Iron, Rust & Huge 100 Hour Batteries

An electrical engineer works on Form Energy’s 2022 battery module in the company’s lab in Berkeley, California. Image courtesy of Form Energy

PBS’s NOVA recently ran a story entitled:

How iron-air batteries could fill gaps in renewable energy 

Adding: Rust Belt cities could be the perfect place to develop this renewable energy solution.

The chemical reaction between iron and oxygen, which creates rust, can be used to make electricity in batteries. Not tiny lithium batteries but shipping container size batteries that can provide up to 100 hours worth of electric without using precious metals. String enough of them together and you can supplement solar array farms during cloudy weather. Fittingly the Rust Belt town of Weirton, West Virginia is the perfect place to set up a steel  and rust oriented manufacturing plant. It’s a fascinating story worth a look.

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Green Future Coming Faster Than You Think

There-part series by the New York Times gives some optimism about our green future. Let’s all work to make it happen

Here are the articles:

The Clean Energy Future Is Arriving Faster Than You Think

The United States is pivoting away from fossil fuels and toward wind, solar and other renewable energy, even in areas dominated by the oil and gas industries.

The Clean Energy Future Is Roiling Both Friends and Foes

Resistance to wind and solar projects from environmentalists is among an array of impediments to widespread conversion to renewables.

The Clean Energy Future Is a Battle for Hearts and Minds

A broad, and sometimes quixotic, retail effort to win the fight against global warming is playing out one person at a time, with nary a mention of climate change.

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Get $75 for Your Old Refrigerator

Live in New Hampshire, got an old refrigerator you want to get rid of? Then contact NHSaves, which is underwritten by your electric company. They will haul away your old refrigerator and between Aug. 1 and Oct. 31, 2023 will give you $75. (The usual amount in the past was $50.) Here are the details.  

Plus NHSaves has a bunch rebates if you buy energy efficient products and will help you do complete energy audits for your home. Great deals for you and for the environment.

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Earth Week Posts

Sandwich Climate Action Coalition Presents:

Day 1:  Sun. 16 April     Project Drawdown
Project Drawdown is the world’s leading resource to turn back climate change with planetary stewardship, acceleration of corporate climate action, guide philanthropic investments, and advocate for equitable climate solutions around the world.  Here is
their library of 100 science-based climate solutions, most of which are available today
and can show each of us what really makes a difference.
https://drawdown.org/   Scroll down to the short video ‘Intro to Climate Solutions’,
then browse through ‘Climate Solutions by Sector’.
https://drawdown.org/drawdown-roadmap  This Ted Talk video by John Foley
provides powerful scientific guidance into which climate actions
we should prioritize across sectors, timescales, and geographies –
to stop climate change.

Day 2:  Mon.  17 April      Green Energy Gridlock
A short podcast from Living on Earth: https://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=23-P13-00014&segmentID=1 
Also, Green Your Fleet, an event for towns and companies taking place at the NH
Motor Speedway on June 9th.  Find more about this event by clicking here.

Day 3:  Tue. 18 April  Webinar on MIT’s EN-ROADS Climate Simulator
Which climate solutions work for you, your community, and the world?  Explore how
dozens of major climate policies compare and interact.  Test your favorite climate solution at this virtual event on April 24th, 7:00 – 8:30 pmRegister here for this free event.

Day 4:  Wed. 19 April   Upcoming Workshops, Forums, and Conferences
at CleanEnergyNH.  Check the schedule here.

Day 5:  Thu. 20 April    Green Jobs, Green Economy

Day 6:  Fri. 21 April      The Heating Fuel Pinch

Day 7:  Sat. 22 April    Federal Energy Policies for Individuals & Homeowners
On August 22, 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, marking the most significant action Congress has taken on clean energy and climate change in the nation’s history.  Here is a helpful guide to understanding the resources available for Americans.  It includes tax credits and rebates.  Click here for the guide. 

