Join us:

Monday, November 7th, 2011
10 am to 4 pm
Northside Library Branch
1733 Russell Cave Road
Lexington, KY

The Kentucky Sustainable Energy Alliance, of which KFTC is a founding member, will host its fall meeting on November 7th. The agenda will include:

-Preview of the 2012 legislative session: Perspectives from key KySEA members including a green energy business and an affordable housing provider, as well as opportunities to plug into KySEA's legislative work

-Overview of the Clean Energy Opportunity Act

-Two exciting presentations on reports related to clean energy by Metropolitan Housing Coalition and Kentucky Environmental Foundation.

Bring a brown bag lunch. We hope you will join us.

Contact nancy@kftc.org to RSVP or for more information.

Re-posted from the Louisville Eccentric Observer.

Activists point to higher bills, job creation in urging legislators to support clean energy
By Anne Marshall

Earlier this month, the Kentucky Public Service Commission’s public hearing unfolded much like a game of dominoes. Held at Louisville’s Johnson Traditional Middle School, members of the scant crowd leaned into the microphone, one after another, their pleas all generally falling into line: Don’t raise our bills, protect low-income families who can’t afford ever-blooming energy costs, and get serious about alternative energy.

Clean energy advocates hope the combination of rising rates, along with the potential for job creation, will steer legislators towards passing the Clean Energy Opportunity Act, a bill that’s gone nowhere in the past two legislative sessions. It mandates that a portion of Kentucky’s energy come from renewable sources, rather than solely from coal. An admittedly uphill battle in a mountaintop removal state.

“I think it will look nearly impossible until the day before it passes,” says Wallace McMullen, conservation chair with Louisville’s chapter of the Sierra Club.

The Sept. 6 hearing was part of a series as the Public Service Commission decides whether LG&E and Kentucky Utilities should be allowed to tack on an environmental surcharge to bills. That could raise residential electric bills in Louisville by up to 19 percent over the next four years. (The Sierra Club and Metropolitan Housing Coalition will go before the Public Service Commission in November as interveners in the surcharge case. The Sierra Club questions the analysis behind the fee. The Housing Coalition is concerned with how the higher bills may inevitably hit the poor the hardest.)

The charge would eventually drop off once the utilities have covered the estimated $2.5 billion needed to improve existing coal-fired power plants not meeting Environmental Protection Agency guidelines. One such upgrade would include the addition of “scrubbers” that will catch emissions before they escape into the air. Joan Lindop, with the Greater Louisville Sierra Club, likens this to billions on Band-Aids.

“If they scrub more emissions out, that’s more that’s going into a coal ash pile,” she says. “We’re really not wanting to encourage them to spend that money on old plants when it could be used for renewables.”

And so for the third year, advocates are gearing up to push legislation they say would spark production and demand of solar, wind, hydroelectric and geothermal power.

In 2010, the Clean Energy Opportunity Act (HB 239) was assigned to the state House of Representatives’ Natural Resources and Environment Committee, headed by global-warming denier Rep. Jim Gooch, D-Providence. It did not get a hearing. In 2011, the bill was strategically rerouted outside of Gooch’s committee and into the Tourism Development and Energy Committee led by Rep. Leslie Combs, D-Pikeville. That resulted in measured progress: A discussion hearing. No vote.

This year’s proposed legislation will look much like the one from last year, with two critical pieces. The first includes a renewable and efficiency portfolio standard, a policy already adopted by 29 other states. It would require utilities to generate 12.5 percent of retail sales from renewable energy by 2021, with at least 1 percent from solar.

This is a rather conservative standard when compared to several other states demanding that well over 20 percent of energy eventually be derived from renewable sources.

The other proposed policy calls for a “feed-in tariff,” which works as a contract, establishing a fixed premium price for energy produced in Kentucky, be it from large-scale operations or individual homeowners.

Mike Hynes, president of the Housing Partnership Inc., a developer of affordable housing in Louisville, wrote a letter to the Public Service Commission in support of this idea. Hynes recently installed solar panels on one of the Housing Partnership’s properties, but was careful to only invest in panels that would generate 75 percent of their energy needs.

