Sunday, August 29, 2010
By Ken Thomas, The Associated Press
Charles Dharapak/Associated PressDavid Sandalow, the Department of Energy's assistant secretary for policy and international affairs, in his Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid vehicle at his home in Washington.WASHINGTON -- David Sandalow starts his five-mile commute each day by unplugging an orange extension cord connecting his Toyota Prius hybrid to an outlet in his brick carport.
His Prius, which was converted two years ago to allow him to recharge the battery from an electric outlet, gets more than 80 miles per gallon and lets him drive 30 miles on a single charge. He fills up his car with gasoline about once every month or two, an oddity in a transportation sector long dominated by the internal combustion engine.
"If you're thirsty, you can get a Diet Coke or orange juice or water. If you're hungry you can get a hamburger or hot dog or a fruit plate. If you want to drive someplace, you only have one choice. You can use gasoline or petroleum-based products," says Mr. Sandalow, the Energy Department's assistant secretary for policy and international affairs. "That doesn't seem strange to us ... but it's odd. It's strange that we are utterly dependent on this one fuel source for mobility."
If American consumers begin to shift to electric cars this decade, Mr. Sandalow will be one of the government's driving forces behind the change. Crafting policy from the vantage point of an electric car driver himself, the former Brookings Institution scholar has helped shape the Obama administration's ambitious plan to pump billions of dollars into partnerships aimed at developing cars running on electric power, creating an advanced battery industry and helping communities prepare for the transition.
President Barack Obama has pledged to bring 1 million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to U.S. highways by 2015, and turned to the nascent battery industry as one of the hallmarks of his economic recovery plan. Electric vehicles built by General Motors and Nissan are arriving in showrooms later this year, and every major auto manufacturer is working on an electric strategy, encouraged by federal funding and tax incentives.
Plenty of obstacles remain: the lithium-ion batteries expected to power electric vehicles are extremely expensive, even when the costs are reduced by a $7,500-per-vehicle federal tax credit. The government recently estimated that a battery with a 100-mile range costs about $33,000, although federal stimulus funds could bring the costs down to $10,000 by the end of 2015. Other concerns remain about the durability and longevity of the batteries.
The government's projections could be rosy, some analysts contend, and the program could create more capacity for building the batteries than consumers demand. "It definitely is a risky investment. We don't think that the sales of electric vehicles will be as high as the government is hoping," said Mike Omotoso, J.D. Power's senior manager of global powertrain.
But with concerns about global warming and oil politics, the administration sees an opportunity in electric cars, and Mr. Sandalow is leading the charge.
Mr. Obama pushed a $2.4 billion grant program to develop next-generation batteries, which could lead to 500,000 batteries a year by late 2014. A 2007 energy law, meanwhile, has led to billions in loans for automakers to retool their plants for fuel-efficient vehicles, including electric cars.
Mr. Sandalow, 53, served in the State Department and at the National Security Council during the Clinton administration. He was tapped for the Energy Department's top policy job after studying oil dependence, electric vehicles and climate change at the Brookings Institute.
Mr. Sandalow has helped the administration speed the development of electric cars and offer incentives for consumers and communities to begin taking steps to transition off conventional vehicles.
His plug-in Prius differs from the standard Prius hybrid, which is powered by a gasoline engine and an electric motor and typically offers drivers better mileage in slow-speed and stop-and-go driving. Standard hybrids do not allow motorists to recharge a battery by plugging into a standard electrical outlet.
Mr. Sandalow discovered the merits of electric cars while studying oil dependence at Brookings. His 2007 book, "Freedom From Oil," included a series of hypothetical memos from different Cabinet agencies with suggestions on how a future presidential administration could help the U.S. move away from imported petroleum.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10241/1083498-84.stm?cmpid=autonews.xml#ixzz0y0luoRrQ
Saturday, 28 August 2010
Lawmakers OK $75M biofuel plan
One-day special session also outlaws synthetic marijuana
Elizabeth Crisp • elizabeth.crisp@clarionledger.com • August 28, 2010
A Texas-based biofuel venture will get a $75 million state-backed loan to start up in Mississippi after receiving nearly unanimous support from Mississippi lawmakers Friday.
