Newsroom « Pennsylvania Business Leaders for a Clean Energy Economy

Made in America
Ellwood City Ledger
Thursday, August 18, 2010
Eric Poole, Ledger Staff

“When folks lift the hoods on the cars of the future, I want them to see engines stamped ‘Made in America.’ When new batteries to store solar power come off the line, I want to see ‘Made in America’ printed on the side. And when new technologies are developed, I want them made right here in America.”
— President Barack Obama in a Facebook post on Tuesday

ELLWOOD CITY – Even before the president – or more likely one of his staff – typed the words at left onto Facebook, a political ally of his was getting a firsthand look at one of those cutting-edge “Made in America” technologies.

And U.S. Sen. Robert Casey Jr., D-Scranton, was impressed.

Casey, son of the late Gov. Robert Casey, visited Ellwood City Tuesday to see a presentation by officials from Wayne Township-based Appalachian Lighting Systems, which manufactures high-efficiency light-emitting-diode fixtures.

The company has received major contracts to replace standard lighting devices in the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh International Airport, and has delivered an estimated 80 percent decrease in energy use wherever they have been installed, including in Ellwood City, where around half of the streetlights are Applachian Lighting LED fixtures.

Casey said he planned to push for the installation of Appalachian Lighting devices, which are manufactured in the United States with more than 90 percent of their components American-made, in government buildings and departments.

One upcoming project, according to Appalachian Lighting Vice President Robert McAnally, is work to replace the lights in parking areas at the Pentagon.

“If we just focused on the government sector alone, the savings would be tremendous,” Casey said Tuesday. “This is a tremendous opportunity for Ellwood City, for Lawrence County, for the state, and really, for the country.”

In the short-term, Casey said the federal government can best assist Appalachian Lighting by promoting its products as replacements for conventional lighting fixtures in federal offices.

Richard Taylor, chief executive officer of Imbutec, the company that distributes Applachian Lighting fixtures, said Obama issued an executive order soon after taking office last year for federal government departments to create sustainability plans. Such replacement projects would comply with the order and could be implemented without a vote of Congress, Casey said.

Ultimately, though, Casey said the federal government needs to establish a comprehensive energy policy, which he said has been stalled by Republicans in the Senate.

State Rep. Jaret Gibbons, D-10, Franklin Township, said Casey’s visit Tuesday could yield tangible benefits in the form of support from Washington, D.C.

“Today, we gained a strong ally in the Senate,” Gibbons said.

Appalachian Lighting Systems President David McAnally told Casey that the company’s work comes at a pivotal time, because of its potential to bring hundreds of jobs to western Pennsylvania and reduce energy usage – and, by extension, emission of greenhouse gases.

He cited independent findings, including those commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy, that showed Appalachian Lighting Systems devices, invented by Perry Township resident Jim Wassel, the company’s chief science officer, deliver the most energy efficiency and greatest reliability on the LED lighting market.

The worldwide changeover to LED devices is coming, David McAnally said Tuesday. The only factor to be determined, he said, is whether those devices will comply with Obama’s “Made in America” Facebook mandate.

“These jobs are going to get created,” McAnally said. “They’re either going to get created here or overseas.”

Pittsburgh Plumbers Union Installs Solar Energy Systems to Help Train Workers
Pittsburgh Business Times
Friday, July 30, 2010
Malia Spencer

The Pittsburgh Plumbers Local 27 this week installed three solar energy systems at its Coraopolis headquarters designed not only to save the union money, but also to help train members on how to install solar-powered hot water systems in homes and commercial buildings.

The union spent roughly $186,000 to install the systems. While a solar-powered hot water system and a solar electricity system will be used to save money on the group’s electric bills for its 20,000-square-foot building, an additional hot water system will be used exclusively for the union’s green training program for its apprentices and journeymen.

“We can see there is a market emerging here,” said Tom Bigley, business manager of the Local 27.

“If you are not in the position to capitalize on something when it comes out like that, it’s hard to play catch-up.”

Our future is green
We can have both good jobs and a clean environment — in fact, we must
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
By Richard Trumka

As Americans and their families work their way out of the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression, there is a natural tendency to want to go back to a place that’s safer. But the bubble economy of the past decade is not what our country needs to build a secure future. We need to think ahead and work ahead, to start building a stable, sustainable economy that encourages invention, creates good jobs in new sectors and protects our environment.

What we need is to build a green economy, and we need to do it now. Our future security depends on it, and by that I mean not only the security of a planet battered by disasters like the BP oil spill, but the livelihoods of generations to come.

Thinking green is about more than windmills and solar panels — although building a clean energy industry is essential. It means creating greater efficiencies; it means building offices and homes that are cheaper to heat; it means developing and manufacturing technologies to clean our water; and it means creating modern transportation systems that relieve congestion, cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

All of this means jobs. It means prosperity. And we can do it if we revive that great American tradition of innovation.

Countries like Germany, Spain and China have sprinted to capture the opportunities offered by the green economy. Last year, China, which is working overtime to become a world leader in green energy technology, invested $34.5 billion in developing low-carbon energy technology — nearly twice the U.S. level of investment.

We cannot afford, in any sense of that term, to sit back and watch others take over our leadership role. For nearly two centuries, the United States was a leader in developing new technologies. People around the world watched as we built an incredible industrial base that was the backbone of our prosperity, security and middle class.

But today, our federal investment in energy-related research and development is only about 65 percent of what we were investing back in 1980. We rank 11th among the 20 largest industrial nations in clean energy investment.

We know the way forward. States like Illinois, Ohio and Michigan, long derided as the Rust Belt, are pointing the way by developing new technologies — and the good jobs that come with them — such as advanced batteries, hybrid energy systems and fuel cells. They are capitalizing on our country’s enormous assets — our industrial infrastructure, our talented, experienced workforce, our educational institutions and our technical and engineering know-how.

