Pensacola School Receives Solar Electric System

“Planning for future energy needs ensures a brighter tomorrow for Florida,” said DEP Deputy Secretary for Regulatory Programs and Energy Allan Bedwell. “Installing solar technology in our schools protects our environment and quality of life and also provides an unparalleled educational opportunity for students.”

To: <CleanEnergy@yahoogroups.com>
From: "Holly Binns" <hbinns@...>
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2006 15:48:06 -0400
Subject: [Clean Energy Coalition] Million Solar Roofs Bill Passed Unanimously by Senate Committee

FYI.

Holly Binns

Field Director

Florida PIRG

850-224-3321 (work)

850-322-7845 (cell)

hbinns@floridapirg.org (email)

News Release

Million Solar Roofs Bill Passed Unanimously by Senate Committee

Senate Floor Vote Last Stop for SB 1 before Governor’s Desk

Sacramento – The Million Solar Roofs bill, SB 1 (Murray/Levine), passed the Senate Energy Committee this morning with a unanimous vote from all nine Democrats and Republicans present. The bill now moves to the Senate Floor for a final concurrence vote before heading to the governor’s desk.

“Solar power makes so much sense in California given our continued energy shortages and air pollution problems,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, clean energy advocate for Environment California. “This bill allows California to take a step forward toward realizing the goal of building a million solar roofs and making California the Saudi Arabia of the sun.”

The Million Solar Roofs bill, SB 1, contains three main policies intended to accompany the California Solar Initiative established by the Public Utilities Commission through a regulatory proceeding in January, after SB 1 ran aground in the legislature last year.

The California Solar Initiative is a $3.2 billion fund providing rebates for a million solar roofs in PG&E, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric territories. The program is the nation’s largest and aims to build 3,000 MW of solar power, the equivalent of six large power plants, on homes, businesses, farms, and schools throughout the state.

The policies contained in SB 1 include:

1. Lift on cap on net metering enabling consumers to receive a credit on their electric bill for excess energy generated by their solar system. The current cap is 0.5% of a utility’s total load. SB 1 would lift this cap to 2.5%. An estimated 5% is needed to build a million solar roofs in California.
2. Mandate that all home builders, beginning in 2011, make solar panels a standard option for homebuyers, just like marble countertops. The bill would also direct the California Energy Commission to convene a proceeding to determine if and when solar power should become a standard feature of new construction.
3. Sets a goal that California’s municipal utilities, such as Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Sacramento Municipal Utility District, adopt their own solar rebate program totaling $800 million. The Public Utilities Commission does not have legal authority over the municipal utilities, so legislation is needed to create a statewide solar rebate program. However, in creating this goal, SB 1 would remove $800 million from the California Solar Initiative originally earmarked for customers in PG&E, Edison and SDG&E territories, covering 80% of the state’s electricity customers. 

“By rolling back the California Solar Initiative by $800 million, SB 1 takes an unnecessary and unfortunate step backward,” said Del Chiaro. “The responsibility for achieving the state’s solar vision now rests heavily on the shoulders of Mayor Villaraigosa and the LADWP to make sure Los Angeles builds their share of the million solar roofs goal.”

Today’s hearing was held at the request of the chair, Senator Escutia, and other members of the committee given the significant changes made to the bill since the Committee passed the bill last year. The members who voted to approve SB 1 today were Senators Alarcon, Battin, Bowen, Cox, Dunn, Duttin, Escutia and Kehoe.

SB 1 now proceeds to the Senate Floor, possibly as early as Thursday, for a final concurrence vote before going to the Governor’s desk for his up or down decision.

Bernadette Del Chiaro

Clean Energy Advocate

Environment California

1107 9th Street, Suite 601

Sacramento, CA 95814

916-446-8062 x 103

916-448-4560 (fax)

bernadette@environmentcalifornia.org

www.environmentcalifornia.org

Tuesday, 08 Aug 2006

NEW IN GRIST

I Can See Nuclearly Now

It's a rod, rod, rod, rod world

Some say nukular power is our salvation. But what about the fact that it takes energy to make, produce, and ship this magic bullet? And what do we do with the waste when we're done? Today, Steven Cohen of Columbia University's Earth Institute weighs in on why nuclear is decidedly not the answer to our energy woes. And just in case you need more down-to-earth evidence, John Stang explains how we're going to warn future generations about the dangers of our radioactive waste heaps. In short: we dunno!