Also, during their one-day special session , lawmakers approved a statewide ban on a synthetic marijuana substance commonly referred to as K2 or "spice," and acted on several other items.
Gov. Haley Barbour, who summoned the Legislature back to the Capitol to consider the bills, pledged to sign them into law.
"The decision by the Legislature to approve the incentive package to bring the first three of KiOR Corp.'s full-scale production facilities to Mississippi is not only an economic development boon for our state, but also a key step toward energy self-reliance for our country," Barbour said in a statement.
The Legislature swiftly pushed through House Bill 8 - the incentive package, to lure Houston-based biofuel start-up KiOR, which will locate the three plants in timber-rich areas over the next five years.
KiOR plans to take biomass - in this case wood chips from local timber that can be made into energy - and add a catalyst to chemically turn the chips into a near-perfect match to crude oil in a matter of seconds.
The product, the company says, can go through existing crude refineries and be used to make standard gasoline or diesel fuel.
"It's an unbelievable process," said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Dean Kirby, R-Pearl. "This might be the most exciting piece of legislation that I've ever handled."
The company will get no subsidies or state support until it has formed a partnership with a major oil company to refine it.
The first site will be built in Columbus and could open by the end of 2011.
"This will be the only plant of its kind in the world," said House Ways and Means Chairman Percy Watson, D-Hattiesburg.
Other KiOR facilities will be built in Newton County and in southwest Mississippi near Franklin County by 2015.
Officials estimate 1,000 jobs will be created directly or indirectly.
Several members of Jackson's delegation voted against the project in protest of the state Bond Commission's refusal to issue $6 million in bonds to the city of Jackson for water upgrades around the Capitol.
"I have tried my best to analyze what it is that Jackson will get as a result of me coming to the Capitol and voting for this particular legislation," said Sen. Alice Harden, D-Jackson. "Is it fair for my constituents to have to pay the debt on these bonds when we won't see any jobs, we won't see any benefits from the $75 million? I think not."
Some lawmakers also said they were leery of the technology but ended up voting for the bill.
Sen. David Jordan, D-Greenwood, said he remembers the state's beef plant fiasco and doesn't want a repeat.
"I don't want to get burned again. I want to be absolutely sure," he said.
The state-backed Mississippi Beef Processors Inc. plant operated a short time before closing in November 2004, leaving 400 people without jobs. The beef plant's failure cost taxpayers at least $55 million and led to criminal convictions of private developers.
"That albatross still hangs around our necks," Jordan said, before eventually voting for the KiOR bill.
Senate Bill 2004 - the "spice" ban, also passed with nearly unanimous support.
The product, sold in smoke shops and convenience stores as an incense, will be illegal to sell or possess once the governor signs the bill into law.
Holding up several bright envelopes and small vials filled with green, leafy substances, Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics director Marshall Fisher told lawmakers that officers had bought the K2 at a Jackson convenience store Friday morning.
"You can see where it would be attractive to young folks," Fisher said.
Although the substance is marked "not for human consumption," law enforcement officers say it has become popular among teens and young adults who smoke it to get high.
"It's not the same as marijuana," said House Judiciary A Committee Chairman Ed Blackmon, D-Canton. "It has the same effect, but it does many bad things to the body."
Elizabeth Crisp • elizabeth.crisp@clarionledger.com • August 28, 2010
A Texas-based biofuel venture will get a $75 million state-backed loan to start up in Mississippi after receiving nearly unanimous support from Mississippi lawmakers Friday.
Also, during their one-day special session , lawmakers approved a statewide ban on a synthetic marijuana substance commonly referred to as K2 or "spice," and acted on several other items.
Gov. Haley Barbour, who summoned the Legislature back to the Capitol to consider the bills, pledged to sign them into law.
