Terra Pass Program

IF you have never used an offset program, here is a chance to balance some of you environmental impact and celebrate Halloween.  We like offset groups like Terra Pass.  By using their calculations and contributing to them based on your carbon emissions, combing your car travel, home and pleasure/business travel, you can easily do your part in pushing renewable energy projects, and can move us all to a more sustainable future.So, we share the below announcement with you and encourage you to join in on the promotion...and, of course, enjoy your candy bar.HAPPY HALLOWEEN!Today ONLY: Get a FREE chocolate bar when you offset your car for a year*If you don't own a car, offset your mummy's! PLUS an even sweeter deal for...

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RI renewable energy projects receive $2.7 million in stimulus funds/Weekend Edition

Thanks to the Providence Journal for providing an update on the most recent EDC, stimulus grants on renewable energy projects. These projects have very quick completion dates--they must be finished by March of next year.  That, of course,  reduced the potential candidates for funding.However, EDC made some good choices, including investing additional money in one of their company success stories, Newport Bio diesel (who, by the way, is a past guest on our show).  This allows Newport Bio Diesel to expand again and, of course, create more job.Send us updates from your states on similar funding and projects.Here's the link to the story:  http://news.providencejournal.com/business/2011/10/ri-renewable-energy-projects-receive-27-million-in-stimulus-funds.html#.TqxNDJuseI0Part...

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Milwaukee County and Kenosha get funds for express bus routes

From an article by Larry Sandler in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:Milwaukee County will get $19.1 million in federal funds to pay for three new express bus routes, the state Department of Transportation and County Executive Chris Abele announced Thursday.Those new routes will partly replace existing local service, as part of Abele's plan to stave off deep cuts that had been recommended in other routes. Regional planners, state staffers and local advisory committees had backed the plan before it received final approval from state Transportation Secretary Mark Gottlieb. Two routes will be funded by $12.7 million of the $15 million previously allocated to the now-defunct KRM Commuter Link rail plan. The remaining $2.3 million will go to Kenosha Transit for new buses.One route will run from Bayshore...

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Pick Up America Takes Zero Waste Message Coast-To-Coast

How sweet when you get kids involved in a global effort to get to zero waste.  Zero waste brings financial gain on every level:  Local communities, states, regions and, equally important, individually as well.  We all pay a significant price for excess waste that we can not properly recycle back into the economy. As we have been saying for months now, this is a key component of the business side of green.So, to the story: Here's the link:  http://greenopolis.com/goblog/litegreen/pick-america-takes-zero-waste-message-coast-coastPart of the story:   "I don't think I've ever heard of anything like this...a group of young people who have banded together to go from Maryland to San Francisco, picking up trash and spreading...

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State urged to beef up clean energy policies to create jobs

From an article by Judy Newman in the Wisconsin State Journal:Two reports show Wisconsin has a significant renewable power industry, but with a stronger state commitment, it could be saving more energy and creating more jobs.Wisconsin has more than 300 businesses involved in wind or solar energy, providing more than 12,000 jobs, according to a study by the Environmental Law and Policy Center in Chicago.It found 171 Wisconsin companies that either produce, sell or install wind power equipment or plan wind development.Another 135 companies are part of the solar energy industry. For example, Cardinal Glass makes solar panels in Mazomanie; Helios recently opened a solar panel factory in Milwaukee."These are real jobs; these are real businesses. Many are existing businesses that are branching out...

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Your Actions Matter/The Nature Conservancy

While on the road we found this announcement that we wanted to share with our viewers.  As you've seen previously, we love to promote collective efforts to conserve resources, which is one of the keystones to any economy...anywhere in the world.  Just look at the lack of water's impact on farming worldwide.The Nature Conservancy in uniting millions, hopefully, for a healthy planet through its new program, All Hands on Earth.  You will find lots more about the program at nature.org.Here's some of what you will find:You want to save the world but it seems like a lot of work. Now you don't have to do it all on your own; we're divvying the duties into bite-sized pieces.One person taking a shorter shower could save 20 gallons of clean drinking water, but will that really have an...

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Wind power amendment shot down

From an article by Mike Ivey in The Capital Times:An effort to push forward with new rules for siting wind towers in Wisconsin has failed. On a largely party-line 60-30 vote, the Republican-controlled Assembly on Thursday voted down an amendment that would have cleared the way for an expansion of wind generated electricity here. The rules for siting of wind turbines were approved by the state Public Service Commission under former Gov. Jim Doyle. But implementation of those rules has been suspended under a directive from Gov. Scott Walker. Walker and others, including Rep. Frank Lasee, R-Ledgeview,have said the rules should be reviewed again, with more consideration given to those living near wind farms. Some residents have complained of noise and visual impacts from wind turbines, which...

