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EIA has released 12 new State Rankings pages that display charts and maps

EIA has released 12 new State Rankings pages that display charts and maps ordered by data value.  The rankings cover energy production, consumption, and price, as well as carbon dioxide emissions from electric power plants, as follows:

Total Energy Production

Crude Oil Production

Natural Gas Marketed Production

Coal Production

Total Net Electricity Generation

Carbon Dioxide Emissions by Electric Power Producers

Total Energy Per Capita

No. 2 Heating Oil Residential Prices

Motor Gasoline Retail Prices

No. 2 Diesel Fuel Retail Prices

Natural Gas Residential Prices

Electricity Residential Prices

State rankings here

Experts Look For Ways to Save Lake Chad

The Food and Agriculture Organization held a special event Friday to raise awareness and mobilize funds to save Lake Chad, which was once one of the world’s largest fresh water lakes. The United Nations organization says a humanitarian disaster looms due to the shrinking of the lake and this must be urgently addressed.

Lake Chad, which is bordered by four African nations: Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria and Chad, was once one of the world’s largest. But a combination of climate change, drought and bad use of resources, have shrunk the basin by 90 percent in the past four decades.

The drying up of the lake has not only caused an ecological catastrophe but a humanitarian one looms as well. The director for the Land and Water division at FAO, Parviz Koohafkan, says there are enormous consequences for the populations who live in the lake region.

“Between 20 and 30 million people are affected, especially from the point of view of food security,” said Parviz Koohafkan. “They are the poorest of the poor and they are most insecure in terms of food and nutrition.”

He says something must be done urgently to reverse the tragic disappearance of Lake Chad if the livelihoods of this vast area are to be safeguarded. He explains some of the steps that need to be taken.

“Helping the local communities to better use resources, through participatory approach, through development, through capacity building, through helping them in coping with water scarcity, with land degradation, development projects but particularly in investment,” he said.

One project being considered at the moment is the transfer of water from the Lake Congo basin to the Lake Chad basin. The minister of Energy and Water in Congo, Jean Richard Itoua, says this is an option that needs to be carefully examined.

“We need to do this feasibility study; we need also an impact study to be sure that the consequences of transferring water will not be bigger than the solution we’re trying to bring to Lake Chad,” Itoua said.

Experts say it is urgent to address the problem because at the current rate, Lake Chad could dry up and disappear in 20 years.

U.S. EPA to spend more than $50 Million to address DDT, PCBs off Southern California Coast

Agency selects cleanup remedy for Palos Verdes Shelf Superfund

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has selected a cleanup strategy for the Palos Verdes Shelf Superfund Site, where a large area on the ocean floor off the Palos Verdes peninsula is contaminated with DDT and PCBs. 

The site, off the coast of Los Angeles , stretches from Point Fermin in the southeast to Redondo Canyon in the northwest, a distance of about 9 miles.

“Signing this interim cleanup plan is a major milestone that puts the Palos Verdes Shelf Superfund Site on the road to remediation,” said Keith Takata, Superfund director for the EPA’s Pacific Southwest region. “The EPA will spend more than $50 million to cap the most contaminated sediment on the shelf, as well as continue the highly effective public outreach program to protect at-risk populations from consuming contaminated fish.”       

The EPA plans to cover the most contaminated sediment with a layer of clean material and strengthen the existing public outreach and education program, monitoring, and enforcement.  Further site studies will also be done to determine if additional cleanup is needed in the future. 

The contaminated sediment at the site is too deep for direct human contact, but fish in the area contain levels of DDT and PCBs that pose risks to people and wildlife.  The cleanup strategy is expected to reduce DDT and PCB concentrations in fish by reducing the concentration of chemicals in the sediment. 

The EPA has established a Fish Contamination Education Collaborative, which includes community-based organizations, to reach out to the public and educate anglers and ethnic communities about the potential dangers in consuming contaminated fish, and how to minimize the danger. The collaborative also carries out enforcement at fish markets, particularly in ethnic neighborhoods. 

