THE NEXT GREENIST THING

Discussions at Green Drinks last night drifted to home gardens and the abundant bounty produced, then turned to the 'lost art of canning.'

One person at the table said she knew how to can, the rest of us were clueless, viewing the process as mysterious, complicated and intimidating.

At one time in Florida's recent past, there were community canning facilities created to support low income families and stretch their food budgets by learning correct sterilization, water baths and food preparation. Many of these facilities were open to the entire community who needed either instruction or more space than their home kitchen counters provided.
The last one closed in the early 80's probably concurrent with the
availability of inexpensive microwaves.

I'm calling on a resurgence of the art of canning!
Here's some resources to get us started:
National Center for Home Preservation
Pickyourown.org (How to Can Anything)
and
Home Food Preservation
http:/foodsafety.cas.psu.edu/canningguide.html

Green Readers! let's get started and we'll be ready when those veggies come in.

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GREEN DRINKS TONITE

6 PM @ at Waterworks!

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Tallahassee Energy Challenge

Monday, February 23, from 7 PM - 9 PM
Leon County Public Library, Park Avenue.

The meeting of the Big Bend Sierra Club will host a presentation and
conversation about the Council of Neighborhood Association's
Neighborhood Energy Challenge, which begins next month.
The project hopes to illustrate how neighborhoods can work together to
reduce energy usage, save resources and reduce pollution.
More information at www.tallyenergychallenge.com or contact rtemplin@flaflcio

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RECYCLING AND MORE

Since this weekend has been focused on recycling, both in this blog post and within my own surroundings, here are some interesting links for passing on those still good-to-use running shoes, or exercise videos (Billy Blanks, Tae Bo--you know the ones--) that are gathering dust underneath your outdated VCR, eye glasses, hearing aids and crayons!

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GREEN RECESSION GARDENS?

Evidently, others are now finding out what Green Readers have known all along: planting a garden not only produces great, fresh produce, but is economical, too.

USA Today reported Friday that veggie seeds are experiencing all time record sales. 'When the economy goes down, food gardening goes up,' said a spokesman from the National Gardening Association.

One woman in Tallahassee recently said she wanted to turn her entire front yard into a vegetable garden. Go for it! If the neighbor's complain, bribe them with fresh tomatoes and offer to give them tips so they can do the same thing to their yard. The energy saved from mowing grass can well be spent on staking some heirlooms.

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THE UNIVERSITY'S GREEN ROOF

Tomorrow, the City of Fort Lauderdale will unveil its first totally green roof at Florida Atlantic University's Higher Education Complex building in the downtown.

The solar panel initiative includes 240 photovoltaic panels and will produce 50,000 watts of energy. The savings from the building's electricity production will be used to fund the Sun Fund Scholarship, believed to be the country's only scholarship literally funded by the sun.

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GREEN EXPO IS COMING!

the 3^rd annual Sustainable Big Bend Green Living Expo & Education Fair, MARCH 21, from 9 AM - 4 PM at Riversprings Middle School, 800 Spring Creek Highway, Crawfordville, in Wakulla County.

This is a free educational event with FOUR categories of workshops, children’s activities, local farmers and food vendors, over 40 green business vendors, an upcycling display, green wheels, a children’s bicycle rodeo and more.

The Green Expo site is about 15 miles from Tallahassee. Last year, the route was very well marked with signs.

Discover hundreds of ideas to create a more sustainable lifestyle.
To find out more, go to the Green Living and Energy Expo site

There's still time to register as a vendor or sponsor of this event. For more information, E-mail heidi.holcomb@earthlink.net

Download and post this flyer.

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FP & L MOVES A LITTLE TOWARD SOLAR

The Bradenton Herald reported Friday that the Manatee County Planning Commission unanimously endorsed a rezoning and a general development plan to add 75 megawatts of solar-generated energy on the 9,500-acre site. Florida Power and Light plans to add three solar fields on 600 acres near its existing plant on State Road 62.

The installation will include hundreds of solar mirrors that will focus sunlight onto heat absorbing fluid that will heat a water boiler to generate steam to turn an electricity-generating turbine. However, no timeline has been announced for opening the solar facility.

