CT Green Scene

April 27 Summit on Creating Bike-Friendly, Walk-Friendly Places

April 27th

9:00 AM-2:30 PM

Yale, Linsley, Chittenden Hall

New Haven, CT

Registration Required

Summit participants will hear from Bill Nesper, Vice President, League of American Bicyclists, about the Bike Friendly America program and from Keynote Speaker Jeff Olson, Principal, Alta Planning & Design, author "The Third Mode: Towards a Green Society."

 The summit will include breakout sessions on "Attacking the Application Process for Bike Friendly Communities, Businesses and Universities;" "Complete Streets Engineering - A Key Component to Bike and Walk Friendly Communities;" and "How to Get Your Project Funded."  The program will conclude with optional bike or walk tours of New Haven courtesy of Elm City Cycling, followed by a networking and social hour at O'Toole's.  Copies of The Third Mode will be available for purchase at the conference. Attendees who join Bike Walk CT will be awarded $10 off of their individual registration, registration ends April 15th.

Members, Full-time Students & Yale Employees:

Early BIrd, until April 15: $25

General Registration: $30  

Non-Members:

Early Bird:  $35

General Registraion: $45 

*Continental breakfast and lunch included.

Register Here: https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?llr=5vvygggab&oeidk=a07e74qzm1z79b79281

For More Information: http://www.bikewalkct.org/summit-2013.html

Celebrate Solarize Solar Tour April 13th

13 April 2013

1:00 PM-4:00 PM

$15.00 per Person

Canton, MA

People's Action for Clean Energy (PACE) is sponsoring a tour that will introduce the public to the latest trends in solar power. This tour will feature two seminars, where experts in the field will talk about how implementing solar panels can help everyone to live cleaner, healthier lives. There will be a presentation on how the solar panels will be able to charge electric vehicles enough that they will be able to handle an 18 mile commute before the fuel from the gas tank even needs to take over. Owners of these electric vehicles will also be available to share their real experiences with these cars. Later, guests will be able to see how entire houses can be customized to reduce energy costs both to the environment and to the family budget. Also, guests will see the incredible opportunity for cost shaving that can be captured by encouraging their entire community to go green. Registration for this tour is required and is non-refundable and it costs a mere $15.

Register Here: http://www.pace-cleanenergy.org/site/webtickets/tour20130413

For More Information: http://www.pace-cleanenergy.org/resources/includestatic?url=..%2Faction_files%2Fhouse_tour_20130413.html

6th Annual Global Environmental Sustainability Symposium: Transportation, Human Mobility, and Sustainability at CCSU

April 4th, 2013

9:45 AM-7:15 PM 

FREE, Registration Required

Central Connecticut State University

New Britain, Connecticut

The CCSU Global Environmental Sustainability Action Coalition invites the public to learn and to teach one another about the actions that we, as human beings, must take to ensure that we live in such a way that we are able to satisfy our needs while ensuring that our children and grandchildren will be able to satisfy their own. The symposium will offer 3 classes, two performances, a panel discussion, a tour, and an optional attendance at the town meeting, as well as opening and closing notes from distinguished professionals in sustainability. This event is FREE: anyone can register online to show up. *Exhibitor tables are still open.

Schedule

9:45-10:00 AM: Symposium opening and welcome with Dr. Charles Button and Dr. Jack Miller (tentative) at Alumni Hall

10:00-10:45: Transportation, Migration, and Sustainability in Four Worlds Alumni Hall

Dr. John Kelmelis expands upon a possibility raised by the United States National Intelligence Council when they published Global Trends 2030: Alternative World. This work explores four very possible future worlds. Dr. Kelmelis will explain what each of these worlds might mean for our future as well as what strategies we might use to make the most of each circumstance at the local, regional, national, and global levels. 

11:00-11:45: Panel Discussion: Electric Cars and Alternative Vehicles Alumni Hall

The president of the New England Electric Auto Association (Dave Oliveria), an environmental writer and speaker (Jim Motavalli), the Senior Associates Autos Editor for Consumer Reports (Eric Evarts), and a natural gas car owner (Joe Booth) all come together in one place to talk about the real value that hybrid, extended hybrid, and electric vehicles hold. This is a special opportunity to discover what users and reviewers genuinely think about these alternative vehicles.

12:00-1:45 (*with second free registration): Water Wars Performance and Lunch Alumni Hall

While you enjoy your lunch, the Sonia Plumb Dance Company will be performing Water Wars. This is an emotionally charged piece of art that exposes the very important and very tenuous relationship that human beings have with one of our primary sources of life: water.

Things are looking up for Biofuel

Good news for biofuel. Despite the anemic economy and the "weak-as-a-kitten" recovery, more drivers worldwide have switched to using it, particularly ethanol-based fuel. Because of soaring oil prices, cars are being filled up with the cheaper and more efficient fuel in the U.S. and Brazil as well as other countries. See this story from Worldwatch via ENN:

Biofuels Make a Comeback Despite Tough Economy
From: Worldwatch, Worldwatch Institute, More from this Affiliate
Published August 30, 2011 12:16 PM

"Global production of biofuels increased 17 percent in 2010 to reach an all-time high of 105 billion liters, up from 90 billion liters in 2009. High oil prices, a global economic rebound, and new laws and mandates in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, and the United States, among other countries, are all factors behind the surge in production, according to research conducted by the Worldwatch Institute’s Climate and Energy Program for the website Vital Signs Online. The United States and Brazil remain the two largest producers of ethanol. In 2010, the United States generated 49 billion liters, or 57 percent of global output, and Brazil produced 28 billion liters, or 33 percent of the total. Corn is the primary feedstock for U.S. ethanol, and sugarcane is the dominant source of ethanol in Brazil."

To read more, click here.

Image courtesy of Costa Rica News.

Grease Replaces Fuel

by Christina Cioci

The idea of using grease for fuel is a concept that is new to many people. Fueling a vehicle with used oil from restaurants might seem unbelievable, but it is a technique that has been gaining momentum. Although not all vehicles are easily converted, many are including some vans, Mercedes, GMC and other known models. It is being done throughout the United States and even internationally.

McDonald’s corporation in the United Arab Emirates is planning to reuse the fryer grease from the food to fuel their trucks. Not many people would think of this fast food chain as sustainable but they are partnering with Dubai based company Neutral Fuels, which is the first Middle East commercial producer of biodiesel using used vegetable cooking oil. Cleantechnica reports that “All restaurants throw out a tremendous amount of used cooking oil, but ones like McDonald’s – that deep-fat-fry so much of what they sell – have to throw away even more.”