Posted by: Kory Raftery

Several Stories on the science and politics of global warming caught our attention this week:

It seems there is one thing politicians can agree on - it is likely that the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Denmark will not produce a treaty. Meantime, the BBC reported British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that European leaders had come to an agreement on what to offer other countries at December's UN conference in Copenhagen. Skeptics of the agreement argue European leaders are struggling over how much money to offer developing nations to fight the effects of global warming.  

While global warming is set to take center stage in Copenhagen, an article recently published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests you don't have to wait on global leaders to make an impact in the fight against climate change. The article conveys that simple changes such as upgrading heating and cooling technology, using more efficient vehicles and drying your laundry on a line for the next ten years could help the U.S. cut its carbon footprint by around 7.4 percent - which equates to 123 million metric tons of carbon and is more than the annual emissions produced by France.

According to a recent Reuters article, only five states have published a strategic climate change plan that includes a public health response. The five states with public health response plans included in their larger climate change plans are California, Maryland, New Hampshire, Virginia, and Washington. 28 states have published strategic climate change plans that do not include a public health response. 17 states and the District of Columbia have not published a strategic climate change plan. To read the full report, click here.

Many global warming skeptics say the Earth has actually cooled off in the past few years. New studies commissioned by Associated Press suggest that is not true. Scientists agree temperatures were hotter in 2005 than they were in 2008 - but a closer look at the numbers over the last ten years shows that temperatures have dipped, soared, fallen again and are now rising once more. Statisticians say that when sizing up climate change, it's important to look at moving averages of about 10 years. "To talk about global cooling at the end of the hottest decade the planet has experienced in many thousands of years is ridiculous," said Ken Caldeira, a climate scientist at the Carnegie Institution at Stanford.

Posted by: Jana Morris

After you've made your pumpkin pies, soups, breads and roasted seeds, and after you've lit your carved pumpkin for Halloween, what do you do with it once the holiday is over? Try composting it! To avoid adding waste to your local landfill, smash the pumpkin after your celebration and put it in the garden.

• Make sure the insides are removed
• Find a spot in the yard and place a compost bin or dig a small hole to bury
• Smash the pumpkin
• Add leaves or yard waste to the desired location
• Add smashed pumpkin
• Add more yard waste if desired and let nature do its work

A great site we found on pumpkin composting is earth911.com.

Posted by: Leonard Anderson

Several items relating to the business and technology of clean energy and the environment caught our attention this week:

Here are some last-minute tips for a green, affordable Halloween Saturday night, courtesy of Treehugger: Ignore the Halloween superstores and recycle stuff around your home -- clothes, cardboard, aluminum foil, boxes and paint -- to craft nifty costumes like skunks, spiders, fish, face masks and more. Select a walking neighborhood for trick or treat and carry a reusable paper bag or a pillow case for your treats and a second bag for litter. After the big night, host a costume swap party or donate costumes to a children's hospital for dress-up days. Happy Halloween!

Jeans giant Levi Strauss & Co. wants you to treat their clothes with the environment in mind. Working with Goodwill stores, Levi Strauss will sew tags into all of its clothing instructing buyers to donate the items when they're no longer needed, Green Inc. notes. The tags will also encourage customers to wash their clothes in cold water and dry them on a clothesline when possible to save energy. Clothing makes up a significant portion of the 23.8 billion pounds of textiles in U.S. landfills each year.

More on clotheslines: There is no longer a U.S. manufacturer of wooden clothespins; we import them from China and sell them as novelty products. Eighty percent of U.S. households have a tumble dryer and millions more go to the laundromat. Dryers account for 3 percent of household power, not including laundromats, hospitals, colleges and so on. The Project Laundry List organization figures we could save 10 percent on energy costs if we did the laundry the old green way -- cold water, line dry, no bleaching or ironing. Maybe Project Laundry List can team up with Levi Strauss and Goodwill.

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall

The geothermal power industry, which has suffered several well-publicized setbacks in recent months, today got a huge financial and morale boost in the form of up to $338 million in Recovery Act grants from the Department of Energy to support research, exploration and development of new production fields.

The matching grants will help fund 123 projects in 39 states. As much as $133 million will go to support the promising new field of "enhanced geothermal systems" (EGS), which involves drilling deep into hot rocks to develop power resources in locations that were never previously considered candidates for geothermal energy.

If EGS proves economically feasible, relatively clean, renewable geothermal energy could go from a niche resource to a major contributor to U.S. power needs. Total geothermal capacity in the United States today is about 3,100 megawatts, of which 2,600 MW are in California. The U.S. Geological Survey estimated that the nation's geothermal resources could in theory support 500,000 megawatts of generation, almost half of all electricity consumed in the United States.

And a report produced in 2006 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology concluded that with a few hundred million dollars in R&D to jumpstart the industry--on the order of what DOE is now providing--EGS could feasibly produce 100,000 MW of power by 2050, enough for about 85 million homes.

"Geothermal energy from EGS represents a large, indigenous resource that can provide base-load electric power and heat at a level that can have a major impact on the United States while incurring minimal environmental impacts," according to the MIT study. "Further, EGS provides a secure source of power for the long term that would help protect America against economic instabilities resulting from fuel price fluctuations or supply disruptions."

Four of the new DOE grants are for EGS projects at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a prime center of research on clean energy. They will help engineers better understand how hot fluids move through fractured rock deep underground.

One study will examine the potential for using carbon dioxide to absorb heat from underground rocks for use in electricity generation, an idea that's getting a lot of attention of late.

Last month, two companies--Enhanced Oil Resources Inc. and GreenFire Energy--announced a joint venture to evaluate the potential for CO2-based geothermal power in parts of Arizona and New Mexico. They hope to start building a 2 MW demonstration plant next year. If it works, one could imagine capturing CO2 from coal plants, injecting it underground and producing geothermal energy from the hot fluid. 

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall

Last week we looked at the remarkable history of electric cars, which enjoyed a U.S. market share of nearly 40 percent a century ago.

But let's not forget the brief but glorious history of hybrid vehicles. AutoblogGreen reminds us that the sleek Woods Dual Power Coupe--1916 Model 44 shown here--was powered by both an electric motor and a 4-cylinder internal combustion engine.

