How a German Village Created an Independent Grid and a Renewable Energy Future

Laurie Guevara- Stone  ::  Rocky Mountain Institute  ::  February 20, 2014

Regardless of debate about the success of Germany’s renewables revolution, there is no denying that a small town in the corner of rural eastern Germany, 40 miles south of Berlin, may be one of the best examples of decentralized self-sufficiency.

Feldheim (population: 150), in the cash-strapped state of Brandenburg, was a communist collective farm back when Germany was still divided into East and West. Now, it is a model renewable energy village putting into practice Germany’s vision of a renewably powered future.

In 1995, a local entrepreneur paid for Feldheim’s first wind turbine. As farmers started to worry when prices for their milk, potatoes, and beets began to fall and energy prices started to rise, they learned they could earn cash by renting their land to energy companies wanting to install a wind turbine. A local renewable energy company, Energiequelle GmbH, saw the potential as well, and decided to install a wind farm in Feldheim. Forty-three wind turbines with an installed capacity of 74.1 megawatt (MW) soon dotted the Feldheim landscape, providing income to farmers who leased their land to the energy company.

Renewable fervor was catching on, and in 2008 Energiequelle bought a 111-acre former Soviet military site about five miles from Feldheim, cleaned up the toxic military waste and hidden ammunition and constructed a 284-panel solar farm that produces over 2,700 MW hours per year. Its power is fed into the grid at the feed-in-tariff rate.

Photo credit: Energiequelle

That same year, the town of Feldheim and Energiequelle established a joint venture, called Feldheim Energie GmbH & Co. The new company built a biogas factory that converts pig manure and unused corn into heat, taking advantage of the community’s 700 pigs and 1,700 acres of arable farmland. The biogas plant is fed from the town’s agricultural cooperative and produces of electricity a year. A 400-kilowatt, wood-chip furnace fueled by the byproduct of forest thinning helps to firm the power from wind and biogas.

By 2009 Feldheim was producing all its own energy with renewable sources. Residents then wanted to take things a step further and free themselves from the large utility company, E.on, which was supplying the grid.

E.on refused to either sell or lease the part of its energy grid that ran through Feldheim. So the people took the matter into their own hands, and decided to build their own. Each of the 150 residents contributed 3,000 Euros (~$4,000 at today’s exchange rates) so that they could build their own smart grid. With help from Energiequelle and financing from the European Union and government subsidies, the smart grid was completed in 2010, making Feldheim then the only town in Germany with its own mini-grid. This allows the locally produced heat and electricity to be fed straight to consumers and gives them control over their electrical prices, which are set at community meetings.

They now pay 31 percent less for electricity and 10 percent less for heating than before. The town consumes less than one percent of the electricity produced annually by its wind turbines and solar panels, selling the rest back to the market. This lowers their electricity bills to around half the national average. The biogas plant not only sells electricity back to the market, but also supplies the entire community with heating, saving over 160,000 liters of heating oil each year. As an added benefit, the plant produces over three million gallons of high-quality fertilizer annually that the agricultural cooperative uses.

Feldheim has also installed a plug-and-pay EV charging station in the town center, and next plans to install a 10-MW battery later this year. The storage will help balance the community microgrid’s generation and load.

There are now more wind turbines than houses in the town. While residents don’t mind the noise or aesthetics of the wind turbines, there has been some opposition from neighboring towns, which didn’t—until recently—directly benefit from the wind farm. “In order to make neighbors feel more at ease with the wind farm, we are offering power at a special rate,” Energiequelle spokesman Werner Frohwitter told Rocky Mountain Institute. “Our aim is to let as many people as possible directly benefit from our turbines, thus encouraging social acceptance for renewable energies.”

