Global warming means change for coal, Kentucky

MOREHEAD - If you want to start a fight about global warming, go to coal country.

That was clear Friday at the East Kentucky Leadership Conference. It wasn’t a fight, really, but a spirited debate about what global warming could mean for the coal-rich region and how Kentucky should respond to inevitable change.

It was the kind of discussion that made this 21st annual conference worth attending.

At its best, the East Kentucky Leadership Conference is like a big family reunion where people get together to talk about the future instead of the past. Everyone knows the touchy subjects and all of the back stories. Most also know which cousins are smart and which uncles are crazy.

It helps that the conference always takes place in late April. When the hills are ablaze with redbud and dogwoods, no problem seems too big to solve.

On this year’s agenda were all of the usual subjects: health, education and economic development, plus a session with the curious title, “Adventure Tourism: An Idea Whose Time Has Come.”

While it wasn’t on the official agenda, there also was plenty of discussion about the plague of drug abuse.

When talk turned to coal, nobody, thankfully, tried to argue that global warming is a myth, or that we’re not making it worse by burning coal.

Cheap power threatened

The world’s changing energy picture doesn’t bode well for Kentucky, said Jim Lamb, the senior vice president of power supply for East Kentucky Power Cooperative in Winchester.

About 96 percent of Kentucky’s electricity is generated by burning coal. That has given Kentucky some of the nation’s lowest power rates. But as concerns about climate change prompt more restrictions on coal-burning, power rates are sure to rise

Many at the conference - including Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo, a Hazard physician, and House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins of Sandy Hook, who works for a coal company, touted the possibilities of new technology to convert coal to liquid fuel that burns cleaner than oil.

Coal companies are pressing for federal and state tax breaks to develop that technology.

John Hennen, a history professor at Morehead State University, said it’s fine if coal companies want to invest their own money in such research, but public money should be used to explore alternatives to fossil fuels.

“I think a (public) commitment to coal conversion technology would be a disaster,” he said, raising eyebrows around the room.

Hennen noted that converting coal to liquid fuel requires massive amounts of water and produces more carbon dioxide than burning it. While there’s a lot of talk about capturing that carbon and storing it, nobody has shown it can be done on a large scale.

Investing beyond coal

Hennen said he would rather see public investment in conservation, energy efficiency and sustainable energy sources. Solar power, for example, could become a lot more cost-effective as technology improves and other energy prices rise.

One example: The state could provide tax credits or other funding for solar-powered home water heaters. They could cut demand on the power grid and pay for themselves in a few years.

“We cannot afford to look to the coal industry to be our salvation,” Hennen said.

He and Jason Bentley, a lawyer in Frankfort with the firm McBrayer, McGinnis, Leslie and Kirkland who works with big energy companies, argued about what they both said was “fear-mongering” for and against coal.

“The reality is that these other fuels cannot compete with coal in price and flexibility,” Bentley said. And they won’t anytime soon.

Everyone agreed that coal will be Kentucky’s dominant energy source for decades to come. But they also agreed that big changes are coming - and the clock is ticking.

Saving Kentucky’s aluminum industry, can by can

Don’t throw away that aluminum can — Subodh Das could be watching.

Das, an aluminum engineer, is working with the city of Lexington and researchers from the University of Kentucky’s Gatton College of Business to study what you throw away and what you recycle.

They want to figure out how to persuade you to throw away less and recycle more.

Das isn’t out to save the planet, although that would be nice. He’s out to save Kentucky’s aluminum industry.

“In the 1970s, recycling was important because it was a good thing to do,” said Das, president and CEO of Lexington-based Secat Inc., which provides technical research to the aluminum industry. “Recycling now is strictly a business proposition.”

Although not as famous as horses or bourbon whiskey, aluminum is big business in Kentucky. The industry employs nearly 18,000 people at 142 plants that make everything from beverage cans to auto parts. Where is the world’s biggest can sheet factory? Russellville. The world’s biggest recycling plant? Berea.

