Superstorm Sandy Catapults Climate Change into the National Conversation

The power of hurricane Sandy and it's severe impact on life and property in the northeastern population centers including New York City has brought at least a temporary end to the silence on the topic of climate change.  The evidence of the vulnerability of our technology and infrastructure in the face of Hurricane Sandy has catalyzed articles in several mainstream media outlets.  Bloomberg BusinessWeek magazine's cover article, "It's Global Warming, Stupid," perhaps sums up the challenging tone of the articles.  Below are a sampling of the articles discussing climate change for your reference: Bloomberg BusinessWeek:  "It's Global Warming, Stupid!"

Chicago Tribune:  "Hurricane Sandy and the Living Planet"

Washington Post:  "Don't look now, but that hoax just ate New Jersey"

Washington Post:  "Will Hurricane Sandy be our wake up call?"

Bill McKibben, Author and Founder of 350.org to be in Chicago, Nov 28th

Submitted by Doug Burke

Bill McKibben, environmental author and founder of 350.org, is coming to Chicago as part of his "Do The Math" tour.  He will speak on the evening of Wednesday November 28, at the Athenaeum Theater, 2936 North Southport Avenue.  Doors will open at 6pm, and the event starts at 7 PM  A number of members of Green Community Connections and the Citizens Climate Lobby, among others, plan to attend.  If you would like to join other residents to travel together for this event, please contact Sally Stovall at sallystovall@gmail.com or 773-315.1109.

McKibben recently wrote an article for Rolling Stones Magazine, titled Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math,  that went viral, with over half a million views.  If you haven't already read the article, it is definitely worth reading -- all the way to the end (it has quite a punch at the end!) and will shed light on the name of the tour, i.e., the fossil fuels already discovered and held by the gas, coal, and oil companies are way more than we can afford to burn without ruining the climate.

The goal of the tour is to to start a historic push to win real solutions to the climate crisis, and, as Hurricane Sandy has reminded us, the time to act is now.  Click here to learn more or to buy tickets.

Oak Parker Uses EI2 to Improve Energy Efficiency of Rental Property

Submitted by Doug Burke Energy Impact Illinois (EI2) is a program set up with stimulus money to promote home weatherization and improve energy efficiency.  EI2 certifies contractors, coordinates energy assessments and provides rebates on certain home energy efficiency improvements.  In my case, my wife and I own a two-flat in Logan Square that we thought was pretty inefficient.  Our monthly bill from People's Gas under the budget plan has been $181.  We called one of the EI2 certfied contractors, Green Energy Improvements, and they did an energy assessment at a charge of $99.   They recommended improvements estimated at a cost of $6824 that would save about 25% of the gas cost.  (It also saves electricity for ac in the summer, but our tenants pay that so I don't have the numbers.)

Here's how it worked out.  Right now EI2 will provide a rebate that, combined with existing rebates – in our case, from People's Gas – will pay 70% of the job, up to a limit of 70% of $2500, or a $1750 rebate.  Our job was much bigger than most; 70% of $2500 is only about 25% of the whole $6824 job – but it was still a big help.  For a single-family house, the whole job might not exceed $2500, so that the homeowner would be paying only $750.

So at this point, with the $6824 total cost, we were looking at:

$6824 – 1750 – 99 (the assessment charge is credited to the job) = $4975. 

Not having $4975 on hand, we opted for a loan, facilitated through EI2 and provided by Green Choice Bank.  We needed to put down 10% and borrowed the other 90% in a seven-year loan.  The interest rate is not that low – 8% – but yet another subsidy pays the interest for year one of the seven-year loan. 

The work was done in one short session on August 23^rd to construct a hatch so they could insulate between the second floor and the flat roof, and one long day on September 6^th.  They did a blower door test before and after the job, and now estimate that we should save about 1/3 on our gas bill.  That would be $60 per month, or more than the payments during the first (subsidized) year of the loan.  After that, if gas prices remain the same, the payments would be just a little bigger than the projected savings.  Plus we will have happier tenants since they will save money also.

We expect to get a certificate issued through EI2 that our building is officially green.  To get that, you have to get at least a 15% reduction in energy use.  The Multiple Listing Service, which realtors use, now officially recognizes this certificate. How much should this add to the value of the building?  Here are two different estimates.

