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Note: This course is for the civil and structural PE exams.

Review course for the Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) exam to be held on April 24, 2009. Registration deadline: February 2, 2009

Course dates: February 9, 2009 -- April 1, 2009 (total of 16 sessions)
Mondays and Wednesdays, 6:00 p.m. -- 8:30 p.m.

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Speaker: Mary Kaye Denning, Founder and Chief Nudger, GarageInventorLive.org

Earn 1 Continuing Professional Development hour.

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The NAHB Research Center will be featured at GarageInventorLive.org’s one-day invention convention. Manufacturers and business experts will demonstrate the value of a new product development platform for inventors and manufacturers. Dr. Randy Cantrell, manager of innovation research at the NAHB Research Center, will be demonstrating online commercialization tools.

Call 800-638-8556 for more information.

GreenCityBlueLake was at Ingenuity Fest this past weekend. Thanks to those who dropped by our display at the Halle Building to check out the cool touch-screen of our web site right on the window. And thanks to those who wrote out thoughts on our write board, answering, “How would you create a GreenCity on a Blue Lake?”

Here are some ideas people had:

Last week we reported that dozens of temporary green collar jobs were created for Cleveland’s Summer Youth Program. Now we discover that the city built a pipeline for green collar jobs.

In 2003, the Water Department started a training program for unemployed city residents to convert paper maps of its extensive water delivery system into digital format. Cleveland Resident Workforce provided 50 paid trainees on Geographic Information System (GIS), a mapping software program, to create maps and a searchable database of 500,000 water connections, 5,200 miles of water mains, and 270 electric feeders and electrical substations.

Four of the trainees stayed on as permanent hires, and the GIS work continues to improve operations at the city. Analyzing routes with GIS has allowed truck rerouting and led to a 15 to 22 percent savings for mileage and drive time, according to a study done by the Division of Waste Collection and Disposal. The city used this savings to reinstate a recycling program that had been cut for lack of funds. It bought new recycling containers and trucks to start a pilot recycling program.

ESRI, the company that makes GIS software, recognized Cleveland’s use of GIS with its 2007 Special Achievement Award. Read more at American Planning Association’s Planning magazine.

Those cross-country cyclists working to raise attention for climate change and the need to address an issue of national and international impact are at it again, organizing a ride from New York to Washington, DC. They are asking concerned citizens and riders to plan on joining them in September for a five-day trip to Washington D.C.

The ride is to promote renewable energy and solutions to global warming: www.climateride.org. They will have cyclists from all over the country joining them, and they say it would be great to have representatives from Cleveland.

Here’s the release:

Join Brita Climate Ride 2008,
September 20th - 24th, New York to D.C.
www.ClimateRide.org

Join Brita Climate Ride 2008 for the first multi-day supported bicycle tour where you pedal to promote renewable energy and solutions to global warming. Climate Riders will cycle 320 miles in five days from New York to Washington D.C., following scenic country roads and finishing on the steps of our nation's capitol, where we will make a statement about our country's need for action.

Along the way, expert speakers will educate and inspire Climate Riders and local communities about the science, the policies and the solutions to global warming. Our riders and the communities we pass through will learn how our government, businesses, and all Americans will benefit from a cleaner, healthier climate.

This is a unique event--a fundraiser and climate conference on wheels, and an opportunity to meet people who are engaged in making a difference. Each rider will be responsible for raising $2,250. Proceeds from the ride benefit Clean Air - Cool Planet and Focus the Nation, two organizations that lead the way in expanding climate change education, encouraging renewable energy policies, and promoting solutions to global warming.

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Learn more about innovative Clevelanders on this walking tour of Riverside Cemetary in the Brooklyn Centre Historic District. Notable residents include Martin Ruetenik, greenhouse gardening pioneer and Claude Foster, whose shocks technology is still applied in nuclear reactors.

Enjoy costumed narrators, musical entertainment and refreshments.

Continuous walking tours throughout the afternoon. Fee.

To reserve tickets, call 216/351-0254 or email gloria.ferris@gmail.com

The Mayor of Charleston, South Carolina clearly sees the value of bikes and local infrastructure, taking steps to add more cycling access on area bridges. Earlier, the South Carolina state transportation officials added bike access to a federally funded bridge, a step ODOT refused to consider. The federally funded bridge has proven to be so popular, they have even hosted wedding groups. Building on the success, the Mayor announced more plans for bikes on bridges.

Here's the information:

Win for Charleston, SC: Old Bridge to Be Retrofitted: According to the Charleston Moves E-News, "Mayor Joseph Riley has announced the city's plan to add a cantilevered 10-ft wide bicycle and pedestrian lane to the southernmost of the two Ashley River bridges." The bridge is the primary conduit for travel between the downtown Charleston and West Ashley, but has been a roadblock to cyclists and pedestrians. Charleston Moves has actively championed access for cyclists and pedestrians to this important bridge. They report that the City of Charleston is now seeking funding for construction.

http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/may/14/create_better_bridge_links40740/

Kevin Cronin
ClevelandBikes : When ClevelandBikes, Cleveland Benefits!
www.clevelandbikes.org

• Cameron Sinclair told last night’s MOCA Cleveland Talalay Series that he launched Architecture for Humanity to be a virtual, viral network responding to natural disaster around the world with thoughtful housing solutions. With only five full-time staff, Sinclair relies on an army of 5,000 volunteers—architects who organize local chapters around the globe and then move nimbly into the field whilst forming relationships with local residents before they design and build homes, community centers, soccer fields— whatever is most needed to restore the community—from Zimbabwe to Biloxi. Whenever possible they use existing plans, local materials and off-the-grid technology. Their AFH Rangoon chapter has already raised $30,000 and is gearing up to face the aftermath of the Myanmar typhoon. Their motto is ‘design like you give a damn’.
• The city of Toledo is investing in green energy. Its new Bay View cogeneration plant will burn methane piped in from a sanitary landfill to provide power to the city’s waste water treatment plant. The biogas, which is currently being flared into the atmosphere, will provide 4.5 mega watts for water treatment and provide electricity to the landfill and the new Veteran’s Skyline Memorial Bridge lighting. Read more.
• They grow up so fast. This season’s peregrine falcon chicks are leaving their nestbox and walking around the ledge on the 13th floor of Terminal Tower. Falcons are cliff-dwellers and are adapted to high places, so the chicks instinctively know how to avoid falling over the edge. Pretty soon they’ll be fledging, that is, learning to fly.
  
  

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Come see what could be the greenhouse of the future as the Cleveland Botanical Garden and Kent State University embark on a collaborative partnership exploring the potential of liquid crystal technology for creating more sustainable, energy-efficient greenhouses.

Two greenhouses located in front of the Garden on Wade Oval will be used to begin the experiment. One contains the liquid crystal panels, and the other (a control) has plain glass. A demonstration will reveal how the panes "switch" to manage the amount of sunlight that enters the greenhouse.

Join the Garden and Kent State as they unveil this pioneering research project.