This is time-lapse footage of my first solo SOLAR-PV installation.
https://vimeo.com/148295966
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Sunday, July 5, 2015
UV & IR Relfective Paints as a Green Solution
The first use of designed-in, energy efficient German pigments in American paints occurred in the 1970's in collaborations between metal roofing manufacturers and makers of industrial coatings. These coatings contained infrared (IR) and mixed metal oxide (MMO) pigments, were factory applied, and were expensive. Their chemistry was toxic solvent based, and they were exceptionally durable, eventually becoming the standard for commercial and industrial buildings.
Metallic pigments are much more efficient in reflecting away the sun's radiation (infra-red spectrum) than standard organic liquid tints. This trend was brought to the high-end, residential marketplace into the 1980's and hasn’t changed since. The high cost of the metal roof coating system known as Kynar™ (over $100 per gallon) only suited large-capital corporate and industrial jobs and those with unlimited budgets since the lifespan of 20 to 30 years before these coatings failed. Variations of the technology were taken up in military applications as well.
In Australia, there was a huge need for durable, efficient, cool coatings for metal and tile roofs that could be inexpensively field-applied to buildings in the torrid Outback, tropical Queensland and the rest of the vast Australian continent. Thirty years ago, the Australians went with the best acrylic latexes of the day and their own version of the German factory-ground pigments to develop water-based coatings that had the capability to provide the heat reflecting they needed.
While these coatings were slightly more expensive than standard tinted paint formulas (and could not be made at the local store), they still cost much less than the solvent-based roof coatings. Their fully renewable 12 to 15-year lifespans added to their cost-savings benefits with twice the lifespan of standard paints. These paints cooled the buildings dramatically by reflecting away the majority of the sun's radiation (solar reflectance) and by emitting a very high percentage of the heat that did find its way into the underlying substrate materials (thermal emissivity).
Another advantage of reflective paints is that they these required no special procedures to apply, while being substantially more environmentally friendly with low odor. This was in part because the IR reflecting, MMO inorganic pigments were low toxic by their nature, with low-VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) unlike the liquid organic-based standard paint tinting systems. They also did not fade, another big plus, and these paints were breathable but waterproof when used on walls (think Gore-Tex™).
These thermally emissive/reflective coatings offer a range of applications such as on roofs and walls of buildings. These coatings will adhere to a variety of materials such as composite roof shingles, metal roofs, and concrete tile roofs as well as stucco, plywood, and concrete block walls. Manufacturers offer a wide assortment of formulations. So be sure to read the spec sheet and get the correct type before application. When considering thermally emissive/reflective cool coatings be sure to look for metal oxide and infra-red emissive pigments. These ingredients are necessary to block ultra violet rays and reflect infrared radiation.
Heat reflective coatings that have met the standards of the Solar Reflectance Index (SRI) can qualify for LEED credit. This credit is available for new construction and existing building LEED projects. The purpose of this credit is to promote the reduction of the heat island effect, which is a known cause of increased temperatures and pollution in urban areas. In addition, for buildings in the state of California, many of these products exceed the state’s Title 24 energy efficiency requirements of 70% solar reflectance for commercial and residential buildings.
It is important to note that a thermally emissive/reflective coating is not meant to insulate. Insulation is used to slow the transfer of heat. Thermally reflective coatings are used to reflect the heat. If the reflective coating is doing its job, the demand on insulation decreases. This assistance is similar to radiant barriers.
A common misconception is that heat reflective coatings, such as cool walls and cool roofs, can only be found in light colors. However, thermally reflective coatings are offered in a variety of colors to suit design specifications. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory offers a Pigment Database for more detailed information. Generally, lighter colors do offer a higher level of thermal reflectance though a quick review of the database reveals many viable options.
Financial Benefits of Cool Paint Technology
Exterior wall paint job life-cycles can be increased by a minimum of 50% percent and as much as 100%. Combined with electrical cost savings of up to 22% (results for Los Angeles residence in U.S.- D.O.E. Cool Wall Paints study, 2007), in locales where air-conditioning is normally used, these solar-reflective paints just on the walls means large and measurable financial paybacks to those who utilize them for repaint and new construction projects. Further combine this with cool roof top coats on the same building(s) and energy needs will be massively reduced with even larger environmental benefits.You can calculate the energy cost savings for cool paint for your location with the US Dept. of Energy's Cool Roof Calculator. (link is external)
Cool Roof Rebates and Environmental Impact
Reflective wall coatings are the last area to be explored by the residential paint manufacturing industry, but the new LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and national Green-Seal standards will recognize them as a significant factor in total building energy efficiency. After all, wall surface areas will equal or exceed that of the roof surface square footage when the buildings are more than one story tall. And with the amount of energy cool paints can save, it’s no wonder rebates are available.Rebates, LEED Credits, and the Green Seal
This means that having the walls coated with solar-reflective paints will ensure added energy cost reductions for air conditioning and this will serve to increase the return on investment for any such paint job. LEED credits for both non-roof and cool roof coatings are available (see LEED Credit 7.1 & 7.2 respectively), which can qualify for energy tax credits, increased property values, and publicity benefits for buildings so coated. Depending upon the zip code, public utilities like PG&E and SMUD (link is external) are already giving residential rebates for Cool Roof Rating Council (CRRC) qualified "cool roof” top coats for both steep slope and low slope roof types.Environmental Impact
Carbon pollution reduction from cooling down roofs and walls in our city environments is a real way to reduce the "Urban Heat Island Effect" caused by buildings absorbing the sun's radiation, then re-radiating that heat after the sun goes down. This "hidden" environmental benefit is one that we must all hope we'll be able to notice. Lawrence Berkeley Labs has quantified that 663 grams of CO2 is the environmental "cost" for every kilowatt hour (KWh) of electricity produced by conventional power plants. The average California house in turn uses 3,000 to 4,000 KWh per year for electricity for cooling from these plants. That equals approximately 2,650 lbs. of CO2 emitted to produce that power per Los Angeles household.Therefore, every reduction in that energy demand has a direct bearing on how much atmospheric, heat-inducing pollution is prevented. When cool paint and cool roof coatings can make an 8% to 60% factored per household reduction in this electricity used, it's easy to see why so energy companies and the government are offering rebates to begin with.
