Business Gets Green: June 24th

Thursday, June 24, 2010 5:30pm to 7:30pm

Frank E. Merriweather Jr. Branch Library

1324 Jefferson Ave, Corner of Jefferson and East Utica [ Map ]
This is a wonderful facility - intimate but spacious.
Lots of Free Parking - 25 spaces in the library lot - and ample on-street parking.

Agenda for the 15 minute featured presentations:

• Daniel Montante - TM Montante Development Solar Project - see Video here
  
• Jon Allen - 5 Turbine Backyard Wind Tower - see Video here
  
• Gerald Bove - Buffalo Green Power - see Video here
  
• Lou Paonessa - NY Power Authority - see Video here
  

Descriptions of the businesses in the featured presentations, click here.

The Format for Business Gets Green includes 1/2 hour of 30 second Introductions by businesses, organizations and individuals.

UPDATE - July 11: VIDEO of Introductions - Click Here.

Introductions are followed by 4 - 15 minute feature presentations on businesses or issues that are of special interest, usually with Powerpoint slides.

If you would like to give one of the 15 minute presentations, please contact Bill Nowak with a 2-3 paragraph description of your presentation and dates (3rd Thursdays) you can be available to present.

As usual, this session will be filmed for LCTV and YouTube. Thanks Jon Allen!
Videos of all of the past Business Gets Green sessions are HERE.

Save the Date - August 19th - This session will feature the Greater Niagara Renewable Energy Manufacturers Committee, the CanAm effort to build wind manufacturing in Western New York, Helios Energy's National Science Foundation grant for an "Integrated Algal Platform for Bio-Diesel and Hydrogen", and Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper on the new funding they've snagged and its implications for green jobs.

Meeting on Offshore Wind Power

ERIE COUNTY LEGISLATURE

Informational meeting set on offshore wind towers

The Erie County Legislature has set an informational meeting on the New York Power Authority’s proposal to erect wind towers off Lake Erie near Buffalo. The session will begin at 11 a. m. on Wednesday, June 9th on the fourth floor of Old County Hall, 92 Franklin St.
The Power Authority is asking for proposals to build wind towers in three offshore locations, including Lake Erie. County Legislator Daniel M. Kozub, D-Hamburg, heads the Energy and Environment Committee and encourages anyone interested in the subject to attend. Members of the public can also send written comments on the matter to Kozub as chairman of the Energy and Environment Committee, 92 Franklin St., fourth floor, Buffalo, NY 14202.

UPDATE...
From Brian Smith, Citizens Campaign for the Environment:
We are planning a press conference for Wednesday at 10:30am, outside of the County Office Building at 92 Franklin.

We will be covering two issues, which both will be discussed at the Energy and Environment committee meeting immediately following the press conference:

• Support a process that will bring offshore wind power to our Great Lakes, and oppose any effort to prematurely oppose offshore wind. Groups will ask the Legislative Committee to oppose a resolution sponsored by Legislator Lynne Dixon against offshore wind.
  

• Oppose the County Executive’s plan to “re-purpose” a Department of Energy grant previously dedicated to forming county-wide strategic plans to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, create a County Green Team to advance environmentally friendly solutions within County government, and advance a food composting program.

Clean Energy in Offshore Wind

Five offshore windmill proposals received for lakes Erie, Ontario
By Mark Sommer

Five proposals have been received to construct offshore windmills in Lake Erie and/or Lake Ontario.

Richard M. Kessel, New York Power Authority’s president and chief executive officer, announced Friday that a review process will get under way that is expected to end with one or more developers selected by early 2011.

Mayor Paul Dyster of Niagara Falls, an environmental advocate who then ran for political office, said the BP oil leak was a reminder of the need to push for environmental change.

Brian Smith, Western New York program director of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, also praised the move toward harnessing the wind in the Great Lakes.

"We can walk in a new direction towards a cleaner, safer energy future for our Great Lakes. We can break our dependency on fossil fuels, and begin a new energy future by investing in clean, renewable, domestic wind energy,” Smith said. Read more here.

