An Afternoon at the Wind Farm

My family took a trip to a local wind farm. We took school bus shuttles up a long gravel road to get there. The bus had a hard time climbing it.

They wind turbines were huge and pretty quiet.

There were a lot of people there. We waited in line to get a look inside the base.

It had a ladder that went all the way to the top, and a hole in the floor where there was even more equipment.

There was also a pretty view of the lake and the island where I live.

It was really cool.

A video looking up at the spinning blades -- sorry my finger is in it, it was too bright to see the screen

A video showing the shadows of the blades and you can hear some noise from fans in the control room (not the blades themselves)

Adventures in Home Repairs

Ever wonder what it would take to get your house off of fossil fuel use? I have. Afterall, if humanity is to reduce CO2 emissions by 90% in order to stabilize the climate, this is the kind of question we should all be asking ourselves.

We have done some things to reduce our carbon footprint. Our latest consideration is that our boiler is on its last legs. It's 23 years old, so I guess it's done a decent job. It's not totally broke yet, but it's corroded and cracked, and slowly leaking. Not replacing it runs the risk that our basement will flood when the cover plate gives way and the "refill" valve keeps the water flowing to fill the empty space.

The solution is to get a new boiler of course. It's not what we wanted to be spending our money on, but at least the new one will be more fuel efficient. Our furnace runs on heating oil. Given that we have this costly repair coming up anyway, it got me thinking about if we could get off heating oil or not.

Geothermal would be the way to do it. Geothermal energy is energy derived from the ground. Once you get down below about 6 feet, the ground is consistently around 50 degrees. Circulating air or water through the ground using a compressor, you can heat or cool the air/water then circulate it in your house as heat in winter, and air conditioning in summer. I don't claim to understand the technology beyond very simplistic concepts so check out this Renewable Energy VT link to learn more.

Unfortunately geothermal heat isn't a cost effective option for a house like mine. I would have to do a lot of renovating to install ducts to carry the heated/cooled air, or replace all my hot water baseboards with ones designed for geothermal hot water (which isn't as hot as ones that go with fossil fuel furnaces/boilers). Then since we are town water we would have to drill a well (where the energy transfer would be made to heat or cool our house), and we would still have to buy the heat pumps. Doing all this would cost $30,000. Even with 30% discount off that price through a federal tax credit (if they are still offered) it's more than twice what a new boiler would cost. Then again, I know some people who have an old house that already had a well and a forced hot air heating system. In their case all they had to do was get the heat pumps. Easy peasy.

If we ever build a new house, perhaps then I will get geothermal heating/cooling. When building new, geothermal can be just as cost effective as traditional systems. And in the long run, even more effective since there are no fuel costs, just electricity to run the pumps, which could be solar.

What could you do to reduce the fossil fuels used by your home?

Good Facebook, Bad Facebook

I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook, as many people do. On one hand it allows me to connect with people from my past and present around the country and the world. It connects me to social causes that I care deeply about. But, of course, it is still a company and it may do bad things too.

Good
Have you heard that Facebook will power its Altoona, Iowa data center entirely by wind power starting in 2015? This makes me feel a bit better about posting my content both for Mama of Ma'at and my personal account on the site. A company as rich as Facebook should be obligated to reduce its carbon footprint. In fact, Facebook's goal is to use 25% renewable energy by 2015, after which it will set another benchmark.

The under-construction site of Facebook’s new data center, to open in 2015. Photo credit: Facebook

Bad
Did you also hear that Facebook joined the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)? ALEC is a "D.C.-based consulting, lobbying group known and loathed for drafting conservative template legislation on behalf of big industry and pushing in around State Houses," (source). Facebook, Yelp, Google and Microsoft have all joined ALEC. Why might this be? Well, according to Forbes, it's because government controls business so much that companies have to join lobby groups on all sides otherwise government will change laws to screw those businesses over. The only real solution, according to Forbes, is to get government out of business.

Ha. I have to laugh at that one a little. Maybe it's a chicken and an egg problem. Who corrupted who? Did government corrupt business or did business corrupt government?

According to Salon.com, tech giants like Facebook joined ALEC to draw up model anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) legislation.Who knows if this is true, but does it then mean ALEC is trying to help get more public participation? That seems very uncharacteristic of ALEC, but Salon.com does point out that "although rare, this is not the first instance of ALEC working with traditionally liberal organizations — especially on issues like privacy which span the liberal/conservative libertarian divide."

When asked directly, Facebook (and Google) representatives did not know why their own companies joined ALEC. If you don't know why you're doing something gentlemen, don't do it.

Is All Wind Power Equal?

Like solar power, wind power generation is a growing industry that hopes to provide clean, renewable energy to replace fossil fuels and fight global warming. So far the conventional wisdom in the wind power world is the larger the wind turbine, the more power you get. This means that windmills are growing increasingly large and tall. See the picture below that was generated by the US Department of Energy to promote a particularly large wind turbine project called the Lincoln Wind Tower in Euclid, Ohio.

