How Energy Efficiency Can Repair VA's Economy

Mike Tidwell has an Op-Ed in the Richmond Times Dispatch today about how the efficiency bill introduced by Sen. McEachin is exactly the kind of jobs bill we need right now.

Repairing Virginia’s Economy

Gov. Robert F. McDonnell has been yelling it from the rooftops for months: The best way to repair Virginia’s ailing economy is to improve the state’s flawed energy policies.

He’s absolutely right, of course, and now he faces a test. With inauguration festivities over, a landmark energy bill awaits McDonnell in the General Assembly. It would create lots of new jobs and, potentially, build badly needed bipartisanship in Richmond.

The highlights: Senate Bill 71 would spur up to 10,000 new jobs and billions of dollars in new investments in a state where unemployment has doubled since 2007 and the budget deficit is a staggering $4 billion. This is not, however, an “offshore drilling” bill to promote oil platforms along the Virginia coast. Nor would it finance new coal-fired power plants and nuclear energy. Instead, it’s a straightforward energy efficiency bill. Using the same common-sense appeal to fiscal sanity that helped McDonnell get elected, SB 71 would promote energy efficiency across the state while saving money for Virginia families.

And the job-growth numbers are for real. Continue reading

Cash for Caulkers should use Energy Efficiency Loan Fund Model

Back in September, I wrote about the the power of energy efficiency loan funds, and how they could be utilized by local and state governments to eliminate the barrier of upfront financing for energy efficiency improvements which often prevents them from happening. When my student group UMD for Clean Energy was involved in our local city council elections this past fall, the priority policy of our platform was a low-interest energy efficiency loan fund. We managed to elevate this to being an important issue in the elections, and our city council has made it a priority to push for tweaking a state law that would allow municipalities in Maryland to undertake this kind of a program.

Last week, President Obama announced that as part of his new jobs bill, a cash for caulkers program that puts people back to work by weatherizing houses, will be a key part of the legislation. However, as Dave Roberts notes a Grist, right now “public statements from the administration have focused almost entirely on cash rebates, which would pay back homeowners up to half the cost of various retrofit investments. There’s a way to get far more bang for federal bucks, though, and it has to do with financing” Continue reading

Sales Tax Holiday on Energy Efficient Products (this Fri-Mon)

This weekend marks Virginia’s annual sales tax holiday on energy efficient products — items like Energy Star dishwashers, clothes washers, refrigerators, air conditioners, ceiling fans, compact fluorescent light bulbs, programmable thermostats, or Water Sense rated faucets and toilets. So if you’ve been thinking about making a purchase, this weekend is the time to do it.

More on the sales tax holiday

New Rebates for Efficiency Products
A number of new rebates for energy efficient products will also be available as part of the stimulus package –rebates on items such as insulation, window replacements, water heaters and more. In Virginia, homeowners will be eligible for rebates for 20% of the costs of eligible products (up to $2,000), and commercial consumers will be eligible for 20% of their costs (up to $4,000). The rebates will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

More on the Rebates

Becoming more energy efficient is a great way to lessen your home’s impact on the environment, save money, and to reduce the need for new power plants or transmission lines in the future.

Wise County Plant Isn't Necessary: Richmond Times Dispatch LTE

This LTE was published in the Richmond Times Dispatch

Wise County Plant Isn’t Necessary

Editor, Times-Dispatch: Although the news article, “New Permit for Coal-Fired Power Plant Pleases Both Sides,” quotes Dominion Virginia Power as claiming that the Wise County coal plant is vital to meeting Virginia’s future energy needs, the opposite is true.

An independent study found that Virginia can keep energy use flat over the next 15 years simply by investing in cost-effective and existing energy-efficiency technologies. We can avoid constructing any new generation facilities just by weatherizing homes, upgrading heating and cooling systems in office buildings, and updating lighting in factories. These same technologies would bring 10,000 new jobs to the commonwealth, while the costs associated with the coal plant would actually force the Virginia economy to contract by move than 1,400 jobs (a conservative estimate given pending climate legislation).

Dominion’s claim that its coal plant will help the economic wellbeing of Southwest Virginia also misses the mark. Our reliance on coal allows for the devastating practice of mountaintop removal coal mining, which is ravaging Southwest Virginia. Tops are ripped off mountains, streams are blocked by waste, and then the coal is transported out of the community, suffocating people with the toxic dust that blows off coal trucks.

