Strive for green

As federal stimulus money is allocated to states for weatherization, and local governments work to promote green job growth, we want to know how everything will shake out. Which homeowners will be eligible for loan programs, rebates, incentives or tax credits for weatherization? How do energy auditors and efficiency contractors tap into the funds to drive projects forward?

It seems everything is happening fast, which is good because the sooner energy efficiency projects happen, the better for everyone. However, we as homeowners and professionals do not want to get left behind. I have mostly been using the following resources to keep up with energy efficiency in California:

California Energy Commission’s recent/upcoming meetings - They are the California agency responsible for allocating funds and shaping state efficiency programs. I will be attending their April 2nd meeting in Oakland.

California Energy Commission Listservs - The “Recovery” list provides great updates on the latest efficiency news.

California Building Performance Contractors Association (CBPCA) Mailing List - Representing professionals, the emails I get from them are informative. They also have a good links section.

If you know of additional resources, please do share, and I’ll update this list.

I just learned about some exciting legislation introduced by Congressman Van Hollen (D-MD):

From his website:

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Assistant to the Speaker, introduced the National Home Energy Savings Revolving Fund Act, which will enable over one million households across the country to achieve significant, cost-effective energy savings.  The legislation will create a National Home Energy Saving Revolving Fund to allow local governments to provide homeowners with zero-interest loans to make certified home energy savings improvements.  These loans are then paid back at a net savings to participating homeowners through their property taxes.

“Home energy efficiency improvements are good for the environment, the economy and family budgets,” said Van Hollen.  “By allowing people to pay the cost of retrofitting their homes over time as part of their property taxes, we will help put over one million homeowners on the path to an energy efficient future and achieve considerable savings on their energy bills.”

The National Home Energy Savings Revolving Fund Act would do the following:

· Create a National Home Energy Savings Revolving Fund in the Department of Energy.

· Capitalize the National Home Energy Savings Revolving Fund at $10 billion in two $5 billion increments over 2010 and 2011.

· Direct the Secretary of Energy to develop an application local governments can use to access monies available in the Revolving Fund to provide homeowners with up to $10,000 in zero-interest loans to finance qualified home energy audits and certified home energy savings improvements, as developed by the Secretary of Energy in consultation with the State Energy Advisory Board.

· Require participating local governments to establish a method by which participating homeowners can repay their loans through their property taxes with payback periods that ensure that aggregate savings participating homeowners achieve through certified home energy savings improvements exceed their annual repayment costs, up to a maximum loan term of 15 years.

· Mandate participating local governments to provide programmatic information to interested homeowners including a list of qualified home energy auditors, eligible uses of loan funds and repayment procedures for loan funds — as well as annual reports to the Secretary of Energy describing the use of outstanding loan funds, the number of loans provided with the outstanding funds, the repayment rate of the loans, the default rate of the loans, and any other information the Secretary may require.

Zero interest loans to get efficiency projects going sound like a great idea to me! Given that many efficiency projects payback in just a couple years, this program has great potential.

A great source of current cleantech/greentech/ecotech news (whatever you want to call it) is greentechmedia. Today in my inbox, I found a link to a story detailing the $780M the DOE is handing out for weatherization. Basically, as I understand it, efficiency contractors will be able to more effectively sell retrofits to homeowners because of the savings the recovery money will provide.

It is great to hear that the money will be primarily targeted at low-income families, but I wonder how the targeting will be done, who will carry it out, and where the opportunities for entrepreneurs will be. The article included a link to the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) overview of how the money will be spent.

According to the CEC, their main focus areas will be the State Energy Program, and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program. The gist I got from looking through these pages is as follows:

Estimated money CA will receive:
$295M

How it will allocate the money:

• California Block Grant Program: $56 Million
  • ~$34M for small cities and counties for construction.
  • ~$22M to fund CEC projects
• State Energy Program (SEP): $226M
  • Mostly for funding for construction to accomplish Title 24 standards (building efficiency standards)
  • See their site for more details

Additionally, I discovered a page that includes a bunch of request for proposal links for various energy efficiency related projects. I’m not exactly sure how this process works, but I will research that for a later post.

The CEC includes a document (pdf) that explains on the national level how they will dole out the recovery money. On page 32 of the document, the basics for determining where the grant money will go are outlined:

Agencies should structure grants to result in meaningful and measurable outcomes that are consistent with agency plans and that promote the goals of the Recovery Act. The evaluation criteria for award should include those that bear on the measurement and likelihood of achieving these outcomes, such as, jobs creation and preservation.

A burning question many of us have, is which companies and contractors will be awarded energy efficienty retrofit contracts. Pages 39-40 go into some detail about competition:

Competition is the cornerstone of our acquisition system. The benefits of competition are well established. Competition saves money for the taxpayer, improves contractor performance, curbs fraud, and promotes accountability for results. Agencies should review their internal procurement review practices to ensure they promote competition to the maximum extent practicable.

It still all seems a bit murky to me, but then again, the money was just allocated. It would be great to hear from anyone who is more involved in the process!

