Join us Tuesday, January 31, for the first 2012 event in Solar One’s and NYC ACRE’s cleantech discussion series Clean Energy Connections: No Money No Problems? Financing Cleantech in the Post-ARRA Era.

Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2011 7:00pm-9:00pm (doors open at 6:30p)
The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WNYC
44 Charlton Street, New York, NY 10014
General Admission: $25, Students: $10

Register for your advanced tickets here
A limited number of tickets will be available at the door.

The beginning of 2012 ushers in a new era in renewable energy funding. Section 1603 Treasury Program is dead in the water thanks to a gridlocked Congress, and low tax appetites have hamstrung potential investors. As we move into an uncertain financial landscape, where will today’s renewable energy upstarts find funding for their projects and companies? Will private financing step in to sustain the industry’s momentum? How can the considerable financial power of New York City take a leadership role? Financial experts will examine these issues and offer a realistic assessment of where cleantech is headed now that the federal buck has stopped.

A networking reception will follow the panel discussion and audience Q&A.

Opening Speaker:
- Nathanael Greene, Director of Renewable Energy Policy, Natural Resources Defense Council

Panelists:
- Izzet Bensusan, President and CEO, Karbone
- Ann Davlin, Director of Development, Carbon War Room
- Jason Scott, Partner, EKO Asset Management Partners

Moderator:
- Michael Molnar, Partner, Greentech Capital Advisors

Can’t make it? Greentech Media is the media sponsor for this series and will host a free live web stream of this event at www.greentechmedia.com. Questions for the panelists and comments can be submitted via Twitter@CleanECNYC, #CleanNRGx.

No Money No Problems? is the first event of the second season of the cleantech discussion series Clean Energy Connections. Clean Energy Connections is a program of Solar One and NYC ACRE at NYU-Poly that brings together professionals, policymakers, investors and academia to explore major topics shaping NYC’s blossoming cleantech industry, and provides an expert forum to share best practices and new inspirations.

Directed by Cambria Matlow and Morgan Robinson and originally screened in collaboration with Rooftop Films and IFP, the film tells the story of 26-year-old Daniel Dembele, who decides to return to his homeland in Mali and start a local business building solar panels.  As it follows his progress from startup to viable business, the film touches on themes of climate change, poverty, and African self-sufficiency.  Check out the trailer:

Congratulations to Cambria and Morgan on getting their film in front of a nationwide audience! Also check out our update from March that features a 7-minute video by Morgan called “Burning In The States” focusing on the efforts of local NYC students building small-scale projects.

Join us this Wednesday for the 6th event of Solar One’s and NYC ACRE’s cleantech discussion series Clean Energy Connections: EVs in NYC: What Roll-out Strategies Work Best for the Big Apple?

Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011 7:00pm-9:00pm (doors open at 6:30p)
The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WNYC
44 Charlton Street, New York, NY 10014
General Admission: $25, Students: $10

Register for your advanced tickets here
A limited number of tickets will be available at the door.

New York City has the nation’s largest hybrid vehicle fleet and the best access to public transportation in the United States. City officials and Con Edison are planning for widespread adoption of electric vehicles and its impact on the electric grid. This event will focus on fleet-based approaches for electric vehicles, charging infrastructure challenges, and what this roll-out means for grid-scale storage and reliability issues.

A networking reception will follow the panel discussion and audience Q&A.

Opening Speakers:
- Christina Ficicchia, Executive Director, New York City and Lower Hudson Valley Clean Communities
- Keith Kerman, Deputy Commissioner, New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS); New York City’s first Chief Fleet Officer

Panelists:

- Brian Asparro, Chief Financial Officer, Green Charge Networks
- John Shipman, Department Manager, Electric Vehicle Programs, Con Edison
- Brett Gipe, Regional Sales Director, Eastern U.S. & Canada, Smith Electric Vehicles
- Anatol Feygin, Vice President, Energy Strategist, Loews Corporation

Moderator:
- David Leeds, Senior Manager, Smart Grid Research, Greentech Media

Can’t make it? Greentech Media is the media sponsor for this series and will host a free live web stream of this event at www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/evs-in-nyc-what-roll-out-strategies-work-best-for-the-big-apple. Questions for the panelists and comments can be submitted via Twitter@CleanECNYC, #CleanNRGx.

