JULY 2005 NEWSLETTER - PART 2

The Power of Sustainable Design (Announcement)

Two part day-long [AIA credited] course on Sustainable Design principles and a case study in Architecture taught by Shruti Narayan, LEED certified architect and sustainability consultant along with Jamy Bacchus, senior mechanical engineer, LEED certified.

In the morning, learn the principles of Sustainable Design including ecologically sound, economically viable, socially just and humane criteria in the design practice. In the afternoon, learn how those principles are applied in the design of products and buildings using renewable energy and recyclable materials.

A discussion of funding sources for sustainable design, including questions and answers will be held over the lunch break, led by the director of NY DESIGNS

July 30

Session #1: Sustainable Design 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM / $85

Session #2: The Impact of Sustainable Design on Buildings 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM / $85

Register before July 15 and bring a colleague from your company for free.

For course information please contact:

Michelle Zaffino - 718.482.5960 /mzaffino@lagcc.cuny.edu or

Visit our website at www. nydesigns.org.

China Still Battling Desertification
From AALJZEERA.NET, Thursday June 16, 2005

ALTHOUGH China is starting to enjoy successes in its fight against desertification, experts warn the battle against one of the country's most pressing environmental problems is far from over.

More than a quarter of China's total land area has been classified as desertified and the degradation is adversely affecting the lives of more than 400 million people, or 30% of its population. It costs the country billions of dollars every year.

China now has 2.64 million sq km of areas under desertification, or nearly 2.5 times the country's total farmland, government statistics show.

Positive Results

But through a series of policy measures China has been implementing over the past few years, positive results are finally being seen. Since 1999, the area of desertification has been cut by 37,924 sq km, and is being reduced at an annual rate of 7585 sq km. Six forestry projects launched in 1998, which target the planting of 760 million hectares of trees, have so far produced some 20 million hectares of forest.

To hold back the desert, China is offering farmers subsidies to plant trees instead of growing crops. State media said this project, with a target of converting 14.66 million hectares of farmland into forests and to cover 17.33 million hectares of barren land with trees by 2010, is starting to pay dividends.

Reverse Situation

But despite the achievements, on the eve of the UN-designated World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought on Friday, experts described the situation as "precarious". They warned it could easily reverse due to adverse climate change or slackening of policy measures.

Ecological System Very Fragile
Ci Longjun, desertification expert, Chinese Academy of Forestry:

"At the moment, the situation has improved, but from a macro-level... it is still full of uncertainties and is vulnerable to changes," said Ci Longjun, a desertification expert at the Chinese Academy of Forestry.

"The ecological system is very fragile and if any one element in the chain is damaged, the imbalance will easily lead to a collapse in the eco-system."

Experts said population growth and the over-utilisation of land resources, the drive for rapid economic growth and the huge demands for timber have speeded up desertification in many areas. Reforestation is often difficult amid water shortages, drought and harsh ecological conditions, and it can easily take decades to rehabilitate a desertified area.

Poor Management

Poor management often results in the destruction of vegetation, while excessive grazing, logging and mining continue to take their toll, even though there are regulations banning some of these activities.

Zhu Lieke, deputy director of the State Forestry Administration, admits problems lie ahead. "Notable progress has been made in combating desertification and sandification in China... but the situation is still severe," he said.

"We do face many challenges - desertification and poverty are linked together. Over 70% of the impoverished places are in desertified areas."

Overgrazing, in particular, often leaves grasslands barren for up to several decades, while also eradicating wildlife habitat, said Ci.

"When the grasslands can't take the pressure any more, the ecological system will collapse," she said. "The sabotage will have a tremendous impact on the grasslands for many years to come."

Industrialization

Illegal mining in poorer northern and northwestern regions such as Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Gansu and Qinghai, fuelled by their thirst for economic growth, is also hampering efforts.

Zhu Lieke, deputy director, state forestry administration said "Our country is in the middle of industrialisation. The proportion of heavy industry is gradually increasing and the demand for coal is growing," said Zhu. "I think the severe situation will continue until China has completed its industrialisation progress."

Experts said China must step up its investment, research and technology as well as strictly implement environmental laws in its battle against sand.

"We regard the anti-desertification effort as a project of morality," Ci said.

"We are enjoying what has been left behind by our ancestors, but we are going to leave behind desertified lands to our descendents. To properly handle this problem is a matter of responsibility to our children."

Japan Squeezes to Get the Most of Costly Fuel

By James Brooke, The New York Times, June 4, 2005

TOKYO, June 3 - Surging oil prices and growing concerns about meeting targets to cut greenhouse gases produced by burning fossil fuels have revived efforts around the world to improve energy efficiency. But perhaps nowhere is the interest greater than here in Japan.

Even though Japan is already among the most frugal countries in the world, the government recently introduced a national campaign, urging the Japanese to replace their older appliances and buy hybrid vehicles, all part of a patriotic effort to save energy and fight global warming. And big companies are jumping on the bandwagon, counting on the moves to increase sales of their latest models.

On the Matsushita appliance showroom floor these days, the numbers scream not the low, low yen prices, but the low, low kilowatt-hours.

