efficient - The Environment Report

Will Green Collar Jobs Pay Off?

Obama delivering the American Recovery and Reinvestment speech on Thursday, January 8, 2009 (Photo courtesy of the Obama Transition Team)

Some top business leaders
expect there will be only one growth
sector during this recession: energy
efficiency. Some call it the dawning
of the ‘green economy.’ Lester Graham
reports many are calling on the
government to invest heavily to get
the economy going again. But some are
worried that billions will go to ‘make
work’ projects with no long-term gains:

Transcript

Just as computers and the information age defined the economy many business leaders believe alternative fuels and energy conservation will define the green economy.

During a recent speech at George Mason University, President-elect Barack Obama indicated he wants to encourage that growth in green collar jobs.

“Jobs building solar panels and wind turbines, constructing fuel-efficient cars and buildings and developing the new energy technologies that will lead to even more jobs, more savings and a cleaner, safer planet in the bargain.”

There’s no doubt that much of President-elect Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan is green.

The AFL-CIO has its own Green Jobs for America Program. The union wants 100-billion dollars of government money to be invested in the kind of jobs Mr. Obama talked about.

Pat Devlin is with the AFL-CIO’s Michigan Building Trades Council. He says he hopes Congress moves on the Obama plan soon.

“We’re hoping ASAP. Were looking to get something kicked off in the next six months. And like I said, we’ve got the projects. We just need the infusion of the investment behind it and we’re ready to go. We got to be smart when we do get the dollars, too. That they’re spent in the right place to get people back to work, get our economy headed in the right direction.”

The AFL-CIO has been talking to the Obama administration… and the union likes what it’s hearing.

President-elect Obama says making buildings and homes more energy efficient will mean jobs now and save billions in natural gas and oil in the future making us less dependent on foreign fossil fuels… and reducing greenhouse gas emissions causing global warming.

But the government has a nasty habit of screwing these things up. Members of Congress want the money for their states even if they don’t have the kind of shovel-ready plans that will mean those kind of long-term benefits and that could sabotage the effort.

“You just can’t throw money at the problems and somehow magically it’s going to work.”

Eric Orts directs the Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership, part of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He says the investments should go to projects that mean more energy and economic efficiencies in the future have long-term benefits that will benefit the economy. Otherwise it’s wasting an opportunity.

“You might create short-term jobs for some time, but that’s not going to lead to the long-term foundation growth that I’m talking about. That’s going to require some intelligent allocation of the funds so you get the payoffs.”

The Obama administration will have to be picky the jobs, very cautious about how the taxpayer money is invested if we’re going to see those payoffs.

For The Environment Report. I’m Lester Graham.

Big Nuke Company Seeks Co2 Cuts

The Exelon nuclear power plant in Braidwood, Illinois (Photo by Lester Graham)

US corporations are struggling
with a new issue: reducing their carbon
footprint. They’re anticipating federal
requirements to reduce carbon outputs to
limit climate change. They’re moving now
so they won’t be at a competitive disadvantage.
One industry would seem to have an edge:
nuclear power. Nuclear doesn’t emit greenhouse
gases such as carbon dioxide. But Shawn Allee reports the nation’s biggest nuclear
power company might not be able to take advantage
of this obvious option:

Transcript

Recently I dropped in on a corporate meet-and-greet in Chicago.

I waded through through computerized presentations, and loads of free pastry and coffee,
and heard executives from Pepsi, IBM, and Staples talk about cutting their carbon
emissions.

The company most eager to talk was Exelon.

“We’re a very large power generator, we are also a very large utility company and
given our size, we have a special responsibility to help address the implications of
climate change.”

Ruth Ann Gillis is an executive Vice President at Exelon.

The company’s prepping for the day when the government makes them pay when they
put carbon into the atmosphere.

Gillis says Exelon is starting early, and plans to cut carbon emissions by fifteen million
tons a year by 2020.

“The reduction, the offset, the displacement of fifteen million tons is the equivalent
of taking three million cars a year off our roads and highways. And for nothing
more, everyone should be hopeful we are indeed successful, because it will make a
difference.”

To make that difference, Exelon will promote efficiency, cut the coal used in some of its
power stations, and slash its own energy use in buildings and vehicles.

I head to one of Exelon’s power plants to learn another way Exelon might cut its carbon
output.

Plant Manager Brian Hanson says the idea is to squeeze more power out of existing
nuclear power stations.

