|
Genius Grant recipient and green inventor Saul Griffith says GHG reduction technology is just the tip of the iceberg
 Everybody wears many hats in their lives. But few can say that all their professional hats are as key to addressing the state of our planet as mechanical engineer, entrepreneur and inventor of energy-efficient technologies Saul Griffith. Honored with several awards and grants including the 2007 MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant," Griffith may be best known for winning Time Magazine’s "Top Inventions of 2005" for his smart electronic rope, a device that can sense the weight of the load being held and adjusts its energy output to the weight. A Ph.D. graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Griffith has a prestigious track record as the co-founder of several successful start-up companies (Makani Power, HowToons, Instructables, OptiOpia, Potenco, MonkeyLectric, and Squid Labs, to name a few). In 2008, Griffith co-founded WattzOn, a personal online energy audit tool that helps people understand and track their energy consumption. And that is just his latest passion. Griffith contends that the reduction of personal energy consumption at home and at work will provide some of the most important and practical solutions for addressing climate change. It’s a powerful testament from a man who has conducted extensive research on materials that assemble themselves in nature and how the properties that allow for self-assembly can be utilized to create energy-efficient solutions. Below he discusses the role of technology in GHG reductions, energy efficiency in its truest sense and the importance of deploying what energy solutions we have, controversial or not, as soon as possible. Q. What is the number one thing we can do to educate people about renewable energy in California? A. That there is not some magic technology around the corner; we need to deploy what we have now quickly. It will take up lots of space, so we need to focus on conservation too. And we need to consider more nuclear power. Q. What role do you think technology will play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.? A. It’s half the game. The other is rethinking the way we live and work and play. Don’t rely on "radical new technologies." It’s pretty unlikely that they will be that much better than what we have, and it’s unlikely they will arrive in time to make the big difference on climate we need. In other words, we need to deploy what we know how to do now, continue research on new technologies, but not "bet the farm" on them. Q.What specifically needs to be done in order to accomplish energy efficiency in the U.S.? A. We first need to understand what we mean by energy efficiency. It’s the single most overused and misused term in energy and climate conversations. There is thermodynamic efficiency—this is a measure of how good your heat engine is or how well your wind-turbine extracts wind energy. Most coal plants only get about 30–40% of the energy out of the coal they burn. That’s due to inefficient combustion and not being able to run at higher temperatures. We use more than 1300 gigawatts (GW) of primary energy going into the U.S. electricity grid, but we only get about 450GW out. That could be hugely more efficient. There is efficiency at the device level—like your lightbulbs, shower, TV, computer. All of these devices need to improve greatly. However a more efficient refrigerator may not use less energy; that’s why we need to be careful about the word efficiency. Often we actually mean behavioral change. A much smaller refrigerator will use a lot less energy than a very large "efficient" refrigerator. Then there is the efficiency of our auto fleet. We could easily double or quadruple the efficiency of moving people around by using smaller, lighter, more aerodynamic cars. And hybrids will be even better—electric better still. Unfortunately many people think that means the SUV can be much better and more efficient. That) changing to a smaller, lighter, more aerodynamic vehicle is the answer. But it’s very hard to make huge SUVs more efficient. Q. What do you think of higher grocery prices for recycling? A. I’d prefer a carbon tax or cap-and-trade measure for carbon pricing which motivates change at all levels of the food supply chain, not just recycling the packaging. One is a structural solution, the other is a Band-Aid that is inconvenient for the consumer and might not give the results you want. Q. There has been a lot of talk about expanding wind power, particularly in San Francisco. What are your thoughts on this potential expansion? A. In order to actually solve climate change, we could easily increase wind power production 10- to 100-fold. We need to do it fast, with the existing technologies which are really quite fabulous and efficient, while also investing in the research around new categories of wind power such as higher-altitude wind power. Q. How would you solve the water problem in California? A. Recycle it more. Use less. Better design of roads; no more lawns. The American addiction to mown grass is really not going to hold up over time. Natural grasses, or even better, vegetable gardens where your lawn is, would be a far more efficient use of water. We should rethink the sewage system and go to lower-flow systems and grey water recycling. The solution is doing all of these things and more. Top Quick tips can motivate your community to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Providing easy behavior change tips to the public are important to increasing community participation in sustainability efforts. Many cities are looking for ways to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions but can’t afford to carry out long-range public outreach campaigns. Below is a list of some easy tips that can be passed on to the general public to help the city realize its sustainability goals.
