The Dallas Green Zine

There will be an EPA hearing on Coal Combustion Residuals (Coal Ash) on Wednesday, September 8th. Coal Combustion Residuals (CCRs), often referred to as coal ash, are residues from the combustion of coal in power plants and captured by pollution control technologies, like scrubbers. When coal ash is impounded or deposited in landfills, impoundment structures can fail and landfills can leach coal ash into ground water. 

An EPA report (2007) looked at 181 coal ash disposal sites throughout the US and found that these sites release toxic chemicals and metals such as arsenic, lead, boron, selenium, cadmium, thallium and other pollutants at levels that put human health at risk. Coal ash dumped in unlined or clay-lined ponds and landfills pose the greatest risk. At least 23 states have poisoned surface or groundwater supplies from improper disposal of coal ash. Texas has one of the highest levels of coal ash generation.

In Texas alone, the Brandy Branch Coal ash dump, the Southwestern Electric Power Co. coal ash dump, and the Texas Utilities Electric Martin Lake Reservoir have leaked elevated levels of selenium and toxic metals. There are no leachate collection systems in Texas, and there is no groundwater monitoring.

Coal ash is currently considered exempt waste under an amendment to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). EPA is proposing to regulate, for the first time, coal ash to address the risks from the disposal of the wastes generated by electric utilities and independent power producers. We’re encouraging that EPA support the first proposal (RCRA, subtitle C designation), to allow coal ash to be classified as a HAZARDOUS WASTE. We hope you will join us in Cleaning Up Texas from this unchecked industrial waste!

Please come to these hearings and present your views on the proposed rules or come and show your support. (As we’ve learned from the recent TCEQ hearings, your presence makes a big difference!) Each hearing will have a morning, afternoon and evening session, starting at 10:00 a.m. (local time) and ending at 9:00 p.m. or later depending on the number of speakers. If you would like to speak at the hearing, please preregister. The hearings will be held at the Hyatt Regency Dallas, 300 Reunion Boulevard, Dallas, TX, 75207.  Phone: (214) 651-1234. 

Click here to learn more about Coal Ash and why certain waste from the production of electricity generation should be designated as a hazardous material (to keep out of our state’s landfills or burned upwind of DFW to make cement).

The EPA is hosting a public information meeting on the proposed study of the relationship between hydraulic fracturing (HF) and its potential impacts on drinking water.

Please register to attend and/or speak at his important opportunity to voice your concerns about North Texas Barnett Shale drilling practices and risks.

WHEN/TIME: Thursday, July 8th (6:00-10:00pm)
WHERE: Hilton Fort Worth (downtown, 815 Main Street - map)

REGISTER: Due to possible venue capacity constraints, the EPA encourages everyone who plans to attend the DFW public meeting to register in advance.  http://hfmeeting.cadmusweb.com/RegistrationForm.aspx

WHY SHOULD I ATTEND: There is currently great debate surrounding the health and ecological consequences of the practice of gas drilling hydraulic fracturing, or “fracing” (like “cracking”), across the US/world.

The North Texas Barnett Shale is experiencing a gas drilling boom, and fracing has brought urban natural gas extraction into our communities (within a few hundred of feet of our homes/schools, in many cases) and below our drinking water aquifers.

Industry claims that the chemicals used in their processes are safe, but they won’t disclose their ingredients (”secret formula, like Coca Cola,” one exec has quoted), stating exemption from the Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Air Act and Superfund, as granted to them under the 2005 Energy Policy Act.

Independent tests have identified dozens of neurotoxic and carcinogenic chemicals used in the fracing process.

Locally, XTO Energy (now Exxon Mobil) submitted a request for a specific use permit for a gas well on May 25 to the City of Dallas. Dallas City Councilman Sheffie Kadane said he is in favor of XTO’s plan to drill on its lease and said he hoped the two lessees would follow XTO’s single permit application with other requests for approval to drill on their existing leases.

WRITTEN COMMENTS: To submit a written comment, send your email to hydraulic.fracturing@epa.gov.

For more info about the EPA HF Study Background, Intent, Timeline and Web-based Outreach, click here.
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/uic/wells_hydrofrac.html

Several things to keep in mind when cooking:

• Covered pots boil faster
• Pressure cookers and microwave ovens reduce cooking time
• When cooking multiple things, re-use an already hot burner or heated oven
• Let frozen food thaw before cooking
• Cut food into smaller pieces before cooking - so that it cooks more quickly
• Turn off stove before finishing cooking; the pot will continue to retain its heat for a while
• Pick the right size pot for what you are trying to cook
• Electric heats more consistently than Gas; however Convection heats even more consistently and quickly
• Many foods don’t require preheating the oven
• You can turn the oven off earlier, if you don’t open the door while baking
• Opening the oven door can cause the temperature to drop by 25-75 degrees

The American Solar Challenge (ASC) is a competition to design, build and race solar-powered cars in a cross-country event. 

