Greenversations

“Change the World, Start with ENERGY STAR” is a national campaign encouraging all Americans to take small, individual steps that make a big difference in the fight against global warming. Take the Energy Star pledge.

What have you done to meet your Energy Star pledge?

Each week we ask a question related to the environment. Please let us know your thoughts as comments. Feel free to respond to earlier comments or post new ideas. Previous questions.

“Para cambiar el mundo, comience con ENERGY STAR” es una campaña nacional que exhorta a todos los estadounidenses a tomar pequeños pasos individuales para hacar una gran diferencia en la lucha en contra del cambio climático. Haga la promesa Energy Star.

¿Qué ha hecho para cumplir con su promesa Energy Star?

Cada semana hacemos una pregunta relacionada al medio ambiente. Por favor comparta con nosotros sus pensamientos y comentarios. Siéntase en libertad de responder a comentarios anteriores o plantear nuevas ideas. Preguntas previas.

One of the marvels of the modern age is the availability of reliable electricity. You do not have to go back many generations to find individuals who grew up on farms or communities without electricity. Ask your parents, grandparents or great-grandparents if they remember life before the Rural Electrification Act of 1935 when only 10% of rural residents had electricity. Or maybe you have experienced being without power for a few hours after a thunderstorm or even for days and weeks following a hurricane.

On most days and nights, if you need electricity to read by or use your computer all you have to do is flip a switch or push a button. But do you know where your electricity comes from? What is the fuel source to your power company?

Of course, almost all power companies rely on a combination of fuel sources: coal, natural gas, nuclear, hydroelectric, other renewables, or petroleum. In that way, they can shield the consumers and stockholders from large shifts in the prices of commodities and construction for facilities. But a great deal of information on electricity production (residential and industrial) is available from the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration .

Twenty states (WV, IN, KY, WY, ND, UT, OH, MO, NM, KS, IO, NE, MI, CO, WI, GA, MN, MD, NC, and TN) generate more than 50% of their electricity from coal. In fact, more than 90% of the power in West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky and Wyoming is from coal. Only 5 states (RI, NV, FL, MA, and AK) use natural gas for over 50% of their electrical generation. And of those states, only Alaska is a natural gas production state. The others must depend on natural gas transmission pipelines or liquefied natural gas import terminals.

Nuclear power is generated in the fewest number of states and only 5 states (VT, CT, NJ, SC, and IL) generate over 50% of their electricity from this source. Hydroelectric power generates electricity to some extent in a number of states. Over 50% of the power in WA, ID, OR, SD, and MT is from hydroelectric and it is over 85% in Washington, Idaho and Oregon.

Almost all states have some level of electricity generation from renewable fuels other than hydroelectric, including wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass. While the use of other renewables is not at 50% in any state yet, over 10% of the electricity in Maine, Iowa, Minnesota and California is generated from this fuel source category.

Petroleum-fired power plants produce the smallest amount of America’s electricity. And the only state with greater than 50% of generation in this manner is Hawaii, where over 82% of the electricity comes from petroleum-fired sources.

Depending on where you live and the manner in which electricity in your state is regulated, you may have a choice of electricity provider or fuel source. Contact your state’s Public Service Commission or State Energy Conservation Office to learn more about your power options.

About the author: Rob Lawrence joined EPA in 1990 and is Senior Policy Advisor on Energy Issues in the Dallas, TX regional office. As an economist, he works to insure that both supply and demand components are addressed as the Region develops its Clean Energy and Climate Change Strategy.

Students head back to school in September and schools prepare for their return by making repairs and upgrades. Schools can save money with energy efficient systems for heating and cooling and lights, and save water by fixing leaks.

How does your school save energy?

Each week we ask a question related to the environment. Please let us know your thoughts as comments. Feel free to respond to earlier comments or post new ideas. Previous questions.

Los estudiantes regresan al salón de clases en septiembre y las escuelas se preparan para su regreso haciendo reparaciones y mejoras. Las escuelas y colegios pueden ahorrar dinero con sistemas eficientes en el uso de energía para la calefacción, aire acondicionado y el alumbrado. También pueden ahorrar agua reparando las fugas.

¿Cómo su escuela ahorra energía?

Cada semana hacemos una pregunta relacionada al medio ambiente. Por favor comparta con nosotros sus pensamientos y comentarios. Siéntase en libertad de responder a comentarios anteriores o plantear nuevas ideas. Preguntas previas.

Gosh, where did the summer go? It’s hard to believe that the kids are back in school and summer is almost gone. The warm weather and trips to the shore will soon be a thing of the past. I guess that’s one side of the coin. The other side is that cooler weather and snow could be just around the corner. There has been a lot of discussion about protecting ourselves from the sun, water quality, and other summer time subjects, but let’s not forget to prepare ourselves for the winter time too!

Sun protection should still be a priority (especially in areas with lots of snow to reflect the sun’s rays), but the next several weeks would be a great time to focus on making some changes around your home to prepare for “Old Man Winter”. Do you have a drafty window or two, maybe water pipes in a crawl space that could use some extra insulation, or how about that maintenance to the furnace or heat pump to get ready for those cold winter nights? These are just a couple of the things I’ve had to do to make my home more comfortable in the past year or two. The weeks between the end of summer and the beginning of winter are a perfect time to make these changes.

Being proactive to prevent problems from arising instead of having to react when a problem occurs could save you not only time and money, but energy too! If you are a do-it-yourselfer, the climate is much more cooperative for doing this kind of work. If you rely on others for taking care of these kind of repairs, I’d venture to say you could probably get a better price and a scheduled appointment rather than having to wait for someone to “squeeze you in” and then pay premium prices to get that warm air flowing through your home again.