The average wind tower is 150 feet. Almost as tall as the leaning tower of Pisa. The Lincoln Wind Tower in Ohio would be 443 feet tall, which is taller than the Statue of Liberty. Click here for some of the tallest wind turbines in the world at heights comparable to the Lincoln Wind Tower.

John Dabiri, a CalTech professor of aeronaturical and bioengineering, has a new idea for wind turbines that was inspired by observing the "pattern of spinning vortices that trail fish as they swim." He proposes making the blades vertical like poles on a carousel, and the towers much shorter. Then, positioning the vertical turbines in specific relation to each other they can generate more power by using air currents generated by other vertical turbines around them, just like the "fish vortices." Dabiri says the wind farms built in this fashion would be cheaper to build, quieter, and easier to maintain since they are only about 30 feet tall. They also don't need to be rotated to face the wind.

Prof Dabiri with Vertical axis wind turbines

However, many vertical turbines are still necessary to generate the power produced by just one large, traditional (aka horizontal) wind turbine. The industry still believes that bigger is better, but these smaller, verticle turbines are intriguing. Perhaps the vertical turbines would be more acceptable in areas where the largest objections to wind power generation are noise and aesthetics, or in remote communities where ease of maintenance is important. The US Military is also very interested in Professor Dabiri's idea because traditional horizontal wind turbines can interfere with helicopter operations and radar signatures.

It's nice to think that communities could have options on what is the right way for them to pursue wind power. Way to go Professor Dabiri!

What the Frack?

Did you know that Oil and Gas Companies can inject any chemical they want into the ground during fracking, including chemicals that are known hazards to human health? Did you know that the process of fracking is severely contaminating ground water in some places and the Environmental Protection Authority has zero authority to do anything about it? Vermont is leading the way in the fight against fracking by banning the practice, but we need to go further and phase out our use of natural gas. Fracking is destroying communities around the country, and does nothing to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions or the threat of climate change. That is not something Vermonters should support with our energy dollars.

The Global Frackdown
I am participating in the October 19 (2013) Global Frackdown and Climate Mama's Blog Carnival. This is the 2nd annual event and it is to:

"unite concerned citizens everywhere for a day of action to send a message to elected officials in our communities and across the globe that we want a future powered by clean, renewable energy, not dirty, polluting fossil fuels. The journey to a renewable energy future will not be fueled by shale gas. Climate scientists warn that continued extraction and burning of fossil fuels will lead to catastrophic climate change."

Renewable energy smackdown! Image Photoshopped by Mama of Ma'at

What the Frack?
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a risky method of drilling to extract natural gas and oil from shale rock. Gas companies drill a hole several hundred feet into the ground, then drill horizontally through the rock. Then a slurry of water, sand and hundreds of "proprietary" chemicals are injected into the wells to fracture the rock and allow the natural gas to seep out. Gas companies are not required to disclose what chemicals they use thanks to the "Halliburton loophole" created in the 2005 Energy Policy Act. Here is a link to a video that explains fracking in better detail.

The problems with fracking are many and include:

Health & Environmental issues,

• Permanently contaminated drinking water wells (eg: flammable tap water, radioactive water, water filled with known carcinogens)
• Illnesses in people living near wells (headaches, loss of taste/smell, unexplained pain)
• Sick and/or dead animals near fracking wells
• Earthquakes caused by fracking
• Leaking natural gas (a potent greenhouse gas) at drill sites which negate any emissions reductions that burning natural gas provides over burning coal from a climate perspective
• Water shortages due to competition over water for domestic uses vs. fracking

Democratic Process & Environmental Justice issues,

• The Environmental Protection Agency has been crippled (through law) and is not authorized to monitor fracking wells. Therefore, residents living around wells who have their groundwater contaminated due to fracking have no recourse against gas companies other than hiring a lawyer and hoping for the best.

Vermont as a Model
Thankfully, Vermont is a beacon of light in the fracking controversy. In May 2012 Governor Shumlin banned fracking in the State. However, it is considered to be a somewhat symbolic law since Vermont has little to no natural gas. We are not seeing agressive ads on tv that greenwash the natural gas industry. We are not being sent lease offers from gas companies offering us thousands of dollars per acre of land we own that is on top large shale deposits such as the Marcellus in New York/Pennsylvania, the Bakken in North Dakota/Montana, or others in Wyoming, Colorado, Texas and many other states. Nonetheless, our ban on fracking makes Vermont an ally for anti-fracking groups in other states that are fighting for the health of their communities.

What Vermont Should Still Do

Even though Vermont is not directly affected by fracking, we must still do everything we can to transition our state to renewable energy without relying on natural gas as a "bridge fuel." Even now, Vermont Gas Systems is trying to expand their network of natural gas pipelines (which currently serve Chittenden and Franklin counties) to include gas service for Middlebury and Vergennes. It is known as the Addison Natural Gas Project, and it is very controversial because it is seen as contrary to Vermont's renewable energy goals.

