Cable Companies Don't Care How Much Of Your Money Their Crappy Boxes Waste

What uses more power, your cable box with DVR or your refrigerator?

Thanks to outdated, inefficient cable boxes that run 24/7 regardless of if they're in use recording, an NRDC study (PDF) finds your cable box with DVR is a prime source of vampire power - wasted electricity when your appliance is "off."

But what do cable companies care? They don't have to pay your power bill. So as the New York Times reports, cable companies give you the box that's cheapest for them:

“The issue of having more efficient equipment is of interest to us,” said Justin Venech, a spokesman for Time Warner Cable. But, he added, “when we purchase the equipment, functionality and cost are the primary considerations.”

But energy efficiency experts say that technical fixes could eliminate or minimize the waiting time and inconvenience, some at little expense. Low-energy European systems reboot from deep sleep in one to two minutes.

Alan Meier, a scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, said of the industry in the United States, “I don’t want to use the word ‘lazy,’ but they have had different priorities, and saving energy is not one of them.”

Cable companies make it clear in the article they'll have to be dragged kicking & screaming into the age of energy-efficient technology. But couldn't cable companies use the public relations boost that comes from a little greening? As The Atlantic reports this month:

Media-distribution companies, particularly in the cable and telephony markets, have among the worst customer relations in any industry: J. D. Power ranked the cable companies 18th out of 19 industries in service.

The easiest way to drive a stake through the heart of vampire power? Plug appliances into a power strip & turn that off when they're not in use. Discovery's HowStuffWorks has more details on vampire power:

Gore: Obama Has Failed So Far on Climate

UPDATE: Here's the link to Al Gore's Rolling Stone essay.

Former Vice President Al Gore is fed up with President Obama's failure to lead on global warming. In a Rolling Stone essay to be published Friday, Gore is calling Obama out:

While Gore credits Obama's political appointees with making hundreds of changes that have helped move the country "forward slightly" on the climate issue, and acknowledges Obama has been dealing with many other problems, he says the president "has simply not made the case for action."

"President Obama has never presented to the American people the magnitude of the climate crisis," Gore says. "He has not defended the science against the ongoing withering and dishonest attacks. Nor has he provided a presidential venue for the scientific community ... to bring the reality of the science before the public."

Gore is certainly not the first person to question whether President Obama is truly willing to take a stand for our public health and America's environment. But he's not just a big name - Gore has been a huge Obama backer.

It's gotten harder and harder to defend President Obama on clean energy & climate issues in recent months. Heck, he couldn't even be bothered to fulfill his promise to put solar panels back on the White House.

President Obama can certainly point to major accomplishments on health insurance reform, Wall Street reform, and making the Supreme Court more reflective of America. But on clean energy & climate ... would we really have accomplished much less if John McCain had been elected? And looking ahead, if Mitt Romney is the GOP nominee, doesn't the composition of Congress make much more of a difference in what we'll accomplish in the years ahead than which backer of tepid action on the climate crisis is in the White House?

Do Bland Vegetables Make Us Fat?

I was making my work lunch salads tonight and took a bite of the organic green pepper I'd gotten from Harris Teeter - so incredibly tasteless, it was barely a step above cold styrofoam. Then I tried one of the grape tomatoes - my mouth barely even registered that there was something in it. May be time to get off my butt on Saturday mornings & check out the Falls Church Farmers Market.

Are bland vegetables the reason restaurants pile fat, salt & sugar on top of their salads to make them more appealing? Fresh, local vegetables are more expensive than huge cans of refried beans. And the vegetables go bad faster & need to be refrigerated - terrible for profit margins.

So today, we salute you, Mr. Giant Taco Salad Inventor. America couldn't have hit an obesity rate of one in three without you.

Virginia League of Conservation Voters Releases 2011 General Assembly Scorecard

Some quick thoughts on the just-released preliminary 2011 Virginia League of Conservation Voters General Assembly Scorecard:

• Great to see the House delegations from Arlington, Falls Church & Fairfax scoring so well - Brink, Bulova, Ebbin, Englin, Filler-Corn, Hope, Keam, Kory, Scott, Surovell all got 100%
• Two GOP House members in Northern Virginia swing districts scored very low - Dave Albo at 45%, Barbara Comstock at 36%. Will be interesting to see how Albo challenger Jack Dobbyn and Comstock challenger Pam Danner use those scores.
• On the Senate side, retiring Arlington state senators Patsy Ticer & Mary Margaret Whipple both fell short of 100%. Among others, Northern Virginia's Janet Howell and Dave Marsden, progressive champ Donald McEachin and even Democratic Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw all scored 100%.
• I'm looking forward to seeing exactly which votes they used here - no one scoring lower than 33% raises The Green Eyebrow

Here's a link to the full 2011 VA LCV GA scorecard (PDF).

What's the True Price of Gas?

From the Center for Investigative Reporting:

Netroots vs. Astroturf: Standing Up For Clean Air & Water

One of the most moving aspects of Netroots Nation for me is the sheer amount of personal capital in the convention hall. People leave their families, draw down their precious few vacation days, and invest hundreds of dollars to make the trip. That 2,200 people are here in Minneapolis is a testament to the passion of the progressive movement.

But in the battle of Progressives vs. Polluters, all that personal capital is up against massive amounts of polluter capital. AFP, founded & funded by the billionaire Koch Brothers, invested some of that capital this week in bankrolling RightOnline, which shadows Netroots each year. Check out AFP's email to supporters offering subsidized trips, which begins like a used car ad - "We have a great deal for YOU":

From: Americans for Prosperity Foundation
Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2011 11:02 AM
Subject: Get on the Bus to RightOnline, Only $49

Dear XXXXXX,

We have a great deal for YOU and our shared Conservative Values.

You can attend the RightOnline conference in Minneapolis, MN– and WE WILL DRIVE YOU THERE!

Our RightOnline conference will be held at the same time and in the same city as the left-wing NetRoots Nation convention.

We want to show them who truly represents America’s values – and to teach people like you the most effective online advocacy practices around.

We have buses lined up in Wisconsin to bring activists like you to Minneapolis June 17-18. Overnight packages including transportation and lodging and start at just $49 per person by using the code "doublebus" and "quadbus." Click Here to Register.

Buses are picking up from:
Eau Claire, Green Bay, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Rancine, Waukesha, and Wausau!

Governor Tim Pawlenty, Michelle Malkin, Andrew Breitbart, Senator Mike Lee, Reps. Michele Bachmann, Marsha Blackburn, John Kline and Thad McCotter, businessman Herman Cain, and many more will be there.

