tagged w/ We Can Solve It
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America faces unprecedented economic, environmental and national security challenges. We urgently need new jobs, stable energy prices, and freedom from dirty fossil fuels and global warming pollution.
Finally, there’s a solution as big as our problems: a bold plan to Repower America with 100% clean electricity within 10 years.
http://www.repoweramerica.org/plan/America faces unprecedented economic, environmental and national security challenges.... more
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Former Vice President Al Gore urged lawmakers on January 28 not to let the U.S. economic crisis get in the way of addressing global warming. Gore says that climate change, the economic crisis, and terrorism is all linked to oil.Former Vice President Al Gore urged lawmakers on January 28 not to let the U.S.... more
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Al Gore just recorded an important message for his campaign that I'm part of. Watch the short video:
http://www.repoweramerica.org/recoveryvideo
He said that right now, Congress is debating legislation that contains unprecedented initiatives for putting Americans back to work building a clean energy economy. But its passage is in no way a certainty.
Washington needs to hear from us.
I just sent a note to my elected officials using the We Campaign's tool. It takes only a minute. Can you send one too?
http://www.repoweramerica.org/recoveryvideo
Thanks!Al Gore just recorded an important message for his campaign that I'm part of. Watch... more
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A solar panel lies on the roof of Pierre Guissou's home in Burkina Faso, feeding power to his water heater and allowing his family to take precious hot showers in a country where most homes lack electricity.
The 42-year-old electrician is among a growing number of residents in this west African country turning to the sun to heat their water, helping them save money on utility bills and the environment along the way.
"Everyone washes with hot water at home, which was reserved for the children before," said Guissou, who lives in the capital Ouagadougou.
"It saves money, protects the environment and there's no more anxiety about electricity bills at the end of the month," he said.
With the country's electricity grid reaching only 12 percent of all households, the sun provides a powerful alternative source of energy.
But solar power remains scarce here like elsewhere in most of sub-Sahara Africa. While the sun-bathed continent has a huge potential for producing solar power, it accounts for a tiny percentage of the world's solar energy output.
Price is often a deterrent. Solar-powered water heaters cost 600 to 1,520 euros (860 to 2,190 dollars) in Burkina Faso, a country of 15.2 million residents where the minimum guaranteed income is a mere 46 euros (65 dollars) a month.
But headway -- at least on the micro level -- is being made slowly but surely thanks to a tenacious Swiss non-government organisation, the Albert Schweitzer Ecological Centre (CEAS) which arrived here in 1973 after a severe drought.
"Most of the NGOs that came here at the time resorted to reforestation and soil restoration," said Charles Didace Konseibo, a Burkinabe CEAS manager.
"Cutting fresh wood to make firewood or charcoal is very common here. There was a need for a solar alternative for those using wood to keep new trees from being destroyed years later," he said.
So in 1982, CEAS set up a facility in Ouagadougou to train residents in solar energy equipment. Since then, local workers have passed on their knowledge to other Burkinabes.
Saidou Porgo, the craftsman who delivered Guissou's 200-litre (44 gallons) water heater in 2002, owes his expertise to a three-week CEAS training course.
-- 'Our only wealth here is the sun' --
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"Our only wealth here is the sun," said Porgo, a welder. "We have plenty of it and it never dies. It's in our interest to promote this source of energy, since life has become more expensive."
The centre taught him to build water heaters, dryers and pumps, among other things. Porgo said he sold about 50 dryers and water heaters, earning him about 22 million CFA francs (33,500 euros, 47,000 dollars) in 10 years.
And his clients are "less cranky" when bills come around at the end of the month thanks to the solar technology.
Boniface Willy, another CEAS trainee, has done even better. Since his course in 1993, he has sold hundreds of solar water heaters to hotels, health centers and private homes.
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This is the future. This is what we should be doing with money. Educating people and bringing them the tools necessary to sustain their own lives and build their own futures. That is freedom. And the solution is so simple. The sun, and the trees, and the wind, and the rain.
