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Labor Unions Celebrate Earth Week

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

The Apollo Alliance, a coalition of labor, business, environmental, and community leaders are working to jump-start a clean energy revolution. They know that it will produce millions of jobs and help the economy. Apollo Alliance claims the Apollo Space program as its inspiration to “promote investments in energy efficiency, clean power, mass transit, next-generation vehicles, and emerging technology, as well as in education and training. Working together, we will reduce carbon emissions and oil imports, spur domestic job growth, and position America to thrive in the 21st century economy.”

That’s a real “we can” attitude. Among Apollo Alliance’s partners “focused on generating green collar jobs” are the nation’s union halls. The union program is called Earth Week in the Union Halls. It launched Saturday, April 18th with the goal of creating support from unions on a national level for clean energy investments and green collar job training.

The weeklong event of the participating 70 union halls nationwide will host the movie “The Greening of Southie” that I blogged about recently with video of the trailer. The DVD documents the trials of renovating an old Boston building into a green Boston building by union construction crews.

The Apollo Alliance website has quite a long article titled “How to Find a Green Job” that states:

The New Apollo Program is a comprehensive economic investment strategy to build America’s 21st century clean energy economy and dramatically cut energy bills for families and businesses. It will generate and invest $500 billion over the next ten years and create more than five million high quality green-collar jobs. It will accelerate the development of the nation’s vast clean energy resources and move us toward energy security, climate stability, and economic prosperity. And it will transform America into the global leader of the new green economy.

I’m impressed. And I know there are at least two big-time alliances like Apollo working toward the same goal. The article goes on to say that Americans are at a crossroads. Do we keep going with our outdated fossil fuel ideas that will ultimately come to an end some time in the future while putting us at greater and greater risk for severe climate conditions, or do we seize this time as an opportunity for change for the better. We will be healthier as a result of the earth becoming a healthier place. It’s really up to us.

We’re not doing so well now anyway. People are looking for new jobs and are willing to relocate. Many have little to nothing left because of the economic crunch while others have been victims of devastation from increasingly violent weather conditions already. Still others are looking ahead for their children’s health and well-being. What better time to change? And that’s what America decided in the last election. We just need to move forward and keep moving forward—no looking back.

The Apollo article and website might be helpful for many. There is much more to read at:

http://www.apolloalliance.org/index.php?s=ervin

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Posted in Conservation, Earth, Energy Infrastructure, Environment and Jobs, Environmental Capital, Environmentalism, Financial, Funding for Green Business, Global Warming, Green Construction, Green Investments, Green Products, Industry, Methods for Lowering Energy Costs, Organizations, Weather/Climate | No Comments »

Where to Find Out About Green Jobs and Green Training

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

 

 

While there is a plethora of organizations springing up to advocate a green economy  in the U.S., many of us still don’t know where to start as far as what types of jobs will be available and how to train for them. Here are three such organizations that offer a beginning:

 

  • Green For All
  •      http://www.greenforall.org/about-us/our-mission
  • The Apollo Alliance
  •      http://apolloalliance.org/about/mission/
  • The Blue Green Alliance   
  •      http://www.bluegreenalliance.org/site/

 

I also caught a segment on Good Morning America today that interviewed Curt Ellis.  He is producer of a 72 minute documentary called “The Greening of Southie” about the task of converting an old building in South Boston, the Macallen Building, into a revolutionary Green Building and the men and women who overcame all types of setbacks to bring it to fruition. Some of those setbacks were Boston’s construction workers. The lead-in to the video states: “The Greening of Southie is a story of bold ideas, unlikely environmentalists, and the future of the way we live.”

 

View trailer of the documentary on You Tube:

 

 

Mr. Ellis offered more advice about where to find training for green jobs and said that community colleges all over the country already offer this type of training. It might be advantageous to start there. With only two years full-time study for an Associate’s Degree, it just may be the quickest route to getting a good green job as they become available. I assume that those that are in line and ready first for those jobs will more than likely advance in the green industry quicker. This means you would not only have the educational background but experience also, so as more green jobs come about, you would more than likely be management material and that means bigger salaries.

 

I believe that the green movement will happen whether the fossilized thinkers want it to or not because Mother Nature’s rebellion (global warming) is advancing. The intelligent thing to do for a good future is to step up and be the first in line for a brand new emerging economy. I know one 30-year-old mother of twins who recently got her Bachelors in Business online, graduated in May, and is already part of the management team for a large recycling organization in Washington state. The slackers that keep up the protests and rhetoric against environmentalism will ultimately be those in the unemployment lines of the future. Don’t be one of them.

