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2013 Youngstown State University Sustainable Energy Forum

May 14, 2013 in Energy, Sustainability

SEF logo

The Youngstown State University Sustainable Energy Forum will be held on June 3-4, 2013 in Kilcawley Center on the YSU Campus.

The fifth annual Forum will host more than 200 academicians, energy industry leaders, government officials, and entrepreneurs. The Forum focus is on technology that is imminently ready for commercialization, especially those technologies which will have a near-term positive impact on commercial, industrial and residential energy savings.

The 2013 YSU Sustainable Energy Forum will place a particular focus on:

  • Sustainable and clean energy technologies that are being successfully implemented within the region.
  • Natural Gas and Water resources
  • Additive Manufacturing and the impact on energy and energy technology.

A key objective of the YSU Sustainable Energy Forum is collaboration building amongst attendees. In past years, entrepreneurs have teamed up with students/faculty to successfully pursue sponsored research funding. Researchers have also engaged large energy companies for insights and opportunities. And all attendees gain a clearer picture of national and state energy priorities, as well as the strategic direction of the energy industry.

The YSU Sustainable Energy Forum also features an “Energy Expo”, in which companies display products and technologies.

For a list of Confirmed Speakers, please visit here.

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The Oberlin Project

April 11, 2013 in Sustainability

The Oberlin Project, a Joint venture between the City of Oberlin and Oberlin Ohio

The Oberlin Project is a joint effort of the City of Oberlin, Oberlin College, and private and institutional partners to improve the resilience, prosperity, and sustainability of the Oberlin Community. The City of Oberlin is located in southwest Lorain County, less than 10 miles from Elyria. In 2012, the city was named a “Best Hometown” by Ohio Magazine.[1] Oberlin College & Conservatory is a four-year liberal arts college and conservatory of music. Founded in 1833, the school counts approximately 2,900 students.[2] The Oberlin Project’s aim is to revitalize the local economy, eliminate carbon emissions, restore local agriculture, food supply and forestry, and create a new, sustainable base for economic and community development.[3]

The Oberlin Project was founded by Professor David W. Orr and is currently managed by Bryan Stubbs. David Orr is the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics and Special Assistant to the President of Oberlin College. The Oberlin Project was formed out of David Orr’s vision of full-spectrum sustainability: an all-encompassing joint venture by the City and College to create a thriving, sustainable and environmentally friendly community in Oberlin. In the summer of 2009, the College joined four otherwise disparate objectives into an overarching initiative in affiliation with the City of Oberlin: 1) Revitalize the local economy; 2) Eliminate carbon emissions; 3) Restore local agriculture and forestry; and 4) Use the entire effort as an educational laboratory relevant to virtually every discipline. The result is The Oberlin Project.[4]

Professor Orr invites all to imagine Oberlin City and College within a vibrant Northeast Ohio:

Imagine Oberlin with a vibrant 24/7 downtown featuring local foods, arts, and music, powered by energy efficiency and sunlight. Imagine arriving from (Cleveland) Hopkins airport on a light-rail coming through a 20,000 acre greenbelt of farms and forests that terminates close to a new, deep green hotel with a cuisine featuring local foods. Imagine your college reunion held in an adjacent solar powered conference center. Imagine a Green Arts District in which great college strengths in music, the arts, and drama are joined to those in the sciences as the backdrop for performances, exhibitions, lectures, and an ongoing conversation on the most important issues on the human agenda, all having to do with whether and how civilization might endure and flourish in radically altered biophysical conditions.[5]

Additional information about The Oberlin Project is available through their website: http://www.oberlinproject.org/. This site includes opportunities to provide support, become better engaged, and read blogs and media updates. Questions about the Project may be directed to either Managing Director Bryan Stubbs (Bryan.Stubbs@oberlin.edu) or Assistant Director Heather Adelman (hadelman@oberlinproject.org).

[1] http://www.ohiomagazine.com/Main/Articles/Best_Hometowns_2012_4489.aspx

[2] http://new.oberlin.edu/about/index.dot

[3] http://www.oberlinproject.org/

[4] http://www.oberlinproject.org/about/executive-director/david-w-orr

[5] Ibid.

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Imagine MyNEO!

