Clean Energy Springfield

If you're one of the three people who reads this blog regularly, you may be wondering where we've been lately. A big part of the answer is in today's paper, with Amanda Reavy's coverage of last night's utilities committee meeting. The five PURPA standards were up for consideration. Two weeks ago was the first time that CWLP's revisions to them, based on comments received, were released to the public and city council.

For the most part, we're pretty pleased. The things that we felt were the most egregious missteps--such as putting a hard limit on the size of generators for net metering, requiring ten people to start a net metering program, not actually doing anything to further increase fuel diversity--were taken care of, with one exception: smart metering.

We requested a meeting with CWLP, and Jay Bartlett and Eric Hobbe were kind enough to oblige earlier this week. We mostly made a second pitch for CWLP committing to a trial program for smart metering, which they declined for reasons that more or less make sense to us. They said that they'd be willing to extol the virtues of smart metering to city council, and state that they intended to keep working on the issue over the next several years, and could definitely revisit it in two years, all through their community meetings. We also asked for one minor change to the fuel diversity standard. CWLP included a statement that they would develop a plan to minimize reliance on one fuel source; we asked that energy efficiency be included as a route to that.

None of these changes were actually incorporated into the ordinances that city council will pass (or not pass, should something highly unexpected happen). In my comments, I asked that the committee consider incorporating those changes, and alderman Cahnman indicated that he would consider it.

So, where we're at now is: we're going to be giving alderman Cahnman some suggested language, and see it what he does with it. If he does put forward an amendment, we'll let everyone know. This is a little thing, but we feel it's important to keeping the conversation on sustainability in Springfield moving, so we're hoping people will contact their aldermen to let them know to support these amendments.

ALSO: On a personal note, I cringed pretty hard to see my quote about "deal-breakers" in Reavy's story. Not because I didn't say it, but because I said it while fumbling for words. All I meant was: we're mostly happy, and want just a couple of small changes to formalize stuff CWLP agrees to anyway.

Via Triple Pundit, Johnson Controls, a major provider of heating and cooling controls, is remodeling its international headquarters in Milwaukee into a green campus. Hopefully, this marks a company-wide re-orientation toward sustainability (which is not some kind of bizarre thing, to be clear--a lot of buildings are going to need HVAC retrofits ...). Good for Springfield, because Johnson serves our market (for all I know, Johnson serves every market, but still). Finding corporate citizens out there with a dedication to sustainability is a good thing.

For the detail minded, take a look at the site layouts, at either the TriplePundit or JS online links. Looks like a smorgasbord of steps--solar panels, a wind turbine, green roof (rather small, but good that it's there), permeable pavers, and a cistern for stormwater. What's nice about this is that Johnson didn't just go for sustainability on the things it specializes in, it went for a broader range of tools. No word on whether they're going for LEED status ... maybe it's just assumed anymore?

Some different bits of good news floating around town right now, on a variety of fronts.

Most prominently, the SJR is reporting that the first green roof has hit Springfield. It's always exciting to see the first of something. And it's nice to see that the architect stepped forward to suggest it. Hopefully it goes well, and we'll see a follow up article next spring about expanding the green.

Most interestingly--to me, at least--Illini Bank is advertising that it offers Energy Efficient Mortgages. That is, getting (I assume--more on this in a moment) Energy Star certification for your house can lower your monthly mortgage bills, or trying to get it can get you more money for energy efficiency improvements when you refinance. Of course, you have to get certification--and Illini says they'll pay for the rater review.

This actually pretty great news. One of the difficulties in making energy-saving investments in a house is that they may not pay off before you move, if you're like me and still basically a vagabond. EEMs, as they're known, incorporate your energy savings into your mortgage. The banking industry likes them because by not spending money on energy, you have more money to spend on your mortgage, which means you can buy more house. I like 'em because (in theory at least) it ought to go in reverse, too. If they're going to afford you a bigger house, they ought to also cut you a deal on the interest rate. (Which is, after all, partly an indicator of riskiness; fewer bills == less chance of the bank not getting theirs, so the interest rate ought to drop off a smidge. Please note however that things that make sense to me rarely get reflected out in the real world.) Regardless, though, this is one of those detailed, wonky things that can pay a double-dividend: once in promoting energy saving, and once in helping lower-income families buy into good houses.

Anyway, the fine print on the ad says it's a limited time offer, and sadly I can't find anything on their website to point you to (tsk tsk, Illini). But if you're moving soon or thinking about refinancing soon, or don't have many scruples, give them a call and talk to them about their Energy Efficient Mortgage, and see if you can get an energy rater. My understanding was that Springfield didn't have anyone doing that, so if you get one, let me know how it went.

Finally, and most mixedly, I saw a sad little basket of "homegrown" zucchini at Schnucks yesterday. I assume "homegrown" means local, rather than just the manager has a garden and got tired of eating zucchini. It was empty, which is good news, but rather marketed, if you ask me. That said, they did have a big banner that proclaimed a commitment to fresh & local.

