Green Energy Times

Town’s approval of wind project blows promise into Vermont wind movement.

<March 8, 2010. LOWELL, Vt. (AP) – Last month, about 40 people from this northern Vermont town piled into a coach bus for a daylong trip to Lempster, N.H.

It wasn’t a tourism outing. The trip was arranged so people here could get a firsthand look at the windmills of the Lempster Wind Power Project before they voted on whether to endorse plans for a wind project in their town.

“We had people in doubt who came back feeling supportive because of what they saw and what they heard,” said Andy Tetreault, 67, of Lowell, a former dairy farmer who helped arrange the outing on behalf of the developers of Kingdom Community Wind. “They were actually converted by the trip.”

And then some.

When the Kingdom Community Wind came to a vote last week at Town Meeting, residents voted 342-114 in favor of it — providing a welcome gust for both the project and a movement thus far beleaguered by setbacks and delays in Vermont.

It still needs regulatory approval, but the size of the project and its resounding approval at the polls are noteworthy.

Despite its clean-and-green image, Vermont has been reluctant to embrace wind power, in part because people fear that towering windmills will spoil the mountain landscapes that are the state’s signature. Citizen opposition has delayed the start of several commercial wind projects, including a 16-turbine project by First Wind Corp. in Sheffield.

“The ball hasn’t been rolling fast in Vermont,” said James Moore, clean energy advocate for the Vermont Public Interest Research Group. “This is a real turning point. In large part, the reason we haven’t seen significant wind development is we haven’t had the leadership to make it happen — whether that’s the governor, the utilities or whatever.

“This is the beginning of something very different, which is aggressive support by those in power — namely the second-largest utility in the state — that’s both great for the local economy and provides affordable, safe, renewable energy for their customers,” said Moore.

The project, a partnership of Green Mountain Power Corp. and Vermont Electric Co-Op, calls for construction of up to two dozen 400-foot tall wind turbines along a three-mile stretch of Lowell Mountain range ridgeline. The windmills, built mostly on leased private land, would generate up to 63 megawatts of power — enough to power about 20,000 homes.

Not that it was an easy sell in Lowell.

Many were leery about the prospect of giant windmills sprouting from hilltops. Green Mountain Power Corp., which would finance construction of the wind turbines, hired Tetreault and his wife, opened a local “office” in their 19th-century farmhouse and spent about a year lobbying for the project in Lowell.

Sweetening the pot: Green Mountain Power Corp.’s promise to pay $400,000 to $500,000 in annual payments in lieu of taxes to the town, whose government has an annual budget about $420,000 a year.

When the vote came last week, residents opted not to take it up in a floor discussion, instead agreeing to go ahead with the vote.

Next month, the project’s developers will apply for a certificate of public good from the state Public Service Board. Once that is obtained, construction can begin. Green Mountain Power hopes to be generating power by end of the 2012.

Now, a sign hangs from the Tetreault’s porch — “Thanks for your support — Kingdom Community Wind and Gert & Andy Tetreault.”

“It’ll give us a break,” said George Sargent, 57, a contractor, stopping for gas Friday at the Lowell General Store. “There’s no business here. You’ve got to have something to spur it. The way I look at it, it’s better than putting in a prison.”>

Solar for your Business

“Solar can be a Good Business Investment”

Thursday, March 11, 7 – 9pm
Draker Solar Building
12-22 North Street, Burlington
Call 802-363-1474 for directions

Free seminar, presented by DC Energy Innovations, installers of solar and wind energy systems, on using solar to make your business greener and to make a sound business investment at the same time.
We will cover the basics of a grid-connected business scale solar electric (photovoltaic) system including the solar components and how they can be mounted on the building. We will also cover the economics of a business scale solar system and how it can be a good business investment.

So, please come to get informed and see how solar can be a wise choice … for your business’ bottom line and the planet!

For more information go to:  http://bit.ly/7PRX7u

Also, Burlington residents and business owners, Save the Date! On Wednesday, March 24th, we will have a special free seminar about the Burlington POWER program.

In the POWER program, the city borrows money and loans it to homeowners and business owners at a low interest rate to help pay for solar electric systems and other energy saving measures.

We’ll be posting more information in the coming weeks about this special seminar.

The Greater Burlington Multicultural Resource Center

Presents

The 2010 Diversity Conference

Monday, March 29, 2010
at the Hilton Hotel
60 Battery Street
Burlington, Vermont

Conference Objective
The Conference will explore the challenges and possibilities that are faced in the workplace today.

We will also seek to explore the leadership roles that are exercised as we try to empower ourselves and our communities of color.
The speakers will include public intellectuals and scholars who are able to address diversity
and inclusion.