 From the 1950’s through 1971, waste from the Montrose Chemical Corp. and PCBs from other industrial sources were discharged into the Los Angeles sanitation system and onto the Palos Verdes Shelf.  Montrose Chemical Corp. was the world’s largest manufacturer of DDT and it is estimated that the Palos Verdes Shelf contains 110 tons of DDT and 10 tons of PCBs.

 In 1989, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act natural resource trustees determined that DDT and PCB contamination of the marine environment off the southern California coast, including the Palos Verdes Shelf, could result in significant damage to natural resources.  In June 1990, the United States and the state of California filed suit on behalf of federal and state natural resource trustees as well as EPA and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control. Litigation concluded in 2000, with $136,000,000 from the settlements being set aside to pay for restoration and remediation.

For more information, please visit: www.epa.gov/region09/superfund/pvshelf.

Joint U.S.-China Building Efficiency Planned

BEIJING, CHINA – After touring the “America House,” a U.S. designed demonstration of cutting edge “zero energy” building technology, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced a new agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Chinese Ministry of Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD) to foster collaboration and partnership in the development of improved, more efficient building designs as well as sustainable communities that rely on greater use of renewable energy.

“Making buildings more efficient represents one of the greatest, and most immediate opportunities we have to create jobs, save money, save energy and reduce carbon pollution,” said Secretary Chu.  “Our goal should be buildings that are 80 percent more efficient.  Doing so will save families money and create millions of jobs in both countries.”

Under the agreement, the United States and China will exchange experts and technicians to learn from each other’s experiences with efficient building technologies, including: high-performance HVAC, insulation, lighting, cold storage, geothermal heat pumps, building-integrated photovoltaics and solar thermal systems.

The United States and China will jointly conduct analyses of lessons learned from international experience with energy-efficient buildings and communities. They will examine options for policy incentives or regulatory reform to encourage energy-efficient development in China.

The two nations will also explore the feasibility of a joint project in China to demonstrate green buildings, building energy savings and renewable energy technologies. The U.S. Government will provide support for MOHURD’s ”eco-cities” initiative, which aims to build integrated green cities that are sustainably designed, use renewable power and have efficient and modern transportation systems. The two nations will collaborate on the development of standards and guidelines for eco-cities.

In the United States, 75 percent of all electricity generated at power plants is used to operate buildings. China is expected to build the equivalent of the entire U.S. building stock in the next 15 years. Nearly half the new floor space built in the world every year is built in China.

Buildings use around 40 percent of energy globally and account for nearly half of greenhouse gas emissions. But at least 30 percent of emissions from the building sector could be eliminated at no net cost by simply upgrading old buildings and using modern equipment in new buildings.

With this announcement, the U.S. and China recognize that improving energy efficiency in buildings will benefit both nations, and that by working together they can accelerate the adoption of new clean energy technologies.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) on energy-efficient buildings and communities was signed yesterday on behalf of the United States by David B. Sandalow, Assistant Secretary of Policy and International Affairs at the Department of Energy, and on behalf of China by Qiu Baoxing, Vice Minister of MOHURD.

A fact sheet on America House follows below:
—
AMERICA HOUSE

In 2003, China’s Ministry of Construction authorized the construction of ten demonstration homes (the “Future House Community”) that integrate renewable energy, energy conservation technologies, environmental compatibility, and pollution reduction in their design. Each of the homes was built by a different country, and includes homes from: Britain, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and the United States. The community is expected to be open spring 2008 through 2014.

The America House got its start as a DOE/National Renewable Energy Laboratory-sponsored Solar Decathlon project. The winning team from Florida International University originally constructed an 800 square foot mobile home, powered exclusively by solar energy that was showcased on the national mall in 2005.

America House is a zero-energy building that will send power back to the grid once regulatory approval is granted. The House is constantly monitored from the campus of Florida International University.

The interior of the house is 3,200 square feet, excluding the garage, and includes the following:

• Flooring made of bamboo, cork and recycled tile and/or carpeting
• Structurally Insulated Panels (SIPs) made from foam are used inside the walls and ceiling that will cut energy consumption for heating and cooling by up to 50% 
• Solar panels on the back roof
• Geothermal heat pumps to reduce heating and cooling
• Wastewater recycling system

The industrial sponsors for America House include companies such as Whirlpool, Climate Master, and Bio-Microbics.

