New Wind Generator Arrives!!

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010 Posted in Captain's Blog, Green Earth News, Vermont Blog | No Comments »

Look what the UPS man brought today! Our new Air Breeze wind generator just arrived and I had to immediately take it out of the box and have a look. We’ll be using it at all our events from now on, helping to power the Solar Stage and anything else that needs juice. This Sunday at the 350.org rally in Burlington will be the unveiling of the great new addition. Gordon Stone will be the first musician to perform on the solar AND WIND powered stage. Come by if you’re in the area to celebrate!

Note to Dubie: Lawn Signs Don’t Win Elections

Tuesday, October 5th, 2010 Posted in Green Earth News, Progressive Politics, Vermont Blog | 4 Comments »

I was at the Renewable Energy Vermont Conference last week. The great event culminated with a debate between the gubenatorial candidates, Peter Shumlin (D) and Brian Dubie (R). In the debate Shumlin showed himself to be much more passionate about his desire to lead our state. He also showed himself to be a better public speaker, as Dubie often fumbled for words and seemed “stiff.”  Shumlin spoke from his heart and I don’t even think he had any notes or cue cards. Dubie was often looking down, reading from notes, and he stumbled in his closing remarks when he couldn’t remember the name of the host of the event. I have some video I’ll be posting later.

But one of the interesting and almost funny things I want to share now is that Dubie brought an entourage of supporters with him to the event, wearing their “Dubie Co-pilot” t-shirts and carrying stacks of lawn signs to give away.  This part didn’t go too well for them.

I had to run to my car before the debate began and I was struck by the sea of lawn signs they put up in front of the convention center.  One was even bigger than the “Renewable Energy Vermont Conference” sign letting people know what was going on there. A passer-by would think it was a Dubie convention, not a REV conference.   This was ironic and strange considering that the current administration for which Brian Dubie has served for several years, has not been a good proponent of renewable energy policy.  Why then, would they put up all these signs  in front of the conference entrance?  Do they think we are so shallow to believe that a lawn sign or two (or a few dozen) must mean he supports renewable energy policy? Does he think we’ve all been hiding in a cave the last 6 years?  I had to speak my mind to the people holding the signs and (politely) let them know I thought it was ironic.  One huge sign took several people to hold and I told them, “signs don’t win elections, you know.”

At the end of the debate, the “co-pilots” (who I’ve been told are actually PAID to stand there like that) stood again at the door and tried to hand out the signs to Dubie supporters.  This didn’t go over too well either.  I watched for several minutes and not a single person took a sign.  One person grabbed a sign, walked a few steps, and dropped it on the ground in the parking lot.  I realize littering is bad, but I have to say it was kind of funny.

I wanted to share a few photos of this interlude.  I’ll have the video of the debate and more from the conference soon.

Vermont lagging in wind projects… why?

Friday, October 1st, 2010 Posted in Green Earth News, Progressive Politics, Vermont Blog | No Comments »

I went to a lecture on wind energy. One of the speakers was Kristan Goland from Iberdrola Renewables, who does large scale wind projects. She commented that compared to other states Vermont has the most complicated process to get approval and longest delays. Why? One reason she said… the executive branch of the state govt.

So there’s yet another reason to vote for Peter Shumlin for Governor. He’ll be in a position to bring Vermont back in line with what some of the other states are doing with wind. Now before all you naysayers jump on me, NO ONE wants to put wind generators on Camel’s Hump mountain. There are plenty of places in Vermont with adequate wind potential that we can develop without compromising the beauty of our state.

Why are there no biodiesel pumps in Burlington??

Friday, October 1st, 2010 Posted in Green Earth News, Vermont Blog | 1 Comment »

I went to the lecture on biofuels. At the end there was time for questioning. I asked, why are there no biodiesel pumps in Burlington? If you go on to the Biodiesel.org website and look at the map to see where there are gas stations nationwide where you can drive up your car and fill up on biodiesel, there are many. My friends in Eugene, Oregon tell me there are more than one just in their town alone. Here in Burlington, there are many people with diesel cars who want to fill up on biodiesel. For some reason we just don’t have a filling station. It seems like a huge marketing opportunity to me — there’s a demand but no supply. I personally know dozens of people who drive a half hour or more to other towns just to get biodiesel. So what gives???

