For those who say renewable energy policies are pie-in-the-sky proposals, a recent story from The Daily O’Collegian reports that sustainable energy technologies can reap massive rewards for colleges—and at a time when they’re needed most.

Sustainability saved OSU more than $5 million since June 2007.

OSU released its year-end saving results Friday. The Stillwater campus saved about 16 percent — a 12-month savings of $3.1 million, according to the Energy Conservation Program press release. OSU-Stillwater saved more energy than the other campus branches combined, according to the press release.

President Burns Hargis said he was pleased that OSU was able to surpass its projected savings by $751,580.

“We are delighted with these results,” Hargis said. “The savings are significant and are helping us hold down energy costs during challenging economic times.”

Hargis said the savings were the result of hard work from the physical plant team and the commitment of employees and students.

Turning off lights and computers contributes to reducing energy costs, said Richard Krysiak, director of the Physical Plant.

Krysiak said although OSU is on the leading edge for implementing the “behavioral approach” to energy savings, he was still concerned that the savings goal could not be reached.

“I was skeptical about achieving those savings,” Krysiak said. “Now, I’m a believer.”

The Daily Targum reports that Rutgers University’s Livingston campus is in the process of upgrading its facilities to include more than seven acres of solar powers to provide energy to campus and reduce its harmful emissions.

The Livingston campus at Rutgers University is seeing the eco-friendly light and acting on it.

In an effort to continue pushing toward a greener and more sustainable future, Livingston campus is undergoing a number of upgrades highlighted by the current installation process of more than seven acres of solar panels to help generate power and reduce emissions for the campus.

“We’re fortunate to have 7,000 solar panels being installed [on Livingston],” said Livingston campus Dean Lea Stewart. “This will be one of the largest arrays of solar panels for any university in the United States.”

The installation of the solar panels, situated between Suttons Lane and Joyce Kilmer Avenue, will give the university the ability to generate 10 percent of the energy required to run the campus. That is enough energy to power 165 homes and reduce 1,216 tons of carbon dioxide a year, Stewart said.

At the beginning of each school year, many students come trudging back to school with brand-new refrigerators, DVD players, TVs and so on. But at the University of New Hampshire, The New Hampshire newspaper reports student leaders have passed a resolution urging students to purchase Energy Star-approved products, or products that have much greater energy efficiency than run-of-the-mill appliances. A great idea.

Next fall, as incoming students living in on-campus housing shop for sheets, bulk macaroni and laptops, UNH will request that students consider adding Energy Star to their approved appliances.

On Sunday, March 8, the student senate unanimously passed a resolution to strongly encourage incoming students to buy Energy Star-approved products as they start shopping for college.

The resolution was brought forward by the senate’s Campus Structure Committee, which has been working closely with the UNH Energy Task Force to bring consistent sustainable practices throughout the campus.

According to Matt O’Keefe, the campus energy manager, overall energy costs have doubled in the last 10 years, and there has been a 2 to 3 percent increase in energy consumption in dorms over the past few years.

While it wouldn’t be worthwhile to set up individual meters to measure the energy consumption of each student’s room, campus structure’s Kate McClain said it’s in the best interest of all students living in campus housing to consider energy efficiency.

By Andy Kroll
Fox News

http://green.foxnews.com/2009/03/19/campuses-across-the-country-are-going-green/

The order also establishes an energy and climate change task force that will identify specific zones on U.S. public lands where Interior can facilitate a rapid and responsible move to large-scale production of solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass energy. Salazar said, “We will assign a high priority to identifying renewable energy zones and completing the permitting and appropriate environmental review of transmission rights-of-way applications.”

Interior manages one fifth of the country’s landmass, over 1.7 billion offshore acres, and lands with some of the highest renewable energy potential in the nation. Interior’s Bureau of Land Management has identified about 21 million acres of public land with wind energy potential in the 11 western states and about 29 million acres with solar energy potential in the six southwestern states. There are also 140 million acres of public land in western states and Alaska that have geothermal resource potential

Phoenix and the state won’t be able to secure thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in investments without new legislation providing tax breaks for renewable energy firms, says local business leader Barry Broome.

Broome, president and chief executive of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, and Mayor Phil Gordon said they were “very optimistic” after flying to the San Francisco Bay Area last week to meet with corporate executives looking to expand or relocate their operations in more tax-friendly states.

Broome said any possible agreements in Arizona hinge on whether Senate Bill 1403 is signed into law this session. The bill, introduced by Republican Sen. Barbara Leff of Paradise Valley, would give renewable energy firms hundreds of thousands of dollars in income-tax incentives based on capital investments and the number of jobs created.

“We’re not getting any of these companies without it,” Broome said after a news conference Wednesday with Gordon.

Senate President Bob Burns, R-Peoria, has said no bills will move forward in his chamber until the state’s fiscal 2010 budget is passed. But Broome said he didn’t think the delay would hinder negotiations with the California firms, which are being lured by a number of states including Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina and Oregon.

Last week, Gordon and Broome led a small Valley business delegation to meet with three Bay Area companies.

One solar panel company is looking to build $1 billion in facilities that would employ 1,000 high-tech workers. Another makes thin-film solar products and is planning to build a $215 million facility that would employ 700 people.

The third company manufactures eyeglasses, jewelry and other accessories. It is considering relocating its corporate headquarters to Arizona, which could bring 100 corporate and manufacturing jobs here as soon as this year.