All the renewable projects also created jobs. While other villages in the economically depressed state of Brandenburg have roughly a 30 percent unemployment rate, Feldheim virtually erased its unemployment. Most residents work in the biogas plant or maintain the wind and solar farms. And the town, which has not a single museum or restaurant, has seen an influx of visitors. Three thousand people visit the small town of 150 each year. This has prompted the foundation of a new organization, Förderverein des Neuen Energieforums Feldheim (Friends of the New Energies Forum Feldheim), which is converting an old inn into a renewable energy information and training center. The hope is that when the center opens in the fall of 2014 it will bring even more visitors to Feldheim, generating more jobs and income for the villagers.

Feldheim has proven that a high-renewables energy future is possible today. “There have been and are still occurring remarkable changes (in Feldheim),” says Frohwitter. The small town is thriving thanks to its confidence in renewable energy technologies.

Offshore Wind Trumps Offshore Drilling in Job Growth and Energy Generation

Cole Mellino  ::  EcoWatch  ::  14 January 2015 

The oil and gas industry has been lobbying to expand offshore drilling for years, claiming it will increase U.S. energy independence, result in millions of dollars in state revenue and create thousands of jobs. A new report, Offshore Energy by the Numbers, An Economic Analysis of Offshore Drilling and Wind Energy in the Atlantic, from Oceana challenges these claims byshowing that “offshore wind would produce twice the number of jobs and twice the amount of energy as offshore drilling in the Atlantic Ocean.”

In the next 20 years, offshore wind could create about 91,000 more jobs than offshore drilling and could generate enough energy to power over 115 million households. Photo credit: Shutterstock

It turns out that the fossil fuel industry’s estimates on revenue and job creation potential have been inflated because of the “inclusion of oil and gas resources that are not economically recoverable” and a reliance on “an assumption of a state revenue-sharing system” that just does not exist. Not only are the benefits exaggerated, but the estimates do not account for the loss of jobs and revenue in fishing, tourism and recreation, which depend on a healthy marine ecosystem. Drilling threatens the aquatic life in this ecosystem, nearly 1.4 million jobs and more than $95 billion in gross domestic product.

Oceana points out offshore drilling poses a serious threat to aquatic life even before “a rig is ever put in the water” because oil and gas companies use seismic air guns, which “make dynamite-like blasts to search for oil and gas deposits deep below the ocean floor.” The Obama administration announced its decision last July to consider proposals for the use of seismic air guns from Delaware down to Florida.

“Based on the government’s own estimates, seismic blasting in the Atlantic could harm fish populations while injuring as many as 138,000 marine mammals like whales and dolphins, disturbing the vital activities of as many as 13.5 million more,” said Andrew Menaquale, report author and energy analyst at Oceana. Menaquale also found, again based on the government’s own estimates, that “if all of the economically recoverable offshore oil and gas in the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf were extracted and used, oil demand would only be met for less than five months and gas demand would only be met for less than 10 months, at current consumption rates.”

Alternatively, the report shows, “in just 13 years, offshore wind could generate more energy than could be provided by all of the economically recoverable offshore oil and gas resources.” And in the next 20 years, “offshore wind could create about 91,000 more jobs than offshore drilling” and “could generate enough energy to power over 115 million households.”

“Unlike offshore drilling, offshore wind provides power directly to coastal communities where we need energy the most, without the risk of oil spills or carbon pollution,” said Menaquale. “It’s time for the U.S. to use the lessons learned from more than 20 years of offshore wind development internationally and apply them to generating clean, renewable energy off our coasts.”

Renewable Energy Jobs Continue to Grow

Anastasia Pantsios  ::  EcoWatch  ::  September 2, 2014

As Labor Day retreats in the rear view mirror, a new report from nonprofit, nonpartisan business group Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) offers a positive job growth outlook for one sector: clean energy.

Solar energy is a job creator, with more than 5,300 jobs announced in the second quarter of 2014. Photo credit: Shutterstock

While the coal and fracking industries try to make their case with an emotional appeal to anxious workers, saying that regulating these industries will cost jobs in a still-struggling economy (and despite record declines in mining jobs due to mechanization), the report shows that the new energy technologies are a growth area for labor.