 

Posted in Alternative Energy, Environment and Jobs, Environmentalism, Funding for Green Business, Green Construction | No Comments »

Build Your Own Wind Turbine

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

I was watching Planet Green’s “Renovation Nation” and one couple ordered a wind turbine kit delivered to their home. Mind you it looked to be 20 ft tall once it was up. The 3 blades looked different also. They were curved, resembling a quarter moon shape. It was delivered in parts on a flatbed. You assemble it then lift it via cable attached to the flatbed somehow. The owner said he only had to move 10 ft. and the turbine popped right up. Wind generators are measured by rotation speed and typical rotation speeds are 5-20 rpm. His was operating at 10 rpm but 12 rpm was optimal. This particular turbine could supply 100% of the home’s power. That’s quite a step up from turbines of the past. The only major drawback, it cost $10,000 dollars.

Well I wanted to see just what was out there now in wind turbine sales and ran across a build-it-yourself website complete with videos, what parts you will need, what tools, etc. You’ve got to see this for yourself. All I’ve got to say is that there are some pretty enterprising people out there.

http://www.thekevdog.com/projects/wind_generator/

Posted in Alternative Energy, Environmentalism, Green Construction, Green Products, Wind Power | No Comments »

Wind Energy Overloading Archaic U.S. Grids

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

 

 

Our power grids are basically a century old and have not been upgraded in decades. They are a hodge podge of lines connected to grids. As an article on ENN stated they pretty much “prop each other up,” winding across the country in a tangle.

 

Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico, and Energy Secy., under president Clinton, how-long-ago-was-that, has called our grids “Third World.” Of course little to nothing has been done administration to administration to upgrade U.S. infrastructure. Certainly not in the past 8 years, even though $50 billion was spent to rebuild Iraq.  And now that we want to move forward and are capable of producing alternative energy from wind and solar, we simply do not have the grids/lines to accommodate that additional power.

 

This may pose a problem for our auto industry that plans to proceed with plug in cars. I thought our auto companies conferred with utility companies as to whether the grids could handle the additional use?

 

And I think we have the answer as to why the U.S. needs to spend money on infrastructure at this time. We CANNOT move ahead with alternative energy without rebuilding/upgrading our grids to move more power through more lines. The new lines are needed from remote areas where wind turbines are best situated to urban centers where the most power is needed.

 

The problem as the ENN article stated, we “have about 200,000 miles of power lines divided among 500 owners.” Upgrades involve multiple states, multiple companies, and tons of permits. There is no easy answer in this situation. It seems states have “[] little incentive to push improvements that would benefit neighboring states.” And “in most states, rules used by public service commissions to evaluate transmission investments discourage multistate projects of this sort. In some states with low electric rates, elected officials fear that new lines will simply export their cheap power and drive rates up.”

 

Sometimes we have to wonder if the states are all that united. The federal government is going to have to step up and create unity out of this mess, which is going to be yet another massive argument of states rights vs. federal government, private industry vs. the fed. gov’t., and citizens vs. everyone over land rights and easements for new lines.

 

I think the best thing to do would be change what energy has the right of way in the grid. For instance: New York’s Maple Ridge Wind Farm is the example in this article that produced enough energy to congest the lines so that they had to shut down or PAY FEES FOR THE PRIVILEGE OF CONTINUING TO PUMP POWER INTO THE LINES. Whaaaaat???

 

That’s the problem right there. A big majority of Americans want alternative energy. So alternative energy should have the right of way in those lines. The preference should not be fossil fuel produced electricity over clean, cheap wind or solar power. This small change would make a hill of beans difference I think. Charge the polluting sources with fees for usage after wind and solar. Reduce the fossil fuel supplied electricity during peak hours that the wind or solar farms are running energy through the lines.  

 

This looks like another case of “They’re just not getting it,” which is really about not wanting to get it.

 

http://www.enn.com/energy/article/38057

Posted in Alternative Energy, CO2 Emissions, Conservation, Energy Infrastructure, Environment and Jobs, Environmental Legislation, Environmentalism, Federal Government, Fossil Fuel, Green Construction, Legislators, Solar Energy, U.S. Dept. of Energy, Utilities, Wind Power | No Comments »

More Coalburners Possible for Michigan

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

 

With Michigan’s economy in the dumper and deficits rising, it’s hard for many to stick to a green path in Michigan. Construction of two new coalburners by Wolverine Power Supply and Consumers Energy are planned that will bring work there for a while.

