Portland Public Schools

I am a teacher with the Sun (Students Uniting Neighborhoods) program @ Sabin Elementary School in NE Portland, I also am in charge of the snack, before we go to our classrooms. I started noticing things that were not sustainable, especially the styrofoam plates and the incredible amount of food that is thrown away, so I called Nancy Bond the head of PPS's Sustainable department and I asked her a few questions, like why styrofoam, that is really bad for the environment, it is not degradable. She told me that by the end of 2010 PPS will be going to sustainable trays, and there is really no way to police the food that is tossed, so 4 times a year PPS donates food and money to the food banks. I was glad to hear that.

I didn't get to do the activity that I wanted to do with my kids and this project, but I did ask them questions about the world that they wanted their world to be. One wanted a world full of video games and cats. But for the most part, all of them recycle at home. and are quite knowledgeable about the environment. Their parents are adept at teaching them to leave a smaller carbon foot print. I was pleasantly surprised.

Transportation Reform

According to the US Census Bureau there are 301,348,025 people in the United States with 3,421,399 of us living in Oregon. (http://www.census.gov/) There are 176,628,482 lcensed driver in the US, with 2,541,873 living in Oregon. According the the US Department of Transportation the need for transportation reform is great. "congestion results from poor policy choices, and a failure to separate and embrace solutions that are effective from those that are not." (http://www.dot.gov/) According to Anthony Downs of the Washington Post 87.9%  of the daily comuters use private transportation.

Americans love our cars, but our addiction is killing us. In the first part of the decade we saw George Bush taking office in a very flawed election, Enron was his biggest campaign contributor. When it emploded, it was  the largest bankruptcy in history. His VP Dick Cheney said "energy conservation...maybe a sign of personal virtue, but is not a sufficient basis sound, comprehensive energy policy."

"Voices from across the political spectrum say oil dependence is bad for America's national security, economy, and environment."(http://www.nrdc.org/)

Meanwhile the Energy Information Agency predicts that the global demand for oil would continue to grow, increasing 60% by the year 2020, that is roughly 120 million barrels of oil per day.

We must curb our addiction to oil it is killing us.

State of Oregon Website

The state of Oregon website has some really great information regarding renewable energy resources.  Their website is: http://www.oregon.gov/ENERGY/RENEW/index.shtml. By visiting this website you can find out lots of different information regarding this subject and this website provides you with different links of websites to visit for further exploration.  It's a great resource for everyone.

Jillian Blake

Teaching Kids about Renewable Energy

Are you looking for ways to teach your children about renewable energy?  The following websites are good links that help teach children about renewable energy and the different options available for conserving energy:

http://www.eere.energy.gov/kids/

http://ezinearticles.com/?Renewable-Energy-For-Kids---Teaching-Children-About-Renewable-Energy&id=2099518

http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/jmresources/energy/renewable.html

http://www.recycleworks.org/schools/greenschools.html

http://www.squidoo.com/renewableenergyforhome

Jillian Blake

Pacific Gas and Electric

In what could be a major step forward for alternative electric power generation for the region, Pacific Gas & Electric is preparing to seek approval to study a future wave energy project located off the California coast near Vandenberg Air Force Base.


The project, which could take years to make operational, would generate as much as 100 megawatts of power, providing permanent non-fossil-fueled electricity for the base, one of the largest employers in Santa Barbara County. PG&E is expected to seek the permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which has been designated as the umbrella agency for wave energy project approval in the nation.

“We’ve entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Air Force to let us proceed with wave energy in that area if findings are favorable,” said PG&E spokesperson Kory Raftery. At press time, the permit application was expected to be filed on Dec. 11, and information about the project was provided to the Business Times on an embargoed basis.

During recent weeks, officials at PG&E have met with a number of local elected officials, including Santa Barbara County supervisors. They also have held preliminary meetings with environmental groups, including the Surfrider Foundation, according to people familiar with the talks. In addition, PG&E has hired SAIC and CH2Mhill, two large consulting firms, to help with technology and siting issues.

One advantage of locating the project near Vandenberg is that the Air Force base has an existing power grid that can handle a large interconnection. In addition, the base has launch facilities to allow large wave energy devices to be deployed easily into the ocean.

“Unlike other projects, if we get to that point, there would be no need to develop onshore infrastructure,” Raftery said. The 100-megawatt power generating array would be enough to supply Vandenberg and a portion of PG&E’s Santa Barbara County customer base, which includes the city of Santa Maria.

PG&E is publicizing its focus on clean energy development and recently parted ways with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over climate change policy.

The Tri-Counties is becoming somewhat of a hub for sustainable energy.

