Frederick MD seeks Clean Energy Center

MEDIA ADVISORY

President Jan Gardner and Vice President David Gray of the Frederick Board of County Commissioners will join officials from The City of Frederick, Frederick Innovative Technology Center, Inc., (FITCI) and Hood College to lead the Maryland Clean Energy Center Board of Directors Site Selection Committee in a tour of Frederick County.

The tour will start today at the Whitaker Campus Center lobby, 401 Rosemont Avenue, Frederick, Md., at Hood College at 11:50 a.m., followed by a tour of the FITCI office space, located in nearby Rosenstock Hall. The FITCI office space has been proposed for the future headquarters of the Maryland Clean Energy Center by Frederick County and its partners.

The Frederick Board of County Commissioners has expressed unanimous support to establish the headquarters for the Maryland Clean Energy Center in Frederick County.

For further information on the Frederick County Government proposal, visit www.co.frederick.md.us/cleanenergy.

Hilarious fake clean coal ad from Coen Brothers

NASA climate change satellite crashes to Earth

MSNBC reports that today's launch of NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory was a failure. I don't feel like talking about it because it makes me sad so I am just going to quote the article:

A shroud designed to protect the spacecraft accidentally doomed its mission.

The glitch occurred just minutes after the $273.4 million spacecraft blasted off at 4:55 a.m. ET atop a Taurus XL rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California....

The 972-pound (441-kilogram) OCO spacecraft was NASA's first satellite built exclusively to map carbon dioxide levels on Earth and understand how humanity's contribution of the greenhouse gas is affecting global climate change. The satellite carried a single three-channel spectrometer to make its detailed measurements and was slated to launch into a near-polar, sun-synchronous orbit that would fly about 438 miles (705 kilometers) above Earth...

The first sign of trouble came about three minutes after liftoff, when the Taurus XL rocket's telemetry showed no sign that it had shed its clamshell-like payload fairing.

The fairing is a nose-mounted shroud that protects the spacecraft inside from atmospheric drag until the booster reaches space. If the fairing had separated, launch controllers would have expected to see the spacecraft and its upper stage accelerate more quickly, since it would have shed the excess weight. But that speed boost never occurred.

"As a direct result of carrying that extra weight, we could not make orbit," Brunschwyler [Taurus project manager for the Dulles, Va.-based rocket manufacturer Orbital Sciences] said, adding that the failure ultimately sent OCO crashing into the ocean near Antarctica. "We're fairly certain that it did not fly over any land and it landed short of Antarctica."

US may set greenhouse gas standards for cars

It's just a matter of time. The Obama administration is "considering establishing national rules for regulating greenhouse gas emissions for automobiles" according to today's Washington Post. This comes after the EPA all but told us that they are going to approve the California emissions waiver that allows almost 20 states (so far) to set these standards. Ironically, the right has argued that allowing California to adopt a different standard that is more stringent (allowed only for California under the Clean Air Act because of its dangerous non-attainment- other states can use the federal or California model) and will now be getting what they ask for: "Sunday, Carol M. Browner, assistant to the president for energy and climate, said she and others backed the idea of a single standard for cars and trucks." Thanks, Republicans, for the unity.


Will this be hard for the auto manufacturers to swallow? Probably not. The American public has already turned away from larger vehicles because of the volatility of gas prices and is seeking smaller vehicles that coincidentally emit less. Couple this with the understanding that the Obama investment in the electric grid is designed to build capacity for electric vehicles and you will see where this is all going. "Meanwhile, several auto industry officials said they backed the idea of a universal fuel-efficiency standard aimed at curbing greenhouse gases, even if it is stricter than the country's current goal of achieving a fleetwide average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020. California's proposed rule would produce a standard of roughly 42 mpg. "

What's more likely to be controversial:

The administration is already counting on cap-and-trade legislation passing
to generate new revenue for the federal government. Office of Management and
Budget Director Peter Orszag told reporters the budget Obama will unveil this
week includes the money that would flow from auctioning off pollution allowances
under a cap-and-trade scheme.

Climate movement gets disobedient

We've been seeing the rumblings for a while. Factions of the climate movement are splintering off and getting into civil disobedience. Gore and Hansen have advocated it. Chesapeake Climate Action Network members keep trying to get themselves arrested. Now there's a website: Capitol Climate Action. The site is done by DC51 artist RVLTN in a Shepard Fairey agitprop style with the Obey logo replaced by one with the propeller of a wind turbine and another with Gandhi. The intersection of the climate movement with this type of street art and this level of direct action is a real indicator of the desperation that many feel regarding the climate issue. Nothing is happening fast enough. The image is from the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. I think someone is taking their cues from the worker revolt of France 1968, where the artists coordinated messages with the unions and put their grievances in poster form in the streets.

We are living in uncertain times. As a fan of street art, I love to see these intersections, because they are powerful, and because art is elevated beyond indulgence. But the dissatisfaction at the root of the art and the direct action will be difficult to channel, as many have learned in the past.

EPA to decide if greenhouse gases need regulation

According to the Washington Post, EPA administrator Lisa Jackson told the AP that the Agency would soon be evaluating if greenhouse gases should be regulated: "We are going to be making a fairly significant finding about what these gases mean for public health and the welfare of our country." I think we know what that fairly significant finding will be, now that science is back in the White House.

The Administrator specifically mentioned the Bush Administration's neglect of the issue and stated that "If EPA is going to talk and speak in this game, the first thing it should speak about is whether carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare," she said. "It is a very fundamental question." This regulatory ability is within the Clean Air Act. It's obvious to anyone with a brain what Jackson meant when she said "it is clear that the Clean Air Act has a mechanism in it for other pollutants to be addressed."

