Green Energy, Green Jobs, Infrastructure

High Design Leading to Green Jobs

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Amazing New ‘Empowerhouse’ Proves That Green Doesn’t Have To Mean Expensive

By Jared Green
Beaver County Blue via The Grist

Lakiya Culley, an administrative assistant at the U.S. State Department and mother of three, just moved into one of the most innovative, energy-efficient houses in the U.S. – in a rather unlikely location.

Culley lives in Deanwood, a working class, primarily African American neighborhood of Washington, D.C., that has recently struggled with foreclosures. She is now the proud owner of an Empowerhouse, a home that produces all of its own energy, a feat made simpler by the fact that it consumes 90 percent less energy for heating and cooling than a conventional home.

Empowerhouse, which uses “passive house” technologies, was designed by students at the New School and Stevens Institute of Technology as part of the Solar Decathlon design competition, which was held on the National Mall in 2011. Developed in partnership with Habitat for Humanity and the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development, the house marks the first time in the Solar Decathlon’s history that a team partnered with civic and government organizations to make a house a reality in the District.

Solar Decathlon organizers added a new category so that teams could earn points for affordability after some criticism that homes were getting out-of-control-pricey and therefore weren’t realistic real-world models. A home from Germany, for example, cost upwards of $2 million. Each unit of the actual Empowerhouse in Deanwood (there are two apartments in the mini-complex), cost just $250,000, making it affordable in that neighborhood, according to a spokesperson at New School. The model, which was built by Habitat for Humanity volunteers, has been such a hit that six more are being planned for Ivy City, another inner-city neighborhood in the District.

Continue reading High Design Leading to Green Jobs →

Green Energy, Green Jobs, Infrastructure, Solar, unemployment

Solid Arguments for the Green New Deal

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Wind and Solar Power Paired with Storage Could Power Grid 99.9 Percent Of The Time

By Science News
SolidarityEconomy.net via Sciencedaily.Com

Dec. 10, 2012 — Renewable Energy Could Fully Power A Large Electric Grid 99.9 Percent Of The Time By 2030 At Costs Comparable To Today’s Electricity Expenses, According To New Research By The University Of Delaware And Delaware Technical Community College.

A Well-Designed Combination Of Wind Power, Solar Power And Storage In Batteries And Fuel Cells Would Nearly Always Exceed Electricity Demands While Keeping Costs Low, The Scientists Found.

"These Results Break The Conventional Wisdom That Renewable Energy Is Too Unreliable And Expensive," Said Co-Author Willett Kempton, Professor In The School Of Marine Science And Policy In Ud’s College Of Earth, Ocean, And Environment. "The Key Is To Get The Right Combination Of Electricity Sources And Storage — Which We Did By An Exhaustive Search — And To Calculate Costs Correctly."

Continue reading Solid Arguments for the Green New Deal →

elections

Begin Global Insurrection Against Banker Occupation

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Tecumseh
Tecumseh

by Randy Shannon

December 21, 2012

Check!

Our move.

The right wing has collapsed.

The fiscal landscape will now be negotiated between the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Corporate Democrats. This will be a defining moment for the progressives in Congress and their base in labor, PDA, and other progressive organizations. If the movement base unites around core demands and the Congressional Progressive Caucus holds firm, our movement will take off. If the CPC wavers and crumbles it will be over for the Progressive Democrats.

Now we must shift from protest to our opening gambit:

  • a green jobs Marshall Plan

  • big cut in military spending

  • carbon tax

  • Wall Street transaction tax

  • expansion of Medicare coverage,

  • cancellation of student debt

  • restructuring of home mortgages.

December 21, 2012 begins the global insurrection against banker occupation!

elections

Proposed Social Security Cut Harsh Blow to Minorities

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A Social Security cut could lead to higher Latino and black elder poverty

Posted December 19, 2012 at 12:53 pm by Algernon Austin

As my colleagues have shown, the “chained” cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security being discussed between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner is a cut to benefits. The AARP Public Policy Institute’s report, Social Security: A Key Retirement Income Source for Older Minorities, helps us to think about how this cut might affect different racial groups.