What is a Paint Specification?
A paint specification provides detailed information about preparation for specific substrates, application, color, clean up etc. and specifies what exact products will be used on the repaint: so all contractors will be bidding on the same value line product. This provides the customer a standard to evaluate the painting contractor bids (i.e. so one contractor doesn't include standard paint in the bid while another uses premium). A specification is also a legal document, so the material must be used as directed.The paint specification should include the following:
- Paint Product Line–Determines the performance and longevity of the repaint. Premium lines are products engineered to offer excellent hide, color retention, and resistance to chalking and blistering. A standard line offers good performance when budget constraints are an issue.
- Specific Primers–Includes the primers necessary for all surfaces of the building to be painted, such as wood, ferrous and non-ferrous metal, concrete, and stucco.
- Topcoat Gloss–Indicates the optimum topcoat gloss level for the surfaces and paint product line.
from ECHO-CA.ORG - Michael Biel is the founder of The Ultimate Coatings Company. He has been associated with the trade of both residential and commercial painting for 22 years. He was a high-end house painter/restorer for a majority of that time and was sales consultant, estimator and trainer to a well-known northern California painting contractor for their property management clientele.
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Engineering for Change
10 Low Tech ways to filter water: a blog post from "Engineering for Change" by Rob Goodier, offers vital information for low cost water solutions.
Having money helps, but clean water doesn't have to be expensive. Celebrities like Bill Gates, Matt Damon and, a celebrity to us, Ned Breslin,
to name a few, have helped clean rivers, dig wells and install pumps,
pipes and other hardware to deliver clean water. Their time
and money are well spent because the problem is huge. As we've reported
before, as many as 1.8 million people die each year from diarrhea linked to bad water and sanitation, most of them under age 5.
Community-wide water infrastructure is as good as it gets. But until everyone has that, there are other, cheaper clean water solutions. Boiling water over a wood fire is one of the most widely used methods, but it is also a health hazard for those working in poorly ventilated kitchens, and it exacerbates deforestation. Instead, we've rounded up ten low-cost ways to treat water, and not one requires boiling. Do you know of other methods? Please let us know in a comment below.
Ceramic filters
Clay, sawdust and a plastic bucket can make a water filter that catches dirt and disease-causing microbes. In the classic design, mix clay with a combustible material like sawdust or rice husks, give it a flower pot shape and fire it in a kiln. The sawdust or rice husks burn away, leaving tiny pores in the ceramic through which water filters. Organizations around the world have been using this kind of ceramic filter to reduce disease in impoverished communities for years.
Resources
Clay filter guide by the American Red Cross and Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (pdf)
Rabbit ceramic water filters by iDE and Potters for Peace
EWB-USA's ceramic filter manual (pdf)
Manual for establishing a clay filter factory (pdf)
Bone char filtration
Not all filters remove heavy metals or other toxins from the water, but crushed and charred animal bone can. And in areas where they occur in the water, removing them is a good idea. Chronic arsenic exposure, for example, can cause skin cancer, bladder, kidney and lung cancers, gangrene and possibly diabetes, high blood pressure and reproductive disorders. Uranium in the drinking water is linked to nephritis (pdf)—inflammation of the kidneys. As they inflame, the kidneys dump proteins that the body needs into the urine stream, a condition that is lethal at its worst.
When a US Geological Survey study found high levels of arsenic and uranium in wells in the Ogala Lakota tribe's US reservation at Pine Ridge, students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign had an idea: Bone char. Crushed and charred cattle bones are cheap and locally available. With the right design, filters can clean drinking water right in the home. It's a solution that can work in Pine Ridge or anywhere arsenic contamination is rampant (bearing in mind potential cultural aversions to ingesting cow products).
