For more information, e-mail Steve.Stelzer@cityofhouston.net

Gensler Architects
700 Milam, Ste 400
Houston, TX 77002
Date: 2010-01-17

With a conversion kit installed into his Toyota Prius, Jerry Asher reasoned that folks should see and believe in Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) as a solution to our Nation’s Energy Crisis.  After driving that same hybrid car from Austin to California as a “PHEV All-Around America: Southwest Pilot Program”,  EVJerry was convinced! His basic thought: “Let’s create a team and put a PHEV on the road and drive all around the Country to demonstrate what Electrics are all about. Thus, the PHEV3A or Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle “All Around America EVducational Tour” began!

Asher, who is the Education Chairman of the Electric Vehicle Association of Washington D.C.  (EVADC) went before the Membership and proposed the PHEV3A idea! President Dave “Goldie” Goldstein and Vice President Charlie Garlow immediately backed Asher’s idea. In short order, other members joined in along with support coming from sister Electric Auto Association Chapters. “Part of our mission is to educate people about Pollution-Free Plug-In Electric Vehicles and do it on a National Scale,” said PHEV3 co-chair Joe Lado.

Asher’s Prius was christened the “Spirit of D.C.” joining a list of the club’s Pure Electric Vehicles and Hybrid EVs.  The launch of the Tour began at the Environmental Protection Agency’s 4th National Sustainable Design Expo held on the National Mall in front of Our Nation’s Capitol building.

The better part of a year has been spent in in visiting all 48 contiguous State Capitols of the U.S. On 18 April 2009, “EV Jerry” and the “Spirit of DC” will end their journey where it began, in Washington, D.C. being the first PHEV to travel all around America!

This Saturday, 14 March 2009, both will swing through Houston for two days. Visit www.heaa.org for late-breaking locations and appearances.

Note: The EPA 5th National Sustainable Design Expo will have over 60 college and university teams competing for the prestigious P3 Award on sustainable design and further funding to make their sustainable design fully implemented. Together with the P3 teams, there are over 30 non-profit and government exhibitors along with EVADC, who are also demonstrating their sustainable designs for alternative energy sources, agricultural applications, green chemistry, green buildings, sustainable water use, and many other sustainable technologies.

Join us and see history in-the-making with the heroic last leg of the “Spirit of DC” EVducational Tour, an “ALL AMERICAN” having visited all 48 State Capitols in America.  Check out “Spirit” & EVJerry at www.SpiritofDC.com

Chapters Relations
Electric Auto Association
Post Office Box 651
Bisbee, AZ  85603
(520) 432-3227 – Home
(202) 486-5450 – Evening/Weekend Cell

The agenda for the upcoming session of the Texas Legislature will be dense with bills that, directly or indirectly, affect the quality of the environment in Texas. More than 50 bills have already been filed that match the criteria “environment” on the legislature’s online bill search.

The Texas Department of Transportation was reviewed by the Sunset Commission which recommended major changes in the way the agency operates and in the way it is structured. For example, the Sunset Commission recommended that the five-member board be replaced by a single highway commissioner. To see the draft report, go online.

The legislative session begins January 13. Newly elected State Representative Armando Walle, who will represent the North side/Aldine area (District 140) is hosting three town hall meetings next week. It is a great opportunity for constituents and activists to visit with him about legislative issues. The meetings are:

Monday, January 5th – 6 pm
MacArthur High School Cafeteria
4400 Aldine Mail Route

Tuesday, January 6th – 6 pm
Sam Houston Math, Science & Technology Center Cafeteria
9400 Irvington Blvd.

Tuesday, January 6th – 7:30 pm
Aldine-Greenspoint YMCA
10960 North Freeway

Please RSVP for any of the meetings by sending an email to representativewalle@gmail.com.

This week is a good opportunity to visit your own legislators about issues that you care about. Call the local office and make an appointment to visit the legislator (or a staff member) or see if there will be any public events. If you don’t know who your legislator is, find out online.

The last legislative session resulted in the highest level of funding for state parks in more than a decade, a two-year moratorium on the Trans-Texas Corridor, and a successful challenge to the process of fast-tracking permits for coal-fired electric plants. All these accomplishments were the result of bi-partisan coalitions of business leaders, environmental activists, farmers and ranchers, and urban and rural elected officials. Those coalitions can make a positive contribution toward making Texas a greener state.

The Houston area now has three electric car dealers!

Apollo Scooters at 1239 Richmond and at 2103 Gray, an established scooter dealer, has recently gone electric. It now carries ZAP! products – autos (really an enclosed three-wheel motorcycle) and the retro style Zapino, an all-electric scooter with Italian chic. Apollo also sells the all-electric Segway. Apollo also plans to offer Segway tours of Houston. I saw a group of Segway tourists in San Antonio, all looking like ducklings following their mother.

On Monday, Houston Electric Cars opened its location at 2420 Rusk, just east of downtown, and made its first sale to Houston Electric Auto Association president Dale Brooks. He bought a blue ZENN (Zero Emissions No Noise) neighborhood electric vehicle. The car is governed to speeds slower than 30 mph, and goes 62 miles on a charge. It’s a two-seater, but there’s room in the back for three children. Unlike many electric autos, its air conditioning is standard. The car is built in Canada with parts from France. A 4-passenger, freeway-speed ZENN is scheduled for delivery in a few months.

Houston Electric Cars also plans to carry the Sun-motor sedan, which has a solar panel that extends over the hood past the rear window. The car plugs into any electrical outlet, but the 300-watt solar panel can produce some of the car’s power.

