Contact the Editor
Justin Gerdes is Editor of
e-Newswire and the Power Plug Blog.
Email the Editor
Fast Fact
Today's typical data center is 1,000 times as large
and uses 1,000 times more kilowatt-hours than a typical
data center in 1972. (Source:
Subodh Bapat, VP of Energy Efficiency, Sun
Microsystems, via the
San Jose Mercury News)
Key Resource
"Time for Plan B: Cutting Carbon Emissions 80
Percent by 2020"
From the Earth Policy Institute, "
Time for Plan B: Cutting Carbon Emissions 80 Percent by
2020" answers the question:
How much of a cut is necessary
to avoid the most dangerous effects of climate change?
Plan B spells out the efficiency and renewable energy
strategies necessary to prevent concentration of
CO 2 from exceeding 400 ppm.
Events
Environmental Awareness to Environmental Action
July 10, San Diego
California Center for Sustainable
Energy
Energy Summit 2008: The New Energy Economy
July 11, Stanford
Silicon Valley Leadership Group
Power Storage Projects and Enabling Technologies Summit
July 14 - 16, San Diego
Infocast Inc.
HydroVision 2008
July 14 - 18, Sacramento
HCI Publications
Great Ideas for Building Livable Communities
July 14, San Jose
The Commonwealth Club of California
Concentrating Solar Technologies and Markets
July 14, San Francisco
Greentech Media Inc.
Solar Symposium
July 14, San Francisco
German American Chamber of
Commerce, California Branch
Solar Water Heating Basics for Homeowners
July 15, San Diego
California Center for Sustainable
Energy
Save With Daylight Modeling
July 15, San Diego
California Center for Sustainable
Energy
Green Technology: Global Opportunities and Challenges
July 17, San Francisco
World Affairs Council of Northern
California
Energy Cost Control: How the Money Works
July 18, Online
Association of Energy Engineers
LEED and Intelligent Buildings
July 21, Online
Association of Energy Engineers
Future of Renewable Energy
July 21, Mountain View
Google, Pacific Gas and Electric
Company and Southern California Edison
Energy Management for Commercial and Small Businesses
July 22, San Francisco
Pacific Energy Center (PG&E)
Plug-In 2008: Conference and Exposition
July 22 - 24, San Jose
Silicon Valley Leadership Group
e-News Back Issues
-
July 9, 2008
-
June 25, 2008
-
June 11, 2008
-
May 28, 2008
-
May 14, 2008
-
April 30, 2008
-
April 16, 2008
-
April 2, 2008
-
March 19, 2008
-
March 5, 2008
|
Headlines
Flex Alert Declared: Save Energy Through Thursday,
July 10!
CARB Releases Plan to Implement AB 32 and Fight
Global Warming
Poll Shows Strong Bipartisan Support for Global Warming
Action in California
“Carbon Revolution” Can Slow Global Warming, Says
McKinsey Study
Cal Poly and EnerNOC Team Up to Curtail Loads During
Heat Wave
Humboldt County School Receives $1.8 Million From State
for Energy-Efficient Classrooms
Heard Here: Mary Nichols, Chairman, California Air
Resources Board
Milpitas Unified School District Launches 3.4-MW Solar
and Energy Efficiency Program
From the Editor
Flex Alert Declared: Save Energy Through Thursday,
July 10!
With a significant heat wave bearing down on
California this week, and with more than 300 wildfires
still burning statewide posing potential threats to the
state’s power grid, the California Independent System
Operator (CAISO) has
declared (PDF, 76 KB) a Flex Alert for Tuesday
through Thursday, July 8 - 10. CAISO expects to see the
highest electricity demand of the summer this week, and
it urges Californians to conserve energy, especially
during the “AC rush hour” of 3:00 - 6:00 p.m. CAISO says
it does not anticipate any shortages, but it cautions
that peak demand could approach the record peak demand
of 50,270 MW, set July 24, 2006 (
e-Newswire, 7/26/06).
To sign up to receive e-mail and text message
notification of Flex Alerts, and for energy
conservations tips, visit our
Flex Alert page. To view the current demand on the
grid and an hour-by-hour forecast of the day’s
electrical surplus/shortfall, visit CAISO’s
website.
I’ll post updates about the Flex Alert at the
Power Plug blog throughout the week.
Posted by Justin Gerdes on 07/09/08.
