Alternate Energy Blog

As millions of gallons of leaked oil swirl around the Gulf of Mexico and enter Louisiana’s delicate coastal wetlands, several bills that would help Louisiana harness more energy from renewable sources are winding through the state Legislature.

For the second year, hundreds of wind turbines have been built in rural Indiana, placing the state among the fastest growing in the renewable power industry.

BP blames Halliburton. Halliburton blames Transocean. Transocean blames BP. Lots of blame going around.

A local man who sells photovoltaic solar systems wants people to know Public Service Company of New Mexico may change its policy regarding how customers are credited for solar power they put into the grid.

Giving keen interest in bike-sharing, the world financial giant Barclays Bank buys the naming rights to London’s pending “Cycle Hire.” According to the London Evening Standard, for £25 million ($36.4 million USD) every one of the 6,000 bikes will carry six Barclay Bank logos. The Bank is so keen on bike-sharing that it wants to add more stations to the planned 400 as to service its banking headquarters in East London. The selling of the naming rights gives a big return on London’s investment in bike-sharing even before the system begins operating. Barclays Cycle Hire starts on July 30, 2010. This is a very good development for funding large systems throughout the world.

Menomonee Falls ,A Wis. Kohla s Department Stores received the Gregg Cooke Visionary Program Award at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencya s Clean Air Excellence Awards Program ceremony held Wednesday night in Washington, D.C. The award recognizes Kohla s for environmental excellence in multiple Clean Air Excellence Award Program categories, …

” Weeks after the San Miguel Power Association announced that the electric cooperative has signed an agreement with SunEdison to develop a two megawatt solar photovoltaic power plant, a SunEdison representative told the Ouray Board of County Commissioners on Monday that the company is looking for sites in Ouray County to expand SMPA’s solar energy …

As the summer driving season approaches and summer gas prices are projected to average $3 a gallon, AutoMD.com, the most comprehensive and unbiased free online auto repair resource, has released its Top Fives for Fuel-Efficient Summer Drives, a series of ‘Top Five’ things that any car owner can do to make his/her summer driving more fuel efficient. The tips include Top Five Easiest Mechanical Fixes and Top Five Driving Habit Changes, as well as some tips for dedicated DIYers and those who are willing to go the extra mile to make their engine sip rather than guzzle.

“With gas prices at $3 this summer, and the oil spill in the gulf creating more uncertainty just as the summer driving season starts, AutoMD.com has released its Top Fives for Fuel-efficient Summer Drives to help every car owner save money at the gas pump – while also reducing emissions,” said AutoMD.com President Shane Evangelist. “Converting your engine to a plug-in or driving on vegetable oil is not for everyone – and, whether it is tightening the gas cap, easing up on that lead foot or removing a ski rack, our team of mechanics has provided a series of simple, tried and true tips to help anyone start driving more cost-efficiently!”

AutoMD.com’s Top Fives for Summer Drives

Top Five Easiest Mechanical Fixes for a Fuel Efficient Summer Drive

1. Replace/Tighten Your Gas Cap—Fuel evaporates through gas caps with broken or weak seals, potentially reducing your efficiency by 2 percent, polluting the air and allowing contaminants and dirt into your fuel. Click here for Guide on How to Replace a Fuel Tank Cap

2. Inflate/Change Your Tires —Tires that are not properly inflated have a higher rolling resistance, which reduces efficiency. By keeping your tires inflated to the proper pressure, you can improve your gas mileage by up to 3.3 percent. By replacing your tires with efficient ‘low rolling resistance’ tires, individual vehicles could save up to 6 percent of gasoline use. Click here for Guide on How to Check Tire Pressure

3. Change Your Oil—By using only energy conserving or synthetic motor oil, you can reduce engine friction, improving efficiency by 1 – 2 percent. Click here for Guide on How to Change your Oil

4. Replace Spark Plugs—Misfiring spark plugs can reduce fuel efficiency by as much as 30 percent, or $.75/gallon. Replacing them improves combustion and reduces emissions. Click here for Guide on How to Replace Spark Plugs

5. Replace the Engine Air Filter – Replacing a clogged air filter on an older car with a carbureted engine may improve fuel economy 2 to 6 percent under normal replacement conditions, or up to 14 percent if the filter is so clogged that it significantly affects drivability. Click here for Guide on How to Replace an Air Filter

Top Five Habits-to-Change for a Fuel Efficient Summer Drive

1. Cruise, Don’t Speed –Each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an additional $0.24 per gallon for gas. Take advantage of cruise control to smooth out your throttling and keep your speed steady and fuel-efficient (but only on flat terrain – if you are driving hills, skip the cruise control and keep the speed down).

2. Lighten the Lead Foot – Rapid acceleration and braking can increase fuel burn by as much as 40 percent and makes toxic emissions five times higher – remember that a significant percentage of the energy needed to power your vehicle is burned up in acceleration. Slowly increasing your speed and leaving more room to slow down while braking will reduce your fuel burn and improve your gas mileage.

3. Avoid Idling – Turn off your engine if you are stopped for more than 30 seconds. When you idle your engine, you are getting no MPG, adding to pollution and wasting money. Two minutes of idling uses up one mile of gasoline, and ten seconds of idling uses more fuel than turning off the engine and restarting it.

