On Chicago’s Ballot Tuesday: A Clean Energy Future

When Chicagoans go to the polls Tuesday, they’ll have a chance to decide whether the Windy City moves beyond coal to clean energy in a way that lowers electric bills and creates jobs.   And no, I’m not talking about the clear choice in the presidential race for all who want to move in that direction.

A referendum on Chicago’s ballot will ask voters if they want to pool their buying power to get a better deal on electricity.   A better deal will surely mean lower monthly bills, but by choosing clean, renewable energy to replace dirty coal, Chicagoans can ensure that those lower monthly payments are supporting the jobs of the future and reducing the air pollution that threatens our health.

Choosing a cleaner, different supplier won’t change how the power gets to your home.   The power will still get to you over ComEd’s lines, and your monthly bill will still come from ComEd.   What could change is where the power comes from, and that is where the exciting potential to grow the green economy lies.   Chicago could choose to eliminate coal from its power supply, which currently makes up 43% of Illinois’ electricity.   If Chicago replaced coal with cleaner sources, the reduction in air pollution would be the same as taking 600,000 cars off the road – all while paying less.

Chicago can also choose to show the leadership lacking in the current Congress, and support local employers who are trying to build the clean energy industry here.   While Republicans in Congress are letting the clock run out on one of the key drivers of growth in the wind power industry, Chicago can step up and support an industry that has created over 19,000 jobs in Illinois over the last five years.  A new power supplier could also offer new energy efficiency tools to lower bills even further, and potentially support Chicago’s efforts to install more solar on city rooftops.

“Voting yes on this referendum question will allow my administration to explore the potential for municipal aggregation to deliver savings for Chicago residents and small businesses through an open and competitive bidding process. As part of this competitive bidding process, we will also ask for suppliers to show us how they can deliver cleaner energy to Chicago customers, keeping Chicago on track towards becoming the greenest city in the world. This will result in a win for homeowners, a win for small businesses, and a win for clean energy.” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel

In less than two years as Mayor, Rahm Emanuel has taken big steps to move Chicago to clean, prosperous energy future.   Working with community groups, he closed Chicago’s two dirty coal plants.   He’s cutting costs by retrofitting buildings to reduce energy waste.    He’s opening doors to new business by streamlining permitting for solar panels on Chicago rooftops.

If Chicagoans vote Tuesday to pool their buying power, 1.1 million ComEd customers will be able to build on these accomplishments by speaking with one voice – a clear call for a cleaner energy future.

Let’s flip the switch – vote yes on community choice aggregation for Chicago.

Illinois Wind Job Creation Up To 20,000 and Counting – Will Congress Blow It Away?

This week wind industry leaders and advocates gathered in Normal, Illinois to discuss the progress we’re making in harnessing the power of the wind in the Prairie State.

A highlight of the gathering was a the release of a new report documenting the economic impact wind is making in Illinois, and the numbers are striking. Among the key results, the study finds that the 3,334 megawatts of wind generation in Illinois:

· Will generate a total economic benefit of $5.98 billion over the projects’ 25-year lifespan

· Provides $28.5 million in annual property taxes to local governments, and generates $13.05 million in annual lease payments to landowners

· Created approximately 19,047 full-time equivalent jobs during construction, and approximately 814 permanent jobs in rural Illinois with annual payrolls over $48 million

“It’s important that decision-makers are educated about the significant economic development wind energy brings to state and local communities so that informed decisions regarding future adoption of wind energy projects can be made,” said Dr. David Loomis, Director of Illinois State’s Center for Renewable Energy
, and author of the report.

This is a fantastic start for the clean energy economy in Illinois, and one of the real economic bright spots in this difficult recession. Most promising is that it should be just the beginning – if politics don’t derail the progress.

In addition to the benefits to date, planned wind farm projects statewide would mean an additional 12,700 jobs and millions more to local economies through payments to landowners and property tax revenue. And of course, this comes at a time when other sectors of Illinois’ economy are doing as well, so the jolt is badly needed.

“Wind jobs are very, very important as we bridge the recession,” said Michael Matejka, governmental affairs director for the Great Plains Laborers District Council. “For laborers, wind farms have meant jobs a worker can be proud of, including family-sustaining wages. Laborers are proud to not only be building these wind towers, but building a sustainable future for our nation.”

