Artist's rendering of Bombardier ALP-45DP Dual Mode Locomotive

When completed, the Mass Transit Tunnel will double passenger capacity into New York city – creating access to high-paying jobs for more than 44,000 New Jersey residents — and will provide an invaluable back-up to the existing rail tunnel, which is more than 100 years old.

The project will finally break the peak-time bottleneck for our commuters, and create the opportunity for more direct trains and express service throughout our entire system, including a one-seat ride to and from Manhattan for passengers on the Main, Bergen, Pascack Valley, Raritan Valley and North Jersey Coast Line.

The long-term benefits that the Mass Transit Tunnel will confer on our economy and environment are incalculable.

Belmar’s many efforts to develop a sustainable community were recognized during the League of Municipalities Conference in November. Belmar was one of only 28 towns (out of 240 who applied, and 566 towns in the State) who met the rigorous requirements for the coveted designation of Certified Sustainable Jersey community in the first year of the program. Attending the November 17 awards luncheon during the League of Municipalities Conference in Atlantic City to accept the award for Belmar were Mayor Ken Pringle and Belmar resident and Belmar Green Team member, Tom Latza. Tom, who is a Rutgers Certified Environmental Steward, served as Belmar’s project coordinator.

“While many of the municipalities were virtually starting from scratch, Belmar can be very proud that it had the vast majority of the requirements already in place. Thanks to the Mayor and Council, the Belmar Environmental Commission, the Shade Tree Commission, the Beautification Committee, the Mayor’s Wellness Campaign and many other organizations with great foresight, my job was mainly documenting the many accomplishments of the Borough,” said Latza.

To become Sustainable Jersey certified, Belmar submitted documentation totaling 190 points in sustainable actions – nearly doubling the minimum 100 required points. The points were available in a number of areas, such as improving energy efficiency and health and wellness, smart land use and transportation, reducing waste, sustaining local economies, protecting natural resources, and addressing diversity and equity.

In addition to reaching 100 points, each community had to create a Green Team and select at least 2 out of 4 priority action options. Belmar did 3 of the 4 priority actions by undertaking Energy Audits in municipal facilities, adopting a Sustainable Land Use Pledge and adopting a Water Conservation Ordinance.

Sustainable Jersey is a certification program for municipalities in New Jersey that want to go green, control costs and save money, and take steps to sustain their quality of life over the long term. The innovative new program is an initiative of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities’ Mayors Committee for a Green Future, the Municipal Land Use Center at the College of New Jersey, the New Jersey Sustainable State Institute at Rutgers University, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the Rutgers Center for Green Building, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, and a coalition of New Jersey non-profits, state agencies, and experts in the field. To learn more about the Sustainable Jersey certification visit www.sustainablejersey.com.

To read the entire press release on Belmar’s Sustainable Jersey certification click here.

Because Kathy and I have been exploring small wind generators for our home for the past several years, we decided it would be a good time to at least install a weather station, and begin gathering data. At Greg Hart’s recommendation, I purchased a Zephyr Weather Center with PC Interface, which is the same model The Big Wind will be using in Belmar to gather wind data. It took me about 30 minutes to assemble the system, and another 20 minutes or so to program it.

My step-daughter, Emily, and I climbed up onto the roof of our house,

Emily poses with the cordless drill we used to drill the screw holes in the chimney. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can see the pipe straps we used to connect the weather station to the chimney.

The actual installation part took less than 20 minutes. The only snafu was when I dropped the cover to the transmitter, and we held our breaths as we watched it slide down the steep valley in our double-gable roof, and only exhaled when it came to rest in the gutter. I had to slide down the valley and fish it out of the gutter, and climb back up to the ridge. But

This perspective gives a sense of the height of our roof (that's a 35-foot flagpole). It also shows our proximity to the Shark River Inlet and the Atlantic.

The wireless signal (915MHz) works like a champ. By the time we got down to our kitchen, some 60 feet away from the sensor, we could already read the data being put out by the Weather Center.

