Leasing Sun Power in Los Angeles

David Olds and Sarah Auerswald both live in the Mar Vista district on the west side of Los Angeles, an economically diverse neighborhood of apartment buildings and single-family homes.

Both recently installed solar arrays on their houses thanks to an innovative leasing arrangement with Open Neighborhoods, an organization from nearby Culver City that has developed what it calls "L.A.'s most affordable rooftop solar program."

Open Neighborhoods did extensive outreach in Mar Vista over the last couple of years and built a strong neighborhood presence by creating a community social networking site and a wireless grid that is free of charge for residents who sign onto their solar lease program.

"I'd wanted solar for awhile," says Auerswald, "but it was a stretch to purchase and install my own system. It was through the Mar Vista wireless social network that I learned about the option of leasing."

Open Neighborhoods partners with SolarCity, a solar provider that installs and maintains the panels. In return for residents leasing their solar arrays, SolarCity gets the energy-efficiency rebates from the state. Between 30 and 40 homes in Mar Vista were involved in the initial solar effort.

Auerswald had her solar panels, below, installed about two years ago. "It cost us zero dollars—no installation or construction fees, and no fee to the solar company. I see no downside to leasing. I pay about the same electric costs as before, and I'll pay the same amount for the 20 years of the lease, so I'll see a big net savings over the long haul."

But the best thing, she says, is that the household is energy net neutral. "We produce as much energy as we consume. Energy goes into the grid during the day, and then we take back from the grid at night."

Olds had SolarCity install his panels just over a year ago. "The experience has been great," he says. "I would have switched to renewable energy anyway, but the leasing arrangement made it easy. SolarCity came out, put the system in and tested it, and then the L.A. Department of Water & Power came out and flipped the switch."
 
It was Open Neighborhoods building the wireless network that got people into the solar initiative, Olds says. "SolarCity helped fund some of the infrastructure for the wireless network if people signed on to the solar lease program, and now more and more people are going solar—half a dozen houses in the immediate vicinity."

Open Neighborhoods' plan is that residents will be able to generate enough electricity to offset the cost of leasing the panels.

"If you produce more, you save money, which I think most people do," Olds says. "My electric bill is $100 less than it was before, and my lease fee isn't $100. And now the leasing program gives back to the neighborhood by funding the wireless grid. If you can lease it, it's the way to go. It's a win-win."

Overwhelming Public Support for New Clean Car Standards

At a series of EPA clean car hearings held in late January in Detroit, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, more than 500 citizens turned out to testify in support of stronger fuel economy standards proposed by the Obama administration.

Under the new EPA and National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration standards, new cars would average 54.5 miles-per-gallon by 2025 and emit 35 percent less carbon pollution than 2016 models.

That's Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune, above at a lunchtime rally during the San Francisco hearing, and testifying, below.

"Every day we send nearly $1 billion overseas for foreign oil, wasting money that should be fueling American innovation and investment in growing industries like clean energy," Brune said in his testimony. "President Obama's proposal to double the efficiency of America's cars and light trucks is the biggest single step we've ever taken to move America beyond oil."

Listen to Brune's testimony here.

Sierra Club activists were key in turning out citizens to testify at all three hearings, and Club activists wrote op-eds in local newspapers in all three cities and held press events prior to each hearing. Citizens who couldn't attend a hearing but still want to speak up in support of clean cars can submit comments to the EPA by February 15.

Nebraska Teen Speaks Out Against Tar Sands Pipeline

Last September a 14-year high school freshman stood up in a packed arena in the shadow of the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln and testified at a U.S. State Department hearing on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would carry crude tar sands oil through Nebraska en route from Canada to refineries on Texas' Gulf Coast.

"My name is Helen Winston, I'm 14 years old, and I'm from Omaha, Nebraska," the young woman began. "I do not stand before you as some brainwashed hippie child. I stand before you as a free-thinking young adult. I stand before you as a representative of the hundreds of outraged young people who could not make it here today.

"I'm here representing not just the youth of Nebraska, but the future of America," she continued, her words nearly drowned out by applause. "We don't see a future with the pipeline. We don't see a future of an America still reliant upon filthy oil. We don't see a future where farmers are bullied for their lands while the government just stands and watches. We don't see an America that is still dependent on oil in our future."