However, these additional benefits may not materialize for Illinois. A hot topic at this week’s meeting was the threat to those projects from uncertainty about the extension of a federal tax break for wind energy developers, which is slated to expire at the end of this year.

The wind industry in Illinois has been jumpstarted by complimentary state and federal policies. At the state level, Illinois set in 2007 for steadily increasing percentages of our power to come from renewables like wind, increasing to 25% of our electricity by 2025. The federal end of the bargain has been the Production Tax Credit, which provides wind developers with a tax credit based on power they add to the grid.

Over the last decade, support for wind has been bipartisan in Springfield and in Washington. But in the hyper-partisan environment of the beltway, many Republicans are showing signs of digging in against anything that smacks of clean energy. Most Illinois members of Congress in the growing wind belt of northern and central Illinois have been silent on whether they support home-grown clean power.

We’re in the middle of a summer that is showing us the urgency of moving beyond old dirty energy sources and toward renewables. We are halfway through the summer, but already Illinois has seen over 200 violations of healthy air standards, including warnings for kids and people with respiratory disease against outdoor activity. The entire state is gripped by the kind of drought and heat that scientists predict will be the new normal if we don’t reduce global warming pollution quickly. Continuing the growing success of the Illinois wind industry is crucial to solving these pollution problems.

Sierra Club has launched a Wind Works campaign to convince Congress to extend the Production Tax Credit. Everyone who wants to keep our country moving to clean energy should let their member of Congress know they don’t want to see the turbines that are churning out pollution-free power grind to halt.

Clearly wind is working for Illinois’ economy and environment. Let’s hope Illinois’ congressional delegation can put all these benefits ahead of partisan politics, and unite behind extending the Production Tax Credit for wind power.

Feel the Power! Illinois Towns Embrace Green Energy

In an unprecedented clean energy move, residents in over 55 communities in Illinois now have the option to go green, and save some green while they’re at it!  Thanks to the hard work of Sierra Club volunteers across the state, a record number of Illinois towns will lower bills and support green energy rather than traditional brown power through a process called municipal aggregation.

Aggregation is a process where a town, authorized by a voter referendum, pools the residents’ demand for electricity and uses this volume to negotiate a better energy package.  Oak Park was the first town in Illinois, and possibly the nation, to go 100% green last fall and now dozens of towns are following their lead. Towns like Palatine, Urbana, Peoria, Lake Forest, Lombard, and Evanston opted to provide the best value for residents by securing 100% green energy through Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) at significant savings from current electricity bills. RECs assure that clean energy, from sources like wind and solar, are put onto the grid although they may not directly power your lights.

Some towns initially balked at offering 100% green energy, but the work of Sierra Club volunteers to educate community members and city staff on the tremendous economic and health benefits was ultimately successful. In many cases, green energy was less than 2% more expensive then brown power and will help cities make good on their commitments to reach climate pollution reduction goals.

Congratulations to all the volunteers who have worked to bring the benefits of green energy to their community! To learn more about greening the aggregation process visit: http://bit.ly/GreenCCA

Emanuel Delivers on Promise of Clean Energy For Chicago

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has taken two more big steps toward a clean energy future for Chicago. While many leaders talk about the urgency of transitioning to clean energy, Emanuel is acting, and making major changes that will deliver cleaner air and new jobs for Chicago in the near future.

First, Emanuel made a major break with the dirty energy of the past when he announced the closure of Chicago’s two coal-fired power plants, which operate without scrubbers in the Pilsen and Little Village neighborhoods. Residents in neighborhoods at the base of the smokestacks have for years sought to have the plants cleaned up or shut down, but made no progress under Mayor Richard Daley. Despite support from across the city for action against these health threats, Daley never showed interest in solving the problem, and an ordinance that would have required cleanup languished in the the City Council he controlled. Daley did a great deal to make Chicago cleaner and greener, but this is one problem he never took on in his quest to become the greenest city in America.

