New York mandates Bold Cuts in Greenhouse Gas Emissions to address Climate Change

Transition from Fossil Fuels to Renewable Energy 

will Cut Emissions and create New Jobs

By David Kowalski

On July 18, 2019, NY Gov. Cuomo signed into law the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). It is the most ambitious legal mandate in the nation for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

The CLCPA mandates:

- by 2030, 70% of electricity will be generated by emission-free, renewable energy sources such as wind and solar

- by 2040, electricity generation will have zero greenhouse gas emissions

- by 2050, 85% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels, and a goal of net-zero emissions in all sectors of the economy

The CLCPA has specific goals and timelines for different types of renewable energy and energy efficiency. Distributed solar is expected to have a capacity of six gigawatts by 2025. Offshore wind is expected to reach nine gigawatts of capacity by 2035. There's a target for energy efficiency improvements (a 185 trillion BTU reduction by 2025) and storage (3 gigawatts by 2030) as well.

When he signed the CLCPA, Cuomo announced some initial steps toward the goals, including contracts for two offshore wind power projects that will generate 1.7 gigawatts, enough electricity to power 1 million homes. These wind power projects will create 1,600 unionized jobs and over $3 billion of economic activity.

Cuomo said there would be nearly $280 million in new investments in infrastructure to distribute the power and a $20 million program at the state university system to train clean energy workers.

The CLCPA also focuses on adaptation mechanisms, including increasing the resilience of infrastructure to withstand disasters. The legislation also establishes a process ensuring that investments from clean energy and energy efficiency funds benefit frontline communities that have been historically burdened by pollution or are at high risk from the effects of climate change.

Achieving drastic emissions cuts will also require tackling transportation, the largest source of emissions in the state, and buildings where natural gas and other fuels are the primary source of heating.

A 22-member panel, which will include state agency commissioners and others appointed by Cuomo and legislative leaders, will be given broad authority and three years to come up with a "scoping plan" to recommend changes the state can make to reduce its emissions. Specific industries or areas, such as transportation, will be the focus of sub-panels.

The text of the CLCPA is here.

NY's Master Plan for Offshore Wind Power is here.

 BATTERY STORAGE

Grid-sized Battery Storage Facility under construction | NY Times photo

~     ~     ~

UPDATE: 8.01.2019

$1.1B Niagara Power Project upgrade is NYPA's biggest investment ever

ALBANY – The New York Power Authority will invest $1.1 billion in a massive modernization effort at the Niagara Power Project, the state’s largest producer of electricity.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, in a statement announcing the investment Wednesday, said the project will help the state meet its ambitious plans to transition a carbon-free energy system throughout New York by 2040.

“The Niagara Power Project is New York’s largest source of clean electricity and this modernization project will allow it to continue operating for another 50 years," Cuomo said in a statement.

Read the article in The Buffalo News

Pending Climate Bill could Transform NY Energy Market

Could New York go carbon free by 2050?

The Climate and Community Protection Act could transform New York’s energy market.

By Susan Arbetter | December 12, 2018 |  Excerpt

The Climate and Community Protection Act, sponsored by state Sen. Brad Hoylman and Assemblyman Steve Englebright, is an expansive bill that requires New York state to generate 50 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2030. By 2050, the bill would require the elimination of all greenhouse gas emissions.

The bill is process-oriented. Baked into the plan is a climate action playbook that proponents say will guide the state from its current level of fossil fuel use down to zero.

For workers who may be displaced by the proposed transition to renewables, the bill includes prevailing wage standards and addresses the needs of environmental justice communities where many fossil fuel plants are currently located. The bill is, in one activist’s words, “a B-12 shot for the state’s renewables.”

Currently, New York only uses 3 percent wind energy and less than 1 percent from solar energy. “This is the most important issue on Earth,” said Englebright, who chairs the Assembly Committee on Environmental Conservation. “States now have to pick up the slack that has been created by the inaction of the federal government.”

