power, as 11,769 megawatts (MW) of wind turbines worth about $14 billion were installed throughout the world, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC). Wind power grew at a 43 percent faster rate than in 2004, when 8,207 MW of wind power were installed. As of the end of 2005, the world's total installed wind power capacity stands at 59,322 MW, a 25 percent increase over 2004.

Excellent website on "Transportation Demand Management"

From the TDM Encyclopedia,

Transportation Demand Management (TDM) is a general term for strategies that result in more efficient use of transportation resources.

This resource is a cornucopia of information related to efficient transportation.

12 states appeal EPA refusal to act on climate change

This is potentially a huge lever to force the federal government to deal with climate change:
12 states appeal emissions decision
Challenge to EPA refusal to regulate greenhouse gases

"Impossibility" of nuclear financing

"It's hard to imagine people putting a $5 billion bet on new reactors, as matters stand now, with uncertainty around climate change policy and impossibility of getting financing for them in private markets."

-Peter Bradford, a former member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and later head of the public service commissions of both New York and Maine

From "New dawn for nuclear power is distant" NY Times

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.

Climate Protection in Sonoma County

For the past few weeks, there has been a great deal of activity going on "behind the scenes" in Sonoma County, related to climate protection. The CA state Public Utilities Commission and the utility, PG&E, have been negotiating with local groups to bring an unprecedented array of energy efficiency programs into the county.