Banning Single-Use Plastic & Paper; PG&E; LED; Energy Star; Vaclav Smil

Banning Single-Use Plastic Bags & Paper Bags
Very glad to read Supervisor Stone is planning to write legislation to ban both single-use paper bags and plastic bags in Santa Cruz.  Sounds like he's being cautious and aiming for April, 2010 and only in non-incorporated areas of Santa Cruz County.  San Jose is apparently doing a Environmental Impact Report (EIR).   Full article: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_13674516

Use Social Norms!!
PG&E's "Climate Smart" program, which takes a monthly fee of less than $5 from any of its opt-in 5MM billing customers (15MM actual users) and then uses the funds to buy "offsets" which do presumably do good, has had poor subscription rates.

Many environmentals are opposed to offsets because they do not reduce total CO2 emissions and are a way to "cheat" by buying something from an unregulated second market.
PG&E should adopt a "social norm" strategy, supply usage information & neighborhood averages without charge.   This is has worked successfully in Sacramento and elsewhere to reduce energy use.

Full article in SJ Mercury News.

LED Lighting comparison
SJ Mercury

Table below came from this San Jose Mercury article on Oct 19 , which I added a few summary facts to bottom:
Full article:  LED vs. CFL Light

LED bulbs offer potential advantages over older technologies — but at a price
Technology	Incandescent	Compact fluorescent	LED
Cost per bulb (approx.)	50 cents	$2.50	$40*
Power use, standard bulb	60 watts	13 watts	7 watts*
Typical lifespan	1,000 hours	10,000 hours	25,000 hours*
Market share, medium-screw bulbs, 2007	77 percent	23 percent	N/A

- 20% of average household energy use is for lighting (DOE)
-LED light price is decreasing rapidly and will be new products
-DOE has offered an "L" prize to speed up LED development.
-Incandescent light bulbs may soon face bans
-CFL contains mercury and must be recycled the correct way 




EPA Energy Star
NY Times 10/19
Internal DOE Audit on Energy Star
Bad news is that EPA's Energy Star labeling may be offered a bit too liberally, but the good news is that DOE and EPA, both showing  bright green roots after years of neglect, are reacting.   China has extremely clear color-coded labeling on all new appliances so you know exactly this model stands in terms of energy use.  Be nice to have that here.  

Wikipedia (Energy Star)


Vaclav Smil
 An astounding physicist and humanist who has written extensively over the years about risks, wars and certainly energy,  long before it became very popular, Dr. Smil's ("smale", i.e. rhymes with 'snail') ideas are actually often quite simple ways to bring dense  subjects into strikingly simple clarity.   

Here's a recent video.