The alternatives to coal are real. The new energy future broke ground in Virginia last month when construction began on our very first wind farm in Highland County. This project makes Virginia a leader in the region and marks the beginning of a bright future for the commonwealth. Virginia has incredible renewable energy potential — our offshore wind potential is the highest in the South. When coupled with efficiency improvements, it is clear that coal plants could be a thing of the past.

Lauren Glickman, Virginia Campaign Coordinator, Chesapeake Climate Action Network.

UMD for Clean Energy Pushes Green Platform for City Council Elections

Cross-Posted from: here

UMD(University of Maryland) for Clean Energy is the student group I’m campaign director of. I recently made a post about our position statement we delivered to Senator Ben Cardin’s office, which showed up in the Washington Post Maryland blog(scroll to bottom). Beyond weighing in on Federal legislation, we’re taking advantage of an incredible opportunity to influence College Park policy in the upcoming elections this November, the city our school resides in. We think the transition to a clean energy economy and more sustainable society needs to come from not just from the top down, but the bottom up starting in our communities. We’re going to do our best to make that a reality in ours. Continue reading

Green Stimulus for your Local Govt

cross posted from HERE
A couple weeks ago, I had an idea for how to alleviate poverty, crime, and bring green jobs to College Park/Prince Georges County. A figured it would be good to highlight an opportunity in this column to actually acquire the funding for some of my suggestions. Additionally, I actually had to do some investigating to figure out who was doing what. My sources are posted below my article.

Green jobs and government grants: Get what’s yours

Matt Dernoga

Issue date: 4/21/09

A couple weeks ago, I wrote a column suggesting a few measures by which Prince George’s County and local cities could invest in job-creating green initiatives. This would help alleviate poverty and reduce crime. Local governments everywhere have faced gigantic budget deficits and big spending cuts. Good ideas are nothing without a bag of cash, and I’ve got the treasure map for you.

The economic stimulus package appropriated $3.2 billion for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program. This money is being allocated to states, counties, cities, Native American tribes and U.S. territories based on population size and energy usage for state and local governments. The rule for the money is it must assist in the implementation of strategies to reduce fossil fuel emissions and total energy use and improve energy efficiency. Prince George’s County is eligible for $6.6 million. College Park can grab $133,700.

The catch is the money isn’t just handed out to local governments. They have a certain amount earmarked and available to them, but they need to apply for grants detailing how they’ll use the money. Only then are they awarded the funds. In other words, someone in the government needs to know the money is there and go after it. If they don’t submit a formula grant proposal by June 25, good-bye free cash.

Fortunately, both Prince George’s County and College Park are aware of the opportunities the EECBG Program provides. The county has applied for seven grants and is considering three more. The assistant city manager is going to present a recommendation for a grant to the College Park City Council on May 5. I encourage students and residents to submit their ideas to their county and city representatives. It would be more productive than throwing a Tax Day tea party.

There’s going to be even more money available than the figures I listed above. The state has received $9.6 million from the EECBG Program. Up to 40 percent of that money could soon be made available to all counties and cities in the state to apply for with competitive grants. The other 60 percent is available to small towns with low populations, like Edmonston and Hyattsville, which didn’t get any money earmarked specifically for them. County and city governments should coordinate to get as much money as possible.

The county is working on a plan to build a solar farm at the county landfill with Pepco. This would create jobs and make the county a leader in renewable energy, but it needs money. Or consider energy-efficient overhauls of buildings, free residential and commercial energy audits, energy efficient traffic signals and street lighting and low-interest revolving door loan funds to low-income energy users for efficiency improvements.

The wish list goes on, and the money is sitting there alongside a more prosperous and sustainable future. Regardless of how you feel about the federal government’s spending, here is a case where money is available to benefit ordinary people on Main Street, not Wall Street. Go after it! X marks the spot.

Matt Dernoga is a junior government and politics major whose father serves on the Prince George’s County Council. He can be reached at mdernoga@umd.edu

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http://www.eecbg.energy.gov/
http://www.eecbg.energy.gov/grantalloc.html

Miles to Go Before We Sleep….

va state house

First I want to offer my sincere CONGRATULATIONS to my colleagues and neighbors working in Maryland. Maryland is clearly leading the way and setting the example for what other states can be doing in the absence of federal climate legislation.