There is also a dealer for the MILES brand in Friendswood. These are also only for neighborhood use.

Also, Leisure Learning Unlimited offers a class on electric car conversion on August 27 and again on October 29. The class will discuss the basics: how far you can drive on a charge, what kind of batteries and motor to use, and how much the project might cost. The instructors will display the car and truck they converted for approximately $14,000 and $9,000 respectively. To register for the class go online.

Houston’s electric Auto Association meets on the third Thursday of the month at 3015 Richmond at 7 pm. For more information about the group, see their website.

One Father’s Day, my siblings and I bought our father a wallet. It seemed like a great gift – his old one was falling apart and the new one was the same kind. He didn’t take it out of the box. So we re-wrapped it in different paper for Christmas, and again for Valentine’s Day, and his birthday, and Father’s Day again. We got a lot of mileage out of that wallet, but he never used it. We should have given him a book.

‘Energy Metropolis, an Environmental History of Houston and the Gulf Coast’, edited by Martin Melosi and Joseph Pratt, is a collection of essays on topics such as energy and environment, growth of the region, and grassroots environmental activism. The book’s focus on air conditioning, road building, water and sewer issues, and other infrastructure matters recognizes the contributions of engineers and builders. Environmental activists will enjoy the chapter ‘To Combine Many and Varied Forces’, by Teresa Tomkins-Walsh, which relates the history of the bayou preservation movement and early park protection activities. CEC’s early history is mentioned also. The book is published by University of Pittsburgh Press.

Texas A & M University Press has several series on regional topics with titles that focus on special interests. The books are scholarly, but not textbooks. It seems as if their catalogue has a title for any esoteric bit of Texana you father may be interested in.

The Gulf Coast Studies series, sponsored by Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, has just released ‘Texas Coral Reefs’ by Jesse Cancelmo. This book looks at the Flower Gardens and thirty other natural reefs in Texas waters and the exceptional amount and variety of sea life they support.

Although I haven’t seen the reefs book yet, I have enjoyed other books in the series. I’ve read and enjoyed ‘The Book of Texas Bays’ by Jim Blackburn; ‘Galveston Bay’ by Sally Antrobus; ‘Birdlife of Houston, Galveston, and the Upper Texas Coast’ by Eubanks, Jr., Behrstock, and Weeks, and ‘The Formation and Future of the Upper Texas Coast’ by J. B. Anderson.

A & M also has the Louise Lindsey Merrick Natural Environment Series; the W. L. Moody, Jr., Natural History Series; a series about Texas rivers; and a lot more. The press puts out about 70 new titles a year including ones in history, architecture, gardening, and art. Check out the website.

If your father is a gardener, instead of a new sprayer, get him Bob Randall’s book ‘Year Round Vegetables, Fruits and Flowers for Metro Houston (A Natural Organic Approach Using Ecology)’ and Brenda Beust Smith’s ‘The Lazy Gardener’s Guide’. They show how to garden successfully without pesticides.

Finally, an excuse that shopping is good for the environment! From 12:01 am on Saturday, May 24 to 11:59 pm on Monday, May 26, purchases of certain Energy Star products are exempt from Texas sales taxes. Products that can be purchased tax-free include refrigerators, air-conditioning systems, dehumidifiers, ceiling fans, light bulbs, dishwashers, programmable thermostats, and clothes washers. For details, see the program’s website.

Energy Star is an EPA/Department of Energy program that promotes energy efficient products and practices. In 1992 EPA introduced Energy Star as a voluntary labeling program to identify and promote energy-efficient products to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The first Energy Star products were computers and monitors, and now there are more than 50 types of products that can be Energy Star. EPA has extended the label to cover new homes and commercial and industrial buildings. To see all the kinds of products that could be Energy Star, see the Energy Star guide.

Even though not all these products will qualify for the sales tax exemption, all will save money and save energy. If there is very little difference in energy efficiency among different models of a product, clothes driers for example, the product does not qualify for an Energy Star designation.

Conventional battery chargers — even when not charging — can draw as much as 5 to 20 times more energy than is actually stored in the battery! However, Energy Star qualified battery chargers use 35% less energy. Considering how many battery chargers we use at home and work – about 230 million of them – if all were Energy Star, we could save more than 1 billion kilowatt hours of energy per year. In money, this is more than $100 million annually. In greenhouse gas emissions, this is more than one million tons. In cars, it is about 150,000. The EPA doesn’t say what kind of cars, but I am sure they mean big gas-guzzlers.

I can spend a long time trying to decide which product is “greenest”, but I know that Energy Star products offer significant energy savings without sacrificing features, style or comfort. Even if they aren’t on sale, they’re a good deal.

The first nuclear plant license application to be filed in the US in 29 years is for two new units at the South Texas Project nuclear power station site in Matagorda County.

The application was filed September 24, 2007, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission hearing is already scheduled for this Tuesday, February 5th,. Sessions will run from 1:30 to 4:30 pm and from 7 to 10 pm, at the Bay City Civic Center, 201 7th Street. Anyone who wants to make comments may register at the meeting up to 15 minutes before the start of each session.

Susan Dancer of Matagorda County Coalition for Nuclear Industry Accountability (M.C.C.N.I.A), calls Matagorda County “Ground Zero” for acceptance or rejection of nuclear energy’s comeback in the United States. She warns that the application “will be as good as approved within five weeks” if local citizens don’t raise their concerns at the hearing.