• new in Soapbox: Just Say No

• new in Main Dish: I Saw the Sign

Diamond's Err Forever

Dioxin-laced Passaic River remains uncleaned by corporations that fouled it

For today's tale of corporate skullduggery and government negligence, we take you to the lovely state of New Jersey. For almost 20 years beginning in the early '50s, the Diamond Shamrock Chemicals Co. -- manufacturer of pesticides like DDT and Agent Orange -- dumped its dioxin-laden waste untreated into the Passaic River, because really, who's got the time? In 1994, the federal Superfund program ordered Diamond's corporate successors to clean the river up. Ha ha. Said corporate successors proceeded to finance years of scientific studies arguing that dioxin (one of the most toxic synthetic chemicals ever produced) isn't that bad after all, and that lots of other companies dirtied the river too. Meanwhile, their corporate lobbyists descended on Washington, spreading cash around. And lo! In 2002, the feds decided a more "holistic" approach was needed, funded not only by Diamond's descendents but by other companies and taxpayers to boot, and the whole thing should kick off with a decade-long ... study. Meanwhile, the dioxin remains in the Passaic, spreading out farther every year.

straight to the source: The Star-Ledger, Alexander Lane, 06 Aug 2006

Tune In to Morro

Enviros buy out trawlers in California bay

Attempting to conserve rapidly vanishing bottom-dwelling fish stocks off the central California coast, Environmental Defense and The Nature Conservancy have teamed with bottom-trawling fishers to create three "no-trawl zones" covering a total of nearly 6,000 square miles. In exchange for their endorsement, the fishers in California's Morro Bay will get not only a healthier fishery, but for now, what many of them wanted anyway: a way out of the business. The conservation groups are buying the trawlers' permits and boats -- deals worth hundreds of thousands of dollars each. The agreement between the fishers and NGOs is now part of the official federal plan to aid Pacific Coast fishery recovery. If similar buyout deals go down in Monterey Bay and Half Moon Bay, TNC could soon be the largest holder of trawling permits on the West Coast. The group plans to lease about half the permits to fishers under tighter rules intended to make the catch more sustainable; the other half will go unused.

straight to the source: The New York Times, Jon Christensen, 08 Aug 2006

Surprise-Side Economics

While cutting back on mercury at home, the U.S. exports it abroad

Like Mickey said, it's a small world after all, and pollution that gets exported can end up coming back home. Case in point: mercury, a neurotoxin especially dangerous to children and women of childbearing age. The U.S. is cutting down on the use of mercury, and has passed laws to limit mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. But there's plenty left in the system, and when it's extracted in the recycling process, it's often sold overseas via an almost completely unregulated commodity market. It's used in developing countries in gold mines and chemical plants, then spewed back in the air, where some of it can drift -- you guessed it -- right back over into U.S. waters. Enviros say the metal should be safely stored rather than sent across the globe, and legislators are listening: The European Union has proposed ending mercury exports, and a new bill introduced by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) would do the same in the U.S.

straight to the source: Chicago Tribune, Michael Hawthorne, 08 Aug 2006

Where There's Smoke, There's Ire

War igniting forest fires in northern Israel

Like America's, Israel's forests and grasslands are suffering an unusual number of fires this season. But the problem isn't so much a heat wave as, um, rocket attacks. Since the mid-July start of the Israel-Lebanon conflict, an average of around 50 fires a day have ignited in the northern region of Israel. Though many are small and eventually burn themselves out, others -- a blaze at a toothpaste factory, and some in densely packed neighborhoods -- have taxed even the area's recently beefed-up firefighting resources. Some 2,000 to 3,000 acres of forestland have burned so far, as well as about 6,000 unforested acres. Israeli bombs have also caused fires in Lebanon, not to mention a massive oil spill, so Lebanon's environment is doing considerably worse overall -- in case anyone's keeping score. This is what's known in international relations as a "lose-lose-lose" situation, though that probably underestimates the number of losers. Wake us when the Rapture comes.

straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Ken Ellingwood, 07 Aug 2006

straight to the source: The New York Times, Dina Kraft, 08 Aug 2006

Buckeye profit slashed

Memphis Business Journal - 10:33 AM CDT Wednesday

Subject: [EANoF] Here is article being protested in the local paper by Simmonsw

Here is  the article that Alice Simmons is so upset about from the May 23,

 EANoF list serve.  Next one is the answer from a couple of days later..re Sierra Club stand on the "noxious weed", apparently they didn't see the next posting re this subject and just jumped right on in to criticize me, all of us actually. 

   Now I get it, they'd rather the coal fired power plant burned black liquor, which they call "biofuel" than any biomass plant material.....and that would help Buckeye by ridding the mill of one of it's most toxic problems...just let 'em burn it at the power plant.  That's the "synergy" between the two.

    The competition comes in where JEA is funding the growing of this "noxious weed"; that would compete with burning black liquor, of course, which would really upset the apple cart.  And JEA is paying for this --- does this mean there might be a little friction there between Buckeye and JEA?

     As always, follow the money.  Here's your sign.

Joy

 

 

Grass isn't greener -- just more powerful; Grass-burner power plant

Message List

Reply | Forward | Delete

Message #130 of 303 < Prev | Next >

Thanks to Miss Betty C. for sending this!  Maybe when Buckeye closes, and there's no need for thousands of acres of hybrid-cellulose-no-pine-cone-diaper material-pine 'sort-of'-trees......we can grow "a bamboolike, 16-foot-tall grass" - maybe like kenaf (or hemp?) instead, for powering our natural nature coast with clean energy. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-cleanpower0706may07,0,2321177.story?page=1 Grass isn't greener -- just more powerful Kevin Spear | Sentinel Staff Writer Posted May 7, 2006 A proposed power station south of Orlando will turn grass mowed from 15,000 acres into affordable electricity and produce little air pollution. Although other power companies in Florida and around the world also burn plants and other natural materials, this is the first time worldwide that an energy plant would grow its own "biomass." Builders of the plant, expected to be online in three years, won't specify where they are looking to build but are choosing from among three sites between Orlando and Lake Okeechobee. They already have sold their expected power supply to Progress Energy Florida in a 25-year contract. By growing a bamboolike, 16-foot-tall grass on its own acreage, the plant will be a mostly self-contained power generator, churning out voltage for 80,000 homes. After several years of negotiation, Progress recently agreed to buy nearly all of the grass-to-watts electricity generated by Biomass Investment Group Inc. in Gulf Breeze. The plant is the first for Biomass. Neither company would reveal price details, though a Progress official said the cost of Biomass electricity already competes with power generated by burning the popular but increasingly expensive natural gas. Coal, the most-used power-plant fuel in Florida, is still cheaper. Finding an alternative to natural gas was attractive for managers of Progress, the state's second-biggest electric utility. But the merits of firing a generator with grass weren't so obvious. "Most people think it's unusual at first," said Bob Niekum, the company's director of wholesale power in St. Petersburg. "This was a major leap of faith on the part of Progress Energy. We need all the resources we can find." Biomass' 130-megawatt generator, a moderate size, still needs regulatory approvals. And the company hasn't nailed down a site big enough to include 15,000 acres of fields for grass that can grow taller than a single-story home. For use at the power plant, the 1-inch-thick grass will be dried and chopped into chips. "We've got three choices between Orlando and Okeechobee," said Allen Sharpe, president of Biomass. Using grass as a "biomass" or "renewable" fuel to generate electricity isn't as unlikely as it sounds. It's used all over the world in forms that vary from ethanol for powering cars to wood chips for generating electricity. And the idea may become even more popular. Worries about air pollution, including the type blamed for global warming, and rising costs of coal, oil and natural gas have sent utilities scrambling for new ways to produce electricity. Florida authorities predict the state will need 40 percent more electricity by 2014. Power stations built during the past decade use natural gas, a cleaner-burning fuel than