Isaac Asimov

How About Something Positive?

     The Christian Science Monitor article about turning brownfield into Solar Power Generation Facilities is pretty great. Not only does this offer empty and unused properties the opportunity to become productive, it also has led to the clean up of these sites. Without solar power, these sites might have still been left to rot and contaminate.

     I just thought it would be nice to share something that showed the reversal of human environmental destruction and share something that shows some hope.

Have a great weekend!

The White House's Clean Power Plan

    The White House is releasing the new Clean Power Plan for the USA today. It is a revised version of the plan released last year with changes to the plan that addresses concerns raised by opponents of the plan as well as the Supreme Court ruling from this past June. It is a huge step towards showing the rest of the world that America will lead when the Climate Conference in Paris this December takes place.

   
     Watch the video above to learn more. There are better and cleaner alternatives to coal, oil and natural gas, alternatives that greatly reduce pollution in many of its forms. A clean energy future is possible and vital for the future. Back the President and the White House and push for a Clean Energy Future!

Renewables At It Again

     Germany the other day made 78% of its energy using renewables. Wind turbines were spinning like mad in the North Sea earlier this week, setting a new mark for renewable energy production. Germany is now producing more than 25% of its daily energy with renewables, and that number keeps growing. Say what you want about Wind and Solar...you can't deny that they make enough energy to power an industrialized nation with 80 million people.

     Just imagine what would happen if put more wind and solar in the USA? And I'm not talking about lower profits for the Koch Brothers.

Cloudy Days

     I took this picture this morning. I love how the clouds looked with the Sun streaming through. The fact I got the solar farm in the shot was just a bonus. I've taken so many of that thing over the past few months. Of course the one driving by at 60 mph from the car is the best one. A nice way to wake up in the morning, yes?

     Believe it or not, the clouds don't stop the solar array from making electricity. This a common misconception that many people have about solar energy. Many detractors of solar power like to wax on about how cloudy days mean no electricity. As usual, they don't know what they are talking about.

     Think about it this way: On a cloudy day, is it dark like it would be at 2am? No, it isn't. Why not? Because the Sun's rays still penetrate the clouds. Even the most menacing storm clouds don't make it so dark that you can't see. So, the fact that there is enough light to allow you to see when it's cloudy means the Sun's rays are still hitting the Earth, and any solar panels positioned to catch them. (Do I sound like a Public Service Announcement?)

     It is even possible, under the right conditions, to produce more electricity on a partly cloudy day than on a hot sunny day. PV panels can get too hot from all that sunshine and sometimes part of the array will shutdown so the panels can cool down. Cloud cover keeps the temperature low, which can keep more panels cooler during the day, thus allowing them to operate longer. All that can mean more energy produced!

    (The heads of anti-solar people everywhere just exploded. Because I'm sure they all read this blog, right?) 

     So, on cloudy days, photovoltaics keep right on converting sunlight into energy. That means when it's cloudy, you can still charge your computer, wash your kids dirty clothes in the washing machine, go for a walk without a flashlight or turn the tv on so you can watch the Stanley Cup Playoffs. You know, all the important things in life.

The more you know...

Happy Earth Day

     "Now I know why I am here. Not for a closer look at the Moon, but to look back at our home, the Earth."        
                                                                                                     - Alfred Worden, Apollo Astronaut

     "Look again at that dot. That's here, that's home, that's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust in a sunbeam."
                                                                                                      - Astronomer Carl Sagan

Electric Cars and Dirty Energy

     I love memes. Who doesn't? Every few days I scour the world wide web, trying to find new ones to store in my "Meme Locker". You just never know when you're going to need a good meme. While many are funny, others can be a bit misleading. Like the one below. Sure, if you buy an electric car and just plug it into a power outlet at home, you are most likely charging it with electricity generated by coal. At first glance, the picture below shows the hypocrisy of buying an electric car and charging it with the dirty energy that comes from environment-polluting coal power plants.