State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, who was recently tapped to chair the state Senate’s Environmental Conservation Committee starting in January, agreed. “There is no doubt we need to take aggressive steps to address climate change,” he said. “This bill will be the central vehicle by which we will accomplish that.”

Peter Iwanowicz, executive director of Environmental Advocates of New York, said the state needs a strong foundation for setting its clean energy goals in law. “Right now the goals don’t exist in law,” he said. “They are at the whim of the executive.”

Report: 100% Renewable Energy with Grid Stability is Possible and Economical

New Mark Z. Jacobson Study Draws A Roadmap To 100% Renewable Energy

February 8th, 2018 by Steve Hanley | CleanTechnica

Last August, Mark Jacobson, a renewable energy expert and senior fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University, was the leader of a study that identified how 139 countries around the world could obtain 100% of their energy from renewable sources by 2050. But that study got some pushback from people who questioned its assumptions. The naysayers said the study relied too heavily on energy storage solutions such as adding turbines to existing hydroelectric dams or storing excess energy in water, ice, and underground rocks.

A Response To Critics

Those criticisms stimulated another piece of work from Jacobson and his colleagues at the University of California at Berkeley and Aalborg University in Denmark. They are now back with a new report they believe thoroughly addresses the concerns brought up by skeptics of the first report. It begins by breaking those 139 counties into 20 regions and proposing energy storage solutions uniquely suited to each region.

Here’s how Jacobson summarized the work and the findings in an email to CleanTechnica:

The previous paper (in Joule) estimated the number of devices in each of 139 countries needed to provide power for each country in the annual average with 100% wind, water, and solar (WWS).

This new paper takes the next step, which is to divide the 139 countries into 20 world regions, then to see if the grid can stay stable in each region every 30 seconds for 5 years, and what is the resulting cost.

Utilities and policy makers alike are concerned that all the wind and solar we propose for the annual average numbers in the first paper won’t allow the grid to stay stable — that the lights will go out. This is the biggest barrier for the large-scale implementation of renewables.

This paper new shows that there is not only one solution but multiple solutions to the grid reliability problem — thus large penetrations of renewables can indeed keep the grid stable at low cost.

In addition, we find that the wind turbines needed would reduce global warming by ~3% and quickly. That is a new conclusion as well.

That sounds good. Will policy makers and utilities listen now? That’s the trillion-dollar question. Either way, it will certainly help fill out the CleanTechnica Answer Box.

“Based on these results, I can more confidently state that there is no technical or economic barrier to transitioning the entire world to 100 percent clean renewable energy with a stable electric grid at low cost,” Jacobson said for his university press team at Stanford.

“This solution would go a long way toward eliminating global warming and the 4–7 million air pollution-related deaths that occur worldwide each year, while also providing energy security. Our main result is that there are multiple solutions to the problem,” he says. “This is important because the greatest barrier to the large-scale implementation of clean renewable energy is people’s perception that it’s too hard to keep the lights on with random wind and solar output.”

Weather, Energy, & Climate News

New York City's Electric Usage Sets All-Time Record 
Friday's intense heat and humidity led to New York City setting an all-time peak electric usage record.
Electric usage in New York City and neighboring Westchester County topped out at 13,322 Megawatts (MW) at 5 p.m. EDT Friday, according to Con Edison.
Friday's high of 96 degrees fell short of challenging the day's record of 102 degrees from 1977. However, Friday's low of 83 degrees broke the day's long-standing warmest low temperature record of 81 degrees from 1878. Read more at AccuWeather.  
See also: Another brutally hot day bakes NY; relief on way  
at The Buffalo News

Water Stress Threatens Future Energy Production
When we flip on a light, we rarely think about water.  But electricity generation is the biggest user of water in the United States.  Thermoelectric power plants alone use more than 200 billion gallons of water a day – about 49 percent of the nation’s total water withdrawals.
Large quantities of water are needed as well for the production, refining and transport of the fuels that light and heat our homes and buildings, and run our buses and cars.  Every gallon of gasoline at the pump takes about 13 gallons of water to make. Read more at National Geographic.