coal but one increasingly losing favor among utilities because of its rising price. Now utilities are renewing their interest in coal and nuclear fuel. The Orlando Utilities Commission, for example, has signed on as a partner with utility giant Southern Co. to build an advanced-technology coal-fired plant in east Orange County. Instead of relying on the universal and relatively dirty technique of burning coal to make steam for a generator, the new OUC plant will cook coal to extract a fuel of hydrogen and other burnable gas while leaving behind most pollutants in the coal. In fact, that's part of the technology to be used by Biomass. At a rate of about 125,000 pounds an hour, grass will be processed to release burnable gases that, in turn, will fire a generator much like a jet engine and a second, steam-driven generator. What's left of the processed grass will be spread as fertilizer to grow more grass. The Biomass plant will be similar to a conventional coal plant in that it will discharge carbon dioxide. But what the Biomass electric plant emits will be matched by the ability of the fields of growing grass to absorb carbon dioxide. In enviro-speak, that's called "carbon neutral." But officials at Biomass think there's an extra benefit. Some carbon dioxide will be locked away in the soil by roots -- which will slightly reduce the amount of global warming gas in the atmosphere. Years from now, tests will show how much carbon dioxide is captured and stored underground. By comparison, the burning of coal, oil and natural gas brings carbon dioxide from deep underground and injects it into the atmosphere. The grass-powered plant will get little government support other than possible tax credits and loan guarantees. Environmental advocates say that's not enough incentive. "Biomass, solar and wind power are at the top of the list of energy sources we want," said Holly Binns, a coordinator for the Florida Public Interest Research Group in Tallahassee. Said Biomass Vice President Jim Little: "This is going to be the first of many plants." Kevin Spear can be reached at kspear@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5062. ******************************* Re: [Clean Energy Coalition] Re: Grass isn't greener -- just more po   Message List   Reply | Forward | Delete Message #134 of 303 < Prev | Next > Thanks December - for getting us on the right track with this! Joy lmcshe2001@AOL.COM wrote: Sierra Club  OPPOSES planting  arundo donax anywhere in Florida or USA. (This Wall Sreet Journal article below is more than 2 years old and after extensive research we changed our position.)   Arundo donax would damge the ecosystem in Florida   The rhizome would colonize Florida in the same mannner Malaleuca did in Everglades wetlands and California's riparian ecosystems. It is an noxious weed brought in from the Meditterraean The reed uses massive amounts of water which is limited The weed eplaces native species Outgrows and replaces native habitat Worthless as feed or cover for  any wildlife, would starve wildlife Would require dangerous herbicides to eliminate it which may not work at all I have been in communication with Mr. Sharpe. He is currently getting a patent on this plant and will call it another name in order the get rid of the negative stigma.   Sierra Club opposes converting farmland in Florida to energy plantations. We support conservation of our natural resources; soil, water and wildlife come first. We are a conservation organization.   If everyone would cut their energy consumption by 50% as people  did in California, Progress Energy could buy pollution control instead of building a new power plant.   December McSherry Agriculture Chair Sierra Club, Florida Chapter     In a message dated 5/24/2006 9:29:28 AM Eastern Standard Time, dglickd@pipeline.com writes: Hello All -- Mr. Sharpe's -- "bamboo" -- Best, Dick   By BILL RICHARDS Special to THE WALL STREET JOURNAL JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Driving slowly, Allen Sharpe searched the bank of the St. Johns River here for his favorite reed. "There she grows," Mr. Sharpe said, braking to a halt next to a silver-plumed stand of Arundo donax. And grow it does. The cane-like reeds tower 30 feet over the six-foot-four Mr. Sharpe, adding as much as three inches of new growth overnight. Environmentalists here see the plant as a godsend, offering a fast-growing replacement for coal and wood products without gouging the earth or chopping down forests. With the blessing of the Northern Florida Sierra Club and Lung Association chapters, Mr. Sharpe has secured a contract to supply Jacksonville's city-owned utility, JEA, with as much as $250 million in Arundo-fueled "green" power over the next 15 years. He plans to plant 8,000 acres of Arundo next spring on leased land near the Florida Everglades. Deanne DiPietro, an environmental analyst at the University of California at Davis, was horrified to hear of his plans. She is one of the leaders of a multimillion-dollar federal and state effort to rid California of Arundo. State officials, along with local Sierra Club chapters and other environmental groups, blame the reed for fueling wildfires, causing floods and killing fish. Arundo ranks near the top of the state's list of botanical pests. "It's the plant from hell," says Ms. DiPietro.   