Al Gore is Kinda Cute

I’ve always been a fan of older men. Today I fell for another one, Mr. Al Gore. Al (I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if I called him by his first name) came to DC to give a presentation for the We Campaign. Greenette sent me an invitation, so I clicked through, got my free ticket and headed off to DAR Constitution Hall yesterday along with my 3,699 best friends.

Al’s presentation was truly inspirational (click here for the transcript). With his slight southern accent and relaxed presence, I felt like he was talking directly to me about all the things I CAN do (even though I was waaay in the back). It’s always nice to hear what we CAN do versus things that cannot be done. It was also nice that there was a limited amount of politicking in the presentation (though there were some slightly crazy protesters outside).

Al’s concept was that the US move to use of entirely carbon-free fuel and electricity (bye bye petrochemicals and coal!) within TEN years. His inspiration: JFK’s similarly ambitious dedication to putting a man on the moon in ten years (we did it in just over 8). His arguments for why this is possible were quite compelling: the US has vast renewable resources including sunlight, wind, and geothermal. All of which can be tapped at a relatively low cost, particularly when compared to skyrocketing economic and environmental costs for oil and coal. His arguments for why we HAVE to do it were equally compelling: environment, economy (hello job creation!), national security (no more borrowing money from China to pay Saudi Arabia).

The one thing missing was behavioral change: all this is good, but we need to think about our own personal choices. How do we reduce demand for fuel/electricity? How do we drive less? How do we plan better?

Overall, great presentation Al. I’ll be sure to let my hubby know he has some competition.

State of Utah Moving to 4-Day Work Week

I had the great pleasure of meeting Governor Jon Hunstman (R) from Utah today. An inspiring man on many fronts (he speaks fluent Mandarin and adopted two abandoned babies from China and India for a start), but I was particulaly inspired by his credible commitment to the environment. One of his most recent initiatives is to transition all state employees to a 4-day work week (4 ten-hour days with Fridays off). This will start full time in July and his team will be measuring the economic and environmental results at the 1-year mark. There are many logistics to work out (daycare for employees, etc.), but the benefits he sees are numerous:

1. With this one chnage, state government buildings in Utah will reduce energy consumption by 20%.
2. The state will be more likely to recruit smart, young people looking for work-life balance jobs.
3. They are more likely to retain staff - it's a perceived "bonus" by most to have three day weekends all year.
4. They will be able to provide better service to their constituants (they are open earlier and later Mon-Thurs, so better able to support working moms and dads).

If roughly 17,000 employees across an entire state can take on alternative work hours, how hard can it really be?

For more info: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25518225/

UK considers personal carbon credits

The a committee of UK Members of Parliament have said that the government should go ahead with a system of personal "carbon credits" to meet emissions targets.

Under such a scheme people would be given an annual carbon limit for fuel and energy use - which they could exceed by buying credits from those who use less.

The Committee said the scheme would be more effective than taxes for cutting carbon emissions. The Committee chairman Tim Yeo said that "green" taxes, such as a petrol tax, cost poor people more because everyone - "billionaires and paupers" - paid the same amount.

Yeo said: "Under the personal carbon trading, someone who perhaps doesn't have an enormous house or swimming pool, someone who doesn't take several holidays in the Caribbean every year, will actually get a cash benefit if they keep a low carbon footprint."

Unfortunately the UK government are not funding any more research into personal carbon credits as Ministers said there were practical drawbacks to the proposal. For these drawbacks see the BBC article here.

Green Activism in China

Over the weekend I was listening to my favourite radio station - BBC Radio Four. Last night there was a feature programme on called 'Analysis', in which a reporter visited Beijing to assess the significance of the new green activism there.

As the publicity around the Tibetan human rights issues currently shows us, it is dangerous and rare for ordinary people in China to challenge officialdom. But in the area of green activism there are signs of change. One study concluded there are over 2 million environmental groups in China, but it is hard to measure whether environmentalism there is really effective.

Rapid industrialisation has scarred China's environment, with a quarter of drinking water now contaminated.

The programme reports on small acts, like a campaign against disposable chopsticks in restaurants, to larger ones, like spontaneous street protests over a chemical factory in the city of Xiamen. The question is now can the green movement test the limits of the Chinese political freedom?

Interviewees in the programme include:

• Zhang Jingjing, the lawyer dubbed the "Erin Brokovitch of China"
• Lo Sze Ping, director of Greenpeace China
• Ma Jun, known internationally for his work to save China's lakes and rivers

To download the podcast of this program click this link.

The UK - to have an eco-town makeover?

Today the UK government has revealed 15 locations which have been shortlisted as the first new towns in England in since the 1960s. 10 sites will be selected from this list to be built as new "eco-towns" by 2020 and will contribute to the government's plans to build 3 million new homes by the same year.

