Earth Day in Flagstaff 2011

Wow, what a change from the weekend before. I was fortunate to be able to attend this years Earth Day celebration and represent the good people at Regroup Performance Contracting. I am looking forward to the year ahead of us even though we have many battles yet to come. To those who lost in the brief weather incident, I sympathize. May we all respect the power and grace of Mother Nature.

Presidential Commission on the BP Oil Spill

How many people know that the National Commission on the BP Oil Spill and deep water drilling has no subpoena power? How many people know that a bill to give them this power passed the house 420 - 1, including 129 Republicans? How many people know that this bill is being blocked by anonymous Senate Republicans? Why don't we know this, and why aren't the Democrats screaming about this from the rooftops? My worst fear would be that both sides care little for the commission actually having subpoena power, and they just decided to put on a little theater before dropping the issue entirely. I hope more mainstream news media picks up on this.

Thoughts Post SWWP

So I've been working at Southwest Windpower for the last 5 months and overall it's been a wonderful experience. I have been offered a new position in the exciting industry of energy efficiency retrofitting and have decided to take it. With the new change, I thought it would be a good opportunity to take up the blog again.

Since I began learning about renewable energy a decade or so ago (yeah, I'm still young), I've always heard lots and lots about PV and the big wind turbines. Being from the South, I've seen windmills a lot too. However, I hadn't heard much about the micro-wind industry. I've been very fortunate to get to spend some time working with the good folks at Southwest Windpower. I always favor human scale, distributed approaches over massive bureaucratic ones. At least then when you subsidize the heck out of something the money is more likely to end up in the hands of the little guy.

The Micro-Wind industry is not without it's challenges though. Due to the distributed approach, there are many more local, state, and federal regulations and incentives to understand before moving forward with a wind generation system. The burden of cost is placed upon individuals rather than larger corporations, thus longer ROI's (return on investment) are more difficult to justify. Then there's the technical hurdle of preparing a product line-up for the myriad of implementations and locations people will want to use such a product.

All that being said, would I still recommend buying a wind turbine for your home? Absolutely. Provided of course you have a location suited for it. I recommend nothing less than the pursuit of 100% sustainable energy generation. Most cost-effective systems designed to provide such will necessarily include some amount of wind energy generation. There are just more factors currently involved with the use of wind-energy in specific circumstances. If you're off-grid in a steady wind location, and you're already going solar, wind is a no-brainer. Would I recommend wind to a first time sustainable energy buyer, living in a suburb? Probably not. Therefor the solar model doesn't transfer perfectly for wind and all companies involved will have to blaze some new paths in order to prosper.

Zenith Solar

I don't remember where I first heard about this company, Zenith Solar, but the concept seems very solid. It's been out in the news for a while and I'm curious why it isn't taking off faster. I think about this every time I see a new conventional PV system being installed.

Basically, instead of framing systems for photovoltaic panels, this device is a dish of mirrors designed to focus concentrated light on a smaller pv array. If this all works as they claim it does I can see several benefits over the standard multi-panel arrays being installed now.
1. Lower installation cost
2. Less customer apprehension over roof-mounting
3. Cheaper upgrade cost as PV technology progresses
4. Smaller total area required

If anyone knows anything about this please let me know.

Taken for a Ride

Documentary about the systematic take-over and dismantling of the public transit infrastructure of America.

Those old Appalachians

I moved to Flag from South Carolina in 2007. The upstate of South Carolina and the hills of North Carolina were my stomping grounds. Unfortunately coal companies want these mountains for their own. Although the Appalachians have brought tourists to the area for years and years, and those of us native to the area have enjoyed trips to these ancient land formations for most of our lives, now they are on the auction block for a one-time use. What use are they being sold for? Explosion. Yep, the farsighted individuals of America's coal companies are getting rights to go in, blow off the tops of these old mountains, and bulldoze the rubble into nearby streams and valleys. The U.S. Army corps of engineers is selling away permits to energy companies like Massey Energy of Richmond VA, saying they've adequately assessed the environmental risks of blowing off the tops of mountains and dumping the waste nearby. Really? Michael Gray, attorney for the Army Corps was quoted as saying "the corps was allowed to rely on its "best professional judgment" because it lacked funding to conduct the functional analysis." So while the corps are busy selling off my beloved mountains based on limited impact studies, it's all ok because someone is out there guessing at the long-term affects.

These guys are trying to help. Check them out.
http://stopmountaintopremoval.org/

Good Seminar on Sustainable Capitalism

This is part one of a seminar series at UC Berkely on Sustainable Capitalism. The speakers are leaders in the industry you probably will recognize.

Who's on the scene?

Sustainability is nothing new. In fact, knowing how to live in harmony with one's surroundings is one of the oldest types of knowledge around. It is important for those of us interested to know what resources currently exist. Below is my compilation of links to "green" or "sustainable" organizations around Northern Arizona.

Arizona chapter of the USGBC   For the Northern Branch click here.

City of Flagstaff Sustainability and Environmental Works

   

Center for Sustainable Environments at NAU

Northern Arizona Sustainable Living Association

Willow Bend Environmental Education Center

Grand Canyon Trust

Coconino County Sustainable Economic Development Initiative

So those organizations are important to know about and keep up with. Leave me a comment if you have another one I should know about.

And we're off...

My goal is to contribute to sustainable living wherever I live. This blog is for me to compile the information as I get it and disperse it back to the public. It is also to inspire discussions amongst readers.