Brian Hanson: “One of our strategies of our 2020 Carbon iniative is to increase
power in some of our reactors, to take advantage of some of the flexibility built into
the power plants.”

Shawn Allee: “When you say flexibility what do you mean by that?”

Hanson: “They were built with extra pumps and systems that would let us operate
at higher power.”

Allee: “Do you need somebody’s permission to do that?”

Hanson: “As part of our license to operate the facility we’re only allowed to operate
at a certain power level, but to go above that we have to submit a formal
engineering study to the nuclear regulatory commission.”

But why upgrade? Why squeeze more power out of old plants? Why not build new
nuclear power plants, too?

Well, Exelon would like to. But it’s not easy.

Tom O’Neil is Vice President of New Plant Development at Exelon.

He says Exelon wants a new nuclear power plant in Texas.

But no one’s licensed a nuke plant for a dozen years and it’s common for projects to get
canceled.

So Exelon’s got some blanks to fill in.

“How much will it cost, can we finance it, what’s the political support, what do we
think the regulatory environment will look like. Those are all factors that generate
risk. Can we mitigate the risk and move forward with what would be a very
expensive construction project with some confidence that we can get it done, on time
and be profitable at the end.”

If the company pulls that off, it would make more electricity, but emit almost no new
carbon.

And its overall carbon footprint would shrink. Helping reduce emissions that cause
global warming.

But, even Exelon – the country’s biggest nuclear power company – might not be able to
turn to its core business to save the world.

For The Environment Report, I’m Shawn Allee.

New Central Air Units Save Energy

John Proctor in his workshop (Photo by Amy Standen)
Al Mason and Jeff Scalier with the new air conditioner (Photo by Amy Standen)

It happens every year. Temperatures
get hot, and people crank up the air conditioning.
That means using more electricity from the
power grid. It means creating more greenhouse
gas emissions. And that could lead to global
warming and warmer temperatures. That means,
even more air conditioning! There are a few
ways to halt this vicious cycle, one of which
starts with a makeover for the air conditioner
itself. Amy Standen reports:

Transcript

“Hi there! This is Al.”

Temperatures were expected to hit 105 degrees on the day I visited Al Mason’s Northern
California bungalow. But, standing in his very cool living room, he wasn’t too concerned.

Al Mason: “During the summer without the air, it was miserable.”

Amy Standen: “What’s it like now?”

Mason: “Oh it’s wonderful.”

That’s because Mason just bought himself a $10,000 central AC and heating system.

(sound of motor starting up)

Installer Jeff Scalier of the Blue Star Heating and Air Conditioning Company takes me
outside to show off the motor.

“This particular unit, I call it the Cadillac. It’s an HDL is the name of the unit, it’s side
discharged.”

New units like this are about twice as energy efficient as those sold thirty years ago.
That’s when the 1970s oil embargo inspired a slew of federal efficiency rules.

But Al Mason’s brand-new AC system still uses a lot more electricity than it needs to. At
least, that’s what John Proctor says. He’s an air conditioning entrepreneur in San Rafael,
just north of San Francisco.

“Air conditioners are designed one size fits all for the whole country. So you have a
hammer where you really would like something a little more precise.”

In other words, different climates require different air conditioners. For example, the day
I met John Proctor, it was about 75 degrees outside, maybe 25% humidity.”

“There’s a reason why we live here!” (laughs)

Meanwhile, about 3,000 miles east, residents of Tampa, Florida were wiping their brows
in 80% humidity. In other words, a completely different climate, where air conditioners
have a different job to do.

“In South Florida you have to do a lot of dehumidification, whereas in California, you
don’t have to do any dehumidification at all. So what they’re doing is taking moisture
out of the air and dumping it down the drain.”

In other words, because air conditioners are built for all climates, they don’t work
perfectly in any climate.

That fact inspired Proctor – with funding from the state of California – to design AC
systems for three different climates – the hot dry west, the soggy southeast, and the more
temperate Midwest. So that’s one model for Phoenix, another for Tampa, and a third for
St. Louis. He built them in an attic workshop upstairs from his office.

“So where does that data point show up on the graph?”

Proctor says these climate-specific units can use as much as 20% less electricity than the
one-size fits all models. But that doesn’t mean we can expect manufacturers to start
making them any time soon.

“From a manufacturing perspective, if you can just make lots of one air conditioner,
it’s easier, it’s cheaper. And that’s how they’re set up to do it.”

That’s why Proctor, along with California energy officials, went to Washington earlier
this year. Their goal was to get Congressional support for new, regional AC standards.
And it worked.