‘Drunken’ Weather Pattern Leads to Deadly Heat
The heat wave that has built across the eastern U.S. — roasting cities from Memphis to Washington to Boston in a stifling blanket of heat and humidity — has had one strange characteristic that meteorologists cannot yet explain in a long-term climate context. Rather than moving west to east, as typical weather patterns do in the Northern Hemisphere, weather systems across the country have moved in the opposite direction, like a drunken driver on a dark stretch of highway, drifting from east to west during the past two weeks. Read more at Climate Central. 

Climate-Related Power Outages Aren't Just a Coastal ProblemEerie images of flooded, pitch-black lower Manhattan following Superstorm Sandy made it clear just how stark an effect climate change and extreme weather can have on our everyday access to electricity.
A report from the U.S. Department of Energy released on last week shows that New York City and other coastal regions aren't the only ones at risk. And it's not just a question of the future. No American region, it turns out, has been exempt from the possibility of mass power outages. The report focuses on three major causes: rising temperatures; wider-spread, more severe droughts; and more devastating flooding, storms, and sea level rises.
DOE also created a map of energy and power-related disruptions over the past decade that experts have attributed to large-scale, long-term disruptions in climate and weather patterns. Read more at The Atlantic Cities   

Stanford climate scientist addresses misconceptions about climate change
The notion that we'll avoid serious damage to the world's climate if we limit the warming of the atmosphere to a 2-degree-Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) rise in temperature is untrue, says Stanford climate scientist Chris Field. Read more at Stanford News 

Interactive Map Links Climate Change and Wildfires in Western States
A new interactive tool produced by Climate Central illustrates how rising temperatures and reduced snowpack in the western U.S. have corresponded with an increase in wildfires in recent decades.
Based on federal wildfire data from 1970 to 2012, the graphic shows how large fires in some western states—including Arizona, Colorado and Idaho—have doubled or even tripled in four decades, a period when the average spring and summer temperatures in 11 states increased by more than 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Read more at EcoWatch.

What Does John Boehner Have to Lose by Debating Climate Change? 
Any Guesses? Read more at MapLight  

Snow and Arctic sea ice extent plummet suddenly as globe bakes
NOAA and NASA both ranked June 2013 among the top five warmest (NOAA fifth warmest, NASA second warmest) Junes on record globally (dating back to the late 1800s).  But, more remarkable, was the incredible snow melt that preceded the toasty month and the sudden loss of Arctic sea ice that followed.
The amazing decline in Northern Hemisphere snow cover during May is a story few have told, but is certainly worth noting. Read more at Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang blog.

The Haunting Melody of Global Warming
University of Minnesota undergrad Daniel Crawford did something very clever: He took surface air temperature data and converted them into musical notes, one for each year from 1880 to 2012, and played them on his cello. The result is, in a word, haunting:

Read more at Slate.


McCarthy sworn in at EPA after Senate vote
Gina McCarthy was sworn in Friday as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. The swearing in took place a day after the Senate confirmed McCarthy in a 59-40 vote. 
The private ceremony took pace at the EPA’s Washington, D.C., headquarters, bringing to a close a four-month wait since President Obama nominated her for the post. Read more at The Hill.

EPA Climate Change Website

Public Hearing on Replacing Coal with Gas in Power Plants

PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION (PSC) HEARING

ON PROPOSAL TO REPOWER DUNKIRK AND CAYUGA

COAL FIRED POWER PLANTS WITH GAS

Come and Give Testimony

Come and Support those Giving Testimony with your Presence

Monday, July 15, 2013

SUNY Fredonia, Multi-Purpose Room at the William Center

Fredonia, NY

Public Testimony starts at 7 pm

Administrative Law Judge Presiding

The Public Service Commission (PSC) is currently deciding whether to repower the Dunkirk and Cayuga coal-fired power plants with natural gas or to opt for more environmental and cost effective transmission system upgrades, efficiency, and renewables. There will be presentations by NRG and National Grid with Q&Q from 6-7. Public testimony will follow at 7 pm.