Slow sand filtration
Slow sand filtration has the advantage of working on an entire community's water source, not just individual households. Practical Action put together a technical manual for slow sand filtration systems, a complete guide to their construction and maintenance. Follow the link above to see the manual.
A slow sand filtration system is a combination of several parts: water storage tanks, an aerator, pre-filters, slow sand filters, disinfection stages, and filtered water storage tanks. The number of filters and filter types that are used in a given slow sand filtration system will depend on the quality of the source water and will be different for each community.
Resources
Practical Action's slow sand filtration technical manual (pdf)
Everything-but-the-sink portable filter
This portable filter design proposed in response to a call for better water filtration at taps in India uses chlorine, silver beads, activated charcoal and sand. Honeybee Network posed the original problem and an E4C member posted this solution. It includes a detailed guide to the specifications, materials and construction of a portable filter built from everything but the kitchen sink.
In the same workspace, Honeybee Network also proposes the development of new mobile applications that employ a phone's camera to sense impurities in water. We Googled up two that are in development: The H2O Mobile Water Testing Lab and Aquatest, though it's not clear if the latter will be phone based or not.
Resources
Portable filter manual (pdf)
Bamboo charcoal
In this spin on the charcoal filter, a team of E4C members in Bangalore propose a filter made of locally available materials including charred bamboo, gravel and natural adsorbents. "The process we propose is indigenous, eco-friendly, low cost and entails minimum maintenance," the team writes in their workspace. They estimate that their filter can handle 30 liters of water per hour, and it would be affordable for average households in the region.
Resources
Construction guide and specifications (doc file download)
Solar sterilization
If cost is a bigger concern than time or convenience, the cheapest way to treat water is to leave it in a plastic bottle in the sunlight. Leave clear bottles in the sun for a few hours and the UV radiation and heat kills the microbes that cause diarrhea and other waterborne illness. The Sodis (for solar disinfection) method was deployed in some parts of Haiti after the earthquake in 2010, and it is used in emergencies and impoverished regions worldwide.
If the bottle is too basic or prone to error, Solvatten sells a more highly designed solar disinfection device. It's a jerry-can-like container with a built-in thermal indicator that lets drinkers know when the water is safe to drink. The Solvatten container opens like a book to expose the water inside to sunlight through clear plastic panels. Its black backing helps it absorb more sunlight.
The amount of sun exposure that a bottle needs varies by the amount of sunlight available (it takes longer to sterilize water on a cloudy day). To take the guess work out of the solar method, a disinfection indicator can measure light exposure and signal when the germs are dead. We came across this prototype of a solar indicator at IEEE's Global Humanitarian Technology Conference in Seattle, Wash., last year. And there's also Helioz, a similar concept with a top-mounted design.
Solar distillation
Not to be confused with solar sterilization or disinfection, solar distillation purifies even muddy, salty or otherwise undrinable water through evaporation and condensation. The power of distilation to purify saltwater makes it unique among the treatment methods featured on this page. A solar still can actually be a cheap and simple piece of shaped plastic or glass, or they can be more highly designed devices. To work, the still allows sunlight to shine through a clear panel onto the impure water. The water heats and evaporates, then condenses on the underside of the panel and runs off into a container of some kind. This simple process takes huge amounts of energy, which is why solar stills can make more sense than stills powered by other fuels. Our Solutions Library links to a technical brief and construction guide to several different still designs from Practical Action.
Resources
Practical Actions' construction guide
Bicycle filter
Bicycles in all their glorious versatility and simplicity have got to be one of our favorite devices, and we were pleased to find not just one, but two bicycle-powered water filters. Nippon Basic Co. invented Cyclo Clean, a bicycle rigged with a pump to draw water from a river or well and a robust, three-filter system to purify the water. The filters are designed to last without replacement for two years, and the tires are puncture-proof. It can filter three tons of water in 10 hours.
Then there's the Aqueduct, which is like Cyclo's whimsical little brother. It's a tricycle with bubbly curves and a sky-blue paint job that pumps up to two gallons of water through a filter while the rider pedals. Cyclo handles much greater volumes of water, but Aqueduct's one advantage is that it can do its job on the move.
Both of these designs are in our - ahem - fantastic list of ten things you can do with a bicycle.
Emergency homemade filter
The plastic bottle makes yet another appearance as a water treatment device, this time as a simple filter that can remove sediment and even disease-causing microbes. Simply cut the bottom from the bottle, fill it with layers of gravel, sand cloth and charcoal, filter the water through it and hope for the best.
This design is also featured in our list of the best appropriate technology DIY plans
Chlorine
We saved the most obvious and probably the most reliable treatment method for last. Chlorine can work in the community water supply to kill microbes before it enters people's jerry cans or home water supplies. And it keeps the water safe from new contaminations long after it is added.
We've seen several interesting chlorination methods at work in resource-poor regions. Compatible Technology International developed this tested and proven device that chlorinates water in gravity-fed systems that fill a community water cistern. And these four experimental designs have worked in field tests to dose water accurately after people fill their buckets at a community well, stream or other source.
