Democrats to Turn Spotlight on Energy Efficiency This Week
By Katherine Ling, The New York Times/Greenwire, Mar. 8, 2010
Democrats will turn the focus to energy efficiency standards and incentive programs this week with hearings in the Senate and House energy panels.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) is a champion for energy efficiency and has pushed stakeholders and focused his staff on improving standards across the board this session. He is also leading efforts to get energy efficiency tax incentives for home and commercial building included in the Democrats' jobs agenda.
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Institute Certifies First 'Green Technicians'
Press Release Inside Indiana Business, Mar. 8, 2010
INDIANAPOLIS Indiana's surging clean-energy industry thrust new green jobs into the limelight today during a ceremony to certify the states first graduates of the Electrical Training Institutes Indianapolis Electrical Apprenticeship program.
In receiving their certifications, the 14 Green Technicians displayed an array of solar panels and a wind turbine they recently installed at the Institute, examples of how their new skill-sets will be put to work in advancing the development of a clean energy economy. Among the featured guests at the ceremony, co-sponsored by the Apollo Alliance and IBEW Local 481, were U.S. Rep. Andr Carson (D-Ind.) and AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler.
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Clean, Green Jobs
By Mike Allen,
San Diego Business Journal, Mar. 8, 2010
ENERGY: Kyocera to Manufacture Solar Panels in San Diego
San Diego continued to burnish its status as one of the nation’s most solar-friendly cities last week when Kyocera Solar Inc. announced it would begin making solar panels at its Kearny Mesa plant in June, creating about 75 jobs.
In a March 3 news conference headed by the president of Kyocera International Inc., Rod Lanthorne, and San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, the company that is part of Kyoto, Japan-based Kyocera Corp. said it chose the city for several reasons, including the ability to better serve the ever-growing number of solar customers in California and the rest of the nation.
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Health Insurance/Benefits for Pregnant Women
Blogged by Jennifer M., http://moms.gather.com, Mar. 6, 2010
Health Insurance for Pregnant Women
Over 41 million Americans are uninsured, and many of those who are insured are underinsured. As a result, there are approximately 13% of women who become pregnant each year who are not insured, which often results in inadequate prenatal care.
Another challenge uninsured pregnant women face is that some insurance plans consider pregnancy a pre-existing condition. Medicaid, a federal funded program for low income persons, will accept women who are already pregnant. However if you are not eligible to receive Medicaid, it can still be a challenge to pay for all the prenatal visits and delivery. The estimated cost of delivery alone is $6,000 – $8,000 for a normal pregnancy, and the cost increases if it is a high risk pregnancy.
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Mayor Newsom Secures Additional $3 Million for Environmental Retrofits
California Political Desk, California Chronical, Mar. 3, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Mayor Newsom announced that San Francisco has secured nearly $3 million in federal stimulus funds to offset the cost of residential and commercial energy and water efficiency projects. This new funding adds additional incentives to the GreenFinanceSF program, which will allow property owners to fund environmental improvements, with the financing attached to the property and paid back on the property tax bill. The program, previously slated to launch March 1, will now launch in early April, once the grant funding is in place, so applicants can take immediate advantage of all of the program´s benefits.
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Idaho Energy Update: March 2nd, 2010
By kmiller1, SunValleyOnline.com, Mar. 2, 2010
The Public Utilities Commission wants to hear from Idaho Power customers about the company’s plan to make its conservation cost recovery pilot program permanent. Idaho Power also wants the PUC to approve a contract to purchase power from an anaerobic digester near Twin Falls. Meanwhile, Rocky Mountain Power is asking the PUC to raise its energy efficiency surcharge to expand its energy-saving programs, and the eastern Idaho utility is also seeking a rate hike to reflect higher fuel costs. And we have the latest list of energy legislation in the Idaho Legislature.
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Governor Addresses 'Clean Jobs' in Palm Springs
KESQ News service, Mar. 2, 2010
PALM SPRINGS - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called on the Legislature today to pass his California Jobs Initiative, which seeks to create jobs and help a Palm Springs wind farm by waiving sales tax for purchaser of green tech manufacturing equipment.
"We will ask them once again to act quickly to come together, Democrats and Republicans, and sit to down with us. Let's put out a job creation package so we can put people to work," Schwarzenegger said.
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Obama Outlines Energy Efficiency Program
By Elizabeth Wiliamson, The Wall Street Journal, Mar. 2, 2010
SAVANNAH, Ga.—President Barack Obama promoted his "green jobs" agenda Tuesday in a speech designed to show he's committed to work on the economy, despite roadblocks in Congress.