A solar panel lies on the roof of Pierre Guissou's home in Burkina Faso, feeding power... more
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One of the limitations of solar photovoltaic systems is that, at the current state of the technology, no more than a quarter of the energy from the sun is converted to electric current. Most of the rest of the energy is lost as waste heat.
But Vinod Khosla, the founder of Sun Microsystems and now a technology entrepreneur and alternative-energy venture capitalist, says he’s found a solution that doubles or even triples the energy yield — a gargantuan leap in a field where engineers exult over the most incremental gains.
Mr. Khosla is funding a company called PVT Solar, of Berkeley, Calif., where engineers two years ago began trying to harness that wasted heat. In a sense, it was already being collected, either in the solar modules themselves, or underneath. (Solar arrays are often installed at an angle, to face the sun, thus creating a wedge-shaped space below for heat to collect.)
PVT’s founders decided the heat could be harnessed and pumped into the home for climate control, water heating and other uses. It is a sort of combined cycle for solar — a marriage of solar photovoltaic technology and solar thermal systems, which gather the sun’s energy in the form of heat.
Vinod Khosla, the former tech mogul and now energy venture capitalist, sees potential in PVT Solar. (Photo: Bloomberg)The company is currently testing electronic controllers that play traffic cop for the collected heat, pumping it automatically, using a small fan, to the basement hot-water heater, for example, or to individual rooms, or even to the swimming pool, as needs arise. If the heat is not needed in the building, the fan vents it to the outside.
Because solar panels perform better at cooler temperatures, removing heat from around the panels also has the effect of increasing their production on hot days — adding to the overall efficiency gains for the system.
And given that the system requires little or no additional infrastructure, it can be deployed with only a small amount of added cost.
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If taxpayers are to look now to support anything, shouldn't it be renewable energy that will pay them back in years to come with a sustainable planet for their children and granchildren with cheaper energy prices, more and better jobs, and cleaner safer choices? Joining phototvoltaics to thermal solar is a great way to do just that. So while we are getting all wrapped up in the 'financial crisis,' realize the other crisis this planet now faces that is even more urgent that is related to our economy and the ways in which we can make positive changes.
The solution comes up every morning.One of the limitations of solar photovoltaic systems is that, at the current state of... more
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Al Gore, the former vice president and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, is nothing if not passionate on the issue of global warming. But his usual fired-up remarks on the subject took a step into the Gandhian realm on Wednesday when he told an audience at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York that the crisis was so severe and intractable that it was time for direct action.
If you are a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration, he said at the third annual meeting of former President Bill Clinton's initiative, which arranges partnerships between the very rich and the very needy.
Mr. Gore said the civil disobedience should focus on stopping the construction of new coal plants, which he said would add tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere despite half a billion dollars worth of advertising by the coal and gas industry claiming otherwise. He added, Clean coal does not exist.
The audience at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers, which was composed of hundreds of heads of state and chief executives, as well as representatives of philanthropic groups, reacted with scattered applause. There was a lot of shifting in seats.
Mr. Gore did not elaborate on his call for action. And almost as soon as the words civil disobedience were out of his mouth, Mr. Clinton, moderating a panel that Mr. Gore shared with the singer Bono, the president of Liberia, the chairman of Coca-Cola and Queen Rania of Jordan, turned to the queen to ask whether Middle Eastern countries might ever become models of clean energy usage. The discussion continued in a less-fiery vein from there.
