Energy Conservation

The Baltimore Convention Center expects to save $18 million in energy costs over 15 years because of water and energy conservation renovations it announced Monday. Constellation, a division of energy provider Exelon Corp., will install the efficiency measures, according to a joint statement from the energy company and the convention center. Although the conservation efforts — along with other capital improvements planned for the center — come with a $10 million price tag, no money is required up front from the convention center, the statement said.

Baltimore County will host a public meeting this week in Towson for nonprofits, government agencies and the public to discuss funding and spending priorities for community development programs aimed at social action, housing, child services and equal access. The meeting will be held at 9:30 a.m. Friday, Dec. 14, at the Towson Library, 320 York Road, Towson. County staff will discuss grant opportunities and spending priorities targeted for homeless services; fair housing; removal of architectural barriers for persons with disabilities; and also projects aimed at low-income residents regarding employment, crime prevention, child care, health and welfare, education, substance abuse, energy conservation or recreational needs.

Gov. William Donald Schaefer is expected to announce plans for two energy conservation projects while in Harford County tomorrow.Schaefer will be joined by George McGowan, chairman of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., to announce the projects, aimed at cutting gasoline and lighting costs of state government operations, according to a press release from the governor's office.Schaefer and McGowan will give details of the project at the Mary E. W.Risteau District Courts and Multi-Services Center on Bond Street in Bel Air at 10 a.m.Schaefer will kick off his visit to the county at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new headquarters for the Democratic Central Committee at 25 Pennsylvania Ave., Bel Air, at 8:30 a.m.The governor also is scheduled to visit the county Office on Aging at 9:35 a.m. and the Havre de Grace High School at 11:15 a.m. He also is expected to make two stops in Cecil County.

The Baltimore Convention Center expects to save $18 million in energy costs over 15 years because of water and energy conservation renovations it announced Monday. Constellation, a division of energy provider Exelon Corp., will install the efficiency measures, according to a joint statement from the energy company and the convention center. Although the conservation efforts — along with other capital improvements planned for the center — come with a $10 million price tag, no money is required up front from the convention center, the statement said.

Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.'s decision to buy power from an independent, non-regulated producer is a response to the increasing pressure on U.S. utilities to conserve. Instead of undertaking costly new construction to serve its growing market, BG&E is following a sensible course: reducing future outlays by encouraging energy conservation as well as purchasing, instead producing, the added power it needs. This should keep prices down for consumers in the years ahead.Laws in Maryland and other states give utilities strong incentives to push for cutbacks in power usage.

WASHINGTON -- White House aides led by White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu have told Energy Secretary James D. Watkins to remove energy conservation measures from his proposed National Energy Strategy, endangering President Bush's long-promised program to guide the United States toward energy independence.In response to the battle erupting in the administration's highest councils, environmentalists and a key Democratic senator agreed Friday that Mr. Bush's energy program would be "dead on arrival" next month on Capitol Hill unless it contained conservation proposals.

A bill to require gas and electric utilities to develop energy-conservation plans, and reward them for doing it, faced no opposition during a House of Delegates committee hearing in Annapolis yesterday.Even Maryland utilities, which would see the rules that govern how they make a profit change under the proposal, said they had no objection, since they are already coming up with similar plans voluntarily.One utility that operates in Maryland, Washington-based Potomac Electric Power Co., has already reached an agreement in principle with state regulators on an energy-conservation plan and is negotiating the details of what kind of conservation programs it will offer to Marylanders in the suburbs of Washington this summer.

Brian O. Curran and John Spears see a revolution coming in energy conservation, and they are intent on helping companies lead the charge. And unlike in past efforts, conservationists have an important ally -- the utility companies.Energy Conservation Management Inc., formed by Mr. Curran and Mr. Spears in April, is one of a new breed of companies focusing exclusively on how to design and outfit buildings for the most efficient use of energy.While existing engineering and architectural firms advise clients on energy matters, only about a dozen firms nationwide solely work on energy conservation for buildings, according to William F. Lemke, executive director of the Energy Efficient Building Association, a Wausau, Wis.-based trade group.

A bill that would give Howard County residents a property tax credit for installation of solar or geothermal energy-saving equipment is to be introduced at Tuesday night's County Council meeting. Councilman Guy Guzzone, a North Laurel-Savage Democrat, is sponsoring the measure, which would limit the credits to $5,000 per house and $250,000 a year in the county overall, according to the legislation. The credit could not exceed the total property tax bill for a residence. Guzzone, who is running for House of Delegates, has vowed to introduce statewide credit legislation, if elected.

