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Tuesday, September 27, 2005
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The Energy Efficiency Task Force of the Western Governors' Association's (WGA) Clean and Diversified Energy Advisory Committee recently released a draft report for public review, entitled The Potential for More Efficient Electricity Use in the Western United States. Comments on the draft are due by October 14, 2005.
The draft report includes a technical analysis of the potential for improving energy efficiency in the 18-state WGA region, a review of barriers inhibiting greater investment in energy efficiency, and recommendations for how the region can increase energy efficiency through policy actions such as state appliance standards, building codes, enhanced electricity and natural gas demand-side management, utility pricing/rate
structure adjustments, public sector initiatives, and education and outreach. The U.S. EPA provided support for the analysis presented in Chapter V.
The western United States includes some of the fastest-growing states in the country in terms of both population and energy consumption. WGA is examining the feasibility of and actions needed for developing 30,000 Megawatts of clean energy in the West by 2015, ensuring adequate transmission, and increasing energy efficiency by 20 percent by 2020, as part of the association's Clean and Diversified Energy Initiative.
To view the draft energy efficiency report, please visit:
http://www.westgov.org/wga/initiatives/cdeac/Energyefficiencydraft9-15.pdf.
Details on how to submit comments, along with links to other reports from task forces on advanced natural gas, biomass, clean coal, geothermal, solar, transmission, and wind energy, are available at:
http://www.westgov.org/wga/initiatives/cdeac/comments.htm.
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The Joyce Foundation is committing $7 million over three years to ensure that the next generation of Midwest coal plants uses state-of-the-art technology for minimizing climate change and pollution. Grants will support efforts to persuade utility companies, regulators, investors and developers to stop building outdated coal-burning power plants and move toward coal gasification and other cleaner technologies.
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Web site lists opportunities for financial assistance from the U.S. DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. [GreenBiz.com]
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From the October 2005 issue of the print version of eSchool News. Discusses the effect of rising gas prices on school budgets and some solutions, including the use of biodiesel. This article does not appear to be on the eSchool News website. However, a related story from 2004 entitled "New Technologies Curb School Bus Pollution" is available at http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=5190.
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Dates: January 26-27, 2006
Location: Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Washington, DC
Visit www.NCSEonline.org to register, obtain the latest program updates, and view links to travel and lodging options. Please consider the many opportunities available for organizational participation at the conference, including conference sponsorship, hosting an exhibition, or displaying a poster. General conference questions may be directed to conference2006@NCSEonline.org.
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Dates: October 26-28
This year the conference will feature: EEBA Applied Demonstration, translating classroom education into real life application; EEBA Expo, with 80+ exhibits, featuring the latest technologies and applications; over 60 educational sessions presented by the industry's best professionals and practitioners.
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Dates: October 24-26, 2005
Conference attendees will review the status of green power marketing in electricity markets and explore strategies to increase the development of renewable energy resources through customer choice. This year's conference will examine the growth of green power markets, with particular emphasis on communicating "best practices" for product design, marketing and program implementation.
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Michael Whitehead, MS, in the September issue of Environmental Protection, explains the concepts of pollution prevention (P2), resource conservation (sustainability) and environmental leadership -- and how leading businesses have been surpassing compliance by incorporating these elements into their operating practices.
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On Sept. 22, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released for public review and comment a plan for accelerating the development and reducing the cost of new and advanced technologies that avoid, reduce, or capture and store greenhouse gas emissions. The technologies developed under the Climate Change Technology program will be used and deployed among the United States' partners in the Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development that was announced earlier this year. [Source: Environmental Protection E-News]
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Contact: Suzanne Ackerman, 202-564-4355 / ackerman.suzanne@epa.gov (Washington, D.C. -- Sept. 21, 2005) EPA is proposing a rule to expand the use of a shortened reporting form (Form A certification statement) for some facilities. The proposal is expected to save 165,000 hours per year, while still ensuring full Form R (long form) reporting on over 99 percent of toxic releases and other waste management activities. The proposal also provides new incentives to facilities to emit less in order to be able to use the shorter form. This proposed action comes after an extensive evaluation by EPA, its stakeholders and reporting facilities to address the concerns expressed about TRI reporting burden.