Resources
CTI's community water source chlorinator construction guide (pdf)
Related resources
Water filters, first Ghana, then the world
Ten things you can do with a bicycle
Ten things you can do with sunlight
Ten solar cookers that work at night
Ten low-tech ways to irrigate crops
Ten great emergency shelter designs
Filed under:
Water
Community-wide water infrastructure is as good as it gets. But until everyone has that, there are other, cheaper clean water solutions. Boiling water over a wood fire is one of the most widely used methods, but it is also a health hazard for those working in poorly ventilated kitchens, and it exacerbates deforestation. Instead, we've rounded up ten low-cost ways to treat water, and not one requires boiling. Do you know of other methods? Please let us know in a comment below.
Clay, sawdust and a plastic bucket can make a water filter that catches dirt and disease-causing microbes. In the classic design, mix clay with a combustible material like sawdust or rice husks, give it a flower pot shape and fire it in a kiln. The sawdust or rice husks burn away, leaving tiny pores in the ceramic through which water filters. Organizations around the world have been using this kind of ceramic filter to reduce disease in impoverished communities for years.
Resources
Clay filter guide by the American Red Cross and Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (pdf)
Rabbit ceramic water filters by iDE and Potters for Peace
EWB-USA's ceramic filter manual (pdf)
Manual for establishing a clay filter factory (pdf)
This prototype is the predecessor of
bone-char filters that will strip heavy metals from drinking water on a
South Dakota reservation. Photo courtesy of Jacob Becraft
Not all filters remove heavy metals or other toxins from the water, but crushed and charred animal bone can. And in areas where they occur in the water, removing them is a good idea. Chronic arsenic exposure, for example, can cause skin cancer, bladder, kidney and lung cancers, gangrene and possibly diabetes, high blood pressure and reproductive disorders. Uranium in the drinking water is linked to nephritis (pdf)—inflammation of the kidneys. As they inflame, the kidneys dump proteins that the body needs into the urine stream, a condition that is lethal at its worst.
When a US Geological Survey study found high levels of arsenic and uranium in wells in the Ogala Lakota tribe's US reservation at Pine Ridge, students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign had an idea: Bone char. Crushed and charred cattle bones are cheap and locally available. With the right design, filters can clean drinking water right in the home. It's a solution that can work in Pine Ridge or anywhere arsenic contamination is rampant (bearing in mind potential cultural aversions to ingesting cow products).
Slow sand filtration has the advantage of working on an entire community's water source, not just individual households. Practical Action put together a technical manual for slow sand filtration systems, a complete guide to their construction and maintenance. Follow the link above to see the manual.
A slow sand filtration system is a combination of several parts: water storage tanks, an aerator, pre-filters, slow sand filters, disinfection stages, and filtered water storage tanks. The number of filters and filter types that are used in a given slow sand filtration system will depend on the quality of the source water and will be different for each community.
Resources
Practical Action's slow sand filtration technical manual (pdf)
Image from the portable filter manual
This portable filter design proposed in response to a call for better water filtration at taps in India uses chlorine, silver beads, activated charcoal and sand. Honeybee Network posed the original problem and an E4C member posted this solution. It includes a detailed guide to the specifications, materials and construction of a portable filter built from everything but the kitchen sink.
In the same workspace, Honeybee Network also proposes the development of new mobile applications that employ a phone's camera to sense impurities in water. We Googled up two that are in development: The H2O Mobile Water Testing Lab and Aquatest, though it's not clear if the latter will be phone based or not.
Resources
Portable filter manual (pdf)
Image from the bamboo charcoal construction guide
In this spin on the charcoal filter, a team of E4C members in Bangalore propose a filter made of locally available materials including charred bamboo, gravel and natural adsorbents. "The process we propose is indigenous, eco-friendly, low cost and entails minimum maintenance," the team writes in their workspace. They estimate that their filter can handle 30 liters of water per hour, and it would be affordable for average households in the region.
Resources
Construction guide and specifications (doc file download)
Photo courtesy of Solvatten
If cost is a bigger concern than time or convenience, the cheapest way to treat water is to leave it in a plastic bottle in the sunlight. Leave clear bottles in the sun for a few hours and the UV radiation and heat kills the microbes that cause diarrhea and other waterborne illness. The Sodis (for solar disinfection) method was deployed in some parts of Haiti after the earthquake in 2010, and it is used in emergencies and impoverished regions worldwide.
If the bottle is too basic or prone to error, Solvatten sells a more highly designed solar disinfection device. It's a jerry-can-like container with a built-in thermal indicator that lets drinkers know when the water is safe to drink. The Solvatten container opens like a book to expose the water inside to sunlight through clear plastic panels. Its black backing helps it absorb more sunlight.
The amount of sun exposure that a bottle needs varies by the amount of sunlight available (it takes longer to sterilize water on a cloudy day). To take the guess work out of the solar method, a disinfection indicator can measure light exposure and signal when the germs are dead. We came across this prototype of a solar indicator at IEEE's Global Humanitarian Technology Conference in Seattle, Wash., last year. And there's also Helioz, a similar concept with a top-mounted design.