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I can just bet people at the Clinton Global Initiative were shifting in their seats. ;-) Mr. Gore, I love you for this and am with you 100%. The climate crisis is getting lost in all of the talk about this 'election' and the 'financial crisis' that is actually related to our current energy policy. We do need more young people out here peacefully protesting to save their environmental future which also means saving this economy. And we also need older people as well to set an example for younger people about how change is really made. It isn't made by going to a rally of someone who claims to have charisma and can talk us out of it and thinking you have done something. It's taking action ourselves. I hope his endorsee is listening.Al Gore, the former vice president and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, is nothing if... more
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When are we going to hear the roar of the American people demanding Washington Dc wake the hell up and stop touting some bogus 80% by 2050 emissions reduction line when it is obvious that will be too late? However, the price of gas is supposedly going down now so conveniently before 'election' day and with the current global financial crisis so conveniently placed where it is I suppose dealing with climate change will now be an afterthought to governments that really weren't going to do much about it anyway.
To me this all seems surreal. It is like slowing down to watch a car wreck and then speeding up once you get by to continue on your way because the thrill of seeing it is gone because you really didn't care if anyone was hurt, it was just exciting to look at. 'Oh my, the Greenland ice caps are melting... how terrible... look at that video... oh boy, something to talk about today...then... nothing to see here, move on... let's look at pictures of Jamie Lynn Spears breastfeeding instead.' The Earth is speaking to us, crying out to us. The signs are everywhere. And we continue driving down the road turning our radios up so as not to be bothered, thinking someone will take care of that; or, it won't melt enough in my lifetime to make any difference; or, it is all natural or the will of God so why fight it. I just do not know what else can be said anymore.
We need to be scaling more chimneys and unfurling more banners, and standing around more fossil fuel plants, and shouting even louder, and writing relentlessly to newspapers and media and badgering representatives in Dc and elsewhere, and we need to be telling ALL presidential candidates that "clean coal' is not the answer. We need to pull over and get out of the car and do something besides gawking at the tragedy unfolding before our eyes.
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From the article:
Flying low over the vast, white expanse of Greenland's Ilulissat glacier, one of the biggest and most active in the world, the effects of global warming in the Arctic are painfully visible as the ice melts at an alarming rate.
The helicopter lands on a granite cliff overlooking the Ilulissat ice fjord, or Kangia in Greenlandic, offering a magnificent, panoramic view of elaborate ice formations as they float towards the sea at a rate of two meters (yards) an hour, spilling massive icebergs into the open water.
Off in the distance, huge boulders of ice break off of the imposing Ilulissat glacier, more commonly known by its Greenlandic name Sermeq Kujalleq, creating a thunderous roar as the glacier recedes in one of the planet's most striking examples of global warming.
"The ice in some places on the coast is now melting four times faster than before," says Abbas Khan, a Dane who studies the movements of Greenland's glaciers at the Danish Space Centre.
The Ilulissat glacier and icefjord have been on UNESCO's world heritage list since 2004 and is the most visited site in Greenland, its ice and pools of emerald-blue water admired by tourists and studied by scientists and politicians around the world.
The glacier is the most active in the northern hemisphere, producing 10 percent of Greenland's icebergs, or some 20 million tonnes of ice per day.
But the glacier is in bad shape, experts warn.
Recent estimates by US scientists who study NASA's satellite images daily show that it is rapidly disintegrating.
It has shrunk more than 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) in the past five years, and is now smaller than it has ever been in the 150 years of observation and topographical data.
According to professor Jason Box and his team from the department of geography at Ohio State University, the Ilulissat glacier may not have been this small in 6,000 years.
more at the link
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Photo credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielheaf/1343411263/When are we going to hear the roar of the American people demanding Washington Dc wake... more
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We must rebuild our economy, lower fuel costs, free ourselves from our addiction to oil, and save ourselves from the climate crisis. To do this, we need to demand that we Repower America with 100% clean electricity within 10 years. Meeting this ambitious goal would create millions of new jobs, lead to lower energy costs for families and help America lead the fight against global warming.
We must rebuild our economy, lower fuel costs, free ourselves from our addiction to... more
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India will host the next Live Earth concert to raise funds for lighting homes with solar energy in places where people do not have access to electricity, organizers said.