There is so much agreement that natural gas is the wrong choice (for environmental, fracking, cost, consumer benefit reasons) that the Business Council, the Sierra Club, and seven other environmental organizations submitted joint comments to the PSC urging the transmission upgrades, efficiency, and renewables over natural gas, Needless to say, the Business Council and enviros rarely issue joint statements. 

Senators Maziarz, Young, and Nozzolio quickly requested a public hearing in Fredonia which the PSC granted. The Sierra Club -- and others -- have submitted about 2,000 public comments opposing the natural gas conversion.

We need a strong presence at the Fredonia hearing so that Senators Young and Maziarz will hear our voices in support of cost-effective and more environmentally friendly options like renewables, infrastructure, and efficiency. This hearing can set the stage for future victories and give a public victory to fracktivists and renewable energy activists. 

SUNY Fredonia Location:  Building #21 on Campus Map.
Map to SUNY Fredonia is Here

Governor Cuomo: Build a Renewable Energy Economy

On April 16, 2013, the Sierra Club urged NY Governor Cuomo to take aggressive action towards building a renewable energy economy. The campaign calls for job-creating renewable energy in areas that could benefit from the transition away from fossil fuels.

“Specifically, we’re asking Gov. Andrew Cuomo to take administrative action to meet and extend the state’s renewable-energy goals … instead of any continued investment in fossil fuels,” said Lynda H. Schneekloth, chairwoman of the Sierra Club, Niagara Group at a news conference on the Buffalo waterfront in view of the Steel Winds wind turbines [video report].

 

Schneekloth said Cuomo's pledge to invest $1.5 billion in solar energy through the NY-Sun Initiative is a very good start, but "much more can be done to keep pace with other states."  

Cornell Professor Robert W. Howarth spoke at the Buffalo news conference in support of renewable energy in terms of its feasibility and its economic and public health benefits. Howarth is co-author of a new peer-reviewed publication entitled "Examining the feasibility of converting New York State's all-purpose energy infrastructure to one using wind, water and sunlight."

Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster said “Niagara Falls was in the forefront of renewable energy a century ago with the creative development of hydroelectricity. It’s time we reclaim that advantage and aggressively push for clean, renewable energy here in New York.”

Take Action: Send an email message to Gov. Cuomo.

Other groups represented at the news conference included WNY Drilling Defense, Wind Action Group, WNY Peace Center, Clean Air Coalition of WNY, Riverside Salem United Church of Christ, PUSH Buffalo, WNY Council for Occupational Safety and Health, Re-ENERGIZE Buffalo, Residents for Responsible Government, and Partnership for the Public Good. 

The Sierra Club's "Turn, Not Burn"campaign was advertised on billboards (image above) and in newspaper ads (see below) in Buffalo, Rochester, Binghamton, Auburn and Albany.

[Click image to enlarge]

TAKE ACTION: Stand Up for Clean, Renewable, Wind Power

December 13, 2012

The renewable energy production tax credit (PTC) – the business incentive that has reinvigorated American manufacturing, diversified our electricity portfolio, driven down electricity costs for consumers, and stimulated much-needed rural economic development – is set to expire in just 18 days. Congress has yet to come to an agreement on legislation to extend this provision, nor to address the broader fiscal cliff issues that are up for debate.

Legislators are expected to adjourn this session of Congress at the end of next week.  They have not yet publicly announced any agreement on a legislative package.

Please take a few minutes to call your legislators today.

It’s very simple – just follow these steps:

Dial 1-888-496-5061 or click here to be connected.  You will be connected to the Senator’s office whose zip code corresponds to your phone’s area code.  Please redial to be connected to your second Senator’s office.