EVs in NYC is a part of the cleantech discussion series Clean Energy Connections. Clean Energy Connections is a program of Solar One and NYC ACRE at NYU-Poly that brings together professionals, policymakers, investors and academia to explore major topics shaping NYC’s blossoming cleantech industry, and provides an expert forum to share best practices and new inspirations.

Taken together, these upgraded technologies are known as the smart grid. In August, the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), the non-profit organization that manages New York’s electricity grid and administers the state’s wholesale electricity markets, unveiled a $74 million initiative to upgrade New York’s electricity grid with new smart grid technologies.

Backed by more than $37 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, these technologies will improve the efficiency of the state’s bulk transmission system and improve grid operators’ visualization capabilities and situational awareness. NYISO also held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new $35.5 million primary power control center in Rensselaer County.

What does it all mean?

New Yorkers will save money. New capacitor banks will reduce electricity costs in New York State approximately $9 million per year by reducing the amount of electricity that is lost when carried over long distances on the bulk transmission system. All told, the upgrades will provide New York with approximately $190 million in annual savings.

Power reliability will improve. New phaser measurement units will improve NYISO’s ability to receive, process and monitor changing conditions, which it does on a moment-to-moment basis, 24 hours per day. Ultimately, NYISO hopes to integrate its smart grid with others across the Northeast and Canada, which could help avoid potential outages, such as the 2003 blackout.

Renewable energy will get a boost. The smart grid upgrades and new power control center will aid the integration of renewable energy supplies, such as solar and wind, into the power supply.

To learn more, visit the NYISO website, read its press release or check out the NYS Smart Grid Consortium overview.

120 years and one symposium later, solar powered hot water heating systems may finally be getting the attention they deserve in New York City. Since their invention in 1891 by American businessman Clarence Kemp, Americans on the whole  have been very slow and reluctant in adopting renewable energy water heating systems. However, that has not stopped solar hot water systems from becoming extremely popular in China and Europe; Germany, according to EarthKind Solar’s Ron Kamen, installs as many as 200,000 systems a year.

Fortunately, New York City may be just the city to put solar hot water systems back on the map for Americans. Executives from Quixotic Systems Inc., EarthKind Solar, and Sunnovations reported that the existing technology functions excellently in New York City’s temperate climate –especially atop buildings that have flat roofs and are 13 stories or lower (the majority of buildings in the city). In addition, building owners and managers such as Peter Bourbeau, of PWB Management Corporation, described how installing solar hot water systems in two of his rental buildings have lowered fuel oil expenses as much as 30 percent.

So should New Yorkers expect to see their neighbors tossing out their rusty old hot water heaters in exchange for shiny, green, solar powered systems? Perhaps not immediately, but progress is definitely underway: CEC is assembling a task force to follow through on the issues that the symposium raised.

What is our relationship to water as NYC residents? How often do New Yorkers think about water or even remember that four of our five boroughs are located on islands? In the mind’s eye of the average resident, New York is more likely to be a city of concrete canyons, not bays, rivers, and wetlands that are home to other species besides people. Perhaps that is because today we are used to seeing waterways as dividers that lie between our useful spaces, stormwater as a nuisance for the municipality, and potable water as a problem for engineers. The average New Yorker neither has an active relationship with the water bodies that surround the city nor gives much thought to how we know that the quality of our tap water is safe and secure. But when we start thinking more about water, we find that it has seeped into many seemingly unrelated aspects of our urban lives a long time ago.