     But, this image also shows the huge opportunity we have when it comes to our power needs and the future of transportation in the world. Just because your house is getting its power from a coal power plant doesn't mean it has to stay that way. If you could utilize solar power, you could charge your car with the Sun. You could even power your house and charge your car with the right size solar array, but that would depend on a lot of factors. Does your house get enough sunshine? Do you have tall trees that cast shadows on your roof? How big of array do you need? Is your home energy efficient? Can you afford it?

     Let's say for arguments sake, you just want a PV system to charge your car, with whatever is left over being used to lower your home energy bills a little every month. Sure, it will cost more upfront, but your return on investment happens a lot faster than you think. Let's do the math.

     The average American fills up there car once or twice per week, according to GasBuddy. So, lets go with 1.5 just to be on the safe side. The average fill-up per person is about 15 gallons (you have to factor in those SUVs). Current gas prices are about $2.00 per gallon, so that's (15gal x $2.00) x 1.5 = $45 per week in gas. Multiply that by 52 weeks that's $2,340 spent per year per car. (This is just an exercise. Prices vary from place to place and not everyone drives a Toyota or a Ford Focus. SUVs use more fuel, so maybe the SUVs bump the gallons and fill ups higher? Only a more detailed study would be able to tell you, which I did not do nor did I find.)

     Now, a brand new Photovoltaic system on your roof costs anywhere from $4,500-$30,000,  depending on the size. Average cost is about $12,500 for a 3kw system, which would provide about 25-30% of an average American household. US citizens receive a 30% federal solar tax credit for buying the system. Your state and/or county and/or city may also have a grant program in place that would further increase your rebate. At the very least, you get $3,500 back in the federal tax credit in year one. You also no longer need to buy gas, because you car runs on electricity that you are producing with the help of the Sun. So you start saving on gas immediately. (Check out the site PVWatts to figure out what size system you could have at your house and how much you could save each year.)

     Current gas prices are hovering around $2.00 per gallon depending on where you live (sorry New York, DC and California...it just costs more for you to buy gas. It's called demand.) You would see a Return on Investment of $2,340 per year. Places with higher gas prices would obviously save more. At that rate, you would recoup your solar investment in 3.85 years. That's if gas prices stay as low as they are now. History says they won't stay low and will go back up. If gas goes up to $3.00 per gallon by next year, you would save $3,510 in year 2 in gas-not-purchased, and the ROI accelerates. You would then pay back the PV system in just under three years. If prices drop again, or rise again, it will change the ROI time. You still get your full investment back faster than you would with most other investments.

     So, as it stands today, if you buy an electric car and plug it in at home, yes, you are most likely using a local coal-powered power plant's dirty energy to charge your environmentally friendly electric car. But, with a little foresight and some planning, you can charge your car with clean renewable energy. It takes investment and some out of pocket expenses, but it pays back in the long run. Then, we can redraw the meme above and show solar panels on the house and the disconnected power lines to the power plant. If you want to reduce your carbon footprint, there are ways to do it. You just have to take the first step.

Check out the these websites to learn more about clean energy, energy efficiency and what you can do to start making the transition to renewables!

http://epa.gov/greenpower/buygp/index.htm
http://energy.gov
http://pvwatts.nrel.gov/index.php

LOCAL Comes in June!

     I found a new organization called LOCAL on Twitter. LOCAL is a new video and social media channel that launches this June. They are dedicated to sharing stories of people from all over that are changing their communities with projects that involve renewable energy, urban food sources and things like that. LOCAL wants to provide a platform for crowdsourcing for others who want to do the same in their neighborhoods. You can find out more about LOCAL here.

Sea Grass planting at my neighborhood marina, 2013

     Did you help turn an eyesore in your neighborhood into a garden? Or a green space? LOCAL wants to hear your story! Check out the LOCAL website and share!

