Climate Change Solutions?

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I am preparing for a presentation to our Brighton Rotary Club on Monday Feb. 17th 2020.
The topic is about Climate Change and what to do about it.

I am aware that some folks just think it may not be caused by us humans. If you were drowning in a flood or be in the middle of a fire, would spent one second thinking about who is causing it? Probably not.

Well same applies to our home called earth. Living in Rochester NY for last 50 years I have seen the change and feel that the it is time to take actions that improve our world and make it safer for everyone.

Think about giving a gift of Nature to your community. It will be the legacy that can live forever.
There is no better way then creating small gardens with Trees and plants to cover the areas that have barren land or replace paved areas that remain idle with no traffic.

With Rotary help we are planning to build a Peace Garden at Rochester school 58 as a demonstration project. When completed during Summer of 2020, it will be a place where Teachers will take a small group of students and teach them about respecting nature, share thoughts about how Trees play a very important role to improve air quality and help create clouds by evapotranspiration.

We are happy to note that some Nations are now deciding to plant Millions of trees to fight Climate Change. As the planet warms ir would be essential to have shaded areas and Trillions of trees planted across the Globe.

This year on Earth Day take a pledge to do your part.

Thank you.

Ram Shrivastava

Sustainable Green Communities now seeking Reseliency for Climate Change adaptation

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Solar energy is now the fastest growing Solution with potential to make power at same cost as other power sources. Therefore future power plants are more likely to be solar or Wind farms as compared to traditional designs.

Utility companies need base load power combined with peak load power such as solar to meet the grid demand. The management of the Grid and distributed generation is key to meet variable demands of the day.

Lower cost energy storage would be the game changer, where many Energy Storage companies will create a huge market in coming decade, as the unit cost of storage goes down. This is similar to what  happened to the price of solar PV panels in past 8 years.

Combining solar PV  with storage and controls would be the ideal solution where the energy production can match the usage and reduce the need to transmit power from remote power plants.

An added benefit to the communities would be their ability to create small micro-grids where power never fails when grid goes down. Without the storage, the Green power generation system must be turned off when power fails.

Better energy solutions are around the corner for planning sustainable Green communities seeking energy independence and resilient future for economic growth.

For Power Consumers - We have the choice to Achieve Energy Freedom!

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Can 2015 be the beginning of new consumer movement that allows them to be free from the Utility? In New York State the Policies under review will take us closer to realizing this dream. Elon Musk and his vision to provide and promote lower cost energy storage was announced on April 30th. Combined with Solar power and smart controls this enables the customer to buy power at night and use it in the day powered by storage system in the garage.

The old paradigm is that we need the power company to sell us power at whatever cost and we have no choice. It worked when other options were beyond consumers reach. Now it is time to have distributed generation with storage and let them be paid for the service, connectivity and backup power.

With Solar PV system now at below $2.00 per watt and storage around $400 per KW, we are closer to Energy Freedom. This message would soon reach more people and the time to take bold action could happen starting in 2015.

After 45 years of celebrating Earth Day, the time has come when one can imagine the dream coming true.What makes this timely is the fact that Climate change is getting the national attention and people realize that resiliency of power is important when the power grid goes down. The peace of mid that it does not matter when power goes down because now you have your own power plant and storage system that can be activated automatically with smart control and keep you home or business running. This is safety, comfort and economic issue.

Smart consumer living ins sustainable Green communities will realize this and take advantage of financial incentives, long term low interest financing and become secure and seek their Energy Freedom.

What are we waiting for?  Energy Independence is around the corner.

Go for it!

Small Communities need solar power to come out of economic difficulties and become energy independent

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Who need to reduce cost of government operations most? These are small communities at their debt limit and are not in a position or permitted by State laws to borrow capital dollars to build solar PV systems.

They have the opportunity to make their own power and pay off the debt from energy savings.
Their challenge is to raise the construction loan to build the system and long term low interest financing to pay ti back. The State and Federal Govt. has significant amount of pension funds that could be used to create a green funding mechanism to help such communities.