I’d like however to focus on Virginia, which by stark contrast is anything but a leader on this issue. As many may be aware, the Virginia General Assembly reconvened for it’s one day veto session last week. The only real way to sum up the results of that one day session is with one word… disappointing.

We had a real opportunity to move Virginia towards the a clean energy future that is already available and affordable, it just needed a little legislative help. Some of you may have followed me on twitter last week giving the play by play of what went down and I decided to sit and think on it over the weekend before voicing my complete disappointment in our elected officials.

There are some champions to be highlighted and thanked before I go on:

Senator Donald McEachin- introduced a comprehensive piece of legislation on energy efficiency that would have saved consumers money on the electricity bills in the long run and created 10,000 plus jobs for the commonwealth and contained a strong mandatory target. (SB 1447)

Senator Mark Herring- introduced key components of the above bill (a mandatory 19% Efficiency goal for utilities) (SB 1440)

Delegate Albert Pollard- introduced a bill that would give utilities the same rate of return for investments in efficiency that they currently see for investments in coal. This bill passed and is an important step towards a clean energy economy but it is just the first step.

Senator Chap Petersen- introduced bills with strong targets on efficiency. Senator Petersen was also a vocal champion for moving Virginia forward and embracing a clean energy future.

Governor Tim Kaine- yeah that’s right, Governor Kaine endorsed legislation that contained mandatory efficiency targets at the beginning of the session and amended the weakened bills that came out of the session to include a 19% efficiency target.

These are the five BIG thank yous I feel I have to give before moving on to lastweek’s veto session.

Unfortunately, none of the legislation was able to make it out of the General Assembly with a mandatory efficiency standard. Utilities, like Dominion were able to make that a scary idea, because according to them it’s impossible to control the behavior of rate payers, despite the fact that mandatory efficiency measures have been successful in other states like California and Vermont (note that Vermont is a mostly rural state with mountains). But Governor Kaine stepped in and amended the legislation that passed to include a 19% target. This is far from where we started at the beginning of the session but still would have been a step forward, and would have put us a better place to start next legislative session. In my eyes this was the least we could do this session and claim victory.

Well, we couldn’t do that.

We were unable to pass a voluntary efficiency standard! It passed in the Senate with a close vote but I will briefly thank the senators that voted for the amendment. Barker, Colgan, Deeds, Edwards, Herring, Houck, Howell, Locke, Lucas, Marsh, McEachin, Miller, J.C., Miller, Y.B., Northam, Petersen, Puckett, Puller, Reynolds, Saslaw, Ticer, Vogel, and Whipple all voted in support of the goal so thank you!

Then we went to the House. Delegate Pollard stood up and endorsed the Governor’s amendments to SB 1248 and was immediately countered by Delegate Hogan. Delegate Hogan that made false accusations in regards to the target, the most egregious being that Virginia already has a voluntary efficiency standard of 12% that we are not meeting so why set the bar higher. This is utterly absurd but stood uncontested. Virginia does not have a voluntary energy efficiency standard of any kind! We do however have a voluntary Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) of 12% but this is COMPLETELY different! I was shocked that no one contested this. He also threatened that efficiency is going to raise rates for consumers period. No mention of the fact that our current course will also raise rates and in fact will raise rates far more than efficiency. Delegate Pollard brought that issue up, but Hogan’s damage was done. The votes fluctuated a bit but ultimately the Gov’s amendments were defeated by 3 votes. 47-50 with 3 people abstaining. I’ve heard a lot of discussion that the ultimate demise was the result of a partisan battle in the House that was beyond our control. I find that hard to accept when I examined the vote count. There were Republicans voting for the amendments as well as Democrats voting against. Maybe it was a case of partisan politics I’ll list the vote count below and you can decide. The one thing I ask is if your Delegate voted against this simple amendment please give them a call and voice your disappointment that we were enable to push our cheapest fuel source here in Virignia…. Energy Efficiency.

It’s great that we got close, but we’ve certainly got our work cut out for us in Virginia next session.