But putting these standards into law is another step. That’ll take a ruling from the Federal
Department of Energy – something, Proctor believes, is unlikely to occur until next
administration takes the White House.

For The Environment Report, I’m Amy Standen.

Energy Tax Credits for Next Year

Tucked away in the bailout package were energy tax cuts for Americans (Source: Man-ucommons at Wikimedia Commons)

We’ve all heard about the 700-
billion dollar bail-out for Wall Street.
Getting a lot less attention was another
17-billion dollars for energy tax credits.
Lester Graham reports you can take advantage
of some of that money for your house:

Transcript

Starting in January you can earn as much as $500 in tax credits for home
improvements that save energy. The credit will be taken right off the top of taxes you’ll
owe for 2009.

Ronnie Kweller is with the group Alliance to Save Energy. She says the credits can
cover a lot.

“Energy Star windows. It also includes lower-cost products like additional insulation,
sealing and caulking and weather-stripping – all those kind of things to tighten up your
home and make it energy efficient. As well as highly-efficient heating and cooling
equipment.”

Kweller says her group has details on the new consumer tax credits on its website:
ase.org.

Keep your receipts, and you’ll have to remember to file the right IRS form to take
advantage of the tax credits.

For The Environment Report, I’m Lester Graham.

Cellulosic Ethanol Breaks Ground

Getting fuel from plants like corn
and sugar cane is not that efficient. That’s
why researchers are working on so-called
cellulosic biofuels. The process turns things
like corn stalks, wood chips, and grasses into
fuel. As Mark Brush reports, some new
cellulosic refineries are breaking ground:

Transcript

The new refineries are being built with money from the federal government. The hope is
to perfect a fuel source that a) doesn’t come from food, and b) is much more efficient
than corn-based ethanol.

The problem is it’s hard to get at the sugars inside the
plants. But the payback could be big. For every one unit of energy going in,
cellulosic ethanol could spit out about five to ten units of energy.

Brian Davidson is with the BioEnergy Science Center. He says industry officials are
hopeful, but he thinks these new refineries are just a first step.

“They believe that those technologies will be more widely applicable, but I actually
believe that we’re going to need further technology improvements to go from these first
few handful of plants, handful of bio-refineries, to make them widespread.”

Davidson says scientists still have not perfected ways to break down the plants in a
cost-effective way.

For The Environment Report, I’m Mark Brush.

Honey, I Shrunk the Cow

Today’s cattle are much bigger than they were back in the 1920s. They’ve been bred to big and beefy. But, it turns out, you can actually produce more meat with the smaller cattle. (Photo by Keith Weller, courtesy of the USDA)

Because of feed and energy prices,
some cattle farmers are scaling back.
They’re not reducing the size of their
herd. They’re reducing the size of their
cows. Kinna Ohman reports:

Transcript

Because of feed and energy prices,
some cattle farmers are scaling back.
They’re not reducing the size of their
herd. They’re reducing the size of their
cows. Kinna Ohman reports:

Today’s cattle are much bigger than they were back in the 1920s. They’ve been bred to
big and beefy. But, it turns out, you can actually produce more meat with the smaller
cattle.

Richard Gradwohl has been breeding miniature cattle for more than forty years. He
says with today’s larger beef cattle on five acres, you can produce 2400 pounds of
meat. He can raise as much as 7000 pounds of beef on that same five acres.

“It’s surprising to me how many large cattle breeders call me almost every day
because they’re interested in reducing the size of their animals to achieve more
feed efficiency.”

Gradwohl thinks the emphasis on breeding large cattle might be reversing.

For The Environment Report, I’m Kinna Ohman.

Fuel Economy Standards So Unreal

CAFÉ standards are based on fuel economy tests from the 1970s. (Photo by Ed Edahl, courtesy of FEMA)

Congress recently increased the Corporate Average

Fuel Economy standards, or CAFÉ standards. The new standard calls

for a car company’s entire fleet to average 35 miles per gallon

by 2020. But Mark Brush reports – there’s a problem with these

standards:

Transcript

Congress recently increased the Corporate Average

Fuel Economy standards, or CAFÉ standards. The new standard calls

for a car company’s entire fleet to average 35 miles per gallon

by 2020. But Mark Brush reports – there’s a problem with these

standards:

CAFÉ standards are based on fuel economy tests from the 1970s.

But the way people drive has changed a lot since then.

Engines are more powerful, people drive faster, and more cars use air conditioning.

That means these old tests don’t reflect the gas mileage we get today.