As I finish this post, it’s much later in the evening — nearly 4:00 a.m., to be exact. I woke up to hear the wind blowing pretty strongly and came downstairs to see just how fast. According to my new rooftop weather center, the wind is coming directly from the south at a steady rate of 14.5 mph right now directly from the south. If we had a 1kw roof-top VAWT installed right now, it would be generating some serious electricity. Keep in mind that even though it’s the middle of the night, and there’s little electricity being used in the Pringle-Ellis household right this minute, because New Jersey is a net-metering state, our electric meter would likely be turning backwards right now, in effect banking the savings (at current off-peak rates, see my Time-of-Day Metering Posts) from the renewable electricity that’s being generated now and saving us money later in the day when our family wakes up and begins using electricity again.

The display terminal downstairs records the data, up to 4080 sets before its memory is full, which can then be downloaded periodically to a PC and displayed graphically and archived to enable us to analyze the wind data over time. I will write a separate post once I’ve installed the software and we’ve collected some data, and I will post some of the screen shots from the program. In the meantime, here are some photos from our adventure.

Here's the happy homeowner with his freshly assembled Weather Center sensor mast.

Up the ladder we go. My brother, Chris, was kind enough to loan me a Belmar Electric extension ladder.

I used a masonry bit and some half-inch pipe straps to secure the mast to the chimney.

I used a sailor's handheld navigational compass to make sure the wind sensor was properly aligned to give accurate directional readings.

This shot shows the relationship of our roof to the Ocean and to nearby roofs to the east.

As Will Heyniger explained in his presentation, large scale turbines require a large open land area away from homes because of the noise they generate. They are generally not a realistic option for densely developed communities like Belmar, at least based on current technology. VAWTs, in contrast, are much quieter and smaller in scale. Indeed, some models are designed to be mounted on the roofs of homes and commercial buildings. Unlike HAWTs, which must swivel so their blades can face the wind, VAWTs can capture the wind from any direction with a much smaller footprint. They also can be visually attractive, and some models appear sculpture-like.

Will Heyniger gives a presentation on wind turbine options at a recent Belmar Council meeting

During his presentation, Will Heyniger stressed the importance of gathering accurate location-specific wind data. He noted that because nearby buildings and other structures can affect the wind at a site either positively or negatively (e.g., while sometimes a building can block the wind, occasionally the locations of nearby structures can funnel wind in a way that increases the wind flow nearby), the suitability of a potential location can’t be assessed based upon generally available wind data. The best way to assess a location is by installing a commercial grade anenometer at the location that will record accurate data over a period of time. I will be meeting this week with Greg Hart, who is the CEO of start-up The Big Wind, a Sea Girt-based distributor for Urban Green Energy, a manufacturer of vertical axis wind turbines, to discuss placing a series of data-recording anenometers in various public and private locations in Belmar in order to begin gathering data and assessing and comparing the feasibility of various locations in town.

I will confess that I don’t read everything that comes with my electric bill, so maybe I missed the announcement. But like a lot of other JCP&L customers, I did receive and read a letter a couple of weeks back letting me know that if our electricity usage exceeded 2500 kwh in any month this summer, we’d have to pay a Basic Generation Service (BGS) Summer Peak Surcharge of 9 cents for each kwh we use over 2500 kwh per month. (This peak surcharge has since been rescinded by the BPU, at least for this summer). The idea of an excess charge kind of appealed to me, as a way to encourage people to be more energy conscious in their use and choice of appliances, and also in designing their homes. The letter did make go take a look at my bills and usage for the past year. I found that our average use has been about 1,700 kwh per month (and part of that was attributable to errant electric space heater in our third floor apartment that ran much of the winter before I figured out what had made our bill spike). And even during the summer months, when we our central AC and pool filter are running, our average monthly use barely exceeds 2500 kwh. So, I knew that with even the slightest effort, we’d be able to avoid paying this surcharge.