I didn’t really get a good answer. It was pointed out that the federal grants for biodiesel production ended which makes biodiesel more expensive. That doesn’t explain why there are pumps elsewhere, mostly small towns like Bridport and Bristol, but not in Burlington, where there are more people and more diesel cars.

So get with it folks! Someone really needs to start up a biodiesel pump in Burlington. Build it and they will come! Any existing gas station could easily use one of their pumps for biodiesel. There is demand, I know it! Let’s hope it happens soon.

At the Renewable Energy Conference

Thursday, September 30th, 2010 Posted in Green Earth News, Vermont Blog | No Comments »

I’m at the Renewable Energy Vermont conference and finding lots of interesting things to share. Here’s a new type of wind generator made by Honeywell that starts producing power at just 2 mph, and can even be mounted on the roof of your house!

more soon….

Shumlin: Renewables will save Vermont’s economy

Tuesday, September 14th, 2010 Posted in Green Earth News, Progressive Politics, Vermont Blog | No Comments »

At EcoFest in Burlington, Vermont Governor candidate Peter Shumlin spoke on the solar stage (powered by the Solar Bus of course). The first few seconds of the speech are cut, but he begins by telling a story where he was asked what is the most important issue facing Vermont. His response is somewhat of a surprise, even to people who know of Shumlin’s longtime support for renewables. (video below)

This video shows the deep contrast between his opponent Brian Dubie, who doesn’t believe climate change is real, thinks renewable energy is not an important issue, and wants to re-license Vermont Yankee, the old, failing nuclear power plant that is leaking radiation and has had numerous safety violations.

The Solar Bus encourages Vermonters to vote for Peter Shumlin and help bring the solar economy to Vermont!

Our apologies for the shaky video and the child’s voice at the end, but this is worth watching for any Vermonter old enough to vote in the coming election.

VT Utility Gets Approval for Solar Project

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010 Posted in Green Earth News, Vermont Blog | No Comments »

Vermont’s second-largest power company has won state approval to build a new solar power project in Berlin.

Green Mountain Power says the project will generate 200 kilowatt-hours of electricity from 952 solar panels installed on about an acre of land in Berlin.

The company says the project will move it closer to its goal — set 18 months ago — of having it or its customers install 10,000 solar panels in 1,000 days.

GMP says the Berlin project is expected to provide enough power to supply about 100 average homes.

source:
Burlington FreePress

Huge Solar Array Proposed for S. Burlington

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 Posted in Green Earth News, Vermont Blog | No Comments »

SOUTH BURLINGTON — Developers will unveil plans for what could become Vermont’s largest solar array at 7:30 tonight at a public hearing at South Burlington City Hall.

The new solar “orchard” would harness power from 498 solar trackers — 14 times more than the number installed at NRG Systems’ headquarters in Hinesburg.

Tentatively scheduled to go on line in December, the new project will boast a capacity of 2.2 megawatts — enough electricity to power about 430 households.

South Burlington’s Planning Commission requested tonight’s meeting to gather facts and public opinion in advance of the project owners’ application for a Certificate of Public Good from the Vermont Public Service Board.

more…..

Video from our trip to the White House

Monday, March 8th, 2010 Posted in Captain's Blog, Green Earth News, Progressive Politics, Vermont Blog | No Comments »

It took a while to edit down the video from the Solar Bus trip to the White House last October.

On 10/24/09, rallies were held all over the world to call for climate change legislation. Organized by Bill McKibben and 350.org, it has been called “the most widespread day of political action in the planet’s history,” with more than 5200 events in 181 countries. In Washington DC, a rally was held in Malcom X park, followed by a march to the Whitehouse. The Solar Bus was invited to transport a bunch of college students to the rally and to lead the march.

Let’s not kid ourselves: Uranium Mining (Nuclear Energy) Kills People.