The president made only a single glancing reference to health care in his 16-minute speech at the Savannah Technical College. Instead, he talked up the administration's energy-related jobs proposals, particularly its "Homestar" plan to provide rebates to homeowners who invest in energy-saving home upgrades.
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Solar Installation Provides Free Power to Tenants
Published By Novogradec Journal of Tax Credits, Mar. 2010
In January, residents of three affordable housing complexes in San Francisco began benefiting from a solar power system installed through California Solar Initiative’s Multi-family Affordable Solar Housing (MASH) program. Plaza East Apartments and Hayes Valley North and South are part of an 11-site renewable energy project being developed by Sunwheel Energy Partners (Sunwheel), an affiliate of McCormack Baron Salazar (MBS). Residents at each property will receive 50 percent of the energy produced by the solar system free of charge. As an added benefit, Sunwheel’s partner in the project, Real Goods Solar (Real Goods) hired residents to install the solar panels. To celebrate a project that reduced energy costs and provided jobs, Sunwheel, Real Goods, the city of San Francisco, funding partners and residents held a ceremonial ribbon cutting at the Plaza East Apartments on January 25.
The development created 33 new jobs during the project and “it’s providing clean, free solar energy to tenants. It’s a pretty good deal,” said Real Goods’ John Hubenthal.
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School Lunches Put to the Test
By Leslie Bohl Jones, www.woai.com, Mar. 1, 2010
SAN ANTONIO -- For many kids in our area, the school cafeteria is where they get a good portion of their daily nourishment for almost 13 years of their life, from kindergarten to graduation. With one in three American children overweight, some wonder if schools could be feeding students’ waistlines in addition to their brains.
News 4 WOAI found some school meals have similar fat levels to what's found in a small burger and fry served at a popular fast food restaurant. So, we put some local lunches to the test.
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Strong Earnings Drive Logica's Smart Grid Push
By Stuart Finlayson, www.crn.com, Mar.1, 2010
The local operations of IT services group Logica claimed that it has outperformed all other international operations over 2009, shielded by strong pipelines of business from the utilities sector.
Colin Holgate, Logica's CEO for Asia-Pacific and Australia, said Australia was the pick of the company's international operations - which "in a nutshell" is classified as all business outside of Europe (with the exception of Spain/Iberia)."
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Breakthroughs and Cash Incentives for Those That Conserve or Create New Energy
Kathleen Byrne-Barrantes, Kitsap Peninsula Business JournalFeb. 28, 2010
Large ‘Silicone Valley’ corporations have been testing a new device created to generate power on the spot, without being connected to the electric grid. After almost a decade of development and hundreds of millions in investment, Bloom Energy is coming out with theirs having unveiled their little “power plant-in-a-box” on 60-minutes aired Sunday, February 21. Until now, all journalists were able to garner were “no comments” from their marketing people.
During the show, Bloom’s founder and CEO K.R. Sridhar showed Lesley Stahl one of the boxes, explaining that one box could power an average U.S. home, the two put together is a U.S. home. “Because we use twice as much energy?” Stahl asked. “Yes, and this’ll power four Asian homes,” he replied. “So four homes in India, your native country?” Stahl asked. “Four to six homes in our country,” Sridhar replied.
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The Conversation: Finding the Right Tools to Grow California's Economy
By Peter Asmus,
The Sacramento Bee, Mar. 1, 2010
Californians like me like to brag that we stopped offshore oil from marring our gorgeous coastline, banned the dirtiest of fossil fuels – coal – from being burned within our state borders and halted the nuclear power industry in its tracks over the past few decades. Sacramento's Rancho Seco, after all, was the first and only nuclear reactor to be shut down by a local ballot initiative, and I was among those who helped make that happen in 1989.
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Home Energy Makeover
by Josephine Hearn, www.onearth.org, Spring 2010, Feb. 28, 2010
Rich Manning is crawling through an attic, flashlight in hand. "See this?" he says, pointing a beam of light at a gap in the insulation. "They're losing a ton of money with all the heat coming out of here." Manning is conducting an energy audit, measuring how and where heat escapes from the house and making recommendations for more insulation, caulking, and weather stripping or for high-efficiency heating and cooling systems, all of which reduce energy consumption, bring down utility bills, and curb greenhouse gas emissions.
