PUBLIC FORUM: Shift to Clean, Renewable Energy

Superstorm SANDY has a message:
Clean, Renewable Energy Now! 

The League of Women Voters and the Sierra Club-Niagara Group are presenting a forum to offer a plan, in the aftermath of Sandy, for how we can use FITs *(Feed-In Tariffs) to transform our energy system from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energies right now and creates good jobs in the process.

TIME:   Wednesday, November 14, 2012; 4:30 pm – 6:15 pm

PLACE: Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo State College, 1300 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo.

The event is free and open to the public.

PROGRAM: The forum will explain how FITs work, and why, in the aftermath of Sandy, they are the best method for rapidly bringing new business and new jobs to a region along with promoting clean, renewable energy. 

Bill Nowak, a member of the Sierra Club Energy Committee and author of the Clean Fit Report, will present a PowerPoint on FITs to kickoff the forum. A panel with representatives from labor, business and environmental groups will follow.
   

Panelists include Peter Black, Director, Brant Renewable Energy, Ontario, CA; Thomas Fleckenstein, Co-Founder, Niagara Wind & Solar, Niagara Falls, NY; and Frank Hotchkiss, United Steelworkers, District 4; Representative and Political Coordinator. A demonstration project for a FIT in Western New York, as proposed by the Sierra Club Niagara and the United Steelworkers, will be discussed as well.

Parking is free in the adjacent Burchfield Penney lot, and in the Psych Center lot next door, which is accessible from Elmwood.

Public Forum on Promoting Clean, Renewable Energy

Good Jobs, Good Business & Clean, Renewable Energy:

A Perfect Fit* for Western New York!

The League of Women Voters of Buffalo/Niagara and the Sierra Club-Niagara Group are presenting a forum to discuss FITs* (Feed-in-Tariffs). The forum will explain how FITs work, and why they are the best method for rapidly bringing new business and new jobs to a region along with promoting renewable energy. The forum will also include a panel with representatives from labor, business and environmental groups. A demonstration project for a FIT in WNY as proposed by the Sierra Club Niagara Group and the United Steel Workers will be discussed as well.

Come find out why a growing coalition of labor, business, environmental and community organizations are joining forces to bring a FIT (or Feed-in-Tariff) to WNY and how a FIT would work.

The forum will be held:
Wednesday, November 14  from 4:30 pm - 6:15 pm at the
Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo State College Campus
1300 Elmwood Ave., Buffalo

This event is free and open to the public.

Parking is free in the adjacent Burchfield Penney lot, and in the Psych Center lot next door, which is accessible from Elmwood Ave.

A printable flyer is here.

*A FIT, or Feed-in-Tariff, provides a fair and long-term price for renewable energy production, providing a stable market for investment in the renewable energy business and industrial supply chain. The Fixed price reflects the cost of producing the energy plus a reasonabile rate of return and the long term market stability has proven to generate good jobs in over 80 jurisdictions worldwide. A FIT was successfully implemented in Ontario and to date has created more than 22,000 jobs and attracted more than $20 billion in investment. A FIT provides an incentive for anyone - from homeowners to farmers to schools to large energy producers - to invest in wind, solar, biomass and/or geothermal.

Petition for Renewable Energy & Green Jobs in NY

The Sierra Club Niagara Group Energy Committee and the United Steel Workers union have been spearheading an effort for a Western New York Feed-In Tariff program for renewable energy. 

Click here for a flier that explains the program.

The Governor's $1 billion offer to stimulate the local economy, if used wisely, is a great opportunity to jump start our transition to a stable, sustainable green economy.  

Please read the flier, sign the petition, and talk this project up wherever you go.

There will be  three opportunities this week to further encourage Governor Cuomo to shift toward renewable energy. Public workshops on a WNY Sustainability Plan will be held on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, in the Buffalo area, Jamestown and Cuba, respectively. For details of meeting locations and times, click here.

If you're part of an organization that could endorse this initiative, or if you have some spare time to volunteer, please give a call to Bill Nowak at 716.316.7674.

If you'd like a more in-depth description of feed-in programs and how they work, click here to download the free report.

Let's Bring Clean Energy to WNY!

By Bill Nowak

I am writing to let you know about a local clean energy initiative.

The Sierra Club Niagara Group Energy Committee has been looking at places that have been successful at bringing wind, solar and other renewables on line.

I was commissioned to write a paper on the subject. The paper is called "CLEAN-FIT - A Program to Unleash Renewable Energy and Create Jobs in New York State." It's available on line.

I really hope you'll download this paper and look though it.

We will presenting much of this information as part of a forum on Saturday, April 21st at the Burchfield Penney Art Museum on Elmwood Avenue next to Buff State from 2 to 4 PM. A flier on the forum is here.