Dancer said M.C.C.N.I.A was formed in 2005 to react to STP officials announcement that it was going to outsource some of the “long-promised, long-awaited jobs” elsewhere and the county’s economy started to collapse. Although STP management reversed the decision, M.C.C.N.I.A members want to know more about the economics of the plan. Questions they want answered include:

• Who benefits economically and who will it cost?
• Will taxes go up and will the builder receive tax exemptions?
• Will the county services and infrastructure be able to handle the influx of temporary workers?
• Will workers be hired locally?

Several statewide groups are also working against approval of this application. Karen Hadden, Executive Director of Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) Coalition, said that other questions are:

• Will there be a bigger risk of cancer from more radiation?
• What will be the effect of the plants heavy use of water?
• How will the plant prepare for hurricanes and other disasters?

Hadden and Dancer both say that NRG has not demonstrated that there is a need for another power plant.

The STP supplies Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi and surrounding areas. The present two reactors produce nearly 2,700 megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 2.1 million homes. According to NRG, the two new reactors will equal or exceed that amount.

Dancer says that proposed federal subsidies for nuclear power plants for 2008 amount to $250 million to $400 million per unit. She suggests that a much lesser amount subsidized to weatherproof existing homes and improve efficient construction technique would negate the need to build more power plants.

Hadden and Dancer have unexpected support for their claim that there may not be a need for another power plant.

Earlier this week, the EPA issued a press release saying that wind power has propelled the cities of Dallas and Houston onto the Environmental Protection Agency’s national list of top green power purchasers. Dallas took the ninth spot on the list by buying 40 percent of its power from wind sources. Houston grabbed the No. 12 spot by using wind power for 20 percent of its purchased-electricity needs. According to the EPA, these two purchases equal the amount of electricity needed to power an estimated 61,000 average American homes each year. Also, Austin and Austin Independent School District were ranked at number five and seven on the EPA’s Top 10 Local Government green power purchasers.

That same press release announced the results of EPA’s 2007 Fortune 500 Green Power Challenge, a 13-month campaign that encouraged America’s largest corporations to collectively purchase green power in excess of five billion kilowatt-hours per year. Challenge participants, including nine Texas-based companies, pushed EPA to surpass its goal by more than 130 percent. For more information, including NRG’s press release about the application, see www.stpnoc.com; or SEED Coalition’s website about this issue; or www.mccnia.homestead.com.

Kermit the Frog lamented, “It’s not easy being green,” but it’s getting easier all the time. Every day, there are more choices, products, and technologies that make “going green” more practical. Here are some helpers to make 2008 the greenest year yet.

Keep your eye on Wagner Hardware on 6111 Kirby (in Rice Village). This Houston icon has become the home of New Living, which bills itself as a green essentials store. New Living is taking space in front of the store, while the traditional Wagner hardware store will remain in business.

New Living stocks environmentally responsible products such as lighting, paint, flooring and cleaning supplies. New Living’s founder, Jeff Kaplan, said, “We promote a ground-up approach to green living by helping people make adjustments to the way they shop for basic home essentials, items they might not necessarily think about replacing with green alternatives.”

I dropped by yesterday to browse and found familiar brands like Ecover and Dr. Bronner’s, but also saw brands I hadn’t encountered before like Yolo Colorhouse and AFM Safecoat. Yolo Colorhouse offers green seal certified paints and AFM Safecoat has a line of paints, finishes, and carpet cleaners that are free of VOCs and other hazardous materials like formaldehyde and heavy metals.

Since my Christmas money was burning a hole in my pocket, I bought some weird and wacky items such as Maggie’s soap nuts. Used for laundry, soap nuts are the dried fruit of the Chinese Soapberry tree, which posses a natural cleaner called saponin. Since I’m trying to phase paper towels out of my life, I bought Twist sponge cloths, each of which claims to replace 17 rolls of paper towels. And, the package can be turned into a charming little bird feeder!

Momentum Bay Associates, a consulting firm that focuses on green building and green business, is conducting two “Eco Boot Camps” on Saturday, January 19 at St. Catherine’s Montessori School.

The morning session is for real estate professionals. This course is an intensive and customized overview of today’s most important “green” topics for commercial and residential real estate brokers, developers, contractors, homebuilders, lenders, and appraisers. Attendees will come away understanding sustainability and green building, particularly how to sell ‘Green’. This session is approved for continuing education by the Texas Real Estate Commission.

The afternoon session is about households, and is for anyone who wants to learn how to go green at home profitably and practically. The class will look at all the ways to go green at home, including: health, food, shelter, beauty and fashion, finances, travel, and gadgets and gifts.

Register online or by phone at (877) 326-8392.

The City of Houston is opening a new green building resource center this spring. Architect Steve Stelzer has been hired as its director. It will be housed at 3300 Main. Services will include optional plan review services for energy efficiency and green building opportunities. The center will also provide both hands-on and online information regarding green building materials and practices with a focus on the Houston climate and local providers. Stelzer will develop educational curriculum for a variety of groups to be presented at the center and in the community. The center will also serve as a clearinghouse for related events.

Stelzer was accredited as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Professional in 2001. He serves on the USGBC-Greater Houston Area Chapter Board of Directors, teaches informal classes on the “Low Carbon Diet” program, and serves on the Recycling and Solid Waste Reduction Board in West University place.

And, last, but not least, for lots of energy saving tips, see Houston Power to People.

