The journal featured a discussion of carbon footprints which most green groups also tend to get wrong. In WSJ.com - Six Products, Six Carbon Footprints Ball starts with the wrong assumptions and then backs into the foretold conclusion.
1- That the fossil fuel economy can be adapted to a low carbon future.
2- that a style of green consumption can reduce carbon sufficient for 350ppm future.
Lead to the foretold conclusion that small incremental steps to correct global warming are unclear, insufficient,and risk carrying the stigma of greenwashing.
The library is filled with millions of dust collecting solutions to each aspect of the fossil fuel economy because the constitution sees nature as property and gives rights over it to the corporations that deliver consumable desires. Cap and trade is an example of the constitution selling rights to the biosphere which rent our lungs out for asthma and cancer.
Seeking to spread confusion from his wrong assumptions and conclusion Ball writes: So far, these efforts raise as many questions as they answer. Different companies are counting their products' carbon footprints differently, making it all but impossible for shoppers to compare goods. And even if consumers come to understand the numbers, they might not like what they find out.
Rather we need to be slower and smarter, meaning disengaged from consumerism as the primary avenue of experience. Get more from less- reuse existing streets to increase zero CO2 mobility. Ball instead is mired in the other paradigm.
Why slower? I can deliver a truck load, 1400 cubic feet, of fava beans from Half Moon Bay to Belmont every half hour. On a bicycle I can maybe deliver 20 cubic foot in eight hours- 30 if I pushed myself. But fossil fuels also mean I can build houses in Belmont and leave the agriculture to HMB and Chile. HMB meanwhile chafes under the property prices for agriculture versus growing homes and can't wait for the road to come through. The established solution to green house gases is to go slower allowing an economy to develop around the bicycle and horse and burro and walking and the golf cart.
The silver bullet of SB375 and electric trucks and hydrogen cars can still come on line later. We don't have the time to wait for the silver bullet to work and to get enacted and to deliver results. Species are going extinct now, oceans are collapsing, food riots are spreading. Hyping the silver bullet is just another way of saying lets do nothing. We need to get of the toxin of going faster with fossil fuels now.
Showing posts with label Belmont. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Belmont. Show all posts
Monday, October 6, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Say no to Smart Corridors
Agenda item 7B on the Belmont council agenda tonight is an MOU on behalf of moving traffic from 101 in the event of major crash. Smart Corridors is a symptom of a social problem- how we spend massive public resources- $10M in this case- making the roads appear safe so that traffic can move. In the process we permanently impair city government and forever postpone the promise to deliver on walkable neighborhoods and livable streets.
On Friday night a drunk driver ran into a stopped vehicle at the red light on El Camino at Harbor. The stopped vehicle was knocked 100' down the road. One fire truck from the Belmont/San Carlos fire department showed up along with four police cruisers- you know the costs involved. Two lanes were blocked by the cruisers and traffic was diverted through the left turn lane. The crash was cleared up, street swept, cars towed in two hours and you would never have known that a serious incident had occurred. AAA says crashes cost us $169B per year. 17% of crashes are due to drunk drivers, about the same percentage is caused by teenagers, and 19% result from speeding and aggressive driving.
Clearing the street helps move traffic, which means more opportunity to speed and increased volumes which results in the type of raised speed limits and conflicts with neighbors; and huge public expenditure to add more lanes and traffic lights to move more traffic, again over the objections of residents. More importantly clearing the street quickly means people are unaware of the dangers inherent in our corridors. I asked two residents of Redwood Shores their opinion of El Camino and if they would walk there. No they said the street was safe and clean, but they don't like it, and only go if they have to. I got the same reaction from two friends up at Hallmark.
Now as you know I live here and this Friday a crash happened in front of Rockets the new ice cream store on El Camino. I asked the owner- you've been here one month what is your crash scorecard. He said three crashes and one fatality. Just 100' to the north is our neighborhood bike shop, California Sports. A car has driven into the store three times in the last ten years, the most recent incident damaging the structural support of the building. California Sports has a large sign in the door that reads drive through closed. Two months ago a large tree with a five foot rootball was knocked over in the median in front of California Sports. The water pipes nearby had a large steel cage around it. Is was demolished and flattened. The pipes were fixed in a couple of hours. The landscaping was cleaned up in two weeks. Across from Rockets the new shopping center that was built after our house, where Sylvan and Dominos are housed, has had three trees knocked down and broken in the last three years. When I tell my friends in Redwood Shores and Hallmark these stories they say good god I never had an inclination that the street was so dangerous.