1.  Bonnie Marx at Green Energy Improvements said there was evidence that for every dollar of energy savings per year, the value of the building goes up $20. On this basis, for gas alone, the increase would be $60 x 12 x 20 = $14,400. Then add electricity to that and the total increase would probably be in the range of $20,000 or a little more.

2.  A California study claimed that green houses get a premium of 9%, which would probably be more than $30,000.  But then that's California – people probably pay more attention to green stuff there.

If you are interested in doing similar work, you can get the names of contractors from EI2.  The whole thing flows smoothly: the rebate and the loan flow directly to the contractor, with little paperwork on our part for the subsidies, and very little for the loan.  And again, if you get in while the 70% subsidy is available and your job isn't too big, you may not need any loan.  My wife and I are so pleased with the work on our rental propertywe are now preparing to participate in EI2 a second time, at our house in Oak Park.

For more information about Energy Impact Illinois, or to get started, call Pamela Brookstein at 708-252-0623 or email pamela@energyimpactillinois.org.

See also related article and video:  Energy Impact Illinois:  "This Rebate Program Rocks!"

Energy Impact Illinois -- "This rebate program rocks!"

I was almost a no-show at the Energy Impact Illinois “house party” at the home of my friends, Dick and Sally.  I had gotten home after seven that night, and although very interested in the topic, I was tired and figured I probably knew most of this stuff already.  But I like the hosts, and decided to check it out.  I was late, but immediately pleased with the party food -- and on top of that, it turns out I didn’t actually know everything there is to know about energy efficiency.

I learned a lot from the Energy Impact Illinois speaker, Anna, as well as from the fellas at Energy 360 Solutions, a contractor affiliated with the rebate program. It was cool to see them demonstrate a blower door test, which measures how much heated, or air conditioned air a house is losing to the outside.  The demonstration resulted in the realization that when heated or cooled air is lost to the outdoors, the energy used to heat or cool it is being wasted! 

A few days later, I decided we were going to do this.  I decided that we were going to go down the path of seeking energy efficiency in our home (I have a partner, but I wear the energy efficiency pants in the family). Our house is over a hundred years old and was an excellent example of inefficiency with its low levels of insulation and drafty windows.

It was encouraging to learn that many of the improvements that help the most are relatively inexpensive, such as the sealing of air leaks and the addition of insulation. Plus, the rebate, which is 70%/$1750, was a big incentive. Visions of dollar signs danced in my head. I love the earth and all, but I also liked the idea of having a rebate that would largely pay for the improvements, as well as lower our utility bills.

I called to arrange for the $99 energy assessment offered by Nicor/ComEd (1-877-821-9988, nicorgasrebates.com/programs/hes). The phone call lasted ten minutes, and I had an appointment for the assessment a few days later. At that appointment, an energy advisor scoured the entire house to determine the best efficiency upgrades for our home. She was in our house for about two hours, and at the end, offered three options for improvements.  Improvements ranged from basic air sealing and insulating, to replacing our air conditioner and furnace with more efficient models. We also received a detailed report and estimated savings and payback times for each of the options.

We decided to go with the basic option, which included air sealing and insulation of a large part of our attic. Upgrades likely to pay for themselves in about eight years. All options, however, include combustion safety testing of major appliances, including the furnace, to ensure they are not emitting dangerous gases into the home.

At first, I had a little trouble with getting the work moving.  There are a few different players in the rebate program, and they are not very coordinated with each other. Nevertheless, we arranged to have the work done within a month. The quality of the work was excellent, and it was completed in a single day.  And it only cost us $845, with the rest covered by the rebate. We are now the proud owners of some R-49 insulation in our attic (that’s really good) and a lot fewer air leaks!  

Lessons learned:

1. Go to parties even when tired

2. This rebate program rocks.

For more information on Energy Impact Illinois click here to see related article.

Submitted by Anne Jordan-Baker

Headed in the Wrong Direction! Longwall Coal Mining in Illinois

Submitted by Jim Babcock Although the burning of coal in the US is in sharp decline, world-wide demand is high and growing and coal companies are buying underground mineral rights.  The number of mines in Illinois increased 23% from 2008 to 2009.  There are plans for sharply increased exports of US coal to Asia.

A group of Chicago area clergy recently toured the coal mining area between Springfield and St. Louis specifically to see the direct impacts of an increasingly popular method of coal mining called “longwall mining” on the people and landscape of this central Illinois farming area.

