Public Forum: Alternative Energy in the Buffalo-Niagara Region

Business Gets Green Speaker Series

• WHEN: Tuesday, January 15^th, 5:30-7:00pm 

• WHERE: Daemen College, Schenck Hall, Room 202, 4380 Main St., Amherst [Campus Map & Parking]

• THIS MONTH’S TOPIC: “Alternative Energy in the Buffalo-Niagara Region”

 This event is free and open to the public

Representatives from three local companies in the renewable energy fields of solar, wind and geothermal power will present the obstacles and opportunities to advancing alternative energy systems in the Buffalo-Niagara region.

Featured Speakers:

Bill Nowak will speak on the Feed-In Tariff legislation and current developments in New York State to institute a better pricing system that promotes renewables. Bill will also touch upon the challenges for the company, Buffalo Geothermal in pushing through local geothermal projects. Check out more about Buffalo Geothermal here: http://buffalogeothermalheating.com/

Bridget Reagan from Solar Liberty will come as a representative from our region’s largest solar panel installer. She will reveal what has helped made Solar Liberty successful and what needs to be improved upon to bring more solar energy potential to areas like Western New York. Check out more about Solar Liberty here: http://www.solarliberty.com/

Kean Stimm, President of Kean Wind Turbines, will present on a new wind power system that will revolutionize the viability of generating power by using wind. An emerging entrepreneur from the region, Kean will give attendees a glimpse into his current challenges and opportunities in getting his company off the ground. Check out more about Kean Wind Turbines here: http://keanwindturbines.com/Home.html

The Business Gets Green format features several speakers from pertinent areas within the local green business community, as well as the opportunity for all attendees to introduce themselves and report any brief announcements that may be of interest to the audience.

RSVP's are strongly encouraged as there is limited space at this venue. Join the event on Facebook, here: http://www.facebook.com/events/140892209398683/
  
“Like” Greenworks || Buffalo Niagara's Facebook group page to get updates on future events, here: Greenworks || Buffalo Niagara

Accelerating the Implementation of Renewable Energy

 7:30 p.m., Monday, November 26

 Daemen College, 4380 Main Street, Amherst, Room 336, 

Duns Scotus Hall

Free and Open to the Public

Keynote Speaker:

• Bill Nowak, Sierra Club Energy Committee member, Author of Clean Energy –FIT Report

Panelists 

• Dave Hahn Baker, Environmental and Political Consultant 
• Ellen Banks, Professor, Psychology, Daemen College 
• Sarah Carpenter, Sustainability Major, Daemen College

Moderator

• Walter Simpson, energy educator, Daemen College Instructor (www.energyreallymatters.com)

Printable Flier and Map: Click Here

Scientists have been telling us that global warming is likely to result in increasingly devastating extreme weather events as we continue to burn fossil fuels and add more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.  Superstorm Sandy is a horrific example of the type of extreme weather that is in store for us. But how can we respond effectively and achieve a clean energy economy with all due speed?  While renewable energy resources like wind and solar are said to be our future, the deployment of these technologies has been painfully slow despite existing government programs and incentives.  This public discussion will examine how a Feed-in Tariff (FIT) could speed up the transition from fossil fuels to renewables within a timeframe consistent with addressing climate change and providing needed green jobs.  In the last three years a Clean Energy FIT program has created more than 22,000 green jobs in Ontario!  Why not in New York?!

This panel discussion is presented as part of the Alternative & Renewable Energy Issues course in Daemen's Global & Sustainability program.  For information on this exciting new major and minor, visit www.daemen.edu/sustainability.  For more information about the panel discussion, wsimpson@daemen.edu or 839-0062.
 

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.

TALK: Green Energy in Ontario and NY

Baldy Center Environmental Stewardship
Working Group

and the

Canada-United States Legal Studies Centre

present:

Scott Pasternack

Supervisor for Policy Development, Toronto Environment Office

"Who is Building the Better Green Energy Mousetrap? A Comparison of Canadian and US Approaches to Renewables, Energy Efficiency, and Smart Distribution"

October 29, 2010
12:00-12:30 Lunch, 12:30-2:00 Presentation

509 O'Brian Hall (Map)

A great deal of green energy activity is happening on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border, whether it's federal smart grid research and development, state or provincial renewable procurement, or local level energy efficiency programs. Although the end goal seems to be the same -- reduce our energy footprint to, in turn, reduce our carbon footprint -- the laws, policies, and economics can differ greatly. For example, which investment approach promises to deliver an increasing, reliable supply of renewable generation to replace fossil fuels -- Ontario's feed-in tariff or New York State's renewable portfolio standard? Which energy efficiency standards for existing buildings promises to reduce energy demand more significantly -- the ones New York City is able to adopt locally for its own jurisdiction or the ones that Toronto hopes to help develop for Ontario to adopt across the province? For an overview of the different ways that Canada, Ontario, and Toronto to the north, and the U.S., New York State, and New York City to the south, have been struggling to build their green energy mousetraps -- and to offer your thoughts and suggestions on whether and how to build a cross-border green energy framework instead -- join us for this lunchtime presentation led by Scott Pasternack.

As Supervisor for Policy Development in the Toronto Environment office, Scott Pasternack is responsible for advising Toronto on climate change, green energy, and environmental sustainability initiatives. He previously served as environmental counsel for the New York City Law Department where, among other duties, he advised Mayor Bloomberg's Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability on policy matters.

*Please note: The views expressed at this presentation will be those of the speaker only, and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the City of Toronto.*

Event is free and open to the public. RSVP requested: BaldyRSVP@buffalo.edu or 645-2102

For more information visit:
http://www.law.buffalo.edu/baldycenter/events.htm