There is a huge payoff ahead if we follow the example of that kind of leadership.

We’re in a severe jobs crisis. But we can create 1.4 million American jobs by investing in hybrid and other clean cars, public transportation, efficient lighting and heating and renewable energy. With the right priorities and policies, we can spur an estimated $343 billion in renewable energy investment alone by the year 2020. Think about the economic boost that level of investment would provide.

That’s why many unions are signing on to build a sustainable future for our country. Some of the unions of the AFL-CIO are working with state pension funds to encourage investments in sustainable technologies and green real estate. Others are working to improve and expand mass transit and training employees to work in the new energy sector. Several unions have joined environmental organizations to create the Blue Green Alliance, dedicated to expanding the quantity and the quality of green jobs.

All these efforts challenge the tired notion that we cannot have a strong economy with good jobs that pay well while protecting our environment. For too many years, powerful interests argued that you could have jobs or a clean environment, but not both. They said commonsense measures to protect the environment would be bad for business. But in fact, the same forces that fought environmental protection efforts also fought laws to protect workers or raise wages.

We know that providing a secure future for our kids and grandkids means building a sustainable economy, one that respects both people and our Earth. It’s a matter of reaching for the future. That’s what Americans do.

Richard Trumka is president of the 11.5 million-member AFL-CIO.

Braddock operation in high gear on used vegetable oil
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Monday, June 28, 2010
By Diana Nelson-Jones

Thirty restaurants in Pittsburgh don’t have to pay to have their used cooking oil hauled to a landfill. Asa Watten stops by a few times a month and vacuums it up.

Mr. Watten is the CEO of Fossil Free Fuel, a company that in its five-year history has converted the diesel engines of about 200 cars so they can burn vegetable oil.

This year, the doors of the operation have blown open. It has split into two companies, Optimus Technologies to focus on conversion of trucks, vans and generators in the garage in Braddock, and Fossil Free Fuel to beef up collection and distribution of used cooking oil.

The two have also teamed with GTECH Strategies, the people who have been filling brownfields with sunflowers for three years.

This cluster of 20-something CEOs has reaped grants worth $650,000 this year to collect and convert vegetable oil, to convert engines and to build two alternative fueling stations.

They hope for another grant of $900,000 to build an 18,000-square-foot processing and distribution plant in Braddock near the garage where they now employ one mechanic. Not including the construction workers who will be needed to renovate the space, the enterprise is projected to hire 110 people within the first five years, said Colin Huwyler, a founder of Fossil Free Fuel, who is now CEO of Optimus.

GTECH, which stands for Growth Through Energy & Community Health, was a 2007 start up of a group of Carnegie Mellon University graduates, among whom Andrew Butcher is the CEO.

“There is big business potential in tech conversion,” he said. “This is a sweet spot for GTECH” — the economic potential in eliminating an environmental liability.

“Climate change is so complex,” he said, “but this is low-hanging fruit,” keeping marginalized land and used cooking oil from becoming wasted.

Under GTECH’s program ReFuelPgh, it collects cooking oil from households and restaurants. People can drop off cooking oil at GTECH’s headquarters in Construction Junction in Point Breeze. Some people drop off used cooking oil at the garage in Braddock.

Dave Rosenstraus, the chief operations officer for Optimus, said the garage is also a fueling station for people who have had their cars converted. The cost is $2 a gallon.

The fuel is not the same as biodiesel, which is plant-based oil that is chemically changed using methanol, lye as a catalyst and glycerol, said Mr. Watten. Biodiesel is also mixed with regular petroleum so that it does not solidify when the weather turns cold.

Biodiesel can go into cars that have not been converted to run on pure cooking oil.

Pittsburgh generates an estimated 500,000 gallons of cooking oil, said Mr. Butcher. Restaurants either pay to have it hauled away to a landfill or cooks dump it in the alley or down the drain, “a real environmental concern.”

One recent day, Mr. Watten drove the company truck to the Eat ‘n Park in Edgewood Towne Centre and backed it up to the shed that holds the Dumpsters and a 55-gallon barrel of cooking oil.

He took the top off and removed a strainer that sits over a hole. The strainer was filled with french fry bits. From the truck, he pulled out a vacuum hose, attached one end to the 400-gallon collection tank on the back, cranked the vacuum engine and submerged the receiving end of the hose into the drum. As the vacuum rattled for about half a minute, he vacuumed out the drum.

He empties this drum every three weeks.

With increased capacity, the biofuels team will be campaigning to get more used cooking oil from restaurants and festivals, said Mr. Butcher.

GTECH collected all the waste oil from the Three Rivers Arts Festival and will be concentrating on small restaurants, while Fossil Free Fuel will work on the larger contracts, said Mr. Butcher.

One restaurant that began participating recently, the Harris Grill in Shadyside, fills “two 50-gallon drums that they come and take away every two weeks,” said Tom Conte, the assistant kitchen manager. “I think it’s a great thing for the environment.”

Spak Brothers in Garfield has been contributing used cooking oil since it opened 21/2 years ago, said co-owner Ryan Spak. “We’d have to pay $50 a month for someone to take it off our hands and the other reason is we firmly believe in sustainable existence and reusing as much as possible.”

Among the other restaurants that participate are PNC cafeterias and the prepared food departments of a Giant Eagle in Robinson and Whole Foods in East Liberty.

Mr. Butcher said he hopes restaurants can eventually write off the donation.

“We would like to develop an education model that links our vacant land reclamation project and our alternative energy collection program to job training in low-income areas,” said Mr. Butcher.