April 2, 2013 in Communications, Engagement, News, Sustainability

In May, NEOSCC will be launching an on-line engagement tool entitled Imagine MyNEO! Based on an open source software called Crowd Gauge, Imagine MyNEO! will allow the entire region to share their priorities with the Vibrant NEO process.
As an introduction to the new tool, we have included an article by Sarah Madden of Sasaki Associates (our Scenario Planning consultant).  It includes background about the creation of the tool and some examples of its previous use.

Gauge the values, priorities and preferences of the crowd.

by Sarah Madden, Sasaki Associates

Web-based technology can help planners promote literacy about planning issues and increase public engagement. We already deploy sophisticated data analysis and modeling tools, but many of these tools are more suitable for back-of-house number crunching than for interactive public engagement. This divide between tools for technicians and tools for engagement is significant:  despite all of the public- and client-facing communication work we do, few of today’s data modeling or scenario planning tools were built to be inviting to lay audiences. We need to apply our technological design prowess to facilitating interaction and better engaging the very people our work supports.

Faced with the challenge of engaging people across a spread-out region, Sasaki, PlaceMatters, and the Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (DMAMPO) partnered to build a new tool—called CrowdGauge—to help communities achieve better public participation and understanding of trade-offs. CrowdGauge is an open-source framework for creating educational online games. It first asks users to rank a set of priorities, then demonstrates how a series of actions and policies might impact those priorities. The third part of the sequence gives users a limited number of coins, asking them to put that money towards the actions they support most.

We first developed the platform in partnership with the Des Moines Area MPO (DMAMPO) as part of The Tomorrow Plan, a regional plan for sustainable development in the Central Iowa region. The original game, named DesignMyDSM, can be played at designmydsm.thetomorrowplan.com. The study region included 480,000 residents, 17 cities, approximately 540 square miles, and parts of four counties—requiring an outreach strategy that went beyond in-person open houses and workshops. DesignMyDSM captured over 1000 unique users in the region, and was especially effective in the under-40 demographics who typically would not have participated in a traditional community engagement process.

CrowdGauge is entirely open-source and available under the permissive MIT license. Currently, Sasaki is preparing to apply the CrowdGauge platform to the Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Consortium Initiative (NEOSCC) in spring 2013, and Denver-based PlaceMatters is beta testing the software for use on other HUD-funded regional planning projects.

As web-based technologies grow in both functionality and beauty, planners have the opportunity to create new places for people to enjoy expressing ideas, solving problems, and realizing goals. Most importantly for planners, web technologies offer the opportunity to help ask interesting questions and confront tradeoffs. Visual design, information architecture, and usability are increasingly important to match the strength of our technical muscle with the complexity of the human experience—which means designing with clarity and user experience in mind.

In the spirit of open source, we are pleased to share this front-end tool with the planning community. We are excited to see the clever applications and brilliant new iterations we will all build next.

 

Credits for information and photo/graphics: 
Sarah Madden, Sasaki
smadden@sasaki.com
crowdgauge.org
designmydsm.thetomorrowplan.com

 

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Drink Local: Drink Tap

March 27, 2013 in ACT, Sustainability

In honor of World Water day last week, here is a Cleveland-based non-profit focusing access to clean and fresh water in Northeast Ohio and around the globe.

From the Drink Local.Drink Tap website:

The Drink Local. Drink Tap.(TM), Inc. focus is to reconnect people with local water in tangible activities. These activities include educational events, beach cleanups, World Water Day celebrations, public speaking, art and film making. A collective change in the understanding of the ACCESS to clean, fresh water and compassion towards others can be fostered through educating individuals within the United States, especially in Northeast Ohio. Issues surrounding the access of fresh water are taught through local activities and global projects (Making Waves from Cleveland to Uganda). Individual water re-connection occurs through our Wavemaker Program.

 

Our History:

Drink Local. Drink Tap.(TM), Inc. is a not for profit enterprise.  DLDT began at the Cleveland Sustainability Summit in 2009 as a volunteer group and has quickly grown into its own enterprise.  Volunteer team members have dedicated countless hours to cleaning up beaches, raising awareness through volunteer activities, and developing a plans to bring clean drinking water to a schools in East Aftica. We work with schools and communities locally to reconnect to our water wealth becoming water stewards and share with others in need.