A vacuum-insulated refrigerator, which comes with a buzzer if the door stays open more than 30 seconds, boasts that it will use 160 kilowatt-hours a year, one-eighth of that needed by standard models a decade ago. An air-conditioner with a robotic dust filter cleaner proclaims it uses 884 kilowatt-hours, less than half of what decade-old ones consumed.

"It's like squeezing a dry towel" for the last few drips, said Katsumi Tomita, an environmental planner for the Matsushita Electric Industrial Company, maker of the Panasonic brand and known for its attention to energy efficiency. "The honest feeling of Japanese people is, 'How can we do more?' "

A number of other affluent countries with few domestic energy resources of their own are responding in similar ways.

In Germany, where heating accounts for the largest share of home energy use, a new energy saving law has as its standard the "seven-liter house," designed to use just seven liters of oil to heat one square meter for a year, about one-third the amount consumed by a house built in 1973, before the first oil price shock. Three-liter houses - even one-liter designs - are now being built.

In Singapore, where year-round air-conditioning often accounts for 60 percent of a building's power bill, new codes are encouraging the use of things like heat-blocking window films and hookups to neighborhood cooling systems, where water is chilled overnight.

In Hong Kong, many more buildings now have "intelligent" elevator systems in which computers minimize unnecessary stops. Parking restrictions encourage bus and rail transit, and authorities are also pushing hybrid cars equipped with engines that shut down when idling.

Other countries, including the United States, the world's largest energy consumer by far, have lagged behind, but even American consumers are starting to turn their backs on big sport utility vehicles and looking at more fuel-efficient cars in response to higher gasoline prices.

But Japan is where energy consciousness probably reaches the highest levels. The country has the world's second-largest economy, but it produces virtually no oil or gas, importing 96 percent of its energy needs.

This dependence on imports has prodded the nation into tremendous achievements in improved efficiency. France and Germany, where government crusades against global warming have become increasingly loud, expend almost 50 percent more energy to produce the equivalent of $1 in economic activity. Britain's energy use, on the same measure, is nearly double; the United States nearly triple; and China almost eight times as much.

From 1973 to today, Japan's industrial sector nearly tripled its output, but kept its energy consumption roughly flat. To produce the same industrial output as Japan, China consumes 11.5 times the energy.

At JFE Holdings, Japan's second-largest steel company, plastic pellets made from recycled bottles now account for 10 percent of fuel in the main blast furnaces, reducing reliance on imported coal. Japanese paper mills are investing heavily in boilers that can be fueled by waste paper, wood and plastic. Within two years, half of the electricity used in the nation's paper mills is to come from burning waste.

Many easy steps were taken after the oil shocks of the 1970's. Now Japan is embarking on a new phase. Billions of dollars are being invested to reach a 2012 target of reducing Japan's emission of global warming gases to 6 percent below the 1990 level. These gases are released by burning oil, coal, and, to a lesser extent, natural gas - sources for about 81 percent of Japan's energy.

As host nation for the Kyoto Protocol on cutting greenhouse gases, Japan takes its commitment seriously. But it faces a big challenge. Figures released last month show Japan was 8.3 percent over the 1990 level for the fiscal year ended March 2004.

"We are now at the stage where we only save energy by investing in equipment," Mr. Tomita said of Matsushita's effort. "If we can collect money in three years, we invest."

With the Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, introducing its national campaign two months ago to meet the Kyoto targets, business is booming for energy service companies and consultants who advise companies on cutting energy bills.

But Japan's flattening of industrial energy consumption has not been matched in the transportation and residential sectors, where energy consumption has more than doubled since 1973, roughly pacing Japan's economic growth over the period.

Japan may be a mass transit nation, but now there is also a car for almost every Japanese household. Since 1970, the number of buses in Japan increased 23 percent, the number of trucks doubled, and the number of passenger cars increased more than sixfold, to 56 million.

With personal use accounting for the bulk of April's $6.4 billion bill for imported oil, Tokyo is trying to encourage greater efficiency by pushing fuel taxes even higher, lifting the pump price for gasoline to $4.70 a gallon, the highest in a decade.

During the 1990's, Japan's average fuel consumption per mile fell 13 percent. But since then, with more Japanese driving bigger cars, fuel efficiency growth has stalled.

Japan finds hope in the history of its refrigerators, which have doubled in size since 1981 as their energy use per liter has plunged 80 percent.

In hopes of working the same engineering magic on cars, Japan has extended its minicar tax breaks to hybrid cars - fuel-efficient vehicles that rely on a combination of a gasoline engine and an electric motor. Hybrid sales, while still relatively low in Japan, are growing fast. And in this environment, Toyota and Honda have become the world leaders in hybrid technology.

"We're entering the age of hybrid automobiles," Hiroyuki Watanabe, Toyota's senior managing director for environmental affairs, recently told journalists at the 2005 World Exposition Aichi, in Nagoya. "I want every car to have a hybrid engine."

The next energy-savings battleground is the home front.

After $1.3 billion in subsidies, about 160,000 homes have solar power systems. Solar power remains two to three times as expensive as the electricity supplied to households. But homeowners say that with time, the "free" electricity pays for the high installation costs. And the government is willing to devote taxes to the effort, preferring to spur rural employment through solar power installations to help reduce payments for foreign oil, coal and gas.

Although residential subsidies may be phased out, a Japanese government plan calls for increasing solar power generation 15-fold during this decade.

