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 to Washington D.C.

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

Location(s)

HOW MANY DAYS CAN YOU AVOID COMMUTING ALONE, DURING THE WEEKS OF July 20th – August 2nd?

Carpool - Find a partner, even for just 1 day a week, using our free service at www.OhioRideshare.org.

Bike To Work and To Do Errands - View or print a FREE county bike route map at www.noaca.org/bikemaps.html

Ride the Bus - Visit www.noaca.org/cc2008.html for all the regional transit links Walk - No additional equipment needed!

Telecommute (Work from Home) - First time? This is a good week to try it!

Compressed Work-Week - Work four 10-hour days and take a day off!

Please share your commute story at www.noaca.org/cc2008.html and we will calculate the emissions you saved as a region!

Commuter Challenge 2008 is brought to you by the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency’s Air Quality Programs, Rideshare Program, and Bicycle Planning. NOACA is a regional transportation and environmental planning agency. For more info call (216) 241-2414 ext. 252 or 373.

Two big donations equalling $5.2 million will help Case’s new Great Lakes Center for Energy Innovation make Northeast Ohio a “global leader in renewable energy,” the center’s director and Case’s Dean of the School of Engineering Norman Tien says.

Earlier this year, Cleveland Foundation gave $3.2 million to help build the center – which will focus on technology for storing renewable energy and on advanced controls to improve the efficiency of the nation’s electric grid. Last month’s $2 million Maltz Family Foundation/Jewish Community Federation grant will help attract what Tien calls “two top free agents”, internationally renowned researchers to make Case a “playoff contender” in the race to develop an renewable energy sector.

Wind and solar power are ‘intermittent’—we can’t control when they come or go—generating too much power at times to feed back into the power grid. The Center is working with Case’s Wright Fuel Cell Group to devise a way to store power, either with fuel cells or new battery types such as those made with sodium sulfur.

A separate $6 million donation to completely redo the Engineering’s schools "controls" lab may also help lead to breakthroughs in making the nation’s grid “smarter”. That gift came from Case grad Larry Sears, who recently sold his company Hexagram, maker of smart meters, for $70 million. Smart meters are being installed in California and provide two-way communication—power producers can manage problems in the system down to a house or block level rather than shutting down half a city, and consumers can purchase power for less by seeing real time data on power prices.

“This is what we want to do with the energy institute; we want to (matriculate) many Larry Sears.’”

• The latest in NPR’s Climate Connections series looks at perhaps our most controversial climate problem—large, energy-hog suburban homes in cities like Atlanta where families like Michelle Carvalho's drive two cars everywhere. Does this type of media coverage raise awareness or just lead to more head-in-sand behavior about what’s a reasonable size home and commute?
• While Geography of Nowhere author James Howard Kunstler usually is guilty of beating the drum of unsustainable suburban lifestyles, his column in the latest, local design-themed Metropolis centers on what localism means in our age of oil depletion. Not just driving will be affected. “We’ll be forced to make very different arrangements for virtually everything that constitutes everyday life in our society,” he writes. “Everything we do from now on will have to be finer in scale, quality, and character. We’ll have to grow food differently (than oil-reliant agribusiness), at a smaller scale, closer to home.”
• In Cambridge, Mass. a new effort is helping residents tighten up the energy efficiency of their homes and business with the goal of reducing the city’s carbon footprint by 10 percent in just five years. "NOW on PBS" reports on Cambridge Energy Alliance which provides energy audits and then comes up with a plan for each resident or business to reduce their energy use. The Alliance helps people find low interest loans to pay for the upfront costs of green retrofits. They expect to get 50% of people in the community to join in. GCBL reader David Slawson writes: “Could this serve as a model for us here in Northeast Ohio?”

Location(s)

Join us Thurs. April 3, 5:30PM - 7:30PM, Webtego for Midtown Brews with Meet The Bloggers. Live Broadcast and Chat [[http://www.mogulus.com/midtownbrews]]

"MIGHTY BLUE: The Great Lakes Basin Water Compact" with Marnie Urso, Great Lakes Restoration & Policy, Grassroots Coordinator, Audubon Ohio...

View the movie, "MIGHTY BLUE" with Marnie and Illustrator, Ralph Solonitz, who makes the preservation case from a different perspective...

What is the role of the Great Lakes in the 21st Century? Should the Great Lakes be diverted to arid areas of the southwest U.S. or restored? Learn about efforts to restore and protect the world's largest body of fresh water for future generations...

