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GREEN DMV talked to NAACP's Crisis Magazine about the state of the clean energy economy and the importance of protecting our most vunerable communities by fighting poverty and pollution at the same time.
June 17, 2011 - GREEN DMV and UNCF hosted environmental leaders from across the country at Funxion Restaurant for a networking mixer. The guests were in the District of Columbia for the National UNCF Building Green Learning Institute held at the Hyatt Regency in Capitol Hill. Guests were treated to 100% organic cuisine as they mingled with DC environmentalists.
The Green Faith Initiative awarded Good Success Christian Church in Northeast, Miracle Temple Non-Denominational Church in Southeast and Metropolitan AME Church in Northwest each $30,000 each to perform energy efficient upgrades in their facilities. The improvements will increase energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions and help them save money on their utility costs will also help create green jobs.
GREEN DMV received the 2010 EPA Environmental Excellence Achievement Award. The Mid-Atlantic Environmental Achievement Awards recognized groups, agencies, individuals and businesses making extraordinary contributions to improving the environment in the mid-Atlantic region, which includes Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.
In recognition of Earth Day, Washington Life Magazine recognizes GREEN DMV Cofounders Philip O'Neal and Rhon Hayes as two environmentalists working to green communities in the Greater Washington Region.
 Wind power has arrived. It’s clean, it’s affordable and it’s homegrown, made right here in the USA. That’s why more than ever, Americans are choosing this now-mainstream energy source. An impressive 89 percent of Americans want more wind energy and, to a great extent, the electric industry is answering. Since 2007, 35 percent of all new generating capacity came from wind—twice what coal....
Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) is selling its military and intelligence expertise to electric utilities as the world’s largest defense contractor tries to exploit a U.S. push to guard power grids from terrorists and hackers. Lockheed plans to enter the projected $1.3 billion market for utility cybersecurity next month with Palisade, a software program developed in partnership with American Electric Power Co. of Columbus, Ohio. The program alerts power companies to hacker intrusions and attacks on their electronic systems.
Dominion Virginia Power is seeking regulatory approval to convert three coal-fired power plants in southern Virginia to biomass, and to raise electric rates to pay for the conversion. It also says the conversions will create jobs. The power plants, in Altavista, Hopewell and Southampton County, would burn primarily waste wood from regional timber operations. The conversions would also increase output from the plants by more than 150 megawatts, or enough to power 37,500 homes, Virginia Power says.
General Motors Invests in Electric Bus Company General Motors, the world’s second largest auto-manufacturer has made a $6 million investment in Proterra, a company that makes electric buses.Founded in 2004, Colorado based Proterra's mission is to design and manufacture advanced technology for heavy duty vehicles powered by clean domestic fuels. Since its inception, Proterra has become one of the “leading innovators of zero emission commercial vehicle solutions”. According to Proterra, it has been recognized by the California Air Resources Board as “the first company that is currently delivering a full size transit vehicle that meets California’s Zero Emission Bus Rus Rules.”
Solar Frontier CIS PV Panels Charging the Nissan Leaf At 40 kilowatts, it's hardly the largest solar installation in the world, but the Solar Frontier PV panel installation sits on the lower-level rooftop of Nissan’s global headquarters in Yokohama, Japan, and it will be used mainly to power rapid charging systems for electric vehicles in the building. And that combination of low-cost solar panels, lithium-ion batteries, and all-electric vehicles starts to bring zero-emission transportation to life. The power from the system can charge around 1,800 Nissan Leaf electric vehicles per year, according to Solar Frontier.
LADWP Reconsiders Solar Incentive Program The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), the largest municipal utility in the U.S., is reportedly ready to reintroduce a solar incentive program (SIP) it abruptly dropped in April, ostensibly to address issues like lack of funding, a backlog of more than 500 applications, some safety concerns, and possible misrepresentations by solar installers. The suspension, effective April 8th, was programmed to run a minimum of 90 days, or until issues were resolved, allowing the municipal utility to review its protocols and revise the program as, and if, needed. Previously, in November of 2010, the agency reduced its rebates in what it described as an effort to sustain the program’s financial base.
No toxic chemicals found in Yellowstone leak: EPA Water downstream from a ruptured Exxon Mobil pipeline that leaked oil into the Yellowstone River showed no detectable levels of toxic petroleum chemicals, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency documents released. But Montana environmental officials told Reuters that in the week since the spill at least five people have been treated at local hospital emergency rooms for symptoms including dizziness and respiratory distress after being exposed to fumes from oil. "There could be many more," said Mary Ann Dunwell, spokeswoman for the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.
Orient Green Power to Raise Capacity 38% on Wind-Energy Demand Orient Green Power Co., the first renewable-energy company to list in India, plans to increase capacity by 38 percent as demand for cleaner electricity grows. Operating capacity for wind-power and biomass projects will rise to 342 megawatts in the financial year through March 2012, the Chennai-based company said today in an e-mailed statement. That compares with 248.5 megawatts now, it said.
