CT Green Scene

But Baby, its Cold Outside

by Jessica Levinson

We may finally be seeing hints of winter! I saw my first snow flurry last week and although it melted pretty much before it hit the ground, I think we may be in for some more flakes real soon. The first thing I utter is, “Oh, how beautiful!” followed quickly by, “Wow its cold!”

As winter approaches, heating your house can be costly and an environmental headache for conservationists. There are several ways in which one can make their house green and warmer. In fact, the two seem to go hand-in-hand when done properly.

A fairly new concept in house design combines a third incentive, a healthy home. Passivhaus, Passive House in English, creates a better living environment and can cut energy consumption up to 80%! In Europe, mainly Germany, Austria and Switzerland, they have been using Passive House to build supermarkets, schools, offices and residential areas. This idea has been slowly moving across the pond to the U.S. with businesses and individuals wanting the great benefits that Passive House provides.

The concept of Passive House was first developed as a result of a conversation between two university professors in May, 1988. Professor Bo Adamson of Sweden’s Lund University and Dr. Wolfgang Feist of Germany’s The Institute for Housing and the Environment are the creators who worked to make green homes with healthy air environments.

In 1990 they designed and built the first Passive House row homes in Darmstadt, Germany. Founding the ‘Passivhaus Institut’ in 1996, they have continued to study and design dwellings that are on the cutting edge of environmental friendliness and wellbeing. Their original hope was to design homes with engineers and architects alike that would use ultra low energy for heating and cooling.

Paying Extra for Green Power...

Think an extra $58 a month is worth it for renewable energy? Some people do, but lots of people don't. The New York Times explores how that extra money is actually spent and why some customers are reluctant to support wind an solar energy.

"The solicitations have been flooding people’s mailboxes lately: pay a bit more on your electricity bill for 100 percent clean wind power. Or, the fliers say, buy 'green power certificates' to offset your global warming emissions.

Close to a million electricity customers have signed up for such payments voluntarily, and the amount of electricity sold in this way has nearly tripled since 2005, amid rising concern about climate change and energy security. But the participants are in a distinct minority, with a sign-up rate of only about 2 percent in programs run by utilities.

The low sign-up rate raises a question: If large majorities of Americans favor increased government support for clean energy, as polls suggest, why are so many people reluctant to back such programs when it comes to paying extra themselves?"

To read more from today's The New York Times article, click here.

To read other articles on this site about renewable energy, click here.

Image courtesy of the California Department of Fish and Game.

T Boone Pickens to Join Congressman Larson in East Hartford

Via GreenMarine Productions

Congressman John Larson will host a public forum on the Economy and Energy at Goodwin College in East Hartford on Tuesday, November 24th, from 4 - 5:30 pm in Goodwin College Auditorium.

Larson will be joined by special guest T. Boone Pickens, energy pioneer and creator of the Pickens Plan.

Larson is a co-sponsor of the NAT GAS Act, legislation Mr. Pickens strongly supports, which will make domestic natural gas a more accessible alternative to imported oil while decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and urban pollution in vehicles.

Seating is limited. To RSVP or obtain further information about the town hall forum, please call Larson's office at 860-278-8888.

THE TRUTH ABOUT A TABOO SUBJECT: NUCLEAR POWER

People's Action for Clean Energy (PACE) presents a unique clean energy EXPO Saturday, November 21, 2009 Unitarian Society of Hartford 50 Bloomfield Avenue, Hartford (1/10 mile north of intersection of Routes 44 & 189). Enjoy exhibits, the film "Meltdown," in depth discussions and awards.

Admission is free to the public.  Donations are welcome. For more information, call (860) 693-4813 or visit www.pace-cleanenergy.org

Tribal Wind

The New York Times has an editorial from yesterday's edition about Cape Wind.

"After eight years of arduous state and federal environmental reviews, the promoters of Cape Wind, a wind energy project off the Massachusetts coast, had every reason to believe that they were home free. Then the Wampanoag tribes asked the Interior Department to declare all of Nantucket Sound, where the 130 wind turbines would be built, a “traditional cultural property” and, they hoped, block construction.

Tribal officials say their culture requires them to greet the sunrise each day and that this ritual requires unobstructed views. Their claim should be rejected by the responsible federal and state officials. Another round of bureaucratic reviews would drag out an approval process that has gone on much too long and give opponents time to find some other way to derail the effort..."

To read more of the story from The New York Times, click here.

To read an earlier article on this site about the not-in-my-backyard attitude about wind turbines including Cape Wind, click here.