One of the best ways to get involved in your local environmental scene is to go to lectures, events, and social functions. Whether you are looking for green jobs, sustainable business opportunities, or just to meet like minded friends, the Bay Area hosts a seemingly endless array of eco things to do. While we have an event calendar here at Strive for green (see right sidebar), I can’t say it is always updated. With all the great green things to do around here, how would we have time?

My intention with this post is to provide links to the calendars and event pages I rely on to find upcoming green happenings. Check them out, and tell me what I have missed! I plan to update this post, and create new ones with South Bay Environmental Events too. Enjoy, and I hope to see some of you at these events!

Berkeley green event calendars:

• Berkeley Energy and Resources Collaborative Calendar - BERC is a student run organization at UC Berkeley comprised of mostly grad and business students. They do a great job at keeping their calendar updated with events professionals and students alike will enjoy.
• Berkeley Ecology Center EcoCalendar - An utterly exhaustive list that on an average day lists so many environmental events that you would need several clones to attend them all.
• Sustainable Business Alliance Calendar - The SBA is a great place to network with sustainable business leaders and professionals in the East Bay. They host monthly lunches and lectures, and include links to other relevant events.
• UC Berkeley Environmental Events Calendar - Probably some cross-over with the BERC calendar, but I have found myself at many interesting environmental events as a result of this calendar.
• BOALT Environmental Events Calendar - BOALT is the law school at Berkeley, and they host environmental events periodically. Their calendar includes many of the same events as the BERC and UC Berkeley calendars, but sometimes additional law-focused ones.
• Berkeley Institute of the Environment - The BIE has a sometimes limited, but useful, calendar of environmental lectures.
• East Bay Green Building Professionals Guild - ($20 for non-members) - monthly event where the “who’s who” of the green building community network and listen to speakers and panelists

San Francisco green event calendars:

• San Francisco Green Drinks - (Free) SF green drinks is an informal and fun way to spend the first Wednesday of each month sipping on a beverage of your choice and networking with scores of environmental professionals, and those aspring to be.
• PG&E’s Pacific Energy Center - (Free) - The PEC hosts an excellent assortment of rate-payer funded classes, trainings, seminars and guest speakers. Highlights include a 3 day intro to energy auditing course. The classes in particular offer an excellent way to boost your knowledge and get a leg up in the green job market.
• EcoTuesday San Francisco - ($10 fee) - On the fourth Tuesday of each month, EcoTuesday hosts a guest speaker followed by professional networking.
• Nature in the City - I haven’t used this calendar much yet, but it appears to contain a large number of nature-related events. Worth a look.

(UPDATE) Annual Green Events:

• San Francisco Green Festival - (Fee) - An enormous collection of green businesses, lectures, networking opportunities, and more. Excellent opportunities to volunteer - I did at the 2008 festival and it was a great way to get the inside scoop on green employment opportunities.

I can’t say we are very big on TV here at Strive for green, but we’ll be tuning into this show tomorrow night:

Despite evidence that it doesn’t actually taste any better and contains some rather nasty toxins, people continue to drink billions of dollars worth of bottled water per year. The process of manufacturing the plastic for the bottles, filling them, shipping them around the world, and ultimately disposing/recycling (or not) the bottles is an incredibly wasteful process. For most environmentally aware folks this is old news.

Now a new study estimates that demand for bottled water leads to about 50 million barrels of oil consumption globally per year for bottle production alone. Transport and all the other parts of the start to finish life cycle end up using substantially more energy - the authors estimate somewhere between 34 and 50 million barrels of oil worth of energy in the US in 2007 alone!

As we strive to do everything we can to reduce our personal and collective environmental footprint, bottled water clearly falls into the “only buy as a last resort” category!

Coming up on February 23rd, the Berkeley Energy & Resources Collaborative (BERC) is hosting their annual energy symposium titled “Bold Ideas for a New Energy Landscape.” I will be there recording observations on Striveforgreen, so if you can’t make it yourself, check back here. Look forward to the symposium, and meeting fellow cleantech enthusiasts!

Here is the agenda:

8:00

Event Registration and Coffee Reception

8:50

BERC Co-President Introduction by Kate Toews

9:00

Morning Greeting by Robert J. Birgeneau, Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley

9:10

Morning Keynote by Mary Nichols, Chairman of the California Air Resources Board (biography)

10:10

Morning Breakout Panel Sessions

• The Great Solar Debate: Are Photovoltaics the Future of Utility-Scale Solar? (panelists)
• Biofuels: The Green Alternative? (panelists)
• Decentralize the Grid: Practical or Unrealistic? (panelists)
• Green Buildings: Technology, Construction, Incentives and Implementation (panelists)

11:30

UC Berkeley Poster Session Opens (details)

12:15

UC Berkeley Academic Center Networking Lunch Begins

1:30

Afternoon Keynote by John Hofmeister, Founder and Cheif Executive, Citizens for Affordable Energy; Former President, Shell Oil Company (biography)

2:30

Afternoon Breakout Sessions:

• Financing Renewable Energy: New Paradigms in New Economic Times (panelists)
• The Future of the US Auto (panelists)
• Incentivizing Efficiency (panelists)
• Advancing Nuclear Power: Is it a Matter of Economics or Policy? (panelists)

3:50

BERC Co-President Introduction by Sarah Barker-Ball

4:00

Plenary Panel: The New Politics of Energy (panelists)

5:10

Announcement of Poster Session Winner and Closing Remarks

5:15

Oracle Reception until 6:30pm

Whenever I visit somewhere new, I always want to figure out what the outdoor loving locals do. I’m not interested in paying to take some touristy tour; I want to connect with locals who love their area and want to share it. I’ve noticed that travel guides often do a great job pointing out where most of the good spots are, but not necessarily the best way to enjoy them. 