 

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Green Your Fleet

Green Your Fleet

Green You Fleet returns to the NH Motor Speedway on Friday, June 9th
It spotlights alternative & renewable fuels + electric and fuel cell vehicles + infrastructure

 Join commercial & municipal fleets, business managers, industry, advocates and enthusiasts from across New England for:

  • Vehicle Ride & Drives ON THE NASCAR TRACK
  • Exhibit hall
  • Keynote speaker
  • Presentation stage
  • Networking opportunities
  • Vehicle and Equipment Showcase (onroad and offroad, light-duty to heavy-duty, commercial to municipal + buses)
  • GYF promotes many on-ramps to the clean vehicle transition: biodiesel, electric (EV), hydrogen, idle-reduction, natural gas, propane autogas, solar, telematics

 There are many ways to participate:

  1. Register here and join us for the event
  1. Sponsor here for speaking opps and to exhibit/showcase your vehicles,
    *No sponsorship required to bring vehicles for attendees to ride-and-drive on the racetrack!*
  1. Watch the 2018 GYF video
  1. Forward & share this event flyer

 Visit our event webpage to learn more and access the above links: www.granitestatecleancities.nh.gov/happening/green-fleet.htm

See you there!

Jessica & Peggy

Jessica Wilcox  I  Granite State Clean Cities Coalition (GSCCC) – jessica.wilcox@des.nh.gov / 603-271-5552

Peggy O’Neill-Vivanco  I  Vermont Clean Cities Coalition (VTCCC) – poneillv@uvm.edu

Shared by Mark Longley – sandwich Climate Action Coalition

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Ossipee Teen Working to Protect Our Aquifer

Climate change activist Greta Thunberg demonstrated how teens can make a big difference. In Ossipee Stella Lunt, a 15-year-old a sophomore at Kingswood Regional High School, has attended and spoken out frequently at the Meena gas station hearings in Effingham. She is a wonderful for example for teens and adults alike.

Stella Lunt is a civic minded sophomore at Kingswood Regional High School.

Here is her story published by Ossipee Lake Alliance.  Here are some key excerpts:

For the past two years, Stella has ramped-up her environmental commitment by being a visible and vocal attendee at the Meena gas station hearings. She has written letters, spoken out, and learned from observing the proceedings, which she attends with her mother, Billie Lunt. She is a notable young presence in a sea of adults.

Most people learned about Meena’s application by reading about it. Stella learned about it first-hand because her school bus stop is directly in front of
the Meena site, which is the former Boyle’s Market. That likely made her the rst in her neighborhood to see construction workers arrive one day two years ago and start digging things up.

She asked her mother what was going on, and her mom asked the workmen, who told her to mind her own business. That got their attention. Later it was found the work was illegal and had to be shut down by the town.

By then, Stella had learned a lot about the owner and the application and the hearing process by which Efngham will decide whether a gas station will be safe for the public, including her family, friends and neighbors. She and her mom have attended all of the hearings except one when Stella had a school conict.

The gas station would be built above the Ossipee Aquifer, which stretches all the way to Sandwich, so this our town’s issue too.

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Sandwich, NH: A Solar Array and Saving Taxpayer Money

Nov. 1, 2022

Sandwich townspeople, the contractor, elected officials and appointed committee members examine the site.

As energy prices are soaring around the globe, the Town of Sandwich, NH, took a step today to minimize costs for its municipal buildings. A few weeks ago a request for proposals (RFP) was sent out to solar installation companies. They were asked to develop formal bids for putting a solar array next to the town’s leach field adjacent to the fairgrounds on Squam Lake Road.

This morning was set aside for solar contractors to walk the property. Several companies expressed some interest in the RFP. Today one very reputable company showed up. Two selectboard members were there, a rec department representative, a representative from the fairgrounds, a couple of interested citizens and the town’s five energy committee members, who took the initiative to make this all happen.

Selectman Todd Horn takes notes, preparing for future questions and the March 2023 Town Meeting.

After examining the project, selectman Todd Horn said this is the “best, best, best win, win, win” for everyone involved. Of course, this is just one step, a formal bid has to be made by at least one solar installer, it has to be vetted by the selectboard and then finally everything has to be approved at the March Town Meeting. If all that happens, the array likely would go live by next fall.

Here is why Todd called it a win, win, win. Solar panel prices have dropped so much while electricity rates have skyrocketed. For example, at the town hall alone the monthly bill is exceeding $500 a month. This array offset the costs for that building, the police station, the rec center and the library, plus the costs of all the expensive street lights.

Here is another reason it seems like a great idea: 12 years ago an ad hoc energy committee for the town pushed to get solar panels installed on the fire station and town shed. As the rest of the town municipal buildings’ costs have skyrocketed, theirs have remained, for the supply side of their electric bill, near zero. They are only paying the electric company’s pole, transmission and maintenance fees.