In another article, it was stated that the goal is to erect a cluster of about 40 to 166 wind turbines directly on the lake to generate a minimum capacity of 120 megawatts of power. Sharon Laudisi of the State Power Authority stressed that there would be a long process of environmental review, and that issues such as aesthetics would come into play. Also, turbines would be located possibly five to six miles away from the shoreline, as reported in The Buffalo News.

Oil leak underscores need for offshore wind projects
By Brian Smith
If we are serious about getting off of fossil fuels, and serious about a renewable energy future, we must fully examine offshore wind in our Great Lakes. Read more here.

Focus on wind power, energy conservation
Regarding the May 10 editorial, “Nuclear power now,” the quickest path to reduced dependence on foreign oil involves energy conservation and wind power. Unlike nuclear power, a typical land-based wind project can be built in as little as three years. In the Great Lakes region, there is enough wind resource to meet all our energy needs.

With improvements to the grid, wind power can act as “base load” energy because the wind is almost always generating commercial quantities of power somewhere within the wider region. Currently, when it is windy, up to 15 percent of Erie and Wyoming counties’ electricity demand is being generated by the wind facilities located in these two counties.

The wind subsidies The News criticized result from flawed public policy. Ontario’s Green Energy Act incentivizes renewable energy with policies similar to those the U. S. government used to retool American industry in 1942. Last year the program generated $9 billion in private investment commitments as well as enough renewable projects to produce about 75 percent of the output of Rochester’s Ginna Nuclear Power facility. Ontario’s renewable energy program is really a “high value industrial development” program designed to generate tens of thousands of high-paying industrial jobs.

Derek Bateman
Buffalo

Video link to presentation on Ontario’s Green Energy Act is here.

Buffalo ReUSE is Hiring

The Buffalo ReUse is looking to hire a Volunteer Coordinator (VC). The VC will work with a team of Buffalo ReUse staff to develop our Volunteer Program and assist with Organizational Development and Fund Raising Events.

Specifically, the VC will report to the Director of Community Programs and help recruit volunteers from all regions of the community, including corporate participants. The VC will train and support volunteers, maintain a Volunteer Database, oversee efforts to recognize volunteers, design promotional materials for volunteer recruitment, as well as, seek out other innovative volunteer programs and successful development attributes we might adopt.

Please share the attached Buffalo ReUse Volunteer Coordinator Announcement with anyone you feel would be qualified, committed and enthusiastic about this opportunity.

To review the FULL JOB DESCRIPTION, visit: http://bit.ly/bUPis5.

Caesandra N. Seawell, Director of Community Programs
Buffalo ReUse Inc, 716-885-4131

President Obama visits Buffalo

"Buffalo LOVES Obama" was the message conveyed by a red,white, and blue sign on a Liberty cab roof when President Obama came to town on May 13th.

The purpose of the president's visit was to talk about jobs and the effect his administration is having on the economy, as well as to hear from Buffalonians, according to White House deputy press secretary and Buffalo native, Bill Burton, as described in an article in The Buffalo News.

The president also held a private meeting with several representatives of the Families of Flight 3407. Obama thanked the families of Flight 3407 for their efforts to boost aviation safety in wake of the plane crash that claimed their loved ones, according to Burton.

Previous stops on on his "White House to Main Street Tour" have included a visit to a local restaurant. Obama and his entourage did stop to buy something to eat, and the prez ordered Buffalo chicken wings. So where did they go? Anchor Bar, home of the Original Buffalo Wings? Nope. They went to Duff's Famous Wings, also an excellent choice.

It was the Buffalo wings stop at Duff's, and in particular something that a local resident said to the president there, that received the most media attention. According to The Buffalo News article, "Obama stories, blog put reader where action was", by Margaret Sullivan, readers of BuffaloNews.com heard about it first, thanks to News Washington Bureau Chief Jerry Zremski, who was with the president almost every step of the way.

Below is the electronic message that appeared on the Buffalo News live blog:
1:23 p.m.: Louann Haley, of Chaffee, greeted the president with the words: "You're a hottie with a smokin' little body." Obama's response: He hugged her. --JZ

Oh, yes, and about jobs and the economy...

Obama did meet with workers at Industrial Support Inc., where he offered a vigorous defense of his economic policies, saying they are creating jobs to boost the economy, according to live blogger, JZ.