The first phase of the Future House Community includes the ten residential homes on 16.5 acres with 32,808 square feet of construction. The second phase will expand the project to ten cities and 30 green community projects over six years with 300,000 houses or buildings in which 1 million people will reside.

Interior Withdraws Plan for Oregon Forests, Presses For Sustainable Timber Harvests

 Because the previous Administration failed to follow established administrative procedure before leaving office, its plan to intensify logging in western Oregon – known as the Western Oregon Plan Revisions (WOPR) – is legally indefensible and must be withdrawn, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said today.

Moreover, Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks Thomas Strickland said that the federal government will ask the District Court to vacate the Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2008 revision of the critical habitat for the spotted owl, on which the WOPR was in part based, because Interior’s Inspector General determined that the decisionmaking process for the owl’s recovery plan was potentially jeopardized by improper political influence.

To help protect jobs and timber infrastructure in the region, Salazar directed the Bureau of Land Management-in coordination with the Fish and Wildlife Service-to identify ecologically sound timber sales under the Northwest Forest Plan that can get wood to the mills over the coming months. With the withdrawal of the WOPR, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) forests in western Oregon will again be managed under the Northwest Forest Plan, which guided BLM timber sales from 1994 until December 2008.

Department of Interior press release:  http://www.doi.gov/news/09_News_Releases/071609b.html

Recovery Act Announcement: DOE Announces Recovery Act Funding of up to $85 million for Algal and Advanced Biofuels

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the availability of up to $85 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for the development of algae-based biofuels and advanced, infrastructure-compatible biofuels. DOE is seeking to bring together leading scientists and engineers from universities, private industry, and government to develop new methods to bring new biofuels to market in an accelerated timeframe.

The partnerships will enable cross-fertilization between multiple disciplines and provide the breadth of expertise necessary to develop new technologies advanced biofuels that can be used in today’s fueling infrastructure such as green aviation fuels, green gasoline, and green diesel‬‪ from a variety of biomass feedstocks. Partnerships may include leading scientists and engineers from universities, private industry, and government, and engage end users and other field experts such as utility specialists and aquaculturists. Effective collaborations will target an accelerated timeframe to bring new biofuels to market.

DOE expects to select two to three partnerships and fund projects over three years. Today’s Funding Opportunity Announcement targets two crucial areas: 

• Algal Biofuels R&D – The primary objective of this topic area is to develop cost-effective algae-based biofuels that are competitive with traditional petroleum-based fuels.
• Advanced, Infrastructure-Compatible Biofuels R&D is focused on enabling cost-effective conversion of biomass to advanced biofuels other than cellulosic ethanol, with particular focus on bio-based hydrocarbon fuels such as green gasoline and green diesel. Such fuels could be transported and sold using today’s existing fueling infrastructure.

The FOA is available at FedConnect, and can be found by searching for Reference Number DE-FOA-0000123.

For details on this and other U.S. Department of Energy projects funded by the Recovery Act, visit the U.S. Department of Energy’s Recovery and Reinvestment Web site. To learn more about biomass and biofuels R&D, visit the DOE Biomass Program Web site.

EPA fugitive arrested in Mexico

(Chicago – July 17, 2009)  Robert Wainwright, a fugitive wanted in Indiana for allegedly polluting wetlands, was arrested July 14 in Mexico by U.S. Marshals and ATF Agents working with Mexican police.  Wainwright, who was convicted of federal firearms violations is being extradited back to the United States and will arrive in Indianapolis on Saturday, July 18.

Wainwright is one of 21 fugitives listed on EPA’s fugitive Web site http://www.epa.gov/fugitives. His arrest resulted from two anonymous tips from people who saw Wainwright on the Web site, contacted EPA’s tip line and EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division Chicago area office.  EPA then contacted federal law enforcement officials in Mexico, who worked with the Mexican police to make the arrest.

