Going for gold: The challenge of building green

This is a cross-post from Diamondbackonline.com about the University of Maryland by CCAN volunteer Matt Dernoga.

I want to congratulate the university and student activists for their recent major accomplishments on the sustainability front. The 2009 Campus Carbon Footprint Report of our campus emissions recently came out and found that in 2009, the carbon dioxide emissions decreased by 26,394 metric tons, a 10.5 percent reduction from 2005. This means that the university is on pace to meet its goal of a 15 percent reduction by 2012.

When former university President Dan Mote signed the President’s Climate Commitment &- which committed this campus to the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 &- there was legitimate skepticism of how serious the administration would be in living up to their pledge. And although there have been some hiccups, since signing the commitment, the university has renovated buildings to make them more energy efficient, installed some solar panels around the campus and reduced solid waste emissions by 70 percent.

Just the other day, The Diamondback reported that Knight Hall became the first university-owned building to be certified with a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold rating, the second best LEED standard a building can obtain. Oakland Hall is likely to follow with a LEED-gold rating. What made these accomplishments even more impressive was the fact that the university’s existing green building standard &- which was set in 2008 &- is for all new campus buildings to be LEED-silver. Continue reading

Copenhagen and Climate: Going all-in

I have a column out today in the UMD newspaper The Diamondback about the upcoming Copenhagen negotiations, along with a call for the US to do more. It’s difficult to write about Copenhagen in only 550 words given the complexities, along with the reality that the readers don’t know a lot about the issue. A few of the takeaway points I wanted to hit on were

1. The planet is warming.

2. China is not an excuse for inaction.

3. We need to do more than we’re doing, and show leadership. Continue reading

Stopping Coal-Powered Transmission Lines

This is my second post on the need for the Maryland Public Service Commission to reject transmission lines that would take coal burned in West Virginia, and transfer it into my state of Maryland as a source of power. You can find part 1 here. Today I have a column out in the Diamondback making the case against MAPP and PATH, and for offshore wind power. I also want to be sure to plug the rally against the power lines on December 1st at 1pm in Baltimore. You can find out additional information about the MAPP and PATH issue on the Maryland Sierra Club’s website.

MAPP and PATH: Time to draw the line
By Matt Dernoga

I have a minor suggestion for the utility companies. If you’re going to try to portray your attempts to build gigantic interstate transmission lines as a way to transfer renewable energy, don’t connect them to coal plants. Continue reading

UMD for Clean Energy Makes Waves on City Council

UMD for Clean Energy, student group I’m Campaign Director of, has another article out about us in The Diamondback about our efforts during the College Park City Council elections, which culminated in a march to the polls, and got some pretty positive reaction. This new article also chronicles our presentation at a city council work session, where we put forth a proposal about tax breaks for green businesses.

UMD for Clean Energy makes waves on city council

By Brady Holt

Many of College Park’s longtime residents paint the university’s student body as a group that doesn’t care about the city.

But those residents may be surprised at where their city council is getting some innovative environmental policy ideas: the UMD for Clean Energy student group. Continue reading

Nuclear energy: Don't believe the sticker price

I have an op-ed column out today that attacks the threat of a nuclear power plant in Maryland by looking at recent fruitless attempts to build plants, and the cost born by ratepayers.

Nuclear energy: Don’t believe the sticker price

By Matt Dernoga

A common perception of nuclear power is that it’s an affordable, carbon-free energy source that could meet a lot of America’s demand for electricity, if only those darn environmentalists would get out of the way. Unfortunately for nuclear power advocates and Maryland ratepayers, this statement crumbles upon contact with reality. Continue reading

Clean Energy: Betting on the Future

Cross-posted from: here

I have a column out in the Diamondback today about why despite the opposition of the fossil fuel industry, America needs to pass a strong Federal climate bill in order to thrive in the 21st century.

Clean energy: Betting on the future

This past June, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a landmark global warming and clean energy bill called the American Clean Energy and Security Act. Now Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) is doing something exciting for a change by introducing the Senate counterpart to the House bill called the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act.

Continue reading

Green Stimulus for your Local Govt

cross posted from HERE
A couple weeks ago, I had an idea for how to alleviate poverty, crime, and bring green jobs to College Park/Prince Georges County. A figured it would be good to highlight an opportunity in this column to actually acquire the funding for some of my suggestions. Additionally, I actually had to do some investigating to figure out who was doing what. My sources are posted below my article.

Green jobs and government grants: Get what’s yours

Matt Dernoga

Issue date: 4/21/09

A couple weeks ago, I wrote a column suggesting a few measures by which Prince George’s County and local cities could invest in job-creating green initiatives. This would help alleviate poverty and reduce crime. Local governments everywhere have faced gigantic budget deficits and big spending cuts. Good ideas are nothing without a bag of cash, and I’ve got the treasure map for you.

