NORTH CAROLINA AND THE CHARLOTTE REGION

Latest news:

May 13 2013: Study suggests N.C. coal plant emissions might play role in suicide numbers.
This is the first study to show that the existence of coal-fired electricity plants is related to population-level suicide rates. Because suicide might be associated with environmental pollution, this study may help inform regulations not only of air pollutants, but also of coal-fired electrical power plant emissions. The ecological study evaluated air level contaminates in 20 North Carolina counties where coal-fired electricity plants existed, using data from the 2000 U.S. Census link

March 22 2013: Duke Energy presents problem for Apple's renewable goals. As Apple commits to 100% renewable energy, (around 75% of Apple facilities energy consumption now comes from renewable resources), a major roadblock exists in North Carolina where electric utility Duke Energy is intent on blocking wind and solar energy from entering the grid. link

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December 2011: ACE – The Alliance for Climate Education, opened a permanent regional office in North Carolina  this fall!  ACE is a leading national organization that delivers free, exciting, science-based multimedia presentations on climate change (more) to high schools to high-school students.  This exciting & engaging presentation meets national science curriculum standards. ACE also provides free resources for schools, students and teachers. Bringing ACE to your school is simple- fill out this brief booking form.

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• Pollution in NC
• Duke Energy's role in the Carolinas
  
• Fracking issue debated
  
• Renewables / Wind power / Solar power
• Coal's impact in the state
  
• Coal Ash situation
• Nuclear Power
• Offshore oil drilling
• Sea-level rise
  
• Other news and green schools in NC
  

April 2013 - See report on Charlotte region's current air pollution - American Lung Association

October 2011: Envision Charlotte begins. Financed by Duke Energy and two corporate partners, Envision Charlotte is billed as the first effort of its type. The first phase of the energy-saving green initiative goes live today raising the consciousness of 82,000 uptown workers aiming to trim energy use in uptown office buildings 20% by 2016. It's technically simple, with little cost, to cut energy use in office buildings by 5%, says research compiled by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Energy Efficiency Strategy Project. But it's harder to motivate changes in habit. Building owners may see no point in spending on energy upgrades that will save money only for tenants. Office workers don't pay for their electricity so have nothing at stake. Organizers hope the Prius effect - high regard for going green - will take hold uptown. Duke hopes to recoup part of its $4.1 million investment through a state-approved energy efficiency pilot program. The program lets Duke recover the costs, and lost revenues, associated with energy-saving measures by adding a fraction of a cent per kilowatt-hour to nonresidential customer bills. Charlotte Observer

April 2011: TVA settles NC pollution claims. The Tennessee Valley Authority has  agreed to close 18 coal-fired generators and install as much as $5 billion in pollution controls to resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations in Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee, and will invest $350 million in clean-energy projects and pay $10 million in civil penalties. The federal utility will spend $350 million on clean-energy projects, including $11.2 million for North Carolina programs to promote energy efficiency and reduce demand for electricity. TVA will also pay a $10 million fine. The settlement goes beyond the terms of a federal judge's 2009 order that settled North Carolina's lawsuit against TVA. link  (more on TVA story) 

November 2009: Pollution up 39% in North Carolina since 1990: North Carolina’s global warming pollution increased by 39% since 1990, according to a new analysis of government data released by Environment North Carolina. Between 1990 and 2007, CO2 emissions from burning coal jumped 46.2%.

The Duke Energy - Progress Energy merger is currently a contentious issue in North Carolina, with a suspect merger and ousting of proposed CEO, as well as impending investigations and lawsuits on the way.

July 13 2012: Secret deals endanger $32 biilion deal. More officials called to testify on Duke Energy’s boardroom coup –New York Times
June 29 2012: Final approval given for Duke Energy & Progress Energy to merge, creating the largest utility in the country, and the biggest user of coal. Greenpeace statement  
Duke and Progress Energy become largest U.S. utility - link

