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Happy Earth Month!
There once was a time when the color “Green” was relegated to March 17th – the Chicago River ran green and drinking establishments from Boston, MA to Milwaukee, WI and beyond poured green beer to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
But all that’s changed. Earth Day has taken over! In fact, it’s become an entire month, —as witnessed by all the glossy magazines tripping over themselves with their “Green Issues”. Madison Avenue has caught on that “Green” is good for business. So now, once a year, popular culture seems to scold us for not doing our part to help Mother Nature during the interval from one “Green Issue” to the next one.
However, “going green” should not be about scolding anyone—and it shouldn’t last for only one month. This reminds me of the little boy who asks his mother during Thanksgiving why there are homeless and hungry people – but mind you, only at Thanksgiving.
Rest assured, I’m not knocking Earth Month at all. But we should point out that for countless people across this country, Everyday Is Earth Day. Thousands of Americans are, today, buying clean, renewable energy all year long. And their lights still work, their air conditioning still works, and their homes are warm and lighted at night. They know that clean energy has many values – only one of them being that it’s good for the environment. And each time they use dependable clean energy in their homes and businesses, they are shedding some “clean energy light” on the misconceptions we work each day to overcome about the reliability of wind, solar and hydro energy.
Adding to this is the growing realization among Americans that they can actually be “smarter” about the power they use. They can turn off lights when they aren’t in use. They can actually shut off their computers when they aren’t using them. The realization is spreading that taking these little steps will have a large impact on our world, our communities, and our own wallets.
Indeed, clean energy today is real, it’s here. And it’s working. At SmartPower we celebrate Earth Month – and we applaud Madison Avenue’s efforts to highlight these issues to the American people.
But let’s take this moment to remember that, like the many who are hungry and homeless before and after Thanksgiving, energy problems remain throughout the year and not simply during one month or a national holiday. The issues continue to demand our focus, our commitment and our dedication each and every day of every month throughout the year.
So let’s use this Earth Month to kick off a year that sees the Clean Energy Market double in size across the nation! Let’s also begin to dramatically cut back our energy usage—not just in April—but throughout the entire year. Let’s demonstrate that the market for clean energy really does work – and 2009’s Earth Month will be a strong reminder of how far we’ve come!
Let’s make more! And let’s use less!
Happy Earth Day, everyone!
Brian F. Keane
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 MTV, the television network that is the favorite of teens and young adults, is using one of it's most popular programs to bring energy efficiency to their audiences.
The Real World - Hollywood episodes will air during 2008. In a groundbreaking initiative for MTV, this season’s installment of one of television’s original “reality shows” will, in fact, “go green”. The producers intend to introduce today’s youth to the ways in which they can incorporate environmentally friendly household items and make eco-friendly lifestyle choices in their everyday lives.
A leader in--and a mirror reflection of--pop-culture, MTV will showcase many of the ways in which viewers at home can participate in green practices every day with an intimate look at the sustainable and energy-efficient choices made in the construction of the house.
“The Real World” house will include everything from solar energy solutions to bamboo flooring, recycled glass counters, some sustainable furniture and recycled vintage décor, energy star appliances, a solar heated swimming pool and energy efficient lighting.
Additionally, the production company has taken measures to reduce its environmental impact by adopting more environmentally sound production practices on set. They also are working towards making the production and show carbon-neutral by offsetting remaining carbon emissions after these carbon-reducing measures are applied. Eco-friendly elements will be added on a regular basis throughout production and within the show, including products seen with the cast and around the house.
SmartPower applauds MTV’s choice to educate and inform our youth about becoming energy efficient. It will be the next generation who “takes the baton” for clean energy and energy efficiency, and runs farther and climbs higher with it!
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to learn how to sign up in your state. |
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SmartPower
info@SmartPower.org
202-775-2040
1120 Connecticut Ave., NW
Suite 1040
Washington, DC 20036
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Earlier in March, Boston was the scene of the Building Energy 2008 Conference and Trade Show at the Seaport World Trade Center. The conference, as always, was organized by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) and was keynoted this year by Massachusetts Governor, Deval Patrick.
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Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick addresses the NESEA conference attendees.
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The highlight of Governor Patrick’s keynote was when he announced the establishment of a task force on net zero energy buildings. He promised the audience of well over 1,000 that he would return to the NESEA conference in 2009 to announce the recommendations of the task force. Patrick then called upon the conference participants to help him achieve his goal of net zero energy buildings. Net zero energy buildings are buildings that produce as much energy as they consume and represent the cutting edge of environmentally responsible construction.