Or let's make it more clear. According to ClimateProgress, "In an email to EPA employees, Administrator Lisa Jackson wrote of “five priorities that will receive my personal attention” — the first of which is “Reducing greenhouse gas emissions...As Congress does its work [on global warming legislation], we will move ahead to comply with the Supreme Court’s decision recognizing EPA’s obligation to address climate change under the Clean Air Act."

Other steps that the new Obama Administration has taken regarding greenhouse gases (quotes from the article)

• In his first week in office, President Barack Obama directed the agency to review a decision by the Bush administration denying California and other states the right to control greenhouse gases from automobiles.
• On Tuesday, the EPA announced it was reviewing a Bush policy that prohibits using the federal permit process to require new coal-fired power plants to install equipment to reduce carbon dioxide, the most prevalent greenhouse gas.

Not mentioned in the WashPo article, the Obama Administration has also required a review of Transportation policies related to greenhouse gas emissions and has included green energy and updates to public transportation in the recovery plan.

Farmers can make money by bundling carbon

According to MSNBC, Farmers in Maryland and Pennsylvania can make money by bundling carbon. For more information about the program in Pennsylvania, click here.

Bill in MD Legislature could set standard for nation

The Baltimore Sun paraphrases Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, "Maryland is poised to help shape national environmental policy by passing legislation that would curb pollutants linked to global warming":

The bill, which had its first hearing in the state Senate yesterday, is likely to pass this year after proponents agreed in recent weeks to essentially exempt manufacturers from mandates against greenhouse gas emissions. Opposition from unions and manufacturers killed similar O'Malley-backed legislation last year.

At a news conference on the lawn of the governor's mansion, O'Malley called Maryland, with its abundant shoreline, the "fourth-most-vulnerable state in America" with respect to climate change...

Though some unions and business groups now support the bill, opponents include Constellation Energy Group, the Maryland Taxpayers Association and groups representing the retail and petroleum industries. The state Chamber of Commerce is not taking a position.

It's a huge sign if the Chamber is not opposing this bill.

Info about climate change bills in the State Legislature for 2009. The bills require 25% reduction of greenhouse gases from 2006 levels by 2020:

• http://mlis.state.md.us/google_docs$/2009rs/fnotes/bil_0005/HB0315.PDF
• http://mlis.state.md.us/google_docs$/2009rs/fnotes/bil_0008/SB0278.PDF

Quarter of UK homes to be offered green makeover

From the UK Guardian:

More than one in four homes in the UK will be offered a complete eco-makeover under ambitious plans expected to be announced this week to slash fuel bills and cut global warming pollution.

The campaign is thought to involve giving 7m houses and flats a complete refit to improve insulation, and will be compared to the 10-year programme that converted British homes to gas central heating in the 1960s and 1970s. Householders could also be encouraged to install small-scale renewable and low-carbon heating systems such as solar panels and wood-burning boilers.

St. Mary's College gets green power award

According to Southern Maryland Online, Saint Mary's College of Maryland "is the only college in Maryland to receive the EPA Green Power Leadership Club award and the first four-year residential college in the state to be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified." Some of the practices adopted by my alma mater include:

• "The college's student-funded purchase of 100 percent green power earned it membership in the select Green Power Leadership Club for its initiative of "exemplary green power procurement." The Green Power Leadership Club's energy purchase requirements are ten times the purchase requirements for the EPA's Green Power Partnership program, which the college has won for several years." As a side note, this initiative was pushed by students, who voluntarily offered to pay more to have green energy.
• "Goodpaster Hall on the SMCM campus earned a Silver rating from the LEED Green Building Rating System. The USGBC certified the classroom building, which opened in January 2008. It was the only green higher education state funded pilot project and is a Silver-level winner in the new construction category. Goodpaster Hall is designed and built to reduce or eliminate negative impacts on the environment through energy efficiency, the use of recycled or renewable building materials, and a reduction of the building's effect on the surrounding land and water...The building's practical innovations in engineering and architecture are many. The water system is designed to save 300,000 gallons annually through the use of waterless urinals and other inventive designs such as dual-flush toilets. The building's rain- and gray-water systems recycle water from sinks for use in flushing the toilets. A 30 percent reduction in energy use over the average building is made possible by technology like the energy recovery wheel that draws heated air from high-performance fume hoods in the building's chemistry labs, filters it to make it safe, and feeds it back into the building to heat classrooms. Storm-water runoff from the roof of the building is routed to a courtyard fountain in an effort to further decrease the amount runoff that reaches the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Goodpaster Hall's other green credentials include highly efficient lighting and equipment, the use of building materials with recycled content and lumber from managed forests, and the use of paints and sealants with low volatile organic compounds. "
• "Energy conservation-As a result of the college's energy performance contract, electricity use has been reduced by 16.5 percent, oil use by 23 percent, and water and sewage use by 34 percent, for a total savings of $350,000 a year. "
• "SMCM students funded a geo-thermal HVAC system in the college's new James P. Muldoon River Center which is 45 percent more efficient than a standard heat pump system. "
• "Sustainable groundskeeping-The SMCM grounds crew received the Audubon International Certification in Environmental Planning from the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program, the first college in Maryland to receive this certification. "
• "Trayless cafeteria-The college's cafeteria no longer offers trays, a practice that will contain the college's food expenditure, result in less water consumption, and reduce food waste by 23 percent. "
• "Green cleaning products-the SMCM cleaning crew uses environmentally responsible, Green Seal-certified cleaning products. "
• "Recycling and composting-The college is expanding its recycling and composting programs, with student volunteers collecting such material from campus residences. "
• "Support for local agriculture-Bon Appétit, the college's food service provider, buys local meat and produce in large quantities to sustain local agriculture, reduce fuel consumption of delivery trucks, and lower the college's carbon footprint. "