For additional public outreach tips, please visit our Carbon Conscious Web site www.carbonconscious.us or call Mary Hewitt at mhewitt@pmcworld.com. Top |
|
EPA’s Environmental Education Grants Program is now accepting applications
The U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) announced that they are accepting applications for fiscal year 2010 for EPA's EE Grants Program. The application is available online at www.epa.gov/enviroed/grants.html. Please visit the site to review details about how to apply for an EE grant and to download the 2010 Solicitation Notice, Application, and Budget Form. Applications must be submitted in hard copy (paper) to EPA and must be postmarked by December 15, 2009 to be eligible for consideration. Top Changing community perceptions of recycling and waste in Roseville
by Sean Bigley, Administrative Analyst, Environmental Utilities, City of Roseville
 For many years, solid waste utilities in the State of California have focused their efforts towards increasing their diversion rate percentages, or the percentage of municipal solid waste that is diverted from the landfill to alternative reuse or recycling. The law in California called the Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, established a 50 percent statewide diversion goal which Roseville was able to exceed through participation in a joint powers authority to operate a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). In the MRF system, residents and businesses place all refuse and recyclables in one container. The material is collected and delivered to the MRF where the material is first machine sorted and then hand sorted. Recyclables are recovered and sold to vendors for re-processing and the remaining non-recyclable material is locally landfilled. The MRF system, along with other innovative programs, such as EPS (commonly known as Styrofoam) recycling, and a robust outreach effort, has allowed Roseville to achieve a diversion rate nearing 70 percent, similar to the rates achieved by communities that sort with separate bins. Although the MRF system is highly effective, it has posed an outreach challenge in the past because the placing recyclables in the same bin as refuse is counterintuitive to the average person. For years, since school age, we were taught to recycle, which meant sorting recyclables in separate bins. Over the past decade, Roseville experienced a lot of growth with a large influx of new residents from the San Francisco Bay Area. These new residents understandably assumed that the lack of separate recycling bins meant that the city was not recycling. To respond to this misconception, Roseville mounted a marketing campaign, called One Big Bin in 2006. The concept, consistently marketed, was simple – throw it in the bin and we do the recycling for you. Following the launch of the campaign, customer complaint calls dropped off significantly and today we get no calls regarding how recycling is accomplished. In 2008, Roseville’s One Big Bin Campaign, seen as a success, was adopted countywide and launched via radio and television pointing to www.OneBigBin.com as the destination to learn how recycling happens in Placer County. The city’s efforts were also assisted greatly with the opening of the Roseville Utility Exploration Center in January 2008. The Center, dedicated to environmental education in the region, contains an exhibit hall that covers topics such as water and energy conservation, watershed management and recycling and waste reduction. The Center offers school group tours, workshops and is open to the casual visitor. The Center provides a fun and educational environment to offer practical waste reduction workshops such as Green Shopping Tips, Vermicomposting, garden composting and Zero Waste Lunches. Admission is free and more information on the Center can be found at www.roseville.ca.us/explore. The newest and most exciting waste reduction challenge has been the change in state law through Senate Bill 1016, approved in September 2008, which changes the method the State of California measures waste reduction success from a diversion rate that relies on recycling, to a measurement of waste generated per capita per day which required shift in outreach efforts towards reuse and waste reduction. Instead of striving for a high diversion percentage, agencies are working towards lowering the pounds of waste generated per capita. This new measurement of success requires a robust investment into waste reduction education, marketing and public outreach with the goal of reaching the average household and providing the tools to help reduce their household’s waste footprint. From recycling to composting to making smarter shopping decisions, the new outreach goal is to create a new dialogue about waste generation and effect behavioral changes related to waste generation. The new challenge is to get households to think beyond recycling, not only because it is the right thing to do for the environment, but it presents an opportunity for the household to save money by reducing their waste footprint. This new requirement will also require working with the business community to offer incentives to reduce waste generation – the bottomline appeal is that reducing waste can decrease the cost of doing business by reducing disposal costs and wasted materials. Less waste equals more profit. With Roseville’s existing programs and the Utility Exploration Center, the City of Roseville is well poised to meet the new challenge to reduce the community’s waste footprint. This will involve active outreach efforts that are fun and provide accessible education opportunities to help the average customer meet the new waste reduction challenge that lies ahead. Top Biography, Sean Bigley
Sean Bigley has been an Administrative Analyst with the City of Roseville’s Environmental Utilities Department for five years. His department provides water, wastewater and refuse utility service to Roseville’s residents and businesses. In addition his department provides a wide range of programs and services that cover recycling and waste reduction, water conservation and stormwater management. Sean’s duties include public outreach and media relations, legislative advocacy, grant administration. Before joining the City of Roseville, Sean was Deputy Budget Officer for the California Attorney General’s Office for five years helping to manage a $600 million annual budget. Sean resides in Rocklin, CA with his wife and two daughters. In his spare time, he enjoys gardening and runs a small bamboo plant nursery from his home. Top PMC wins top MarCom award for Carbon Conscious blog
MarCom Awards, an international competition for marketing and communication professionals, recently honored PMC with a Platinum award for its Carbon Conscious blog. The Carbon Conscious blog is updated with the latest and most up-to-date information on climate change. Blog contributors stay informed on climate change-related legislation, events and new research in order to educate and also create an open forum for discussion. MarCom Awards is administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals. The international organization consists of several thousand marketing, communication, advertising, public relations, media production and freelance professionals. The association oversees awards and recognition programs, provides judges and sets standards for excellence. Top  The SMART (San Mateo Acting Responsibly Together) campaign served as a model for Carbon Conscious. It was designed to be a phased, grassroots and comprehensive effort inclusive of all sectors of the community. The long-term campaign strategy recognized the interdependence of community and environment and the collaboration that it would take to realize the City’s sustainability goals. Through regular outreach to media and community organizations and use of collateral materials, the campaign prompted community participation and behavior changes to address climate change through energy and water conservation as well as recycling. The campaign has won several awards, and most recently won a national award from the City-County Communications and Marketing Association in the Go-Green Energy Conservation category. The awards include:
The SMART campaign continues to encourage behavior change and community participation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Additional information on the SMART campaign can be found at www.cityofsanmateo.org/smart. |