“We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms. The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it. We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries – we must claim its promise. That is how we will maintain our economic vitality and our national treasure – our forests and waterways; our croplands and snowcapped peaks. That is how we will preserve our planet, commanded to our care by God. That’s what will lend meaning to the creed our fathers once declared.”

White House officials told reporters to expect more detail in the State of the Union speech, scheduled for Feb. 12. They emphasized that the administration will use executive power to sidestep opposition in Congress, enforcing EPA rules to shut down coal-fired power plants and establishing efficiency standards for buildings and appliances.

Read the full transcript here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/01/21/inaugural-address-president-barack-obama

See the New York Times article.

Official White House Photo by Sonya N. Hebert

In President Obama’s acceptance speech, he noted the importance of acting on climate change. He states:

We want our children to live in an America that isn’t burdened by debt, that isn’t weakened by inequality, that isn’t threatened by the destruction power of a warming planet [...] freeing ourselves from foreign oil.”

So, one thing is for sure, the President is not a climate change denier and it is one of the top issues he wants to focus on. He realizes that there is a big problem here, especially after Sandy hit. Post-Sandy, Mayor Bloomberg endorsed Obama because Bloomberg realized the President wants to curb climate change and put more focus on clean-energy. In Obama’s first term, he had a few successes that benefit the environment like increasing fuel-economy standards for vehicles, increasing restrictions on cardon dioxide emissions, and he supported stimulus money for clean energy companies.

What’s next for climate change then? It is obvious that the President believes what is going on, so does that mean that environmentalists can hope for an even greater change in his second term? With a plethora of new Senate members being huge supporters of clean water, air, and energy, there is hope that whatever legislation Obama proposes can get passed in the Senate, but the House might hold it up. Only time will tell the possibilities of making a change to our environment in Obama’s second term.

Source: LA Times Obama finally talks climate change; green industry wants more

To read more about the new standard, click here.

On October 16, 2012, debate number two took place in New York at Hofstra University. President Obama and Governor Romney were welcomed by Moderator Candy Crowley into a town hall style debate. This debate was structured to have questions from the audience of 82 undecided voters directed towards one candidate, allowing the other candidate to rebuttal after the first candidate responded to the audience. Structured this way, without podiums, the candidates were allowed to interact with each other much more creating a lot of heat between the two. They asked each other questions during their responses which provided an interesting insight as to how these candidates feel about each other’s positions, while being able to call each other out on their lies. Many new topics were covered in more detail within this debate rather than the first including education, woman’s equality, and a deeper view into each candidate’s energy policy.

For the point of this report, the candidates energy policies will be the focus. Energy came up in response to the first question, but the candidates kept coming back to this topic throughout the debate.

Below are quotes from both candidates on their energy position that they spoke about at the debate on the 16th:

Obama’s view on Energy

“We’ve got to control our own energy. Now, now only oil and natural gas, which we’ve been investing in, but also, we’ve got to make sure we’re building the energy source of the future, not just about next year, but ten years from now, 20 years from now. That’s why we’ve invested in solar and wind and biofuels, energy efficient cars.”

“The most important thing we can do is make sure we control our energy. So here’s what I’ve done since I’ve been president. We have increased oil production to the highest levels in 16 years. Natural gas production is the highest it’s been in decades. We have seen increases in coal production and coal employment. But what i’ve also said is we can’t just produce traditional sources of energy. We’ve also got to look to the future. That’s why we doubled fuel efficiency standards on cars. That means that in the middle of the next decade, any car you buy, you’re going to end up going twice as far on a gallon of gas. That’s why we doubled clean -clean energy production like wind and solar and biofuels. And all these things have contributed to us lowering our oil imports to the lowest levels in 16 years. Now, I want to build on that. And that means, yes, we still continue to open up new areas for drilling. We continue to make it a priority for us to go after natural gas. We’ve got potentially 600,000 jobs and 100 years worth of energy right beneath our feet with natural gas. And we can do it in an environmentally sound way. But we’ve also got to continue to figure out how we have efficient energy, because ultimately that’s how we’re going to reduce demand and that’s what’s going to keep gas prices lower.”

“With respect to something like coal, we made the largest investment in clean coal technology, to make sure that even as we’re producing more coal, we’re producing it cleaner and smarter. Same thing with oil, same thing with natural gas.”

“I’m all for pipelines. I’m all for oil production. What i’m not for is us ignoring the other half of the equation. So, for example, on wind energy, when Governor Romney says ‘these are imaginary jobs.’ When you’v got thousands of people right now in Iowa, right now in Colorado, who are working, creating wind power and good-paying manufacturing jobs, and the Republican senator in Iowa is all for it, providing tax breaks to help this work and Governor Romney says I’m opposed. I’d get rid of it. That’s not an energy strategy for the future. And we need to win that future. and I intend to win it as President of the Unites States.”

Romney’s Energy View

“Look, I want to make sure we use our oil, our coal, our gas, our nuclear, our renewables. I believe very much in our renewable capabilities; ethanol, wind, solar will be an important part of our energy mix. But what we don’t need is to have the president keeping us from taking advantage of oil, coal, and gas. [...]I’ll get American and North America energy independent. I’ll do it by more drilling, more permits and licenses. We’re going to bring that pipeline in from Canada. ”

“I will fight for oil, coal and natural gas[...] I will fight to create more energy in this country, to get America energy secure. And part of that is bringing in a pipeline of oil from Canada, taking advantage of the oil and coal we have here, drilling offshore in Alaska, drilling offshore in Virginia where the people want it. Those things will get us the energy we need.”

