Solutions to Climate Change: Buildings Mary Wildfire page 5-6
Distinguished Speaker Series: Doug Tallamy: The Nature of Oaks Saturday, November 4 at 3PM ET Register for this online event here. page 2
Notes from FACT Treasurer Ron Prosek page 8-9
October 2023 Newsletter
Fact: Faith communities together for a sustainable future
Blue Hydrogen Hubs Selected Half of the Hubs Rely on Fossil Fuels and Fracked Gas Dr. Randi Pokladnik, Environmental Science page 3-4
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UUCC Forums: Make Your Home More Comfortable, Eco-Friendly, and Affordable Marlene Blatnik Freeze page 7
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Register for this online event here.
Oaks sustain a complex and fascinating web of wildlife. The Nature of Oaks reveals what is going on in oak trees month by month, highlighting the seasonal cycles of life, death, and renewal. From woodpeckers who collect and store hundreds of acorns for food to the beauty of jewel caterpillars, Tallamy illuminates and celebrates the wonders that occur right in our own backyards. He also shares practical advice about how to plant and care for an oak, along with information about the best oak species for your area. The Nature of Oaks will inspire you to treasure these trees and to act to nurture and protect them.
Distinguished Speaker Series Saturday, November 4 at 3PM ET Register for this online event here. Doug Tallamy "The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of our Most Essential Native Trees" by Doug Tallamy University of Delaware, Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology TA Baker Professor of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Blue Hydrogen Hubs Selected Half of the Hubs Rely on Fossil Fuels and Fracked Gas Dr. Randi Pokladnik, Environmental Science Last week, Biden’s Department of Energy announced their site selections for 7 hydrogen hubs: the Mid-Atlantic Hydrogen Hub, Appalachian Hydrogen Hub, California Hydrogen Hub, Gulf Coast Hydrogen Hub, Heartland Hydrogen Hub, Midwest Hydrogen Hub and Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub. Only two will produce “clean hydrogen” generated with renewable energy. The two sites that will use green energy sources are California and the Pacific Northwest. The California hub will use renewable energy and biomass to produce hydrogen, while the Pacific Northwest hub will use hydropower to generate hydrogen. Four of the seven hubs will rely on steam methane reforming (SMF) to create hydrogen. This means the very potent greenhouse gas - methane - will be required and more fracking will be needed to obtain the methane. “This is worse than expected,” Clean Energy Group President Seth Mullendore said after the recipients were announced Friday. “The fact that more than half the hubs will be using fossil gas is outrageous.” A red flag for the project is the inclusion of oil and gas companies as partners in the projects. “The massive build out of hydrogen infrastructure is little more than an industry ploy to rebrand fracked gas,” said Food & Water Watch Policy Director Jim Walsh in a statement Friday. “In a moment when every political decision that we make must reject fossil expansion, the Biden administration is going in the opposite direction.” The selection of Appalachia as the site for one hub, the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub or ARCH2, necessitates more fracking in our region and makes it even more important that we prevent fracking in our precious state parks. “There are four main sources for the commercial production of hydrogen: natural gas, oil, coal, and electrolysis of water; which account for 48%, 30%, 18% and 4% of the world's hydrogen production respectively.” Fossil fuels are the dominant source of industrial hydrogen. The cheapest way to produce hydrogen and the one that is used the most is called Steam Methane Reforming (SMR). Steam Methane Reforming produces hydrogen from natural gas and water. Nearly 50% of the world's hydrogen is produced this way. When SMR is coupled with carbon capture technology, it is referred to as blue hydrogen. The problem with blue hydrogen emissions is two-fold. The first problem is that fracking is used to obtain methane, creating more fugitive emissions of this potent greenhouse gas. The second problem is that fossil fuel energy is used to fuel carbon capture facilities, resulting in even more carbon dioxide emissions. After a life-cycle analysis, the emissions from blue hydrogen end up being greater than emissions resulting from just burning the methane for fuel. Is blue hydrogen worthy of the label “clean hydrogen”? A study published in Energy and Science Engineering said, “the carbon footprint to create blue hydrogen is more than 20% greater than using either natural gas or coal directly for heat, or about 60% greater than using diesel oil for heat.” A key component of “blue hydrogen” is the use of carbon capturing techniques to remove the carbon dioxide generated during the process. Fossil fuel facilities capturing CO2 get tax rebates for every ton of carbon captured. In 2018, the 45Q federal tax credit passed under the Bipartisan Budget Act allowed $45 dollars per ton for carbon captured gasses used for Enhanced Oil Recovery. Using this process, companies get paid for their emissions and then use that carbon dioxide to extract more fossil fuels. It is a win-win for fossil fuel conglomerates, but a huge loss for our climate. Studies point to environmental issues resulting from injected carbon dioxide combining with our groundwater and forming carbonic acid. Even worse is the need for endless pipelines to carry the captured carbon to areas of EOR. In 2019, a carbon dioxide pipeline rupture in Satartia, Mississippi resulted in 45 people being hospitalized. Currently, nearly 80 percent of captured carbon dioxide is used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The gas is pumped into the ground to force oil out. Enhanced Oil Recovery is basically another way for fossil fuels to be subsidized. Of the two-dozen current carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in the USA, not one has proven to be successful. One of the largest projects was the Petra Nova coal plant in Texas, once the poster child for CO2 removal. “But