JOIN US JUNE 17-18 – AND LET US DO THE DRIVING

RSVP - AFP - Right-Online

Doesn't seem like many people took AFP up on their offer - Right-Online is notoriously poorly attended & a "Right Meets Left" happy hour inviting both NN & RO folks was at least 90% progressives.

But polluters have a long history of flooding groups like AFP with cash (annual budget: $40 million) to fund phony grassroots tactics, from busing in oil workers at rallies to forging letters from veterans groups. How do progressives combat that kind of buying power?

On Saturday at 1:30pm at Netroots Nation, I'll be moderating a panel talking about the best ways to fight back against just one angle of what I just heard Rep. Keith Ellison calls the GOP's attempted "dismantling of the social compact." How do progressives defend against a seemingly endless wave of attacks on the Clean Air Act & Clean Water Act?

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), Green for All CEO Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins & Grist's David Roberts will take on the topic. And with Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) voting the wrong way, we won't spare Democrats, either.

Netroots Nation 2011: How to Cross Cultural Lines on Conservation Issues

The Green Miles arrived in Minneapolis today for Netroots Nation. Took the new Minneapolis light rail from the airport - clean, fast, cheap, and dropped me off two blocks from my hotel. Very happy to find that the downtown Minneapolis Westin participates in the Starwood Hotels Green Choice program.

At a panel on environmental justice, just heard a great example on how to reach across cultural lines on conservation issues. Refugio "Reg" Mata of Heal the Bay told the story of how his grandmother used to use a reusable bag when she took him to the market. It wasn't because she was some hippie treehugger, but because in Central America you have to bring a bag - small markets in Honduras don't hand out plastic bags like they're going out of style. Reg talked about how making that emotional connection to reusable bag use - remember how your grandma used them when you were growing up? - can be a much better motivator to action than facts & figures.

Definitely makes me want to learn more ways to broaden the appeal of conservation issues. Great way to start the conference!

What's Next for Metro in Virginia?

From the Washington Examiner's Kytja Weir:

Metro officials are eyeing a Brown Line to join the system's existing palette.

The transit agency is planning for the future, looking at creating a train line that dips from Friendship Heights into the District and back up to Silver Spring and past White Oak. It's also studying a line along the Capital Beltway loop, diverting the Blue Line from its current route across downtown to create a midcity rail line, or running an offshoot from the Green Line to National Harbor.

None of the plans is funded or even firm. Engineering hasn't been done and land hasn't been set aside. But the transit agency is studying what it will need by 2040 to accommodate growth in the region and relieve pressure on the system.

Officials plan to discuss some possibilities with regional leaders Wednesday, then hold workshops in July to hear riders' thoughts. By next spring, Metro hopes to have a final plan identifying which projects it will consider developing.

In general, I'd support lines that get people into & out of DC's center (serving both transportation needs and security purposes) over loop lines. In particular, a new midcity Blue Line could fill in major Metro gaps in places like Georgetown & Thomas Circle.

So what would you like to see after the Silver Line is completed? Maybe a Gold Line down Route 7 as GreaterGreaterWashington.org's Steve Offutt has suggested? There's also the long-discussed Columbia Pike streetcar project.

White House Bashes Endangered Tortoise

What did the White House do that so enraged former Wonkette editor Ken Layne that he had to come out of retirement to post on it?

Oh, just attack some low-paid government biologists for working really hard on an endangered species website that costs all of $125 a year — that’s a hundred-and-twenty-five dollars. Hmm, that sounds a little bit like a number Joe Biden loves to spend, but you need to add nine zeroes, because that’s what this administration spends killing American troops and robot-bombing random villagers in Afghanistan, every year: $125 billion. But spending .000000001% of that — about the price of the average household’s monthly cell-phone bill — to maintain a website about the endangered state animal of California and Nevada, the beloved desert tortoise, now that’s something Joe Biden doesn’t care for at all.

As the Los Angeles Times editorial board wrote recently, "It's possible for a president to so alienate his base that it fails to show up on election day. Something to keep in mind before November 2012 rolls around."

Photo via Flickr's man_of_mud

Arlington To Deem Old Strip Malls "Essential"?

Reports the Arlington Sun Gazette:

County Board members in early July are expected to formally designate 23 properties where preservation efforts are “essential.” But how far the county government will be able to go, beyond moral support and persuasion, to keep those 23 intact remains to be seen. [...]

Eleven garden-apartment complexes - some since converted to condominiums - are ranked as “essential” for preservation: Arlington Village (built in 1939), Barcroft Apartments (1939-53), Buckingham Village (1937-53), Calvert Manor (1950), Courthouse Manor (1936-55), Fairlington (1943-45), Fillmore Gardens (1942-48), Lee Gardens/Woodbury Park (1949), Lee Gardens/Sheffield Court (1942) and Wakefield Manor (1943).

Two shopping centers, Arlington Village (1939) and Colonial Village (1937), also are on the list, along with commercial buildings that range from the Arlington Cinema ’n’ Drafthouse on Columbia Pike to the G.H. Rucker Building on Wilson Boulevard.

Every community should strive to identify and protect things that help define its identity and if an iconic building like the Cinema & Drafthouse ever disappeared, I think we can all agree something would be lost. And as the National Trust for Historic Preservation points out, in many cases the greenest building is the one that's already built.

But to pick on just one of the glaringly questionable listed properties ... Colonial Village Shopping Center? Really? Sure, its current tenants are cool, what with Ray's Hell Burger and one of Arlington's few remaining non-Starbucks coffee shops. But is it really "essential" to have an old strip mall with a large surface parking lot on a prime spot on Wilson Blvd. between Rosslyn & Courthouse?

If a developer wanted to put an apartment complex there so lots more people could live close to Metro, with new space for Ray's & the coffee shop at ground level, would Arlington be worse off for it? Or would that be an improvement on how the space is currently used? Is it in the community's best interests for the County Board to be trying to persuade developers to keep their hands off our essential strip mall & surface parking lot?

Annals of Terrible Ideas: An Outer Beltway

There's been revived talk lately of building an Outer Beltway, a large highway with a radius about twice that of the existing Beltway. There are plenty of reasons it would be a terrible idea, starting with how ludicrously expensive it would be. If adding HOT Lanes to the Beltway cost $2 billion, how much would a whole new Outer Beltway cost?

But as David Alpert writes at GreaterGreaterWashington.org, the main reason an Outer Beltway would be a boondoggle is that it simply wouldn't ease regional traffic congestion:

The mobility problems outside the beltway are primarily about getting to and from the core, plus the local trips tied up by inadequate local street connections. Yes, traffic is bad for many people, and that's something planners need to address instead of dismissing.