Foreign competition

But, like so many other industries, aluminum production is moving to countries with cheaper energy, raw materials and labor — not to mention slacker environmental standards. It’s also following new demand for aluminum in supercharged economies such as China’s and India’s.

Das thinks much of Kentucky’s aluminum industry could quickly disappear unless it secures a long-term supply of cheap raw materials, which account for 80 percent of the cost of making aluminum.

There are basically two ways to get aluminum:

The first way is to mine bauxite, copper, silicon, magnesium and manganese in places such as Africa, Brazil and Indonesia. Then refine those minerals and process them into metal in places such as Ireland, Iceland, China and Dubai.

The second way is to recycle the Coke can you’re holding.

Economics and environmental awareness first made aluminum recycling popular in the 1970s. It has slacked off since then, and only about half the cans now used in America are recycled.

Kentucky’s recycling rate is much lower. Lexington, Louisville and Bowling Green have the state’s best recycling programs. Still, the aluminum recycling rate in Lexington is only about 40 percent, Das said.

Cans that aren’t recycled end up in the nation’s landfills. Das estimates the value of that thrown-away aluminum at more than $60 billion.

Producing new aluminum also comes with a host of other environmental costs: It uses enormous amounts of energy and creates a huge amount of carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming. By contrast, recycling aluminum takes only 5 percent of the energy required to produce new material, Das said.

The price is right

Until a few years ago, the cost difference between new and recycled aluminum was only pennies a pound. Now, because of a variety of global economic factors, recycled aluminum is about 50 percent cheaper than new materials.

“If we can recycle more aluminum, companies in Kentucky will automatically have a cost advantage,” said Das, a native of India who moved to this country in 1971 to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.

Das hopes the research into Lexington’s recycling habits will provide the scientific basis for better educational efforts to promote recycling. After all, recycling often comes down to personal habits and cultural behavior.

One key to changing behavior, Das says, is bringing an idea home to people in human terms. As an example, he notes those signs you see along highway construction zones that urge drivers to slow down when workers are present.

“It’s like saying, ‘Don’t throw away that aluminum can because my Dad’s job depends on it,’” Das said. “Because for much of Kentucky, it really could.”

Photo: Subodh K. Das, president and CEO of Secat Inc. Photo/Secat Inc.

What do you think? What could government and industry do to encourage you to recycle more aluminum and other materials? Comment below.

Where else to buy rain barrels?

I’ve been flooded (no pun intended) with calls and emails today from readers wanting to know where else they can buy rain barrels in Kentucky. Or good plastic or wooden barrels with which to make rain barrels. If you can offer help and advice on that subject, please post a comment below.

Rolling out barrels for a better environment

BEREA - Do you ever feel like the water company has you over a barrel?

And the power company. And the gas company. Not to mention all the oil companies.

It’s hurting your wallet, and perhaps your conscience, as we approach the 38th Earth Day on April 22. Does our modern lifestyle make you wonder what kind of world we’re leaving for our grandchildren, and their grandchildren?

There’s something simple you can do to save money and help the environment: Get a rain barrel.

If you want a special rain barrel, there will be 68 of them, painted by professional and amateur artists from throughout Central Kentucky, up for auction April 26 at the Berea Rain Barrel Festival. You also can buy an unpainted plastic rain barrel for $55.

“The most amazing thing is the diversity of people who have been captured by this festival,” said Cheyenne Olson, one of the organizers.

Twice as many artists and community groups as she expected asked to paint barrels. The festival will include music, environmental education programs, and free hamburgers, veggie burgers and cake.

A rain barrel is fitted with a screened hole on top where the gutter pipe drains in, an overflow hose, and a spigot at the bottom. It catches water coming off your roof, providing a free source for outdoor watering and other uses.

A rain barrel can save you money and allow you to ignore watering restrictions during a drought. It also reduces storm runoff and lessens the need for costly water supply and treatment facilities as the region’s population grows.

Let’s have a festival

The citizens group Sustainable Berea has for some time been converting recycled food-grade plastic barrels and wooden bourbon barrels into rain barrels and selling them. The barrels were becoming so popular that Sustainable Berea decided to throw a festival to help community groups raise money. It also hopes to bank perhaps $5,000 for small environmental sustainability project grants around Berea.

