“You could take all the decision-makers and CEOs of these companies [the carbon majors] and fit them on a couple Greyhound buses.”

– Rick Heede, Climate Mitigation Services

The vessel Brave Tern installs at Block Island Source: windcarrier.com

Construction of the nation’s first offshore wind farm off Block Island is complete. In early August, Deepwater Wind, the 30 MW wind farm’s developer, installed the first of five, 6 MW, GE turbines. Three miles southeast of Block Island, for each turbine, three tower sections were bolted on top of one and other, rising 270 feet. A boxy nacelle sits at the top of each tower housing the generating equipment.

According to Deepwater Wind, the trickiest part of the installation was attaching the long and unwieldy blades. At their highest points, the blades top out at 589 feet. Another challenging aspect of the project was earlier, bolting custom-built, lattice-work foundations to the sea floor.

To erect the turbines, an Oslo-based, Norwegian 433-foot vessel named Brave Tern crossed the ocean. It travelled for 16 days from Saint Nazaire, France where it picked up the five nacelles, to reach Block Island. The ship jacks itself up off the sea floor to be able to provide extreme precision for the installation of the wind turbines.  Since it was built in 2013, Brave Tern has installed more than 200 wind turbines in Europe. It typically takes a day and a half per turbine for erection.

Biophilic Design in NYC at One Central Park

Lignofuels, biolubes… the vernacular grows and greens. Ever heard of biophilic design? It taps the innate human attraction to nature… known as biophilia.

“Biophilic design” is a new form of architecture. At least it is a new discipline. Bill Browning of Terrapin Bright Green, a leader purveyor of the discipline and former RMI employee, tells me that the word comes from the social psychologist Eric Fromm and was given definition by EO Wilson in his book the Biophilia Hypothesis. Arguably it’s about re-tapping the intuitively obvious… that a connection to nature feels good.

Biophilic design intends to tap the human benefits of “biophilia.” It is aimed at creating strong connections between nature and man-made environments. And its proponents claim proven benefits, from increased worker productivity, to increased creativity, better clarity in thinking, better learning for kids, to better healing for hospital patients. Its proponents even make the case that retail spaces can be more profitable.

As our society has become more and more urbanized, we have lost the connection to nature. Biophilic design is about regaining the connection… through natural lighting, views of nature, plants, natural building materials, textures, and patterns. Perhaps some day every office worker will be able to harvest his or her salad for lunch, there will be edible landscapes inside buildings, and design features to restore our connection to nature… without the bugs!

EcoMotion staff ponder the relative benefits of virtual biophilia… things like recorded sounds of rains forests and rainstorms, images of nature potentially projected on large, high-definition screens, perhaps even piping in smells to plug olfactory sensations. Would these too result in benefits? Just as light pipes allow for natural light into the depths of a structure, could virtual biophilic design also be viable?

On September 8th, the California legislature made international headlines by passing California Senate Bill 32. The bill, sponsored by State Senator Fran Pavley, solidifies California as the world leader on climate protection. It’s an extension of AB 32 – also sponsored by then Assemblyman Pavley, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.  That legislation called for a return to 1990 greenhouse gas emissions levels. SB 32 is much more aggressive, calling for reducing GHGs to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030.

Governor Jerry Brown calls the GHG target far-sighted and far-reaching. The new law will affect nearly every aspect of our lives, from where and how we live, to how we get to work, to the food we eat and how we are powered.

The ambitious climate legislation actually involved two bills. Climate Resolve’s Director of Policy, David Fink, states that this climate milestone is “notable not just for its greenhouse gas reduction targets, but also for its emphasis on protecting vulnerable populations and transforming disadvantaged communities.” The companion bill, AB 197, gives the Legislature greater authority over the California Air Resources Board, to ensure strategies to lower emissions favor those most impacted by climate change.

Fink notes that for more than a decade, the naysayers have cried that reducing greenhouse gas emissions would devastate the economy. “Just the opposite is true. Since AB 32 was passed a decade ago, the economy has improved while unemployment has gone down and approximately half a million jobs have been created with the help of the legislation.” SB 32 makes a commitment to the clean energy economy for years to come.

The SB 32 goal will not be easy to achieve: Research from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory shows that current policies only get us half way to the 2030 goal. And meanwhile, California’s economy will grow from $2.5 trillion a year to $3.5 trillion, with population growing from 38 million to a projected 44 million.

California is a world leader in terms of climate protection goals, and policies to ratchet the emissions down. The California Air Resources Board is responsible for implementing AB 32, and now SB 32. These bills specific reductions in atmospheric CO2e gases. AB 32 calls for a return to 1990 emissions levels by 2020. SB 32 calls for a 40% reduction from 1990 levels by 2030.

Source: Vox

To date, and while certainly not without controversy, California’s largest GHG emitters — about 600 “point-source” emitters — have been put “under the cap” of cap and trade. These emit over 80% of the State’s GHGs. They have to ratchet down their emissions to 1990 levels, or pay fines.

Over lunch in Irvine with Troy Strand and Dick Paulsen, we contemplate the impact of California’s GHG leadership. And in particular, we discuss if and when the next tier of emitters will have to comply. What about smaller businesses? What about cities? Will the cap and trade “cinch down” to these levels?

To answer these questions, I called on three leading climate advocates here in SoCal, Jonathan Parfrey of Climate Resolve, and Gary Gero, former Executive Director of Climate Action Reserve, and Craig Ebert, its current Executive Director. All three are tied in with Sacramento, the California Air Resources Board (CARB), and the implementation of the world’s most progressive climate legislation.