Japanese companies, notably Sharp, Kyocera, Mitsubishi and Sanyo, produce about half the world's photovoltaic solar panels, a roughly $10-billion-a-year market. With large commercial projects like a 4,740-panel generator going online at a filtration plant in Nara last month, Japan produces more than the combined total of the next biggest, Germany and the United States.

Prime Minister Koizumi is a political conservative who believes that saving oil starts at home. Visitors to his official residence here walk past a boxy hydrogen fuel-cell generator, a prototype installed by Matsushita in April to power the residence and educate the nation's leadership.

"Fuel cells are the key to the door of a new era in which we utilize hydrogen as an energy source," Mr. Koizumi told Parliament in 2002. "We intend to put them into practical use within three years, either as power sources for automobiles or households."

His government has set goals for cutting power consumption even further for the four main household appliances: televisions, 17 percent; personal computers, 30 percent; air- conditioners, 36 percent; and refrigerators, 72 percent. Engineers have been attacking the problem of the power used by appliances on standby, a drainage that can account for 5 percent to 10 percent of a household's energy consumption.

Still, while energy efficiency is seen as a patriotic act, many consumers in Japan are reluctant to part with working appliances, made with the Japanese ingenuity and attention to detail that ensure they will last for decades.

"The problem we are facing is over how much we induce consumers to trade in their appliances for more energy-efficient ones," Hajimi Sasaki, chairman of the NEC Corporation, a major appliance maker, said in April at a news conference billed as "Proposals Aimed at Overcoming Global Warming."

"I drive a hybrid car, and last fall I put heat-cutting film on some of our windows," he said. "And I intend to buy a new refrigerator."

Petra Kappl contributed reporting for this article from Frankfurt, Wayne Arnold from Singapore and Alyssa Lau from Hong Kong.

Mayor Signs Bill on “Potty Parity”

Lisa L. Colangelo, New York Daily News, June 7th, 2005

WHAT A RELIEF! Mayor Bloomberg signed the so-called "potty parity" bill yesterday, requiring more women's toilets in newly built arenas, bars, convention halls and movie theaters.

For every toilet in the men's room, there must be two in the women's, according to the new law.

"We're talking about the quality of life for women. It's as simple as that," said Council member Yvette Clarke (D-Brooklyn) at the bill-signing ceremony.

Women "have had to really endure sometimes degrading situations just trying to take care of their personal business," Clarke said.

The new law covers all new, and some renovated buildings.

"A number of times I've been in a restaurant waiting for a small men's room to open up and a woman comes out," Bloomberg said to laughter. "This hopefully will solve that problem."

Paulette Geanacopoulos, executive director of the Women's City Club of New York, called it "a major health bill."

"Any of us who have waited for 25 minutes to get into a rest room watching men walk in and out will strongly support this legislation," she said.

U.S. Court Backs Bush's Changes on Clean Air Act

By Michael Janofsky, The New York Times, June 25 2005

WASHINGTON, June 24 - A federal appeals court sided with the Bush administration on Friday, upholding its revisions of the Clean Air Act to allow plant operators to modernize without installing expensive new pollution control equipment. The ruling turned back challenges to the revisions by New York, California and a dozen other states.

In upholding central provisions of the regulations known as New Source Review, the court concluded that the Environmental Protection Agency had acted within its rights in issuing rules in 2002 that allowed operators of power plants, refineries, and factories greater flexibility in controlling emissions of air pollutants than they had previously.

Representatives of the electric power industry, which had strongly supported the new regulations, hailed the ruling as a victory. The new rules require owners of older plants to upgrade emission-control equipment to standards for new plants only if they make substantial improvements. Plant owners and the E.P.A. have consistently disagreed over how to differentiate between routine maintenance and large-scale upgrades.

Jeffrey Holmstead, the agency's assistant administrator for air and radiation, said the court "recognized the value of common sense reforms" included in the new rules. Mr. Holmstead noted that the panel "simply did not buy" the argument made by the states and other critics that allowing the rules' provisions to remain intact would cause "environmental devastation."

The ruling was issued in a unanimous opinion by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. But the court also said that the E.P.A., in issuing the rules, had exceeded its authority in several areas, and representatives of the states and environmental groups also said they found enough to their liking in the 73-page opinion to claim successes.

Eliot Spitzer, the New York attorney general, said in an interview that the ruling was "a win for us." Echoing a view expressed by environmental groups who were also involved in the case, Mr. Spitzer added: "Anybody who cares about the quality of air can view the case a victory for enforcement and continued aggressive action to limit the violations of the Clean Air Act by power companies."

The revisions addressed in the court ruling are highly technical in nature and have been under legal assault since they became final in late 2002. Challenges to federal administrative rules bypass trial courts and proceed directly into the appeals court.

The states, along with a dozen environmental groups, challenged some areas of the revisions, arguing that they reflected an administration that was too cozy with industry and that allowing plant operators more latitude would leave the air dirtier. Industry groups challenged other parts of the regulations as too onerous, warning that they would require plant operators to spend billions of dollars in upgrades and pass the costs on to consumers.

As the respondent in the case, the E.P.A. argued that the revisions were appropriate and fair.

The court agreed with no one entirely, as the three judges closely examined the areas under assault to determine whether the agency's interpretation exceeded the limits of the Clean Air Act.

