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1. Juneau heeds the call for sacrifice
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2. 'Gas tax holiday' lurches onward
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3. Do-it-yourself clean energy
Juneau heeds the call for sacrifice
The residents of Juneau, Alaska have achieved an astounding 38% drop in electricity usage in a matter of weeks through simple conservation measures:
Schoolchildren sacrifice Nintendo time and boast at show-and-tell of kilowatts saved. Hotels consult safety regulations to be sure they have not unscrewed too many light bulbs in the hallways. On a recent weekday, all but one of the dozens of television screens on display at the big Fred Meyer store were black — off, that is.
Yet even as they embrace a fluorescent future, the 31,000 residents of Juneau, the state capital, are not necessarily doing it for the greater good. They face a more local inconvenient truth. Electricity rates rocketed about 400 percent after an avalanche on April 16 destroyed several major transmission towers that delivered more than 80 percent of the city’s power from a hydroelectric dam about 40 miles south.
Stories like this always highlight to me the promise and the limits of energy conservation. On the one hand — 38% in less than a month! You just can’t beat energy conservation and efficiency for speed or cost-effectiveness. No other solutions have such promise in the very near term.
On the other hand, the central irony of the situation is that Juneau’s carbon footprint has undoubtedly gone up during the past month, probably by a massive amount. The city just switched from clean, cheap hydroelectric power to expensive, dirty diesel power. Conservation is a means, not an end, and in this case the environment was much better off when residents were less efficiently using clean energy. Moreover, a lot of the conservation measures don’t sound all that sustainable in the long term. Residents are rightly thankful the power cut didn’t come during the long Alaskan winter.
Conservation and energy efficiency are essential parts of any climate change strategy. In the long term, though, we need to decarbonize.
'Gas tax holiday' lurches onward
States have been getting in on the fun. Efforts are underway in at least six states to enact regional gas tax holidays, and now New York Republicans are circulating a petition asking citizens to “JOIN The Fight! for lower gas prices.”
Or you could, you know, join the fight for a sane energy policy and clean environment by signing the TerraPass petition that asks politicians to stop insulting us with ineffective gas tax proposals.
Say no to the gas tax holiday.
(The New York state campaign claims to have thousands of signatures. We only just launched our campaign, but it would be nice to match their voice with ours. Remember to share the TerraPass petition with friends.)
Do-it-yourself clean energy
Here’s a story that combines three of my favorite things: clean energy, technology for developing countries, and beer.
The beer bottles lie on a board in rows, all connected by hoses which allow cold water to flow through them and be heated by the sun.
“I invented this for my mother. I wanted her to shower at any time more comfortably,” says Ma Yanjun, a carpenter, of Qiqiao village, Shaanxi Province.
If you want to bulid your own solar water heater, the Make: blog has details, along with links to instructions on-the-cheap solar air heaters as well.
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