“Ain’t gonna happen,” is the long and the short of it. There will not be State legislation or regulation to cap smaller entities. The top 600 covers over 80% of emissions. “You’d have to regulate thousands of the next tier users.” “Imagine the hugely political firestorm….”

More fundamentally, the emissions from the next tiers are already accounted for since their suppliers of electricity and natural gas are indeed regulated. It is the primary users of fuels – refineries, power plants, and the Gas Company – that are under the cap. Their customers are their responsibility. As such, they have been and will continue to promote programs and policies to get consumers to fall in line to help them achieve their goals.

Impressed I was reading the Science magazine article on Rick Heede of Climate Mitigation Services. He is heralded for his analytical skills and for his perseverance often as a lone wolf voice in a sea of predators… in this case, major emitters. Rick’s an old friend, a former colleague and employee at Rocky Mountain Institute, daughter Skye’s godfather, a pilot, and awesome skier!

The Science article focuses on Rick’s massive database. He’s meticulously documented who’s been responsible for taking carbon out of the ground and putting it into the atmosphere. He’s spent years piecing together the annual production of energy major fossil fuel company since the Industrial Revolution and converting it to carbon emissions. Dear Rick, he’s been “working alone and with uncertain funding.”

The Carbon Majors

The results of his research are profound, that two-third’s of anthropogenic emissions originate in just 90 companies and government-run industries. Published in 2013, critics of the research claim that it unfairly held a number of companies accountable for a lifestyle of the masses. A U.C. Berkeley professor said it’s “a cop-out to blame the majors.”

To be more specific, Rick reports that just 90 companies are responsible for 63% of cumulative emissions between 1751 and 2010. Half of the emissions took place after 1988. The top emitters in 2013, the last year of data, were Saudi Aramco, responsible for 3.39% of cumulative emissions. Second in cumulative impacts was Chevron with 3.39% of emissions, and ExxonMobil with 3.11% of the cumulative, BP and Gazprom.

In 2013, Saudi Aramco also topped the list of companies with 2013 annual emissions – 1,707 million metric tons of CO2. Russia’s Gazprom was #2 with 1,135 million metric tons, followed by the National Iranian Oil Company.

Source: CarbonMajors.org

So how did Rick get to be such a carbon accountant? Where did he get so attentive? Born in Norway, he is the descendant of a long line of watchmakers to whom he attributes his attention to detail. At age 15, he and his family emigrated to the U.S. He then attended the University of Colorado where he earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in geography.

When I first met Rick at Rocky Mountain Institute in 1986, he was deep in analysis of the hidden subsidies of old and coal. These subsidies made and continue to make the comparative economics of renewables look bad. He left RMI in 2003, moved up the hill in Old Snowmass, and formed Climate Mitigation Services. In that capacity, he began by focusing on quantifying Aspen’s emissions, not just from direct emissions, but “everything that uses energy as a result of Aspen’s existence,” like the fuel for planes bringing skiers in from far away.

Solar on Los Angeles Metro Property

The Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a measure that instructs its municipal utility – Los Angeles Department of Water and Power – to study an equitable transition away from fossil fuels to power Los Angeles with 100% clean energy. Now the City will convene a working group with a charge to deliver a timeframe for the study.

Los Angeles, with its commitment to study such a transition, joins Denver with a similar commitment. So far, 17 American cities are committed to a path to 100% clean energy, including Salt Lake City, Boulder, San Diego, and San Francisco. They join Paris, Sydney, and Vancouver that have established 100% clean energy targets.

L.A. is the largest American city exploring how to power itself completely with renewables. The challenge will indeed be great. L.A. is currently 40% powered by coal and 22% by natural gas.

A C40, a network of the world’s major megacities committed to combating climate change through action and collaboration, reports that 228 cities representing 436 million people have set targets that would reduce emissions by 13 gigatons of CO2 by 2050. Cities house more than half of the world’s population.

EcoMotion’s 2016 Solar Innovation Tour:

Join solar leaders and practitioners on November 15th for EcoMotion’s 2016 Solar Innovation Tour. City leaders, sustainability officers, advocates and new market entrants will spend with a day EcoMotion’s solar team visiting the most innovative and impressive solar systems in Los Angeles.

The 2016 Innovation Solar Tour will be full-day event. On the bus will be briefings and box lunches. We’ll be visiting Cathay Bank’s Gensler-designed solar ports, the Broadview Christian Science Nursing Home’s dual-axis tracking solar sytem,… and the largest rooftop system in the world, now under construction! The day ends with a cocktail reception at EcoMotion’s offices in the historic CalEdison Building.

Visit the Eventbrite page for more information, and to reserve your seat. The cost is $50 per person. Space is limited. Register today!  ecomotionsolartour.eventbrite.com

Community Solar White Paper, Second Edition:

EcoMotion is pleased to release the second edition of the Community Solar White Paper drafted by Ted Flanigan in 2012 in collaboration with the Clean Energy Collective. At that time there were only a dozen community solar projects in America. Today, there are more than 90 projects in 25 states with a cumulative capacity of over 100 MW. And more are being developed every day. The concept is catching fire, “giving affordable access to solar to the masses.”

“Community Solar: Design Options and Innovations: Second Edition, was researched and updated by EcoMotion Project Manager Shaun Miller. The 31-page paper presents design options, innovations, lists of benefits to key stakeholders from consumers, sponsors, and utilities, plus regulatory updates from California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Washington, and the federal government.

Please email EcoMotion to be sent the no-cost white paper.