by Bob Ciesielski
The Atlantic Chapter congratulates President Obama for his recent acknowledgment of the existence of climate change and the fact that fossil fuels are major contributors to global climate disruption. The President spoke with the support of 97% of the world’s climate scientists who have been warning of man-made created climate change for years.
The President should also be commended for support of renewable energy development in America. Energy derived from wind, solar and water power is able to slow the ravages of climate change by halting the release of carbon dioxide and methane gas. The Atlantic Chapter Executive Committee has adopted a policy to have New York completely powered by renewable energy from solar, wind and water sources by 2030. Renewable energy is an important source of jobs, manufacturing and investment growth.
In May, Peter Gollon, of the Long Island Group, scheduled eight speakers at the Advanced Energy Conference in New York City to discuss the potential of renewable energy. George Maue, of the German Embassy, said that, as of early this year, 26% of his country’s energy comes from renewable sources. On many days, Germany is completely powered by renewable energy. 390,000 people are employed in the renewable energy sector in Germany. Comparing populations, this would translate to 1,500,000 good paying American jobs. Germany is well on its way to surpassing its goals of producing 35% of its electricity from renewables by 2020 and 80% by 2050. Coal plants and nuclear generators in the country are threatening to close, as their energy becomes less necessary.
Japan introduced a renewable energy feed-in-tariff in 2012 in a concerted effort to rapidly replace its nuclear reactors after the Fukushima disaster. The program resulted in the shipment of 2.47 gigawatts of solar cells and modules in 2012. In early 2013 the Japanese government reduced the initial rate paid for solar energy contracts by 10% and was still seeing productive growth.
Introducing a feed-in-tariff program in 2012, Great Britain has seen the installation of 379,000 solar installations with total generating capacity of almost 1,800 megawatts.
In our state, the Atlantic Chapter and the Beyond Coal Campaign are working to promote a wind initiative with a goal of establishing 9,000 MW of wind-generated electricity.
However, the Sierra Club is concerned about the President’s stated support for fracked methane gas as a “clean” remedy to climate change. In this regard, the President is only referring to the fact that, when burned, methane produces one-half of the carbon dioxide of coal. Yet methane obtained from high-volume horizontal fracking is not a “clean” source of energy.
The government’s own NASA research has shown that methane gas is at least 72 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide in the first 20 years of its release into the atmosphere. One pound of methane traps as much heat as at least 72 pounds of CO2. A July op-ed published in The New York Times by Prof. Anthony Ingraffia of Cornell University discusses the science at length. Any release of methane over 2% makes the gas a much more dangerous contributor to global climate change than burning coal or oil.
Early this year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) measured methane released in horizontal fracked gas fields in the West. The NOAA studies showed leakage of methane of anywhere from 2.3% to 17% from the annual production of the extracted gas in California, Utah and Colorado.
The President admits that “curbing emissions of methane is critical.” He said that he hopes the current level of methane leakage can be corrected, echoing industry claims. But the inherent leakage of methane from high-pressure fracking makes a solution improbable. A number of drilling industry studies show that some 5% of horizontally fracked wells leak immediately and that the number increases with time. And the danger of methane as a greenhouse gas is only one of many important reasons to halt our dependence on high-volume horizontal fracking.
On the evening of the President’s statement on climate change, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune spoke on a conference call with Sierra Club members. Mr. Brune mentioned the historic importance of the President’s statements on climate disruption. To his credit, Mr. Brune also stated that the Sierra Club opposes horizontal fracking for natural gas, and that he would speak to the President the next day concerning our opposition.
We ask our members to support President Obama in his stand against global climate change and in his calls for development of renewable energy. And we ask our members to support Michael Brune in opposition to fracking.
Bob Ciesielski, a member of the Niagara Group, chairs the Chapter energy committee.