Experts say car companies are really averaging anywhere from 20 to 30% less than the
standards called for.

Jim Kliesch is with the Union of Concerned Scientists. He says the system should
change.

“If your representative is standing on Capitol Hill and telling you that they’ve raised
standards to 35 miles per gallon, you’d like to go out and buy a vehicle that can average
35 miles per gallon. Not one that averages 26, 27, 28 miles per gallon.”

There is a more accurate test available today.

Kliesch says it could be used to set CAFÉ standards if members of Congress require it.

For The Environment Report, I’m Mark Brush.

Green-Ed for Realtors

Nathan Kipnis calls this condo building in Evanston, Illinois a "calendar that happens to be a home." Kipnis says he positioned windows and floor tiles to heat the home in the winter and keep it cool in the summer. (Photo by Shawn Allee)
Architect Nathan Kipnis shows off green technology he incorporated in a condo building in Evanston, Illinois. He says casual visitors and real-estate agents could miss green features of a building, such as this fireplace, which doesn't allow room air to escape the home. (Photo by Shawn Allee)
Chicago Realtor Celeste Karan opens the door to a home for sale in Chicago, Illinois. Karan says, when getting up to speed on green technology, she sought the help of architects, engineers and designers who knew the fundamentals. She says educated realtors can help home-buyers wade through claims that green home builders make, but buyers should ask realtors to provide data to back those claims. (Photo by Shawn Allee)

The recent housing crisis has taught us
home values don’t always rise. So, people just
want to make sure they get what they pay for in
a house. That’s especially true with green homes
that are supposed to provide extra value – like
healthier air and lower energy bills. But does
your real-estate agent know enough about green
homes to make sure that’s the case? Shawn Allee reports says many do not, but the
industry’s working on it:

Transcript

When Nathan Kipnis showed me a green home he designed – I spotted some green
features all by myself.

For example, it was hard to miss the solar water heater.

But it turns out, I missed stuff.

The architect had to show me the living room tile.

“What you’re seeing here is the dark grey slate. This is set to take sun in the
winter, fall and spring that comes in here. As the sun gets lower in the sky,
more sun comes in here and it heats up the floor with that.”

“What’s striking about this is that you have these little placards that read,
‘floor absorbs sun, creating thermal surfaces’. These are green crib notes so
to speak?”

“Yes. We definitely needed these because there was the chance that of
course realtors would come through here unaccompanied.”

Kipnis sweated over this solar tile, but at first, real-estate agents were like me – they
missed it, or they didn’t get how it worked.

Kipnis says, it’s likely some potential buyers went home clueless.

Still, he doesn’t blame the agents.

“They’re just kind of used to here’s the crown molding and here’s the
fireplace trim and here’s the pantry. That’s what we call, their expert
knowledge base.”

Some realtors are expanding their knowledge base to include green homes.

There’s a certification program that gets agents up to speed on energy conservation,
water use, and other green home features.

It’s called EcoBroker.

John Beldock runs EcoBroker.

He says it trains agents to protect home buyers.

“Many people stay in their houses longer than five years. If you’re really
watching out to make sure a consumer is buying a house that she can afford
to buy but afford to operate, you’ve really provided a valuable service to
society.”

Four thousand people have EcoBroker certification.

That sounds like a lot, but there’re more than two million real-estate license-holders
in the US.

So, most home buyers will encounter agents who are not trained, or ones who
mostly trained themselves – like Celeste Karan in Chicago.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to the table with some high-level people in the
industry who’ve been kind enough to explain things to me over coffee.
They’ve become part of my network and through that I’ve learned more
than anything else.”

Karan says formal certification is great, but when it comes down to it, buyers should
press agents about a home’s green claims.

And when possible – ask for numbers.

“There are certain properties where I know it’s been computer modeled and
the claims are likely to be true because they’re based in performance
testing rather than somebody just coming up with a number that sounds
good.”

Karan says there’s a lot at stake in getting green housing claims right.

The trend’s young, and it’s vulnerable to realtors who over-sell green features.

“Building better quality buildings has to be the norm. In order or that to
happen, the claims about them have to be honest, and people have to
continue to buy them. If buyers want it and builders build it, the market will
expand and move forward.”

Karan says it’s not like realtors are trying to screw people over.

There’s room for trust.

It’s just that for now, it’s best to back up that trust with a bit of skepticism.

For The Environment Report, I’m Shawn Allee.