The ruling is likely to have an impact in other cases pending in courts around the country involving the administration's rules on emission controls, including several cases in which New York is suing power companies.

The ruling also sets up a possible Supreme Court review on the issue because of at least one other ruling, by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Va., last week involving Duke Energy.

David McIntosh, a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the challengers, said, "The polluter-friendly loopholes that the court struck down would have led to more asthma attacks, more hospitalizations and more sick days."

But Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, a trade organization, suggested that the environmentalists and states had misread a ruling that, by leaving sections unchanged, affirmed positions held by industry groups.

"On the whole, today is a very good day for common sense reform of the N.S.R. program," Mr. Segal said. "As industries invest, one of the key impediments is that investment in new technology can trigger a punitive response from regulators. Today's decision brings certainty to major reform efforts."

The nature of the regulations under review by the court is intricate, and officials with otherwise opposing views cited the same part of the court ruling as a reason to claim victory. For example, the court denied an effort by a gold-mining company to change a provision that allows plant operators to select average emissions from any two consecutive years from the last 10 as a baseline toward measuring future emission levels.

The mining company argued that its economic cycles are longer than 10 years, and that measuring emission levels should take that into account.

Industry groups hailed the court ruling on this provision as a triumph for them because it would allow plant operators to pick a low two-year average. Then, if emission levels fell because of an economic downtown and reduced consumer demand, the operator would not be held to what might be only a temporarily low emissions level.

Yet environmentalists also found benefits in the ruling, pointing out that the so-called "10-year look-back" provision does not apply to power plants, which account for the vast majority of industrial pollution.

These are among the provisions that the court let stand, ruling that they were "not otherwise arbitrary and capricious":

In measuring increases of emissions, plant operators have to consider actual past and projected emission levels, not emission levels based on the potential output of a plant.
If an unexpected demand leads to suddenly higher emissions - a possibility that could arise with a prolonged heat wave, for example - the elevated levels would not be counted against the plant operators for purposes of measuring future emission levels against past levels.
Plants with multiple sources of pollution can count the aggregate levels of emissions for measurement comparisons.

Among the provisions struck down was a decision by the agency to allow plants to avoid keeping records of their emissions if the plants do not anticipate a change in emission level that would spur New Source Review.

The judges said the agency "acted arbitrarily and capriciously" in exempting those plants from keeping the same kinds of records required of other plants.

The three-judge panel included Stephen F. Williams, a senior judge who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan; and two judges who were appointed by President Bill Clinton, Judith W. Rogers and David S. Tatel.

Meeting Kyoto: A Flick of the Switch Can Help Reduce Energy Consumption

By Bill Steele, from the March 14^th issue of the Cornell University Chronicle

(Thanks to John Nettleton, at whose office the Chapter met, for distributing copies of the Cornell Chronicle to those present, from which this article is taken

(online @www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle.html)

WANT TO GET PEOPLE TO TURN OFF THE LIGHTS WHEN THEY LEAVE? It may not work with the kids at home, but at Cornell, all you have to do is ask.

Before the university closed down for the December 2001 holidays, the newly formed Kyoto Task Team on campus did indeed ask, circulating e-mail and distributing posters asking faculty, staff and students to make a special effort to turn off lights, computers and other electrical devices before going on vacation. The results were a reduction of more than 360,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity used in the 10-day period compared with the same period the previous year and a savings of about $25,000.

The campaign was perhaps the most public action so far of the Kyoto Task Team, a committee of students, faculty and staff members formed last fall in response to student requests for a more aggressive energy-conservation policy. Student groups, particularly one called Kyoto Now! had asked the administration to bring the university into compliance with 1997 Kyoto protocols for the reduction of greenhouse gases (which were signed by President Bill Clinton but not ratified by the U.S. Senate).

A number of other programs behind the scenes also have been chipping away at electricity consumption, and now the Kyoto Task Team is asking Cornellians to maintain the good habits they developed over the break.

"Our challenge, together with the Kyoto Now! students, is to encourage the campus community to reduce their energy use and to work with them to take existing systems and make them use less," said Lanny Joyce, Cornell's manager of engineering, planning and energy management in the Department of Utilities and Energy Management, who heads the Kyoto Task Team.

The campus community, he said, has submitted many energy conservation ideas and suggestions, many of which are now being acted on. For example, he said, workers in Morrison Hall pointed out that there is no way to provide low-level lighting in the corridors on nights and weekends. And the heat in Sibley Hall, Joyce was told, is excessive.

Joyce is looking for similar reports and suggestions from anyone on campus. Meanwhile, two full-time mechanics are at work on a preventive maintenance and recommissioning program for heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.

Often, as in Morrison Hall, the problem is an "all or nothing" system, he said. As an example of what can be done, Lynah Rink has been fitted with new lighting allowing for five levels, from extra bright for tournament-level televised play down to levels appropriate for regular play, practice and background lighting to off.

These conservation features added about $46,000 to the cost of Lynah Rink renovations, Joyce said, with nearly all of that provided by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Joyce and others are seeking NYSERDA matching funds for several other projects, including commissioning of sophisticated HVAC system controls in Duffield Hall, an advanced technology building being erected on the university's Engineering Quad, and upgrades in the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. There are also efforts to include solar panels into a future innovative small office remodeling project, and students are exploring this technology for new residence halls. Such installations would not make economic sense without a significant subsidy, Joyce said. "There's a likely 50-year payback, and the equipment has only a 20-year warranty," he noted. But such installations can be valuable to demonstrate the current technology, he added.