The December event will see rocker Jon Bon Jovi and Bollywood's biggest superstar, Amitabh Bachchan share the stage, and is described by organizers as one of the biggest events held in India.
The concert will be held in India's financial capital Mumbai on December 7, Live Earth founder Kevin Wall said in Mumbai.
"(Former Vice President) Al Gore asked me whether we could do this in India, and I said yes," Wall told Reuters in Mumbai. "This is going to be huge."
"Jon Bon Jovi is just one name and Mr Bachchan is just one name, but there will be a lot of international artists," he said.
Wall, who organized a series of concerts last year with the former vice-president, said the event in India would be telecast live in more than 100 countries.
Gore, who spoke via satellite this week during a news conference held in Mumbai on Thursday said India could provide the leadership required to bring about changes in world policies on climate change.
The proceeds from the concert will go to the "Light A Billion Lives campaign," supported by Nobel Prize-winner Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the United Nation's Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
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Photo credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26162736@N07/2469499562/
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We can work around the world to mitigate the climate crisis. We must not be myopic in our view or distressed thinking that only one person sitting in a white house in Washington Dc can or will do it. This goes so far beyond just one president, one American election, one year, or one time. This crisis must make us see our similarities as humans on this Earth which is the only home we will have and act together.
While political will in Washington Dc is indeed a great part of that progress, it is not in my view something to place all hopes on. We can and must take it upon ourselves to do all in our power to bring solar energy and other alternate sources to other developing countries like India so that their economic progress will begin on a more sustainable footing, and hopefully that message will then spread around the globe including our own country. This is the good message Live Earth brings and the message we must take upon ourselves to spread to others. We are the ones with the power, and with that power we can do great things when mobilizing for a good and noble cause. India will host the next Live Earth concert to raise funds for lighting homes with... more
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American Electric Power subsidiary Appalachian Power has signed a long-term power purchase agreement for renewable wind energy with Beech Ridge Energy, a subsidiary of Invenergy Wind.
Through the 20-year agreement, Appalachian Power will purchase all of the output -- between 100 and 147 megawatts -- from the first phase of the planned 186-megawatt Beech Ridge Energy wind project currently under development in Greenbrier County, W.Va.
The wind farm is expected to be on line by March 31, 2010. The agreement is subject to approval from the Public Service Commission of West Virginia and extension for 2009 of the federal production tax credit for renewable energy. Pricing terms are confidential.
"Wind and other renewables are becoming an integral part of the diverse power generation mix necessary to meet our customers' electricity needs," said Michael G. Morris, AEP's chairman, president and chief executive officer.
"Adding these renewable generation resources, along with our plans for new baseload generation using clean coal and other technologies, positions us to continue to meet our customers' needs while also reducing our carbon footprint."
The new agreement is part of AEP's voluntary plans, announced in 2007, to add 1,000 megawatts of new wind energy by 2011 as a component of the company's comprehensive strategy to address its greenhouse gas emissions. The addition of wind capacity to AEP's energy portfolio avoids an increase in greenhouse gas emissions that would otherwise occur if AEP used traditional fossil generation to meet growing customer demand.
"The agreement with Beech Ridge Energy brings our long-term renewable-energy purchase commitments up to 422 megawatts in the year since we established our 1,000-megawatt goal," Morris said. "We have additional requests for proposals out for up to 600 megawatts of renewable energy, so we are well on the way to meeting that goal.
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What could be more abundant and cheap than wind energy in Appalachia without the pollution? It sure isn't coal.American Electric Power subsidiary Appalachian Power has signed a long-term power... more
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From five miles away, the Nevada Solar One power plant seems a mirage, a silver lake amid waves of 110 degree F. desert heat. Driving nearer, the rippling image morphs into a sea of mirrors angled to the sun.
As the first commercial “concentrating solar power” or CSP plant built in 17 years, Nevada Solar One marks the reemergence and updating of a decades-old technology that could play a large new role in US power production, many observers say.