According to Wikipedia, this hybrid model was produced in Chicago by Woods Motor Vehicle Company from 1915 to 1918 and reached a top speed of 35 mph.

They cost about $2,700 each--without tax breaks or subsidies. That's about $55,000 today.

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall

Nearly 34,000 PG&E customers had grid-connected solar power installations by the end of September--64 percent of the total for California's investor-owned utilities (IOUs), according to the latest progress report from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

Together, the three IOUs have now passed 50,000 customer solar installations and 500 megawatts of customer solar capacity, both impressive milestones. About half that capacity has been installed since 2007, when the utilities began offering special incentives under the California Solar Initiative.

The initiative, endorsed by the state legislature and overseen by the CPUC, aims to support creation of a strong solar market in California and to drive prices lower as the market grows and matures. Over the past five quarters, the report notes, the average cost per watt of installed photovoltaic systems has dropped between 9 and 13 percent, depending on size.

The number of new residential applications hit a record high of 2,123 in August--1,602 at PG&E alone--as customers sought to get their applications in before utility incentives were scheduled to decline.

The promotion of so much new clean power--and the jobs that come with it--speaks well of the state's program, the utilities that administer it and especially of the social consciousness of Californians who are doing their part for the environment.

But like many good things, it comes with a price. Rooftop solar is one of the most expensive sources of power. To date, California's IOUs have paid out $605 million in incentives for customer solar installations under the state program, with another $293 million in incentives pending.

Some critics question whether subsidies for residential solar are too high. Even accounting for the special benefits of rooftop solar--including the fact that it produces no carbon emissions, needs no transmission capacity and tends to peak in mid-day, when power is needed most--the social cost currently outweighs its benefits, according to University of California energy economist Severin Borenstein.

Needless to say, his view isn't particularly popular. But all should agree on the importance of  driving down costs further--to make solar an even bigger win for customers and the environment we all cherish.

Posted by: Kory Raftery

All solar, all the time - or at least for the better part of this week at the Anaheim Convention Center - where Solar Power International (SPI) '09 brought nearly 1,000 solar exhibits from every part of the solar energy industry.

The Solar Electric Power Association teams up with the Solar Energy Industries Association to host the massive conference, which organizers say doubled from 2008 to 2009. And some big names dropped by to share their opinions on the future of both utility-owned and delivered and distributed solar energy, including Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis, actor and activist Ed Begley, Jr. and the SPI keynote speaker - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

The showroom floor featured solar panel producers and installers, courses for those interested in starting a solar business and even one solar engineering firm whose representative said proudly, "If you have to pave paradise to put up a parking lot, might as well put solar panels over the cars!"

While there were countless impressive solar displays and many different sellers of panels, tracking systems and other varieties of solar infrastructure, one exhibit stood out to me as the only game in Anaheim.

Aimed at serving the need for power during emergencies or in remote locations, Green Tow, a company based out of southern Utah, is trying to take solar panels to the next level when it comes to mobility.  

The company's founder Todd Myers admits that there are other trailers with solar panels, but he says "they're not as technologically advanced as his."

The mobile power block on Myers' trailers features Kyocera photovoltaic panels, a single linear actuator, batteries used by the military and a backup diesel generator... just in case. And he offers six different models for different situations - from those wanting to build a home in the wilderness to those who might allow their kids to bring their video games on family camping trips.  

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall

The Obama administration today issued a huge vote of confidence in the utility industry's commitment to providing customers with more reliable, efficient and sustainable electric service: It announced $3.4 billion in grants to leverage more than $8 billion in total investments in "smart grid" technology and systems.

The programs funded include mass deployments of smart meters, in-home energy displays and distribution and transmission automation systems. The White House predicts they will create tens of thousands of jobs across the country, reduce the frequency of power outages that cost American consumers $150 billion a year, and help make possible energy savings of $20 billion a year by 2030.

California utilities will receive $203 million in funds from the Department of Energy. Other large state recipients were  North Carolina ($404 million), Florida ($267 million), Texas ($258 million) and Pennsylvania ($233 million).

Ultimately, all utilities--and more important, their customers--should benefit from the lessons these projects will provide in how best to implement high-tech systems that help people manage energy more wisely and sustainably.

PG&E, which leads the nation in smart meter deployments, did not receive funding for its proposed customer energy management project, in collaboration with IBM, Cisco, Stanford University, the city of San Jose and other partners.

However, with funding previously approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, PG&E still plans a project to demonstrate Home Area Network technology. As PG&E's Chief Customer Officer Helen Burt wrote in Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle, such technology will allow smart meters to "communicate with in-home displays that show customers how much energy they are using and at what price, and with smart appliances, which can be programmed to operate during hours when there's less demand for power and lower prices."

PG&E is also part of a consortium led by the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC), which won stimulus funds to improve monitoring and performance of the 14-state Western electric grid.

WECC's $108 million project--which will be supported by a $54 million grant from the Department of Energy--will install sophisticated sensors, called phasor measurement units, at key points around the grid and connect them with a new data communications infrastructure.

The sensors will help operators improve grid reliability, free up transmission capacity and facilitate greater integration of intermittent renewable generation, like wind and solar power, into Western electricity markets.

PG&E also has another proposal--to build a compressed air energy storage facility that will store off-peak wind energy and release it during peak afternoon hours--which is still being reviewed by the DOE as part of the smart grid stimulus funding program.

Posted by: Kory Raftery

Several stories on the science and politics of global warming caught our attention this week:

Tomorrow marks the "International Day of Climate Action," sponsored by 350.org. It's being billed as a grassroots political action campaign, but it's also a numbers game - more than 4,600 events in close to 200 countries will focus on the number 350. Scientists have identified 350 parts per million as the safe upper limit of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. According to NASA scientists, the current concentration of CO2 is 385.

According to The Salt Lake Tribune, a group of Utah doctors says global warming is the "greatest public health threat of the 21st century." In a presentation at the University of Utah School of Medicine earlier this week, eight doctors and two climate experts called on lawmakers to take swift action in drafting and passing climate change legislation. "Those who urge or insist on waiting 'until all the science is in,' or call this a hoax," said Brian Moench, a Salt Lake City doctor and president of the doctors' group, "do so in defiance of overwhelming scientific evidence reminiscent of the tobacco industry's decades-long campaign to cast doubt on the adverse health effects of cigarettes."

