Storm-Resistant Housing Gains Foothold in U.S. Hurricane Zones

When Hurricane Michael hit the Florida Panhandle five years ago, it left boats, cars, and trucks piled up to the windows of Bonny Paulson’s home in the tiny coastal community of Mexico Beach, Florida, even though the house rests on pillars 14 feet above the ground. But Paulson’s home, with a rounded shape that looks something like a ship, shrugged off Category 5 winds that might otherwise have collapsed it.

“I wasn’t nervous at all,” Paulson told The Associated Press, recalling the warning to evacuate. Her house lost only a few shingles, with photos taken after the storm showing it standing whole amid the wreckage of almost all the surrounding homes.

See other designs https://www.deltechomes.com/

A person’s home is one of the biggest ways they can reduce their individual carbon footprint, AP writes, with buildings releasing about 38% of all energy-related greenhouse gas emissions each year. Some of the carbon pollution comes from powering things like lights and air conditioners and some of it from making the construction materials, like concrete and steel.

Deltec, the company that built Paulson’s home, says only one of the nearly 1,400 it’s completed over the last three decades has suffered structural damage from hurricane-force winds. But the company puts as much emphasis on building green, with higher-quality insulation that reduces the need for air conditioning, heat pumps for more efficient heating and cooling, energy-efficient appliances, and of course solar.

“The real magic here is that we’re doing both,” said CEO Steve Linton. “I think a lot of times resilience is sort of the afterthought when you talk about sustainable construction, where it’s just kind of this is a feature on a list.” But “we believe that resilience is really a fundamental part of sustainability.” |Read more https://www.theenergymix.com/storm-resistant-housing-gains-foothold-in-u-s-hurricane-zones/ | theenergymix.com/storm-resista…

#world #environment #ExtremeStorms #safety #solar #homes #construction #resistant #Storms

Smith and Schulz to promote Alberta’s climate and energy leadership

Premier Danielle Smith and Minister of Environment and Protected Areas Rebecca Schulz will be promoting Alberta’s leadership in emission reductions and responsible energy development in the Middle East.

Premier Smith and Minister Schulz will travel to Dubai for the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (COP28). While at the world’s largest annual climate summit, government officials say Alberta’s Premier and environment minister will showcase Alberta’s effective, common-sense and innovative approach to reducing emissions while keeping energy reliable, secure and affordable.

“We will use COP28 to showcase the amazing work that is underway to reduce emissions while keeping energy affordable, reliable and secure,” adds Rebecca Schulz, Minister of Environment and Protected Areas. “We look forward to promoting Alberta’s plan to reduce emissions, highlighting our legacy of environmental leadership and responsible energy development, and demonstrating Alberta’s important role in the global energy transition.”

At COP28, Premier Smith and Minister Schulz will participate in panels, speaking events and discussions with heads of state, ministers, municipalities, civil society representatives and chief executives from around the world about global issues like greenhouse gas emissions, CCUS, hydrogen, technology and innovation.

I’m not sure how she is championing emissions reduction in Alberta. In 2020, Alberta’s emissions per capita https://www.cer-rec.gc.ca/en/data-analysis/energy-markets/provincial-territorial-energy-profiles/provincial-territorial-energy-profiles-alberta.html are the second highest in Canada at 58.02 tonnes CO2e – three times the national average of 17.68 tonnes per capita. We’ve been increasing every year and have now shiut down any new green, sustainable enegry projects |Read more https://rdnewsnow.com/2023/11/28/smith-and-schulz-to-promote-albertas-climate-and-energy-leadership/ | rdnewsnow.com/2023/11/28/smith…

#abpoli #COP28 #emissions #reduction #environment #leadership #ucp #smith #schulz

Alberta uses Sovereignty Act for 1st time. What happens now?

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she’s using the province’s Sovereignty Act for the first time to challenge Ottawa’s requirements to have a net-zero electricity grid by 2035.

Smith said she wanted to invoke the act to send a message that her government is serious about pushing back against Ottawa’s plan to green Canada’s electricity grid by 2035, a plan she says could wreak havoc on Alberta’s natural gas-based grid.

“We’re creating an opportunity for the federal government to do the right thing and back down,” Smith told reporters.

What is the Sovereignty Act?

The legislation says it gives Alberta the “legal framework to push back on federal laws or policies that negatively impact the province,” and it’s to be used when federal legislation or policy is used in a way that’s “unconstitutional.”

The first step of using it is that the Alberta legislature must debate and adopt a motion that calls a piece of federal legislation “unconstitutional” or deems that it harms Albertans.

Duane Bratt, a political science professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary, says this first step is the easy part.

“That’ll pass. The UCP has a majority government. They may even get some NDP on side to vote in favour of that,” he said prior to the motion being introduced. “The devil is going to be in the details: how do you draft up an action plan to deal with something that hasn’t happened?”

The Sovereignty Act is being used to oppose Ottawa’s Clean Electricity Regulations, which call for all electricity generation to be carbon neutral by 2035. |Read more https://globalnews.ca/news/10118754/opposition-ndp-first-nation-chief-want-public-review-alberta-energy-regulator/ | globalnews.ca/news/10118754/op…

#abpoli #SovereigntyAct #ucp #framework #electricity #grid #unconstitutional

Opposition NDP, First Nation chief want public review of Alberta Energy Regulator

Alberta’s New Democrat Opposition and a prominent First Nations leader are calling for a review of the province’s energy regulator to be held in public, with public input.

Opposition environment critic Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse says the current process, led by a longtime supporter of conservative parties in Alberta, is too secretive.

“Albertans deserve unbiased public oversight,” she said.

“This should be a public review, not a secretive review that the United Conservatives had their paid friend to conduct behind closed doors.”

A recently released document shows David Yager, a longtime oilpatch executive, journalist and conservative activist and fundraiser, is being paid $70,000 to review the Alberta Energy Regulator.

Calahoo Stonehouse said that isn’t good enough.

“We need public oversight that isn’t biased,” she said.

She’s calling for a revamped regulator with new leadership, particularly in light of repeated releases of wastewater from oilsands operations.

<div align=center>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USJvheg2t-E</div>

Above video: April 17, 2023 testimony before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development by Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation.

“At every opportunity, the (regulator) has dismissed our concerns,” Chief Allan Adam said.

Adam said the agency is still investigating two releases of wastewater from Imperial Oil’s Kearl oilsands plant that happened last spring. Meanwhile, another release earlier this month sent another 670,000 litres of water in the Muskeg River that had four times the amount of sediment in it that regulations allow. |Read more https://globalnews.ca/news/10118754/opposition-ndp-first-nation-chief-want-public-review-alberta-energy-regulator/ | globalnews.ca/news/10118754/op…

#abpoli #environment #AER #review #NDP #KearlOilsands #leak