However, more beltways will only accommodate a small fraction of the trips involved. Most people will still drive toward or away from the job centers at or inside the beltway, in DC, Bethesda, Silver Spring, Tysons Corner, Arlington, and Alexandria. An Outer Beltway or three doesn't help with that at all.

That "or three" is no joke - road advocates NVTA envision no fewer than six Beltways (PDF).

Washington Post's Romney/Climate Story Stiffs Science

The Washington Post has a story this morning about how Mitt Romney acknowledges the science, at least in general terms, that man-made carbon emissions are driving global warming.

Let's count the "experts" quoted:

• GOP workers & activists: 3
• Polluter-funded front groups: 2
• Rush Limbaugh: 1
• Climate scientists: 0

As Media Matters reported this week, when it comes to reporting on climate science, climate scientists are the last people the media seeks out.

Weiner Pic of the Climate Crisis? Weiner Pic of the Climate Crisis.

Yesterday, Grist's David Roberts tweeted, "I wish climate change would tweet a picture of its dick to someone. Then maybe it could get some attention."

Lucky for him, the weather in northern Virginia today is just right for a little Anthony Weiner tribute:

It was 90 in the shade. Only took a couple of minutes in the sun for the thermometer to max out at 125. And it's only June 8th.

If June Is This Hot, What Will July & August Be Like?

Before our planet's warming trend began showing up in full force around 1980, the DC area averaged about 7 or 8 days per year of 95+ degree heat. But as the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang reports, in 2011 we're likely to have had 5 scorchers by June 9th:

A huge dome of steamy hot high pressure - responsible for more than 600 high temperature records since Saturday - shifts toward the East Coast starting tomorrow, Wednesday.

Over the weekend, this sultry airmass brought historically hot temperatures to Houston, Texas which reached 105 degrees Sunday, its warmest June day in history. The Houston Chronicle reported new record highs were set there in five of the first six days in June. The Sunday records in both Houston and Galveston shattered old records by seven degrees. [...]

Here in Washington, D.C., we have already had three days at or above 95 degrees in 2011 and should tack on two more Wednesday and Thursday. Capital Weather Gang’s Ian Livingston indicates the long term average for 95+ degree days over an entire summer is 7 to 8, but that number has increased to 11 over the last 30 years.

Short-term weather patterns should never be confused with long-term climate trends - but in this case, they match. The first four months of 2011 were the 14th-hottest on record, nearly a full degree above our 20th-century average.

If we begin cutting carbon pollution now, we can avoid the worst effects of the climate crisis. But how can we make progress when virtually the entire leadership of the Republican Party is committed to denying it's getting hotter, never mind finding solutions to the problem?

UPDATE: It's now forecast to hit 100 degrees in the DC region on Thursday.

Photo via Flickr's OakleyOriginals

Raping the Planet as "Green" TV

Why is the channel called "Planet Green" showing reality TV like Heli-Loggers and Extreme Loggers? I understand why the History Channel and Discovery Channel (Planet Green's parent) look to cash in by making cheap reality TV shows about dangerous jobs in beautiful places.

But shouldn't a channel that purports to be about sustainability draw the line at glorifying this?

This gripping series follows different types of loggers, from small family run companies to major corporations; mule logging to heli-logging, revealing the amazing stories of these remarkable men and their quest to log where no other man dares.

Extreme Loggers launches with a visit to remote swamps of North Carolina. When five different crews try and fail to log these wetlands, experienced logger, Bobby Goodson, is called in. With trees growing in mud deep enough to swallow huge logging machines, poisonous snakes and deadly spiders, Bobby has an immense challenge on his hands.

But with $50,000 a week up for grabs it’s a job offer he can’t afford to refuse!

I mean, for that kind of money, how could you NOT destroy wildlife habitat in a previously-untouched wilderness?

Take a Hike Week: Virginia's Great Falls North

On the final day of Take a Hike Week here at The Green Miles, a note about picking the right day to get the most out of your hike.

Most people I know in the DC area grew up in other parts of the country, many of them in places like Boston, New York and Chicago that have cooler climates than the Mid-Atlantic. The weather there takes longer to warm up enough for outdoor activities and there's more time before summer moves into the dog days when it's hard to do anything outside without sweating.

Then they move to DC and keep that same mental weather calendar and wonder why they're practically dying of heat stroke on their Memorial Day hike because it's 95 and humid. But Memorial Day was always perfect for hiking in the Blue Hills!

Don't let the nice days slip past you. In the early part of the year, watch for those 60 degree days in March, then keep an eye out for them again in November - the times of the year when many people wrongly assume it'll be too cold to hike are in fact the best days to get outside. All you need is a little sun & a little warmth and if you're on a good hike, you'll be glad it's not warmer.

If you're looking for a really close, easy trail with great views, you can't go wrong with Great Falls Park. The trail to the north of the Virginia parking lot goes for miles, providing a good walk along the Potomac River and a chance to spot Great Blue Herons, Egrets, and maybe even a Bald Eagle if you're really lucky.

And on those first days of warmth, you can get a rare look at Great Falls' angry side. The melting snow can combine with spring rains to turn Great Falls into raging rapids:


One tip - the parking lot can fill up fast on really nice days and during prime fall foliage, so go early.

TheGreenMiles.com's Take a Hike Week

Tuesday: Old Rag Mountain

Wednesday: Catoctin Mountain

Thursday: Scott's Run Nature Preserve

Friday: Virginia's Great Falls North

Did you know National Trails Day is Saturday, June 4th? DC, Maryland & Virginia are loaded with fantastic hikes just a short drive away. Find a NTD event near you at AmericanHiking.org, or explore local trails & climbs at HikingUpward.com.

Three Blogs You'd Want on a Deserted Island

Last night at a climate happy hour, I was asking people for their three must-read blogs, columnist, writers, Twitterers, whatever. How would you get the internet on the deserted island? Uh, well ... I guess you'd have a laptop. And a solar panel, and a satellite internet thing. Oh, and a tarp to keep it all dry. There! Showed you!

Anyway, here are my three:

• Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo
• Matt Yglesias of Think Progress
• And for something non-political to keep me from going insane while eating what I presume would be a steady diet of raw fish & coconuts, Drew Magary of Deadspin

That list is of course subject to change at any time - ask me tomorrow and I might say E.J. Dionne Jr., Greater Greater Washington, Grist's David Roberts, Kate Sheppard of Mother Jones, or Joe Romm of Climate Progress.

What are yours?

Planet Earth to Humanity: "I Want You to Leave Now."

Is it that we're polluting its air and water? Blowing up its mountains? Killing its other residents, both the tall & leafy ones and the small & furry ones?