That all changed with the arrival of Emanuel. Emanuel talked during his campaign about the need to clean or close the coal plants, and upon taking office, set about to do just that. While support grew in the Council for a proposal by Ald. Joe Moore and Ald. Danny Solis to force pollution controls, Emanuel called in the owners of the plants and made it clear that the days of dirty coal in Chicago were numbered. He worked with the community, health, environmental, and labor organizations in the Chicago Clean Power Coalition to set a timetable and conditions for closing the plants, and on February 29th, sealed the deal. Midwest Generation’s Fisk plant, located across from Dvorak Park in Pilsen, will close by the end of this year, and their Crawford plant, in Little Village, will close no later than the end of 2014.

Moving beyond coal is a giant step for public health, but the transition to clean energy must be a two-step. Emanuel knows that clean energy solutions bring not only cleaner air, but also cost savings and the potential for thousands of new jobs. Most would agree with those goals, but current market barriers and economic problems have slowed the development of these technologies of the future. But how can we invest in the future when private capital is restricted by tight credit markets, and public dollars are scarce?

Emanuel seems to have devised a brilliant solution with the Chicago Infrastructure Trust. The Trust, which he launched with former President Clinton in Chicago March 1st, would leverage investment from participating lenders and investors in energy efficiency projects in Chicago. The investors would be paid a return based on the energy savings the public buildings will realize when retrofits are made. Emanuel plans to raise $200 million this way to retrofit public buildings in Chicago. Saving energy will create at least 2000 jobs doing the retrofits, and save an estimated $20 million on government energy bills per year.

The transition from coal to clean energy can be slow when powerful interests fight to protect the status quo. Unfortunately, that’s the role being played currently by the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives. However, this week in Chicago two great leaps forward by Mayor Emanuel expedited the day when residents will be free of dirty coal power, and benefiting from the smart choices that will take its place.

In helping to announce the new energy efficiency spending, Clinton talked about Emanuel’s penchant for action over words:

“He was always concerned about how you can take an idea that was new and actually make it work. Talk is cheap in politics and business and life. Anybody can say anything. It’s quite another thing to turn your good intentions into real changes.”

These are real changes indeed, and they are real good for Chicago.

Citizens of Canton in Fulton County don’t deserve a stocking full of coal!

Protect the Copperas Creek Watershed

Will the citizens in Canton, IL be getting a big lump of coal in their stocking? Or will the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) do the right thing and Protect Canton Lake and Copperas Creek from strip mining coal?

Canton area citizens, friends and allies pack the hearing.

That’s what a large crowd of people who attended  IEPA public hearings in Canton last night are wondering.The IEPA held the hearings to determine the request of Capital Resources Development Company, LLC, for a 401 Water Quality Certification¹ and a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)² permit for the proposed North Canton Mine. The proposed 1,084.5-acre coal strip mine site is located just over a mile upstream from Canton Lake, threatening the safety and quantity of drinking water for 20,000 people and permanently destroying miles of tributary streams in the Copperas Creek watershed.Aerial view showing proximity of proposed North Canton Mine to Canton Lake–drinking water supply for over 20,000 people.

Aerial view showing proximity of proposed North Canton Mine (orange outline) to Canton Lake and Copperas Creek.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) has identified the Copperas Creek watershed as a strategic watershed in the Illinois River Bluffs regions due to its high quality habitat. Allowing the mine to destroy these streams is in complete opposition to the Department’s plan to “protect the good stuff first.”

If anyone gets a lump of coal in their stocking it should be Capitol Resources Development, LLC for the 300 Clean Water Act violations since 2003 at its Industry Mine in McDonough County. Despite ongoing legal action since 2009, IEPA has issued no fines and the Industry Mine continues to pollute.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has identified the Copperas Creek watershed as a strategic watershed in the Illinois River Bluffs regions due to its high quality habitat.

It’s not too late to show your support for a broad alliance of farmers, business people, health care professionals, teachers, attorneys, students, retirees, camping, hunting, and fishing enthusiasts who have all come together to protect their area’s sole source of drinking water from an ill-conceived and potentially disastrous mine proposal.

Comments concerning both the 401 certification and the NPDES permit can be made until Jan. 5, 2012.  Submit your comments using our handy Sierra Club Online Action form. Or email your comments– but be sure to specify either NPDES or 401 in the subject line.

¹The 401 certification is for impacts to the watershed associated with the proposed mine site, which is currently used for agriculture with forested stream corridors.
²The NPDES permit is for storm water related discharges of wastewater from the mine site into the Middle Branch of Copperas Creek and the West Branch Copperas Creek.