Nearly one-in-five (18.7 percent) of the Hispanic elderly lives in poverty. For African Americans, the rate is one-in-six (17.1 percent) (Figure A). A cut to Social Security benefits runs the risk of significantly increasing these rates.

Latinos and blacks tend to have lower lifetime earnings and this fact results in lower levels of Social Security income. But it is also the case that these groups have less wealth and therefore depend on Social Security more. Figure B shows that roughly one-in-four Latino (25.4 percent) and black (26.3 percent) Social Security beneficiaries rely on Social Security for 100 percent of their income. For these individuals, Social Security cuts will hurt the most.

elections

Pittsburgh’s Largest Anti-Union Employer Charged by NLRB

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UPMC charged with union violations

NLRB files complaint against health system
December 20, 2012 12:03 am

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By Ann Belser / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

An ongoing dispute between the UPMC health system and a union working to organize service and maintenance workers at three Pittsburgh hospitals escalated Wednesday, when the National Labor Relations Board charged UPMC with violating federal laws regarding employees’ rights to organize a union.

In a 30-page complaint against the Pittsburgh health care provider, the government detailed a pattern of intimidation of employees to discourage union-organizing efforts and retaliate against those the health provider knew were engaged in union activities.

Robert W. Chester, the regional director of the labor relations board, said Wednesday that it was the biggest case brought against a single employer in the four years that he has headed the Pittsburgh office.

UPMC has denied the allegations. A hearing is scheduled for February.

The complaint seeks to have the hospitals repay any suspended employees for lost time at work, and to reinstate and pay back wages to employees fired for union organizing. The board is also wants the health provider to allow the union access to bulletin boards where employee notices are normally posted and to expunge unlawful policies.

Continue reading Pittsburgh’s Largest Anti-Union Employer Charged by NLRB →

elections, GOP, Voting Rights

No End to Republican Plans to Rig the Vote

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The GOP’s New Electoral College Scheme Includes Pennsylvania

By Reid Wilson
Beaver County Blue via National Journal

Dec 17, 2012 – Republicans alarmed at the apparent challenges they face in winning the White House are preparing an all-out assault on the Electoral College system in critical states, an initiative that would significantly ease the party’s path to the Oval Office.

Senior Republicans say they will try to leverage their party’s majorities in Democratic-leaning states in an effort to end the winner-take-all system of awarding electoral votes. Instead, bills that will be introduced in several Democratic states would award electoral votes on a proportional basis.

Already, two states — Maine and Nebraska — award an electoral vote to the winner of each congressional district. The candidate who wins the most votes statewide takes the final two at-large electoral votes. Only once, when President Obama won a congressional district based in Omaha in 2008, has either of those states actually split their vote.

But if more reliably blue states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin were to award their electoral votes proportionally, Republicans would be able to eat into what has become a deep Democratic advantage.

Continue reading No End to Republican Plans to Rig the Vote →

elections

Rep. John Lewis Slams Proposed Cut to Social Security

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John LewisJohn Lewis Slams Obama’s Fiscal Cliff Proposal to Cut Social Security

By Lauren Victoria Burke
Crew of 42
December 19, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/c2rth2a

Rep. John Lewis quickly came out in opposition against
President Obama’s latest fiscal cliff proposal which
included a cut to Social Security.

“After seniors suffered through two years during some
of the roughest economic times in recent American
history without seeing a Cost of Living Increase, there
are some suggesting a significant change to the formula
used to calculate cost of living adjustments for Social
Security beneficiaries.  An obscure term is being used
to refer to this cut—“the chained Consumer Price Index
or chained CPI”.