Fracking is a big piece in the climate change/fossil fuel puzzle. Transitioning to solar and wind power for electricity seems clear, but natural gas (and other fossil fuels) plays a large role in heating homes during long Vermont winters, and I think that is something we need to work more on. I have completed an energy audit on my home and insulated it to make it as efficient as possible. I have added a pellet stove to reduce my heating oil use, but due to the design of my house it is not possible to heat the whole house with wood pellets. I still rely on heating oil, and if I lived in Chittenden or Franklin counties I would likely rely on natural gas instead of heating oil. I looked into getting geothermal heat, but once again due to the design of my house, it is cost prohibitive. We need more people looking into developing biomass and other sources for thermal heating to help Vermont homeowners get off fossil fuels, including natural gas. We shouldn't import the product of fracking, which is destroying communities around the country, and contributing to climate change.

Happy Birthday to Me!

The day that I share this on Facebook is my real birthday. Happy Birthday to me! 

Here is My Birthday Wish:

I want a world full of solar and other renewable energy because:

and I think that windmills are beautiful:

 

Especially when considering the alternative:

Canadian Tar Sands: boreal forests stripped then mined, no life remains, water is irreparably fouled

And lastly, because:

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Can going green pay off (in board games)?

My husband and I enjoy playing board games. We don't play that often now with kids around, but one of our newest favorites is "Power Grid." It's a game where you buy power plants and expand your grid network around the country to power more cities than your opponent(s). The power plants are run with a variety of fuel sources including: coal, oil, combination coal/oil, trash, nuclear, wind, and fusion. The power plants also vary in 1) cost to buy them, and 2) the number of cities they can power. Each player can have a maximum of 3 (or 4 in 2 player) power plants in their portfolio. Once you have your maximum, you upgrade old plants as better plants become available. You also have to buy the appropriate fuel for each of your plants every turn to power your cities. The prices of fuel go up and down during the game. If lots of people are all relying on one fuel source the price goes up, just as it does in real life. High demand = high prices.

When I first started playing power grid, I thought it was a really clever game because it seemed to mirror the energy markets of the world. This game was not only a fun strategy game, but informative as well. However, being the eco-minded person that I am, I was always drawn to the wind plants because they were clean, renewable energy and I didn't have to buy any fuel for them. The future! But I quickly noticed that when I picked the wind plants I started losing. I mentioned this to my husband and he replied that he thought he had read "ignore green plants" if you want to win Power Grid on the message boards.

I set out to test my suspicion by playing a game with my husband. I bought fossil fuel plants to start because those are the only plants available in the beginning. As soon as the first wind plant turned up I bought it and vowed to only buy wind plants. It didn't last long. After a few turns I had adjust my rule and buy a trash powered plant. My justification was that even though trash is dirty and produces a lot of toxic byproducts when burned, at least it is not a fossil fuel. Eliminating fossil fuels is, of course, key to fighting climate change. I bought the trash plant because it could power 6 cities and I needed to up the number of cities that I could power FAST if I wanted to stay competitive. The wind plants weren't showing up often enough, and they didn't power nearly as many cities as many of the trash, nuclear, or fossil fuel plants. On one turn in the first half of the game I had to pass on buying a new power plant altogether because there were no wind (or trash) options.

For much of the game, despite my limitations in only buying wind (with the exception of my one trash plant), I stayed somewhat competitive. My husband was always a bit ahead of me in terms of the number of cities he could power. This gave him more money, and more power to buy more cities, which kept him closer to winning the entire game. Unlike me, he relied heavily on fossil fuel plants (the prices of the fossil fuels were unusually cheap due to no competition from me too) and nuclear plants.

Towards the end of the game I was once again running out of options, until, due to a lucky draw, I was able to buy a fusion plant, the most expensive power plant in the game. Fusion plants do not exist, but if they did they would be clean and incredibly powerful. Yet, in this same turn I could have bought a coal plant for a significantly cheaper price that would power more cities than a fusion plant. Really? Going fossil fuel in this instance would have allowed me to surpass my husband in the number of cities powered, and freed up cash to buy enough cities to surpass my husband and very possibly win the whole game.

My husbands winning energy portfolio (oil, coal and nukes)

My losing portfolio of wind, trash and fusion

Bottom line is, the game "Power Grid" is stacked against wind (renewable) energy and heavily favors the old ways of thinking on energy: fossil fuels and nuclear. It is  impossible to win the game by relying on renewables. The renewable wind energy plants it does offer are expensive, often weak, and few and far between. The nuclear plants are powerful, but artificially cheap compared to today's real energy market realities where nuclear plants are shutting down because the economics simply don't work. The coal and oil plants in the game are abundant, powerful, and cheap. The game does not reflect today's rapid growth in the renewable energy sector, or current projections of renewable energy sources reaching grid parity with fossil fuel sources in the near future.

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