Planet Earth doesn't say, but according to The Onion, it's had it with humanity, trying to force us out with a series of disasters:

"At this point, I think I've stated my wishes quite loudly and clearly," the Earth's statement to all of humanity read in part. "I haven't exactly been subtle about it, you realize. I have literally tried to drown you, crush you, starve you, dehydrate you, pump you full of diseases, and suck your homes and families into swirling vortices of death. Honestly, what more is it going to take for you people to get the message?"

"Do I have to spell it out for you?" the statement continued. "Get the fuck out of here. I want you to leave now."

And how do Congressional Republican leaders greet any environmental warning, be it the dangers of mercury, global warming or an eviction notice from our planetary landlord? Denial:

"What we're seeing here is the same old scientific mumbo jumbo and partisan rhetoric that the Earth has been spewing out for millennia," Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) said. "We're not going to be bullied by a celestial body that has time and again failed to deliver on its promise to glorify and reward mankind with its bounty."

Immediately following these statements from the human race, the Earth emitted a loud sigh, which shifted multiple tectonic plates and caused massive earthquakes on five continents.

Whether Planet Earth likes it or not, we're stuck together. You can donate to help victims of Planet Earth's hints that maybe we should try to get along better at RedCross.org.

Take a Hike Week: Scott's Run Nature Preserve

If you're looking to take an easy trail walk to a beautiful spot, Scott's Run Nature Preserve in Fairfax is the place for you.

I visited Scott's Run last fall and got to see it near the peak of fall colors. While the walk wasn't very challenging and I didn't see any wildlife, the concrete post bridges were interesting. And the view of the waterfall where it meets the Potomac River was worth the trip:

TheGreenMiles.com's Take a Hike Week

Tuesday: Old Rag Mountain

Wednesday: Catoctin Mountain

Thursday: Scott's Run Nature Preserve

Friday: Virginia's Great Falls North

Did you know National Trails Day is Saturday, June 4th? DC, Maryland & Virginia are loaded with fantastic hikes just a short drive away. Find a NTD event near you at AmericanHiking.org, or explore local trails & climbs at HikingUpward.com.

Better To Run Your Commute With Your Paycheck or With Your Biofuel?

What's worse than sitting all day at the office? How about sitting the whole time on your way to and from the office?

From Australian artist Peter Drew:



Via Andrew Sullivan

Take a Hike Week: Catoctin Mountain

The Green Miles recently made the 75 minute drive from the DC area up northwest of Frederick to Maryland's Catoctin Mountain. It was one of those days that thunderstorms were a constant menace, but surprisingly the rain held off long enough to make the full 8-mile loop around the top of the mountain.

Part of the Bull Run Mountains, a subset of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Catoctin's highest peak is only about 1,900 feet. But the hike provides a great range of views, from Cunningham Falls all the way up to the Blue Ridge Vista:


Like Virginia's Old Rag Mountain, the peaks feature exposed ancient granite, providing some fun rock-hopping at Chimney Rock:


I decided to start a new tradition this hike, bringing two beers for my friend Dan & I to crack open on top of the mountain. Of course, after lugging the beers up the mountain I then realized I'd left my bottle opener in the car. Fortunately, at the Hog Rock overlook Dan found a sign with some exposed screws that made a great bottle opener. After a long slog up & around the mountain, Dogfish Head Raison D'Etre had never tasted better:


TheGreenMiles.com's Take a Hike Week

Tuesday: Old Rag Mountain
Wednesday: Catoctin Mountain
Thursday: Scott's Run Nature Preserve
Friday: Virginia's Great Falls North

Did you know National Trails Day is Saturday, June 4th? DC, Maryland & Virginia are loaded with fantastic hikes just a short drive away. Find a NTD event near you at AmericanHiking.org, or explore local trails & climbs at HikingUpward.com.

Best Idea To Promote Drunk Driving Ever

Have a beer and bourbon festival at a place you have to drive to.

Take a Hike Week: Old Rag Mountain

The Green Miles hadn't hiked Virginia's Old Rag Mountain since my first trip there back in 2008. Back then, my friend Dan & I took the relatively easy back route to the summit to reach the 3,291-foot peak's spectacular views.

This month, we took the front way up - much steeper and with a series of challenging rock scrambles. I'm not sure we'd have made it up if not for the church & scout groups that were hiking up around the same time - each had an experienced hiker with the group who explained the best way to tackle tough stretches & gave helping hands when needed.

Despite the tough hike, the trip was well worth it. The summit, composed of exposed billion-year-old granite, provided spectacular views of the surrounding Blue Ridge Mountains in Shenandoah National Park:


If you're looking to reward yourself on the way home, stop by Pearmund Cellars in Broad Run.

TheGreenMiles.com's Take a Hike Week

Tuesday: Old Rag Mountain
Wednesday: Catoctin Mountain
Thursday: Scott's Run Nature Preserve
Friday: Virginia's Great Falls North

Did you know National Trails Day is Saturday, June 4th? DC, Maryland & Virginia are loaded with fantastic hikes just a short drive away. Find a NTD event near you at AmericanHiking.org, or explore local trails & climbs at HikingUpward.com.

Quick Train Tip for Wildlife Watchers

After a weekend in Massachusetts visiting family, The Green Miles is riding the Amtrak Northeast Corridor Regional train from Providence to DC today. It's about twice as long as flying and just as expensive, but I like the relaxing ride, the ability to get up & walk around, and the view of the shore as the train hugs the Atlantic coast.

I decided to try riding the cafe car this trip. Not only has it given me extra room to spread out my laptop & assorted gadgets, but it gives a much more wide-open view of the shoreline & wetlands to the east. Just this trip, I've spotted:

• Ospreys
• Egrets
• Night herons
• Mute swans
• Cormorants

And of course the usual assortment of crows, Canada geese, sea gulls, etc.

New Nissan Leaf Ad: Electric Cars = Common Sense

This new ad for the Nissan Leaf turns the conventional wisdom surrounding electric cars on its head. Is it really such a revolutionary idea to run our cars on electricity when we rely on so many gadgets we wouldn't power with anything else?

The Story of Stuff (Video)

My buddy Everyday Father asked me to post an oldie but a goodie that has somehow never made its way to The Green Miles - The Story of Stuff:

Buzzkill: Does Climate Crisis Mean We've Hit "Peak Coffee"?

Lots of stories in the news today about skyrocketing coffee prices. As with oil, commodity speculators share some of the blame for pushing up prices. But coffee production has been devastated by extreme weather linked to global warming:

But in the last few years, coffee yields have plummeted here and in many of Latin America’s other premier coffee regions as a result of rising temperatures and more intense and unpredictable rains, phenomena that many scientists link partly to global warming.

