Staunton Green 2020

A big thanks to our panel – and all the attendees – for coming out to the SG2020 event, “Switching to Grass in Staunton and Augusta County” last night.

Please comment here if you have questions you’d like to pass along to our panel of experts, and, what you thought.

We’re planning more events that capture the Staunton Green 2020 mission to build community partnerships that through education, research and collaboration:

~ Reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions

~ Increase renewable energy

~ Generate Green jobs

~ Preserve green space

~ Facilitate sustainable community development

Also, thanks to Mary Baldwin College for hosting. See you at our next event:

Dirt, The Movie
Thur. Mar. 18 @ 7pm

• Mockingbird Restaurant – Downtown Staunton (doors open at 5:30pm for delicious dinner)
• A free, fast-paced film about the threatened life sustaining soil on which we depend
• Co-sponsored by Transition Staunton Augusta & Valley Conservation Council

Are you eligible for an energy efficiency rebate?

The Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME), Division of Energy will provide up to $15 million in rebates for energy efficiency measures and equipment to retrofit homes and commercial property, and up to $15 million in rebates for renewable energy equipment and systems for residential and commercial applications.

An online form to request a conditional reservation of funds is available here:
http://www.dmme.virginia.gov/DE/ARRA-Public/SEPRebate.shtml

Virginia Energy Efficiency Rebates will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis until funds are exhausted. A two-step process will be used to allocate the money. First, applicants will request a conditional reservation of funds. When a reservation is confirmed, funds will be set aside while the applicant is allowed up to 180 days to complete work. The second part of the rebate process requires the applicant who successfully reserved funds to provide documentation of costs and compliance with all program requirements in order to receive a rebate check.

Questions about the Virginia Energy Efficiency Rebate Program should be directed to the following email address: FAQefficient -AT- dmme.virginia.gov

Questions will be answered by DMME and posted to a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on the website, here:
http://www.dmme.virginia.gov/DE/ARRA-Public/SEPRebate.shtml

Don’t forget: there is also money available to those who qualify to weatherize of your home. If you don’t qualify for either of these programs, please tell someone who may…

By Bruce Dorries, Staunton Green 2020 Charter Member, for Staunton’s News Leader, June 6, 2009:

Switchgrass sounds like something a school marm out west on the ol’ prairie would apply to the backsides of unruly students. In fact, Panicum virgatum, a native, grows very well right here in even the poorest of soils.

It could prove a rich, renewable source of energy in these parts. Switchgrass might have the power to help reduce our dependence on fossil fuels while benefiting farmers and wildlife. No one is likely to become a switchgrass baron or insanely wealthy from trading grasses futures, but the hardy perennial (a.k.a. wand panic grass) has great potential for augmenting farmers’ incomes and our nation’s need for reliable, domestic sources of energy.

About a dozen local farmers turned out in Verona recently to hear federal agriculture and Virginia Tech officials make a pitch for the grass as a more sustainable, economical form of cattle feed, as low-cost poultry house bedding, and as a renewable biofuel.

Click here to continue reading at the News Leader’s website.

As non-partisan citizen action group we feel it’s important to be transparent and share our mission, goals, and objectives with you.

Please review. We invite you to join us. 

Staunton Green 2020

Mission, Goals and Objectives

June 5, 2009  

Vision

Bringing the Green economy and sustainable living to every Queen City resident. 

Mission

We assist the city of Staunton and its residents in reducing carbon emissions by 20% and increasing renewable energy sources by 20% by 2020.  

Goals

1. Work with the city to employ carbon reduction strategies that create economic opportunities and reduce taxpayer obligations (e.g. “weatherization for all campaign” that employs the unemployed; energy conservation programs).
2. Develop education efforts that provide city residents information and action steps to work in a coordinated fashion toward carbon neutrality.
3. Support individual, commercial, non-profit and city efforts that are socially responsible and lead to increased use of renewable energy and decreased use of fossil fuels.

