Green Fire Times June 2012 Edition

News & Views

from the

S u s t ai n ab l e S o u t h w e s t

GreenBuilt Tour 2012 : Healthy Homes, Healthy Families The Southwest’s Energy Future

20 Years of Sustainable Investing A Tipping Point for Sustainable Business?

June 2012

New Mexico’s Fifth Largest Circulation Newspaper

Vol. 4, No. 6

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Green Fire Times • June 2012

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Vol. 4, No. 6 • June 2012 Issue No. 38 Publisher Green Fire Publishing, LLC

Skip Whitson

Managing Editor Seth Roffman Art Director Anna C. Hansen Dakini Design Copy Editor Stephen Klinger PUBLISHER’S ASSISTANTs Barbara E. Brown, Karen Shepherd, Camille Franchette, John Black

Contributing Writers

Gerald B. Ansell, Juan Estévan Arellano, Susan Guyette, Alan Hoffman, Melanie Margarita Kirby, GinaRae LaCerva, Maceo Carrillo Martinet, Allan Oliver, Seth Roffman, Luke Spangenburg, Jonah Stanford, Drew Tulchin, Tom Wehner

Contributing Photographers

Anna C. Hansen, Melanie Margarita Kirby, Amedeus Leiter, Elliott McDowell Seth Roffman, Jamey Stillings

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Winner of The 2010 Sustainable Santa Fe Award for Outstanding Educational Project

Contents GreenBuilt Tour 2012. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 5 Affordable Passive House Construction . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 6 The Net-Zero-Energy Home . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 8 Calculate Your Home’s Energy Efficiency. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 9 The Southwest’s A Solution

at

of

Firefighters

Planet’s Energy Future. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 11

Our Fingertips . . . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .13

Ground Broken One Out

and the

for the

NM Consortium’s Biological Laboratory

Two New Mexicans Live in

in

Areas Hit

NM Connect Record Fires

with

by

at

Los Alamos . .15

Recent Weather Disasters . . .. 18

Climate Change . . .. . .. . .. . ..

18

Climate Change Newsbites . . .. . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .19 Importing Bees: High Demand Creates a Huge Dilemma . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . ..

Everyday Green: Protecting Yourself Is Rainwater Harvesting Worth It Fifth Annual Celebrando

las

from

in a

20

Pesticides . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. .25

Desert? . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .29

Acequias . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 31

Skip Whitson 505.471.5177 John Black 505.920.0359 Cynthia Canyon 505.470.6442 Jack King 505.884.4497

A Tipping Point for Sustainable Business?. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 33

Distribution

What’s Going On . . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .38

Barbara Brown, Co-op Dist. Sves., Nick García, Andy Otterstrom (Creative Couriers), Tony Rapatz, Wuilmer Rivera, Skip Whitson, John Woodie Webmaster: Karen Shepherd

Green Money Journal Celebrates 20 Years

of

Sustainable Investing . . .. . .. . .. .35

Office Assistants Claire Ayraud, Sally Calvin

Circulation 22,000 copies

Printed locally with 100% soy ink on 100% recycled, chlorine-free paper

Green Fire Times

c/o The Sun Companies PO Box 5588 Santa Fe, NM 87502-5588 Ph: 505.471.5177 Fax: 505.473.4458 info@sunbooks.com www.GreenFireTimes.com © 2012 Green Fire Publishing, LLC Green Fire Times provides useful information for anyone: community members, business people, students, visitors—interested in discovering the wealth of opportunities and resources available in our region. Knowledgeable writers provide articles on subjects ranging from green businesses, products, services, entrepreneurship, jobs, design, building, energy and investing—to sustainable agriculture, arts & culture, ecotourism, education, regional food, water, the healing arts, local heroes, native perspectives, natural resources, recycling, transportation and more. Sun Companies publications seek to provide our readers with informative articles that support a more sustainable planet. To our publisher this means maximizing personal as well as environmental health by minimizing consumption of meat and alcohol.

GFT is widely distributed throughout northcentral New Mexico. Feedback, announcements, event listings, advertising and article submissions to be considered for publication are welcome.

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Copyright 2012 Joel Pett. Reprinted with permission.

COVER: Anasazi Window, Chaco Canyon • Photo © Elliott McDowell www.ElliottMcDowell.com • Represented by Andy Smith Gallery -– Santa Fe, New Mexico

Green Fire Times is not to be confused with the Green Fire Report, an in-house quarterly publication of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center. The NMELC can be accessed online at: www.nmelc.org.

June 2012 • Green Fire Times

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Green Building

GreenBuilt Tour 2012 Healthy Homes, Healthy Families

June 9-11 in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos Areas

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he U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) New Mexico Chapter and GreenBuilt Tour Committee are hosting the 13th Annual GreenBuilt Tour, June 9-10 from 10 am to 4 pm in the Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos areas. Twenty-one homes are participating, and 120 volunteers are helping make the tour possible. It all kicks off with a reception on Friday, June 8 from 6-8:30 pm in Algodones, at the first modular home to be included.

GreenBuilt 2012 is designed to showcase sustainable building practices that are healthy, attractive, practical and affordable.

“The tour puts current challenges to our vision to create a vibrant and sustainable built environment within a generation in the forefront of our attendees’ minds,” says USGBC-NM Chair Lemoyne Blackshear.

The homes were selected for their uses of renewable energy, high indoor airquality, water preservation, energy efficiency, retrofitting, re-use of materials, xeriscaping and environmentally friendly products. Many need very little energy to keep them comfortable year round and produce more energy than they use.

Some have Build Green NM, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), ENERGY STAR, Passive House ratings, or are awaiting certification.

Innovations on the high-tech side include NM’s first residential use of a thin film PV system. On the low-tech side, you can see a 3,000-gallon cistern built from earth-filled tires and a modern take on earthen building that uses local earthen plasters inside and out.

“You will see some very creative salvage and recycling ideas come to fruition,” said Kent Gurley, co-chair of the tour committee. “How about taking old barn wood and making it into a dance floor for your home? Now that’s what we call “repurposing.”

Free guidebooks are available at Whole Foods and La Montañita Co-op locations in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, The Merc in Placitas, BookWorks, 4022 Río Grande in Albuquerque and the Taos Food Co-Op (in OptiMysm), 314 G Paseo del Pueblo Norte. The guidebook is also available online at www.usgbcnm.org/gbt2012.

The entry fee for the tour is $2 per person per home. Visitors can pay at the door of each home or a two-day tour pass can be purchased in advance for $15 at www. usgbcnm.org. For reservations to the reception, go to www.usgbcnm.org, click on chapter events and select June 10. The cost is $35 for USGBC-NM members and $40 for non-members. Food, drinks and live music will be provided.

GreenBuilt 2012 is sponsored by Wells Fargo, Build Green NM, PNM, Davis Kitchens, Construction Reporter, CASA, Affordable Solar, the Alibi, KUNM and Green Fire Times. For more information, call 505.227.0474 or visit www. usgbcnm.org.

“We love this spot on a high desert plateau of northern NM. Temperature extremes here are taken advantage of with the use of a traditional adobe construction and a passive solar design, which keeps the house cool in summer and warm in winter, blending the home into the surrounding earth.”

– John Barton, AIA: Architect and Planner

Here are a few examples of the homes:

The Kennison Casita in NE Albuquerque, is a 1,100 SF/700 retrofit built in 1932.

The renovation slated to be completed this year features an ENERGY STAR water heater, compact fluorescent light (CFL) light fixtures, solar tube skylights and CFL bulbs for nighttime lighting. It also has a reflective roof, garage walls made from tires filled with compacted earth and covered in El Rey Stucco, and Papercrete used for triangle block wall extension. The existing mature landscape has been preserved. Specific “Healthy Homes” attributes include cork flooring in the bedroom, and original hardwood floors sealed with low-volatile organic compound (VOC) water-based sealer. In addition it has gypsum plaster walls finished with American Clay, and cotton denim insulation in the interior walls.

The Balance Project passive house in Santa Fe, owned and designed by Jonah Stanford of Mojarrab Stanford Architects, is the first Passive House in NM. A Passive House features highly energy-efficient design and is computer modeled using the Passive House Planning Package to optimize the structure for energy savings. Paint has not been used in the building; factory finished finishes have low- or no-VOC treatments and provide fresh air ventilation. Other key traits are solar heating, night-sky cooling through the Energy recovery ventilation (ERV) and triple pane windows with a U-.11 and SHGC .63. Certifications include Passive House and Build Green NM Emerald.

The Barton Studio & Retreat owned by John and Polly Barton in Ojo Caliente was designed by AIA Architect/ Planner John Barton, with an emphasis on landscaping to preserve existing vegetation, and includes xeriscaping, native plants and grasses. The design uses a roof rainwater catchment system with filtration and UV treatment for the main water supply, as well as more water that can be delivered to below-grade cisterns. The house also uses a greywater system that recycles wastewater generated by laundry, dishwashing and bathing, which can then be used for irrigation. The “Healthy Homes” emphasis is on low-VOC products, solar The “Hoochaneetsa Modern Home,” built by New Mexico Earthworks on the northern edge of Cochiti tubes for interior spaces, no carpeting or synthetic flooring and natural ventilation with operable openings. i Lake, has views of the Jemez Mountains.

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Affordable Passive Houses Come to Santa Fe

Jonah Stanford

Additionally, VolksHouse is intended to serve as a model for Passive House construction techniques that are allied with standard US design and construction sequencing and practices. A successful Passive House model in the US must adapt standard construction practices, since, unlike our European counterparts, project architects in the US often have little or no role in the construction process of smaller scale affordable or production-home projects. This break in continuity can lead to the failure of a project’s final performance, especially in terms of airtightness and thermal-bridge elimination.

These elements, central to the Passive House approach, are currently undervalued in the US design and construction industries.

© Amedeus Leiter

VolksHouse was completed in February 2012. Its basic design follows a typical, detached single-family residence pattern with three bedrooms, two baths and a two-car garage. The residence is 1,700 sq. ft. measured from the thermal-envelope exterior, with an additional 560 sq. ft. of unconditioned space for storage and vehicle parking.

The final VolksHouse construction cost was $259,799 for 1,700 sq. ft., resulting in an amortized construction cost of $153 per sq. ft.

T

PROCESS, LESSONS & MODIFICATIONS

he first generation of certified Passive Houses has been completed in Santa Fe. Optimizing the economic advantages of the Passive House approach, these projects establish the cost competitiveness of Passive House construction when compared with typical regional construction projects.

VolksHouse was designed concurrently with the construction of Balance House, and we modified the thermal envelope and system designs in response to lessons learned through the Balance House construction process.

The American Southwest has a long history of environmentally based architecture. However, the typical approaches to sustainability, such as earthen or strawbale construction, are extremely labor intensive and therefore can be quite expensive. The associated passive-solar designs follow an energy model of high thermal losses balanced by high solar gain—a model requiring sustained solar exposure that is not often available.

Foundation Forming

The following case studies demonstrate that the Passive House approach can meet the demand for both affordability and energy-use reduction.

The primary modification was to the VolksHouse thermal envelope. By simplifying critical details and systems—foundation forming, air-tightness detailing and materials, thermal envelope, and the mechanical system—we increased the project’s air-tightness, decreased thermal bridging and improved the performance consistency of the completed building.

Passive House Project One: BALANCE HOUSE

The first Passive House—Balance House—was completed in April 2011. With a construction area of 3,313 sq. ft. measured from the exterior thermal envelope, Balance House includes two units: a 2,590 sq. ft. residence and a 723 sq. ft. office building. The final construction cost was $451,406 for 3,313 sq. ft. This results in an amortized construction cost of $135 per sq. ft.

VolksHouse foundation detail showing the simplified version that reduced overall project costs

Balance House foundation detail showing the different pieces that required difficult on-site installation

The perimeter-insulation design for Balance House incorporated several small sections of rigid EPS insulation based on Passive House thermal-performance requirements. This sectioned-EPS approach minimized material usage; but it proved difficult to implement with consistency and was labor-intensive. For the VolksHouse, we simplified the foundation system and thereby eliminated much of the forming and rigid-insulation installation labor.

Airtightness, Detailing & Material

Passive House Project Two: VOLKSHOUSE

The second Passive House project—VolksHouse—was designed to introduce a Passive House product to the Santa Fe housing market and, as such, was designed to meet standard market expectations for size, program and cost.

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The airtightness layer on the Balance House used plywood that was fully taped from the exterior. The Larsen Truss detailing around the windows did not, however, allow window installation to align with the airtightness layer, a condition that required subsequent labor-intensive air-tightness detailing and resulted in higher air-infiltration levels. Additionally, the material inconsistencies of the plywood led to air leaks that required patching. The leaks were confirmed during positive pressurization testing using smoke to locate air leaks.

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Although Balance House passed the Passive House requirements for airtightness (0.47 ACH @ 50 Pa.), we felt that the process was not replicable with quantifiable results. The airtightness detailing for VolksHouse was changed to address these issues. VolksHouse VolksHouse (l) and Balance House window installations windows and doors were aligned directly with the air barrier without any exceptions, and the project employed a zip-panel as an alternative airtightness material. The zip-panel included a simple overlay component and provided a very consistent surface for air-sealing-tape application and easy inspection. Labor for air sealing was consequently reduced, and the blower-door test resulted in a 0.25 ACH @ 50 Pa.

Thermal Envelope Design

Balance House utilized all-cellulose insulation for the walls and roof—a material we selected for its relatively environmentally friendly characteristics. However, during installation, it became apparent that the regional quality control and installation standards for cellulose did not meet the standards required for Passive House durability and gap elimination. A significant number of inspections, reviews and contract revisions were ultimately required to achieve our desired results. As it was our intention that these projects create a repeatable model for Passive House construction, we revised the thermal envelope for VolksHouse to a continuous layer of rigid EPS insulation.

Reducing energy use and Environmental Impacts with Passive House Construction

As a community, a nation and species we realize we must develop means of reducing our environmental impact. Data from the US Energy Information Administration indicate that our buildings are responsible for 48 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, and 76 percent of all power generated in the US goes to the building sector. Our current built environment represents a clear target for reduction. To address this we have seen steady incremental improvements to our energy-efficiency requirements through the adoption of improved codes such as the IECC (International Energy Conservation Code) or the establishment of minimum HERS Ratings (Home Energy Rating System). However, these advances are typically hard-won during difficult economic times due to their generally negative impact to construction costs.

Our challenge then as a building community has been to find construction methods that dramatically reduce energy use in diverse environmental settings while maintaining current construction costs. To that end the Passive House approach has been locally and internationally demonstrating that these combined attributes are not necessarily mutually exclusive and may very well be the future of standard building methodology.

The Passive House approach represents one of the highest energy standards, and compliance with the design requirements typically reduces a building’s energy use by 90 percent. Developed by German physicist Dr. Wolfgang Feist in 1990, the Passive House approach focuses on conservation of energy first, prior to any active system design. A majority of this focused on the design of a high-performance thermal envelope, relating to reduced energy loses though unintentional infiltration, elimination of thermal bridges, orientation and thermal loss resistance.

A certified Passive House must demonstrate its compliance with several key criteria. The building must have less than 0.6 air changes per hour when pressurized at 50 pascal during a blower-door test. It must use less then 4.75 kBtu of energy per year for heating per interior sq. ft. and it must use less than 38.1 kBtu of overall primary energy in total annual energy use per interior sq. ft. Strict standards for indoor air quality provided through heat-recovery units, comfort and thermal bridge-free construction must also be met.