Email story
Filed under:
Residential,
Commercial,
Industrial,
Institutional,
Agricultural,
From the Editor
Climate Change
CARB Releases Plan to Implement AB 32 and Fight
Global Warming
|
 |
On June 26, the California Air Resources Board (CARB)
released its roadmap of regulations and market
mechanisms necessary to reduce the state’s greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The
Climate Change Draft Scoping Plan is CARB’s
first draft of the plan, to be voted on by its Board
this November, to shave the state’s GHG emissions by 169
million metric tons over the next dozen years — a 30%
cut from business as usual. The major new strategy in
the plan is the creation of a carbon cap-and-trade
program covering 85% of the state’s GHG emissions, to be
developed in concert with the
Western Climate Initiative. The plan also calls for
raising, from 20% to 33%, the percentage of utilities’
generating capacity required to come renewable energy
sources; expanding and strengthening the state’s
world-leading appliance and building efficiency
standards and energy efficiency programs; and fully
implementing the California Clean Car law and the
Low-Carbon Fuel Standard. The plan also foresees
full deployment (3,000 MW) of the
California Solar Initiative, development of a
high-speed rail network, new water efficiency measures
and regulations to reduce emissions from trucks and
ships at California’s ports.
Posted by Justin Gerdes on 07/09/08.
Email story
Filed under:
Residential,
Commercial,
Industrial,
Institutional,
Agricultural,
Climate Change
Poll Shows Strong Bipartisan Support for Global
Warming Action in California
A new
poll shows 91% of Democrats, 85% of independents and
61% of Republicans in California support strong state
action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The poll was
released June 23, just a few days before the Air
Resources Board released its AB 32
Draft Scoping Plan (see story above). The poll shows
that 73% of voters say the state can grow the economy at
the same time it fights global warming, and 58% support
these energy policies even if they result in higher
prices.
|
 |
The poll also found that 69% of California voters
support state government making its own policies in the
absence of federal policies to address global warming
and 83% believe California “can be a leader in new
technologies to improve efficiency and reduce global
warming.” As for individual actions that could be
undertaken, respondents expressed support — in figures
ranging from 84% to 90% — for the following strategies:
requiring new appliances and homes to be more
energy-efficient; requiring energy companies to produce
one-third of their electricity from renewable sources
like wind and solar; protecting forests and natural
areas that naturally remove global warming pollution
from the air; reducing development in outlying areas and
encouraging more mass transit to reduce traffic;
requiring carmakers to make more efficient cars that
pollute less and use less gasoline. The poll was
commissioned by
Next 10 and conducted by
Fairbanks, Maslin, Maullin & Associates.
Posted by Stacey Meinzen on 07/09/08.
Email story
Filed under:
Residential,
Climate Change
“Carbon Revolution” Can Slow Global Warming, Says
McKinsey Study
|
 |
In a recent
study, the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), the
economic research arm of McKinsey & Company, said that
the world needs a shift as radical as the Industrial
Revolution to cut greenhouse gas emissions 64% by 2050 —
20 billion tons a year — while safeguarding economic
growth. According to the study, the latest in a series
of global warming studies from MGI (see links below), a
modern “carbon revolution” to curb global warming will
require a tenfold rise by 2050 in the level of economic
output for every ton of greenhouse gases emitted.
Furthermore, the world will need to produce $7,300 of
gross domestic product (GDP) for every ton of carbon
dioxide emitted by 2050, up from a carbon productivity
rate of $740 today. The study estimated that the costs
of a “carbon revolution” are likely to be “manageable” —
at about 0.6% to 1.4% of global GDP by 2030 — and much
of the cost can be raised by borrowing, and with most
technologies already available. The world should also
invest more in research and development, perhaps up to
$80 billion a year by 2050, said the study. Furthermore,
the study said that the attitudes of managers and
consumers have to change, partly by sharing new clean
technology. For example, India and China now use about
20% more energy to produce a ton of steel than the
European Union or Japan. Other recommendations in the
study included slowing deforestation and planting more
trees.
- Read
The Carbon Productivity Challenge,
McKinsey Global Institute, June 2008 (PDF, 4.1 MB)
- Read background: “
New ‘Carbon Revolution’ Urged to Slow Warming,”
By Alister Doyle, Reuters (6/27/08)
- Related: “
Study Reveals How U.S. Could Cut Greenhouse Gases by
28%” (e-Newswire, 12/12/07)
- Related: “
Current Technology Could Cut Residential Energy
Consumption by More Than One-Third by 2020 in U.S.,
Report Says” (e-Newswire, 7/5/07)
- Related: “
Energy Efficiency Could Slash Growth in Global
Energy Demand by Over 50%, Report Says” (e-Newswire,
12/13/06)
-
More on how energy efficiency helps combat climate
change
Posted by Stacey Meinzen on 07/09/08.