Early projections are that the moment the new array begins producing electricity the town will begin to save money. It also makes the town less dependent on foreign energy suppliers and on big power generating companies far away. Plus it is only the beginning of what is possible.

Before moving here I lived in Marietta, Georgia, which way back in the 1920s decided to have its own power and water company. Today it produces so much income that the town property taxes are miniscule. We might be at a similar point today. For now, we are thinking small, but why not think bigger. It is possible.

Of course, if this were just Sandwich it would be a drop in the big global energy supply bucket. However, Sandwich is not alone. Towns across the state are doing similar and bigger projects. Our state government has been slow footing it, costing us all dearly but with a more enlightened political attitude big things could happen.

Our Sandwich story could well result into even more savings for all of us local taxpayers. Adam Heard, from right here in Sandwich, and Theresa Swanick are running for Carroll County commissioners as a two person team. After hearing our Sandwich story, they took out their calculators to see what could be done on the county level.

The electric bills for the county nursing home, jail and county offices have been close to $400,000 annually and will certainly exceed $500,000 in the near future. Swanick and Heard looked at the Sandwich model and applied it to Carroll County and discovered they could start saving taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in the immediate future and maybe millions spread over the long term. Lower taxes, cleaner energy, less reliance on foreign and far away domestic fuel sources. Wow, that is the best, best, best, win, win, win we all can love.

Leonard Witt is a member of the Town of Sandwich Energy Committee and a founding member of the Sandwich Climate Action Coalition. These opinions here are his alone – and so are the photos. 

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An Important New Book on Arresting Climate Change

An engaging, accessible citizen’s guide to the seven urgent changes that will really make a difference for our climateand how we can hold our governments accountable for putting these plans into action.

Dozens of kids in Montgomery County, Maryland, agitated until their school board committed to electric school buses. Mothers in Colorado turned up in front of an obscure state panel to fight for clean air. If you think the only thing you can do to combat climate change is to install a smart thermostat or cook plant-based burgers, you’re thinking too small.

That’s where The Big Fix comes in, offering everyday citizens a guide to the seven essential changes our communities must enact to bring our greenhouse gas emissions down to zeroand sharing stories of people who are making those changes reality.

Energy policy advisor Hal Harvey and longtime New York Times reporter Justin Gillis hone in on the seven areas where ambitious but eminently practical changes will have the greatest effect: electricity production, transportation, buildings, industry, urbanization, use of land, and investment in promising new green technologies. In a lively, jargon-free style, the pair illuminate how our political economy really works, revealing who decides everything from what kind of power plants to build to how efficient cars must be before they’re allowed on the road to how much insulation a new house requires—and how we can insert ourselves into all these decisions to ensure that the most climate-conscious choices are being made.

At once pragmatic and inspiring, The Big Fix is an indispensable action plan for citizens looking to drive our country’s greenhouse gas emissions down to zeroand save our climate.

“Full of illustrative stories and compelling evidence, The Big Fix outlines an ambitious yet feasible guide for addressing the climate crisis. Business leaders, activists, and policymakers at all levels will find inspiration from the pragmatic approaches outlined in this book.”
—Al Gore, chairman of The Climate Reality Project, chairman of Generation Investment Management, and former vice president of the United States 

“Smart, honest, and down-to-earth, The Big Fix addresses the crucial issue of our time: how citizens can compel action on climate change.”
—Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction and Under a White Sky

“Nobody grasps climate policy—and what can actually work—better than Hal Harvey. Nobody elucidates climate science better than Justin Gillis. Together, they offer a bold blueprint for saving a habitable Earth.”
—John Doerr, chairman of venture capital film Kleiner Perkins and author of Speed & Scale

“A truly comprehensive—and entirely comprehensible—guide to the things we can and must do to transform our use of energy. This book will be of great use to anyone who wants to participate in the greatest technological revolution in human history.”
—Bill McKibben, a founder of grassroots climate-campaign group 350.org and author of The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon

“[Harvey and] Gillis make fighting climate change feel a bit less intimidating in this down-to-earth look at ways the average citizen can make a difference… a useful guide for budding activists.”
Publishers Weekly

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The Way to Slow Climate Change is as Close as Your City Hall or School Board

The Way to Slow Climate Change Is as Close as Your City Hall or School Board

New York Times, Opinion, Aug. 26, 2022

By Justin Gillis and Hal Harvey

Mr. Gillis and Mr. Harvey are the authors of the forthcoming book “The Big Fix: 7 Practical Steps to Save Our Planet.”