“Concentrating solar is pretty hot right now,” says Mark Mehos, program manager for CSP at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Co. “Costs look pretty good compared to natural gas [power]. Public policy, climate concern, and new technology are driving it, too.”
Spread in military rows across 300 acres of sun-baked earth, Nevada Solar One’s trough-shaped parabolic mirrors are the core of this CSP plant – also called a “solar thermal” plant. The mirrors focus sunlight onto receiver tubes, heating a fluid that, at 735 degrees F., flows through a heat exchanger to a steam generator that supplies 64 megawatts of electricity to 14,000 Las Vegas homes.
Today the United States has 420 megawatts of solar-thermal capacity across three installations – including Nevada Solar One. That’s just a tiny fraction (less than 1 percent) of US grid capacity. But Nevada Solar One could signal the start of a CSP building boom.
Efforts to generate another 4,500 megawatts of solar thermal power are now in development across California, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico – all of which have the flat, near-cloudless skies most desirable for solar thermal, the Solar Electric Industries Association reports.
Photovoltaic panels that produce electricity directly from the sun’s rays work well on rooftops, but are still too costly for utility-scale power generation. Solar thermal, however, is nearing the cost of a natural gas-fired turbine power plant – making it a winner with several power companies that have signed long-term contracts to purchase solar-thermal power.
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We all need to demand this now, and we need to tell Congress, especially Senate Republicans who vote down tax incentives for renewable energy that they can no longer get away with continuing to put us at risk for their own profit. Republicans in this country, do you not see what those who claim to support you are doing to the future of your children? This should not be a Democratic or Republican issue, this is a human issue and right now we need new, clean, efficient, safer sources of energy not only to wean us off ALL oil, but to provide a better planet for our children, create jobs, and bring peace. Solar power is our future, and it is wonderful to see these strides taking place now.
The solution comes up every morning.From five miles away, the Nevada Solar One power plant seems a mirage, a silver lake... more
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State regulators have approved a plan by Xcel Energy Inc. to shut down two coal-fired power plants in Colorado, citing benefits to public health and concerns about carbon-dioxide emissions.
It's the first time in the nation a utility has volunteered, and regulators have approved, a plan to shut down power plants because of CO2 emissions, which are linked to global warming.
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission spent Monday and Tuesday discussing a plan from Xcel Energy Inc. (NYSE: XEL) to meet its customers power demands for the next several years. A written order offering specific details of the decision is expected in a few weeks.
The closures are two to four years away, and Xcel has proposed using natural gas to make up for the lost power supplies.
In reaching the decision the commission was trying to move Xcel Energy toward carbon reduction goals that Gov. [Bill] Ritter has outlined in his climate action plan, PUC spokesman Terry Bote said Wednesday.
Also, they were adding renewable-energy resources in a cost-effective, technically feasible manner, ensuring an adequate supply of electricity in the future and being respectful of the cost that consumers have to bear, he said.
Xcel, based in Minneapolis, is Colorado's largest utility, serving about 70 percent of the population with natural gas and electricity.
When Xcel filed its plan in late 2007, the utility proposed shutting down the coal units at the Arapahoe power plant in Denver, near Santa Fe Drive and Evans Avenue, and the Cameo plant in Grand Junction.
We are pleased that the commission has agreed with our proposal to close two of our power plants, as we continually move toward reducing our carbon dioxide emissions in Colorado, said Xcel spokesman Mark Stutz.
Gov. Ritter last year called for a 20 percent reduction in carbon-dioxide emission by 2020. These closures will reduce our emissions by 1.4 million tons a year and put us well on the way toward meeting the governor's goal, Stutz said.
The plants together can generate a total of 229 megawatts of electricity. Xcel proposed replacing the coal-fired generators at Denver Arapahoe power plant with ones that use natural gas and can generate 480 megawatts of power, but a decision on that plan has been postponed.