On a large scale, it is no exaggeration to single out water as humanity’s most precious resource.  After all,  it is the foundation of life itself. Water is much a part of our bodies as it is an unseen but essential component in the production of food, clothing, energy, and in the operation of industry, buildings, and transportation. In nature, it is a renewable resource thanks to the brilliant simplicity of the hydrologic cycle. In places of dense human activity, however, its lifecycle is often linear: from fresh water to wastewater, which, even when treated, never regains the purity that makes it again suitable for human use. Considering that only 1% of the Earth’s water is suitable for human use, we must reconsider our relationship to water to make it more sustainable for the sake of ecological stability as well as our own security.

The City of New York has an intimate relationship with water. Water defined our city’s physical boundaries and laid the foundation for its financial prosperity. New York, like many cities before and after it, was founded on water for reasons of transportation and, therefore, trade. The City became the financial powerhouse we know today largely due to the Hudson River and the Eerie Canal. And yet today NYC’s port has shrunk dramatically, prompting industry and advocates to re-envision the function of the waterfront in an innovative and sustainable way.

New York’s waterways still retain the polluting footprint of recent heavy industry. While water quality in the Hudson and East Rivers have improved, other waterways, like the Gowanus Canal and Newtown Creek have recently earned federal Superfund designations due to heavy post-industrial contamination. Government-led efforts are on the way to clean them up, and community groups are teaming up with landscape designers, ecologists, and engineers to devise strategies to keep those waterways clean after the remediation is complete. Some strategies focus on limiting the volume of water that washes over our streets, into sewers, and then into water bodies when it rains while others explore how we can use water in our buildings more smartly and reuse it when possible.

The remaining piers that bristle out of the water all around Manhattan appear to most New Yorkers as the most visible vestige of a more active waterfront. Some have been reclaimed by enterprising individuals and organizations to be transformed into destinations; the Frying Pan on Pier 66 comes to mind. Nevertheless, such destinations are endpoints, often of a lengthy journey from the nearest subway. Rethinking transportation, some urban planners and designers are re-imagining these endpoints as hubs and positing that waterborne transportation can relieve NYC’s roads and subways that chocking with traffic. In that case, water can once again become a connecting medium instead of a divider, much like it had been in the days before Fulton’s Ferry was made obsolete by the Brooklyn Bridge.

Our waterfront must innovate not only in the interest of health, commerce, and connectivity, but also to engage people by offering them access to water and opportunities for recreation. Destinations like the Brooklyn Bridge Park and Hudson River Park, water sports like kayaking and small boating, all serve to grant access and allow New Yorkers opportunities to learn from and relax on the water.

Water, however, is both our friend and foe. As a coastal city bounded by water, New York is especially vulnerable to sea level rise. Last year’s exhibition “Rising Currents” at the Museum of Modern Art asked several groups of architects and landscape designers to imagine how the city’s landscape might cope with the disastrous invasion of water. If one were to take this scenario a step further, one could imagine the world transformed by an excess of water, both of the macro level of society and the micro level of individual human lives. This feat of imagination is being undertaken by artists and actors to help us glimpse one possible dystopian future, a future that, unwittingly, we might have helped to bring about.

We at Solar One think a lot about New York’s relationship water. After all, we are an organization located on the East River next to a combined sewer overflow discharge point; we manage a park of water-saving native plants; and we look forward to building a water-smart building, Solar 2. As part of our ongoing series, NYC the Future Metropolis, we invited some of our friends to share their thoughts about the importance of water to New York City on Sunday, May 8. We hope you can join us as well.

Please see the event page for more details: solar1.org/nycfm

Last Thursday, Solar One partnered with Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Green Screens program to show Carbon Nation, Peter Byck’s climate change solutions documentary. The screening on Thursday was a phenomenal success, with a full house, a great discussion with director Peter Byck, Solar One Executive Director Chris Collins, Solar One Green Workforce Development Director Diallo Shabazz and “green hawk” Dan Nolan. Thanks to everyone who was able to come!