The federal USDA rural utility program may be able to help. Only time will tell as we watch the policies for Green project support.  Private capital looks for higher rate of return and larger dollar value projects which does not match with small community needs.

If this can be achieved then these communities can control their energy future and make solar power for the same price as they pay now. After 20 years the systems could be all paid and only O&M costs will remain for next 20 years when the power cost would be less that 6 cents per kWh as compared to Utility cost of over 20 cents /kWh. Energy independence by making same amount of power as they consume they will not be affected by future cost of energy. Fortunately this is possible as Government policy empowers the consumer to become solar power producer.

Strategy for Faster Implementation of Solar PV projects in Sustainable Green Communities

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An Year has gone by as we tried to find a way to help our small communities to find Energy Independence with Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with a Private Developer who would finance, build and operate the solar PV system. 

This is a great  idea but with no risk comes the delays and uncertainties. Some of the host communities found out that Developer was unable to complete the projects in time due to weak financial support where the investor just backed off from the deal. What should the community do to assure faster and more assured implementation?

We are now following a two step procurement approach that can save money and get better outcome for all parties. It all starts with community education to first build the buy in and desire to go green and make your own power at a suitable site. Study of all of the municipality owned facilities energy consumption is necessary to estimate the current energy use and size the Solar PV system and a site with adequate electrical service to be able to supply excess power to the grid.

The second step is to present the opportunity to financing Companies and get a commitment from them as Proforma PPA based on a projected capital cost of the system. Once the terms of the power purchase agreements are executed then we issue a Request for Proposal to design and build the system from local developer -solar installers. These proposals are evaluated to select the contractor to submit the bid proposal to NYSERDA and get the grant commitment.The final PPA is executed after modifications to take into account the actual capital cost and grant amount. This approach takes away the need for solar PV installers to search for financing partner since the Owner makes this choice at the beginning of the project.

This market needs fast track and simpler process to cut costs and get best value for the communities. 

Go Solar Now. The process is now better and many communities now realize that this is the right thing to do.

Financing is key to Sustainable Green CommunityDevelopment

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As the new year 2014 starts, we must review what occurred in 2013 and plan strategies that can avoid the hurdles to faster implementation of Green energy programs in New York and other States in America. While we wait for a National investment plan, each State can do what is appropriate for them.

New York has many innovative funding  initiatives but the rate of implementation is still slow because of lack of affordable capital funding to start the projects. Many of these initiatives are justified based on future savings to payback the investment made on the project and ability to achieve energy independence. Unfortunately the traditional financing institutions are reluctant to take risks on new green technologies and private investments are seeking much higher interest rate which raises the costs to the community. So what can be done to help and make better progress?

The publicly funded  Green Bonds offer a great ray of hope to encourage the implementation of Green energy technologies. Funds can be loaned with 5-10 year term at low interest rate and the risk covered by the borrower who has the expertise in new technologies and willing to use these funds to build the systems and payback the loans from the revenues generated by the savings or generation of green energy.

Fortunately, New York has initiated a $ 1 Billion Green Bank to help meet this funding need for Green projects. This initiative results from the Green Vision promoted by our Governor.
We hope it succeeds in making New York lead this transformation to green and clean technology.
Happy New Year!

EPA supports Sustainable Green Communities Smart & Growth at Town of Williamson, N.Y.

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Last night I took part in a workshop for Town of Williamson in Wayne County NY. EPA had given a grant to this community to hold a workshop and review the potential tools to help in economic development and prepare a strategy to achieve their goals.
Today there is going to be a whole day session with community leaders to review their options and develop their plan to become a sustainable community. I hope to share some ideas with the group and offer to help them to achieve this dream over time.
With large scale solar system planned to make them a net-zero community Town of Williamson has already taken a bold step toward energy independence. Many other communities should follow the Town of Williamson example and do the same.

What Sustainable Communities need from the President ?

