Imagine this: an energy-efficiency program that "encourages" consumers to conserve energy by charging them higher rates to make up for any lost profits the power company may lose for not needing to produce as much energy. Because if consumers DON'T conserve, new power plants will have to be built; but if these "virtual power plants" don't have to be built, consumers will get a fabulous 10% savings on the cost of the power plants...that don't exist.

I'm sorry, what?

This rather confusing and underhanded strategy describes Duke Energy's proposed Save-a-Watt program, which has been the subject of much debate this week. From the News & Observer:

"What makes Duke's proposal different from other energy efficiency plans is that the company would not be paid for the actual cost of running Save-a-Watt. Instead, Duke says it should be paid 90 percent of the cost of building new power plants. Duke officials describe Save-a-Watt as a 10 percent savings for customers on the cost of new power plants that would otherwise have to be constructed to meet energy demand."

And from the News and Record:

"Duke would recoup the cost of programs that help consumers save energy by recouping 90 percent of what it would cost to build a power plant to meet the energy needs offset by the conservation effort."

The plan's many critics (including consumer and environmental groups and, uh, Wal-mart...) fail to see this plan as any sort of incentive to save energy because it would price-gouge consumers, only provide modest power savings, and allow Duke to rake in huge profits—literally charging consumers for the lack of using power. [As a side note, I think many groups understand the charges that would be associated with starting an energy efficiency program, but I think it's the exorbitant profit margin of 61% that's causing the real debate.]

The program is currently before review of the Public Utilities Commission, and is being discussed this week.

In the meantime, I encourage Duke Power consumers to start conserving energy now—while it's still affordable.

With all of the talk about threatened wildlife, species extinction, and loss of habitat, I was very refreshed to stumble across an article from the Asheville Citizen-Times entitled "Survey finds new species in national park in N.C." According to the article,

"A 10-year study has found more than 6,000 species of plant and animal life previously unidentified in Great Smoky Mountains National Park."

Hopefully this new information will not only encourage folks to learn more about the importance of preserving native species, but will also provide an incentive for protecting the habitat of the Great Smoky National Park in years to come!

Last week, Emagazine.com featured an interesting commentary about the environmental destruction taking place in the Middle East, as a result of the Iraq War. Apparently, the man who wrote the commentary (Steven Hanks) lived and worked in Iraq and is writing from first-hand experience with the issues. While I haven't heard anything else about this issue, I found the article intriguing, albeit, depressing. Here are some of Hanks' main points: 

• "Civilians create excess amounts of garbage that is included in the military’s massive open burns. Choking the sky with black smoke, these burns can be seen from miles away. The stench of burning trash permeates the air and infects the soil, containing high levels of carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, arsenic, mercury and barium. These compounds cause reactions ranging from mild irritation to deadly disease among the local population and wildlife."

• "At central military bases and sub-compounds, raw sewage is trucked off-site and pumped directly into roadside canals. Rarely is waste transported more than a mile from a base or compound before being recklessly discarded. At some sites, the waste is taken directly to a hole in the exterior wall of the compound and simply sprayed into the desert." 

• "[hundreds of thousands of] plastic water bottles must go somewhere. They are certainly not trucked out of the country and recycled. Without a sufficient system to recycle these items, they often end up buried, burned, or strewn across the countryside."

• "Hundreds of miles of open junk fields scar the Iraqi landscape. Thousands of vehicles, ordnance items, construction materials, air conditioning units, armor, tires, and parts litter these fields. Never is this vast destructive creation reused, recycled or rebuilt. It is all left to decay in the sand, poisoning the very land upon which it sits." 

This made me realize, once again, that even after foreign troops have left, the devastation —economic, social, and environmental —will affect the Iraqi region, and the Iraqi people, for centuries to come.

The NC General Assembly wrapped up its 2007-2008 biennium today.  

It sometimes take a while to get a perspective on a legislative session, but at this point, it looks like the legislature did decently by water this year.

One of bills receiving final approval today is H2499, Drought/ Water Management Recommendations, which will help strengthen North Carolina’s drought response – a good thing, since drought conditions this week are already worse than they were a year ago, and we’re not into August yet.

Another bill approved this week is S1967, Improve Coastal Stormwater Management, a compromise bill that strengthens coastal stormwater rules over currently law.  

Three bad ideas – hardened structures on our beaches, indefinite reconstruction of hog lagoons, and promotion of offshore oil drilling – all died in committee at the end of session.

All good reasons to celebrate the end of session!

