Rikki Hall's latest Metro Pulse column calls on Sen. Lamar Alexander, known for his sometimes outspoken support of the environment, to lead the way on enacting a carbon tax.

Commemorating the upcoming 30th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision clearing the way for completion of the Tellico Dam, Robert Wilson takes a look back at the controversy in today's Knoxville News Sentinel.

Opposition to the Tellico Dam was one of my first forays into political activism. There were the land grab aspects. And the inundation of ancient, historical Native American gathering places and sacred burial sites. And the snail darter. All of which are covered in Wilson's article. But I was mainly opposed to destroying one of the South's premier trout fisheries.

Which is why I sent Pres. Jimmy Carter a telegram...

The DOE has selected Knoxville as one of twelve cities to receive solar energy grants:

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Samuel W. Bodman today announced that DOE will make available up to $2.4 million to 12 cities across the country selected as Solar America Cities, chosen for their commitment and comprehensive approach to the deployment of solar technologies and the development of sustainable solar infrastructures.

[..]

Cities designated as Solar America Cities, which will each receive $200,000 from DOE to integrate a variety of solar energy technologies throughout the city, include: Denver, CO; Houston, TX; Knoxville, TN; Milwaukee, WI; Minneapolis & St. Paul, MN; Orlando, FL; Philadelphia, PA; Sacramento, CA; San Antonio, TX; San Jose, CA; Santa Rosa, CA; and Seattle, WA.

According to the DOE press release, the selected cities will also receive hands-on technical assistance with integrating solar technology into energy planning, zoning, local regulations, best practices, solar financing options, and incentive programs. The grants are part of the DOE Solar American Cities program.

$200K ($2.4 million overall) is a rounding error in terms of federal funding for alternative energy technology research and programs, but we should be happy they are doing anything at all and take what we can get.

(Here's a previous report on Florida's solar incentive program and some others around the South along with a discussion of some of the issues involved. Some interesting comments, too.)

UPDATE: Here's the City of Knoxville's Solar Cities grant application, courtesy of Bill Lyons. There are some interesting ideas, such as integrating solar technology into the new transit center, solar powered affordable housing development projects (as mentioned yesterday), education/outreach programs at the Ijams nature center, and lots more.

I think this is the highest we've seen so far. Spring break special! What are gas prices where you are? Will it be $4 in July?

Madeline Weil will speak to the 4th Tuesday Democratic Club this Tuesday, February 26 about the City of Knoxville's Energy and Sustainability Initiative

(Link for more information...)

TVA adds 5% fee on top of rate hike

The combined impact of the two rate hikes could add as much as $12 to the average customer bill from distributors...

This latest increase is called a fuel cost adjustment, and it changes quarterly based on the costs of fuel.

The article says the rate hikes will help fund $2.5 billion for the Watts Bar nuclear plant expansion.

In related news, TVA is purchasing another gas-fired power plant at fire sale prices.

Got our first full-month utility bill since installing our new energy efficient front loading washer/dryer.

As compared to the same period last year, it appears we may have reduced total water consumption by about 21%. Water is so cheap it isn't much in terms of cost savings, but every little bit helps in a drought.

It looks like we may have reduced our electricity usage some, too, possibly owing to less drying time. Compared to the previous month it's about a 13% reduction, but it's hard to compare month to month (average temperature, holiday cooking, etc.)

But the really good news is that CFLs, energy efficient washer/dryer, and other conservation measures have reduced our electricity consumption by 31% as compared to the same period last year. Last year's average temperatures during that period were 50.6 (high) and 31.7 (low), compared to 46.9 and 27.1 for this year, so the savings may actually be higher.

There's more stuff we can do to conserve, though, so we'll keep chipping away at it.

I was going to do a comparison of the Democratic candidate's energy plans, but someone has already done it and saved me the work.

Arthur Smith at Alternative Energy Action Network prepared this comparison chart. It's a little dated (Aug. 2007) and some candidates have probably "borrowed" more ideas from other candidates (as we have seen on health care and other issues), but this is a good benchmark.

No kidding. GM had a big, green, full page ad in the Sunday New York Times entitled "We need to talk." It touts their commitment to the environment and energy efficiency.

It says that because they have a large environmental footprint they have an obligation to change. They say the are one of the leading users of renewable energy, that they have reduced CO2 emissions at their facilities by 80% since 1990, that they have 14 facilities that send no waste from production operations to landfills.

So far so good.

But then they say "there is no greater proof of our commitment to change than the ongoing development of gas-friendly to gas-free fuel solutions by our Chevrolet brand" and that they are "making vehicles with better fuel efficiency than ever before."