“Clean Energy Works for Us: Second Quarter 2014 Report” says 12,500 new jobs were announced in the areas of clean energy and clean transportation, double the number in the first quarter. It says:

Solar power generation led all sectors in Q2 with more than 5,300 jobs announced, and the wind industry announced more than 2,700 jobs, many stemming from projects that qualified for the recently expired Production Tax Credit (PTC). Other major announcements came from electric car manufacturers Tesla and General Motors.

While celebrating the findings, the group warns that policy uncertainty—measures such as Ohio’s freeze and possible repeal of its clean energy standards—could put a damper on growth.

“This Labor Day weekend, the story is that more Americans are working because of clean energy,” said E2 executive director Bob Keefe. “But to keep that growth going, we need our state and federal leaders to do their jobs too. We need them to support smart policies that grow our economy and protect our environment— policies like the federal Clean Power Plan.”

That plan, announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in June, cuts carbon from power plants by 30 percent by 2030. That policy could create hundreds of thousands of jobs in renewable energy along the way.

Wind Power Monthly reports a similar optimistic take on worldwide job opportunities in clean energy while issuing a similar caveat in an article “The Challenge of Wind Recruitment.”
In interviews, three wind energy executives pointed to the growing need for skilled workers in their field. In the article, Eddie Halkett, group business development director for energy company EarthStream said that continued growth in wind energy could produce as many as 2.6 million jobs worldwide by 2030.

“The challenge is to establish and preserve a sustainable, international skills market that does not fluctuate and decline as a result of inconsistent investment, political interference and fierce competition from other subsidised energy sources,” he said.

UK Wind Power Beats Coal and Nukes

Anastasia Pantsios  ::  EcoWatch  ::  September 2, 2014 

Wind energy continues to set new records in the UK.

Wind energy is taking its place as the UK’s new powerhouse, overtaking coal and nuclear as one of the most important resources we have to keep Britain’s lights on. Photo credit: Shutterstock

The UK enjoyed a groundbreaking month in August, blowing past coal-fired energy generation on five separate days, according to Renewable UK, a trade group that promotes renewable-friendly policies in the UK. That’s a first. The group reported that wind overtook coal in providing energy to the grid on Aug. 3, 9, 11, 12 and 17 and generated more energy than nuclear power on Aug. 29.

On Aug 11., wind set a record, providing 21 percent of UK electricity, breaking a record of 20 percent set last December. Although some of that surge was attributable to the aftermath of Hurricane Bertha, it broke that record on Aug. 17 when wind provided 22 percent of the country’s electricity needs, demonstrating that wind is an energy sector that’s getting stronger.

“Wind energy is taking its place as the UK’s new powerhouse, overtaking coal and nuclear as one of the most important resources we have to keep Britain’s lights on,” said RenewableUK’s director of external affairs Jennifer Webber. “It continues to surpass its own records, and these figures prove that can happen at any time of year. As we approach autumn and winter, we can expect wind to maintain this strong performance and provide electricity when demand is especially high.”
Renewable UK also reported that overall, wind provided 10 percent of the country’s energy in August, not far behind the record of 13 percent set this past December.

Renewable Energy Provided 99 Percent of New Power Generation in January

Brandon Baker  ::  EcoWatch  ::   February 24, 2014

The new year began with as green a bang as any renewable energy advocate could have hoped for.

Renewable sources provided nearly 100 percent of the new power generation installed in the U.S. in January, according to new data from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

Of the 325 megawatts (MW) of added generation, only 1 MW was qualified as something other than a renewable energy source. In fact, it was listed under the “other” category.

               Table credit: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Solar energy crushed all competitors with 287 MW installed last month. Geothermal steam projects accounted for 30 MW, while wind came in third at 4 MW.

Coal, natural gas, nuclear and oil combined for zero units and zero installed capacity. Last year, natural gas installed more in January than all types of energy did last month.