Wainwright was manager of Sterling Material Services in Lake County, Ind. The company, which separated metal from slag and brick waste from steel mills, allegedly disposed of waste in an adjacent wetland without a permit. The Northern Indiana Environmental Crimes Task Force, CID and ATF agents conducted a search warrant at the site and a follow-on consent-search at Wainwright’s residence, where they discovered firearms and ammunition. Since Wainwright had a prior felony conviction, his possession of the munitions was illegal.

On Aug. 1, 2007, Wainwright was indicted on a felony firearms charge. He was convicted by a federal jury in the Northern District of Indiana. He also was charged by the Superior Court of Lake County for discharging a pollutant into the waters of Indiana.

While awaiting sentencing on the federal munitions charges, he fled to Mexico. He faces sentencing on those charges, as well as trial for the alleged environmental violation, after he is returned to Indiana.

Groups Say G8’s Green Commitments Fail Africa

G-8 leaders in Italy pledged to cut global emissions 50 percent by 2050. But advocacy organizations say that the commitment is much too weak and too vague for sub-Saharan Africa, which is already facing serious challenges due to a changing climate.

The advocacy groups say that the 2050 deadline set by the G-8 leaders is much too far away to address the serious issues arising from changing global temperatures.

Tom Sharman, head of climate change policy at the international development organization “ActionAid,” claims African nations need an immediate commitment from industrialized nations both to cut their emissions by 2020 and to provide emergency funds to help affected countries respond to climate-related disasters.

“What the G-8 and the major economies forum agreed [to] was only to talk about the targets for 2050, which is a long way off and probably hardly any G-8 leaders will be alive at that date,” he said. “What they really needed to do was talk about the 2020 target and how much money they’re going to put on the table – and they failed to do either.”

One of the criticisms of the G-8 pledge is its vague wording regarding the base year for determining the agreed upon emissions cut. The statement declared the 2050 emission levels were to be “compared to 1990 or later years,” leaving what critics suggest is a wide open door for G-8 leaders to hedge on the actual specifics of the pledge.

George Malakwen, the assistant director at the “Eastern Africa Environmental Network,” says that those regions that have had least to do with the shifting climate are now the ones suffering the most from its consequences. As an example he points out this year’s severe drought in East Africa.

“Although [the] eastern Africa region has not been part of the industrialized world, and is not still, yet it is actually bearing the greatest brunt of climate change,” said Malakwen. “Many people are dying because of hunger; crops are failing; livestock are dying – even the wildlife, which is actually one of the backbones of the economy in terms of tourism.”

A recent report by development organization “Oxfam International” links the current hunger crisis being experienced across the region to the shifting climate trends. The report predicts that changing seasons and prolonged droughts could dramatically decrease the yield of maize crops, the staple food of a quarter billion East Africans.

Recent studies also show that changes in climate may severely disrupt the livelihoods of the pastoralist herders in the region.

Sharman predicts that the people of sub-Saharan Africa will not be impressed by the pledges they have received from the G-8 leaders.

“I think if they see what the G-8 have said, they will be extremely disappointed and once again feel that the G-8 leaders are not really understanding Africa’s problem, particularly in the case of climate change where Africa is one of the continents that stands to be hit first and hardest by climate change and yet has done least to contribute to the problem,” he said.

According to the “International Governmental Panel on Climate Change,” emissions from industrialized nations must be cut 25 to 40 percent by 2020 to avoid global climate-related disasters.

In reviewing the G-8 Summit this week, U.S. President Barack Obama said discussions on climate change had improved chances for further negotitaions later this year. He said the discussions had been “candid and spirited.”

Massachusetts Ocean Plan Outlines Areas for Wind Energy Development

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick announced the first-in-the-nation plan to manage development of the state’s coastal waters. The Massachusetts Department of Energy and Environmental Affairs released the Massachusetts Draft Ocean Energy Plan at the end of June after more than 100 public meetings and what Department Secretary Ian Bowles called more than a year of stakeholder input. The plan was developed with the assistance of the Ocean Science Advisory Council consisting of nine scientists with expertise in ocean sciences and data management.

Proposals for large-scale energy infrastructure projects-including wind, ocean wave, and liquid natural gas terminals-and the accompanying public reaction had prompted the state to develop the plan.