America can't make up its mind about Arundo. Enthusiasts, mostly East Coasters, are planting the hyperactive reed -- technically a giant grass -- from Delaware Bay, where researchers are working with it to make building products and paper, to Alabama, where researchers want to see whether it could replace tobacco and cotton as a cash crop. On the West Coast, Arundophobes are ripping out the stuff as fast as they can. "We're doing everything we can to get rid of it," says Alan Sanders, conservation chairman of the Los Padres Sierra Club chapter. Sangfer Hedrick, a citrus grower in Ventura County, north of Los Angeles, says he has spent the past two years battling to remove a 15-acre Arundo stand from his 400-acre spread. First, Mr. Hedrick says, he tried cutting it out by hand. "That didn't work," he says. "So then we brought in tractors, then ground rippers, then a flail mower that spins at 3,000 rpm." He ended up pouring herbicide over the remains. "I think we got most of it out," Mr. Hedrick says. "If we patrol it once or twice a year for a while, we can keep it down." Although Arundo has been growing in California for more than a century, Thomas Dudley, a plant biologist at the University of California at Berkeley, says it has become a serious pest only in the past couple of decades. Streamside development and runoff of chemical fertilizers into rivers have fed the reed, allowing it to outstrip competing plants, particularly marsh grasses, he says. Mr. Dudley, author of a chapter on Arundo in "Noxious Wildland Weeds of California," calls it "the fastest growing plant there is," and says it has spread as far as the Channel Islands -- 30 miles off the coast. California officials recently put Arundo on the state's list of noxious weeds, allowing counties to pass local ordinances making growing or transporting it a crime. Still, Mr. Dudley sheepishly admits he kind of likes the plant. "I'm a clarinet player and Arundo makes the best clarinet reeds you can get," he says. ----- Original Message ----- From: Joy Ezell To: EANoF ; savetaylorcountyfloridaresidents@yahoogroups.com ; cleanenergy ; Rob Brinkman ; Harold Saive Cc: diane whitfield ; johnw512@yahoo.com ; carole and jim taitt ; barryandjudy@hotmail.com ; Brian Armstrong ; Brian Lupiani ; Steve Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 6:21 PM Subject: [Clean Energy Coalition] Grass isn't greener -- just more powerful; Grass-burner power plant in Orlando Thanks to Miss Betty C. for sending this!  Maybe when Buckeye closes, and there's no need for thousands of acres of hybrid-cellulose-no-pine-cone-diaper material-pine 'sort-of'-trees......we can grow "a bamboolike, 16-foot-tall grass" - maybe like kenaf (or hemp?) instead, for powering our natural nature coast with clean energy. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-cleanpower0706may07,0,2321177.story?page=1 Grass isn't greener -- just more powerful Kevin Spear | Sentinel Staff Writer Posted May 7, 2006 A proposed power station south of Orlando will turn grass mowed from 15,000 acres into affordable electricity and produce little air pollution. Although other power companies in Florida and around the world also burn plants and other natural materials, this is the first time worldwide that an energy plant would grow its own "biomass." Builders of the plant, expected to be online in three years, won't specify where they are looking to build but are choosing from among three sites between Orlando and Lake Okeechobee. They already have sold their expected power supply to Progress Energy Florida in a 25-year contract. By growing a bamboolike, 16-foot-tall grass on its own acreage, the plant will be a mostly self-contained power generator, churning out voltage for 80,000 homes. After several years of negotiation, Progress recently agreed to buy nearly all of the grass-to-watts electricity generated by Biomass Investment Group Inc. in Gulf Breeze. The plant is the first for Biomass. Neither company would reveal price details, though a Progress