Location(s)

Paul Fenn, founder and CEO of Local Power, Inc., will talk about the emergence of green cities in California’s Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) movement and the potential for Ohio communities to accelerate development of green power under its 1999 CCA law. Fenn will brief us on the San Francisco Bay Area’s cluster of communities using CCA in conjunction with innovative financing mechanisms to develop and build solar, wind, efficiency, and other renewable technologies in local communities—and specifically why it is possible for these communities to achieve a 51% Renewable Portfolio Standard by 2017 without increasing electricity rates.

Local Power Inc. is an Energy Service Bureau helping cities adopt, implement and manage Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) energy networks.

CCA represents a revolution in the way power is generated and sold, allowing any community to build a new green energy infrastructure, diversify their electric power away from fossil fuels and nuclear power, and achieve energy independence and sustainability, all at the same prices that your utility now charges for conventional fossil and nuclear power. With Local Power, you need no longer choose between competitively priced power and green power.

Visit www.localpower.com for more information.

For more information or to RSVP, contact Stefanie Spear at 216-387-1609 or spear@earthwatchohio.org.

This meeting is sponsored by EarthWatch Ohio & hosted by Green Energy Ohio.

The Plain Dealer editors examine Ohio's energy bill that passed this week — including an 11th hour amendment that handed utilities an easy way out of producing renewable energy. They write:

A 3 percent cap on advanced energy costs that includes the costs of next-generation coal and nuclear plants is far too open-ended and likely to smother the bill's laudable incentives for local renewable energy development.

This unwise provision will undo most of the benefits of otherwise far-seeing renewable energy incentives. So much for the spur to renewable-energy jobs, Cleveland wind power and other important investments in Ohio's future that this legislation was supposed to provide.

Before he signs the bill into law, Gov. Strickland must fix this inequity and restore balance to what could be the most beneficial part of Ohio's energy reform.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson agreed, adding in a statement that “in creating a loop hole in the renewable energy benchmarks, the House has seriously compromised Ohio’s ability to attract renewable energy companies. This loop hole undermines our ability to build an economy around alternative energy that would have materialized into jobs for Clevelanders and residents throughout Ohio.”

Some of the other 29 states that have Renewable Portfolio Standards have a cap on costs for utilities—Indiana, for example, has a 2% cap. What bothers Cleveland’s Sustainability Program director Andrew Watterson is how the bill lost its edge when lawmakers slipped in the cap.

“Instead of a policy that reflects our desires as a community and a region where we’re placing a big bet on renewable energy manufacturing, we’ve slipped into the back of the pack,” Watterson said.

Location(s)

Complementary Electric Energy Sources for the Near Future

Sierra Club, NEO Group

For more information, call 440-734-6660

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Cleveland Public Power (CPP) and Home Depot will detail energy efficiency and conservation initiatives with easy step-by-step methods.

Tonight's topic is: Preparing the home to conserve energy during the upcoming winter months.

These four Home Depot locations will offer the same clinic on the same day:

• Berea Road - 11901 Berea Road, Cleveland, OH 44111
• Brook Park – 10800 Brookpark Road, Cleveland, OH 44130
• Steelyard Commons – 3355 Steel Yard Drive, Cleveland, OH 44109
• East 200th Street – 877 East 200th Street, Cleveland, OH 44119

To sign up for any of these clinics call Cleveland Public Power at 216-420-7704 ext 235.

Location(s)

Cleveland Public Power (CPP) and Home Depot will detail energy efficiency and conservation initiatives with easy step-by-step methods.

Tonight's topic is: Explaining the benefits of each Energy Star appliance and how to cool a home with less energy.

These four Home Depot locations will offer the same clinic on the same day:

• Berea Road - 11901 Berea Road, Cleveland, OH 44111
• Brook Park – 10800 Brookpark Road, Cleveland, OH 44130
• Steelyard Commons – 3355 Steel Yard Drive, Cleveland, OH 44109
• East 200th Street – 877 East 200th Street, Cleveland, OH 44119

To sign up for any of these clinics call Cleveland Public Power at 216-420-7704 ext 235.

Location(s)

Cleveland Public Power (CPP) and Home Depot will detail energy efficiency and conservation initiatives with easy step-by-step methods.

Tonight's topic is: How to conserve energy from enhancing, upgrading and/or replacing.

These four Home Depot locations will offer the same clinic on the same day:

• Berea Road - 11901 Berea Road, Cleveland, OH 44111
• Brook Park – 10800 Brookpark Road, Cleveland, OH 44130
• Steelyard Commons – 3355 Steel Yard Drive, Cleveland, OH 44109
• East 200th Street – 877 East 200th Street, Cleveland, OH 44119

To sign up for any of these clinics call Cleveland Public Power at 216-420-7704 ext 235.

Location(s)

FirstEnergy proposed a $340 million annual revenue increase in June 2007. This would be paid for by customers including a $109 million increase for Cleveland Electric Illuminating customers.

The PUCO will make the decision about whether FirstEnergy can raise customers’ rates after hearing from customers about their concerns.

Cleveland City Council has until February 29 to decide whether to move forward with the Cleveland Public Power's (CPP) 50-year contract with American Municipal Power of Ohio (AMP-OH) concerning its proposed 960-megawatt pulverized coal-fired power plant that would be built in Meigs County near the Ohio River.

Concerned citizens are circulating a petition asking Cleveland City Council, CPP and the Mayor to reconsider their position on the AMP-OH contract. Go here for more information about the petition. And go here for more on the coal plant issue.

Location(s)

Rally to encourage Cleveland City Council to reconsider the
AMP-OH Contract concerning the proposed 960-megawatt
conventional pulverized coal-fired power plant that would
be built in Meigs County near the Ohio River.

Come meet Elisa Young, founder of Meigs CAN (Citizen Action
Now) and resident of Meigs County and hear the community
perspective regarding this proposed coal plant.

For more information on this event contact Stefanie Spear at 216-387-1609 or spear@earthwatchohio.org. Visit www.earthwatchohio.org to click on a link to our
petition site or visit the Ohio Citizen Action website at www.ohiocitizen.org for additional information on the AMP-OH contract issue.

For updated and ongoing information concerning Meigs County, contact Elisa Young at 740-416-2694 or elisa1@yahoo.co

Location(s)

“Solar Energy: Repowering Ohio’s Economy,” is the topic of this First Thursday Forum on the Environment, presented for the public by the League of Women Voters. Guest speakers are Athan Barkoukis, Northeast Ohio Program Manager of Green Energy Ohio and Alan R. Frasz, Vice President of Dovetail Solar and Wind.

Both presenters will discuss solar energy, its potential applications in Ohio as a clean energy and an emerging green energy economy.

Registration and dessert are $5. Send check to LWVCuyahoga Area Education Fund, 50 Public Square, #938, Cleveland OH 44113, by March 3. For more information, please call the LWVCuyArea office at 216 781-0555 or visit www.lwvCuyahogaArea.org.