CEA canvassing interns: Stephanie, Mira, Danit, Trevor, Federico, Laurence

On July 7th CEA’s six volunteers took to the streets for the first time, canvassing businesses in Inman Square, and eastward on Cambridge Street. Over the next three weeks, they would reach out to over 440 people in small local businesses—barber shops, cafes, hardware stores, book stores, florists, bars, convenience stores, restaurants, bike shops, you name it—in North Cambridge, Leslie and Porter Square, Harvard Square and Church Street, Mount Auburn and Brattle Street, Dana Hill, Bow Street, Central Square, Lafayette, Concord Ave, Huron, East Cambridge, and Broadway.

In 90+ degree heat, over previously unfamiliar terrain, and sometimes through rain storms, the teams of interns  met with over 190 business owners and discussed energy efficiency opportunities—programs and incentives from… [view entry]

Alas, attention to the administration’s Home Star/Cash for Caulkers program has waxed and waned since it first appeared last fall, and this component of a stimulus package meant to address the nation’s energy issues, and aid the (then) ailing construction industry has languished in the shadows, until it finally passed the House in May. It may now be approaching approval in the Senate, edged on by the FHFA’s unfortunate decision to with withdraw support for PACE. treehugger contrasts Home Star with the perpetually paralyzed American Power Act, and The Construction Blog at Software Advice provides a thorough overview of the former bill’s proposed incentives.

UPDATE: FHFA’s decision is especially dubious since evidence exists that Energy Efficiency Helps Homeowners Avoid Foreclosure.

This week, a blog post by Google announced that the company plans to enact a power purchase agreement to get enough energy to power several of its facilities. The deal will include a purchase of 114 megawatts of power from the NextEra Energy Resources wind farm in Iowa. According to Google, the decision will help to promote the expansion of alternative energy in general as well as specifically for the Iowa wind farm. According to the post, the deal will allow NextEra enough financial security to expand and build new wind turbine installations. In addition, removing 114 megawatts from the market will stimulate other companies to expand their own investments.

This is a good step for Google, yet it isn’t out of step for their company strategy. Since 2007, the… [view entry]

This time last year we reported that a state law requiring heating oil to contain a paltry 2% biodiesel was finally being enforced. Alas, once again, implementation has been delayed.

Although Cape Wind gets most of the press, it is not the only contentious wind project in the Bay State. Last week the SJC ruled that a planned project in Western Mass. was legitimately permitted and could proceed.

Finally, the state has also announced that it will be reviewing emissions regulations for biomass-fueled power plants. Variously characterized as perplexing, raising the bar, and a win for biomass opponents

On Monday, the DOE announced a $18.5 million grant will be dispersed via the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) amongst various energy research labs and companies throughout New England.  The funds are part of the larger $349 million Recovery Act funding pool and will be used primarily for energy efficiency projects; specifically in this case, solid state lighting using gallium nitride, air conditioning efficiency, chemical flow batteries, and overall energy storage capacity research.

MIT will receive $4.4 million, United Technologies Research Center will receive a total of $8.8 million, Beacon Power Corp will receive $2.2 million, Proton Energy will receive $2.1 million and General Compression will receive $750,000. Massachusetts continues to be a leader in the domestic clean-energy technology revolution and these funds will help push forward… [view entry]

Audit team members prepare for conducting home energy audits.

Cambridge residents looking to save on utility bills for electricity and heating can request a free audit this summer from the Youth Energy Audit Partners, a collaborative project of HEET (Home Energy Efficiency Team) and the Cambridge Community Center. Three audit teams will install energy and water-saving devices, calculate the dollar savings from these devices, and advise homeowners and tenants on the costs and benefits of additional energy efficiency work and how to obtain rebates and contractors. On average, households can realize a 10%-15% savings on electric and heating bills, or an estimated $200 a year by implementing simple measures.

Each team is led by a trained supervisor, and two high school students employed by the Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program. The project… [view entry]

The Gulf Oil Spill has been the event at the top of everyone’s mind for many weeks now, almost to the point of our adapting to the initially shocking concept. The images that have surfaced have been heartrending enough, though, that the shock factor hasn’t been allowed to completely fade. Predictions of the results to come in the next weeks and months are concerning to say the least, and the estimate of how much has been leaking each day continues to rise. BP comes up with a new method to “fix” the problem every few weeks, each seeming promising with a side-serving of bad news.  Effects on humans are starting to surface, some gruesome news and some simply tragic projections. With all of… [view entry]

Speaking at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, President Obama issued new proposals for issuing tax credits to renewable energy companies as a means of stimulating job creation. The President urged increasing the current funds already approved by the Congress totaling some 2.3 billion dollars. The problem is, there aren’t enough tax credits  to go around,” Obama told the crowd at the university.  “When we announced the program last year, it was such a success that we received 500 applications requesting over $8 billion in tax credits. But we only had $2.3 billion to invest. In other words, we had almost four times as many worthy requests as we had tax credits.”

President Obama’s trip to promote alternative fuels was also part of a larger effort to help push Senate elections this… [view entry]

CEA canvassing interns: Trevor, Laurence, Stephanie, Mira, Danit, Federico

Starting Wednesday, July 7th, a city-wide canvass will be visiting Cambridge business squares, bringing money- and planet-saving opportunities to the doors of hundreds of small businesses.  Canvassers will talk with business owners about what they can do to make their businesses more energy efficient, supplying them with ample information about which programs to employ to best suit their needs. During these short interactions, businesses will have the chance to sign up for a free energy assessment, and connect with other community resources including:

The City of Cambridge Facade Improvement Program provides technical and financial assistance to property owners or tenants seeking to renovate or restore commercial building exterior facades.

The City of Cambridge Better Retail Practices Program helps Cambridge retailers

… [view entry]

While nations of the European Union are cutting down on spending and rolling back their budgets, the Obama administration is doing the very opposite, and pursuing renewable energy, despite the budget problems facing the US. Barack Obama told reporters yesterday that he will hand out up to 2 billion dollars in grants for the development of clean energy projects, including the construction of one of the largest solar power plants, which will provide energy to 70,000 homes and 1600 jobs. The measure is part of a broader effort that the President says is part of the economic recovery. “We’re fighting to speed up this recovery and keep the economy growing by all means possible,” he said. “It’s going to take months, even years to dig our way out.”

At the… [view entry]