This kind of action was bound to happen, but it doesn’t make it any less disturbing. Incredibly, this is the message coming from the utility:

“We’re not anti-solar or anti-wind or trying to slow this down, we’re just trying to keep it fair,” Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. spokeswoman Kathleen O’Shea told the Oklahoman. “We’ve been studying this trend. We know it’s coming, and we want to get ahead of it.”

Instead of doing this, the utilities should be thanking solar and wind installers for adding energy to the grid, allowing the utility to manage peak demand (or growth in demand over time) without having to engage in the very difficult and costly prospect of constructing new power plants.

http://www.nationofchange.org/oklahoma-will-charge-customers-who-install-their-own-solar-panels-1397746449

Earth Day is April 22^nd… so we can enjoy a month (some are now referring to April as Earth Month) of better than usual coverage of things related to our environment. Great. Let’s see if the coverage is wider and deeper than in years past. Tonight, NBC is airing a Climate Change special report by Ann Curry at 7pm Eastern Time. Tomorrow, a nine episode series begins called Years of Living Dangerously, complete with a line up of Hollywood types. It will air on cable TV but it is also available on YouTube for free.

 In spite of the fact that scientists often cringe when the media oversimplifies and misreports subtleties, the gist of what programs like these present are essential to getting “people out there” to tune in to important issues. The days of coddling the population with limited information because, “people get depressed and feel hopeless” when they hear environmentalist doom and gloom are over—well it’s about time. It is past the time for all of us to face the need to move past fossil fuel use. It is time to toughen up and get busy.

Here is a trailer for the nine part series: http://yearsoflivingdangerously.com

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released a comprehensive report filled with critical information.  Sadly, two things will keep this report from being read by many. First, it is massive and very technical which will discourage many. Second, it continues the scientifically valid but practically self-destructive feature of reporting likely impacts over the 21^st century. Humans don’t often pay much attention to things that will impact them in twenty or fifty years… they just don’t.

 Yet many of us are feeling the effects now. Right now. No one can deny the extreme weather experienced globally recently. Climate change deniers say, this is normal and that swings in weather are the way it has always been—and they are right—swings in weather from year to year are perfectly normal. Other deniers say that with all of this cold weather “warming” is a joke. Well, once again: ocean warming causes climate changes, those changes are of all kinds: more cold, more heat, more rain, more drought—its about more extremes.

One part of the IPCC report is called, “Summary for Policymakers” but it too is long and technically dense. You can check it out here, and we hope that you will. http://ipcc-wg2.gov/AR5/

 Rather than being one that is caught by surprise and at the mercy of emergency response personnel, be one of those that has planned and adapted for the changes that are here and increasing. At the same time, take steps every day to minimize what is coming at us, by moving away from fossil fuel use, make an Energy Shift.

We’ve turned the clocks forward an hour so that daylight will extend longer into the evening. Coming are the days that motivate some of us to think about planting a vegetable garden.  Others leave the planting and the weeding to others but try to buy as much of their food from local farmers as they can. The vast majority of us get our food from far away places; and even those that like to buy local, turn over the location of where their food comes from every time they eat out. 

We’ve counseled you before on the concept of food-miles and the importance of looking for food choices that do not include a huge energy cost… whether that cost is due to miles traveled or fertilizers and pesticides used (all of which rely heavily on petroleum based products). Now there is another wrinkle to the story. The extended drought in the west has left thousands of acres unplanted in the California fields where most of the food that stocks grocery store shelves and restaurant kitchens comes from.

Climate change is here and it’s about time more of us began to think about adapting to the new conditions.  The long and exceptionally cold and snowy winter put a strain on heating fuels in some places; now we’ll see a strain on food supplies from the lack of crops being harvested in California. This won’t result in empty shelves, we can grow food in many locations, but can we adapt to this change quickly and without causing significant price increases? Probably not.

 What about all of the workers and businesses that are a part of the massive food production that typically occurs in California, are they supposed to just wait until the drought ends or are they supposed to move to other places where there has been plenty of precipitation? Where is that, what locations have the right combination of soil quality, temperature, and precipitation to allow for large scale ramping up of food production? Or will there be a large-scale growth in small food production? All are important questions.

 Take a look at this good illustration of the predicament we are in: http://www.motherjones.com/files/Final-Crop-Map_1.gif

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) released a report this month called, Wind Power’s Consumer Benefits. In it they report that consumers in the states that use the most wind energy are paying less for electricity than consumers in states that use less wind energy.

They report that the, “11 states that produce more than 7 percent of their electricity from wind energy have seen their electricity prices fall by 0.37 percent over the last 5 years, while all other states have seen their electricity prices increase by 7.79 percent over that time period.”

