From: Rita Schenck [mailto:rita@iere.org]
Sent: Friday, April 05, 2002 9:15 AM
To: Rita Schenck
Subject: Sustainable Energy Update #2

Friends:

We are moving ahead on our energy study. In the last couple of weeks we have been gathering data about the island's energy use and resources, as well as beginning the task of searching for funding and doing more outreach.

Thanks to Puget Sound Energy, we now know quite a bit about the energy use patterns on the island. Our base electric load is about 6 megawatts, with peaking loads of about 22 megawatts. The peaks happen in the winter during morning hours. During the summer, daily loading is almost flat. The same pattern is reflected in natural gas usage. We use more in winter, and there is a double peak of use in early morning and early evening hours in the winter, with almost flat and lower consumption in the summer. Between electric and gas heating, we have the information for about two thirds of the home heating use on the island. Unfortunately, the heating oil and propane vendors on the island are reluctant to disclose their sales, and so we will have to estimate those numbers. We estimate that the island consumes about 450,000 gallons of gasoline per year, based on the annual per capita gas consumption for King County.

We have been looking at our resources, too. The tidal current in Colvos Passage averages 1.25 knots, with a range from about 1 to 1.7 knots over the tidal cycle. We produce 400 tons dry weight of septage, and 1900 wet-weight tons per year of food waste (much of this is from the tofu factory on the island). The landfill produces about 15 million cubic feet of methane a year. Tracking down the wood production on island has proved to be difficult, as the "sustainable forests" are not really being harvested--instead, the wood harvest is driven by development. We have identified several sources of wind data (for example, the ferries gather wind information). We are in the process of modeling that data to get a picture of the wind resources on the island.

The Beachcomber, the Island's biggest newspaper, ran a story about our project on the front page last week-- with a follow-up this week. I've also been asked to speak at the Kiwanis meeting later this month, and Voice of Vashon, the streaming internet radio station on the island has requested an interview.

We are seeking funds from many sources-- since we need about $250,000 to get this project to the point where whoever eventually owns the generation capacity will take over. We have applied for $25,000 to NAFTA, which has a community energy grant program this year, and we have begun outreach to other funders-- so far including the Packard Foundation and the Bullitt Foundation. We invite anyone who has ideas about funding to share them with us.

We also invite you to share this note with anyone you believe would be interested. We will gladly add the names of anyone who requests it to this mail list. Likewise, if you wish to be removed, send me a note and I'll remove your name.

Best Regards,

Rita Schenck
Institute for Environmental Research and Education
P.O. Box 2449
Vashon, WA 98070

206-463-7430
206-279-1570 (fax)
rita@iere.org