The international success of this approach is widely demonstrated. During the recent International Passive House conference in Hanover, Germany, it was announced that over 40,000 Passive House buildings have been completed. Totaling over 200 million square feet, these buildings are saving approximately $320 million every year in energy costs, compared to non-Passive House construction. A majority of these buildings are found in Western Europe, where the standard originated. However, we are seeing the approach increasingly spread. Approximately 50 countries were represented at the conference, including South Korea, Japan, the UK and the US.

Exterior of VolksHouse during installation of EPS sheeting

Exterior of Balance House during the installation of Larsen Trusses

Mechanical System

The solar-thermal system for Balance House was successful, but the project’s greater scale informed the cost benefits of the system design since its cost is amortized across a large conditioned floor area. VolksHouse is roughly half the size of Balance House, and installing a similar, yet smaller, system would have been financially inefficient. Also, since we wanted VolksHouse to meet market norms, we reanalyzed the mechanical system in terms of the level of interaction that environmental controls would require of the owner.

Balance House primarily uses manual shading to control over-heating, but there were concerns that manual controls would hinder market penetration and create an inappropriate association between Passive House construction and owner inconvenience. We therefore decided that a cooling system would bolster the overall continued on page

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The net-Zero-Energy Home: How Does It Work?

Alan Hoffman

H

ow is it possible to build a home with little or no annual utility costs at the same price as a conventional home?

article I will focus on the application of these breakthroughs in the construction of the Net-Zero-Energy Home.

In 1974 I built my first passive solar home and saved 80 percent on heating costs just by taking into account the orientation of the structure and improving insulation values. As the Pueblo Indians have long known, orienting a home with openings to the south uses the sun to help make a home more comfortable year-round. As the years passed, we worked to further reduce both our heating and utility bills.

Design The design of a modern LEED-certified home, as well as New Mexico BGNM (Build Green New Mexico)-certified home requires extensive energy analysis prior to construction, as well as reduced water use and healthy air quality. I have been working with Renaissance Builders of Santa Fe. After preliminary plans are generated with advanced construction techniques in mind, the plans are delivered to a certified HERS Rater for analysis. HERS (Home Energy Rating System) analyzes energy use, with HERS 100 equaling the energy use of a home built using the present building code, which in NM is the IECC (International Energy Conservation Code). If a home is designed to use half the energy of the IECC home, it would have a HERS rating of 50. The energy-efficiency goal for Renaissance Homes is HERS 55 through efficiency alone, which means that it is designed to use 45 percent less energy than a

New technology has made it possible to reduce all energy inputs to the modern home. In the past three years, with the support of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, four significant technological breakthroughs have made it possible to construct a home with annual utility bills of almost zero. Contemporary designs such as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) have provided ways to build a certified energyefficient, safe and healthy home for about the price of a conventional home. In this

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Green Fire Times • June 2012

Workers install high density foam under all floors for a Net-Zero-Energy home. home built using the IECC code. Generating electricity with solar panels, usually on the roof, further reduces energy use.

Innovations in Construction Four significant differences exist between certified energy-efficient building techniques and conventional construction.

These differences dramatically reduce energy use and improve indoor air quality.

Advanced Framing Techniques The envelope of a certified home is robust, completely encircles the house and avoids leaks known as “thermal bypass.�These homes

are insulated under the entire floor (see photo above), with the floor insulation overlapping the wall insulation, allowing no place for heat loss. The wall and ceiling sections utilize advanced framing techniques, which use less wood, and eliminate places where insulation cannot be properly placed. Advanced framing leaves all corner, headers and ceiling assemblies open for the proper installation of insulation, and in the case of Renaissance Homes, the entire wall assembly is then covered in over an inch of soy-based urethane foam. The foam insulates the wood in the structure, sealing most potential air leaks. continued on page 37

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Green Building

Calculate Your Home’s Energy Efficiency Today

Tom Wehner, Ph.D.

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hy wait? Your home’s energy efficiency measure is an important piece of information in your decision on whether to invest in more insulation, air sealing, duct sealing, new thermostats, new furnace or maybe better windows. Calculate your home’s Home Heating index, or HHI, yourself, today and see how your home ranks. You may want to start energy efficiency improvements in the spring or summer when it’s easier to do yourself or when contractors are more available.

What is the HHI? The HHI is the amount of heat energy occupants of a house use to keep their home warm in winter, taking into consideration the size of the house and how cold it gets. Quantitatively, the HHI is the amount of energy purchased (and generated on site) for heating during the year divided by your home’s square footage and by the number of annual heating degree days (HDDs) for your home’s location. The HHI is expressed in BTUs (sq. ft.*HDD65), where BTU is British Thermal Units and JDD65 is about 4,400 degree days, and Santa Fe’s HDD65 is about 6,100 degree days, average historical figures that come from weather station measurements.

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How do you calculate the HHI? Here’s how. First, for a home heated with natural gas or propane alone, gather your receipts or go online to obtain your usage. Write down the number of therms you used each month over a 12-month period. (If you need to convert, there are about 0.9 therms per gallon of propane, and about 0.01 therms per cubic foot of natural gas or about 1 therm per CCF (100 cubic feet). Divide the 12 statements into heating season and non-heating season. The heating season is typically October through April. Average the usage over the non-heating months.

Subtract this figure from the monthly usage over the heating months to obtain the monthly heating-only usage during the heating months.

Add these. Multiply the sum by 100,000 to convert therms to BTUs. Divide that figure by the square footage and by the HDD65 value. You now have your HHI! (See example) A similar technique is used for a house heated with electricity.

efficiency improvements for a house with a HHI in the “good” range are most likely costly with a long payback time. In general, higher HHIs for existing houses mean shorter payback times, sometimes just a few years.

Likewise, lower HHIs for existing houses mean longer payback times.

However, for new homes, the incremental cost of designing and building in the “very good” energy efficiency range is minimal, and the lowest practical HHI should be the goal for architects, designers and builders.

What energy efficiency improvements should I do first? Good question. If your home has an HHI of 10 or more, a visual inspection is usually all you need. Almost anything you choose to do; insulation, air sealing, replacement windows, duct sealing, higher energy efficient furnace, will pay back the investment quickly. Let your budget be your guide. For other categories in the energy-efficiency range or if you want

a quantitative assessment, you should consult an energy expert.

A little background. There are actually several HHIs that characterize a house and give additional, more detailed information. There are HHIOCC™, HHI-MECH™ and HHISHELL™. The HHI above is more formally called HHI-OCC™, the heating energy the occupants of the house use. This is compared with HHI-MECH™, which is the heating energy that must be input to the mechanical systems in the house to keep the house at 65 degrees F. in winter.

An energy expert is needed to calculate the HHI-MECH™ value. When continued on page

10

What does that HHI value mean? Look at the adjacent table to see where your home’s HHI falls. The HHI of 3.9 in the example puts this Santa Fe home in the “good” efficiency range. Energy

June 2012 • Green Fire Times

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Calculate continued from page 9 HHI-OCC™ is lower than HHIMECH™ it means that the occupants are energy-efficient in their occupation of the house: they are using less energy than the required amount.

They may be setting the thermostat lower, wearing sweaters more, setting the thermostat back at night, opening curtains to let the sun in during sunny days and closing them at night.

Should the HHI-OCC™ be higher than the HHI-MECH™, the occupants are not being as energy efficient as they could be. So, a comparison of the values for HHI-OCC™ and HHI-MECH™ can tell homeowners if they are being energy efficient and how they operate the house.

HHI-SHELL™ is the amount of energy the house shell, or the structure itself, requires. An energy expert is needed to calculate the HHISHELL™ value. HHI-SHELL™ is slightly less than HHI-MECH™ because some of the energy input to the furnace or boiler is lost up the stack, and doesn’t go into the house.

A comparison of HHI-SHELL™ and HHI-MECH™ can tell you if replacing your furnace or boiler is the right thing to do. Further, an energy expert can dissect HHI-SHELL™ to determine where the home’s major heat losses are, and recommend specific energy efficiency improvements.

HHI-MECH™ and HHISHELL™ can be used directly to compare the energy efficiencies of two homes anywhere in the country.

If the HHI-SHELL™ for home “A”

is lower than the HHI-SHELL™ for home “B”, then home “A” is just designed and built better with respect to energy efficiency.

How about cooling energy efficiency?

There is a corresponding HCI, or Home Cooling Index. The HHI and HCI are highly correlated, so it is only necessary to do one to come up with a good assessment of the home’s energy efficiency. If the home is energy efficient, HHI is low, and the HCI is low also.

What about HERS? HHI does not replace HERS, the Home Energy Rating System. The two indices quantify different things. HERS is the percentage of the total purchased energy usage of standard occupants in a standard house (2009 International Conservation Code). If two people live in a house with three bedrooms, they will almost always be using less energy than HERS indicates because HERS assumes six people in the house, two people per bedroom, and the resulting higher hot water usage, etc.

HERS does not let you compare two homes’ energy efficiencies. If home “A” and home “B” both have a HERS rating of say 75, you don’t necessarily know which one is more energy efficient. Home “A” might be very energy efficient, while home “B” might be far less energy efficient but have solar panels or a whole house fan or more efficient lighting or equipment. The homes score the same on the HERS Index, but their energy efficiencies and HHIs can be very different.

If you are serious about energy conservation, in the market for a new home, and got your choices down to a few, here’s your mantra: “If you’re going to buy, choose the lowest HHI.” Choose the one with the lowest HHISHELL™ and HHI-MECH™ for the best energy efficiency. i

To m We h n e r, Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering is with SolarSPOT, LLC, Solar and Building Energy Consulting, S a n t a Fe , N M .

505.984.0101, SolarSPOT@q.com

HHI-OCC™, HHI-MECH™ and HHI-SHELL™ are trademarks of SolarSPOT LLC.

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Green Fire Times • June 2012

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Energy

The Southwest’s and the Planet’s Energy Future: Bright or Bleak? Does the Consumer Really Have a Choice or Not?

Gerald B. Ansell

I

have just listened to/watched yet another Presidential Address apologizing/justifying the ever-increasing gas and oil prices our energy guzzling and materialistically over-consuming nation are paying. The address was then responded to, literally within seconds, by equally short-time-frame responses from his “other wing” political opponents. It all reminded me of Harold Morgan’s recent syndicated “New Mexico Progress” articles. One entitled “PNM Turns Profitable” raised interesting, highly political and economically extreme concerns about what the truly long-term future energy supplies for the Southwest and indeed our nation’s and the whole vul-

nerable planet’s population and fragile ecosystem really are. Whether one is politically Right, Left or Extreme, it is certainly good news to hear that one of our major NM electricity and energy suppliers is profitable again. As Morgan aptly points out, it is extremely difficult and costly—technically, environmentally, and politically—to supply enough electricity/ energy for the wants and needs of NM’s population, service, manufacturing and agricultural industries. If we can be absolutely non-political, scientific, realistic and mindful of who and what America is supposed to be all about, any company and its investors that take on such a huge job, obviously do deserve to make a profit.

Groundbreaking Strategy Announced for Wind Development in New Mexico diverse groups boost industry while protecting wildlife

After two years of work, nine leading wind energy companies and seven conservation groups in NM, along with various state agencies, private and public stakeholders, have developed Best Management Practices (BMPs) that will be used to ensure wind farms and nature can coexist. The NM Wind and Wildlife Collaborative (NMWWC) will help NM meet its goal of obtaining 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, while protecting wildlife in the process.

“The BMPs were written using the best available science to guide conservation actions,” says Christopher Rustay, Conservation Delivery Leader for Playa Lakes Joint Venture, which facilitated the process. “A lot of time was spent building trust and learning about our partners’ objectives so we could develop balanced practices that both industry and the conservation community could support,” added Matt Desmond, NM Development Manager for First Wind.

“Wind power creates unique threats to birds, and wind development threatens vital grassland habitats in eastern NM,” says Karyn Stockdale, Executive Director of Audubon NM. BMPs were developed for 12 wildlife species or habitats of concern, including raptors, long-billed curlew, bats, lesser prairie chickens, reptiles, amphibians and playas. The BMPs are intended to help guide the placement of renewable energy facilities and the transmission of that energy.

New Mexico is the second state, following Colorado earlier this year, to have developed BMPs to address conservation concerns related to renewable energy development. Some of the same industry partners participated in the both states.

“Wind energy can provide a tremendous economic boost for rural communities along NM’s eastern plains while offering significant savings to urban consumers,” says Craig Cox, Executive Director of Interwest Energy Alliance. “Now we will be able to expedite wind energy development while creating new jobs.”

The NMWWC developed a website that provides important information to developers by identifying what resources might be affected by wind development, and appropriate minimization or mitigation of potential impacts if avoidance is impractical. As new science and technology emerges, the BMPs will be reviewed and updated by the group. While the BMPs are not binding or regulatory, the NM Renewable Energy Transmission Authority will be linking to the website in an effort to encourage voluntary participation by prospective developers of wind, solar and geothermal projects. For details about the BMPs and information on all of the partners, visit www.pljv.org/windandwildlife/nm.

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Upon reviewing PNM’s recent profitability data, it’s worth studying the historical DOW indexes for the past 50 years of the share values and profits for all of the world’s major energy producers. They are very, very cyclical, rising and falling frequently by as much as 50 percent or more.

Over the long run of 1-15 years or so, because of the commercial importance of what these companies market, they invariably trend upwards. This may be attributed to several closely related reasons. The main one is that in the past, most were relying on non-sustainable but readily available energy resources such as coal, oil, natural gas and apparently sustainable ones such as hydroelectric and nuclear power.

Unfortunately, during the same period, the world’s population has steadily increased, and with it, our demands for more energy, food supplies and the other necessities of life. We complex and occasionally even quite sensible humans have also become far more aware of our own and the energy supply industry’s demands and effects upon the environment. At some time during the past few years all the truly readily available non-sustainable energy resources have started to become rapidly depleted. The nuclear industry is now beset by problems associated with storage of its waste products as well as the historic and highly complex political and religious associations with weapons production, terrorism and other threatening human behavior patterns. The oil and gas industry is drilling (fracking) deeper and deeper into the earth, often through fragile water tables on land, or thousands of feet

below ocean beds, or extracting oil and gas from vast oil shale deposits in various parts of the world. The latter task is extremely complicated engineeringwise, utilizes enormous quantities of water, and it is almost impossible to not environmentally decimate the areas from which it is extracted.

Therefore, in spite of mankind’s wars, political, economic and social upheavals, and now powerful environmental demands, like-it-or-not, the price of all energy supplies, gas/oil/energy prices will continue to rise in the future, and the consuming public needs to get it.

However, as the US is currently the world’s largest energy consumer and concurrently also its largest extractor, producer and exporter of energetic resources, the future for this country and the rest of the world need not be entirely bleak. But it will require truly long-term, scientifically based planning and a realistic set of energy and materialistic expectations from the population.

In Europe, where energy prices have always been considerably higher than here, many energy-saving adjustments in lifestyle, such as house sizes, the size of cars, public transportation, etc. have always been applied. For example the highly pragmatic Danes have a population concontinued on page

June 2012 • Green Fire Times

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Green Fire Times • June 2012

Energy Future

siderably greater that NM’s, live within a significantly smaller area and have a very high standard of living. They only have wind, spasmodic sunshine and possibly hydro-generated electricity as sustainable, readily available energy resources.