Joyce also pointed out that there have been major savings in electricity use since the opening of the new Lake Source Cooling (LSC) facility, which uses the cold depths of Cayuga Lake to cool water for campus air conditioning. The pumping systems of LSC use 86 percent less energy than would be needed for conventional refrigeration.

Other Cornell energy-saving measures in the works:

Labeling thousands of light switches on campus with "Please turn me off when you don't need me" stickers.
Persuading users to institute the "powersave" mode on their computers. The committee is asking all users to set their monitors to automatically shut off if the computer is out of use for 10 minutes or more. This would reduce individual power use to 5 watts from 80 to 100 watts, Joyce said. If "sleep" is clicked on all the estimated 20,000 computers on campus, or the machines are switched off about half the time, savings of about 7 million kWh per year would result, he said.
Evaluating vending machine power-saving controllers to minimize vending machine standby electric power use.
Modifying university design and construction standards to promote cost-effective energy conservation features in new construction.
Initiating studies to identify, and then projects to reduce, energy use in existing facilities.

While reducing the electric and heating fuel bill is an important motivation, these efforts also will reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, which help to trap the sun's heat and contribute to global warming. Goals agreed upon by 174 nations at the Kyoto Climate Change Conference in Japan call for reducing these emissions worldwide in 2010 to 7 percent less than 1990 levels. While the current U.S. administration has rejected the Kyoto agreement, Cornell has committed to doing its best to meet the goals.

"I hereby commit Cornell University to do everything within its ability, consistent with the university's obligations for teaching, research, service and extension, to implement the Kyoto protocol standards and to issue a regular report on our progress," said Harold D. Craft Jr., vice president for administration and chief financial officer of the university, in a statement issued last April, after discussions with student organizations, including Kyoto Now! and Cornell Greens, along with the Cornell Center for the Environment.

Shortly thereafter, Craft created the Kyoto Task Team, which includes, besides Joyce: Audrey Lowes, administrative assistant in Utilities and Energy Management; Jim Kazda, statutory contract college facilities office associate director; Randy Lacey, university engineer; Jim Gibbs, maintenance management director; Timothy Fahey, Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor in natural resources; Zellman Warhaft, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering; students Moss Templeton '03 and Abigail Krich '03, members of Kyoto NOW!; and Tad McGalliard, education and development coordinator in the Center for the Environment.

"I'm very happy about what they're doing," Krich said. "I've seen a lot of changes that have happened on campus because of Kyoto Now! and the Kyoto Task Team working together. They're definitely taking it seriously, and we're working together to achieve the same goals."

Krich added, however, that the task team will be stepping back over the next few weeks to decide on long-term goals. "When 2008 rolls around, I don't want to discover that we've been working on a lot of small projects and forgetting the big picture," she said.

The team currently meets biweekly. Eventually it may become a subgroup of a soon-to-be-proposed university-wide Environmental Stewardship Council, to be launched on or before Earth Day 2002, Craft says. The council would advise Cornell's administration on such issues as energy conservation, construction of "green" buildings, recycling, grounds maintenance and other environmental issues as appropriate. Max Pfeffer, professor of rural sociology and director of the Center for the Environment, and Robert Bland, director of the Environmental Compliance Office, head an ad hoc group that is preparing a proposal to create the council. "The idea would be to make Cornell a leader in environmental stewardship on campus," Pfeffer said.

Of the several greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO2) is considered by far the most important contributor to global warming. Since CO2 is produced by the burning of fossil fuels, the best way to reduce emissions is to reduce the use of electricity and heating generated by burning those fuels. While the university generates some of its own electricity through a small hydroelectric plant on Fall Creek and a larger cogeneration plant associated with the central heating plant, conservation also results in reducing the emissions from regional generating plants that supply electricity to the campus. The committee has begun a CO2 emissions audit for 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2001 to provide a baseline for the future.

To meet Kyoto goals by 2008, the total CO2 emissions resulting from campus electricity use and heating would need to be 7 percent less than they were 12 years ago. This is a difficult target, Craft said, given that the university has grown since then and has many significant building projects under way. In other words, the problem is to heat, cool, electrify and light more buildings with less total resultant emissions.

"We agreed to do the best that we can consistent with the mission of the university," Craft said. "I've really been pleased with the way the Kyoto Task Team working with Lanny has pulled together, and their enthusiasm and creativity have been very gratifying."

Green Car Congress

NYC on Track for World’s Largest Hybrid Bus Fleet

Green News, Feb. 28, 2005

(Please note early date)

ORION BUS INDUSTRIES, a division of DaimlerChrysler, has completed deliveries of its first 125 diesel-electric series hybrid buses for MTA New York City Transit and has begun delivering the next set of 200. By the end of 2005, MTA’s fleet of 4,215 vehicles will have 325 hybrid buses, or 7%.

This will be the world’s largest hybrid bus fleet, at least for the moment.

MTA also runs 481 CNG buses—11% of its fleet.