Coffee plants require the right mix of temperature, rainfall and spells of dryness for beans to ripen properly and maintain their taste. Coffee pests thrive in the warmer, wetter weather.

Bean production at the Garzóns’ farm is therefore down 70 percent from five years ago, leaving the family little money for clothing for toddlers and “thinking twice” about sending older children to college, said Mr. Garzon’s 44-year-old son, Albeiro, interviewed in a yellow stucco house decorated with coffee posters and madonnas.

The shortage of high-end Arabica coffee beans is also being felt in New York supermarkets and Paris cafes, as customers blink at escalating prices. Purveyors fear that the Arabica coffee supply from Colombia may never rebound — that the world might, in effect, hit “peak coffee.” [...]

“Coffee production is under threat from global warming, and the outlook for Arabica in particular is not good,” said Peter Baker, a coffee specialist with CABI, a research group in Britain that focuses on agriculture and the environment, noting that climate changes, including heavy rains and droughts, have harmed crops across many parts of Central and South America.

And it hasn't gotten any better since this New York Times piece was written in March - last month, torrential rains triggered landslides in Brazil.

Scientist Pwns Climate Deniers

Via ClimateCrocks.com, scientist Dr. John Abraham destroys climate deniers to the point they have to bail out with a meek "we're gonna have to leave it there"-type cut-off before he can answer their last question:

Polluting Your Brain: Science Deniers Say Mercury's Just Dandy

Famed science deniers Willie Soon and Paul Driessen, both of whom have worked for groups that accept cash from Exxon Mobil to pretend global warming isn't happening, have a new crusade: Mercury denial!

That's right: They have an op-ed in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal claiming that breathing toxic mercury isn't bad for you.

Willie Soon, astronomer. And Paul Driessen, lobbyist with a degree in geology. Expertise in public health? Limited. Willingness to take cash from the coal polluters that pump tons of mercury into our air every year? Extensive.

What's that? You want to know what actual medical researchers have to say about the subject? Fine, have it your way:

For fetuses, infants, and children, the primary health effect of methylmercury is impaired neurological development. Methylmercury exposure in the womb, which can result from a mother's consumption of fish and shellfish that contain methylmercury, can adversely affect a baby's growing brain and nervous system. Impacts on cognitive thinking, memory, attention, language, and fine motor and visual spatial skills have been seen in children exposed to methylmercury in the womb. Recent human biological monitoring by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1999 and 2000 shows that most people have blood mercury levels below a level associated with possible health effects. More recent data from the CDC support this general finding.

Outbreaks of methylmercury poisonings have made it clear that adults, children, and developing fetuses are at risk from ingestion exposure to methylmercury. During these poisoning outbreaks some mothers with no symptoms of nervous system damage gave birth to infants with severe disabilities, it became clear that the developing nervous system of the fetus may be more vulnerable to methylmercury than is the adult nervous system. [...]

In addition to the subtle impairments noted above, symptoms of methylmercury poisoning may include; impairment of the peripheral vision; disturbances in sensations ("pins and needles" feelings, usually in the hands, feet, and around the mouth); lack of coordination of movements; impairment of speech, hearing, walking; and muscle weakness.

The Environmental Protection Agency is acting right now to limit mercury pollution. Please take a moment to tell the EPA you support its efforts.

The Disastrous Results of Unlimited Deer

A hundred years ago, humans hunting for food had nearly wiped out local populations of deer, turkey and even squirrels in the Mid-Atlantic region. And humans protecting their livestock or hunting for trophies wiped out bear and wolf populations.

Deer were eventually reintroduced - and their populations exploded. While black bears have made a comeback, they're too slow to hunt adult deer. Wolves are great deer hunters, but reintroduction efforts in the eastern half of the United States have had limited success. And deer hunting is restricted on private property & on federal parkland, where deer thrive dashing through backyards and parks.

Today WAMU reports on the disastrous results for both people & our environment:

As an ever-rising population of white-tailed deer have bumped up against their human neighbors in the D.C. area, the results haven't been pretty. There were an estimated 88,000 deer-vehicle collisions in Virginia, Maryland, D.C., and Delaware last year.

But beyond the roads, experts say the deer are also having a major impact on forests, which are unable to replenish themselves to nurture the next generation due to the deer population's eating habits.

Nationwide, those deer collisions result in 140 deaths and $3.8 billion in property damage every year. And it's not as if overpopulation is great for the deer, which can face starvation and disease.

This isn't a problem only in rural areas - Rock Creek Park is being stripped of plants below shoulder height. Even if deer populations came into balance today, it could take generations for trees to recover.

But the good news is that proper population management can deliver results right away. In Yellowstone National Park, a combination of hunting and wolf reintroduction have helped drive a rebirth - not just for trees, but for the birds, beaver, and dozens of other species that depend on a balanced ecosystem.

The bottom line is that unlimited, unchecked deer population growth isn't good for anyone - not for deer, not for humans, and not for our ecosystems.

Update: My friend Max points out, "And how about deer ticks? Since I work in Reston, I walk through approximately eleven billion deer ticks every day between the bus and the front door of my office."

Update #2: WAMU has corrected its number for vehicle-deer collisions & this post has been updated to reflect that.

Police Cars With Lights On & Horns Honking Are Lousy At Catching Goats

I appreciate that these police officers in Gaithersburg wanted to be able to keep up with this goat & make sure it didn't harm itself or others, but ... chasing it probably isn't the best way to get it to settle down:


Why didn't anyone give it a minute to calm down & offer it some food?

A group of well-meaning citizens then came up empty handed when the goat wandered into a courtyard of a nearby apartment complex.

“I done grew up with goats,” said one hard-breathing man. “All you need is some bread.”

That's good thinking, Hard-Breathing Man!

And if all else fails, you know who I'd call? A cowboy monkey riding a border collie horse:

Via Gaithersburg Patch

How To Make Sure No One Pays Attention To The Good Stuff You Do

Now that the Westover Market Beer Garden's conditional live music permit has been approved, up next on the Arlington County Board's agenda of unsolvable issues: At what temperature should we set the thermostat?

I kid, and I don't mean to dwell on a hyper-local issue. But I do want to point out that while The Green Miles, the Examiner, ArlNow.com, and TBD were focused on whether Arlington County would really ban the playing of Jack Johnson covers in Westover, a much more critical action by the board has gotten far less attention. (Notable exception on that list of media outlets: The Washington Post, which apparently covers Arlington County so little it's forgotten the "C" is capitalized.)