Even so, they have already decided, both politically and by general public support, to become 100 percent dependent upon these seemingly meager sustainable energy resources by 2050.

Whilst visiting Iceland recently it was also fascinating to observe public transport buses being filled at the roadside with hydrogen gas that had been produced by electrolysis of water utilizing electricity generated by their abundant geothermal sources.

In Germany, Austria and several other European countries, small farmers and land owners have now been saved from extinction by selling back electricity from solar installations, often provided by the utility companies.

Shortly after Japan’s disastrous 2011 Fukushima nuclear-power facility experience, Germany also abandoned plans for any further nuclear generated energy supplies.

In spite of their energy conservation efforts over the past years, numerous European countries still seem to be able to generate many, many Happiest National Populations votes in most world surveys.

Thankfully, in our sunny/windy NM, and yes, with the help of PNM, sustainable energy sources are being utilized and are expanding. They are being derived from solar, passive solar, wind-generation and recycling. Globally, one can add tidal and geothermal

continued from page 11 generation to this list. Liquid biofuels are also being generated in growing quantities, utilizing both algae grown in ponds, and fermenters and cellulosic materials such as wood and paper waste, etc. It should be carefully noted that even the USA’s ExxonMobil, the world’s largest oil company, has recently committed over $600 million plus towards such biofuel efforts. The automobile industry has already gotten on board by utilizing these rapidly emerging sustainable electrical and biofuel sources. As I travel through so many of NM’s dead and dying rural areas, I wish they received the help the German small farmers and landholders mentioned above get from their public and private utility companies.

New Mexico’s Los Alamos National Laboratory also has highly successful multi-million-dollar-funded algae programs that are already generating patents and pilot plants for biofuels/protein large-scale manufacturing potential.

The hidden messages from these organizations and several similar ones should be pondered deeply.

Whilst still in NM, one of the most exciting future sustainable fuel-energy projects has already been demonstrated and patented by a local company, Los Alamos Solar Energy LLC, in Española. Their process enables differing gas mixtures containing carbon dioxide, moisture and/or methane to be heated in air up to 2000+ deg. C. by NM’s 25+ year-old focusing solar-reflector technology. By selection of different catalysts, various gaseous mixtures containing carbon monoxide, hydrogen and/or oxygen can then fuel cars, buses, trains, continued on page

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Transmission Line for NM Renewable Energy

Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM), the Renewable Energy Transmission Authority, and Power Network New Mexico have filed a request with federal regulators to develop a new 200-mile transmission line to transport solar- and wind-generated power from an area near Torrance County to PNM’s Río Puerco station northwest of Albuquerque and then north to the Four Corners region. From there, the power would go to western markets.

The $350 million project “represents a practical near-term solution for addressing the lack of transmission needed for additional NM renewable energy development,” says Jeff Mechenbier, PNM’s director of transmission. Los Alamos National Laboratory, in a study, found that new transmission in NM would enable the development of about 5,200 megawatts of renewable energy projects that could exceed $1.8 billion.

Developers hope to have the transmission line functioning by 2015. They are seeking a waiver from the Federal Regulatory Commission to allow “first ready, first served” energy producers to connect to the line. This would replace the current first-come, first-served approach, which PNM says has resulted in lengthy waits.

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Renewable Energy

A Solution at Our Fingertips

Luke Spangenburg

I

© Seth Roffman (2)

n the time it takes most people to read this sentence, the world will have used up about 8,000 barrels of oil—336,000 gallons—at 1,000 barrels per second.

The fact is, global demands are rising while petroleum is diminishing. Sure, we can drill deeper or convert tar sands to fuel as a band-aid solution while we irrevocably damage our ecosystem. We can continue to occupy nation states in attempts to control the flow of resources as we undermine cultures and sacred places. Yet where will this lead? We all share the same planet.

What must we do to solve this problem?

One solution is to find a drop-in fuel that replaces our current petroleum addiction, an energy source that can meet the current transportation and industrial demands. How about something that uses solar energy and consumes carbon dioxide while emitting oxygen? Something that grows in non-potable water, that can also make food, fuels and medicines? What about a crop farmers and ranchers can produce globally that could allow them to reestablish their stature in society?

or sequestered by algae as it grows. Algae consumes 1.8 tons of CO2 per ton of biomass produced and can replicate itself rapidly, thus creating a perpetual crop.

Globally, societies are experiencing shortages of fresh, clean water. Fortunately, algae can flourish in waste, brine, non-potable or salt water. Algae are often used to remediate contaminated wastewater. Algae cultivation can produce valuable biomass that does not depend on using fossil resources. And algae do not require fertile soils for growing.

Agricultural or municipal waste sites commonly utilize algae to perform wastewater remediation cost-effectively.

Co-locating algae production near carbon sources such as power and industrial plants offers potential solutions to pollution in addition to biomass production for biofuels and valuable coproducts. While algae are busy cleaning the air and water, algae biomass can transform CO2 and waste nutrients into valuable sugars, proteins, lipids, carbohydrates and other organic compounds.

The current industrial food and transportation systems are massive polluters of air, soils and water. Algae growing systems can be designed to produce carbon-

neutral food and fuel, while providing ecological benefits to the environment.

Algae fuels are cleaner than fossil fuels and produce lower levels of emissions when combusted. Experts say we have already passed the point of global peak oil. Fortunately, algae has the potential to provide liquid transportation fuels at a lower cost than with the extraction and processing of crude oil, especially when the true environmental costs of petroleum production are included. In addition, algae can replace almost all products currently made from fossil fuels.

Algae is liquid solar energy. It can produce energy rapidly and efficiently. Scientific studies and initial demonstration projects have shown that properly designed and managed algae-growing systems can produce 5,000 gallons of oil per acre, per year. The algae can then be processed into high-quality biodiesel or ethanol fuels for use in standard gasoline and diesel engines. Just 15,000 square miles of algae could replace all the petroleum used in the US in one year, according to the Department of Energy. To translate, that’s an amount of land about one-sixth the size of Minnesota.

New Mexico is one of the prime global locations for algal production. We have abundant high quality light, a sea of underground brackish water, along with other viable sources for production. We have communities and families with

generations of experience working this land. With algae production we have the opportunity to offer a greener and cleaner environment to the next generation.

What is the next step? Get educated and understand the alternatives to our petroleum-based economy and the barriers we must overcome to convert to renewable energy. Access your local renewable energy hubs and programs such as the Santa Fe Community College environmental technologies programs and Biofuels Center of Excellence. These programs offer subsidized training to the general public in renewable energy resources of all kinds. i Luke Spangenburg is the president of New Solutions Energy Corporation, a privately owned company headquartered in S a n t a Fe . N S E manufactures versatile all-weather closed-loop algae growing systems and provides technical support to promote sustainable energy and food production.

NSE also collaborates with SF Community College and the Biofuels Centers of Excellence to promote education and t raining.

505.795.2081, newsolutionsenergy@gmail. com • www.NewSolutionsEnergy.com • http://greentraining.sfcc.edu/

Looking to the past, we can find our answer for the future. About 3.7 billion years ago, the Earth was devoid of life as its surface was extremely hot and lacked oxygen. The early atmosphere was composed largely of heat-trapping CO2 and deadly methane gas. About 2 billion years ago, algae transformed the atmosphere to one rich with oxygen, allowing a vast amount of oxygen-breathing life to exist and evolve. Algae also provided many of the new organisms with Earth’s first food source. Might algae come to the rescue once again?

Our atmosphere is currently overloaded with CO2, which is naturally recycled

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June 2012 • Green Fire Times

13

Energy Future

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The energy storage problems needed to facilitate a 24-hour supply from the above sustainable solar electrical energy-resources are currently being fulfilled mainly with relatively simple battery and heat storage devices (sodium/sodium sulfide/molten salt, etc.), improved transmission lines and burning hydrogen generated by electrolysis of water.

The future for electricity generated by coated-glass/plastic windows and even paint and cladding is also potentially mind-boggling. It has the potential for most home residences to supply significant electricity to the public companies. One can envisage lots of exciting research and sustainable work generation in this area.

Laser-driven, etc. atom/particle accelerators that can create/generate more transmuted atoms/particles, fusion/ fission/inertial as energy sources, are also being actively researched. However, it is exceedingly difficult to accurately predict the related nuclear industry’s future. On the one hand, very small compact generating stations are being developed, and thankfully serious attention is now being paid to siting future conventional generators. Its associated medical isotopes industry is vital too. Being brutally realistic however, on the other hand, cancer-causing nuclear waste storage and nuclear weapons/materials getting into irresponsible hands are of global concern.

Throughout the Southwest, abandoned Navajo tribal land’s ColdWar-era uranium mines are still accompanied by their future-centuries legacy of cancer-causing piles of tailings. They serve as a grim warning about future similar mining exploitations currently touted by the mining industry, politicians, governments and investors globally.

Research and scientifically impartial analysis of all the above nuclearrelated areas could promise greatly increased efficiency and productive/ sustainable employment generation for the foreseeable future. The associated nuclear research does however need to be conducted in more isolated

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Green Fire Times • June 2012

continued from page 12 environmentally safer areas than are often currently used.

When Harold Morgan decries Al Gore’s cautioning comments concerning all the above sustainable energy matters, he should respect Al’s formal education and vast experience in such areas. After all, Al was educated at Harvard, one the USA’s most prestigious universities. In 1969, in spite of being eligible for deferment, he was drafted into the US Army and in 1971 spent a period in Vietnam. From 1977-85 he represented the highly discerning state of Tennessee in the US House of Representatives and from 1985-93 served the same state in the US Senate. While there he was always well respected and listened to by a majority of voters and colleagues.

From 1993-2001 he was the nation’s vice-president. Amongst his many achievements during that time is wide credit with working with often-fractious Republican and Democrat Congress members to create the federal budget surpluses that were handed on to the Bush Administration in 2001.

In 2001 he was voted by the nation’s popular vote, but not the Electoral College, to be the next President of the US. Since then he has turned his energies towards environmental improvement efforts, sustainability and the understanding our planet’s exceedingly complex weather patterns.

He published the scientifically based best seller, An Inconvenient Truth, won the 2007 Nobel Peace, Grammy and Emmy awards and a Webby Award in 2005. Obviously many, many well qualified people from science, the media, politics and industry support his views and predictions. Al Gore obviously envisages environmental situations on Earth in the far, far future that will be what its generations will have-to-cope-with. Enough said. i Gerald B. Ansell, PhD. is a retired materials scientist, program manager and teacher who spent 52 years working with major government agencies in universities and industrial companies in both the US and England. He is currently an environmental consultant.

Email: greener-research@hotmail.com

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Ground Broken for the NM Consortium’s Biological Laboratory in Los Alamos Gerald Ansell

S

enator Tom Udall and Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Charlie McMillan attended the New Mexico Consortium Inc.’s (NMC) groundbreaking ceremony for LANL’s research and development facility at Entrada Research Park in Los Alamos on May 18th. The consortium is comprised of university faculty, scientists, engineers, administrators, planners and other contributors from the University of NM, NM State University, NM Institute of Mining and Technology, LANL and Los Alamos County.

The NMC has obtained a $2 million economic development grant from the county towards construction of the new facility, plus a lotgrant (estimated value: $640,000) at Entrada. Recruiting efforts of LANL Biochemistry’s Dr. José Olivares and NMC Executive Director Katharine Chartrand, plus significant grants from several federal and industrial funding resources and Los Alamos National Bank, facilitated recruitment of one of the world’s leading researchers in algae and plant cell metabolism, Dr. Richard Sayre, who joined the consortium in October 2011. Sayre was accompanied by his team of 10 post-doctoral research Fellows from the Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, where he directed the Institute for Renewable Fuels. Sayre was also Chair of the Department of Plant Cellular and Molecular Biology at Ohio State University and a Fulbright Scholar at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. He has also been Chief Technology Officer for Phycal, Inc., a start-up biotech company in Highland Heights, Ohio that develops microalgael-based biofuel production systems.

Initial construction at the Entrada Research Park will consist of unique biological laboratories, glass houses, ponds and other plant/algae growthrelated facilities. It will cover about 24,000 sq. ft. The total project cost is $12.25 million. Wages in the first year will be around $6 million. NMC

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already has over 20 employees. The consortium is predicted to be a $50 million+ a year enterprise with 100+ employees within 5 years.

The leading-edge biological and academic research will be in areas that include algae growth for long-term sustainable production of biofuels and food proteins, vaccine delivery, the control of mosquitoes that carry malaria, and above all, sustainable costcompetitive solutions to bio-energy and food production challenges. These efforts are showing progress in coordinating with NM’s impressive biofuel/ food research and production activities in the Santa Fe, Albuquerque and southwest NM Energy-Plex areas.

It can be confidently predicted that NMC’s research and development, along with NM’s unique climate and political support will likely make NMC a world leader in addressing our planet’s ever-increasing sustainability-related scientific, engineering and materialistic challenges. i

Sapphire Energy Building Algae-Based Fuel Plant in NM

Sapphire Energy, Inc. has received $144 million from investors to build a demonstration plant in Luna County, NM for the production of crude oil from algae. Oil from the algae will be refined into diesel and jet fuel.

The US Dept. of Energy has provided a $50 million grant, and the US Dept. of Agriculture is providing a $54.4 million loan guarantee to the San Diego-based company. Backers of the project include Monsanto, which is interested in a project to identify genes that stimulate algae growth.

Investors also include Bill Gates’ Cascade Investment, LLC and Venrock Associates, the venture capital company of the Rockefeller family.

June 2012 • Green Fire Times

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Pit Rule Hearing to Resume June 20

On June 20, the NM Oil Conservation Commission will resume a public hearing regarding proposed changes to state rules for oil and gas drilling wastes. The commission has scheduled three more days to hear from six witnesses. The hearing will take place at Porter Hall in the Wendell Chino Building, 1220 S. St. Francis Drive in Santa Fe. The oil and gas industry, with the support of Governor Martinez, is seeking to reduce its costs, and wants to amend or nullify the “Pit Rule,” which was approved in 2008 based on testimony from engineers. The current commission has refused to admit the 8,000 pages of testimony and exhibits put forward at hearings held to develop the rule, which affects toxic wastes in pits, buried tanks, sumps and closed-loop systems.

Ranchers and concerned citizens are worried about potential contamination of water sources, soil, livestock and wildlife. One proposed amendment calls for reducing the distance between water wells and temporary pits from 500 feet to 100 feet. “Before the Pit Rule was adopted, the state documented nearly 400 cases of groundwater contamination by leaking oil and gas waste pits,” says Gwen Lachelt, Director of Earthworks’ Oil & Gas Accountability Project (OGAP). “Since the rule was adopted, drilling rig counts have gone up, but there has been no contamination,” says NM Environmental Law Center (NMELC) staff attorney Eric Jantz.

Jantz says that the industry is also using the hearing to try to institute a regulatory framework for “multiwell fluid management pits” for waste from multiple hydrofracking operations. “In states such as Texas, Colorado and Oklahoma, these pits are like artificial lakes,” said Jantz.