the plant consistently underperformed, before it finally closed for good in 2020.” Those $925 million federal dollars being appropriated for the hub could instead be used to support energy efficiency, real renewable energy, and local jobs. Once again, Ohio’s Appalachian communities are becoming a mineral colony for the fossil fuel industry. Hub supporters say that the projects will create 3000 full-time jobs, but the citizens of the fracked counties of Appalachia Ohio know jobs promised are not jobs realized. Fracking did not bring economic prosperity to local communities. “Hydrogen is another bait and switch from an administration that continues to break its promises to aggressively tackle climate change and help communities achieve a just, equitable transition to renewable energy,” said Soni Grant of the Center for Biological Diversity. The Appalachian hub, ARCH2, has EQT Energy, the nation’s largest gas producer as one of its partners. The reason our region was chosen for this hub becomes obvious: Utica and Marcellus Shale gas. Appalachia Ohio, especially the counties of Harrison, Jefferson, Monroe, Noble, Guernsey, and Carroll, sit above deposits of Utica and Marcellus shale. Unfortunately, the state lands nominated for leases are also located in these areas. A satellite image of the region is rather shocking as it shows the ridiculous number of fracking pads, areas of 10 to 30 acres, that currently exist in these counties. Harrison county, where I live, currently has according to Shale XP over 160 well pads. These pads, including associated pipelines, tanks, compressors, access roads, injection wells, stream withdrawal stations, as well as the endless water trucks, brine trucks, sand trucks, chemical trucks, and construction vehicles are located near churches, cemeteries, small towns, farms, retirement homes, streams, lakes, and schools. Is this what we want for our state lands? While local, state, and federal politicians, as well as the oil and gas industry, push the ARCH2 projects forward, we in the region realize that what it brings; more forests cut apart by pipelines, more habitat eaten up by frack pads, more water withdraws, more air pollution, and more injection wells injecting billions of gallons of toxic radioactive wastes in our communities. Ohioans are facing the reality that our state has been captured by this industry. We cannot depend on our politicians to consider the future of our region, our state, or even the planet. Although climate change has been estimated to cost as much as $23 trillion in reduced annual global economic output worldwide, it is not on Ohio politicians’ list of concerns. Ohio Citizens must take on this fight to educate and push back against those who consider us a sacrificial region.
False Solutions to Climate Change: Buildings Mary Wildfire This is Part 4 of Mary Wildfire’s series on false solutions to climate change Mary Wildfire lives on the Hickory Ridge Land Trust in West Virginia with her husband Don. She endeavors to grow more and more of their own food, while continuing her quest to figure out how to save the world. Mary feels that clear, detailed depictions of a positive future are being dangerously neglected. She writes to help us all envision the sustainable, healthy communities that we work to create. Currently Mary’s reviews and commentaries can be found at resilience.org where this article was originally published. It’s become increasingly clear that climate change is not only real but beginning to bite. Now that much of the population is finally feeling the urgency to change, what can we do to protect the only planet we’ve got? Unfortunately a good many of the solutions on offer seem designed to quiet the increasing concern, the impetus to do something, without challenging the status quo. Are we entitled to an ever-rising standard of living? I believe the answer is no; we need some profound transformations if we are to leave our grandchildren a planet that resembles the one we grew up on, rather than a dystopian Hell world. This is the basic theme of the controversial Michael Moore produced film Planet of the Humans. I see that film as seriously flawed, but agree with its basic message—that it’s time for humanity to grow up and accept limits, get over what I call human exceptionalism, or androtheism—the notion that man is God. Can we get real solutions? A veritable cornucopia of false solutions is being pushed these days, not only by corporations and think tanks but by the UN’s IPCC, the international body responsible for research and action on climate. We could have made a gentle transition if we had begun when we first became aware of this problem decades ago, but for various reasons we did not. There is no time left for barking up one wrong tree after another; no time to waste in false solutions. Hence this series pointing out the fallacies behind such proposals as electrifying everything, carbon trading, geoengineering or switching to “gas—the clean energy fuel!” I’ve divided the issue into sectors: electricity generation, transportation, agriculture, buildings, and two articles on false solutions that aren’t part of an energy sector—geoengineering schemes, and other policy options. Finally, we look at real solutions. I am not an expert on anything except maybe gardening, so my hope is to spur discussion. Part4: Buildings Estimates for the percentage of greenhouse gasses emitted by the buildings sector vary wildly. But any assessment should include both the energy involved in constructing new buildings and the energy costs of heating, cooling and lighting buildings. Currently, many homes and other buildings require a great deal of electricity for lighting even in daytime, and fossil fuel is often burned for both heat and cooling. There are better ways. Designing a building so that natural daylight takes care of the lighting in the daytime simply makes sense. Today there are also solar lighting tubes to convey sunlight into a home without the need for electricity. As for heating, proper design can allow the sun to provide a fair amount of the heat on sunny winter days. Facing the long side of the house toward the south or southeast and putting most of the windows there can enhance winter heating without adding heat in summer; arranging tall