I’m currently subletting to a German post-doc, and as an outdoor enthusiast herself, she has been very interested in exploring the area. She told me that it has been difficult to find groups of young, active people in the Bay Area to hike and explore with. Being a local, its easy to take for granted all the insider knowledge you have. So tonight, I put together a little list to help get her started, and figured I would share it here too. If you know of any other good ways to connect with outdoor groups around here, please do tell!

Cal hiking and outdoor society - A pretty large club composed of Berkeley undergrads, graduate students, alumni and other 20-30 somethings. Great group to connect with if you are looking to get started in the Bay Area outdoor scene!

Meetup.com hiking groups - Meetup has a large collection of groups dedicated to outdoor activities around the bay area. These groups hold all sorts of events, outings and such. Here are a couple examples:

• Super Fabulicious Hiking and Outdoor Adventure Group
• Oakland Berkeley East Bay Hiking Meetup Group
• Bay Area Ridge Trail & More

Getting on the Bay - If you are into sailing or windsurfing, Berkeley has a true gem in the form of the Cal Sailing Club. Some of the people there are a little crazy, but for $60 you get access to sailboats, windsurfing equipment, kayaks, lessons, and a whole bunch of other cool and not completely crazy people. You can find me here windusrfing in the summer!

That is all for now, but I’ll update this post as I remember and come across more ways for visitors to experience the outdoors like savvy locals in the Bay Area!

Van Jones is a hero to us at Strive for green, and I’ve had to the privilege of hearing him speak on several occasions. He is quite simply the most engaging and inspirational speaker I’ve ever heard.

A close friend sent this article to me, and it provides an excellent overview of Van’s life and work: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/01/12/090112fa_fact_kolbert?currentPage=all

I attended an interesting lecture today hosted by Berkeley’s Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL) titled “De-carbonization and good accounting practices.” The author, Felix Creutzig, basically discussed how to factor in external costs when deciding how to regulate carbon emissions, and used congestion in Beijing as a case study.

You can see his research in the following article published in Transportation Research: http://creutzig.berkeley.edu/trd.pdf

I took the following notes:

External costs due to cars in Beijing:
Traditionally, Beijing’s transport infrastructure is narrow alleys. Some big arteries go into the center, but putting cars in places where they weren’t originally envisioned leads to congestion and a host of other problems.

1. Congestion (time loss)
   
   1. Internal costs (paid by driver) + external costs (leading to slowing others down) External costs accelerating faster than internal costs.
   2. Total congestion costs due to time loss = 22.8B Yuan
2. Air Pollution (health)  - what part of air pollution is due to car transportation?
   -Traditionally most pollution due to coal plants in city. Coal plants have been moved outside of the city, but benefits of this have been overridden by increasing air pollution from cars. (substitution)
   - Estimate of 30% of air pollution coming from cars
   - 19.8B Yuan due to air pollution
   -According to European approach, this may be big underestimate. They suggest 50B Yuan.
3. Climate Change
   
   1. at $20/Ton = 1.4B Yuan
4. Accidents
   a. 1B Yuan >1000 fatal accidents, >5000 injuries.
   b. Hard to quantify because if less congestion, cars may move faster and result in more fatal accidents, and if more congestion there may be more injury accidents.
5. Noise
   
   1. .9B Yuan
   2. Again hard to quantify - due to stress/health.
   3. Also, if less congestion, faster cars may be louder.

Summary
Total external costs of traffic in Beijing correspond to at least 7.7% of Beijing GDP.

Solutions to Traffic Problem in Beijing:

1. Demand elasticity - how much drivers are willing to reduce driving in response to price.
2. Internalization in one dimension (making drivers pay external costs in the form of a toll or congestion charges) leads to external benefits in the others.
3. Traffic could be reduced by 30% and 38B Yuan generated
4. If low demand elasticity - have to make higher price signal.
5. If higher price elasticity - price signal can be lower to result in change
6. Basis of Beijing elasticity:
   
   1. Fuel price, road tolling, congestion charging, speed of public transport, fares of public transport, service expansion, parking fees
7. Increasing convenience for pedestrians in cities can raise price elasticity, and make it easier to get drivers out of cars with smaller price signals.

Bottom line for Beijing:

-          motorization is unsustainable

-          local benefits of transport demand management out scale climate change mitigation.

-          Combination of push-and-pull measures is synergistic.