For Former NOAA Scientists, an Ocean View with Offshore Wind is Picture Perfect

December 15, 2017 / Molly Seltzer

To Judy Gray and Jules Craynock, a 5 turbine wind farm in the Atlantic Ocean is one great front yard. From their red picnic table and bright flowered garden that wraps around the porch, you can see the five turbines in the distance.

Judy was a seasonal residence for 13 years before moving to the island full time in retirement with her partner Jules. The plans and timeline for the development of the wind farm started to take shape soon after the couple moved to the island permanently.

The two have had a deep understanding of the climate crisis since the beginning- both studied to become scientists, and worked for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for over 30 years. Judy, a meteorologist, knows the devastating impacts of fossil fuels and human dependence on them. Two days after the BP Deepwater Horizon spill took place, she took on the role Acting Deputy of Research for NOAA. Prior to that, she was working in fishery research on Prince William Sound when the Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred. Jules was an oceanographer for NOAA and completed projects with the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers

She and Jules have been waiting for this moment for years- the moment when clean, steady electricity is finally supplied to the island. They are overjoyed at the idea of running entirely on renewable energy (on the windy days).

“ [The wind project] is totally consistent with our ethos, and how we live our lives. " Judy says.

The couple thought of installing an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for the entire house, which are used on submarines, before the vision of a wind farm and backup electricity from the mainland came to life. They were tired of replacing electrical appliances every year because the power supplied by the diesel generators regularly operated at 58 hertz, not the standard 60 hz that appliances were designed to run on. Judy mentions that she replaced a dishwasher that hadn’t been used 100 times. The dishwasher was only used during the summer, and only by people who rented the house.

But poor electricity supply couldn’t dissuade her from finally taking full time residence on Block Island. “This place owns me …it’s breathtakingly beautiful. It’s like a cat- you don’t own a cat, the cat owns you”

When asked about what is it about Block Island that draws her in she recalls a story of war brides from the second world war who would seek solace in Block Island because it reminded them of the English and Irish countryside. The beauty is one thing. In true scientific form, she also spewed meteorological figures about how Block Island was created and its geological uniqueness and diversity.

“It’s not a barrier beach in the traditional sense. This is a glacier terminal moraine from the last major ice age. "

She also recalls that as a child her parents felt safe on the island. They would take trips to the island from Connecticut, and her parents let the children roam free.

“It’s where the idea of independence first formulated as a core value; this is where I was first able to exercise that value.”

Now her mother resides near by and they all enjoy the New England island life.

And they couldn’t be happier with their new view.

“The fact that we’re getting good power has not really been brought up.” Jules says.

Invigorated by the change, and no longer in need of an external UPS, they are hoping to complete an extension that involves a solar array and tied electrical radiant floor heating. Now that they are off diesel for electricity, they are also looking to ween off of dependence on propane, and the volatility of market heating prices that they are vulnerable to. A diversity of heating sources is the next step in securing reliable, affordable and stable energy supply.

For now they settle for a beautiful view, and some stable, high quality electricity to go with it.

Jules professes: “The bottom line is this is all we’ve got. As a populous, we can continue to soil our own nest, or we can pay attention to issues like sustainability, pollution, and try to minimize our impact so that we can figure out how to sustain ourselves.”

And the Block Island Wind Farm is helping them get there.

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categories / Energy, Environment, Travel
tags / Story, Journalism, Wind, Offshore Wind, Energy, Environment, Generation, Renewables, Green tech, Green living

The Rural Sound: What I Learned about Life & Careers from West Virginia Christian Radio

November 07, 2017 / Molly Seltzer

One of the best parts of taking a cross-country road trip, besides the fact that my grandchildren will not even be able to conceptualize the “American road trip” with the advent of self-driving and flying cars, is the radio. The experience of overlapping stations fading in and out, signals and static on the road is simultaneously one of the most frustrating and enlightening parts of a trip. It reminds you that you are on a road trip, driving from state to state, landscape to landscape. The gargle of signals reminds you to stop and take a look around.

The radio channels and programs in a state are an observer’s first clue about the population, demographics, culture, and physical landscape of the state. You get a feel for the area based on the stations available, the content of those stations, as well as signal strength.