If Hynes outfitted the building with enough panels to exceed 100 percent of their desired energy, LG&E would give him a credit to go toward future bills, rather than pay him for that energy.
“Basically, that builds up in perpetuity. In my mind, that creates an incentive not to produce enough electricity as one could for their household,” he says. “With a rebate program, that’s an incentive to create systems that are larger than what you can use."

Several regional utility companies including Duke Energy, Georgia Power and Florida Power and Light have tariff programs that pay per kilowatt-hour, then turn around and put that energy back into the grid.

Tom FitzGerald, with the Kentucky Resources Council, says the timing is right for renewables.
“The unit cost of solar and wind is coming down,” says FitzGerald, adding that while coal may appear to be the cheapest source of fuel, that’s not including environmental costs and restrictions.

“Over the course of time, you start having to fold in extra costs because externalities have to be accounted for.”

Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, D-Louisville, will sponsor the renewable energy bill again this year. She says supporters are tailoring their arguments for the legislation in light of another sore subject — jobs.

“When you’re looking at business and manufacturing folks coming to Kentucky, they want constancy in the market,” she says. “Coal is cheap now, but it’s going up.”

The Kentucky Sustainable Energy Alliance reports that neighboring states with clean energy standards are experiencing a boom in manufacturing and construction employment. For example, after Ohio passed legislation in 2008, about 1,500 solar-related jobs were created.

While no one expects the Clean Energy Opportunity Act to garner much attention until election hoopla ceases, advocates believe this year the support just might be there. They point to this week’s Governor’s Conference on Energy and the Environment in Lexington, where various panels discussed the issue.

“What we have to consider is coal is always going to be No. 1 for the foreseeable 15 to 20 years,” Marzian says. “But if we don’t start looking at different tools … we’re going to be left holding the bag.”

Sixteen people gathered on Tuesday night in Shelbyville to get to know one another and to celebrate KFTC's 30th anniversary (some are shown, left). Several existing Shelby County members turned out for the gathering as well as a handful of folks new to KFTC. 

Participants expressed enthusiasm about meeting one another and feeling less alone locally right from the start.

After introducing herself, member Averie King said, "It's so refreshing to meet people that share these ideas because I did not think many of them existed in Kentucky let alone Shelby County." 

Member Jerry Scrogham added, "I have driven into Jefferson County for chapter meetings, but for as long as I have lived here, I have never thought of the idea that we could gather here (in Shelby County) and have this going on."

Shelby County member Carlen Pippin (shown above, far right), along with two others present, discussed efforts to improve the democracy and transparency in the Shelby County Electric Co-op. The Shelby County co-op is part of the East Kentucky Power Cooperative, the reformation of which has been a part of KFTC's statewide work for more than two years. Jefferson County member Beth Bissmeyer gave a broad overview of KFTC as well.

Everyone was interested in the topics discussed and several people signed up to get involved in the electric co-op reform work. Several at the table immediately connected that making the co-op more transparent would also open the doors to increasing demand for efficiency and renewable energy from EKPC. Carlen Pippin, who has just become a New Power Leader, plans to form a New Power cluster of the people who signed up to engage more deeply in the co-op reform work.

After the gathering was over, two families committed to coming to KFTC's 30th birthday bash in Irvine on August 27th. Other folks discussed printing a local voter guide and forming a chapter at some point in the future as action steps to follow up to the meeting.

As the gathering came to a close, Bill Young, a teacher who has run twice for local offices in Shelby County, identified strongly with KFTC's vision and action around democracy-building and civic engagement.

"I cannot even believe it. Me and my friends were talking the other day about forming an organization just like KFTC. and THIS IS IT!I can't believe I never knew you all existed. I feel like i have come home," Bill said.

To learn more about this event or sustainable energy solutions, contact Nancy Reinhart at nancy@kftc.org.