trees, or a hill or buildings to the west provides afternoon shade all summer. If the shade comes from deciduous trees or vines, it will open up to the sun in winter. PassivHauser have become common in Germany, and there are a few even in this country. This is a building so efficient that it doesn’t require central heating—and thus it costs little more to construct than a conventional house, despite the fact that it involves essentially a second set of walls and roof. The details vary geographically, but involve heavy insulation, highly efficient windows, design and siting considerations as mentioned in the paragraph above, the elimination of thermal bridging and the use of a ventilation system that recaptures heat from outgoing air. There are many books written on this, and if you’re building a new house it makes sense to research these matters thoroughly. You’ll save greatly on the economic and environmental costs of heating and cooling that house throughout its life. Also, making a building just big enough to accommodate the needs of its inhabitants, will make a large difference. Even existing buildings can be made much more efficient through window upgrades, improved insulation, more efficient appliances and lighting, and landscaping to shade the western side especially, as well as landscaping to channel winds to or away from the house. Ruth Foster and Sue Reed have written books just on the landscaping options. I have not seen a lot of false solutions offered for this sector. With respect to housing, doing nothing amounts to a false solution when there is so much we can do to reduce the energy and emissions costs of our buildings. Cleveland Museum of Natural History 2011 A new breed of passive houses is designed by architects, engineers or builders certified by the Passive House Institute U.S. in Urbana, Ill., following methods established by the Passive Haus Institut in Darmstadt, Germany. Designed by Doty & Miller Architects of Bedford, "SmartHome Cleveland" will be built on the museum grounds not far from the beloved statue of "Steggie," a prehistoric stegosaurus ungulatus, and then moved a quarter-mile when the exhibit is over to a permanent location at 11601 Wade Park Ave., where it will be set atop a specially designed foundation made of concrete and insulated Styrofoam. https://www.cleveland.com/staff/slitt/posts.html
By Passivhaus Institut – Original sourcePassivhaus Institut, Germany,CC BY-SA 3.0
Buildings: Solutions to Climate Change, cont
Make Your Home More Comfortable, Eco-Friendly, and Affordable November 5@9:00 am–10:00 am Speakers: Alberto Alas, AIA, LEED Architect, Alas Consulting; Martin Berry, Certified Energy Auditor, President, Berry Insulation The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is the most significant climate legislation in U.S. history, offering funding, programs and incentives to accelerate our urgent transition to a clean energy economy. It is intended to drive significant deployment of new clean electricity resources in all our homes and businesses. How will this law help make your home more comfortable, eco-friendly and affordable? Join in person or on Zoom About the Forums Forums that are open to the community have been a distinctive part of UUCC’s tradition for many years. During Forums That Matter, experts and leaders present current, thought-provoking forums on a wide variety of issues that affect us as individuals, the communities in which we live and the world beyond. Attendees from both inside and outside the congregation exchange views and participate in stimulating question-and-answer sessions to create a stronger, more accountable, informed community. UUCC Forums support the Unitarian Universalists’ fourth principle, “free and responsible search for truth and meaning.” They encourage personal reflection, social action and individual and collective growth for all who attend. On the first and third Sunday mornings during fall and winter, the forums are held both virtually and in person at the Shaker Heights location. They break new ground in the continuing search for truth and importance of serving others.
From the Treasurer Ron Prosek For FaCT Fiscal Year 2023 ends September 30. But there is still one very important event that will occur in the closing months of calendar year 2023, and that is our Annual Fund Campaign. Like most 501 c3 tax-exempt public charities, FaCT raises most of its constituent-donated funds in this annual appeal. Last year we received $16,000 in our Annual Fund Campaign, surpassing our Fund goal by about $2,000. Thank you for your generosity! This year, we have set an even more ambitious goal of $27,000. That’s $13,000 more than last year’s goal of $14,000, an almost doubling of last year’s target. Why so much more? The reason is that FaCT is doing so much more and planning to do so much more. These plans include continuing and expanding our brine spreading education program to more and more faith communities in Ohio and beyond. We must get people of faith up to speed and involved in opposing the dangerous practice of spreading toxic and radioactive brine on roads in Ohio and beyond. We will also be launching our climate change education program for faith communities in Fiscal 2024. After this horrendous summer of massive climate change-induced tragedies, we all understand the “urgency of now.” Humanity must wake up! The Annual Fund Campaign will be reaching out to you by mail if we have your address and via email as well. Please consider the importance of our work — engaging people of faith in the work of environmental justice, in the work of transforming our civilization to a consciousness of our absolute dependence on the integrity of the natural world that sustains all living things. If any group can move the world to this kind of enlightenment, it is you, people of faith, people who are part of a faith community that lives out its spiritual mission by ministering to the earth and to her people. With this in mind, please give as generously as you can in this special once-a-year appeal. FaCT absolutely depends on your support. Please, let’s make it happen! There is much work to be done, and together we can do it. Thank you. FaCT is a 501c3 charitable organization under IRS rules. All donations to FaCT are tax-deductible.