Image courtesy of DustNetworks.com

Governor Rell: $4 Million in Stimulus Funds to Help Homeowners ‘Go Solar’ With Hot Water Systems

Businesses Also Eligible for Solar Thermal Grants

Via Debra Caviness

Governor M. Jodi Rell today announced the state is dedicating $4 million in federal stimulus funds to help homeowners and businesses pay for the installation of solar-powered hot water heating systems, an investment that will lower utility bills and promote the use of alternative fuels.

“I am proud of Connecticut’s leadership in promoting and using greener, cleaner technology,” Governor Rell said. “This incentive will help hundreds of families and businesses make the switch to renewable energy by saving them money on installation costs and ultimately their hot water bills. It would also be a much-needed boost in business for those who sell and install these systems.”

The new Solar Thermal Incentive Program is part of the comprehensive State Energy Plan that has qualified for $38 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The broad-based plan includes programs that:

    * Provide incentives to use alternative energy in homes and businesses;
    * Expand fuel cell initiatives;
    * Make state buildings more energy efficient;
    * Create green collar jobs needed for emerging technologies.

The incentive program will be administered by the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF), a ratepayer fund that promotes, develops and invests in clean energy resources for the benefit of Connecticut’s electric ratepayers.

CCEF officials say there is enough funding available to support installations of 600 residential solar heating systems and about 120 non-residential systems. The systems can supply up to 80 percent of a customer’s annual hot water needs.

Julia Bond: Don't Sacrifice a Mountain for Your Electricity

Coal generates a whopping fifty-five percent of the electricity we use in the United States, and blasting the tops off mountains is the cheapest, fastest way to get it. Right now, the EPA is reviewing 79 new mountaintop removal coal mining permits, and 470 mountains have already been decapitated. If you don't want another mountain destroyed for the sake of your electricity, join renowned environmentalist Julia Bonds, profiled in National Geographic and Newsweek, for

Burning the Future: Dirty Coal From Cradle to Grave on Thursday, October 15th, 7:00 PM, at The Loomis Chaffee School Gilchrist Auditorium, Clark Center4 Batchelder Rd., Windsor, CT 06095. For more information call, 860-255-7663.

 

Kroon Hall makes environmentalists swoon

By John Burgeson
Staff writer, Connecticut Post
Updated: 09/20/2009 12:18:22 AM EDT

NEW HAVEN ---- Looking a little like a 19th century Vermont barn, the newest building on the Yale University campus is attracting international attention because it's one of the most environmentally friendly buildings of its type in the world.

Kroon Hall, around the corner from the Peabody Museum, is the new home of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

It gets electricity from the sun. Geothermal energy provides heat and air conditioning. Rainwater from the roof and grounds is used to run the commodes. Solar panels heat the water. In the winter, heat exchangers pull heat energy from warm exhaust air to aid the heating system.

Experts say that it uses about half the electricity than what would be expected for a building its size, and the photovoltaic array on the roof supply one-fourth of the remaining electrical load.

The structure is heated and cooled entirely with geothermal energy ---- there's no backup furnace or air conditioning system ---- or even a water heater for that matter.

Kroon is designed so it won't require much heating and cooling in the first place. Its east-west orientation maximizes solar heating in the winter, and the 23-degree tilt of the exterior slats deflect the sun's rays when it's high in the sky in the summer months. The massive concrete superstructure--there's no steel skeleton--acts as a huge heat sink. This "thermal mass" absorbs heart during the summer months, which slowly radiates

Click here to read more.

Photo courtesy of Yale University/Robert Benson

EPA chief: US should take lead on clean energy

By ANGELA CHARLTON Associated Press Writer

Updated: 05/28/2009 05:02:49 PM EDT

PARIS—The top U.S. environment official says it's time for the United States to shed its energy-wasting image and lead the world race for cleaner power sources instead.

After several years with a relatively low profile under President George W. Bush, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency "is back on the job," EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson told The Associated Press on Thursday during a trip to Paris.

What the EPA does domestically this year will be watched closely overseas. Nations worldwide are working toward a major meeting in Copenhagen in December aimed at producing a new global climate pact. The U.S. position on curbing its own pollution and helping poor countries adapt to global warming is seen as key to any new pact.

Jackson was in Paris for international talks on how rich governments can include global climate concerns in overall development aid.

She dismissed worries that economic downturn was cutting into aid commitments or investment in new energy resources. She said the United States should take the lead on clean energy technology, recession or no.

Solar Hydrogen House in NJ

This AMAZING video shows that it IS possible to live off grid in a "normal" looking house.
Thanks to Judi Friedman at PACE. If you don't know who PACE is, by all means--click the link to visit this amazing CT-based organization!