Thursday, February 18th, 2010 Posted in Green Earth News, Progressive Politics, Vermont Blog | No Comments »

With the debate on nuclear energy coming to a peak, we hear much talk about the safety (or lack of safety)of a nuclear power plant, and and how we might deal with nuclear waste, but often neglected in the debate is discussion of uranium mining. That’s because there’s not much to debate about it. It’s nasty. While nuclear advocates will tout its safety and say “not a single person has died from nuclear power,” this is ignoring nuclear energy’s dirty little secret: Uranium mining kills people.

Below is a collection of articles, studies, and links to information that documents the deaths and illnesses directly related to uranium mining. Hopefully people will stop ignoring this important issue and it will become part of the debate.

During the 1950s, many Navajos in the U.S. became uranium miners, as many uranium deposits were discovered on Navajo reservations. A statistically significant subset of these early miners later developed small cell carcinoma after exposure to uranium ore. Radon-222, a natural decay product of uranium, has been shown to be the cancer-causing agent.[51] Some American survivors and their descendants received compensation under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in 1990. More….

A French state-owned company mines uranium in northern Niger where mine workers are not informed about health risks, and analysis shows radioactive contamination of air, water and soil. The local organization that represents the mine workers, spoke of “suspicious deaths among the workers, caused by radioactive dust and contaminated groundwater.” More….

Engineers say cleaning up the mill tailings at a single site, the defunct Atlas mill on the banks of the Colorado River just outside of Moab, could cost $300 million… families of those who did not survive the effects of prolonged exposure to radiation are not laughing. The dead and dying include miners and mill workers, innocent children who found mill tailings to be an inviting sand box, mothers who swept and dusted the wind-borne radioactive dust that filtered into their homes. Chip Ward, an environmental activist and author of the book “Canaries on the Rim,” argues the U.S. government officials knowingly and willfully sacrificed rural Utahns’ health and safety in their urgency for nuclear superiority. More….

HEALTH DANGERS OF URANIUM MINING, by The British Columbia Medical Association.
“excess deaths from lung cancer among two groups of European miners had been associated with relatively high concentrations of radon in the mine atmosphere. In that same year … conclusions were drawn that prolonged breathing of air containing a high concentration of radon, may have caused what was estimated at that time to be a 30-fold increase in the incidence of lung cancer” Full Report…

And so we have now discovered yet a third category of documented and scientifically accepted harmful effects of radiation and that is mental retardation in children who were irradiated while still in the womb. . . .

When we extract uranium from the ground, we dig up the rock, we crush it and we leave behind this finely pulverized material — it’s like flour. In Canada we have 200 million tons of this radioactive waste, called uranium tailings. As Marie Curie observed, 85 percent of the radioactivity in the ore remains behind in that crushed rock. How long will it be there? . . . . Well, it turns out that the effective half-life of this radioactivity is 80,000 years. That means in 80,000 years there will be half as much radioactivity in these tailings as there is today.

In addition, as the tailings are sitting there on the surface, they are continually generating radon gas. Radon is about eight times heavier than air, so it stays close to the ground. It’ll travel 1,000 miles in just a few days in a light breeze. And as it drifts along, it deposits on the vegetation below the radon daughters, which are the radioactive byproducts that I told you about, including polonium. So that you actually get radon daughters in animals, fish and plants thousands of miles away from where the uranium mining is done. It’s a mechanism for pumping radioactivity into the environment for millennia to come, and this is one of the hidden dangers.

(from URANIUM: Known Facts and Hidden Dangers; THE WORLD URANIUM HEARING, SALZBURG 1992)

And let’s not forget, that uranium mining often takes place in areas where impoverished people are taken advanatage of, and have no legal recourse to prevent it. Native American land and third-world nations are often targeted for uranium mining because no one with power or money wants it happening in their backyard.

I could go on but I invite those who are not yet convinced, to do their own research. A quick Google search will give you many more articles and links like this. Like many, I was not familiar with this problem until I looked into it myself because the media seems to only discuss nuclear waste and nuclear power plant safety.

But let’s not kid ourselves. It’s not just the safety of of the plant, and it’s not just a matter of finding a good way to store the waste. Nuclear energy, in particular uranium mining, kills people.