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Green Festivals To Help Central New York Create Hundreds of Green Jobs and Help Farm Community
PRNewswire-USNewswire, Feb. 27, 2010
Jobs are the number one priority for Washington leaders. Green Jobs are highly sought. Washington just got 200 Green hands from one Green company.
Safflyn Corporation will produce a series of Green festivals, concerts and public awareness events that will create more than 200 jobs, economic opportunities and tourism investment in the local region of Central New York.
The company, which owns Gelston Castle Estate, has appointed Chuck Chao - Eastern Artists to secure the talent for events at Gelston. The summer lineup has been anchored by Grateful Dead members Phil Lesh & Bob Weir who are embarking on a musical adventure with their new band Furthur, which will perform at the Estate on July 3rd at 7 pm. Tickets are currently on sale.
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Bakersfield's SmartMeter Trouble Worries Industry
By John Cox, The Bakersfield Californian , Feb. 27, 2010
Kern's SmartMeter backlash has raised red flags around the world and sparked debate within the electric utility industry over whether what some call "The Bakersfield Problem" is merely a public relations warning -- or worse, a significant obstacle to efforts to modernize the U.S. power grid.
The question asked locally by customers of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. also intrigues utility executives, regulators and consumer advocates: Are the remote meters to blame for spiking bills in Bakersfield last summer, or did a rollout of new technology raise suspicions only because it coincided with steep rate hikes and hot weather?
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Vital Legislation Creates Green Jobs and Puts California on Forefront of Future Smart Electric Grid
Posted by Marin2008, PR-Canada.net, Feb. 27, 2010
Assemblymember Nancy Skinner (D-14), Chair, Committee on Natural Resources, working in partnership with California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr., has introduced AB 2514 (available here) - new legislation that will create a smarter, cleaner electric grid, increase the use of renewable energy, provide Californians with significant savings by avoiding costly new power plants and transmission lines, and reduce air pollution. This transformative legislation will also create thousands of permanent new green-collar jobs.
AB 2514 will achieve these benefits by closing the gap between the United States and other nations in investments and deployments of energy storage, a booming "green" industry that represents a significant economic development opportunity for California.
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Valley Businesses Like 'Green' Tax Break Plan
By
E.J. Schultz, The Fresno Bee, Feb. 20, 2010
SACRAMENTO -- Hoping to spur job creation, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing a corporate tax break that could potentially siphon millions of dollars from the beleaguered state treasury.
And although Democrats typically cringe at such ideas, they are taking a close look at the sales tax exemption because it targets the environmentally friendly "green economy."
The proposal already is a winner with Valley business leaders, who hope to lure equipment manufacturers to a region emerging as a solar farm hotbed.
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Barack Obama's $5bn Green Home Plan to Boost Economy Gets off to Slow Start
By Suzanne Goldenberg, Guardian.co.uk, Feb. 19, 2010
Barack Obama's $5bn programme to help fuel America's economic recovery by making more than half a million homes energy efficient has got off to a painfully slow start and was 98% short of its goal last year, according to an official report.
The programme, part of last year's $787bn economic recovery plan, was supposed to create around 87,000 jobs by insulating lofts and sealing draughty windows in 593,000 homes by 2012.
But progress has been slow. "As of 31 December 2009, according to data available to the Department of Energy, about 9,100 homes had been weatherized out of a planned 593,000," the government accountability office said in a report released on Thursday.
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Phila. Launching Green Jobs Program
by Athena D. Merritt, Philadelphia Business Journal, Feb. 19, 2010
Beginning next month, the job outlook will begin to look brighter for 250 individuals from some of Philadelphia’s poorest communities.
Using a $3.18 million federal stimulus grant awarded last month, Community College of Philadelphia will launch a green jobs training program, which will recruit participants from Port Richmond, Kensington and Upper/Lower North Philadelphia. In as little as seven weeks, CCP’s Job Ready Training Program will train individuals that are home to neighborhoods estimated to have at least 43,148 unemployed adults, 5,600 to 9,200 ex-offenders, approximately 62,000 high school dropouts and 82,000 disadvantage individuals. Many from the neighborhoods CCP reported lack the basic math and reading skills to succeed in today’s workplaces, an issue Urban Industry Initiative said over the summer has left hundreds of jobs unfilled in the city’s manufacturing industry. UII, which failed at that time to get funding to launch a foundational skills training program to combat the problem, is on board as partner in CCP’s Job Ready Training Program. Energy Coordinating Agency, Educational Data Systems Inc. Pennsylvania CareerLinks Philadelphia, the National Comprehensive Center for Fathers and Local Union 502 of the Ironworkers are also among the partners in the program which was officially unveiled by the college on Thursday.