NMELC’s Eric Jantz

The NMELC has asked for one member of the commission to withdraw from the decision-making process, and for another to disclose her previous dealings with the industry.

Last month OGAP released a report that shows the number of inspections conduced by the state Oil Conservation Division increased in 2011, but more than half of the 50,000 producing wells went unchecked by the state’s 12 inspectors.

EPA MAY THROW WRENCH IN PLANS TO BUILD HIGHLY-CONTESTED URANIUM MINE

The New Mexico Environmental Law Center (NMELC) and Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining (ENDAUM) are urging the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revoke a permit they gave to uranium mining company, Hydro Resources, Inc. 23 years ago. After ENDAUM and NMELC brought alleged deficiencies in the permit application to EPA’s attention, the EPA took the unprecedented step of revisiting its decision to grant the permit.

“The permit is an ‘aquifer exemption,’ which allows Hydro Resources to conduct uranium mining in a groundwater aquifer under the Navajo community of Church Rock, NM,” says Eric Jantz, NMELC staff attorney and lead counsel on the case.

“The type of uranium mining it is proposing would contaminate potable water with radiation and heavy metals, making it unfit for consumption forever. The EPA has both the legal authority and moral obligation to revoke the aquifer exemption.”

The type of mining is called in situ leach mining, or ISL, which involves injecting a chemical solution through ore zones to dissolve uranium so it moves freely in water.

Then the uranium-filled water is pumped to the surface, where the uranium is chemically stripped and the water is returned to the aquifer. No ISL operation in US history has been able to restore groundwater in a mined aquifer to pre-mining quality.

“Our communities have repeatedly expressed that we do not want this ISL mining or processing in Church Rock and Crownpoint,” says Larry J. King, ENDAUM board member and one of the more than 15,000 Navajo people who would be impacted by the mine. “We have expressed this through resolutions, litigation, even a Navajo Nation law. Because of a legal technicality, even though the mine site is in a Navajo community and surrounded by tribal land, the Navajo Nation law does not protect us from the proposed mine. That’s why it’s crucial that EPA step in and revoke the aquifer exemption before risking any more harm to our water, our people, our culture and our future.”

King, a member of the Navajo Nation and a former miner who has suffered adverse health effects because of his former occupation, has started the campaign on Change.org. “There is a long legacy and many unhealed sores from uranium mining on Navajo land by companies that look to make a quick profit. I’m sick of watching my community suffer,” said King. “We hope the Change.org petition will help inform Americans about this issue, and we hope to get more than 10,000 signatures to convince the EPA to do the right thing.”

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Green Fire Times • June 2012

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E N U J Expires June

30, 2012

JUNE Expires June

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30, 2012

June 2012 • Green Fire Times

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One out of Two New Mexicans Live in Areas Hit by Recent Weather Disasters

Interactive Online Map Shows County-by-County Weather-Related Disaster History

fter a year that saw many parts of the country hit by scorching heat, devastating wildfires, severe storms and record flooding, a new report released

by Environment New Mexico documents how global warming could lead to extreme weather events becoming even more common or more severe.

In the Path of the Storm: Global Warming, Extreme Weather, and the Impacts of Weather-Related Disasters in the United States examines county-level weather-related disaster declaration data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for 2006 through 2011.

The report also details the latest science on the projected influence of global warming on heavy rain and snow, heat, drought and wildfires, hurricanes and coastal storms, and explores how the damage from even non-extreme weather events could increase due to other global warming impacts such as sea level rise.

Some Key Findings:

Since 2006, federally declared weatherrelated disasters affected 23 counties in NM—or nearly one of every two New Mexicans. Recent weather-related disasters include flooding in Cíbola, Los Alamos and Sandoval counties, severe winter

storms in the Pueblos, and severe storms in Luna, Otero and Mora counties.

In 2011 alone, federally declared weather related disasters affected nine counties with over 364,000 residents. Nationally, the number of disasters inflicting more than $1 billion in damage (at least 14) set an all-time record last year, with total damages costing at least $55 billion.

Nationally, federally declared weatherrelated disasters have affected counties housing 242 million people since 2006— or nearly four out of five Americans.

Other research shows that the US has experienced an increase in heavy precipitation events, with the rainiest 1 percent of all storms delivering 20 percent more rain on average at the end of the 20th century than at the beginning. The trend towards extreme precipitation is projected to continue in a warming world, even though higher temperatures and drier summers will likely also increase the risk of drought in between the rainy periods for certain parts of the country.

Records show that the US has experienced an increase in the number of heat waves over the last half-century. Sci-

entists project that the heat waves and unusually hot seasons will likely become more common in a warming world.

Other research predicts that hurricanes are expected to become even more intense and bring greater amounts of rainfall, even though the number of hurricanes may remain the same or decrease.

Global warming is expected to have varying impacts on different types of extreme weather events. While the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently concluded that it is “virtually certain” that hot days will become hotter and “likely” that extreme precipitation events will continue to increase worldwide, there is little scientific consensus about the impact of global warming on events such as tornadoes. In addition, every weather event is now a product of a climate system where global warming “loads the dice” for extreme weather, though in different ways for different types of extreme weather.

posed carbon pollution standards for coal-fired power plants—the largest single source of the carbon pollution that is fueling global warming. At the same time, some polluting industries and their allies in Congress are working to block these and other clean air standards.

“The extreme weather we suffered through in 2011 is a frightening reminder of why we must do everything we can to cut the dangerous carbon pollution that is fueling global warming and lessen the threat of even worse extreme weather in the future,” said Sanders Moore, Director of Environment New Mexico. i The complete county-level data can be viewed online at www.Environmentnewmexico.org

The Obama administration has proposed historic new carbon pollution and fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks, and the Environmental Protection Agency has pro-

Firefighters in NM Connect Record Fires with Climate Change

T

he largest wildfire in New Mexico history is connected to climate change. That’s the message from a group of 10 firefighters from the Atalaya wildland hand crew who gathered in the charred Santa Fe forest last month to help launch a global effort to “connect the dots.”

On May 5, the international climate campaign 350.org coordinated more than 1,000 events in over 100 countries for “Climate Impacts Day.” From flood victims in Pakistan dragging boats into the streets of Karachi to villagers in Kenya holding “dots” where drought killed their crops, the day of events was intended to paint a picture of a world already reeling from the impacts of the climate crisis.

“Since I started in 1998, the increase in mega-fires, where over 100,000 acres burn, have intensified,” said Porfirio Chavarria, city of Santa Fe Wildland Urban Interface specialist. “It’s a lot hotter and drier, we’re not getting as much rain as we’ve had, and we think its going to get more intense,” said Brian Moya, a firefighter with the Santa Fe department. “The winds that we are having are causing red-flag warning conditions and drying up the little moisture left in the ground. The fires are burning hotter and lasting longer,” said Brian Bird. “People need to take responsibility and show initiative to address the real problems, or else we are going to experience conditions that will be even worse,” said Graham Miller.

A recent Yale University poll in the US found that Americans’ concern about climate change was increasing with more extreme weather and warmer temperatures.

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Green Fire Times • June 2012

Eighty-two percent of Americans report that they personally experienced one or more types of extreme weather Las Conchas fire burn area in the Jemez or a natural disaster in the past year. Mountains of New Mexico, May 2012 “Throughout the country, we’re seeing longer fire seasons and snowpacks that, on average, are disappearing a little earlier every spring,” Tom Tidwell, the director of the US Forest Service, told senators at a hearing last June. “Our scientists believe this is due to a change in climate.”

“Coal is the primary driver of global warming emissions,” a researcher from Yale University, Anthony A. Leiserowitz, told The New York Times. “In NM, PNM is responsible for half of all global warming emissions,” said Mariel Nanasi, executive director of the advocacy group New Energy Economy. “There is no future in coal. Now, we need to turn to renewables that don’t cause these awful consequences.”

The June 2011 Las Conchas fire burned more than 150,000 acres, threatening the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory and leading the evacuation of thousands of nearby residents. In NM, the months leading up to the Las Conchas fire were part of the third-driest spring on record.

For more information on the Connect the Dots Campaign, visit www.climatedots.org.

To view the article Southwest Wildfires and Climate Change, Explained, visit www. climatecentral.org/news/southwest-wildfires-and-climate-change-explained i

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© Seth Roffman

A

Climate Change NEWSBITES NM Behind In Adapting to Climate Change

According to an analysis released in April by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Arizona, New Mexico and many other states are facing serious water shortages if steps are not taken in anticipation of climate change. The NRDC found that 29 states have done little or nothing to prepare for the impacts on water supplies of a changing climate.

The nonprofit NRDC did a detailed analysis on the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and potential regional changes in weather. David Doniger, NREC’s Climate and Clean Air Policy director, told reporters that government officials need to consider this information and to support curbing the pollution that is a major contributor to the problem. NM Gov. Susana Martinez has strongly opposed efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

The group’s analysis says that NM is behind in updating its water plan, and the planning process has not included the agriculture industry or a number of other stakeholders. In addition, the analysis says that water used for oil and gas development is not accounted for as part of the state’s water budget.

Climate Impact on Plants Could Be Underestimated

According to a study published in the journal Nature last month, scientific projections of global warming’s impact on plants have been seriously underestimating what may actually happen. The study reinforces anecdotal reports from farmers and gardeners, who have been saying that seasonal plants are blooming much sooner than in the past.

The Commission is an independent group of scientific leaders from 13 countries who have been honing recommendations to address global sustainability challenges to be presented at the Río+20 Summit in Brazil, June 20-22.

Professor John Beddington, the British government’s chief scientific investigator and commission chair, said, “If you’re going to address the poverty of a billion people not getting enough food, with another billion (globally) in 13 years’ time, you’ve got to massively increase agriculture. You can’t do it using the same techniques we’ve used before, because that would seriously increase greenhouse gas emissions for the whole world. We need to develop agriculture that is ‘climate smart.’”

The report, Achieving Food Security in the Face of Climate Change, is available online at http://ccafs.cgiar.org/commission

Climate Change Law Passed in Mexico

After three years of debate and revisions, the Mexican Legislature recently passed one of the strongest national laws enacted so far, aimed at helping mitigate climate change. México ranks 11th in the world, both for the size of its economy and its level of carbon emissions.

The new law includes a mandate to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 30 percent below current levels by 2020 and by 50 percent below 2000 levels by 2050. In addition, it requires that 35 percent of the country’s electricity come from renewable sources by 2024, and requires mandatory emissions reporting by the country’s largest polluters.

The research involved 20 institutions in North America, Japan and Australia, and drew evidence from plant life cycles and experiments with 1,634 species. It found that previous experiments had underestimated the speed of flowering by 8.5 times and growing leaves by 4 times.

México’s climate bill is, in part, a result of the 2010 UN Climate Change Conference in Cancún. It reflects a global trend in which individual states and countries, frustrated by stalled United Nations climate agreements, have begun implementing their own emission regulations.

The response of plants to climate change could have a devastating effect on food chains and ecosystems. Increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels can affect how plants produce oxygen.

Suit Filed Over Coal Mine Expansion Permit

According to estimates published last year, Earth is on track for additional warming of 3.6 degrees F or more after an estimated global temperature rise of 1.33 F from 1906 to 2005. However, some experts say those estimates are conservative and note that many locations are warming much faster than the global average. Scientists say if the Earth heats up beyond 3.6 degrees F this century, it could create an unstable climate of common weather extremes, exacerbating drought, floods, crop failures and rising sea levels.

The study can be accessed at www.nature.com/nature

Report Says Farming Must Be “Climate Smart”

A report from the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change says that farming practices must cut waste and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to ensure that there will be sufficient food for future generations. Roughly one-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted, and the world loses 12 million hectares of agricultural land each year to land degradation.

The report, released in Britain at the Planet Under Pressure conference in March, says that farming must be intensified, but in a sustainable way, and that governments must put sustainable farming at the heart of national agricultural polices.

The Western Environmental Law Center is suing the federal government over the approved expansion of operations at the 13,000-acre coal mine that supplies the Four Corners Power Plant. The suit was filed on behalf of five groups: Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment (DCAROE), the San Juan Citizens Alliance, the Center for Biological Diversity, Amigos Bravos and the Sierra Club. The complaint challenges the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement’s recent approval of a 714-acre expansion at BHP Billiton’s Navajo Coal Mine and the company’s claim that the mine hasn’t caused health and environmental effects.

“The way the approval was rushed through, and the way the Office of Surface Mining put on blinders to the cumulative reality of coal operations at the mine and the power plant is an injustice,” said Mike Eisenfeld, NM energy coordinator with the San Juan Citizens Alliance. “The Navajo mine has torn up the land, polluted the air and contaminated waters that families depend on,” said Anna Frazier of DCAROE. “Residents in the area deserve a full and thorough impact analysis that is translated into the Navajo language to provide for real public participation, not another whitewash for the coal industry.”

The Four Corners Power Plant, built in 1962 on the Navajo Nation, is the largest single-source emitter of nitrogen oxide in the US. The plant provides electricity for NM, Arizona and Texas. The plant’s operators are seeking to close three of its generating units, and the EPA has proposed getting the emissions reduced by 87 percent.

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June 2012 • Green Fire Times

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IMPORTING BEES

High Demand Creates a Huge Dilemma Melanie Margarita Kirby

have large-scale industrial agriculture with its negative consequences.

Yet, because our landscape does not offer reliable and substantial water and forage, the number of operations able to share their local bees with community members is limited.

This is irreconcilable with the increase in demand and has created a Truchas, NM beekeeper Mark Spitzig (www.ziaqueendeadly dilemma. bees.com) and Santa Fe beekeeper Steve Wall (www. buckinbee.com) are part of the Southwest Survivor Importation of varQueenbee Project, which was funded by Western ied bees from varied SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education). sources is occurring at an alarming s a professional beekeeper, havrate.

Thus, a vicious cycle has begun. ing dedicated 15 years learning Newer beekeepers may not have the how to keep healthy bees, I have witmentorship or the time needed to do nessed radical changes throughout the the necessary research into the health industry—both nationally and locally. I and genetics of bees they import. They write this article with the hope of furgo online looking for what is available ther educating those who already have and for competitive pricing. They click bees or are interested in establishing and order. Or they call a beekeeper sustainable local resources. Since the advertising imported bees, get their emergence of Colony Collapse Disorhive boxes ready, read a book or two, der (CCD) in 2006, a beekeeping reand anxiously wait to become proud naissance is occurring that is bringing parents of their very own colony. back a once-dying art. Yet the bees are still dying. Some venture to ask, “What But the reality is that the majority of bees can I do to help the bees?” imported from high production zones are falling prey to malnutrition, rushed First, the issue arises of where to get bees. production and harvesting issues that There are but a few large-scale bee operaharbor toxins via pesticides, fungicides tions here in La Tierra Encantada. There and environmental stresses. Imported are even fewer bee producers/farmers. bees that have high viral, pathogen and This is a direct result of our challenging pest loads are having detrimental effects landscape—one that is both a blessing on local bees and their keepers. and a curse. It is a true blessing to not

A

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Green Fire Times • June 2012

The NM Dept. of Agriculture doesn’t fully regulate imported honeybees or other bee species. There are laws and acts on the books simply stating that bees brought into the area without comb or equipment are not required to Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven at the University of be inspected. These bees California-Davis is near the Laidlaw Bee Research Facility are defined as “packages” mothers and their ability to mate sucand are sold by the pound cessfully, and it also affects their male (loose bees and a queen). On the other counterparts’ (drones) semen. Comhand, bees sold with some honeycomb promised bees are shipped around the and a queen are called a “starter nucleus nation and allowed to pass on their colony” and are subject to inspection. ailments, which can cross species and Higher production zones that offer debilitate native populations. packages include parts of California, Texas and several southern states. These I am not writing this article to diszones experience an earlier spring and courage those interested in learning thus can create artificial swarms in to keep bees, but rather to encourage time for the rest of the country’s spring everyone to do their homework. Read commencement. and learn as much as possible about Some of these locations are home to Africanized honeybees. Others are situated near industrialized agricultural zones that are routinely monocropped and sprayed with pesticides and fungicides to gain higher crop yields. Toxic residues remain on pollen grains and in nectar. Some are systemic and are present in the whole plant.