Myths and the Ease of Change

     Popular Mechanics released a great article about the myths of Climate Change. Some of the things being said are grossly inaccurate, so I was tickled that they shared. Yes, I said I was tickled. So what?
You can read the article here.

     To think, just by not throwing away that leftover meatloaf so the kids can eat pizza, you can reduce waste, reduce methane emissions and safe yourself some money too! I think that is one of the huge misconceptions about being "Green". Being more environmentally conscious isn't more expensive, it can save you money from the get go! Sure, solar panels, beefed up home insulation and LED lightbulbs cost more upfront, but that stuff pays you back pretty fast and then you're in the black! Green is the new Black!

      If you want to be more green, check out these websites and learn how easy it is to reduce your footprint on this lovely planet. Sometimes its as easy as having certain houseplants to clean the air or planting a tree in a strategic place outside. For real. You don't have to be a tree hugger to like trees.

Green Living Ideas
Sustainable Baby Steps
Earth Easy
Real Simple

     If you want to speak out and speak up to encourage our elected officials to take action and stop ignoring the cold hard facts, visit Citizens' Climate Lobby. You can make a difference. You just have to say something.

Funny

Stephen Hawking is Pretty Smart

What Would Reagan Do?

     George Schultz is a pretty smart and respected guy. He was Ronald Reagan's Secretary of State and when Schultz talks, much like EF Hutton, people listen. Recently Schultz penned an Op-Ed in the Washington Post (a liberal newspaper) to outline what he believed President Reagan would have done to address the issues of global warming and Climate Change. Since so many conservatives love to quote and reference President Reagan with love and respect, I was unsure of what to expect from Mr. Schultz. To say the least, Schultz hit a home run.

     You can read Schultz's piece here. Before you dismiss Schultz as a senile old man, keep in ind he has all of his faculties and writes an insightful, intelligent and pragmatic article. Without stripping away conservative ideals, he offers up a theory on what Reagan would have done, based on his past actions concerning things like the environment and global stability. In a nutshell, Schultz proposes that Reagan would have taken out an insurance policy of sorts, by putting a price on carbon emissions while letting the market dictate the costs. Sound familiar?

     Worst case scenario? If climate change turned out to be not as bad as people believed or not happening, the innovation and growth from said innovation would have driven the economy and led to growth. Of course, once they had seen climate change was indeed happening, the steps Schultz proposes would have most likely slowed the greenhouse effect, prevented massive melt off of sea ice, glaciers and mountain snows and we wouldn't be where we are today.

     Isn't time to let the free market system so many conservatives in this country worship take center stage in the battle against climate change? If our political leaders on the hill and governing the states really want to save money and spur economic growth, isn't it time they stopped with al this nonsense and put a price on carbon? That's what Reagan would do. Just saying.

It's Official...Sorta

     If you rely on the political section of your newspaper for whats new in science, then you are way behind. The US Senate has voted and the results are in. The Senate the other day determined that Climate Change is real, overwhelmingly, according to the Los Angeles Times. At this rate, I'm sure the vote to determine if the Earth orbits the Sun will take place in the Fall. I suppose the vote to settle the whole "we need oxygen to breathe" debate will have to wait until next year.

     But alas, this story does not have a happy ending. While the Senate voted 98-1 that climate change is real, they failed to pass the follow up resolution, which would have acknowledged accepted that humans are having an impact on the Climate and it could prove disastrous. Senator Inhofe, who voted to accept that Climate Change was real, had this to say after the brief glimmer of hope:

     "Climate is changing. The hoax is that there are some people who are so arrogant to think they are so powerful they can change climate. Man can't change climate."

     The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.

     I know I get all preachy and climb on my soapbox, but these are the people who we chose to lead. These types of actions paint our nation's leaders as out of touch, worried more about getting re-elected and pork barrel riders than doing the jobs they were put into position to do. Thank God we don't have to rely on them to "vote" on scientific discoveries every time there is one. We still live in the Dark Ages.