                  Table credit: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

While solar energy far outpaced its counterparts in January, it will take many similar months for clean energy to chip away at the dominance of natural gas and coal. Those two sources combine for nearly three-quarters of the nation’s total energy capacity.

However, as Think Progress points out, renewables have experienced wildly successful months before. In November 2013, 100 percent of the 394 MW of new capacity added came from renewable sources. The month before that, 99 percent of the 699 MW added were renewable.

March 2013 was a 100-percent solar month with seven units of new capacity totaling 44 MW.

Conversion to biomass intensifies on Prince Edward Island

Following is an English translation of the Radio Canada news piece that was done by Kent South NSG  using Google Translator. We apologize for any translation errors, but the gist of article is the same.  Congratulations to this Cocagne native and his passion to make a difference.

Prince Edward Island is using forest residues to heat its schools and hospitals, and the craze for this source of stable and economic energy is growing.  The heating system of new schools, hospitals and homes are already converted to use biomass. More than a dozen other institutions will follow within two years.  Biomass is the cheapest source of energy. The savings are on average 15% to 20 % compared to fossil fuels. The island government saves $ 120,000 per year in heating costs.

In New Brunswick , the contractor Mathieu LeBlanc is cutting of trees of lower quality to allow more room for trees to live longer and have greater commercial value, such as spruce, maple, white pine. Wood that has no capacity for sawing is being made ​​into paper or chips.

"My logging practices can heat a school for one year with the amount of biomass that is being cut every two weeks ," said Mathieu LeBlanc.

Mathieu LeBlanc cut the wood in New Brunswick , but it is on the Island of Prince Edward Island that transforms and sells chips to produce energy.

The chips are delivered by another Acadian, Dick Arsenault of the Evangeline region.  It was he who developed the boilers that will burn the wood chips for space heating and water heating.

"It's been seven years since I worked on the design and concept. It took a lot of time in the beginning to make them see what I wanted to do.  We have already installed five systems, and has more coming on line, "says Dick Arsenault, ACFOR of Energy.

Dick Arsenault and Mathieu LeBlanc work as a small energy company . They do not sell the chips or the boiler.  It costs the province nothing to convert to biomass.  The government will pay only for the energy that its buildings consume. That is where the concept is revolutionary.

"It costs them nothing . It cost the province nothing to the province. This is our own money. There is no government money in these projects. The only thing we require is a 20-yeR contract to heat the school. It's really appealing for them. It costs them nothing in capital."

-Dick Arsenault, ACFOR Energy

The cost of energy from wood chips is not influenced by international markets as is the case for gas or oil. The cost can fluctuate with the exception of inflation. This provides energy that is more stable.

"Biomass is produced locally, so you do not need to import [ oil ] or natural gas. That is why it is much cheaper.  It is not tied to global markets.  The technology and existing forests to produce wood chips is available locally, so no need to plant.  This is why the cost of biomass is less. "

- Mathieu LeBlanc , entrepreneur

When Mathieu LeBlanc and Dick Arsenault began in 2008,  few people believed in their project. In the midst of economic crisis and forestry, factories closed one after the other. Today the situation has changed.

In Finland, 85% of renewable energy comes from forest biomass.  Mathieu LeBlanc believes that it is quite conceivable achieve the same in Canada. "The Finns converted when they were cut off from [oil] by Russia. Finland has many forests. Yes, it is very conceivable.", he said.

La conversion à la biomasse s'intensifie à l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard

Radio Canada article (French) regarding biomass being used to heat public buildings using sustainable biomass practices.  Too bad this Cocagne NB native had to go to PEI to fulfill his dream while the government of New Brrunswick caters  to the Irving corporate ambitions.  Check out the link for the full story.

http://ici.radio-canada.ca/regions/atlantique/2014/05/05/001-conversion-biomasse-ile-du-prince-edouard.shtml

It’s Official: U.S. Solar Industry Had Record-Shattering Year in 2013

Rhone Resch  ::  EcoWatch  ::   March 5, 2014 

What would Alexandre Edmond Becquerel be thinking now?