"The decision by the Legislature to approve the incentive package to bring the first three of KiOR Corp.'s full-scale production facilities to Mississippi is not only an economic development boon for our state, but also a key step toward energy self-reliance for our country," Barbour said in a statement.
The Legislature swiftly pushed through House Bill 8 - the incentive package, to lure Houston-based biofuel start-up KiOR, which will locate the three plants in timber-rich areas over the next five years.
KiOR plans to take biomass - in this case wood chips from local timber that can be made into energy - and add a catalyst to chemically turn the chips into a near-perfect match to crude oil in a matter of seconds.
The product, the company says, can go through existing crude refineries and be used to make standard gasoline or diesel fuel.
"It's an unbelievable process," said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Dean Kirby, R-Pearl. "This might be the most exciting piece of legislation that I've ever handled."
The company will get no subsidies or state support until it has formed a partnership with a major oil company to refine it.
The first site will be built in Columbus and could open by the end of 2011.
"This will be the only plant of its kind in the world," said House Ways and Means Chairman Percy Watson, D-Hattiesburg.
Other KiOR facilities will be built in Newton County and in southwest Mississippi near Franklin County by 2015.
Officials estimate 1,000 jobs will be created directly or indirectly.
Several members of Jackson's delegation voted against the project in protest of the state Bond Commission's refusal to issue $6 million in bonds to the city of Jackson for water upgrades around the Capitol.
"I have tried my best to analyze what it is that Jackson will get as a result of me coming to the Capitol and voting for this particular legislation," said Sen. Alice Harden, D-Jackson. "Is it fair for my constituents to have to pay the debt on these bonds when we won't see any jobs, we won't see any benefits from the $75 million? I think not."
Some lawmakers also said they were leery of the technology but ended up voting for the bill.
Sen. David Jordan, D-Greenwood, said he remembers the state's beef plant fiasco and doesn't want a repeat.
"I don't want to get burned again. I want to be absolutely sure," he said.
The state-backed Mississippi Beef Processors Inc. plant operated a short time before closing in November 2004, leaving 400 people without jobs. The beef plant's failure cost taxpayers at least $55 million and led to criminal convictions of private developers.
"That albatross still hangs around our necks," Jordan said, before eventually voting for the KiOR bill.
Senate Bill 2004 - the "spice" ban, also passed with nearly unanimous support.
The product, sold in smoke shops and convenience stores as an incense, will be illegal to sell or possess once the governor signs the bill into law.
Holding up several bright envelopes and small vials filled with green, leafy substances, Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics director Marshall Fisher told lawmakers that officers had bought the K2 at a Jackson convenience store Friday morning.
"You can see where it would be attractive to young folks," Fisher said.
Although the substance is marked "not for human consumption," law enforcement officers say it has become popular among teens and young adults who smoke it to get high.
"It's not the same as marijuana," said House Judiciary A Committee Chairman Ed Blackmon, D-Canton. "It has the same effect, but it does many bad things to the body."
How the Pentagon is Attacking Energy Efficiency
The U.S. Department of Defense's first director of operational energy plans and programs is tasked with weaving energy considerations into war-fighting strategy
By Dina Fine Maron and Climatewire
US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
In the heat of battle, troops may not have time to think about making the most energy-efficient moves. That's where Sharon Burke comes in.
From her office wedged within one of the innermost rings of the Pentagon, the soft-spoken 44-year-old security analyst is tasked with weaving energy considerations into the Defense Department's war-fighting strategy. DOD officials say the push is about improving capability and saving lives lost accompanying fuel through war zones, not making environmental strides.
Burke, however, sees the two areas as linked. "The department needs to cut its energy use for its own reasons -- for the way we do business, for the ability to protect the country, and cutting energy use for climate change is part of that," she said in an interview with ClimateWire.
Burke is the Pentagon's first director of operational energy plans and programs, or, as she called herself during her first public appearance on the job last month -- the "dope," riffing off her DOEEP acronym.