4. Remove Excess Weight—Your car is not a storage unit! An extra 100 pounds can reduce fuel economy by 1 to 2 percent.

5. Turn on the Ventilator/Turn off the AC/Roll up the Windows—The most efficient air is the air that comes in through your flow-through ventilator. Air conditioning or open windows (because of the drag) make your vehicle less fuel-efficient. But, for hot summer drives, turn off your AC and roll down your windows when driving around the neighborhood or in city traffic, and do exactly the opposite on the highway – driving fast with the windows open can burn more fuel than AC.

For the Serious DIYer

For the serious DIYer, or the car owner willing to spend a little more to go the extra mile, consider the following: Engine Tune-up to make sure your engine is running efficiently (Click here for Guide on How to Perform a Basic Engine Tune-Up); Replace Oxygen Sensor as a faulty oxygen sensor can wreak havoc with your gas mileage (Click here for Guide on How to Replace an Oxygen Sensor); Upgrade Air Intake System with a cold air intake kit increasing the amount of oxygen for combustion; and Improve Aerodynamics by removing roof and bike racks and (for trucks) installing a Tonneau cover to reduce drag.

Hoku Corp. is reporting a net loss of $2 million for its fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31, more than double the $904,000 it lost in the same quarter last year.

Republican Gov. M. Rell vetoed an energy reform bill Tuesday that caused a significant amount of controversy as it weaved its way through the process in the waning days of the legislative session.

I had a short article over the weekend about low water levels in Ontario and the impact on hydroelectric generation. Obviously, this is an issue that goes beyond Ontario’s borders. Record low snowfall over the winter and a dry spring has erased more than 1,000 megawatts of hydroelectric capacity in Ontario, and it’s likely to get worse. I just got off a conference call with the International Joint Commission, which regulates water flows and use on the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. Clearly, it’s not just the rivers that are suffering. “The levels of all of the Great Lakes are below average, and indeed are lower than they were at this time last year,” according to commission staff. “Lake Ontario is 30 centimetres, or one foot, below the average for mid-May and 36 centimetres below a year ago.” (Picture to left was taken by Gord Miller, Ontario Environmental Commissioner. It’s a shot of a small lake in northern Ontario. Thanks for the pic, Gord).

Lake Ontario levels are determined by inflows from Lake Erie, inflows from rivers, and precipitation, minus evaporation and consumption. Precipitation from January to end of April has been at a record low. “It’s the lowest amount for that four-month period since records began in the 1900s.” Now, I won’t make a direct connection to climate change here, since a single season of record-low precipitation is not evidence of global warming. However, this situation does illustrate how sensitive we are to climate change and how much the impact could truly be if low precipitation and dry winters become more common as a result — and I’m guessing they will. The following comments from Andrew McCammon, executive director of the Ontario Headwaters Institute, puts it this way:

Lower lake levels will result in less power available from hydro-electric generating stations, as well as in stranded docks and exposed rocks in cottage country. But they may also result in increased dredging costs for marinas, reduced loads on Great Lakes ships, the loss of coastal wetlands, changes in fish species, and potential impacts on municipal infrastructure such as the re-location of drinking water in-take pipes. More importantly from an ecological perspective, lake levels tend to be an early indicator of what is transpiring upstream. If a lake is down 1.5 meters, what has already taken place upstream? Is a drier climate reducing our wetland complexes? Have small streams withered? Are whole forests drier, with greater potential for fire, pest infestation, and other impacts?

Everything is interconnected. We forget about this too often.

A global survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers has found that 94 per cent of Canadians expect to change the way they do business over the next two or three years in anticipation of climate change policies, and 98 per cent believe regulation is the best way to influence that change. Roughly 60 per cent of Canadian respondents think the government, not the private sector, should have primary responsibility for leading behavioural change. The global average here is 44 per cent, and only 23 per cent in the United States. So is government doing enough? Uh… no — 70 per cent of Canadian respondents said current government policies — and I assume they’re talking federal policies — are ineffective.

So, it makes one wonder: Why is our federal government attaching itself to the U.S. hip on these issues when clearly, Canadians think differently and want our government to lead, not follow? Opposition parties have failed us on this issue, particularly the Liberals. Federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has been ineffective on the climate change file. He’s been invisible. Even if there is a change in government, it’s unclear what it would accomplish. Increasingly, I’m hearing from the business community that a carbon tax would be the preferred mechansim for pricing carbon. There is growing fear that cap-and-trade is the wrong way to go, if only because it’s complex and open to widespread manipulation and abuse.

Is it time to rekindle talk of carbon taxes and “green shifting” on the federal political scene? Some might consider it suicide, based on how former Liberal leader Stephane Dion got killed on the issue. I disagree. I think it can be resurrected, and should be resurrected. But it needs a convincing leader behind it, one who is able to articulate the benefits clearly and stand up to the scare tactics of the Conservatives; one who can build alliances with the business community, with consumer and labour groups, and with provinces and municipalities.

Any takers?

The American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition keynote speaker Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., recently called for extensive reform of U.S. energy policy, advocating an end to subsidies for coal and oil companies and for investment in infrastructure to support energy from solar, wind, and natural gas sources.

The company asked for 20 workers to arrive at 7:30 on a Wednesday morning. “You wouldn’t believe it there were 800 people who showed up, some of them a few days before, and they slept on the road,” says Louis Tourillon, founder and CEO of Carbon2Green, a Montreal-based company.

Belle Meade Plantation soon will have deeper pockets, new classrooms and a quieter green space thanks to a new system installed recently.