In 1839, at the age of just 19, Becquerel built the world’s first photovoltaic panel, later inspiring the imaginations of millions of people worldwide, including legendary scientist Albert Einstein. Still, it took another 115 years before Bell Labs invented the first modern silicon solar cell. 

By comparison, it’s no stretch to say that the solar timeline has rocketed forward at warp speed in recent years.

So while 2013 was a record-breaking year for the U.S. solar industry, 2014 promises to be even better with 30 percent growth being forecast. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock

Continuing its explosive growth, the U.S. solar industry had another record-shattering year in 2013. According to GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association’s (SEIA) Solar Market Insight Year in Review 2013, photovoltaic (PV) installations expanded rapidly last year, increasing 41 percent over 2012 to reach 4,751 megawatts (MW) of new capacity. In addition, 410 MW of concentrating solar power (CSP) came online in 2013. Consumers nationwide benefitted from this growth as the cost to install solar fell throughout the year, ending 15 percent below the record low set at the end of 2012.

When the final 2013 numbers were added up, there were 440,000 operating solar electric systems across the U.S., totaling more than 12,000 MW of PV and 918 MW of CSP.

What does this mean to you? Well today, solar is the fastest-growing source of renewable energy in America, generating enough clean, reliable and affordable electricity to power more than 2.2 million homes—and we’re just beginning to scratch the surface of our industry’s enormous potential. Last year alone, solar created tens of thousands of new American jobs and pumped tens of billions of dollars into the U.S. economy. In fact, more solar has been installed in the U.S. in the last 18 months than in the 30 previous years combined. That’s a remarkable record of achievement.

California continues to lead the U.S. market and installed more than half of all new U.S. solar in 2013. In fact, the Golden State installed more solar last year than the entire United States did in 2011. North Carolina, Massachusetts and Georgia also had major growth years in 2013, installing 663 megawatts (MW)—more than doubling their combined total from the year before. On the whole, the top five states (California, Arizona, North Carolina, Massachusetts and New Jersey) accounted for 81 percent of all U.S. PV installations in 2013.

Here are some of the other highlights of the report:

• The amount of PV installed last year in the U.S. was nearly 15 times greater than the amount installed in 2008.
• Q4 2013 was by far the largest quarter ever for PV installations in the U.S. with 2,106 MW energized, up 60 percent over the next largest quarter (Q4 2012).
• The market value of all PV installations completed in 2013 was $13.7 billion.
• Solar accounted for 29 percent of all new electricity generation capacity in 2013, up from 10 percent in 2012. This made solar the second-largest source of new generating capacity behind natural gas.
• Weighted average PV system prices fell 15 percent in 2013, reaching a new low of $2.59/W in the fourth quarter.
• The new report forecasts 26 percent PV installation growth in 2014, with installations reaching nearly 6 GW. Growth will occur in all segments but will be most rapid in the residential market.
• The U.S. installed 410 MW of concentrating solar (CSP) in 2013, increasing total CSP capacity in the U.S. more than 80 percent.
• And finally, Brightsource’s massive Ivanpah project began operating this year and SolarReserve’s Crescent Dunes project began commissioning.

So while 2013 was a record-breaking year for the U.S. solar industry, 2014 promises to be even better with 30 percent growth being forecast. Part of this unprecedented expansion is due to the fact that the average price of a solar system has dropped by more than 50 percent since 2010, benefitting consumers, businesses, schools and government entities.

Today, 40 years after SEIA was first formed, there are nearly 143,000 Americans employed by the U.S. solar industry at more than 6,100 American companies—with SEIA leading the fight to expand markets, remove market barriers, strengthen the industry and educate Americans about the benefits of solar energy. These efforts have led to the adoption of a wide range of smart public policies, including the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) in Congress and Net Energy Metering (NEM) at the state level.

And to think it all started when a 19-year-old in the 19th century came up with the idea of turning sunlight into electrical energy.

Merci, Monsieur Becquerel.

