Energize Clinton County, as mentioned in a previous post from the DDN's website, is starting an initiative to create green jobs in Clinton County. Two Wilmington natives started Energize Clinton County after witnessing the massive lay-offs of DHL workers in their town and realizing the potential that "Going Green" can mean for Ohio.
Visit their website here: http://energizecc.com
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
From daytondailynews.com
Consultant to aid Wilmington organization
Friday, February 06, 2009
WILMINGTON — Energize Clinton County, a community organization promoting development of a renewable-energy resources economy in the Wilmington area, said a North Carolina consultant has agreed to help with the effort.
Pure Blue Energy, of Charlotte, N.C., has agreed to outline the requirements needed to obtain a legal declaration of Clinton County as a "green enterprise zone," through which tax incentives could be made available for wind and solar energy companies or other businesses that could create jobs, said Mark Rembert, a co-founder of Energize Clinton County.
Pure Blue Energy has agreed to provide its services at no cost, said Taylor Stuckert, who with Rembert founded their organization in late 2008.
Pure Blue Energy supports distribution of wind, solar and other renewable energy systems and promotes business opportunities for those enterprises. It also has an Ohio office, at Westerville near Columbus.
Stuckert and Rembert said they started their organization as part of Wilmington's effort to build a new economy as its main employer, express shipper DHL, wipes out thousands of jobs at its U.S. freight hub in a cost-cutting restructuring.
From daytondailynews.com
Men hope to lure 'green' jobs
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
WILMINGTON — They are working out of donated downtown office space, with donated furniture. They don't own cars. They aren't paying themselves salaries. They are living at home with parents, to save money.
If austerity translated into shares of stock, Taylor Stuckert and Mark Rembert might have it made.
They formed a not-for-profit organization called Energize Clinton County, to promote job creation in the Wilmington area through home weatherization projects and rebuilding the county's economy by developing businesses in renewable energy sources such as wind power and solar energy.
They are promoting a legal designation of Clinton County as "green enterprise zone" to encourage research and development there of energy- and materials-conserving systems and techniques, and to reward existing businesses that conserve. They are lobbying Ohio's U.S. senators for a piece of the proposed federal stimulus funding bill to support the envisioned Wilmington new-energy economy.
Along with the region's public officials, Stuckert and Rembert are motivated by the economic crisis created by express shipper DHL's cost-cutting to phase out its U.S. cargo hub at Wilmington. State and local officials have projected that will eliminate as many as 10,000 jobs at what had been the region's biggest employer.
Many of the layoffs already have occurred, driving up unemployment compensation claims and uncompensated use of health care services.
"Our focus is materials and energy efficiency," Stuckert said. "We want to create a culture for people to use what they have. If you are struggling with finances because you are out of work, the best way to put money in your pocket is to conserve what you have.
"Energy is one way of doing that. If you could save 25 percent on your energy bill, that's money in your pocket," he said. "If you can re-use a zip-lock container without buying another one, that's money in your pocket."
Stuckert and Rembert, who co-founded their organization after writing letters to the editor of the Wilmington News-Journal about their concerns, are getting exposure by using tools ingrained in the twenty-something generation.
They started up their Web site, at energizecc.com, in November. They update a blog on it and accept "guest blogs." Energize Clinton County has a presence on Facebook, the social networking site.
Stuckert and Rembert said they have an open-ended commitment to their effort. They are trying to raise money to operate their organization, they said.
Their effort reflects the commitment of some in their generation to stay in Ohio to try and improve the society they inherited, said Ned Hill, vice president of economic development at Cleveland State University. Students studying urban planning, economic development and similar disciplines in Cleveland State's College of Urban Affairs want to resolve rust-belt problems in Ohio, a state which has traditionally lost legions of college graduates to other markets, Hill said.
"They want to walk the walk, not just talk the talk," he said. "Our motto is ... changing America's cities, one graduate at a time."
From daytondailynews.com
Montgomery County trails the pack in green energy plans
COLUMBUS — When it comes to public sector "shovel-ready" renewable energy, power conservation and bicycle-friendly transit projects, Montgomery County — the birthplace of aviation and promoter of its innovation history — is playing catch-up with other Ohio metro counties, a study by an advocacy group shows.
As President Obama pushes a stimulus plan to inject billions of dollars into green industry solutions in an effort to fire up a struggling economy, metro counties throughout Ohio are making pitches for those funds.
Significant for the role Ohio could play in the ramp up of the renewable power industry, Obama picked a wind turbine component plant in Cuyahoga County's Bedford Heights days before his inauguration to make a pitch.
"Renewable energy isn't something pie in the sky. It's not part of a far-off future. It's happening all across America right now," Obama told Cardinal Fastener & Specialty Co. workers that day. "It can create millions of additional jobs and entire new industries if we act right now."
In Ohio, there are at least $1 billion and more in public sector green projects awaiting funding, the advocacy group Environment Ohio said. The projects could generate 11,149 jobs. To meet the non-profit advocacy group's criteria, proposed projects lessen foreign oil dependence, generate renewable energy or conserve energy — things that should pay big dividends to taxpayers over time.
Akron (Summit County) just opened a bus depot that hosts a solar array — there are 432 solar panels on the roof, the largest array in Ohio — and 45 geothermal wells.