Abu Dhabi: An Unexpected, but Growing, Voice in Renewable Energy Abu Dhabi, UAE continues to gain more regional and international recognition as a renewable and sustainable energy center. It is natural to think that Abu Dhabi is heavily dependent on oil and gas production. The Emirate, however, is looking to diversify its economy and energy future and it is spearheading various clean energy initiatives. In one such example, The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the leading international body for the assessment of climate change, concluded meeting in the Emirate for its 33rd session last week. Working Group III of the IPCC released its influential Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation (SRREN),
Abengoa Joins Total, Masdar to Build $700 Million Solar Plant in Abu Dhabi Abengoa SA of Spain joined Total SAand Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company, Masdar, in building the Middle East’s first major solar power plant. The Shams 1 project will cost $600 million and generate about 100 megawatts of power from 2012 in Madinat Zayed, 120 kilometers (75 miles) southwest of the United Arab Emirates capital city. Total and Abengoa will each own 20 percent of the project with Masdar controlling the rest, a statement said.
China must control spiralling energy consumption Energy consumption controls must occupy a "prominent place" in domestic policymaking in the coming years, with primary consumption already exceeding 3.2 billion tonnes of coal equivalent (TCE) in 2010, China's top energy official said at a weekend meeting. Liu Tienan, head of China's National Energy Administration, told a forum that China's limited environmental capacity, and issues such as energy security, made it necessary to impose restraints on energy use, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.
A New Era of Flight: Commercial Airlines Start Using Bio-Kerosene Two European airlines will soon be flying the friendly skies with recycled cooking oil. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Thomson Airways will be using bio-kerosene to power some of their aircrafts. KLM recently made history as the first airline in the world to operate a commercial flight powered by bio-kerosene. On June 29th, a KLM-owned Boeing 737-800 plane took off from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and flew to Paris with 171 passengers onboard. The airline will begin using the bio-kerosene on more than 200 flights on routes between Amsterdam and Paris beginning in September.
Opower announced that it is reaching across the Atlantic by inking a deal with First Utility in the U.K., one of the country’s largest independent energy companies. All of the utility’s 65,000 customers will receive Opower’s energy management program, which includes reports, tips and alerts via snail mail, a web portal, email, text messages and social media initiatives.
House to Vote on Light-Bulb Repeal The House is expected to vote on a measure to repeal efficiency standards for light bulbs that are scheduled to take effect at the beginning of next year. The Republican-sponsored repeal bill, H.R. 2417, would undo part of a 2007 energy bill that passed with broad Republican support and was signed into law by former President George W. Bush. The primary author of the light bulb provision in the 2007 law was Representative Fred Upton, Republican of Michigan, now the chairman of the Energy and Commerce committee and the scourge of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Word Choice Matters for Energy Policy When President Barack Obama speaks about the fuels of the future, his term of choice is usually “clean energy.” At the “Twitter Town Hall” last week, where people asked the president questions via Twitter, Mr. Obama referred to “clean energy” five times. The only similar term he used was “alternative energy,” once. Other descriptors, like “renewable,” “sustainable” and “green,” were not mentioned.
EPA Finalizes New State Emission Rules for Power Plants The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a new rule that will require power companies to further reduce greenhouse gases (GHG). The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) will require 27 states in the eastern half of the country to reduce power plant emissions that the EPA says are drifting across state lines and creating health risks in neighboring communities. By order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the EPA has been working on revising the 2005 Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) since 2008, which the new rule will replace.
Smart Grid Needs Smart Buildings and Policy Buildings consume an extraordinary amount of energy in the USA. Commercial, industrial, or residential expend their energy in different categories, but numerous studies have shown that energy efficiency and intelligent building technologies reduce energy bills. Not only that, but smart buildings can have a strong multiplier effect in terms of shifting expenditures from utility bills to other investments, including job creation for improved economic security.
Google Delivers Clean Energy Policy Study Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org, has released a study that delves into the impact of clean-energy innovation on both the nation’s financial health and its job sector. Entitled, “The Impact of Clean Energy Innovation”, the study – which used McKinsey’s Low Carbon Economics Tool, or LCET, to model scenarios, highlights the need for energy innovation, even when that innovation appears to compete with economic concerns.
The Northeast faces two fundamental and intertwined challenges: fossil fuel dependence and pollution from fossil fuels. Our dependence on coal, oil, and gas imposes economic costs, pollutes our air and water, and harms public health. It also contributes to global warming, which threatens the future of our coastal cities with sea-level rise, the future of our beloved ecosystems with the loss of habitats and species, and the well-being of our people with extreme weather events and new threats to public health.
We are committed to delivering these services by recruiting, hiring, and training local residents. Please submit letter of interest and resume to resume@polihire.com. Please specify the position for which you are applying in the subject line.
The Green DMV Report is a product of Green DMV, Inc. The report provides the latest information on the state of the clean energy economy. The report also contains the latest reports and policy recommendations from top policy experts on the vitality of the clean energy sector. To recommend an organization or policy paper or promote a sustianability event in the Green DMV Report, please send an email to: greendmvreport@greendmv.org
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The Green Faith Initiative works with faith-based organizations to implement programs that conserve energy and protect the environment to create healthy communities.
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A Program that Works:
How the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Is Helping the Northeast Shift to Clean Energy and Reduce Pollution from Fossil Fuels
The District of Columbia Sustainable Energy Utility (www.dcseu.com) is currently hiring for the
positions listed below. If you have an entrepreneurial spirit and proven experience in a fast-paced,
results-oriented work environment, don’t miss the opportunity to join our team!