Solar and wind would reduce ratepayers' bills. Duke Energy customers in the Carolinas could save $108 billion, or 57% of their total bills, over the next 20 years by choosing solar and wind energy according to Ventyx, a provider of data and analysis related to the electricity sector. Ventyx modeled the rate and environmental impact of a cleaner alternative to Duke Energy’s existing Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs). Such plans or IRPs set the course for utility planning and offer a glimpse into major construction, retirements and improvements that will shape the future of energy supply and delivery. Since Duke Energy has yet to issue an IRP as a combined company (Duke recently merged with competitor Progress Energy to become the largest utility in the country), Duke’s 2010 IRP and Progress’s 2011 IRP were analyzed. These plans were weighed in the context of the Southeastern region consisting of the Carolinas, Virginia and West Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska over the next 20 years. The model ran various fuel price, wholesale power price, supply, demand (load forecasts) and emissions assumptions across the region, based on existing and planned generation by fuel type. The model also incorporated two-way power flow constraints. link

July 2012: Fracking prospects. October 2014 is the deadline to have regulation in place, and no permite would be granted until at least 2015. House representative Ruth Samuelson, co-chairman of the Environmental Review Commission, writes that fracking is neither imminent nor even inevitable in North Carolina. link

Fracking in North Carolina. (November 2011) Legislation passed early 2011 has moved North Carolina closer to producing shale gas, and directs the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to complete a study on the effects of hydraulic fracturing, often called “fracking,” by May, 2012. A report by Duke University researchers offers several health and environmental measures for North Carolina lawmakers to consider as they debate legalizing horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing for natural gas. More

N.C. landowners signing one-sided agreements with fracking companies - link
Organization opposing fracking in NC - Frackfreenc

(ACORE) American Council on Renewable Energy summary of North Carolina - link

Wind power

February 2012: Third study touts wind power for North Carolina. A February 2012 study says North Carolina had the largest offshore wind resource on the East Coast and that the state should work with industry to develop the wind energy industry. The 15-member panel said there are areas off the North Carolina coast suited for wind farms that could generate a yearly average of 20,000 megawatts of power. The report said producing wind energy is expensive and would increase the cost to ratepayers in the short term but would provide long-term benefits in producing pollution-free energy. Iberdrola proposes a 300 megawatt "Desert Wind" project near Elizabeth City, but no utility has been willing to commit to buy the power. Invenergy proposes an 80-megawatt project in Beaufort County near the Pocosin Lakes Wildlife Refuge. The project is delayed over concerns about migrating snow birds being killed. Apex Wind proposes an offshore project that is awaiting word on which federal water parcels can be used for wind farms. link 

June 2011: Governor Perdue issued an executive order creating a task force which is charged with assessing the costs and risks of growing an off-shore wind industry and is to report by March 2012. The shallow waters of the mid-Atlantic coast, including North Carolina, hold some of the nation's highest wind-energy potential, federal agencies have reported.  Advisory panel report on offshore energy report. Governor Perdue’s final report on the potential offshore energy said resources would likely be developed outside North Carolina’s jurisdictional waters meaning any decisions would be made at federal level. North Carolina has the largest offshore wind resources on the east coast which offer significant opportunities for renewable energy generation, economic development and job creation. link

300MW Project Desert Wind Power.  Early May 2011, regulators approved an application by a U.S. subsidiary of Spanish power company Iberdrola to build a 300-megawatt wind farm at a cost of about $600 million in eastern North Carolina. If built, the wind farm located on 20,000 acres of scrubland, would be the first. This wind farm would be enough to power between 55,000 to 70,000 North Carolina homes with electricity. link  (However, it’s probable that this energy will be sold to the Virginia market, not NC.) Update - December 2011: Iberdrola Renewable, the developer of the largest wind farm ever proposed in North Carolina says the project has stalled because no utility wants to buy the power the project would produce. link   

February 2013: North Carolina will be home to the biggest solar PV farm in the eastern states when local solar developer Strata gets approval for a 100MW plant.  Chapel Hill-based Strata Solar wants to start construction on the $250 million project late 2013 and complete it in 10 months. Located in Duplin County, it will cover 400 acres. The four-year-old firm has been quickly ramping up projects, mostly smaller ones, but with the prospect of incentives being phased out, it's getting into big projects. This year, 13 solar projects come online across North Carolina, built in partnership with Canadian Solar. Each is about 6.4 MW, for a total exceeding 80 MW. link 

