Smart Grid Technologies - Calendar of Events for January 2010

A friend of mine told me a childhood story of when he was traveling with his grandmother over the holidays.

His entire family - parents, siblings, and grandma - piled into the car for an 8 hour drive to his visit the rest of his family.  No sooner had they arrived and started to get out of the car, his grandmother said, "Oh No!  I don't think I turned the oven off!!"  Without having anyone to call (since everyone was on the trip), his poor dad had to get back in the car and drive all the way back to grandma's house to see if she turned off the oven.  The sad part was when he arrived at grandma's house - she had.

There was a time when you would only dream of being able to reach over to your cell phone and open up the app that would have turned off the oven - or even checked to see if it was on?  Or how about the lights when you are away?  Well if Smart Grid technology experts have their way, you will.

The technology is now here that let's you forget about setting the timers that turn lights on throughout your house to give the impression that you are home when you are actually away.  Or how about monitoring your child's computer time when you are at work?  Or to be able to check on how many lights are on when the only person at home is that young energy hog who can't seem to ever turn the lights off?  All of these possibilities are in sight when it comes to the marriage of energy and technology.  Soon, you will be able to be the true master of your domain through the help of Smart Grid Technology.

Companies like GE, and IBM are developing technologies that are now being used by utility companies such as FPL who have launched a Smart Grid pilot program in Miami, Fl to test out the latest in how we are going to use our electricity.

The electric grid delivers electricity from points of generation to consumers, and the electricity delivery network functions via two primary systems: the transmission system and the distribution system. The transmission system delivers electricity from power plants to distribution substations, while the distribution system delivers electricity from distribution substations to consumers. The grid also encompasses myriads of local area networks that use distributed energy resources to serve local loads and/or to meet specific application requirements for remote power, village or district power, premium power, and critical loads protection. - The Department of Energy

If this is where you see your future and you want to be come a part of the people who are making this a reality, then here are two options.  For the latest in job opportunities, you can check out Smart Grid Careers . It's an interactive industry directory to keep you up on the latest in Smart Grid Careers.

You can also check out the January calendar events for Smart Grid Conferences around the world.  These conferences will give you the opportunity to not only stay informed, but have fabulous networking opportunities with the top of the industry.

The Story of Cap & Trade - by Annie Leonard

The only Climate bill on the table is the Cap & Trade bill.  Want a simple explanation of what it is meant to do and why it won't work? Watch...

Hollywood Rallies Around The Environment For The Climate Summit In Copenhagen

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK, December 11, 2009 The urgency surrounding the upcoming UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen has led celebrities to join forces via a Public Service Announcement (in association with the Environmental Media Association and the TckTckTck coalition) to call for a Fair, Ambitious, and Binding treaty. This treaty will ultimately stabilize the atmosphere at 350 parts per million (ppm) carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which an overwhelming number of scientists now insist is the safe upper limit. Hollywood celebrities hope to influence the outcome of the COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, December 7 – 18, 2009, where this comprehensive climate agreement must be adopted to stop global warming and preserve life.

Celebrities like Simon Baker, Olivia Wilde, Gilles Marini and Alanis Morissette are featured in this PSA which serves as a call-to-action for people to join candlelight vigils around the world on the weekend of December 12, to let leaders know “The World Wants a Real Deal”.

The PSA will be played on large screens in Copenhagen to help influence decision makers and be distributed worldwide through the hundreds of millions of members of the TckTckTck coalition. Other celebrity participants include Jake Mclaughlin, Frances Fisher, Kathryn Morris, Kevin Mchale, Emily Van Camp, Dana Delany, Michael Rady, Ed Begley Jr., Dianna Agron, Cedric the Entertainer, Amy Smart, Chevy Chase and Jason Mraz. This 45 second video features the song ‘The World is Ready’ by Onyay Pheori and Jeff Bova and can be found on www.tcktcktck.org.