In May 2008, the Mass. Legislature passed the 2008 Ocean Act, which called for the state to develop the plan. That legislation encourages development of appropriately scaled renewable energy systems in state waters, except for the Cape Cod Ocean Sanctuary offshore from the Cape Cod National Seashore.

The Mass. Draft Ocean Energy Plan restricts development in what it calls ocean sanctuaries, which comprise all of the southern shores from Cape Cod to the Rhode Island border and the northern coast from Massachusetts Bay, where Boston is located, to the New Hampshire border. Thus, only 25% of the state’s offshore waters are open to development commercial wind power plants. For details, view a map of the Massachusetts Ocean Management Planning Area and Ocean Area Sanctuaries (PDF 889 KB).

In a radio interview on July 1, Ian Bowles said that the proposal for the Buzzard’s Bay commercial wind power plant would not be able to move forward as proposed because would be located between the shore and Martha’s Vineyard inside the Cape & Islands Ocean Sanctuary.

However, Bowles said that another, much smaller wind farm consisting of about three turbines proposed by the town of Hull would be able to proceed under the guidelines because the town had given its approval. In fact, Hull already has a wind turbine (rated at 660 kilowatts, which is less than one-quarter of the rated capacity of large, off-shore wind turbines) that the town installed with help from the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources in the 1990s. You can read a case study about the project titled Wind Power on the Community Scale (PDF 715 KB).

Bowles predicts that other states and the federal government will follow the precedent set by Massachusetts in setting guidelines to encourage off-shore infrastructure development. He pointed out that the Obama administration had initiated a similar process two weeks earlier to set guidelines for energy development in federal waters, and California has carried out a number of environmental protection studies for offshore areas. Massachusetts takes the studies a step further and outlines a zoning process that large-scale energy infrastructure developers can use to move projects forward in the state.

Primate Study: Eating Less Extends Lifespan

A 20-year study of monkeys has found that cutting calories by almost a third slowed their aging and fended off death. The study suggests that a similar diet might work in humans.  

Since the 1930s, researchers have conducted studies to try to understand an intriguing finding – why mice that eat a calorie-restricted, but healthy diet live longer than rodents that consume a normal diet.   

Now, in the largest, most highly controlled study to date, researchers at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center have confirmed that monkeys that eat a calorie-restricted, well-balanced diet live longer, healthier lives than animals on unrestricted diets.

It is the first time that the anti-aging effects of calorie restriction have been seen in a non-human primate – rhesus monkeys.  

Researcher Richard Weindruch with the Geriatric Research Education Clinical Center at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Madison explains.

“Our data show that there’s about a three-fold higher risk of developing a disease of aging in those animals fed the normal diet as opposed to those that have been on caloric restriction since they were adults,” said Richard Weindruch.

Age-related diseases among monkeys that were allowed to eat anything they wanted included cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, shortening their lifespans.  The incidence of some of these diseases was cut almost in half for monkeys on a restricted diet.

The study, which began in 1989, followed an initial group of 30 adult primates and was expanded in 1994 to include another 46 mature rhesus macaques.

An article on the work is published in the journal Science.

Weindruch says the primate study will continue to see how long the monkeys live eating fewer calories.

So far, 37 percent of the monkeys that kept their regular diet have died of age-related diseases, compared to only 13 percent for monkeys that ate one-third fewer calories.  A few monkeys died of unrelated conditions, such as injury.

Weindruch says researchers do not know why calorie restriction increases life span, but they think there is a beneficial shift in the way the body processes energy in the monkeys that eat fewer calories.  

Weindruch says the research shows that not only is life extended in the calorie-restricted monkeys, but their quality of life also is improved, with a delay in muscle loss and brain shrinkage that can lead to dementia.  

“The upshot is that now we know that the health benefits of caloric restriction and its ability to oppose the aging process extends into primates that now allow us to probe mechanisms of aging that have relevance to humans,” he said.

The difference in the appearance of calorie-restricted monkeys and those on a normal diet is striking.  Primates that ate fewer calories look younger and healthier than fatter, frumpier monkeys on an unrestricted diet.

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