Spring 2008 ■ Volume 19 No.1 ConservationCoastal League Tom Blagden Tom It's Spring! Trillium cuneatum and green tree frog on Spring Island. Clean Get Energy 8 A New Way Inventive! Future 12 No More to Work Jasper Port 3 Coal 10 14 From the Director Our Climate & Energy Agenda Spring 2008 Vol.19 No.1 here may be no “silver bullet” to save Transportation is the second largest energy _____________________STAFF the planet, but energy conservation user worldwide. The choice to drive, walk, Director Dana Beach is, at least, silver buckshot. Our bike, or take a bus depends on local land use REGIONAL OFFICES excessive dependence on foreign and transportation investment decisions. ______________________ South Coast Patrick Moore oil and coal jeopardizes national We know how to design communities that Reed Armstrong T Andrea Malloy security. Improving efficiency, consequently, reduce automobile dependency but the North Coast Nancy Cave enhances our ability to deal firmly and power to accomplish this in South Carolina, Amy Weinmeister effectively with hostile governments like for example, lies with the more than three Columbia Christie McGregor Patty Pierce those in the Middle East and South America. hundred towns and cities and 46 counties Heather Spires Oil and other energy that govern land use in the state. imports represent a large All of this brings me to the Conservation ________P______ROGRAMS________ Director of Megan Desrosiers part of our trade deficit, so League’s climate and energy program. We Conservation Programs energy efficiency also improves are working on energy conservation at every Program Directors Jane Lareau Nancy Vinson the U.S. balance of trade. level of government. Nationally, we are part Project Managers Hamilton Davis Energy conservation requires of a large coalition to promote a system of Lisa Jones-Turansky Ben Moore investments that are distinctly carbon “cap and trade,” which will facilitate Jim Cumberland local, such as installing high national goal setting for carbon reduction. Art von Lehe efficiency heating and air We are working in the state Legislature to Alex Dadok Communications/Web Site Brian Barrie systems, home insulation and pass energy efficiency legislation and with Grassroots Coordinator Gretta Kruesi solar panels, thus stimulating Governor Sanford’s Climate, Energy, and Newsletter Editor Virginia Beach local economies. Improving Commerce Advisory Committee to develop ___________DEVELOPMENT_______ efficiency in homes means lower utility a state energy plan. We are working with Director Tish Lynn bills and higher disposable income. This is mayors across the state – 108 at last count Membership Nancy Cregg Development Associate Alison Geer particularly important for poor families. – on federal, state and local energy policies. Finally, environmental advantages of Every one of these elements is essential, ______________ADMINISTRATION_______ increased efficiency include reduced pollution but I am especially encouraged about Director of Administration Cathy Forrester from power plants and other sources. Every the prospects for building local energy HR and Admin. Tonnia Switzer Director of Finance Ashley Waters coastal river in South Carolina has unsafe conservation “delivery systems.” Working Data Manager Nora Kravec levels of mercury, a product of coal fired with cities to improve efficiency in public Technology Administrator Robert Malone Administrative Assistant Angela Chvarak power plants. So efficiency improves public buildings, vehicle fleets, and transportation health. networks has great potential to contribute to Board of Directors The question is not whether to the overall agenda. But the greatest leverage Laura Gates, Chair aggressively promote energy conservation and is moving conservation into the private Bill Agnew Mary Kennemur Will Cleveland Fred Lincoln efficiency; it is how. This is where the issue sector by redirecting the waste of inefficiency Dorothea Benton Frank Cartter Lupton Vince Graham Roy Richards becomes murkier. If there is one lesson we’ve back into the economy, by capturing these Richard T. Hale Gillian Roy learned at the Conservation League over the lost resources and deploying them in the Angela Halfacre Jeffrey Schutz Hank Holliday Libby Smith past 19 years, it is the importance of local form of building improvements, equipment Holly Hook Victoria C. Verity action framed by consistent state and federal replacement, home energy generation and George Johnston Trenholm Walker (and in the case of energy – international) other measures that reduce consumption and Advisors and Committee Members policies. It is probably accurate to say that diversify production. Paul Kimball Hugh Lane not one drop of oil or one lump of coal will Improving national security, reducing