In July 2008, there will be a special edition of ASC, the North American Solar Challenge (NASC).  Solar cars will travel across the United States into Canada. The competition begins in Plano, Texas mainly following U.S. Highway 75 and Canadian Highway 1 to the finish line in Calgary, Alberta, Canada for a total distance of 2,400 miles.

If you want to see this in action, the cars will be starting here on July 13th at Plano Centre, 2000 E Spring Creek Pkwy, Plano, TX 75074.

The preliminary team list includes a mixture of veteran and rookie teams from across the United States and Canada as well as Germany and Great Britain.

NASC sponsors include Toyota and Crowder College M.A.R.E.T. Center.  The event is designed to inspire young people to pursue careers in science and engineering.  NASC’s predecessors, the American Solar Challenge and Sunrayce, generally have been held every two years since 1990.  With each event, the solar cars travel faster and further with greater reliability.

The NASC promotes:

• Renewable energy technologies (specifically photovoltaic or “solar cells”)
  Educational excellence in science, engineering and mathematics
• Creative integration of technical and scientific expertise across a wide-range of  disciplines
• “Hands-on” experience for students and engineers to develop and demonstrate their technical and creative abilities
• Environmental consciousness

Safety is the first priority for the NASC solar car event.  Each team must put its car through grueling qualifying and technical inspections.  Teams that fail to meet the requirements will not participate.  During the event, each team is escorted by lead and chase vehicles sporting rooftop hazard flashers.  An official observer will accompany each solar car team to keep it alert to any safety issues.

The start/checkpoints/stage stops and finish locations are as follows:  Start: Plano, Texas; Checkpoint: McAlester, OK; Stage Stop: Neosho, MO; Checkpoints:  Topeka, KS; Omaha, NE; Stage Stop: Sioux Falls, SD; Checkpoint:  Fargo, ND; Stage Stop: Winnipeg, Manitoba; Checkpoints:  Bandon, Manitoba; Regina, Saskatchewan; Stage Stop: Medicine Hat, Alberta; Finish:  Calgary, Alberta.

To learn more about NASC, please visit:  http://americansolarchallenge.org/

RideSearch.com, a commuter networking site focused on carpooling, has recently launched. The site serves as a groundbreaking communications platform for users looking to find a carpool and save gas, money and the planet.
Carrollton, TX (PRWEB) December ##, 2007 – Motivium Consulting, Inc. announces the launch of RideSearch.com, an online commuter networking site focused on carpooling. RideSearch.com is a valuable and groundbreaking communication tool that offers a mainstream carpool solution for people who want to rideshare with other commuters.

“RideSearch.com is a carpool site that promotes the concept of ridesharing for all commuters,” says Brian Bass, CEO of Motivium Consulting, Inc. “Our mission is to encourage carpool safety and effective communication to empower everyday commuters to initiate a carpool.”

RideSearch.com will offer a number of features that are unique to, and will enhance the experience of the nationwide carpooling market. The release date is set for January 1, 2008.

RideSearch.com’s subscription search tool allows users to access the detailed profile of any subscriber who has an interest in carpooling. With its innovative carpool routing application, RideSearch.com will generate maps of users’ routes for searching by others who live and work nearby. RideSearch.com has the ability to allow users to anonymously and securely communicate with other subscribers.
“Even after a carpool is agreed upon, the user can continue communicating using this site and the carpool can add new members to further increase their savings of gas,” Bass says.  “There is no other site like this that allows for such security.  RideSearch takes the matchmaking Web site model and allows users to be very selective about who they carpool with.”

RideSearch.com provides users with the ability to view profiles of other users that live along their commuting route. The mapping software provided by ArcWeb Services allows each user to input their starting location by intersection instead of home address, thereby adding a higher level of security. RideSearch.com will utilize Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and ASP.Net for its infrastructure, allowing for greater reliability and performance of this site. Motivium Consulting, Inc. is a member of Microsoft’s Empower for Independent Software Vendors program, enabling the site to work with the latest in Microsoft technologies.

