Dan Ferber’s 3,500-word article on Vehicle-to-Grid is far too long for you to read, especially when Greece is busy imploding, but it’s a very important idea. So let me give you the shorter version, starting with four facts about the energy industry. - The 146 million cars, SUVs, and pickup trucks in America, between them, produce seven times the power of all US power plants combined.
- The supply of energy is volatile, and will get more so as we move to renewables like wind and solar. Those sources only produce energy some of the time.
- The demand for energy is also volatile, going up during the day and when it’s hot outside.
- Storing energy, by doing things like pumping water uphills into reservoirs, is expensive and cumbersome. And those energy sources can’t provide the small bumps in power needed to ensure that AC electricity is running at 60 hertz at all times.
All of which opens up an amazing opportunity for owners of electric vehicles — be they electric, hybrid, or fuel cell. Those vehicle owners can basically become baby energy traders, fueling up their cars at night, when electricity is cheap, or at the pump. And then plugging their cars into the grid, where they can sell energy back to the grid for much more than they paid for it. Willett Kempton of the University of Delaware has already set up his electric Scion to do just that; it’s been earning him $300 a month since 2009. This is a fantastic idea, and it’s a no-brainer, really, that all electric cars should have the ability to power the grid, rather than just drawing power from it. The number and size of power plants is a function of peak electricity demand; if electric-car owners collectively can help meet peak demand, then that means we need fewer power plants. And, the revenue from selling that electricity would help offset the extra cost of buying an electric car in the first place. The batteries in electric cars are expensive and valuable pieces of technology which go unused for most of the time. Let’s put those things to use, and make money doing so! The only real question is why this isn’t happening already. 
If the Nobel society had an award for sustainability, it would resemble the Katerva awards, a new international prize for the most promising ideas and efforts to advance the planet toward sustainability. Minus the money. Katerva, the new UK-based charity, today announced winners for 10 individual categories, who are now shortlisted for a single grand prize to be awarded in New York on Dec. 7. Awards are for “game-changers and industry breakers; ideas that leap efficiency, lifestyle, consumption and action bounds ahead of current thinking,” their website says. It’s the result of a year of vigorous review involving a network of “spotters” and organizations around the world that nominated more than 150 programs and ideas for the honor. Nominees were required to be ongoing, active and capable of scaling up. The 2011 winners in their individual categories are: Behavioral Change – 350.org Activist organization founded by Bill McKibben to mitigate the climate crisis through online campaigns, grassroots organizing and mass public actions by volunteers in 188 countries. Economy - Ebay’s worldofgood.com The world’s largest multi-seller marketplace for socially and environmentally responsible shopping. Energy and Power - Barefoot Power Providers of alternative light sources such as LED lights and polycrystalline solar panels for homes in 15 developing countries. Food Security – The China Study Written by Dr. T. Colin Campbell and his son Thomas M. Campbell III, The China Study is the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted and findings conclusively demonstrate the link between nutrition and heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Human Development - Solar Autoclave Low-cost, solar powered device used to safely and reliably sterilize surgical instruments in developing countries. Materials and Resources – Sanergy Provides low-cost sustainable franchised sanitation centers throughout Kenya. Transportation - Nissan Leaf Zero-emission, all-electric, mainstream vehicle from a major global automobile manufacturer. Urban Design – Freshkills Park The New York City Parks and Recreation department is transforming Freshkills Park into a 2,200 acre park that restores the natural environment. Protected Areas – no recipient Gender Equality – no recipient Each of the winners now enter competition for the grand prize of intellectual support “to aid winners in intelligently growing and accelerating their impact on the world.” This includes introduction to a number of partner organizations and business thought leaders Ken Blanchard and Marshall Goldsmith. Grand prize jury members include: Jeremy Rifkin, author author and president of the Foundation on Economic Trends Jeremy Rifkin Marina Silva, Brazilian environmentalist and politician Marina Silva Gunter Pauli, director of the Zero Emissions Research Initiative Jean-Michel Cousteau, Explorer, Environmentalist, and Educator Mary Robinson, former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Lord St. John of Bletso, member of the UK House of Lords and cleantech advocate Dr. J. Craig Venter, U.S. biologist known for sequencing the human genome John Elkington, executive chairman of Volans and founder of SustainAbility (Photo above shows 2000 Students from Massey High School in Waitakere City, Aotearoa New Zealand, assemble on their field to show their support for 350.org International Day of Climate Action, Oct 24, 2009. REUTERS/Handout/Steve Campbell/350.org) 
Connie Hedegaard is EU Commissioner for Climate Action. Any opinions expressed are her own.
