Process analysis and economics of drinking water production from coastal aquifers containing chromophoric dissolved organic matter and bromide using nanofiltration and ozonation

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479711003422

Abstract: In regions characterized by water scarcity, such as coastal Southern California, groundwater containing chromophoric dissolved organic matter is a viable source of water supply. In the coastal aquifer of Orange County in California, seawater intrusion driven by coastal groundwater pumping increased the concentration of bromide in extracted groundwater from 0.4 mg l−1 in 2000 to over 0.8 mg l−1 in 2004. Bromide, a precursor to bromate formation is regulated by USEPA and the California Department of Health as a potential carcinogen and therefore must be reduced to a level below 10 μg l−1. This paper compares two processes for treatment of highly coloured groundwater: nanofiltration and ozone injection coupled with biologically activated carbon. The requirement for bromate removal decreased the water production in the ozonation process to compensate for increased maintenance requirements, and required the adoption of catalytic carbon with associated increase in capital and operating costs per unit volume. However, due to the absence of oxidant addition in nanofiltration processes, this process is not affected by bromide. We performed a process analysis and a comparative economic analysis of capital and operating costs for both technologies. Our results show that for the case studied in coastal Southern California, nanofiltration has higher throughput and lower specific capital and operating cost, when compared to ozone injection with biologically activate carbon. Ozone injection with biologically activated carbon, compared to nanofiltration, has 14% higher capital cost and 12% higher operating costs per unit water produced while operating at the initial throughput. Due to reduced ozone concentration required to accommodate for bromate reduction, the ozonation process throughput is reduced and the actual cost increase (per unit water produced) is 68% higher for capital cost and 30% higher for operations.

Highlights:
► Southern California’s coastal aquifer has Chromophoric Dissolved Organic Matter.
► We analysed two processes for CDOM removal, nanofiltration and ozonation.
► The ozonation process must be amended to reduce bromate by-products.
► The effect of bromate formation is an increased cost for ozonation.
► Overall, nanofiltration has lower operating cost, for the case studied.

by R. Sobhani 1, R. McVicker 2, C. Spangenberg 3 and D. Rosso 4
1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-2175, USA
2. Mesa Consolidated Water District, Costa Mesa, CA 92627, USA
3. Irvine Ranch Water District, Irvine, CA 92618, USA
4. Urban Water Research Center, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-2175, USA
Journal of Environmental Management via Elsevier Science Direct www.ScienceDirect.com
Volume 93, Issue 1; January, 2012; Pages 209–217

Keywords: Chromophoric dissolved organic matter; Nanofiltration; Ozonation; Economic analysis; Seawater intrusion; Bromate

Airports, Air Pollution, and Contemporaneous Health

http://papers.nber.org/papers/w17684

Abstract: Airports are some of the largest sources of air pollution in the United States. We demonstrate that daily airport runway congestion contributes significantly to local pollution levels and contemporaneous health of residents living nearby and downwind from airports. Our research design exploits the fact that network delays originating from large airports on the East Coast increase runway congestion in California, which in turn increases daily pollution levels around California airports. Using the component of California air pollution driven by airport congestion, we find that carbon monoxide (CO) leads to significant increases in hospitalization rates for asthma, respiratory, and heart related emergency room admissions that are an order of magnitude larger than conventional estimates: A one standard deviation increase in daily pollution levels leads to an additional $1 million in hospitalization costs for respiratory and heart related admissions for the 6 million individuals living within 10km (6.2 miles) of the 12 largest airports in California. While infants and the elderly are more sensitive to air pollution, we also find significant relationships for the adult population. The health impacts are driven by CO, not NO2 or O3, and occur at levels far below existing EPA mandates. Our results suggest there may be sizable morbidity benefits from lowering the existing CO standard.

by Wolfram Schlenker and W. Reed Walker
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) www.NBER.org
NBER Working Paper No. 17684; Issued in December 2011

Valuing Health Effects: The Case of Ozone and Fine Particles in Southern California

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1465-7287.2010.00240.x/abstract
Abstract: This study presents a conservative estimate of the health benefits that would result from attainment of the federal ozone and fine particle (PM2.5) standards in the South Coast Air Basin of southern California. A three-stage approach is used that links pollution exposures to adverse health outcomes to economic values. The annual value of the aggregate health benefits approaches $500 million (with a range of $295–$646 million) for ozone and exceeds $21 billion (with a range of $12.85–$34.22 billion) for fine particles. Such results are useful to regulatory agencies and other policy makers when evaluating the merits of various air pollution reduction strategies.

by Victor Brajer 1, Jane V. Hall 2 and Frederick W. Lurmann 3
1. Professor, Department of Economics, California State University, 800 North State College Blvd., Fullerton, CA 92834. Phone 657-278-3818, Fax 657-278-3097, E-mail vbrajer@fullerton.edu
2. Professor, Department of Economics, California State University, 800 North State College Blvd., Fullerton, CA 92834. Phone 657-278-2236, Fax 657-278-3097, E-mail jhall@fullerton.edu
3. President Emeritus and Manager of Exposure Assessment Studies, Sonoma Technology, Inc., 1455 North McDowell Blvd., Suite D, Petaluma, CA 94954. Phone 707-665-9900, Fax 7070-665-9800, E-mail fred@sonomatech.com
Contemporary Economic Policy via Wiley Online Library http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Western Economic Association International
Volume 29, Issue 4; October, 2011; Pages 524–535

A Gold Rush of Subsidies in Clean Energy Search

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/12/business/energy-environment/a-cornucopia-of-help-for-renewable-energy.html
... NRG Energy is building ... a compound of nearly a million solar panels that will produce enough electricity to power about 100,000 homes.

... Taxpayers and ratepayers are providing subsidies worth almost as much as the entire $1.6 billion cost of the project. Similar subsidy packages have been given to 15 other solar- and wind-power electric plants since 2009.

The government support — which includes loan guarantees, cash grants and contracts that require electric customers to pay higher rates — largely eliminated the risk to the private investors and almost guaranteed them large profits for years to come. The beneficiaries include financial firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, conglomerates like General Electric, utilities like Exelon and NRG — even Google.

