Lane Burt's Blog: Curbing Pollution tag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2009:/blogs/lburt//156 2009-03-03T04:07:04Z Movable Type Enterprise 1.52 Obama to DOE: Chop-Chop! tag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2009:/blogs/lburt//156.2653 2009-02-05T23:24:43Z 2009-03-03T04:07:04Z President Obama issued a memo today to the Department of Energy on appliance efficiency standards requiring that, a) The Department meet all their deadlines to issue standards between now and Aug 8th and,b) Accelerate the process for standards with deadlines... Lane Burt President Obama issued a memo today to the Department of Energy on appliance efficiency standards requiring that,

a) The Department meet all their deadlines to issue standards between now and Aug 8th and,
b) Accelerate the process for standards with deadlines after Aug 8th that will result in the greatest energy savings.

Later in the day, the President mentioned the memo in a speech.

"In fact, as part of this effort, today I've signed a presidential memorandum requesting that the Department of Energy set new efficiency standards for common household appliances. This will save consumers money. This will spur innovation. And this will conserve tremendous amounts energy. We'll save through these simple steps over the next thirty years the amount of energy produced over a two-year period by all the coal-fired power plants in America."

Bravo, Mr. President. It is an amazing new reality when the President of the United States speaks directly to the importance of efficiency standards and goes so far as to instruct his energy agency to be proactive rather than reactive in issuing those standards. The simple significance of this act can not be understated.

The President clearly understands the importance of the standards program and what is arguably the most effective energy policy in this country. The numbers don't lie - 50 quads and $500 billion in consumer savings in the next 30 years. I particularly like how the energy savings were framed to have personal impact to the President as enough to run the state of Illinois for 26 years. It's actually enough to run half of the entire country for a year, since we use approximately 100 quads of energy a year.

The savings are only from the standards that DOE is already required set. The Department has the authority to expand the program to cover new appliances without waiting till Congress tells them they have to, and there is no shortage of options. The state of California has repeatedly shown how energy savings can be found where DOE has failed to look.

Having a President motivated to make the US the most efficient country in the world will put money in consumer's pockets. This is a stark contrast to his predecessors, as DOE has historically been a laggard on standards and missed some deadlines by decades. Under the previous administration, only 4 standards were set and opportunities to save money and energy were ignored. In response, a lawsuit was brought by NRDC and several states that resulted in a consent decree schedule of rulemakings for 22 appliances. After a few additions, we now have binding commitments from DOE to set 25 new standards in the next 4 years - and a President and Secretary of Energy who understand just how important they are. Things are looking up.

The opportunities are there for the taking right away. The lamp rule I blogged about last week is the largest potential energy saver of any standard in history, and strengthening that proposal and closing loopholes should be priority number one for the "new" DOE.

They have their marching orders, so now its time to get to work.

 

]]> New Lamp Standard: How much is 11 tons of mercury? How do fish feel about lamps? tag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2009:/blogs/lburt//156.2613 2009-02-01T17:34:27Z 2009-03-03T04:07:04Z I'm an engineer. I understand quads, kilowatt hours, British Thermal Units, therms, etc. After working here at NRDC in Washington, DC for a while, I have some concept of the importance of a million metric tons of CO2 emissions. And... Lane Burt I'm an engineer. I understand quads, kilowatt hours, British Thermal Units, therms, etc. After working here at NRDC in Washington, DC for a while, I have some concept of the importance of a million metric tons of CO2 emissions. And like every American, I know that a billion dollars is too much money to waste. But I have to plead ignorance on what a ton of mercury means for me or the country.

In the context of the proposed rule on lamps from DOE, I know the potential energy, money, and carbon savings are ridiculous. Largest in history. 16 quads, $65 billion, and 800 million metric tons of CO2. Jaw dropping, mind blowing ridiculous. See my last post for more info.

But 11 tons of mercury? What does keeping this pollutant out of the air and water mean in realmercury terms? I'm sure it's a lot of thermometers, but what really?

Since my ignorance on this matter is entirely unforgivable given that some of the leading experts on these topics sit down the hall from me, I decided to find out.

My colleague Susan Keane helped me on the mercury front. She directed me to these stats:

  • Coal fired power plants emit roughly 50 tons of Hg into the air annually, so we could save the equivalent of 20% of the annual emissions from this source
  • 1 gram of mercury deposited from the air each year onto a 20 acre lake is enough over time to contaminate all the fish in the lake so they are unfit to eat.
  • 1 gram of mercury is enough to contaminate 1 ton of fish (at the FDA limit of 1 part per million).

 

So if we set the standard where we should, we would keep 11 million grams of mercury out of the air and water. This amount, if emitted all at once, could potentially contaminate 220 million acres of lake. Lake Superior is 20 million acres. That's 11 Lake Superiors.

If 1 gram of mercury can contaminate 1 ton of fish, that's 11 million tons of bad fish. Or 121 million Jeremy Pivens. Ok, I know that's not exactly right, but you get the point. These emissions would occur over 30 years, so this comparison is for scale purposes only.

Predictably, I have confirmed my notion that, like the energy, dollar, and carbon savings possible in this rule, the mercury savings defy all comparison. Yes I know that equivalencies like this aren't the best way to document impact since I say they same thing when someone asks me to translate a quad into cars off the road.  This is back of the envelope only and the conclusion is simple - it's a hell of a lot of pollution. If you care about wildlife, lakes, or your own health, then right now you care about general service fluorescent and incandescent reflector lamps. Sorry about that. We will return you to the more interesting topics shortly.

As I mentioned last time, stay tuned to this blog and the ASAP website for more info on how to get involved. After the hearing on Feb 3rd we will provide updates and information on the steps you can take to weigh in.

 

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