Challenge 2010: Climate change solutions require common sense and political will
by Vicki Wolf
Climate change is the challenge for this decade. Time is running out to avoid tipping points that can take the planet over the threshold into large, catastrophic environmental changes out of human control, according to Dr. James Hansen director of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Hansen was the first to warn the U.S. Congress about the global warming crisis. Leading climatologists and experts in energy and sustainability agree that the best things we can do immediately to address climate change involve common sense rather than rocket science. What is lacking is the political will to act with the urgency appropriate in this very real emergency for the planet.
“Simple things can be applied on a big scale to a lot of people,” Bryan Yeoman, city director in Houston for the Clinton Climate Initiative says. Most of these solutions also create jobs, and many save money for cities. Yeoman says President Obama was able to get the right people on board for moving environmental policy forward in 2009 and is now positioned to take action. But Congress still has a long way to go before signing a bill that offers an effective strategy for addressing climate change. “Even if a bill is signed today, it doesn’t get implemented until 2014,” he says.
Three things that can make a big difference in 2010
1. Focus on energy efficiency in the public and private sector
Energy efficiency is one area where rapid progress can be made without an “act of Congress,” and it offers major cost-savings. The city is “where it’s at” for impact on climate change. Cities account for two-thirds of the greenhouse gas emissions on the planet. The Clinton Climate Initiative has partnered with an international organization known as the C40, which represents 40 of the world’s largest cities who are committed to reducing greenhouse gases. Since the program started, other cities have been added as best practices cities for their work to reduce their carbon footprint.
Of all the cities involved in the program, Houston is the most active and has accomplished the most, according to Yeoman. “Energy efficiency has become so much more financially feasible,” he says. “In places like Houston massive numbers of units are involved, and there are lots of good deals to be made taking positive appropriate action.” Also, as more cities participate and the private sector gets involved, prices on energy efficiency products go down for everyone.
Last fall, the City of Houston, in partnership with Reliant Energy, announced a pilot program for plug-in hybrids. The program is called “Power of the Plug-in” and includes converting 10 city-owned Toyota Prius cars to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and installing 15 charging stations to power them. Seven of the stations will be available to the public.
Electric vehicles are more efficient and less-polluting than hybrids, which use both electricity and liquid fossil fuels, especially for the City of Houston where more than 35 percent of its electricity comes from wind power. “We hope to engage the fleet management people to make a larger commitment to buy electrics instead of hybrids, then work with the private sector to come along and do the same,” Yeoman says. “We can create enough demand so that the price (for electric cars) isn’t so outrageous.”
Yeoman also has worked with the City of Houston to install timers and motion detector lights on cold drink vending machines so the light and refrigeration are running only when needed. For example, a soft drink vending machine in a building automatically turns off after normal daytime operating hours. A motion detector turns it on during the night if someone, such as a police officer wants to purchase a drink during the night. In a test of 285 machines, it cost $35,000 to install the efficiency equipment. The payback was eight months. “The long-term savings is a half-million dollars in 10 years with a nice CO2 reduction,” Yeoman says. Houston has now installed the timers and motion detectors on 650 machines.
Other projects that offer both savings and greenhouse gas reductions include using LED lighting for street lamps and traffic lights. But Yeoman says the “blockbuster deal” is decreasing energy use in wastewater treatment plants. On December 16, Houston city council approved a contract to do an energy audit as the first step in addressing the energy use of wastewater treatment plants. According to Yeoman, the City of Houston wastewater treatment process uses about 40 percent of all electricity and 65 percent of all natural gas,. “This thing has huge potential to reduce cost and greenhouse gas,” Yeoman says. Improvements in energy efficiency also can reduce other pollutants such as NOX (nitrogen oxide) and particulate matter that are in natural gas and methane emissions.
The Clinton Foundation is conducting a worldwide study of best practices in wastewater treatment. Great options, such as anaerobic digestion and combined heat and power (CHP) are being discovered, according to Yeoman. Two other large cities, Chicago and Rio de Janeiro, have expressed an interest in following the Houston lead on improving energy efficiency in wastewater treatment.
2. Pay the true cost of polluting
Increasing the cost of fossil fuel to reflect the cost to public health and the environment is one of the most important things governments can do now. Hansen contends that the most popular solution in the U.S. Congress -- cap-and-trade with offsets -- is no solution to climate change. He says cap-and-trade is a hidden tax. “Cap‐and‐trade increases the cost of energy for the public, as utilities and other industries purchase the right to pollute with one hand, adding it to fuel prices, while with the other hand they take back most of the permit revenues from the government. Costs and profits of the trading infrastructure are also added to the public’s energy bill.”
Fee-and-dividend is a better solution, according to Hansen. “The fee collected at the first sale of oil, gas and coal in the country does increase the price of fossil fuel energy. But 100 percent of the fee is distributed monthly to the public as electronic deposits to the bank account or debit card of all legal residents, with half shares for children, up to two children per family.” With the dividends, people can afford to invest in energy efficiency and reduce the demand for fossil fuel. Hansen also notes that jobs would be created as society moves toward low carbon technologies.
Moving from cap-and-trade to fee-and-dividend also will make it easier to get agreements from developing countries like China, according to Hansen. “There is no chance that China will accept a cap,” he says. Nor should they. They are still in the early phase of their economic development.” He adds that China is more likely to accept a carbon fee on their fossil fuels.
3. Stop building coal-fired power plants and move toward renewable energy
The other big part of the climate change solution is phasing out coal-fired power plants. Coal is the most important fossil fuel target because it is cheap enough and plentiful enough to keep CO2 levels going up and global temperatures rising. More than 500 coal-burning power plants in the United States account for almost 40 percent of the country’s global warming emissions, more than all other sources combined. According to an Environmental Protection Agency report, continuing to fuel the country and the world with coal is likely to prevent all positive efforts from solving global warming.
Climatologists, energy experts and government representatives know these changes need to be enacted now, but so far the powerful influence of the energy industry has prevented Congress from enacting real solutions. According to Hansen and other experts on climate change, the public must begin to understand the urgency of this global crisis and get involved.
What you can do
- Educate yourself on climate change. Pass on what you learn to friends and family.
- Get involved with an organization or form your own group to write letters and make phone calls to government representatives. For information on how to contact your US government representatives, visit www.USA.gov
- Consider doing your part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by purchasing energy efficient products, adjusting the thermostat and choosing to limit the number of miles you drive by combining trips, carpooling, walking, biking or taking public transportation.