The New York Times reports longtime environmental activist Stewart Brand says nuclear power should play an essential role in the efforts to curb global warming. Brand's new book, entitled "Whole Earth Discipline," sites several scientists and is in agreement with the recent Kerry-Boxer climate-change bill recently introduced in the Senate that would provide strong support for nuclear power in the nation's energy mix. Meantime, the organization Greenpeace disagrees with Brand, arguing  that energy efficiency will provide the biggest impact in the near term, followed by renewables. It also sees natural gas as a "bridge fuel" to be used while phasing out coal, oil -- and nuclear power.

Posted by: Katie Romans

PG&E's ClimateSmart program, which helps enrolled customers offset the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions associated with their energy use, this week is announcing two new GHG emission reduction projects -- each of which tests a new kind of protocol under the Climate Action Reserve.

The first is a landfill methane capture project located in Vacaville. In its contract with Recology, a recycling company, the ClimateSmart program purchased more than 90,000 metric tons of verifiable GHG emission reductions on behalf of the program's more than 30,000 enrolled customers.

The second is an urban forestry project with the City of Arcata in which the ClimateSmart program purchased 40,000 metric tons of verifiable GHG emission reductions. 

This week's purchases brings the program's portfolio to more than one million metric tons of verifiable GHG emission reductions. The reductions all yield from projects that not only help customers offset their carbon footprint, they also roadtest protocols established by the Climate Action Reserve. 

"The ClimateSmart program has helped develop four protocols, making the program a testing ground for how to measure projects and reductions," said Robert Parkhurst, manager of climate protection and analysis for PG&E.

Those protocols include livestock and landfill methane capture, as well as urban forestry and organic waste projects.

Such protocols differentiate ClimateSmart program projects from similar projects that may be measured and credited on an individual basis outside of the watchful scope of organizations such as the Climate Action Reserve. Environmental groups such as Greenpeace have questioned the extent to which these individual projects can reliably reduce carbon emissions.

Another way that GHG emission reductions from the ClimateSmart program stand superior to others is that the reductions cannot be traded. Instead, the reductions are retired with the Climate Action Reserve on behalf of the customers enrolled in the program -- not to be traded on the carbon market.

The issue of GHG emission reduction standards came to a head this week. The non-partisan Commission on Climate and Tropical Forests proposed that Congress establish a sort of Climate Action Reserve at the federal level. The proposed body would focus on the structure and operations of the carbon market as it develops around the protection of tropical forests.

While the debate will no doubt rage on at the federal level, the ClimateSmart program will continue to diversify its portfolio with new projects, counterparties and locations -- all with an eye toward quality and quantity of reductions.

Posted by: Leonard Anderson

Several items relating to the business and technology of clean energy and the environment caught our attention this week:

California and Massachusetts top a scorecard for the most energy efficient states according to a survey by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. Filling out the top ten are Connecticut, Oregon, New York, Vermont, Washington, Minnesota, Rhode Island and Maine. Maine is the first state to buy all of its electricity from renewable resources. The scorecard rates the states on things like utility-sector and public benefits programs and policies, transportation policies and appliance efficiency standards, among other initiatives.

Plug-in electric cars are likely to strain local power grids unless utilities take steps to avoid potential problems, PG&E CEO Peter Darbee told "The Business of Plugging In" conference in Detroit. "You can see if you have three or five electric cars in a neighborhood, you're going to overload the local circuits," he said. PG&E plans to recommend that consumers have a 220-volt charging point at home to recharge in two or three hours rather than six or seven for a 110-volt outlet; consumers would be able to get off-peak rates overnight when power loads dip.Utilities need to work with the auto industry and policy makers to ensure customers have a smooth experience and that the grid isn't stressed, Darbee said. Plug-in cars are set to come to the market next year but many questions remain unanswered over how the technology transition will affect the ailing auto industry and how the vehicles will be received by consumers, reports CNet's Green Tech blog.

Columbia University has suspended a 14-year-old dual masters program in environmental journalism due to the weakness in the job market for environmental reporters. The two-year program offers two master's degrees in environmental science and journalism. Program directors will evaluate the program's "accomplishments to date and prospects for the future." Publishers are cutting newsroom staffs and salaries as advertising revenues dry up.

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall

It won't be long now before the wizards of clean automotive technology around the world finally begin selling a broad assortment of electric vehicles--at least to those who can afford price tags of $40,000 and up.

Enthusiastic as I am, part of me still can't help but wonder, what took them so long?

It turns out that successful electric car technology long predates the General Motors EV-1, a triumph of design that was rudely abandoned in 2002.  In fact, the first crude electric carriages were first brought to market in the 1830s--nearly two centuries ago!

Inventors in Europe made rapid headway as battery technology improved. In 1899, a French-designed electric vehicle broke the world land speed record, reaching over 65 miles per hour.

Americans came late to the race, but Electric Carriage and Wagon Company in Philadelphia supplied the first fleet of electric taxis to New York in 1897. Soon established companies like Edison, Studebaker and Riker were producing and selling electric cars. The first car designed and built by Ferdinand Porsche was electric, with front-wheel drive and automatic transmission.
 
By the early 20th century, more than 33,000 electric cars were registered in the United States--a number not surpassed until 2003. A typical electric car sold in 1912 for $1,750, less than $40,000 in today's dollars.

Anderson Electric Car Company in Detroit began selling the popular Detroit Electric in 1907. Its range was advertised as 80 miles between charges--but it ran in one test for 211 miles! Buyers included Thomas Edison (of course) and John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who apparently didn't mind that the car used no petroleum. Women (including Henry Ford's wife Clara) reportedly appreciated the fact that it started quickly and smoothly without hand cranking and didn't backfire. In all, the company sold about 14,000 electric cars. (A 1916 Detroit Electric Touring Car is on display at the San Jose Historical Museum.)

So why didn't electric cars make it? One reason, certainly, was lack of range for long-distance touring. Another reason was aggressive price-cutting by Henry Ford on gas-powered vehicles like the Model T.