But I was intrigued by one of the lines in the letter, which said that for “residential Time of Day” or “RT” customers, the BGS Summer Peak Surcharge would be 18 cents in excess of 1000 kwh of peak time of day usage. Yikes!! But, after doing a little math and giving some thought to how we use electricity in the Pringle-Ellis household — and, in particular, how we could use our OmniPro II Home Automation System to help manage our electricity consumption — I realized that switching over to a Time of Day Meter could make sense for us. In fact, because off-peak rates are lower than standard RS rates, we stood to save some serious money by shifting to Time of Day metering. (According to a quick spreadsheet I put together, I caculated that if we could keep our peak/offpeak usage at 800/1700 ratio or better (hopefully, better), we stood to save more than $90 per month during the summer months versus staying with the standard same price residential (RS) service. Just to be sure, I checked our meter one morning at around 8:00 a.m. (the start of the 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. peak metering period), and then again that evening, and figured out that we used about 40 kwh that day, which for a variety of reasons was likely to represent our worst case day, assuming we kept the AC off. And I was already thinking of a few ways we could cut that figure down. In fact, since I put those measures in place, our average peak day usage (again, this is without using our CAC) has averaged between 11 and 13 kwh per day over the past several weeks.

Once we decided to go for it (and when I say “we,” I should note that Kathy asked more than once whether I was really sure this made sense), all it took was a call to the JCP&L number on the letter — 1-800-662-3115 — and within a few seconds I was talking to a service representative (who, I should note, also asked me more than once whether I was really sure this made sense). But after a few minutes of haggling, she saw it was futile to try to talk me out of it, and told me she would send someone over to replace the meter with a Time of Day meter. So, about a week or so later, I noticed that we had a brand electric meter. And not just any meter, we now had an Itron Sentinel Multimeasurement meter!

The Itron Sentinel Multimeasurement Meter flashes the date and the time of day to the second.

The Itron Sentinel Multimeasurement Meter displaying the Peak Usage.

Already this weekend, I’ve changed the settings on the time-clock for the pool filter, so it runs during the night and turns off before the start of peak time at 9:00 a.m. in the morning. I also turned off the refrigerator and unplugged the TV and cable box in our guest apartment. (While I was up there, I turned down the gas thermostat on the hot water heater, — in for a penny, in for a pound, I always say). Kathy and I agreed that we will also try to get in the habit of not running our dishwasher until after 9:00 p.m. (or before 9:00 a.m.), and of doing more laundry on weekends, when off-peak rates are in effect 24 hours a day. In the coming weeks and months, I will post periodic updates on the additional steps we’re taking to reduce our peak-time consumption, and run some projections based on our actual usage.

My OmniPro II home automation system solved that problem for me. The OmniPro II enables you to enter the latitude coordinates of your home. (I went online and found the coordinates of the Coast Guard buoy “SI” that sits 1/2 mile off the Shark River inlet, almost directly east of my house, and used that latitude coordinate). Programmed with this information, the system can automatically calculate sunrise and sunset. So whenever I program a lighting routine on my system, I have the option of choosing a time based on sunset or sunrise. For example, because it’s usually still pretty bright out at sunset, I typically set my outdoor lighting programs to turn on at a half hour after sunset each day. I choose a set time — say, 11:00 p.m. on weekdays (and midnight on weekends) — for when the lights go off. Once you set the program, you never need to revisit it. The “on” time adjusts automatically every day as the days get longer and shorter. And because the system has a battery backup, not even a power outage can knock the OmniPro II off its game. Now, I never have to worry about readjusting the time-clocks as the days get longer and shorter, or settle for leaving my lights on all night. So, the system has given me one less thing to deal with around the house, and helps me avoid wasting electricity.

The research vessel is named the R/V Seahawk, in honor of Monmouth University’s Hawk mascot.  The Seahawk is operated under the auspices of the University’s Urban Coast Institute (UCI), and works closely with the University’s program in Marine and Environmental Biology.  The UCI was formed in 2005 as one of the University’s "Centers of Distinction," with the mission of supporting collaborative programs focused on sustaining the quality of New Jersey’s coastline.   The UCI is a very visible example of the broad academic vision of Monmouth University’s President, Paul G. Gaffney, II, a retired Vice Admiral in the U.S. Navy, where he was the commander of the Navy Meteorology and Oceanography Command and the Chief of Naval Research.  He was also a presidential appointee to United States Commission on Ocean Policy. The UCI purchased the Seahawk with a grant from the National Oceanagraphic and Aeronoautic Administration (NOAA).