 

But how do we think this will fair alongside new green industry Michigan is looking to entice to our area? We can’t expect green companies to park themselves next to one of the greatest pollution producing industries—coal. It would make for strange neighbors.

 

And what about our health in Michigan? If we expect to horde our water to keep it here, than we have the responsibility to keep that water fresh. Exposing more of our open fresh water to toxic mercury from these plants is unacceptable. Besides that our own health from the air born toxins are in jeopardy. The following is an excerpt from those in Michigan’s medical profession:

As medical doctors conducting health research at Michigan State University and the University of Michigan respectively, we feel compelled to warn that construction of these plants would gravely impair Michigan’s air quality and expose our communities to severe, even lethal, health impacts.

Coal plants release at least 70 different pollutants, including nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, particulate matter and mercury. These pollutants are known carcinogens, teratogens, neurotoxins, and/or cardiopulmonary irritants.

And we wonder why there are so many new cases of autoimmune disease and cancer? This isn’t just about jobs, this is about our health and welfare, which is supported by our environment, the air we breathe, water and food we drink and eat. There are so many more pollutants and toxins in our environment than our ancestors experienced that our bodies are overworked daily. So when we face something as simple as allergies our immune response is flooded. Just yesterday a friend called me to say that another dear friend died of problems arising from his immune system.

 

As Americans we have a tendency to seek instant gratification, only that can sometimes lead to acting without foresight and create more drastic problems down the road. We can’t wait to get jobs in Michigan and are quick to overlook the ramifications of adding more pollution to our state with these coalburners without really, really attempting to facilitate other sources. We gets jobs, get a paycheck for building coal fired power plants, but down the line we suffer grief and lose that income and more to illness. It isn’t worth it.

 

We have a new president on the way with new economic ideas that are environmentally friendly. It looks like this push to start construction on these coalburners is a rush to get by before the new president takes office. And when everyone finds that there are many, many jobs waiting in green industry also, that we have a choice of work, and alternatives for energy, there won’t be much of a long-term future for the archaic fossil fuel industry will there? That’s motive for the fossil fuel energy companies that isn’t in the best interest of the people in this state. The more we manage to forge ahead into green technology, the greater the strides we will make toward some pretty remarkable energy sources that won’t infringe on the environment and ultimately on our own well being.

 

Contact Governor Granholm that you want a stay on these permits for now: http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-21995—,00.html

 

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009901070332

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009901070345

 

Posted in Alternative Energy, CO2 Emissions, Coal, Coalburners, Environment and Jobs, Environmentalism, Fossil Fuel, Global Warming, Great Lakes Pollution, Green Construction, Industry, Mercury, Michigan, Michigan Energy Legislation, Michigan Environmental News, Michigan Environmental Policy, Michigan Pollution, Michigan/Great Lakes, Protesting Pollution, The Detroit Free Press, Utilities | 4 Comments »

2008 the Year of Natural Disasters

Thursday, January 1st, 2009

 

Last year was one of the worst years on record for climate related natural disasters according to (ENS) Environmental News Service. Costs associated with damage were 200 billion dollars and thousands of lives as well.

We’re into a new year with a new president. The ENS article stated: “At the annual UN climate conference set for Copenhagen in December 2009, governments are expected to agree on a treaty to limit climate warming greenhouse gas emissions to follow the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.”

Hopefully, the U.S. will see its way to joining the rest of the world in a combined effort toward climate neutrality, which is “living in a way which produces no net greenhouse gas emissions, achievable by reducing emissions, and using carbon offsets to neutralize the remaining emissions.”

 

We CAN do this.

 

Read the whole article: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2008/2008-12-31-03.asp

 

Posted in Alternative Energy Sources, CO2 Emissions, Conservation, Countries/Continents, Environment and Jobs, Environmentalism, Global Warming, Global Warming Policy, Green Construction, Green Products, Politics, Pollution, Weather/Climate | No Comments »

A Rise in Road Roundabouts

Monday, December 1st, 2008

There was a lot more car traffic this Thanksgiving than usual. People opted to either drive to their destination or simply stay home. On the news I saw some of the awful traffic backups around the country. It made me wonder about using roundabouts more because they not only relieve traffic congestion, but save gas, and idle time, which conserves on the amount of emissions in the air.

Roundabouts are used in place of an intersection where cars enter a circle until they exit onto another street. Because there is no stopping there is less gas used to accelerate, and/or idle. Everyone moves along at a steady pace.