We should leave the crash there for a week with a large photo of the driver and say this public mess was caused by this drunk, this teen, this irresponsible person. Please drive carefully because our neighborhoods are fragile and we love our friends and family. We want sustainable schools and don't want to send our kids to Iraq because of failed public policies. Today the landscaper was replacing the tree that was demolished in front of the drive through bike shop. What's the point I wonder of this redone immaculately groomed median? To send a message that we are in control of the mess we have allowed the public space to evolve into?
In Belmont El Camino is two lanes with parking allowed in each direction. The shoulder lane has room for a moving car or bus, a bicycle, and parked cars. But in San Mateo these provisions go away. The street is three lanes with noticeably higher speeds, 30% higher, and the shoulder lane is not wide enough for a bus let alone shareable with a bicycle. Drivers will blow their horns and buzz cyclists sending a message that a fraction of a second on their commute is not worth the life of person not polluting the street or killing kids. This dangerous and rude behavior is a result of the expectation that arise from the infrastructure we have provided at the local level over the last 50 years. Its why a trucking company in Hayward does not need to upgrade its fleet with an safer diesel traps and brakes. This breakdown in civil society occurs because they don't see the child in the parking lot at Molly Stones who ends up as a disconnected statistic to their irresponsible actions.
Lets look at some other problems with the MOU submitted on behalf of moving cars from 101 after a crash to our neighborhood streets. One of the major problems with this MOU is the vision statement which reads from our General Plan/Vision Statement:
This Smart Corridor project will encompass the idea of Belmont’s “Ease of Mobility” vision
statement; “we put a priority on getting out of, into, and through town efficiently”
Notice where they have taken what we want to do in town and how we want to move around town and used it for a conflicting vision on how to get through or bypass the town.
And notice that the statement only applies to cars, not buses which are stuck in the resultant traffic, or bikes which lack room or connected bike lanes on the associated roadways. But consider the case of pedestrians-
Sunday traffic was backed up on the El Camino by a crash on 101 it backed up traffic on all the side streets. These drivers were now having to make right turns while watching traffic from the left and so not paying attention to crossing pedestrians since cars gridlock the crosswalks to get in under the light. Given the short phase of the walk signal I ended missing the walk cycle at Harbor when returning from the Farmer's Market and had to stay for another cycle because I was worried about the traffic turning from Harbor westbound to El Camino north bound. It makes getting to the train station, restaurants, and the farmers market unpleasant, noisy, smelly and dusty (resuspended dust is actually the cancer agents that no one- Air Quality District, Metropolitan Transportation Agency, ABAG know how to deal with) and dangerous.
The added mobility for cars means that drivers don't have to deal with the consequences of their bad decisions which are toasting the planet and making life difficult for residents of neighborhoods near the El Camino. Instead of helping us have a great neighborhood where we can access services while walking and our kids can play in our yards and cross the street we end up as a sewer for passing traffic where we have to worry about strangers with mobility and our kids. Drivers in turn learn bad habits, like how to use our streets, to bypass minor annoyances on the freeway.
There is related issue of pollution within the 500' school envelope for schools like Nesbit and Central. You cannot build a -NEW- school in CA within 500' of a highway because the pollution has been shown to permanently impair the lungs of children.
Finally the vision statement only sees Belmont as an impediment. The goal is to put a priority on getting through, not stay and visit or call it home. You'd think they were designing around South Central LA. Belmont becomes an accident of the road, a city displaced to make room for moving cars on the associated roadways, a roadside eye sore to dump pollution and display anti social behavior. Yesterday following a crash on 101 northbound cut through traffic from El Camino was running stop signs throughout the downtown. I called Belmont PD but an officer showed up for only 5 minutes and then left, not excusable, but understandable given the cost for us to provide PD with the needed resources.