Last night the County Board also accepted the Arlington Community Energy & Sustainability Task Force's final report:

The Community Energy and Sustainability Task Force’s comprehensive long-term energy planning vision for Arlington includes 18 recommendations and strategies covering many energy-related issues. Among those recommendations and strategies:

• Improving energy efficiency in new and renovated residential and commercial buildings
• Managing building operations to reduce energy costs
• Deploying district energy and combined heat and power systems in the County’s high-density areas
• Investing in alternative energy sources such as solar photovoltaics
• Continuing the County’s efforts to encourage use of mass transit and to work with employers to encourage cycling, walking, public transit and vehicle pooling

The task force recommended a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from today’s 13.4 metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent per capita per year to 3.0 metric tons per capita per year by 2050. If a regional energy plan is put in place, the task force advocates achieving 2.2 metric tons per capita per year.

That's what everyone should be talking about today. Arlington County will cut its carbon pollution, jobs in energy efficiency will be created, and Arlington residents will save boatloads of money on their energy bills.

But when you do stuff that's really ridiculous & silly at the same time you do stuff that's really good & important, people tend to focus on the ridiculous. Like, say, trying to ban kids from dancing.

No, really - the Westover Market Beer Garden live music permit includes this: "Patrons and performers will be prohibited from dancing, unless the Market applies for and obtains a Dance Hall Permit."

The Footloose jokes are already flying fast & furious over on Facebook.

The Dangers of Regulating Things That Annoy Some People

UPDATE: The Arlington County Board has approved a conditional live music permit for Westover Market Beer Garden

During the more than two hours of discussion on Saturday by the Arlington County Board over a live music permit for the Westover Market Beer Garden, there was a brief moment of clarity. County Board Member Chris Zimmerman pointed out that the Arlington County code on noise control (PDF) doesn't just provide decibel limits. It also prohibits any noise that "Annoys or disturbs a normal person of reasonable sensitivities." Zimmerman shook his head and said, "How is county staff supposed to enforce THAT?"

The hearing displayed the constraints of using the law to limit things that are impossible to measure. Much like trying to determine the height at which neighbors will cease to be annoyed by windmills or the number of stories at which a building fits a neighborhood's character, trying to write a law that will prevent everyone from being annoyed by all forms of noise in an urban area is a quixotic effort.

But that's not stopping the Arlington County Board from trying! At Saturday's meeting, the Board neither accepted the county staff's recommendation to deny the live music permit nor accepted the compromise plan endorsed by all four local civic associations and supported by a vast majority of local residents. Instead, at today's meeting the Board will apparently continue twisting itself into knots in attempts to placate the literal handful of neighbors still opposed to the compromise.

Barbara Favola complained the board could not better regulate the noise from a crowd that was singing along or clapping to the music. Walter Tejada lamented the board could not legislate the effect of wind on noise. And a recurring theme was that board members wished they could regulate people talking loudly as they walked home - as if that wasn't simply a part of living in an urban area, but a nuisance that could be legislated away.

The craziness might've peaked when an anti-live music neighbor claimed he could hear the music in his living room with the windows closed over his television ... 1/5th of a mile away. Keep in mind 65 decibels (the level proposed in the compromise plan) is barely above conversation level.

One civic association president who testified in favor of the live music permit at the Beer Garden pointed out that if there was no live music in Westover, there would still be plenty of the same noise we all accept in choosing to live in an urban area - cars, trucks, planes. It would just be much less pleasant.

What there would be less of is the unique sense of culture and community that live music offers. "There's just no substitute for live music," a Westover-area violin teacher told the board. And a speaker at Saturday's hearing pointed out that children just don't respond with the same joy to taped music as they do to live music.

Look, I'm a firm believer in the ability of the law to protect consumers and safeguard our health. But when you try to use the law to regulate people's happiness, you're going to wind up creating rules that are impossible to enforce and leave no one happy.

How Should Metro Balance Its Budget? Make Your Voice Heard This Week.

DC's Metro system continues to go without a dedicated source of funding. Not coincidentally, DC's Metro continues to come up short on operating funds. So now the agency faces some unpleasant options: Cut service, hike fares, or go hat in hand to DC, Maryland and Virginia asking for more cash?

Metro is proposing a series of cost-cutting measures (PDF), including reduced service on several bus routes in DC. But as a Virginia resident, this is what caught my eye:

Rail Service

• Widen Saturday headways from 12 minutes to 18 minutes until 9:30 PM and to 25 minutes after 9:30 PM until closing; and
• Widen Sunday headways from 15 minutes to 20 minutes until 9:30 PM and to 25 minutes after 9:30 PM until closing.

As Greater Greater Washington has detailed, late-night service is no longer a perk - it's a key part of the system. Metro has shifted from a system mainly serving commuters & tourists to one that serves a mix of riders in all parts of the day. Ridership may be lower at these times, but given how valuable the service is and how infrequently trains already run, these cuts look like trying to squeeze blood from a stone.

You have several ways to let Metro know what you think of the proposal. The easiest way is through an online survey. Some key questions:

• Q5 - Local jurisdictions absolutely should be asked to provide more funding to continue existing service. Whether you ride Metro or not, we all see its benefits in reduced traffic and lower air pollution. Why shouldn't we all be asked to support it? 
• Q6.1 - Again, of the options in the survey, I'd most support "Asking local jurisdictions to provide an increase in financial support."
• Q7 - Given that taxpayers currently subsidize parking at many Metro lots through artificially low rates, raising parking fees where lots are currently full every day would be a great way to raise needed funds.

Additionally, you can let Metro know your opinion in person. There are two public hearings in Virginia this week:

Tuesday, May 17
George Washington Middle School Auditorium
1005 Mt. Vernon Ave
Alexandria, VA

Wednesday, May 18
Arlington County Board Room, 3rd Floor
2100 Clarendon Blvd
Arlington, VA

All sessions start with an open house at 5:30pm, a town hall at 6pm, and a public hearing at 6:45pm. You can see the full hearing schedule (PDF) and learn how to sign up to speak at WMATA.com/Hearings. You can also submit written statements until 5pm on May 24, 2011 by emailing writtentestimony@wmata.com (note that submissions are considered public records).

Ask The Arlington County Board To Support Live Music

There's a compromise on live music at the Westover Market Beer Garden that both the Beer Garden owners and the Westover Civic Association support. But will that be enough for the Arlington County Board to give its approval?

A fan of the Beer Garden writes with details of the compromise:

The basic compromise is that the Beer Garden would have live entertainment Fri and Sat nights (6-10) and some Wednesday open-mic nights (6-8), so long as the Market complied with the decibel limits set out by the county noise ordinance. It was decided not to focus on what type of noise is permissible (TVs or no TVs, drums or no drums, acoustic or amplified), but rather the decibel limit. Also it is the responsibility of the Westover Market to ensure that its entertainment comply with those limits or risk losing their permit.