 

Learn more about becoming a wavemaker at:

http://drinklocaldrinktap.org/wavemaker-program/

 

Read more about Making Waves from Cleveland to Uganda at:

http://drinklocaldrinktap.org/making-waves-from-cleveland-to-uganda-project/

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Earthfest 2013

March 14, 2013 in Environment, News, Sustainability

Join Earth Day Coalition for EarthFest 2013 at this year’s new location, the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds, on Sunday, April 21 from 10am-5pm. In partnership with the Sustainable Cleveland 2019 initiative, we will be celebrating Advanced and Renewable Energy. Presented and organized by Earth Day Coalition since 1990 and now in its 24 year, EarthFest is Ohio’s largest environmental education event and the longest running Earth Day celebration in the nation.

NEW this year:

• Advanced and Renewable Energy exhibit area next to the Fairgrounds’ dramatic 500kW wind turbine and Energy Education Center. Attendees will learn first hand about exciting initiatives in our region as well as home products and conservation methods that utilize advanced energy sources, minimize emissions and maximize efficiency. Additional exhibit areas will include 175+ exhibitors in Clean Transportation (with Ride-and-Drive), Local and Sustainable Food, Green Home Improvement, NEW Lawn & Garden, Health and Fitness, Community Works and Family Fun. Also, visit the NASA Glenn Research Center Village at EarthFest.

• Families will have a fun-filled day with amusement rides, inflatable obstacle courses, petting zoo, urban farm animals, a beekeeper exhibit and more!

• Guests will enjoy microbrews, all-day chef demos and a huge selection of healthy and delicious local food from your favorite food trucks, such as Izzy Schrachner’s StrEat Mobile Bistro. (Look for a list of trucks and menus in our upcoming eblasts and on our website).

• Listen to all-day music and the best of Northeast Ohio singer-songwriters, musicians and bands on multiple “Party with the Planet” entertainment stages organized by students enrolled in Cuyahoga Community College’s entertainment booking class.

• Ride your bike to EarthFest, park at the Ohio City Bicycle Co-op valet station at the Bagley Road Fairgrounds entrance and get FREE admission to EarthFest.

• Take walking tours of Baldwin Wallace University’s solar, wind, composting and green building installations led by students from the university.

• Visit the regularly scheduled flea market repurposing event which will take place on the Fairgrounds during EarthFest and receive a dollar off admission to EarthFest.

Admission:
$3 ages 2-11; $5 ages 12+; FREE under age 2, for anyone who rides and parks their bike at the Fairgrounds entrance, and to guests who ride RTA’s Redline (regular fare) from any station to Brookpark Rapid Station and take the free EarthFest shuttle to the Fairgrounds.

We are accepting entries for the Hope and Stanley Adelstein Awards for Excellence annual K-12 Earth Day Art, Poetry and Essay contest. Cash prizes will be awarded at 11am Welcoming Ceremonies. Brochures are available on our website.

Exhibitor and sponsorship opportunities are available. Call (216) 281-6468 or visit www.earthdaycoalition.org for more information.

Help spread the word about EarthFest! Download an EarthFest flyer here to print, forward to friends and share through social media!

 

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YNDC’s Iron Roots Urban Farm

March 1, 2013 in Mahoning, News, Quality Connected Places, Sustainability

Construction has begun at the Iron Roots Urban Farm site. The construction project includes the complete renovation of the 91 year old, 2,693 square foot historic home and the construction of a new 1,200 square foot processing and training facility. The project also includes the installation of walkways, parking, signage, and other critical facility upgrades. The project is being completed by DSV Builders and is expected to be complete by June 1, 2013.

The new facility will be home to several programs to train residents in the skills necessary to become market gardeners and food entrepreneurs or enter the environmental workforce, as the site will give residents hands-on experience at a working urban farm. The farm will also train residents in the preparation of healthy meals and processing of fresh produce. Additionally, the facility will have space for community meetings and other neighborhood revitalization activities. YNDC is also working with the Common Wealth Inc. Kitchen Incubator to provide residents all the necessary training space and equipment needed to launch their new enterprises.

Iron Roots Urban Farm is a fully functioning urban farm that grows produce available for sale at the Northside Farmers’ Market, Poland Farmers’ Market, and is included in shares of the Grow Youngstown CSA program.