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Bloom Fuel Cells back in the News

One quick note:  We are on the road this week, and may have trouble keeping up with daily updates.  We'll try but by Thursday we'll be back in town and on schedule.  Thanks for your patience.  Please send us lots of comments and suggested stories while we are traveling.  That will help a lot.Now, we catch with an interesting story from Greentechmedia on Bloom's fuel cell deal in Delaware.  As Greentechmedia points out, this is Bloom's biggest deal yet, but one that might get very expensive for Delaware residents.  The costs for the factory and, of course, the energy coming out of those fuel cells, will be born by the utility's customers.However, there are new jobs and taxes flowing out of the deal as well, and Bloom has some pedigree investors and board members....

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Vermont Plans to Get 90% of Energy from Renewable Sources by 2050

This promising headline from EcoGeek this week.  Obviously, a lot of things could go wrong, and they may, ultimately, not get to 90%  If you see the comments below the article--http://www.ecogeek.org/wind-power/3615--there's many that doubt VT's ability to reach this goal.  But, even getting close would be a huge success and improvement from where the State is right now.Here it is.  We'll let you decide the merits and how viable this goal may be.  In the meantime we applaud their ambition and vision:Written by Megan Treacy on 10/10/11"Vermont's Department of Public Service has released a new Comprehensive Energy Plan that raises its renewable energy target to 90% by 2050, a huge leap from the 25%...

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Wisconsin slips five notches in energy efficiency ranking

From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:Wisconsin's move to roll back funding increases for programs that help homeowners and businesses save on energy bills was criticized in a report Thursday by a national energy efficiency advocacy group.The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy released a scorecard rating states' efforts in the area of energy efficiency.Wisconsin was in the top 10 several years ago but ranks 16th in this year's scorecard. Massachusetts was the top state overall, and Michigan and Illinois were cited as among the most improved states."Clearly, 2011 has not been kind to our economy, but energy efficiency remains a growth sector that attracts investment and creates jobs," said Michael Sciortino, ACEEE senior policy analyst and the report's...

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Update and thanks to Susan Korte

We normally update the blog daily, but wanted to run the announcements on the Sierra Club show and our move to TV for a couple of days as they are both important milestones.  Our thanks to the guests from the Sierra Club who helped us garner a huge, global audience for this week's premier of their show.We thank all of you, too, for tuning in.A few updates now.  We are fortunate to be working with lots of great groups and people.  We are happy to promote them and their events as they do for our shows.  This is not restricted to any region.  We are happy to take content from anywhere in the world.Our thanks to Susan Korte for her efforts in promoting lots of important material.  We'd like to share...

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No excuse to stall rules on wind farms

From an editorial in the Racine Journal Times:The wind turbines have stopped turning in Wisconsin, figuratively speaking. For months, the rewrite of rules governing the siting of wind energy farms has been stalled. New investments and new jobs also have been stalled because of that, and there is no good reason for it. When Gov. Scott Walker took office in January he worked to short-circuit the rule-making process which was then almost complete after two years. The Public Service Commission had reached a compromise with interest groups which would have placed the wind turbine towers about 450 feet away from the nearest property line but no less than 1,250 feet from the nearest residence. Walker wanted the property line setback increased to 1,800 feet. Ultimately, a legislative committee didn’t...

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New Show on Weds

Couple of big announcements on the show today:    First, we welcome the premier of a great show we shot last month with the Sierra Club.  You can see our promo below.Also, on November 6 we expand the show to local TV by joining the lineup at RI News Channel 5: We also expand our show on WARL 1320 AM with a one-hour, live call-in show, Weds from 12-1p, EST.  The show will be co-hosted by the talented team at EcoNewsRI.  Please listen and call in.Enjoy the sh...

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Thanks to Sipa in Washington DC

For a report, not a good one, from The Financial Express:EU emissions rise sharplyTHE FINANCIAL TIMESBy Pilita Clark, Environment Correspondent"The European Union, home to some of the world’s greenest governments, is about to record the biggest yearly jump in carbon emissions in 20 years, figures show.Economic recovery and an unusually cold winter that saw consumers use their heating for longer and at higher levels helped push 2010 emissions in the bloc up by 2.4 per cent from the previous year, according to preliminary estimates by the European Environment Agency.That is the biggest year-on-year jump since 1990, agency officials said. The previous biggest increase was in 1996, when the 27-member bloc’s emissions rose 2 per cent compared with 1995.The 2010 increase comes after annual emissions...

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Green Chambers/Weekend Edition

This came to us from the San Francisco Green Chamber:Last Friday was a monumental day for shark conservation advocates along the West Coast and around the world including the SF Bay Area Green Chamber of Commerce! Governor of California Jerry Brown signed into law AB 376, The California Shark Protection Act, which from this day forward bans the sale, trade, or distribution of shark fins off the California coast. California has now joined the ranks of other states taking action to protect sharks in coastal waters such as Washington (2011) and Hawaii (2010) and Oregon will hopefully be next!Benefit Corporation Legislation Passes in CAThis week we had another big win in California! Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 361 into law.According to B Corp organization, the...