Three months after taking office as America’s 46th president, Joe Biden made a solemn pledge to the world: He declared that the United States, which is more responsible for the climate crisis than any other nation, would cut its greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 from their 2005 peak.

The big climate law that Congress just enacted will go a long way toward meeting Mr. Biden’s goal. Coupled with other policies and with trends in the marketplace, it is expected to cut emissions by something like 40 percent.

But the law — even assuming it survives Republican attacks and defunding attempts over the coming years — does not fully redeem Mr. Biden’s pledge. How can America get the rest of the way toward meeting his 50 percent goal?

The answer is in all of our hands. Many of us are already trying to help as best we can, perhaps by nudging the thermostat a degree or two, by driving or flying less or by eating differently. These actions are useful, but they are not enough. The public must make the transition from green consumers to green citizens and devote greater political energy to pushing America forward in its transition to a clean economy.

How? The answers may be as close as your city hall or county commission. Your local school board — yes, the school board — has some critical decisions to make in the next few years. Opportunities to make a difference abound in your state Capitol.

The reason the public needs to speak up is simple. What Congress just did was, in a nutshell, to change the economics of clean energy and clean cars, using the tax code to make them more affordable. But it did not remove many of the other barriers to the adoption of these technologies, and a lot of those hurdles are under the control of state and local governments.

Consider this: Every school day, millions of Americans put their children on dirty diesel buses. Not only are the emissions from those buses helping to wreck the planet on which the children will have to live, but the fumes are blowing into their faces, too, contributing to America’s growing problem with childhood asthma.

It is now possible to replace those diesel buses with clean, electric buses. Has your school board made a plan to do so? Why isn’t every parent in America marching down to school district headquarters to demand it? Electric buses are more expensive right now, but the operating costs are so much lower that the gap can be bridged with creative financing. A school board that is not thinking hard about this and making plans for the transition is simply not doing its job.

Here is another example. The power grid in your state is under the control of a political body known as a public utilities commission or public service commission. It has the legal authority to tell electric companies what power plants they are allowed to build and what rates they can charge. By law, these boards are supposed to listen to citizens and make decisions in the public interest, but the public rarely weighs in.

We once needed special state laws to push utilities toward renewable energy, but Congress just changed the ground rules. With wind and solar farms becoming far more affordable, every utility in America now needs to re-examine its spreadsheet on how it will acquire power in the future. The public utility commissions supervise this process, and they are supposed to ensure that the utilities build the most affordable systems they reasonably can.

But too many utilities, heavily invested in dirty energy, still see clean energy as a threat. They are going to drag their feet, and they will ply their influence with state government to try to get away with it. Citizens need to get in the faces of these commission members with a simple demand: Do your jobs. Make the utilities study all options and go for clean power wherever possible.

One more example: The conversion to electric cars has begun, but as everyone knows, we still don’t have enough places to charge them, especially for people on long trips. State governments can play a major role in alleviating this bottleneck. Under Gov. Jared Polis in Colorado, the state is investing hundreds of millions of dollars to build charging stations, with poor neighborhoods included. Other states can do the same, and citizens need to speak up to demand it.

If you live in a sizable city or county, your local government is probably slowing down the automotive transition, too. These governments buy fleets of vehicles for their workers, and this year most of them will once again order gasoline-powered cars. Why? Because that’s what they’re used to doing. Citizens need to confront the people making these decisions and jolt them from their lethargy.

The two of us have been working on the climate problem for decades. We have never been as hopeful as we are today that America will finally shake off its intransigence and seize the future. We should all be grateful to the Congress that just enacted this new law, to President Biden for leading on the issue and especially to the young people who are so urgently demanding change. They have a moral right to inherit a livable world.

But no law is self-executing. The forces resisting change are still powerful. They are at work across the nation, fomenting lies and confusion wherever clean energy is discussed. We need a citizenry so engaged on this issue that it stands up to counter the disinformation — not just in Washington, but in every city hall, every school board, every state house and every utility commission.