World’s Largest Solar Thermal Plant Opens For Business

Brandon Baker  ::  EcoWatch  ::   February 14, 2014

It’s official—the world’s largest solar thermal plant has opened for business.

Located in in the Mojave Desert, 40 miles southwest of Las Vegas, near the California-Nevada border, Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System has begun generating power from three units, its proprietors announced Thursday. It will generate 392 megawatts for the California grid—enough to power 140,000 homes in the state.

The project is a joint venture between NRG, Google and BrightSource Energy. The project received a $1.6 billion loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office.

“Cleantech innovations such as Ivanpah are critical to establishing America’s leadership in large-scale, clean-energy technology that will keep our economy globally competitive over the next several decades,” said Tom Doyle, president, NRG Solar. “We see Ivanpah changing the energy landscape by proving that utility-scale solar is not only possible, but incredibly beneficial to both the economy and in how we produce and consume energy.”

The solar energy from two of Ivanpah’s units is being sold to Pacific Gas & Electric under two long-term power purchase agreements, while the other unit sells power to Southern California Edison under a similar contract.

“The completion of this world-class project is a watershed moment for solar thermal energy,” said David Ramm, chairman and CEO of BrightSource Energy. “With all three units now delivering power to our customers’ specifications, BrightSource has demonstrated its solar power technology at scale.”

A solar plant in India could claim the title for the largest solar array in the world some day, but the businesses behind its plan are depending on the World Bank for at least $500 million of its funding.

Could New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island create the same renewable potentials by offering a substantial X-Prize for the first commercially viable, environmentally safe development of tidal power at the Bay of Fundy?

DISTRICT HEATING PLANT IN AUSTRIA

Check out the link District Heating Plant in Austria here and in the Interesting Resources sidebar to see how alternative use of our renewable forest resources could be used to provide home heating and hot water in our communities while providing jobs and economic activity.

Food hubs try to grow local farms

Harvest Public Media  ::  17 July 2013  ::  www.harvestpublicmedia.org

Author:  Sean Powers is a reporter at WILL in Urbana, Ill.

Marty Travis, right, started the Stewards of the Land food hub in 2005. His son Will, left, helps him transport food from local farms to area restaurants. (Sean Powers for Harvest Public Media) 

Restaurants across the country have jumped on the local food bandwagon. They’re trying to source more of their produce from nearby farms, but it's not easy. Enter: Food hubs.

Food hubs are popping up across the country. These food processing and distribution centers make it easier for restaurants, grocery stores and others to buy local food. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that there are more than 220 of them in 40 states plus the District of Columbia.

Food hubs connect producers to consumers. They're not only helping struggling farms, but also bringing in new talent to agriculture.

Donna O’Shaughnessy and her husband, Keith Parrish, are first-generation farmers in rural Chatsworth, Ill., about two hours south of Chicago. They sell dairy and meat, and raise a host of animals, including cows, about 50 red waddle hogs, and a few colorful peacocks.

“Because we’re certified organic, we cannot use any herbicides or pesticides,” she explained. “Peacocks love ticks. They eat lots and lots of ticks.”

O’Shaughnessy was a full-time nurse for many years, while her husband focused on the farm. They ended each year in the red. But business took off about five years ago, with restaurant owners as far away as Chicago putting in order requests.

“For years, we did not think we could ever be self-supportive, totally sustainable – that we would always need my nursing income,” O’Shaughnessy said. “But then when things really started to pick up with, we made that decision I would retire from nursing and ironically, that’s when we started to turn a profit because I was able to do the marketing.”

5 Incubators That Are Shaping the Future of Green Busines

Why not in New Brunswick?     Better than Shale Gas?

Brandon Baker  ::  EocWatch  ::   February 12, 2014

If  you’re a startup housed by a business incubator, odds are you’re in good hands.

The National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) estimates that 87 percent of the firms that have graduated from their member incubators are still in business. The organization also says that those graduates create jobs, revitalize neighborhoods and innovate new technologies at a much faster rate than their counterparts who go it alone.