While jobs are being lost in other sectors, between 2003-2010, nearly 5,000 clean energy jobs were created in Kentucky says a new report by the Brookings Institution, with the largest job growth coming in appliance manufacturing. The report identifies almost 37,000 “clean economy jobs” in Kentucky. By comparison, there are about 18,000 total coal mining jobs in the state.

And, with a median salary of $35,585 per year, clean energy jobs pay Kentucky workers $2500 more annually than average wages for all other jobs in the state.

In terms of overall size, Kentucky’s clean energy economy ranks 26th in the nation. Nearby states with clean energy standards in place – which KFTC advocates to pass in Kentucky through the Kentucky Sustainable Energy Alliance – all have bigger clean energy economies than Kentucky. Ranking particularly high are neighbors Illinois (5th), Ohio (6th), and North Carolina (11th).

To learn more about clean energy standards and the impact they could have on Kentucky’s economy, visit www.kysea.org.

A solar panel array, solar hot water collectors and a wind turbine were recently installed on the roof of the education center located on the grounds of the Kentucky state capitol in Frankfort. The building is highly energy efficient as well. The renewable energy systems are visible from the governor’s office. The solar panels are expected to produce more than 8,000 kilowatt-hours of sustainable electricity each year. Solar Energy Solutions (www.solar-energy-solutions.com), a KFTC ally through the Kentucky Sustainable Energy Alliance, completed the solar installations.

By Steve Boyce

KFTC Chairperson

How many times have you heard “experts”—folks from the coal and energy industries, and even our own legislators—say that people supporting renewable energy may mean well but are misguided since renewables can’t provide “baseload power,” whatever that means. After all, the sun doesn’t shine at night and the wind doesn’t blow all the time.

David Brown Kinloch has written what strikes me as an excellent and very important op-ed aimed at debunking “The Myth of the Baseload.” It’s well worth the read. Find it here.

Part of the reason I think it’s so good is that it explains in understandable terms some of the main challenges of generating and distributing electricity and why the traditional approach to addressing them—reliance on large centralized coal and nuclear generation plants for baseload—is not necessary. Along the way he makes clear the meaning of such terms as baseload, dispatcher and grid, and how current arrangements will have to change for distributed renewable generation to become a substantial part of the generation mix. Rarely if ever have I learned as much from reading an op-ed.

It’s the clarity of his myth busting that makes this piece seem so important. As Brown Kinloch concludes:

Clearly customer load can be met, hour by hour, primarily with renewables, without today’s baseload plants. … The problem here is not the nature of renewable resources or any technical hurdle, but rather it is getting utility planners and dispatchers to think outside the “baseload” mindset that they have been stuck in for so many years. … The need for large, centralized baseload capacity is not some requirement of the electrical power system, but rather a desire to continue to do things as utilities have done in the past, the way they know.

The transition to decentralized, clean power sources is crucial and feasible! And it’s coming! As I said, this op-ed is well worth reading.

Several Kentucky Sustainable Energy Alliance (KySEA) members gathered together yesterday to explore what we have learned over the last year of working together as an alliance and to consider what the plan is for 2012. KFTC was a founding member of this alliance and was represented by Mary Love and Steve Boyce at the meeting. (For more information about KySEA, click here.)

During the meeting, there was healthy discussion about the current state of Kentucky's energy landscape and future, as well as reflection about the lessons KySEA learned from the 2011 legislative session, during which KySEA members lobbied and gave powerful testimony in support of the Clean Energy Opportunity Act. KySEA agreed to support the the bill again if it is introduced in the 2012 session and began to plot out a course of action in the areas of research, outreach and education, and alliance-building as well.

KySEA members also got a preview of an outreach presentation we're calling the "Clean Energy Road Show." It covers the basics of what types of clean energy exist in Kentucky and explores their feasibility. It also considers what the obstacles are currently in place to widespread deployment of those resources. KFTC staff and members will be offering this presentation to chapters and groups throughout the state over the next year - so look for it in your area!

If your group or church is interested in joining KySEA or hearing a presentation of the "Clean Energy Road Show," email nancy@kftc.org.