The Senate confirmed Burke to the job in June, after she came under initial fire from Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe (R) for her apparent support of a 2007 law that bars federal agencies from buying alternative fuels that have higher greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuels (ClimateWire, March 25).
The energy security expert grew up on tales of her father's Marine Corps service and has spent most of her adult life bouncing between State Department, DOD and think tank jobs.
In her newest role, Burke sees her responsibility as split into three camps: shrinking energy needs in current operations, better incorporating fuel efficiency criteria into decisions about what equipment to buy, and factoring energy into DOD's overall war-fighter fabric.
Achieving those goals could make a sizable dent in the carbon footprint of DOD.
Consider the "operational" energy required to perform tasks like ferrying gas from Pakistan through the Hindu Kush and keep legions of generators humming at forward operating bases. Such activities amount to some 70 percent of all energy used by the Department of Defense. And DOD racks up a hefty energy bill as the nation's single largest energy consumer -- using more than 1 percent of the nation's total.
New war lines, new energy lines
Burke has until December 21 to present Congress with a blueprint for how she will lighten that DOD fuel load. For a department that has never before looked at operational energy as its own entity and is notoriously splintered with its own specific plans and obstacles for each service, this will be a significant undertaking.
Her office walls are bare -- save for a DOD organizational chart -- perhaps underscoring the challenge of developing a crosscutting strategy for the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.
Still, Burke says that the bureaucracy in the department is not what she sees as her greatest obstacle. "It's not so much that I see a roof full of stovepipes that need to be knocked down." Her office will be acting as "an integrator and a coordinator and have an oversight function," she said.
The initial hurdle, according to Burke, is defining the challenge and getting more detailed information on which missions, bases and equipment are most responsible for running up the combat fuel tally.
"You know, they've never separated out operational energy as a concern. The very act of standing up in office and pushing people into those conversations or pulling them -- inviting them into it -- has been really important," she said.
Two years ago, the Defense Science Board Task Force on DOD Energy Strategy blasted DOD for failing to achieve better energy savings in combat zones and pointed to the lack of senior leadership within DOD on the issue as a central cause. Congress tried to fill that void in the fiscal 2009 Defense Authorization Act by creating the DOEPP position.
As the first person to hold the job, Burke said she is cautious about keeping her goals realistic and making sure she isn't driven by her inbox to move too quickly.
"It's not every day in the Pentagon you have a chance to establish a whole new organization," she said. But at the same time, she wants to move fast enough to make sure that future strategies, war games and funding reflect the need to move toward a more fuel-efficient future.
DOD's energy landscape is changing, she said. "What is new is how energy-intense our military is, and the kinds of wars we are in where we are not always going to be behind our front lines. The lines are everywhere," she said.
Contracting: ripe for improvement
Burke fancies herself a matchmaker -- identifying needs and marrying them up with possible energy solutions.
In the short term, she said, her plans to "unleash troops from the tether of fuel" won't come from sending a deluge of prototypes of smart microgrids and solar-paneled tents to the front lines.
Instead, Burke said she plans to take stock of proven, off-the-shelf technologies to save on fuel and energy needs and lighten air loads.
"I know it's not as satisfying as being able to say we are going to put an entirely new thing in theater and it will change everything," she said. "I hope that's possible, but right now I think we need to focus on what we know we can do right now, and that will actually add up to quite a bit," she said.
Initial fixes, she said, could range from engine upgrades to material upgrades or changes to the body of a system or its wheels. As gear, weapons and Humvees cycle back to the depot to be refitted and refurbished, that's an opportunity to retrofit equipment with efficiency upgrades, she said.
Dan Nolan, the founder and CEO of Sabot 6, a defense consulting group, said a specific area that could use some of Burke's attention would be creating financial incentives for contractors to be more energy-efficient. Nolan was part of the team that put DOD's Power Surety Task Force together -- the group that pushed the Army to insulate more than 6 million square feet of tents in Iraq and Afghanistan with spray-on foam, saving $1.5 million a day in fuel savings, according to Army numbers.