What I told you so far only covers the public cost for incidents between Friday night and Sunday morning. Our public resource should instead be spent on a sustainable city government which can provide for safe walkable neighborhoods and and a healthy environment for our children to grow and play. Alternatives like the Alameda north of Ralston show that traffic does not have to destroy a neighborhood.
On Friday night a drunk driver ran into a stopped vehicle at the red light on El Camino at Harbor. The stopped vehicle was knocked 100' down the road. One fire truck from the Belmont/San Carlos fire department showed up along with four police cruisers- you know the costs involved. Two lanes were blocked by the cruisers and traffic was diverted through the left turn lane. The crash was cleared up, street swept, cars towed in two hours and you would never have known that a serious incident had occurred. AAA says crashes cost us $169B per year. 17% of crashes are due to drunk drivers, about the same percentage is caused by teenagers, and 19% result from speeding and aggressive driving.
Clearing the street helps move traffic, which means more opportunity to speed and increased volumes which results in the type of raised speed limits and conflicts with neighbors; and huge public expenditure to add more lanes and traffic lights to move more traffic, again over the objections of residents. More importantly clearing the street quickly means people are unaware of the dangers inherent in our corridors. I asked two residents of Redwood Shores their opinion of El Camino and if they would walk there. No they said the street was safe and clean, but they don't like it, and only go if they have to. I got the same reaction from two friends up at Hallmark.
Now as you know I live here and this Friday a crash happened in front of Rockets the new ice cream store on El Camino. I asked the owner- you've been here one month what is your crash scorecard. He said three crashes and one fatality. Just 100' to the north is our neighborhood bike shop, California Sports. A car has driven into the store three times in the last ten years, the most recent incident damaging the structural support of the building. California Sports has a large sign in the door that reads drive through closed. Two months ago a large tree with a five foot rootball was knocked over in the median in front of California Sports. The water pipes nearby had a large steel cage around it. Is was demolished and flattened. The pipes were fixed in a couple of hours. The landscaping was cleaned up in two weeks. Across from Rockets the new shopping center that was built after our house, where Sylvan and Dominos are housed, has had three trees knocked down and broken in the last three years. When I tell my friends in Redwood Shores and Hallmark these stories they say good god I never had an inclination that the street was so dangerous.
We should leave the crash there for a week with a large photo of the driver and say this public mess was caused by this drunk, this teen, this irresponsible person. Please drive carefully because our neighborhoods are fragile and we love our friends and family. We want sustainable schools and don't want to send our kids to Iraq because of failed public policies. Today the landscaper was replacing the tree that was demolished in front of the drive through bike shop. What's the point I wonder of this redone immaculately groomed median? To send a message that we are in control of the mess we have allowed the public space to evolve into?
In Belmont El Camino is two lanes with parking allowed in each direction. The shoulder lane has room for a moving car or bus, a bicycle, and parked cars. But in San Mateo these provisions go away. The street is three lanes with noticeably higher speeds, 30% higher, and the shoulder lane is not wide enough for a bus let alone shareable with a bicycle. Drivers will blow their horns and buzz cyclists sending a message that a fraction of a second on their commute is not worth the life of person not polluting the street or killing kids. This dangerous and rude behavior is a result of the expectation that arise from the infrastructure we have provided at the local level over the last 50 years. Its why a trucking company in Hayward does not need to upgrade its fleet with an safer diesel traps and brakes. This breakdown in civil society occurs because they don't see the child in the parking lot at Molly Stones who ends up as a disconnected statistic to their irresponsible actions.
Lets look at some other problems with the MOU submitted on behalf of moving cars from 101 after a crash to our neighborhood streets. One of the major problems with this MOU is the vision statement which reads from our General Plan/Vision Statement:
This Smart Corridor project will encompass the idea of Belmont’s “Ease of Mobility” vision
statement; “we put a priority on getting out of, into, and through town efficiently”
Notice where they have taken what we want to do in town and how we want to move around town and used it for a conflicting vision on how to get through or bypass the town.