A great deal of attention has been focused on Solyndra, a start-up that received $528 million in federal loans to develop cutting-edge solar technology before it went bankrupt, but nearly 90 percent of the $16 billion in clean-energy loans guaranteed by the federal government since 2009 went to subsidize these lower-risk power plants, which in many cases were backed by big companies with vast resources.

When the Obama administration and Congress expanded the clean-energy incentives in 2009, a gold-rush mentality took over.

As NRG’s chief executive, David W. Crane, put it ... early this year, the government’s largess was a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and “we intend to do as much of this business as we can get our hands on.” NRG, along with partners, ultimately secured $5.2 billion in federal loan guarantees plus hundreds of millions in other subsidies for four large solar projects.

“I have never seen anything that I have had to do in my 20 years in the power industry that involved less risk than these projects,” he said in a recent interview....

From 2007 to 2010, federal subsidies jumped to $14.7 billion from $5.1 billion, according to a recent study [by the Energy Information Administration available at http://www.eia.gov/analysis/requests/subsidy/.]

Most of the surge came from the economic stimulus bill, which was passed in 2009 and financed an Energy Department loan guarantee program and a separate Treasury Department grant program that were promoted as important in creating green jobs.

States like California sweetened the pot by offering their own tax breaks and by approving long-term power-purchase contracts that ... will also require ratepayers to pay billions of dollars more for electricity for as long as two decades. The federal loan guarantee program expired on Sept. 30. The Treasury grant program is scheduled to expire at the end of December, although the energy industry is lobbying Congress to extend it. But other subsidies will remain.

The windfall for the industry over the last three years raises questions of whether the Obama administration and state governments went too far in their support of solar and wind power projects, some of which would have been built anyway, according to the companies involved.

Obama administration officials argue that the incentives, which began on a large scale late in the Bush administration but were expanded by the stimulus legislation, make economic and environmental sense....

The first subsidy [for NRG’s California Valley Solar Ranch project] is for construction. The plant is expected to cost $1.6 billion to build, with key components made by SunPower at factories in California and Asia. In late September, the Energy Department agreed to guarantee a $1.2 billion construction loan, with the Treasury Department lending the money at an ... interest rate of about 3.5 percent, compared with the 7 percent that executives said they would otherwise have had to pay.

That support alone is worth about $205 million to NRG over the life of the loan, according to an analysis performed for The New York Times by Booz & Company....

When construction is complete, NRG is eligible to receive a $430 million check from the Treasury Department — part of a change made in 2009 that allows clean-energy projects to receive 30 percent of their cost as a cash grant upfront instead of taking other tax breaks gradually over several years.

... Under a [California] law ... NRG will not have to pay property taxes to San Luis Obispo County on its solar panels, saving it an estimated $14 million a year. ... [Due to] mandates that California utilities buy 33 percent of their power from clean-energy sources by 2020, the project’s developers struck lucrative contracts with the local utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, to buy the plant’s power for 25 years.... Ultimately its electric customers, will pay NRG $150 to $180 a megawatt-hour, according to a person familiar with the project, who asked not to be identified because the price information was confidential. At the time the contract was awarded, that was about 50 percent more than the expected market cost of electricity in California from a newly built gas-powered plant, state officials said. While neither state regulators nor the companies will divulge all the details, the extra cost to ratepayers amounts to a $462 million subsidy, according to Booz, which calculated the present value of the higher rates over the life of the contracts.

Additional depreciation tax breaks for renewable energy plants could save the company an additional $110 million, according to Christopher Dann, the Booz analyst who examined the project.

The total value of all those subsidies in today’s dollars is about $1.4 billion, leading to an expected rate of return of 25 percent for the project’s equity investors, according to Booz.

Mr. Crane of NRG disputed the Booz estimate, saying that the company’s return on equity was “in the midteens.”

NRG, which initially is investing about $400 million of its own money in the project, expects to get all of its equity back in two to five years, according to a statement it made in August to Wall Street analysts.

By 2015, NRG expects earnings of at least $300 million a year before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization from all of its solar projects combined, making these investments some of the more lucrative pieces in its sprawling portfolio, which includes dozens of power plants fueled by coal, natural gas and oil.
... At least 10 of the 16 solar or wind electricity generation projects that secured Energy Department loan guarantees intend to also take the Treasury Department grant, and all but two of the projects have long-term agreements to sell almost all of their power....

...Legislation that has been passed in about 30 states ... pushes local utility companies to buy a significant share of their power from renewable sources, like solar or wind power. These mandates often have resulted in contracts with above-market rates for the project developers, and a guarantee of a steady revenue stream.

“It is like building a hotel, where you know in advance you are going to have 100 percent room occupancy for 25 years,” said Kevin Smith, chief executive of SolarReserve. His Nevada solar project has secured a 25-year power-purchase agreement with the state’s largest utility and a $737 million Energy Department loan guarantee and is on track to receive a $200 million Treasury grant.

Because the purchase mandates can drive up electricity rates significantly, some states, including New Jersey and Colorado, are considering softening the requirements on utilities.

Brookfield Asset Management, ... will receive so many subsidies for a New Hampshire wind farm that they are worth 46 percent to 80 percent of the $229 million price of the project, when measured in today’s dollars, according to analyses for The Times performed by Booz and two other two industry financial experts....

...The chief executive of Brookfield Renewable Power, the division that oversees the Granite Reliable project in New Hampshire, declined to discuss his profit expectations in detail, but said the project might not have happened without government assistance.

...
Google has invested in several renewable energy projects ... in part to get federal tax breaks that it can use to offset its profits from Web advertising.

... In the 2010 fiscal year, the oil and gas producers got federal tax breaks of $2.7 billion, according to an analysis by the Energy Information Administration.
...
In an October 2010 memo prepared for the president, Lawrence H. Summers, then his top economic adviser; Carol M. Browner, then his adviser on energy matters; and Ronald A. Klain, then the vice president’s chief of staff, expressed discomfort with the “double dipping” that was starting to take place. They said investors had little “skin in the game.”
...
Energy Department officials said they had carefully evaluated every project to try to calculate how much money the developers and investors stood to make. “They were rejected, if they looked too rich or too risky,” Mr. LaVera, the Energy Department spokesman said.

