“Hey man, don’t cage the wind, let the wind roam free!”
Free Solar Installation - CT Clean Energy Communities Program
Published July 21, 2008 renewables 0 CommentsA CT town becomes a “CT Clean Energy Community” by “completing three steps:
- Commit to SmartPower’s 20% by 2010 clean energy campaign.
- Sign on to the CTCleanEnergyOptions program either:
• 10% of a community’s households;
• 100 residential customers;
• a commercial or industrial customer with 1 gigawatt-hour clean energy demand;
• 100 customers from a regional school district. - Make a municipal clean energy purchase.
By meeting the above criteria, your town or city can qualify for one or more free solar clean energy systems from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund.”
source: http://www.ctcleanenergy.com/communities/ccec.php
Where is New London at on these?
1 - already signed on to the plan in May 2007 - see the resolution
2 - 71 residential customers have signed up for clean energy, so only 29 to go
3 - NL may be purchasing electric power fairly soon; clean energy could be part of that…
Press release about East Lyme just joining the program…
Interesting article about a plastic recycling plant in California that uses CO2 emissions from its power generation to help recycle the plastic, avoiding the need to use massive amounts of water. A nice work-around to CA regulations limiting water usage but even more importantly, a closed-loop system using waste in the industrial process.
Ideas from the Federal Realm
Published June 26, 2008 charrette , computers , conference , diesel , financing , green building , recycling 0 CommentsHere is some information from a federal environmental conference I went to earlier this month. While a lot pertained to federal governmental agencies, much can be applied at the local level as well.
- Financing – there are many different ways to finance clean energy, energy efficiency, etc. projects. One interesting point that came up was to use savings from one program as a finance stream for another. For example, imagine a town wants to put in a solar installation but is coming up short on financing. Suppose the town recently implemented a PC power management system costing $25,000 but resulting in annual savings of $45,000. After the relatively short pay-back period of the PC system (less than one year), the $45,000 annual savings can be treated as a finance stream for the solar project.
- A charrette is an intense brainstorming design session. The USDA held one to come up with a sustainable redesign of the grounds of their headquarters near the Washington Monument. It was very successful. Here is a write-up (pdf, 2.7 Mb) of it in Landscape Architect Magazine With all of the potential redevelopment on the table in NL, and the impact it will have on citizens, charrettes should be a key part of the process.
- An interesting point made by one of the USDA speakers was how they worked with their existing landscape contractor who did not initially know how to do some of the green modifications, such as a green roof. But the contractor learned along the way and now markets its ability to do green roofs. The same could hold here.
- EPA WasteWise website – this provides tools to help businesses, towns, etc. manage their solid waste. It includes a section on waste reduction with guides and success stories.
- The nationwide recycling rate is 32.5% according to an EPA official. What is New London’s rate? Update: Some data that came into my hands recently indicates NL’s rate is around 26% for 2006-2007.
- A few talks dealt with computers and PC power management. There are programs out there (EZSave, EZ GPO, Verdiem Surveyor, …) that run over networks to ensure PC’s go into power-save mode when not in use. There is also a federal government environmental computer purchasing standard known as EPEAT. So the city of NL’s computers could be a target of these kinds of programs.
- Another talk compared two green building certification standards: LEED and Green Globes. The latter sounded more focused on energy use, and so could also be relevant to NL’s buildings. There was also a talk about a LEED building performance study. The results were generally positive, with LEED buildings using 25-30% less energy than non-LEED buildings. The study was commissioned by the USGBC (of LEED fame) and completed by the New Building Institute. It is available here.
- Finally, the EPA has some clean diesel engine retrofits programs, one of which is called CleanSchoolBusUSA program. I have a contact a EPA who works on this. The EPA is also part of the Northeast Diesel Collaborative (NEDC) which runs a number of programs in this part of the country.
–IDF
RecycleBank is a recycling program for towns that rewards residents based on the amount they recycle. Recycling bins are weighed automatically when picked up and points redeemable for discounts at places like Starbucks and Regal Cinemas are awarded based on the weight of the bin contents. It sounds like it has been pretty effective, according to a recent article in E Magazine (Relearning to Recycle, July/Aug ‘08):
- Wilmington, DE saved $500,000 in one year by diverting trash from landfill to recycling
- Cherry Hill, NJ recycling rates went from 9 lbs per week to 17
More locally it is being used in Hartford and parts of Groton, Stonington, Norwich and Montville. It often starts off as a pilot project in part of a town, then expands. See this day article to read about the local towns. I have a copy if you don’t have access. Could be worth exploring in NL. -IDF
There was a little piece in today’s Day about a NL transit hub study that’s about to begin. One possible outcome is that some transit be centered on Fort Trumbull. The Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments is administering the study, which is being executed by a Kansas City, MO company. Will local stakeholders will be involved in the process?
Interesting program aired last week about sustainability efforts in Cambridge, MA: Save Energy, Save Money, Save the Planet. It described a significant apparatus built up around helping small businesses finance energy efficiency improvements that would normally require a large capital outlay. This is the kind of thing NLSC could work on with local businesses, possibly through NL Local First.
North Stonington is holding a clean energy fair on April 5 at North Stonington Elementary School, 311 Norwich-Westerly Road (Route 2), from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Here’s a story in the Day about it (the link may not work after a few days). Originally intended to draw sign-ups for the CTCleanEnergyOptions program, it was expanded to include vendors and government agency representatives:
The fair will have vendors with solar and wind power systems, outdoor wood-burning furnaces, energy-efficient light bulbs and other ways to save money and fuel. Representatives of federal and state agencies will be on hand to answer questions. For those who want to save money at the gas pump, Valenti Toyota of Westerly and Cardinal Honda of Groton are bringing examples of their hybrid cars.
Seems like another thing we might want to emulate not to mention attend. Some of the same vendors and government representatives might be interested in doing more than one such fair. If NLEDO and/or the school sustainability group is interested, we could join forces. — IDF
Cape Wind…Sustainable energy for our neighbors to the north
Published March 12, 2008 book 0 CommentsTags: Cape wind, New London, Sustainability, Wendy Williams, wind energy
Greetings, this is my first post as a blog contributing author. Roaming about the library to get out of the rain Saturday I picked up the new “Cape Wind” by Wendy Williams and Robert Whitcomb. I couldn’t put it down and finished the easy to read 300 pages by Sunday night. It gives a down to earth, and easy to follow, albeit scary, picture of the politics surrounding the cape wind project. With so many of the issues and players having potential links to New London due to the proximity I think it is a must read! The story is an excellent one for anyone interested in renewable energy, current politics, or just a good drama. If nothing else it gives me great hope for the impact our little committee may have. Wendy Williams will be speaking at Brown University next Tuesday (free and open to the public). Four more public hearings are being held this week for the cape wind project. The final hearing will be Thursday night from 6pm-midnight at UMASS Boston. -MJP