However, if you weren’t able to be there, you can still see Carbon Nation this week at the Cinema Village at 3:30pm and 7pm from now through Thursday February 17. You can get tickets HERE!

After Thursday, Carbon Nation is going on the road, and if you happen to live in one of the following cities, you’re in luck:

Los Angeles, CA- February 18
Austin, TX- February 25
Portland, OR- March 4
Seattle, WA- March 4
San Francisco, CA- March 11

Group tickets are available for the above screenings- please contact Jackie Papier, jackiepapier[at]hotmail[dot]com.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Green Screens program and Solar One Co-Present Carbon Nation at the Walter Reade Theater on Thursday, February 10 at 6:30pm

Screening followed by a Q&A with the director Peter Byck, Solar One Executive Director Chris Collins, Solar One Green Workforce Development Director Diallo Shabazz, and a reception.

On Thursday February 10, Solar One is proud to be co-presenting the film Carbon Nation with the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Green Screens program at the beautiful Walter Reade Theater. Carbon Nation is a film by Peter Byck that explores potential alternatives to carbon fuel from one-armed Texas cotton farmer Cliff Etheridge’s efforts to pull together an enormous wind farm, to green jobs innovator Van Jones. This inspiring film presents vital solutions to a thorny problem and in the process reveals a thriving tradition of American ingenuity.

Friends of Solar One may purchase tickets at the $9 Affiliate price, a $3 discount off the general admission price. Film Society members purchase tickets at the $7 Member price. A great bargain for a great film!

Purchase tickets online by selecting the “Affiliate” ticket type HERE.

You can use this link that goes straight to the online purchase page for CARBON NATION:
http://www.filmlinc.com/tix.php?p=22298&b=1

Or purchase in person at the Walter Reade Theater’s Box Office:
The box office opens at 12:30 PM Monday-Friday, and one half hour before the first screening on Saturday/Sunday. It closes every day 15 minutes after the start of the last show. If there are no evening screenings, the box office closes at 6pm. For more information call 212-875-5601 during hours of operation.

IMPORTANT: Please printout this page! You will need to present the printout at the Walter Reade Theater Box office to purchase tickets or redeem an online order at this discount price.

Visit FilmLinc.com for more information about Carbon Nation. http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/gs/carbonnation.html

View the trailer for the film: http://carbonnationmovie.com/

Thursday, February 10 at 6:30pm
The Film Society of Lincoln Center
Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th Street, Upper Level
Bet Broadway & Amsterdam Aves

As 2010 comes to a close, great news comes in from DC! With the passage of the Federal Tax bill, President Obama also signed an extension of Section 1603, the renewable energy Tax Grant Program.

This extension is a boon for businesses that want to put up renewable energy on their property. Currently, a commercial entity interested in installing a renewable energy system is eligible for a 30% federal tax credit on all expenditures related to the installation. This tax credit, by the way, is called the Business Energy Investment Tax Credit (ITC). Section 1603 is super cool because it allows the entity to receive that 30% federal tax credit as a cash grant.  Since its launch in 2009, this program has been incredibly successful and, to date, has helped encourage more than 4,000 clean energy projects.

Section 1603 is only available to businesses who install one of the qualified renewable energy sources, which include solar, small wind, fuel cells, microturbines, and Combined Heat and Power. There are size and financial caps for each technology, so read the IRS’s literature about the program before you start your renewable energy project.

If you have a company in New York and are interested in installing renewable energy, now is the time to do it! In addition to the federal tax program, NY state also has a host of financial incentives for renewables available through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).

For more information about Section 1603, check out the IRS website.
There is also a really great write-up about the program from Green Tech Media.

For more information about NYSERDA’s programs, you can contact one of the Energy $mart Communities Coordinators, whose contact info is here.

You can also check out NYSERDA’s Renewable Energy website: PowerNaturally.org.