For more information, please visit: the IRUF Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/IronRootsUrbanFarm or the YNDC website at http://www.yndc.org/programs/iron-roots-urban-farm. Stay tuned for more updates soon!

 

 

 

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The Environmental Protection Agency’s Study of Hydraulic Fracturing and Its Potential Impact on Drinking Water Sources

February 26, 2013 in Environment, News, Sustainability

Image Courtesy of motherjones.com

In 2011, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) initiated its Plan to Study the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing on Drinking Water Resources. EPA’s intent is to study the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources, if any. EPA also wants to identify the driving factors that may affect the severity and frequency of drinking water resource impacts. EPA has designed the scope of the research around five stages of the hydraulic fracturing water cycle. Each stage of the cycle is associated with a primary research question:

1. Water Acquisition: What are the possible drinking water resource impacts of large volume water withdrawals from ground and surface waters?

2. Chemical Mixing: What are the possible drinking water resource impacts of hydraulic fracturing fluid surface spills on or near well pads?

3. Well Injection: What are the possible drinking water resource impacts of the injection and fracturing process?

4. Flowback and Produced Water: What are the possible drinking water resource impacts of flowback and produced water (collectively referred to as “hydraulic fracturing wastewater”) surface spills on or near well pads?

5. Wastewater Treatment and Waste Disposal: What are the possible drinking water resource impacts of inadequate treatment of hydraulic fracturing wastewater?

EPA’s study will ultimately produce a final report that describes 18 research projects underway to answer these research questions. The research projects are organized according to five different types of research activities: analysis of existing data, scenario evaluations, laboratory studies, toxicity assessments, and case studies. The EPA is committed to conducting a study that uses the best available science, independent sources of information, and a transparent, peer-reviewed process that will ensure the validity and accuracy of the results.

The EPA has designated the report as a “Highly Influential Scientific Assessment,” which will undergo peer review by the EPA’s Science Advisory Board, an independent and external federal advisory committee that conducts peer reviews of significant EPA research products and activities. Individual reports and papers will come out of both the internal and external review processes to ensure appropriate use of data. The final report of results will be released for public comment in 2014.

Additional information about the EPA’s Study of Hydraulic Fracturing is available at http://www.epa.gov/hfstudy/index.html. This site includes links to the December 2012 progress report, the executive summary, press releases, and information on how interested stakeholders may participate. Any questions about the site or the study may be directed to Katie Wagner (wagner.katie@epa.gov) or Dayna Gibbons (gibbons.dayna@epa.gov), the Hydraulic Fracturing Study Website Editors.

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Common Wealth Inc. Launches 30 Mile Meal Project

February 20, 2013 in News, Quality Connected Places, Sustainability, Trumbull

Please join the Common Wealth, Inc. on February 28th to learn more about 30 Mile Meal, a new regional food project. Natalie Woodroofe of the Athens County Visitors Bureau and Leslie Schaller of ACEnet will give a short luncheon presentation on the project. They will also unveil the 30 Mile Meal website, introduce additional media platforms, talk about events and discuss overall plans for this year!

At lunch, businesses will be recognized that promote local farmers by using local products. If there is a restaurant, store or other business you would like to nominate, please forward the name, contact information and the local product used.

At this time, there are nine partners committed to this project. If you are interested in becoming a partner and commit to doing so before February 28th, you will be recognized as a Founding Partner in all communications. Please use the contact information below to request a membership form.

Meeting information:

Thursday, February 28, 2013
From 12 p.m. until 1:30 p.m.
In the Raymond John Wean Foundation’s Western Reserve Room:
147 W. Market Street, Warren OH 44481

For this event, we suggest a donation of $10. If planning to attend, please RSVP by responding to this email.

The 30 Mile Meal is a local food branding and promotional campaign which aims to provide a shared identity for our many farmers, specialty food producers, retail markets, food events, and independently-owned eateries and bars featuring locally-sourced menus. The effort will help spur economic development and create tourist destinations based on regional food fare.

For anyone interested in obtaining membership forms or attending the luncheon, please contact Christina Perry.

