ACHIEVING BALANCE
between power consumption and environmental stability
BY PETER B. BRACE
Second in a Series Richard Morin is a model of greenness and energy efficiency.

You may have seen him in every kind of weather, day and night, pedaling his mountain bike around the island, hauling a cargo trailer mounded over with bags of cans after combing roadsides and trash bins for recyclables that he redeems for five cents each.

He exemplifies an attitude of treading lightly on the island by putting minimal pollution into the atmosphere while helping to keep Nantucket clean by reducing and reusing trash.

Climatologists and global warming pundits would say his carbon footprint - the amount of carbon dioxide Morin emits going about his daily collecting - is faint compared to other islanders' activities.

Morin, however, is in the minority. Most islanders, although likely aware of a changing climate producing weird weather, may have a heightened consciousness for protecting the environment but do not live such simple, unobtrusive lives - nor can they quick- ly and easily make the switch.

"I think it is now on the radar screen, but as far as the general public, it's not even in the top ten," said Nat Lowell, service transportation manager for Yates Gas and an energy enthusiast. "I think it's about split in terms of people believing it or not, but it's not a crisis in the minds of the public in terms of changing it."

Though for some, Morin's existence may be an ideal to strive for, it certainly is not the reality of the times, as global warming's impact on Nantucket seems to be more about "wanting" than "doing" right now. The reality of climate change only recently hit the mainstream.

However, the imperative of changing our way of life to suit the needs of our planet continues to mount.

Stop & Shop sells reusable shopping bags for 99¢ each. Compact fluorescent light bulbs share equal shelf space with incandescent bulbs at Marine Home Center. Many islanders drive hybrid vehicles, and some have placed solar panels on their houses. A handful buy their electric power from renewable energy sources through National Grid (formerly Nantucket Electric).

"I think there's a very positive attitude toward conservation and alternate energy [on Nantucket]," said Robert Schwarzenbach, a member of the island's Energy Study Committee. "Clearly, Nantucket is one place where we're all waiting for the plug-in hybrid. Once we have some hybrid vehicles you can plug in, then everybody is going to be powering their cars off the electric grid."

Not just yet, however, according to Lowell, who believes ultra-lowsulfur diesel cars are the next generation of energy-efficient transportation likeliest to roll onto Nantucket, followed by bio-diesel conversion kits.

National and regional energy efficiency mandates will probably be the driving forces behind this shift to cleaner living.

President George W. Bush outlined his renewable energy and greenhouse gas plan in his State of the Union address last night. On Monday, Congressman Bill Delahunt spoke to the South Shore Chamber of Commerce in Rockland, Mass. on energy independence just five days after Governor Deval Patrick signed the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative that seven other governors from eastern states have already committed to.

"Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges of our time," Patrick said. "On this day, we want everyone to know that Massachusetts will not stand on the sidelines."

CARBON FOOTSTEPS Quantifying Nantucket's entire carbon footprint is impossible, but getting a sense of it is not. When considering pollution, most people are apt to think of giant smokestacks belching out streams of black smoke, a rush hour highway jammed with thousands of vehicles, or an oil spill.

If climate change affects Nantucketers at all, aside from unseasonable weather, it is in how they think about their own impact on the island environment and the rest of the world. One of the more potent of these thought processes is choosing to buy a hybrid vehicle that runs on electric power and gasoline.

Bill Tornovish of Don Allen Ford said the hybrid versions of the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner account for 10 percent of total vehicle sales. While Tornovish said that hybrid sales are not as strong as when they first came onto the market, a steady stream of car shoppers are still coming out to the Polpis Road lot to check them out.

"People who buy them are very happy with them," he said. "We've actually had some people come back and trade them in for an '07. They are happy for the savings and fuel [economy] and what it does for the environment."

Islanders buying environmentally friendly vehicles means some, if not all, are consciously acting to lower CO2 levels, but it is unlikely that even hybrid drivers know how much carbon dioxide they are putting into the atmosphere by living, working and driving on the island.

Owners of the 4WD automatic transmission 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid who drive an average of 10,000 miles a year put 6,319 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually, according to the carbon footprint calculator found at www.terrapass.com. Comparatively, drivers of the gasoline-only automatic transmission 4WD Ford Escape produce 8,686 pounds per year.

For daily commuters between the mainland and the island, Terrapass's calculator says that airplane passengers each put 39 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere per roundtrip.