Industrial Support Company officials spent about 45 minutes with Obama, introducing him to employees and giving him a tour of the plant, which manufactures a variety of products, from aeronautical parts to salad bars for the grocery industry, as stated in The Buffalo News article, 'President's visit makes impression at Industrial Support', by Jay Rey and Jay Tokasz.

David Sullivan, founder and president of Industrial Support, told Obama that 15 years ago he was in a shoe-box of an office, struggling to meet payroll. Today, he was shaking hands with the president. "That's the American dream," Obama told Sullivan, as he gave him a big hug.

Although Obama was in Buffalo ostensibly to talk about small business and jobs, the national media attention on the president's visit focused on the stop for Buffalo wings and and the "hottie" quote, not on small business matters. This, together with the decision to have the president give his wing business to Duffs, not the Anchor Bar, prompted an editorial cartoon, below, by Adam Zyglis.

[Click image to enlarge]

Volunteers: Greenhouses & Garden Beds

[Click image to enlarge]

State of Lake Erie Meeting - May 6

New York Sea Grant's

Annual State of Lake Erie Meeting

Free and open to the public

• Thursday, May 6, 7:00 - 9:00 pm

• ARMOR FIRE HALL, 4932 Clark St., Hamburg, NY [ MAP ]
  

FEATURED PRESENTATIONS

• NY Power Authority - Offshore Wind Generation - Sharon Laudisi, Lou Paonessa

• NYS DEC's Lake Erie Coldwater Program Update - Jim Markham, Senior Fishery Biologist, NYS DEC

• NYS DEC's Lake Erie Warmwater Program Update - Don Einhouse, NYS DEC, Lake Erie Unit Leader

• A Response to the Asian Carp Situation - Thomas Marks, NY Director, Great Lakes Sport Fishing Council

Sponsored by: NYS Assemblyman Jack Quinn, In Cooperation With Southtowns Walleye Association of WNY

For more information or directions, contact: Helen Domske, NY Sea Grant (716) 645-3610 or email sgbuffal@cornell.edu

===========================================

Editorial Opinion:
Those interested in offshore wind power as a source of clean, renewable energy should definitely attend this meeting.

There will be significant opposition to offshore wind at this public meeting from fishing enthusiasts, as indicated in this document.

If you have been following the news on the oil spill in the Gulf, you know what offshore oil drilling can do to harm the fish, sport fishing and the fishing industry.

Consider an alternative energy source: what would happen if there was a wind spill from an offshore wind farm? No harm, no foul...enjoy the breeze while clean energy powers your home, electric car, trolling motor battery, and just keep on fishing!

Public Meeting: West Valley Nuclear Waste

From the Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes (CWVNW):

The Department of Energy (DOE) will be conducting its Quarterly West Valley Meeting on Tuesday, May 4, 6:30pm at the Ashford Office Complex, 9030 Route 219, West Valley, NY [Map].

This is an important public meeting. IF AT ALL POSSIBLE, PLEASE TRY TO ATTEND as a show of support for the protection of our Great Lakes Erie and Ontario and all the people living downstream.

The Record of Decision, issued 4/15/2010, for the Environmental Impact Statement issued in December 2008, does not afford long-term protection downstream because it does not commit to a complete and full waste exhumation, as recognized and requested by the hundreds of comments, representing hundreds of thousands of affected citizens.

DOE and NYSERDA have to be challenged on this flawed decision that is not supported by valid science, nor was it supported by the impressive and vast majority and sincerity of comments submitted to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

The Cattaraugus Creek and Lake Erie and drinking water for millions of people are at high risk for thousands of generations and we owe them the right decision now.

For more information, contact Joanne Hameister, Chair, CWVNW Steering Committee.

Buffalo News Editorial: West Valley needs more

Earlier blog posts on the need for a full clean up of the radioactive waste are here.

Wind Action Group Meeting - May 6

The Wind Action Group meeting is on May 6th at 5:30 pm.

We will have reports from our various committees:

• The UB Law School Clinic students under the direction of Legal Committee Chair, Bob Berger will present their reports.

• Derek Bateman will be looking for volunteers for the Elmwood Festival of the Arts and we will hear an update on the NYPA offshore wind presentation scheduled for June 25th.

The meeting will be held at the CFGB Office, 712 Main St. Buffalo.