Continue reading Rep. John Lewis Slams Proposed Cut to Social Security →

elections

Progressive Caucus Head Rejects “Chained CPI” Cut in Social Security Benefits

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Grijalva.j[gFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 18, 2012

Grijalva Rejects Potential Social Security Benefit Cuts Through “Chained CPI” in Latest Floated Year-End Financial Agreement

Washington, D.C. – Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva today released the following statement on the potential inclusion of a so-called chained Consumer Price Index feature in the latest floated version of a financial agreement.

“Federal law has always prohibited Social Security from contributing to the deficit. Any talk of shrinking the program to ‘save money’ is flawed from the start because Social Security is not part of the national budget in the same way as military spending – it’s paid for through a dedicated payroll tax separate from general budgeting.

“Some have suggested that Social Security benefits should be based on a chained Consumer Price Index (CPI), which assumes that when the price of one item rises, people buy something else – no matter how popular or necessary that original item might be. If this change goes into effect, Social Security benefits would stop reflecting the rising prices of popular goods.

“The average Social Security recipient rakes in a whopping $13,000 a year. If we pass chained CPI, projected annual cuts for a typical retiree would be about $560 a year by age 75, $984 a year by age 85 and $1,400 a year by age 95.

“The less money our Social Security recipients – including 9 million veterans – are able to spend, the less money goes to the businesses that create jobs. Chained CPI makes life harder for millions of retirees, weakens Social Security and doesn’t reduce the deficit by a penny. It’s a Beltway fig leaf that I will never support, and I call on my colleagues to make their feelings known as soon as possible before this becomes yet another piece of conventional wisdom that makes things worse.

“Lifting the cap on high earners paying into Social Security is a real fix that would make the program solvent indefinitely. If we want to talk about solutions, let’s talk about that, not inventing reasons to take money from American retirees.”

Economy, labor, unemployment, Youth and students

Snapshots of Ourselves, the Working Class

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Who are the 23 Million ‘Underemployed’ Workers?

By Heidi Shierholz
Beaver County Blue via EPI.org

Nov 28, 2012 – The number 23 million is often loosely used in public debate to mean the number of people “looking for work.”

But who does this number count and not count? First, it includes 12.3 million people who meet the official definition of unemployment: jobless workers who are actively seeking work.

Second, it includes the 8.3 million workers who are working part time but who want and are available for full-time work (“involuntary” part-timers).

Third, it includes the 2.5 million people who want a job and are available to work, but have given up actively seeking work (“marginally attached” workers). These three groups together—23.1 million strong—make up the group commonly referred to as the “underemployed.”

Who is not counted in that 23 million? Workers who are underemployed in a “skills or experience” sense (e.g., a mechanical engineer working as a barista). Unfortunately, there is no official measure that counts people who are underemployed in this way.

The figure below shows how the number of “underemployed” workers has evolved since 2000. The number of underemployed workers increased over the weak business cycle of 2000–2007 from 10.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2000 to 13.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2007. It then shot up in the Great Recession to a peak of 26.9 million in Oct. 2009 before modestly improving to its current level.

Organizing, Racism, Seniors, Voting Rights

Here We Go Again, Get Ready for Round Two

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Judge Expects Summer Trial on Pennsylvania’s Voter ID Law

By Karen Langley
Beaver County Blue via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

HARRISBURG, Dec 13, 2012 – The legal battle over the Pennsylvania voter ID law is set to continue for months after a judge this morning said he anticipates a summer trial on a request for a permanent injunction.

The law requiring photo identification at the polls was the subject of an extended courtroom battle that resulted in an order lifting the requirement for the election last month while postponing a decision on permanently stopping the law.

Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson, who issued the temporary injunction, said he expects to issue an order in the coming days scheduling a trial for the summer. The schedule would be intended to allow time for the Supreme Court to review the decision before the November 2013 elections.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Patrick Cawley, arguing for the state, suggested holding the trial sooner so the future of the law could be resolved before the May 21 municipal primary. But attorneys for the parties challenging the law argued more time is needed for legal discovery.

The parties referred to the possibility of a hearing in the spring to determine whether the law will be enforced during the May primary election. Karen Langley: klangley@post-gazette.com or 717-787-2141 .