Monday: Conservation Lobby Day in Richmond

From the Virginia Conservation Network:

MLK Day is your day to tell legislators what you expect from them this General Assembly session. Join Virginia Conservation Network, the Garden Club of Virginia, and countless volunteers as we take our conservation priorities to the Capitol on January 17, 2011 at 8:30 a.m.

Whether you discuss energy efficiency, green building, natural resource protection, or other important conservation issues your legislators need to hear from you. Every year General Assembly members learn important information about how to do the right thing for the environment from citizens like you. Not to mention that by taking the time to discuss your position on specific legislation you hold them accountable for their vote.

Register here.

Monday: Conservation Lobby Day in Richmond

I've attended this Virginia Conservation Network event before and it's a lot of fun. Legislators & their staff are so often lobbied on divisive issues like taxes, guns & abortion, they're usually thrilled to get a chance to talk about conservation issues:

Make Conservation Count

When: January 18, 2010 (9 am - 2 pm)
Where: Centenary Methodist Church, Richmond VA (411 E. Grace Street)
Onsite registration is avaiable: $15.00 Registration
$15 adults, $10 students; includes lunch and materials.

MLK Day is your day to tell legislators what you expect from them this General Assembly session. Join Virginia Conservation Network, the Garden Club of Virginia, and countless volunteers as we take our conservation priorities to the Capitol on January 18, 2010 at 9:30 a.m.

Whether you discuss energy efficiency, green building, natural resource protection, or other important conservation issues your legislators need to hear from you. Every year General Assembly members learn important information about how to do the right thing for the environment from citizens like you. Not to mention that by taking the time to discuss your position on specific legislation you hold them accountable for their vote.

If you go, please make sure to strongly emphasize clean energy & climate issues. Our legislators can't hear enough that Virginia is at risk of falling behind the push towards a clean energy future.

Saturday: Virginia Power Shift 2009

Just a quick heads up that the Virginia Power Shift 2009 conference on clean energy & climate action will take place on Saturday at George Mason:

Young people from around Virginia will gather for the first ever Regional Power Shift October 23rd through 25th at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. Join us as we converge for a weekend of training, networking, and action to help shift the political power in the Virginia and send a strong message to the nation and the world as we head into Copenhagen.

The Green Miles will be joining the Virginia Conservation Network's Nathan Lott on a panel on Virginia environmental politics. You can register for the conference here.

Cross-posted from Blue Virginia

Virginia's Energy Sales Tax Holiday: Not Such a Bright Idea

Allow me to do some Malcolm Gladwell-style consumer psychology: Why doesn't the Maytag Repairman ever tell you washers are on sale?

Because people don't buy appliances like they buy other products. Unlike that car you might be persuaded to trade-in for a newer model because of a cash-back offer or that morning cup of coffee you might be swayed to get at Krispy Kreme because of a discounted donut, you buy new appliances when the old ones break.

Think about it. Have you ever been in Sears and said, "I like the washer we have, but dang it, this sale is too good to pass up. I'm throwing out our perfectly good current one." Sure, there are sales to try to sway you from one brand to the other, but they're not designed to get you to want to buy an appliance in the first place. That's why Maytag preaches brand reliability -- whenever you do need a new dishwasher, they'll be there.

So why would you throw out your perfectly-good refrigerator just because Virginia has declared an EnergyStar Sales Tax Holiday October 5-8? If Virginia is really interested in promoting energy efficiency, shouldn't it offer an incentive that will be there whenever your old fridge kicks the bucket?

But, as the Virginian-Pilot detailed back in February, "it gets worse":

What home appliance uses the most energy? The furnace. What appliance is completely excluded from [Del. John] Cosgrove's bill? The furnace. (Isn't it curious that the furnace is the most expensive home appliance most people will ever buy, and excluding it from the sales tax would actually cut into state revenue?)

And still it gets worse. Cosgrove has so inartfully worded his legislation, that you don't even have to buy the most energy-efficient "Energy Star" appliances to get the tax break, you just have to buy appliances that meet "energy-saving efficiency requirements."

Well guess what? You can't buy or sell new air conditioners or water heaters that don't meet Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy efficiency standards. Thus, all new appliances qualify for the tax break.

In short, the Chesapeake Republican has written a tax break that almost nobody will get, that doesn't apply to the largest energy hog in your house and doesn't actually encourage people to buy the most energy-efficient appliances. There's a word for that: worthless.

Thanks to Lowell from RK for passing along the governor's release, and thanks to Vivian for first catching the editorial back in February.

Cross-posted (mostly) from RaisingKaine.com

Burning More Coal, Drilling for Oil, and Splitting Atoms: Meet Gov. Kaine's Energy Plan

I give up. I'm moving to Montreal so I can be there when global warming makes its weather more like Boston's is today.

My friend Lowell at RaisingKaine.com just pointed me to Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine's newly-released Virginia Energy Plan (news release, full report). Here are the highlights:

- Virginia will not stop burning coal for you or for anyone else. We also will not burn less. In fact, we'll actually burn even more.
- Search the entire document and you will not find the words "mountaintop removal." Let's pretend it doesn't exist, mmmkay?
- "Coastal energy production" sounds so much nicer than "drilling off Virginia's coast so we can have more oil to burn," doesn't it?
- Massive taxpayer subsidies should be given to Dominion Virginia Power to build new nuclear power plants.
- Compact fluorescent light bulbs will save us. (For why they'll help but won't do nearly enough on their own, click here.)

Adding to The Green Miles' frustration, the Washington Post's article on the energy plan appears to be rife with factual errors:

- "Gov. Timothy M. Kaine unveiled long-range health-care and energy plans Wednesday that would slash the number of uninsured Virginians and dramatically reduce energy consumption."
False. You'd think they could get through the first sentence without an inaccuracy, wouldn't you? Energy use would actually rise under the plan, just at a slower rate. It's right on page 8 of the report, Figure 1-8.

- "One aspect of the plan calls for the state to reduce the energy it uses by 40 percent over the next decade."
Still, in fact, false. The plan calls for reducing the rate of growth of energy use by 40 percent. Energy use would continue to rise. And page 20, the report calls for increasing in-state energy production by 20 percent over projected 2017 levels. Did the reporter even read the plan?

- "Kaine (D) calls for a 30 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2025."
Sorta. That's one way of putting it. It's the way the press release put it, so why wouldn't the reporter reguritate it unchallenged, right? Another way of putting it is that Virginia will only reduce carbon emissions to 2000 levels.

- "Virginia could become a leader in efforts to combat global warming if lawmakers embrace the plan."
Batshit insane. The Republican governors of California and Florida have committed to cutting carbon emissions 20% off 1990 levels by 2050. They're the leaders. And under the Western Climate Initiative, Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington have all already committed to steeper cuts than Kaine is even proposing (read the full plan), and that's before the Republican-controlled House of Delegates gets a chance to soften it up.

But apparently the Virginia Conservation Network likes the plan. Which raises the question, how bad would the plan have to be for them to not like it?

Where's a renewable portfolio standard? Where's cutting our greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050, the amount scientists say is needed to avoid the worst effects of global warming? Where's decoupling?

A better plan comes from the Virginia Sierra Club, which has issued its Citizens Energy Plan. Let's hope the governor's paying attention.