Sustainability Reports Scenarios
Although published in 2002, this report from BNIM examines the cost-effectiveness of living buildings.
Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory
“Understanding and Exploring the Future of our World’s Energy”
Berkeley has put together this “how to” renewable energy financing guide. A number of cities across the U.S. are launching programs to finance renewable energy and energy efficiency upgrades for homes and businesses. RAEL is supporting these efforts through research, consulting, and the creation of educational tools.
The American Wind Association
compiled in September 2008 a convenient guide titled: In the Public InterestHow and Why to Permit for Small Wind Systems - A Guide for State and Local Governments
It provides clear and useful information on small scale wind turbines and help on the permitting process.
State of the World 2009
New Year’s Day, 2101. Somehow, humanity survived the worst of global warming—the higher temperatures and sea levels and the more intense droughts and storms—and succeeded in stabilizing the Earth’s climate. Greenhouse gas concentrations are peaking and are expected to drift downward in the 22nd century. The rise in global temperatures is slowing and the natural world is gradually healing. The social contract largely held. And humanity as a whole is better fed, healthier, and more prosperous today than it was a century ago.
This scenario of an imagined future raises a key question: What must we do in the 21st century—especially in 2009 and the years just following—to make such a future possible, and to head off the kind of climate catastrophe that many scientists now see as likely? This question inspires the theme of the Worldwatch Institute’s State of the World 2009 report: how climate change will play out over the coming century, and what steps we most urgently need to take now.
The year 2009 will be pivotal for the Earth’s climate. The world community has agreed to negotiate a new climate agreement in Copenhagen in December 2009.
California Green Building Code
While most of the measures are still voluntary at this time, the California Green Building Code is the first in the country to require the much needed benchmarks that we hope will become mandatory in all construction.
IPCC Report - Mitigation of Climate Change
CHAPTER 6 presents a historical impact study of residential and commercial buildings on the environment.
We had the pleasure of corresponding with one of the authors, who expressed great interest in making this information more available.
Denmark Renewable Energy Fact Sheet
The EU is working to reduce the effects of climate change and establish a common energy policy since 2007. This document offers good data and links on Denmark, specifically.
The “Green-Print” for our Economy
700 billion dollars have already been allocated. Total job losses in 2008 have hit over 1.9 million, but well-designed recovery programs could restore lost jobs and green our economy, AND once and for all put an end to the “clean coal technology” debate, which as Al Gore said recently on NPR, does not exist!
A plethora of very valuable recommendations have been pouring in. Both the Green Recoveryand the 2030 Blueprint provide the archetype needed to create the Keynesian New Deal that we suspect the new administration will follow. Below is the summary for the 2030 Blueprint, with a tagline of a under $200 billion, not a lot of cash these days…
The 2030 Blueprint
1. Implement an immediate moratorium on the construction of any new conventional coal plants, and the gradual phasing out of all existing conventional coal plants by 2030 to:
• place an immediate cap on coal plant emissions while allowing time to retrain coal workers for new jobs.
2. Require that all developments using federal funds meet the 2030 Challenge targets to:
• create additional models of building energy efficiency for the marketplace.
3. Upgrade the National Energy Conservation Code Standard to the 2030 Challenge targets for residential
and commercial buildings to:
• immediately stabilize and begin reducing energy demand in the Building Sector.
4. Invest $21.6 billion each year for five years in building energy efficiency measures through existing federal programs (i.e. New Markets Tax Credits; Low Income Housing Tax Credits; a five-year extension and increased funding for efficiency in the Energy Policy Act) and new energy efficiency incentives, tax credits and programs to:
• stimulate building construction
• reduce annual Building Sector energy consumption by 5 QBtu
• reduce annual U.S. CO 2 emissions by 433.5 MMT
• save consumers $128 billion (which more than covers the cost of this solution), and
• create more than one million permanent new jobs
5. Fund and implement a joint labor-management job training program for displaced coal industry jobs based on successful models developed over the past two decades in the tire/rubber, steel, automobile and communications industries.
Congress is currently ‘casting about’ for solutions to both the climate crisis and the U.S. economic crisis. The 2030 Blueprint tackles both crises at once. For just a small portion of the $168 billion that Congress recently earmarked to inject into the struggling economy, the U.S. can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and create jobs and an economic stimulus package that ripples throughout the U.S. economy.
GREEN ENERGY UPDATES
SOCIETAL AND ECONOMIC MODELS
We believe that Hunter Lovins and the Natural Capitalism Solution approach bears most of the ingredients of new societal models. We had the privilege of seeing her speak at the Green California Conference last April, as well as at the Green California Schools Summit in December. Her platform is both informative and inspirational.
