Energy Office Gives Youngsters Environmental Lessons

The Virgin Islands Energy Office is participating in a St. Croix Environmental Association program geared to reach all the second and fourth graders on St. Croix with lessons about the environment.

The Energy Office lessons concern how the use of energy affects the environment. Rebekka Stone is implementing the program for SEA and has helped design lesson plans and student activities for the Energy Office. Don Buchanan of the Energy Office is making the presentations and working on the activities. The first program with Energy Office participation was held Jan. 27 at Sandy Point and was for second graders from St. Patrick’s School in Frederiksted.

The lesson specifically addresses how the burning of fossil fuels in vehicles and power plants emits CO2 in the atmosphere and how trees extract the carbon part from the atmosphere. Then Buchanan explains how when that cycle is disrupted (deforestation) or made lopsided (too much fossil fuel being burned) the atmosphere becomes unhealthy. Students are given suggestions about how their behavior, their use of energy, can contribute to a healthy environment.

The lesson is illustrated by an activity run by Stone. Students representing the Water and Power Authority and cars and trucks throw sponges, representing CO2 to students who are representing trees. It becomes obvious to students what happens when trees are cut down, trees absorbing carbon decrease; and, then, more cars are put on the road.  The exercise ends with many students throwing sponges but few gathering them up.

Upcoming presentations are Feb. 5, 4th grade, at Estate Thomas; Feb. 10, 2nd grade at Salt River, Columbus Landing; and Feb. 24, 2nd grade also at Salt River, Columbus Landing.

Energy Office to Begin LED Rebate Program

The Virgin Islands Energy Office, recognizing the significant savings that the use of LED lightbulbs can bring to residents’ Water and Power Authority electric bill, is setting up a program to give financial assistance to those buying LEDs. The program is slated to begin on April 1, 2015.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, LED bulbs use only 20 to 25 percent of the energy used by traditional incandescent light bulbs and they last 25 times as long. The LEDs have the advantage over CFLs of not containing mercury and of not being as fragile.

The Energy Office is now actively seeking local vendors to participate in the program. Vendors wishing to participate should call the Energy Office at 713.8436 ext. 3603.

For updates on when the program begins and information on other local energy issues, residents can visit the V.I. Energy Office website at www.vienergy.org

Sargassum and Climate Change

Study of Virgin Islands wind resources released

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has completed a utility-scale, wind study of the U.S. Virgin Islands and made the report public this week.

Energy Office Director Karl Knight says data from the report can be used by the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority to guide the utility in its development of utility-scale wind farms.

Most of the $270,000 used to fund the project came from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funds, but local money also contributed. The project fell under the Energy Development in Island Nations (EDIN) initiative. Its USVI Energy Road Map, Charting the Course to a Clean Energy Future, calls for the reduction of fossil fuel use in the Virgin Island by 60 percent by 2025.

The Roadmap, produced by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Energy Office; had three scenarios which could produce from 12 MW to 33 MW of wind power for the Virgin Islands.

In releasing the report, the authors stated, “This report summarizes the data collected from two 60-meter meteorological towers and three sonic detection and ranging units on St. Thomas and St. Croix in 2012 and 2013. These results are an update to the previous feasibility study; the collected data are critical to the successful development of a wind project at either site.”

The report can be accessed online by clicking here.

Chikungunya, Another Sign of Climate Change in the Virgin Islands?

Mosquito-borne diseases expanding their range. Hurricanes intensifying rapidly. Unprecedented amounts of seaweed washing up on our beaches and covering the sea in the channel between St. Croix and St. Thomas.

Is Climate Change coming to the Virgin Islands early? It is sloppy thinking to connect one incident to Climate Change. The real question and the connection to be made – What are the patterns we see; do they relate to what the scientists are telling us?

Two large concerns climatologists have are sea level rise and coral bleaching. I have not scientifically studied these areas. However, what I have observed and have heard from National Park Services rangers who have studied these areas gives no reason for comfort. Snorkelling at Tamarind Beach and diving off The Wall, I have seen dead coral. Walking Ha’Penny beach for a decade, I have found that it appears to be getting smaller and smaller.

But let’s leave those two concerns alone now. Let’s take mosquito borne diseases. In June of this year, the Virgin Islands had its first confirmed case of chikungunya, by September there were fifty cases. Chikungunya was found in Africa in the early 1950s, moved to India and Indian Ocean islands in the 1980s; now it is in the Caribbean in full force. Of course, we can’t off handily attribute chikungunya to Climate Change. Many factors are involved. What is worth noting is that this spread fits the predictions of scientists and it fits a pattern.