We encourage you to repost the link below and broadcast the PSA.
https://rcpt.yousendit.com/789245162/443ccaa93990647a1c22f98989bf144f

About Environmental Media Association
The Environmental Media Association (EMA) is a Non-Profit 501(c)3 Organization founded in 1989 by Cindy and Alan Horn and Lyn and Norman Lear. EMA is dedicated to harnessing the power of celebrity and the media to promote sustainable lifestyles and believes through positive role modeling the entertainment community can inspire consumers to take action. The organization has grown into a diverse group of industry professionals from film, television and music dedicated to the mission of promoting environmental awareness through the entertainment business and the media. EMA serves as a valuable link between the entertainment industry and the environmental community. www.ema-online.org

About TckTckTck
TckTckTck (www.tcktcktck.org) is the public face of the Global Campaign for Climate Action (GCCA), an unprecedented coalition including The Elders, Red Cross, CARE, Oxfam, Conservation International, UNICEF, World Council of Churches, NRDC, Greenpeace, International Trade Union Confederation, and hundreds of other faith groups, unions, environmental NGOs, humanitarian organizations, civic leaders, and high-profile allies that represent hundreds of millions of members.

Contact:
Heather Greenfield
(323) 822-4811

Chet Mehta
(323) 822-4871

*Press Release

Attend Town Hall Meeting: Learn About FPL’s Proposed New Nuclear Reactors for South Florida

Thursday, December 10, 2009, 7-9 pm

South Miami City Hall, 6130 Sunset Drive, South Miami, FL 33143 

FPL wants to build two costly and risky nuclear reactors at their existing Turkey Point nuclear plant near Miami. Join Citizens Allied for Safe Energy (CASE) at a town hall meeting in South Miami to learn about the impacts to the environment, our health, and our wallets and how to take action. A panel of experts, including SACE’s George Cavros, will discuss the issues along with a Q & A session. For more information, visit www.CASE-FL.org. 

Should the SunRail Bill be De-railed??

Tomorrow during the special session, the Florida House of Representatives will be voting on the SunRail bill.  And while there are a lot of Florida citizens who are saying, "It's about time!", they are some that are not so sure.

The SunRail project proposes a Central Florida commuter train and high-speed rail that will connect Orlando to Tampa and Miami.  Until now, the only commuter train could be found connects the Northeastern United States to Orlando was Amtrack's auto-train, leaving the rest of the state to find its own way around.

Failing last year to pass, the bill is back with a few changes.  The most obvious is the change in liability.  Better explained is in an article from the News-JournalOnline.com

 A key part of the agreement would shield CSX from having to pay damages to commuter-rail passengers after a collision, even if CSX was at fault. CSX would be responsible for injuries or losses sustained by its employees or property.

Supporters describe the arrangement as a "no-fault" system.

One of the revisions in the new bill would force CSX to pay up to $10 million if an accident is caused by "willful misconduct" of a company employee or if punitive damages are awarded against the company.

That is designed to ease concerns, for example, that a CSX employee could become intoxicated and cause a crash with a commuter train. Without the revision, CSX would not have been financially responsible for the state's losses or injuries to commuters.

The bill leaves a lot to be concerned about.  For one, the supporters of the bill promise that a total of 250,000 jobs will come from this effort.  But what you are not being told is that these numbers are made up of not only workers of the rail, but also the waitress who serves the coffee and the kid who delivers the pizza during the lunch hour. In a perfect world, it would be nice to have that many jobs come from this project.  But it is foolish to make a claim that you are providing that many jobs when all you are doing is providing "the opportunity" for those jobs.  It's a lot like taking credit for saving a person's life, when all you did was donate $5.00 to the charity.

