Sierra Club Response to Blackouts

[Kolesar]

For Immediate Release:
August 15, 2003
Sierra Club Response to Blackouts
Protect Consumers, Increase Efficiency, Decentralize Energy Supply

Washington, DC: The Sierra Club today expressed its sympathy and concern for those citizens affected by the blackouts in the eastern U.S. and Canada. Noting that the Bush Administration and some Senators are already pushing their outdated energy policy, the Sierra Club pointed instead to workable solutions that will reduce the vulnerability of our current energy delivery system, increase the efficiency and security of our energy supply, and protect consumers in an environmentally responsible way.

"This blackout is a wake-up call that our existing system needs to be updated. There's a better way," said Debbie Boger, Sierra Club's Washington Representative for Global Warming and Energy. "The best way to prevent energy bottlenecks and grid overload is to increase the efficiency of our buildings, homes, factories and appliances, in addition to our transmission lines. Building more power plants won't help because we're looking at transmission line bottlenecks. Instead, we need to decentralize America's power sources, use more renewable energy like wind and solar power, and ensure power companies aren't allowed to deregulate and manipulate markets. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration's energy plan, developed with the energy industry, will take us backwards on all these counts."

Once power is restored to all of the affected areas, Americans can start looking at the steps to address America's overall electricity problems:

Increase Efficiency: There is some evidence that the outage was due to the system being overloaded, and transmission lines getting bottlenecked. This is not surprising given the heat wave in the Northeast, with many air conditioners running. We can help protect ourselves against these types of bottlenecks in the future by making sure we have the most energy efficient buildings, air conditioners, factories and appliances - this will ease the
demand and prevent more bottlenecks. Last year the Bush Administration
weakened a provision to make air conditioners 30 percent more efficient. Enacting such provisions, and providing tax incentives for buildings to increase their efficiency would go a long way to reducing strain on the grid.

Decentralize Power: Another factor in the blackout appears to have been transmission failures in getting electricity to move over long distances. It is important, both for security and reliability's sake, to make sure that we have reliable local sources of power, such as solar and wind. These types of decentralized, homegrown sources can increase the reliability of the overall grid and lessen the chances that a problem in one area of the country will affect other areas.

Improve Power Lines: The Sierra Club supports improving the efficiency of transmission lines and responsibly siting these lines after Environmental Impact Statements have been completed. New technology allows transmission lines to carry 1.5 to 3 times as much power as conventional transmission lines. In addition, they significantly reduce line losses.

Protect Consumers: The Bush Administration and some members of Congress continue to push an energy policy that would actually make these types of situations worse. The Bush Administration's plan would severely weaken consumer protections in the electricity sector, further exposing consumers to Enron-type manipulation. This is especially troubling given the role that Enron played in manipulating the California electricity markets. While there is no evidence that manipulation played a role in yesterday's Northeast blackout, we certainly should not be weakening consumer protections in the electricity sector and opening the door to further abuses and manipulation.


###


David Willett
Associate Press Secretary
Sierra Club

[slackmaster]

1. I plan to go photovoltaic as soon as cash situation permits

It's close enough to cost-justifiable right now that I'm willing to do it and risk taking a financial loss in the long run just to free myself from the price-fixing and extortion that's going on in the power industry.

[Kolesar]

2. As a matter of principle, if nothing else

You can modify your lifestyle so that you do not need all that energy anyway. Go to bed at dusk, hang your clothes to dry, all that.
If you wish to share the technical details, please do!

[slackmaster]

3. The biggest roadblock is my occupation

I have no alternative to leaving two computers and some peripherals running at all times. Even with maximum use of power-saving features I still eat about 300 Watts.

I also have an aqua-terrarium that consumes some power for a pump and lights. That is my choice. I could reduce consumption by building a pond or getting rid of my turtles. I don't have time to do the former right now and the latter is unacceptable.

[Kolesar]

4. NEC "Eco" Low Power and low environmental impact PC

I have been aware of this PC for a while, they ran an ad in Sierra Magazine. I would seriously consider it.

NEC Powermate eco Receives PC Magazine Award for Technical Excellence Honoring Its Innovation and Advancement
Shelly Greenhalgh
NEC Solutions (America), Inc.
408-844-1142
[e-mail]

LAS VEGAS, November 19, 2002 - NEC Solutions (America), Inc., a leading provider of business solutions and services for the high-end commercial and professional markets in North America, today announced that the NEC PowerMate eco™ received the prestigious PC Magazine Award for Technical Excellence in the Desktop PCs category, beating out significant consumer-focused products including the Apple iMac and the HP Media Center PC.

This marks the 19th year PC Magazine has recognized individuals and products that have advanced the state of technology and set new standards for technical innovation. The NEC PowerMate eco was selected by PC Magazine editors, senior contributors and labs staff from hundreds of products that were brought to market in 2002. Editors at the publication applauded NEC Solutions America for its innovation and leadership in bringing a product to market that addresses the importance of PC recycling.

Introduced in August 2002, the PowerMate eco is the first desktop PC to combine a feature-rich, all-in-one enterprise-class system with advanced ecological enhancements. The PowerMate eco is engineered to addresses such problems as lead content, fan noise, heat generation, footprint size, as well as material composition for recycling purposes. The PowerMate eco is also designed with laptop components to keep the overall footprint small and power requirements down, while delivering the functionality required in a variety of work environments.