Cleveland (Cuyahoga) wants bike trails, super-efficient lighting and training programs.
Columbus (Franklin) retrofitted an old downtown department store, harnessing rainwater for cooling and slashing energy costs with a green roof. The capital city has a 30-unit green housing development — fully occupied. It also wants streetcars, a solar array, and light rail.
Cincinnati (Hamilton) wants much of the same.
Dayton? A wish list forwarded to Washington, D.C., is heavy with traditional street maintenance such as asphalt resurfacing and sidewalks and curbs — $40 million by city officials' last count.
Dayton's seeming lack of ambition for green projects compared with other Buckeye state counties and cities is underscored by how others approach the opportunity.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
From daytondailynews.com
Other Ohio cities commit full time to green energy
Miami Valley officials are pitching a few alternative energy and conservation projects for federal funding through President Obama's stimulus plan, but the plans lack ambition by comparison with other metros statewide.
Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and others have full-time employees — in some cases a staffed office — to coordinate green energy projects, conservation and alternative transportation ideas. In Dayton, home of the Wright brothers and 20th century landmark technologies, nobody in the public sector has been assigned that task full time. Responsibilities are scattered.
In some ways, Dayton is starting from a greener position than Ohio's other metro areas. The Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority's century-old electric trolley system covers 120 miles and reaches into Oakwood, Kettering and Trotwood.
During the 2008 summer of record-setting fuel prices, it was the most cost-effective transit system going. Other cities could spend hundreds of millions — through the president's stimulus plan — to duplicate that mode of transit.
Running new trolley lines here would cost $1 million a mile, said John Thomas, RTA's chief maintenance officer, a reasonable option if oil prices soar again.
A green roof demonstration project is underway at City Hall and a model example of green architecture — one townhouse unit — went up at 123 N. Patterson Blvd. in September. A green home is up in West Carrollton. Montgomery County has a demonstration project at Madison Lakes Park that includes a wind turbine and solar array.
A big project underway is the $3.5 million solar farm and geothermal heating system for the Tech Town development downtown.
The solar farm would sit on 3½ acres near the Keowee Street bridge and could power the system that would use groundwater — which stays at a constant temperature — to heat and cool various buildings, said Norm Essman, who is coordinating CityWide Development Corp.'s Tech Town efforts.
A well that will kick off the system should be drilled within weeks. One new Tech Town office building should be up this year.
A $5 million state grant will help fund a $11.2 million Tech Town office building designed to meet high environmental standards. Essman said it will be built with recycled materials and use rainwater to irrigate landscaping. It will have a reflective roof to keep the building cool.
There are other proposed green projects, including $3.2 million to retrofit public buildings for energy efficiency, $8 million for automated water meter reading, and $3.7 million to make a street maintenance building meet green standards.
There's an alternative energy idea at Dayton International Airport to reduce reliance on traditional sources of energy. Cost: $5 million.
The idea is to use geothermal and solar equipment to power the airport, Director Iftikhar Ahmad said. "We could do at least 75 percent of the utility cost with this," he said.
Cleveland got its head start in 2005 with grant funding from a consortium of seven environmental nonprofits in a time of budget constraints, said Andrew Watterson, program director for the city's Office of Sustainability, which employs four full-timers and an intern. The office is saving the city $500,000 annually in utility costs, Watterson said.
The office recently worked with Green Energy Ohio on a wind monitoring tower in Lake Erie to assess potential wind power, Watterson said. His latest goal: cut energy consumption by 10 percent. The city now spends $60 million a year for electric power, natural gas and fuel.
In Columbus, converting an old, vacant Lazarus store downtown to a green-certified office building is the city's latest success. A 30-unit green housing development is sold out.
Larry Falkin is Cincinnati's director of the Office of Environmental Quality, a five-person office. The city adopted a formal climate protection plan in 2008 and is trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2 percent annually, he said. Solar power panels are on three city facilities and there are green roofs on two buildings, he said.
The centerpiece of Akron's green efforts, which includes a full-time city staffer who's been on the job 18 months, is a just completed transit center where Greyhound and city buses mix.
There are 432 solar panels on the roof — the largest array in Ohio — and 45 geothermal wells. It should slash electric expenses by a third and cut heating costs. The city is also shooting for $70 million to make its public city and county buildings green certified.
While Dayton doesn't have an office devoted to the purpose, the city taps an internal task force dubbed the "Cool Energy Team" to examine issues like fuel consumption, said Timothy Downs, deputy director of economic development.
Dayton has examined creating a full-time job to champion green issues, but hasn't made the move yet, he noted.
The city adopted a Sustainable Practices policy, purchased hybrid vehicles, is cutting lighting costs, and distributed an employee guide to energy conservation.
Dayton ought to get some green credit for improving traffic flow downtown, Downs said. He acknowledged that other cities like Akron seem to have bolder plans.
"We are just not there," he said.
Joe Tuss, deputy Montgomery County administrator, said the county deserves credit for budgeting a full-time energy efficiency manager and striving for an energy efficient county campus downtown.
But aren't bigger projects, for now, in the works elsewhere in Ohio?
"In some respects that's fair," Tuss said. "But we are moving effectively in other areas."
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