New energy efficiency legislation that will drastically impact your building is fast approaching and you don’t want to be caught unprepared.  Join us for an interactive session with leaders in the field of energy efficiency.  Learn how you can take advantage of these required changes, and benefit from cost saving measures.  You will also hear about all of the potential funding and financing opportunities available to help with project costs.

June 17, 2010, 6:00-8:00pm,

followed by networking a reception

Sony Wonder Technology Lab Auditorium

550 Madison Ave (at 56th St.)

PANELISTS

Representative from the City of New York:  NYC Green Building Codes

Kate Grossman, Greenwich Energy Solutions:  Energy Audits and Qualifying Buildings

Brett Greenberg, Bovis Lend Lease:  Implementing Energy Efficiency Measures

David Gibson, Lutron:  Advanced Lighting Technologies

Cliff Schorer, Greenwich Energy Solutions: Financing Options

Diana Pangestu, Solar One:  NYSERDA Incentives and Case Study

Seminar Cost:  $25

To register, click on the following link:

NYU-Poly Panel w Engineer Kareem 4.19.10

Join Solar One, McKissack & McKissack, CRDF, and the New York Professional Chapter of Engineers Without Borders as we host a discussion on the success and challenges of the U.S. Department of State’s Iraq Engineer Enhancement Program (IEEP) at NYU-Poly. The panel will explore the challenges of rebuilding Iraq’s scientific and technological infrastructure, and the urgency of embracing sustainable technologies.

Date: Monday, April 19, 2010, 6:00-8:00pm

Location: NYU-Poly, 160 Varick St. 19th Floor, New York, NY

Register:  Email Diana Pangestu at diana@solar1.org, or call (212) 785-0734

Listen as an Iraqi executive and engineer charged with reconstruction of Iraq’s damaged infrastructure describes the technical, professional and societal challenges facing Iraq today.

Learn more about “science diplomacy” as embodied in the Iraq Engineer Enhancement Program (IEEP), a U.S State Department program managed by the Civilian Research and Development Foundation that is designed to connect Iraqi engineers and professionals with the knowledge they need to rebuild their country.

Connect with a growing network of friends and supporters.

Panelists:

Engineer Kareem, CRDF Fellow at the Iraq Engineers Enhancement Program

Micah Kotch, Director, NYC ACRE Incubator at NYU-Poly

Lex Heslin, President and CEO, Beautiful Earth Group / renewable energy development

Jonathan McClelland, MJ Beck / financing renewable energy projects

Woody Crouch, PE, AECOM / solar power infrastructure, emerging markets

Andrew McNamara, Vice President of New Construction & Renewables at Bright Power Inc.

Moderated by:

Alaa Majeed, Iraqi-American journalist

Andrew Daquesian, Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, Chair, Green Design & Construction Committee

You can read the interview here.

NYC-ACRE and Solar One come together to showcase some of the newest wind and energy projects in NYC, while providing invaluable and practical discussion on how to further establish a cleantech market in NYC.

SPEAKERS:
Micah Kotch, Director of Operations at NYC-ACRE at NYU-Poly
John Humphrey, Co-Founder of Sollega Inc.
James Gallagher, NYCEDC Senior VP for Energy Policy
Russell M. Tencer, CEO of Wind Products LLC
Diana Pangestu, Energy $mart Communities Coordinator at Solar One

Wine & Cheese networking reception to follow!

LOCATION:
NYC-ACRE at NYU-Poly, 160 Varick Street, aka 10 Hudson Square,
12th Floor, New York City

FREE EVENT!
Please RSVP by March 15 as space is limited: www.solar1.com/acre-cleantech

NYC-ACRE and Solar One come together to showcase some of the newest wind and energy projects in NYC, while providing invaluable and practical discussion on how to further establish a cleantech market in NYC.