“It really fits the culture of Berea,” said Dave Pritchard, an executive with Novelis, which operates a large aluminum recycling plant in Berea and is the festival’s biggest corporate sponsor.

Social responsibility has always been a big part of life in the southern Madison County town, home to Berea College and famous for its artists and craftsmen.

Mayor Steve Connelly supports the festival for some very practical reasons. Berea has had droughts in 18 of the past 77 years, and its population has grown more than 30 percent since 2000. He figures that an inch of rain produces 275 million gallons of water in Berea. The more of it that can be captured and reused, the less demand there will be for costly expansion of the city reservoirs.

“Rain barrels are inexpensive and easy to install,” Connelly said at a festival kickoff event Monday. “My family has two at our house.”

Beyond rain barrels

For some members of Sustainable Berea, rain barrels are just the beginning.

Home energy consumption is a big concern. Buildings use 40 percent of the nation’s energy - even more than transportation does, said Richard Olson, director of Berea College’s Sustainability and Environmental Studies program.

“If we designed our buildings more efficiently, we could really cut back on that, and save money, too,” he said.

In addition to rain barrels, the Olsons practice what they preach by using roof-mounted solar panels to heat their water and provide much of their home’s electricity. On sunny days, they sell electricity back to the local power company, which is required by state law to buy it. Olson said his total monthly utility bill, water included, rarely exceeds $20.

He figures his $4,000 solar water-heating system will pay for itself in about eight years. But it will take much longer for his $15,000 solar power-generating system to break even.

Still, it helps him sleep better. He punches a button on a meter and sees that his system has produced 4,067 kilowatt-hours of electricity in the past two years.

“That means about two tons of coal hasn’t been burned because we had this system,” Olson said. “Coal companies aren’t blowing up those mountains for fun. They’re doing it because we’re paying them to.”

Mark Jeantheau, who moved to Berea from suburban Washington, D.C., two years ago, recently finished building an energy-efficient home. He collects rainwater for his garden in four 2,000-gallon underground cisterns, and his home incorporates passive energy technologies such as south-facing windows and thermal tile.

He also has a power-generating system fed by two large solar collectors in his yard. Over the course of a year, the system will provide all the power his home will use.

Most people won’t want to go that far. But anyone can get a rain barrel.

Richard Olson shows the solar panels on his house that generate electricity, left, and heat water, right.

Photos above: Two of the rain barrels that will be auctioned at the festival. Berea Mayor Steve Connelly announced plans for the festival Monday while leaning on painted rain barrels. Photos/Tom Eblen

If You Go

Berea Rain Barrel Festival

When: April 26, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Where: Memorial Park, corner of Jefferson and Broadway, Berea

Details: Silent and live auction of 68 rain barrels decorated by Central Kentucky artists and community groups. Free hamburgers (grass-fed beef), veggie burgers and cake.

Why: To raise money for community groups and small-scale water sustainability projects around Berea.

Sponsors: Sustainable Berea, Novelis, People’s Bank, Delta Gas, City of Berea, Berea College, Community Trust Bank, G and J Pepsi Lexington, Berea Tourism, Woodford Reserve, Wal-Mart, Tokico.

More information: www.sustainableberea.org

UPDATE, Monday, April 28: Cheyenne Olson of Sustainable Berea reports that the Rain Barrel Festival was a smashing success. About 2,500 people attended and all 64 of the painted barrels put up for auction sold, with a top price of $300. Sustainable Berea also sold 72 unpainted plastic rain barrels and took the names of 117 more people who want to buy them when they’re available. While the auction was primarily a fundraiser for the organizations that painted the barrels, Olson expects Sustainable Berea to clear the $5,000 it was hoping to make. That money will be used to support environmental sustainability projects in and around the southern Madison County town. Perhaps the highlight of the day, she said, were the 1,000 cupcakes made by Berea College employee Linda Cope and served out of a rain barrel. For more information about rain barrels or Sustainable Berea, email Olson at: info@sustainableberea.org.