Highlight Quote from the Night

This is the closest either of the two candidates came to discussing climate change, and as you can see, it barely touches on the issue.

“And when I hear Governor Romney say he’s a big coal guy, I mean, keep in mind, when Governor, When you were governor of Massachusetts, you stood in front of a coal plant and pointed and it and said, ‘This plant kills,’ and took great pride in shutting it down. And now suddenly you’re a big champion of coal.” – President Obama

It’s up to each voter to pick which candidate they think will help protect and grow our country, but if clean energy is a forefront issue to you, it seem like President Obama is on the right track in terms of his policies on wind and solar and energy efficiency.

Transcript from October 16, 2012 Debate

President Obama speaking at Copper Mountain Solar 1

(UCSD press release) When President Obama visited the Copper Mountain Solar 1 Facility in Nevada Wednesday, March 21, he got a first-hand look at the first large-scale solar facility equipped with solar forecasting devices called sky imagers.  The devices are powered by sophisticated algorithms, which were developed by researchers at the University of California San Diego. The technology was funded by Sanyo Electric Corp., now Panasonic, the Department of Energy, California Energy Commission and California Public Utilities Commission.

Copper Mountain Solar 1 is the largest photovoltaic power plant in the country, and is operated by San Diego-based Sempra U.S. Gas & Power. Sky imagers are essentially fish-eye lenses that capture a 360-degree view of the horizon and generate a 3-D model of the clouds they observe. The devices are connected to a sophisticated forecasting system that uses what it observes to predict solar power output in 15-minute increments.

Professor Jan Kleissl

These sky imagers, and their algorithms, are the brain child of Jan Kleissl, an environmental engineering professor at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego. His research, and solar forecasting at UC San Diego, received a boost earlier this month with a $1.5 million grant from the California Public Utilities Commission. The grant funds research to refine forecasting methods and work with San Diego Gas & Electric  to help integrate solar power into the energy grid. Kleissl is the principal investigator on the grant with Carlos Coimbra, also a professor of environmental engineering at the Jacobs School. Their work could generate substantial savings for utility companies.

In addition to the CPUC funding, the project is receiving matching funds from SDG&E, the

Professor Carlos Coimbra

National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the California Energy Commission and the Department of Energy.

“As California continues to integrate higher amounts of solar energy into the grid, demonstration projects like these will maximize the value of solar energy by providing predictable generation profiles that grid operators can rely on,” said CPUC President Michael R. Peevey.

The two-year grant is the first received by the Center of Excellence for Renewable Resources and Integration at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego. The center, which became an official entity on Feb. 14, is led by Coimbra and Kleissl. The two researchers and their respective teams will work together to develop comprehensive forecast models that predict solar power output, based on how much sunlight can be found at a specific location—and how it fluctuates. The researchers’ sensor network now extends beyond San Diego to include many sites along the Pacific Rim, from Bellingham, Wash., to Oahu, Hawaii.

So far, utilities have been struggling to integrate solar power into their energy portfolios because the output of energy generated by the sun is highly variable. For example, when the marine layer rolls in, output drops to about 50 percent of its full potential. When it evaporates, output goes back up to 100 percent. Researchers hope to minimize the uncertainty by helping utilities predict and manage these fluctuations through solar forecasting.

Researchers said they hope their work will allow utilities to generate significant savings. To make up for the variability in output from renewable sources of power, utilities often run one megawatt of back-up power from traditional sources for every megawatt  of power from alternative sources on the grid. With a better understanding of how much and when power fluctuates, utilities will be able to schedule back-up power more accurately, saving as much as 50 percent of their operational costs in the process, Kleissl said.

Research work

Researchers will focus on several areas of a few square miles each in San Diego’s power grid, called feeders, which are home to many photovoltaic panels. They will model, in real-time, power output from the areas. Then they will use the model to forecast output, looking anywhere from 15 minutes ahead to 36 hours ahead. Ultimately, they hope to assemble a best practices manual for solar forecasting in utility operations.

For this project, Kleissl and colleagues will deploy for the first time a new generation of sky imagers that were conceived as prototypes and assembled at the Jacobs School of Engineering, based on decades of work at the UC San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The devices capture comprehensive, high-resolution images of cloud conditions and solar irradiance, which researchers then use for modeling and short-term forecasting. The new devices are more accurate. They can also be more easily customized, as researchers now have control over every component.

The Center of Excellence for Renewable Resources and Integration

This grant is only the first in a range of projects at the Center of Excellence for Renewable Resources and Integration, which is part of the Center for Energy Research at the Jacobs School of Engineering. “We have very high hopes for the center,” said Center Co-director Coimbra.

He plans to build a control room that will pool data from all of the observation centers equipped with his devices across California, in Merced, Davis, Berkeley, San Diego and Washington State, among others. His laboratory also receives data from Oahu. The more information, the better, Coimbra explained. “This is the mother of all chaotic systems,” he said. “It’s a very complicated problem.”

In addition to perfecting forecasting methods, the center also will focus on workforce development. There is no place in the world that is currently training workers in the disciplines of solar forecasting, Coimbra said. The center will equip individuals with graduate degrees with an understanding of grid integration, renewable energy, machine learning and meteorology, as well as grid operations.

“We are hoping that it will raise the profile of alternative energy research here at UC San Diego even further,” Kleissl said.