And notice that the statement only applies to cars, not buses which are stuck in the resultant traffic, or bikes which lack room or connected bike lanes on the associated roadways. But consider the case of pedestrians-
Sunday traffic was backed up on the El Camino by a crash on 101 it backed up traffic on all the side streets. These drivers were now having to make right turns while watching traffic from the left and so not paying attention to crossing pedestrians since cars gridlock the crosswalks to get in under the light. Given the short phase of the walk signal I ended missing the walk cycle at Harbor when returning from the Farmer's Market and had to stay for another cycle because I was worried about the traffic turning from Harbor westbound to El Camino north bound. It makes getting to the train station, restaurants, and the farmers market unpleasant, noisy, smelly and dusty (resuspended dust is actually the cancer agents that no one- Air Quality District, Metropolitan Transportation Agency, ABAG know how to deal with) and dangerous.
The added mobility for cars means that drivers don't have to deal with the consequences of their bad decisions which are toasting the planet and making life difficult for residents of neighborhoods near the El Camino. Instead of helping us have a great neighborhood where we can access services while walking and our kids can play in our yards and cross the street we end up as a sewer for passing traffic where we have to worry about strangers with mobility and our kids. Drivers in turn learn bad habits, like how to use our streets, to bypass minor annoyances on the freeway.
There is related issue of pollution within the 500' school envelope for schools like Nesbit and Central. You cannot build a -NEW- school in CA within 500' of a highway because the pollution has been shown to permanently impair the lungs of children.
Finally the vision statement only sees Belmont as an impediment. The goal is to put a priority on getting through, not stay and visit or call it home. You'd think they were designing around South Central LA. Belmont becomes an accident of the road, a city displaced to make room for moving cars on the associated roadways, a roadside eye sore to dump pollution and display anti social behavior. Yesterday following a crash on 101 northbound cut through traffic from El Camino was running stop signs throughout the downtown. I called Belmont PD but an officer showed up for only 5 minutes and then left, not excusable, but understandable given the cost for us to provide PD with the needed resources.
What I told you so far only covers the public cost for incidents between Friday night and Sunday morning. Our public resource should instead be spent on a sustainable city government which can provide for safe walkable neighborhoods and and a healthy environment for our children to grow and play. Alternatives like the Alameda north of Ralston show that traffic does not have to destroy a neighborhood.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Electrifiy Caltrain on Solar PV
I live a block from the Caltrain line in overcast Belmont. From solar PV I average 3.2 MW per year from 20 panels which equal 250 sq feet and generate 15% surplus power per year. However I face southeast. Similar sized south facing and southwest facing installations generate 4-5MW per year. 4MW is what one electric Caltrain needs per day. That would translate to square footage of panels equal to 250x365 sq ft= 92,250 or round it up to 100,000 sq feet which an area 100'by 1,000' ft. Most station areas are a mile in length which would be five this amount or 20MW per day. If the station area solarized was 200 feet wide then only ten stations would need to be solarized for the entire train at 40MW per day from 40,000 panels.
From the EIR/EIS the accurate power requirements to operate a 100 train per day Caltrain system is approx. 300 MWh PER DAY. A full build out scenario of more trains per day would require 400 MWh per day. That would imply 20 stations areas covered in solar panels. Or some equivalent length of track could be solarized. Given the sunny location of most trains this facilities are more likely to produce about 40% more power. This can be used to provide hybrid and golf cart charging stations at the park and ride and to power homes such as the San Carlos Transit Village with 370 rental units.
Sierra Nevada Beer put in a nice shaded solar parking lot.
http://www.gizmag.com/solar-powered-beer-sierra-nevada/8671/
From the EIR/EIS the accurate power requirements to operate a 100 train per day Caltrain system is approx. 300 MWh PER DAY. A full build out scenario of more trains per day would require 400 MWh per day. That would imply 20 stations areas covered in solar panels. Or some equivalent length of track could be solarized. Given the sunny location of most trains this facilities are more likely to produce about 40% more power. This can be used to provide hybrid and golf cart charging stations at the park and ride and to power homes such as the San Carlos Transit Village with 370 rental units.
Sierra Nevada Beer put in a nice shaded solar parking lot.
http://www.gizmag.com/solar-powered-beer-sierra-nevada/8671/
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