And at least one historian claims the big mistake automakers made was marketing the electric cars to women--complete with "poofy couches, lace curtains, and bud vases as standard equipment"--even though men made the buying decisions in most households.

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall

This year's bienniel Solar Decathlon competition, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, produced another remarkable outpouring of home design innovation from university-led teams around the world--including Team California, which combined the talents of Santa Clara University and California College of the Arts.

Although Team Germany ("Old Europe") won for the second time in a row, leaving California in third place, nearly every team excelled in some area.

For example, the University of Illinois, with its Midwest-style Gable Home, won the appliance competition, managing to run a refrigerator, freezer, washer, dryer and dishwasher entirely from solar power. They also won for producing the most solar-heated water for their shower.

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette's BeauSoleil home won for market viability, based on cost-effective construction and solar technology.

Team Germany, with its "Cube House," won for most comfort--based on indoor temperature and relative humidity--and for generating the most excess solar power for sale back to the utility grid. It managed to produce surplus power despite three days of rain.

And Team California? I'm proud to say, as a communications professional, that they won for best PR, with a score of 69.75 points out of a possible 75. Way to go, California!

All snarking aside, Team California's Refract House also won for best architecture, based on aesthetics, functionality, use of space, integration of design and design surprises.

Well done, all.

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall

Good news for a change from the scientists who study global warming: the Earth's thermostat can be held below dangerously high levels over the next few decades if we take collective action against highly potent but widely ignored agents of warming other than CO2.

Cutting harmful hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) used in refrigeration, black carbon soot from dirty diesel engines and ovens, ozone smog and methane "can buy us about 40 years before we approach the dangerous threshold of 2°C (3.6°F) warming," said Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a leading expert on climate and atmospheric sciences at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and co-author of a paper published last week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Reining in these pollutants shouldn't take a superhuman effort, the authors note. Substitutes already exist for HFCs--which are 350 times more potent than CO2--and could be promoted by expanded enforcement of the Montreal Protocol treaty that was adopted in the late 1980s to prevent destruction of the ozone layer. EPA today proposed phasing out HFCs in automobile air conditioners.

And black carbon soot, which absorbs sunlight and causes melting of glaciers and Arctic ice, could quickly be reduced by installing filters on diesel vehicles and replacing wood- or dung-burning stoves with solar cookstoves.

Meanwhile, more than three trillion cubic feet of methane escape into the atmosphere every year, mostly in Russia and the United States, from leaky natural gas wells, pipelines and tanks. Methane is about 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a heat-trapping gas.

Reversing the Bush administration's hands-off policy, the Obama administration may require oil and gas companies to begin reporting their carbon emissions, the first step toward mandating steps to seal such leaks. The EPA estimates that ordinary methane leaks at gas wells trap as much heat as the CO2 emitted by 8 million cars.

Engineers at BP have discovered that investing in measures to catch methane emissions at their wells saves three times as much as it costs, reports The New York Times.

"This for me is an absolute no-brainer, even more so than putting in those compact fluorescent bulbs in your house," said Al Armendariz, an engineer at Southern Methodist University.

Posted by: Kory Raftery

Several Stories on the science and politics of global warming caught our attention this week:

Scientists in India say their research proves that global warming is melting another major glacier.  Researchers at Kashmir University recently revealed findings that the Kolahoi glacier has gone from approximately five square miles to under four and a half over the last 40 years. The glacier helps about six million people in the area to sustain the industries of agriculture, horticulture, livestock production and forestry. "The study confirms the general trend that about 90 percent of all Himalayan glaciers are receding," said Rajeev Upadhay, a geologist who studies glaciers.

Tens of thousands of people banded together yesterday via the web to talk about Climate Change and participate in this year's "Blog Action Day". Though NEXT100 could not pin down a formal definition for the event, it seems everyone agrees the goal of the day is to spur a worldwide discussion on the debate surrounding global warming. We are told this is the third year intrepid typists are celebrating the day. Last year's topic was poverty.

In just 20 years, the top of the earth may look different from space during part of the year, according to a Reuters article. Ships may have a new route to travel north of Russia. And the Earth may flood - affecting one-fourth of the planet's population. Those predictions come from a professor of ocean physics out of London who says "based on seasonal variation of ice extent and thickness, changes in temperatures, winds and especially ice composition - that the Arctic will be ice-free in summer within about 20 years."

Posted by: Leonard Anderson

Several items relating to the business and technology of clean energy and the environment caught our attention this week:

Looking for a green job? Check out "Clean-Tech Jobs Trends 2009" from research firm Clean Edge. The top five job sectors are solar; biofuel and biomaterials; conservation and efficiency; smart grid; and wind power, says Clean Edge. A listing of median salaries for a range of green jobs is included. Some samples: electric vehicles engineer, $63,000; solar systems designer, $42,600; green building energy auditor, $42,600. Highest salary was $106,000 for a renewable energy project developer and lowest was $36,100 for insulation workers. The report also lists the top 15 U.S. metropolitan areas for clean tech jobs. The top five are: San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA; Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, CA; New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT-PA; Boston-Worcester-Lawrence-Lowell-Brockton, MA-NH; and Washington-Baltimore, D.C.-MD-VA-WV.

How green is your campus? The "America's Greenest Campus" contest found that University of Maryland - College Park and Rio Salado College in Tempe, Ariz., were the schools with the most carbon reductions. More than 460 schools and 20,000 people participated in the contest, reducing nearly 19 million pounds of CO2, saving 28 million gallons of water and conserving 4.5 million kilowatts of electricity. The two schools will win $5,000 each. The competition was sponsored by SmartPower, a nonprofit clean energy marketing company, and Climate Culture, a clean-energy social networking site.

A powerful substation called Tres Amigas is proposed for Clovis, New Mexico, to physically connect the three main U.S. transmission grids -- Eastern, Western and Texas -- and carry renewable power from solar and wind farms in the middle of the country to customers on the coasts. The project is in an early stage and could cost $1 billion or more. It's proposed by a company run by Phil Harris, former CEO of the PJM Interconnection, the largest grid operator in the U.S.

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall

I already know what I want for Christmas 2020: a nuclear-powered wristwatch. That would one-up Dick Tracy for sure.