March 2, 2010

Controversial ideas take center stage at NESEA’s “Public Forum” during BE10 Conference

BuildingEnergy 2010

“The Public Forum is an opportunity to invite the public into the ‘NESEA lair’,” says John Abrams, moderator of the Public Forum and author of The Companies We Keep. “I don’t really know to what degree that works, but I do know that the forums have, of late, been kicking off the Building Energy conferences by tackling big issues – sometimes very controversial ones – in an open setting that fosters compelling conversation. My hope is that all attendees will leave with something new – a new idea, a new perspective, a new approach – and more fire-in-the-belly than they had when they came in and sat down.”

Jennifer Marrapese JD MA, interim executive director of NESEA agrees. “This is not the kind of event where people will hear a litany of all the things that are wrong – this session is about experts sharing what real people are doing to create change, connect with their neighbors and figure out a new way, at the grassroots level. It’s a great shot in the arm!”

Towns Printing Their Own Currency

Towns like Lenox, MA, Ithaca, NY and Burlington, VT are issuing their own legal tender as a way of emphasizing that money needs to stay within a town’s borders. In Lenox, residents are shopping for goods and services with what they call “Berkshares.”

“It used to be I could trade you 10 of my chickens in return for your help building my fence, and no one thought anything about it,” says Andrew Webster, a project manager at Coldham & Hartman Architects and the primary organizer of the Public Forum. “Within cities like Lenox or Ithaca, this legal tender accomplishes the same thing – you just don’t have to walk around with ten chickens under your arm.”

Webster adds, “But, seriously, this has an important purpose. Americans are sick of money leaving their communities. What does a big box store like Walmart give back to residents? The overwhelming majority of that money goes streaming into corporate coffers. Lenox’s use of “Berkshares” ensures that commerce (and the benefits of commerce) stay local, and that our natural resources are not abused in order to bring goods and services into town from hundreds – if not thousands – of miles away.”

Perhaps you’re wondering, “isn’t it against the law for an entity other than the US government to print legal tender?” It’s not as cut and dried as you might think.

Food as a National Security Concern

The idea that fossil fuel availability impacts our national security is not new. But do you realize food is also a major national security issue?

Sharon Astyk, writer of A Nation of Farmers and a Public Forum panelist, thinks we need to start paying attention to – and protecting – our food supply before it’s too late.

“My philosophy is ‘grow food everywhere’ and don’t depend on the fact that in the event of a national crisis you can continue to expect your food to be shipped in from miles away,” says Astyk. “We think it’s time to re-invent the Victory Garden, and grow food in whatever available public space we have. Why should we plant decorative trees on our public land when we can plant apple trees or walnut trees instead?”

Astyk continues, “More than one billion people suffer from chronic hunger, which means to address this problem we will have to produce more food in the next 50 years than we have in all of human history. I hope that idea effectively brings home how large the question of our food security is – because I think most people in the developed world see food as largely trivial. Even movements towards better food tend to work under the assumption that someone (farmers) will take care of providing better, safer food for us, if we simply ‘create demand.’ Thus we set ourselves up as baby birds, mouths wide open, waiting for someone to provide our needs.”

Here are a few surprising statistics:

• The average distance a bite of food travels before we eat it is 1,500 miles (from Energy Use in the US Food System)
• After cars, the food system uses more fossil fuel than any other sector of the economy. A system that in 1940 produced 2.3 calories of food for every calorie of fossil fuel it used has become one that requires 10 calories of fossil fuel energy to produce a single calorie of modern supermarket food (NY Times Magazine, October 9, 2008)
• If residents of even a small state like Vermont substituted local production for only 10 percent of the food they import, it would result in $376 million in new economic output, including $69 million in personal earnings from 3,616 new jobs (Bill McKibbin, Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future)

Other topics to be discussed at the Public Forum include:

Public Forum panelist Tina Clarke scrapped her promising career to become a Transition Town instructor. The international Transition Town movement is happening in hundreds of towns around the Globe, where people learn positive ways to create change and make progress around issues like sustainability. Her next local training session takes place on February 27-28, 2009 at the Woolman Hill Retreat Center in Deerfield, Massachusetts. TinaClarke@transitionnetwork.org

Panelist Linda Wiginton (Affordable Comfort) issues her Thousand Home Challenge, a pilot program to reduce home energy use by 70-90%.

According to Public Forum moderator John Abrams, “for the price of a good used car, any employee should be able to become an owner of a business” – he did it, hear how his innovative co-op model works.