The conference featured over 150 speakers in dozens of sessions and workshops, plus an extensive Trade Show to address practical steps that energy and building practitioners, and the world at large, can take to improve quality of life while reducing energy costs and the impact of the built environment.
SmartPower President, Brian F. Keane, and COO, Jonathan Edwards, were on hand for the conference. They offered their respective expertise in conference sessions on Energy, Climate & Values, and—of course—Marketing Clean Energy. SmartPower’s grounded experience in messaging, as well as our communities-based approach to spreading the word on clean energy and efficiency, continues to provide us with much to share with our peers in the clean energy world.
SmartPower was pleased to once again have the opportunity to spread our marketing messages to the broad, diverse and extremely talented NESEA audience.
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Rob Pratt, of the Henry P. Kendall Foundation, is interviewed for the program.
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Once again, a story of a friend and partner with SmartPower has found its way to the national media. The work of the Cambridge Energy Alliance was the feature in the March 28th episode of the acclaimed PBS public affairs series, NOW- with David Brancaccio.
In the episode, Brancaccio traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts to report how the CEA is ambitiously providing the public awareness and financial avenues to homes and businesses necessary for them to obtain greater Energy Efficiency. Through energy audits, detailed solution planning, and simplified programs for low-interest loans, the CEA is working to empower consumers with knowledge of how to greatly reduce the money they spend on energy, while putting less carbon into the air in the meantime. Rob Pratt, Senior Vice President of the Henry P. Kendall Foundation, was interviewed for the program. The Foundation is taking a leadership role in bringing energy efficiency to the City of Cambridge.
And the best part is, the investment in new energy efficiency items for a home or business—lights, insulation, equipment, heating and a/c, etc.—as well as any loans needed for such investments, are calculated to be paid off in a relatively short period of time by the money saved from new, efficient energy use!
The CEA has a goal of 50 MW peak load reduction in the City of Cambridge over the next 5 to 7 years. This goal will be partially met by attracting 50% of Cambridge residents and businesses to sign up for an energy audit and the recommended efficiency measures.
As you can see, the Cambridge Energy Alliance is definitely helping to show everyday people how to be smart with their power!
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Recently our President, Brian F. Keane, was a keynote speaker at the 5th Annual Wisconsin Renewable Energy Summit, in Milwaukee. This is the premiere renewable energy conference in Wisconsin, and it brought over 1,200 attendees committed to helping bring more clean energy jobs to the state.
The annual event was organized by the Wisconsin Technical College System.
Keane spoke as part of the Summit Banquet: “Green Collar Jobs and Economic Development.” The Summit focused on the role that green buildings, as well as renewable energy, such as wind power, solar energy, geothermal, and bio-energy technologies, will play in supporting Wisconsin’s economic well being. And with leading renewable energy and green power industry stakeholders from across the region attending, the presentation of SmartPower’s Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency message was received with great enthusiasm.
“There is a real sense of understanding in Wisconsin about how much economic sense it makes to invest in and pursue clean energy options,” said Keane. “We’re talking about a variety of new jobs in different sectors that all have the same results: giving people solid livelihoods while making our planet a less polluted.”
There is just no question that growth of renewable energy businesses will create new “green collar” jobs in Wisconsin. Conservative estimates are that renewable energy in Wisconsin has the potential to produce 35,000 jobs—from manufacturing and installation, to marketing and engineering—over the next 10 years!
Sounds like a win-win situation.
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The recently concluded Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC) 2008 has been recorded as the largest renewable energy event in the world, and SmartPower was proud to play a role as a host and supporting organization for this global event. Comprised of a global ministerial-level meeting, a trade show and business conference, and official side events, the conference displayed the reach and enormity of interest in renewable energy around the globe.
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President George W. Bush delivers the keynote speech at the WIREC conference.
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WIREC was hosted by the United States Government, in cooperation with the American Council on Renewable Energy(ACORE). WIREC brought together government and private business leaders worldwide to address the benefits of a major and rapid scale-up in the global deployment of renewable energy technology. WIREC also provided policy makers from all levels of government education, and opportunity to commit to accelerating the implementation of renewable energy technologies.
Over 10,000 participants from 119 countries enjoyed the more than 280 speakers who covered the widest variety imaginable of all topics about renewable energy.
One of the important results of WIREC was the hundreds of pledges that were made during the conference by many of the participants. These pledges encompass commitments from governments, international corporations, and universities large and small to use more clean energy. As is widely known, one of the SmartPower goals is to maximize institutional purchases of clean energy. To that end, SmartPower congratulates all the participants at WIREC who pledged to purchase clean energy for demonstrating to the world that clean energy is real, it is here and it is working.
There’s no stopping the global community’s demand for smart, clean energy!
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