New York Transit began testing a pilot fleet of 10 Orion VI hybrids in 1998, and put the first production order of 125 Orion VII hybrids in service last year. The agency has built up close to two million miles of hybrid service, and is extremely pleased with the results.

Some of the highlights of the operating experiences to date include:

· Brake life approximately doubled

· NO_x less than half that for a clean diesel or CNG bus

· CO less than one fourth that for a clean diesel and roughly one tenth that for a CNG bus

· Reduction in fuel consumption of approximately 40% compared to the standard diesel buses the hybrids replace. This equates to nearly 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel saved per year for each bus. (Baseline fuel economy for the standard MTA diesel is 2.3 mpg; on their different routes, the hybrids have delivered between 3.4 and 3.7 mpg.)

The Orion series hybrids use a propulsion system from BAE Systems.

The Orion VII buses with BAE HybriDrive combine a 5.9-liter, 260 hp (194 kW) Cummins ULSD (Ultra Low-Sulfur Diesel) engine with a 120 kW traction generator. The traction motor delivers 250 hp (186 kW) and 2,700 lb-ft (3,657 Nm) of low-end torque.

Separately, the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp. of the State of New York has ordered four Orion VII hybrid buses for use in its transit-bus fleet. The buses, with a similar configuration to those operated by New York City Transit, are scheduled for delivery in 2006.

Starwood Using Fuel Cells in Manhattan

Crane's NY - June 14, 2005

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. began using fuel cells at the 1,750-room Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers in Manhattan today. The hotel company said the move marks the first time a high-temperature fuel cell has been used in Manhattan.

Fuel cells provide cleaner energy by relying on a hydrogen source, such as natural gas, to generate electricity without combustion. Starwood has said that using fuel cells at other properties has cut its costs by 5%.

The Sheraton’s fuel-cell plant, which uses natural gas supplied by Consolidated Edison, provides about 10% of the hotel’s electricity and hot water and will be able to supply backup electricity for part of the hotel. It was manufactured by FuelCell Energy of Danbury, Conn., and is operated by Allentown, Pa.-based PPL Corp.

Study Suggests Toxins' Effects may be Passed Down through Generations

(From Grist summary)

A pregnant woman's exposure to toxic chemicals may cause harmful effects not only in her children, but in her grandchildren and theirs, a surprising new study suggests. For some time scientists have known about "epigenetic" changes: chemical modifications of DNA that affect the way it is expressed (phenotype), without changing the genetic code itself (genotype). What Washington State University researchers discovered -- and report in the journal Science -- is that such changes can be passed from generation to generation.

This, suffice it to say, flies in the face of some fairly central assumptions in biology. It also raises disturbing questions about the long-term effects of chemical pollution.

"In human terms, this would mean if your great-grandmother was exposed to an environmental toxin at a critical point in her pregnancy, you may have inherited the disease," says lead researcher Michael Skinner. "It is a new way to think about disease."

And by "new" he means "freaky."

Terms of Enfearment

Getting to the bottom of climate-change lingo

By David Hyde, Grist, June 22, 2005

REMEMBER when you first heard about that big hole in the ozone? Remember how they called it "the ozone hole"? Man, life was good then. Now everyone's talking about global warming. Or, actually, climate change. Or ... uh ... anthropogenic forcing?
           What we've got, to most people's ears, is global gibberish. This scientific lingo isn't just confusing the way, say, particle physics is confusing. It's also politicized beyond belief. Industry groups, politicians, scientists, and activists battle over terminology, wresting phrases from each other left and right. Onlookers are left scratching their heads: is this science, or mud wrestling?
           As the rhetorical stew thickens, it gets harder to keep track of the relevant words and phrases. So I've prepared this handy guide to some of the more confusing, contentious, and complicated terminology.

Global Warming or Climate Change?
           Back in the 1890s, Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius was the first to theorize that the industrial revolution would one day lead to warming. Being a chilly Swede, he welcomed it. Today, most environmentalists and journalists use the phrase "global warming" as shorthand for the theory that the planet's average temperature is rising. But others prefer "climate change," since the trend encompasses many things; Europe, for instance, could get colder as others sweat.
           Industry backers also like the second term. According to conservative pollster Frank Luntz, "while 'global warming' has catastrophic connotations attached to it, 'climate change' suggests a more controllable and less emotional challenge." In other words: don't warm-y, be happy.

Heat-trapping Blanket
Everyone loves snuggling under a blanket on a chilly night. It's like curling up with a kitten, or donning a T-shirt fresh from the dryer. Oddly, this cuddly metaphor has also been adopted by some environmentalists to explain the threat of global warming. Think of it this way: gases like water vapor and carbon dioxide act like a blanket in the atmosphere, keeping us all cozy. But if we introduce excess CO2 by burning fossil fuels such as oil and coal, it's kind of like using a down comforter in the middle of summer. Not enough heat escapes -- and you wake up panting like Paris Hilton.

Urban Heat Island Effect (UHIE)
           Imagine the famously seedy Manhattan disco Studio 54 on a summer night during its heyday in the late 1970s. Next, picture a couple in the suburbs enduring another depressing dinner together, as if each day were something out of Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit. The point being: urban areas are much hotter than their surroundings.
           In this case, the term refers to temperature. UHIE, caused by pavement and buildings absorbing and trapping solar energy, is occasionally confused with global warming. However, scientists say its impact on the earth's degree-surge is negligible.