This week the U.S. House of Representatives passed a rather unusual bill directly addressed to Europe. Through the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme Prohibition Act H.R. 2594, America’s legislators want to tell American airlines not to respect an EU law. This seems to me a rather unorthodox course of action, but here in the EU we are confident that in the end the United States will respect our legislation, just as the EU respects U.S. legislation and U.S. lawmakers’ authority in U.S. airports. After all, there is nothing new or unusual in requiring airlines to meet certain rules which, given the global nature of the industry, have international ramifications. As Congressmen who opposed the House bill pointed out, the United States itself requires international airlines to comply with a wide range of U.S. laws when it comes to passenger, baggage and cargo security in order to do business in the U.S. Other laws also require overseas ports to put in place certain security measures before cargo can be sent to the U.S. If the U.S. wants to handle emissions from aviation differently, that is fine; our legislation clearly envisages that if a country outside the EU takes ‘equivalent measures’ to address aviation emissions then all incoming flights from that country can be exempted from the EU system. We are ready to engage constructively with the U.S. and all other partners about such an approach. We also recognise and encourage agreeing to global measures to reduce GHG emissions from aviation. In the event of such agreement, we could adapt our legislation. To us, what matters, is that aviation also contributes to fighting climate change. Why is this important? Our law addresses a major environmental issue of our times, namely the vertiginous growth in carbon emissions from aviation which is contributing to global warming and climate change. The global body for civil aviation, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), estimates that emissions from the sector will increase by up to 88 percent between 2005 and 2020 and by up to 700 percent by 2050. Such growth scenarios are completely at odds with the internationally agreed objective of holding global warming below 2C (3.6F) compared with the temperature in pre-industrial times. To respect that ceiling, all sectors will need to contribute. Despite work and pressure from the EU, states in ICAO have not yet agreed on a global solution to limit aviation emissions. No one has fought harder than the EU to find a global solution- and we are still trying to reach agreement. Faced with the urgent need to address climate change, the EU chose to go forward by bringing the aviation sector into our emissions trading system (ETS) while continuing to press for a global solution. The EU ETS is a cap and trade system designed to keep emissions covered by the scheme within a pre-defined limit. It’s a pollution ceiling. While the EU ETS is moving towards making industrial installations buy their allowances, airlines will receive more than four in five of their allowances for free. For next year the figure will be 85 percent and for the period 2013-2020 it will be 82 percent. Our legislation applies to all airlines taking off from or landing in the EU, whatever their nationality. We have made the fair choice of applying a measure to all airlines and therefore avoid creating unacceptable distortion of competition. Being in the ETS means that airlines will need to have emission allowances that cover the emissions along the entire route of flights to and from the EU. This approach is specifically provided for in ICAO’s Guidance on Emissions Trading, which considers the alternative – delimitation based on national airspace – as “impracticable.” ICAO recognised as far back as 2004 that market-based measures have a role to play in tackling aviation emissions, that among such measures emissions trading is preferable to taxes and charges, and that emissions trading for international aviation was better implemented by including aviation in States’ own trading systems than by creating a new, single ICAO system. In other words: our system gives airlines a clear incentive to become more efficient and pollute less. That is in everybody’s interest. And where airlines do need to buy additional allowances through government auctions, the auction revenues will be used to tackle climate change in the EU and third countries. To ensure transparency, the EU Member States will publish reports on how they spend the revenues. How much will our system add to the cost of a ticket? Any increase will be modest at most. They will largely depend on whether the airlines decide to pass on the market value of the 85 percent allowances they get for free. Costs can thus range between $1.40 and $8.60 a ticket each way on a transatlantic or other long-haul flight at current carbon prices. Let’s take the example of a one-way flight from New York to London. The estimated CO2 emissions per passenger would be around 385 kilograms. The value of the allowances that need to be surrendered would be $5.40 per passenger at current carbon prices but, given the high level of free allowances to airlines, the actual cost for the airlines would be only around $1 to $2 – which can hardly be an insurmountable issue for them. Europe’s legislation is a key contribution to global climate action. We encourage others to join in our efforts. ___________________ This opinion article was first published on AlertNet, a Thomson Reuters Foundation Service.
(Photo shows a passenger aircraft silhouetted against the rising moon in New Delhi May 7, 2009. REUTERS/B Mathur) 
The U.S. Department of Energy announced this week $60 million in funding for scientists to develop “revolutionary research” to lower the cost of solar power systems. The DOE SunShot Initiative is baiting researchers to increase efficiency of commercial solar power (CSP) systems and lower costs to six cents per kilowatt hour by the end of the decade. The initiative is being called a “sign of the times for the sector“, and comes amidst accusations the government is squandering taxpayer money on businesses doomed to fail, best exemplified by recently bankrupt solar heavyweight Solyndra. The DOE says the SunShot CSP grant is meant to look beyond short-term innovation and explore transformative concepts with the “potential to break through performance barriers like efficiency and temperature limitations,” the DOE announced. It wants scientists to think big. With billions invested in multiple CSP plants throughout the southwestern states, improving CSP generation to the point where it can once again compete with cheaper solar photovoltaic panels appears to be an important priority for the DOE, writes Energy Matters. China may have cornered today’s subsidy-dependent markets for solar cells in recent years, but they have not yet won the race to make solar energy cheap. writes Jesse Jenkins at Forbes. (Photo shows U.S. President Barack Obama lifting a solar panel as he tours Solyndra, Inc., a solar panel manufacturing facility in Fremont, California May 26, 2010. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)  There are no small parts, only small actors, or so the old show-biz saying goes. Now there are big stars — Matt Damon and Brad Pitt — playing two of the smallest parts ever. In a far cry from “Ocean’s Eleven” (and 12 and 13) they’re lending their voices to a pair of krill, small shrimp-like creatures that form the base of the Antarctic food web.
