One of my resolutions for 2020 is to finish transitioning our household light fixtures to light-emitting diode (LED) light bulbs. Honestly, I thought this was something my family had already done. However, when a light bulb over my bathroom sink recently went out, and I had to change it, I noticed that it was a compact fluorescent (CFL) bulb. Then, I looked around and found that we still have a good mix of CFL, incandescent, and halogen light bulbs in the house.
 
Why go to the trouble and expense of switching to LEDs? According to the Consumer Energy Alliance, LED bulbs produce light up to 90% more efficiently than incandescent light bulbs and 80% more efficiently than CFLs. Since my family is trying to reduce energy use, this sounds good. 
 

By Maurice Carter, Sustainable Newton President

As the video shows, consumer product manufacturers have long played a complicit role in causing and exacerbating current woes.  It's a perfect example of what Systems Thinking practitioners refer to as a "Shifting the Burden" scenario.

If you're reading this, climate change is probably already on your mind.  And, if your experience is like mine, chances are good you've had difficulty discussing it with some folks.   Our current climate crisis has been an unwelcome topic in some circles.

Moving past resistance to honest dialog is what tomorrow night's "24 Hours of Reality - Truth in Action"  event is all about.  But, thankfully, the tide is already turning.  I hear it in conversations, and we see it in the very positive response to our Sustainable Newton message. 

But, I was still pleasantly surprised by a report published this week by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication declaring:  "Georgia voters broadly support policies to address climate impacts and expand renewable energy in the state, and they want their elected officials to support those policies as well."

By Maurice Carter, Sustainable Newton President

Sustainable Newton is proud to do our part.  We're also a bit apprehensive.  Thursday at 6 pm is also the annual Lighting of Downtown Covington event on the square.  It's unfortunate timing, but as they say, it is what it is.  This being a global  event tied to a fixed window of time, we had limited scheduling options.  And, when we realized the conflict a couple of weeks ago, it was impossible to shift to a different time on Thursday, with newspaper articles, event posts, and flyers already in circulation.

Here's a little good news to share...  I recently had an arborist come out to our  home in Oxford to check on our sickly elm tree to see if it could be saved.  Thankfully, it can be. 

But, that’s only part of the good news.  When the arborist finished diagnosing the elm, he walked around to our large front yard and mentioned the space “would be perfect for some trees.”  He volunteered that Emory University had not been able to meet its goals for no net loss of trees on property owned by the university.  And, as a result, Emory was looking for nearby property owners interested in having trees planted on their property for free.

I attended last week’s Georgia Climate Conference as a Sustainable Newton board member and concerned citizen who has read what scientists from 13 federal government agencies predict for our region in the Fourth National Climate Assessment. As a parent and someone who cares about my fellow community members, I am deeply concerned about what will happen if we fail to take action.
 
I came away from the two-day conference reassured that despite knowing Georgia is poised to experience every extreme climate event there is, including intense heat, drought, inland flooding, sea level rise, and wildfire, our state has the potential to be a leader in the fight to avoid the worst effects of climate change. Below, I’ve highlighted a handful of projects that demonstrate why.

By Maurice Carter, Sustainable Newton President

Full disclosure:  I'm going to ask for money.  So, I owe an explanation of why you should give to Sustainable Newton.  But, if you're in a hurry or already convinced, just visit our Giving page.  Or look for more information on how to contribute, become a member, etc. on our Connect page.

For those still reading, I've got good news and bad news.  But, we can do something about the bad, which is why we need your help.

The good:  Every day, more Americans agree climate change is happening, that it's caused at least partly by human behavior, and we need to do something about it.  This is true even in Newton County, where the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication published the following findings about climate attitudes:

Well, this was going to be a final post to wrap up our Solarize Newton-Morgan campaign and tell you all the wonderful things we accomplished with some great local and statewide partners.  More on that further down in this post, but first the really big news: 

Last week, we reported potential good news in Covington, and now it's official.  The Covington City Council voted Monday night to reduce the city’s standby capacity fee for customers with residential solar!!!!  This addresses a substantial roadblock discouraging many Covington residents who wanted to install solar during our campaign.  So, the Solarize Newton-Morgan Campaign is open again for business in Covington.  Residential customers have until the end of November to request a free solar evaluation of their property, with signed contracts due by the end of December.   To sign up or to learn more, visit the campaign website.

This gives customers who purchase their power through the City of Covington the chance to take advantage of bulk purchasing prices for solar and the federal tax credit for 2020. Thanks so much to Mayor Johnston and the City Council for supporting clean, renewable energy options for our community!

Now, about this past year…

By Theodosia Wade, Sustainable Newton Vice President

I am so proud of our community!  Monday night’s meeting of the Covington City Council was a great example of how government should work for and with the people.  Because Mayor Ronnie Johnston and the city council pursued independent ethylene oxide (EtO) air testing in our community, we could get facts without relying on self-reported data from Becton Dickinson (BD).  The test results came back showing EtO levels much higher than that deemed safe by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  So, once again, the mayor and council stepped up and made the difficult decision to ask BD to temporarily cease operations.

When Sustainable Newton partnered with other organizations to launch the Solarize Newton Morgan campaign in the fall of 2018, we were excited to have so many neighbors request a free, no-risk solar evaluation for their property.  By the end of the sign-up period, we had registered 229 property owners interested in considering rooftop or ground-mounted solar.

But, as we worked with our partners Solar CrowdSource and Alternative Energy Southeast (AES) to evaluate each property, we quickly realized we had a problem.  In areas served by utilities like Georgia Power, Snapping Shoals EMC, and Central Georgia EMC, the business case for distributed solar was clear.  Property owners willing to make the upfront investment realized they could save tens of thousands of dollars over the 30-year life of their solar system, usually realizing payback on the investment in eight to ten years.

But, homes and businesses served by municipal electric companies in Covington, Mansfield, and Oxford learned they faced substantial fees on customers with a distributed electric generation capability (solar, wind, hydro, etc.).  These cities purchase power from the Municipal Electric Association of Georgia (MEAG), and MEAG had encouraged its member cities to implement a "standby capacity fee" for distributed generation (DG).  The fee, typically based on the size of the solar system, is designed to collect additional revenue to offset lower power bills presented to solar customers consuming less electricity.  Ostensibly meant to allow these utilities to recover fixed costs to maintain the power grid, the true effect of the fee is to stifle solar adoption in these service areas, by totally destroying the business case and return on investment.