Really?

Bush begs Saudis for help with rising oil prices

"Oil prices are very high, which is tough on our economy," Bush said on the second day of his visit to the Islamic kingdom -- one of the key members of the OPEC oil cartel.

No kidding? Really? So why hasn't he done anything about getting us off oil in the last seven years?

Here's something to think about. The money we've spent invading Iraq and seizing their oil fields would have paid for EVERY SINGLE GALLON OF GAS used for U.S. transportation for the next TWO YEARS.

Or, it could have outfitted nearly half of the owner-occupied single-family houses in the U.S. with solar electric panels, generating 96 billion KWH of electricity per year (the approx. output of all TVA coal-fired power plants combined) for the NEXT 30 YEARS. (Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of jobs it would create to manufacture and install the systems.)

And so on...

(My basis for the calculations and/or my math could be way off, but you get the idea.)

AP reports:

Oil prices soared to $100 a barrel Wednesday for the first time ever, reaching that milestone amid an unshakeable view that global demand for oil and petroleum products will continue to outstrip supplies.

I used to think the government should tax gas until it was $5 or more per gallon. Now I think they should subsidize it until it's only ten cents a gallon. The sooner we burn it all up, the sooner we will have to find better alternatives.

From an interesting article in Mother Earth News.

Global non-renewable energy resources in terawatt/hours:

• Coal: 6,000,000
• Natural Gas: 1,500,000
• Uranium 235: 1,500,000
• Oil: 1,000,000
• Tar Sands: 800,000
• Total: 10,800,000

Global annual renewable energy sources in terawatt/hours:

• Direct Solar Radiation: 350,000,000
• Wind: 200,000
• Ocean/Thermal: 100,000
• Biofuels: 50,000
• Geothermal: 10,000
• Tidal/Wave: 5,000

According to the article, total world energy consumption in 2004 was 130,971 terawatt hours, and is projected to grow to 205,686 terawatt hours by 2030.

The article also says:

• "The total amount of energy produced by burning all the coal on the planet would only be equivalent to the solar energy that strikes the Earth every six days."

• "The entire recoverable world oil reserve is equivalent to the solar energy that strikes the Earth in one day."

• "The recoverable world reserve of fissionable uranium is equivalent to less than 1 1/2 days of the energy striking the Earth from the nuclear reaction of the sun."

I haven't been able to verify any of the author's numbers, but if they are even close it boggles the mind. You should read the whole article, and ask why we aren't seriously pursuing a distributed solar economy.

The new energy bill that raises auto fuel efficiency standards for the first time in more than 30 years was sent to the White House for signature by way of a Toyota Prius.

Some (including the Mrs.) said they should have used an American made Ford Escape Hybrid. Hah. Try to buy one.

And, as the article notes, the Prius and the Honda Civic Hybrid are the only cars currently sold in America that meet the bill's new mileage standards which go into effect in 2020.

Check out Rikki Hall's excellent front-page feature story in this week's Metro Pulse.

Over at RoaneViews, WhitesCreek mentioned that LED Christmas lights save money and energy.

This sounded like a good idea, so we got some. They have strings of 50 at K-Mart on sale for $6.99. They also have them at Home Depot, Lowes and Target.

They look great, and use less than 5 watts per string as compared to about 25 watts for a string of 50 mini lights or 350 watts for a string of 50 traditional C9 lights.

The Clean Water Protection Act (HR 2169) would reverse the Bush Administration’s 2002 decision that the toxic “waste” created by mountaintop removal could be defined as “fill material,” and recklessly dumped into our water ways. This practice has already destroyed over 1200 miles of American headwater streams, and eliminated access to safe, clean potable water for many communities. The CWPA (HR 2169) currently has 107 co-sponsors, and a lot of momentum. But we need more to get out of committee and onto the floor.

We have 3 of 5 Democrats from TN onboard, and we need to know if Lincoln Davis, Bart Gordon, and John Tanner are “wit’ us” or “ginst us” on stopping mountaintop removal.

If you have a moment, please take a moment to call Davis (202-225-6831), Gordon (202-225-4231), and Tanner (202-225-4714), politely but forcefully asking that they co-sponsor the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 2169), and take a stand against mountaintop removal.

A quick report on our TN Dems and mountaintop removal below…

A secretive Austin Texas company claims to have invented a solid state battery that will make current electro-chemical batteries and the internal combustion engine obsolete. Skeptics say it is beyond any known technology and compared it to "alchemy."

According to the AP article, batteries based on EEStor's ultracapacitor technology would enable you to plug in your electric car for five minutes and drive 500 miles on the charge. It could also be used to store power from solar panels and for "flash" charging of devices such as laptops and cellphones.

