Look out for Solar One’s new Mobile Solar Chargers - coming to your neighborhood soon!
Monday, April 14th, 2008
This past Saturday, Solar One was a flurry of solar-building activity. A group of 17 Manhattan Comprehensive High School students, all participants in Solar One’s new I Heart PV street team, assembled three mobile solar chargers. The units are to be used in outreach activities all around the city to help promote stronger solar policies in NYC, as part of Solar One’s new I Heart PV campaign. Mounted on metal hand trucks and small enough to take on the subway, the units will allow the students to give a simple live solar demonstration - cell phone and laptop charging - to interested passers-by in neighborhoods throughout the city.
The students did a phenomenal job assembling the three separate units, and did so with great speed, ingenuity and hard work. For many, it was their first time ever using an electric drill or tape measurer. But you would have never known that by the end of the day, with the students wielding each like seasoned pros. Solar One commends and thanks them!
The charger’s design is the brainchild of Elliott Montgomery, a NYC-based industrial designer and Solar One’s new best friend. Elliott, who holds a BA in ID from Carnegie Mellon University, focuses on projects that use experiential design to investigate and facilitate behavioral change by creating connections between user relevance and physical objects. The PV chargers embody this principle by giving New York pedestrians the opportunity to (serendipitously) interact and test out a functional solar panel, before hearing from our team of Manhattan Comprehensive interns just how well solar could work in the five boroughs. . . . if the right policies are put in place to foster it’s development. Pushing for such policies on the state level is the mission of Solar One’s I Heart PV campaign.
The chargers will make their first expedition this weekend at Grand Central Station’s Earth Day New York festival, and after that, can be found all around the city in busy pedestrian areas throughout the spring and summer. If you are interested in finding out more about the chargers, their comings and goings, the Manhattan Comprehensive street team, or the I Heart PV campaign, please contact campaign coordinator, Chris Neidl.
Posted in Solar One | Permalink
The Green Design Lab Final Project Presentation
Thursday, April 10th, 2008| April 18, 2008 | ||
| 5:00 pm | to | 6:30 pm |
Join students from Manhattan Comprehensive Night and Day School as they present the final projects from a class called the Green Design Lab. The projects investigate how to green their school building through sustainable design techniques. A brief presentation, poster series and 3D models of these sustainability strategies will be shown throughout the evening. Open to community members, family and friends, this reception is meant to stimulate a dialogue about how to green NYC’s public schools through innovative green design and student involvement.
The Green Design Lab, a joint project between Solar One: Green Energy, Arts and Education Center and Manhattan Comprehensive Night and Day School was initiated fall 2007 to explore issues of sustainability through the lens of design, architecture and sustainable technology.
For more information, go to www.solar1.org/education.
Friday, April 18th | 5 - 6:30pm
The Center for Architecture
536 LaGuardia Place, New York, NY
Refreshments will be served!
Posted in Education, Energy Efficiency, Green Building, New York City, Solar One, Solar One Events | Permalink
NYT: Mayor Bloomberg Turns Attention To Solar Power
Wednesday, April 9th, 2008
Just one day after Albany’s refusal to support congestion pricing, Mayor Michael Bloomberg reaffirmed his strong support for increased solar power deployment in NYC in a keynote address delivered at Newsweek’s second annual Global Environmental Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C.
Next week will mark the year anniversary of the release of PlaNYC, the Mayor’s ambitious longterm sustainability blueprint for development and planning in the five boroughs over the next two decades. While congestion pricing was the component of the plan that certainly garnered the greatest amount of attention over the past 12 months, the proposal was one of over 120 separate recommendations that were introduced in the plan and which pertain to key infrastructure, environmental and quality of life-related categories including transportation, open space development, air and water quality, energy use and climate change.
Counted among the plan’s energy recommendations are some visionary and potentially high-impact policy measures intended to induce solar photovoltaic development in the five boroughs. These include a property tax abatement for solar system owners; the investigation of new varying electricity rate structures favorable to solar deployment (i.e. “real time pricing”); as well as Solar One’s own project to construct Solar 2, a state-of-the-art solar-powered learning and cultural center to be located at our current site in Stuyvesant Cove Park.