Longwall mining is a process in which two “room and pillar” tunnels are dug underground. Between these tunnels, which can be more than 1,000 feet apart, large mechanical “shearers” cut the coal from a wall face and drop it onto conveyor belts which carry it to the tunnels and out to the mine opening. Self-advancing hydraulic ceiling supports that protect the shearing area are in place along the wall. As this assembly advances, sometimes for miles, the roof is allowed to collapse behind, and the surface landscape subsides from 5-6 feet.

As the tour members saw, the longwall mining is adding to the strains and pressures that have already been suffered by the people and rural communities during the advance of large scale agriculture. As related by Rev. Dr. Clare Butterfield, Executive Director of Faith in Place and Community Minister at Unity Temple in Oak Park:  “The people with whom we met and spoke were late middle age or older and that was striking. If there are young people left in these farm communities, they didn’t join us. I asked one farmer from the area if there was anyone young still farming, and he said two or three people (meaning in the county) who farm with their fathers. Otherwise they leave. So these communities were in trouble already before the push to expand the mines.”

The land continues to be farmed with corn and soybeans, but in the midst of the farmland are piles of coal at the mouths of the mines. In addition, the processing of coal requires the “washing” away of impurities which include toxins and heavy metals. The by-product is billions of gallons of toxic sludge stored locally behind earthen dams which can rise to a height of 80 feet. Since much of Illinois had to be drained to be farmable, the fact that  subsidence drops the surface over large areas 5-6 feet closer to the water table has a significant effect on local hydrology.

 Even if coal could be mined without harming the environment, the harms it causes by its widespread use in power plants condemns it as a sensible fuel source. On top of emitting 1.9 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year, coal-fired power plants in the United States also create 120 million tons of toxic waste such as coal ash. Coal combustion waste constitutes the nation’s second largest waste stream after municipal solid waste.

 Illinois continues to support the coal industry’s growth with anticipated increases from the current production of 33 million tons of coal per year up to 45 million tons. The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity brags, Illinois is the “Saudi Arabia of Coal” with 96 billion tons of available coal in reserve.

 Instead, we need to support the transition to a reliable clean energy system and end our reliance on dirty coal. A coalition of organizations (including Citizens Against Longwall Mining, Prairie Rivers Network, and the Sierra Club) has formed the Heartland Coalfield Alliance to work on coal mining issues in the Illinois coal basin (which includes parts of Indiana and Kentucky).

 To stay informed about these issues which affect our land, air, and water and to be responsive to them,  partner with Faith in Place and get on their rapid response email list for legislative updates.

Referendum on the Nov 6th Ballot regarding Hydraulic Fracturing (Fracking)

Information was provided on the referendum by Bruce Samuels, with additional resources provided by Ana Garcia Doyle.

Next week's Nov 6 Oak Park ballot includes an important referendum regarding hydraulic fracturing (fracking). Please inform yourself before voting! There are numerous human and environmental safety issues around the practice of fracking.

Here is the referendum question:

"Shall those companies who wish to drill for, or supply, natural gas derived from hydraulic fracking techniques be required to inform residents of Oak Park Township of the hazardous chemicals and risks in the process and be prohibited from supplying natural gas derived from hydraulic fracking to Oak Park Township Customers?"  (See all Cook County referrenda here http://www.cookcountyclerk.com/elections/2012Elections/Pages/AllReferenda.aspx)

What is fracking?

Hydraulic fracturing—commonly called fracking—involves pumping a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals into well bores at high pressure to free gas from tight rock formations thousands of feet below ground, according to the Center for American Progress. (http://oakpark.patch.com/articles/oak-park-fracking-referendum-hyrdaulic-fracturing)

SOME FRACKING RESOURCES

Fracking on Fall Ballot: What You Need to Know (Oak Park Patch)

http://oakpark.patch.com/articles/oak-park-fracking-referendum-hyrdaulic-fracturing

Hydraulic Fracturing FAQs

http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/whats-fracking (Watch this movie at some point if you get a chance!)