Planet Ark, the daily listing of international environmental news stories reported by Reuters news service, recently had an intriguing headline – Texas Mayors Promote Fluorescents as ‘State Bulb’.

I learned that the mayors of San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, El Paso and Austin all appeared at a news conference in San Antonio last Friday to kick off a statewide campaign that calls on all Texans to replace their old-fashioned light bulbs with energy-saving compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). The mayors declared the compact fluorescent the “State Bulb of Texas,” and took turns turning on the bulbs in sockets marking their cities in a huge granite map of Texas.

In addition to promoting CFLs as the state bulb, our mayors are collaborating with Environmental Defense, Texas utility companies, and retailers to encourage Texans to give CFLs as a holiday gift, or to make a ney years resolution to switch to CFLs.

San Antonio’s Phil Hardberger said, “One of the simplest acts an individual can take – changing a light bulb – has a far-reaching effect. If every Texan household changed just one bulb, it would be the equivalent of removing 55,000 cars from the city streets. It would also be enough to light 200,000 homes for a year.”

However, according to Hardberger, in spite of the cost and energy savings, CFLs account for only about 6 percent of all light bulb sales.

With this as a backdrop, I sent our intrepid intern off to find out more about CFLs. Here’s what she found.

Gone are the days when only the most longsuffering environmentalists were toiling away, looking unattractively washed out under their dim, flickering, buzzing, fluorescent lights. Today’s CFLs have come a long way. The flickering and buzzing are long gone. The bulbs come in shades that more closely approximate natural light.

If you are turned off by the CFLs new-fangled, coiled shape, there are products in which the coils are disguised under a dome producing the familiar curvature of an incandescent bulb. Your light bulbs can look normal!

There is now a CFL for almost any lighting need, although it may be necessary to go to a specialty vendor. You can get small, decorative CFLs for chandeliers and sconces, floodlights for track lighting or outdoors, or globe lamps to be used in your bathroom vanity. There are three-way lamps and dimmable CFCs now.

Discussions about how much energy can be saved if each Texan changes only one bulb skip often skip over the fact a single CFL is 75% more efficient than an incandescent bulb.

It seems that CFLs are being touted as part of the answer to all of our problems, but are there any downsides?

CFLs are more expensive, which will be a barrier for some people. But, because CFLs will save money in energy bills, they more than pay for themselves. At today’s energy costs, trading just one 60-watt incandescent bulb for an equally bright CFL saves more than $30 over the life of the bulb. Swapping a 100-watt incandescent bulb for a CFL saves more than $50.

Some are concerned because they’ve heard that CFLs contain small amounts of mercury. A CFL bulb generally contains about 5 mg of mercury, which is about one-fifth of that found in the average watch battery, and less than 1/100th of the mercury found in an amalgam dental filling. CFLs contribute less mercury pollution than incandescents, even though incandescent bulbs contain no mercury, because the biggest source of mercury contamination in the environment is the burning of fossil fuels. CFLs require less energy, thus the amount of fossil fuels used is reduced.

The mercury inside the bulb does not pose a risk unless it is broken, so the bulb must be disposed of as household hazardous waste (not in regular trash) or recycled. The EPA site referenced below has directions for cleaning up a broken bulb.

A few critics have dubbed CFLs ‘the 8,000-mile bulb’ because 90% are made in China. These critics suggest that any energy savings from using CFLs is negated by the energy required to ship the bulbs. Since China makes 70% of all the world’s light bulbs, most incandescent bulbs also come from there. USA made CFLs are available, for buyers who prefer to buy products that are made domestically, at esplighting.com.

The next generation of light bulb is on the horizon. Keep your ears peeled for the Cold Cathode Fluorescent Light (CCFL). Over its lifetime it contains 85% less mercury than a typical CFL (the bulb itself contains 50% less mercury and because it lasts longer, it will be replaced fewer times). With 25,000-hour lifetimes and retail prices of $15, these bulb lasts as long as LEDs yet are much less expensive.

If you haven’t converted, Texas Interfaith Power and Light has some bright ideas about how to make CFLs part of your holiday traditions for Advent and Hanukkah. Read if for the great collection of “Change A Light bulb” jokes.

Consider giving CFLs as gifts. After all, they do keep on giving in energy savings all year round!

For more:

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs
Where to Recycle CFLs
Texas Mayors Promote Fluorescents as ‘State Bulb’
Do Your Part to Take Care of Texas This Season
Texas State Symbols and Emblems

The Houston Renewable Energy Group’s tour of alternate energy homes and buildings, which will be tomorrow (10/6/07) afternoon, is also a chance to look at Houston’s first few LEED residences.

LEED is short for the “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System™”. It has been developed by the US Green Building Council as the benchmark for design, construction, and operation of green buildings.

LEED buildings use less energy, water, and natural resources; create less waste; and are healthier and more comfortable. Benefits include lower utility bills; reduced greenhouse gas emissions; and less exposure to mold, mildew and other indoor toxins.

The LEED system allows owners, architects, and builders a lot of flexibility in achieving a LEED designation. LEED certification requires meeting minimum standards for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality. After these standards are met, points are added for efforts beyond the minimum requirements in each of these areas. Third-party certification is required. Depending on how many points a project is awarded, the building is rated Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum.