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California's Carbon Killers
By Cosmo Garvin, Sacramento News and Review, Feb. 18, 2010
California’s global-warming law contains dozens of programs, but most of the hard work will be done by a handful of major carbon-killing programs. Remember, the magic number is 174 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent. That’s how much state regulators want to cut California’s greenhouse-gas emissions over the next 10 years.
Cap-and-trade accounts for the biggest single chunk of greenhouse-gas emissions reductions. It’s also the most complicated and controversial program. The California Air Resources Board estimates the cap-and-trade system will reduce California’s carbon footprint by 34 million metric tons by the year 2020.
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Solar Savings
By: Rich Rodriguez, KMPH Fox 26, Feb. 17, 2010
You don't have to be wealthy to own a solar system. A local non–profit group is making the solar dream a reality for low income homeowners. In many cases the unit and installation are free. The key is qualifying through the Single Family Affordable Solar Homes Program or SASH.
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Phoenix Green-Jobs Training Program Touted
by Scott Wong, The Arizona Republic, Feb. 17, 2010
U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis on Wednesday pointed to a green-jobs training program in Phoenix as evidence that the federal stimulus program is putting people back to work while improving the environment.
She also defended Arizona congressional Democrats for voting for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law a year ago.
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The University of San Francisco's online Green Supply Chain Management Course
PRNewswire, Feb. 17, 2010
Everything's coming up green thanks to President Obama's priority focus on green jobs creation and training. Since the beginning of this year, the U.S. Department of Labor has awarded $290 million toward green jobs training grants, and aims to prepare more than 120,000 Americans for environmentally friendly jobs by 2012.
Which means, across every industry, there will be a growing demand for green supply chain supervisors and managers looking to bridge the divide between an aging, fossil-fuel-based economy and a new, energy-efficient one.
Ahead of the curve are training programs like the University of San Francisco's (USF) 100% online Green Supply Chain Management course. Regionally accredited universities such as USF are doing their part to help reduce America's carbon footprint by creating the expert leaders today's organizations need to "go green" and to successfully compete on a global scale.
Kaiser's Farmers' Markets: Parsley and Plums with Your Primary Care
By
Melanie D.G. Kaplan, Smartpanet.com, Feb. 17, 2010
For many years growing up in Maryland, my family had health insurance through Kaiser Permanente. My most vivid memory of going to the doctor was nearly fainting by the elevator after having blood taken. But perhaps if I had walked out of there with some fresh kale and cucumbers, my recollection would have been more pleasant. Today, that scenario’s not so far-fetched.
Dr. Preston Maring, associate physician-in-chief at the Kaiser Permanente East Bay Medical Center in Oakland, Calif., is the epicurean MD behind Kaiser’s farmers’ markets. Thanks to him, there are now locations at medical complexes in California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Georgia and Maryland. I talked to him about the markets last week.
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State Buildings Plug into Smart Grid
By Eric Lamoreaux, Press Release, Nov. 13, 2009
Sacramento, Calif. - The State of California is partnering with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) in Sacramento’s Smart Grid Stimulus federal grant program. The $127.5 million program is funded by the US Department of Energy as part of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. DGS is the lead agency managing the program for state office buildings, and the program is designed to explore how to design, run, and manage an urban “smart grid” utility system with different types, and sizes, of clients.
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Smart Meters: Controlling Your Energy Bill?
EurActive, Feb. 16, 2010
With smart meters gradually being rolled out across Europe, households are expected to gain full control over their electricity consumption, helping the fight against global warming and putting more renewable energy onto the electricity grid.
Milestones
- April 2006: EU directive on energy end-use efficiency and energy services lays down foundations for smart meters.
- 13 July 2009: Third energy package requires member states to adopt timetable for rolling out smart meters (EurActiv 25/03/09).
- 9 Oct. 2009: Commission adopts recommendations on mobilising ICT technologies for transition to low-carbon economy (EurActiv 12/10/09).
- 17 Nov. 2009: Agreement on the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive requires member states to develop national plans to install smart meters (EurActiv 18/11/09).
- 2020: At least 80% of EU consumers to have intelligent metering systems.
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Road to Recovery: Sacramento Area Aims to be Green Tech Center
By Jim Downing, the Sacramento Bee, Jan.18, 2010
When it comes to the nation's efforts to curb global warming, few places are more important than California's it is here that ground-breaking laws and regulations are written.