The compromise was approved at a Westover Civic Association meeting with an astounding 90 out of 109 votes. Another 13 people supported live music with additional restrictions, and 6 people voted to oppose music under any circumstances.

With that kind of overwhelming community support, what is the county worried about? The fan of the Beer Garden gives his take on what a county liaison told the meeting:

Even though the Westover neighborhood is strongly in favor of the Beer Garden's music permit, the county is most concerned about setting precedent for the rest of the county by allowing live music at the Beer Garden. [...]

What was most frustrating is that the members of the community debated with each other at length to find a compromise that nearly everyone supports only to learn that the county is more concerned with the precedent than what the neighbors want.

Given that Westover Market Beer Garden is bending over backwards to be a good citizen (there's talk of having a decibel meter on hand in the Garden at all times), I can't imagine the County Board rejecting this compromise. Especially given that over the last year Arlington County has been accused of being hostile to everything from businesses to music to fun, this vote will be a key bellwether of whether the County Board is backing up its conciliatory words with progressive deeds.

Please email the Arlington County Board right now to let board members know you support live music in the Westover Market Beer Garden. Then if you can, attend Saturday's Arlington County Board meeting and speak at 8:30am during the pre-meeting public comment session.

Photo via Flickr's ThunderCheese

"They Say That Oil And Water Don't Mix. But Dammit If We're Not Trying!"

Hey, maybe we just haven't been looking on the bright side of oil disasters. The ocean gains new traits ... like being able to light it on fire! And maybe new species will evolve, like birds that ... uh ... enjoy being sticky!

From IFC's The Whitest Kids U' Know:

Climate Scientists Go All Beastie Boys On Deniers

The Australian TV show Hungry Beast teamed up with climate scientists to point out what the media won't - while scientists may debate the degree & speed of change, the people who completely deny the reality of global warming aren't climate scientists:

Coal Shows It Cares, Offers Free Justin Bieber Inhalers

Hey, coal pollution may cause millions of asthma attacks and kill thousands of Americans every year. But that doesn't mean the coal industry doesn't have a heart! Peabody Energy is now offering free asthma inhalers for kids. Get yours at CoalCares.org.

“If I See A Shark Or An Alligator, I Will Stab It.”

I went for a trail walk with my friend Every Day Father and his two children last weekend, check out the story of the secret dinosaur trail over at the National Wildlife Federation blog.

Metro Bus Saves Me From Myself

The Green Miles is always late. Always. You could give me two hours' notice to get to a place that's a 10 minute walk away, and I'd still leave home late & come stumbling in a few minutes past due. When I ran for House of Delegates, I'd make sure to plan on being at events at least 15 minutes in advance (the community centers usually appreciated the help setting up the folding chairs anyway).

So with all that being said, I'm sure you'll be shocked to hear that I went stumbling out the door to Wednesday's Arlington County Democratic Committee meeting 20 minutes late. I'd originally planned on walking from my apartment building in East Falls Church at Roosevelt & Wilson down to the meeting in Ballston, but that would take about 45 minutes. I thought about walking down to EFC Metro, but that wouldn't be much faster.

Then I realized there are Metrobuses that run down Wilson to Ballston that I'd never taken before. I walked to a stop to get its ID number, then used my Blackberry's internet browser to get to Metro's Next Bus service. Sure enough, there was a bus coming in less than 10 minutes. The ride was smooth and I didn't just make it to the meeting on time - I was a couple of minutes early. Really weird feeling for someone who's chronically tardy.

Growing up in Boston, I always had to deal with buses that were loud and smelled like exhaust and had no shocks and you never knew when they were coming. Plus, my first experience with Metrobus didn't exactly endear me to it.

But the pleasant ride and Next Bus feature made the trip a lot smoother. Maybe I'll give the bus another shot as the evenings get nicer and I'm looking for a way to get from Upton Hill Regional Park to Clarendon without a car.

Bob McDonnell Wants To, Uh, Y'Know, Do The Thing That Gets The Oil

For someone so anxious to drill for oil just miles from Virginia Beach, Bob McDonnell is awfully terrified to say the word "drill." In his op-ed today in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Gov. McDonnell never uses the words "drill" or "drilling" - not even once.

And with good reason! You might remember the image at right, produced in the very early days of the Deepwater Horizon disaster to show what the slick - just a fraction of the size it would eventually become - would look like if it happened off the Virginia coast.

As much as Gov. McDonnell would like us to forget about those thousands of dead birds, hundreds of dead endangered sea turtles, and more than a hundred dead dolphins, he's wrong dismiss the Gulf oil disaster as an "accident." The Gulf oil disaster was no random twist of fate - the bipartisan commission that investigated the blowout said it was the result of a series of bad decisions by the people doing the oil drilling, called the disaster "avoidable," and warned that without significant reform (which we're still waiting on), it could happen again.

But even if oil drilling was less dangerous than it is, would drilling off Virginia do us any good? The U.S. consumes 22% of the world's oil but holds only 1.5% of global oil resources. During the Obama administration, U.S. oil production is up sharply - but that hasn't done a thing to stop gas prices from rising sharply as well. The same story is true on a global scale - worldwide oil production is up, but oil prices are up too. Worldwide consumption is up and the dwindling supplies of oil left underground are getting more & more expensive to drill.

We can't drill our way out of our energy problems. The only way we can reduce our oil costs over the long term is to use less oil - fuel-efficient cars in the short-term, renewable energy-powered electric cars in the long term, and building more transit options & more walkable communities over the really long haul so our lives aren't tethered to the gas pump.

But hey, Bob McDonnell didn't get $33,150 from Exxon Mobil by pushing for hybrid school buses! He got it by promising to open up Virginia's coastline to drilling & leaving it to some future governor to worry about apologizing for how no one could possibly have predicted an oil disaster here.

The Environemntally Sensitive Climage Candidate

Arlington County Board Member Barbara Favola kicked off her campaign for Virginia State Senate with a series of embarrassing gaffes - hiring a campaign consultant only to see her reportedly quit soon after, falling victim to a fake Twitter account, announcing the wrong date for her campaign kickoff, and letting her Facebook account get phished. Not the kind of stuff that makes you think she's a bad person or lousy candidate - but does make you wonder if she's running a tight ship.

At last night's Arlington County Democratic Committee meeting attended by 250 local Democrats, Favola's campaign clearly didn't bother to proofread her campaign flyer. It had not one but two typos under "Protecting the Environment":

Favola is giving the appearance that she isn't worried about dotting "i"s and crossing "t"s because she thinks she's guaranteed to coast to victory in the primary thanks to her support from the Virginia State Senate Democratic establishment.