Houston is adding LEED certified projects so quickly that it’s hard to keep up. So far, SpawGlass, American Heart Association, Kirksey, Equivalent Data, Horizon Wind Energy, Satterfield & Pontikes, and Schlumberger Limited have LEED certified headquarters buildings. Also, Emerson Unitarian Church’s educational building, NASA Building 27 (Astronaut Quarantine Facility), St. Katherine’s Montessori School, the Pearland Pediatric Building, Walnut Bend Elementary School, and West Brazos Junior High School are certified.

In addition, there are dozens more projects underway in the area that are registered but don’t have their certification yet. See an online listing.
There are no houses on the certified list yet, because LEED for Homes is just now out of the pilot stage. Heather Ferrier’s house in the Fort Worth Dallas area was featured in this quarter’s “At Home” magazine.

Three of houses on the alternate energy tour are working toward certification and one is a pilot project home.

9245 Wickford Drive, in the Memorial area, is still under construction. It demonstrates ICF (insulated concrete form) exterior walls, a photovoltaic solar system, and solar water heating.

3319 Virginia, in the Upper Kirby/ Greenway area, is designed for total self-sufficiency with solar panels and rainwater harvesting. It will have geothermal HVAC systems using subterranean wells beneath the home. Strategies to reduce energy consumption include north-facing glass, large overhangs on the south and west, reflective metal siding, spray foam insulation, and natural cross ventilation.

The WareLoft, at 13900 Hiram Clarke, is a contemporary work/living green home on a budget. Green building features are passive solar cooling with design-assisted natural ventilation, natural day lighting and clean/green finishes. There are no west windows and no attic. A water harvesting system is soon to be added. The roof is large enough area so solar PV panels can be added. The house is being designed and constructed for minimal site disruption with porous driveway and preservation of existing landscaping, and for totally organic gardening and landscaping to come.

The Mercatante Residence at 16711 Tankersley Drive in Rosharon is finished. It is part of the LEED for Homes pilot program, so it is a great opportunity to check out a variety of green building techniques. The house uses Structural Insulated Panels (SIP) for exterior walls and roof, finger jointed studs, engineered beams for interior framing, passive solar design, energy efficient appliances, water efficient fixtures, and recycled architectural elements.

It has an energy star roof, a solar water heating system, and a rainwater collection system. The propane tanks are outside and all interior paint and floor finishes are water based. Countertops and interior doors were reused from houses that were demolished. Stained concrete, locally harvested wood and quickly renewable bamboo were also used as construction materials.
You can also visit St. Catherine’s Montessori School, 9821 Timberside.
The tour is Saturday, October 6, from noon to 5 pm. Tickets are $10 per car and may be bought at any of the tour sites. For a list of all the tour homes, not just the LEED ones, see . There are three more houses on the tour, including one in Galveston and one at Cat Springs.

Now that we are having a real summer, with temperatures into the high 90s, next month’s electric bill might be a shocker. However, the city of Houston has a new web site, Power to People, which explains five easy, low-cost steps to reduce your electric bill. It also allows you to sign up to win $200 off your August electric bill.

One suggestion to reduce energy use is to plug the leaks around your windows with simple caulking and add weather stripping to outside doors. This step plus adding insulation to the attic can reduce power bills by 20 percent.

The site also informs us that insulation systems, windows, and doors that reduce heat loss or gain; and specially coated metal roofing that keeps the heat out of your home might qualify for as much as $500 income tax credit.

Electric heat pump water heaters, electric heat pumps, geothermal heat pumps and central AC may qualify for as much as $300 credit, and a new natural gas, propane or oil water heater, furnace or hot waster boiler could get $150 return.

Products that qualify for the credit will contain a manufacturer’s certification statement in the packaging or on the product web site. This statement and receipt should be kept like other tax records.

In addition reducing utility bills, these steps will cut pollution by reducing the need for new power plants. Energy plants are built when existing plants can no longer meet peak demand.

For more ideas, check out the film “Kilowatt Ours” at Rice Media Center on August 29, at 7pm, at Rice Media Center. Kilowatt Ours is the story of Jeff Barrie’s 18-month journey across the southeast United States to document our energy related problems and present practical solutions. The free event is hosted by CLEAN and Rice Environmental Club. After the film, a guest speaker will be available for a Q & A.

Also, Houston Climate Protection Alliance will be leading a Low Carbon Diet Class on Thursday, September 13, from 7-8:30pm and the three following Thursdays. This class will be taught at Christ Church Cathedral. For information see the Alliance’s website.

The Houston City Council approved a contract Wednesday that devotes at least a third of the city’s energy purchases to wind-generated sources. The contract makes Houston a leader in green power use.

Mayor White instigated the change as a way to stabilize the cost of electricity after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita disrupted natural gas supplies, causing electricity prices to soar. According to the Mayor’s office, the city spent approximately $150 million on electricity in the last fiscal year – double what the city paid in 2004. Wind power is generally cheaper and more stable in price than other forms of power.

The city is also working to reduce its electric usage in a variety of ways.

More than 300 traffic signals have been converted to LED lamps. All new traffic signals will be LED lamps and the city is working now to replace all signals with LED signals. LED (Light Emitting Diode) traffic signals reduce energy costs by 90% over incandescent bulbs and have several other advantages.

LEDs last five times longer than incandescent bulbs, reducing maintenance costs. The lamps are made of several dozen LEDs, so the signal continues to function even if several of diodes stop working, unlike incandescent bulbs. When the filament of an incandescent bulb fails, the display goes dark, requiring immediate replacement. The lamps are brighter compared to incandescent bulbs, which enhances intersection safety. Drivers who are going east in the morning and west in the evening will appreciate that LED signals elimination the phantom effect. Incandescent bulbs use reflectors behind the bulbs so all colors seem to light up when the sunrays fall directly on these signals. LED lamps have no reflectors, so the problem is eliminated.