Click here, or on the image above, to hear Helen's testimony.

12,000 Surround White House to Protest Tar Sands Pipeline

On Sunday, November 6—one year to the day from the 2012 presidential election—an estimated 12,000 citizens rallied in Washington, D.C., calling on President Obama to reject the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. The 1,700-mile pipeline, a project of the TransCanada Corporation, would carry tar sands crude oil south from Alberta through six states to refineries on the Gulf Coast.

The Sierra Club, one of the main movers-and-shakers behind Sunday's demonstration, originally envisioned that 5,000 people would form a human chain around the White House. But well over twice that many people turned out, surrounding the presidential residence three-deep, encircling the equivalent of eight city blocks.

"We're going to work to make sure that Americans across the country have a voice, and that the president will stand up with us," Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune, above at microphone, told the crowd at adjacent Lafayette Square after the encircle-the-White House event.

Sierra Student Coalition Promotes Clean Energy With EPA, White House

Thirty Sierra Student Coalition (SSC) leaders convened in Washington, D.C., last week for meetings with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson at Howard University, and with White House Liaison to Young Americans Ronnie Cho.

That's Jackson, above in blue dress, with the SSC delegation; below, Cho addresses students' concerns in their meeting at the White House.

The meetings capped off 100 Actions for 100% Clean Energy, a coordinated series of more than 100 actions on campuses pushing to move universities beyond coal to 100 percent clean energy solutions. 

At the morning event, Mary Anne Hitt, director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign, joined students from Howard, the University of Kentucky, Indiana University, the University of Georgia, the University of Louisiana, and St. Edwards College in Texas. That's Hitt, below at left with Administrator Jackson and SSC National Director Quentin James.

All the students shared stories of their communities and campaigns and asked Jackson what the EPA is doing about mercury pollution, the role of young people in moving the nation toward clean energy, and the EPA's support for the health of communities that would be affected by the Keystone XL pipeline. 

Public to President: Just Say No to Keystone XL

President Obama held a fundraiser in San Francisco on October 25, and more than 1,000 of his supporters showed up—not inside the swanky W Hotel, where some 200 donors convened for lunch—but outside on the streets to protest the Keystone XL Pipeline, a proposed $13 billion, 1,700-mile conduit that would carry tar sands from Alberta to refineries on Texas' Gulf Coast.

As protesters massed on the sidewalks, audio clips from Obama's 2008 campaign, promising to end America's dependence on oil, played over loudspeakers. That's a cutout of the prez, below, with one of those campaign statements.

"There's a sense of, 'Look, you haven't given us a whole lot during this administration. It's time to give us something significant, and this is it,' " Michael Marx, director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Oil Campaign, told the San Francisco Chronicle. "'If you don't give it to us, it's such a sign that you've betrayed your promises to us.'"

The Sierra Club is part of an action in Washinton, D.C., on Sunday, November 6—exactly one year from Election Day 2012—to rally thousands of citizens and encircle the White House for the largest-ever protest against the Keystone XL Pipeline.

Vermont Sierra Club, BlueGreen Alliance Promote Green Energy and Green Jobs

Under the banner of the BlueGreen Alliance, on October 17 the Vermont Sierra Club joined the Vermont AFL-CIO, the Vermont Building Trades Council, Vermont Iron Workers Local 7, and 350 Vermont in hand-delivering a letter to Liz Miller, the state Commissioner of Public Service.

"Vermont's leading voices for working families and the environment are united and speak with one voice when it comes to renewable in-state energy production," declares the letter, which was signed by Vermont Chapter Chair Zak Griefen and Energy Committee Chair Steve Crowley on behalf of the Sierra Club.

That's Griefen, below at far left, with Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin and Vermont Chapter Vice Chair David Ellenbogen at a climate rally in the state capital of Montpelier this September; Crowley is pictured at right.

The Oct. 17 manifesto, entitled "Green Energy and Good Jobs for Vermonters," asserts that environmental and economic issues related to new energy development cannot be separated.