Why downtown Detroit, beleaguered and desolate by anyone’s standards, could turn its economy around by growing food within its urban center.

How Co-op Power, a consumer-owned sustainable energy cooperative is building community owned green jobs and re-inventing the Amish Barn Raising. Co-op Power’s multi-racial, multi-class membership is bringing neighbors together at more than 50 homes across the region where, “You help others upgrade their homes by installing a solar hot water system or energy efficiency improvements, and everyone will come and help you upgrade your home.” Because of Co-op Power’s commitment to equity and justice, much of their green jobs business development work focuses on creating good jobs for people in limited resource communities and communities of color.

To register for the BuildingEnergy Conference and Trade Show, call 413.774.6051 or visit  http://www.nesea.org/buildingenergy/.

COLCHESTER, VT.  (Marketwire – March 02, 2010) – Voters in Lowell today approved 342 to 114 to support the development of the Kingdom Community Wind project proposed by Green Mountain Power and Vermont Electric Cooperative, 75 percent of the votes cast.

“We are thrilled that the people in Lowell have overwhelmingly embraced the idea of harnessing the wind on Lowell Mountain to bring stably-priced, renewable power to customers of Green Mountain Power and Vermont Electric Cooperative,” said Mary Powell, president and chief executive officer of Green Mountain Power. “This project is different than many that have been proposed, in that GMP and VEC customers will benefit from utility-owned generation and in the way we included the community in a broad discussion of the benefits of the project.”

Town officials reported that 456 of 581 registered voters cast ballots in the voter-approved Australian vote, including more than 200 absentee ballots.

David Hallquist, chief executive officer of Vermont Electric Cooperative, said, “The large voter turnout in Lowell showed that people thought carefully about the benefits of this project and wanted to express their opinions. We are so pleased that the voters — all members of VEC — believe that this is a project that should move forward.”

The proposed wind farm will be located on Lowell Mountain in the town of Lowell, and will have associated transmission and substation upgrades in Lowell, Westfield and Jay. It will be located on private land and consist of 20-24 wind turbines with a rated capacity of 2.5 to 3.0 megawatts (”MW”) each and a maximum capacity of up to 63 MW. The final number and capacity of the wind turbines have not yet been determined, and will depend in large part on the results of on-site wind resource assessment, environmental and other studies. The site could potentially provide enough locally-generated, carbon-free renewable electricity to meet the annual needs of 20,000 average Vermont households.

Green Mountain Power and Vermont Electric Cooperative have met frequently with local townspeople to ensure that they fully understand what is being proposed, including meeting in neighbors’ homes and going door-to-door to answer questions.

“We have set a new standard for how wind plants should be developed in Vermont,” said Ms. Powell. “We have demonstrated that by communicating openly and regularly and ensuring local benefits, Vermonters can support wind power in their communities. We appreciate the trust the community has placed in us and we will do our best to make Kingdom Community Wind a project they can be proud of,” she added.

Mr. Hallquist said, “We really appreciate how the people of Lowell took the time to meet with us and learn about the project, including accompanying us on day-long trips to see an operating wind farm in New Hampshire. Many, many people have been very thoughtful in considering what a wind farm will bring to their community.”

Green Mountain Power and Vermont Electric Cooperative have said that they would only move forward with the project if the host town supported it. Now that the vote results are in, the companies will begin the process of applying to the Vermont Public Service Board for a Certificate of Public Good.

“We look forward to the full exploration of this project in the Vermont Public Service Board review process, and hope to receive approval so that we can bring this resource to our customers,” Ms. Powell and Mr. Hallquist said. “We believe this project will bring economic benefits to the Northeast Kingdom,” they added.

About Green Mountain Power
Green Mountain Power (www.greenmountainpower.com) transmits, distributes and sells electricity and utility construction services in the State of Vermont in a service territory with approximately one quarter of Vermont’s population. It serves more than 200,000 people and businesses.

Central Vermont Solar’s John Blittersdorf, graciously submitted a simple, yet thorough explanation of Renewable Energy options in our February 15th Issue* of Green Energy Times! This is a very worthy piece of information, complete with pictures of examples to help you understand the whole process.  We hope it serves to help you move into Energy Independence!  Read it here: G.E.T.

You can reach CV Solar at 802-747-0577.  They also offer free workshops at their business: 104 River Street,
Rutland VT 05701  Also see their advertisement in all of our issues of Green Energy Times.

We are proud to have CV Solar be a part of G.E.T.!  As John says: “There is not any other publication devoted to renewable energy out there, here in the northeast – especially one that is simple enough to understand.”

If you have more questions, include them in a comment to this posting. We will make sure to answer them.