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SOMETIMES YOU JUST HAVE TO GO GREEN YOURSELF

This is such a great story from the NY Times about two women, recent graduates from Yale, who have been driving all over India in a plug-in electric car that is also powered by rooftop solar panels, as part of a 'climate caravan.' They are calling attention to solutions to global warming being developed by Indian companies, campuses and innovators-- like the "Gadhia solar plant in Valsad, Gujarat, where steam is used for cooking and you can feed almost 50,000 people in one go.” (See: www.indiaclimatesolutions.com.)

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Frugal is the New Green

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Tallahassee Beekeepers

February 18th from 7:00 PM
LaFiesta Restaurant
Apalachee Parkway

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Electric Car

photo courtesy of Road and Track

Thought I'd share a photo of my Valentine's present! It's electric, it has three wheels--

Just kidding, but this may be the closest thing to my longings for a Tesla in which to zoom past the Capitol. More photos and a video of the Aptera 2e are on the Road and Track site. It's scheduled to be sold beginning October of this year from its manufacturing plant in Vista, California with a price tag between $25K and $40K. It zooms 0 - 60 mph in 10 (seconds), but sadly it doesn't double as a personal plane.

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02/14/09

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GREEN HOUSE COMING ALONG

There's progress on the LEED certified house here in Tallahassee. Click on over here to see pictures and view the progress. Every Green Reader who has built a home will appreciate the time lapse slides!

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GREEN Affordable Housing

Home Depot announced its Award of Excellence program for 2009.
Non-profits involved in innovative green building design and education
of community re: green building.

Last year's winners were the Madison Area Community Land Trust in
Madison, Wisconsin and Mercy Housing Lakefront, Chicago, Illinois.

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GOOGLE HELPS SAVE ELECTRICITY

Of course? I almost believe that Google can do everything--but, save
electricity, really?

if you have signed up for the City's smart metering program, you can
install a PowerMeter gadget on your iGoogle page.

The idea behind smart metering is that if you can view and analyze
your consumption patterns, then you will know where to save.

www.google.org/powermeter/howitworks.html

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Butterfly Wings as Perfect Solar Collectors

If we forget that the answers to our questions lie in the unique complexities of nature, the discovery that butterfly wings have scales that act as tiny solar collectors is a great reminder.

Scientists in China and Japan are using this discovery to design a more efficient solar cell. The study appeared in the Jan. 13th issue of ACS’ Chemistry of Materials, a bi-weekly journal.

Laboratory tests showed that the butterfly wing solar collector absorbed light more efficiently than conventional dye-sensitized cells. The fabrication process is simpler and faster than other methods, and could be used to manufacture commercially valuable devices.

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RECYCLED PLASTIC EGGS CARTONS

Green Readers remember this post about the plastic egg cartons and the lamentation about wanting the old-fashioned cardbord containers. (Thank you, Phil's Eggs)

A very nice response came from Mr. VonBargen:

Please be advised that I have forwarded your information to our marketing departments along with all the people involved in making such decisions. One of the primary reasons we chose this carton is that the plastic, is from recycled plastic bottles and also that the carton after its use is of a high quality recyclable material, there fore making recycling a matter of importance, in order to produce less plastic and use what is already available to keep our planet green.

Other reasons for the use of this carton is the additional protection that the tri-fold carton design offers as compared to a conventional carton; our experience indicates there is less breakage in the clear carton. Mostly all of the email previously received by us, regarding the carton design and use of the recycled material, has been very favorable and complementary.

We value you highly as a loyal Publix customer and hope that you will continue to favor us with your confidence by purchasing our 4-Grain Grade A Eggs.

Sincerely,
Sig VonBargen, Compliance Manager
Tampa Farm Service, Inc.

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PROGRESS SAYS: NO WIND, NO SOLAR

The Chiefland Citizen reported Saturday that Progress Energy told the community that wind and solar power are not viable options in meeting residents' energy needs. Residents heard, "We need to do the nuclear facility."

At the January 23rd meeting of the Chiefland Chamber of Commerce, Denny George of Progress Energy and a director for the Chiefland Chamber of Commerce said that Florida does not have the sustainable wind for power generation, and that 'some' solar may be possible.