Relay this message:
“I urge the legislator to work with colleagues to pass a fiscal cliff bill that includes an extension of the renewable energy production tax credit (PTC) before adjourning.”

After you speak to your Senators’ offices, please dial 1-866-899-9078 (or click here) to be connected to your Representative.  Please relay that same message to your Representative’s office.

Thank you very much for taking action at this key time.  We will keep you up to speed on any developments that we hear about in DC.

Sincerely,

Peter Kelley
Vice President, Public Affairs
American Wind Energy Association

P.S. If you can’t make calls today, please be sure to take a moment to email your legislators instead.

TAKE ACTION: Petition for Clean, Renewable, Wind Power

With Congress expected to vote on the renewable energy production tax credit (PTC) extension during the “lame duck” session following the elections, now is the time for our industry and our allies to emphasize to our elected officials that wind power serves in the country’s strategic interest.

We ask you to take a moment to sign our petition to Congress that does just that – urges a PTC extension as a strategic move for the U.S.

The PTC is an effective tool to encourage development of proven renewable energy projects.  Equipped with the PTC, the wind industry has driven over $15 billion of private investments into the U.S. economy in each of the past five years, and has grown the U.S. manufacturing sector to include nearly 500 wind-related facilities.  With the PTC set to expire on December 31st, 37,000 wind industry jobs and over $10 billion of related private investments are at risk.

Let's power our homes and businesses with more of this plentiful homegrown energy.

Please encourage your colleagues, friends, and family to sign this petition as well.  We’re looking to gather an impressive number of signatures by November 12th, and release this petition just as our legislators are returning to D.C.

Your support will help to keep this issue on the front burner!  Many thanks for your support!

Sincerely,
Peter Kelley, Vice President, Public Affairs
American Wind Energy Association

Panel Discussion: Ending Coal Burning in Western NY

7:30 p.m., Monday, November 12, 
Daemen College,
4380 Main Street, Amherst,
Room 336, Duns Scotus Hall
Free and Open to the Public 

Panelists:

• Penny Messinger, Ph.D., Associate Professor, History and Government Department, Daemen College
• Rebecca Newberry, Program Coordinator, Clean Air Coalition of WNY (www.cacwny.org);
• Kenzie Reynen, Global and Local Sustainability Major, Daemen College 
• Jennifer Tuttle, Organizer, Sierra Club New York Beyond Coal Campaign (www.beyondcoal.org). 

The moderator is Walter Simpson (www.energyreallymatters.com) who will begin the session with a presentation on how activists helped prevent the construction of a new coal plant in Jamestown, NY.  The discussion will then turn to the fate of Western New York’s four existing coal plants. 

Printable Flyer and Map: Click Here 

ENERGY & CLIMATE News

 ENERGY

• Innovative program can create jobs and clean energy By Larry Beahan, Sierra Club Niagara Group

• Sen. Sanders, Environmental Groups Call to End Fossil Fuel Subsidies - Common Dreams

• Coal-fired power proposal attacked By David Robinson, The Buffalo News

• Support the EPA's proposal to limit industrial carbon pollution from power plants - Natural Resources Defense Council

• Where's the Jobs? - How this state’s electricity pricing system is hamstringing investment and renewables and stifling job growth - By David Bradley

• Community Power vs. the Kochs By Aaron Bartley, PUSH Buffalo

CLIMATE 

• Gauging Public Opinion on Climate Change Policy - NPR Talk of the Nation 

• Great Lakes Ice Cover Down 71% Since 1973 By Jeff Masters

Wind Power: Clean, Renewable Energy for New York

By Dave Bradley, Wind Action Group ~

You might be surprised to learn that there are 5 wind turbines working on the frozen continent of Antarctica. In fact, these are among the more productive ones presently operating in the world. The total installed capacity is only 1.6 megawatts. But that is still more than the installed capacity of all but 8 of NY State's 62 counties. That leaves a lot of room for improvement in NY State.