A fraction of the oil GTECH collects actually comes from the sunflowers it plants to remediate contaminated land, 12 acres so far. The infrastructure for making biofuel directly from agricultural products “is not very advanced,” he said. It takes an acre of sunflowers to produce 100 gallons. The biggest payoff from the crops is that “an environmental liability becomes an asset, such as gardens and parks.

“Now we’re working on more sites and are committed to having something very real happen with our bioproducts.”

The local Sprout Fund and the Claneil Foundation in Philadelphia have given grants for the conversion and collection project. The state awarded an Alternate Fuels Incentive Grant worth $600,000 to convert vehicles for the city of Pittsburgh, Giant Eagle, the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and Global Links.

The biofuels team brought Pittsburgh Region Clean Cities on board to go for the grant from the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority. Clean Cities is a U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored nonprofit whose goal is to build and support infrastructure for an alternative fuel market in Western Pennsylvania.

The Braddock Biofuels Block would consume a block of land at the base of the Rankin bridge exit at the entrance to Braddock, on which several abandoned buildings now sit, one a steel building that would be expanded and rehabbed to become a six-bay automotive facility with 7,500 square feet of fabrication space, a 2,000-square-foot research laboratory, and 3,000 square feet of office space. The other is an abandoned gas station. It would be rehabilitated to be a cooking and seed oil fueling station.

The approximately $1.6 million project would produce 2.5 million gallons of renewable fuels every year, said Mr. Huwyler.

“We’ve been very deliberate in the scaling up,” said Mr. Watten. “Because once we scale up, we’re going to be running as fast as we can.”

Climate for change? Some in Congress are serious about cap and trade
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Just a few months ago, the chance of Congress sending comprehensive climate change legislation to the president seemed almost hopeless. The idea of global warming itself was ridiculed by those who mistakenly believe the issue is essentially about politics and not science. The fight for health care legislation with a national reach had exhausted supporters and roused its opponents.

Just a little over two weeks ago, Sen. Lisa Murkowski gave further heart to conservatives by mustering 47 votes in the Senate in an attempt to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases. While the effort was unsuccessful, the size of the opposition and the irresponsibility of the attempt spelled trouble for the future battle on climate change legislation in the Senate, as we noted in an editorial.

The goods news is that the prospects of a tough fight are not being ducked. Democrats in the Senate have started to meet to prepare a strategy for a bill of their own. The House narrowly passed a climate bill last June that would require U.S. emissions to decline 17 percent by 2020, setting up a system whereby polluters could buy credits to cover their emissions and directing more resources to promote clean energy.

With the issue now before the Senate, Democrats met in caucus Thursday to weigh their options. President Barack Obama had expected to sit down that day with key senators — some of them Republicans — but the session had to be postponed because of the unscheduled meeting with Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the Afghanistan commander whose resignation the president accepted last week. In his Oval Office speech earlier this month, Mr. Obama showed that he was up for the fight, too, linking the oil disaster to the need for legislation that would both wean America away from carbon-based fuels and address climate change.

As it turns out, the Senate has much to discuss. Four bills — some with Republican sponsors — are vying for attention. The most prominent is the American Power Act, sponsored by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn. It is similar but not identical to the House bill passed last year; it differs by taking a cap-and-trade approach to limit emissions for utilities but not transportation. At the other end of the spectrum is the Practical Energy and Climate Plan offered by Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., the practical being a hint that it rejects cap-and-trade.

There’s an irony in Republicans becoming ideologically fixated against cap-and-trade. It started off as a Republican idea, supported by President George H.W. Bush as part of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. Far from being just a simple carbon tax, it is an attempt to harness market forces to limit emissions.

The U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a coalition which includes corporate members (including Alcoa, DuPont and General Electric) and environmental groups (the Environmental Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council and The Nature Conservancy, among others) supports the cap-and-trade approach. Instead of being the jobs killer its opponents allege, climate change legislation promises to create jobs in new green industries and end investment-cramping uncertainty for utilities and manufacturers which have been waiting to see how the United States will respond to the challenge of a generation.

Despite all the critics, the time is ripe to take comprehensive action on climate and energy. Climate change is real, as the National Academy of Sciences emphatically confirmed earlier this year. Every day the Gulf of Mexico oil spill reminds Americans of the perils of their addiction to carbon-based energy sources. Passing a meaningful bill will be tough — but doing nothing will be tougher on the nation.

Act now on climate change: Pennsylvania can lead the way to ensure America’s energy and national security

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Thursday, April 15, 2010
By Court Gould

Now that health care legislation has been enacted, Congress is returning to other important issues, including climate change. As a world-renowned “green” leader, the Pittsburgh region has a big stake in what comes out of Washington.

Western Pennsylvania has made great strides in protecting the environment and growing its economy through innovation and forward-thinking business and civic leadership. What’s been missing is a national framework that establishes targets for reducing emissions, sparks innovative solutions and stimulates job growth.

Unlike for health reform, there is a serious bipartisan effort under way to move forward on climate change legislation. A Democrat (Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts), a Republican (Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina) and an Independent (Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut) are spearheading an effort in the Senate to find consensus and introduce a bill.

A wide swath of businesses representing numerous industries also support economy-wide legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These include more than 20 major corporations (several having a Pittsburgh-area presence) that comprise the U.S. Climate Action Partnership. The partnership is calling on the federal government to quickly enact strong legislation.

These businesses, along with workers, pillars in the environmental and organized-labor movements, and many others, agree that we cannot continue to delay action and ignore the preponderance of evidence and scientific consensus on climate change. Congress must act.

Our state has a particularly important role to play. Despite tremendous environmental progress over the years, Pennsylvania still produces 1 percent of the world’s global warming gases — more than 100 of the lowest-emitting nations combined. Reducing emissions in the Keystone state would not only be good for the health of its citizens, but also for people across the globe.