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Find Wisconsin solar hot water installations on new online interactive map

More information Michael VickermanExecutive Director608.255.4044mvickerman@renewwisconsin.org From the North Woods to the Illinois border, from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River, growing numbers of Wisconsin factories, businesses, schools, hospitals, fire stations, apartment buildings and breweries have installed systems that heat their water with the power of the sun.A newly launched online map on RENEW Wisconsin’s web site displays the locations of more than 60 nonresidential solar hot water systems installed in the state. Each flagged system is accompanied by a box containing information on the owner, installation contractor, system size and date of installation. Many of these systems are linked to their installers’ web sites, accompanied by photos.The solar hot water map joins the...

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Nissan Unveils 10 Minute Electric Vehicle Charger

One quick change to today's post:  Thank you to Articles4Wrting4WebHosting  for their kind comments.  We appreciate all feedback.  Please get in touch with your ideas for blogs, shows and other content, and let us know how we are doing, good or bad.If we use your ideas, we will fully acknowledge your contribution.This is fantastic news...exactly what we need to make EV's practical.  We applaud Nissan and their partners for this amazing jump in technology, and we plan on profiling their new unit on a future show.  For now we hope this is incentive enough for you to consider a future change to an electric vehicle:"Nissan just announced that, in conjunction with Japan’s Kansai University, it has built an electric...

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Innovative solar program in New Jersey

Purchasing solar panels, even despite the recent drop in prices and helpful rebates from the state still presents a rather expensive venture to many people with typical costs climbing up to tens of thousands of dollars. Therefore it is always more than welcome when some company comes up with the innovative ideas that would save customers lot of money while still providing them with clean,...

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From Sierra Club: Join us for National Plug In Day this Sunday‏

As you know, we are very big proponents of moving to electric vehicles.  We believe it restores a great deal of health back to our ecological and global economic health.  A huge win-win.Towards that end, we are jumping in and helping promote the upcoming Plug in Day.  Please join us at one of the selected cities and sights.  Our thanks to Sierra Club, whose show with us premiers next week, for including us in the event." I'm very excited to share that this Sunday, October 16, National Plug In Day events will roll through more than 20 cities nationwide.  Check to see if you live near one of the cities, and if so, I hope you'll join us for one of them and invite your friends and colleagues! Sierra Club has been very pleased to team up with...

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Renewable Now News Report

Go to Arpin Broadcast Network or EcoNewsRI to wat...

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RSF Social Finance

Before we get on to today's blog, we want to thank Samual James for his kind comments on our blog.  We really appreciate all feedback, suggestions and ideas for new blogs and shows.We appreciate it, Samual, and please keep reading and sharing our blog with others.Found this non-profit with a very interesting focus on "transforming the way the world works with money".  One of the strategies they use, we find intriguing, is their investment in fixing our "broken" food chain, an issue we've covered many times.RSF Social FinanceRSF Social Finance (RSF) is a pioneering non-profit financial services organization dedicated to transforming the way the world works with money. In partnership with a community of investors and donors, RSF provides...

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Greenopolis.com

Very nice site with great daily green tips.Here's an article on e-waste collections, but keep in mind that Arpin and a host of other sponsors are having an e-waste event on Sat, Oct 22, at the West Warwick Industrial Park.  The event includes collection of e-waste (almost any kind of electronics), batteries, shredding of your sensitive docs and blood drive, flu shots and lots more.  All to benefit the fuel assistance program of the Artic Mission (thearticmission.com) to keep people warm this winter.  Contact us or go to their site for more information.Here's the story from Greenopolis:  Best Buy, Energy Star and DoSomething.org Team up for Teen E-Waste DriveEvery year U.S. residents throw away between 300 and 400 million...

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GE to bring solar-powered carports to a parking lot near you/Weekend Edition

GE is aggressively moving into green technology and sustainable products.  We've talked about their investment in electric recharging facilities, and now they are introducing solar carports for commercial and corporate carports.We've believed that companies are going to be a huge influence, good or bad, on EV's taking hold.  These carports will be one piece of the infrastructure needed to make charging convenient.  This is really good news on our way to electric vehicles and away from imported oil.The link:  http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2115427/ge-bring-solar-powered-carports-parking-lot-near.Part of the story:   GE teams up with Inovateus Solar to bolster presence in fast-expanding...

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Why We Need a National Ocean Policy

This is a great article on Think Progress.  You will want to read the entire article, and there is the link: http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/10/05/336251/why-we-need-a-national-ocean-policy/--but we will share some of it here. Interesting, that some states--including Mass RI, have taken the lead in "ocean zoning" which, as you will read, structures the best possible use of our oceans--throughout the world--as economic anchors.  And, as we've been talking about regularly, our natural resources are the foundations of our financial infrastructure.Take a look at some of this story: "Contrary to the GOP efforts to portray the National Ocean Policy as a hyper-regulatory economic anchor, the principles contained in the policy...

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