Citysol Kids of All Ages Day
Monday, July 6th, 2009| July 12, 2009 | ||
| 11:00 am | to | 6:00 pm |
SUNDAY JULY 12 at 11AM : Kids of All Ages Day
11:30 PM — Rachel Trachtenburg’s Homemade World with the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players
12:30 PM — Just Food- Learn the ancient art of fruit canning!
1:30 PM — Solar One- Check out the Solar One bike blender project, buy a bike-blended smoothie and learn about bike mechanics!
2:30 PM — The Madagascar Institute- Make your own generator; you have the power!
3:30 PM — Band of Bicycles- Bicycle-powered spin art for kids of all ages.
4:30 PM — Wide Open Eco-Pet Fashion Show- Dress up your pet in an eco-extravagant costume to die for! Use found, reclaimed, reused and recycled materials to show off your creativity and your pet’s fabulousness! Win a Big Blue Ribbon! Hosted by performance elf Reverend Jen!
Lots of stuff for kids to do, plus workshops and panel discussions for the grownups. Make crafts, check out the BioBus, a solar-and-wind powered laboratory on wheels, build a hand-crank alternator and learn about how electricity works, and many more! Plus hang out under Eco-Pioneers Solar Tent and chill at the Tiki Bar!
Bring your own cup and get beers for $2 off the regular price! Reuse the cup we give you, and it’s $1 off!
Write a letter for our I Heart PV campaign to increase solar energy generation in New York State and have a beer on us. Check out http://iheartpv.org for more info.
Posted in Art, Biofuel, Citysol, Design, Education, Food, I Heart PV, Legislation, Recycling, Solar One Events | Permalink
Manhattan Announces Green Jobs For the Ex-Homeless
Monday, April 27th, 2009
This past Friday, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver announced an innovative plan that will help curb NYC’s greenhouse gas emissions while simultaneously providing jobs for those most in need of them. The Go Green! Cooking Oil Recycling Program will employ formerly homeless and incarcerated individuals to pick up used cooking oil from local city restaurants free of charge; the oil will then be sold to companies that conduct biodiesel conversion, cutting down on the use of standard diesel gasoline – among the dirtiest of hydrocarbon-based fuels – in commercial vehicles in and around the city.
The service will be conducted by RWA Resource Recovery, a venture of The Doe Fund and its Ready, Willing and Able Community Improvement Project. To date, RWA Resource Recovery has collected nearly 725,000 gallons of biodiesel since its inception in early 2007, an amount that should increase at a substantial rate under the new agreement; in March alone, RWA added 50 new client businesses around the city. Overall, through this community improvement project, The Doe Fund has aided more than 3,000 formerly destitute New Yorkers in their quest for self-sufficiency. The program will also partner with the Lower East Side Ecology Center, which will conduct education and outreach by training local students to serve as “eco-consultants” to help recruit other businesses into the program.
In addition to this venture, which will expand to neighborhoods in upper Manhattan over the next few weeks, the state will provide further incentives for biodiesel through tax credits for users and producers of the alternative fuel. Given current economic and employment trends, the Go Green! Cooking Oil Recycling Program will provide much-needed hope and opportunities while at the same time making progress towards a cleaner city.
Sources: “Speaker Sheldon Silver and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer Announce Free Cooking Oil Recycling Program for Local Restaurants”, press release – 4/24/09, Manhattan Borough President’s Office official website (www.mbpo.org); RWA Resource Recovery website (www.rwarr.org); The Doe Fund website (www.doe.org); Lower East Side Ecology Center website (www.lesecologycenter.org).
Posted in Biofuel, Green Collar Jobs, New York City, Politics, Recycling, Waste | Permalink
Biodiesel and New York: Considering the Prospects, Challenges, and Controversies in the Five Borough Context
Thursday, November 13th, 2008| November 19, 2008 | ||
| 7:00 pm | to | 8:30 pm |
***NOTE: Special Location: NYU’s Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square South, 4th Floor. (View Map)
Solar One and the NYU Earth Matters Club present a Panel Discussion Featuring:
- Brent Baker, President and CEO, Tristate Biodiesel
- Daniel Falcone, Vice-Chair of Policy, The Bio-Fuels Industry Committee, The Environmental Business Association of New York
- Hon. Council Member James Gennaro, 24th District, Committee on Environmental Protection, Chairman, The New York City Council.