Climate change legislation would provide a much-needed booster shot to our slowly recovering economy. A recent study led by economists at the University of California Berkeley, estimated that proposed legislation could create 80,000 new jobs in Pennsylvania and 1.9 million nationwide by 2020.

Unleashing the clean energy revolution would create opportunities for workers in numerous fields, from scientists and engineers to electricians, from machinists to those in manufacturing and the skilled construction trades. For example, building solar power plants requires design, construction, manufacturing operations and maintenance.

Other countries are moving forward while the United States falls behind. China last year became the largest investor in renewable energy while U.S. investments fell 42 percent, partly because of great uncertainty about energy and climate legislation.

Legislation that puts a price on carbon would send a strong signal to the market, spurring investment and innovation to expand our clean energy infrastructure. Pittsburgh has the entrepreneurial businesses and skilled workforce poised to seize the opportunities that energy legislation would bring.

Climate change also is a national security issue. The United States gets 60 percent of its oil from foreign countries, many in the volatile Middle East, where we have committed tens of thousands of troops to increase stability and reduce terrorism.

As President Barack Obama recently said, “We have a choice to make. We can remain one of the world’s leading importers of foreign oil, or we can make the investments that would allow us to become the world’s leading exporter of renewable energy.”

Our military leaders are concerned about the impact of climate change. The Pentagon released a report in February noting “the significant geopolitical impacts” of climate change, which could accelerate the instability of fragile governments and spark conflicts, precipitating U.S. military responses. The Quadrennial Defense Review pointed out that “climate change, energy security and economic stability are inextricably linked.”

We are at a crossroads. Our nation can miss the window to address climate change or take action now that protects future generations. For the sake of our region, our state and our country, I urge our elected officials in Washington, particularly Pennsylvania Sens. Arlen Specter and Bob Casey, to hasten bipartisan climate-change legislation that would create jobs, clean up the environment and protect our national security.

Court Gould is executive director of Sustainable Pittsburgh (www.sustainablepittsburgh.org).

Pennsylvania Consumers Could Save $457 Per Year if Energy Efficiency Policies are Included in Climate and Energy Bill
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jeanne K. Clark
February 24, 2010 412-258-6683 | Energyflak@aol.com
Ron Ruman
717-724-1681 | rruman@shellycommunications.com

Pennsylvania Consumers Could Save $457 Per Year if Energy Efficiency Policies are Included in Climate and Energy Bill
New Report Shows Proven Untapped Potential to Conserve Energy and Reduce Home Energy Bills

[Pittsburgh, PA]- A new report released today finds that Pennsylvania families will continue to spend an extra $457 per year on their energy bills if strong energy efficiency policies are not incorporated into the climate and energy legislation before Congress. The report, released by Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture) and the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), shows that robust state and federal energy efficiency policies could dramatically reduce energy consumption and save Pennsylvanians $457on their energy bills every year. These policies would drive down energy costs for families in every state while jump-starting a clean energy economy across the country to put Americans back to work.

The report demonstrates the immense benefits to Pennsylvania families of including strong energy efficiency policies as part of the climate and energy package and job-creation measures currently being debated by the U.S. Senate. The report, “Building on the Success of Energy Efficiency Programs to Ensure an Affordable Energy Future,” is the first to look strictly at the effects of energy efficiency on home energy use and home utility bills since climate legislation began moving in Congress earlier this year.

Based on an analysis of state programs and recent national studies, the report concludes that energy efficiency programs can dramatically cut energy waste and that strong federal energy efficiency policies could reduce overall energy use by 20 to 30 percent.

“Our research shows we’ve only begun to tap the energy efficiency potential that can create jobs, conserve energy, and save families hundreds of dollars each year,” said report author Dr. Mark Cooper, Research Director for the Consumer Federation of America. “Given its stellar record of success, it’s time for senators to view energy efficiency as a cornerstone of the nation’s climate and energy policy.”

The report outlines specific policies that would maximize the cost-saving potential of efficiency and create new jobs. These policies include a federal energy efficiency resource standard (EERS) that would require utility companies to encourage efficiency programs for customers, strengthened building codes and appliance efficiency improvements, and proper funding for “retrofitting” or improving the energy efficiency of existing buildings. Other efficiency proposals – including “BuildingSTAR,” a program that would provide tax credits for retrofitting commercial and apartment buildings – would help businesses cut costs and allow clean energy businesses to expand, putting more Americans into long-term quality jobs.

Today’s report shows that a robust energy savings plan on a national level could mean an average of $271.31 in savings for the average Pennsylvania family, even if families have to invest their own money into energy efficient products. But the Keystone State’s families are likely to save much more.

“In Pennsylvania, we’re already on track in saving energy, money, and the environment,” said Jan Jarrett, president and CEO of Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture). “Thanks to the Energy Savings legislation passed last year, we are already taking action. Across the state, our utilities are offering comprehensive energy savings programs and rebates to make our homes and businesses waste less energy.

“We know it works,” continued Jarrett. “It pays off for our families, with lower bills; for our economy, with green jobs created right here to help make our homes more energy efficient; and for our environment, with reduced pollution from our power plants. Our U.S. senators and representatives should pass a strong federal energy efficiency standard so Pennsylvanians can get an even bigger bang for our bucks.”

“Encouraging more energy efficiency among Pennsylvania homeowners and businesses would mean more jobs in an already vibrant and expanding clean energy sector,” said Ron Ruman, of Pennsylvania Business Leaders for a Clean Energy Economy. “Companies such as Serious Materials, which continues to hire workers to make energy efficient windows at its Vandergrift plant, and Appalachian Lighting, which manufactures energy efficient LED lighting fixtures in its Elwood City plant, are just examples of how this policy would mean more jobs for Pennsylvanians.”