Michigan is in the process of redoing many of their roadways. We should be seeing more roundabouts. A new single lane roundabout in Northville was completed earlier this year, one of 17 roundabouts in Southeast Michigan. Ann Arbor may soon see a roundabout at US-23 and Geddes Rd.

Roundabouts in other areas of the country like Carmel, Indiana have reported a “78% drop in accidents involving injuries, not to mention a savings of some 24,000 gal. of gas per year per roundabout because of less car idling.” According to a Time Magazine article called “You Want a Revolution,” Carmel’s mayor Jim Brainard received a climate-protection award this year from the U.S. conference of Mayors. Brainard thinks, “As our population densities become more like Europe’s, roundabouts will become more popular.”

That same article stated that the U.S. has about 1000 roundabouts in 25 states. With a lot of U.S. roads getting a makeover, it seems that roundabouts should be a no brainer.
The only problem is the fear of change many drivers feel. Anybody that has encountered a multiple lane roundabout like those in Boston knows the fear I’m talking about.

A single lane roundabout isn’t too bad, but more than one lane and “Oh Boy!” I got into a multiple lane roundabout on Hilton Head Island, SC and past the street I was trying to exit onto more than once. So there is a knack for navigating a sophisticated roundabout.

But there is an up side for “roundabout fears.” A report claimed that because the roundabout is a fairly new concept in the U.S. and a little confusing, the trepidation at entering one actually slows drivers down, and calls for a more alert approach to navigation, certainly a good thing. No wonder there are less accidents. It’s also very hard to enter a circle and get out of that circle while talking on a cell phone. But I bet we see drivers try to do it anyway.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1838753,00.html

http://www.mlive.com/annarbornews/news/index.ssf/2008/11/traffic_roundabouts_planned_at.html

http://sustainablemanitowoc.blogspot.com/2008/09/roundabouts-help-save-drivers-time-and.html

Posted in CO2 Emissions, Conservation, Fuel Economy, Green Construction, Holidays, Methods for Lowering Energy Costs, Michigan/Great Lakes | No Comments »

Green Cuisine Plant

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

 

I recently watched Planet Green’s presentation about Contessa Foods developing a green frozen food manufacturing plant. It’s the only such plant awarded a LEED award by the US Green Building Council. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design or LEED is a third party certification program and nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings.

 

This plant was designed to conserve as much as possible and as a result, Contessa Foods cut both their energy consumption and related emissions by 50% within one year. 

 

Now if Contessa can do this within a year, why can’t everyone figure out ways to really lower their consumption of energy? It is the easiest and most prudent thing to do right now. We have high gas prices and want to drill yet we’ve hardly scratched the surface at conservation. Speed limits haven’t been lowered, people haven’t even been told to stop running outdoor lights. We did these things without a whole lot of griping in the 70’s, but now we have the audacity to just demand more without cutting back first. Remember the years no one had Christmas lights around their houses? You were the bad guy if you put them up.

 

Contessa Foods is a good guy. According to Contessa’s CEO, John Z. Bazevich,  “Until now, the USGBC has never LEED-certified a frozen-food manufacturing facility. As a leader in our industry, we didn’t wait for environmental standards to be established. Instead, we collaborated with LEED and decided to raise the bar for the entire industry and to do the right thing for the long-term sustainability of our environment.” Attaboy!

 

Imagine if all manufacturing had that attitude? Think of the money they could save too.

Contessa stands out in 5 areas of the LEED rating system with:

 

  • A solar-power array that reduces carbon dioxide emissions by more than 730,000 pounds each year, producing an effect similar to conserving 276 acres of pine forest – roughly the size of 209 football fields, including end zones – each year.
  • A heat-recovery system that captures waste heat from the refrigeration system and redirects it to preheat water for the plant’s boilers.
  • Variable frequency drives that adjust the amount of power supplied to motors at specific times or under specific conditions to minimize energy use.
  • An innovative loading dock that prevents the loss of refrigerated air, reducing temperature fluctuation – and energy use – in the loading dock area.

 

What I saw on TV was an impeccably clean plant where all the rooms within are distinctly cut off from the others, the idea being to keep heat with heat and cold with cold.

 

Their motto at Contessa: “Reduce, Redirect, and Reuse. It’s a good model to follow for sure.