Not to be confused with solar sterilization or disinfection, solar distillation purifies even muddy, salty or otherwise undrinable water through evaporation and condensation. The power of distilation to purify saltwater makes it unique among the treatment methods featured on this page. A solar still can actually be a cheap and simple piece of shaped plastic or glass, or they can be more highly designed devices. To work, the still allows sunlight to shine through a clear panel onto the impure water. The water heats and evaporates, then condenses on the underside of the panel and runs off into a container of some kind. This simple process takes huge amounts of energy, which is why solar stills can make more sense than stills powered by other fuels. Our Solutions Library links to a technical brief and construction guide to several different still designs from Practical Action.
Resources
Practical Actions' construction guide
Bicycle filter
Bicycles in all their glorious versatility and simplicity have got to be one of our favorite devices, and we were pleased to find not just one, but two bicycle-powered water filters. Nippon Basic Co. invented Cyclo Clean, a bicycle rigged with a pump to draw water from a river or well and a robust, three-filter system to purify the water. The filters are designed to last without replacement for two years, and the tires are puncture-proof. It can filter three tons of water in 10 hours.
Then there's the Aqueduct, which is like Cyclo's whimsical little brother. It's a tricycle with bubbly curves and a sky-blue paint job that pumps up to two gallons of water through a filter while the rider pedals. Cyclo handles much greater volumes of water, but Aqueduct's one advantage is that it can do its job on the move.
Both of these designs are in our - ahem - fantastic list of ten things you can do with a bicycle.
The plastic bottle makes yet another appearance as a water treatment device, this time as a simple filter that can remove sediment and even disease-causing microbes. Simply cut the bottom from the bottle, fill it with layers of gravel, sand cloth and charcoal, filter the water through it and hope for the best.
This design is also featured in our list of the best appropriate technology DIY plans
The chlorinator, shown here fully assembled
and broken down, attaches to a loop in the water pipe that feeds into
the community tank. Image courtesy of CTI
We saved the most obvious and probably the most reliable treatment method for last. Chlorine can work in the community water supply to kill microbes before it enters people's jerry cans or home water supplies. And it keeps the water safe from new contaminations long after it is added.
We've seen several interesting chlorination methods at work in resource-poor regions. Compatible Technology International developed this tested and proven device that chlorinates water in gravity-fed systems that fill a community water cistern. And these four experimental designs have worked in field tests to dose water accurately after people fill their buckets at a community well, stream or other source.
Resources
CTI's community water source chlorinator construction guide (pdf)
Related resources
Water filters, first Ghana, then the world
Ten things you can do with a bicycle
Ten things you can do with sunlight
Ten solar cookers that work at night
Ten low-tech ways to irrigate crops
Ten great emergency shelter designs
Friday, April 24, 2015
Friday, April 17, 2015
Wild Trees
There are a few easy solutions to our Global Warming Challenge.
This is one of them. We must not be tree-huggers, we must become tree lovers.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Utility Steals $4.7-Billion from Customers
You must see this special report by Amita Sharma of KPBS News.
I've loved Sorrentino's Pizza in Clairemont Mesa for 20 years, you must try them, they make the best pizza in San Diego. They are right next to the SDG&E "Energy Innovation Center" & Stellar Solar (perfect irony), but Sorrrentino's business is being ruined by high utility bills.
Now, KPBS reveals that former California Public Utilities Commmission (PUC) President, Michael R. Peevey, a former executive for Southern California Edison had secret meetings with the utility company (in Warsaw Poland!), and squashed investigations into the San Onofre Nuclear Power Station (SONGS) debacle.
Peevey met with Southern California Edison executive Stephen Pickett at the opulent Hotel Bristol in Warsaw, Poland. There, they discussed a framework for a settlement agreement on San Onofre.
Former San Diego City Attorney, Mike Aguirre, wanted to know just how did the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) reach a $4.7-Billion dollar settlement with such little public input. CPUC officials have had scores of private meetings and other contact with executives at Edison and minority owner San Diego Gas & Electric about San Onofre.
The Federal Oversight, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), says that Southern California Edison (SCE) never property licensed the defective generators, that caused the radiation leak and ultimately shut down SONGS. SCE's own contractor documents concerns about the design before the generators were installed. These PRIVATELY OWNED Utilities, like SCE and SDG&E, passed on their business costs for the $700-Million Generators to their customers without permission from the CPUC. Now, they are simply shifting the costs for their mistakes, and the premature decommissioning of our nuclear power plant, directly onto the rate-payers.
Rather than subtracting these business expenses out of their huge profit margins, investors in the utility corporations expect YOU, the rate-payers, to shoulder them. The California Public Utilities Commission had promised a probe into who was responsible for San Onofre’s defective equipment, but instead the secret back-room deals shifted the costs for their failure onto the utility customers.