With the commissioners approval, the Cameo plant near Grand Junction is scheduled to close by December 2010. The Arapahoe station in Denver is slated for closure by December 2012, Stutz said.
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission has set a clear path for Colorado's energy future, said Keith Hay, energy advocate for Environment Colorado, an advocacy group. Colorado will be a leader in clean, renewable energy, and we'll close down coal-fired power plants and replace that energy with renewable resources.
We need to look at renewable resources first, and we need to get off of expensive and environmentally costly fossil-fuel resources. Solar is a better investment today and will be a better investment for tomorrow to supply energy for Colorado, Hay said.
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Now this is the direction we need to go in!State regulators have approved a plan by Xcel Energy Inc. to shut down two coal-fired... more
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And let me explain that title to those who still thrive on speculation even in direct antithesis to the man's own words about not wanting any VP spot he already served in for eight years, any spot in a cabinet, nor any spot in an administration. Amazing that those in Internetland who claim to support him still think he lies about such things. Of course, the fact that he is busy doing something far bigger escapes them so it isn't really a surprise.
Now onto the more important reason why this video is why I hope he doesn't speak at the DNC convention. I understand that Mr. Gore is a loyal Democrat and I respect that even though I have personally had it with them. However, I also understand that he sees the big picture as well, which is why I love and respect him so much... That the climate crisis is not nor should it ever be debased to being a partisan political issue because that will be its death knell.
And I do believe that in order for him to maintain his credibility on this issue that he should not speak at either convention, or speak at both of them to relay the true urgency of what this world now faces in the clutches of climate change. Speaking at only one will give the impression that he sees the solutions as only being one sided after stating it should not be partisan, and that is not good for progress.
And I don't believe he believes that, because this video which is the next one put out by the WE Campaign will air during both conventions... that's right, you read it right political partisans, both conventions.
Do you see it now?
Do you not see that the glacier melt occurring three times faster than anticipated is far more important than you having something else to speculate about? Do you not see the pervasive and severe droughts covering over half the world and causing famine, diseases, and lack of water as more important than your condemnations of him for not "doing anything" to be involved in this political campaign season when this is it and it is now you who must be involved in the campaign to save the sustainability of this planet and our species? Do you not see that Mr. Gore's challenge to this country to be powered by 100% renewable energy in 10 years is bigger than your petty fantasies?
Therefore, Mr. Gore, if by some chance you or someone who knows you happens to read this, here is my advice... don't speak at the DNC convention. Let this ad speak for you to tell those in the Democratic and Republican parties who still shun their moral obligation to this planet and the people that they will not be allowed to continue the status quo, nor will their candidates who are both now bowing to the whims of polls.
By not speaking at either convention you actually speak loud and clear for Mother Earth and for something far more important than the sideshow of a convention: You speak for all those who can't speak for themselves because of the lack of political will that has led us to this point.
However, if you do decide to do so, consider the use of a hologram as you did at Live Earth or a video link up perhaps. The last thing I want to read in the news again are the same whiners complaining over your carbon emissions to distract from their own culpability in this.And let me explain that title to those who still thrive on speculation even in direct... more
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Al Gore came to Washington in July to issue a challenge to the country: create a new energy economy that will generate 100 percent of America's electricity from clean sources within 10 years. Now the former vice president’s advocacy group, the Alliance for Climate Protection, has launched a new TV ad to spread the message to Olympics viewers.
The group debuted "Switch" (subscription) on NBC during Monday's coverage of the Games; the spot will continue to air on NBC and USA Network through next week.
As in the group's first TV ad, actor William H. Macy narrates and soothing music creates an upbeat tone to promote the group's message: "Together we can solve the climate crisis." Americans from different walks of life are shown coming together to help each other turn on giant light switches -- one in the desert, one in a field, one at a factory and one in the middle of a city.