the Jay Mills be conserved unless it is conserved locally. trade deficit, enhancing local and national To paraphrase the late U.S. Senator Daniel economic prosperity, advancing social P.O. Box 1765 ■ Charleston, SC 29402 Moynihan, all energy consumption and welfare, reducing pollution and stabilizing Phone: (843) 723-8035 ■ FAX: (843) 723-8308 conservation are local. climate . energy conservation is truly the E-Mail: [email protected] Buildings, for example, consume challenge and opportunity of the century. It Web site: www.CoastalConservationLeague.org the lion’s share of energy in the world. would be foolish to suggest that we know P.O. Box 1861 ■ Beaufort, SC 29901 Conserving energy will require more efficient today the precise course to follow, but we feel Phone: (843) 522-1800 construction or reconstruction of homes, confident that local deployment is the litmus 935 Main Street, No. 1 ■ Columbia, SC 29201 offices, stores, schools – you name it – in test for success, and we feel fortunate to be Phone: (803) 771-7102 every town and city in America. able to play a key role in the effort. P.O. Box 603 ■ Georgetown, SC 29442 Phone: (843) 545-0403 All contents herein are copyright of the Coastal Conservation League. Reprinting COA S T A L C O ns ER V ATIO N L E A G U E is strictly prohibited without written consent. Design by Julie Frye Design. Cover photograph by Tom Blagden Up Front An Energy Efficient Future for South Carolina “Do we wait until we reach a crisis or do we take positive steps to ensure that our energy sources remain plentiful and affordable? It's a quality-of-life issue. It's about our state. It's about jobs. It's about our environment. It's about our citizens.” - Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell outh Carolina has a wealth of opportunities when it comes to efficiency and renewable energy. Our S state’s utilities and electric cooperatives have produced studies Werken Vande Jess that demonstrate that we can power a large proportion of South Carolina’s energy needs through conservation and clean, renewable fuel. Yet, South Carolinians are the fourth largest users of electricity per capita in the United States. That means, despite our state’s relatively low electricity rates, our inefficiency translates into the Charleston Battery Soccer Goes Solar! The Charleston Battery soccer team at fourth highest electricity bills in Blackbaud Stadium on Daniel Island is installing solar panels for powering their offices and the nation. And the bulk of our operations during the day, as well as putting compact fluorescent bulbs in all light fixtures. energy is generated by dirty, coal fired power plants that continue to pollute and heat up our The package includes the following: • Goals for state agencies to reduce their atmosphere. Furthermore, as we • Month-long sales tax holidays offered energy consumption by 20% by 2020; spend more than a billion dollars twice a year for the purchases of • Established goals for state agencies to annually to import energy from energy efficient appliances; use 10% of their energy from distant states and hostile nations, • A sales tax exemption and a $750 renewable resources by 2025, and we weaken the economy, security, rebate for the purchase of an • Establishment of a private, nonprofit and quality of life in energy efficient manufactured home fund to assist low income residents in South Carolina. (Manufactured homes make up 22% making their homes more energy To address these issues, the of housing served by state electric efficient. Coastal Conservation League is coops and tend to be the least energy These initiatives complement working with the General Assembly efficient structures.); legislation already introduced to improve and South Carolina’s electric • A requirement that state agencies the efficiency of South Carolina’s schools, cooperatives, investor owned replace all incandescent light bulbs commercial buildings, and government utilities (like Progress Energy), with compact fluorescent bulbs if vehicle fleets. With the help of the and public utilities (like Santee they are available and cost effective General Assembly and our state’s utilities Cooper) to develop a package by 2011; and electric cooperatives, we can seize of state incentives to encourage • A tax credit equal to 20% of the this potential and lead South Carolina investment in measures that federal credit for the purchase of solar toward greater energy independence, promote energy conservation and fuel cell property; prosperity and security. and the production of home • A sales tax exemption for renewable grown renewable energy. energy systems; COA S T A L C O ns ER V ATIO N L E A G U E Climate & Energy Climate & Energy Conservation League Launches Climate & Energy Program Conservation