October 2012: In Catawba County Apple is finishing a 20MW solar farm at its Maiden data center that will be the state’s largest. It has announced a second of the same size to be built a few miles away. A California company, meanwhile, has applied for a state permit to build a 17.5MW solar farm in Claremont, and Chapel Hill-based Strata Solar is working on two 6.4MW systems in the county. Combined, the new solar output would easily eclipse that of any other North Carolina county. Guilford County now leads the state in operating solar systems with a total capacity of 32MW according to the N.C. Sustainable Energy Association. North Carolina ranked ninth nationally in grid-connected solar projects installed in 2011, the Interstate Renewable Energy Council reported. The 45.5MW connected in 2011 more than doubled the state’s total solar capacity. For all that activity, solar energy still supplied only 2% of the state’s electricity last year. (Strata plans to build 11 farms, totaling more than 70MW in Catawba and other N.C. counties this year and next.) link

January 2011: North Carolina's largest solar farm to date is now complete and producing power. The fifth and final phase of the 200-acre, 17.2-megawatt (DC) solar farm  located in Davidson County, was recently completed by Duke Energy and SunEdison LLC. As the second largest active solar PV project on the East Coast, its 63,000 solar panels will generate an estimated 28 million kilowatt-hours annually, which is enough power for approximately 2,600 homes a year link 

May 2012: Apples Malden data center will use renewables 100% by end of year. Apple plans to use exclusively solar power to run all three of its high-consuming server centres. (The Malden data center will host a 20MW solar farm and be completed by the end of 2012.)  Apple plans on using coal-free electricity in all three of its data centres, with the Maiden facility coal-free by the end of 2012. link
Solar Update    

December 2011: High efficiency concentrated solar cells. Semprius, a North Carolina firm based in Durham, broke ground on a manufacturing plant in Henderson, N.C. this year as a leader in the Sunshot incubator project. The plant is expected to start operating in 2012 with an initial capacity of 5MW, eventually growing to 35MW. The available project market for highly-concentrated photovoltaics. is expected to double or more each year over the next nine years, reaching greater than 10 gigawatts of power by 2020, according to Semprius CEO Joe Carr. link 
Update: September 2012: Durham-based Semprius Inc., a U.S. solar-panel maker, will open its first manufacturing plant this month in Henderson, North Carolina, countering the trend of solar factories shutting their doors, and will eventually employ more than 250 people. link

May 2012: Duke Energy and Bank of America targets as local and national groups gear up for a show down in Charlotte. The NC Coalition Against Corporate Power, Greenpeace, and Rainforest Action Network are planning massive protests at the Duke Energy shareholder’s meeting on May 3 and Bank of America’s shareholders’ meeting on May 9. The upcoming shareholders meeting will see peaceful protests and nonviolent direct actions aimed at holding the corporations accountable for their profiteering from the economic and climate crisis. 

200 Wilmington doctors oppose Titan Cement plant.  StopTitan.org was put together by a group of local citizens to provide information about Titan America's plans to build the 4th largest cement plant in the nation, along the banks of the Northeast Cape Fear River, just outside of Wilmington, NC. They oppose this cement plant, proposed by Titan, because of the impacts it will have on our coastal region.
(From Southern Environmental Law Center) Although $4.5m taxpayer dollars have been given to Titan America, the Perdue administration says it does not constitute an expenditure of public money, and also that a full environmental impact does not need to be conducted before North Carolina begins issuing permits for the plant despite mercury fears. (Building the plant would also destroy some 1,000 acres of wetlands) link
Grassroots action in Wilmington confronting the Titan Cement plant - 6-minute video - view here      

North Carolina has 37 coal ash ponds, more than any other state. Twenty-nine of these have been rated high hazard by the EPA - meaning human life could be lost if a breech happens at the ash impoundment.

Independent journalist Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman reports on coal ash issues in Coal Ash Chronicles. Here is a report on the Charlotte region - Charlotte's coal ash problem  
Also check Southeastcoalash.org   

Duke Energy has 8 coal-fired plants in the Carolinas which produce 2.2 million tons of ash a year. Two-thirds of this is dumped into landfills and ponds. The Charlotte Observer reported in February 2008 that Duke was forced to close one site in 2008 because of groundwater contamination. As with the TVA spill on December 22, 2008 in Tennessee (see photo right), companies assure us there is no risk, and safety is a top concern, but state inspections are only required every five years, and a 2005 storm at the Cliffside plant in Rutherford County caused "major distress and erosion" requiring the dike to be raised by a foot.