What will make it possible is a miniature nuclear battery the size of a penny, developed by researchers at the University of Michigan. By the time they shrink it to the thickness of a human hair, it should be fit for all manner of portable applications, including my watch.

And with about a million times the power of a conventional chemical battery, it could render most other batteries obsolete.

Nuclear batteries use emissions of charged particles from radioactive materials to generate small currents--a concept dating back to 1913 when British physicist Henry Moseley developed the Beta Cell. They can also convert the heat from radioactive decay into power.

Nuclear batteries have actually been used in space satellites and remote scientific stations that require long-lived power sources. 

In 2005, a multi-university research team announced a small nuclear battery that could be used for pacemakers or other low-power devices. It used a silicon wafer to capture electrons fired by radioactive materials, like the hydrogen isotope tritium. The scientists explained that the radioactive emissions were too weak to penetrate the skin, making the battery safe to wear or implant.

The innovation of the Missouri researchers is to use a liquid semiconductor to capture electrons rather than solid silicon, which extends the battery life. I'll just have to take it on faith for now that the battery won't shorten my life.

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall

"On a remote edge of Utah's dry and arid high desert," writes reporter James Bamford, "hard-hatted construction workers with top-secret clearances" are building one of the world's biggest data centers. "At a million square feet, the mammoth $2 billion structure will be one-third larger than the U.S. Capitol and will use the same amount of energy as every house in Salt Lake City combined."

The client isn't Google or Microsoft but the super-secret and scandal-plagued National Security Agency, responsible for codebreaking and "signals intelligence" (SIGINT) in times of peace and war. "SIGINT is critical to monitoring terrorist activities, arms control compliance, narcotics trafficking, and the development of chemical and biological weapons and weapons of mass destruction," explained CIA Director George Tenet in 2000.

The NSA usually keeps out of the spotlight--except when caught illegally wiretapping--but it dwarfs the better-known CIA. Intelligence historian Matthew Aid, author of a new book on the NSA, estimates its current budget at $8 billion. The NSA itself says it is "comparable in size and budget to the top 10% of Fortune 500 companies." 

That kind of money comes in handy when trying to build a network of supercomputers big enough to store and analyze trillions of phone calls, emails, web sites, radio broadcasts, radar signals. Like the Air Force's legendary Area 51 in Nevada, the NSA's new classified data facility is too big to hide. The construction budget for the NSA's Camp Williams Data Center PH 1 in fiscal year 2010 alone is $800 million. 

Much like its civilian counterparts, the NSA is finding that collecting enough computing power in one place is only the start of its problems. Next comes the challenge of feeding its massive new complex with enough electrical power.

Data center power usage was estimated in 2005 to cost $18.5 billion and is doubling every five years, according to researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Today they reportedly use more power than the state of Massachusetts. The exponential growth in power use at data centers has become the top infrastructure concern of IT executives--apparently including those at NSA.

By one estimate, a typical large data center today runs about 50,000 square feet and consumes five megawatts of power. The NSA's Utah data center will be 20 times larger and require more juice than some power plants generate.

The importance of this issue comes through in a report from the Salt Lake City Tribune: "[T]he initial phase of the project is expected to include more than $52 million in preparatory electrical work -- much of that is likely to be spent connecting two large power corridors that run through Camp Williams to the construction site near the base airstrip. The next phases of the project will include $340 million in electrical work . . ."

One reason the NSA is building the new complex in Utah (and a companion installation in Texas) is that its "city-sized" headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland, has nearly reached the limits of its capacity to add more data processing equipment. Already it spends $70 million a year on electric power alone--and that's before it finishes building a power generation upgrade at a cost this fiscal year of $176 million.

Bamford, author of three authoritative books on the NSA, notes, "The issue is critical because at the NSA, electrical power is political power. In its top-secret world, the coin of the realm is the kilowatt. More electrical power ensures bigger data centers. Bigger data centers, in turn, generate a need for more access to phone calls and e-mail and, conversely, less privacy. The more data that comes in, the more reports flow out. And the more reports that flow out, the more political power for the agency."

Note to the NSA: PG&E runs one of the country's leading utility programs to promote energy efficiency in data centers. If you want to keep your power bills down, call Mark Bramfitt, principal program manager for high tech in PG&E's customer energy efficiency group. 

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall

Whoever succeeds in framing the debate usually wins the argument. So it's no wonder that critics who decry what they call "cap and tax" have been gaining ground on those who maintain that "greenhouse gas emissions" must be curbed to prevent "climate change" and "global warming."

After all, no one likes taxes. As for global warming, it might sound welcome if you live in North Dakota or New Hampshire. And don't greenhouses grow pretty flowers?

Maybe that's why most people put global warming at or near the bottom of their list of concerns, despite urgent warnings from so many scientists.

Supporters of climate change legislation have finally realized that words matter. Whenever possible, they don't even talk about the climate anymore. The House bill is called the "American Clean Energy And Security Act of 2009." And the new Senate bill is called the "Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act."

People may not care much about the climate in the short run, but in a recession, everyone can relate to jobs. And in a world wracked by terrorism, everyone wants America to be powerful.

Similarly, the Senate bill talks about pollution reduction, not "cap and trade," a mysterious concept to most Americans. And it speaks of "carbon pollution" rather than "greenhouse gases," an innovation that President Obama adopted back in April, when he spoke to the National Academy of Sciences, and repeated in his speech to the U.N. Summit on Climate Change in New York last month.

Other officials now refer to "heat-trapping pollutants" to engage wider audiences who otherwise tune out when faced with technical scientific jargon.

Said Edward Maibach, director of the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University, "The word 'pollution' is more concrete to people than the term 'greenhouse gases. There's a fair amount of research showing that people don't understand the phrase 'greenhouse gas' very well. 'Heat-trapping pollution' is a very good, concrete way to express what's going on with climate change."

On the opposite end of the spectrum, global-warming deniers at the Competitive Entprise Institute have run ads with the slogan: "Carbon dioxide. They call it pollution. We call it life."

The big question now is what will the American people, and their representatives in Congress, call it?

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall

Is the solution to global warming to burn more natural gas?

That's basically the claim of one of the world's leading oilmen--Royal Dutch Shell CEO Peter Voser. Implausible and self-serving though it appears at first, his assertion finds support from some serious environmentalists.