Here is what a report in the Health and Human Rights Journal said earlier this year.  “Chikungunya is a re-emerging arbovirus that causes significant morbidity and some mortality. Global climate change leading to warmer temperatures and changes in rainfall patterns allow mosquito vectors to thrive at altitudes and at locations where they previously have not, ultimately leading to a spread of mosquito-borne diseases.”

Climate Change denialists are correct in saying we can’t prophesize the future. However, human life has thrived because humans have been able to make calculations based on observations and use those calculations to make some good guesses about what is going to happen next. It might not be politically correct or economically comfortable to see what our continued addiction to fossil fuel holds for the future, but wise people should not ignore scientific observations and predictions.

Let’s look at seaweed. Yes, algae blooms come and go. In recent years   ugly green stuff has been growing by the boardwalk near Seaborne.    And it appears to be spreading further down toward Brew Pub. We can let that one go, too. It can be attributed to run-off of sewage in the area and not necessarily attributable to Climate Change, although scientific observations tell us algae of all sorts grows better in warm water.

It is harder to discount the huge amounts of Sargassum seaweed that is piling up on our beaches. It is not there because of sewage run off. John Farchette, who works at the East End Marine Park and a native Crucian, says he has never seen anything like this before.  We can attribute this to changing ocean currents. But guess what, scientists long time ago predicted that rising sea surface temperatures would cause changes in ocean currents.

Maybe, it is time to pay attention to what those scientists are saying. According to them, we are pumping 34 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere with our use of fossil fuel and other human endeavours. Half of that is sucked up by trees and the ocean (which is becoming more acidic, but that is another potential calamity we are too busy to think about now). Each 7 billion tons of CO2 raises the parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere by one or two parts per million. The scientists then alarm us with charts showing a correlation between the C02 in the atmosphere and temperature rise. It is easy to question those charts going back hundreds of thousands of years. How do they really know that? This is the place where the science denialist makes his confusion.  Most lay people don’t understand the science behind those charts, so some one can say it is just a scam made up by the scientists to enslave people. Well, if you believe that scientists did not really land a man on the moon, you can believe this is a scam too

However, the argument that Climate Change is a scam gets hard to justify when trends that are predicted get verified with observations -- personal observations as well as those contained in scientific papers.

The scam option also loses credibility when noted that the politicians who advocate the scam position hold their offices because of money supplied to them by those who profit from the use of fossil fuel.

Why are we not taking bold steps to save our environment?

The analogy of the addict is appropriate. The alcoholic or the drug addict ignores the mishaps along the way. The addiction just feels too good to give up. The addict goes until he hits rock bottom. Sometimes, with drastic action, recovery is possible. Sometimes it is too late.

 

Can Small Islands Show the World How To Fight Climate Change?

Island populations may bear the brunt of climate change more than other populations, so it should be no surprise that some islands have ramped up efforts to convert to non-fossil fuel energy sources. In the brief span of five years, the U.S. Virgin Islands have cut their oil consumption by 20 percent.

St. Croix is set produce 25 percent of its power from wind and solar by late-2014. Its quick progress may indicate that converting to a low-carbon economy across the developed world may be easier than many suppose. Energy prices in the U.S. Virgin Islands (V.I.) are high, but they are no higher than what energy prices should be elsewhere if external costs of burning fossil fuels are factored in, such as pollution and climate change.

First, it must be noted that the Virgin Islands economy had already been devastated partly due to the volatility of the fossil fuel market. In 2012 the islands’ largest employer, the Hovensa oil refinery, closed up shop, taking away over 2,000 jobs. It left behind little more than a huge scar on the south shore of St. Croix — acres of unused refinery towers now stand in an area that once had been a pristine mangrove shoreline.