Last week an amendment was submitted that would require 85% of the jobs be Florida jobs, but it failed miserably. It makes you wonder why this was seen as necessary by some.  Maybe it is becasue the language of the bill does not preclude the opportunity for a no-bid process.  There is no guarantee that the project will not be given away to some lucky company who will then own and operate the project. Right now an obvious contender would be the Korean Rail company who is currently building the Honam High-speed Railway and is scheduled for completion in 2014. Very much like the Solar Field in Desoto county where many of the people were brought in from out of state and the solar panels were made in the Philippines.  While I appreciate the effort towards renewable energy, it would have been really nice to have hired Floridians to work the entire project.  Now the project has done, most of the workers have flown back home.

Another issue of the bill is the huge amount of money that is slated for the project. The numbers were crunched at a time when properties were appraised at a higher value than they are now.  Since the value of the homes have gone down, so have the property taxes that will support this project.  In a time where everyone is hurting, it would be nice if this project was everything that they say it will be.

It looks like the bill has a good chance of passing tomorrow in the Florida House of Representatives and then it will move onto the Florida Senate.  My advice to everyone is to take a close look at the bill and start asking questions. If it is not the bill that is being promised, then you have a chance to make it better in the Senate.  Governor Crist has come out in support of this bill and he wants it to happen.  If this bill has legs in the Senate and we don't make sure that the necessary changes are made, then we might as well stay a home an lick our wounds....because Florida will be hitching a ride on a train since they won't be able to afford the ticket.

You can follow it here: HB-1B Transportation Bill

An Open Letter to Congress from U.S. Scientists on Climate Change and Recently Stolen Emails 1 Letter

It is apropos that just before the summit in Copenhagen, stolen email are leaked to the world concern the scientific evidence on climate change.  I thought it was something that needs to be addressed here. However instead of me giving my personal response, I thought it would be more appropriate for me to re-print the letter written by the scientists themselves.

It begins here:


As U.S. scientists with substantial expertise on climate change and its impacts on natural ecosystems, our built environment and human well-being, we want to assure policy makers and the public of the integrity of the underlying scientific research and the need for urgent action to reduce heat-trapping emissions. In the last few weeks, opponents of taking action on climate change have misrepresented both the content and the significance of stolen emails to obscure public understanding of climate science and the scientific process.
We would like to set the record straight.

The body of evidence that human activity is the dominant cause of global warming is overwhelming. The content of the stolen emails has no impact whatsoever on our overall understanding that human activity is driving dangerous levels of global warming. The scientific process depends on open access to methodology, data, and a rigorous peer-review process. The robust exchange of ideas in the peer-reviewed literature regarding climate science is evidence of the high degree of integrity in this process.

As the recent letter1 to Congress from 18 leading U.S. scientific organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical Union, and the American Meteorological Society, states: “Observations throughout the world make it clear that climate change is occurring, and rigorous scientific research demonstrates that the greenhouse gases emitted by human activities are the primary driver. These conclusions are based on multiple independent lines of evidence, and contrary assertions are inconsistent with an objective assessment of the vast body of peer-reviewed science. … If we are to avoid the most severe impacts of climate change, emissions of greenhouse gases must be dramatically reduced.”

These “multiple independent lines of evidence” are drawn from numerous public and private research centers all across the United States and beyond, including several independent analyses of surface temperature data. Even without including analyses from the UK research center from which the emails were stolen, the body of evidence underlying our understanding of human-caused global warming remains robust.  We urge you to take account of this as you make decisions on climate policy.

1 Letter to Congress on Climate Change from 18 Scientific Societies, October 21, 2009
www.aaas.org/go/climate_letter

Signed:
David Archer, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of the Geophysical Sciences
University of Chicago
Chicago, IL

William C. Clark, Ph.D.^
Harvey Brooks Professor of International
Science, Public Policy, and Human
Development
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA

Peter C. Frumhoff, Ph.D.
Director of Science and Policy
Chief Scientist, Climate Campaign
Union of Concerned Scientists
Cambridge, MA

Inez Fung, Ph.D.^
Professor of Atmospheric Science
Co-Director, Berkeley Institute of the
Environment
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA

** 25 scientists signed this letter.  To see the complete list and read the letter in it's true form, you can follow this link here: Scientists Statement