KFTC members were part of New Power at work in room 131 of the state capitol annex today. The room was filled with clean energy supporters ready for the economic justice and development opportunities that House Bill 239, the Clean Energy Opportunity Act, is offering. And legislators got the message.

"All options on the table is what we're going for," responded Rep. Jill York to testimony provided by HB 239 sponsor Rep. Mary Lou Marzian and Kentucky Sustainable Energy Alliance members (of which KFTC is a founding member) in support of the bill.

Rep. Leslie Combs, chair of the House Tourism Development and Energy Committee where the bill was presented for a discussion-only hearing, set a positive tone in her opening statement. "I like to consider myself open-minded and I am open to all ideas that are for the benefit of the people."

Archie Fields and Jeff Chapman-Crane

Jeff Chapman-Crane, a KFTC member and a constituent of Combs from Letcher County, was one of those present. He praised Combs's efforts:. "I was pleased that she was willing to hear this bill and it is a good sign for any legislator from Eastern Kentucky to do this. I complement her leadership."

If enacted, House Bill 239 - the Clean Energy Opportunity Act - would establish gradual renewable and efficiency targets that utilities would meet over time, and long-term renewable energy price guarantees for renewable energy producers. The bill would also require investments to improve housing efficiency for low-income families.

Testifying in support of House Bill 239 were (left to right): Jason Bailey, Jim King, Matt Partymiller, and Rep. Mary Lou Marzian.

Jim King, president and CEO of the Federation for Appalachian Housing Enterprises, testified about why affordable housing groups across the state support the bill.

"The current course of energy in the commonwealth is a threat to families in need of affordable housing. If energy continues to rise at the course it is rising now, assuming no changes, the average utility bill will double by 2015. This is a high burden for low-income families – the same families that live in the homes that are the biggest energy users. People are facing an 'eat or heat' situation."

King said that the bill would improve energy affordability for the families that FAHE and other affordable housing groups serve and create local jobs in Appalachian Kentucky.

Matt Partymiller, operating manager of Solar Energy Solutions, told legislators just how many jobs would be created and how much money Kentucky could attract if this bill were enacted. He stated that implementing a state Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (REPS) is a signal to national and international renewable energy production and manufacturing companies that Kentucky is making a long-term commitment to a new energy market. And this signal will bring jobs.

Partymiller noted that millions of dollar in contracts for renewable energy installation in Kentucky were awarded to out-of-state companies in 2010 and expects to see the same thing happen this year. He also pointed out that due to commitments to renewable energy that exist at the state level in Ohio and within the TVA utility service area in Tennessee, both states had attracted billions in manufacturing investments in the last two years. Right: A slide from Matt Partymiller's presentation showing a solar installation at the University of Kentucky

"When you look at the jobs we've lost in construction and manufacturing, this is an opportunity to give some of these workers jobs," Rep. Marzian said.   

If we do nothing? "We will continue to see jobs going to other states," Partymiller said. "For all the installations I have done, I have bought parts from OH, IN and TN. It's unfortunate that we don't see the development of these products here in Kentucky."

A couple of committee members already have seen the benefits of renewable manufacturing investments in their districts. Representatives Harmon, McKee, Kim King, Martha Jane King and York pointed out connections they had in their own districts to the issues raised by the speakers.

"I like to brag on Corning in my district." Rep. Kim King said. "They are now making glass for solar panels." A glass and ceramic making company, Corning Inc. is headquartered in Harrodsburg.

"I am excited for you all to be here," echoed Rep. Martha Jane King. "Hemlock Semiconductor, which makes a raw material for solar panels, is just over the county line from us. Their $2.5 billion dollar investment is spilling over into our counties and bringing jobs and investment. I think we need to look to the future."

Hemlock Semiconductor opened up operations in Clarksville, TN in January of 2009 and is expected to create 900 jobs when fully operational. They were attracted to Clarksville in part due because TVA, the electric utility that serves the area, offers 10-year price guarantees for renewable energy production. These price guarantees – similar to one of the policy mechanisms contained in House Bill 239 – are driving up the use of solar panels in the region.

