Sustainable WNC

As many of you have no doubt seen, a mass of emails are circulating encouraging us to not buy gas on May 15th. Well, it sounds good, and I sure support it on principle, sadly it is a useless effort in the larger picture.
Aside from some of the urban legends (gas costs dropping 30 cents and so on), the fact is this email effort only means that the gas you don’t buy is replaced the next day, in effect shifting profits from one day to the next. I cannot swear by it, but I did read a theory that it actually INCREASES overall sales a slight fraction, when folks re-fill in the ‘make up’ mode the next day.
SOOOO, rather than point by point bash the emails, I shall assume they mean well, a far better effort would be to NOT USE ANY GAS that day THAT YOU WOULD NORMALLY USE!!, and find ways to use less on ALL days. One day out of 365 is not really very much of an effort. According to the news this AM, gasoline demand is UP 2.5 % from this time last year. If you pledged to use one gallon less per day, that is 365 gallons less in the next year, then we would be talking about making a point.
If we all boycotted Exxon/Mobil ALL THE TIME, such as I do after Valdez adventure, that would make an impact. Inflammatory as it might seem, buying ONLY from Citgo would divert revenue from the Middle East to South America. Yes, we would still be destroying the world with gas/carbon/CO2, etc. but the money would not go to Middle Eastern terror organizations.
The answer is not ‘feel good’ one day boycotts on buying, however nice the idea is in prinicple to some, but the answer is reducing our fossil fuel use dramatically, overall. The answer is in mass transportation (which we sadly lack on any real scale), better community planning (the suburbia shuffle to work, for example), walkable communities, encouraging bike and walking paths, and so on. Say THANKS next time you pass someone on a bike
And just for the record, biofuels (biodeisel, ethanol, etc.) cannot replace the amounts of oil we are using currently, not to mention projected growth. Can’t be done. We MIGHT make a dent in some of the demand with some biofuels, perhaps algae biodiesel, but the bottom line is we have to learn to do far more with far less fuels when it comes to transportation. Hard reality, yes, but them’s the physics.
Peace, Ned

It’s May 5 and the absence from my blog postings on energy and issues has been due to several adventures on these fronts. Certainly news and thoughts on Progress Energy’s next efforts coming up.
Along with that adventure, it turned out a certain developer in Henderson County has laid claim to developing several tracts along the French Broad river with conservation areas and wetlands and floodplains in a small community that would be impacted by run off, water levels, sewer issues, existing traffic safety and congestion issues, air quality problems, fire services issues, school infrastructure questions, energy demands, floodplain remapping, sewer pump stations in a wetlands, wildlife and habitat loss …… all amid pending new regulations that might address some of these very issues…. You can imagine my surprise!
So, looked into it and testified at a vested right hearings, because the developer claims a right to do what he wants despite the unresolved problems. Fortunately, the County Commissioners decided to deliberate the matter, and postponed granting them the right to destroy this area. We’ll see what happens May 16th, next time it’s on the agenda.
Back to Energy, Progress Energy is rumored to be rooting about looking for a new location for another oil fired power plant. At least we can hope it’s oil, they also are quite fond of nuclear power, let’s not forget. The Canary Coalition has successfully gotten the public documents to prove legally that the lease for the Woodfin site, which Progress still has for $1 a year, let’s not forget, is invalid. They put a lot of effort and time and money into it, so if it’s OK in a blog, may I suggest you send a donation to the Canary Coalition Legal Fund. They are in the red on this, so thanks to them for going above the call of duty. So, the lease issue is not over yet until it’s voided. Might be good to ention this to elected officials?
On a related note of the Progress efforts, since Progress Energy refused to share and data on energy use, consumption, habits and so forth, and since this is information critical to figuring out what we really can - and can’t - do, there’s now the website survey www.oursoutherncommunity.org for Residential Energy use. This is 42 questions and takes between 10-15 minutes at most, asking if you think planning for a sustainable energy future makes sense. You can also say no, it doesn’t. The Goal: 10,000 respondents from WNC by Energy Independence Day, July 4th. If you love America…. Please pass the website link onto friends and organizations in WNC if you think planning makes sense.
While I am responisble for this website and survey, I should express thanks to the many great folks that have been meeting ad hoc to discuss and act on issues. Canary Coalition, NIRS, CWforNC, CSNC, WNCA, TTA, SACE, WNCPSR, RT, and the elected reps and private folks that have asked the questions have helped me to build the survey. If it works to change the course of our energy future, they get the credit.