Our Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs) are privately held MONOPOLIES, and those who own their stock, like SEMPRA Energy, are taking a very limited MARKET RISK. With guaranteed cost-plus profit margins, these publicly regulated businesses are shielded from free-market competition, but they should NOT be shielded from losses due to incompetence and malfeasance. In passing on the costs of their mistakes on to utility customers, rate-payers are bearing the burden that would otherwise come out of utility profits.
Those who control our energy utilities, are simply gaming the system to avoid accountability.
I've loved Sorrentino's Pizza in Clairemont Mesa for 20 years, you must try them, they make the best pizza in San Diego. They are right next to the SDG&E "Energy Innovation Center" & Stellar Solar (perfect irony), but Sorrrentino's business is being ruined by high utility bills. Now, KPBS reveals that former California Public Utilities Commmission (PUC) President, Michael R. Peevey, a former executive for Southern California Edison had secret meetings with the utility company (in Warsaw Poland!), and squashed investigations into the San Onofre Nuclear Power Station (SONGS) debacle.
Peevey met with Southern California Edison executive Stephen Pickett at the opulent Hotel Bristol in Warsaw, Poland. There, they discussed a framework for a settlement agreement on San Onofre.
"That Poland meeting only came to light this year, after state investigators found notes about San Onofre’s defective replacement steam generators on Hotel Bristol stationery during a search of Peevey’s home in January. PUC officials and utility executives are the target of federal and state probes for alleged inappropriate contact and possible influence peddling.
"Edison never reported the secret meeting to the PUC as required until after U-T San Diego published a story about the seized notes.
"The company explained the 23-month delay by characterizing the Poland conversation as an “update” on San Onofre that was “permissible and not reportable.” But the company goes on to say it now appears Pickett may have crossed into substantive communication."
Former San Diego City Attorney, Mike Aguirre, wanted to know just how did the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) reach a $4.7-Billion dollar settlement with such little public input. CPUC officials have had scores of private meetings and other contact with executives at Edison and minority owner San Diego Gas & Electric about San Onofre.
The Federal Oversight, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), says that Southern California Edison (SCE) never property licensed the defective generators, that caused the radiation leak and ultimately shut down SONGS. SCE's own contractor documents concerns about the design before the generators were installed. These PRIVATELY OWNED Utilities, like SCE and SDG&E, passed on their business costs for the $700-Million Generators to their customers without permission from the CPUC. Now, they are simply shifting the costs for their mistakes, and the premature decommissioning of our nuclear power plant, directly onto the rate-payers.
Rather than subtracting these business expenses out of their huge profit margins, investors in the utility corporations expect YOU, the rate-payers, to shoulder them. The California Public Utilities Commission had promised a probe into who was responsible for San Onofre’s defective equipment, but instead the secret back-room deals shifted the costs for their failure onto the utility customers.
Our Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs) are privately held MONOPOLIES, and those who own their stock, like SEMPRA Energy, are taking a very limited MARKET RISK. With guaranteed cost-plus profit margins, these publicly regulated businesses are shielded from free-market competition, but they should NOT be shielded from losses due to incompetence and malfeasance. In passing on the costs of their mistakes on to utility customers, rate-payers are bearing the burden that would otherwise come out of utility profits.
Those who control our energy utilities, are simply gaming the system to avoid accountability.
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Green Scene; Dr. Richard Somerville, Action on Climate Science
DR. Richard Somerville
"What does a climate scientist think we should do about climate change?"
Event Summary:
Join us for this SPECIAL EVENT to hear from renowned climate scientist Dr. Somerville!
Dr. Richard Somerville has a lifetime of research and peer relationships to share with us on this Special Evening. Register now to hear his unique perspective on the challenge of Climate Change and what needs to be done to alter our course.
Event Detail:
Dr. Richard Somerville, sits on the Science and Security Boardof The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists which recently moved the "Doomsday Clock" to 3 minutes to midnight.
He worked on the Forth UN Inter-government Panel on Climate Change, (IPCC) Assessment which won the organization theNobel Peace Prize for their work on Climate Change Science. This 2007 Nobel Prize was shared equally by the IPCC and Vice-President Al Gore.
Climate science is robust and tells us that the world is on a path to dire consequences. Can citizens, businesses and governments generate the will, both politically and economically, to act on this issue before it is too late?
Special Guest:
Dr. Richard Somerville
Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Research Professor
Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of California, San Diego.
Richard C. J. Somerville Climate Scientist Professor, Researcher, Author, Speaker, Consultant Richard Somerville is Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Research Professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, U.S.A. He is a theoretical meteorologist and an expert on computer simulations of the atmosphere. He received a B.S. in meteorology from Pennsylvania State University in 1961 and a Ph. D. in meteorology from New York University in 1966. He has been a professor at Scripps since 1979. His research is focused on critical physical processes in the climate system, especially the role of clouds and the important feed backs that can occur as clouds change with a changing climate. Somerville is an authority on the prospects for climate change in coming decades. He is an author, co-author or editor of more than 200 scientific publications. His broader interests include all aspects of climate, including climate science outreach and the interface between science and public policy. He was an organizer and signer of the Bali Climate Declaration by Scientists, in which more than 200 climate scientists from more than 20 countries urged climate change negotiators to agree on large and rapid reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions.