Contractors perform a lot of DOD's long-term support work in the field. If they were required to buy their own fuel within their contracts and were told they could keep any savings, that could motivate them to slim down their energy needs, he said. Such changes could be where the "greatest impact could happen in the shortest amount of time," he said.
'Climate change will shape our future'
From her previous perch as a senior fellow and then vice president at the Washington, D.C.-based think tank Center for a New American Security, Burke helped shape research focused on the intersection of security threats and energy issues.
She started grappling with security issues in the Pentagon years ago. Early in her career, she served as a Presidential Management Fellow in the Pentagon, getting to know the building and serving in its different offices for two years. Since then, she has hopscotched through civil service and political appointee jobs at the State Department and Defense Department and also worked at Third Way, a progressive think tank, where she advised candidates and members of Congress on national security issues.
Burke has championed ramping up consideration of climate change and energy considerations into national security strategy.
"National security capabilities can take decades to build," she told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last year. "We need to design the ideas and equipment and recruit and train the personnel to protect and defend the nation 10 to 40 years in the future, and it is clear that climate change will shape our future," she said (E&E Daily, March 22).
'Spaghetti' metrics
Written into Burke's job description is the requirement that she review the DOD budget and report to Congress if it gives energy considerations short shrift. Since her overarching energy plan has not been written yet, Burke and her current staff of three are combing the fiscal 2012 budget to make sure it provides enough funds for each service's individual energy goals.
While Burke is aware that her job is to lead from the top in energy savings, she said pulling DOD toward better fuel management and energy innovation is not just a matter of laying out targets.
"If you say we are going to cut operational energy use by X percent, well, it's a war. It's not a fixed installation that stays in one place and has certain duty cycles. It's just you either are going to be putting constraints on our soldiers and Marines in the field that would make it difficult to do their jobs, or you would be asking them to ignore you," she said.
Still, that does not mean there should be no evaluative measures, she cautioned. Moreover, Congress required that she come up with some. "We do need to have metrics that measure success, absolutely, but I just don't want to throw spaghetti metrics up on the wall and hope they stick," she said.
In her December plan, she said, she will be laying out requirements to track where energy gets used in the field. Armed with those numbers from the different services, she said, the Pentagon can be better poised to tackle the problem.
"Right now, I know the Army is getting ready to field some monitoring operationally," she said, but she declined to discuss the details of that initiative saying they are "pre-decisional."
Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC. www.eenews.net, 202-628-6500 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 202-628-6500 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
By Dina Fine Maron and Climatewire
US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
In the heat of battle, troops may not have time to think about making the most energy-efficient moves. That's where Sharon Burke comes in.
From her office wedged within one of the innermost rings of the Pentagon, the soft-spoken 44-year-old security analyst is tasked with weaving energy considerations into the Defense Department's war-fighting strategy. DOD officials say the push is about improving capability and saving lives lost accompanying fuel through war zones, not making environmental strides.
Burke, however, sees the two areas as linked. "The department needs to cut its energy use for its own reasons -- for the way we do business, for the ability to protect the country, and cutting energy use for climate change is part of that," she said in an interview with ClimateWire.
Burke is the Pentagon's first director of operational energy plans and programs, or, as she called herself during her first public appearance on the job last month -- the "dope," riffing off her DOEEP acronym.
The Senate confirmed Burke to the job in June, after she came under initial fire from Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe (R) for her apparent support of a 2007 law that bars federal agencies from buying alternative fuels that have higher greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuels (ClimateWire, March 25).
The energy security expert grew up on tales of her father's Marine Corps service and has spent most of her adult life bouncing between State Department, DOD and think tank jobs.
In her newest role, Burke sees her responsibility as split into three camps: shrinking energy needs in current operations, better incorporating fuel efficiency criteria into decisions about what equipment to buy, and factoring energy into DOD's overall war-fighter fabric.
