Sustruct.com

Just a quick reminder that Springfield’s Green Drinks (The First thrusday of every month has been moved to the Farmers Gastropub.

Its still located downtown, and still starts at 5:30.

Springfield’s Sierra Club is hosting an event on Thursday Feb 4th at 6:30 pm.

The event starts at 6:30 as the nature center.

From the Invite:

Melissa Hope,  Sierra Club’s Associate Regional Representative in Missouri,

will provide an update on Missouri’s progress and challenges in moving

toward a clean energy future, including the current bills before the

Missouri legislature. She’ll also discuss Sierra Club’s National energy

priorities including the Clean Energy Jobs Bill, the club’s campaign

strategies and citizens’ roles/opportunities in helping to make these

priorities and campaigns successful.

Melissa works on energy issues throughout Missouri — both national and

state energy priorities.    She works with the Missouri Clean Energy Works

collaboration that is focused on the Clean Energy Jobs bill, the Energy

Efficiency Works team that is focused on implementation of Missouri’s

Renewable Energy Standard and the 2009 Energy Efficiency bill (SB376), and

also provides support to the University of Missouri’s Coal-Free Mizzou

student team.

For more information about Missouri’s energy future, take a look at our

Beyond Coal Missouri website – http://sierraclub.org/coal/mo/

Melissa Hope,  Sierra Club’s Associate Regional Representative in Missouri,will provide an update on Missouri’s progress and challenges in movingtoward a clean energy future, including the current bills before theMissouri legislature. She’ll also discuss Sierra Club’s National energypriorities including the Clean Energy Jobs Bill, the club’s campaignstrategies and citizens’ roles/opportunities in helping to make thesepriorities and campaigns successful.  Melissa works on energy issues throughout Missouri — both national andstate energy priorities.    She works with the Missouri Clean Energy Workscollaboration that is focused on the Clean Energy Jobs bill, the EnergyEfficiency Works team that is focused on implementation of Missouri’sRenewable Energy Standard and the 2009 Energy Efficiency bill (SB376), andalso provides support to the University of Missouri’s Coal-Free Mizzoustudent team.  For more information about Missouri’s energy future, take a look at ourBeyond Coal Missouri website – http://sierraclub.org/coal/mo/

If you’re looking to reduce your taxes this year or next, look no further than Energy Efficiency.

With the advent of the modern Energy Conservation and Efficiency movement currently taking place in the United States (Along with the rest of the world) There are a lot of opportunities to really update your home and make it make you money (kind of in a figurative sense). There are a ton of rebates available to tax payers here in the states, but deciphering the programs and getting the most bang for your buck can be kind of a hassle. Step in DSIRE (Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency).

DSIRE has a great list of all Rebates and incentives for Renewables listed on a state by state, locality to locality basis. Its great if you’re thinking about putting in a solar array in Missouri, or putting up a wind turbine in South Dakota. You simply go to the home page, select your state, and select the locality that applies to you.

It also lists out federal incentives, and even has some great tools to compare and analyze incentives… so yeah enjoy and here’s to hoping you can save a bit on taxes this year or next.

+DSIRE

I found this the other day and thought it was worth sharing.

stands for “In my back yard” obviously a play on the acronym NIMBY. The web application allows you to plot some points using google maps, then utilizes the location and area to calculate some really useful information pertaining to the Photovoltaic or wind power generation system you could use.

It additionally provides back the amount of energy you can generate, the amount generated per month and the duration of payback or ROI. All of which is really the thing you’re concerned with the most when dealing with renewables.

The only problem I can see is that in most parts of the world (outside of the city) its hard to get the amount of detail in maps that you’re looking for. But it is a step in the right direction.

+ IMBY

Looking for a good way to keep track of everything “green” going on in the Ozark’s? www.ozarksenvironment.com has a lot (And I mean a lot) of things available on it. Just check out their Fall 2009 newsletter (Total of 7 Pages). Great stuff if you’re need digest a quarter’s work of news in one setting.

I have to admit that they appear to do a great job with all of this news. They have some great tools (Eg: Calendars and Interact) that really give you no excuse to not get involved.

+ Ozark’s Environment

An upcoming series hosed by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources will discuss proposals to boost energy savings and cut utility costs for homes of Missouri low-income families. The “Energize Missouri Housing Initiative” will help create innovative approaches to serving energy efficiency and housing quality needs for Missouri’s lower-income families.  It seeks to synergize weatherization funds, talent and resources to create a better housing improvement initiative and to help reach underserved populations.  DNR will be requesting grant proposals in early 2010 for “innovative projects” designed to improve the state’s Low Income Weatherization Assistance program.

Starting Dec. 9, The Missouri DNR will hold a series of public meetings on the “Energize Missouri Housing Initiative”. Meetings will be held in Cape Girardeau, Springfield, St. Charles, Kansas City, Macon and Columbia.

·        Dec. 9 — 6 to 8 p.m. at the Cape Girardeau Public Library — Oscar & Geraldine Hirsch Rooms, 711 N. Clark

·        Dec. 10 — 1 to 3:30 p.m. at the Springfield Public Library — Brentwood Branch, 2214 Brentwood Blvd.