The benefits to companies and their customers only increase when those incubators espouse sustainable practices or primarily deal with environmentally conscious firms. Whether their tenants create technologies to deploy renewable energy, sell organic foods or engage in any other mode of sustainability, green business incubators provide the working space and infrastructure startups need to grow into the environmentally sound enterprises they likely dream of becoming one day.

Here’s a quick look at five green business incubators around the country.

Green Spaces

Green Spaces New York Office. Photo credit: Green Spaces

Green Spaces houses about 100 firms between its New York City and Denver offices, along with the legacies of dozens who have expanded beyond their walls.

In New York, you’ll find businesses ranging from a.d.o. (Anjelika Dreams Organic), a clothing creator with products in stores in states like Alabama, California, New York, West Virginia and more, to Via, a premium transportation service that provides rides to New Yorkers in WiFi-enabled vans while saving the emissions those individuals’ vehicles would have contributed to the atmosphere.

“The energy at Green Spaces is so inspiring,” Seventh Generation co-founder Jeffrey Hollender said after a visit. “Spend an afternoon with them and you’ll witness how this coworking space is creating real, innovative systems [and] change for our country’s new economy.”

Rutgers EcoComplex

Photo credit: Rutgers University

The Rutgers University EcoComplex is known as New Jersey’s first environmental research and outreach center, but it also houses a few startup companies with their eyes on contributing to a greener planet.

The EcoComplex’s business incubator segment was once home to TerraCycle, which now operates in 20 countries and makes $2o million per year, according to NBIA’s New Jersey chapter. The company moved into the EcoComplex in 2004. Three years later, the company was selling its products in Walmart and Home Depot.

“The incubator saved TerraCycle,” CEO Tom Szaky said. “We were going broke. We had to install our unit to demonstrate how we could produce our product. At the EcoComplex, we had access to the whole Rutgers team.

“We really only started raising money once we were in the EcoComplex, because that gave us great credibility that allowed us to accelerate our business and grow. Without the incubator back then, we never would have made it through.”

The Rutgers facility has been providing resources for green businesses like TerraCycle since 2001.

Green Exchange

Photo credit: Green Exchange

With a 272,000-square-foot, LEED Platinum-certified building in Chicago’s Logan Square area, it’s easy to understand why the incubator deems itself the largest green business community in the U.S.

The facility is home to Climate Cycle, a nonprofit that hosts the annual Ride to Recharge biking event—a Downtown Chicago event that has raised $360,000 since 2009. That money has helped pay for 13 solar panel arrays at 11 schools, along with various sustainability projects at about 40 schools.

Customized organic garden provider We Farm America and the Green Choice Bank—a Certified B Corporation—are among the 21 tenants at the Exchange. Altogether, tenant companies represent about 1,500 workers.

The Green Exchange will serve as an example for the forthcoming Madison Sustainability Commerce Center in Wisconsin.

Project for Innovation, Energy & Sustainability

Photo credit: Project for innovation, Energy and Sustainability (PiES)

This Davidson, N.C. incubator has been the home of startups like Focal Point Energy, Eco-Revolution and more. In addition to office space, the group offers public relations and marketing assistance, as well as networking events like the monthly “Green Drinks.” The facility will also host the Green Idea Factory Competition as part of the North Carolina Science Festival.

PiES is also planning a South Carolina location in the future.

NYC Accelerator for a Clean and Resilient Economy

Photo credit: NYC Accelerator for a Clean and Resilient Economy (NYC ACRE)

Located in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood, NYC ACRE houses 13 tenants with more than 150 employees. The companies raised $32.3 million in investments as of 2013.

The incubator specifically targets clean energy and technology companies, and has drawn praise from the likes of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

“(NY ACRE) shows how local action on climate change can spur private innovation and help cities become a model for environmental sustainability and economic recovery,” he said. 