So: we're greening our buildings, we're greening our financing, we're greening our food. Not a bad weekend, I'd say.

As you probably saw in the SJR on Thursday, city council approved CWLP's recommended PURPA ordinances this week. These cover how CWLP governs small generators that want to connect to its grid, how it will seek to improve how efficiently it generates electricity at the power plant, and how customers will be able to dial their meters backwards when they have small generation systems, like solar panels. These ordinances also set out how CWLP will seek to diversify its fuel sources as well as how it will approach smart metering/time of use rates for residential customers in the future.

Clean Energy Springfield worked hard to get CWLP to open up its alternatives more in creating these ordinances, and in part we succeeded. We, along with other individuals and organizations interested in creating a more sustainable future, were able to get some of the more egregious elements in CWLP's original proposals removed, such as a requirement that its net metering program get at least ten participants before starting and a hard limit as to the size of net metering generators (which would have excluded larger businesses).

We also got CWLP to agree to revisit smart metering for residential customers by 2010. While we continue to feel that smart metering is a viable option now, in discussions with CWLP we found that (1) they were not going to budge on that because (2) there are some legitimate issues they have to work out on their end. (Our sense is that these are not anywhere near the substantial kinds of obstacles that CWLP feels they are, but that's a much longer conversation than was possible under the PURPA timeline.)

Last, we got CWLP to agree to consider energy efficiency as a source of fuel diversity. This was a minor change, I think, but it gives us some room to argue more strongly for CWLP to develop programs that shift demand away from electricity use and toward not just traditional energy efficiency elements (like insulation or appliance upgrades) but also passive solar technologies, like solar water and air heaters. Moving CWLP away from its view of itself as first and foremost an electricity supplier is an important step in getting to green.

I'm reading The Social Atom today, which may be the most infuriating book I've ever agreed with. (The author is blogging on the book here.) The infuriations are pretty deep in the weeds of my own interests. At its core, though, the book is similar to Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point in looking at how decisions tend to be made socially. A key part of this is, of course, how people look to the others around them to decide what to do. When enough others are doing something, suddenly everyone decides to do it--it's tipped.

In the made-up world of how I think things work, one problem with tipping points (unexplored in Gladwell's book and The Social Atom) is in that phrase from above "how people look to others." In The Social Atom (as the name may suggest if you're up on your particle physics), the author is pressed to show us how non-unique we all are, and there's a tendency to lapse into a locational sense of "others"--a presumption that other people are those physically near you. (This is not an explicit thing, but just a way that there's bleed-over from the author's explanatory metaphors of magnetic fields.)

Action on global warming, though, casts a different light on this, I think. The majority of Americans believe in some kind of environmentalism, and the majority of Americans believe in taking action on global warming. Many Americans, however, don't like most environmentalists. Unfairly, to my mind, they see us as against too much--anti-growth, anti-good times, anti-whatever. Not all, of course, but I think a large chunk, and probably enough in a mild way to make environmentalism somewhat problematic in getting things done.

The problem this points up is that I think there's a tendency among many people to not look at committed environmentalists as peers--the others to whom you turn to decide what to do. Which is why we get so excited when news of big cross-overs come out--a DuPont, a pro-environment union, or an outdoors group (i.e., hunters).

And so all of that is to say: it's heartening to see smart energy getting press alongside economic development and in-town revitalization in today's SJR story on Connor Co., a plumbing wholesaler, building a new distribution center at Ninth and Grand. Urban-form-wise, I think their building leaves a little to be desired (although its site doesn't really call out for much more), but you've got to be happy to see geothermal, radiant floor heating, and energy efficient lighting.

Connor is the second major development project in Springfield to use geothermal (at least, as has been in the news)--the first was the new Illinois Municipal Electric Agency Building (which, sadly, picked a much worse location). And with the news that the new park is looking at greener strategies, as is H.D. Smith, we might be seeing the sudden blossoming of a green building movement in Springfield.

ALSO: Sadly sudden environmental consciousness syndrome isn't the only tipping point to be concerned about. Grist explains.

Thinking about replacing your incandescent lights with more efficient compact fluorescent light (CFLs) bulbs? Or perhaps you want to replace an old wall-mounted thermostat with a programmable unit that allows you to scale back on heating and cooling to save energy when you're away or sleeping. If the answer is “yes,” there are a few things you need to know about mercury, a toxic metal that is found in many household and commercial products.

Let’s focus on CFLs first. They contain a small amount of mercury, an average of 5 milligrams – about the amount that would cover the tip of a ballpoint pen. Mercury is a key element of CFLs that makes them an efficient light source. Unfortunately, there’s no better substitute right now.

The mercury in a CFL is not a threat to the environment unless the glass is broken. Even though the bulbs are rarely touched while in use, they can break if dropped or roughly handled. So be careful when removing the bulb from its packaging, installing it, or replacing it.