In at least one instance — NRG’s Agua Caliente solar project in Yuma County, Ariz. — the Energy Department demanded that the company agree not to apply for a Treasury grant it was legally entitled to receive. The government was concerned the extra subsidy would result in excessive profit, NRG executives confirmed.

In other cases, the agency required that companies use most of the Treasury grants that they would get when construction was complete to pay down part of the government-guaranteed construction loans instead of cashing out the equity investors.

G.E. ... lobbied Congress in 2009 to help expand the subsidy programs, and it now profits from every aspect of the boom in renewable-power plant construction. It is also an investor in one solar and one wind project that have secured about $2 billion in federal loan guarantees and expects to collect nearly $1 billion in Treasury grants. The company has also won hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to sell its turbines to wind plants built with public subsidies.
...
Satya Kumar, an analyst at Credit Suisse ... said ... “But the industry could have done a lot more solar for a lot less price, in terms of subsidy,” he said.

by Eric Lipton and Clifford Krauss
FOR FULL STORY GO TO:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/12/business/energy-environment/a-cornucopia-of-help-for-renewable-energy.html
The New York Times www.NYTimes.com
November 11, 2011

Clearing the Air? The Effects of Gasoline Content Regulation on Air Quality

http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.101.6.2687 
Abstract: This paper examines whether US gasoline content regulations, which impose substantial costs on consumers, have successfully reduced ozone pollution. We take advantage of spatial and temporal variation in the regulations' implementation to show that federal gasoline standards, which allow refiners flexibility in choosing a compliance mechanism, did not improve air quality. This outcome occurred because minimizing the cost of compliance does not reduce emissions of those compounds most prone to forming ozone. In California, however, we find that precisely targeted, inflexible regulations requiring the removal of particularly harmful compounds significantly improved air quality.

by Maximilian Auffhammer and Ryan Kellogg
American Economic Review via American Economic Association www.aeaweb.org
Volume 101, Number 6; October, 2011 DOI:10.1257/aer.101.6.2687

Empty Fields Fill Urban Basins and Farmers’ Pockets

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/science/earth/24water.html
Three generations of Al Kalin’s family have worked their 2,000 acres of carrots and sugar beets, wheat and alfalfa for almost a century in the Imperial Valley, a scorching swath of Southern California desert that was unfit for farming until water from the Colorado River was diverted here in 1901.

But now Mr. Kalin ... can continue to farm all their land, or they can stop farming some of it and earn more than $500 an acre — more than the market value of a crop like alfalfa in a given year — simply by not using the water required to nourish those crops. Water saved is sent on to thirsty cities and suburbs to the west: San Diego, Los Angeles and Palm Springs.

With water increasingly scarce in the West, some other communities are allowing farmers to sell their allotment of it for whatever price they can find, in some cases thousands of dollars for the amount it takes to grow an acre of a crop. But ... working farms provide jobs and income to their many suppliers. There are 450 farmers in the Imperial Valley, but half the jobs held by the 174,000 residents are tied to agriculture.

When land is idled, the communities around the farms can wither.
...
The Imperial Irrigation District, ... controls more water than any other place in the West — about 20 percent of the annual flow of the Colorado.
...
Less than 5 percent of Imperial County’s 500,000 acres of agricultural land has ever been idle at any given time, many residents believe that unrestrained water sales would unravel the fabric of the community.
...
Some Imperial Valley farmers objected to the restrictions and sued in state court.... That suit is pending.... The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which is called Met and serves 17 million people, is paying Palo Verde Valley farmers seven times as much for water than what Imperial farmers receive from their irrigation district....

...The water’s price ranges from more than $200 to more than $500 per fallowed acre, though irrigating that same acre costs farmers far less. The district has not let the price go up, even as farmers see much higher prices paid elsewhere. The program is expected to end in 2017, when the cities’ needs can all be met through conservation.
...
Farmers in Palo Verde, who deal more directly with Met, receive a one-time payment of $3,170 to enroll an acre in the program and about $600 each year it is left fallow.
.. .
Palo Verde officials counter that their deal with Met included $6 million for a fund to create jobs; the fund’s director said it had filled about 60 by spending money to train truck drivers and invest in small businesses.
...

Ralph Strahm, ... is one of 100 Imperial farmers to enroll in the program.... When the price for water-intensive alfalfa drops, he does the math. If he would earn, at best, $75 more per acre than if he left the land fallow, he decides that the risk and work are not worth the return and offers to leave it idle.

At most, only 18,000 of Imperial’s 500,000 agricultural acres are in the program at the same time.
...
Higher prices give farmers an incentive to conserve. Economists believe that markets will help fix the uneven distribution of water around the West and may prompt a rethinking of the whole system.

An expanding geothermal industry in Imperial needs more water. And there are new uses for land: solar-power businesses file proposals almost weekly.

By Felicity Barringer

The New York Times www.NYTimes.com
October 23, 2010
FOR FULL STORY GO TO:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/science/earth/24water.html

New report identifies how impacts of climate change to water supplies & waterways will affect U.S. cities - In record year for storms and drought, provides a resource for cities nationwide preparing for sea level rise, increased rain, flooding, drought and drinking water impacts

http://www.nrdc.org/media/2011/110727.asp
As the nation grapples with a record year for storms, drought and weather-related devastation, a new report released today by the Natural Resources Defense Council reveals climate change is leaving American cities open to a range of water-related vulnerabilities – from drought to sea level rise and increased rainfall – regardless of region or size. The report looks at how communities facing these new extremes are trying to protect their water supplies and waterways.

“This report makes clear that some of the first, most profound and far-reaching impacts of climate change are water-related, affecting the water we drink, fish, and swim in,” said Michelle Mehta, an attorney for NRDC’s Water Program and a principal author of the report. “In the future, we can expect increased violent storms, drought and rising seas, so communities nationwide, regardless of size, should get plans up and running to reduce their unique vulnerabilities and prepare for impacts.”

