Is New Jersey’s global warming law just hot air?

In New Jersey, it’s sometimes difficult to separate the Democrats from the Republicans. Public opinion polls consistently demonstrate that voters are moderate-to-liberal on virtually all important public issues. Such conformity may engender social comity, but it sure takes a lot of the fun out of public debate.

One public figure, however, who is unflagging in his efforts to shake things up is Steve Lonegan, a maverick, libertarian Republican who also happens to be the Mayor of Bogota, NJ. He’s also an unsuccessful candidate for governor and the executive director of Americans for Prosperity – New Jersey, a decidedly right-leaning organization that champions “limited government and free markets.”

In an op-ed piece that ran in yesterday’s Asbury Park Press, Lonegan challenges the wisdom of the state’s recently enacted Global Warming Response Act which sets specific deadlines for the reduction of greenhouse gases. He writes:

“It’s the height of folly to think a single state, New Jersey, can. Even if all industry ceased to exist in New Jersey, and the state never emitted another molecule of carbon dioxide, the effect on global climate would be meaningless. This is all about symbolism, of course, and Corzine and Gore hope to set an example for other states and countries, they say. Unfortunately, that symbolism will cost many New Jersey workers and entrepreneurs their livelihood. New Jersey has lost 8,000 private sector jobs in seven years, and this “politically correct” feel-good nonsense will accelerate that sorry trend.New Jersey is a major petroleum refining state and is one of the primary suppliers of petroleum products to the Northeast. It’s also one reason why gasoline prices are low in our state. This law will cripple that industry, costing the state one of its few remaining engines of growth, and it will serve as a hidden gasoline tax on every motorist in New Jersey.”

Check out the entire piece here. Then click on the “comments” line below and let us know what you think. Is the new law just political posturing or is it a responsible reaction to an undeniable environmental crisis?

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More signs of business leaning to green

The environment is increasingly on the minds of businesses these days. In New Jersey, the state’s largest utility, PSEG broke with precedent (and some of its business colleagues) in endorsing the state’s recently adopted global-warming law that sets firm deadlines for reductions in greenhouse gases.

In New York, officials of the Building Owners and Managers Association International (BOMA) announced a new energy plan for the commercial real estate sector which it admits “accounts for 18% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and $24 billion a year in energy costs. “

The voluntary plan encourages members of the 16,500-member organization to reduce their use of resources through a seven-step program. It targets a decrease in energy consumption by 30 percent by 2012. Read more in The Daily Green.

Meanwhile, in Oakland California, organizers have announced the formation of a national Green Chamber, a new organization that aims to bring environmentally friendly businesses together for networking, resource-sharing, lobbying and to advance common goals.

As reported in GreenBiz.com, the Green Chamber starts out with 16 regional directors, who will be responsible for certifying new members from their region, as well as coordinating the activities within each region. The directors also are charged with reviewing each membership application to screen out potential “greenwashers” (those who advertises positive environmental practices while acting in the opposite way).

New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island businesses fall under the organization’s NYC Metro region. It’s director is Joanna Black who can be reached at: joanna.b@thegreenchamber.org or 646.912.2681. The Baltimore/Pennsylvania region’s director is Sherri Loomis – SheriL@thegreenchamber.org – 301.722.3232.
More at: The Green Chamber.

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My power source by the Bay?

An extremely powerful current runs below the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco Bay to the Pacific. The city is studying the possibility of using it to generate electricity but some fear it could involve environmental risks. Judy Campbell filed this audio report for National Public Radio reports from member station KQED in San Francisco.

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Gentlemen, start your hybrids!

In case you think that hybrid autos are fine for puttering around town but not yet ready for prime time driving, check this out.

Toyota made history last weekend by winning the Tokashi 24-Hour Race with its Supra HV-R hybrid race car. It is the first time ever that a Hybrid race car has won a competition.

Autoblog reports that the car did so in convincing fashion.

“As the only GT-class car in the field, the Denso SARD Supra HV-R maintained a steady lead of several laps throughout the course of the race, and in the later hours, it essentially dialed things up a notch and ran away from the rest of the field. “

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Fill ‘er up…with citrus peels?

Can that corn. Make your ethanol with grapefruit and orange peels.

That’s the plan in Florida, where Citrus Energy, LLC plans to build a 4 million gallons per year ethanol bio-refinery, using the state’s plentiful, low-cost supply of citrus waste as the feedstock. The company calls citrus waste “the most economically attractive and technically feasible of the potential cellulosic feedstocks” and claims the process is less costly than using corn.

The company’s website lays out the economics behind the idea:

“Florida has 100 million citrus trees on 800,000 acres which provide 250 million boxes of citrus (80% of U.S. production) and 90 % goes to Florida’s 20 citrus processing plants, producing over 5 million tons of citrus waste annually. Most of the citrus processing waste is dried into what is commonly referred to as citrus pulp pellets (CPP) and fed to cattle. The production of CPP requires a large capital investment by the processor with little if any return on investment. During recent years, processors have been unable to sell CPP for a price high enough to pay for processing costs, let alone their capital investment. The CPP losses are borne by the main product from citrus, orange or grapefruit juice. Due to the high capital cost, many small citrus juice processors are unable to install feed mills to produce CPP, leaving them with tons of citrus waste for disposal. This has contributed to several small processors closing in recent years, reducing the demand for citrus fruit and depressing fruit prices paid to growers. Florida, like some other areas of the country does not have suitable climate for corn production and requires alternate ethanol feedstock development. Citrus processing waste, a pectin, cellulose and soluble sugar rich mixture of peel, segment membranes and seeds is available on a large scale and at A VERY LOW COST. “

Does all this sound more ideal that real? Perhaps not. Today, FPL Energy, LLC, a subsidiary of FPL Group, which is the $16-billion parent of one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, Florida Power and Light, announced it had signed a letter of agreement with Citrus Energy to develop the first ever commercial scale citrus peel to ethanol plant.

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Cooling buildings with ice? That’s nice

Most Americans are too young to remember the icebox. It was the forerunner of the modern refrigerator, though much smaller, made of wood, lined with tin or zinc and insulated with cork, sawdust, straw or seaweed. It contained a block of ice (delivered to your home by the ‘ice man’) and it kept a family’s fruit, meat, milk and butter cold as long as the ice held out.

Today, a number of corporations are applying this great-grandfather technology to cool their giant office buildings and reduce their giant-sized air conditioning bills. Credit Suisse, for example, is cooling 1.9 million square feet of office space at the Met Life tower, a historic building that was New York’s tallest in the days before the Empire State Building. The system took about four months to construct and company engineers say it is extremely efficient. Colleen Long of the Associated Press, reports on The Discovery Channel that: “Because electricity is needed to make the ice, water is frozen in large silver tanks at night when power demands are low. The cool air emanating from the ice blocks is then piped throughout the building more or less like traditional air conditioning. At night the water is frozen again and the cycle repeats.

“The concept is the same, but when you make something mechanical, it can break, but a big block of ice four floors below grade level isn’t going to do anything but melt,” said Todd Coulard of Trane Energy Services. The company built the Credit Suisse system and is one of several that work with ice storage.”

Ice storage at Credit Suisse lowers the facility’s peak energy use by 900 kilowatts, and reduces overall electric usage by 2.15 million kilowatt-hours annually — enough to power about 200 homes.In case you’re thinking about converting your home AC system over the weekend and giving the ice man a call, please note that the Credit Suisse project cost $3 million, although incentives were provided by New York State’s Energy Research and Development Authority.

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