As reported by Sewell Chan on the New York Times’ City Room Blog, the Mayor’s address yesterday focused on the City’s plan to install 2 MW of solar PV on 11 public buildings in the near term. This amount would roughly double the amount of solar - private and public - that New York currently has online, and would help galvanize the local market.
(The recommendations can be viewed on pages 112 and 113 of the PlaNYC report, which can be downloaded, here.)
Solar One’s new I Heart PV campaign, which is pushing for stronger solar policies in New York State through grassroots citizen engagement, will launch a series of activities to forward its immediate goals beginning next weekend - exactly one year after the initial release of PlaNYC. The Mayor’s bold solar recommendations - in particular the property tax abatement mentioned above - are included among a number of policy proposals that the campaign seeks to realize. The I Heart PV web page, to be hosted on this site, will be up and running by next week. Stay tuned and be in touch if you or anyone you know is interested in getting involved in the effort.
If you are interested in hosting an informative free, 1-hour workshop in your community about solar’s potential in NYC and the I Heart PV campaign’s current goals, please contact campaign organizer Chris Neidl (neidl@solar1.org).
Posted in Solar One | Permalink
Stuyvesant Cove Park Volunteer Day A Great Success!
Tuesday, April 1st, 2008
On March 29th Solar One kicked off spring 2008 with its first volunteer day in Stuyvesant Cove Park. The day started at 9:00am with coffee donated by Starbucks and guest speaker Claudia Joseph, from The Old Stone House, who spoke to the volunteers about permaculture . After the lecture volunteers were assigned tasks in the park. New volunteers partnered with seasoned ones to cut back last seasons grasses and perennials and to weed unwanted plants in preparation for this season’s new growth.
In total there were over 20 volunteers that came out to help on Saturday, of which 2 were new to the park. The volunteers were also surprised to see their Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh, who represents the 74th Assembly District, put on a pair of work gloves and volunteer his time to help in the park clean up day.
The day ended at 12:30pm with pizza and soda provided by the Stuyvesant Cove Park Association. If you are interested in participating in the next volunteer day or becoming a regular park volunteer, please contact us.
Posted in East River, Native Plants, New York City, Solar One, Stuyvesant Cove Park | Permalink
New York City Council Supports Congestion Pricing Plan, 30-20. . . . Now, on to Albany.
Tuesday, April 1st, 2008
Last night the New York City Council endorsed Mayor Bloomberg’s Congestion Pricing proposal by a margin of ten votes. The plan, which would introduce a charge on automobile commutes to and within Manhattan’s central business district, is designed to curb congestion, cut commute times, help finance mass transit expansion, improve air quality and create more pedestrian-friendly streetscapes. (For an overview of the policy’s makeup and benefits, please take a look at Transportation Alternative’s excellent synopsis.)
Approval by the City Council was a precondition imposed by the State Legislature last June when the original plan made it’s first trip to Albany. The Legislature must now endorse the plan by next Monday April 7th if the City is to be eligible for $354 million in federal funds for mass transit improvements. While Governor James Paterson and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno have expressed their full support for congestion pricing, support in the State Assembly, from the top down, appears more tenuous, making it likely that the plan’s fate will ultimately lie in that body.
To find out who your Assembly Member is and how to contact them, visit the New York Board of Election’s interactive website.
Posted in Solar One | Permalink
NYT Reports on the Emergence of Creative Financing for Solar
Thursday, March 27th, 2008 
While declining rapidly as the photovoltaic industry grows, the upfront costs of going solar remain the single greatest obstacle holding back the technology’s arrival in the mainstream.
However, a new business model has emerged that decouples PV panel ownership from PV energy consumption. Called power-purchase agreements (P.P.A.) or solar power service agreements, the arrangement works like this: solar companies sell consumers electricity from PV panels that are installed on the consumer’s property, while maintaining ownership of the panels and claiming any state or federal incentives and rebates. Because the PV system lasts for multiple decades and will pay for itself over time, the company can charge the consumer a competitive cost for electricity.
The P.P.A. may emerge as the dominant model for commercial solar in the not so distant future, reports the NYT in an excellent article that was part of yesterday’s special section The Business of Green.