Fracking info from Food & Water Watch

http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/fracking/

Frack Action

http://www.frackaction.com/

Artists Against Fracking, NY Anti-Fracking Appeal to Gov Cuomo

http://artistsagainstfracking.com/

What is Fracking? -- And Why it Matters?

http://www.greencommunityconnections.org/what-is-fracking-and-why-it-matters

And just for fun: "Don't Frack My Mother" (video - Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon & Jimmy Fallon)

http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/video/sean-lennon-yoko-ono-and-jimmy-sing-protest-song-dont-frack-my-mother/1409618/

The Science of Climate Change

Climate Change: Everyone has heard about climate change, but what is it really? What is the science behind it? Is it really that bad? Why does there seem to be so much disagreement about the topic? And what can a concerned citizen do about it? Energy scientist Rick Knight will examine the issue on Thursday, Oct. 25, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in his Climate Change - Demanding Action, a three-part  presentation and discussion.  Riverside Public Library, 1 Burling Road, Riverside, IL

Tighten Up Your House, Save Money and Lower Your Carbon Foot Print!

Department of Energy Stimulus Funds - focused on air sealing and insulation

Chicagoland received stimulus funds from the Department of Energy to help make homes more energy efficient and  help put people to work.  This initiative is focusing on energy retrofits, specifically air sealing and insulation - the most cost efficient and easy way to make a home comfortable, safe, and energy efficient (which means lower energy bills).  To make this do-able and inviting for homeowners, Energy Impact Illinois is offering $99 home energy assessments (typically $500). The contractors who do these assessments have applied to be a part of this project, their work has been repeatedly checked, and they have an extra home energy performance certification.

After the assessment, the contractor gives the homeowner a menu of options detailing upgrades, their costs, and their energy savings over the year.  If the homeowner goes with the air-sealing and insulation option (most cost effective, easiest way to make a home energy efficient), they become eligible for an instant rebate of 70% up to $1750. There are also low interest loans available, both secured and unsecured.

Here's the math

Here is the math, based on averages of work over the last year:

Average cost of work: $2500 Rebate: $1750 Cost to homeowner: $750 Yearly energy cost savings per year: $500

An added bonus to all of this: These energy efficiency upgrades can now be listed on a home's real estate MLS listing. Homeowners in California have been doing this and seeing their home value increase by 9%.  If you are interested in learning more, call Pamela Brookstein ( 708-252-0623 ) or send an email.

Program Background:

This stimulus funding must be used by May 2013, so it became important to figure out the most efficient way to get this money out to homeowners in our communities. A group of not-for-profits, government agencies, and utility companies came together to form an alliance - Energy Impact Illinois - to do this. ( Please note that this program is also promoted by the utilities under the name Home Energy Savings Program.)

Attend the World’s Largest Solar Energy Event on Saturday, October 6th

2012 Illinois Solar Tour

 On October 6th, check out a unique opportunity to view renewable energy systems in action. The Illinois Solar Tour is a FREE self-guided, statewide open house that demonstrates how Illinois homes and businesses are using solar, wind, and geothermal to become energy independent.

Home and business owners with renewable energy installations will be providing tours on Saturday, October 6th from 10 am to 3 pm. Tour hosts will answer questions on how you can harness the power of the sun and wind to fuel your home and business. Learn how you can reduce your monthly utility bills, increase property values, and be part of the energy solution.

Business owners will be interested to see how businesses have reduced their bottom line. Visit a solar powered airport, a car wash that pays nothing for its hot water, and a farm that harvests the sun and wind along with its crops.

With over 80 sites throughout the state, there is a Solar Tour host site near you. Stop in to see how solar energy can brighten your day!

To register for this free event and enter to win a solar cell phone charger visit www.illinoissolartour.org

Tiny Solar House Demo Will Visit OP for the Green Living & Learning Tour

The Illinois Solar Energy Association (ISEA) proudly presents the Solar House, a tiny house on a trailer which provides a miniature example of a life sized solar powered residence.  As part of the 2012 Green Living and Learning Tour on Saturday September 29th, the Solar House will be on display at the corner of Lake and Forest, from 11 am – 4 pm, and it will finish the day featured at the closing event at Field Park.  The Solar House exhibit is FREE and open to the public.

The ISEA recently took the Solar House to the Illinois State Fair, where thousands of people had the opportunity to learn more about solar energy. The house is for exterior viewing only, and has both photovoltaics and solar thermal installed.   The idea of solar powered energy is new to most of us, so Green Community Connections is excited to make the Solar House available to local residents.  Representatives from the ISEA will be onsite with the exhibit to provide information and answer any questions you have on the house and solar energy. 

To learn even more about what the sun can do for you, join the one or both of the tours which highlight home solar installations that are part of the Green Living & Learning Tour on Saturday, September 29th.  Find out more about all of the tour stops focused on Efficient and Renewable Energy and all the details about the tour.