Achieving those goals could make a sizable dent in the carbon footprint of DOD.
Consider the "operational" energy required to perform tasks like ferrying gas from Pakistan through the Hindu Kush and keep legions of generators humming at forward operating bases. Such activities amount to some 70 percent of all energy used by the Department of Defense. And DOD racks up a hefty energy bill as the nation's single largest energy consumer -- using more than 1 percent of the nation's total.
New war lines, new energy lines
Burke has until December 21 to present Congress with a blueprint for how she will lighten that DOD fuel load. For a department that has never before looked at operational energy as its own entity and is notoriously splintered with its own specific plans and obstacles for each service, this will be a significant undertaking.
Her office walls are bare -- save for a DOD organizational chart -- perhaps underscoring the challenge of developing a crosscutting strategy for the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.
Still, Burke says that the bureaucracy in the department is not what she sees as her greatest obstacle. "It's not so much that I see a roof full of stovepipes that need to be knocked down." Her office will be acting as "an integrator and a coordinator and have an oversight function," she said.
The initial hurdle, according to Burke, is defining the challenge and getting more detailed information on which missions, bases and equipment are most responsible for running up the combat fuel tally.
"You know, they've never separated out operational energy as a concern. The very act of standing up in office and pushing people into those conversations or pulling them -- inviting them into it -- has been really important," she said.
Two years ago, the Defense Science Board Task Force on DOD Energy Strategy blasted DOD for failing to achieve better energy savings in combat zones and pointed to the lack of senior leadership within DOD on the issue as a central cause. Congress tried to fill that void in the fiscal 2009 Defense Authorization Act by creating the DOEPP position.
As the first person to hold the job, Burke said she is cautious about keeping her goals realistic and making sure she isn't driven by her inbox to move too quickly.
"It's not every day in the Pentagon you have a chance to establish a whole new organization," she said. But at the same time, she wants to move fast enough to make sure that future strategies, war games and funding reflect the need to move toward a more fuel-efficient future.
DOD's energy landscape is changing, she said. "What is new is how energy-intense our military is, and the kinds of wars we are in where we are not always going to be behind our front lines. The lines are everywhere," she said.
Contracting: ripe for improvement
Burke fancies herself a matchmaker -- identifying needs and marrying them up with possible energy solutions.
In the short term, she said, her plans to "unleash troops from the tether of fuel" won't come from sending a deluge of prototypes of smart microgrids and solar-paneled tents to the front lines.
Instead, Burke said she plans to take stock of proven, off-the-shelf technologies to save on fuel and energy needs and lighten air loads.
"I know it's not as satisfying as being able to say we are going to put an entirely new thing in theater and it will change everything," she said. "I hope that's possible, but right now I think we need to focus on what we know we can do right now, and that will actually add up to quite a bit," she said.
Initial fixes, she said, could range from engine upgrades to material upgrades or changes to the body of a system or its wheels. As gear, weapons and Humvees cycle back to the depot to be refitted and refurbished, that's an opportunity to retrofit equipment with efficiency upgrades, she said.
Dan Nolan, the founder and CEO of Sabot 6, a defense consulting group, said a specific area that could use some of Burke's attention would be creating financial incentives for contractors to be more energy-efficient. Nolan was part of the team that put DOD's Power Surety Task Force together -- the group that pushed the Army to insulate more than 6 million square feet of tents in Iraq and Afghanistan with spray-on foam, saving $1.5 million a day in fuel savings, according to Army numbers.
Contractors perform a lot of DOD's long-term support work in the field. If they were required to buy their own fuel within their contracts and were told they could keep any savings, that could motivate them to slim down their energy needs, he said. Such changes could be where the "greatest impact could happen in the shortest amount of time," he said.
'Climate change will shape our future'
From her previous perch as a senior fellow and then vice president at the Washington, D.C.-based think tank Center for a New American Security, Burke helped shape research focused on the intersection of security threats and energy issues.