Neither Gordon nor Broome would identify the companies, saying they had signed non-disclosure agreements.

Gordon said the region and state need to create more jobs to recover from the recession.

“If we don’t keep people employed and stop the hemorrhaging . . . we won’t be able to keep the state a safe state and the city a great city,” Gordon said.

Article appears courtesy of The Arizona Republic

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/2009/03/09/20090309biz-phx-corridor0310.html

In addition to adding proper insulation to your home, there is much you can do to increase your energy efficiency. One small and inexpensive step that consumers can take is to replace carbon filament light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. They fit into existing sockets and generate equivalent light while generating only a fraction of the electricity. Caulking or weather stripping around doors and windows is another excellent way to reduce energy use. In many homes, especially older homes, a great deal of heat or cool air is generated in an attempt to compensate for air entering the home through drafty windows and doors. By preventing this air flow, you greatly reduce your energy use.

When it comes to heating and cooling devices, the use of an energy efficient model is the best way to save on energy use. Taking care to not overheat or overcool your home is another excellent energy saver. Keeping your thermostat at 68 degrees during the day and 55 at night is the median temperature for winter energy efficiency, and the median summer temperature is 78 degrees in summer. By replacing the air filters as needed in your heating and cooling system, you can also raise energy efficiency by as much as five percent.

The purchase and use of energy saving appliances is highly recommended for all homeowners and renters, as these appliances can use less than half of the energy needed by older models.. Other ways to save money on appliance usage include such things as washing clothes on the cold or warm cycle rather than using hot water. Heating water is one of the biggest users of energy within a home. Turn down the thermostat on your water heater and wrap it in an insulating jacket. This simple change can save significant amounts of energy.

In truth, there are many ways to conserve energy from within your home. The two most important things to do are to block outside air from entering your home and to turn off appliances when they are not in use. These two things result in large amounts of wasted energy annually. When combined with energy efficient appliances and appliance settings designed to use minimal energy, you can significantly lower both your environmental impact and your energy costs. Following these tips can reduce your annual carbon dioxide emissions by thousands of pounds, which makes a significant change for the better in the environment. As more people begin to take these steps, we can begin to truly move forward in our fight against global warming.

Jamie Greene

The stimulus bill currently inching its way through Congress and Senate is intended to quickly add jobs, by pouring money into projects that can get underway immediately. Yet with over $800 billion poised to flood into the economy, it’s surprising how hazy the details are. Most of the money is simply set aside in blocks that will later be distributed by the Federal government’s web of agencies and departments.
Energy, of course, is a major part of the package. Since I’ve already taken a look at how money will be split among different sectors of the energy industry, for this round I went to Stimulus Watch to get an idea of some specific project that might get money.
To be up-front about this list, Stimulus Watch is not a perfect source. For starters, it only shows projects suggested by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Most of the proposals have very little detail. The majority are focused on city projects, and many look overpriced — the worst offender being a $17.5 billion dollar request for “energy efficient industrial zones” in a small Puerto Rican town.
Other details seem similarly sketchy, giving the impression that passage of the stimulus would blindside the government at every level, ending in an illogical mish-mash of programs being submitted for consideration. But both good and bad ideas could slip through, given the speed the entire process is being pushed along at.
Disclaimers completed, here are some of the programs that caught my eye:

Electric vehicles — Atlanta, Georgia wants to push hybrid, electric and biodiesel vehicles, spending $64 million and creating 550 jobs. The city would also run a pilot fuel cell program.
Gas and hydrogen vehic les — Meanwhile, the city of Peoria, Arizona wants to head in the opposite direction, upgrading its fleet to run on natural gas or hydrogen at a cost of $2.5 million, employing 11 people.
Biodiesel — Cities like San Francisco are already starting to gather used oil and grease to make biodiesel; others just want to use Fed funds to follow the example. Long Beach, California thinks it would take $40 million and employ only 46 people.
Solar — A number of cities want to begin or expand existing residential solar programs. While ambitious (and expensive) plans like Los Angeles, California’s thrust to have 10% solar power by 2020 may get passed over, projects like Miami, Florida’s 1,000 solar thermal pilot projects, costing $7.5 million and directly employing 25 people, could have a better chance.
Hydrogen — Will risky or unproven technology get funded by the stimulus? That’s the big question for projects like the Beaumont, Texas landfill hydrogen plant, whic h would use solar energy to convert landfill methane into hydrogen and natural gas at a cost of $5 million, and employing 50 people.
Waste to energy — While the above hydrogen technology adds in an unproven process, waste to energy programs using biomass gasification are fairly common; one of those being proposed is a Stamford, Connecticut plant that would cost $50 million and employ 75 people.
Lighting — Another popular initiative is replacing existing bulbs in city-owned lights with energy-efficient LEDs. Doing so would not only employ workers, but save the cities on their power bills going forward — although many would argue that the city budgets should not be a concern of the Fed. A San Jose, California project would cost $20 million and employ 100 people.
Coal — President Obama’s administration has made it clear that it intends to support the coal industry, while also pushing it to be cleaner. So it’s possible that there could be some interest in Mobile, Alamaba’s idea of revamping an existing coal plant to burn biomass, creating almost 200 jobs but costing $100 million.

http://www.bnet.com/