"This award from PC Magazine confirms that NEC Solutions America is setting the stage for environmentally friendly innovation in the U.S.," said Larry Miller, vice president and general manager, Mobile Solutions Division of NEC Solutions America. "Receiving the PC Magazine Award for Technical Excellence is significant because technical innovation and superiority are paramount to delivering breakthrough products and services, but more important; we appreciate the recognition as a company that is actually addressing the global problem of PC recycling."

The PowerMate eco includes a 15-inch TFT LCD flat panel display that does not contain the boron commonly found in traditional CRT monitors. The unit also contains a motherboard made with lead-free solder, which protects both the individuals involved in reclamation, and the ground water in case of disposal. In addition, the PowerMate eco is also made of NuCycleT plastic - an NEC patented plastic that is 100 percent recyclable. NuCycle is made of polycarbonate resin mixed with a special, flame-retardant silicone compound. Other computer plastics have flame retardant brominated coatings applied, which do retard flames, but produce harmful gases in the process. NuCycle's flame retardant is non-toxic and built-in, requiring no toxic coating.

The PC Magazine Award for Technical Excellence was presented to NEC Solutions America at COMDEX Fall 2002 in Las Vegas. This is the second award the NEC PowerMate eco has received from PC Magazine. Last month, the NEC PowerMate eco was awarded the Editor’s Choice Award.

How to Buy
Contact your NEC Solutions America sales representative or reseller for information on standard and custom pricing configurations. Visit the Web site at www.necsolutions-am.com/mobilesolutions/ to locate your nearest reseller or call 888-632-8701 for more information.

(Moderators:this is a press release by NEC. I am sure NEC does not mind it being published in full. I would not expect copyright claims to be a problem.)

http://www.necsolutions-am.com/press/msdread.cfm?Press_ID=f248af2f-4791-48ba-af6d-59224f7036c3

[Kolesar]

5. $1,499.86

The LCD screen is splendid but it is integrated into the PC. If I bought an LCD screen, I would like to be able to use it after the PC is obsolete in -- oh about 3.5 years!

I wonder if we can get that low power 900MHz Transmeta Crusoe processor in a different desktop PC. It seems like it is designed for laptops. I don't need a laptop.

[slackmaster]

6. PC power consumption will be moot when I go photovoltaic

I spoke with a man who put a 1.5 KW photovoltaic panel array on his house here in SoCal. He lives about 15 miles inland from me so he gets hotter summers but more sunshine. He runs central AC whenever he feels like it and still pays only $6 per month in electric bills.

[Kolesar]

7. What does a 1.5kW array cost?

There is a 20kW array at a Metropark near me and it cost $220,000. Scaling that, I get $16,500. That's would be a long payback period.

[slackmaster]

8. That's about right, with all the goodies around $20K fully installed

About $8 - $10 per watt for residential systems, plus installation fees, taxes, any modifications you have to do to your structure to support it, etc.

There's a cash back program from the state. The California Energy Commission's Emerging Renewables buy-down Program offers rebates of $4.50/watt or 50%, whichever is less. That is handed to you when you go online as I understand it, so it would come to about $6,750 back for a 1.5 KW system. Literature warns against buying a bigger system than you really need, because the "net metering" (running your meter backwards as you pump power into the grid) will reduce your bill down to zero but no farther, and you still have to pay the $6 monthly line maintenance fee no matter what. I haven't done the exact calculation to find the size I actually need.

Payoff time periods for a home system based on CURRENT ELECTRIC RATES are 20+ years depending on how much you use. I believe rates are going to increase significantly out in the 5-10 year timeframe, so if I do go for it in the next few years it will be based on that prediction. I'm one of those crazy Californians who spent a couple hundred bucks on compact fluorescent bulbs to replace almost all of my incandescent bulbs during last summer's energy fiasco even though the payoff was estimated at 5-10 years. I did it partly because it was the right thing to do for the environment, and partly to stick it to the power companies. So many of us did that, it reduced power consumption significantly. So there, you dildos!

Prices for PV systems may come down in the next few years. Sooner or later it will approach no-brainer status, which will in turn put pressure on the power companies to hold prices down as more people go PV. In the long run everybody will win. I'd like to see a bigger government-provided subsidy, but what's there right now is nothing to sneeze at.

Here's some interesting information about photovoltaic systems.

http://www.sdenergy.org/docs/CEC_PV_Installation_Guide.pdf

[Kolesar]

9. I understand that PVs degrade in performance with age

After about 20 years, it is producing half or 2/3 of what it was designed to produce. Of course, it is still producing, one could just add another array to make up the deficit. With further efficiencies in electronics and appliances, the home's energy use may drop by half. Modern central air conditioners use a lot less electricity than those of twenty years ago due to efficiency standards. Modern refrigerators use one-fourth of the electricity that 1973 refrigerators used, and they are larger and keep the food colder.

[slackmaster]

10. Ain't it the truth about refrigerators!

My bill went down by about $22 per month when I replaced an old fridge about 3 years ago. Even at $800 (it's a nice one) it
s already paid for itself in electricity, and I've probably saved a few hundred in food due to slower spoilage.

[Kolesar]

11. The electricity saved through refrigerator efficiency standards is more...

...than the combined output of all of America's nuclear plants--presuming that they could get them all online at the same time!! :think:
Credit that quip to David Goldstein of the NRDC.