If a CFL bulb breaks, the most important thing to remember is to never use a vacuum to clean up the broken glass. A standard vacuum will spread mercury-containing dust throughout the area as well as potentially contaminating the vacuum.

U.S. EPA has published guidelines for consumers on how to cleanup a broken CFL bulb. While the broken bulb and cleanup materials may be set out in a sealed plastic bag with your normal trash for disposal, an environmentally preferable approach would be to take these items to a household hazardous waste (HHW) collection event for recycling. This would mean labeling the sealed bag “Mercury Waste – broken lamp, “ and storing it in a safe place until a collection event comes to your community.

To determine if your town has made arrangements for hosting an event of this type, check out Illinois EPA’s web site. The City of Springfield and Sangamon County have sponsored HHW collections at the State Fairgrounds in the past and it’s likely that more events will be scheduled. They have normally taken place in the spring.

And what should you do with a burned-out CFL? While consumers can lawfully dispose of CFLs in household garbage, the preferable approach again would be to take them to a HHW collection event for recycling. Put each used CFL in a sealed plastic bag and store the lot of them in a padded box in a safe place until the collection event takes place. At the event, the bulbs will be packaged and sent to a processing center where the mercury is reclaimed and the glass is reprocessed.

Unfortunately, HHW collection events are held only a limited number of times at different locations around the state each year. Most consumers do not like to keep waste materials around between collections. More convenient recycling and disposal mechanisms are needed. The long-term solution is for U.S. EPA and state solid waste officials to work with the bulb manufacturers and major retailers to create more convenient options for recycling. In Vermont, a collection program was established through a partnership between the state and True Value hardware stores to take back spent fluorescent lamps from consumers. The program has been expanded to include Ace hardware stores as well. More than 60 stores in that state now provide lamp recycling services to consumers.

In my next posting, I’ll discuss ways for "do-it-yourselfers" to properly dispose of old wall-mounted thermostats that contain mercury tilt switches.

You may be thinking about replacing an old wall-mounted thermostat with a programmable unit that will automatically adjust your home’s temperature settings while you’re away or sleeping. Electronic thermostats can help you save energy and save money on utility bills — when used properly, about $150 a year. They are better for the environment, since using less energy helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with energy production.

But what about your old thermostat? Don’t just throw it away. It may contain mercury, especially if it is one of the round units. To see if your thermostat contains mercury, carefully remove the front cover to look for one or more glass bulbs containing a silver liquid. If you see this, you have a mercury-switch thermostat. These thermostats use mercury tilt switches containing on average 3 grams of mercury. While the device is operational and the mercury is enclosed, the thermostat does not pose a health risk, but mercury spills could arise if the thermostat is not handled and disposed of properly at the end of its life.

If you hire a licensed HVAC service technician to install your new, programmable thermostat, ask him/her if their firm is participating in a mercury-switch thermostat recycling program. If they are, see if they will take your old one for disposal. Also, you can dispose of mercury-containing thermostats at household hazardous waste collections that are periodically held in Springfield and other parts of the state. For a list of upcoming collection events, visit Illinois EPA’s web site or look for an announcement in your local newspaper.

If you choose to wait for a household hazardous waste collection, place the mercury-switch thermostat in a sealable plastic bag. Never remove the internal mercury switch from the thermostat. Use a sticker or some other form of identification to mark the bag “Mercury-containing item” and store the thermostat in a safe place away from children.

I remember reading a federal report several years ago that highlighted the energy-saving benefits of manufacturing goods from recycled materials. Using recycled materials as feedstock typically requires less energy than producing goods from virgin materials. For example, recycling aluminium saves 95% of the energy cost of processing new aluminium because the melting temperature is reduced from 900 °C to 600 °C. Paper recycling saves 40% of the energy required to make a new product. A few days ago, I decided to dig a little further to find out if recycling can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Bingo! I found a U.S. EPA web site with loads of information about climate change and recycling.

Both waste prevention and recycling are considered “potent strategies” for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. How so? When people reuse things or when products are made with less virgin material, less energy is needed to extract, transport and process raw materials and to manufacture products. Waste prevention and recycling also divert materials from municipal waste incinerators, reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the combustion of waste. Composting diverts organic waste from landfills, meaning less methane is generated when these materials decompose. Finally, waste prevention and recycling of paper products allow more trees to remain standing in a forest, where they can continue to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The EPA web site featured two case studies, which show that recycling can make a big difference. By recycling all of its waste paper for one year, an office building with 7,000 workers could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 570 metric tons, when compared with landfilling the paper. This is equivalent to taking about 370 cars off the road. If an average family of four were to recycle all of its mixed plastic waste, nearly 340 pounds of greenhouse gases could be reduced each year.

So keep recycling, try to reuse items and look for products made with recycled content when you go to the grocery or hardware store. By choosing to prevent waste and recycle, you will be doing even more to help curb climate change.