Grady sent me this cool online tool called H2O Conserve, where you can calculate your water footprint (much like The Nature Conservancy's Carbon Footprint Calculator). From the H2O Conserve website:

"The Calculator gives you an estimate of the total amount of water you use, what is called your water footprint. The Calculator takes into account not only the water used in your home, but also the water used to produce the food you eat and the products you buy. Your water footprint includes other factors such as water utilized to cool power plants that provide your electricity, and water saved when you recycle. You may not drink, feel or see this water, but it makes up the great majority of your water footprint."

According to the calculator, the average American uses over 1,000 gallons of water a day. My estimated usage was 571.96 gallons a day. At the end of the "quiz" it also gives you some tips for things you can do to lower that number even more. Pretty cool little tool. Check it out and post your results below by adding a comment (I'm sure there are a lot of you out there who can one-up my 571.96 gallons a day figure!)

A few months ago, I read a fascinating (and troubling) report from a panel of American transportation professionals who visited China in September 2007.   While there, they met with Chinese national, regional, and local officials and business leaders, and toured a number of ports and other facilities to see how goods are being transported (and exported) in the Chinese economy.  The report is available from the Transportation Research Board. 

Some of the American panel’s conclusions include: that China expects to continue growing rapidly; that China has a national strategy for the transportation, including freight; and that China’s highly centralized state power has made it easier for the nation to build projects rapidly, without getting derailed by such concerns as environmental impacts. 

Travel can broaden the mind; it can also reinforce what one was predisposed to believe.  In that regard, one of the panel’s most telling comments is this statement:

"There was a strong perception that the United States lacks the political will to invest in infrastructure and could not deliver needed investments in infrastructure in a timely manner even if desired. China is viewed as being very proactive with respect to infrastructure provision by building for the future and clearly stating in their strategic plans what will be built and when; the United States is perceived as being very reactive."

The panel report also offers some practical insights – the US has a strong advantage in our rail network; US port capacity, rather than foreign port capacity, is the key drag on volume of imports into the US; widening of the Panama Canal is likely to increase pressure on already strained East Coast ports. 

Largely overlooked by the panel is the enormous price China is paying – in ecological and human health and social instability – for prioritizing engagement in global markets above sustainability.  The report omits any discussion of the likely impacts of climate change regulation.  That’s a striking gap, since the massive increases in truck, rail, and shipping imagined by the panel aren’t reconcilable with the reality of massive carbon reductions.  It seems to us that there’s a strong argument for United States to adopt a coherent national freight transportation strategy – it will take a proactive strategy to keep the current level of goods moving at much lower levels of greenhouse gas emissions – but the vision of rapidly ever-expanding volumes of freight, with bigger cargo ships, busier ports, more diesel trucks, and many more roads, is nuts.

I found a rather interesting article today regarding urban poachers who are setting up organized systems to nab recyclables from curbsides in San Francisco. Due to the increasing value of substances like aluminum, newspaper, and cardboard, these folks are making a lot of money. In addition to being illegal, the late-night trucks are a nuisance for neighborhoods.  And sometimes the poachers  take new newspapers, prior to anyone getting to read them!

That got me thinking--I wonder if this has hit North Carolina yet?

Got compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs)?  Until now CFLs had to be taken to specific recycling centers throughout the state--a far drive for many folks! But just days ago, The Home Depot launched a new initiative that allows residents nationwide to safely and properly recycle CFLs. The new, energy efficient light bulbs can be brought in to any Home Depot store and given to the employee at the return desk. You can find more information, and view their press release, here.

If you didn’t know already, the one downside to CFLs is that breaking the bulb releases mercury vapor. You can only bring unbroken bulbs to be recycled, so be sure to handle them with care when transporting. Carefully recycling CFLs prevents the release of mercury into the environment (and your body) and allows for the reuse of glass, metals and other materials that make up fluorescent lights. 

I'm a huge Pixar movie fan. Their last film, Cars, choked me up. So, I expected a lot out of their newest movie, WALL-E.

My husband and I went to see it last night, and within seconds of the movie starting, we looked at each other with shocked expressions.

Before getting to the theater, all we knew about the movie was based off of the marketing we'd seen: a cute and funny cartoon love-story with great graphics. So, we were taken aback when the movie opened with a scene of desolate urban wasteland - abandoned skyscrapers and mountains of trash piled just as high in cubes. The messages just balloon from there, hitting on the issues of consumerism, big box stores, in your face advertising, throw-away societies, and obesity. It was a bit surreal.

Truth be known, I'm pleased that the movie is not being marketed as an "environmental" or "anti-consumerism" movie - it likely wouldn't get the box office ratings it's getting if it had.

So, while you're enjoying your (3-day) 4th of July weekend, make sure you take a break from the heat and check out the movie for yourself and then tell us what you think.