The forum is presented as part of Peace on Earth Month (POEM).

While the paper is on renewables for NY State, we have designed an innovative campaign to make WNY a demonstration project for creating green jobs in the solar, wind and other clean energy sectors.

We'll be unveiling it on the 21st. Please save the date.
We're hoping you'd like to be part of this campaign and whether or not you're able to make it on the 21st.

Please save the date of Monday, April 23rd at 6:30pm when we'll be holding a information/training session on the WNY demonstration project.  If you want to volunteer to help or just learn more, please attend:

• WHAT: Public Information Campaign on Renewable Energy -- 'CLEAN-FIT'
• WHEN: April 23, 2012 at 6:30pm
• WHERE: TriMain Building Rm.401, 2495 Main St, Buffalo

SEE: "CLEAN-FIT - A Program to Unleash Renewable Energy and Create Jobs in New York State." It's available on line. 

Please save the date of the 23rd and think about joining us to bring more green jobs and clean energy to WNY.

Bill Nowak, Energy Committee, Sierra Club Niagara Group
882-9237

Wind Power: Clean, Renewable Energy for New York

By Dave Bradley, Wind Action Group ~

You might be surprised to learn that there are 5 wind turbines working on the frozen continent of Antarctica. In fact, these are among the more productive ones presently operating in the world. The total installed capacity is only 1.6 megawatts. But that is still more than the installed capacity of all but 8 of NY State's 62 counties. That leaves a lot of room for improvement in NY State.

For NY State, it will probably take a whole new way to price renewable energy, and an understanding that replacing the pollution-sourced electricity (natural gas, coal, nuclear) can provide a working career for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. That would put a nice dent in the estimated 1 million New Yorkers who need a job, and these jobs would provide decent pay.

The most successful pricing system for renewable energy is known as FIT, for Feed-In Tariff (Examples are in Ontario, Spain, Germany, and Denmark). Another name for FIT is CLEAN contract (Clean Local Energy Accessible Now). New manufacturing jobs, supply chain, real-wealth creation are the goals, and the byproduct is clean electricity that displaces pollution-based electricity and often fuel imports that also require exporting real wealth.

If you want details of how FIT/CLEAN contracts work and what they can do, see this link to an excellent Green Paper written by Bill Nowak for the NY Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter.

If you want to see a highly-condensed summary in the form of a Powerpoint presentation (.pdf format), download this one by Dave Bradley. 

If you are interested in a presentation and discussion of this material for a group, email Dave Bradley at Tantalum73@verizon.net. After all, there is a lot of "misunderstanding" and "lack of awareness" as to what renewable energy can do.

This report is a condensed version of the full article edited by David Kowalski. The full article by Dave Bradley is available at the Wind Action Group Engineering website.

Growing Renewable Energy in the U.S. through CLEAN Contracts - a Perfect Fit

A Policy to Repower the Nation with Clean Energy

No policy has helped other countries expand their renewable sources of electricity more than the CLEAN contract, also known as a feed-in tariff or FIT. Transparency, certainty and longevity of the contract forms the basis for its widespread acceptance, and its success in developing wind and solar power in other countries and a few states.

A CLEAN contract makes Clean Local Energy Accessible Now. The policy allows renewable energy project owners to sell their electricity to utilities at a predetermined, fixed price for a long period of time. Clean energy providers are paid a price for their electricity that covers the cost of the generation. It makes clean energy investment a smarter choice for homeowners, utilities, and developers of renewable energy projects.

The CLEAN contract helps overcome upfront cost barriers to investment by making renewable energy projects more easy to finance. The contract offers a standardized process for new projects, minimizing uncertainty for developers and confusion for homeowners. It reduces risk and lowers the costs of getting things built. The CLEAN contract makes it easier to run businesses, build projects, and give consumers what they want.

The Center for American Progress has written a detailed paper that examines the workings and ingredients of CLEAN contracts. The paper also looks at how lawmakers and advocates can successfully move CLEAN contracts forward given how the contracts are affected by federal regulation. Finally, it provides recommendations to ensure that policies benefit ratepayers, workers, investors, and the U.S. economy.

Learn more about CLEAN contracts at the Center for American Progress. A brief description of CLEAN contracts is provided in a video here and also below.

Isn't it time that we get on board and promote renewable energy development on a large scale through CLEAN contracts? Implementation of CLEAN contracts across the U.S. will accelerate clean energy deployment, recharge the economy and create new jobs. A shift from burning fossil fuels to utilizing clean energy sources will curb greenhouse gas emissions, reduce toxic pollution and protect human health.