Bees and other pollinators exposed to these toxins must deal with them for a long time, as they are stored in the wax and slowly consumed and fed to developing larvae. The toxins affect bee behavior, their immune systems, the quality of their nutrition, and also their progeny. It affects the queen

what is available so that you can make an informed decision. As with anything farmed, there are questions as to how it was grown: What sort of soil?

What kind of water? Was nature able to nurture? If the questions you ask do not produce acceptable answers, then the appropriate choice is to wait.

Bees from other areas may not be the same as bees here in NM. Though all honeybees were imported from Europe several centuries ago, today they are experiencing genetic bottlenecking.

In today’s America, there are European honeybees and Africanized honeybees (AHB). European honeybees are diverse; there are the Italian, the Córdovan,

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tions. AHB can be unintentionally imported. There still aren’t regulations requiring them to be inspected when brought in without comb.

Here are some questions that should be asked of all suppliers before purchasing bees: 1) What are the Handling a ripe, grafted honeybee cocoon. A virgin genetics? Are they queenbee will emerge and then conduct her mating European or Afriflights with area drones (males). canized (reared in the Russian, the New World Carniolan, an AHB zone)? the Caucasian and their hybrids. Af2) What are the bees fed and exricanized honeybees are very pest- and posed to? High fructose corn syrup? disease-resistant, but unfortunately carry Pure cane sugar? Herbs? Antibiotics? very aggressive dominating genes that Acaricides (miticides)? Pesticides? can end up displacing European honeybee genes if the climate is conducive.

3) When were the queen mothers proThese bees can be mean. The areas where duced? How were they produced and they are prevalent necessitate hypersensiwhere? If the answer is near industrial tive placement and management. While mono-cropped agriculture like the AHB have been reported in southern central valley of CA, then care should and central counties of NM (and even be given to understanding the nature in a couple of northern counties), their and quality of the forage and also that perpetual establishment isn’t immediate. drones available for mating may come Our distinct seasons prevent AHB from continued on page 22 establishing at higher and colder eleva-

Petition to Ban Bee-Killing Pesticides

A recent Harvard study links the US’s radical decline of bee populations—Colony Collapse Disorder—with pesticides called neoniconitoids, made by the Bayer Corporation. When exposed to these nerve-agents, bees get lost—they are unable to find their way home to their hive and drop dead from exhaustion.

A petition being circulated online at Change.org is calling on the EPA to ban the pesticides. The petition was started by Susan Mariner, a third-generation backyard gardener from Virginia. “This new study is even more evidence the EPA needs to take neoniconitoids off the market,” Mariner said. “We have more than enough information to act, and people across the country are looking to the EPA to keep our bees, and the crops they pollinate, safe. At this point, there is no excuse for inaction.”

You can find Mariner’s petition at: www.change.org/petitions/epa-saveour-bees-and-the-food-we-eat-ban-bayer-s-chemicals-now

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June 2012 • Green Fire Times

21

from hives of varied colonies of questionable genetics.

4) When were they harvested? With anything less than 18 days post-virginal emergence, there is a higher rate of supercedure loss of the queen.

5) If they are early spring queens, how was the weather—volatile or calm?

If there was a volatile spring, mating could have been compromised.

If a supplier is unable to thoroughly answer any of these questions, red flags are present. If sick bees are imported, will the keeper be knowledgeable and experienced enough to recognize and react appropriately? Most likely not. Therefore, it is best to wait to find healthy bees—preferably those that are regionally fortified.

In disclosing these issues, I seek to not only spare people the heartache of losing bees during however many attempts; foremost, I seek to protect the bees.

There have been increasing reports of managed hive losses from unknown causes. The most likely culprits are the newer viral pathogens. As many large-scale commercial beekeepers take their bees cross-country to California’s Central Valley almond bloom in February, it is akin to being at summer camp where damp, cooler spring weather conditions fuel and spread illnesses. As these caravans of bees leave when the bloom is done, the spread of any ailments is fast and furious. Beekeepers with bees for sale may inadvertently spread the debilitating condition nationwide.

While NM hasn’t yet been labeled as having experienced CCD, it is no surprise that higher losses are being reported and that bees are dying from unknown causes. We are experiencing the effects of CCD through importation of stressed bees. Add on drought conditions, wildfires, bears and environmental stresses, and it is no wonder that our bees are struggling.

Another significant concern is that with the increase of imported honeybees, native bees are competing for the same marginal resources. More honeybees in any single area can be detrimental to native species of pollinators if the foraging resources are limited. And while managed bee colonies are better in communities than unmanaged ones, too many beekeepers and too many bees in any area will not yield healthy bees or produce extra honey and other bee products for consumption.

So—what do we do? Ban all importations of bees? Regulate and enact registration so that we know where, when and what kind of bees are being imported? Only allow bees in from certain areas/companies? I do not have the answers, and I admit that I cannot, without reservation, say to stop.

It is a very difficult time indeed to get into beekeeping, even for experienced beekeepers. Yet, if we work together, communicate and hold ourselves accountable, then we may be able to reestablish equilibrium and promote informed decisions.

Several area projects are underway that seek to address some of these issues and help establish sustainable resources for quality bee stock. PollinatorNation. org, part of the NM Bee Collaborative, seeks to establish native bee cor-

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Green Fire Times • June 2012

ridors and nesting sites. The Southwest Survivor Queenbee Project (www.survivorqueenbees.org), founded by Mark Spitzig and myself in 2007, collaborates with regional beekeepers to exchange Sangre de Cristo Beekeepers founder/coordinator quality survivor stock Santa Fean Kate Whealen is also an active member in and promote chemi- the Rocky Mountain Survivor Queenbee Co-op. cal-free management.

The NM Pollinator Project focuses on Diet is a large contributing factor to how creating pollinator-friendly zones. The bees are faring. With marginal weather group works with beekeepers, farmers scenarios and compromised blooms, it and gardeners, youth and parents, and is all the more necessary for us to proother citizens through education, outmote natural and medicinal cultivations. reach and capacity building. Their aim We are what we eat—and the same goes is to build local and regional policy to for our bees. If we can promote healthy support healthy pollinator habitat on nutrition, then sick bees (who have not farms, gardens, schools, community garbeen genetically compromised) will be den sites and wild places. Coordinator able to overcome their ailments and curb Loretta McGrath can be reached at their spread. loremcgrath@gmail.com.

Join area clubs and find mentors. For As a result of a new 2012 Western Susinfo on the Santa Fe Sangre de Cristo tainable Agriculture Research EducaBeekeepers, contact katewhealen@ tion grant, the Rocky Mountain Surearthlink.net or www.sdcbeeks.org. They vivor Queenbee Cooperative is being provide a wonderful active listserve and established to assist five northern NM hold regular monthly meetings. For info women and three Colorado women in on Albuquerque area beekeepers, visit creating a regional breeding and rearwww.abqbeeks.ning.com. ABQ Beeks ing cooperative of chemical-free, hearty coordinators Chantal Foster and Jessie survivor honeybees. NM beekeepers inBrown have a wonderful website and orclude Kate Whealen—founder and coganize many diverse educational events. ordinator of Santa Fe’s Sangre de Cristo Both of these clubs are FREE! There is Beekeepers—Meg McGee and Resa also the NM Beekeepers Association Sawyer of Mora Valley, and Taos area (www.nmbeekeepers.org). i beekeepers Angela Lewis and Moira Melanie Margarita Kirby grew up in O’Hanlon. Colorado beekeepers include southern New Mexico. She resides and Spanish Peaks Beekeeper Janet Fink, breeds survivor bees in Truchas. Email: DenverBee’s Marygael Meister, and Fort ziaqueenbees@hotmail.com Collins’ Kris Holthaus.

To conclude, this article is to encourage research, discussion and cooperation. It takes a community to raise bees. I pray that established beekeepers will share their extra bees. If the season is conducive and nutrition is wholesome, bees will reproduce by swarming. Caught swarms and even colony splits can then be offered to area enthusiasts, which will help curb importation risks. While it may seem daunting to the inexperienced or overly time-consuming, it will be well worth the effort to be proactive stewards.

© Jamey Stillings

Importing Bees continued from page 21

For those wanting to do their part for area pollinators, planting diverse blooms and melliferous plants will assist in keeping regional nutrition wholesome.

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Health

EVERYDA Y GREEN

PROTECTING YOURSELF FROM PESTICIDES

Susan Guyette

T

ico, whereas some regions of the US only use pesticides on the exterior of buildings, preventing indoor exposure.

The three categories of pesticides present in our commercial food supply are insecticides, herbicides (intended to kill weeds), and fungicides (intended to kill fungus). Insecticides and herbicides are used extensively in industrial agriculture’s growing of plants, and their residues are found in animals raised on pesticided feed.

There are growing concerns over fungicides used on farm-raised fish and pesticided plants used for feed.

According to Earth Justice, each year nearly one billion pounds of pesticides are sprayed into fields and orchards in the US alone. Purchases by US pesticide users account for a third of the world market in terms of dollars, highlighting the potential impact of this country’s initiatives on health.

Many pesticides banned in the US as carcinogens are marketed to other countries, exposing populations and a great diversity of species to high levels of toxicity. When your food is imported and not organic, chances are great that these banned pesticides may have been used on your food. Even imported foods labeled organic are subject to scanty and sometimes questionable inspection.

here are many ways pesticides are damaging — not only to the environment, but to people as well. Pesticides are neurotoxins, poisons designed to destroy the nervous systems of small creatures—insects. However, pesticides also attack the nervous systems of larger creatures—people—but we usually are not killed, at least not immediately.

pacts on the global environment, severe impacts as evidenced in the decline of bee populations and in other animals, are rapidly impacting biodiversity. This powerful industry keeps many toxic ingredients from being labeled, prevents public education, and provides financial incentives to other industries that are involved in creating public spaces where people are exposed to pesticides.

Why is the use of pesticides such a saleable concept? Commercial plant varieties were developed over the past five decades for high yields and commercial convenience, such as to be able to withstand long transport times. These varieties, however, are often weak against insect invasion. Nutrient depletion of soil from agri-biz methods can also provide less nutrition to you from the food.

Pesticides affect everyone who is exposed.

What are common everyday human exposures to pesticides? Ingestion and breathing in through the air are the two primary ways. Exposure to agricultural pesticides from the food you eat, as well as inhaling pesticides from the spraying of personal and public environments, can build up a daily toxic load. Pesticiding inside public buildings is common practice in New Mex-

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Reasons why this topic is of extreme importance to everyone personally concern the link between the nervous system and the immune system — and therefore the impacts to overall health. Toxic load or body burden is the buildup of chemical residue stored in fat cells. This burden affects the functioning of the body’s organs and the liver’s ability to detoxify toxins, leading to even greater buildup. The potential carcinogenic affects over time are now well documented.

The everyday habits of each person to avoid pesticide exposure can aid the liver’s ability to rid the body of our daily exposures to toxic chemicals.

The EPA estimates that there are over 400 exposures per day in the average household. Yet, corporations continue manufacturing and promoting these products because establishing a causal relationship between one chemical and cancer is difficult to prove in court.

PERSONAL ACTION AND GLOBAL CHANGE

Personal action is the primary route to the cumulative movement that can create global change. Every time you make the special effort to buy nonpesticided food, you are exercising your vote as a consumer to lessen the use of pesticides. Purchasing from local nonpesticided food suppliers supports a larger range of safe food options.

© Anna C. Hansen

Not so widely understood is that pesticide affects everyone who is exposed.

Humans may not feel the effect immediately, yet our nervous systems are affected, and the toxicity of pesticides builds up in our bodies, creating a toxic load. Ongoing health impacts can include fatigue, insomnia, allergies, asthma, anxiety, memory impairment, and in many cases this source of toxicity can combine with other sources of toxins to cause cancer. Children are potentially impacted the most from exposure, as their nervous systems are still forming.

In cases of severe exposure to synthetic chemicals, damage to the nervous system can occur, causing chemical sensitivity with ongoing effects.

HOW HEALTH IS IMPACTED

To Protect Yourself:

A backyard hoop-house organic garden with chard, beets, onions and herbs

Pesticides are a $45-billion-dollar-ayear industry worldwide (2011). The continued rapid rise of this industry signals many causes for alarm. Take this in: “Global demand for pesticides is predicted to rise 2.9 percent annually to 2014. Gains will reflect a reversal of declines in 2009, caused in part by a price drop for the leading herbicide, Monsanto’s glyphosate. Herbicides and insecticides will remain the largest types. Central and South America will offer the best growth opportunities.1” Besides the widespread negative im-

Many of the plants that have been altered by herbicides have rich medicinal and nutritional properties that are not recognized by the dominant society or by industry. The destruction of these plants is having a great impact on the continuation of traditional medicines.

The phrase “All Our Relations” implies a respect and a purpose to all living beings (including plants and animals) — much of which Western science has not yet discovered. Yet, Native science has been practiced for thousands of years.

• Be aware of the food you eat, taking care to buy organic. Awareness in your body can guide you. Pesticided food can have a bitter taste and sometimes causes numbness to the lips.

• Ask everywhere you go—restaurants, hotels, schools, homes—do you use pesticides? Do you serve organic food? Let your opinion be known that you do not want to consume pesticide or be in environments that pesticide. Vote with your dollar by patronizing businesses not using pesticides. continued on page

June 2012 • Green Fire Times

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success of a repeatable project. VolksHouse uses a ducted mini-split heat pump and relies on the ventilation ducting to distribute heating and cooling loads.

CODE BUILT HOUSE COST COMPARISON

In order to compare the construction cost of VolksHouse with that of a similar home built to regional building codes (Code Built House), we cost-modeled VolksHouse using RS-Means estimating software. This software uses industrystandard and regionally specific construction costs based on assembly type. The assembly types we used reflect Santa Fe’s current local building code, which requires compliance with IECC (International Energy Conservation Code) and U.S. Energy Star Certification with a HERS (Home Energy Rating System) score of 70 or below.

For accuracy in comparing the project costs, we matched certain line items, such as builder profit and overhead. Our modeling indicated that the construction cost for a typical residence of identical size and configuration to VolksHouse would be $154 per sq. ft.—an estimate corroborated by the Santa Fe Area Home Builders Association (SAHBA). This number was then used as a baseline for comparison between code-built construction and the Passive House projects.

Comparison Results

Comparisons indicate that both Passive House projects were built for less than the model Code Built House. The modifications to the thermal-envelope assembly of VolksHouse provided significant advantages over Balance House in thermal-bridge elimination and airtightness, which result in reduced energy use.