The House Vote Count:

YEAS–Alexander, Amundson, Armstrong, Athey, BaCote, Barlow, Bouchard, Brink, Bulova, Caputo, Dance, Ebbin, Eisenberg, Englin, Frederick, Hall, Herring, Howell, A.T., Hull, Lewis, Lingamfelter, Marsden, Marshall, R.G., Mathieson, McClellan, McQuinn, Melvin, Miller, P.J., Morrissey, Nichols, Plum, Poisson, Pollard, Rust, Scott, E.T., Scott, J.M., Shannon, Shuler, Sickles, Spruill, Toscano, Tyler, Valentine, Vanderhye, Ward, Ware, O., Watts–47.

NAYS–Abbitt, Albo, Bell, Bowling, Byron, Carrico, Cline, Cole, Cosgrove, Cox, Crockett-Stark, Fralin, Gilbert, Griffith, Hamilton, Hargrove, Hogan, Hugo, Iaquinto, Ingram, Janis, Joannou, Johnson, Jones, Kilgore, Knight, Landes, Lohr, Loupassi, Massie, May, Merricks, Miller, J.H., Morgan, Nixon, Nutter, O’Bannon, Oder, Orrock, Peace, Phillips, Pogge, Poindexter, Purkey, Putney, Saxman, Sherwood, Ware, R.L., Wright, Mr. Speaker–50.

ABSTENTIONS–0.

NOT VOTING–Gear, Marshall, D.W., Tata–3.

Virginia General Assembly defeats energy efficiency measures

As you saw if you tuned in to Lauren’s detailed twitter feed last night, the Virginia House of Delegates killed the Governor’s amendment to SB 1248 which would have re-instated a voluntary target for reducing Virginia’s energy use 19% by 2025 through energy efficiency measures. The vote was close: 47 in favor, 50 against. The amendment squeaked by in the Senate by a vote of 22-18.

In the other energy efficiency bill that landed on the Governor’s desk, Delegate Pollard’s bill HB2506, the General Assembly passed the Governor’s amendments which removed a bad portion of the bill giving authority to the Attorney General’s office to study energy efficiency programs implemented by the utilities and added a positive addition to require the SCC to consider energy efficiency and environmental protection when reviewing applications from small-scale industrial facilities for opting out of energy efficiency programs. The original language only looked at economic development as the sole point for opt out consideration. This bill passed the Senate 23-17 and the House 47-44.

Just to put things in perspective: Virginia currently ranks 45th in the country in percentage of utility revenues spent on efficiency – a total of just $84,000 statewide in 2006. In comparison, utilities in Alabama and Mississippi spent more than $400,000, and North Carolina energy providers spent $3.8 million.The bills passed this session do help move efficiency measures closer to being on a level playing field with new generation like coal-fired power plants. But the completely fail to set even a voluntary target, which is necessary to counter subsidies in Virginia for coal power.

It’s very unfortunate that the target was defeated but at least we now have some form of energy efficiency on the books. This gives us a foundation to work from next year to push even harder for stronger language. And the votes were close, which just goes to show that a statewide mobilization of grassroots efforts can be effective here in Virginia.

Press release here.

More detailed analysis coming soon.

The VA efficiency bill is about to pass in the General Assembly!

Efficiency was a hot issue this past General Assembly session. The bills that passed were short of our goals, but in a midnight amendment, Governor Kaine added efficiency targets, which gives us tangible goals to work towards and sets precedent for passing a mandatory standard next session.

The General Assembly reconvenes today to vote on all the amendments put forth by the governor. Stay tuned here to get the up-to-the-tweet updates from Richmond.

People talking about the Virginia Efficiency bill on Twitter

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Who Says Efficiency isn't Sexy?

Check out this awesome video about energy efficiency set to MIA’s “Paper Planes.”

Want to see some sexy efficiency at Mike Tidwell’s Takoma Park home? Register for the next Clean Energy Open House on April 18.

Clean Energy Open House
Come see solar panels! View electric, biodiesel, and hybrid cars firsthand! Eat solar-baked cookies and barbecued veggie burgers from a grill that burns corn kernels! Learn how to landscape your yard with native plants! Buy wind power certificates and energy-saving light bulbs! Test drive a tofu-powered lawn mower! And more! Sponsored by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and Chesapeake Native Nursery. Free admission to all ages.
Register now>>