In December 2013, the V. I. Energy Office Director Karl Knight stated that the islands’ utility was burning 11 percent less fossil fuel than it was just three years ago. This resulted from energy efficiency measures and the beginning of the renewable energy onslaught. In 2014, grid-tied renewable energy projects for residential and commercial customers reached 5 MW on St. Croix and 10 MW in the St. Thomas/St.John District. The utility will soon be purchasing power from a 4-MW solar installation on St. Croix; Toshiba is building the project, which was recently purchased by NRG Energy. It is expected to be online in early November. A St. Thomas project is expected to be up and running six months later, supplying 5 MW to that island
These projects did not happen without the commitment of island residents and its government, nor did they happen overnight.
In 2007, the Energy Office and V.I. Public Services Commission agreed to establish a net metering program. Net metering allows a utility customer to sell excess energy he or she produces back to the utility. The program did not take off immediately, with only a handful customers took advantage of it throughl 2010. Then the high-cost of oil kicked in permanently, a green project (EDIN) commenced, and $32 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funds (commonly referred to as stimulus funds) came to the islands.
The V.I. government, U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of the Interior established the EDIN project, which set the goal of reducing fossil fuel consumption 60 percent by the year 2025. The project put the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in position to give technical assistance to the islands and help planning efforts. The Virgin Islands’ government was in charge of implementing changes, and the stimulus funds allowed it to do so.
Project leaders developed an energy roadmap that covered several areas, including community education, and most programs were very successful. However a major failure of the program was transportation. The island’s mass transportation system (bus system) remains poor, and it failed to initiatie plans for programs like carpooling. A small amount of rebate money was allocated to residents that bought efficient vehicles, but it only covered the purchase of about 25 vehicles. The Energy Office plans to focus on transportation solutions in the upcoming year utilizing information from the NREL studies.
Some projects were established quickly, such as a $3 million, 448-kW solar array installed at the St. Thomas airport. A $50,000 grant program was set up for non-profit institutes intended for renewable energy or energy efficiency projects. Fifty non-profits benefited from the program, such as a church that installed solar panels and day-care center that established energy-efficient air conditioning and a solar water heater.
The Energy Office and the Department of Labor also initiated a solar installer training program. Residents who installed solar water heaters were given a rebate covering 50 percent of the costs. These projects kick-started the commercial market for renewable energy. They showed residents that renewable energy works.
The utility, the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (WAPA), was able to install LED streetlights, and the Public Works Department installed LED traffic lights and solar lights on the boardwalk in St. Croix's Christiansted.
NREL's technical guidance enabled utility-scale solar projects like the 4-MW project on St. Croix, and a similar installation has already broken ground on St. Thomas. In total, the utility has signed agreements to purchase 18 MW of solar power. NREL also directed a wind study project, which found several feasible wind project sites, and the government will allow developers to bid for them in the near future.
Since these projects, the net metering program has taken off. The program set a 5-MW limit on St. Croix and 10 MW on the district of St. John/St. Thomas. These limits were put in place because grid stability was and still is a concern, and have already been reached, which has government officials scrambling.
The territorial legislature this summer enacted a feed-in-tariff program to replace net metering, but it doesn’t take care of grid stability concerns. The government is currently considering microgrids and energy storage facility proposals, but action will be much more difficult without stimulus money and NREL's guidance. The Virgin Islands government is deeply in debt, much of it because of its own energy costs, and it will have few resources to devote to projects. But this won’t stop residents and businesses who see the economic advantage of alternative energy.
The utility has also undertaken additional cost-cutting measures including waste heat recovery boilers and reverse osmosis systems to desalinate water. Last year it signed an agreement to enable it to convert from burning oil to burning propane. Although, this switch little pleases residents concerned about CO2 emissions and climate change, it may bring down energy costs.  Other efforts on the utility’s part include studying the possibility of grid interconnection with Puerto Rico and signing an agreement with a biogas company that proposes to produce 7 MW of power through King Grass.
Major setbacks and delays have occurred throughout this transition, and much work still remains to be done. Anyone who has spent time on Caribbean islands knows that the infrastructure is not on par with the infrastructure in most of the developed world. But much has been accomplished in this small territory, and it has overcome many barriers. These accomplishments may be a lesson for politicians in other parts of the world.
The Vi.I transformation over the past five years is profound. It shows that a lot can be done in a short time when the problem gets the focus it deserves. The goal the islands set — cutting fossil fuel 60 percent by the year 2025 — once appeared huge. Now many are saying: “We can do that. We can even do more.”

Life on St. Croix with no Gasoline

St. Croix resident Archie Corbett has figured out how to cut his gasoline use almost to zero. In 2014 he bought an Elf.  By legal definition the Elf is a bicycle, but as Archie drives it around the island it works as good as a car.

It has a solar-charged battery that assists his pedalling. He often keeps the vehicle going as fast as any U.S. Virgin Island road can take.

He not only saves on gas money, he gets good exercise. But if he is lazy he lets the battery charged by solar panels on the roof do all the work.

Click below for video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qYcf6GJ78E