      Thanks US Senate! Proving once again that you are behind the times and too busy posturing to listen to the experts. Guess what, the majority of us already know that Anthropogenic Global Warming and Climate Change are real. Now its time to acknowledge how we are affecting it and, we want to know is what are you going to do about it?

Ohio Takes a Step Back

     Ohio governor John Kasich just signed a bill passed by the Ohio State Legislature that rolls back renewable energy standards. In short, customers will no longer get discounts or credits for producing renewable energy, the utilities are no longer required to produce a certain amount of energy with Solar, Wind or other renewables. And utilities are no longer encouraged to find energy efficient solution for their customers. You can read the article here.

     What the fuck? Katich ran for office on a campaign that promised voters he would create jobs and was all for clean technology and renewable energy. Signing the bill shows he is yet another lying politician who is in bed with the oil and coal industries. And he will say whatever he has to in order to get elected. It is common nowadays to just toss around that today's politicians are being paid by the fossil fuel industry. When things like this happen, can you blame us? What other logical reason is there to NOT start switching over to renewables? If there ever was a perfect set up for Wind Energy in the US, than its along the shores of Lake Erie in a state decimated by pollution and with a large amount of people living near the poverty line.

     All of these steps back from renewable energy and environmental regulations has my head spinning. Is it really all about money? I mean, renewable energy poses a grand opportunity to put America back on top, to clean up the air and water and land, to create hundreds of thousands of jobs and update the nations power grid. The last one is important for National Security reasons. The potential for growth and innovation in the renewable energy sector far exceed those which could come about by staying married to fossil fuels. So, why the huge push for fossil fuel energy? Are our government officials really in the pockets of the Oil and Coal giants?

     I can't wrap my head around this stuff sometimes. More often lately, in fact, I feel like my head is going to explode, which might be good. Maybe my brain remnants will spread some common sense and enlightened thinking around to the masses.

The Vote on Global Warming

     The US Senate will once again...that's right...AGAIN...vote on whether or not there is really such a thing as Anthropogenic Global Warming. They did this before, and I guess they didn't like the outcome. As often as they bring Man-made Climate Change up for a vote, maybe they got mixed up and think they are actually repealing Obamacare.

     Hey Senate! Can't you do something more constructive, like pass legislation to upgrade the national highways and power grid? Or keep the crooks on Wall Street from making bad investments with taxpayer dollars? Let the qualified people with Physics and Chemistry and Meteorological degrees handle the Science stuff. You need to govern.

Best Quotes

     Click the following Climate Reality link to read some of the best environmental quotes of 2014. My favorite is the one below. John Oliver, you are a genius.  

Starting 2015 Off Right

     Welcome to 2015 dear reader. As you know, last year was a watershed year for Climate Guy. Not only did I post more every week than ever before, I had more new visitors to the site than ever before! (There must be a lot of bored people out there.) Now that I have my legs under me, I look forward to pushing forward into the New Year with renewed focus to attract and reach a wider audience. If you have bored friends, tell them about the site! I guarantee to it to almost as entertaining as those Grumpy Cat memes...almost.

     More to come this week, but it being Monday after the long holiday, I wanted to start things off with the proper attitude. Over the weekend, I stumbled across a headline that stuck in my mind. It basically told Baby Boomers to butt out of the Climate Conversation because Generation X and Y and the Millennials were the ones that were going to have to deal with it. It made me think of Congressman Boehner, Senator Inhofe, Ruppert Murdoch and Senator Mitch McConnell.

     Seriously, you old farts, butt out! We young people will be dealing with this long after you are gone. Make the smart investment and start backing renewable energy. It is what will keep your respirators working when they put you in a nursing home. It will keep you warm and the lights on while the nurses are spoon feeding you mashed bananas. Worry about what God thinks then, not now. He's got better things to do, like clean up the mess you all have made on this planet.