SPEAKERS:
Micah Kotch, Director of Operations at NYC-ACRE at NYU-Poly
John Humphrey, Co-Founder of Sollega Inc.
James Gallagher, NYCEDC Senior VP for Energy Policy
Russell M. Tencer, CEO of Wind Products LLC
Diana Pangestu, Energy $mart Communities Coordinator at Solar One

Wine & Cheese networking reception to follow!

LOCATION:
NYC-ACRE at NYU-Poly, 160 Varick Street, aka 10 Hudson Square,
12th Floor, New York City

FREE EVENT!
Please RSVP by March 15 as space is limited: www.solar1.com/acre-cleantech

Solar One in partnership with the Office of Recycling Outreach and Education will be touring Green from the Inside Out, a three-part workshop on recycling, energy efficiency, and rooftop possibilities for multifamily buildings, throughout New York City.

These workshops are designed to give building owners, shareholders, and managers the tools, resources, and information they need to green their multifamily building.  Look below for the workshop descriptions, to see the date and location of the next workshop, and to reserve your spot.

If you would like us to bring these workshops to your neighborhood, contact Celia Salgado at celia@solar1.org, or 212-505-6050.

6:30pm: A Survey of Solar Energy Roof Applications for NYC: Solar Thermal, Photovoltaics, Green Roofs and White Roofs

In this workshop Solar One will introduce, define and discuss the economic and quality of life implications of three solar rooftop applications that have considerable promise in the five borough area: solar thermal technology, photovoltaics and white roofs.

7:15 pm: Combating Rising Energy Costs with Energy Efficiency for Multifamily Buildings

Find out how to reduce fuel and utility costs while improving resident comfort and building performance. Solar One’s NYSERDA Energy $mart Communities Coordinator will present cost-effective ways for residential building owners and managers to make lighting, appliances, heating and cooling more energy efficient. Learn about the government and utility incentives that are available for your building, as well as the Community Preservation Corporation’s new Neighborhood Energy Loan Program that provides financing for retrofitting multi-family apartment buildings for energy efficiency.

8pm: Navigating NYC’s Recycling Landscape

Hear about new recycling laws and old misconceptions. Find out how to avoid fines, improve your recycling program and get your tenants to recycle.  Learn about other ways to reduce waste, recycle more and help make NYC a little greener. OROE is a program of the Council on the Environment of New York City.

WHEN:  Monday, January 25th

6:30pm to 8:30pm

WHERE: Sol Goldman YM-YWHA

344 East 14th Street New York, NY

RSVP’s required.  Send email to celia@solar1.org to RSVP

RSVP’d guests can arrive at 6:15 to speak with Vendors about products. Presentations will start at 6:30pm and run until 8:30pm. There will be breaks in between presentations to talk to Vendors.

Free!  Refreshments will be served.  Vendors will be available to answer any technical questions about energy audits, different roof applications, and recycling.

GREEN FROM THE INSIDE OUT is a product of Solar One, in partnership with the Office of Recycling Outreach and Education. This series was made possible by a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency.

http://twitter.com/solaronenyc

We will use this for quick links,  announcements, event updates, stray thoughts and anything we feel is worth passing along.  We also will have Chris Neidl posting updates from the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen beginning December 14th.  He will also have more detailed video updates posted daily in this space.

Join the SIEDC and Solar1 on this fun filled day and learn how to live a happier, healthier and greener life in New York City!

The Staten Island Health and Environmental Conference 2009 will present the latest information on healthcare and environmental issues by industry experts and professionals, and is the first of its kind on Staten Island. The day long forum will consist of vending, seminars, panel discussions and keynote addresses. Free on-site medical screenings will also be provided! In addition, The Health and Environment Conference will demonstrate why a clean environment is important to a healthy lifestyle. Participants will also learn the latest ways to incorporate green practices into their businesses, homes and lifestyles and about the environmental impact of current practices.