A small electric car company, ZENN Motors, has licensed the technology and expects to use it in a short-range, low-speed vehicle later this year.

On the web:

• EEStor Wikipedia

• EEStor Patent 7,033,406

• ZENN Motor Company

This just in from the KNS:

TVA violated federal clean-air laws more than 3,000 times in a two-year span at a northern Alabama coal-fired power plant, a federal judge ruled Monday.

UPDATE: Here's the full story with more details.

On a related note, I'm happy to see the KNS let relatively new and pretty smart reporter Andrew Eder off leash every now and then to get after TVA and DOE, who seem to have been off-limits in the past.

Apparently Eder isn't on the TVA PR fax distribution list (and probably won't be on the cocktail reception invitation list, either).

Hopefully other reporters will still have their precious "access" so they can keep us "informed". (Although I have to give Frank Munger credit for usually calling it like it is with regard to Oak Ridge.)

The Knoxville Voice has a feature on a local business, The Mellow Mushroom, that has taken advantage of new Tennessee solar power incentives.

Here's a previous report on Florida's program and other initiatives around the South. It's good to know Tennessee businesses are participating in the program. Now maybe the state can consider expanding it for residential, too.

From the recent North American summit, regarding the Northwest Passage:

Prime Minister Harper: "Canada's position is that we intend to strengthen our sovereignty in the Arctic area ... Canada and the U.S. do have differences on certain aspects of the Northwest Passage."

President Bush: "We believe it's an international passageway."

Why does anybody care? Because Global Warming is yielding unexpected benefits.

WhitesCreek Steve lays it out.

(Bonus quote: "Coal IS sequestered carbon.")

In related news:

On August 18, the fourth annual Relay for Clean Air will begin at 6:15 am as the first bicyclist leaves Newfound Gap at the border between Tennessee and North Carolina, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park...

Read the details at Facing South.

I've never heard of this before

The Tennessee Valley Authority shut down one of three units at the Browns Ferry nuclear plant on Thursday because water drawn from a river to cool the reactor was too hot, a spokesman said.

According to the article, the river is at least 90F.

Did anyone notice that it's hot outside?

You may recall our recent discussion of HR1506, the Markey-Platts bill that would increase average fuel efficiency standards to 35MPG in ten years.

Republicans are apparently too beholden to the energy cartels to even consider such a modest step (it ought to be 50MPG in five years).

Rep. Duncan's office responds to our communication re. the bill with a form letter position paper (PDF copy attached):

I agree we need to protect our environment, however, there have also been some unintended consequences resulting from these standards. In fact, according to data published in 1991 by the Office of Technology Assessment, "A 40 percent increase in fuel economy standards would reduce greenhouse emissions by only about 0.5 percent, even under the most optimistic assumptions."

This is due in part to the fact that cars and light trucks subject to fuel economy standards make up only 1.5 per-cent of all global man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

Support for increasing CAFE standards for environmental reasons seems to be based more on rhetoric and a desire to increase federal regulation than sound scientific efforts to reduce pollution.

So many distortions, so little time.

Start with "cars and light trucks subject to fuel economy standards." There's a giant loophole you can drive a Hummer through for Big Manly Pickups and SUVs built on "light truck" frames which are subject to lower CAFE standards (which is why there are so many SUVs and Minivans on the road). HR1506 would apply to all vehicles up to 10,000 pounds.

Further, 1.5 percent of global emissions is a pretty huge number, if you think about it in relative terms of encompassing only US cars and light trucks mostly used for personal transportation. But at least Rep. Duncan admits there is such a thing as greenhouse gas emissions, and concedes that some are man-made.

But what about all the other economic and environmental and foreign policy benefits of reducing consumption, reducing pollution, and reducing dependence on foreign oil? Are these the "unintended consequences" Rep. Duncan wishes to avoid?

Go read Steve...

It's not exactly a news flash, but it is notable that the KNS finally reports something like this.

Although, they needn't wait for an environmental group to issue a report. All the info is right here.

Net earnings were only $10.26 billion on revenues of $97.6 billion for the second quarter.

Earnings were down a whopping 1%, and ranked only the fourth highest quarterly earnings ever recorded for a publicly traded U.S. company. Clearly Exxon Mobile is slipping. Expect another gas price increase...

But seriously, these are mind boggling numbers. Revenues are on pace to exceed the gross domestic product of Saudi Arabia, or the combined GDP of Ireland and Portugal.

This one won't apply to everybody, but we implemented another energy conservation measure about the same time we put in the CFLs.

Read more...