Using Nantucket Transportation Planner Michael Burns' data on the number of vehicles on the island, and CO2 pounds-per-gallon information from the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration, one can get a sense of how much CO2 is produced annually on Nantucket. Burns estimates that there were around 23,000 vehicles on the island in 2005. According to the Energy Information Administration, one gallon of gasoline produces 19.5 pounds of carbon dioxide.

As Nantucket is packed with SUVs, plugging a 4WD 2007 Ford Explorer and an annual average of 10,000 miles into the emissions calculator at http://www.terrapass.com/ yields 13,421 pounds of CO2 from 686 gallons burned, based on the Explorer's mileage of 15 mpg in the city and 20 mpg on the highway. With roughly 23,000 vehicles on the island in 2005, approximately 154,341.5 tons of CO2 would have been produced in 2005.

Obviously not every car on the island is a Ford Explorer, and vehicle numbers do vary throughout the year, but this calculation offers a sense of the impact of Nantucket vehicles on the atmosphere.

COATUE OR CO2? The figures for vehicles do not tell the whole story. Nantucket burns seven types of fuel for everything from heating homes, to flying planes, to driving cars, including:

+ AVGAS and Jet A for airplanes + Low sulfur diesels for

cars and trucks + #2 fuel oil for home heating + Propane for heating and cooling + Regular gasoline for vehicles

+ Premium gasoline for vehicles

According to Boston-based Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc.'s feasibility study for a fuel storage tank farm at Nantucket Memorial Airport, Nantucket burned approximately 14,552,374 gallons of fuels in 2006. That, using poundsof CO2-per-gallon data from the Energy I n f o r m a t i o n A d m i n i s t r a t i o n , means Nantucket put 131,953.7 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere last year.

E l e c t r i c i t y , brought to the island and distributed by National Grid, comes from a variety of fossil fuel and renewable energy sources on the mainland. National Grid vice president Dave Fredericks said that Nantucket used 139,490 megawatt-hours of electricity in 2006. Multiplying that number by the amount of CO2 produced per megawatt hour in Massachusetts, .639 of a ton, provided at www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/ee-factors. html, shows that Nantucket's electricity usage in 2006 produced 89,134.11 tons of carbon dioxide.

But, Fredericks noted, emission reducing programs are steadily bringing these numbers down.

"In the past five years, 2002-2006, we estimate that energy efficiency efforts on Nantucket have saved about 650,000 annual kwh [kilowatt hours] or 650 mwhs [megawatt hours]," said Fredericks. "In 2006 alone, we estimate about 250,000 kwh annual savings or 250 mwhs."

Additionally, said Fredericks, 32 National Grid ratepayers buy their power from renewable sources through National Grid's GreenUp program.

The X factor on Nantucket - as in the rest of the world - is how much CO2 and other greenhouse gases we are generating through our product purchases. Think about how each item you wear, eat or use is produced or grown, and how it is transformed from raw materials and into your possession and you will get the idea. A DIESEL IN EVERY DRIVEWAY Low emissions awareness is nothing new on Nantucket. Burns said there are 28 miles of bike paths on the island right now with another 12 in various stages of design, planning and construction. Ridership numbers on the Nantucket Regional Transportation Authority's shuttle buses between 2005 and 2006 increased by 1,789 from 241,857 in 2005 to 243,646 in 2006.

Burns expects it to get even better.

"With the investment in bike paths and the popularity of the NRTA, I would predict that the next census would show a decrease in commuters driving alone in the Mid-Island area between the Airport and the downtown area and in the neighborhoods around the schools," Burns said.

But Lowell disputes the environmental motivations of NRTA riders, saying that congestion and parking during the busier months of the year are what push ridership numbers up.

"I think a lot of people use the shuttle in the summer because it's convenient for them. One of the things that drives that question is that cars are more comfortable," said Lowell, adding that more comfortable cars these days with iPods, stereos and drink holders mean people prefer driving over bus-riding. "It's near and dear to them. It's hard to get people to sit outside…on a bench…in the rain. I don't think that gas patterns have changed people's behavior patterns."

Those who drive may soon experience help in putting less fuel into their tanks and fewer CO2 emissions into the air. Lowell is a staunch believer in ultra-low-sulfur diesel vehicles that should be hitting the market in 2009 or 2010.