Pitt and Damon play Will and Bill, the krill, in “Happy Feet Two,” the sequel to the 2006 dancing-penguins animated feature. Both films have conservation themes. The latest movie opens in mid-November. These Hollywood names might help shine a spotlight on krill at a time when the species is under pressure, according to the Pew Environment Group. An international meeting under way now in Hobart, Tasmania, is expected to consider more protection for these tiny animals, which penguins, seals and whales depend on to survive. Increasing demand for krill as feed for industrially farmed fish and for nutritional supplements has pushed the krill fishery beyond a sustainable level, the conservation group said in a statement. Krill fishing in some areas could outpace efforts to protect the well-known animals that rely on it.  “Existing efforts to regulate krill catch must be sustained and enforced, so that animals such as penguins and seals are not competing against industrial fishing vessels just to survive,” said Gerry Leape, a senior officer at the Pew group.
New fishing technologies enable fleets from multiple countries process krill continuously, bringing in much higher catches than a decade ago. An accelerating loss of sea ice that provides essential habitat for krill adds to the problem and threatens to deplete stocks in key feeding areas for penguins, seals and whales. The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources is meeting in Tasmania from October 24 through November 4, and the Pew Environment Group is asking delegates to the commission to require observers on all krill-fishing vessels, set up a dedicated fund to monitor krill predators, and maintain smaller divisions of the ocean to manage krill to prevent local depletion that will harm penguins and other animals. Photo credits: REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch (Matt Damon and Brad Pitt arrive for the screening of their movie ‘Ocean’s Twelve’ in a Berlin cinema December 15, 2004.) REUTERS/Mike Blake (baby green sea turtles eat krill from the hand of senior aquarist Bryan Mercer, Sea World, San Diego, July 2, 2003)  Coca-Cola has one of the most recognizable brands on the planet: the red can with the white letters. World Wildlife Fund has an equally eye-catching logo: a blank-and-white panda. This week, the two are joining forces to change the Coke can’s look from red to white. It’s meant to raise awareness and money to find a safe haven for polar bears, listed as a threatened species because their icy Arctic habitat is melting under their paws due to climate change.
In a project called Arctic Home, Coke plans to turn 1.4 billion of its soft-drink cans white for the first time in its history, replacing the familiar red with an image of a mother polar bear and two cubs making their way across the Arctic. There will also be white bottle caps on other drinks the company sells. The new look is to show up on store shelves from November 1 through February 2012. The whole point is to raise money to protect a far-north area where summer sea ice will probably persist the longest, WWF and Coke said in a statement. The Arctic Home plan is to work with local residents to manage as much as 500,000 square miles of territory to provide a home for polar bears.  Coke and polar bears are something of a classic combination, according to the company’s Katie Bayne, who said in a statement that the big white bears were first introduced in the beverage-maker’s advertising in 1922. But the color change is more than tin-deep. Coca-Cola is making an initial $2 million donation to World Wildlife Fund to support polar bear conservation work. Those who buy the white cans can text the package code to 357357 to make individual donations of $1, or donate online at ArcticHome.com. The company plans to match all donations made with a package code by March 15 up to $1 million.
“Polar bears inspire the imagination,” Carter Roberts, CEO and president of WWF, said in a statement. “They’re massive, powerful, beautiful and they live nowhere else except the Arctic. Their lives are intimately bound up with sea ice, which is now melting at an alarming rate. By working with Coca-Cola, we can raise the profile of polar bears and what they’re facing, and most importantly, engage people to work with us, to help protect their home.” Photo credits: REUTERS/Geoff York/World Wildlife Fund (World Wildlife Fund photograph taken along the western shore of Hudson Bay in November 2010 shows a female polar bear with two cubs near Churchill, Canada, in this image released to Reuters on February 9, 2011. New Coke cans (World Wildlife Fund/Coca-Cola) (This article by Felicity Carus first appeared on Clean Energy Connection and has been edited for length. Any opinions expressed are her own.) Before California regulators announced they unanimously approved regulations for a cap and trade market on Thursday, the chair of the California Air Resources Board made much ado about the impact [...] The DeLorean Motor Co. announced it will launch an all-electric version of its Back to the Future gull-winged car in 2013, but aficionados are debating whether or not it will fly. Texas-based DeLorean has partnered with Epic EV (and its sister battery company Flux Power) to bring to market the prototype DMC-12 EV, with [...] | |