For NY State, it will probably take a whole new way to price renewable energy, and an understanding that replacing the pollution-sourced electricity (natural gas, coal, nuclear) can provide a working career for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. That would put a nice dent in the estimated 1 million New Yorkers who need a job, and these jobs would provide decent pay.

The most successful pricing system for renewable energy is known as FIT, for Feed-In Tariff (Examples are in Ontario, Spain, Germany, and Denmark). Another name for FIT is CLEAN contract (Clean Local Energy Accessible Now). New manufacturing jobs, supply chain, real-wealth creation are the goals, and the byproduct is clean electricity that displaces pollution-based electricity and often fuel imports that also require exporting real wealth.

If you want details of how FIT/CLEAN contracts work and what they can do, see this link to an excellent Green Paper written by Bill Nowak for the NY Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter.

If you want to see a highly-condensed summary in the form of a Powerpoint presentation (.pdf format), download this one by Dave Bradley. 

If you are interested in a presentation and discussion of this material for a group, email Dave Bradley at Tantalum73@verizon.net. After all, there is a lot of "misunderstanding" and "lack of awareness" as to what renewable energy can do.

This report is a condensed version of the full article edited by David Kowalski. The full article by Dave Bradley is available at the Wind Action Group Engineering website.

Benefits of Using Wind Farms to Produce Electricity

Wind farms continue to sprout up around the globe. Generating electricity using Nature's wind energy is proving to be not only a useful complement to using fossil fuels and nuclear energy, but also more beneficial in a number of ways. Below are a few examples drawn from recent reports.
Wind Power Cheaper than Nuclear
Generating energy from wind turbines at sea would be cheaper than building new atomic power plants, according to Connie Hedegaard, the EU climate change commissioner. She told the European Wind Energy Association's annual conference in Brussels that the problems facing nuclear power put renewable sources of energy, such as wind and solar power, back in the spotlight. Read more here.

Wind Turbines Stronger than Nuclear
Despite assertions by its detractors that wind energy would not survive an earthquake or tsunami, the Japanese wind industry is still functioning and helping to keep the lights on during the Fuksuhima crisis. There has been no wind facility damage from either the earthquake or the tsunami. Even a semi-offshore wind farm (see photo) about 300km from the epicenter of the quake survived. Read more here.

Kamisu Wind Farm 300 km from earthquake epicenter, by Wind Power Ibaraki

Wind Turbines Survive Cold Weather as Fossil Fuel Plants Falter

Wind energy played a major role in helping keep the lights on as the Great Plains dealt with a record storm this winter. Wind energy limited the severity of the blackouts, providing enough electricity to keep the power on in about 3 million households. Fifty fossil fuel power plants experienced outages and went offline due to the cold weather. Two large coal-fired power plants went offline due to pipes freezing or breaking. Some gas-fired plants also experienced outages due to the cold, and others were unable to produce as scheduled due to low gas pressure in the pipelines. Read more here.
Wind Power is Big and Friendly in Texas
Texas is the nation’s leader in generating electricity from wind, with 9,700 megawatts of about 41,000 megawatts in the US last year. By 2025, Texas plans to generate 38,000 megawatts, enough for 90% of the state's current residential electricity needs.
Farmers and ranchers are profiting from wind power, receiving from $3,000 to $10,000 a year for each wind turbine permitted on their land. Also, since wind turbines occupy only 1% of the land, the land can still be used to grow crops or graze cattle. Read more here.

Wind power is friendly to people and the environment. Unlike fossil-fuel power, wind power does not pollute the air or water. Also, today's windmill blades spin slowly and quietly. People can even partake in outdoor fun, like tossing a frisbee (see photo), in the open space around the majestic towers of wind turbines (this would not be fun or healthy to do at a coal-fired power plant).