He is also a co-author of The Copenhagen Diagnosis, a report by 26 climate science experts from 8 countries, summarizing important new research results. Somerville comments frequently on climate and environmental issues for the media. He has also trained schoolteachers, testified before the United States Congress, briefed United Nations climate change negotiators, and advised government agencies on research, education and outreach. He has received awards from the American Meteorological Society for both his research and his popular book,"The Forgiving Air: Understanding Environmental Change," a new edition of which was published in 2008. Among many honors, he is a Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Meteorological Society. More information here
http://richardsomerville.com.
Recorded on Tuesday, March 24, 2015
@SIMCenter http://www.wrsc.org
1088 Third St., San Diego, CA 92101
Venue available for rent - (619) 234-1088
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Friday, February 20, 2015
From GIZMODO - Scatter, Survive, Adapt
A Guide to the Most Destructive Events in the History of Earth
If you want some epic disaster tales this evening, you can watch this How Stuff Works podcastabout possible causes of the five mass extinctions that nearly extinguished all life on Earth. After that cheerful topic, I also talk about why scientists believe we're heading into a sixth mass extinction.
I've been obsessed with mass extinction for some time, and even wrote a book about it a couple years ago. What I'm discussing here are some of my favorite scientific hypotheses (sorry — I called them theories, but I meant hypotheses!) about what caused horrific mass extinctions in deep geological history. Understanding these previous events allows us to make judgements about whether we're in another mass extinction period right now. More importantly, it helps us figure out how we might stop the extinctions before they reach the epic levels required to qualify for a mass extinction.
Monday, February 16, 2015
SEMPRA, THE F.B.I., and AZANO by VOSD
Voice of San Diego's reporter, Liam Dillon, has a new three part report on the FBI investigation into SEMPRA Energy and there questionable business practices in Mexico. SEMPRA has successfully used the Federal Government to harass their Mexican competitors.
On KPBS.org Friday Roundtable they talked about this SEMPRA Scandal and the strange narrative that includes so much of the back-room dealing within the San Diego/Tia Juana region. This is the ghost of the secret power struggles behind your energy utility and politicians.
As reported on KPBS
Voice of San Diego investigates SEMPRA and AZANO
The Politician that Gave SEMPRA Mexico
VOSD's Report on the Mexican Businessman describes
José Susumo Azano Matsura as a Goliath;
heir to a Mexican development empire, defense contractor,
high roller and political wheeler-dealer.
All this is part of
Sempra’s Shady Road to Dominance in Mexico
Liam Dillon |
It began in late 2011 with District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis. She was running for San Diego mayor and Azano invited her to one of his Coronado homes for lunch. Dumanis would only be the first.
A few months later, Azano met with Dumanis and San Diego Sheriff Bill Gore in Gore’s downtown office. That summer Azano hosted a lunch for then-mayoral candidate Bob Filner. In September, hedined at a downtown restaurant with then-congressional candidate Juan Vargas. Prosecutors say Azano gave more than $600,000 to campaigns backing Dumanis, Vargas and Filner between December 2011 and November 2012.
In the end, it wasn’t the investigations into drug trafficking or money laundering that took Azano down. And it wasn’t the claims of bribery or extortion or tax evasion. After six years of warfare with one of San Diego’s most powerful companies, Azano was arrested and charged with making a campaign contribution that was publicly disclosed and available for anyone in the world to see.
Read the 5 take-aways from this VOSD story
Here are links to all the stories in A Cross-Border Clash of the Titans and a timeline that lays out the whole tale:
Part II Sidebar: The Politician Who Gave Sempra Mexico
Part III: The Fall of José Susumo Azano Matsura
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Sunday, January 18, 2015
Whitehouse schools Inhofe on climate change
In the future, this record will be embarrassing for someone.
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Ten Ideas For How We Can Save the Planet
From Bill Moyers and Co.
May 16, 2014 | Updated July 31, 2014This post first appeared on BillMoyers.com.
Report after report tells us our planet is in trouble. Most recently, two teams of researchers concluded that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet's gradual collapse due to global warming has become unstoppable; as a result, sea levels will rise by feet, not inches, in the centuries to come. This is just one of the many frightening effects of climate change.
Yet Americans remain unfazed. Only 40 percent of us are concerned, a Gallup poll recently found. Twenty-five percent remain global warming skeptics. Legislative attempts at climate action are inevitably derailed, and political hopefuls increasingly play the science denial card to win support.
So what can we do?
We reached out to a handful of scientists, policy experts, writers and activists to ask: "If you could require America to do just one thing -- any one thing -- to combat climate change this year, what would it be?" Here's what they said:
Change How We Eat
I want Americans -- and others -- to eat less meat. As more and more people worldwide eat more and more meat, vast areas of forest are cleared to grow grain to feed livestock. Ever-growing herds of cattle and goats destroy more areas of forest. Destruction of forests releases CO2 from trees and forest soils -- and leaves fewer forests worldwide to absorb atmospheric CO2. Large amounts of methane are released (especially by cows in the form of farts and belches). Gallons of fossil fuels are used to transport and prepare feed, to transport livestock from factory farms to slaughter and meat to the market.