Tenants include HEVO Power, the company that created a pavement-based wireless charging network for electric vehicles, and solar industry financial advisory firm DG Energy Partners. NYC ACRE’s graduate list features ThinkEco, which is now a $2.5 million company that used the incubator’s guidance to deploy an air conditioner efficiency technology that was used in about 10,000 units across New York City, according to NBIA.

“The incubator’s advice, support, community and services helped ThinkEco establish itself in the market,” ThinkEco founder Jun Shimada said. ”Our mission to reduce energy usage matched up well with ACRE’s mission to develop a low-carbon economy in New York City.”

Why not in New Brunswick?   NB taxpayers pay the tab to educate and train the workers for corporations and businesses.  Our government hands out millions in taxpayer money to existing corporations and businesses in grants and low interest loans.  Instead of only supporting existing corporations and businesses, why not incubate the new sustainable businesses we need to take us into the 21st Century and away from dependance on fossil fuels?

Good news for forest industry is not good news for our forest or communities

Conservation Council of New Brunswick  ::  November 15, 2013

Fredericton – Premier David Alward is promising good news for the forest industry in response to their lobbying efforts for long-term access to timber supply. The Conservation Council encourages the Alward government to consider the long-term health of New Brunswick’s mixedwood forest and our forest dependent communities in the face of pressure to give away more of our public forest to an industry concerned foremost with profit.

“What’s good for the forest industry is not good for our forest and our communities. Timber harvested from public land in New Brunswick reached a record high of 5.4 million cubic metres in 2006/2007 at a time when mill closures across the province were leaving scores of people unemployed and communities devastated. It’s time to write a new story for our forest–one where corporations do not control it, clearcut it and convert it into tree farms, one where our people take care of it, bring it back to health and make a meaningful living from its diverse and bountiful products and services,” says Tracy Glynn, Forest Campaign Director at the Conservation Council.

An all-party legislative committee on wood supply, formed in response to public outcry to industry demands to double the rate of cut in the public forest, made 24 recommendations based on public input it received in 2004. Recommendations included reducing the amount of clearcutting, maintaining natural forest diversity and assigning wood allocations to communities when mills close. The recommendations were largely ignored by every government that has since formed in New Brunswick.

New Brunswick’s forest is a meeting place where the northern boreal forest blends with southern hardwood forests creating remarkable biodiversity and beauty. “There are 32 native tree species found in New Brunswick’s forest but a drive along New Brunswick highways often reveals plantations of pine, spruce or fir that look nothing like an old mixedwood forest,” says Glynn.

Today, New Brunswick no longer has any large intact naturally undisturbed forests outside our parks and we continue to douse our lands with chemicals to stop natural regrowth to grow tree farms: observations that the Conservation Council has researched, mapped and communicated to the public for decades.

Resistance against forest degradation for private accumulation of wealth has and continues to be resisted in New Brunswick. Indigenous peoples have never consented to the clearcutting of forest on lands they never ceded. Workers in Northern New Brunswick woods burned harvesting machines when they first entered the woods in the 1980s. University students rallied against clearcutting the Christmas Mountains in the 1990s. People from Kedgwick in the north to Alma in the south have rallied and gone to markets and shopping malls to collect signatures to petitions against spraying our forests with herbicides.

A 2008 survey of public attitudes on forest management of public lands carried out by researchers at the University of New Brunswick and the Canadian Forest Service for the Department of Natural Resources showed that New Brunswickers felt that protection of water and biodiversity should be priorities over ensuring more wood supply for the industry in forest management. CCNB was ranked high as organizations most trusted to have a say in forest management.

“Many people in our forest-dependent communities made a living in the woods for over a century but few do so today with the closure of mills and woodlot owners unable to compete with the cheap wood that J.D. Irving harvests from our public forest. We have people across this province asking for support for community forest initiatives. It’s time that the government support those efforts,” said Glynn.

Tracy Glynn, Forest Campaign Director, Conservation Council, 458-8747, forest@conservationcouncil.ca

Is Our Forest Really Ours?