*Watch for the complete February 15th Issue of Green Energy Times, available here ……soon!

COLCHESTER, VT  February 18, 2010

Green Mountain Power has submitted a plan to the Vermont Public Service Board to offer LED (Light Emitting Diode) lights to replace worn-out mercury vapor lights in streetlights throughout its service area. The Colchester utility is the first electric utility in New England — and one of only a handful in the country — to offer an LED-specific rate to customers for outdoor lighting.

“Offering this new lighting technology to our customers furthers Green Mountain Power’s commitment to being an environmentally responsible company,” said Mary Powell, Green Mountain Power president and chief executive officer. “By promoting energy efficient technology we help customers to reduce the amount of energy they use and we also protect Vermont night sky.” The type of LED lights being used are full cut off, meaning no light will shine above the fixture.

If approved by regulators, customers will be able to request LEDs if they are installing new streetlights, or if existing fixtures fail. Mercury vapor lights, among the least efficient of lighting products, will no longer be used for new lighting and will be phased out over time.

LEDs, traditionally used in Christmas tree lights or basketball scoreboards, use a different technology from standard incandescent light bulbs. They don’t have a filament that can burn out and don’t get especially hot. LEDs derive their light from the movement of electrons in a semiconductor material.

The LED fixtures GMP is planning to use also play an important role in reducing light pollution and glare. They direct 100 percent of the light below the fixture, with no light escaping above the fixture.

The LED technology is gaining in popularity nationwide, as studies suggest that complete conversion to LED lights could decrease carbon dioxide emissions from electric lighting by up to 50 percent in just over 20 years.

A 2008 report by the McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm, found that replacing commercial lighting with LEDs and compact fluorescent lights has the greatest potential to reduce greenhouse gases when compared with other options that use existing technology. The report found that converting those light sources could abate 240 megatons of carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. by 2030.

For fact sheets and more information about LEDs, visit the U.S. Department of Energy Web site at: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/ssl/using_leds.html.

About Green Mountain Power
Green Mountain Power (www.greenmountainpower.com) transmits, distributes and sells electricity and utility construction services in the State of Vermont in a service territory with approximately one quarter of Vermont’s population. It serves more than 200,000 people and businesses.

Just In!

DC Energy Innovations will be presenting our first free seminar on solar.

Solar Electric for Homeowners

“Focus on Financing Options”

7 – 9pm

Free seminar, presented by DC Energy Innovations, installers of solar and wind energy systems.

• The seminar will cover basics of a home scale solar electric (photovoltaic) system including the components and how they are mounted.

• They will also focus on ways to pay for a home scale system with a special section about the proposed Burlington Clean Energy Assessment District question on this March’s town meeting ballot.
Refreshments will be served.

A palindrome reads the same backwards as forward. This video reads the exact opposite backwards as forward.  Not only does it read the opposite, the meaning is the exact opposite.

This is only a 1 minute, 44 second video and it is brilliant.   Make sure you read as well as listen, forward and backward.

This is a video that was submitted in a contest by a 20-year old.   The contest was titled “u @ 50″  by  AARP. This video won second place. When they showed it, everyone in the room was awe-struck and broke into spontaneous applause.  So simple and yet so brilliant. Take a minute and watch it.

<a rel=”nofollow” href=”http://youtu.be/42E2fAWM6rA” target=”_blank”>http://youtu.be/42E2fAWM6rA>

Watch the newstands, supermarkets, general stores, libraries, gas stations….  for our new issue that goes to press on Monday, Feb. 15th.  It will be available starting on Tuesday, the 16th!

If you would like to have them mailed to your home, so you don’t miss a copy (they go like hot cakes!), go to the adverting page and order your subscription today – or you can simply e-mail your name, address, phone # to: nancy@greenenergytimes.org  Rates are on the advertising page on this website – top menu bar!  We take credit cards on-line and cks in them mail…

Let us know your thoughts, questions you might like answered in future issues of Green Energy Times, and also let us know how you, personally are making a difference with your efforts to reduce those carbon emissions!!  We welcome the 100 Energy Comittees in Vermont and New Hampshire to send us what you have accomplished, plan to accomplish, events & happenings, ideas & suggestions, connections….

Watch for us and let us know if you can’t find the publcation near you and where you would like to see it be available!!!

Next Issue will be our Anniversary Issue on May 4th, 2010!!!  Thank you all for making our efforts to bring the information found in G.E.T. worthwhile!

Most of all, we hope we have effected change in this beautiful place where we all live!

Let us know your Renewable Energy Story!  You might make the paper!