Even more notable, the Department of Energy’s Wind Technologies Market Report 2012 confirmed that the cost of wind energy had declined by 43 percent over the previous four years.

The report said that: 1) the capital cost to develop wind power declined, 2) the average cost to purchase electricity provided by wind fell 3) the productivity of wind turbines is increasing, and 4) 70% of the value of wind turbines installed in the U.S. now made in the USA”.

Read more here: http://awea.files.cms-plus.com/AWEA%20White%20Paper-Consumer%20Benefits%20final.pdf

Cabin Fever is setting in all over the place.  Freezing cold temperatures, repeated snow, ice and rain storms have kept us inside and working at sealing up the leaks in our homes to battle the consumption of fuel and/or money that this record setting heating season has given us. What does that have to do with houseplants? Houseplants are widely accepted as adding to the décor and good feeling in a room. In the late 1980’s NASA also discovered that certain houseplants were effective at cleaning indoor air.

Modern manufacturing processes result in the presence of benzene, formaldehyde, and trichloroethylene (as well as others, but these three are the primary ones) in the air in spaces where we live and work. All three of these chemicals are carcinogenic (cancer causing). The good news is that the “NASA Nineteen” plants are effective filters and capture these contaminants. You need a lot of plants to do this; they recommend at least one per 100 square feet of space to be “cleaned”. But as Energy Shift has said many times before, moving in the right direction, over time, is better than just sitting there doing nothing. So, start with one of the nineteen next to your bed, where you breathe in and out all night long. Add others to confined spaces such as bathrooms or other locations where you spend the most time, like near the computer. 

A variety of web sites will list the nineteen for you. One that we like because it provides photos and details is http://www.sustainablebabysteps.com/types-of-houseplants.html

But, we’d like to add an additional thought or two. Not only does our blissful ignorance of how damaging coal use continues to be on our health and well being, but this reveals part of the reason why power from coal is cheaper than renewable sources of power.

Duke Energy admits that this coal ash leak came from a coal ash pond at a power plant that has been closed for two years. Meaning, no steps had been taken (read money spent) to close out the pond. This left a disaster waiting to happen, and now it has.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/06/82000-tons-of-coal-sludge-spilling-for-days-into-nc-river-threatens-virginia-drinking-water/

The President’s State of the Union speech is tonight. In spite of the easing of the dire economic conditions we’ve experienced in the last few years, the rate of unemployment continues to be the thorn that just won’t stop causing pain across the country. Areas of growth are emerging that is beginning to make a dent in the backlog of un- and under-employed.

Prices for solar energy systems continue to drop, making it more affordable for more people. As a result, there were 143,000 solar industry jobs in the US as of November 2013, which is a %19.9 percent increase over the number of solar jobs at the same time the year before.

http://thesolarfoundation.org/research/national-solar-jobs-census-2013

It should come as no surprise that the U.S. is consuming fuel to heat homes and buildings at a furious pace this winter. In some mid western states governors have declared states of emergency due to the shortages of heating oil and propane. While some of the shortages are due more to logistics than consumption, terrible driving conditions due to weather slows down trucks delivering propane, demand is the elephant in the room.

Other reports attribute the tightened fuel supply to the extreme cold impacting operations. Oilprice.com reports,

“This arctic chill has forced natural gas and gasoline pipeline operators to reduce flow and refineries to scale back production, after some systems have started to fail under the extreme conditions. The instruments that control flow have failed, and some product has thickened or turned to jelly in some of the lines. Due to the reduced production and delivery, oil prices have risen for the second straight day, and natural gas prices are at a 17 month high.”

Back to the elephant in the room (demand). Reuters reported on January 21, 2014 that propane stocks in the U.S. are half what they were a year ago. Combine this information with the report from Boston.com that power utility companies are grabbing up natural gas to keep their electricity production going (driving up prices for natural gas and consuming a good portion of the available fuel) and you must ask yourself two questions.

1. Am I doing everything I can to reduce my demand for fuel to heat my living space?
2. Do I have a plan for how to pay for fuel* I use to stay warm?

* Do you have a plan for an alternative fuel if you experience delays or difficulty getting the fuel you normally use?

Power companies and electrical grid managers in various parts of the country appeal to the public to reduce energy consumption during record breaking stretch of energy use. Meanwhile, others claim that the frigid temperatures are proof that global warming is a hoax and that the term “polar vortex” is a fabrication to scare people.

 Actually, it doesn’t really matter what you believe about these things. There is more than one reason to move away from fossil use and embrace better products and practices. As we have been saying for many years now, making an energy shift is important if you:

1. Want to save money;

2. Are concerned about the health effects from the extraction of coal, oil and gas and the  

    by-products of their combustion;

3. Are concerned about national security; or

4. Are concerned about the well being of the planet.