The Stars Weigh In

Two things:

1. A delightful quote from Carl Pope.

image from MoonBattery.com

"Efficiency is the steak," said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club. "Renewables are the sizzle."

from "Efficiency, Not Just Alternatives, Is Promoted as an Energy Saver." The New York Times. Matthew L. Wald, May 29, 2007.

2. The Gilmore Girls (Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel) weigh in on global warming.

image from spanielsng.blogspot.com.

Green-e

Green-e is Consumer Reports for renewable energy and carbon offset purchases.

I mean, come on. How easy would it be to peddle hogwash? So easy. "Buy Jennifer Carbon Credits today! I'll just take that there credit card number... gooooood."

Ratings are a good thing.

Wind Power

Wind power is in the air (ha - with apologies for bad puns throughout this post). Despite California's historical corner on research institutions, venture capital, and government incentives, the state's comparative advantage in renewable energy is waning while other states hover in the wings, not least Colorado.



Colorado's government is snapping to, primed for a wind takeover with its low cost of living and environmentally engaged constituency (and, well, its central location and access to rail doesn't hurt either). Danish company Vestas is blowing into Windsor, CO with gusto. Slotted to open a blade manufacturing plant, Vestas Windsor will create 400 new green collar jobs. Whoosh! Fort Collins has capitalized on this zeitgust, as its Senator Bob Bacon is sponsoring a bill to allocate some gaming money to help Colorado State University renewable energy science turn into business. And don't be surprised if CT, MA, and OH suddenly show up on the list of renewable-friendly locales, as their forward-looking governments deregulate and incentivize. Wind power isn't all fun and games, as these golden eagles no longer have wind beneath their wings.

Wave Energy

Wind and solar and wave, oh my! What will they come up with next?
Wave energy (aka hydrokinetic energy) was even predicted in 1908 to be the energy source of the future. Wave energy, however, has not been fully studied; the large, delicate, expensive buoys concern fishers who don't want to run into them, and nobody knows what the environmental effects will be... least of all Sonoma County residents responding to this November agenda item.

Hydrokinetic energy works by bouncing magnets in the rise and fall of ocean waves. If I had stayed in science classes I might be able to explain this more clearly and correctly. Apparently, 0.2% of the energy wasted in waves could power the entire world if harvested.

In related news, Google announced its intent to invest "hundreds of millions" of dollars in renewable energy to spark an energy revolution. And the ED's name is Larry Brilliant. Nice.

UN Climate Conference, Bali

The UN finished up a climate conference in Bali (Dec. 3-14), Our friends Tim Anderson and Paul Kelley went to present the Sonoma County Water Agency's plan to depend on renewable energy only.