Two decades ago, City Council Member Michael Davis and I served
on a subcommittee for the 1987 General Plan development. Being advocates of green
energy, we made sure the GP contained a provision to encourage buildings to be
aligned for maximizing use of the sun. I’d quote an energy activist I’d met in
my Carter-era days as a Congressional aide: “today’s home built without solar in
mind is tomorrow’s retrofit problem.”
Tomorrow came and went, and our part of the plan was
forgotten. Homes went up slavishly facing the asphalt, not the sun. Solar
subdivisions didn’t blossom; they didn’t even sprout. But I knew what to look
for, and was lucky. Ten years ago I found a new tract home that had its living
area stretched along an east-west axis, facing south. Careful use of window
blinds provides “solar tempering”, shaving 5-10% from my natural gas bill. When
the photovoltaic panels went up in 2002, it was a snap: the roof was at the
optimum solar orientation. My latest power bill was $110… for all of 2005. For
the two prior years it was zero.
Economist Milton Friedman said “There’s no such thing as a
free lunch”, a commentary on the Great Society social welfare programs. Yes, renewable
energy is not free-- an investment is required. But it’s far cheaper than fossil energy, when
you count the direct subsidies to oil companies, plus the trillion dollars (not
to mention the lives) we’ll end up spending for “democracy” (and military
bases) in the oily Middle East, plus the incalculable cost of climate
disruption. Our recent flood’s combination of high tide and heavy rain cost one
third of a billion bucks in the North Bay alone. I read how continued melting
of the Arctic ice pack is freshening the north Atlantic waters, that someday soon
it may enough to shut down the Gulf Stream, the thermohaline
conveyor belt that brings Caribbean warmth to the northern latitudes. A new ice
age for Europe and the American east cost could be triggered in our lifetime. What’s
the cost of that?
Columnist *Thomas* Friedman recently described another cost
of oil. Our energy habits are underwriting “petrolism…the
corrupting, antidemocratic governing practices - in oil states from Russia to
Nigeria and Iran - that result from a long run of $60-a-barrel oil.” Petrolist state
autocrats use their oil money to keep themselves in power by buying off or
bullying opposition within and outside their country. Mount a serious challenge
to Iran’s “peaceful” nuclear energy program, and you risk having your gas
prices jacked up and your economy ruined. Meanwhile, the petrolists
live in luxury while suppressing, often brutally, the aspirations of their
people. Who needs an educated, liberated populace to fuel the economic engine
when you can just extort more cash from the American oil addicts? If you want a
visceral understanding of how petrolism works, go see
the critically-acclaimed film Syriana.
How can Petalumans save money
while helping protect the Gulf Stream and depose the American-hating Iranian petrolists? The City Council will soon be voting on a
“green building” ordinance. The ordinance would set standards for new
residential and commercial buildings, resulting in drastically reduced energy
and water consumption. To get the most “mileage”, the ordinance should be
crafted specifically for Petaluma, even if the initial investment is somewhat larger.
The City Council could enact this ordinance for financial
reasons: to help citizens and business enjoy lower expenses, and to stimulate
the local economy (less money paid out to energy companies means more money
spent in town.) And they could do it for patriotism. As Friedman says, we need
leaders “with the guts not just to invade Iraq, but to also impose a gasoline
tax and inspire conservation at home. That takes a real energy policy with
long-term incentives for renewable energy - wind, solar, biofuels.”
He concludes: “Enough of this Bush-Cheney nonsense that conservation, energy
efficiency and environmentalism are some hobby we can't afford. I can't think
of anything more cowardly or un-American. Real patriots, real advocates of
spreading democracy around the world, live green. Green is the new red, white
and blue.”