Anthropogenic Forcing
           OK, the "anthropogenic" part refers to us. The "forcing" refers to changes in the environment that could force the climate to shift, like, oh, releasing billions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere. Basically, this phrase -- which is mainly used by climate researchers -- can be loosely interpreted as "human-made doom."
           A handful of researchers pooh-pooh anthropogenic forcing as a cause of global warming. One of the most notorious skeptics, Dick Lindzen of MIT, also believes that no scientific study has yet demonstrated a conclusive link between smoking and lung cancer.

Modeling
           Climate modelers plug data into computers to predict the future. No crash diets or facial tightening creams are required (although, come to think of it, that might help). Models are controversial, partly because their predictions are only as good as the information that goes into them. And partly because everyone knows the local weatherman can't even tell us what's going to happen on Tuesday. But they're the only tools we've got for estimating what the temperature on Miami Beach is going to be in 2050 -- or whether Miami Beach will still exist.

Hockey Stick
           This dramatic graph, one of America's Top Models, depicts the earth's temperature dating back to the 10th century -- a relatively flat line followed by a blade-like spike in the 20th century. Sure, it looks cool, but scientists disagree about its accuracy (as they do about most things). Nevertheless, nearly all climate scientists say there's solid evidence for warming in the 20th century, and they are preparing for things to get hotter still in the 21st. In the words of Wayne Gretzky, "A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be."

Carbon Sequestration
           The cheery idea here is to prevent the carbon dioxide generated by power plants from accumulating in the atmosphere by putting it somewhere else: in the oceans, underground, in Dick Cheney's undisclosed location. Sequestration solutions include fertilizing the oceans with iron to grow more plants that "fix" carbon, and pumping CO2 into oil and gas wells to stimulate production. (Hey, wait a second ...) For now, it's unclear whether any of these ambitious ideas will actually work on a mass scale.

Acid Solution
           What do The Grateful Dead and my old next-door neighbor have in common? They both favored an "acid solution." Which meant something way different to them than it does to oceanographers. As it turns out, too much CO2 in seawater leads to greater acidity (think lemon juice). This trend in the oceans toward an "acid solution" makes it harder for things like coral reefs to grow. Which is, like, a total downer for fish and stuff, man.

WWGOD
           OK, I just made this up. It stands for What Would George Orwell Do? In all his ruminations on the future, Orwell couldn't have imagined the opaque terminology of global warming. (Personally, I think he would have had a good giggle over it.) The author held out hope for clarity, and in the essay "Politics and the English Language," he gives this advice: "Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent."
           Unless, he might have added, you're trying to confuse the hell out of people so that nothing gets done.

Is Your Resume Recruiter Friendly’

By Deborah Walker, CCMC, Resume Writer ~ Career Coach

Deb@AlphaAdvantage.com Toll-free phone: 888-828-0814

If you are in the middle of a job search, recruiters can be either your friend or your foe. They have the power to introduce you to corporate hiring decision makers ‘or to keep you out of the hiring process entirely. The quality of your resume plays a key role in determining how recruiters will treat you in the job market. It definitely pays to make sure your resume is recruiter friendly.

There are three elements to a recruiter-friendly resume:

* Focus

* Core competencies or transferable skills

* Accomplishments

If your resume lacks any of these crucial elements, then you probably are not capturing the attention you deserve, and you may be missing out on important interview opportunities.

1. Focus

Since recruiters’ time is at a premium, they must know your career focus within seconds of opening your resume. If your career focus isn’t clearly stated, you can’t assume the recruiter will take the time to search your resume for clues. Most recruiters consider ‘Career Objective’ statements worthless if they don’t contain real information about the specific position you are looking for and the expertise you offer. A professionally written resume will give the recruiter a quick focus on your skills and abilities.

2. Core competencies or transferable skills

Once a recruiter understands your focus, he/she will want to know if you have the required core competencies or transferable skills to accomplish the job. Thorough research of typical job descriptions in your field will help you identify the core competencies your resume must feature.

You’ll capture and hold recruiter attention by including only those core competencies relating specifically to your focus. Be careful not to muddy up your personal marketing message by including extraneous skills. If you remember the all-important rule of relevancy, you’ll go a long way toward keeping the reader’s attention on your key skills.

3. Accomplishments

Once your resume has made it through the initial screening for focus and skills, the recruiter will want to know how you stack up against other candidates. Remember, with record-high resume response to job openings, recruiters need good, solid reasons to recommend you for consideration over the mountain of other candidates. Clear, concisely stated accomplishments are the best way to distinguish yourself from your competition.

Whether the recruiter works for one corporation or represents many corporate clients, he or she must be able to give valid reasons for promoting you as a viable candidate. You can make their job infinitely easier by including the information they need in a clear, professionally written format and bring your resume to the top of the candidate pile. When your resume sells itself, you gain the advantage and make the recruiter look good as well.

For optimum impact, write accomplishments that illustrate the strength of your core competencies, transferable skills and focus. An accomplishment is only valuable to your resume if it promotes the skills your target employers are looking for. Remember the rule of relevancy as you craft each of your accomplishment statements. For tips on doing this effectively, you might want to invest in a career coaching session.