WHEN: Thursday September 24th, 2009, 8:00am-8:00pm

WHERE: Hilton Garden Inn- Staten Island

For more information contact:  SIEDC at 718-477-1400, or visit SIEDC.org

Saturday September 19th

Short: Blue Marble Ice Cream (from From Elegance to Earthworms)

Feature: Burning In the Sun
WORLD PREMIERE! 26-year-old Daniel Dembele decides to return to his homeland in Mali and start a local business building solar panels – the first of its kind in the sun drenched nation. Burning in the Sun tells the story of Daniel’s journey growing the shaky startup into a viable company and of the business’ impact on Daniel’s first customers in the tiny village of Banko. Taking a controversial stance on climate change, poverty, and African self-sufficiency, the filmmakers shed light on progress in Africa, and infuse optimism across culture. This 2008 IFP Documentary Lab selection will be shown in collaboration with Rooftop Films and IFP.

Speakers: Cambria Matlow and Morgan Robinson (Directors)

Cambria Matlow is a founding filmmaker of Birdgirl Productions, and Burning In The Sun marks her debut as a documentary feature director. She began production of the film in 2005 and has garnered national support from LEF Foundation and the Brooklyn Arts Council. Before her work with Birdgirl, Cambria directed and lensed several short narrative films which crossover styles lending a ‘documentary’ feel to fiction filmmaking. Cambria’s abilities are anchored by her dynamic background in filmmaking, foreign language ability, rich intercultural experience and political awareness.

Morgan Robinson worked as field producer and cinematographer for documentary filmmaker John Halpern. Previously he worked in the production department of Spike Lee’s HE GOT GAME andSUMMER OF SAM. Currently, In addition to co-directing Burning in the Sun, Morgan works for Punched in the Head Productions making MTV True Life documentaries. Morgan wrote, directed and produced the award winning short film CATABASIS, and JI DUMA: BRING THEM WATER.

Political proclamations and big gusts of wind often go together.

This paradigm of civic symbiosis was never more true than last Tuesday, when Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick announced plans to markedly boost his commonwealth’s wind power capacity by 2020.  While Massachusetts currently produces just 7 MW of wind-generated energy annually, Patrick hopes to ramp up production to 2000 MW – enough to power 800,000 homes and 10% of overall anticipated need – by the end of the next decade.  The ambitious policy will supplement his administration’s recent commitment of 250 MW of solar power by 2017.

The announcement also comes on the heels of the DOE’s 2007 decision to locate one of two planned Wind Technology Testing Centers there, spurring speculation that Massachusetts could join California as a leader in forging a green economy.  In a statement issued by Governor Patrick’s office, the new center will provide a framework for the “economic rewards of technological development, entrepreneurship and jobs.” Assuming an even greater commitment to clean energy policy at the federal level by the incoming Obama administration and new DOE honcho Steven Chu, this is a trend that should continue.

Though some hurdles remain in getting locals on board (one proposed Cape Cod offshore wind farm comes to mind), Massachusetts Secretary for Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles noted that last year’s incentive-laden Mass. Green Communities Act has “municipalities around the Commonwealth… lining up to bring wind power to their communities.”  In part to alleviate concerns about the blight of turbines on the seascape, the state is also formulating a comprehensive ocean-management plan to identify other suitable locations for “appropriate-scale renewable energy facilities.”

The initiative is part of a broader attempt to reduce the commonwealth’s greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050 and 25% by 2020, as mandated by the 2007 Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act.

Sources: “Patrick sets 2000-MW wind-power goal”, Providence Business News; “Deval Patrick unveils big push for wind power”, Your Industry News; “Residents upset over Cape Cod wind-farm plan”, www.sfgate.com; “Massachusetts Moves Closer to Having Nation’s First Offshore Wind Farm and More Secure Energy Future” (press release; Jan. 16, 2009), www.capewind.org; “”Summary of S. 2768, The Green Communities Act”, Conservation Law Foundation; “Senate Bill, No. 534″, “Governor Patrick Sets New Goals for Wind Power” (press release; Jan. 13, 2009), www.mass.gov.