The report, “Thirsty for Answers: Preparing for the Water-related Impacts of Climate Change in American Cities,” found that climate change will impact water supplies and waterways in communities across the country, with geography often determining the specific effects. For the first time, this peer-reviewed report has compiled the results of more than 75 scientific studies, data generated by government agencies, and information gathered by other nonprofit organizations to analyze how the impacts of climate change on water supplies and waterways could affect 12 target cities: Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; Homer, Alaska; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida, and the Florida Keys; New Orleans, Louisiana; New York, New York; Norfolk, Virginia; Phoenix, Arizona; Wan Francisco, California; Seattle, Washington and St. Louis, Missouri.

The report provides a snapshot of projected climate change impacts in regions across the country: Rising sea levels threaten vital infrastructure and saltwater intrusion to freshwater supplies in cities on the East, West and Gulf Coasts. Severe storms in the Midwest and East Coast are likely to become more intense and more frequent, causing floods and erosion, and threatening drinking water quality. In the West, a combination of increased temperatures, decreased precipitation and less snowpack contributes to a future shortage of water supply for people and aquatic life. More specifically scientific studies reveal a range of possible impacts under various carbon emission scenarios:

• Rising Seas: Coastal cities examined in the report, such as Miami, Norfolk, New Orleans, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle are threatened by flooding and storm surges due to rising sea levels. For example, data show the very existence of the Florida Keys is at stake, with 38 percent at risk of inundation in the most optimistic scenario. Conservative projections also suggests the California coast could see a 12- to 18-inch rise in sea levels and the coastline of Seattle a 3-to 22-inch rise relative to levels recorded in 2000.
  
  Saltwater intrusion also could become more common in coastal communities as a result of this sea level rise, threatening freshwater supplies, according to data compiled. In New York City, for example, saltwater is expected to journey farther up the Hudson and Delaware Rivers during high tides, two of the region’s major sources for freshwater supply. Also, the salinity problem already facing California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is likely to increase, threatening the quality and reliability of the freshwater supply used by millions of Californians for drinking water as well as the region’s heavy agriculture industry.
  
  
•  Increased Storms and Flooding: Research finds the Midwest is expected to experience more frequent and intense storms, contributing to the type of recent heavy flooding along the Mississippi River. The frequency of very heavy rainfall in Chicago, for example, is expected to increase by 50 percent in the next 30 years, which without infrastructural improvements is likely to increase the number of combined sewer overflows (CSO) that send untreated sewage and storm water into the Chicago River and Lake Michigan.
  
  Increased rainfall along the Atlantic is predicted to cause significant flooding as a result of tropical storms and nor’easters. In New York City, 100-year floods could occur every 30 to 55 years by 2050. Such flooding increases the risk of damage to vital low-lying infrastructure in New York, as well as critical naval and civilian ports in Norfolk. Heavier rainfall in the Midwest is likely to cause increased stream flows due in part to saturated soils, threatening levees in cities like St. Louis.  
  

• A Drier West: The report describes rising temperatures, less rainfall and decreased snowpack in the U.S. West. As a result, without proper management, water supplies could be seriously threatened in regions such as Los Angeles, Seattle and Phoenix. Slight temperature changes could cause irregular stream flow patterns and lead to unseasonal snowpack melt outside of the dry season when the runoff is most needed, the data revealed. For example, the loss of spring snowpack in California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range is highly likely, and a worst case scenario estimates stream flows in Southern California decreasing by as much as 41 percent.
  
  Warmer air also could cause precipitation to fall as rain in areas where it traditionally has fallen as snow, such as in watersheds that supply the populations of Seattle and Phoenix, causing decreases and even disappearance of snowpack. Such a scenario would pose serious challenges for local water supply managers, particularly during the summer months, as they attempt to balance human demand for water with needs for water supplies for hydroelectricity and wildlife habitats.
  
  
• Decreased Water Quality: Data cited in the report point to the many negative effects rising carbon dioxide concentrations are having on water quality. For example, higher dissolved carbon dioxide concentrations, warmer water, and increased runoff could cause increased occurrences of harmful algal blooms in the Chesapeake Bay and around Seattle. The blooms can result in fish kills and cause shellfish to become contaminated with potent natural toxins, causing illness in humans who consume them.

Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and warmer waters are detrimental to the health of the coral reefs off the coast of Miami and the Florida Keys, and acidification of the waters in Puget Sound near Seattle threatens shellfish, a vital contributor to the local economy.

The compiled local data are cause for concern, and the report describes various steps these cities are taking to become more resilient to the effects of climate change, providing examples of steps that communities across the country should consider.
...
The complete report is available online from NRDC at: http://www.nrdc.org/water/thirstyforanswers.asp.

...
More frequent flooding episodes associated with storm events, exacerbated by sea level rise, would adversely affect major transportation arteries, including highways and rail and air transportation, and the viability of waterfront structures.... Increased flooding would also affect streets, basements, sewer systems,  communications equipment, and electrical support facilities such as relays, wiring, and switches associated with fiber-optic cable. In total, by 2070 the greater New York City metro area is projected to have $1.7  trillion to $2.1 trillion in property at risk from coastal flooding due to storm surges and damage from high  winds.
...
If current growth and land use practices remain unchanged while relative sea levels rise 3.3 feet (1 meter) by the end of the century, a 100-year storm surge could cost the city of  Boston about $36 billion (in year 2000 dollars) in damages to residential, commercial, and industrial structures and in emergency response costs. Homes built in the area’s 100-and 500-year floodplains could see flood damage of $7,000 to $18,000 each. Over the course of the 21st century, river flooding could affect twice as many properties at twice the overall cost of past floods.
...
Miami is no stranger to severe weather, particularly hurricanes: Hurricane Andrew caused $26.5 billion in damage in 1992, and Hurricane Wilma caused more than $1 billion in damage in 2005.
...
To counter the impacts of beach erosion, sand renourishment may have to occur more frequently. However, this labor-intensive process comes at a price: Between 1976 and 1981, a beach renourishment project that  replenished a 10-mile stretch of beach to a width of about 100 feet cost $64 million.
...
Greater Miami currently has more than $400 billion in property value at risk from coastal flooding, and that value could rise to $3.5 trillion by 2070.
...
Sea level rise (estimates for the region are 3 to 5 feet, or 0.9 to 1.5 meters, by 21003) delivers a one-two punch to the Keys, owing to their low elevation (an average of 4 to 7 feet, or 1.2 to 2.1 meters, above current sea level) and their high water-to-land ratio (any point on land is within 4 miles of water). Estimates of the potential loss of land area in the Keys range from 38 percent (at a value of $11 billion) to 92 percent ($35 billion).
...
Rising seas will likely wipe out a significant portion of the coastal wetlands in the Mississippi River Deltaic  Plain, where wetland loss rates are already among the highest in the world. Mississippi River flood-protection levees, some in place since the 18th century, rob the surrounding wetlands of replenishing seasonal sediments that would help counteract natural and man-made subsidence and erosion. Additional human activities such as the dredging of ship channels, oil and gas production, and the siting of industrial facilities exacerbate wetland loss. Wetland vegetation thrives in shallow waters but cannot survive as water depth and salinity increase. Wetlands without vegetation lose their ability to damp the energy of storm surges and waves, thus increasing the likelihood of flooding further inland in places—like metropolitan New Orleans—that have historically depended on these wetlands for protection.