Currently, only one-ton to tractor-trailer-sized trucks, including NRTA's buses, can burn ultralow sulfur diesel fuel due to strict emissions laws in Massachusetts. Like similar laws in California, Maine, New York and Vermont, car dealers cannot sell diesel passenger cars because of the smogcausing nitrogen oxide and particulates they produce. One-ton pick-up trucks, some SUVs, and all large trucks and construction equipment are exempt.

Lowell estimated that there are between 300 and 400 class seven and class eight trucks on the island, but he could not say how many diesel pickup trucks there are.

"The pickup trucks - one-ton, small trucks - have increased dramatically in the last six or sevenyears and the reason is much better fuel economy than gasoline," Lowell said. "The technology of common rail and direct injection has facilitated much better cold weather starting and essentially fewer emissions and smoke. And that's just before they made this new change to ultra-low sulfur."

Currently, diesel truck drivers are paying about 30 cents more than drivers of gasoline-powered vehicles, Lowell said, because of the costs of its sulfur content, refining process and transporting it to the island. That will change, however, because in March 2006, the Environmental Protection Agency relaxed its diesel emissions regulations so more passenger vehicles can be sold. According to www.answers.com, Honda, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota and others are developing ultra-low-sulfur diesel cars to sell alongside those already made by Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen.

Another mandate from the EPA in October 2006 set the standard for ultra-low-sulfur diesel and required that it be sold in all 50 states. Ultra-lowsulfur diesel contains just 15 parts per million of the pollutants that the five aforementioned states prohibit. Low-sulfur diesel had 500 parts per million.

"[In 2010], there will be many more choices," said Lowell. "The diesel hybrid is also coming down the pike in trucks. Once they get a diesel hybrid in the car, you're going to be getting 70 mpg, 40 percent better than with gas."

Although all diesel sold on Nantucket now is ultralow sulfur, the passenger cars being built to burn it are not yet on the market, and not all vehicles on the island are energy efficient. Bucket-loaders, excavators and bulldozers all gulp down this fuel and contractors have no choice but to keep using it.

"I really don't think there are a lot of options," said alternative and renewable energy advocate Philip Marks III, who owns the house-moving company Atlantic AEolus. "I run a bunch of diesel trucks," he said. "There's not an electric truck (available) to haul around the stuff we need to. There are options, but they're so expensive it makes it tough to save money."

TRASH = POWER Vehicle drivers hoping to save money and the environment have a couple of years to go before Lowell's diesel dream machines hit the island. But members of the Energy Study Committee, along with other town officials, are hoping to get ahead of the curve with some initiatives that will help the town do both sooner than later.

Burns said one of the selectmen's goals is to review all town positions and find out which ones are eligible for telecommuting. The Energy Study Committee is a little more proactive.

Besides supporting the committee's proposed Town Meeting article to mandate that the town convert its fleet of vehicles to fuel-efficient models, and sending a letter to the Minerals Management Service in support of Selectman Doug Bennett's proposal that Cape Wind erect its wind farm southwest of Tuckernuck Island, Schwarzenbach is pushing ahead with a few of his own ideas.

He is proposing that Nantucket form the Nantucket Energy Authority to handle the management of energy on the island. To do this, the committee would float an article at April's Town Meeting to create the Nantucket Municipal Electric Aggregate, a provision of the deregulation of the electricity market in 1998, allowing power plants to compete and sell to distributors such as National Grid.

This electric aggregate will allow Nantucket to buy its power directly from power plants, saving the island around 20 percent in power costs, said Schwarzenbach.

"What this will allow us to do is align the usage of the power when it's used during the day with the purchase of the power from different generators, which may have surplus capacity during the day or the season," he said.

For instance, the aggregate could offer a special rate to users of hybrid electric cars at night.

"During the hours of midnight and six in the morning there is not a lot of usage of power, so this would cut down on the usage of power and cut down on having fuel trucked to the island," said Schwarzenbach.

He also hopes the town moves forward with Waste Options' proposal to build a waste gasification plant at the landfill, which could generate up to three megawatts of power a year. This installation could also include wind turbines at the landfill. The Nantucket Energy Authority could monitor both.

Naturally, Schwarzenbach and the Energy Study Committee support Cape Wind's proposed 130 wind turbines, regardless of the siting, because the 420 megawatts produced could provide up to three quarters of the Cape and Islands' power needs.

All of these initiatives should get a shot in the arm with Governor Deval Patrick's signing of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, designed to curb carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 10 percent by 2019 in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Vermont.

Next week: Environmental impacts I