[Click image to enlarge]

Wind Power is Less Harmful to Birds
Fossil fuels pose higher risks to wildlife than wind power. Coal - which wind directly replaces - is by far the largest contributor to wildlife risks. Compared to wind turbines, domestic cats kill 100 times more birds, and buildings kill over 5000 times more. Wind turbines are estimated to cause less than three out of every 100,000 human-related bird deaths in the U.S., and will never cause more than a small fraction no matter how extensively wind power is used in the future, according to the National Academy of Sciences. Read more here.

Earth Hour 2009 - Curb Climate Change

Global ‘lights-out’ presses for climate change
AP -- March 29, 2009

CHICAGO — From an Antarctic research base and the Great Pyramids of Egypt to the Empire State Building in New York, illuminated patches of the globe went dark Saturday for Earth Hour, a campaign to highlight the threat of climate change.

Time zone by time zone, nearly 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries joined the event sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund to dim nonessential lights from 8:30 p. m. to 9:30 p. m. The campaign began in Australia in 2007 and last year grew to 400 cities worldwide.

Organizers initially worried that enthusiasm this year would wane with the world focused on economics, said Earth Hour executive director Andy Ridley. But he said it apparently had the opposite effect.

In New York, the Empire State Building and the U. N. building were among the city landmarks that shut off their lights.

In Buffalo, Mayor Byron Brown said City Hall extinguished all non-essential lights for the entire evening. The Electric Tower also went dark for an hour, then was bathed in green light. Read the full story in The Buffalo News.

UPDATE, March, 30: Check out these fantastic photos from around the world at Boston.com.

VIDEO:

Lights OUT for EARTH HOUR

• WHAT: EARTH HOUR: Switch Lights OFF for 1 hour
  
• WHEN: Saturday, March 28th at 8:30pm - 9:30pm
  
• WHERE: Planet Earth
• WHY: International concern about energy and climate change
  

Electricity is generated mainly by burning fossil fuels, emitting heat-trapping gases that cause global warming and climate change. Needed is a transition from burning fossil fuels to clean, renewable power sources, and a focus on energy efficiency. World Wildlife Fund is asking individuals, businesses, governments and organizations around the World to turn off their electric lights for one hour – Earth Hour – to make a global statement of concern about climate change and to demonstrate commitment to finding solutions.

Up to 1 Billion people are expected to participate in Earth Hour this year. In 2008, 50 million people in 370 cities and towns across the World turned their lights OFF. Lights went off at places around the globe including the Chicago skyline, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Eiffel Tower, Acropolis, and the Roman Colosseum. Below are some photos taken at Earth Hour in 2008.

Locally, the Buffalo Zoo, students at Daemen College and the University at Buffalo, and others are encouraging people to join this global effort in support of encouraging world leaders to take action on climate change.

The Electric Tower in Buffalo will go dark at 8:30pm, and at 9:30pm, the white tower will be bathed in green light to show solidarity with the green movement.
The Buffalo Common Council passed a resolution designating Saturday as “World Wildlife Fund’s Earth Hour Day”. “Extinguishing non-essential lights in all city government buildings, public schools and public landmarks for one hour, and urging all businesses and citizens to do the same will send a clear message that the people of Buffalo are concerned about climate change,” the resolution said. Read the story at The Buffalo News.

The lights at nearby Niagara Falls will go off, as will those at New York City's Broadway theater signs, Rockefeller Center and the Empire State Building. Lights Worldwide will go DARK for Earth Hour.

Join in the effort and turn your Lights OFF at 8:30pm on Saturday. Take a walk outside and look up at the night sky -- you'll see more stars when city lights are off. At home, light a Candle for the Climate.

A Video about Earth Hour is here, and the website is here.

UPDATE: Saturday Morning, March 28 --It's Earth Hour on the other side of the Planet
The Chatham Islands, a group of small islands around 500 miles east of New Zealand, officially kicked off Earth Hour by switching off its diesel generators. Soon after, the lights of Auckland's Sky Tower, the tallest man-made structure in New Zealand, blinked off. At Scott Base in Antarctica, New Zealand's 26-member winter team resorted to minimum safety lighting and switched off appliances and computers. In Australia, where Earth Hour was founded in 2007, Sydney's glittering harbor was bathed in shadows as lights dimmed on the steel arch of the city's iconic Harbour Bridge and the nearby Opera House. Read the full story here.