ENERGY IS both source and limit of all we do. In an essay, "Why Big Fierce Animals Are Rare," ecologist Paul Colinvaux notes that the existence of top-of-the-food-web creatures - lions, tigers, great white sharks - "creates a theoretical possibility for other animals to evolve to eat them. "But the food calories to be won from hunting great white sharks and tigers are too few to support a minimum population of animals as large and horribly ferocious as these would have to be." One might argue that modern humans, with the heads of lions, tigers and sharks in their air-conditioned, dehumidified trophy rooms, are the energetic equivalents of Colinvaux's top predator-eating dragons.

Maryland will fall far short of meeting its goal to reduce energy consumption 15 percent by 2015 if state regulators and officials don't take aggressive action, according to an analysis by a nonprofit consumer group. Gov. Martin O'Malley outlined the goal to reduce per-capita electricity use in his first term, as utility bills were soaring and the state faced the possibility of rolling blackouts in the coming years. But according to the consumer advocacy group Maryland PIRG, three years later the state is on target to fail to meet even half that goal.

Carmera Thomas says she loves nature and majored in biology in college. But the job market's so tough, she's been working part time in a restaurant since graduating in May. Now the 22-year-old Glen Burnie woman is finally getting a chance to put her education and passion to work, under a new state program meant to train young people for jobs in environmental restoration and energy conservation while they perform community service. Thomas and 15 other applicants debuted Monday as the inaugural class of the Chesapeake Conservation Corps, which pairs young adults with watershed organizations, local or state agencies, and community groups for a year of work and learning.

Starting this summer, some Marylanders will have a new way to keep up with the Joneses — on saving energy, and money. The state Public Service Commission recently approved a pilot program by Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. that will give 25,000 of its customers bimonthly reports that show how their energy habits stack up against those of 100 other ratepayers who live in similar dwellings and, in particular, the 20 percent of that group who...

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. must get its "smart meter" proposal approved by state regulators before the end of July or it will risk losing $200 million in federal stimulus grants, a company executive said Wednesday. The U.S. Department of Energy can only shift the funds to another program through the end of September, and so they will need the remaining time to evaluate other proposals if this one is not approved, said Mark D. Case, BGE's senior vice president for regulatory affairs.

A new Baltimore County property tax credit rewards homeowners for making costly efficiency upgrades designed to save cash over time. The credit, which could save homeowners $1,800 over three years, covers improvements to heat and air conditioning systems, as well as upgrades to windows, insulation and roofing. The county council unanimously approved the credit in early June, and it took effect last week. The measure is intended to encourage improvements to existing homes by offering efficiency incentives similar to those for new construction.

CALIFORNIA, Md. - - Approaching Evergreen Elementary, it's clear right away that there's something different about this new school. A pair of silo-like structures squats in front of the two-story brick building - cisterns storing rainwater for flushing the toilets. Then there are the cactuses and other plants growing atop the entrance canopy - put there to soak up more rain. Evergreen represents the latest in green school design in Maryland. The $20 million elementary school, which started classes last week in this woodsy, suburban community in St. Mary's County, has been designed and built to save bundles of energy and water, and to reduce the building's impact on nearby streams and wetlands.

The deregulation of the electric industry is increasing air pollution, as utilities forced to slash costs to compete turn to outdated plants for cheaper power, a new study contends."

The Maryland Energy Administration said yesterday that it will revamp the lighting and heating systems in 90 percent of the state's 4,400 buildings during the next five years as part of its energy conservation plan.The move would cut at least $12 million off the state's annual electric bill.The plan also calls for creation of a center to encourage industry to convert to more efficient machinery, tax incentives for the use of natural gas vehicles, and the establishment of community "showcases" for energy conservation.

When Maryland signed on to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and began auctioning carbon credits to power plant owners, the state legislature agreed that the proceeds would be used primarily to promote conservation and the development of alternative energy. But because of this year's budget crunch, Gov. Martin O'Malley has another purpose in mind - powering up the fund that assists people who can't afford to heat their homes. The governor has asked the General Assembly to approve a diversion of up to 50 percent of RGGI revenue - an estimated $70 million more than what is scheduled to be set aside - for energy assistance to the poor over the next two years.

The Rev. Bob Wickizer climbed the stairs and wooden ladders yesterday inside the steeple of historic St. Anne's Episcopal Church to reach Annapolis' town clock. Eighty feet above the center of downtown, he and Kirsten Chapman, head of the church's environmental ministry, gingerly stepped over loose wooden planks coated with dust and ducked under the four metal arms of the clock mechanism to get to the 16 incandescent bulbs that illuminate the clock. Chapman slipped in front of one of the four faces and carefully replaced the bulbs with compact fluorescent ones.