Sad State of Suv Sales

High gas prices are making it difficult for SUV owners to sell them (Photo by Ben VanWagoner)

With higher gas prices, SUV and light
truck owners are scrambling to trade in their
large cars for smaller more fuel efficient ones.
But, they’re shocked to learn how little they can
get. Lisa Ann Pinkerton reports:

Transcript

The auto industry says, sales of new SUVs and light trucks have basically stalled and the
market is flooded with used models. That’s got used car dealerships across the country
offering owners about 20% less than their vehicles are worth.

Art Spinella, president of the auto research firm, CNW, says even at a steep discount,
Sport Utility Vehicles and light trucks are taking about a month longer to sell than they did a
year ago.

“If you need a sport utility for some reason, now is probably the best time to buy one. But
if you’re trying to sell a sport utility you may be better off just parking it and keeping it
until the market either turns around or the over supply that exists right now kind of dwindles down.”

Research shows a lot of SUV owners are deciding to not to drive them.

For The Environment Report, I’m Lisa Ann Pinkerton.

Teaching an Old House New Tricks

Environmentally friendly architecture is
becoming very common. Architects are designing
innovative, cutting edge, energy-efficient homes,
using renewable resources. But, Lester Graham
reports on another approach that recycles an
entire house:

Transcript

You know, we’re always hearing about new green building construction – new homes with all the
latest. That’s nice, but it’s a little ironic to think about all those resources being used to
build new to save resources.

That’s why I kinda got interested when I read about Matt
and Kelly Grocoff. They bought a modest, century-old house and started making
energy-efficient changes. A lot of them as Matt showed me in the bathroom.

“We have the motion-sensor light. We have the compact fluorescent bulbs. We have a
dual-flush toilet that will use only (flushing sound) use point-eight gallons for a flush.
This is actually a one-gallon-per-minute shower head. It will save you at least $100 in
electricity your first year of having that because of the eleven-thousand gallons of hot
water that you’re going to be saving. (faucet sound) This faucet aerator is also point-
five-gallons-a-minute. It’s plenty of water to wash your hands. Most people will never
notice that they’re using two-gallons-per-minute less in this faucet than another faucet.”

(stairs sound)

And that’s just the bathroom. As the couple took me upstairs, they told me about the really,
really efficient geo-thermal heat. They insulated everywhere. It’s tight. But everything
was off-the-shelf. None of that, ‘oh this is custom, you can’t buy it anywhere’, type
stuff.

Kelly Grocoff says if your house is a statement about you, then having a low-impact on
the earth’s resources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions is part of the statement they
want to make.

“For us, we proclaim loud and clear this is where our values are. And this is where we’re
going to spend our time and it’s incredibly important to us.”

And with all the efficiencies, all the updates, the house looked normal, comfortable. And
the Grocoff’s say that’s the way it should be.

Matt: “One of the things with building green, everyone thinks that you’re going to sacrifice
something, you’re going to spend more money and you’re not going to be as
comfortable. And that is completely not true anymore.”

Kelly: “We have made zero sacrifices. We have gained enormously. And we have no
time to waste. Your house is the number one place where you can make a significant
impact on a daily basis. For me there’s no other choice to be made.”

Matt and Kelly Grocoff say doing something about reducing energy use, reducing the
emissions that are causing global warming, and re-using old lumber and this old house
is just a start for them. They want to help other people do it too. That’s why they’re
launching an online site for do-it-yourselfers called ‘GreenovationTV.com’

Matt: “Uh, through Greenovation TV, we’re going to take everything that we’ve learned from
this house and teach others about it.”

Kelly: “We need that kind of resource there as we’re going through this process. And so there was hours upon hours spent researching things. And that’s kind of the goal with this station.”

Matt: “Once you have the knowlege to do it, it’s really, really easy.”

The Grocoff’s say the one thing holding people back from making their homes more
environmentally friendly is they feel like they have to do it all or it won’t be right. They
say just take the first step. Even if it’s just changing to a lower-energy compact
fluorescent bulb, it’s a good start.

For The Environment Report, I’m Lester Graham.

Tag: efficient

Will Green Collar Jobs Pay Off?

Transcript

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Big Nuke Company Seeks Co2 Cuts

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New Central Air Units Save Energy

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Energy Tax Credits for Next Year

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Cellulosic Ethanol Breaks Ground

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Honey, I Shrunk the Cow

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Fuel Economy Standards So Unreal

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Green-Ed for Realtors

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Sad State of Suv Sales

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Teaching an Old House New Tricks

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