Video of EARTH HOUR on the other side of the Planet!

New Coal Power: Advance or Big Mistake?

NY Governor Paterson today announced State support for an 'advanced coal' power plant in Jamestown. The plant is intended to be a demonstration facility for carbon dioxide capture and permanent underground storage, a still unproven technology.

'Advanced coal' is a new name for what the coal power companies have been calling 'clean coal'. To date, there is no such thing. It is not known whether this unproven technology will be commercially feasible, cost effective and environmentally safe. Electricity costs will certainly rise since 'clean coal' power plants will be expensive to build and operate.

Climate activists and environmentalists were not happy with the Governor's support for the initiative. “This power plant is ill-advised from both environmental and economic points of view and does not deserve to go forward,” said Walter Simpson, co-founder of the Western New York Climate Action Coalition and leader of a coalition of groups opposed to the plant. He criticized the Governor for "acting before an $800,000 New York State Energy Research & Development Authority-funded study to examine the geological and legal issues associated with carbon capture and storage in the Southern Tier region has begun". Brian Smith, Western New York Program Director for Citizens Campaign for the Environment said “Investing millions of tax dollars in unproven, highly questionable technology is unwise.”

It is not known whether underground storage of carbon dioxide (carbon sequestration) is safe and permanent. Would you like to have toxic concentrations of carbon dioxide stored underground where you live? Suppose toxic concentrations of the gas leak out? What do you think: Advance or Mistake?

Here's Tom Toles' take on carbon sequestration:

[Click to enlarge]

Clean Coal: More Expensive, Less Desirable

A 'clean coal' technology has been proposed that will provide power to generate electricity without emitting global warming pollution. The idea is that modified coal power plants would capture the polluting gas, carbon dioxide, pump it into open spaces underground, and store it there permanently. The technology has been promoted by coal mining and power companies, and has been supported by President Bush and the three presidential candidates. However, carbon dioxide capture, storage, and safety remain unproven, and the cost of building clean coal power plants is proving to be prohibitive.

The cost of the FutureGen clean coal project in Illinois rose from $1 Billion to $1.8 Billion, including $1 Billion in government subsidies. Fearing that the already high cost would further increase, the U.S. Energy Department canceled the FutureGen project. Another clean coal plant proposed in Edwardsport, Indiana would cost an estimated $2.35 Billion, a $365 Million increase from earlier estimates.

Here in the Buffalo area, an ailing economy and the need for new jobs are driving demands to build a clean-coal power plant in Tonawanda, NRG's proposed Huntley plant. The cost last year was estimated at $1.5 Billion. The current cost and status of the Huntley plant are not clear, and NY State is moving away from coal power to decrease pollution. Recently, in nearby Rochester, NY, a coal-fired power plant was shut down and converted to use natural gas, which generates less carbon dioxide than coal, and doesn't emit mercury pollution.

Coal's future looks bleak on Wall Street. Citigroup and Merrill Lynch have downgraded coal company stocks across the board. Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America said lending for coal-fired power plants will be contingent on utilities demonstrating they would be economically viable under future federal rules on emissions. A federal tax on carbon dioxide emissions is inevitable. Together with the high cost of cleaning coal, the tax will make coal a more expensive and less desirable source of energy.

Fortunately, clean energy sources, like wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal, provide alternatives to burning coal. Clean energy sources do not emit carbon dioxide pollution, and are environmentally safe and renewable. Low-cost, reliable hydropower from Niagara Falls is attractive to manufacturing companies and is creating new jobs in Western NY. Wind turbine towers are sprouting up across the region. A national shift to clean energy sources will create millions of new jobs in construction, engineering, manufacturing and other areas, and will reduce global warming pollution. It will be a win-win situation for Americans and the planet.