Solar power is used for downtown’s new parking stations and school zone signals and city officials are looking at solar devices to meet other needs. An innovative use of solar power is being tested at Lake Houston, where devices called “SolarBees” float in certain areas of the lake to keep lower waters oxygenated all year long, promoting the health of the natural ecosystem and prevening algal blooms.

Also, the city has completed the first two phases of a program to retime existing traffic signals to current traffic patterns and will continue the program across the city. The goal is to make improve reducing the amount of starting and stopping, and the time spend idling, thereby lowering air pollution from vehicular emissions, and reducing gasoline consumption.

Air pollution monitoring will be easier, since the city has recently acquired a mobile air-monitoring lab. The mobile lab will increase the city’s ability to identify and characterize air toxics emissions and determine the likely emission source. It will supplement existing technology such as hand-held infrared cameras that help pinpoint emission sources and a fixed-base air monitoring station in southeast Houston.

The Houston Power to People campaign was launched in May. Volunteers went door-to-door to homes handing out compact fluorescent lights and stores set up displays with information about steps Houstonians can take to minimize energy consumption in their homes. The program’s website presents energy-saving options.

Mayor White, City Council Member Carol Alvarado, and State Senator Rodney Ellis are proponents of “pedal power”. On Wednesday, they wielded shovels and broke ground for a new bikeway which will go to Discovery Green Park.

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 designated the second Sunday in March as the date for Daylight Saving Time to begin in 2007 and the first Sunday in November as the date for it to end. That date is upon us, so at 2 am on Sunday, March 11, clocks should be set forward one hour. On November 4, they will be set back.

Studies done by the U.S. Department of Transportation show that Daylight Saving Time trims the entire country’s electricity usage by a small but significant amount, about one percent each day, because less electricity is used for lighting and appliances.

Ben Franklin was the first person to suggest the idea of daylight saving time, and it was mainly in jest. In a letter to the editor of the Journal of Paris in 1784, Franklin wrote about the morning after a late evening of discussing a new kind of oil lamp. “An accidental sudden noise waked me about six in the morning, when I was surprised to find my room filled with light; and I imagined at first that a number of those lamps had been brought into it; but, rubbing my eyes, I perceived the light came in at the windows. I got up and looked out to see what might be the occasion of it, when I saw the sun just rising above the horizon, from whence he poured his rays plentifully into my chamber.”

Franklin continues, “Your readers, who with me have never seen any signs of sunshine before noon, will be as much astonished as I was, when they hear of his rising so early; and especially when I assure them that he gives light as soon as he rises.”

Franklin calculates that the city of Paris might save “the sum of ninety-six millions and seventy-five thousand livres tournois every year, by the economy of using sunshine instead of candles.” He suggested, in jest, that one way to enforce this economy would be to roust Parisians out of their beds at sunrise by ringing of church bells and firing of cannons.

Think how much easier it is to just set clocks back.

Here are some ideas, culled from various sources, of ways to save energy that really are as easy as changing your clocks.

If no one using it, turn it off. Hairdryers, cell phone chargers, and televisions are some of the electronics that continue to use energy while off, so turn them off at a control strip or unplug them.

Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs. Many different kinds are available, including for outdoor floodlights.

More than 50 kinds of products, not just light bulbs and appliances can be ENERGY STAR. These products use less energy, save money, and help protect the environment.

Don’t use the dry function on your dishwasher.

It is as easy to use a folding drying rack as a clothes drier for many items. Put shirts on a hanger and hang from the shower rod. They will have fewer wrinkles.

It may not be easy to carpool to work, but what about to events, out-of-town meetings or running errands? It gives you time to visit with friends.

At the grocery store, each kind of produce does not require its own plastic bag. The cashier can cope.

Edmunds, which publishes a variety of car magazines, tested several ideas for getting better gas mileage. They suggests stop driving like a maniac, drive the speed limit, use cruise control, and turn the car off if stopping longer than a minute.

Three other car tips – park in the first spot you find, park in the shade, and tighten the gas cap.

For Ben Franklin’s full essay, see this website.

These energy savings tips came from:

www.edmunds.com
www.wikihow.com
www.usgbc.org
www.energystar.gov

Environmental activists from across the state will be meeting in Austin on February 11 and 12 to rally and lobby against issuing permits for proposed new coal-fired power plants under a fast-track procedure authorized by Texas governor Rick Perry in October 2005. The issue has been covered by NPR, Rolling Stone, and Fortune, but since none of the plants is in the Houston area or expected to contribute to our power supply, the controversy has not received much attention here.

A brief summary of the problem:
On October 27, 2005, Perry signed Executive Order RP49, which requires the Public Utility Commission to begin a campaign making customers aware of retail electric choices. RP49 also orders state agencies to develop plans for conserving energy and directs the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to “apply the full resources of the agency to prioritize and expedite the processing of environmental permit applications that are [1] protective of the public health and environment and [2] propose to use Texas’ natural resources to generate electrical power.”

Statewide, permits for nineteen coal-fired power plants are being considered under the fast track process. Eight of the proposed new plants circle Waco, three are in northeast Texas, and two are near Corpus Christi. The largest number of applications, eleven, were filed by TXU, the giant power company that supplies much of the Dallas area.