Smart Grid Passes, More Clean Energy On The Way

Wednesday the Illinois General Assembly passed “smart grid” legislation that included major provisions for renewable energy and energy conservation that Sierra Club, Environment Illinois, and the Natural Resources Defense Council worked to include in the legislation.

This will be a huge boost to clean energy in Illinois. By deploying solar energy across Illinois, we’ll see new jobs and businesses, and cleaner air as we move away from dirty coal. A smarter power grid will also save consumers money by giving us new tools to manage our power consumption.

Here are the major clean energy provisions we worked to include in the Electric Grid Modernization Act:

-Removes Barriers to New Renewable Energy Projects and Jobs

SB 1652 will allow large rooftop owners to benefit by installing solar and wind power on their roofs. By allowing these retailers, institutions, commercial buildings, warehouses, and others to take advantage of “net metering” – giving them credit against their electric bill for any surplus power they produce. This will spur investment in these projects on rooftops across Illinois.

-Creates New Market For Distributed Renewable Energy Projects

SB 1652 provides that 1% of the renewable energy procured under our existing Renewable Portfolio Standard will come from small-scale renewable projects. Just as the existing RPS has already created 10,000 new jobs in large-scale wind and solar projects, this new carve-out will provide purchasers for the output of small-scale projects, allowing cities and suburbs to also realize the benefits of the new energy economy that our RPS has created in more rural areas.

-Saves Energy, Cuts Pollution With Major New Energy Efficiency Program

SB 1652 will increase the amount of energy savings we get through energy efficiency by about 1.5 million mWh, roughly the amount of power that would be used in 150,000 homes for one year. Further, it allows both utilities and non-utility energy efficiency companies to participate in the market, and ensures that the expanded efficiency programs are incorporated into the annual Illinois Power Agency procurement plans.

Together, these policies will create thousands of new jobs, clean the air, and help reduce costs to consumers. Here are some of the benefits of these provisions of SB 1652–

NEW JOBS: Up to 5,000 new jobs in renewable energy – good jobs installing clean energy projects, operating and maintain them, and manufacturing clean energy components. In addition, the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy estimates that the energy efficiency provision alone will create 3500 new jobs by 2015, and more than 10,000 new jobs by 2020.

CONSUMER SAVINGS: Helping consumers use less energy is a way to permanently reduce bills. The energy conservation programs in SB 1652 will not only provide new tools and products to help consumers cut their bills, they will also reduce the peak power prices that drive our electric rates. Smart meters will empower consumers to take charge of their energy consumption. Participants in smart meter pilot programs consistently save 15-20% per month after installing a smart meter.

CLEANER AIR: Cleaner power sources and energy conservation mean cleaner air – fewer asthma attacks, premature deaths, and a better future for our children and grandchildren. We also need the smart grid to move beyond oil, to power the electric vehicles of the future.

The Smart Grid: A Better Forecast For Reliable Power and Clean Energy Jobs

Crazy weather we’re having, right?  It’s been a stormy summer, and one full of reminders about the need to invest in our electric grid.   It’s also a sign of things to come, according to climate scientists, who for years have been predicting stronger storms and more intense rainfall events for Illinois due to rising pollution levels.

How do we prepare for this uncertain future?   Getting serious about the smart grid is not only crucial for keeping the lights on (not to mention your refrigerator and air conditioning), but it also can be a big spark to the emerging clean energy economy in Illinois at a time when Illinois needs the jobs and economic development most.

This Spring, the General Assembly passed the Energy Infrastructure Modernization Act.   The core of the legislation, Senate Bill 1652, aims to build a smarter, stronger grid for the future.   Building up the grid is great, but just as important is breaking down the barriers to clean, renewable energy that makes service more reliable and the air cleaner.    SB 1652 does just that by allowing large rooftop owners to benefit by installing solar and windpower on their roofs.  

If these big box stores, office parks, warehouses, parking garages, and other large rooftop owners install clean energy on the roof, they would get the same incentive homeowners currently have – on days when they make more electricity than they use, putting the extra back on the grid, they get a credit for that power against their electric bill.   In addition, utilities would be required to buy some of the power they sell to us from small renewable systems like these.   The combined effect of these two incentives will be turning empty roofs into job sites, with electricians, equipment operators, carpenters, laborers, and others installing pollution-free power systems.