"Since TRI began in 1986, EPA has learned a great deal about the power that public information has to influence corporate behavior and empower communities, and we also have found new ways to use technology to reduce costs for everyone involved, improve data quality and speed the release of the information collected," said Kimberly T. Nelson, assistant administrator for the Office of Environmental Information and Chief Information Officer for EPA. "Today's proposal would provide burden reduction for approximately 1/3 of TRI reporters while still requiring facilities to report on all chemicals that they report on today."
The proposed rule is part of an on-going effort to streamline TRI reporting. EPA issued a final rule in July 2005 that revised the TRI reporting forms to eliminate information not used, and to make use of data already available in existing EPA information systems.
In a separate but related action to the proposal being announced, EPA is notifying Congress, as required by the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) Section 313(i), that the agency plans to initiate a rulemaking to modify the frequency of reporting under the TRI program. As required by Section 313(i) (5), EPA will delay the initiation of such rulemaking for at least 12 months, but no more than 24 months, from the date of the notification. EPA is taking this step because we believe that alternate year reporting not only offers burden reduction, but also offers other potential advantages that merit consideration. Not only would alternate year reporting result in significant burden reduction for covered facilities, citizens would benefit from the redirection of federal and state taxpayer dollars to improve the quality, clarity, usefulness and accessibility of TRI information products and services.
Program savings during the non-reporting years would be reinvested to: (1) improve the TRI-Made Easy (TRI-ME) software, thereby improving data quality and further reducing burden on reporters, (2) conduct more analysis of the TRI data making it more useful to citizens and communities, and (3) invest in greater electronic reporting including a web-based TRI-ME for all reporters. Electronic reporting to EPA enables us to provide even greater taxpayer savings as processing time diminishes.
As the agency begins collecting information that will aid an analysis of the alternate year approach, we stand ready to consider all viewpoints on the issues and plan to convene meetings with TRI stakeholders to invite their views. Any changes that EPA may propose as a result of this notice will be done as part of a full notice and public comment rulemaking process.
For almost 20 years, EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) has shown that the amount of toxic chemicals released into the environment by reporting facilities continues to decline. In this year's report, nearly 24,000 facilities reported on approximately 650 chemicals including toxics managed in landfills and underground injection wells as well as those released into water and the air.
TRI provides the American public with vital information on chemical releases including disposal for their communities, and is an important instrument for industries to gauge their progress in reducing pollution. TRI tracks releases of chemicals and industrial sectors specified by the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act of 1986 and its implementing regulations. The Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) of 1990 also mandates that facilities report data on other waste management activities such as treatment, recycling and energy recovery. Together, these laws require facilities in certain industries to report annually on releases, disposal and other waste management activities related to these chemicals. In addition, since 1994, EPA has by rulemaking expanded the program by doubling the number of covered chemicals, adding seven new industrial sectors, and lowering reporting thresholds for persistent, bioaccumulative, toxic (PBT) chemicals. These rulemakings have provided valuable new information to communities but have also increased the burden on reporters.
Additional information, a copy of the proposal and notification to Congress will be available to the public at: http://www.epa.gov/tri/tridata/modrule/phase2. [ChemAlliance Environmental News]
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The auto industry is at a crossroads in the increasing popularity of hybrids: Is it time to keep increasing fuel effiency or sacrifice gas for more power? [AlterNet.org]
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The California Department of Toxic Substances Control gave the green light Monday to a proposed Habitat for Humanity housing project to be built at an East Oakland site once filled with about 3,000 tons of toxic soil. [Environmental Health News]
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A U.N. scientific panel says burying carbon emissions from power plants and factories could minimize global warming. The Voice of America's David McAlary explains how it would work, 9/26/05. [SEJ Environmental Journalism Today]
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Fifteen years have passed since medical researchers started scrutinizing the brains of children from the Seychelles whose mothers ate great amounts of mercury-contaminated fish during their pregnancies. The children continue to be the picture of health. The Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat & Chronicle's Misty Edgecomb explains, 9/27/05. [SEJ Environmental Journalism Today]
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Power plants of the future may be designed to provide electricity solely for an individual housing estate, village, factory or college. That’s the prediction of University of Southampton engineer Dr. Tom Markvart.