She started grappling with security issues in the Pentagon years ago. Early in her career, she served as a Presidential Management Fellow in the Pentagon, getting to know the building and serving in its different offices for two years. Since then, she has hopscotched through civil service and political appointee jobs at the State Department and Defense Department and also worked at Third Way, a progressive think tank, where she advised candidates and members of Congress on national security issues.
Burke has championed ramping up consideration of climate change and energy considerations into national security strategy.
"National security capabilities can take decades to build," she told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last year. "We need to design the ideas and equipment and recruit and train the personnel to protect and defend the nation 10 to 40 years in the future, and it is clear that climate change will shape our future," she said (E&E Daily, March 22).
'Spaghetti' metrics
Written into Burke's job description is the requirement that she review the DOD budget and report to Congress if it gives energy considerations short shrift. Since her overarching energy plan has not been written yet, Burke and her current staff of three are combing the fiscal 2012 budget to make sure it provides enough funds for each service's individual energy goals.
While Burke is aware that her job is to lead from the top in energy savings, she said pulling DOD toward better fuel management and energy innovation is not just a matter of laying out targets.
"If you say we are going to cut operational energy use by X percent, well, it's a war. It's not a fixed installation that stays in one place and has certain duty cycles. It's just you either are going to be putting constraints on our soldiers and Marines in the field that would make it difficult to do their jobs, or you would be asking them to ignore you," she said.
Still, that does not mean there should be no evaluative measures, she cautioned. Moreover, Congress required that she come up with some. "We do need to have metrics that measure success, absolutely, but I just don't want to throw spaghetti metrics up on the wall and hope they stick," she said.
In her December plan, she said, she will be laying out requirements to track where energy gets used in the field. Armed with those numbers from the different services, she said, the Pentagon can be better poised to tackle the problem.
"Right now, I know the Army is getting ready to field some monitoring operationally," she said, but she declined to discuss the details of that initiative saying they are "pre-decisional."
Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC. www.eenews.net, 202-628-6500 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 202-628-6500 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Shoppers 'panic buying' old 75W bulbs before EU ban comes into force
Shoppers across Europe are panic buying the last remaining stocks of old fashioned 75W light bulbs before the traditional household items are banned in the EU next week.
By Leigh Philips, Louise Gray and Andrew Hough
Published: 8:00AM BST 28 Aug 2010
The panic buying has come ahead of a EU ban next week. Photo: REUTERS Last year 100W incandescent light bulbs were outlawed, triggering the first wave of stockpiling by worried consumers who do not like the more expensive energy saving alternatives.
Now it will be an offence to import or manufacture 75W bulbs, although shops can continue to sell the model until stocks run out.
Phil Hope's shopping list for his London flat, May 2004 to February 2008The European Lamp Companies Federation said shoppers around Europe are already snapping up the last remaining stocks, with a 35 per cent increase in sales across the EU.
Demand is highest in Germany, Austria, Poland and central Europe.
Although the powerful light is also popular in Britain as a reading lamp or for lighting portraits or chandeliers in historic homes.
Airum, a Finnish producer of bulbs, has reported a doubling of demand for 75W bulbs in the country compared to what is normal for August.
Veronique Skrotsky, a spokeswoman for General Electric Lighting’s French operations, said people do not like the energy saving alternatives.
She said compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), which use a fifth of the energy needed for a conventional bulb, give off a sickly light.
“It’s clear that customers find the light they give off ugly, it’s really terrible,” she said.
CFLs have even been blamed for giving people headaches and skin rashes.
Bobby Damney, a spokesman for the Light Bulb Company, a major British wholesaler and retailer, said the company has seen a 10 per cent rise since June.
He said consumers do not like the "horribly shaped" CFLs, which also take longer to turn on and can flicker.
"It has been a chore for some customers trying to replace the bulbs,” he added.
Supermarkets in the UK have already phased out 75W bulbs but independent retailers and wholesalers reported an increase in demand.
