2nd Green Revolution

Given the COP15 Conference taking place in Denmark this December, it seemed appropriate to highlight the Kyoto Protocol, the international greenhouse gas reduction agreement that is to be succeeded by a new compromise in Copenhagen.

• The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on December 11, 1997 and entered into force on February 16, 2005. (Under the Protocol, countries’ actual emissions have to be monitored and precise records have to be kept of the trades carried out. The UN Climate Change Secretariat, based in Bonn, Germany, keeps an international transaction log to verify that transactions are consistent with the rules of the Protocol).
• 184 Parties of the Convention have ratified its Protocol to date. (Complete list here).
• Under the Treaty, countries must meet their targets primarily through national measures. However, the Kyoto Protocol offers them an additional means of meeting their targets by way of three market-based mechanisms.

1. Emissions trading – known as “the carbon market”
2. Clean development mechanism (CDM)
3. Joint implementation (JI).

• The Kyoto Protocol is generally seen as an important first step towards a truly global emission reduction regime that will stabilize GHG emissions, and provides the essential architecture for any future international agreement on climate change.
• By the end of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012, a new international framework needs to have been negotiated and ratified that can deliver the stringent emission reductions the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has clearly indicated are needed (hence COP 15).

Source: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

Tuesday marked the beginning of what could be the turning point in modernization of the nation’s electricity grid. According to the Department of Energy (DOE), “President Barack Obama . . . announced the largest single energy grid modernization investment in U.S. history, funding a broad range of technologies that will spur the nation’s transition to a smarter, stronger, more efficient and reliable electric system.” In the article, the DOE provided a map of the award winners (as a PDF). Included in the statement (from the DOE) were the following measures:

• Empowering Consumers to Save Energy and Cut Utility Bills — $1 billion
• Making Electricity Distribution and Transmission More Efficient — $400 million
• Integrating and Crosscutting Across Different “Smart” Components of a Smart Grid — $2 billion
• Building a Smart Grid Manufacturing Industry — $25 million Read the rest of this entry »

Tokyo

Having just returned from a one week business trip to Japan, lifestyle differences with regards to energy use, waste, and conservation are on my mind. I’ll be writing a three part series on Japan shortly but for now wanted to lead off with a brief rundown of some of the ways Japan is very different when it comes to energy use. Due to its high population density as well as having hardly any domestic conventional energy resources, Japan has cultivated a culture of efficiency and waste reduction. The following topics will be described in more detail in subsequent posts.

• business hotels
• shinkansen (bullet train)
• recycling
• laundry
• drying clothes
• kotatsu (Japanese style table/heater)
• nuclear power
• cars and roads
• highways
• paper towels

– Justin Manger

Several months ago 2nd Green Revolution reported on a story from NPR about toxic drywall imported from China in the post-Katrina building boom. Today, NPR ran a follow up story on the materials. According to the story, “Emissions from the drywall corrode plumbing and electrical systems.” Furthermore, “Homeowners also blame them for headaches and respiratory ailments.” NPR cited a report from the insurance industry that claimed replacement costs of could range from $15 to 25 billion (US). The figure includes “replacing drywall, as well as legal fees, the toll on health and other costs.”

For a link to the follow up story from NPR, click here.

- Eric Wilson

As reported today on KCFR, Colorado Public Radio’s all-news station, Germany’s SMA Solar Technology is planning on building the largest solar production facility in the United States. The manufacturing center will be located in Denver’s Stapleton neighborhood.

According to the company’s website, SMA is the world leader in solar inverter technology with a total installed capacity of over three gigawatts. (For a brief description of inverter technology, click here). “SMA Solar Technology AG develops, produces and sells solar inverters and monitoring systems for photovoltaic applications. SMA is the world’s largest producer in this segment and is the only vendor that has a product range with the matching inverter type for any module type and any power class.”

SMA’s press release stated that the facility will be the “largest production facility Read the rest of this entry »

• The building sector is responsible for over 40% of US carbon dioxide emissions – more than the entire economy of any other country except China.

As a rough estimate, a green school could lead to the following annual emission reductions per school:

• 1,200 pounds of nitrogen oxides (NOx) – a principal component of smog
• 1,300 pounds of sulfur dioxide (SO2) – a principal cause of acid rain
• 585,000 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) – the principal greenhouse gas and the principal product of combustion
• 150 pounds of coarse particulate matter (PM10) – a principal cause of respiratory illness and an important contributor to smog

Source: Greening America’s Schools: www.cap-e.com/ewebeditpro/items/O59F9819.pdf

With the news this past week of the Dow Jones Industrial Average surpassing 10,000 and economists claiming the recession is over (in the United States and abroad), we got to wondering what role the clean energy economy plays in the global economy’s future. Take a moment to vote in this poll. The results are not scientific, but rather aim to gather feedback on our readers and their thoughts on what place, if any, the clean energy economy has going forward. Feel free to forward this poll along to interested parties.

Last month in Sacramento, CA and last week in Denver, CO, The Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO) convened to discuss the idea that crude oil supplies have diminished to the point where the amount which remains unearthed is less than that which has already been extracted. The 5th annual ASPO-USA conference presented “three days of information-packed events plus a Saturday pre-event workshop designed to stimulate discussion amongst a wide audience of people in business, public policy, and anyone concerned with resource supply issues.” Read the rest of this entry »

Some of the most innovative ideas sound preposterous when they are first proposed, but end up being revolutionary. Perhaps the solar roadway will follow suit. Or perhaps this is just another hair brained idea that will be a waste of resources. Solar Roadways is a company based in Sagle, Idaho that has designed a system of solar panels integrated into streets and roads that aims to capture solar energy and replace petroleum based asphalt, the current material used for a majority of roads. Read the rest of this entry »

• The U.S. has three electric grids: Eastern Interconnection, Western Interconnection, and ERCOT (Texas)
• The Tres Amigas “superstation” has been proposed to be built in Clovis, NM to connect the grids and spur development of renewable power that would otherwise be too remote to efficiently reach population centers.
• The substation would be able to carry 5,000 megawatts of electricity – an amount many times greater than current substations and equivalent to the output of 5 nuclear power plants.
• The Tres Amigas substation would use superconducting cable from American Superconductor Corp that is chilled to minus-300 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Public Service Co. of New Mexico has more than 7,000 megawatts of proposed wind generation that could benefit from the project.

From Wall Street Journal article: “Transforming Clean-Energy Industry Into a Local One“