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Exploring Alternative Fuels and Efficiency in Oberlin

February 14, 2013 in climate action, Sustainability, Transportation

College Joins Project to Reduce Vehicle Emissions and Adopt Alternative Fuels

FEB 11, 2013

Oberlin College has joined in a collaborative project with the city of Oberlin to improve energy efficiency and plan for alternative fuels for its fleet of vehicles.

The city, along with Oberlin College and eight other local partners, recently applied for an $86,000 grant from the Local Government Innovation Fund. The city will select an independent consultant to develop fuel- and cost-saving strategies, and to assess the feasibility of alternative fuels. The project will result in action plans to reduce fuel costs and emissions by 15 percent over three years, as well as logistical and infrastructure plans for the shared use of alternative fuels — including compressed natural gas, propane, electric/hybrid, and biofuels.

Fleet efficiency and alternative fuels are important measures toward achieving Oberlin’s goal of becoming the first climate positive city in the United States, says Oberlin City Manager Eric Norenberg. As signers of the Clinton Foundation Climate Positive Development Program, the city and college are committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions below zero by 2050 and 2025, respectively.

“We are committed to good stewardship of the city’s financial resources and the environment, and this grant will help us do both,” Norenberg says. “The city and its partners in this effort will learn how to operate our fleets more efficiently and develop plans to further reduce emissions with alternative fuels and technologies.  Combining these strategies in one project will help move our community towards carbon neutrality.”

The Oberlin Project, a Joint venture between the City of Oberlin and Oberlin Ohio

To promote the expanded adoption of alternative fuels in Lorain County and throughout Ohio, a case study about each fleet’s progress, as well as the complete process and methodology for calculating potential demand alternative fuels will be published on cityofoberlin.com.

In addition to the city and college, the Oberlin Fuel Forward Project includes Oberlin City Schools, New Russia Township, Kendal at Oberlin, Lorain County Joint Vocational School, Lorain County Community College, Republic Services, Custom Cleaning Services, and Lorain County Metroparks.

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Climate Action Plan for the City of Cleveland

February 7, 2013 in News, Sustainability, Toolkiit

SustainableCleveland2019
The City of Cleveland Mayor’s Office of Sustainability is currently leading a community process to develop a Climate Action Plan (CAP). The CAP is crucial to implementing Mayor Jackson’s vision of making Cleveland more sustainable and addresses both the City’s internal operations as well as the broader community. The CAP will not only reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, but it will also acknowledge and plan for changes in climate that may affect all Clevelanders. The CAP is targeted for completion by July.

The CAP is not a project in isolation, but will instead build upon many other related initiatives and achievements. These include the Sustainable Communities 2019 Action and Resources Guide released in 2010 at the 2nd Annual Sustainability Summit. The Office of Sustainability has implemented a two-pronged approach to the CAP: “top-down” and “bottom-up.” The top down component identifies what is feasible and affordable from a technology standpoint. The bottom up component includes issues and energy use and management issues most relevant to Cleveland’s critical stakeholders: residents and business-owners.

As part of the climate action planning process, the Office of Sustainability has convened community stakeholders to form a Climate Action Advisory Committee (CAAC) to provide input, ideas, and feedback for the final plan. The CAAC will include various stakeholder groups to ensure the CAP addresses various community perspectives through a serious of workshops. The first workshop of the CAAC was held on October 9, 2012 and focused on overview of the climate action planning process, preliminary GHG inventory, and a brainstorm session for goals and strategies. The second workshop is scheduled for March 5, 2013, and focus on preliminary strategies that emerge from the CAAC committee meetings held in late January and early February. The committee meetings will organize around topics such as: energy efficiency and green building; waste; transportation (non-freight); land use, forestry, storm water, and flood management; advanced and renewable energy; and climate change adaptation. Cross-cutting topics will also be addressed: community engagement and education; financing; incentives and policy; economic and community development; existing best practices and case studies.

Additional information about Cleveland’s Climate Action Plan and the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability is available at www.sustainablecleveland.org/about/climate-action-plan/. Questions and comments may also be addressed to the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability at Sustainability@city.cleveland.oh.us or the Sustainable Cleveland Center at SCC@city.cleveland.oh.us.

You can also engage in an on-line discussion about the plan at The Civic Commons.

What Can I Do Today

 

 

 

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