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Climate Change and Global warming are realities to most people in  the world. However, when it comes of our U.S.Politics some leaders would rather ignore the white elephant in the room and hope no one notices.
Some would make fun of the predictions and deny that any preventive action is necessary.
These are very smart well educated leaders and in their heart they may acknowledge the environmental issues but their party platforms may dictate what they say in public.
It is unfortunate that as we get close to the elections no politician had the courage to talk about this most important and costly issue facing us all. It would have gone unnoticed but Mother Nature had some other plans. Hurricane Sandy came as the reminder that we either pay for prevention or pay for the consequences of inaction.
Mayor Bloomberg  of New York City finally broke the silence about Presidential choice and shared his conclusion today that Mr. Obama has better understanding of the issue and would do more to deal with Global Warming or Climate Change.
Republican Governor of New Jersey, is facing the direct impact of Warmer Ocean and hurricane caused by Climate Change. He does not have time to ponder over why it happened but is happy that FEMA and Federal help is there to share the loss.Hope every politician is asking an honest question about why are we not focusing on solutions and wasting time on denying the reality?
The financial impact of inaction about Global Warming would be more than any local conflicts, and cause pain to so many people. Our communities need Leaders that are honest and willing to forget what their party says and follow their heart.
Conservative views to reduce taxes and wastes must combine with Conservation of Energy and using Cleaner energy from renewable sources. Who can be against better air quality and healthy sustainable environment?
This election may finally be decided by who can lead us out of this mess and invest in better technologies to solve our Energy and Environmental problems.Let us hope that in next 5 days both candidates will stop avoiding this issue and talk about their action plan to deal with Global warming and Climate Change. Fortunately job creation, economic growth can also be byproducts of the Green initiatives.

Job creation with sustainable green initiatives

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The news media is filled with concerns that why jobs are not being created faster and if Green jobs are really possible, even after billions of borrowed dollars are spent by our federal government. How can it happen and what to do in our communities is on the minds of our government officials.
The solutions can emerge from discussions held within the people who work in the public sectors , with guidance from private sector professionals acting as advisers.
Cost reduction and infrastructure investments are goals of the grant funding stimulus programs. Therefore, First identify existing conditions and costs and get input from the team in each department where efficiency and cost reduction are possible. Collect the ideas and then think about what can do it more efficiently and at lower cost. Evaluate the costs and financial returns and decide about the priorities. This sustainable green assessment can be the supporting document to seek funding to improve the community. Jobs will be created as you implement the projects and then money saved can help expand into more jobs in future.
This is very simple approach and requires collaboration. Action would be lot better as compared to complaining about what is wrong in the system.
Ram

Communities are thinking Green

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It was last Tuesday May 22, 2007 The Town of Irondequoit held a public meeting to discuss sustainable green strategies for their community. The Supervisor had invited people to come and be ready to volunteer to a task force that will study this issue and come up with action plan for the Town. The town hall meeting room was full and charged with positive energy as people listened to a presentation by myself and the Town Supervisor Mary Ellen Heyman on Sustainability and what communities or individuals could do help the environment and deal with Climate change.

As soon as the presentations were over a local farmer stood up and said that he has a family farm which has operated for a long time, and he is glad to see a discussion on this issue. He was willing to volunteer his resources to help the Town. There was restlessness in the tone and a desire to do something now and not later. People wanted to get moving and not wait for a slow process of action. This level of support was not anticipated by the presenters but was a welcome sign of people interest in this topic. So as a group 12 areas of locals interested were listed and assigned an alphabet so people could mark the area of interests on the sign up sheet. A local bank HSBC had a booth supporting green and gave away motion-powered flash lights to the attendees. One had to be present to sense the cooperative energy in the room. One out of Town visitor commented that they have not experienced such a spirit before since normally hostility or opposition is present at the town meetings.

The Town officials were encouraged to move forward and plan to meet again on June 6, 2007 as the individual groups launch their cooperative journey with Town department employees to assess the current status, set up goals for improvements and chart a strategy for achieving results.

More to come after we meet at this upcoming meeting in June.

Ram