Without inputs of sediment, an additional 3,900 to 5,200 square miles of wetlands will be under water by the end of the 21st century. If the impacts of relative sea level rise on wetlands are not checked, metropolitan New Orleans could eventually sit on land almost completely surrounded by the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico.  Loss of Louisiana’s coastal wetlands not only would be a loss of natural flood protection but would impact the vast array of plants and animals that they support, many of which are tied to economic activity including fishing, timber, agriculture, tourism, and recreation. The combined value of infrastructure and biological productivity associated with Louisiana’s wetlands exceeds $100 billion.
...
The Pacific Institute report also details facilities and property at risk from a 100-year flood with a 55-inch sea level rise in San Francisco.... The current replacement value of buildings and contents vulnerable to a 100-year flood in counties in the San Francisco Bay Area is $31 billion; with a 55-inch rise in sea level that figure more than doubles, to $64 billion.
 ...
In the Bay Area counties, a total of more than 640 miles of new levees, raised levees, or seawalls, at a cost of almost $5.3 billion (in 2000 dollars), would be needed to protect against flooding in the event of a 55-inch rise in sea level. Maintaining these additional structures would require annual expenses on the order of a tenth of the capital cost. While armoring the coastline would save lives and property, it disrupts natural processes that are also of value.
...
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) www.NRDC.org
Press Release dated July 26, 2011 (pre Irene)

City of Petaluma Smart Yard® Program Estimated to Save 45 Million Gallons of Water

http://www.hydropoint.com/weathertrak-updates/press-20110727.php
The City of Petaluma Department of Water Resources and Conservation (WRC) ... announced the launch of Smart Yard®, a ... water conservation program designed to achieve more sustainable water use for Petaluma water customers. ... WRC aims to improve the irrigation water use efficiency of Smart Yard participants to save more than 45 million gallons of water over the next five years.

Smart Yard will provide a WeatherTRAK® smart irrigation controller to qualifying water customers at no up-front cost. Smart controllers automatically adjust irrigation schedules via satellite technology, taking the guesswork out of watering your yard. Participating homeowners pay the balance with zero-interest financing from WRC, which places a fixed fee of $14.95 (for one 12 station controller) on their monthly water bills for 5 years. In most cases, the water savings achieved by the WeatherTRAK smart controller will offset the program fee. The program also provides homeowners with a landscape water use evaluation and installation of the WeatherTRAK smart irrigation controller, as well as a rain sensor and on-going customer service. 

WRC is partnering with Petaluma-based HydroPoint Data Systems, Inc., provider of the WeatherTRAK Smart Water Management solution, to manage the innovative water conservation program. The WeatherTRAK smart irrigation controller has been proven to conserve water in 23 public agency studies. Landscape water use, on average, consumes more than 60 percent of the nation's water supply, and most landscapes are typically overwatered by 30 to 300 percent. The WeatherTRAK smart controller will help to ensure that landscapes receive the proper amounts of water.
...
To learn more about the Smart Yard program, visit smartyard.com/Petaluma which claims that water bills can be cut from $250 to $1,500+. The site claims that most homeowners save 33% of their outdoor water cost. One homeowner claimed a 25% overall bill reduction. A tiered rate structure, which rewards savers and penalizes wasters, is implemented. The City of Petaluma is focusing on landscapes because nearly 65% of the region's water supply is used for irrigation. Most landscapes, even those with low-water-use plants, are overwatered by 30% to 300%, according to water agency studies. WeatherTRAK smart controllers are the choice of more than 24,000 subscribers including 50 water providers and numerous Fortune 500 companies.
...
Typical water consumption for a single-family residential customer in Petaluma (see http://cityofpetaluma.net/wrcd/waterrates.html) is about 12 hundred cubic feet (hcf) per month, or 8,976 gallons. 1 hcf = 748 gallons.
The monthly service charge is based on meter size.

Size of Service	Fixed Service Charge
5/8” Service	$5.69
3/4” Service	$5.69
1” Service (residential)	$6.84
1” Service	$7.07
1 1/2” Service	$12.40
2” Service	$19.46
3” Service	$40.19
4” Service	$54.13
6” Service	$78.19

1.2 Water Consumption Charge

Customer	Consumption Charge
Single Family Residential	($/hcf)
Tier 1 (0-9 hcf)	$2.94
Tier 2 (10-18 hcf)	$3.41
Tier 3 (19-24 hcf)	$4.35
Tier 4 (25+ hcf)	$4.82
Multi-Unit ($/hcf)	$3.14
Business, Industrial, Public ($/hcf)	$3.14

