It’s still cold outside – but it’s not so dark anymore – and brighter days lie ahead.

In the interim, we’ll be meeting this Tuesday night at 7pm in the upstairs room of the library. We will continue to plan for the upcoming Energy Fair, talking about open issues – and areas where we could still use some help.

We’ll also be showing some clips from the film “no impact man” at the end of meeting.

On a separate note, over the last four years, YEEC member Heather Henriksen has coordinated a home-composter sale for York area residents through the Maine Resource Recovery program. Her work has been a tremendous success – she’s sold over 300 composters! – but she’s looking a little help this year organizing it. It’s not a big time commitment – and it’s a great way of connecting with the community. Email her at hhenriks@maine.rr.com if you are interested in learning more.

Be well. Stay warm!
Eric

Eric Hopkins
Chairman
York Energy Efficiency Committee
eric@yorkgoesgreen.org

Go to http://www.nikereuseashoe.com to see how the shoes are broken down into three parts and recycled into components of basketball and tennis courts and other sports surfaces.

YORK — A predicted 2-foot rise in the sea level over the next 100 years could potentially bring the Short Sands shoreline to Ocean Avenue, with a sand dune reaching behind businesses along that road, according to information released by a state geologist.

Along Long Sands Beach, waters could rise, during the highest annual tide, to a level above existing culverts on the beach, said Peter Slovinsky, senior geologist with the Maine Geological Survey.

Slovinsky made his comments during a Coastal Hazard Resiliency Tools Project meeting held on Tuesday, Jan. 19, at York Village Elementary School. An estimated 20 people attended the meeting, held by the Southern Maine Regional Planning Commission.

“The future trend is sea-level rise will accelerate due to melting glaciers,” Slovinsky said.

The State of Maine adopted the prediction of a 2-foot sea level rise over the next 100 years, said Slovinsky. A 1-foot rise in sea levels can change a 100-year storm into a 10-year storm, he said.

“We know the probabilities are changing,” Slovinsky said. “What we’re trying to do is lay the groundwork for some type of change looking into the future. Let’s think of something that would be a no-regret action a community could plan for, which would have a positive impact on natural and built environments.”

State-suggested local changes include creating a higher standard on elevation levels for new homes; mandating flow-through foundations for new construction in flood zones; constructing new beach culverts; building dunes on Short Sands Beach, and using tidal gates to get water out of flooded areas.

“If we don’t do anything about sea-level rise, the storm damage every year is going to get more costly,” Shoreland Resource Officer Ben McDougal said last week. “We’ve talked about it as a staff, so we’re ready to start dealing with it.”

McDougal and Community Development Director Steve Burns said the first step will likely come as ordinance proposals in November 2011.

One potential ordinance could raise the current building standard of 6.9 feet of elevation above high tide by half a foot. This would mean new construction in some shoreland areas would have to be built further inland to meet the new elevation standards.

Ogunquit has set the elevation level at 11 feet, a measure considered too drastic for York, said McDougal and Burns.

“A rule like that would affect York tremendously,” said McDougal. “We need to talk with people and work incrementally. We want to work with the community and developers on sea-level rise.”

…The areas most affected by sea-level rise, agreed planners, include homes or buildings along the ocean and tidal areas, York Beach Square and Short Sands Beach. The sea-level rise is also anticipated to speed up the loss of marsh in York Harbor and Cape Neddick.

The state does not include York Beach Square in its latest flood plain maps, a factor that bewilders local officials.

Long Sands Beach is stabilized by a seawall, Slovinsky said. Current state law prevents seawalls from being raised, he added.

Public meetings on the local effects of sea level rise and possible mitigating actions will be scheduled sometime in the future, according to officials.

Read the rest of the article online.

The producer of this tool is Climate Interactive, an organization dedicated to “building a community that creates, shares, and uses credible models, accessible simulations, and related media in order to improve the way leaders and citizens around the world think about the climate.”

Visit climateinteractive.org for more tools and information.

Our state senator, Peter Bowman is chairing hearings this morning (1/28) on what is known as Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) bonds – allowing an innovative way to finance home energy retrofits.

For more info on what PACE bonds are you can go to this website: www.pacenow.org

I called his office yesterday afternoon to register my support.  You can do so as well by calling: 207.287.1515 and say you support the PACE measures being debated this morning.

Sincerely,

Eric Hopkins
Chairman
York Energy Efficiency Committee
eric@yorkgoesgreen.org

by cluestream

Despite doomsday prediction from energy-industry-funded interest groups, U.S. consumers actually will see a net reduction of $13 billion in 2020 and $46 billion in 2030 in their gasoline expenditures ($100 and $326 in average net savings per household, respectively) if Congress moves ahead to impose a cap-and-trade system.

…[The] white paper explains that the lower gasoline expenditures for U.S. consumers will reflect a combination of two factors: a much lower cost per gallon of gasoline for the impact of cap and trade than is claimed by cap and trade critics plus major savings made possible through the federal government’s drive for higher vehicle miles per gallon (MPG) performance.

First, the analysis shows that the increase in the cost of a gallon of gasoline due to the carbon cap-and-trade program established in the climate bill will in fact be modest (an additional $0.15 per gallon in 2020 and $0.24 per gallon in 2030).

Second, while this increase could be significant for many households, it would be offset by the phase-in of a dramatic and money-saving rise in the fuel economy of U.S. vehicles.

The net effect of the tighter fuel economy (CAFE) standards for vehicles just proposed by the Department of Transportation and the cap-and-trade program in the climate bill will be lower average household transportation costs in 2020 and 2030 than we would experience under a business-as-usual scenario.

Of course, all of this is dependent on the actual passage of this or a similar bill in Congress.

Read the rest of the white paper summary at http://www.aceee.org/press/0911mpg.htm.

Plastic containers with the #5 on the bottom like yogurt and cottage cheese containers are not recyclable in York.  I called Stonyfield Farms and they will take cleaned yogurt containers packaged up and mailed to the address located on the container and recycle them.  They will send you a coupon for yogurt to defray the cost of shipping.

I plan to do this for my household.  I wonder if there would be broader interest to do this collectively somehow.  Ideas?

I will also make calls to other companies packaging with #5 and see if they have recycling programs.