State records show that arsenic, boron and selenium - all toxic in high concentrations - have been found at potentially unsafe levels in groundwater under Duke's ash basins. Duke says there is no evidence that water supplies have been harmed. Tests support that at Mountain Island. But until recently, groundwater has gotten little scrutiny. Unlined ash basins - Duke's plants have 14 - are the type most likely to pollute groundwater, according to another EPA study. Cancer risks from drinking groundwater tainted by arsenic from unlined basins are 900 times higher than the government says is acceptable.   

The dangers posed by coal ash are significant in North Carolina. High hazard risk means an impoundment will threaten human life if it ruptures. Many of the earthen dams holding back millions of gallons of coal sludge in North Carolina are in populated areas with homes and businesses that would be destroyed if they fail. Even without a structural failure, groundwater contamination from coal ash storage sites is already occurring in the state. 

According to Upper Watauga Riverkeeper Donna Lisenby’s review of the data, all thirteen of the tested coal ash ponds were found to be leaking toxic heavy metals and other pollutants into nearby groundwater, including but not limited to: arsenic, boron, cadmium, chloride, chromium, iron, lead, manganese, pH and sulfate. In all, the analysis found 681 instances where levels of pollutants were in excess, ranging from 1.1 to 380 times higher than North Carolina’s groundwater standard.

“The results of this data are very alarming, and we now know that some of these ponds have been leaking into the groundwater for years,” said Lisenby. “We intend to call for further oversight and clean up of coal ash pond waste to prevent additional heavy metals and other toxins from being released into our groundwater and rivers.”   link

There are three operating nuclear power plants in North Carolina. North Carolina’s nuclear capacity, which accounts for nearly 5% of the national total, ranks 6th among the 31 States that have operating commercial nuclear reactors. North Carolina’s nuclear capacity is nearly 20% of the State’s total capacity but still ranks third behind coal and natural gas. Nuclear generation accounts for roughly a third of North Carolina’s total generation, the other two-thirds coming from coal and natural gas. link    picture Shearon Harris Unit 1, 20 miles south-west of Raleigh

The looming nuclear nightmare in North Carolina. The Department of Homeland Security has fingered Shearon Harris as one of the most vulnerable terrorist targets in the nation. Shearon Harris is not just a nuclear power-generating station, but a repository for highly radioactive spent fuel rods from two other nuclear plants owned by Progress Energy creating the largest radioactive waste storage pools in the country. Because the water system that feeds the waste pools is also connected to the Shearon Harris reactor, a pool fire could also trigger a nuclear meltdown. A recent study by the Brookhaven Labs, not known to overstate nuclear risks, estimates that a pool fire could cause 140,000 cancers, contaminate thousands of square miles of land, and cause over $500 billion in off-site property damage. A waste pool fire could spread radioactive debris over a 500-mile radius, including Cesium-137, a carcinogen linked to birth defects and genetic damage. The plant has experienced numerous shit-downs and safety problems. link

                          The logic of drilling for oil off North Carolina's coast.

How much oil is off the Atlantic Coast? We really have no idea. The entire East Coast has been off limits from all drilling-related activity since 1981. That's the last time any data was collected on the area, using seismic equipment that's outdated compared to today's advanced methods. More accurate data is likely to lead to more accurate drilling and fewer "dry wells" that don't produce oil. But it could also revise downward how much we think is out there. The Interior Department's Minerals Management Service (MMS) estimates there could be as much as 10 billion barrels of oil and natural gas in the mid- and south Atlantic. But that's only at a 5% level of confidence. Ask them what they're 95% confident of, and the estimate drops to fewer than 2 billion barrels, or about 100 days of oil at our current rate. So, not much. "We really don't know a lot about what's down there," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar admits. "It may be nothing, it may be a lot.  link