Example Single Family Residential Customer Water Charge
For an average single-family residential customer, with a 5/8” service and using 12 hcf monthly, the first 9 hcf would be charged at $2.94 per hcf. The next 6 hcf would be charged at $3.41 per hcf. The total bill would be as follows:
Service Charge = $5.69
Consumption Charge = (9 hcf x $2.94) + (3 hcf x $3.41) = $36.69
Total Monthly Charge = $42.38
... 
In 2011, [Hydropoint] subscribers including The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO), Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), Regency Centers (NYSE: REG) and numerous public institutions will [reportedly] save 17 billion gallons of water, 68 million kilowatt hours and 91 million pounds of CO2. Facing water rates ranging from $2 to $6 per 1,000 gallons and related expenses due to overwatering damages ranging from $500 to $10,000 per site, companies across the U.S. have identified WeatherTRAK as the green initiative with the fastest payback. Headquartered in Petaluma, Calif., HydroPoint is privately owned and operated. 
... 
HydroPoint Data Systems, Inc.
www.hydropoint.com 
July 27, 2011

Study: Tough Vehicle Standards Result in Fewer Asthma Attacks, Heart Attacks, Premature Deaths and Avoid Billions in Costs

http://tiny.cc/h6mys
State Now Drafting Vehicle Rules That Will Significantly Impact Human Health

A new study from the American Lung Association in California pinpoints the benefits in lives and dollars saved by adopting tough vehicle emission and technology standards, which the California Air Resources Board is now drafting, working closely with the feds to set a stringent national standard.

According to the new report, The Road to Clean Air, California could avoid at least $7.2 billion per year in health and other societal costs and reduce all major air pollution-related health impacts – from asthma attacks, premature deaths and hospitalizations to lost work and school days – by 70% percent if the California fleet of vehicles is converted to the next generation of cleaner, more efficient vehicles by 2025. Greater benefits can be achieved by further accelerating introduction of zero and near-zero emission technologies, like battery electric, plug-in and fuel cell vehicles.

According to the new report, strong state 'Advanced Clean Car' standards beginning in 2017, including smog and particle pollution controls, greenhouse gas emission standards, and an aggressive zero emission vehicle requirement will annually avoid the following illnesses and deaths when fully implemented across the fleet:

400 – 420 premature deaths avoided
8,075 – 8,440 asthma attacks and lower respiratory symptoms avoided
181,000 – 190,000 acute and other respiratory symptoms avoided
390 – 405 heart attacks avoided
420 – 440 respiratory ER visits and cardio/respiratory hospitalizations avoided
28,100 – 29,300 lost work days avoided
8,800 – 9,500 missed school days avoided
$7.2 – $8.1 billion in healthcare, environmental damage and societal damages avoided

'Ninety percent of Californians live in areas with unhealthy air according to the American Lung Association State of the Air report,' said Jane Warner, President and CEO of the American Lung Association in California. 'Pollution from passenger cars and trucks is largely responsible for our dirty air and its huge health toll. Our new study reveals the benefits in lives and dollars saved by adopting tough vehicle emission and technology standards.'

The state currently is drafting the Advanced Clean Car standards, which update and link several existing programs aimed at reducing pollution from vehicles, including the Low-Emission Vehicle program, the Zero-Emission Vehicle program and the greenhouse gas emission reduction program (often called Pavley standards), and plans to release a draft this Fall. All three standards are critical to reduce the level of criteria pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions that new passenger vehicles sold in California will generate through model year 2025.

'There are few needs as urgent as making sure that the air we breathe in California isn't making us sick and contributing to escalating health care costs,' says David T. Cooke, M.D., member of the Lung Association Board and Assistant Professor of Thoracic Surgery at the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. 'California has an opportunity to dramatically reduce the human toll of cars by adopting strong Clean Car standards and accelerating the introduction of zero emission vehicles in the next round of rulemaking.'

The Road to Clean Air finds that under current standards (which apply to passenger vehicles through model year 2016), vehicles on the road in 2025 will generate over 270 tons per day of smog forming pollutants and cause $14.5 billion per year in health and societal costs, including $5 billion per year in public health costs and thousands of cases of illness. Converting the fleet to cleaner, more efficient vehicles would avoid as much as 190 tons per day, or over 70 percent, of these smog forming emissions. Considering that California still has a long way to go in achieving smog levels low enough to meet federal clean air standards, adopting the strongest possible clean car regulations is critical.

On an individual basis, the American Lung Association in California report finds that an average car under current standards will cause more than $4,700 in health, environmental and societal damage over its lifetime – the equivalent to $1.19 in damage per gallon of gasoline, or about $20 per fill-up.

In order to reduce vehicle impacts on human health, the American Lung Association in California finds that the California Air Resources Board must adopt strong Advanced Clean Car Standards for the passenger vehicle fleet for 2017-2025 that will include the following requirements for new cars:

Achieve a 75 percent reduction in smog-forming emissions and place stringent controls on particle pollution from vehicles
Achieve, at minimum, an overall 45 percent (6 percent per year) reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles
Achieve a new car fleet mix that includes at least 20 percent zero emission vehicles

'Vehicles meeting California's current clean car standards greatly reduce pollutant emissions in California and nationally, but more can be done to clean up our fleet. This report shows that California, by requiring a new generation of clean, efficient vehicles beginning in 2017, can significantly improve the health of children, seniors, and people who live in polluted communities,' says Robert Sawyer, Ph.D., member of the Lung Association Board and past Chairman of the California Air Resources Board.

The state is expected to adopt its new standards in November 2011. To view the full report, go to www.lungusa.org/california-cleancars.

Data and Methodology:
The American Lung Association in California commissioned a study to compare the emissions, public health and greenhouse gas benefits that will result from current vehicle emission standards (LEV II for smog-forming emissions and Pavley I for greenhouse gas emissions) to the benefits that can be achieved from the next generation of vehicle standards (LEV III, Pavley II), including strong zero emission vehicle (ZEV) requirements being considered this year. Vehicle emission reductions result from decreases in tailpipe, onboard and upstream emissions.

The American Lung Association in California contracted TIAX, LLC, a nonpartisan engineering consulting firm, to conduct a technical analysis comparing the benefits of moving from existing standards to possible future vehicle standards. This report incorporates the criteria standards into the fleet mixes, calculating the health benefits that result from the mix of tailpipe standards and alternative technologies. For each component of this study, TIAX relied on numerous state and federal regulatory documents, technical models and input from the Lung Association.