Macy lays out some of the vast challenges facing the country: "a weaker economy, soaring gas prices, growing dependence on foreign oil and a worsening climate crisis." But, he says, "there’s a bold new solution for all of these challenges." He presents Gore's plan to create clean electricity as a way to combat both economic and national security threats. "All we need is your help," he says, encouraging viewers to "join the more than one million people who are already demanding we switch on a brighter future."
“The Olympics are a time for all Americans to reflect on our nation’s achievements and what we as a people can do together," Alliance for Climate Protection CEO Cathy Zoi said in a press release announcing the ad. "Choosing the right path and re-powering our nation is something we can do, and something that will benefit us all.”
For all the money the group is pouring into its public outreach effort, however, recent polling data suggests that Americans' attention is not squarely focused on climate change issues. With the election and economic problems occupying the media spotlight, the number of Americans who say they consider global warming an important issue to them personally has fallen 5 percentage points since 2007 to 47 percent.
Al Gore came to Washington in July to issue a challenge to the country: create a new... more
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Louis Palmer has driven thousands of miles through Europe, the Middle East, India, China, Australia, New Zealand and now Minturn, Colorado. He hasn't spent a dime on gasoline.
His car is the Solar Taxi. It's a sleek blue machine that sits low to the road, doesn't make a sound while running and pulls a trailer covered in solar panels. The sun is his fuel, and there aren't any earth warming carbon emissions pluming out a tail pipe.
The solar taxi will be the first solar-powered vehicle to circumnavigate the globe. Palmer, the visionary and leader of the tour, said the big mission is to show the people of the world that global warming can be stopped, and we can be independent from fossil fuels.
Palmer and his team began their journey on July 3, 2007, in Lucerne, Switzerland. They're planning to make it through 40 different countries on five different continents and end the tour at the World Climate Change Conference in Poland in December.
On Friday, the Solar Taxi team stopped in Minturn for lunch at the Turntable. They were getting ready to head over Vail Pass their highest elevation point for the whole trip. The next stop is Denver, then they'll be driving through the Midwest, Washington D.C., New York and ending the North American jaunt in Montreal.
So far, the solar car is performing quite well, Palmer said. It can get up to 55 miles per hour, and is handling the mountain roads fine.
If the car needs to drive more than 100 kilometers a day, they have to charge the battery with additional power, which is just a matter of plugging it into an outlet. To help with that, they have a solar power plant on a rooftop in Berne, Switzerland, that puts solar-generated electricity back into the grid.
This means a zero-carbon emissions trip. Palmer says that this car shows that the technology and ability to drive without depending on fossil fuels exists and that solutions to the world's energy problems are out there.
And if you aren't sold on the environmental pluses listen to the economics. He said about a dollar's worth of electricity is enough to power the car for 100 miles. Think of that next time you fork over 50 bucks for a fill-up.
Photo: Dominique Taylor/Vail DailyLouis Palmer has driven thousands of miles through Europe, the Middle East, India,... more
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A new report by Environment Colorado shows that developing solar power plants will reduce global warming pollution from U.S. electricity generation.
Denver, CO; Colorado's sunny skies are an endless vein the state can tap to supply clean renewable energy to meet growing U.S. demand for pollution free power, this according to a panel of energy advocates, industry experts, and legislators at a briefing today at the Colorado state capitol.
Our state's energy future rises every morning. By investing now in solar power plants, we can make sure that we ride this rise to cheaper energy, cleaner skies, and good paying green-collar jobs said Keith Hay, Energy Advocate at Environment Colorado. Colorado's sunshine is a new goldmine. Solar power plants can keep Colorado's energy economy growing while cutting the state's global warming pollution.
Joining the briefing were Senator Gail Schwartz (D-Snowmass Village) and Representative Judy Solano (D-Brighton), both of whom sponsored legislation this year directing the Colorado Public Utilities Commission to consider the economic and environmental benefits of solar power plants when making resource decisions about where and how we get our electricity.