The additional coal plants would add 30,000 tons of nitrogen oxides, over 115 million tons of carbon dioxide, and nearly 4,000 pounds of toxic mercury each year, according to the Texas Cities for Clean Air Coalition.

Because of wind patterns, those air emissions are headed straight for some of the most heavily populated areas of the state, but none of the plants are near Houston or in its wind patterns. Power for Houston comes from the Parrish coal-fired plant in Fort Bend County, one of the cleanest coal facilities in the country, according to Jane Laping, executive director of Mothers for Clean Air.

Also announced Thursday was a plan to build a new power plant in Fort Bend County that will use innovative gasification technology. The technology, known by the acronym IGCC, turns petroleum coke into a cleaner-burning gas. TXU says this process is not yet reliable and too expensive to adopt.

Nan Hildreth, with the Houston Climate Protection Alliance, believes that the proposed coal-burning plants will adversely impact the Houston/Galveston area because of increased mercury pollution in our waterways and because of carbon dioxide’s role in global warming.

As a result of the order, the TCEQ’s review of applications for has been accelerated to such a degree that opponents of the permits are seriously handicapped in their ability to oppose the applications. The Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club says that some of the problems include scheduling hearings in different communities on the same day, with the result that residents affected by more than one plant could not attend both hearings; a six-month timeline for deliberations that would ordinarily take a year; and a strain on the State Office of Administrative Hearings.

Another problem with the expedited process is illustrated by McClennan County (Waco), where four plants are planned. There are no pollution monitors in the county, so there is no way to determine if the emissions allowed by the permits would place the region in violation of federal air quality standards.

On Wednesday, state representative Charles “Doc” Anderson (R-Waco) has introduced HCR 43, a concurrent resolution requesting the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to put a 180-day moratorium on approving permits for new pulverized coal-burning plants in Texas. Matt Welch, a staffer in Anderson’s office, said that nine of the proposed plants are in a 50-mile radius of McLennan County.

Welch says that the delay would give the legislature a chance to act on several bills, including one to give incentives for the use of clean coal, rather than the pulverized coal most of the plants will use. “When Governor Perry made this decision, the legislature was not in session, but now it is, and wants time to consider other solutions to the problem,” Welch said. “Also”, he said, “The Supreme Court may rule on carbon sequestration and there is bipartisan support in Congress to declare carbon dioxide a pollutant.”

In a press statement, Rep. Anderson said, “”Governor Perry acted prudently in 2005 when he fast-tracked the permitting process for new coal plants. At that time the price of natural gas was more than $15 per MMBtu and two hurricanes had created serious production problems in the Gulf. Today, however, natural gas in the $7 range and the Gulf production capacity has been restored.”

“We now have time”, Anderson continued, “to carefully analyze the effect of creating new pulverized coal plants in Texas. There is not currently an electrical generating capacity crisis in Texas. Existing natural gas electrical generating plants are not operating at full capacity.”

Opposition to the plants is bringing together a diverse groups of Texas activists, including the regional office of the American Lung Association, Texas Cities for Clean Air (Arlington, Cedar Hill, Coppell, Dallas, DeSoto, Duncanville, El Paso, Fort Worth, Frisco, Hillsboro, Houston, Irving, Lancaster, McKinney, Plano, Rockwall, and Wylie), the Texas Business for Clean Air PAC (a group of 50 business executives in Dallas), a variety of environmental groups, the Texas Democratic Party, Texas IMPACT, People of Faith Working for Justice, and the Waco Chamber of Commerce.

Local opposition to the project comes from Houston Mayor Bill White, Greater Caddo Lake Association, Houston Climate Protection Alliance and the all the area’s Sierra Club groups.

TXU’s statement about its applications can be found at TXU’s website. Information about the rally and lobby day is at StopTheCoalRush.com.

How many light bulbs does it take to change the world? Only one, but it has to be the right kind, according to the Department of Energy. The EPA and the DOE kicked off their “Change a Light, Change the World” campaign last week at a skyscraper famous for its lights — the Empire State Building.

By exchanging just one light bulb for an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, the DOE claims residents can save more than $30 in electricity costs over the bulb’s lifetime. “If every American household changed a single light bulb to a high efficiency ENERGY STAR bulb, that would provide enough power to light more than 2.5 million homes,” EPA administrator Stephen Johnson said at the event.

The Empire State Building recently underwent significant upgrades to save electricity. The building’s general manager, James Connors, said, “We employ a dual energy source air conditioning system using steam and electricity, we have replaced all 6,500 windows with double-glazed, paned, thermal efficient windows, reduced from 40 watt to 32 watt lamps, with upgraded electronic ballasts in every office and all public areas, and have insulated our setback roofs.”

The goal of the campaign, which runs from Oct 4 to Nov 30, is to convince as many people as possible to make the “Change a Light” pledge, found at Energy Star’s website. Consumers pledge to replace at least one standard light bulb in their house with an ENERGY STAR qualified compact fluorescent bulb. Compact fluorescent bulbs use one-third of the electricity that standard incandescent light bulbs use and last up to ten times longer. ENERGY STAR qualified bulbs come in sizes and shapes to fit almost any fixture. Additionally, these energy-saving fluorescents produce only about 30% of the heat of standard incandescent bulbs, so they are safer to operate and reduce home cooling requirements.