PennFuture is a statewide public interest membership organization, founded in 1998. PennFuture’s activities include litigating cases before regulatory bodies and in local, state and federal courts, advocating and advancing legislative action on a state and federal level, public education and assisting citizens in public advocacy.

Pennsylvania Business Leaders for a Clean Energy Economy is made up of Pennsylvania business owners, managers, entrepreneurs, and investors who recognize the economic value of setting a national cap on carbon emissions. The business leaders support meeting emission reduction goals through energy efficiency, technology innovation, and a diverse energy supply. For more information, visit www.penncleaneconomy.biz.

The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) is an advocacy, research, education and service organization made up of 300 nonprofits from across the United States. CFA has provided consumers a well-reasoned and articulate voice in decisions that affect their lives since 1968. CFA’s professional staff gathers facts, analyzes issues, and disseminates information to the public, policymakers, and rest of the consumer movement.

Much back-and-forth, but the sea still rises
Philadelphia Inquirer
Published: Feb.3, 2010
By Orrin Pilkey and Rob Young

Polls indicate that an alarming number of Americans have doubts about global warming, even to the point of suspecting that scientists are lying about the data. Meanwhile, much of the bluster about climate change centers on whether it has been colder this year than last.

But instead of relying on short-term thermometer readings, we should be listening to Mother Earth. Let’s take a trip around the northern half of the Western Hemisphere to see the real-world evidence that our planet is getting warmer.

Our first stop is the Outer Banks of North Carolina. As we fly toward our destination, we see a fringe of dead trees stretching for miles in the water along the shore of the Albemarle Sound – a clear indication that the rising sea is drowning the edge of the forest.

Flying over the Outer Banks, we also observe that islands are eroding on both their ocean and sound shores, another sign of the rising sea level. The islands are thousands of years old, yet they won’t exist much longer with such erosion. In the town of Rodanthe, the island is so narrow and low that it can be washed over by something as slight as a lunar tide. The rising sea level has clearly changed this shoreline.

Once we’ve landed at the Wright brothers’ airstrip, we drive to the Army Corps of Engineers’ research pier in the town of Duck. Because the pier extends into the open ocean and is made of concrete, the tide gauge here may be the best record of the rising sea level on the East Coast. It tells us that the sea level here is rising at a rate of 11/2 feet per century. Satellites tell us this is very close to the global rate at which sea levels are rising.

Next, let’s head to Shishmaref, Alaska, a small village of perhaps 550 Inupiat Eskimos located on an island just below the Arctic Circle. On the way up from the Lower 48 to Anchorage, we fly over the Canadian Rockies and their numerous mountain glaciers, all of which show clear signs of recent and rapid shrinking. That’s no surprise, since perhaps 95 percent of the world’s mountain glaciers are doing the same.

Flying over Shishmaref, we can see that there is a severe beach-erosion problem. Along one stretch of a few hundred yards of shoreline, there are at least five different sea walls, each of which cost millions of dollars, and each of which is giving way to the sea. The erosion started suddenly a few years back, when warming temperatures began to melt the permafrost every summer, loosening the beach sand and making it easy for waves to carry it away.

Compounding the problem of the shrinking permafrost is the shrinking sea ice. Today, the sea around Shishmaref remains ice-free for a couple of months longer than it did 20 years ago. The village used to be surrounded by sea ice when the fall storms came, but now, because the waters are warmer, the ocean remains ice-free into the fall storm season, leaving the village unprotected from storms.

Plans are afoot to move Shishmaref to the mainland within a decade, but the cost is huge – more than $100 million to save a tiny subsistence village.

For the final leg of our flight, we fly over the coast of southern Greenland to observe what is happening to one of the world’s great ice sheets. Spectacular calving glaciers line the coast, dropping icebergs into the ocean. They have added to the level of the sea for decades, but the rate of melting began to accelerate sharply around 1995.

At the other end of the planet, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet began substantial melting around 2000, and the East Antarctic Ice Sheet began contributing to rising sea levels about 2006.

Clearly, the Earth has revealed undeniable evidence of rising sea levels – drowning shorelines, shrinking arctic sea ice, warming oceans, and melting permafrost and ice sheets. It’s all there for anyone to see.

The point is that our fascination with whether the atmospheric temperature is rising or not is misplaced. Clearly the globe is warming. The scientific and political argument over who or what is causing this warming should not be allowed to obscure the fact that rising sea levels (in particular) will have a major impact on our coastal communities.

We need to immediately begin planning our response to the very real changes occurring now and in the future.
________________________________________
Orrin Pilkey is a professor emeritus of geology at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment. Rob Young is the director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University. They are the authors of “The Rising Sea” (Island Press). They can be reached at opilkey@duke.edu and ryoung@email.wcu.edu.

Win fight for cleaner air

Published: January 19, 2010 Scranton Times-Tribune

Most of the debate about the human contribution to global warming is about politics and economics rather than science. The vast preponderance of scientific evidence points to a human contribution to global warming. For the most part, the debate truly is about how to bear the costs of remedial action.

There should be little debate on any basis, however, on the premise that cleaner air is healthier air, regardless of the global warming stalemate.

Yet a move is afoot in the Senate, based upon the global warming debate, to thwart use of the Clean Air Act for its intended purpose – to improve air quality and, therefore, public health.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a finding last year that greenhouse gas emissions are pollution that endangers public health. The EPA undertook the analysis after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that the emissions were covered by the Clean Air Act.

In the 40 years since the Clean Air Act’s passage, it has been responsible for substantial improvements in air quality. Cleaner fuels, higher-mileage vehicles, reduced industrial emissions and related measures have helped to clean the air – and water, since airborne pollution falls into waterways.