Check out some of EPA’s Energy Star resources to learn about sealing and insulating and get some answers to questions you might have about other Energy Star topics to prepare your home for the winter months. What improvements have you made that have really made a difference in your home?  Oh, and by the way, button up, this may be a cold one!!

About the author: Kelly Chick has worked for the EPA for many years.  She currently works in the Office of Public Affairs at EPA Headquarters, and manages the EPA blog, Greenversations.

Keeping cool in hot weather usually takes energy - turning up the air conditioner, driving to a swimming spot, and more.  But using more energy can affect the environment, too. Share how you keep from losing your cool.

How do you save energy during a heat wave?

Each week we ask a question related to the environment. Please let us know your thoughts as comments. Feel free to respond to earlier comments or post new ideas. Previous questions.

El permanecer fresco durante la temperatura calurosa usualmente requiere energía–sea al utilizar el aire acondicionado, guiar hasta la piscina, o más. Sin embargo, usar más energía puede afectar al medio ambiente, también. Comparta con nosotros lo que hace para mantenerse fresco.

¿Cómo ahorra energía durante una ola de calor?

Cada semana hacemos una pregunta relacionada al medio ambiente. Por favor comparta con nosotros sus pensamientos y comentarios. Siéntase en libertad de responder a comentarios anteriores o plantear nuevas ideas. Preguntas previas.

About the author: Cara Peck is an Environmental Scientist in EPA Region 9. For the past three years she has worked on the recycling of organic materials, but is now working on reducing the climate change and energy implications from the Agriculture Industry.

I love food. At various points along the day, it is a safe bet that I’m thinking about what to eat for my next meal. This could be the product of growing up in Northern California where we have amazing food, or it could be because I love to cook and eating logically follows cooking. Whatever the reason, I’m a huge fan of food.

While many share my love of the culinary world, there is an ugly and harmful side to the delicacies we enjoy- food waste. Organic waste, which includes food, currently makes up 25% of what is going to landfills. In addition to a host of other problems, landfills emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas. In an effort to try to get this food waste out of landfills, I started researching the anaerobic digestion of food waste. Basically, in an atmosphere without oxygen, bacteria feed on the food waste, break it down, and produce biogas in the process. Amazingly, biogas is an energy source, so in the process of reducing waste, energy is produced!

To further explore this project, I managed a few projects that investigated using this technology at wastewater treatment facilities. Many wastewater treatment facilities already use anaerobic digesters to break down sewage sludge. In addition, most of these digesters have excess capacity for something like… food waste!

Here’s a snapshot of how the process works: food scraps are collected at nearby restaurants. Then are sent to a local wastewater treatment facility, processed and injected into the anaerobic digesters. The bacteria go to work, break down the waste and produce biogas. The biogas is captured and used on site to power the facility, or even sent back to the grid. The residual that is left after the bugs have done their job is reduced, making it much easier to truck to the compost facility. Upon further composting, the material can be used as a soil amendment to grow more food. It’s a true closed-loop, sustainable system.

This technology has national applicability and I’m excited to see it more widely adopted in an effort to reduce waste and to combat climate change.

Since I do love food so much, I must admit that there isn’t often much waste left on my plate. However, I feel a little better about my love affair with food knowing that the waste that is left is going to a higher use and not contributing to climate change.

About the Author: Dan Garofalo is the Environmental Sustainability Coordinator and a Senior Facilities Planner at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a founding member of the Delaware Valley Green Building Council and has served as the Chairman of the organization’s Board of Directors since 2008.The University of Pennsylvania led the Ivy League’s victory in this year’s Green Power Partnership College and University Green Power Challenge.

The University of Pennsylvania finds itself in an interesting position when it comes to energy consumption and management. Since Penn is currently unable to produce its own electricity, like the many colleges and universities that own steam and co-generation plants, purchasing Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) is one way for Penn to directly contribute to the development of clean energy sources while reducing its own carbon footprint.

Penn’s commitment to purchasing wind power RECs represents an investment in the future of renewable energy in America. More specifically, Penn’s initial commitment to purchase ten years of 40,000 megawatt hours of wind RECs from the Bear Creek Wind Farm near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, allowed the renewable energy developer, Community Energy (community Energy has since been purchased by Iberdrola), to finance the entire wind farm operation and expansion. We’re proud to be recognized by EPA’s Green Power Partnership as a role model in alternative energy consumption and hope other institutions will follow our lead.

Earlier last year, I had a chance to visit a nearby wind farm, and I was able to examine first hand the type of operation that Penn was helping to fund. Staring up at the graceful swinging blades above me, it was immediately apparent that the money invested by the University was going towards an important component of our country’s renewable energy strategy. Clean power is a very real and pressing need in our environment.
The University is currently focused on connecting its external sustainability efforts, such as support of wind power, to the implementation of several campus-wide conservation and education initiatives. Penn’s Green Campus Partnership serves as the umbrella organization for Penn’s environmental efforts and includes the University’s Environmental Sustainability Advisory Committee , which will produce Penn’s Climate Action Plan in September 2009.

The Climate Action Plan will include many recommendations from student, staff, and faculty committees on sustainable academics, energy, recycling, waste reduction, and our campus buildings and landscape. As these recommendations are implemented over the next several years, Penn will be making a bigger and better impact on our environment, and on our future. Check out our website (www.upenn.edu/sustainability) for more information about Penn’s current sustainability initiatives, and stay tuned for the release of our Climate Action Plan in September!