October 2008: Forty-five miles off Cape Hatteras, Chevron USA said a decade ago, lay a colossal gamble that sounds sweet today. The oil company reckoned only a 7% chance of striking oil or gas more than 11,000 feet under the sea floor. A federal official called the Manteo Exploration Unit, as the site is known, “a high-risk prospect with world-class potential.” And as a congressional ban on offshore exploration in the Atlantic expired last week, N.C. residents wracked by high energy prices are in a mood to drill.  But don't expect to see drill rigs anytime soon, experts say. “There's really been no activity off the (N.C.) coast since 1984,” said Roger Shew, a former Shell Oil geologist now at UNC Wilmington. “The fact of the matter is that this is all based on old data. ”Instruments today can more accurately probe the sea floor for rock formations that trap hydrocarbons."Oil company estimates of deposits off North Carolina could be overblown. Of 51 wells drilled elsewhere along the Atlantic coast in the 1970s and 1980s, none were commercially viable. Even when previously closed portions of the Outer Continental Shelf open, Shew said, oil companies are most likely to invest in the known reserves in the Gulf of Mexico. Even there, he said, too few drill rigs exist to explore every prospective site. “They are not going to take lightly coming up and poking some holes just to take a look,” he said. Any exploration would follow a lengthy process, including hearings and environmental studies, to issue leases. Federal law allows the governor to comment on drilling proposals, and the state can force drillers to comply with coastal-development regulations. The state used its clout to fight off oil companies in the 1980s and '90s, but political opposition to drilling is waning. 

Geologists estimates that the mid-Atlantic coast, including North Carolina, holds about 1.5 billion gallons of oil – enough to meet U.S. needs for a little more than two months. The estimated 15.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas would last about eight months. Kenneth Taylor, chief of the N.C. Geological Survey said, “Things that were not economically feasible then may be now.” Because the N.C. coast has no history of oil or gas production, the costs of building pipelines and storage tanks would have to be added to exploration and production expenses, said Taylor. Even then, Taylor added, there's no assurance that any oil or gas that's recovered would be sold in the United States. After sinking millions of dollars into exploration, permitting and drilling, he said, companies could ship the raw product to more lucrative markets such as China. Once they actually drill, if they hit it, none of it might come back to North Carolina.

January 2010: NC Coasts subject to sea-level rise - While sea levels globally have been stable for more than 7,000 years, sea level rise has accelerated since the 1990s and that trend is expected to continue at an accelerated rate - the N.C. coast could rise by as little as 1.2 feet to as much as 4.6 feet this century. Some 2,300 square miles of low-lying land would be underwater or easily flooded. North Carolina is among the states most vulnerable to rising seas, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says. Ice sheets in Greenland are shifting rapidly, and signs of unstable ice are emerging in western Antarctica, said Gordon Hamilton of the University of Maine. The ice sheets in Greenland alone could raise global seas some 20 feet.  link 

Sea-level rise for NC coast: Surging Seas, a project of Climate Central, says global warming has raised sea level about 8 inches since 1880, and the rate of rise is accelerating. Scientists expect 20 to 80 more inches this century, a lot depending upon how much more heat-trapping pollution humanity puts into the sky. This study makes mid-range projections of 1-8 inches by 2030, and 4-19 inches by 2050, depending upon location across the contiguous 48 states. 
Ancient N.C. records show sea-level rise is related to warmer temperatures. link
Sea-level rise interactive map for NC - link here  
August 2012: N.C. governor allows controversial bill on sea-level rise to become law. link

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Other Green Charlotte links:

              Energy Solutions

                           GreenTimesCharlotte

Other news:

                
Green schools in North Carolina.
Guilford Northern Middle School received the “Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR” graphic, distinguishing the design as one of the nation’s best in energy performance. If the project operates as intended and meets or exceeds EPA criteria for energy performance, the school may qualify to receive the ENERGY STAR label. The project will use cutting-edge techniques to achieve superior energy performance levels. Daylighting is the project’s primary sustainable strategy. In earlier projects, Innovative Design had used south-facing monitors and glazing to maximize winter solar gain. However, south-facing glazing can cause high glare. A new daylighting strategy uses south-facing clerestory windows but with 40% less glass to minimize glare. Throughout the year, daylighting will provide natural light at full-lighting levels to classrooms, administrative offices, the media center, the gymnasium, and the cafeteria during two-thirds of the school’s operating hours. Occupancy and photocell sensors will control indirect dimmable fluorescent fixtures and reduce electrical lighting consumption. To enhance the performance of the roof monitor daylighting strategy a white thermoplastic single-ply membrane to the flat roofs where the monitors sit, improving the monitors’ performance. These techniques will help reduce the size of the HVAC system, enhancing the overall efficiency of the school. Lower lighting and cooling needs are expected to reduce initial costs by $150,000 and, correspondingly, air conditioning by 70 tons.  You can read more about Guilford Northern Middle School in Greensboro here.