Posts tagged renewable energy

Lansing Communergy Group Gets Underway

Lansing Communergy meetings are on 4th Tuesdays at 7 pm in the Lansing Community Library.

Lansing Communergy meetings are on 4th Tuesdays at 7 pm in the Lansing Community Library.

Renewable energy has a way of generating excitement and joy in people – along with its clean power for our homes and businesses.  Sustainable Tompkins has been expanding our programming for the Finger Lakes Energy Challenge by hosting monthly meetings for residents in the Village and Town of Lansing where we are looking at the possibilities of investing in community-owned sources of clean energy.  It’s been a lot of fun as we get to know each other, and sense our own power to help Lansing reduce its dependence on fossil fuels.

We began in August by showing ‘Empowered’ – a film by ST board member Shira Evergreen about the many ways county residents are leading the way on climate protection.  In September, we hosted Solarize Tompkins and learned the details of their 2014 round for group purchasing of solar electric systems and how our Lansing group can participate.  In October, we agreed to form 3 working groups to support the countywide solar electric program, organize our own solar hot water group purchase, and begin researching how we can do a pilot community-owned microhydro project on Salmon Creek.  We believe that forming these smaller community-based teams will let us grow the movement for locally-owned clean energy and provide a setting for inspiring efficiency investments and conservation measures.

Renewable Energy Focus of February 25 Event

Join Sustainable Tompkins and the League of Women Voters for an evening discussing the power and potential of renewable energy in solving our energy and climate crisis.   Read the rest of this entry »

Energy Teach-In to Power Up Tioga County Residents

Sustainable Tompkins is working with the Owego branch of RAFT (Residents Against Fracking Tioga) to make a positive difference in the conversation around energy and climate.  As a follow-up to our February 9 movie and conversation about “When Climate Change Hits Home,” we have put together what promises to be a fun and informative day of hands-on education for homeowners and businesses about the many ways they can participate in the transition to a clean energy economy. Read the rest of this entry »

ST and Finger Lakes Bioneers cosponsor Empowered screening on December 7

Cinemapolis will be screening the latest version of the new film EMPOWERED on Wednesday, December 7th at 7pm followed by a panel discussion. EMPOWERED is an independent, locally-produced feature-length documentary that showcases the many ways in which Tompkins County residents are embracing renewable energy. This event is co-presented by Finger Lakes Bioneers, Ithaca Green Building Alliance (IGBA), Sierra Club Finger Lakes Group and Sustainable Tompkins. Tickets are $10 or $8 for members of Sustainable Tompkins and IGBA.

Director Shira Golding Evergreen (Frac Attack) and Producer Suzanne McMannis have collaborated to illustrate vividly in EMPOWERED that it is our friends and neighbors who are pioneering alternative energy. Right here in Tompkins County, so many have already taken the leap to a sustainable future, and in EMPOWERED they enjoy the opportunity to tell their stories to the public: what inspired them; what first steps they took; how things are working. Read the rest of this entry »

Join Sustainable Tompkins at Green Fest, August 5-7

Meet up with Sustainable Tompkins at Green Fest August 5-7, 2011 at Alfred University in Alfred, NY. On Saturday August 6th, from 4-5 pm, join Gay Nicholson for her workshop: Finger Lakes Energy Challenge: Taking Responsibility for Our Fossil Fuel Consumption. Most of the folks showing concern about gas drilling are also interested in living more sustainably – but how do we prove it? How can we demonstrate that we “walk our talk” when it comes to opposing drilling for natural gas? This presentation will showcase Sustainable Tompkins’s Finger Lakes Energy Challenge, an online platform to demonstrate your commitment to reducing fossil fuel consumption (and give you the tools to do so). Read the rest of this entry »

GreenNotes

An occasional feature of the Sustainable Tompkins Community Blog
By Richard W. Franke, Board Member, Sustainable Tompkins

Lester Brown’s recent (2011) book, World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse, contains a number of unexpected “facts” (observations?). I selected a few of them: how many surprised you? Don’t believe him? You can download the entire book free here. Click here for his online documentation of everything he claims below.

  • The actual cost of gasoline in the United States is $15 per gallon
  • In 2009 the number of cars in the US declined for the first time in a century (except for WWII period when cars were not produced)
  • China now has 459 “cancer villages”
  • Between 1994 and 1999 China’s Gobi Desert grew by an area equal to half the state of Pennsylvania
  • If the Greenland ice sheet melts entirely, sea level could rise 23 feet; if the West Antarctic Ice sheet breaks up, seal level would rise another 16 feet
  • Of the one million Hurricane Katrina refugees from New Orleans, 300,000 did not return to their homes
  • The summer 2010 heat wave in Russia was the most intense in 130 years of record keeping; the wheat harvest shrank from 100 million tons to 60 million tons
  • 90% of the original forests of the Indus River Basin are gone
  • Pakistan has 185 million people living on an area equal to 8% of the US land area
  • From 1950 to the present, per person income worldwide increased 4 times while the world economy grew 10 times Read the rest of this entry »

The Truth About Energy Security

By Gay Nicholson, Ph.D., President of Sustainable Tompkins

The theme of our recent Energy Fair was community energy security. Real energy security.

Most of us associate “energy security” with fossil fuel industry lobbyists who try to convince Americans that we will be more secure if we stop relying on imports of foreign oil and just let them expand drilling offshore or in the rural lands of America.

But is that really a plan that will make us more secure?  Consider this:

Energy efficiency has never polluted the Gulf of Mexico or slimed the shores of Alaska.

Solar panels never gave a child asthma or blew off a mountain top.

Wind turbines have never threatened millions with cancer-causing radiation.

Energy conservation has never polluted drinking water supplies or destroyed a rural landscape.

We’ll never be really secure if we continue to base our economy and our way of life on fossil energy.  We know it’s a tightening noose with constantly rising prices and amplifying environmental damages. Read the rest of this entry »

Energy Fair and Pledge-In for Finger Lakes Energy Challenge

April 6, 2011  –   6:30-9:00 pm
Womens Community Building Auditorium, 100 W. Seneca St., Ithaca, NY

Don’t miss the Energy Fair on April 6 where we’ll explore the math behind eS = mc2 !

True energy security is the result of motivated community cooperation to reduce our dependence on risky fossil fuels.

Every citizen has an important and necessary role in phasing out wasteful energy consumption and investing in efficiency and local self-renewing energy sources.  Energy is tied into almost everything we do.  Together we can make sure our families are secure and our economy resilient.  Together we can transform the energy marketplace and support our growing number of green collar workers.  Sustainable Tompkins and its partners are proud to host you and your family for an evening devoted to community energy security.  Download the Energy Fair poster and share widely! Read the rest of this entry »

Cortland Energy

A new not-for-profit organization, Cortland Energy, began a community education program to teach Cortland County residents about renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency techniques that can save money on energy costs. The program will help Cortland County reach its overall goal of becoming carbon neutral.

Joe Solar

Joe Solar is a company specializing in solar thermal technology, installing solar heating and hot water systems in homes.