The economic stimulus package appropriated $3.2 billion for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program. This money is being allocated to states, counties, cities, Native American tribes and U.S. territories based on population size and energy usage for state and local governments. The rule for the money is it must assist in the implementation of strategies to reduce fossil fuel emissions and total energy use and improve energy efficiency. Prince George’s County is eligible for $6.6 million. College Park can grab $133,700.

The catch is the money isn’t just handed out to local governments. They have a certain amount earmarked and available to them, but they need to apply for grants detailing how they’ll use the money. Only then are they awarded the funds. In other words, someone in the government needs to know the money is there and go after it. If they don’t submit a formula grant proposal by June 25, good-bye free cash.

Fortunately, both Prince George’s County and College Park are aware of the opportunities the EECBG Program provides. The county has applied for seven grants and is considering three more. The assistant city manager is going to present a recommendation for a grant to the College Park City Council on May 5. I encourage students and residents to submit their ideas to their county and city representatives. It would be more productive than throwing a Tax Day tea party.

There’s going to be even more money available than the figures I listed above. The state has received $9.6 million from the EECBG Program. Up to 40 percent of that money could soon be made available to all counties and cities in the state to apply for with competitive grants. The other 60 percent is available to small towns with low populations, like Edmonston and Hyattsville, which didn’t get any money earmarked specifically for them. County and city governments should coordinate to get as much money as possible.

The county is working on a plan to build a solar farm at the county landfill with Pepco. This would create jobs and make the county a leader in renewable energy, but it needs money. Or consider energy-efficient overhauls of buildings, free residential and commercial energy audits, energy efficient traffic signals and street lighting and low-interest revolving door loan funds to low-income energy users for efficiency improvements.

The wish list goes on, and the money is sitting there alongside a more prosperous and sustainable future. Regardless of how you feel about the federal government’s spending, here is a case where money is available to benefit ordinary people on Main Street, not Wall Street. Go after it! X marks the spot.

Matt Dernoga is a junior government and politics major whose father serves on the Prince George’s County Council. He can be reached at mdernoga@umd.edu

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http://www.eecbg.energy.gov/
http://www.eecbg.energy.gov/grantalloc.html

Energy: A tar-nished reputation

This is a crosspost from this blog: http://madrad2002.wordpress.com/2009/03/03/tar-sands-column/

So I have a column in the Diamondback today. I want to correct a couple of small things that the editors changed. I put “tar sands” everytime I discussed them, but they were changed to “oil sands” for some reason. Other thing is when I mention natural gas is being used to extract the oil from the sands, I say I would rather us be using that natural gas to replace coal plants because it is cleaner than coal. For the record I do recognize natural gas is not clean and not what we should be pursuing, I just would rather us burn it to replace coal rather than burn it to extract tar sands oil.

http://media.www.diamondbackonline.com/media/storage/paper873/news/2009/03/03/Opinion/Energy.A.TarNished.Reputation-3656037.shtml

Energy: A tar-nished reputation

Matt Dernoga

Issue date: 3/3/09 Section: Opinion

Last week, President Barack Obama met with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to discuss energy. The United States and Canada share the largest energy trade partnership in the world, with Canada supplying the United States with more oil and natural gas than any other country. A major point of interest has been the Canadian oil sands, from which Canada is extracting increasing amounts of oil to export to the U.S. Continue reading

Second Part of Diversity Column

This has been cross posted from: http://madrad2002.wordpress.com/2009/02/17/second-part-of-diversity-column/

So last week, I wrote the first part in a 2 part series on the need for more diversity and inclusion in the environmental movement. My second part is this week. In case you haven’t read the first part or would like to re-read it, go here: http://madrad2002.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/column-on-lack-of-minorities-in-environmental-groups/

For this weeks column, link is here: http://media.www.diamondbackonline.com/media/storage/paper873/news/2009/02/17/Opinion/Green.Diversity.Cross.Cultures.Save.The.World-3632931.shtml?reffeature=recentlycommentedstoriestab

Green diversity : Cross cultures, save the world

Issue date: 2/17/09 Section: Opinion

I met with a black state delegate about a bill a few weeks ago and made sure to ask him what the environmental community was doing wrong in reaching out to minorities. In his response to me, he made a good point. It’s difficult to tell someone they need to put a solar panel on their roof or to get the roof insulated when they’re working hard just to keep that roof over their head. He also stated the situation was unfortunate, because minority groups are most affected by global warming, rising energy costs and pollution. They also stand the most to gain from a clean energy economy if they’re involved in creating it. How do we stress that linkage? He didn’t have an answer. I have ideas.
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