·        Dec. 14 — 9 to 11:30 a.m. at the St. Charles Community College — Social Sciences Auditorium, 4601 Mid Rivers Mall Drive

·        Dec. 15 — 1:30 to 4 p.m. at the Kauffman Foundation Conference Center, 4801 Rockhill Road, Town Square Room, Kansas City

·        Dec. 17 — 9 to 11 a.m. at the Macon Comfort Inn, Salon A, 1821 N. Missouri

·        Dec. 17 — 6 to 8 p.m. at the Daniel Boone Regional Library, 100 W. Broadway, Friends Room, Columbia

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 granted Missouri about $128 million for energy efficiency improvements to homes of low-income families. Most of this funding was given to Missouri’s current weatherization agencies, but Missouri’s DNR has developed a plan to use more than $25 million of this funding for the “Energize Missouri Housing Initiative”.

Missouri’s community action agencies and other public or non-profit groups will be asked in early 2010 to propose projects under the initiative that result in increased benefits for low-income clients, neighborhoods and communities served by the Low-Income Weatherization Assistance Program. For example, proposed projects may focus on larger, multi-family housing units or neighborhood-based programs, projects that increase services to underserved low income populations, or ways to deliver services more effectively to rural populations.

Comments and discussions heard during the public meetings will help the department develop the final Energize Missouri Housing Initiative.  The department expects to release the Request for Proposals in early 2010 to seek proposals from eligible applicants.  There is no cost to attend the meetings.

+ State of Missouri DNR

The USGBC Heartland Chapter in Springfield is hosting a series of study sessions on the current LEED version.
The sessions are always at the “Trustee Science Center” on the Drury Campus, from 5:30 to 7:30 Pm.

Schedule is as follows:
Wednesday, November 11th : Intro to LEED V3 Green Associate
Wednesday, November 18th : Sustainable Sites
Tuesday, December 1st : Water Efficiency Innovation in Design Regional Priority
Wednesday, December 9th : Materials & Resources Energy & Atmosphere
Tuesday, December 15th : Indoor Environmental Quality
Tuesday, January 5th : LEED ID+C Summary.

The cost for each Study Session is $10.00 (Includes food and presentation)
Plus they’re offering a Study Guide for $40.00, buy them all at once and get everything (Presentations, Study Guide and Food) for $70.00.
If you’re a USGBC member you’ll receive a 15% discount.

RSVP to Melissa Cox at mcox@emsi-green.com
All checks payable to USGC-MH

If you’re looking for some good tips right now that you can do at home, Lifehacker has a great article on simple things you should be doing.

Windows:

Obviously windows are a huge “energy drain” on your home. Simply because they have  roughly a quarter of the R-Value as a wall (that’s for the good ones), any type of insulation you can add is time well spent. This doesn’t mean you have to go out and replace them with new ones, just that by simply utilizing a material to increase this value a little can equate to a large amount of energy savings. This is especially true if you have single pane windows, or windows without any sort of Low-E coating.

Doors:

Another topic they discuss is sealing exterior doors. This is a really good point as a crack around a door only a quarter inch on three doors could equate to a hole 1′x1′… a substantial hole that could really increase the infiltration rate in the home.  Simply filling these cracks with weather stripping and stopping the draft would greatly minimize a lot of the energy loss.

Programmable Thermostat:

And finally, something that we’ll eventually post a how to one, Programmable Thermostats. These devices are relatively cheap, will pay for themselves in no time at all, and can be installed by someone with basic knowledge of how to wire and install a device like this.  A programmable thermostat can control the temperature in the home at differing times, based on a schedule you enter. This means that when you aren’t there you can let your HVAC system slack off and only run at higher (in the summer) and lower (in the winter) temperatures when you aren’t their. Additionally they can also switch from heat to cool automatically saving you the hassle of maintaining this on your own.

Check out the article and give it a good once over, most of the ideas will pay for themselves in a month with the right temperatures (Anything below 50 or above 90 and you’ll see a big change in the utility bill).

[Link to the Original LifeHacker Article]

Great ways to save energy on the cheap will be the topic during the upcoming White River Group of the Sierra Club’s montly meeting.
The meeting is to be held on November 10th (Tuesday) night at 7:00 PM at the Springfield Conservation Departments Nature Center [MAP].
Jeffery Barber, a local architect and housing / environmental design specialist with the Greene County Extension Office, will be there to present and help with questions.

Great news, the Farmers Gastropub is finally opening in Springfield.
Located in the Wilhoit Plaza downtown on Elm and Jefferson.

They are serving food from local farmers. Including items like chicken from Millsap Farms & beef from the Rocking Z ranch. Additionally they’re supposed to have a green twist to their business, using things sustainably harvested good, organic produce, and ensuring they buy (most of their items) as local as possible.

This is the sort of thing that I’d like to see happen with a lot more restaurants in town. Think of it as a way to support the local economy, differentiate from your competition, get great produce and provide your guests with an outstanding meal they won’t likely soon forget.

They seem to have an intriguing concept for a business, and I’m sure its well worth checking out. If anyone has any recommendations they’d be greatly appreciated.

Check out their flyer here. They don’t have a website, but apparently they do have twitter.