However, the costs were slightly higher. In repeated projects, the environmental impacts of EPS use should be considered, as well.

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Green Fire Times • June 2012

Simplifying details increased overall performance consistency in all cases. This will be a critical benefit as Passive House construction is introduced to the US, given the industry separation between professional architectural responsibilities and construction management. The US Passive House industry will need to address this gap in responsibilities in order to successfully move Passive House construction into the mainstream.

CONCLUSION

The completion of Balance House and VolksHouse demonstrate that Passive House projects can meet typical US single-family home construction costs. This is especially notable in the Santa Fe area, where construction costs are high relative to other areas in the country. Simple and replicable systems that align with standard US construction sequencing and practices are key to keeping costs in check—and to the eventual mainstream market acceptance of the Passive House approach.

The environmental advantages, lifestyle benefits and cost competitiveness of these projects raise the question of why the Passive House approach is not employed more often in the US We suggest that the answer is primarily a matter of unfamiliarity, and that the solution will require effective contractor and consumer education.

Importantly, Passive House education in the United States must address mainstream expectations of building performance, which are chronically low. i Jonah Stanford is a Certified Passive House Consultant and a principal partner at MoSA – Mojarrab Stanford Architects. 505.577.4295, jonah@mo-s-a.com, www.

Mo-S-A.com

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© Seth Roffman

Passive Houses continued from page 7

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Water

Is Rainwater Harvesting Worth It In A Desert?

Maceo Carrillo Martinet, Ph.D.

Personal Water Economics

If I use every drop of water collected in my 550 gallon rainwater harvesting tank at home (which I do), I save a measly $3–$6 a year on my water bill, which totals about $305. This is the same dreary scenario shared during the talk show. It would seem that the water expert is correct in declaring that rainwater harvesting is just too expensive, but this is just part of the story.

The $3–$6 savings I get from using harvested rainwater is estimated by us-

ing Albuquerque’s water utility price per gallon of water/wastewater, known as the commodity charge. Commodity charges are defined as those costs associated with pumping, treating and delivering each gallon of water and wastewater to each customer (http:// www.abcwua.org/). Averaged from 2008–2011, the rate I pay at a multiresidential unit for each gallon consumed is roughly 3/10th of a penny (which includes wastewater and paying back the drinking water project).

That’s right, 3/10th of a penny per gallon, or about $2.64 for 1,000 gallons!

Using this measly commodity charge rate, it would take me between 70 and 140 years, depending on how much it rained, to recoup the cost of my water tank with the savings on my water bill.

Water is only “cheap” because of the way we have set up the water bill payment system.

But let’s take a closer at how my water bill works. I pay about $46 every year on the water consumed and wastewater produced. In total, however, I pay about $305. The other $259 of charges are lumped together in what are called fixed costs, which include base charges, taxes and franchise fees. Fixed costs are defined as those charges required to recover the cost of services “associated with providing capital facilities (pump stations, reservoirs, transmission lines, wells, etc.).” Fixed costs are charged to the consumer regardless

of whether there was any water actually consumed. These costs are likely to increase in the near future to upgrade aging pipes and wastewater treatment plant infrastructure.

However, when we look at the bigger picture, which includes all the energyand infrastructure-related costs associated with delivering water to a home, it becomes clear that the commodity charge obscures the true price of water, and, as seen at the beginning of our story, can easily misguide an assessment of the true merits of rainwater harvesting.

Water is only “cheap” because of the way we have set up the water bill payment system, with the commodity and fixed costs as separate entities and the commodity charge being the defining “value” of a gallon of water. When we factor in the costs associated with the infrastructure and labor needed to deliver that water from the river (or groundwater) to your home (and wastewater from your home back to the river, treated), water is truly not “worth” 3/10th of a penny per gallon when it flows from our tap. If we measured the “value” of my home rainwater harvesting system, using both commodity and fixed costs, or all the costs associated with getting that water to my house, then my small rainwater harvesting system off my garage would actually save me between $20–$41 on my water bill per year (instead of $3–$6), and the return on investment would take 10–20 years, a much more reasonable return. Interestingly, the re-

© Seth Roffman

KUNM, the University of New Mexico community-powered radio station, recently had an entire call-in show on conserving our state’s water resources.

One person made the comment that NM should enact laws and policies that make it easier for someone to harvest rainwater for indoor, non-drinking use, such as flushing the toilet or washing your clothes. One of the guests on the show, a well-respected university teacher and water resources expert, responded by saying, “You know it sounds like a real attractive solution, but it turns out to be very expensive.”

To prove his point, he explained that he recently bought a rainwater harvesting tank for home use that cost him $500, and that “every time those tanks fill up, which is about three times last summer, I save 60 cents.” No further explanation was provided. I knew rainwater harvesting can be expensive, but I was not convinced that it was not really a feasible conservation tool. I decided to do some of my own calculations.

bate I received from the water utility did include both the commodity and fixed costs on my water bill.

The True Value of Water

Although rainwater harvesting is clearly an essential tool for water conservation, the way we “value” water actually diminishes the economic viability of rainwater harvesting and possibly other critical conservation measures. While the payment system might make sense from the water utility’s operations and maintenance standpoint, since it secures the recovery of their costs regardless of water conservation, it works to our detriment when it is used to evaluate water conservation activities. The real reason why rainwater harvesting “turns out to be very expensive” is due to the magic of artificially separating the water system into pieces, rather than looking at it as a whole—let alone taking into account the reality of living in a desert.

There is something inherently backwards in discouraging rainwater collection in the desert because it is too continued on page

30

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Rainwater Harvesting continued from page 29

expensive. In an environment that only receives about eight to nine inches of rain all year (four inches in 2011), and a bleak-looking forecast, it seems to me “too expensive” not to collect rainfall and use it to supplement our daily needs, as well adopting other outside-the-box conservation measures. This would seem to be a no-brainer, especially considering Albuquerque recently paid $500 million to build the San Juan - Chama Drinking Water Treatment Plant so that we can drink Río Grande water, helping offset our unsustainable use of groundwater. Furthermore, the insanely low commodity charge for water is in stark contrast with the astronomical price we pay for highly coveted water rights in the Southwest.

As this example shows us, the dollar value of something is a very deceiving way of defining that something’s value.

This is an important point, one that is brilliantly explored in Raj Patel’s recent book, The Value of Nothing. According to Patel, “We’ve been socialized into thinking only in terms of the money value of something, but thinking this way shrinks us.” Going back to the water resources expert, rainwater harvesting was tossed to the dump simply based on monetary terms defined by a market value system. Thinking just in those terms, you would be blinded from the huge potential that rainwater harvesting does embody, even if we only get a few drops here on the desert.

For example, last year, with just one full 550 gallon tank and a frugal lifestyle, I was able to flush my toilet twice a day for about eight months and still had enough water to support a small but productive garden (growing crops native to the desert) for about two months into the growing season. I did all this with a tank the sky filled up for me for free, with me, using gravity to move this water around! I estimate that if I were to get smarter in harvesting the rainwater that runs off the rest of my house, I could meet all my indoor non-drinking water needs (e.g., flushing toilets) and at least half my outdoor water needs for an entire year!

A New Value System

In my calculation of the cost and benefits of rainwater harvesting, I did not include the value of using rainwater to grow native vegetables and fruits, increase food and water sources for in-

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sects or birds, and bring more organic matter to the soil; not to mention the ultimate satisfaction of not using drinking water to flush my toilet. Though these benefits are valuable to me and the community, it is almost impossible to put a dollar amount on them, and therefore they are removed from any cost-benefit analysis based solely on money. This is a very important point that cannot be tossed to the wayside as a nice gesture, but it is impractical, especially for an educator. This system of “value” is something that we alone created, and that we alone can change.

How we relate to rainwater or anything that is essential to life and a finite resource, should not be solely determined by the price that the market gives it (or doesn’t give it), but should also take into the account the non-monetary benefits and aspirations of society and include the environmental reality that we live with. Many companies often refer to this kind of holistic economic framework as their triple bottom line, which means they base their company decisions not just on increasing their profit margins, but also the impacts on people and the planet. Solely basing our decisions on economics that does not factor in the natural ecology or non-monetary benefits will inevitably produce a bruised and damaged future, as is being played out in today’s world.

Although just getting going, there is incredible work going on to create an economic system that is more accountable to a sustainable and healthy society. Instead of the GDP (gross domestic product) defining the health of our economy, we should use the Gross National Happiness index; instead of economic “growth” being our mantra, it should be the level of personal and economic development and creativity.

The viewpoint expressed by the water resources expert struck me as strangely antiquated in today’s world, in which the youth are coming together to demand new ways of rethinking what we value as a society and how we relate to all of our relationships. i Maceo Carrillo Martinet, PhD, is an Albuquerque-based ecologist/educator working on ecological restoration and community-based environmental education. He is collaborating with the New Mexico Water Collaborative (http://nmwatercollaborative.org/), a group dedicated to reducing NM’s water footprint.

Email: conuco8@yahoo.com

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Water

del are llano / From the Arid Land

Fifth Annual Celebrando las Acequias • June 14-16 An Acequia is only as good as its infrastructure Juan Estévan Arellano

E

very decade there seems to be new terminology that everyone buys into without paying much attention to the roots of the word. In the 70’s it was appropriate technology, then the word organic, followed by sustainability. Now it’s resilience.

© Seth Roffman (2)

But when it comes to the acequia communities, whether in New Mexico or elsewhere, of utmost importance is the infrastructure of these ancient systems, most of which are not in the best condition. They are no longer taken care of as before. For these ancient resilient systems to survive, they have to be sustainable and maintained if they are to produce the food they are capable of.

Celebrando organizer Arellano

With that in mind, the Fifth Annual Celebrando las Acequias, to be held June 14–16 at the Mission in Dixon, will focus on Ingenious Landscapes: Indigenous Infrastructures and Sustainable Design for Drylands.

The event will open on Thursday evening with registration at 6 pm and a welcome and overview at 6:30, followed at 6:45 with a presentation by Río Arriba Planning and Zoning on Current Planning Guidelines. Afterwards, the NM Acequia Association will give a presentation on Strategic Planning.

On Friday, the event will start at 4:30 pm with registration, followed by an overview by Professor Peter Arnold from the Arid Land Institute. Then Dr. Arturo Madrid will read a short chapter on acequias and the mayordomo from his recently released book.

Dr. Madrid, a native norteño, is now at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. At 6:30, Dr. William Doolittle

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from the University of Texas/Austin will give the keynote address. He is an expert on dryland irrigation, having done a lot of work in México and the Middle East. He will be followed by part-time Dixon resident, archaeologist Dr. Severin Fowles, who teaches at Barnard and Columbia University.

Dr. Fowles has been studying the Comanches and their relation to Hispanic villages such as the communities within the Embudo land grant. The day will end with music.

Saturday’s registration starts at 8:30, with a welcome and overview by Professor Peter Arnold at 9. At 9:30 Dr. Thomas Glick, from Boston University, who has studied and written extensively on the acequia systems in Valencia, Spain, will present. Then, Mora native, Dr. Manuel Montoya, who teaches at UNM, and is working on getting NM’s acequias recognized as World Heritage Sites by the United Nations, will discuss that effort. Then Dr. James Wescoat, from MIT, will present his work with indigeneous irrigation systems in arid landscapes in various parts of the world.

Sunday there are a couple of field trips planned; one to the pebble gardens near Velarde and another to show the work Dr. Severin Fowles is doing on the old torreón he owns in the old Embudo Plaza (aka Dixon), which dates to 1725.

The event in sponsored by the Arid Land Institute of Woodbury University. It is co-sponsored by the Embudo Valley Acequia Association, Río Arriba County, Office of Planning & Zoning, Bleakly Botanical and Biological, NM Water Collaborative, NM Acequia Association, La Chiripada Winery and Vivac Winery. i For more information, call Estévan A r ellano, e vent organize r, at 505.579.4027, email the Arid Lands Institute at aridlands@woodbury. edu or visit http://www.aridlands. woodbury.edu/public_programs/events.html

Acequia in northern New Mexico

After lunch will be a presentation by Dr. Jorge Ricardo Ponte, a sociologist and landscape architect, who has writen several books on the acequias of Mendoza, Argentina, and who came to Embudo last year to study the acequias in NM and northern México.

I will then follow with a presentation on the acequias within the Embudo Watershed, focusing on the Embudo land grant. Next, Jan-Willem Jansens, from the Netherlands, who lives in Santa Fe and is the former director of Earthworks, will speak. He will be followed by Dr. Kurt Auschetz, who has studied the indigeneous Pueblo irrigation systems of northern NM. There will then be a panel discussion with the presenters, followed by dinner and Acequia Recognition Awards.

Afterwards there will be a poetry reading by Jasmeen Najmi, Beata Tsosi-Peña and Adán Trujillo, and the evening will end with music by Los Coyotes de Cañoncito.

June 2012 • Green Fire Times

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Sustainable Business Summit July 26, 2012

Hyatt Regency, Downtown Albuquerque, NM

Better Your Bottom Line

Learn about setting up “Green Teams” moving to solar, reducing waste, supplying locally, smart water and energy conservation, and reaching the green consumer.

Recognize New Mexico’s Sustainable business leaders with awards for:

Sustainable Business Leader Sustainable Product Sustainable Builder Sustainable Business Sustainable Workplace

For more information, visit: www.nmgreenchamber.com

giggle. wiggle. groove.

An eclectic mix of informative and entertaining programs await you on KUNM – your passport to the worlds of news, music, community and culture. Publicly supported. Publicly responsive. KUNM is an essential part of New Mexico’s day.

KUNM 89.9FM | STREAMING LIVE 24/7 AT KUNM.ORG

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Green Fire Times • June 2012

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Sustainability

A Tipping Point for Sustainable Business?

Allan M. Oliver

n July 26th in Albuquerque the NM Green Chamber of Commerce and the NM Business Weekly will host a first-ever Sustainable Business Summit. The Summit will focus on the business case for why leading companies like Intel and others are working hard to become more energy efficient, conserve water resources, build more efficient infrastructure, improve their workplace and become more sustainable.

But isn’t this a tough economy out there?

Why haven’t sustainability measures been cut? According to a new special report, “Sustainability Nears a Tipping Point” by the MIT Sloan Management School, it turns out that sustainability measures that companies have imposed on themselves weren’t superfluous or unnecessary, but have been a driver for innovation and profitability. In fact, the report shows that despite a tough economy these companies are increasing their commitment to sustainability.

Of the more than 4,000 managers participating in the MIT survey, one-third stated their company’s actions moving toward sustainability are contributing to their overall profits. In fact, these companies are finding that sustainability is changing their operating frameworks and strategies. Nick Robins of HSBC noted that “people are seeing that sus-

tainability is part of that next phase of development and that it will be disruptive and structural rather than an incremental change here and there.”

Two out of three businesses surveyed believe sustainability is now a requirement for being competitive—up from 55% just last year.

But what motivated these companies to start down the path of sustainability?

Here are the top four reasons identified by the companies themselves.

• First and foremost, because their customers demand it. Fifty-three percent of companies said customers’ preference for sustainable products remained the top driver for changing their business model.

• Second, political and legislative pressure moved many businesses to protect their reputation and institute more sustainable practices.