The Senate could vote as early as Wednesday on a proposal, by Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, that in effect would exclude greenhouse gases from EPA regulation.

America’s direction since the passage of the Clean Air Act has been toward, rather than away from, cleaner air. Sen. Arlen Specter has committed to voting against the Murkowski gambit; Sen. Bob Casey should join him.

Making commercial buildings greener, environmentally friendly>

Company focuses on making old buildings more energy-efficient
Posted on 17 November 2009
By Elwin Green, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The building that you work in may contribute more greenhouse gas emissions than the car you drive to work each day.

In fact, the buildings in which we live, work, worship and play generate 40 percent of the carbon emissions in the earth’s atmosphere, according the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Charles A. Bacon III wants to change that.

Mr. Bacon is the chairman and CEO of Strip District mechanical contracting firm Limbach Inc. Earlier this year, the company formed a new division, Limbach Energy Solutions, to focus on “retro-commissioning” services: providing commercial building owners with ways to make their buildings more energy efficient and environmentally friendly.

Retro-commissioning has been an emerging national trend for the past five or six years, said Jeff Burd, publisher of Breaking Ground, a construction trade journal.

Comparing its growth to frothy ocean waves viewed at a distance, he said, “To the extent that this is going to become a 30-foot wave and you’re standing on the beach. … I think inside of five years you’ll be looking up and saying, ‘Oh heck — I wish the house wasn’t in the way.’”

For Limbach, helping clients to ride that wave rather than be crushed by it begins with a preliminary engineering review of a building and suggestions to the owner of what could be done to make it more energy efficient. This audit examines the building’s heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, lighting, windows, roofing, etc.

“If they like what they hear, we then proceed to full engineering,” he said.

Once upgrades have been completed, Limbach continues to monitor the building’s performance through an Internet-based system. “We have software installed so that we can watch every fan, every light, every switch in that building,” Mr. Bacon said.

The emphasis on helping its clients to “go green” is just the latest shift for a company that has seen its share of change in recent decades.

Founded in 1901 as a roofing and sheet metal company by Frank Limbach, the company remained a family concern until 1986, when it was bought by the French media conglomerate Vivendi. Twelve years later, Vivendi sold Limbach to Enron, the energy giant that imploded in 2001. In 2002, a group of 47 company executives joined with private investors to buy Limbach back from Enron. The company hired Mr. Bacon in 2004.

Mr. Bacon was inspired to take Limbach in a new direction by a movie and a book. The movie was “An Inconvenient Truth,” the documentary that placed former Vice President Al Gore at the forefront of the environmental movement. The book, a gift from Mr. Bacon’s son, was “Business Stripped Bare,” by serial entrepreneur Richard Branson.

“The last third of the book was all about green,” he said, and led him to understand that “if it’s right for people, it’s right for business.”

Limbach’s experience so far bears that out; since January, the company has secured $21 million of energy retrofit projects and is pursuing nearly $90 million more in such work, Mr. Bacon said.

While retrofitting buildings to improve energy efficiency has recently emerged on the national stage, Mr. Burd said that in our region, increasing energy efficiency in office buildings goes back to the 1980s. As Renaissance Two moved into high gear, dramatically increasing Downtown office space with new buildings such as One Oxford Center and the PPG complex, owners of older buildings had to upgrade them in order to remain competitive.

“Windows were replaced, insulation was replaced,” he said. “They had to be more energy efficient.”

Even as market pressures drove building owners to upgrade, the state, through the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority, made millions of dollars available in low-interest loans, further spurring improvements.

Now the federal government has become a force in retro-commissioning. The Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the stimulus package enacted in February, created the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program, allocating $3.2 billion to local governments to fund energy efficiency initiatives, including retro-commissioning.

The package also included $4.5 billion specifically for converting government buildings into “high-performance green buildings.” And last month, President Obama signed an executive order setting sustainability goals for federal agencies, which occupy nearly half a million buildings across the country.

One of the goals is that by 2030 federal buildings will have net zero energy use; in other words, that they will generate as much energy as they use.

That makes for a tall order for Chicago-based commercial real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle, which has the Government Services Agency as a client.

“Not in every situation are you able to go out and get a platinum level [LEED certified] building,” said Herman Bulls, CEO of public institutions for Jones Lang LaSalle. “When you have 2,500 square feet in Duluth, Minn., there may not be a lot of options.”

Even as Jones Lang LaSalle seeks to meet the federal mandate, an increasing number of private owners of the 1.4 billion square feet of office space that the company manages are inquiring about the costs and benefits of going green.

“A lot of our customers are asking us what are the things they can do and what is the payback period,” he said.

On the tenant side, many clients now express a preference for green buildings, asking about LEED ratings (most buildings have none), what types of recycled materials are used throughout the building, and how much water the decorative plantings need.

A Jones Lang LaSalle client is now engaged is what may be the most remarkable example of retro-comissioning to date. The Empire State Building Co. is renovating its landmark structure to achieve an estimated 38 percent reduction in energy use, thus saving $4.4 million a year on energy costs. The $20 million renovation is slated for completion in 2013.

Not all owners can afford such extensive retro-commissioning. But Mr. Bulls said it should become more affordable.

“As you get more and more demand for the components of the building that are contributing to the sustainability effort,” he said, “there will be, obviously over time, a better pricing on those components.”

And over a longer time, he said, the need for retro-commissioning will diminish as green building becomes the norm. In 30 years or so, he predicted, someone who attempts to use nongreen materials in a building, old or new, will evoke astonishment: “Omigosh, I can’t believe you’re using that!”