"Creating green energy without also supporting a strong local economy, or aggressively seeking job creation without addressing basic environmental issue undermines the future on which our Green Mountain State is predicated," reads the declaration, addressed to the Governor and the People of Vermont. "As Vermonters, as the leaders or organized labor, as environmentalists, we do not and cannot accept a disjunction between these two foundational beliefs. In brief, we need green energy, and we need good green jobs!"

The delegation also met with Alexandra MacLean, Secretary of Civil and Military Affairs. That's Vermont AFL-CIO President Ben Johnson, Public Service Commissioner Miller, Secretary MacLean, Vermont Sierra Club organizer David Van Deusen, and Becky Jones of 350Vermont, pictured atop this post. The meeting took place at the capitol.

"The meeting was very productive and was a very strong step toward meeting our green energy and green jobs goals," says Van Deusen. "Secretary MacLean offered to arrange a follow-up meeting with Governor Shumlin, and a good line of communication was established."

Read "Green Energy and Good Jobs for Vermonters," and learn more about what the Sierra Club is doing to promote clean energy and green jobs.

National Plug-In Day an Electrifying Success

The weekend of October 15-16 was National Plug-in Day, a nationwide observance sponsored by Plug-in America, the Sierra Club, and the Electric Auto Association. Plug-in vehicles of all kinds got the spotlight at more than 25 events across the country. That's the New Hampshire Plug-in Day in the state capital of Concord, above and below.

The flagship event was held in Los Angeles, where speakers included California State Senator Fran Pavley, sponsor of a 2002 bill requiring 30 percent reductions in new auto emissions by 2016. The "Pavley Bill" was adopted by the California Air Resources Board and later adopted by 11 other states.

That's Pavley, above, speaking at the Los Angeles event. Also speaking was Chris Paine, below, director of the films Who Killed the Electric Car? and Revenge of the Electric Car.

Philadelphia Sierrans Protest Passage of Bill to Weaken EPA

On September 27, activists with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Sierra Club rallied outside Senator Bob Casey's office in downtown Philadelphia to protest passage of the TRAIN Act by the U.S. House of Representatives.

Introduced by Rep. John Sullivan (R-OK), the Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation (TRAIN) Act would undermine the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to curb air pollution and protect public health.

"Our representatives voted in favor of this bill and against protecting our families from dangerous and deadly pollution," Sierra Club organizer William Kramer, below, said at the rally. "We need to tell our Congressmen that American families want clean air and water that is safe to drink."

The Sierra Club and other environmental and health advocacy groups immediately warned that the TRAIN Act will undermine four decades of public health victories thanks to the EPA and landmark protections like the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act.

Club Galvanizes Opposition to Tar Sands Pipeline in Lone Star State

 

The State Department held hearings on the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline in Austin and Port Arthur, Texas, the last week of September, and Sierra Club activists made their voices heard at both. Above, volunteers at the Austin hearing.

The Keystone XL Pipeline, proposed by TransCanada Corporation, would transport synthetic crude oil from the Athabasca tar sands in Alberta to refineries on the Gulf Coast of Texas. The project has met with lawsuits and intense opposition from citizens and a broad range of environmental and public interest groups.

The 1,700-mile pipeline would cross the Ogallala Aquifer, which supplies groundwater to eight states, including Texas. The Sierra Club has been working on the tar sands campaign in Texas for over a year, and used last week's hearings to shine a spotlight on the issue and mobilize grassroots opposition from around the state.

Port Arthur has stagnated economically for decades, and more than 25 percent of the mostly minority population lives below the poverty line. But the city, already beset with high rates of cancer and asthma due to toxic air pollution from heavy industry, is home to a large portion of U.S. oil refining capacity, and has recently been gearing up with major refinery and petrochemical plant expansions.

Above, anti-pipeline volunteers in Port Arthur. Below, environmental activist and 2011 Goldman Prize winner Hilton Kelly surveys the scene from his neighborhood in West Port Arthur. For the last decade, Kelly has worked to educate and empower community residents and reduce emissions from the eight petrochemical plants and hazardous waste plants in the area.

Photo by Matthew Turley

"We held our own at the Port Arthur hearing, despite TransCanada supporters being bused in from out of state," says Austin-based Sierra Club organizer Ian Davis, "and we outnumbered the opposition at the Austin hearing."