Also near Vandenberg, Pacific Renewable Energy Generation, a subsidiary of a Spanish wind energy firm, is moving to build Santa Barbara County’s first large wind installation. Approved by county supervisors in February, the project would build as many as 65 400-foot-tall turbines on ridgelines near the Air Force base. The turbines are expected to generate 97.5 megawatts of energy, enough to power about 40,000 homes, and the electricity will be sold to PG&E through a power purchase agreement.

That project would ask county officials to decide for the first time whether they’re willing to take agricultural land out of production for an energy project.

For its part, the kind of wave power generation proposed for the coast near Vandenberg has been somewhat of a holy grail for clean energy advocates for decades, and there has been some small success with using wave energy devices to power sonar buoys.

Several European countries are aggressively pursuing the technology, but it remains unclear whether large-scale power generation technology will work off either the East or West Coast of the United States.

The goal of the Central Coast project, he said, is to produce reliable electric power with “no significant impact on existing coastal activities.”

With the wave energy permit application, PG&E has two large regulatory undertakings underway for the Central Coast. Earlier this year it filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to extend the license of its twin-reactor Diablo Canyon nuclear generating station near San Luis Obispo.

“It’s exciting that our region could set precedent for our country and the world for creating a diverse power supply,” Raftery said.

http://pacbiztimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1290&Itemid=1





Jillian Blake

Renewable Energy is not a new concept

The use of renewable energy is not new. More than 150 years ago, wood, which is one form of biomass, supplied up to 90% of our energy needs. As the use of coal, petroleum, and natural gas expanded, the United States became less reliant on wood as an energy source. Today, we are looking again at renewable sources to find new ways to use them to help meet our energy needs.


In 2008, consumption of renewable sources in the United States totaled 7.3 quadrillion Btu — 1 quadrillion is the number 1 followed by 15 zeros — or about 7% of all energy used nationally.

Over half of renewable energy goes to producing electricity. About 9% of U.S. electricity was generated from renewable sources in 2008. The next largest use of renewable energy is the production of heat and steam for industrial purposes. Renewable fuels, such as ethanol, are also used for transportation and to provide heat for homes and businesses.

Renewable energy plays an important role in the supply of energy. When renewable energy sources are used, the demand for fossil fuels is reduced. Unlike fossil fuels, non-biomass renewable sources of energy (hydropower, geothermal, wind, and solar) do not directly emit greenhouse gases.

Why Don’t We Use More Renewable Energy?

In the past, renewable energy has generally been more expensive to produce and use than fossil fuels. Renewable resources are often located in remote areas, and it is expensive to build power lines to the cities where the electricity they produce is needed. The use of renewable sources is also limited by the fact that they are not always available — cloudy days reduce solar power; calm days reduce wind power; and droughts reduce the water available for hydropower.

The production and use of renewable fuels has grown more quickly in recent years as a result of higher prices for oil and natural gas, and a number of State and Federal Government incentives, including the Energy Policy Acts of 2002 and 2005. The use of renewable fuels is expected to continue to grow over the next 30 years, although we will still rely on non-renewable fuels to meet most of our energy needs.

For more information.... http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/kids/energy.cfm?page=renewable_home-basics


Jillian Blake

Fry Your Food, Then Recycle the Evidence

Growing up in a household that cooked a lot of southern soul food, I saw my mother, grandmother, and aunts cook their dishes with some of the best ingredients that would just make your mouth water watching them prepare these foods.  Along with these wonderful ingredients I also watched them cook with plenty of lard and cooking oil.  My mother would always keep her old cooking oil in one of those big Crisco cans and store them to be used at a later time.  She still does do this until this day and now that I have began doing a lot of the cooking in the family I do the same thing.  At least we know not to put them down the drain, but I often wondered "Do we keep this forever?"

Well, while doing some research for some resources in Portland available to the community, I came across a fairly new resource for those living in the Portland area to be able dispose of their cooking oil.  Just last year Far West Fibers and Portland Recycling Centers are taking these cooking oils and are using them to be converted into biodiesels which is a cleaner burning alternative fuel for vehicles that take diesel fuel. I thought this to be a really great thing and couldn't believe that we (Portlanders) were just now getting this resource available to us.

So instead of hanging on to those cans and containers of old cooking oil, we can take these down to the recycling centers and will be contributing to a renewable source and the future.  Now hopefully that we can get rid of the cooking oil maybe we can make some steps to reducing our consumption...but it just makes fried chicken taste so good!
You can learn more about bio-diesels and other alternative fuels sources on our website.
Check out the press release for this resource at http://encoreoils.com/downloads/Portland_UCO_Recycling.pdf