“The time is now for carpooling,” Bass says.  “With gas prices at an all-time high and the economy simmering, the idea of carpooling becoming mainstream could even change the environment, the economy and the pocketbooks of all Americans.  It is up to us to be the hero now.”  

For more information about RideSearch.com, a profit-driven organization, visit http://www.ridesearch.com/.

. . . . . . . .
About Motivium Consulting, Inc:
Motivium Consulting Inc. is a Carrollton, Texas-based company that specializes in the application of .Net and related technologies to the tasks of design and development of high quality Internet/Intranet Web sites and high speed desktop and server applications. Motivium Consulting, Inc. (http://www.motivium.com) was formed in December 2005 by Brian Bass, the sole owner and employee. Motivium’s current activities involve sub-contract work for the Department of the Treasury through Lockheed Martin, Inc. for the Internal Revenue Service. Motivium’s solo projects include the creation of RideSearch.com (http://www.ridesearch.com/) — a next generation carpooling application.

‘Geothermal will cut your electrical bills in half,’ said Rick Horvath of WaterFurnace, speaking at the Dallas Alternative Energy meetup last Saturday. Horvath is one of eight Certified Geothermal Designers in Texas.

He explained that a geothermal pump is basically a heat pump that is tricked into believing it’s ground temperature all the time. Just below the surface and downwards to about 1000 ft., the ground temperature is 68-72 F all the time.  Coils are installed in the ground and water is pumped through them to use the ground for heating/cooling.

Although geothermal installations are often shown as running horizontally across landscape, WaterFurnace usually installs the pipes vertically here in Texas.

They drill one 4 1/2″ hole down to 250 feet and run a 1″ polyethylene pipe to the bottom where it loops as a ‘u’ and comes back up again. To keep the infamous north Texas soil from moving the pipes, a third pipe, a bentonite grout slurry is added to the hole.

One hole is drilled for every ton of AC. So, if you have a 2000 sq ft house that uses a 4-ton system, then you would have a hole drilled for each ton. Horvath, who had five holes drilled for his house, recommends that you add an extra hole. He said that the holes have to be placed at least 20 feet apart.

Typically, 75 gallons of water may run through these pipes, being recycled over and over. The entire system is sealed and so after one year, maybe 1/2 gallon might need to be readded. Horvath said that it’s rare that a system will have a leak, but when it occurs, it will be where the pipes have been welded together, usually just 3-4 feet below the surface. He did warn that it’s very important to hire a company that has a good reputation because a bad geothermal job can be really bad.

Geothermal also provides 100% of your hotwater needs. Before it goes into the ground, it is used to heat water to 140 degrees. 

In the past, air conditioning systems were rated by the SEER standard (Seasonal Electrical Efficiency Rating). However, because ratings can be affected by geographical locations, SEER is no longer recognized in the AC industry, and a new standard EER (Electrical Efficiency Rating). The highest traditional system is 21 SEER; whereas, geothermal systems are at 37 SEER. Horvath said that geothermal systems should reach 40 SEER by 2010 (although by then everything will be measured in EER).

According to the EPA, adding a geothermal system, in terms of carbon reductions is equal to planting an acre of trees. By installing geothermal, your home is automatically rated as an Energy Star home, which can increase its appeal if you later decide to sell it.

The future looks optimistic for geothermal. The geothermal market  is currently averaging 25% growth and over a million units have been installed. WFI  Industries is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Texas utilities have no incentives to promote energy efficiency.  In fact, they have dis-incentives.  Energy efficiency translates into reduced sales, reduced revenue, and reduced profit.  The more electricity that is needed, the more money they make.  Therefore, we should not look to our utility companies to  support energy efficiency.

The attached study finds that a comprehensive effort to promote efficiency and other cost-saving demand reduction measures can meet Texas’ electricity needs more reliably, at a lower cost, and at a tremendous net economic benefit compared to building a new fleet of expensive and heavily polluting power plants. Over the next 15 years, boosting markets for more efficient products, lighting, cooling, heating and industrial processes can eliminate over 80% of forecast growth in electricity demand, while lowering consumers’ energy bills. With additional measures to further reduce electricity demand and enhance reliability, Texas can completely eliminate its “load growth,” resulting in a gradual decline in total electricity demand to more than 9% below current levels by 2021.

The attached document is Power to Save: An Alternative Path to Meet Electric Needs in Texas, which was obtained at the link below.  It starts with a short executive summary, and supporting detail follows.  Check it out.

http://www.ceres.org/pub/docs/Ceres_texas_power.pdf