• Next, 30% of companies identified resource scarcity and a need to do more with less material.

• Fourth, they felt a need because their competition is increasing their commitment to sustainability.

The survey also focused on companies who have demonstrated a deeper, longer-term commitment to sustainability—naming them “Harvesters.” One out of every four Harvesters believes that sustainability helps drives innovation. For example,Mark Parker, CEO and President of Nike, states, “Sustainability is key to Nike’s growth and innovation. Making our business more sustainable benefits our consumers, who expect products and experiences with low environmental impact, contract factory workers, who will gain from more sustainable manufacturing, and our employees and shareholders, who will be reward by a company that is prepared for the future.”

Harvesters also reported improved collaboration among many groups: customers, suppliers, policy-makers, internal business units, industry associations, local communities, contractors and others.

What’s becoming clear over time is that leading companies are investing heavily on sustainable business practices. With current economic uncertainty, regulatory changes, resource scarcity and climate change, sustainable business practices provide these companies a competitive edge. It’s an edge they won’t give up, but one that others can learn.

On July 26th we look forward to convening sustainable business leaders from across the state for a summit to demonstrate the business case for sustainability, to recognize key sustainable business leaders, and offer workshops to better your business practices.

Registration information is available at www.nmgreenchamber.com Source: Sustainability Nears a Tipping Point, MIT Sloan Management Review, p. 3-17

Allan M. Oliver is CEO of the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce. He served as the NM Economic Development D e p a r t m e n t ’s Secretary overseeing the Off ice of International Trade, Allan Oliver the Office of Mexican Affairs, the Office of Science and Technology, and was also Gov. Richardson’s deputy communications director and policy advisor.

The NM Green Chamber of Commerce is a non-partisan association with over 1,200 business members, dedicated to advocating on behalf of clean energy, seizing the green business advantage and supporting local economies. NMGCC members believe that responsible business invests in people, protects air, land and water and creates long-term sustainable profits.

“Designing Your Well-Lived Future” Workshop June 23

Are you a single, working parent or retiring Boomer looking for community and a simpler, walkable lifestyle? Saturday, June 23 is the kickoff of a series of planning/design sessions aimed at discovering floor plans, shared amenities and cluster possibilities where residents get more from sustainable designs. Several architects and designers have been invited. The workshop is being held from 9:45 am-2 pm at the Commons cohousing community, 2300 W. Alameda in Santa Fe. After touring the grounds, time will be spent developing ideas of alternatives to current suburban choices. RSVP and bring something for lunch to share.

For more information, visit www.sustainablesantafe.com, contact Brian Skeele at 505.310.1797, or email brianvida@nm.net.

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© Nicolas Bañales

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Sustainable Enterprises

Green Money Journal Celebrates 20 Years of Sustainable Investing by Looking Towards the Future raditionally, a gift of china is given for a 20-year wedding anniversary.

But what do you give to a company that is celebrating its 20th year of promoting more sustainable and ethical relationships to our money?

Green Money Journal, a Santa Fe-based consumer publication for sustainable business and responsible investing (SRI), is celebrating an important milestone in its quest to “help people put their money and their values together,” according to founder and managing editor Cliff Feigenbaum. The issues addressed in the quarterly newsletter are not obscure or small-scale. They are the same questions of job security, debt, and business access to capital that have captivated the country during recent times of economic crisis and uncertainty. Green Money Journal puts a twist on these conventional conversations with a focus on bringing the human back into our economic measurements, and in doing so, questions the status quo priorities that the current economic system values.

mendously. From 12 funds 20 years ago, today there are numerous options and more than 250 registered such funds.

Social investing seeks to leverage financial markets and Wall Street in at least one of four ways: • Screen out bad companies • Screen in good companies • Invest money in the community • Promote shareholder activism.

In this way, SRI engages companies to improve performance, treat employees and supply chains well, reduce pollution and promote environmental responsibility. Under such a structure, even companies “doing good” strive to get better.

In the organization’s summer anniversary edition, Feigenbaum raises the provocative question: How will sustainable business and responsible investing build better communities, improve our environment and grow a greener economy in the next 20 years? The summer issue holds essays focusing on the future, rather than the past.

In fact, when Feigenbaum decided to start the publication, he did it for personal reasons. “I was working in a hospital in the Northwest and found out my 401k plan was in mutual funds full of tobacco stocks.” Feigenbaum says he launched this venture “…out of my desire for financial activity aligned with my values.” He remains surprised at how many individuals continue to have their investments and donations in contradictory places. He began Green Money Journal to bring awareness and information to a broader audience.

As Hal Brill, Managing Partner of Natural Investments, writes in his contributing essay Resilient Investing: SRI’s Evolutionary Path Through Precarious Times, “During the next 20 years we will be pushing up against many limits, in the atmosphere, the biosphere and the economy. We’ve already seen many lose faith in the stock market. Over the coming decades, this process of weaning off Wall Street is likely to continue. Most investors will continue to invest a portion of their money there, but an expanded definition of what diversification and asset allocation are all about will take shape during these precarious times.”

In 1992, Green Money Journal was a sixpage newsletter with a distribution of 1,000. Today, there are four issues per year, a circulation of 10,000 in print and 25,000 through e-mail. The website, GreenMoney.com registers more than 1,000 web hits a week with global readership. During this same period, the number of sustainable and socially responsible mutual funds has grown tre-

There is already evidence of this shift.

Barbara Krumsiek, Chair, President and CEO of Calvert Investments, recognizes the tremendous growth over the past 20 years in value-oriented investing. She writes in her essay Broad, Green and Global: The Future of Sustainable and Responsible Investing, “Consider that not too many years ago SRI was a niche strategy that appealed mostly to people

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with a strong sense of values. Today it has become a broadly acceptable, institutional approach to integrating environmental, social and governance risk analysis into an overall framework. Likewise, only a few years ago, socially responsible investors focused mainly on eliminating ‘sin stocks.’ Now, we try to advocate for positive change through shareholder advocacy, an expanded scope of investment and the allocation of capital to innovative green companies. And while sustainable investment started as a local phenomenon, it has now become more and more global, with investors, asset managers, and portfolio companies worldwide.”

Bloomberg’s Financial Information, which lists thousands of companies, along with its stock descriptions, now includes ESG data (this stands for environmental, social, and governance).

The information helps individual investors weigh such issues as highly as typical financial factors. Transparency, accountability, and disclosure are increasingly motivating forces advancing issues of money in politics and economic policy.

Brill believes ESG criteria are the most comprehensive and complete way to analyze investments and that it will become a mainstream method. He explains, “It will finally be possible, and common, for ordinary investors to put a chunk of their money into their own local economies, achieving a combination of financial and social/lifestyle returns that is impossible for Wall Street to match….and virtually all corporations will disclose the information needed by investors to fully evaluate how they are able to adapt to a world marked by climate chaos and resource limitations.”

Individual responsibility and awareness is growing. “Each of us, here and around the world, has a role fixing and in a sense redesigning the economy as economic and environmental challenges abound”, Brill writes, a realization that “springs from the simple but profound realization that what we do with our money matters.”

Krumsiek describes the importance of SRI in realizing these goals: “Through these Funds, we are seeking out the companies with the best ideas about two of our world’s biggest challenges­—finding

© Anna C. Hansen

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GMJ’s Editor Cliff Feigenbaum

alternatives to carbon-producing fossil fuels and providing clean water to growing populations. If we are successful, we create a win-win situation. Cuttingedge companies get the capital to solve environmental challenges­ —and bring the best strategies to market. At the same time, Calvert shareholders have the opportunity to participate in the profits that come from innovation, while also building a greener world.”

Past and future, Green Money Journal is geared towards what Feigenbaum calls solution-based approaches. He defines this effort to create an economy that “not only sustains what we have today but creates a restorative future” and through this, “bring more people along in the successes.”

In this effort, well-being and a thriving environment are meaningful measurements of prosperity. While leveraging financial markets and Wall Street to “do good” may seem like a monumental task, Feigenbaum and the contributors to summer anniversary issue seem optimistic. Looking forward to the next 20 years, Feigenbaum recognizes that the largest issues we face today also present great opportunities.

“The future,” he says with confidence and hopefulness, “is challenging yet inviting.”

Visit www.greenmoney.com i GinaRae LaCerva writes about science, the environment, and her various adventures.

You can follower her on Twitter @GinaRaeLC Drew Tulchin of Social Enterprise Associates (www.socialenterpise.net) contributed as part of a monthly column on social enterprise and local economy issues.

June 2012 • Green Fire Times

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JAIN STUDY CIRCULAR THE JAIN STUDY CIRCULAR HAS BEEN POSTED AT WWW.JAINSTUDY.ORG.

Please go our website and study the articles presented in the new issue.

We welcome your comments and suggestions.

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Green Fire Times • June 2012

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Net-Zero Energy

Heat Recovery Ventilator Certified homes are just about airtight as a result of advanced framing and insulation techniques. Upon completion of the home, the tightness is verified with a blower door test The HERS rater is required to temporarily install a special door equipped with a fan and sensors to pressurize the house and then calculate how quickly the air escapes. Because of the increased tightness of these homes, it is necessary to properly ventilate the homes to prevent indoor air from becoming toxic, stale and unhealthy. Each certified home is built with a Heat Recovery Ventilator that takes in fresh air from outdoors and expels indoor air. In the winter it transfers heat from the expelled air to the incoming fresh air.

Super Efficient Appliances, Equipment and Lighting In Renaissance Homes, condensing modulating gas boilers are used to provide heat for the in-floor radiant heating system and the domestic hot water for showers and cooking.

Between proper solar orientation, robust insulation and the super-efficient boiler, minimal natural gas is used to heat the home in the four months of winter. Energy Star appliances and compact fluorescent and LED (light emitting diode) lighting further reduce electric use.

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continued from page 8 Solar Electric Panels With increased production of solar electric panels around the world, the price has dropped by more than half. Even without the 30 to 40 percent tax credits, it is still financially beneficial to load future energy use into today’s mortgage by installing solar panels during construction to offset the much-reduced energy use.

The modern certified energy-efficient home is a true breakthrough, but it is no guarantee of energy reductions. No matter how efficient a home, if the residents are not aware of their energy use and leave lights on, open windows in the winter and otherwise waste energy, the home will not perform. One couple living in an energy-efficient home knew how to do it. After installation of their solar equipment they achieved a net profit of $80 a year on their energy costs. That is a true Net-ZeroEnergy Home. i Alan Hoffman has designed and built passive solar homes in Santa Fe since 1977. He also helped create the neo-traditional villages Aldea de Santa Fe and Oshara Village.

Hoffman is a member of the Congress For the New Urbanism and a contributor to the Best Practices Guide of New Urbanism. For a tour of Zero-Energy Homes, call him at 505.316.0449.

Everyday Green continued from page 25 • Grow as much of your own organic food as possible—this is the safest way to protect yourself.

• Buy from non-pesticided local farms, local co-ops, and farmers’ markets to support an increase in our local supply of safe food.

• In your personal environment, clean regularly to avoid attracting insects, do not leave food out, clean cobwebs and nests to discourage insect residents.

• Use the least invasive, natural forms of insect control (see Richard Fagerlund’s article in the May 2012 Green Fire Times).

• Ask for public policy to ban pesticiding of public buildings.

ing in the home led to my developing chemical sensitivities. My lengthy recovery journey was a means of learning about pesticides, common practices and how to protect myself. I am still sensitive to pesticides. My hope in sharing this information is that you can protect your health, that of your family, and bring this knowledge to community and global action.

Change through compassion is possible. People who work in pesticided environments are not notified by employers or building owners of their continued exposure. I point out to employees in pesticided public places my concern for their well-being and urge them to talk with their employers about productivity — a key handle for creating incentive for change.

The tips I bring to you come from my experience — severe pesticide poison-

Susan Guyette, Ph.D. is Métis (Micmac Indian and Acadian French) and a planner specializing in cultural tourism, cultural centers, museums, and native foods. She is the author of Planning for Balanced Development (www.santafeplanning.com) and the co-author of Zen Birding: Connect in Nature.

P.S. As I googled “size of the pesticide industry,” Google came back and asked if I meant “size of the suicide industry”—how appropriate. i 1

The Fredonia Group. “World Pesticides to 2014 - Demand and Sales Forecasts, Market Share, Market Size, Market Leaders” 2012

June 2012 • Green Fire Times

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What's Going On! Events / Announcements

June 13, 11:45 am-1:30 pm NM Small Business Week Awards Luncheon Marriott Albq. Pyramid North 5151 San Francisco Rd. NE

ALBUQUERQUE Through Sept. 8, Th. or Sat., 9 am-1 pm Backyard Gardening Courses La Orilla Farm, 2401 Black Mesa Loop (S. Valley)

12-part course. $300/individual; $500/ couple. 505.877.2877, screed@earthlink. net, www.mrcog-nm.gov/show-all-ag-blogshowallagblog-211/702-qthe-mother-ofall-back-yard-gardening-courses

June 2-3, 10 am-5 pm East Mountain Fiber Farm & Studio Tour

Rural area where fiber artists and fiber animal breeders open their studios and farms one weekend a year. Alpacas, sheep, camels, angora goats, llamas and angora rabbits. Demonstrations, sales. 505.286.1783, Download map and brochure: www.perfectbuttons.com

June 6, 11:30 am-1 pm USGBC-NM Luncheon Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, 2401 12th St. NW

“BuildingSMART Alliance and the NMIMS-US” Learn about the alliance created to spearhead technical, political and financial support for use of advanced digital technology in the real property industry, including the use of Building Information Models for Energy Analysis, LEED and Facility Management. $25 USGBC-NM member, $30 non-members, $18 emerging green builders. www.usgbcnm.org

June 7, 5:30-7:30 pm Green Drinks Hotel Andaluz, 125 2nd St. NW

Network and mingle with people interested in local business, clean energy and other green issues. Guest speakers: Christina Gavino Gray, ACE Leadership Academy Margo Maher, Associated General Contractors – NM Network. Free. 505.916.1247, celerah@nmgreenchamber.com, http://nmgreenchamber.com

June 11, 11:30 am-1 pm Innovations of the Smart Grid Mesa del Sol Aperture Center, Ground Fl. Assembly

A presentation of the smart grid project.

PNM, Sandia Natl. Labs, UNM and Mesa del Sol have joined with the Japanese agency NEDO on the project. $15/$20 students, $25/$30 public and YLG (35 & under), $30$35 private. Includes box lunch. Info/Registration: http://newmexico.uli.org/

June 13, 9-10:30 am Agriculture Collaborative Meeting MRCOG offices, 809 Copper, NW

Supporting food & farms in central NM. 505.724.3617, asimon@mrcog-nm.gov

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Small Business Training & Expo: 8:30 am-5 pm. $35 registration includes luncheon, training and expo. Presented by the NM SBDC Network. Info: 505.428.1695, Barbara.sinha@sfcc.edu

June 20, 3-5 pm Business Recycling Training Hotel Albq. Old Town 800 Río Grande Blvd. NW

Does your business want to start recycling, but don’t know where to begin? Recycling just got easier for Albq. metro businesses. Free session includes resource guide. Info: 505.983.4470, English@recyclenewmexico.com

June 25-26 National Pollinator Week Open Space Visitor Center 6500 Coors Blvd. NW

Promoting pollinator conservation with beekeepers, honey tasting and presentations.