The eco-towns initiative has been designed to tackle the dual challenges of climate change and the need for more UK families to own their own home. However, they have come under fire on both these areas.

The UK government's sustainability agenda for eco-towns

Eco-towns are planned to be low-energy, carbon-neutral and built from recycled materials. Each development will be exemplary in one area of sustainability, such as energy production or waste disposal.

The argument against the sustainability agenda

The opposition has accused the government of "eco-spin rather than a genuine attempt to address the environmental nature of UK housing".

The UK government's house-building agenda for eco-towns

The UK is currently experiencing a housing shortage, especially in the affordable housing market. The largest eco-town will provide between 15,000 and 20,000 new homes and 30% to 40% of each eco-town will be allocated as affordable housing.

The argument against the house-building agenda

The opposition argue that because three-quarters of the housing we'll be living in by 2050 is already built, that unless you do something about the existing stock, putting up a few eco-towns amounts to a tiny fraction of the total housing we will require. There are also several shortlisted new towns that will require building on green field sites.

The opposition have also stressed the need to ensure inhabitants of new eco-towns do not have to commute in order to work. As if this happened, the sites would not be sustainable at all and would in fact give rise to extra carbon emissions in transportation. There are concerns among environmental campaigners that most of the proposed eco-towns will increase car pollution because they will not be big or diverse enough to sustain viable public transport.

For more information go to the UK Communities and Local Government Department website.

Map source: BBC News

Governor Calls on Industry to Produce Zero Net Energy Buildings

Speaking before the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association’s (NESEA) “Building Energy 08” conference at Seaport World trade Center in Boston, Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts announced that he has asked Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles to form a task force of industry professionals that would advise the state on raising “green building” standards in a way that would lead public and private construction toward a goal of Zero Net Energy buildings – commercial and residential structures that meet most of their energy needs by efficiency and on-site renewable energy – by 2030.

It's great to hear about a governor (and many others) pushing the architectural profession to do more. Frankly, it's nice to be part of a profession that can be seen to make a difference. I'm happy to rise to the occasion! Is this going beyond LEED? You bet. It's where we need to be. Thanks Governor Patrick for raising the bar.

The UK's new 'green' spending budget

This lunchtime marked the announcement of UK government's spending budget, which was widely anticipated to be the "green" budget. And as promised, our Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, focused the budget on cutting carbon emissions from homes, businesses and transport.
Describing tackling global warming as "our greatest obligation to future generations, the Chancellor announced new targets to make all new non-domestic building zero-carbon by 2019. The pledge comes on top of the existing goal for all UK homes to have no net carbon emission by 2016, saying it could save 75 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over the next 30 years.

Other targets set included:

• All new public sector buildings to be zero-carbon by 2018. Smart meters will also be rolled out to medium and large companies over the next five years in a bid to encourage them to save energy.


• On the domestic front, there will be £26 million for the Green Homes Service next year to help people cut carbon and fuel bills.


• Carbon Emissions Reduction Targets introduced next month will require energy companies to improve efficiency in their customers' properties, with cavity wall insulation for nearly three million homes along with loft insulation, energy efficient appliances and light bulbs.
  
• On transport, new bands of vehicle excise duty from 2009 will reward the drivers of the cleanest cars and the new per-plane tax, to come into effect in November 2009, will increase by 10% in the second year of operation.

Despite these targets sounding great, within minutes of delivering his Budget the Chancellor came under fire from environmentalists who claimed he was tinkering in the margins and had "dropped the ball" on climate change.

The budget was criticised on blogs such as The Guardian's comment is free that "when the construction industry turns its attention to the target of zero carbon in non-domestic buildings by 2019, probably some time in 2018, it will be far too late to make any difference in avoiding global warming tipping points, in heading off the third great global energy crisis, or the needless deaths of tens of thousands of grans and grandads."

I have no idea of the comparable laws being passed in the rest of the world... please comment on this post and let me know and exchange your views.

Greenest Presidential Canidate?

Make your plug for Super Tuesday (Feb 5)! Who do you think will be the strongest on environmental issues? Tell us why and leave your comments below.

Here's what others have to say: Grist, Low Impact Living, CNN, The NY Times

And Treehugger gives advice on what we should be asking the candidates (or all other politicians for that matter):

1. How would your administration plan to reduce global warming emissions?

2. How will your administration work with other nations to reduce global warming pollution worldwide?

3. How would you balance federal funding for public transportation and road construction?

4. How do you respond to industries who try to argue that we have to choose between jobs and clean energy?

5. What are your policies on new coal fired power plants and new nuclear power plants?

The Story of Stuff

I just chanced upon a fantastic short movie called The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard. You need about 20 minutes to view it, but it is really, really well done. Put on your earplugs and watch. It's one of the best explanations I've seen about the cycle of production and our role in it.