Voser's point--made last week in a speech in Washington at a Woodrow Wilson International Center forum--is that natural gas can replace coal as a transitional fossil fuel until wind, solar and other forms of renewable energy become more widely deployed.

"Renewable energy, while important and necessary, is not a silver bullet that is going to solve all of our problems, at least not for a long time yet," Voser said. In the meantime, "Coal-fired electricity is responsible for the fastest growth in greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. It is urgent that we address that. Supplying more natural gas is one way of doing that."

Though natural gas does produce greenhouse gases and other pollutants when burned, it emits only half as much heat-trapping carbon dioxide as coal and far fewer toxic emissions like mercury. It drives modern combined cycle gas turbines and combined heat-and-power plants at very high efficiency.

And, no small matter, it now appears to be extremely abundant and inexpensive.

New techniques for producing gas from shale fields have led to soaring U.S. gas reserves and plunging prices. Extended worldwide, the new drilling techniques may double global gas reserves, enough to meet hundreds of years of demand, according to a recent study by HIS Cambridge Energy Research Associates. 

This June, the noted climate expert Joseph Romm began publishing a series of long articles on his blog Climate Progress, arguing that by displacing coal in a large fraction of U.S. power plants, "natural gas alone could essentially meet the entire Waxman-Markey CO2 target for 2020 -- without requiring gobs of new power plants to be sited and built or thousands of miles of new transmission lines."

He added, "it is widely seen, even by groups as green as Greenpeace, as a plausible transition fuel for the next two to three decades as we aggressively ramp up wind, solar PV, concentrated solar thermal, biomass, geothermal, and other ultra-low-carbon energy sources."

Natural gas is also an excellent complement to renewable energy. A study prepared for the California Energy Commission this May noted that flexible natural gas-fired generation--which can ramp up or down quickly--is ideal for balancing the fluctuating output of wind and solar plants. Indeed, the report concluded, additional gas generation could actually lead to lower greenhouse gas emissions by allowing the electrical grid to take on more renewables than it could otherwise handle reliably.

However, some environmentalists warn that new gas extraction processes may cause groundwater contamination from benzene and other toxic compounds used to fracture shale rock. This summer, several members of Congress introduced the "Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act" to impose federal regulations on hydraulic fracturing.

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall

The cost of combatting carbon pollution could be slashed tens of billions of dollars by investing in forest protection programs in the developing world, according to a bipartisan report by the Commission on Climate and Tropical Forests. Spending $60 billion to preserving rain forests in Brazil, Indonesia and other countries from destruction by fire and conversion to cattle ranching or soybean farming could cut emissions as much as spending $110 billion on carbon-limiting measures in the United States.

The global recession has temporarily curbed heat-trapping emissions, buying the world a tiny bit of extra time as nations struggle to commit to fighting carbon pollution, according to the International Energy Agency. But the agency warned that every year of delay will cost the world $500 billion in additional investments needed to head off the consequences of global warming.

The American Farm Bureau Federation continues to oppose climate change legislation in Congress, but a new study by an environmental group suggests the farm lobby's concerns are misplaced. "A more careful examination of the facts shows that climate change itself, not climate legislation, is the real threat to American agriculture, and that climate-induced crop losses will cost US taxpayers and farmers far more than could ever be caused by the (House) bill," the Environmental Working Group said in its report.

In a useful reminder that global warming isn't the only cause of natural disasters, scientists at Columbia University have concluded that drought conditions ravaging states in the Southeast have mainly been caused by rising population and poor water management, not exceptionally dry conditions. Another scientist commenting on the study said, "This should be a wakeup call. If this [drought] is not the worst-case scenario, what are we going to do when the worst-case scenario arrives?"

Posted by: Leonard Anderson

Several items relating to the business and technology of clean energy and the environment caught our attention this week:

Dow Chemical says it will test market next year a residential solar shingle that can be integrated into asphalt-tiled roofs. The solar shingle will cut installation costs because it can be installed by a roofer, Dow says. An electrician will still be needed to connect the solar array to an inverter and home electrical system. The company forecasts a $5 billion market for solar shingles by 2015.

Google has connected a device monitoring electricity use in the home to the internet giant's Web-based PowerMeter application, enabling utility customers to track power usage from a Web browser or mobile phone, bypassing a smart meter. The monitoring device -- Energy Inc's The Energy Detective (TED) 5000 -- is a transmitter attached to wires in the home circuit breaker panel. You will need an electrician to install It.

Wholly green computers and servers are in the offing, with the market for green hardware projected to grow from $47 billion this year to $223.7 billion in 2013, according to a study by NextGen Research. A green computer/server is built from eco-friendly materials, features low power consumption and computer power management capabilities, has fewer and smaller component parts, and is packaged in recyclable materials, among other green features. "Green desktop and server hardware are good for the planet, and what's good for the planet is good for business," says Laura DiDio, author of the study.

Posted by: Katie Romans

It's that time of year again. Yesterday, PG&E held its annual Richard A. Clarke Environmental Leadership Awards Ceremony to recognize PG&E employees that have made outstanding contributions to PG&E's environmental leadership efforts.

Nominations included more than 500 employees in 75 different departments across the company. Nominations ranged from efforts in compact fluorescent lamp recycling, to climate change studies on California's declining snowpack, to an Avian Protection Plan Training team, to a Bike to Work Day team.

Leonard Robinson, federal liason for the California Department of Toxic Substances Control delivered the event's keynote speech, concluding with a nautical metaphor for the audience. "As we sail in this green economy, we need to think of the three ships: leadership, partnership and stewardship. But, no matter what the ship, we're all in the same boat together." 

With this, Mr. Robinson provided a fitting transition to presenting the Clarke Award finalists and winners. Winners received a plaque made from recycled glass and Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood and a $10,000 contribution to an environmental or environmental justice nonprofit organization of their choice.

PG&E Corporation CEO Peter Darbee, Clarke Award Winner Jan Grygier and PG&E Utility President Chris Johns

The 2009 Clarke Award winner for individual environmental leadership is Jan Grygier for waste minimization at PG&E's General Office. Jan "trash talked" his way to the gold by conducting employee demonstrations in which he dug through break room trash cans to educate employees about composting, recycling and waste reduction. Jan chose to contribute his $10,000 donation to San Francisco Save the Bay, the largest regional organization working to protect, restore and celebrate San Francisco Bay.