Press Release dated May 11, 2011 via PRNewsWire http://tiny.cc/l4sal

Water Is Plentiful, but Rates for Bay Area Customers (and Conservation) Are on the Rise - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/us/01bcshort.html
Conservation is up, and after an unusually wet winter, so is the water supply. The reservoirs along the Sacramento and San Joaquin Deltas that are the lifeblood of the state’s water system are filled to the brim.

Yet amid all this abundance, water agencies around the region are planning to raise rates in coming months.

San Francisco residents’ water will become 25 percent more expensive by late 2012, rising to four-tenths of a cent per gallon, with bills increasing to $36 a month for a typical 2.5-member household.

San Francisco’s water department plans to increase the price of water that it sells to 26 Bay Area utilities and cities by 47 percent on July 1. Rates charged by those entities to residents are expected to rise at least 16 percent.

The Marin Municipal Water District could increase rates by 4 percent on June 1. The East Bay Municipal Utility District may increase rates 6 percent this June and another 6 percent next June.

For most commodities, rising supply and falling demand would drive prices down. But that is the opposite of what is happening to Bay Area water prices.

The reasons for the rate increases are similar for all three agencies: Fixed overhead that includes rising chemical and fuel costs and, in the case of the East Bay and San Francisco utilities, high levels of capital spending. In addition, because of the success of conservation, the water agencies’ income stream is slowing. Fewer gallons consumed means less cash in the till.

“The costs to run the San Francisco system are relatively fixed, regardless of how much water is used,” said
Art Jensen, general manager of the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency.
...
San Francisco gets most of its water from Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park. The water network of pipes, reservoirs and treatment plants is six years into a $4.6 billion project to improve capacity and earthquake resilience and catch up on maintenance.

By JOHN UPTON
The New York Times www.NYTimes.com
FOR FULL STORY GO TO:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/us/01bcshort.html
April 30, 2011

A Bright Spot for Solar: Berkeley Lab Study Finds that Photovoltaic Systems Boost the Sales Price of California Homes

http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2011/04/21/bright-spot-for-solar/

New research by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory finds strong evidence that homes with solar photovoltaic (PV) systems sell for a premium over homes without solar systems.

“We find compelling evidence that solar PV systems in California have boosted home sales prices,” says the lead author Ben Hoen, a researcher at Berkeley Lab. “These average sales price premiums appear to be comparable with the average investment that homeowners have made to install PV systems in California, and of course homeowners also benefit from energy bill savings after PV system installation and prior to home sale.”

The research finds that homes with PV in California have sold for a premium, expressed in dollars per watt of installed PV, of approximately $3.90 to $6.40/watt. This corresponds to an average home sales price premium of approximately $17,000 for a relatively new 3,100 watt PV system (the average size of PV systems in the Berkeley Lab dataset), and compares to an average investment that homeowners have made to install PV systems in California of approximately $5/W over the 2001-2009 period.

“This is a sizeable effect,” says Ryan Wiser, a Berkeley Lab scientist and co-author. “This research might influence the decisions of homeowners considering installing a PV system and of home buyers considering buying a home with PV already installed. Even new home builders that are contemplating PV as a component of their homes can benefit from this research.”

Approximately 2,100 megawatts (MW) of grid-connected solar PV have been installed in the U.S. California has been and continues to be the country’s largest market for PV, with nearly 1,000 MW of installed capacity. California is also approaching 100,000 individual PV systems installed, more than 90% of which are residential. Though an increasing number of homes with PV systems have sold, relatively little research has been performed to estimate the impacts of those PV systems on home sales prices.

The Berkeley Lab research is the first to empirically explore the existence and magnitude of residential PV sales price impacts across a large number of homes and over a wide geographic area. The research analyzed a dataset of more than 72,000 California homes that sold from 2000 through mid-2009, approximately 2,000 of which had a PV system at the time of sale. “This is the most comprehensive and data-rich analysis to date of the potential influence of PV systems on home sales prices,” says co-author and San Diego State University Economics Department Chair Mark Thayer.

The research controlled for a large number of factors that might influence results, such as housing market fluctuations, neighborhood effects, the age of the home, and the size of the home and the parcel on which it was located. The resulting premiums associated with PV systems were consistent across a large number of model specifications and robustness tests.

The research also shows that, as PV systems age, the premium enjoyed at the time of home sale decreases. Additionally, existing homes with PV systems are found to have commanded a larger sales price premium than new homes with similarly sized PV systems.

“One reason for the disparity between existing and new homes with PV might be that new home builders also gain value from PV as a market differentiator that speeds the home sales process, a factor not analyzed in the Berkeley Lab study,” says Berkeley Lab researcher and co-author Peter Cappers. “More research is warranted to better understand these and related impacts.”

This work was supported by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (Solar Energy Technologies Program) of the U.S. Department of Energy, by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and by the Clean Energy States Alliance.

Additional Information
Download the full report, “An Analysis of the Effects of Residential Photovoltaic Energy Systems on Home Sales Prices in California”
Download a two-page summary of the report’s key findings
For more information about DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Program, visit www1.eere.energy.gov/solar
For more information about the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, visit www.nrel.gov
For more information about the Clean Energy States Alliance, visit www.cleanenergystates.org

Lawrence Berekely National Laboratory www.lbl.gov
Press Release dated April 21, 2011
via/hat tip New York Times Green Blog www.NYTimes.com

Nanosolar: Nanosolar Signs Supply Agreements with Strategic Customers

http://www.nanosolar.com/company/blog/nanosolar-signs-supply-agreements-strategic-customers

Leading European installers Belectric, EDF Energies Nouvelles and Plain Energy expand global footprint in partnership with Nanosolar

On April 28, 2011 thin film solar company Nanosolar, Inc. announced that it has signed long-term supply agreements for up to one gigawatt of Nanosolar Utility Panel supply with Belectric of Kolitzheim, Germany; EDF Energies Nouvelles of Paris, France; and Plain Energy of Munich, Germany.