That, local business leaders say, gives the region a major boost in its effort to become a hub of the developing green economy. They are looking to green tech – also known as clean tech – as a way to strengthen and diversify Sacramento's job base.
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Childhood Obesity Battle is Taken up by First Lady
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg, The New York Times, Feb. 9, 2010
WASHINGTON — The White House, led by Michelle Obama, announced a sweeping initiative on Tuesday aimed at revamping the way American children eat and play — reshaping school lunches, playgrounds and even medical checkups — with the goal of eliminating childhood obesity within a generation.
The “Let’s Move” campaign, nearly a year in the making, is Mrs. Obama’s official debut in a high-profile policy role, and she has already lined up an array of partners in government, medicine, science, business, education and athletics who are pledging to work together to get children off their couches and consuming fresher, healthier food.
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Mercy gives $576,374 in Grants to Help Thousands In Need
Riveroak.org/Newsroom, Jan 8, 2010
31 local non-profits receive grants to help fund
programs in Sacramento, Nevada, Placer and Yolo
counties
01.08.2010 – SACRAMENTO – Catholic Healthcare West (CHW), which operates the
local Mercy hospitals, has awarded $576,374 in grant funding to 31 nonprofit
organizations in Nevada, Sacramento, Placer and Yolo counties.
The grants, from $5,000 to $25,000, will impact health issues ranging from mental illness
to chronic disease management, and community-based programs that provide services
from birth to end-of-life. This year’s recipient organizations reach out to local ethnic
communities and provide services to multiple generations from infants to the elderly.
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Community Groups Ramp Up Efforts to Build Day-Labor Center
by Kathy Robertson, Sacramento Business Journal, Jan. 22, 2010
Plans for a day-labor and community center in south Sacramento, stalled for months due to the bad economy, are gaining traction.
Backers of the proposed 41st Avenue Community Center have acquired two adjacent properties and cleared the land at the corner of 41st Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Initial plans have been redrawn for a 14,000-square-foot building — twice the size of the first version —with more parking and an estimated price tag of $2.5 million, said Louise Perez, executive director of Community Resource Project Inc., the organization that’s taken the lead on the project.
REPORTERS NOTES: Let's Weatherize!
By Amy Standen, April 24, 2009, www.kqed.org
Since people seem to nod off a bit when I say I'm working on a story about energy efficiency, I've had to re-tool my pitch. "It's a story about how installing solar panels or a wind turbine is the last thing you should do to green your house," I say, perhaps a little over-dramatically.
I have nothing against solar panels, but they do seem to illustrate our collective love of gadgetry. Why else would we leap (or at least dream of leaping) to spend $5,000-$10,000 on solar panels when many of us could make a significant dent in our utility bills with a trip to Home Depot? Small things, like weather-stripping your doors, or making sure you have a well-insulated attic, can make a big difference in how much heat or AC your house consumes.
If you qualify as low-income (in this case, that's less than $44,000 for a family of four) you can get help with this project. If you live in California, you'll find your local participating agency here (or by calling 1-866-675-6623). Elsewhere, begin by contacting your state agency, found here. The Weatherization Assistance Program has received a 10-fold budget increase under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, so now's a great time to apply.
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Stimulus Grows Green Jobs in Sacramento
Community Resource Project, Inc.
By Wendy Hermes Wednesday, Mar. 4, 2009
The ever changing economic climate has created a unique position for Community Resource Project, Inc. (CRP). In a time when job losses continue to rise, expansion is on the horizon for organizations that promote renewable energy and efficiency. In January of 2009 CRP hired 18 new employees in order to successfully serve the growing number of income-qualified residents in Sacramento, Sutter, and Yuba counties in need of nutrition, energy assistance and educational support.
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Stimulus Package Increases Weatherization in Sacramento
Community Resource Project, Inc.
By Wendy Hermes Wednesday, Mar. 4, 2009
CRP removed this old water heater from Santos Espinosa's home and installed a new one (below) as part of the weatherization program
 
Old water heater New water heater
Santos Espinosa purchased his first home in November 2008. It was a bank-owned home in need of many repairs. While Mr. Espinosa invested much time replacing fixtures, painting and upgrading he continued to have a high energy bill and problems with his water heater. He was referred by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District to the weatherization program at Community Resource Project, Inc. An assessment of Mr. Espinosa’s home estimated that weatherization could save him a significant sum on his utility bill and reduce energy waste. Full Story
Mr. Espinosa’s experience with CRP’s weatherization program was recently featured in the Sacramento Bee. Click on the link below to read the full article.
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