Remember the Space Race
Faced with the magnitude and seriousness of global warming, and the tremendous opportunities in addressing it, we need the kind of leadership America is known for. We need an all-out effort as great as or greater than the determination to pull ahead of the Soviet Union in the Space Race. The America that set me on my path would never deny the reality of a scientifically proven problem, or claim nothing can be done about it or that meeting the challenge will destroy the economy. By committing to seek solutions, we will reap benefits — expected and unexpected. It's time to revive the American know-how and gung-ho enthusiasm that has long characterized this great nation.
Do What You Uniquely Can Do
People ask, what can I do? My answer is that people should address the threat of climate change in ways that best fit their personal interests and capabilities. Students can learn, and teachers can teach. Citizens can inform themselves. Engineers can develop low-carbon technologies. Politicians can confront the realities and speak the truth. Media can avoid meaningless balancing of good and bad arguments. As an economist, I can explain why carbon pricing (such as through carbon taxes) is the most effective mechanism to reduce emissions. There is much to do, for everyone.
Take Action in Your Communities
If I could require Americans to do one thing, it is to get active! Already millions know and are concerned about climate change, now we need to move that passive concern into action. That action could take many forms depending on each person’s skills and interests: shut down coal-fired power plants, get your university to divest from fossil fuels and invest in a clean energy economy, encourage companies and state and local governments to switch to renewable energy, demand leadership from our elected officials. It doesn’t matter so much which thing we do, as long as we all do something.
Pass a Carbon Tax to Fund Next-Gen Research
If I could be a czar for a day (or a few days!) I would direct substantial federal resources toward research and development in a) next generation passively safe, modular nuclear fission reactors, and b) carbon capture and sequestration technology. I would implement a carbon tax to fund these ventures and otherwise encourage migration away from fossil fuels. At the same, I would force all industries to pay for their externalities; for example, the coal industry would be required pay for the health problems and premature mortality that arise from dumping waste into the atmosphere and waterways. I would provide strong incentives for producing more energy-efficient vehicles and buildings and for developing more efficient and effective renewable energy sources. Finally, I would start a movement to amend the Constitution to make it illegal to influence (whether by voting or through money) elections outside one's own district.
Follow in the Footsteps of Martin Luther King Jr.
Throughout history, when people have faced the greatest injustices, from apartheid to slavery, positive social change has happened as the result of peaceful civil disobedience. We are at the point in the struggle to save the climate where we must put our lives on the line. I would encourage Americans to follow in the footsteps of Martin Luther King Jr. and take peaceful action to stop the burning of fossil fuels and the collusion of our governments with industry interests, joining in the great worldwide tradition of civil disobedience. When we stand up together we can make the greatest change.
Treat It Like It's World War III
I'd put a serious price on carbon, and send the proceeds back to every American every month; and I'd push for renewable energy as if it was the start of World War II and we needed tanks and fighter jets. But these obvious steps won't happen until we break the power of the fossil fuel industry, so what I'd really do is ask everyone to come join us in the streets of New York on September 20.
Stop Letting Corporations Rule
This is the one thing I would ask of the USA: Stop promoting corporate rule and corporate greed. Stop giving corporations personhood.
Ban Fracking
Thanks to the heat-trapping gases already stashed in our atmosphere from two centuries of fossil fuel dependency, we are rapidly approaching the last-straw-breaks-the-camel’s-back moment in the story of climate change. To stabilize the situation, we need to control methane. The best science shows us that methane is more than 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat over the short term -- the only timeframe now left to us. Thus, to sidestep disaster, my single act would be to declare a ban on fracking and redirect toward renewable energy projects all the capital investment now invested in blowing up our nation’s bedrock to extract the vaporous, inherently leaky, climate-killing fossil fuel called natural gas -- which is the leading source of methane emissions in the United States. Cement well casings leak, crack, age, shrink and crumble over time. Each gas well is a methane chimney that can never be completely turned off. Stop drilling, baby.
Clean up Polluting Power Plants
Climate change is already taking a toll on human health and safety. And the most vulnerable among us -- poor folks, people of color and kids -- are hit first and worst. We have a chance right now to make a huge dent in the pollution that causes climate change. The Environmental Protection Agency is considering safeguards that would, for the first time, set limits on how much carbon power companies can spew into our shared air. Outdated, dirty power plants would be required to use technology to cut their pollution -- or switch to cleaner, more modern forms of energy. Oil and coal companies have gotten away with poisoning our air and water for too long. They’ve been raking in billions in profit, leaving the rest of us to shoulder the costs -- from asthma treatments and hospital visits to disaster response. It’s time for them to take responsibility for the harm they’re causing our communities. It’s a simple choice: We can protect polluter profits, or the health and safety of our kids and grandkids.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)