At the same meeting, another candidate entered the race - one who isn't afraid to challenge Virginia's failed Democratic State Senate status quo. Watch the announcement speech of Jaime Areizaga-Soto:

Maryland's Montgomery County Passes Bag Fee

Following in the footsteps of DC's successful bag fee, the Montgomery County Council has passed a 5 cent fee on disposable bags. The fee applies to both paper and plastic bags at nearly all retail establishments.

The fee is a win-win:

• If consumers keep using disposable bags, the county will now have an additional $1 million to help fund cleanups of streams & rivers
• If consumers switch their habits to reusable bags, the county will have dramatically reduced its need to clean up streams & rivers

The Virginia General Assembly has not only refused to pass a disposable bag fee, it's refused to even let communities like Arlington impose their own. So we don't get the funding to clean up waterways and we don't give consumers a nudge to change their habits - a lose-lose.

Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) has also introduced a national bag fee with proceeds going to fund conservation programs, but House Republicans seem way too busy trying to protect Big Oil subsidies to act on a bag fee.

Learn more about why a bag fee makes economic & environmental sense at TrashFreeVirginia.org.

Bay Oysters Held Hostage: Virginia Demands Everything For Nothing

It's not something you'd expect to hear from a government run by people who claim to be fiscal conservatives: Virginia is threatening to pull out of oyster restoration work because federal officials won't give free handouts to Virginia businesses.

The Virginia Marine Resources Commission is objecting to federal rules that say oyster reefs restored with federal money can't be commercially harvested. It's also balking at the $500,000 contribution to receive $2 million in federal oyster reef restoration money.

But those federal rules exist to protect taxpayers. After all, why should public tax dollars be used to subsidize an oyster reef, only to have those oysters turned over to private watermen as a political favor? If Virginia officials want to enrich private businesses with public dollars, why not just save the time & effort and hand tax dollars directly to the watermen? Oh, right - because that would make Gov. Bob McDonnell look like a tax-and-spend socialist. Much better to demand the feds do it for him!

Of course, there are plenty of benefits of healthy oysters besides their commercial value. They'll make new oysters, provide food for other tasty things like crabs, and filter Chesapeake Bay water that's in desperate need of cleaning. So why not chip in the 25% to get a federal windfall?

Despite Gov. Bob McDonnell's claims that Virginia's in the money, Virginia is so short on cash it's basically collecting bottles to return for the deposit:

Lacking cash, the state has been using the value of old oyster shells as its matching share; shells are the building blocks of new reefs.

But the state is running out of oyster shells and already is being forced to mine ancient shells buried within river beds to keep pace with construction needs.

You see, ever since they cut a deal in 2004 with then-governor Mark Warner to raise taxes to fund things like roads & schools and Warner got the credit, Virginia Republicans refuse to raise taxes for any reason ever. Then, thanks in large part to George W. Bush's economic policies, the economy crashed, dramatically reducing tax revenue. Combine the two and, well, Virginia's now literally scraping the bottom of the river.

Forced to pay our bills with oyster shells - and now demanding a free ride because we've run out of even those. Is this any way to run a state? Why won't Gov. McDonnell put aside politics and figure out how to sensibly raise the cash we need to pay our bills?

Mystery Monster By The Meadowlands Unmasked

For years, I've driven past the Meadowlands on the New Jersey Turnpike wondering about the absolutely humongous building next door. First it was under construction ... then it seemed finished ... and since then it's just sat there completely unmarked (unless you count the multi-colored aluminum siding, which, in the immortal words of Wayne Campbell, looks like a plate of hurl). I'd asked friends in New York City about it and they'd had no idea what it was.

Finally today I learned the answer at Andrew Sullivan's blog - it's a massive, unfinished shopping mall, formerly known as Xanadu, currently known as American Dream Meadowlands.

In this era of new urbanism, walkability, and online shopping, what better idea than a multi-billion dollar shopping mall in the middle of nowhere that you literally can't walk to with terrible traffic that makes you wish you'd just gone to Amazon.com?

Atlantic Wind Connection: Energy Playing Field Tilting Towards Windmills?

David Roberts writes in Popular Science about the Atlantic Wind Connection (AWC), a proposed $5 billion undersea power grid. The plan by Maryland-based Trans-Elect would provide the infrastructure for wind farms stretching hundreds of miles down the Mid-Atlantic coast, from northern New Jersey to southern Virginia. David walks through the technical aspects in easy to understand way and talks about how the AWC would ease strain on our existing power grid, concluding its biggest advantage would be its scale:

It would tie together wind farms distributed over hundreds of miles of coastline, and because the wind will usually be blowing somewhere, its breadth would compensate for the unpredictability of wind at any individual site. Together, the steadier flow of power, combined with the money that wind-farm developers will save by feeding electricity into an existing network, could make wind power cheaper than electricity generated by natural gas or, in some cases, even coal.

Obviously, there is a long way to go. Multiple regulatory authorities will have to sign off before the AWC becomes reality. But the large-scale, holistic approach to offshore wind power that it represents is already echoed by at least two undersea power-transmission proposals being considered in Europe. And if the AWC succeeds in delivering predictable, low-cost, low-carbon power to the mid-Atlantic, expect the number of imitative projects to grow.

That $5 billion price tag may sound like a lot at first, but let's put it in context. The AWC would support wind power equivalent to 10 coal-fired power plants, which cost $1-2 billion each, if not more. (Cost overruns have just pushed the price tag of a new coal-fired plant in Wisconsin up 9% to $2.4 billion.)

Some 5/1/11 Closure for 9/11/01

Every night as I fall asleep, I turn on the old analog TV in my bedroom to SportsCenter and set the sleep timer to 30 minutes. Usually I don't make it 30 seconds before the dulcet tones of Neil Everett have me out cold.

But tonight before I could set the timer I noticed the "BREAKING NEWS" icon on the ESPN Bottom Line news ticker. Some major hockey injury news? I wondered. I didn't have my glasses on so I had to sit up and lean in close to see the tiny letters: "President Obama announces U.S. Special Forces have killed Osama bin Laden."

I haven't literally leaped out of bed like that since I was a little kid waking up on Christmas morning.

Killing bin Laden can't bring back any of the innocent victims of the September 11th attacks. But I do hope justice finally being done provides some comfort to their families. From the crowds in front of the White House & at Ground Zero to the U.S. Special Forces that carried out the near-flawless operation to President Obama, we all deserve to celebrate this very good news.