EREN Network News

December 22, 1999

News and Events

• Honda Hybrid Gas-Electric Car Now Available
• DOE, FEMA to Promote Renewables, Efficiency for Disasters
• Army Corps Releases Report on Snake River Dam Removal
• Dam Removals Occurring Throughout the United States
• Rhode Island to Receive $685,000 Weatherization Grant

Site News

• Climate Protection Solutions

• 1999 is Second-Warmest Year on Record

About this Newsletter

News and Events

Honda Hybrid Gas-Electric Car Now Available
Honda announced recently that its hybrid gasoline-electric car, the Insight, is now rolling off the production line and started arriving at West Coast dealerships last week. However, dealers are reporting that the company is producing limited numbers of the vehicles, and the cars now arriving at dealerships have already been sold. With that in mind, the best place to check out the car in the near term (without buying one) is on the Web. See information about the Insight, including the recent press release, on the Honda Web site.

DOE, FEMA to Promote Renewables, Efficiency for Disasters
Energy-efficient homes and those using renewable energy are likely to weather a natural disaster better than others, thanks to their ability to stay warm longer and to draw on alternative energy sources for power and heat. Recognizing this advantage, DOE and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have agreed to pool their resources to promote these technologies in disaster-prone areas of the United States. The pilot project announced last week will initially focus on two high-risk communities: Wilmington, North Carolina, which is still recovering from devastating floods following Hurricane Floyd, and Oakland, California, which has a high risk of damage from earthquakes. For more information, see the DOE press release.

Army Corps Releases Report on Snake River Dam Removal
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has released its draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) about options for improving salmon migration in the Snake River in Washington State. The report examines several options, including an option to remove the four lower Snake River dams. The dams have a peak capacity of 3033 megawatts, generating 5 percent of the electricity produced in the Pacific Northwest. The report does not recommend any one alternative, but instead examines the benefits and drawbacks to each alternative. However, as part of the draft EIS package, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is releasing a report with the preliminary recommendation that removing the dams would provide the greatest benefit for fish and wildlife.

To help resolve the issue, a series of public meetings will be held through March 2000. A Federal Caucus of nine federal agencies is working to find the best approach to salmon recovery. For more information, including links to the draft EIS, see the Federal Caucus Web site.

Dam Removals Occurring Throughout the United States
The consideration of dam removal in the Snake River follows several recent announcements of dam removals, including the planned removal of five diversion dams in California's Battle Creek. Those dam removals will reduce flow through the 37.9-megawatt hydropower facilities on Battle Creek, causing a 25 percent drop in power production. See the Department of Interior press release.

The Arizona Public Service company (APS) also recently agreed to remove a diversion dam on Fossil Creek in central Arizona. The dam currently diverts more than 95 percent of the water from Fossil Creek through a 4.2-megawatt hydropower facility, which will be shut down. For more information, see the APS press release.

American Rivers, a non-profit organization, has released a report examining the benefits of dam removal, including 25 "success stories" of dam removal. However, the organization notes that removal is not appropriate for most of the 75,000 U.S. dams. For more information, see the American River's press release.

The National Hydropower Association (NHA), a non-profit association, noted that the benefits of hydropower must be kept in mind when considering dam removal. Hydropower produces 11 percent of the nation's electricity. For more information, see the NHA press release.

To help address the environmental issues associated with hydropower, a non-profit organization called the Low-Impact Hydropower Institute has been formed to certify those hydropower facilities that meet certain environmental criteria. See the Institute's Web site.

DOE, Chemical Industry Invest $25 Million in Energy Efficiency
DOE announced last week that it would pool resources with the U.S. chemical industry to pursue energy efficiency projects totaling $25 million over the next three years. DOE will contribute more than $10 million toward the eight projects, which relate to such high-priority topics as materials of construction, separations, catalysis and computational chemistry. For more information, see the DOE press release.

Rhode Island to Receive $685,000 Weatherization Grant
Homes that waste energy also waste money for the occupants. Yet low-income Americans usually don't have the resources to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. To solve that problem, DOE's Weatherization Assistance Program offers home energy audits and energy efficiency improvements for qualified low-income families, especially households with children, elderly, and disabled people. Last week, DOE announced a grant of $685,000 to weatherize homes in Rhode Island next year. The grant is just one example of the benefits provided by the program, which has weatherized 4.7 million homes since 1976. For more information, see the DOE press release.

See also the Weatherization Assistance Program page on the EREN Web site.

Site News

Climate Protection Solutions
Produced by The Pembina Institute, an environmental education and policy organization based in Alberta, Canada, this site's mission is to help individuals and groups find ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The first completed sector focuses on the actions and choices individuals and families can make in their homes and in their transportation. It includes opportunity areas for the individual to make a difference, success stories, and interactive tools and resources. Future sectors will focus on municipalities and industry, public institutions, agriculture, and commercial entities.

For this and other recent additions see the EREN Web site.

Energy Facts and Tips

Electric Rates Took a Big Drop in 1998
1999 is Second-Warmest Year on Record
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) projected last week that 1999 will be the second- warmest year on record, surpassed only by 1998. NOAA says that the La Nina phenomenon moderated the 1998 temperatures by lowering ocean temperatures. According to NOAA, the data confirm that global temperatures have been rising during the 20th century. Since about 1976, global temperatures have increased at a rate of 0.2 degrees Centigrade per decade, comparable to the rates of warming projected by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In 1995, the IPCC concluded that human activities, including the release of greenhouse gases from energy use, were having a discernable effect on the global climate. For more information, see the NOAA press release.

About this Newsletter

To subscribe to this newsletter, please go to the Web page http://www.eren.doe.gov/newsletter/subscribe/.

The Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network (EREN) home page is located at http://www.eren.doe.gov/.

Please contact webmaster_eere@nrel.gov if you have questions or comments about the EREN Web site.

If you have questions or comments about this newsletter, please contact the editor.