York said that she had not realized the manufacturing job potential of enacting this type of legislation prior to the hearing. She also said she appreciated the tone set by Reps. Combs and Marzian during the proceedings.

"When we lose the adversarial nature, we can really look at what is on the table."

Please consider calling to thank Representative Combs and House Leadership for allowing this discussion to take place.

Call: 1 (800) 372-7181

Message: "Thank you for promoting good discussion about House Bill 239 and the tremendous benefits that clean energy can bring to Kentuckians. Let's work together towards a favorable vote on it next year!"

Here is a link to a video of the committee hearing. The discussion of HB 239 begins after about 1 minute. http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/13061665/highlight/154813

Many Kentuckians demonstrated that they are ready for the benefits that clean energy will bring to Kentucky by attending a conference co-sponsored by KFTC on the topic.

Hear an Appalshop-produced podcast on the day by clicking here.

The first-ever Kentucky Clean Energy Summit, hosted by the Kentucky Sustainable Energy Alliance, brought 150 people together, including small business owners, housing groups, low-income advocacy organizations, legislators, energy experts, and concerned citizens.

Mary Miller of Midway, a board member of Kentucky Watershed Watch and a member of the Sierra Club and KFTC, came to the conference to learn more about how to communicate effectively with legislators. “I asked questions that I’ve been curious about forever,” she said. “It just makes you aware of what all’s going on and how these groups can work together,” Miller said.

During the day, summit speakers and attendees explored:

o    Policies that would increase use of energy efficiency and renewable energy in Kentucky
o    The benefits of these policies and why Kentucky should pass these now
o    Success stories from nearby states, including Ohio
o    The experiences of KySEA member organizations including small businesses and affordable housing providers that are utilizing energy efficiency and renewable energy today

The Clean Energy Opportunity Act, recently filed by Representative Mary Lou Marzian in the 2011 General Assembly and supported by KySEA, is a comprehensive clean energy bill that would set clean energy goals for Kentucky and provide incentives for clean energy businesses. Summit participants got a first look at what’s in the bill.

Carmen Stine and Shari Bivelacque of Alternative Energies Kentucky, a new business in Danville that manufactures solar panels, said starting a clean energy business in a state where there are no incentives or guidelines has been a challenge. Many of their clients are outside Kentucky.
“How do you sell to people who have no incentives to improve their situation and their carbon footprint?” said Stine.

“If there’s a financial incentive, then they start to listen,” said Bivelacque.

Getting state leaders on board will be key, Bivelacque said. “For us to get anywhere with this, it’s going to be all about education,” she said.

And jobs, according to Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, who sponsors the Clean Energy Opportunity Act, House Bill 239. “I think the job piece is what’s so important to effect policy change in Frankfort,” Marzian said.

Andy McDonald of Kentucky Solar Partnership said Kentucky needs to take a long-term view. “We really need long-term stable policies,” McDonald said. “There’s no point in getting trained if there’s not going to be jobs.”

David Brown Kinloch, who with his partners purchased and restored the Mother Ann Lee Hydroelectric Station on the Kentucky River, echoed the view that Kentucky needs to make a long-term investment in clean energy. In addition to his work in hydro power, Kinloch has researched wind power in Kentucky. “It’s a political problem, not a technical problem, why there isn’t wind in Kentucky,” he said.

Representatives of the Federation of Appalachian Housing Enterprises (FAHE), Frontier Housing, Home Energy Partners and the Metropolitan Housing Coalition expressed their desire to see new policies that protect home owners, renters and low-income families from rising energy costs.

“I’ve heard a lot today about energy efficiency as a resource, and I really like that term,” said Vonda Poyner of FAHE, a regional nonprofit based in Berea that provides access to capital that creates housing and promotes community development.

KFTC is a founding member of KySEA, and KFTC members played a role in the agenda throughout the day. Mary Love of Jefferson County delivered the welcome address, and Doug Doerrfeld of Elliott County discussed environmental impacts as part of a panel on The Case for Clean Energy Policies in Kentucky.

Click here to download presentations from the day.