The Seahawk is outfitted with sensitive side-scan sonar equipment and some extremely powerful computer hardware and software from SWATHplus Sonars, a division of SEA (Group) Ltd.  The SWATHplus system enables the Sea Hawk to perform sophisticated, and highly accurate, bathymetric surveys of the river bottom. 

I got a tour of the Seahawk and a demonstration of its capabilities when it was in Belmar a few weeks ago, during the commissioning of its sonar rig and software.  My host on the tour was Tony MacDonald, the UCI’s Executive Director and a good friend.  (I sit on the UCI’s Advisory Committee).  At the helm was the captain of the Seahawk, Jim Nickels, UCI’s resident marine scientist.  Also along was Paul Byham , a consultant for SEA (Group) Ltd, the manufacturer of the SWATHplus system.   Paul flew over from his home in Bath, UK to install and commission the system and train Jim Nickels and some Monmouth University students on how to use it.

As Jim Nickels slowly piloted the Seahawk between and among the slips in the Belmar marina, Paul Byham gave me a demonstration of how the bathymetric surveying program works.  (I should note that Paul Byham is an expert in the use of sidescan sonar for bathymetric surveying, and has co-authored articles about the subject and how it the process works).   I watched on a computer screen as the side-scanning sonar transponder did its job, gathering data that enabled the  computer to calculate and graphically depict depths across a broad swath of the bottom, 100 feet or more on either side of the boat’s path — including areas under the docks — with a degree of accuracy in the range of a matter of inches.

As the bottom contour appeared on a computer screen, and I could make out items of debris and shoaling spots on the bottom,  Byham explained that I was only seeing the "rough" data.   This data would be downloaded to onshore computers, which with some human help, will scrub the data to eliminate artifacts caused by sound shadows and "smoothe" the data so that it can be presented visually in a variety ways and from different perspectives.   In case you’re wondering, global positioning system ("GPS") locations are plotted simultaneously as the sonar data is recorded, enabling the survey data to be seamlessly stitched together.   Data obtained from different directions can be overlaid precisely and digitally integrated , forming a comprehensive detailed map of the bottom. This same GPS data will enable the finished survey to be synchronized with government and other publicly available GIS map data, and even uploaded and made part of Google Earth’s data set.

The sonar also has the ability to penetrate the mud and distinguish between different types of bottom consistencies, and can even detect and delineate shellfish beds.   Nickels explained that the software doesn’t know what a shellfish bed looks like, but rather assigns the same category designation (e.g., Category 12 bottom) to each data grouping showing similar characteristics. Later, Nickels explained, he and Monmouth University students will go out and take samples from varying locations, in order to identify the distinguishing characteristics (e.g., Category 12 = clam bed) and will then update the survey map to accurately identify each unique area based on the results of their field work.

Even in its rough form, the flexibility of the data was pretty amazing.  Traditional bathymetric survey maps are totally two-dimensional, showing depths every so many feet (the more frequent the readings, the more expensive the survey) on a paper survey map, with perhaps contour lines that give a general sense of the contour.   With a few clicks of the mouse on either side of channel, Byham was able in seconds to show cut-away views of a channel in any given place, and could quickly identify areas where shoaling has occurred.

When the processing of the data is completed and uploaded to Google Earth, anyone will be able to "travel under" the Shark River, and get an accurate, albeit simulated view of the contours of Shark River’s channels and bottom.

As I got off the boat to head back to my law office, I couldn’t help but think about what a fun jobs Jim Nickels and Paul Byham have.   It was enough to even make me wish I had paid a little more attention back in Sister Antoinette Marie’s high school biology class.  (I did pay attention in Sister Mechtilda’s algebra class, but I still couldn’t understand it).   All of which started me thinking about how great it would be if we could create a program in which Belmar’s children could get a chance to see what I just saw.  Jim Nickels and Paul Byham have the kinds of jobs that most kids don’t know even exist.   If Belmar’s children could see first hand what I saw it might broaden their imaginations about what their futures might hold.  It might even make them want to pay better attention in their science and math classes.

The applications for the Energy Audits are being finalized for submission.

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