"Led by Rep. Matthew Dolan, last week the Ohio House of Representatives voted 88-3 in favor of responsible and balanced water protection by approving House Bill 416, legislation to ratify the Great Lakes Basin Water Resources Compact without amendment...

Now the bad news. In the Ohio Senate, a bare majority of 17 Senators has co-sponsored Senate Bill 291, legislation to ratify a version of the Compact containing amendments that they have drafted and that have not been reviewed or approved in any other state. Audubon Ohio has dubbed the Senate Bill the "Great Lakes NONpact" because it represents a blatant attempt, under the guise of supposedly non-controversial amendments, to unwind the careful eight-state negotiations that lead to the final draft of the Compact and to torpedo the entire Compact process"...more at http://oh.audubon.org. Contact your Senator and vote for the economic health and survival of future generations.

Contributor:
Marnie Urso, Grassroots Coordinator, Audubon Ohio

Date:
Thursday, April 3, 2008 (the first Thursday of every month)

Time:
5:30 P.M. to 7:30 P.M.

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 a whole house approach on how to conserve energy with updated technology that include (but is not limited to) timers, thermostats, dimmers, as well as blocking air at the window and door frame, cleaning filters

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)

Ohio State University will host Wooster’s first annual Scarlet, Gray and Green Fair from 1-7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 22 — Earth Day.

Organized by the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) and the Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute (Ohio State ATI), the event aims to celebrate, educate and demonstrate that it’s “easy being green.”

Showcasing eco-oriented exhibits, demonstrations, companies, artisans, speakers, entertainers and food vendors all in one place.

Featured, among other things, will be the benefits of bicycling, biodiesel and how it works, planting a rain garden, building a rain barrel, recycling yard waste, organic fertilizer and pest control, enviroscaping, the benefits of trees, how to turn trash into attractive handicrafts, estimating one’s carbon footprint, a green-campus design competition (grades 9-12), an environmental stewardship essay competition (grades 11-12), an ecological yardscape competition (open to all), a “Kilowatt Ours” energy challenge, and Earth Day poster, display, skit, poem and video competitions (grades 1-12).

For more information, contact Allen Zimmerman, (330) 287-1263 or zimmerman.7@osu.edu, or go to http://www.wcsen.org/wcsggf.

Location(s)

Sustainable energy festival with exhibitors and speakers about what you can do to help the planet, create jobs, and save money by supporting a renewable energy economy.

“The Basis and Current Implications of Global Warming” will be the topic of a presentation by Dr. George Collins, Professor Emeritus OSU and Adjunct Prof. Astrophysics at CWRU. David Beach, Director of the GreenCityBlueLake Institute, will introduce Dr. Collins.

Sponsored by EarthWatch Ohio, Geauga Forum Series, and Geauga County Democratic Party. Free and open to the public. For more information, call 440-834-4989.

We’re five years into the modern green building era—as defined by the birth of U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED rating system—and in that time America has seen exponential growth in green building, which has had a measurable impact on energy use, USGBC Vice President Tom Hicks told a packed house at Levin College yesterday.

Hicks talked about the impact of expanding LEED to encompass neighborhood development. Cities like Cleveland, as well as counties and states, are leveraging their pilot projects to blaze a path for more green neighborhoods. It begins with finding and removing the regulatory obstacles, but the larger goal, the big prize, is being an early adopter of green building standards, both in government buildings and community wide.

Read more.

We’re five years into the modern green building era—as defined by the birth of U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system—and in that time America has seen exponential growth in green building and measurable impact, USGBC Vice President Tom Hicks told a packed house at Levin College on Feb. 6.

Out of 9,000 projects that have registered for LEED in the U.S., only 1,200 have been certified, Hicks says, adding that more will be as the group catches up to demand. To do so, USGBC formed a new group, the Green Building Certification Institute, to run its certification process and deal with the rising demand.

Environmental benefits of LEED-rated buildings include a 35-50% energy savings, a significant figure for a country that pumps more than one-third of its carbon into the air from buildings, Hicks says.

USGBC, the largest green building group in the U.S., is expanding its reach to 55 countries including India and Canada. The U.S. needs to set the example and share its lessons, Hicks said, with developing nations like India and China.

LEED for Neighborhood Development will help: Northeast Ohio’s four LEED-ND projects join 240 from six countries in a pilot program where design in and between private and public spaces encourages biking and walking to work, shop and play.

Expanding the scale of LEED to neighborhoods is starting to have an impact on urban design, Hicks says. It’s influencing how cities and states are dealing with regulatory obstacles, and, in some cases, its leading to incentives, green building policies or new efforts to encourage green design.