 Initial Objective

Support the City Council in creating a Green Economy Commission that will accomplish the following:  

1. Join ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability (www.icleiusa.org) to get the tools, support and strategies for reducing our carbon footprint.
2. Plan and conduct a source inventory of Staunton’s greenhouse gas emissions within six months of establishing the Commission.
3. Recommend and propose a 20% reduction in carbon emissions from 2008 levels for the year 2020 within one year of establishing the Commission.
4. Recommend and propose methods for generating local renewable energy (e.g. switch grass, water turbines, geothermal, solar, etc.).
5. Investigate the development of a Clean Energy Financing Program to make affordable, and create incentives, for homeowners and businesses to install energy efficient appliances and clean energy generators.
6. Promote Green entrepreneurship and seek ways to create sustainable Green jobs within the city as well as reduce municipal, residential and commercial energy bills.

The Commission will consist of a diverse group of residents committed to timely accomplishment of these goals and objectives.  

Secondary Objectives:

1. Create Staunton Green 2020 subcommittees that promote:

• Municipal, commercial and residential solutions
• Incentives that lead to the adoption of practices
• Funding support through grants, relief through taxpayer savings and economic benefits

The subcommittees will address the following: 
 
Education and Outreach Bruce and Gena

• Public awareness
• School involvement
• Action learning
• programs

Energy Conservation 

• Energy audits
• Rain barrels
• Green retrofit
• LEED/Earthcraft

 Waste Reduction Brian and Gena

• Recycling
• Composting
• Plastic reduction
• Improved “to go” containers
• Styrofoam reduction

Green Business Entrepreneurship Brian, Chris & Katie  

Clean Energy generation

• Geothermal
• Solar
• Water turbines
• Switch grass

Local Food & Agricultural Outreach Brian and Katie

• Farmer’s Market
• Garden programs
• Community Supported Agriculture
• Restaurants
• Grocery Stores

 
Sustainable Land Use and Redevelopment Chris & Bruce

• Alternative transportation
• Comprehensive plan and urban development
• Storm water run-off
• Reforestation
• Native grasses and flowers

 
 

1. Collaborate with governmental entities, non-governmental organizations, and businesses, such as the following, to accomplish these goals:

• Augusta Farm Co-op
• Belle Grae Growing Center
• Blue Ridge Community College
• Central Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Pedestrian Committee
• Greater Augusta Regional Chamber of Commerce
• Historic Staunton Foundation
• Lewis Creek Watershed Advisory Committee
• Mary Baldwin College
• Staunton Creative Community Fund
• Staunton Downtown Development Association
• Staunton Earth Day Planning Committee
• Valley Conservation Council

 
 
Definitions

Carbon Neutral:

The process of offsetting carbon-producing activities with those that either reduce or capture carbon, thus neutralizing the net amount of carbon released in the atmosphere¹. While the United States accounts for only 5% of the world’s population, it accounts for 20% of global energy usage and 20% of global CO2 emissions ². 

Carbon or Greenhouse Gas Emissions:

Direct greenhouse gas emissions can include tailpipe emissions of CO² from motor vehicles, methane from landfills, and hydrofluorocarbons from leaking refrigeration or air conditioning equipment. Indirect greenhouse gas emissions arise from coal and other fossil fuel-based energy generated to power residential, commercial, and industrial activities. Indirect emissions also arise from fossil fuel combustion used in the manufacture, transport, storage, disposal, and recycling of commodities and manufactured products³.  

The scientific consensus is that society must reduce the global emission of greenhouse gases by at least 80% by mid-century at the latest, in order to avert the worst impacts of global warming and to reestablish the more stable climatic conditions that have made human progress over the last 10,000 years possible⁴.  

Renewable Energy:

Energy generated from natural resources—such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat—which are naturally replenished⁵.  

Sustainability:

The World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission) articulated: “[to meet] the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” ⁶ 
 

1. http://www.sustainabilitydictionary.com/c/climate_neutral.php
2. http://www.usmayors.org/climateprotection/documents/Green%20Jobs%20FINAL.pdf
3. http://www.sustainabilitydictionary.com/c/carbon_footprint.php
4. http://www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org/html/faq.php
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy
6. http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/42/ares42-187.htm

The 2005 film Thank You For Smoking pulled back the veil on spinmeister marketing, exposing the evil genius behind big industry campaigns to hoodwink the American public into believing patent untruths about certain products. In that case it was about making cigarettes appear harmless, even sexy.

The attitude behind this approach is a belief that the American people will willingly buy into any line of bunk that an industry wants to sell if it sells it hard enough. It’s the old “repeat a lie often enough and it becomes a truth…” tactic. And that’s the very method the coal industry relies on in its grossly misleading campaign hawking so-called “clean coal.”

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