Note, however, that 85% of P.P.A.s are happening in NJ and California, and virtually no activity is occurring on this front in New York. Why? Because the Empire State’s current incentive policies for solar are weak by comparison, and therefore create a less attractive environment for P.P.A. arrangements.
Posted in Solar One | Permalink
Sports Going Green
Thursday, March 20th, 2008
Image lifted from GreenMark Sports
The NCAA tournament is upon us and Baseball’s Opening Day is right around the corner. So why mention it here? As a leisure activity, sports are one of the things we use to escape from all the chatter and fighting about global warming, emissions, hybrids, nuclear power, and greenwashing (not to mention things like political scandals, clashes in Tibet, rocket attacks in Gaza, et. al.). But there’s a burgeoning green movement bubbling up in sports that goes well beyond whether athletes will wear masks in Beijing to combat air pollution during the Olympics. Consider:
* The Washington Nationals are set to open a new stadium next month that strives to be the first in professional sports to be certified under LEED.
* Closer to home, the Mets new field (under construction, opening in 2009) will feature numerous environmentally-friendly elements, including recycled steel, porous pavement, waterless urinals and a potential green roof for the administrative building.
* Taking things a step further, the Japanese professional baseball league is working to reduce the average length of games as part of the country’s pledge to reduce emissions under the Kyoto Protocol.
* No less an event than the Super Bowl has been taking steps in recent years to reduce its environmental footprint, using renewable energy to power the stadiums, expanding recycling programs, and effecting plans to reduce waste from food and the tons of materials used during all the hoopla surrounding the game.
* The EURO 2008 football tournament (think World Cup, only just for Europe) has a whole sustainability charter aimed at the “economic, social and cultural dimensions of the event.” These include elements such as promoting the use of public transit, incorporating energy efficiency measures, encouraging the use/sale of organic and fair trade products, and working at waste prevention.
And there are hundreds of other examples from tennis to golf to hockey. Heck, even the fuel-burners at NASCAR are looking for ways to reduce their impact. While sports still have a large overall environmental impact due to the travel, electricity, and other use of resources, this certainly seems like a positive trend - one that can make us feel a little bit better the next time we’re watching a game under the (renewably-powered) lights with (organic) popcorn and (sustainable) beer in hand. Now if we could just convince the powers that be that artificial turf is responsible for the melting icecaps….
Posted in Solar One | Permalink
Governor David Paterson Stepping it up!
Friday, March 14th, 2008
At a Step It Up rally for climate action that was co-organized by Solar One last November in Washington Square Park, then New York State Lt. Governor David Paterson gave a rousing speech in which he identified New York’s obligation to rapidly reduce its carbon ‘footprint’. Paterson’s comments were met with considerable applause from the 500- strong audience. Above is a brief clip.
Posted in Solar One | Permalink
Energy Audit at Manhattan Comprehensive H.S.
Monday, March 10th, 2008 
On Friday, March 7th, Solar One and the Community Environmental Center (CEC) teamed up to provide Manhattan Comprehensive Night and Day School with an energy audit of their school building. Students followed auditors around the school as they performed their analysis, learning how to quantify the energy use throughout the building.
Posted in Education, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Green Building, Solar One | Permalink
Green Renter: The Green Innovator: Inside Solar One’s New Design Curriculum for High School Students. With Christopher Kennedy, Solar One Education Coordinator
Friday, March 7th, 2008| March 17, 2008 | ||
| 7:00 pm | to | 8:30 pm |
The Green Innovator is a unique education program and curriculum aimed at high school students, that explores issues of sustainability through design. With a planet facing a myriad of environmental challenges, The Green Innovator provides students with unique tools and strategies for thinking critically about innovative solutions to the environmental challenges that face their local communities and the world. More than this, it’s a way for teachers to facilitate a dialogue with students about the integral role of design and green manufacturing processes in our transition toward a more sustainable future. Click here to visit the Green Innovator site, and to read more about the program.
The Green Innovator was developed with the generous support of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA).
Join Solar One educator and Green Innovator program developer Chris Kennedy for an overview of this new program. While the workshop is designed with high school educators in mind, all are welcome to attend.
Posted in Solar One, Solar One Events | Permalink