Email story
Filed under:
Climate Change
Demand Response
Cal Poly and EnerNOC Team Up to Curtail Loads During
Heat Wave
|
 |
The heat wave smothering California this week, along
with the first Flex Alert of the summer, remind all of
us that the need for conservation and demand response
rises in concert with spiking temperatures. In 2006,
confronted by another brutal heat wave,
California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo
(Cal Poly) partnering with
EnerNOC, and participating in the Demand Reserves
Partnership (DRP),
curtailed load for 21 hours over nine days. During
one particular event on July 24, Cal Poly reduced 1.75
megawatts of demand, which amounts to an impressive 27%
of the university’s peak load. Cal Poly achieved load
reductions primarily by adjusting lighting load and HVAC
set points, along with a well-communicated, campus-wide
curtailment plan. Cal Poly simultaneously initiated a
program in its energy management system to shut down
non-essential HVAC loads. Overall, Cal Poly reduced its
total electricity consumption by 23,000 kilowatt-hours.
Cal Poly and EnerNOC were Demand Response/Conservation
Honorable Mention recipients in the 5th Annual Flex Your
Power Awards.
Posted by Justin Gerdes on 07/09/08.
Email story
Filed under:
Commercial,
Institutional,
Demand Response
Green Building
Humboldt County School Receives $1.8 Million From
State for Energy-Efficient Classrooms
|
 |
|
Jacoby Creek
Charter School will add three
high-performance modular buildings designed
by
Project FROG as classrooms for its
middle school students (Photo: Project FROG) |
The State of California just awarded Jacoby Creek
Charter School, located in Humboldt County, nearly $1.8
million for the
construction of three energy-efficient classrooms.
In all, 109 California schools received $412 million in
construction grants from the state, with half the money
allocated from Proposition 1D funds. The new classrooms
are designed by San Francisco-based metal fabrication
company
Project FROG and will be constructed by
Danco Builders. “They’re built out of all recyclable
materials, they’re highly energy-efficient, they have
indirect lighting — it’s really revolutionary building,”
Jacoby Creek Superintendent and Principal Eric Grantz
told The Eureka Reporter. Grantz said the new
buildings will replace existing portables that are “dark
and energy-inefficient.” Jacoby Creek also recently
installed a 30-kilowatt solar photovoltaic system on the
gymnasium roof that is expected to supply 25% of the
school’s electricity consumption and trim $7,000 in
energy expenses each year. The new classrooms will be
completed and ready for students this October.
Posted by Stacey Meinzen on 07/09/08.
Email story
Filed under:
Green Building,
Institutional
Heard Here
Heard Here: Mary Nichols, Chairman, California Air
Resources Board
|
 |
|
(Photo: CARB) |
“Since most of the measures in this plan are designed
to make our state more energy-efficient, we believe we
can predict with confidence that this is a plan that
works to the benefit of the California economy.”
Posted by Justin Gerdes on 07/09/08.
Email story
Filed under:
Heard Here
Success Stories
Milpitas Unified School District Launches 3.4-MW
Solar and Energy Efficiency Program
|
 |
|
Thomas Russell
Middle School is one of 14 MUSD sites slated to
receive solar installations (Photo: MUSD)
|
The Milpitas Unified School District (MUSD)
recently began construction on a 14-site,
district-wide solar power and energy efficiency program
designed to supply 75% of the district’s total annual
electricity needs. The 3.4-megawatt solar installation
will generate what is believed to be the highest
percentage of solar power for any K-12 school district
in the U.S., and will supply 100% of the MUSD’s power
during the peak demand summer months. (Last year, I
wrote about a
5-MW solar project undertaken by the San Jose
Unified School District that is expected to supply 25%
of the schools’ electricity.) The project is expected to
reduce the MUSD’s energy costs by more than 22%, freeing
$12 million in savings for the general fund over the
life of the solar power system. In addition to building
parking canopies and shade structures with solar
photovoltaic arrays at 13 schools and one district site,
Chevron Energy Solutions (CES) will provide
maintenance for the system and measure and ensure its
performance. CES will also install energy management
software on the MUSD’s computers to improve energy
efficiency. The project is scheduled to be completed by
the end of the year.
Posted by Stacey Meinzen on 07/09/08.
Email story
Filed under:
Success Stories,
Institutional |