Despite the drastic technological changes in the automobile industry and among communication platforms, the radio is one of the few technologies that still exists in every car, regardless of the model, make and year. Some may have varied accessories to complement it- cassette players, CD players, Aux cords, Sirius or XM radio, but radio is standard. It is both a contemporary and idyllic part of the dissemination of information in the United States, an integral string in the fabric of American media.

During my travels I have come to appreciate NPR and local affiliate stations. However, in some places, for example in the rural mountains of West Virginia, NPR didn’t come through. One particular trip I was traveling from the eastern to the western part of the state toward Kentucky and there were virtually no stations available. I flipped between channels and I heard snippets of Christian talk shows on repeat. Just as I was deciding whether I’d throw on a CD, a program rang through discussing tactics to recruit, welcome and integrate members into church so that they remained involved and active members. Recruiting and maintaining churchgoers didn’t seem too relevant to me. That was until they said this:

“No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.”

It is such a simple quote, and encapsulates a fundamental truth of how people relate to one another. They were saying you can’t save or enlighten newcomers, or get them to motivate them in the church until they know you really care about them. This applies in so many contexts and settings, and in virtually every professional setting.

No one cares about your business, problem or your solution., ie how you can contribute, until you connect with someone on a personal level. It likely will be about a different topic, or a shared interest, and as long as it’s from an authentic place, it is unfailing.

The most successful politicians, teachers, doctors, lawyers (insert professional here), are able to do their jobs most effectively when they have shown they care and gained the client’s trust.

You could be a genius about farming, but until the farmer knows you have his back, and you are a buddy, there’s no way he’ll give you the time of day to provide a solution (even if it’s ultimately in both of your best interests).

I think back through my journey driving from NJ to Florida, and all of my experiences- shattered stereotypes, facts learned, museums visited, unique interactions, and yet this one quote stays with me. Showing interest and empathy in someone’s life is how I get information on the ground- it is critical to relationship building, and to journalism. Talk to people like they’re neighbors, and show them you care, and they’ll respond. Simple, to the point, and remarkably effective.

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categories / Travel, Environment
tags / Travel, Energy, Environment

The Nuts and Bolts of Kauai Solar and Battery Storage

October 19, 2017 / Molly Seltzer

The Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) is a small utility. It provides electricity to about 33,000 homes and businesses on Kauai and has about 25,000 active members. Energy cooperatives are organizations that provide power to their customers, who own a share of the cooperative as members and ratepayers. The organization is run as a nonprofit, and in the case of KIUC, owns the power plants, and the transmission and distribution infrastructure to bring the electricity to the customer.

Rural electric cooperatives serve 75% of the geographic U.S., but only 12% of the population because there are fewer people to serve per mile of transmission line in rural areas. Cooperatives were founded as a way to electrify parts of the country where investor-owned power companies didn't want to go because it was less lucrative. Because member-owned cooperatives have no shareholders, the cooperatives serve only their members (the electricity customers) and their employees.

The cooperative model, especially in rural area or islands, has produced amazing developments in the power sector, and innovation that some for-profit companies have not been able to achieve.

In March of this year, KIUC and Tesla completed a solar and battery storage facility in Lihue, Kauai on a former sugar plantation

It is a 13 MW solar farm ( 2600 times the capacity of the average 5kW PV system found on an American rooftop), with an accompanying 52Mwh worth of battery storage, making the installation one of the biggest battery energy storage facilities in the country, behind utility scale battery deployment in Southern California. There are 272 Tesla Powerpacks set up next to 55,000 solar panels According to KIUC, there are many sunny days when 90 percent or more of day time electricity demand is met by the island’s solar farms. The batteries can power 4500 homes for four hours, or about 18% of the island’s homes.

On islands it is often easier to make the financials work for new, creative power solutions because they typically face a high price of electricity to start.

This is also part of the reason that Block Island Wind Farm came to be, which is the only operational offshore wind farm in the United States, which serves Block Island and its cooperative power company (Block Island Power Company). Prior to receiving power from the wind farm, Block island was also dependent on diesel fuel, importing nearly 1 million gallons of diesel every year.