Jan's fellow Clarke Award finalist for individual environmental leadership is JD van Wyhe for his Hydrogen Fuel Cell program, which provides cleaner back-up power for some of PG&E's telecommunications sites and automatically powers up during outages to keep company assets like radio and fiber optic equipment operational.

The 2009 Clarke Award winner for team environmental leadership is the California Academy of Sciences partnership team for collaborating with the Academy to support the grand opening of its world-class facility through environmental and sustainability education, with the goal of inspiring Californians to take steps to fight climate change. In her award acceptance speech, Team Lead Andrea Gooden noted PG&E's history with the California Academy of Sciences, which stretches back to the early 1950s. The California Academy of Sciences Partnership team chose to donate their $10,000 contribution to none other than the Academy of Sciences.

The team's fellow Clarke Award finalists for team environmental leadership include the Business and Consumer Electronics program team, which launched the nation's first program to address the growing energy load from electronics. Joining this team as a finalist is the Green Supply Chain program team, which boasts a voluntary engagement of more than 35 suppliers that have joined PG&E in implementing a variety of innovative projects not only to reduce the environmental impact of their operations, but also to generate bottom-line cost savings.

Left to Right: Peter Darbee, Stephanie Isaacson, Ken Brennan, Karalee Browne, Robert Parkhurst, Susie Martinez, Mariana Hernandez, Hal La Flash, Andrea Gooden, Brandon Hernandez, Barbara Contreras, Chris Johns

Congratulations to all PG&E's 2009 Clarke Award winners for their exceptional environmental leadership!

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall

These may be the best of times and the worst of times for geothermal energy.

Of late, the worst has garnered the most publicity, as stories in the New York Times have probed the link between deep-rock drilling, water injection and seismic events (read: earthquakes).

A promising demonstration project by geothermal pioneer AltaRock Energy at The Geysers in Sonoma County was suspended at the beginning of September due to "geologic anomalies."  Drilling problems also plagued Australia's Petratherm, Ltd. A well blowout set back another Australian geothermal leader, Geodynamics, Ltd.

And a much-touted new plant in Beaver, Utah isn't producing water hot enough to generate significant amounts of electricity--and will need millions of dollars in new investment to fix.

The good news, according to a new report from the Geothermal Energy Association, is that 144 new geothermal projects, totaling 7,000 megawatts of potential capacity, are being developed in 14 states.

If all come to fruition, admittedly unlikely, the total output would be enough to serve the needs of 7 million people.

Nevada leads with 64 projects with combined capacity of almost 3,500 MW. California is next with 37 projects that could supply as much as 2,400 MW.

Although the industry continues to make progress despite the recession, the high cost of drilling--and the uneven track record of companies pioneering deep geothermal wells--make financing these projects a challenge.

Companies also face long delays in getting drilling permits for federal sites from the Bureau of Land Management, which has been overwhelmed by demand from renewable energy developers, especially in the solar sector.

Industry veterans also complain on the long wait for stimulus funds from the Department of Energy's Geothermal Technologies Program.

"Investors are basically waiting to see who is going to get DOE funding," said the report's author, Dan Jennejohn. "They are more reluctant to invest in geothermal projects until the DOE funding comes out." 

Posted by: Kory Raftery

The Blanchard family runs an organic, sustainable ranch that few will ever view directly but many will try to imitate.  The ranch sits on the rugged Central California coast on the north end of the PG&E property that is home to Diablo Canyon Power Plant. It can only be seen from PG&E's Point Buchon Trail and select hiking spots within Montana de Oro State Park in San Luis Obispo County. 

But it is not just the location of the ranch that is out of the ordinary.  For the last two decades, Bob and son Bowman Blanchard have been implementing an alternative ranching practice known as managed or rotational grazing with their cows, sheep and goats. 

It's a practice overseen by the PG&E land stewardship program. The objectives of the program include proper care in the management of agricultural crops and livestock production and conservation of biological diversity. The Blanchards argue managed grazing not only sustains the environmental condition of the ranch but actually improves it by allowing land to rest and vegetation to recover. Many of their peers have contacted the Blanchards asking for advice on managing their lands and livestock.

This type of intricate managed grazing requires a rancher to divide the pasture into smaller spaces, or paddocks. Next, he or she grazes the animals on different paddocks during different periods and manages when they move from one to the next. 

"This method of managed grazing is all about disturbance, rest and the big picture," Bob Blanchard told me. "The disturbance of one species provides opportunity for another."

By disturbance, he means anything that changes or alters the landscape where he ranches or farms and provides an opportunity for reproduction of some sort. He sees disturbance when an animal ingests, masticates, ruminates, urinates and defecates.

"The manure is fertilizer and inoculates microbial activity in the soil. A cow pie is messy if you step in it but a reproductive opportunity to a fly," he said with a smile. "Fly larvae is a major source of protein to a Blackbird or Meadow Lark. Mature flies are food to the tree swallow and many other fly catching birds. Tromping and mashing turns excess plant litter into mulch that protects soil from erosion. Disturbance of the soil surface by hoof action plants the seeds of the next generation of grasses and forbs. Trails created by moving herds offer easier travel by all manner of critters from quail to coyotes --and predatory critters find great hunting opportunities along (those) trails." 

Managed grazing allows Blanchard to be concerned not just with his livestock but with  maintaining and improving the land on which they graze - adding to the successes of the award-winning PG&E land stewardship program on the acreage surrounding Diablo Canyon, and setting a worthy example to other ranchers.

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall

To Princeton economist Alan Blinder, who was among the first to propose it, "Cash for Clunkers" seemed like a win-win.  "If done successfully," he wrote last year, a program of government payments to scrap older, polluting cars "holds the promise of performing a remarkable public policy trifecta -- stimulating the economy, improving the environment and reducing income inequality all at the same time."

But critics now question whether the "Car Allowance Rebate System," as the government blandly called it, might have been a lose-lose proposition instead.