In today’s extremely competitive job market, employers rely heavily on recruiters to screen out all but the top few applicants. With a recruiter-friendly resume, you’ll beat out your competition as the first choice for every interview.

(Editor’s Note: The above article was submitted to us for publication.)

Wind Turbine Study Planned for Fresh Kills

BP hopes 200-foot-tower will clear the way to generate electricity at former landfill

By Glenn Nyback, Staten Island Advance, June 27, 2005

FOR DECADES, a summer breeze wafting from the direction of the Fresh Kills landfill was ample reason for West Shore residents to dash around the house and shut all the windows.

What a difference a decommissioned dump makes.

Now Borough President James Molinaro is hoping a study will justify the installation of electricity-generating windmills at Fresh Kills, after a master plan to transform the 2,200-acre site into a park is implemented.

By year's end, Pawling, N.Y.-based BQ Energy will install a 200-foot-high meteorological tower on the Travis-facing North Mound to record wind data, including speed and direction, over 12 months. It's an effort to determine the feasibility of building a wind farm at Fresh Kills.

By the end of 2006, the data will be compiled and a final decision can be made, said Paul Curran, managing director of the company.

Standing atop the 146-foot-high mound last week, Molinaro hailed wind energy as a great way to generate electricity without burdening communities with dirty and unsightly power plants.

"This is clean energy," Molinaro said. "It's energy that would exist all day long, every day of the week."

The city also made public the preliminary draft of a master plan for converting the former landfill into a park. Designers have said the inclusion of windmills, which would be a first for New York City, is "feasible" in the final plan for Fresh Kills.

City Planning means to adopt a master plan for Fresh Kills by early 2007.

The cost of the $400,000 windmill study will be shared by BQ Energy and the New York State Energy Research Development Agency.

Curran said there is enough wind power at the landfill to justify "five or six" windmills, generating an aggregate 10 to 15 megawatts of electricity -- enough to power about 5,000 homes. Molinaro said the windmills could generate the electricity for the future park at Fresh Kills and any excess could be sold to businesses or power companies.

The windmills, about 400 feet high, cost $80,000 to $400,000 and could be funded through Molinaro's capital fund, bonds or private investments from businesses.

"What better way than to have a clean source of energy on what used to be a blight." asked Nick Dmytryszyn, Borough Hall's environmental engineer. "This is just another aspect of what the landfill can possibly create."

Chief Michael Mucci, deputy director of the Sanitation Department's Bureau of Waste Disposal, said anything that will improve Fresh Kills' negative image is beneficial.

"It's definitely a good plan," said Mucci, a Graniteville resident and a former director of the Fresh Kills landfill. "Staten Island has lived with the landfill for years, and maybe we can give something back."

Glenn Nyback covers environmental news for the Advance. He may be reached at nyback@siadvance.com.

World Bank Lends China $87 M for Renewable Energy

WASHINGTON (Reuters, June 17, 2005) - The World Bank said on Friday it would lend China $87 million to help expand the supply of renewable electricity in Asia's economic powerhouse and giant energy consumer.

"China's abundant undeveloped resources of small hydropower, wind, biomass, geothermal and solar energy ... could help the country reduce some of the environmental damage from its overwhelming dependence on coal for large-scale, grid-based power generation," the global lender said.

The World Bank said the funds would support Beijing's efforts to create a more competitive power market, to give producers access to better technology and to scale-up the capacity of existing renewal energy projects.

Goals of the project include boosting China's production of renewable electricity and reducing carbon and other particulate emissions, the Washington-based development institution said.

The World bank funds will be supplemented by a $40 million grant from the Global Environment Facility, a group that funds environmental projects in the developing world.

NEW YORK CHAPTER AEE www.aeeny.org

President: Michael Bobker (212)279-3902 mbobker@aol.com

Vice President John Nettleton (212) 340-2937 jsn10@cornell.edu

Secretary: Pat Impollonia (212) 854-2290 pi44@columbia.edu

Treasurer: Jack Davidoff (718)963-2556 jack-ecselectrical@verizon.net

Newsletter Editor: Dick Koral (718) 552-1161 rkoral@citytech.cuny.edu

Newsletter Advertising: Please address inquiries to Treasurer Jack Davidoff

Committee Chairs

Awards: Fredric Goldner (516) 481-1455 Fgoldner@emra.com

(Past International President – AEE)

Scholarships: George Kritzler (201) 664-6370 gkritzler@aol.com

Board Members

David M. Ahrens (718) 677-9077 dahrens@energyspec.com

George Birman (212) 688-0959 george.birman@att.net

Harry Davitian (631) 751-9800 hdavitian@entekpower.com

John Leffler (212) 868-4660 Jleffler@goldmancopeland.com

Robert Meier (212) 773-0348 robert.meier@ey.com

Jeremy Metz (212) 338-6405 jeremy.metz@verizon.com

Asit Patel (718)292-6733 apatel@aeanyc.org

Paul Rivet (845) 359-4434 energyx@ucs.net

Past Presidents

Asit Patel (2000-03), Thomas Matonti (1998-99), Jack Davidoff (1997-98), Fred Goldner (1993-96), Peter Kraljic (1991-92), George Kritzler (1989-90), Alfred Greenberg (1982-89), Murray Gross (1981-82), Herbert Kunstadt (1980-81), Sheldon Liebowitz (1978-80)

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