Tag: renewable energy

U.S. EPA honors 2014 Green Power Leaders

Posted: December 3, 2014

SAN FRANCISCO – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency presented its annual Green Power Leadership Awards to 23 businesses and organizations for their efforts to significantly advance the green power market by using electricity from renewable energy including solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, and low-impact hydroelectric sources.

“By using green power, these businesses and organizations are reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the impacts associated with climate change, and protecting public health,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “Our partners demonstrate that green power is both accessible and affordable while also growing the renewable energy market.”

EPA presented the awards at the Renewable Energy Markets Conference in Sacramento, Calif. The following businesses and organizations in the Pacific Southwest were among the winners nationwide:

On-Site Generation Partner of the Year

City of Las Vegas, Nev. reinvests 100 percent of its savings from solar projects into more renewable energy and conservation, with the goal of becoming a net-zero energy city by 2020. Las Vegas installed 3.3 megawatts of solar photovoltaic panels at its wastewater treatment facility, which, combined with energy retrofits and solar panel installation at city facilities, will save more than $2.5 million per year in energy costs.

Close to one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions or about 40 percent of America’s carbon pollution comes from power plants. By using green power, communities, businesses and organizations can dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, create jobs, improve public health and help transition the United States to cleaner energy sources.

The 23 award-winning partners were chosen for their exemplary use of green power from more than 1,300 partner organizations. EPA, through the Green Power Partnership, works with organizations to use green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with fossil fuel-based electricity use. Green Power Partnership organizations currently use over 7.6 billion kilowatt-hours of green power annually.

More on the 2014 Green Power Leadership award winners: http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/awards/winners.htm

How Burning Man inspired a solar surge in Nevada

Posted on July 2, 2014
Source: Mother Earth News.com By: Sami Grover

After the 2007 Burning Man, volunteers repurposed a solar array for a local school. That installation led to many, many more.

From the tiny houses of Burning Man to its ‘Burn Clean’ initiative, the Burning Man Festival in the Nevada desert has some significant eco-credentials (though it has a significant carbon footprint too!). But perhaps one of its most important legacies is the birth of Black Rock Solar, a nonprofit providing solar energy installations to organizations in need. NationSwell has a fascinating, inspiring account of how the group got started:
Black Rock Solar was a tiny nonprofit back then, cobbled together by a dozen volunteers after the 2007 “burn,” the week long event held in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert where thousands of artists, musicians and creative types gather each August. That year, a solar installation was donated to Burning Man, and the leave-no-trace ethic behind the gathering meant that the volunteers had to find a home for the array once the festival ended. They did — at a local school in Gerlach, Nevada, on the edge of the desert 10 miles from the festival.
That installation was to be the first of many. Armed with fresh experience and knowledge of the state’s rebates and incentives, Black Rock started looking for community organizations that might benefit from low cost, sustainable energy. They also pushed Nevada’s Public Utility Commission to remove a cap limiting incentives to solar installations smaller than 30 kilowatts, opening the door for larger, more visible installations.

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