 

Read more about what Contessa accomplished:

http://myseafoodshow08.bdmetrics.com/portal/ViewPressRelease.aspx?id=35922&cid=4217488

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Conservation, Energy, Environmentalism, Food, Green Construction, Methods for Lowering Energy Costs, Solar Energy | No Comments »

Watch Planet Green

Saturday, June 14th, 2008

Watch Planet Green on the Discovery Home Channel. There are a lot of myth busters on the show. You know myths that solar power is not a viable source of energy  in cloudy areas. Wellllll, in cloudy, rainy Seattle a couple just built a home using solar collector tubes to heat their water. It’s so simple an idea you wanna smack yourself in the forehead like a V8 commercial.

The tubes are made of glass that contain parallel rows of smaller glass tubes along which are metal fins. There is no air inside so that the fins do not corrode easily and the tubes last a long time. The fins heat up and in this case in Seattle on a rainy/cloudy day of less than 60 degrees, the heat inside the tube almost doubles to 113 degrees in minutes. The water flowing through these pipes is indeed hot!

The other night there was featured a 7,000 sq. ft. home in a colder state like S. Dakota, Montana, etc. The homeowner used solar panels that cost him $34,000, but provided 90% of the energy to his home even in the winter. The trick is to incline the panels enough so that the snow slides off, the same principle as a roof. In this case a foot of snow slid off the panels in short time after the sun came up.  

The price  of solar panels is not all that staggering, and what a return on investment, as well as a tax write-off. I rounded the $34,000 up to $35,000 and divided by the 7,000 sq. ft. equals $5.00 per sq. ft.

That’s pretty good if a person has a large, large gas/electric bill every month. I do not. So the $7500 investment won’t pay for itself as far as utility savings for me for a long time, but as a resale feature, and with the tax write-off, I might be able to recoup all of that investment at once. There are a lot of different angles to look at. Of course the conservation and environmental issues are always important. To be free of the grid is a very good thing.

This is a very cool channel to watch where we can actually see the opposite of what we thought was the truth. There are all sorts of solutions out there that aren’t that expensive like soft beautiful carpeting made of recycled plastic bottles, that does not stain, and is cheaper. Once you’re done with it, it gets recycled again. I wonder if it would deter fleas too?

Soon to come on this channel, Leonardo DiCaprio will host a series, which will detail the making of a model green community called “Greensburg” I believe. There are, however, community models for solar power somewhere near Southern California that are not only off the grid, but generate excess solar power.

What I can’t figure out is if there are communities baked by the sun that can generate a massive amount of excess power, why can’t we just realign our power source centers in these areas to supply enough power everywhere? Because it seems that of the homes and/or communities I read about as solar powered experiments there is always have an excess of power.  Islands habitats share both an abundance of sun and wind. Islands should be looking to immediately get off the grid via solar and wind power. I know Hawaii has passed legislation requiring all new homes have solar powered water heating systems, and they’ve had wind fields for quite a long time.

Check out the Discovery Home/Plant Green Channel. If you don’t get that subscription channel then goto: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/.

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Posted in Alternative Energy Sources, Conservation, Discovery Channel, Environmentalism, Green Construction, Green Products, Solar Energy, Wind Power | 2 Comments »

Ford earns reward for its Fairlane Green Project, largest U.S. retail development built on a landfill.

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008

 

It’s also the largest landfill redevelopment in the state of Michigan situated over the former Allen Park Clay Mine Landfill. Ford turned this Brownfield project into something green, really green. According to a World-Wire article:

The development not only reuses the landfill property, it preserves more land than it develops. In all, nearly two-thirds of the site will be natural green space, including prairie fields, ponds, trails and a future 43-acre park surrounding one million square feet of shops and restaurants.

Furthermore, the buildings on the site feature the latest in green design and construction. Fairlane Green Phase I is the first multi-tenant retail development to earn gold-level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
Environmental characteristics include high efficiency, CFC-free heating and cooling equipment, white reflective roofing, low-emitting materials, water-efficient plumbing fixtures, recycled and locally sourced building materials, windows and skylights, and a cistern to capture and re-use rain water.
More visible examples of the site’s environmental mission include large prairie fields and extensive native landscaping in parking lots, entryways, along store fronts and up the sides of buildings. Native plants require less irrigation and fertilizer while providing wildlife habitat. Additionally, rock gardens and landscaped swales cleanse and slow the flow of stormwater, which is captured in several large ponds.

Fairlane Green’s wide paved trails wind through prairies, along the ponds and through the mature woods bordering the site. Plans for the 43-acre park are underway and may include sledding, playscapes and nature study.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted in Conservation, Environmentalism, Ford, Green Construction, Green Products, Landfills, Michigan Environmental News, Michigan/Great Lakes | 2 Comments »

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