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The Way to Slow Climate Change is as Close as Your City Hall or SchoolBoard

The Way to Slow Climate Change Is as Close as Your City Hall or School Board
New York Times, Opinion, Aug. 26, 2022
By Justin Gillis and Hal Harvey
Mr. Gillis and Mr. Harvey are the authors of the forthcoming book “The Big Fix: 7 Practical Steps to Save Our Planet.”
Three months after taking office as America’s 46th president, Joe Biden made a solemn pledge to the world: He declared that the United States, which is more responsible for the climate crisis than any other nation, would cut its greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 from their 2005 peak.
The big climate law that Congress just enacted will go a long way toward meeting Mr. Biden’s goal. Coupled with other policies and with trends in the marketplace, it is expected to cut emissions by something like 40 percent.
But the law — even assuming it survives Republican attacks and defunding attempts over the coming years — does not fully redeem Mr. Biden’s pledge. How can America get the rest of the way toward meeting his 50 percent goal?
The answer is in all of our hands. Many of us are already trying to help as best we can, perhaps by nudging the thermostat a degree or two, by driving or flying less or by eating differently. These actions are useful, but they are not enough. The public must make the transition from green consumers to green citizens and devote greater political energy to pushing America forward in its transition to a clean economy.
How? The answers may be as close as your city hall or county commission. Your local school board — yes, the school board — has some critical decisions to make in the next few years. Opportunities to make a difference abound in your state Capitol.
The reason the public needs to speak up is simple. What Congress just did was, in a nutshell, to change the economics of clean energy and clean cars, using the tax code to make them more affordable. But it did not remove many of the other barriers to the adoption of these technologies, and a lot of those hurdles are under the control of state and local governments.
Consider this: Every school day, millions of Americans put their children on dirty diesel buses. Not only are the emissions from those buses helping to wreck the planet on which the children will have to live, but the fumes are blowing into their faces, too, contributing to America’s growing problem with childhood asthma.
It is now possible to replace those diesel buses with clean, electric buses. Has your school board made a plan to do so? Why isn’t every parent in America marching down to school district headquarters to demand it? Electric buses are more expensive right now, but the operating costs are so much lower that the gap can be bridged with creative financing. A school board that is not thinking hard about this and making plans for the transition is simply not doing its job.
Here is another example. The power grid in your state is under the control of a political body known as a public utilities commission or public service commission. It has the legal authority to tell electric companies what power plants they are allowed to build and what rates they can charge. By law, these boards are supposed to listen to citizens and make decisions in the public interest, but the public rarely weighs in.
We once needed special state laws to push utilities toward renewable energy, but Congress just changed the ground rules. With wind and solar farms becoming far more affordable, every utility in America now needs to re-examine its spreadsheet on how it will acquire power in the future. The public utility commissions supervise this process, and they are supposed to ensure that the utilities build the most affordable systems they reasonably can.
But too many utilities, heavily invested in dirty energy, still see clean energy as a threat. They are going to drag their feet, and they will ply their influence with state government to try to get away with it. Citizens need to get in the faces of these commission members with a simple demand: Do your jobs. Make the utilities study all options and go for clean power wherever possible.
One more example: The conversion to electric cars has begun, but as everyone knows, we still don’t have enough places to charge them, especially for people on long trips. State governments can play a major role in alleviating this bottleneck. Under Gov. Jared Polis in Colorado, the state is investing hundreds of millions of dollars to build charging stations, with poor neighborhoods included. Other states can do the same, and citizens need to speak up to demand it.
If you live in a sizable city or county, your local government is probably slowing down the automotive transition, too. These governments buy fleets of vehicles for their workers, and this year most of them will once again order gasoline-powered cars. Why? Because that’s what they’re used to doing. Citizens need to confront the people making these decisions and jolt them from their lethargy.
The two of us have been working on the climate problem for decades. We have never been as hopeful as we are today that America will finally shake off its intransigence and seize the future. We should all be grateful to the Congress that just enacted this new law, to President Biden for leading on the issue and especially to the young people who are so urgently demanding change. They have a moral right to inherit a livable world.
But no law is self-executing. The forces resisting change are still powerful. They are at work across the nation, fomenting lies and confusion wherever clean energy is discussed. We need a citizenry so engaged on this issue that it stands up to counter the disinformation — not just in Washington, but in every city hall, every school board, every state house and every utility commission.
Posted in Climate News | Comments Off on The Way to Slow Climate Change is as Close as Your City Hall or SchoolBoard