Produced by Free Range Studios.

Hosted by The Ethical Brand.

Integrated Design Hits Home

I thought this was very cool. Honda has developed a hydrogen fuel cell automobile. Traditionally the complaint about this technology is how does one safely, effectively, and economically distribute hydrogen? Well, why not make it at home and help it enhance your homes carbon footprint as well?

The car is a Honda, BMW has a prototype as well, you will either like or leave the aesthetics but I like it. There are American car makers that have been investing heavily in this technology, but to the best of my knowledge do not currently have a prototype for sale. These same manufacturers were given hundreds of millions of dollars from the US government to develop this technology. They did it, but decided it would be easier to fight the push to low emitting vehicles in court rather than work towards producing them. Let’s just say it, we have all heard about the EV1, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1.

So why is this so special? Honda has developed a Home Energy Station that converts natural gas to hydrogen for fueling the car, brilliant. It can also create electricity for the house, so there is a minimal need for electrical infrastructure. Imagine a hose that can fuel your car, heat and cool your house, and all from a natural gas line. It’s a start.

To learn more about the Honda go here, http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity/.

Deep Lake Water Cooling

For those of you who haven't seen this yet, Enwave Energy Corporation, through partial financial backing from the City of Toronto, developed the deep lake water cooling system that uses the cool energy in cold water to air-condition high-rise buildings in downtown Toronto. It currently cools 47 buildings, with the potential to cool many more. The system benefits the City by:

• reducing energy consumption by up to 90% (compared to conventional chillers)
• reducing carbon dioxide emissions
• improving the water supply by using new intake pipes that are deeper
• investing in a corporation in which the City is a shareholder

How does this work exactly? Enwave's three intake pipes draw water (4 degrees Celsius) from 5 kilometers off the shore of Lake Ontario at a depth of 83 meters below the surface. Naturally cold water makes its way to the City's John Street Pumping Station. There, heat exchangers facilitate the energy transfer between the icy cold lake water and the Enwave closed chilled water supply loop.

The water drawn from the lake continues on its regular route through the John Street Pumping Station for normal distribution into the City water supply. Enwave uses only the coldness from the lake water, not the actual water, to provide the alternative to conventional air-conditioning.

When I first heard about this initiative in Toronto, I was shocked. Shocked as in ... why are we not doing this everywhere?!! Seems like a logical move for all cities next to large bodies of water, say Cleveland, Chicago, etc. How can we get organizations, energy companies, city government officials, etc. to take a harder look at our cities and start investing in "Energy Independence?" Yes, there is a major initial investment involved, but it seems like such a win-win scenario in the long term. Let's start a letter writing campaign and make this happen!

Is America Ready to be Green?

Al Gore made several strong statements at the Bali Climate Talks yesterday:

After declaring the United States "principally responsible for obstructing progress" in Bali, he urged delegates to agree to an open-ended deal that could be enhanced after the Bush administration left office.

"Over the next two years the United States is going to be somewhere it is not now," Mr. Gore said to loud applause. "You must anticipate that."

But I'm not so sure... George Bush can be blamed for a lot, but is he really any different than most of America? I do think times are changing, but we're still very new at the green thing. I'm not sure we really understand the kinds of changes we need to make. We love our stuff - our cars, our hairdryers, our computers, our furniture, our big houses. Our trash doesn't cost anything to put out and our water is reasonably clean.

SO WHY SHOULD WE CHANGE?

Barbara Flanagan wrote a great article in International Design magazine that tells it all. We're just not ready to embrace a sustainable lifestyle in the U.S.

That said, I do think this ship is turning around and we are getting more aware and more conscious of our impact. It's through talking, blogging and designing that we are starting to take those first baby steps away from the consumer mindset and toward a new kind of commerce. Seems to me that blaming politicians is not going to get us there. Focusing on ourselves and the people we know and influence is much more positive and impactful.

I'm not saying Al Gore should lay off - he's obviously got the ear of some powerful people. I'm just saying I can't point a finger at anyone but myself.

Energy Bill - Stalled in the U.S. Senate!

For those of you who haven't been following this story, the House passed an ambitious energy bill Thursday of this week. The Senate is now considering a new scaled-back version of the bill that would take out a requirement for electric ulitilites to use renewable energy for 15 percent of their power generation. If any of you read our earlier post, Good CARMA, about power generation from these companies - this is an important step.

Go to the Washington Post today for more info.

Want to take action to get these Senators to hear your view? Go here to the Sierra Club's website to tell them what you think now. It's quick and easy - they show you exactly who to call. I live inside the beltway, and my policy-wonk friends tell me a call has a more powerful effect on making a difference than emails.

Another alternative? Write to energy companies that are opposing the bill, like the Southern Company, that serves Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Want to find out the company that provides your energy? Go to carma.org and enter your zip code (right margin).