A green vacation does not have to be an “eco-adventure” to a foreign country or a Spartan camping trip to a remote park. Trips anywhere, for pleasure or business, can be made green friendly by staying at hotels that conserve resources, using public transportation at your destination, and supporting local businesses. Even though it’s not your utility bill, don’t waste water – and turn off the lights and turn down the air conditioning when you leave your room. Consider bringing a night light with you.

The Green Hotels Association, a Houston-based group, lists member hotels on its website. These hotels are encouraged to implement water-saving measures, execute energy-saving techniques, and reduce solid waste. The association also encourages all lodging facilities to involve guests and clients by offering towel- and sheet-changing options, soap and shampoo dispensers, and guest room recycling baskets.

Some hotels use environmentally friendly cleaning products, making them more pleasant for allergy sufferers. My experience staying at two motels in Austin that claim to use non-toxic cleaning products (Austin Motel and Habitat Suites) was that these motels were as clean or cleaner than any hotel or motel I’ve stayed in.

According the Green Hotels Association website, British Airways has a very strong environmental agenda, and Southwest Airlines recycles all cabin waste. Southwest was also the first airline to offer electronic ticketing, which reduces paper use.

Escapemaker.com is an online guide to green travel in the Northeast. Its website includes a lengthy list of destinations that are easily reached by bus or train from New York, and gives transportation alternatives for destinations it reviews. Suggestions from its website that apply anywhere include traveling mid week, seeking out souvenirs to support the local economy and, when eating out, trying local dishes.

Burton & Humboldt travel, an agency that specializes in low-impact adventure travel, has a listing of eco-hotels that look quite luxurious on its website.

Your hotel may be able to refer you to environmental programs or events in the area and to a restaurant that is not a chain. Some hotels will give you candid advice about which areas are safe to walk in or use public transportation. Other hotels, fearing liability issues, may not. If the hotel has a van, you may be able to use it instead of renting a car. If you are going to a convention, a combination of shuttle buses and shared taxis may eliminate your need for a car.

Before you leave home, you can take the first steps to green up your travel by turning down the thermostat on your hot water heater, adjusting your AC/heat thermostat, and suspending delivery of your newspaper. Appliances, such as TVs and cable converter boxes, should be unplugged because they can draw as much as 40 watts per hour even when they’re turned off. The Green Hotels Association site has a lengthy list of ways to make travel environmentally friendly and includes a checklist for meeting planners who want to have a green meeting.

Web searching using the term “environmentally friendly” will result in more on-point listings than using the term “green.”

The Department Energy is currently considering sites to expand the Strategic Petroleum Reserve’s storage capacity. In this program, crude oil is stored in caverns created by the solution mining of salt domes. There are currently four existing facilities, two in Louisiana and two in Texas, with a capacity of about 727 million barrels.

The DOE is considering some combination of constructing five new sites and expanding three existing sites to bring its storage capacity to 1 billion barrels. It recently released a draft environmental impact statement comparing the various sites under consideration. According to the document, one possible site for a new storage facility is the Stratton Ridge salt dome, which is about 3 miles east of Lake Jackson. Other new sites being considered are in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Sites considered for expansion are Big Hill, Texas, which is about 17 miles southwest of Port Arthur; West Hackberry, Louisiana; and Bayou Choctaw, Louisiana. West Hackberry is close to the Texas border, about 16 miles southwest of Lake Charles. Bayou Choctaw is near Baton Rouge.

The reserve is a national stockpile of crude oil, established following the 1973 – 74 oil embargo. Currently, 688 million barrels is stored. Oil has been withdrawn from storage in response to energy emergencies twice: in 1991, during the Persian Gulf War; and in September 2005 after Hurricane Katrina devastated oil production, distribution, and refining industries in Louisiana and Mississippi. However, oil has been withdrawn for other uses many times. Small amounts of oil are routinely withdrawn from the reserves to test equipment. In addition, oil is removed to satisfy trading agreements with private companies in which the reserve ultimately receives more oil than it releases.

The DOE reports that oil spills and brine spills in this form of storage are not a substantial environmental risk.

If a new facility were to be built at the Stratton Ridge, it would cover about 370 acres. Water for solution mining would be drawn from the Intercoastal Waterway and brine would be diffused into the Gulf of Mexico. Planners estimate that there would need to be 61 miles of new right of way for pipelines, roads, and power lines, and construction of a terminal and tank farm in Texas City. The raw water intake and brine disposal right of way and the crude oil right of way would cross the Brazoria National Wildlife refuge in two places. The facility would be visible from the refuge.

An expansion at Big Hill would require about 200 more acres of land. Water will be drawn from the Intercoastal Waterway and brine diffused into the Gulf of Mexico. The project would use existing intake and diffuser lines, but would still require 24 more miles of right of way. Big Hill’s brine disposal pipe crosses the McFadden Wildlife refuge.

An expansion at West Hackberry would require about 89 more acres of land, but would use existing facilities.

The summary of the draft environmental statement minimizes consequences at the three area sites from either the taking of water from the Intercoastal Waterway or the disposal of brine into the Gulf of Mexico. It concludes that there would be wetlands loss at any of the sites. Stratton Ridge, if selected, would require more study to consider the impact on air quality of a new facility.

There will be five public hearings on this proposal. One will be in Lake Jackson, on Tuesday, June 27, at 7 pm. It will be at the Lake Jackson Civic Center, 333 Highway 332 East. The public comment period lasts until July 10. To comment or request a time to speak at a hearing, e-mail donald.silawsky@hq.doe.gov or fax material to Donald Silawsky at (202) 586-4446. The draft EIS is available at the DOE website.