An Off Day...Sorta

     Hey all! Sorry but the next two days I will be a little out of touch. My wife and I are visiting with our home builder to pick out the different things for the new house. Very exciting! For us anyway. We are stuck in a two bedroom flat with 3 animals and lots of mold right now, so the new house will be our Mecca. Schwörer Haus is our builder, and they practice sustainable forestry, offer a wide array of recycled and sustainable materials, operate under a fair trade policy and are a market leader of homes equipped with renewable energy.

     The new house will have a 5kw Solar array on a south facing roof, a Solar Thermal system for hot water, 30cm insulted walls, an air exchange system that keeps the humidity and air quality at peak levels. a hybrid geo-thermal system that uses pipes and outside air to heat or cool saline to regulate the temperature no matter what time of year and space for a back-up battery system to store excess solar power to be used in off-production hours. Not to mention, we will also install a green roof on the garage to filter rainfall and will run pipes for a future cistern to store rainwater so we can utilize it to wash clothes and flush the toilets. All of those, along with passive solar and energy saving appliances and LED lightbulbs, we will reduce our CO2 footprint (when compared with our home in America) by over 70% while conserving water!

     I will post pics tomorrow of all the cool stuff we see. Check out Schwörer Haus on their home site. I can't find it in English right now, but if you speak French, Spanish or Italian, your in luck. You can at least look at the pictures.

     So, when you hear or read that someone said renewables and energy efficiency won't work, send them to Southern Germany. They can see for themselves that homes at a higher altitude and higher latitude can be powered just fine without fossil fuels.

   



   

Friday's Review

     Hope you have all enjoyed your week. I decided for today I would share some articles that I read over the past few days. Feel free to peruse them while you work hard at not working on this 5th day of December.

     First up is the article from Business Insider that details how the US could cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions by up to 80% by 2050 with little or no effect on the economy. Yes, its true. The science and the dollars work on this. So plant a tree, by a Volt and read this article.

     Second up is an article from the Washington Post that outlines the major differences between traditional Republicans and Tea Partiers when it comes to science. Very interesting and telling, if you ask me. If you're a Tea Partier, accept the latest scientific theories, acknowledge the existence of Climate Change and like my blog...you're in the wrong political party. Just saying'. Its a pretty eye opening piece, which you can read here.

     The last one I want to share comes from the Mother Nature Network. Apparently, graphene membranes are so awesome, they can be used to line Hydrogen Fuel Cells. Which would make it possible, if not practical, to suck the free hydrogen out of the air to power your car. Oi? What Oil? Graphene membranes are the future. 

     This whole Climate Conversation is always so dour and dark. So today I am sharing some positives. Enjoy your weekend.

Climate Change Humor

     Other than a few one liners from the late night talk shows, there really isn't much Climate Change humor out there. I searched the net and found a few things here and there, but its only a handful of jokes, and most just aren't that funny. I have been racking my brain, trying to come up with some, but I'm just not that funny (you can read my past columns for evidence of that). So, why am I looking for jokes about something that I keep insisting is a serious issue that has dire consequences if we fail to get our act together and stop damaging our Biosphere? Because something so serious and important HAS to have some humor in it somewhere. In order to get people to open up, we have to relieve the tension. After all, Comic Relief used comedy to raise awareness and funds for the homeless.

     If anything, humor is needed to break the ice (pardon the pun) and get people to be receptive to an idea. I could walk around for the rest of my life (or at least until my home in the foothills of the Alps 1000 meters above sea level becomes water front property) spouting alarmist doom, but I would probably be taken as seriously as the homeless guy in Times Square with the sign that reads, "The End Is Near!" It is already happening. I get labeled a climate zealot and part of the liberal conspiracy to prop up the LED lightbulb industry. Forget that I have valid points and scientific data to support what I preach. I'm an alarmist! Back away before I put solar panels on your house!

    Think about it. What would