As several of the largest and most experienced installers of thin film panels in Europe, these long-term strategic Nanosolar partners will utilize the cost-efficient Nanosolar Utility Panel to expand their solar power plant developments. Each of the supply agreements ranges from a three to six year term, and in total may account for up to one gigawatt of committed module deliveries as Nanosolar achieves its volume and cost targets. Each of the three companies has worked closely with Nanosolar as a strategic partner since 2008.
...
Nanosolar combines proprietary technology with advanced system design and manufacturing processes to reduce both panel and balance of system costs. Leveraging its competitive CIGS solar cell and panel efficiencies in combination with proprietary printing techniques, Nanosolar can become the lowest-cost panel manufacturer at hundreds of megawatts of production versus gigawatts within the next several years.

Nanosolar’s roll-to-roll printing process allows the company to benefit from the combination of low capital expenditure and high throughput, which results in an extremely low fixed-cost portion of the production cost per watt. This when combined with a panel design that uses less overall materials for production and installation will enable the company to surpass the $.60 per Watt cost threshold within the next several years. Nanosolar will reach an annual production capacity of 115 megawatts by Fall 2011, and expects to at least double capacity each year thereafter.

'Nanosolar’s industrial printing approach to manufacturing its utility-scale panel combined with its lower balance-of-systems costs will allow solar to be cost competitive with fossil fuels,' said Bernhard Beck, CEO Belectric. 'We look forward to combining Belectric’s state-of-the-art, low-cost installation methods with the Nanosolar Utility Panel to further drive down the cost of solar power plants.”
...
NanoSolar www.NanoSolar.com
Press Release dated April 28, 2011

At http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20057991-54.html?tag=nl.e496 Martin LaMonica of www.CNET.com reports

Nanosolar ... said it has customer orders that could be as much as 1 gigawatt worth of solar panels over six years if the company meets technical milestones and ramps up volume as it projects. The panels are designed for utility-scale solar projects over 1 megawatt in size.

The contracts are a boost to San Jose, Calif.-based Nansolar, which has raised close to $500 million but replaced its CEO last year, a sign of some troubles at the company....
...
[The] cells are transported to Germany where another factory makes panels specifically designed for utility customers.

Once it's at full capacity in its San Jose plant, Nansolar expects its production costs will be at a $1 per watt, making its costs lower than panels made with traditional crystalline silicon cells, according to Brian Stone, Nanosolar's vice president of sales and marketing.

The company expects that improved efficiency of its solar cells, from 10 percent now to 14 percent in 2014, will get production costs below 60 cents a watt by the end of 2013, making it competitive with other thin-film solar manufacturers. The key to its lower production costs is Nansolar's roll-to-roll cell manufacturing, said CEO Geoff Tate....

Most thin-film solar companies use a vaccum deposition process where solar cell material is layered on to a substrate. Nanosolar's photovoltaic material, made from a combination of copper, indium, gallium, and selenium (CIGS), starts in a liquid form and is coated onto an aluminum foil. The layer evaporates and then is heated to create a crystalline structure needed for a solar cell, explained Tate.

The manufacturing process, where cells are essentially printed, allows for faster production and greater cost reductions over time, compared to both other CIGS makers and companies that make cadmium telluride thin-film cells, including industry price leader First Solar.

Has the Price of Going Green Really Dropped? Some Hoteliers See Red

http://nreionline.com/brokernews/greenbuildingnews/news/price_green_hoteliers_red_0314/

According to Denise Kalette, writing for the National Real Estate Investor http://nreionline.com

The sticker shock for going green is becoming easier to bear, according to some panelists at the Hunter Hotel Conference held last week in Atlanta. But not everyone agrees.
...
At the same time, the reasons for meeting the standards are becoming more urgent: properties that don’t meet sustainable levels are likely to suffer lower occupancy rates and resale prices.

“I think the premium on the cost side is shrinking or completely disappearing,” said Marty Collins, president and CEO of Gatehouse Capital Corp., a real estate investment and development firm based in Dallas. Gatehouse has developed hotels primarily in California and Texas, such as the W Hotel & Residences in Hollywood, with 300 rooms, apartments and retail space.

“We thought there would be maybe $1 million of additional cost to build this thing LEED. It cost $250,000 to $500,000 more to build a $680 million project,” to LEED standards, said Collins. His company just finished another project, he said, and the cost for sustainable development wasn’t a factor. “I don’t think we paid a dime.”

However, even if green materials and construction costs have dropped, the price of hiring a consultant to meet certification standards remains high, some hoteliers complain.

Gene Singleton, president of Summit Associates LLC of Raleigh. N.C., a hotel developer, said that when his company built a $24 million project, it spent $240,000 on green measures before deciding to go with a LEED program.
...
Although green buildings may attract higher occupancy, a sustainable standard may not necessarily command higher rents. “I think you get absolutely no rate premium for it,” says Collins. “I think you may get some occupancy premium.
...
Energy saving design and practices can bring financial rewards, some panelists pointed out. “We’ve seen operating savings up to 30% in properties that have achieved LEED certification,” said Faith Taylor, vice president of sustainability and innovation at Wyndham Worldwide, based in Parsippany, N.J.

Research has shown a correlation between green programs and higher guest satisfaction, says Taylor. Sustainability features can factor into deals, she adds, because many investors now track the carbon footprint and emissions data of properties that interest them, and weigh the data in their property valuations.

However, hotel guests are not willing to pay more for a room with green features, says Taylor. Still, given a choice between two hotels, including one with a sustainable design, they will choose the one with environmental elements, she notes.

And the costs are moderating. An initial investment can now be recouped in a shorter amount of time than in the past, says Singleton. “We’ve got it down to a three-year payback instead of five-year.”
...
Despite the cost issues, green design and standards may be inevitable.
...
Design engineers and architects will shortly need to be LEED-qualified “or they’re just not going to be in that business,” says Collins. “We will not be having this discussion in three years. You’re going to be in this LEED business regardless.”

By Denise Kalette, NREI Managing Editor
National Real Estate Investor http://nreionline.com
March 14, 2011
FOR FULL STORY GO TO:
http://nreionline.com/brokernews/greenbuildingnews/news/price_green_hoteliers_red_0314/