After a huge surge in August stimulated by government rebates of up to $4,500, car sales by U.S. manufacturers plunged in September after the program expired, according to new sales figures.

"The reports of monthly sales numbers confirmed predictions that some of the spectacular gains of August had merely been achieved by moving up sales that would have happened in September," according to the Washington Post.

Blinder himself--who criticized the program for being much too brief--conceded that the $3 billion spent was "mostly" a waste.

Just as disappointing, consumer surveys suggest that the replacement of older, more polluting cars with cleaner new models may not result in fewer harmful emissions after all.

The new cars purchased under the program average almost 25 miles per gallon, compared to the average 16 mpg of clunkers handed over to the government for scrapping.

Unfortunately, customers say they plan to drive their new cars much farther each year--an average of 10,900 miles versus 6,200 miles annually for their clunkers. The extra miles more than offset the improved fuel economy.

According to one calculation, "The approximately 700,000 total vehicles moved under the program will therefore use an additional 42 million gallons of fuel annually during the first years of ownership."

That's a paradox familiar to students of energy efficiency. Sometimes called the rebound effect--or the 'Khazzoom-Brookes Postulate'--it notes that any technology that saves energy in effect makes energy cheaper, thus encouraging more use that offsets some of the savings. 

That's why many economists say if you really want to reduce vehicle carbon emissions, there's no better way than raising gas taxes. Higher gas taxes encourage people to drive less and switch to more fuel-efficient cars. And in principle, the revenue can be used to soften the blow on the poor by improving public transit or lowering other taxes.

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall

Global warming skeptics have long claimed that climate models are imperfect. Now many scientists says they are half right: "We've observing changes that are happening much faster than the climate models have predicted," said Nalân Koç, director of the Centre for Ice, Climate and Ecosystems at the Norwegian Polar Institute. The dramatic loss of ice in the Arctic is happening "30 years ahead of time," he added.

The U.S. Senate is poised to begin considering climate change legislation sponsored by Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and John Kerry, D-Mass. The bill aims to cut carbon emissions 20 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. Republicans complained that the bill is "more aggressive" than the House-passed alternative. Adding to the pressure for action is the EPA's proposal to begin regulating carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants, refineries and other major sources.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, stung by defections of several major utilities (PG&E, PNM Resources, Exelon) and dissent from other companies (Nike, Johnson & Johnson), insists that critics who claim the organization opposes climate legislation are "dead wrong."  The critics, in turn, cite a long list of documented cases of the Chamber endorsing global warming deniers and warning that legislation would be "disruptive" to the economy.

Countries in the developing world will need as much as $100 billion per year to help them adapt to climate change, according to a new report by the World Bank. The estimate was based on a forecast of warming that many scientists say is already outdated and much too low.

Posted by: Leonard Anderson

Several items relating to the business and technology of clean energy and the environment caught our attention this week:

San Francisco may install dozens of wind turbines to help the city achieve its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2030. Wind turbines could be built in Golden Gate Park, on Twin Peaks, the Civic Center, Ocean Beach and other locations to help educate residents about the renewable energy source. A city wind power task force recommends developing a wind map to indentify the best sites. Other big cities also are eyeing wind programs. Boston has turbines at Logan Airport and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has talked about installing them on skyscrapers.

A partnership between the California Department of Education and PG&E has selected Berkeley High School to establish a New Energy Academy within the school to help prepare students for the growing field of green energy. The Academy will include math, science, technology and engineering in addition to other subjects. The new program will also be offered at Edison High School in Fresno, Foothill High School in Sacramento, Independence  High School in Bakersfield and Venture Academy in Stockton. The utility industry also could benefit from the program. Forty percent of PG&E's 20,000 employees are eligible to retire within the next five years, and it wants to make sure it will be able to replace those workers.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a real bear on energy conservation at home. "I have major fights with my kids," he said in a recent talk. Recalling his experience growing up in Austria after World War II, he said everyone was careful to save electricity and water. His children, however, like to take 15-minute showers. So he warned if they showered beyond five minutes, they will be grounded. His final penalty: if they sneak past the deadline, the governor promises to install a device which only allows you to shower for five minutes and then it turns off automatically. Listen to Dad!

 

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall

On the opening day of the 2009 West Coast Green conference at San Francisco's Fort Mason Center, it was clear that the recession has trimmed the number of attendees--who paid up to $895 to register--but not their enthusiasm.

The show, devoted to green innovation, expects about 10,000 attendees over its three days, down about a thousand from previous years. And this year people are walking on concrete, not carpet, to save money.

But with dozens of speakers, education and networking sessions, and more than 150 exhibitors, the conference is a veritable cornucopia of resources for the sustainable building and design community.

Perhaps the most eye-popping exhibit, and certainly the most popular, was a trailer equipped with enough food storage, water and electricity to last a week, without connection to any utilities. It can fit inside a shipping container for quick transport in case of emergency.

Of course, the maker, Green Horizon, doesn't call them trailers. Rather, they are The Next Generation of On-Demand, Self-Sustaining Housing Solutions.

The Medical Unit and the Communications Unit might appeal to disaster preparedness agencies, but I kind of like the Bunk House Unit, which could help parents cope with family emergencies, like out-of-control kids.

Another interesting item was the Stak Block from Oryzatech Inc. These high-insulation blocks, made of rice straw, can be fit together to build load-bearing walls while sequestering carbon.

The conference got its start about a decade ago at PG&E's Pacific Energy Center, and the utility has been a sponsor ever since. As Platinum Sponsor this year, PG&E representatives are talking in-depth to attendees about residential new construction, new efficiency options and incentives, energy savings tips and rebates and making energy use carbon neutral with ClimateSmart(tm) .

PG&E CEO Peter Darbee also presented the inaugural "West Coast Green Collaboration Award" to the California Academy of Sciences for its commitment to getting the entire community involved in combating climate change. In its first year since the new Academy opened, it has already touched the lives of millions as the greenest museum in the world. The Academy received the highest LEED rating from the U.S. Green Building Council and it consumes 30 to 35 percent less energy than current codes require. PG&E has worked closely with the Academy to develop creative exhibits on climate change.

Thanks to Jack Chang, Susie Martinez and Andrew Souvall for contributing to this item.