Meanwhile, back at Limbach, Mr. Bacon speaks excitedly about the economic impact of the retro-commissioning projects that his company is pursuing. Limbach has hired about 30 people for the work so far; if all of the projects being pursued come to pass, the company may need to hire about 500 people. And beyond that, “another few thousand jobs are created to supply everything that’s needed to do all of those retrofits,” he said.

“It’s a smart thing for people,” he said. “It’s a smart thing for business.”

Elwin Green can be reached at egreen@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1969.

http://postgazette.com/pg/09321/1013991-28.stm

The Tribune-Democrat (Johnstown, PA)

A green economy can resurrect Main Street

BY LEO GERARD and MICHAEL PECK

Published November 16th, 2009

Once, when asked why he was so good, hockey icon Wayne Gretzky replied: “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”

The world is skating toward multiple clean sources of energy in a carbon-free future.

The question is whether the U.S. has the political will to become a leader in the largest industry of this century, or whether it is willing to accept the economic and climatic consequences of failing to act.

America can create a green, re-industrialized economy that manufactures commodities of international value.

Our factories can provide good jobs and family-supporting wages. But to do this, we will have to focus our attention and our treasure on Main Street, not Wall Street, through a more enlightened social compact that revives the polluted and betrayed American dream.

The U.S. can compete on a basis of highest quality through innovation, where cost, while always important, becomes secondary to quality – almost like it is now in the global wind industry, where higher turbine-capacity factors drive higher returns on investments. We will never be able to compete purely on a basis of lowest cost, nor should we want to because lowest cost usually means substandard safety, healthcare, environmental and compensation conditions for our workers.

If we don’t invest in our homegrown green industries, others will. For example, a Chinese wind-turbine company with massive financial help from Beijing recently struck a deal in Texas to be the exclusive supplier to one of the largest wind-farm developments in the U.S., a sign of how Chinese firms are aggressively capitalizing on America’s clean-energy push.

The 36,000-acre development in west Texas would receive $1.5 billion through China’s Export-Import Bank.

Shenyang Power Group, a five-month-old alliance, would supply the project with 240 of its 2.5-megawatt wind turbines. Most of the thousands of jobs for this project will be in China, benefiting that country’s export machine rather than our own.

America needs green investments – without being recolonialized in the process.

We must do better. Rather than watching as the global recession cripples the U.S. wind industry and clean energy manufacturing jobs go abroad, we can ask our legislators to pass strong climate and clean energy policies such as a competitive, long-term, national Renewable Energy Standard.

Even absent strong federal clean-energy policies, the number of clean-energy jobs in the U.S. has grown nearly two and a half times faster than the rate of overall jobs during the past decade, according to a recent analysis by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Imagine what we could do if we got the equation right.

A study released in late October, conducted by the University of California in collaboration with the University of Illinois and Yale University, found that strong climate and clean-energy policies could create up to 1.9 million jobs nationally, including 78,000 jobs in Pennsylvania.

This report underlines that comprehensive national energy policies would increase consumer income and boost the U.S. gross domestic product.

A recent Harvard Business Review article, “Why sustainability is now the key driver of innovation,” states there is no zero-sum choice between the social benefits of sustainable products and the financial costs involved. Sustainability is the “mother lode of organizational and technological innovations that yield both bottom-line and top-line returns.” We can bake our cake and eat it too if we put workers first and reinvest in the people who make things.

The United Steelworkers union is optimistic about the potential for renewable energy industries to spur job growth in the metal and steel industries that were once the heart and soul of towns and cities across Pennsylvania.

Metal components make up nearly 90 percent of the weight and more than one-third of the value of a modern wind turbine. More than 250 tons of steel are needed for every locally manufactured wind turbine. Turbines also contain 20 tons of fiberglass composites and resins in the blades; three tons of copper in the generator and power cables; 5.5 miles of rebar; and 250 cubic yards of concrete for the base pads.

Clearly, a clean-energy economy would create good jobs in some of our state’s most essential industries.

America is at a tipping point: We can either become a first-tier clean-energy producer in the global green economy, or we can be a consumer of other countries’ manufactured goods. We can lead or follow, produce or just assemble, innovate or be left behind. It’s our choice.

Leo Gerard is international president of the United Steelworkers (www.usw.org).

Michael Peck is director of external relations for Gamesa USA (gamesacorp.com), a wind energy company represented by the United Steelworkers union.

http://www.tribune-democrat.com/editorials/local_story_320132403.html

This article was also published in The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, PA)

Study: 78,000 jobs could result from clean energy laws

Posted on 27 October 2009

By wire reports

The passage of comprehensive clean energy and climate policies would create as many as 78,000 jobs in Pennsylvania within 10 years and increase average household incomes by up to $1,092 annually, a new study claims.

Legislation such as the American Clean Energy and Security Act and the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act also would stimulate economic growth — raising the state’s gross domestic product by $4.3 billion, according to the study released Monday by the environmental group E2, national investor coalition Ceres and the Clean Economy Network.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_649972.html

Business news briefs: 10/27/09

Posted on 27 October 2009

From staff and wire reports

Report: Climate change bill would bring jobs to Pa.

A report by the University of Illinois, the University of California and Yale University says that climate and energy legislation now in Congress, if passed, could create up to 78,000 new jobs in Pennsylvania. The report said investments under the American Clean Energy and Security Act could add up to $4.3 billion to the state’s gross domestic product. The San Francisco-based Energy Foundation, an advocate for energy efficiency and renewable energy, commissioned the report.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09300/1008533-28.stm

Strong Clean Energy Policies Will Grow the Economy and Create 78,000 New Jobs in Pennsylvania

Posted of 26 October 2009

Pennsylvania Business Group Releases New Jobs Report The Day Before Senate
Hearings Start

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ — On the eve of U.S. Senate deliberations on clean energy and climate legislation, Pennsylvania Business Leaders for a Clean Energy Economy released a new economic analysis that finds the strongest federal policy could create up to 78,000 jobs in Pennsylvania, while increasing real household income by $1,092 and growing the state economy by $4.3 billion. The new study, co-released with E2, the national investor coalition Ceres and the Clean Economy Network, was conducted by the University of California in collaboration with University of Illinois and Yale University and provides an in-depth, state-by-state examination of the impacts of the three pillars of federal legislation: energy efficiency, renewable energy and limits on carbon pollution.