- John Nettleton, Senior Lecturer, Department of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University
- Luis Torres, Associate Director for Community and Public Affairs, Center for Sustainable Energy, Bronx Community College, City University of New York.
- David Yassky, 33rd District, The New York City Council
Moderated by Chris Neidl, Outreach and Advocacy Coordinator, Solar One.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Biodiesel has remained a prominent topic of interest within national and global conversations concerning energy independence, climate protection and economic development. But what expectations should we have for its future viability and impact in the Five Borough area?
In this panel discussion local experts and practitioners representing commercial, policy-making, and academic perspectives will discuss how biodiesel might ultimately fit into the city’s long term energy picture and sustainability goals, provide a picture of the fuel source’s present market evolution within the context of New York, and weigh in on the growing debates and controversies surrounding the energy source from a local perspective.
All ARE WELCOME.
RSVP: greenrenter@solar1.org
Posted in Biofuel, Solar One Events | Permalink
BioFuels: Culprit or Scapegoat?
Monday, April 28th, 2008
The global trend toward biofuels came under attack last week at the International Energy Forum in Rome. Blamed by industry insiders for the nascent food crisis, alternative fuels made from cash crops – particularly grains – have been subject to growing criticism as it becomes evident that they aren’t the much-touted panacea for global warming many had imagined. Though these comments aren’t especially surprising coming from a bunch of oil CEOs and government policy wonks, they shouldn’t necessarily be dismissed. More and more studies are indicating that biofuels such as ethanol use at least as much energy as they are purported to save, and that the reallocation of farm land for fuel crops is putting a strain on global food markets.
So biofuels apparently aren’t all they were cracked up to be. We shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss biofuels, however. While they make a convenient scapegoat for the current crisis and are clearly deserving of skepticism, they may not be entirely to blame, despite what the energy moguls claim. Biofuels will probably never live up to their original hype, but with continued technological progress and more intelligent legislation, they may still find their niche on a smaller, more sustainable scale. First, while most attempts to produce biofuels utilize processes and raw materials that are inefficient, some alternative methods offer hope. The International Energy Agency (IEA) supports the use of second-generation biofuels, which use non-food crops to produce the fuel. Other methods focus on genetically engineering certain tree species to reduce lignin levels, which prevent researchers from accessing the cellulose needed for ethanol production. Given their high levels of cellulosity, trees are otherwise perfect candidates for biofuels. Such methods are not without their own controversies, however; critics of bioengineering have raised concerns over compromising the structural integrity of these experimental trees, not to mention the threat of cross-fertilization with wild strains. Second, most current subsidy policies do little but promote such inefficiency. Corn-based ethanol – the bulk of biofuel produced in the U.S. – is especially inefficient given corn’s low cellulose content compared to other potential sources. Yet Congress continues to pass bills in favor of greater corn subsidies and cornthanol production. (Click here and here to read our past posts.) At the conference, recently ousted Italian prime minister Romano Prodi astutely commented that “We have to examine very closely subsidy policies so as to avoid distortions in the allocation of resources”. Such a prudent approach may prove better in the long run than the outright dismissal of biofuels, despite the significant limitations born out by recent events.
“Tortillanomics”, a slideshow on Frontline‘s website, also explores the effects of biofuel production on corn prices in Mexico. Click here.
Posted in Biofuel, Energy Efficiency, Food, Legislation, Politics, Sustainability | Permalink
Thirsty Biofuels
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
Water, which is already in trouble for droughts around the country, has been shown to be a huge ingredient in the production of biofuels. In a recent study by scientist Michael Webber at University of Texas, he found biofuels to use from 40 to 130 times more water per gallon than gasoline, mostly from the water needed for irrigation. It’s just another of the many complicated factors as we try to improve our energy portfolio and make it safer for future generations.
From Treehugger
Posted in Biofuel, Water | Permalink