As noted here previously, Progress Energy has applied to construct a two-unit nuclear plant in south Levy County about two miles from Inglis. The plant could its first unit in production in 2016 and the second unit in 2017.

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GAINESVILLE APPROVES FEE-IN TARIFF FOR SOLAR

As reported here previously, the City of Gainesville made it official this past Thursday, it will be the first city in the US to implement a solar fee-in tariff. The vote of the city commissioners was unanimous for the tariff that is expected to be in place March 1st.

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GREEN YOUR INDOORS

Growing up in south Florida, we called several of our neighbors a
variation of 'the plant lady.' Their indoor plants spilled from the
'Florida' room into the living, dining rooms, kitchens, halls,
bedrooms, sometimes even the bathrooms.
Now we know all this photosynthesis action was scrubbing significant
amounts of harmful gases out of the indoor environment.
NASA released a list of the top five plants to consider nurturing
indoors while our green thumbs twiddle, awaiting Spring. This short
list by common name includes all child-safe plants, so forget about
the English Ivy:
Spider Plant, Snake Plant, Corn Plant, Golden Pothos, and Chinese Evergreen.

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CITY UTILITY ASSISTANCE - HELP OTHERS

If you haven't signed up for Project Share yet, this is the day to take a moment and go to the City utilities site.

Funding for the program comes from your contribution made as a part of your monthly utility bill. The Good Neighbor Program is operated by the Capital Area Community Action Agency 850.222.2043.

In 2008, customers contributed $56,861 (matched by the City for a total of $113,722). The City serves approximately 100,000 customers. That's less than 57 cents donated per customer, a year! Green Readers, if 1/2 of the City's customers donated $1.00 per month added to their utility bill, that's $12.00 a year. Can we contribute $12.00 per year?

That would raise $600,000 per year and no one who is low income and elderly, laid off from their job with children, or disabled and living on less than $700 per month disability would have their utilities cut-off for non-payment during the times of the year when it is the hottest or we have cold temperatures like Thursday night's 17 degrees.

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PARTY - NO TALLAHASSEE BIOMASS

This Saturday, Keeping it Green and Clean, sponsored by Commissioner Bill Proctor and Jackson Properties, is a celebration of the timely exit of BG & E from our Tallahassee community. Bond Community Medical Center 872 Orange Avenue from 7:00 PM - 11:00 PM. Food and entertainment.

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Gainesville Out in Front--Again

Looks like Gainesville beats Tallahassee again as it continues to move
toward incorporating solar as an important component of its energy
production, as mentioned here previously.

The Gainesville Sun reported yesterday that a delegation of German
solar companies will make a stop at the state Capitol next week and
then travel to Gainesville to look at investment potential in solar.

Gainesville's solar feed-in tariff would allow Gainesville Regional
Utilities to purchase solar energy from investors - ranging from large
companies to residents with solar panels on their rooftops - for at
least 20 years. The price GRU would pay for this solar energy would
allow these investors to make a profit. GRU's cost of paying for this
solar energy then would be passed directly on to GRU customers.

That cost to customers is capped at about $1.5 million a year. Spread
out among GRU customers, that would mean a 1.5 percent increase in
base electricity rates.

How about it City of Tallassee?

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SUPER BOWL GOING GREEN - SORT OF--

According to Tampa Electric's press release, the NFL's Super Bowl today at Raymond James Stadium will offset approximately 157 tons of carbon dioxide through the Company's new Renewable Energy one-time purchase option, the equivalent of taking 20 cars off the road for a year or planting 36 trees. Power purchased from a mixture of solar and biomass power is a part of the NFL's efforts to be more environmentally friendly. Other strategies include reusing some of their banners next year and upcycling some of the banners into tote bags and wallets.

In addition, Tampa Electric and Peoples Gas are conducting energy efficiency and natural gas upgrades at 20 homes near the Stadium, through the non-profit, Rebuilding Together Tampa Bay. The non-profit provides home repair to low-income families, military veterans, the elderly and persons with disabilities. Home energy upgrades included new air filters, compact fluorescent light bulbs, and weatherization. Some homes received tankless water heaters and energy efficient space heaters.

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