Kauai is still dependent on oil for a large part of its power supply. About 60% of the electricity on the island comes from oil power plants, and the other 40% from renewable energy sources, including solar+battery, hydropower and biomass. The solar and battery storage facility displaces 1.6 million gallons of diesel per year, enough to fill a Tacoma truck 76,000 times.

Hawaii has a state goal to be powered by 100% renewable energy sources by 2045.

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categories / Travel, Energy, Environment, Education
tags / Journalism, Energy, Environment, Environmental Policy, Hawaii, Freelance

Demand Demand Demand- How the Power of the Purse Drives Green Technology

September 07, 2017 / Molly Seltzer

I walked on the site of Duke Energy Renewables’ largest solar farm, capable of powering about 17,000 U.S. homes in rural Conetoe, North Carolina. It was tucked behind a small plot of RV homes, and was surrounded by agricultural land. The solar field was in an area of small towns and large farm plots.

We got out of the Ford truck close to 11 am, and it was stifling. The area was bug ridden, and the humidity and sheer heat made it almost unbearable to be in the field.

The George Washington University (GW) is powered by 50% solar, and as a GW alumni and Fellow with the university, Duke Energy Renewables agreed to show me where their energy comes from, along with a couple other farms in the area.

This one I visited was an 80 MW site with over 400,000 solar panels covering 800 acres. From every viewpoint, I saw solar. I climbed a hill, looking down try to maneuver through the ant mounds. I looked up and was overwhelmed with solar. I saw nothing but panels and there was no end in sight.

The farm was developed through what's called a power purchase agreement (PPA), where energy consumers (companies, utilities etc.) buy a certain amount of power at a set price for a long period of time, usually 15-25 years. The companies Corning and Lockheed Martin created the PPA to serve their North Carolina and Maryland operations, respectively.

I was standing on the largest solar farm in Duke Energy Renewables’ portfolio.

It consisted of rows and rows of large solar panels. It also had an enclosed, air conditioned monitoring room where the solar radiance and number of MW produced were displayed on screens. And as with any power plant, there was also a transmission station on the site.

Later in the afternoon I traveled about 30 minutes up the road to a smaller farm, one of three solar farms that GW, GW Hospital and American University developed in North Carolina to serve their energy needs. Together it’s called The Capital Solar Partnership. The three institutions decided that they wanted to be powered by clean energy, and found a power provider to build solar farms within their energy market, PJM Interconnection, and to sell them the power.

Each institution established a PPA with Duke Energy Renewables. In the long run, the institutions save on their energy costs, as the market price per kwh of electricity rises. It’s a way of securing clean power now and energy security in the long term.

This is an especially popular model for institutions and big companies with high energy costs, long term need, and some capital to spend. The developer, for example, Duke Energy Renewables, just needs someone to say, “yes, we will pay for power from this solar farm for the next X years,” and then can securely invest in building the new infrastructure.

As I hopped around from site to site backed by private institutions and companies, something became so clear to me: it’s all about demand. The solar farms would not have been built if these institutions and companies did not have the interest in it, for whatever reason. Maybe it is part of the sustainability goals of the organizations, or a priority of the shareholders, but for one reason or another, they wanted to invest in clean energy to power their organizations.

I thought back to other scenarios when demand made all the difference.

In 2016, I toured Sims Recycling Facility in Brooklyn, NY that processes New York City’s recyclables.

The manager explained to me that right now they have one Chinese buyer that agreed to purchase dirty plastic bags, used by consumers to carry take-out and hair products from CVS and then thrown away.

The moment that the one Chinese buyer decides that it is cheaper or preferable to buy clean plastic bags, or manufacture elsewhere, and no longer needs those dirty plastic bags they are no longer recyclable in the city.

They have nowhere else to go. No one wants them. And therefore they go to the landfill.

Recycling is not enabled by the technology at the facility, the collection process or consumer behavior, so much as the demand for the material to be used again.

We cannot count on a couple big companies to do the right thing. Or one Chinese buyer to take all of our garbage. We need to be demanding good processes- clean energy, goods that are common enough or malleable enough to have second uses. We are the demand. When we as individuals band together to each demand something good (a better box, less plastic, fewer receipts, cleaner power), we all win.

So be demanding.