While investment in solar power plants has been stimulated by state initiatives to reduce global warming pollution, the report argues that reaching science based goals will require federal action. On the Rise highlights several policies that would increase the development of solar power plants in the United States, including: Enacting a national Renewable Electricity Standard Enacting a cap on global warming pollution Expanding and extending tax credits for investment in renewable energy Providing transmission access for central-station solar power
Nationally, we have the resources to meet new energy demand with solar power plants. The question is not one of resources, but of creating the markets and putting in place the policies that will get those resources to market, stated Holly Gordon, Vice-President of Regulatory and Legislative Affairs for Ausra Inc.
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Concentrating solar power plants are finally having their day in the sun. Right now over 4,500 MW of concentrating solar power plants have signed power purchase agreements and, if the Federal investment tax credit is extended by Congress, they will be built said, Scott Frier, COO of Abengoa Solar. This technology has been producing reliable power for more than 20 years in the U.S. Because these plants can meet our future energy needs with pollution free, dispatchable power, we are seeing more and more utilities making the smart decision to purchase their output for their present and future energy needs.
As part of the state's Climate Action Plan, utilities agreed to voluntarily reduce global warming pollution by 20 percent by 2020. Reaching this goal will require a combination of energy efficiency and the use of central station solar power plants. For the first time, On the rise shows that replacing just half the state's current electricity demand with pollution free solar power would mean cutting global warming pollution by an amount equal to taking almost 2 million cars off the road.
A new report by Environment Colorado shows that developing solar power plants will... more
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A momentous challenge awaits us as a species. Not unlike birthing this nation, discovering cures for diseases, and overcoming threats to the principles that guide humanity. This will be no small task, and it will be hard... but for me being hard is what makes it worth the journey to accomplish.
A carbon free energy policy in ten years with a national grid is not pie in the sky. Only to those without vision is it so. Only to those who put down ideas out of political spite is it so. Only to those who see it as a threat to their comfortable way of life is it so. Only to the same gatekeepers of the status quo is it so.
To those who do not see limits to what the spirit and imagination can accomplish... it is time.
Our Earth is crying out for help. We are making our own planet uninhabitable by our own actions. It is our moral duty to make amends for it, and by doing so we will not only save her but ourselves.
The future is here and it is us. We're all we've got, and if we do not heed the warnings now we do a great disservice to those coming after us and those here now.
Ten years is not a long time to secure a lifetime of sustainability.
If we can find money for wars, we can find money for peace.
The Arctic won't wait.
And neither can we.
http://www.wecansolveit.org
A momentous challenge awaits us as a species. Not unlike birthing this nation,... more
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Al Gore, in an interview with the Sun, said he will not be working, formally, in the next president's administration. Not for Hillary Clinton, not for Barack Obama, not for John McCain.
“I don’t intend to be a part of any administration,” he told the Sun. “I’ve been Vice President, I ran for President twice, so I don’t have any interest in being a cabinet member. I think my best use is in building grass-roots support. I will, of course, give advice to whoever asks me for advice on this and will work to help but not in a formal way.”
It's not much of a shock. Gore has grown so powerful as a campaigner for action to solve "the climate crisis," as he calls it, that he can have an audience with any world leader. He commands a far larger audience than any EPA administrator or energy secretary. In short, he's more powerful – and more likely to be effective – as is.
Right now, Gore's strategy includes a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign and an update to the famous slide show featured in An Inconvenient Truth.
Al Gore, in an interview with the Sun, said he will not be working, formally, in the... more
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Al Gore is teaming with The Alliance for Climate Protection on a new effort titled the "We Campaign." The ultimate aim is to halt global warming. Specifically we are educating people in the US and around the world that the climate crisis is both urgent and solvable.
Al Gore is teaming with The Alliance for Climate Protection on a new effort titled the... more
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I saw this ad during American Idol the other night. It's Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson talking about protecting the planet. I thought it was pretty cool that the We Campaign was able to get them to do this ad together. I saw this ad during American Idol the other night. It's Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson... more
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