Screening of “Queen of the Sun” documentary, 6/23, 3-5 pm, www.nmbeekeepers.org

July 7, 10 am-5 pm Beekeeping Seminar First Presbyterian Church 215 Locust St., NE

Regionally Adapted Bees and Genetics, Mite Prevention, A Natural Approach to Small Cell Beekeeping, presented by Michael Bush, author of Practical Beekeeping Naturally. $15. infonmbka@gmail.com, www.nmbeekeepers.org

July 20-22 Wildlife West Nature Park Music Festival Edgewood, NM (20 min. from Albq.)

Native wildlife refuge for non-releasable animals on 122 acres. Mexican wolves, mountain lions, elk, black bear, and 20 other rescued species. Habitats are on natural substrates and use up to 60 percent recycled materials. Volunteer staff. Three-day acoustic music fest on 3 stages with covered seating supports the wildlife. Wildlifewest.org

July 26, 8:30 am-4:30 pm Sustainable Business Summit Hotel Albq., 800 Río Grande Blvd. NW

Conference and award luncheon honoring organizations and leaders for whom green is not a buzzword, but is integral to the way they operate. Sustainable businesses, building, product/service, workplace. Presented by the NM Green Chamber of Commerce in association with the NM Business Weekly.

505.916.1247, Celerah@nmgreenchamber. com, http://nmgreenchamber.com

Daily Degrees of Change: NM’s Climate Forecast NM Museum of Natural History & Science, 1801 Mountain Rd. NW

With a focus on NM and the SW, this exhibit reveals current and predicted impacts on humans, landscapes and ecosystems. Tickets: $7, $6, $4. Info: 505.841.2800, www.nmnaturalhistory.org

Green Fire Times • June 2012

Xeriscape Guide Available

A comprehensive list of plants and trees best suited to the climate and soil of the Middle Río Grande region including the East Mountains. Revised by landscape designer Judith Phillips. How-to info on garden planting, plant selection efficient irrigation, rainwater harvesting, xeriscape basics, etc. Available at local libraries, nurseries, home garden centers and community centers or by calling 505.245.3133. More info: 505.768.3655.

Rain Barrels Available Bernalillo County

Barrels are offered to property owners in unincorporated areas who are not customers of the ABQ Bernalillo Water Authority. To qualify, residents must sign up for a home water conservation survey. $40 for a 100-gallon barrel. 505.848.1500, www.bernco.gov/water

Southwest Barter Club

Healthcare using Barter Bucks instead of cash or insurance. Access to acupuncture, chiropractic, eye care, fitness and more. 505.715.2889, www.southwestbarterclub.com

Beneficial Farms CSA

Weekly distribution at La Montañita Co-op Warehouse, 3361 Columbia Dr. NE. This CSA works with up to 40 regional farms each year, and offers abundant, affordable shares of fresh fruit and vegetables and other local and regionally produced foods year round. All produce is grown with sustainable chemical-free methods.

SANTA FE

Tuesdays through July 31, 5:30-8 pm NM Climate Masters

Free 10-week class exploring ways to reduce our carbon footprints and teach others about climate change. Expert speakers on water, climate science, renewable energy, transportation, local food, consumption and waste. Info: 505.820.1696, Eileen@santafewatershed.org.

To apply: www.santafewatershed.org

June 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 15, 2-7 pm Algae Production Course SFCC Biofuels Centers of Excellence

505.428.1807, Biofuels.greentraining.sfcc. edu, http://greentraining.sfcc.edu/

June 5 Eat to Solarize Fire Station Counter Culture Café, 930 Baca St.

Percentage of profits from diners will go to New Energy Economy’s fundraising effort.

505.469.4060

June 7 Santa Fe Business Awards SF Farmers’ Market Pavilion

Four awards will be presented: Business Excellence, Small Business of the Year, FamilyFriendly Business, and Green Business of the Year. To attend, call 505.988.33279 or go to www.santafechamber.com

June 9, 10 am-3 pm Healing the Earth Healing Ourselves 208 ½ Polaco St.

Workshop with Robert Francis “Mudman” Johnson. Use wet adobe to explore community, purpose, collaboration and healing. $33.

505.954.4495, www.http//earthprayers.byregion.net, http://santafecreativetourism.org/

June 10, 11 am-12 pm The Chicken Debate Continues Collected Works Bookstore 202 Galisteo

Ed Moreno of the Eldorado Community Improvement Assn. will present the pros & cons with representatives from both sides. Sponsored by JourneySantaFe.com, 505.992.0418

June 12, 9-10:30 am Why Cactus?

Railyard Park Community Room

John Oberhausen of the Cactus Rescue Project will teach how to propagate, plant and grow varieties of cactus. alanna@ railyardpark.org, www.railyardpark.org

June 15, 11 am-12 pm Landscape Tour: What’s Blooming?

Academy for the Love of Learning, Seton Village With landscape designer Christie Green.

Bring a sack lunch for optional lunch discussion 12-1 pm. Suggested donation: $10. RSVP: 505.995.1860, programs@ aloveoflearning.org, www.aloveoflearning. org

June 16, 9:45 am to 5:15 pm Ethics of Nature Art Adventures The Commons Community Room, 2300 W. Alameda Art therapist Jane Shoenfeld’s workshop focuses on processes and cycles in nature that illuminate relationships. $145. 505.986.1108, www.skyfields.net

June 16, 4 pm tour, 5 pm potluck Ampersand Sustainable Learning Center Open House Cerrillos, NM

$10-$15 suggested donation. www.ampersandproject.org, RSVP: 505.780.0535, ampersandproject@yahoo.com

June 18, 6 pm Lecture/Reception Future Farmers: A Collective Practice Tipton Hall, SF Art Institute

Artist/activist Amy Franceschini on the multidisciplinary effects of globalization and its many environmental consequences. $10/$5. www.sfai.org

June 24, 10 am-4 pm Rainwater and Greywater Techniques Ampersand Sustainable Learning Center, Cerrillos, NM

Learn about rainwater harvesting systems, NM Greywater Code. $60. Registration: 505.780.0535, ampersandproject@yahoo. com

June 24, time TBD Ethnobotanical Excursion with Futurefarmers and John Duncan SF Art Institute

Workshop: $100. (scholarships available) www.sfai.org

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June 29-July 1, 9 am-4 pm Biodiesel Production Course SF Community College greentraining@sfcc.edu, http://greentraining.sfcc.edu/

June 29, 9:30 am-5 pm Embodied Wisdom Heart of Action Academy for the Love of Learning, Seton Village One-day workshop invites you to attune to your “inner knowing.” Registration: $105/$90 before 6/15. Info: 505.995.1860, programs@aloveoflearning.org, www.aloveoflearning.org

June 30, 9-11 am Herbs: From the Garden to the Kitchen Railyard Park Community Room

Free workshop with Deborah Madison. Info: alanna@railyardpark.org, www.railyardpark.org

July 6-8, 9 am-4 pm Biomass Energy Course SF Community College greentraining@sfcc.edu

July 13-15 SF International Folk Art Market Milner Plaza next to the Museum of Intl. Folk Art

9th annual. More than 170 master artists from every corner of the globe. Free admission for youth 16 & under Saturday and Sunday.

Info: 505.992.7600, www.folkartmarket.org.

Tickets: 505.886.1251, http://holdmyticket. com/buy/folk%20art%20market

Tuesday and Saturday, 7 am-12 pm Santa Fe Farmers’ Market 1607 Paseo de Peralta (& Guadalupe)

Northern NM farmers & ranchers bring you fresh greenhouse tomatoes, greens, root veggies, cheese, teas, herbs, spices, honey, baked goods, Southwestern body care and much more.

Saturdays, Approx. 2 pm Meet Your Farmer Joe’s Dining, Rodeo & Zia

A lunch experience. An opportunity to ask questions about farming, enjoy a local meal and meet farmers who grow NM foods. Vendors from the farmers’ market have an after-market lunch and meet the community. Info: Sheila@joesdining.com

Saturdays, 4 pm Unicopia Green Radio KTRC - 1260 am

A weekly show with Faren Dancer. Our culture is requiring a major shift in how we relate to the Earth. Our fossil fuel-based economy is poised for transition to a renewable future. Each show explores the issues, politics, science, and the evolution of consciousness impacting the balancing of life on our planet.

7th Edition of “Day Hikes in the Santa Fe Area”

Features 56 destinations, new reconfigured hikes with maps and photos, safety tips, resource guide. Available in local bookstores.

Tai Chi and Kung Fu Classes Ft. Marcy Sports Complex

Classes with International Champion Sigung Mark Thorson. Tai Chi: Tues, Th.,

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7-8 am; Kung Fu: Wed., 6:30-8:30 pm, Fri., 7-8:30 pm, Sat., 12-1:30 pm. Info: grfernandez@ santafenm.gov, 505.955.2501

Biodynamic Compost

Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability conference brings together start-up companies with multinational corporations to create dialogue around solutions and partnerships.

Registration: $595/$795. www.lohas.com

Unwanted Mail & Phone Books

June 18-22 and June 25-29 Summer Camp Camino de Paz School & Farm Santa Cruz (near Española)

Made from manure from alfalfa-fed cows, available for pick-up or delivery. 505.982.6879.

For info, see Susan Waterman’s My Own Garden article in March 2011 GFT. Opt-out of unwanted phone books, catalogs, credit card solicitations. Free service will help SF shed thousands of pounds of waste and dollars in costs. http://santafe/catalogchoice.org

Borrow a Kill-A-Watt Device Main Library and Southside Branch

Electricity Measuring Devices may be checked out for 28 days www.santafelibrary.org or call any reference desk.

Santa Fe Creative Tourism Initiatives

Artists and craftsmen who offer workshops and classes within SF County are invited to list their offerings with Santa Fe Creative Tourism at www.SantaFeCreativeTourism.org. See “Get Involved” tab to list. This service is free and provided by the city of SF Arts Commission.

Sustainable Growth Management Plan for SF County

Hard copies $20, CDs $2. Contact Melissa Holmes, 505.995.2717 or msholmes@ santafecounty.org. The SGMP is also available on the county website: www.santafecounty.org/growth_management/sgmp and can be reviewed at SF Public libraries and the County Administrative Building, 102 Grant Ave.

HERE & THERE

Ongoing Until July 18 Red Willow Farmers’ Market Taos Pueblo, NM

Greenhouse and field-grown produce and more. redwillowfarmers@gmail.com

Through July 24 Applications Accepted

Cooperative Technical Assistance Grants “Small Socially Disadvantaged Producer Grant” program from USDA Rural Development for cooperatives, groups of cooperatives and cooperative development centers.

Assistance can help small ag-producers with market research, product and/or service improvement, legal advice and assistance, feasibility studies, business plans, and market development and training. Maximum award: $200,000. 505.761.4952, jesse.bopp@ nm.usda.gov, www.rurdev.usda.gov/BCP_ SSDPG.html

June 9-10, 10 am-4 pm GreenBuilt Tour Various locations throughout NM

Tour of sustainable homes. 2-day pass: $15.

USGBC-NM. 505.227.0474. See story, page 3.

June 9 Valles Caldera Fence Removal Project Jemez Mountains

Volunteer work in large caldera meadow at former cattle ranch. Wild Earth Guardians.

RSVP: 505.988.9126, ext. 0 or aespinoza@ wildearthguardians.org

June 12-14 LOHAS Forum Boulder, CO.

CdP and Española Valley Fiber Arts Center are offering two exciting weeks of fun on the farm. Animal care, food growing, cooking, making cheese and ice cream. Craft activities such as weaving, felting, sewing, puppet making, drawing offered.

Students 8-11: $150/wk. Students may attend one or both weeks. caminodepazschool@gmail.com

June 18-22 16th Annual Sheep Is Life Workshops Diné College, Tsaile Campus, Navajo Nation, AZ.

Workshop for experienced beekeepers by Melanie Kirby and Mark Spitzig. $200.

505.929.8080, www.queenbees.com/zia/2012

July 26-27 Water, Cleanup and Our Health Conference Northern New Mexico College Española

Learn about the surface water impacts from LANL operations, the need for aggressive cleanup now, and impacts to our health. For more info: http://www.amigosbravos.org/lanl.php

Aug. 22-27 Homesteading Workshop Lama Foundation, Lama, NM

Classes open to all. Learn how to work with Churro sheep fiber in hands-on workshops with weavers, spinners and pastoralists.

Workshops costs and details: 505.406.7428, info@navajolifeway.org, www.navajolifeway. org

June 22-23 Sheep Is Life Celebration Events Diné College Rodeo Grounds Tsaile Campus, AZ.

Free. Details + travel & lodging info: www. navajolifeway.org

July 13-15 Taos Pueblo Pow Wow Taos, NM

July 14-15, 9am-July 15, 1 pm Intro to Queen Honeybee Rearing Zia Queenbee Co. Farm, Truchas, NM

Dance and drum performances and competitions, ceremonial activities, arts, crafts, food booths. www.taospueblopowwow.com

Workshop featuring our food cycle: mulch to meals. Techniques and recipes for kitchen and garden; rural or urban. gracybelle@wordpress. com, http://liveherenow.wordpress.com/

Aug. 31-Sept. 2 Natural Building Workshop Ocaté, NM

Learn to build light clay structures. Fundamentals of design, local material collection, construction and tours of completed homes.

Meals & camping at a beautiful retreat center. $100. 575.668.2005, wyldonions@yahoo. com

The Home Farming Revolution for Drylands

New book by Zoe Wilcox and Melanie Rubin is now available. A step-by-step guide to help you convert any plot of land into a micro-farm.

Email info@homefarmingrevolution.com or visit www.homefarmingrevolution.com to download the book’s introduction for free.

Available at Bookworks in Albq. and online.

Free New Mexico Green Industry Training Opportunities

Thanks to a three-year, $6 million grant awarded through the US Dept. of Labor, the State Energy Sector Partnership Program is offering free training to NM residents and businesses. The NM Dept. of Workforce Solutions (NMDWS) is administering the grant. Oversight is the responsibility of the New Mexico Green Industry Council.

A key goal is to establish a statewide approach to worker training in renewable energy/energy efficiency occupations, including Solar, Wind, Green Building/ Energy Efficiency, and Biofuels. Additionally, NMDWS has awarded funds to four consortia of education providers, businesses and workforce organizations to develop “Centers of Excellence” programs in emerging green industries. The funds will help implement innovative collaborations among business, workforce, economic development and educational systems.

The centers include:

• Biofuels Center of Excellence – Santa Fe Community College (http://greentraining.sfcc.edu/)

• Green Building/Energy Efficiency Center of Excellence – SFCC (http://greentraining.sfcc.edu/)

• Solar Center of Excellence – Central NM Community College (http://www.cnm.edu/campus/wtc/)

• W ind Center of Excellence – Mesalands Community College (http://www.mesalands.edu/wind/default.htm) To be eligible, you must be a veteran or qualified spouse of a veteran, a high school dropout, disabled, criminal ex-offender, currently unemployed, an incumbent worker in need of skills upgrades for a solar, wind, biofuels, green building/energy efficiency green job, or a dislocated worker. For details, contact the colleges mentioned above, or find your nearest Workforce Connection Center by visiting http://www.dws.state.nm.us/dws-offices.html.

June 2012 • Green Fire Times

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Green Fire Times • June 2012

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