“This report shows that the stronger the federal energy and climate policies, the more Pennsylvania stands to gain economically,” said Matthew Mehalik, PhD, Program Manager for Sustainable Pittsburgh and also lead for the Pennsylvania Business Leaders for a Clean Energy Economy (PBLCEE). “Those who say we cannot afford to take action now do not understand the opportunity we stand to lose by not acting. There is an emerging multibillion dollar global clean energy market and Pennsylvania is poised to capture it.”

Using EAGLE, a new state-of-the-art forecasting model, the study assesses the economic impact on the state of Pennsylvania of climate and energy policies currently being considered by Congress. The study models both moderate and aggressive implementation of policies that set strong standards for and provide incentives for greater investments in renewable energy, that set standards for energy efficiency and create a market-based program to reduce carbon emissions.

Key Pennsylvania findings include:

– Aggressive policy implementation creates greater economic and job growth in Pennsylvania by 2020 than would moderate or no implementation
– The strongest policies could generate up to 78,000 additional jobs in Pennsylvania, increase Pennsylvania’s real Gross Domestic Product by $4.3 billion more than it would be without climate and energy policy, and increase real household income by $1,092 per year (as measured in 2008 dollars) by 2020
– Even moderate implementation drives economic growth in Pennsylvania, generating $2.4 billion in additional GDP, 46,000 additional new jobs and $637 in additional household income
– Interestingly, the more carbon-dependent state economies have more to gain from climate action, assuming they adopt balanced policies that combine all three pillars (energy efficiency, renewable energy and carbon pollution limits)

According to the study, Clean Energy and Climate Policy for US Growth and Job Creation: An Economic Assessment of the American Clean Energy and Security Act and the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, the legislation would create between 918,000 and 1.9 million new jobs nationally, increase annual household income by $487-$1,175 per year, and boost GDP by $39 billion-$111 billion by 2020.

These gains are over and above business-as-usual economic growth.

“The US market could be the most promising one in the world, with the right policies in place,” said Michael Peck, Founder of MAPA Group and External Relations Director with Gamesa USA. “Wind energy, if encouraged to put down roots in the US, could become a major economic driver and source of new manufacturing of durable goods. Gamesa’s plants in Pennsylvania, for example, have already begun exporting production to Mexico. Countries that institute policies to encourage wind energy on their own soil are likely to become international wind power leaders.”

Gamesa entered the US market in 2001, and now employs more than 900 people here, the vast majority is in manufacturing. The Cambria County manufacturing plant employs 300 workers, and the Bucks County facilities employ 400. Roughly 200 are employed in support and operations at its headquarters in Philadelphia and related development activities in Oxford Valley.

“Climate change poses a real threat to businesses that rely on agricultural products, as Starbucks does with coffee,” said Jim Hanna, Starbucks Director of Environmental Impact. “We believe addressing climate change will help companies like ours reduce operating costs and mitigate future economic instability due to extreme weather conditions and agricultural loss.” Starbucks York roasting plant is its largest in the country.

Results from the EAGLE study are consistent with projections by agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, Congressional Budget Office, and the Department of Energy – all of which show substantial economic benefits from more efficient energy use.

“Improving energy efficiency cuts costs for transportation, heating, cooling and other energy demands,” commented David Roland-Holst, the study’s author. “Money saved on energy puts dollars back into household bank accounts, and gives consumers the freedom to spend on things they want. This spending represents 70 percent of Gross State Product, so it represents potent growth and job stimulus for the Pennsylvania economy.”

About the study

The Environmental Assessment in General Equilibrium (EAGLE) model used in the study was developed at the University of California in collaboration with the University of Illinois and Yale University. It details patterns of supply, demand, employment, incomes, resource allocation, energy use, and emissions across the nation and within each of the 50 United States. Using a general equilibrium framework, the model captures both direct impacts and the extensive economy-wide indirect effects of climate and energy policies. The EAGLE model has been peer reviewed and technical documentation is available on request. An executive summary of the study can be found here.

About us: Pennsylvania Business Leaders for a Clean Energy Economy is an informal network of businesses and business leaders representing a wide spectrum of industry and commerce. The network supports a transition to a low-carbon clean energy economy and seeks to empower the Pennsylvania business community to influence public policy that helps get us there. Pennsylvania business leaders agree that energy security and climate policies aimed at putting our country on a more secure economic path are vital to our continued prosperity.

Visit us on the web at http://www.penncleaneconomy.biz/

Or, for more information please contact:

Matthew M. Mehalik, Ph.D.
Program Manager
Sustainable Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania Business Leaders for a Clean
Energy Economy
425 Sixth Avenue, Suite 1335
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Tel: 412-258-6644
Fax: 412-258-6645
mmehalik@sustainablepittsburgh.org

Neal McGrath
Media Relations Manager
Pennsylvania Business Leaders for a Clean Energy Economy
Tel: 215-609-4310

SOURCE: Pennsylvania Business Leaders for a Clean Energy Economy

The release also appeared in:

Pennsylvania businesses have led the way throughout our nation's history. Pennsylvanians launched the railroads that first connected our country for commerce, powered the industrial revolution, and forged the steel that built our cities. It's time for Pennsylvania businesses to again lead the way to new jobs through a clean energy future.