Bill Brown and The Climate Project
Published Wednesday, December 03, 2008 by Dan Gainsford | E-mail this post
Wednesday December 3, 2008
Location: Taos New Mexico
Had a great interview session last night with Bill Brown last night followed by an amazing well-needed dinner prepared by his wonderful wife Lisa. I met Bill and Lisa through Liz while she was visiting, it was a nice little slice of serendipity. Liz was looking into the Midwifery College here in Taos where Lisa is working. Lisa invited Liz and I over for dinner, thereupon I met Bill who has worked with the United State Geoligcal Survey throughout his career and is now a volunteer presenter with The Climate Project which was a result of Al Gore and An Inconvenient Truth.
Once Bill and I got into discussions about where we're headed there was no stopping our banter. Liz and Lisa locked in their own conversations, all of us sharing ideas around the table, I couldn't leave without asking Bill for an interview since he contains a wealth of information regarding our global change process. And what's more, is he's enthusiastically optimistic!
The interview was a great success and the dinner left me feeling rejuvenated and content after what had been a difficult afternoon. As I was heading out the door, Lisa tossed me a bag of her famous cookies... they better be careful.. or I might just never leave.
Bill sends out weekly bulletins on what is happening globally with respect to energy and climate change. I've offered to set up a blog for him since what he's putting out there is important and relevant to everyone spinning round and round on this beautiful blue orb called earth.
Here's an excerpt from his last bulletin.
peace,
d
Hello, All -- Two momentous events in the evolution of policy for a new energy economy for the planet occurred within the past two weeks.
The British Government on November 26, 2008 approved its Energy Bill that includes implementing a system of feed-in tariffs (FITs) for small renewable energy producers by 2010. The feed-in tariff provisions until recently were unthinkable in the British political landscape.
"The move by the British government has far reaching ramifications. The English speaking world has been more resistant to feed-in tariffs than non-English speaking countries, sometimes on ideological grounds, sometimes simply out of ignorance. Many North Americans, for example, attribute continental Europe's success with renewable energy to renewable portfolio standards, which is not the case. Now that the British have clearly moved toward the camp favoring feed-in tariffs, there may be less reticence to do so elsewhere in the Anglophone world."
The Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, the largest municipal utility district in North America, announced on November 24, 2008 that it is prepared to launch one of the continent's largest solar power programs, also making use of a feed-in tariff by 2016. Los Angeles joins Gainesville Regional Utilities in Florida, Toronto Hydro (Canada's largest municipal utility, and second largest to LAWPD in North America), and a few other smaller cities in using FITs as a centerpiece for encouraging rapid clean energy development.
"Regardless of how or even whether it follows through, Los Angeles, as one of North America's largest cities, has put feed-in tariffs, at least for solar, on the continent's public policy map."
For a primer on FITs, see the easily readable and well illustrated 16-page 2008 report from the World Future Council:
Energy Science, Law, Architecture
Taos & Arroyo Hondo, New Mexico
Web: http://www.sagewestconsultants.com
Web: http://www.theclimateproject.org
Location: Taos New Mexico
Had a great interview session last night with Bill Brown last night followed by an amazing well-needed dinner prepared by his wonderful wife Lisa. I met Bill and Lisa through Liz while she was visiting, it was a nice little slice of serendipity. Liz was looking into the Midwifery College here in Taos where Lisa is working. Lisa invited Liz and I over for dinner, thereupon I met Bill who has worked with the United State Geoligcal Survey throughout his career and is now a volunteer presenter with The Climate Project which was a result of Al Gore and An Inconvenient Truth.
Once Bill and I got into discussions about where we're headed there was no stopping our banter. Liz and Lisa locked in their own conversations, all of us sharing ideas around the table, I couldn't leave without asking Bill for an interview since he contains a wealth of information regarding our global change process. And what's more, is he's enthusiastically optimistic!
The interview was a great success and the dinner left me feeling rejuvenated and content after what had been a difficult afternoon. As I was heading out the door, Lisa tossed me a bag of her famous cookies... they better be careful.. or I might just never leave.
Bill sends out weekly bulletins on what is happening globally with respect to energy and climate change. I've offered to set up a blog for him since what he's putting out there is important and relevant to everyone spinning round and round on this beautiful blue orb called earth.
Here's an excerpt from his last bulletin.
peace,
d
Hello, All -- Two momentous events in the evolution of policy for a new energy economy for the planet occurred within the past two weeks.
The British Government on November 26, 2008 approved its Energy Bill that includes implementing a system of feed-in tariffs (FITs) for small renewable energy producers by 2010. The feed-in tariff provisions until recently were unthinkable in the British political landscape.
"The move by the British government has far reaching ramifications. The English speaking world has been more resistant to feed-in tariffs than non-English speaking countries, sometimes on ideological grounds, sometimes simply out of ignorance. Many North Americans, for example, attribute continental Europe's success with renewable energy to renewable portfolio standards, which is not the case. Now that the British have clearly moved toward the camp favoring feed-in tariffs, there may be less reticence to do so elsewhere in the Anglophone world."
See full details in the second article below, and note that FITs are the basis for accelerated clean energy development in Germany, Spain, France, and Denmark, for example.
The Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, the largest municipal utility district in North America, announced on November 24, 2008 that it is prepared to launch one of the continent's largest solar power programs, also making use of a feed-in tariff by 2016. Los Angeles joins Gainesville Regional Utilities in Florida, Toronto Hydro (Canada's largest municipal utility, and second largest to LAWPD in North America), and a few other smaller cities in using FITs as a centerpiece for encouraging rapid clean energy development.
"Regardless of how or even whether it follows through, Los Angeles, as one of North America's largest cities, has put feed-in tariffs, at least for solar, on the continent's public policy map."
For a primer on FITs, see the easily readable and well illustrated 16-page 2008 report from the World Future Council:
http://www.worldfuturecouncil.org/research_and_publications.html
"Feed-In Tariffs -- Boosting Energy for our Future: A guide to one of the world's best environmental policies," by the World Future Council, 2008
It looks like a very promising 2009 awaits us in moving rapidly from a obsolescent fossil fuel/dirty energy economy to a modern clean energy economy.
William M. Brown
Sage West Consultants & The Climate Project "Feed-In Tariffs -- Boosting Energy for our Future: A guide to one of the world's best environmental policies," by the World Future Council, 2008
It looks like a very promising 2009 awaits us in moving rapidly from a obsolescent fossil fuel/dirty energy economy to a modern clean energy economy.
William M. Brown
Energy Science, Law, Architecture
Taos & Arroyo Hondo, New Mexico
Web: http://www.
Web: http://www.theclimateproject.
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