By Marty Hoffert
14-03-04
Despite occasional power outages on Long Island, we take electricity for
granted, as if it were an immutable law of nature. Flip the switch, and the
lights go on -- end of story.
We give scant thought to how electricity is generated and distributed, or its
impact on the environment or national security. That's the Long Island Power
Authority's business.
Not anymore
As part of a state plan to require all agencies to get 20 % of their energy from
renewable sources, LIPA is proposing "Green Choice." Under the
program, customers can pay an extra 2 cents per kWh to buy electricity generated
upstate with non-polluting renewable energy technologies such as windmills.
The LIPA board could vote on the program as early as March 24. If implemented,
customers would decide what percentage of green energy they want to purchase.
One who elects 25 % on a monthly bill of $ 96, for instance, would pay $ 3.84
more.
The choice LIPA ratepayers would be given could have an enormous impact on
how utilities affect the environment here and around the world. This is why:
When you do throw the switch, electrons flow through wires from central power
plants powered mainly by burning fossil fuels (mostly coal, and some natural
gas). Fossil-fuel burning creates carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that most
climate scientists believe has already caused global warming -- however
implausible that might seem during this cold winter.
The fact is that the evidence for global warming from fossil-fuel burning is
overwhelming to most atmospheric scientists. Impacts of adverse climate change
on the economy and natural ecosystems could be unpleasant indeed.
Mountain glaciers are melting, high-latitude tundra is thawing, and tropical disease vectors like the mosquito-borne West Nile virus are penetrating higher latitudes as a result. Last summer thousands of elderly died in Europe from an unprecedented heat wave, and serious warming has only just begun.
Combating the environmental impact from fossil energy use won't be easy. This
was the conclusion of 18 scientists and engineers in a 2002 study published in
the journal Science, of which I was the lead author.
We looked at alternative energy ideas for large scale commercialisation: solar and wind energy, solar-power satellites, biomass, nuclear fission, nuclear fusion, fission-fusion hybrids, and fossil fuels from which carbon has been sequestered. We also looked at efficiency improvements, hydrogen production, storage and transport, superconducting global electric grids, and geo-engineering.
In the end, we argued that the United States needs a pro-active energy
technology development program on the massive scale of the Apollo moon program,
not only to combat global warming but also to foster energy security in a world
increasingly dependent on Persian Gulf oil.
I speak often on global energy and the climate to diverse groups, including
my own students. The response I get most frequently is, "That's great, we
need to do research and demonstrations to revolutionize the global energy
system." Even US Secretary of Energy Spenser Abraham, who rejects the UN
Kyoto Protocol to limit greenhouse gas emissions, agrees.
"But," people ask, "what can I do to make a difference?"
For Long Island, the LIPA program could soon be a good answer. True, transforming the global energy system to a more sustainable one is a big job. But as the philosopher Lao-Tzu observed, "A voyage of a thousand miles begins with a single step." We can take that step by signing up for green power -- and not have to wait years for such a large-scale project as the windmill farm that LIPA has proposed off Jones Beach.
Capturing wind power from rural and remote locations upstate would be a good
idea, not only because residents there are few and far between, but because that
is often where wind is most intense or persistent or both. A site with double
the average wind speed can produce eight times as much power with the same wind
turbine.
Renewable energy makes an optimistic statement about a future in which we
humans live more sustainably, and more humanely, on our globalised planet. This
symbolism wasn't lost on architects David Childs and Daniel Libeskind, whose
winning design for the rebuilt World Trade Centre includes wind turbines to
produce as much as 20 % of the building's electricity.
We're all aware of costs. Some on Long Island can barely afford their electric
bills now. But this program is voluntary, and important values are at stake, not
to mention the future of our children and grandchildren.
The United States is among the richest nations in the world, and Nassau and
Suffolk among the wealthiest per capita counties in the country. Projections by
the National Renewable Energy Laboratory are that cost of wind and solar energy
will drop dramatically as demand increases. If we can't afford to make this
start, who can?
The ability to buy green power for a small premium would put this option into
the market early on while building an infrastructure for the coming revolution
in energy. Let's hope LIPA offers us this chance to vote with our utility bills
for a brighter future.
Marty Hoffert is a physics professor at New York University and lead author
of the study "Advanced Technology Paths to Global Climate Stability: Energy
for a Greenhouse Planet."
Source: Newsday