The bill makes another fundamental reform that will reduce the cost of power by harnessing market forces to spur new energy efficiency businesses.  SB 1652 will change the way the Illinois Power Agency (IPA) and our utilities buy our power.  In addition to buying nuclear, coal, solar, and wind power, the they will now also buy power from entities that reduce energy use if it is cheaper than generation. This will provide a market- ‐based mechanism that will save consumers money and create jobs and  economic growth.

Together, these clean energy programs will create thousands of new jobs and deliver cleaner air by moving Illinois toward pollution-free power.   In addition to spurring wind and solar power, modernizing the electric grid itself can have major environmental benefits.   Updated transmission lines and substations will waste less power between its source and your home.   Smart meters will allow you to be in total control of your own energy use – why not set your dishwasher to run at the cheapest time if you’re not in a rush?    On a hot summer day, cool your house at cheap rates in the morning rather than peak prices at 4 in the afternoon.   The grid also needs work if we’re going to make the switch to electric vehicles, which will be in dealer showrooms this fall.

Clean energy will also make the grid more resilient.   Every solar or wind system installed means less energy that has to travel many miles over wires to get to that home or business, and less stress on the grid.   Energy conservation reduces the load on the grid, especially on those very hot summer days when the system is at capacity.   In fact, the efficiency programs we’ve already begun probably prevented brownouts during this summer’s heat waves:

“We have definitely seen an impact from increased energy efficiency and demand-response efforts,” says Mark Lauby, vice president of reliability assessment and performance analysis for the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC), an organization tasked with ensuring that the nation’s power grid keeps running. “It’s giving us more margin, more resources.”

And let’s not forget that wind, solar, and efficiency are the best ways to cut the global warming pollution that will bring us more violent weather in the future.

Recognizing how important a smart grid is to our energy future, the Obama administration has launched a major initiative to upgrade the grid.   According to Energy Secretary Steven Chu:

“A modern grid must be able to support both distributed and central generation. A modern electric grid is critical to meeting the President’s goals of generating 80 percent of electricity from clean energy sources by 2035 and putting one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.”

Senate Bill 1652 is not perfect.    Governor Quinn and others, including Attorney General Lisa Madigan and consumer advocates, object to the fact that electric rates will go up to pay for the grid modernization, and that the legislation streamlines the Illinois Commerce Commission process for reviewing these increases.  Quinn, who founded the Citizen Utility Board, has vowed to veto the legislation based on these consumer concerns.   The Governor has also been a longtime champion for clean energy, and he has no quarrel with the renewable energy and conservation programs in the bill – in fact, they are key pieces of his comprehensive energy plan.

With SB 1652 headed to his desk, Governor Quinn is now in a position to make sure that consumers are protected while we maximize clean energy.   With added protection for consumers to go along with needed grid upgrades and new energy technologies, the forecast can look a whole lot better in the years ahead.

Bloomington-Normal aims to become EVTown, USA

Much of the buzz about electric vehicles (EVs) has been generated in coastal communities and large metro areas.  However, the Bloomington-Normal, IL region is making plenty of news for our efforts to become a model mid-sized community for EV readiness.  The Bloomington-Normal EV Task Force was formed in 2010 in order to prepare the community for the arrival of EVs.  The task force consists of leaders from the public, private and educational sectors and is focusing on public education, infrastructure development and other actions that will incent the rapid deployment of these vehicles.

Getting the Smart Grid Right

You’ve probably seen or heard the ads from Commonwealth Edison supporting the “smart grid”, and their proposal for how to pay for it.   In an attempt to pass legislation authorizing automatic increases in our electric bills to pay for the work, ComEd is pulling out all the stops.

We do need to invest in our electric grid.  Our current electric infrastructure was built around old, dirty energy sources of the past.   Old equipment wastes energy as it loses power on its way to your house, and conventional electric meters don’t give you the information you need to be the smartest energy consumer you can be.   The old grid won’t deliver the clean energy future we all want and need to create jobs in the new energy economy, clean the air, and solve global climate change.  So ComEd is right that the time is right for smart grid, but their proposal (House Bill 14 in Illinois’ General Assembly) misses the mark.