Robert Parker, technical adviser to the Historic Houses Association, said people who live in older homes are stock piling old fashioned lamps.
Even halogen lamps, which give off a warmer glow and come in traditional shapes, will not fit into all old fashioned fittings.
“It has been a concern of ours for quite some time particularly in small bayonet candle bulbs that fit into many chandeliers and ancient fittings,” he said. “The energy efficient bulbs that fit into small bayonets are deeply unattractive.”
The panic buying of light bulbs is expected to get worse when 60W bulbs are banned next year and all incandescent bulbs are phased out by 2012.
Incandescent light bulbs are being phased out in order to meet the EU’s ambitious climate change targets to cut greenhouse gases by 20 per cent by 2020.
Advocates claim that replacing the old fashioned lamps with more efficient models will reduce domestic energy consumption for lighting by 60 per cent in the EU, equivalent to saving 30 million tons of CO2 pollution every year.
Jurgen Sturm, general-secretary of the European Lamp Companies Federation, insisted that the energy saving alternatives not only last longer and save money in the long run, but will improve in quality and range over the next few years.
By Leigh Philips, Louise Gray and Andrew Hough
Published: 8:00AM BST 28 Aug 2010
The panic buying has come ahead of a EU ban next week. Photo: REUTERS Last year 100W incandescent light bulbs were outlawed, triggering the first wave of stockpiling by worried consumers who do not like the more expensive energy saving alternatives.
Now it will be an offence to import or manufacture 75W bulbs, although shops can continue to sell the model until stocks run out.
Phil Hope's shopping list for his London flat, May 2004 to February 2008The European Lamp Companies Federation said shoppers around Europe are already snapping up the last remaining stocks, with a 35 per cent increase in sales across the EU.
Demand is highest in Germany, Austria, Poland and central Europe.
Although the powerful light is also popular in Britain as a reading lamp or for lighting portraits or chandeliers in historic homes.
Airum, a Finnish producer of bulbs, has reported a doubling of demand for 75W bulbs in the country compared to what is normal for August.
Veronique Skrotsky, a spokeswoman for General Electric Lighting’s French operations, said people do not like the energy saving alternatives.
She said compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), which use a fifth of the energy needed for a conventional bulb, give off a sickly light.
“It’s clear that customers find the light they give off ugly, it’s really terrible,” she said.
CFLs have even been blamed for giving people headaches and skin rashes.
Bobby Damney, a spokesman for the Light Bulb Company, a major British wholesaler and retailer, said the company has seen a 10 per cent rise since June.
He said consumers do not like the "horribly shaped" CFLs, which also take longer to turn on and can flicker.
"It has been a chore for some customers trying to replace the bulbs,” he added.
Supermarkets in the UK have already phased out 75W bulbs but independent retailers and wholesalers reported an increase in demand.
Robert Parker, technical adviser to the Historic Houses Association, said people who live in older homes are stock piling old fashioned lamps.
Even halogen lamps, which give off a warmer glow and come in traditional shapes, will not fit into all old fashioned fittings.
“It has been a concern of ours for quite some time particularly in small bayonet candle bulbs that fit into many chandeliers and ancient fittings,” he said. “The energy efficient bulbs that fit into small bayonets are deeply unattractive.”
The panic buying of light bulbs is expected to get worse when 60W bulbs are banned next year and all incandescent bulbs are phased out by 2012.
Incandescent light bulbs are being phased out in order to meet the EU’s ambitious climate change targets to cut greenhouse gases by 20 per cent by 2020.
Advocates claim that replacing the old fashioned lamps with more efficient models will reduce domestic energy consumption for lighting by 60 per cent in the EU, equivalent to saving 30 million tons of CO2 pollution every year.
Jurgen Sturm, general-secretary of the European Lamp Companies Federation, insisted that the energy saving alternatives not only last longer and save money in the long run, but will improve in quality and range over the next few years.
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