official said the cost of Biomass electricity already competes with power generated by burning the popular but increasingly expensive natural gas. Coal, the most-used power-plant fuel in Florida, is still cheaper. Finding an alternative to natural gas was attractive for managers of Progress, the state's second-biggest electric utility. But the merits of firing a generator with grass weren't so obvious. "Most people think it's unusual at first," said Bob Niekum, the company's director of wholesale power in St. Petersburg. "This was a major leap of faith on the part of Progress Energy. We need all the resources we can find." Biomass' 130-megawatt generator, a moderate size, still needs regulatory approvals. And the company hasn't nailed down a site big enough to include 15,000 acres of fields for grass that can grow taller than a single-story home. For use at the power plant, the 1-inch-thick grass will be dried and chopped into chips. "We've got three choices between Orlando and Okeechobee," said Allen Sharpe, president of Biomass. Using grass as a "biomass" or "renewable" fuel to generate electricity isn't as unlikely as it sounds. It's used all over the world in forms that vary from ethanol for powering cars to wood chips for generating electricity. And the idea may become even more popular. Worries about air pollution, including the type blamed for global warming, and rising costs of coal, oil and natural gas have sent utilities scrambling for new ways to produce electricity. Florida authorities predict the state will need 40 percent more electricity by 2014. Power stations built during the past decade use natural gas, a cleaner-burning fuel than coal but one increasingly losing favor among utilities because of its rising price. Now utilities are renewing their interest in coal and nuclear fuel. The Orlando Utilities Commission, for example, has signed on as a partner with utility giant Southern Co. to build an advanced-technology coal-fired plant in east Orange County. Instead of relying on the universal and relatively dirty technique of burning coal to make steam for a generator, the new OUC plant will cook coal to extract a fuel of hydrogen and other burnable gas while leaving behind most pollutants in the coal. In fact, that's part of the technology to be used by Biomass. At a rate of about 125,000 pounds an hour, grass will be processed to release burnable gases that, in turn, will fire a generator much like a jet engine and a second, steam-driven generator. What's left of the processed grass will be spread as fertilizer to grow more grass. The Biomass plant will be similar to a conventional coal plant in that it will discharge carbon dioxide. But what the Biomass electric plant emits will be matched by the ability of the fields of growing grass to absorb carbon dioxide. In enviro-speak, that's called "carbon neutral." But officials at Biomass think there's an extra benefit. Some carbon dioxide will be locked away in the soil by roots -- which will slightly reduce the amount of global warming gas in the atmosphere. Years from now, tests will show how much carbon dioxide is captured and stored underground. By comparison, the burning of coal, oil and natural gas brings carbon dioxide from deep underground and injects it into the atmosphere. The grass-powered plant will get little government support other than possible tax credits and loan guarantees. Environmental advocates say that's not enough incentive. "Biomass, solar and wind power are at the top of the list of energy sources we want," said Holly Binns, a coordinator for the Florida Public Interest Research Group in Tallahassee. Said Biomass Vice President Jim Little: "This is going to be the first of many plants." Kevin Spear can be reached at kspear@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5062. ******************************* From: Joy Towles Ezell hopeforcleanwater@yahoo.com hope@... 850 584 7087 "We are the ones we have been waiting for". HOPE (Help Our Polluted Environment) In Taylor County, FL: http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/HopeForCleanWater/ TRUE - Taylor Residents United for the Environment: http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/SaveTaylorCountyFloridaResidents/ Environmental Alliance of North Florida - EANoF (Enough!) http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/EANoF/ "Industry domination of the Taylor County Commission is the end of democracy." The people, united, can never be defeated. Be a chatter box. Enjoy free PC-to-PC calls with Yahoo! Messenger with Voice.

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Progress Energy's state profits soar

August 10, 2006