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Fortune magazine has announced the results of its 2005 Accountability Rating, a rating of corporate responsibility of Fortune Global 100 companies. [ENN Business Headlines]
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Santee Cooper is turning trash into treasure by collecting methane gas produced in landfills and burning the gas to generate electricity. Part of that power will come from an $8 million power plant the utility is building on 123 acres at the Richland County landfill in Elgin, said spokeswoman Laura Varn. [ENN Business Headlines]
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Some of the Top of Utah's largest employers are discovering that reducing their environmental impact is also helping their bottom lines. [ENN Business Headlines]
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President Bush also issued a directive for federal agencies to cut energy use and to urge employees to use public transportation. By DAVID LEONHARDT, JAD MOUAWAD and DAVID E. SANGER. [NYT > Business]
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University of Nebraska-Lincoln faculty, staff and students may want to consider spending more time in the library this winter. Double-digit increases in utility costs prompted Chancellor Harvey Perlman to consider turning off heating, air-conditioning and ventilation systems at night and on weekends to save money. By By JoAnne Young. [Stateline.org RSS - Energy]
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New Hampshire Education Commissioner Lyonel Tracey says his agency is ready to work with school districts to help formulate ideas for cutting energy costs, which have spiked this year. By By The Associated Press. [Stateline.org RSS - Energy]
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The Wyoming School Facilities Commission on Monday asked a legislative committee to help redefine and, in some cases, increase its power in the state. By Jenni Dillon. [Stateline.org RSS - Energy]
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One of the realities of the world of environmentalism is how much everything is interconnected. You tug on one thread of one ecosystem and another thread unravels. The latest story of that has to do with, of all things, Oreos and orangutans. [Joel Makower: Two Steps Forward]
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LONDON (Reuters) - Global warming is causing soil to release huge amounts of carbon, making efforts to fight global warming tougher than previously thought, scientists said on Wednesday. [Reuters: Science]
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WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2005 - The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, has released for public comment revised drafts of its Policy and Performance Standards on Social and Environmental Sustainability and its Policy on Disclosure of Information. [GreenBiz.com]
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The Unitarian Universalist Church of Amherst has become the first church in New York State to purchase 100% wind energy for its church buildings. This purchase reflects the congregation's commitment to environmental stewardship, a basic principle of the Unitarian Universalist faith. "We believe in respect for the interrelated web of all existence," said Gemma Lanthier, Chairperson of the congregation's Board of Trustees. "By buying wind energy to meet our electric needs, our church is trying to make a difference. We are giving real expression to our heartfelt concerns about the world". [Source: Press release]
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This day-long event will reveal results of a 3-year study undertaken by Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment. At the event, a report will also be released. This project was cosponsored by the United Nations Environment Program and Swiss Re. Check about availability of attending this ostensibly "by-invitation-only" event. [SEJ Environmental Events Calendar]
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ZURICH and NEW YORK, Sept. 26, 2005 - SAM Group has expanded its family of Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes with dedicated benchmarks for North America and the United States. [GreenBiz.com]
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MILLBRAE, Calif., Sept. 26, 2005 - The city of Millbrae has partnered with Chevron Energy Solutions to construction of facilities at Millbrae's Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP) that will generate on-site electricity from restaurant kitchen grease and other organic matter. [GreenBiz.com]
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Like mom and apple pie, everyone professes love for green buildings. But because there's big money at stake for whoever gets the stamp of approval, there's keen financial interest in the definition of green. By Steve Toloken and Angie DeRosa [GreenBiz.com]
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© Copyright
2005
Laura L. Barnes.
Last update:
10/25/2005; 12:12:00 PM.
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