Currently undergoing a $550 million renovation to transform the building into a more energy efficient and eco-friendly structure, the Empire State Building has just become the largest commercial purchaser of 100% renewable energy. This month it signed a contract with Green Mountain Energy Company to purchase nearly 55 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of renewable energy annually.

This is more than double the amount of renewable power purchased by any other commercial customer in New York City! Once again the Empire State “Lady” stands head and shoulders above her peers.

The renewable energy to supply the Empire State Building will be purchased as wind Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) from Green Mountain’s parent company, NRG Energy. Purchasing RECs supports renewable energy directly when it cannot be purchased directly from a producer.

By purchasing RECs in the same quantity of electricity consumed by the Empire State Building the amount of energy used by the building is added to the U.S. power grid directly from renewable sources. This ensures support for the further development of renewable energy projects. Purchasing RECs is a great way to “go green” when green energy supplies can’t come directly to you.

Named by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, the Empire State Building is well on the way to becoming a Big Green Beacon on the renewables scene.
To read more, click here. To take a tour of the Empire State Building, click here.

In an early September post on my website – Wind Power Greed - I painted an ugly picture of wind energy lust. Some wind farm developers in upstate New York were bribing local officials to get permission to build wind towers, colluding among developers to avoid competitive wind option leases, and shutting down discussion in local town meetings looking for the quickest way possible to acquire enough land to make their wind farms a reality.

Thanks to the concerted efforts of a number of good folks and solid investigation by the NY Attorney General, New York State now has a Wind Power Code of Ethics that spells out quite clearly what must, and must not occur as developers and towns bring wind energy to the state.

Although subscription to the code is not mandatory, the code itself and the Task Force created to monitor wind development in the state, will ensure that towns and wind developers both keep an eye on how they do business.

In brief, the Code covers conflicts of interest by banning wind companies from:

• offering municipal officers bribes, gifts, compensation for services, contingent compensation, honoraria, or payment of legal fees and
• soliciting from municipal officers restrictions on easements/leases, or confidential information.

 The Code further spells out specific public disclosure publication requirements covering any and all financial interests of municipal officers in the project/company and all easements and leases.

The wind development company must provide specific education and training to its own employees and local municipal officers on how they need to conduct business within the Code of Ethics.

Click here to download a copy of the NY Wind Power Code of Ethics.

Or read it on line at the Wind Power Law Blog

Click here to go directly to the Code on their site.

In Texas alone the wind energy related job future looks excellent. For information on the employment potential, salary potential, and job location opportunities, in just Texas Click here . Now look into the job opportunities in the wind industry in your state. Check the job hunt websites and look into those renewable energy categories.

Are you ready to get that job in wind technology? How about solar? Biodiesel? Geothermal?

Sure, I can already hear you saying, “I’m too old to retrain.  I’ve spent my whole life working as a ________ (fill in the blank) and I just don’t know much about this new energy stuff.” 

Hold on …. what makes you think that your many years experience as a machinist, electrician, tool and die technician, brick layer, rebar and cement person, ditch digger, assembler, lineman (or woman), truck driver, tech manager, etc., etc., has nothing to do with the job needs in the new energy fields?

Have you checked out the job descriptions in the new energy sectors? With a couple of community college courses can you fit the new job need? Have you taken a good inventory of what you know, what you don’t know, and what employeers are looking for? Would your new employer build on your experience and help pay to retrain you to fill his/her empty job needs?

Check your community college program list. If your regional school does not yet have a wind energy, solar, biodiesel or other renewable energy program being developed, ask them why not. Don’t be shy!

For information wind energy education programs by state, Wind Powering America has an excellent, interactive map of the US showing which states are currently offering higher education or continuing education in Wind Energy. You can click on the map to activate it and then click on a state to read more about the programs being offered there.

Click here to check out the wind energy education map.

If you think for a moment of all the other segments of this new energy “revolution” and all the potential jobs that are being created as we embrace renewable energy in the US, especially under the incoming administration …. The future – your future – is bright.

The current economic downturn might just be the kick in the pants for many of us to learn new skills for the economic boom ahead.

As Tom Friedman suggests in Hot, Flat and Crowded – the new industrial revolution is without a doubt in new energy technology. We can embrace this new “revolution” or be left behind.

To read my blog post on Tom Friedman, the new industrial revolution and your part in it, and to go see the Friedman interview video, click here.

Community colleges are mandated to prepare their students for real jobs in their local regions. As you might expect then, the early bird programs in wind technology related education are sprouting up at the community college level. For example:

Mesalands Community College in Tucumcari New Mexico offers Certificate and Degree programs in Wind Energy Technology. Providing instruction in wind turbine technology, turbine maintenance, tower safety, and wind economics. Students in both their one and two year programs “will be prepared for rewarding and profitable careers in this growing field.”

Oklahoma State University’s Oklahoma City campus will offer the state’s first wind turbine technology degree program starting January ’09. Their 2-year associates’ degree will focus on training technicians for jobs in both utility-scale and facilities-scale environments. The program will include classes in electrical, mechanical and hydraulic malfunctions, scheduled maintenance and general service. Training could also include securing site leases, wiring the turbine network to the power grid and designing a wind farm. The wind technician degree program was created because the wind industry is becoming an increasingly important factor in Oklahoma’s economy.

Iowa Lakes Community College – Alliant Energy is collaborating with Iowa Lakes Community College (ILCC) to develop the curriculum for their Wind Energy and Turbine Technology Program, the first in the state of Iowa. The one year diploma program prepares students for entry-level positions in the wind industry, focusing on construction, maintenance, and operation of wind turbines. The two-year Associate in Applied Science degree prepares students to install, maintain and service modern wind turbines. Graduates will qualify for entry-level positions and also have the skills and education background to become a wind turbine operator and potentially a supervisor. Both programs prepare students to support Iowa’s growing wind infrastructure as companies rush to build renewable energy generation.

Lake Shore Technical College, on Lake Michigan in Wisconsin is offering a two-year Associates Applied Science Degree program in Wind Energy Technology. The program prepares students for increasing job opportunities in both the US and Canada wind energy industry. Upon completion of the program students will be ready to function as a: Wind Turbine Technician/Mechanic/Tower Climber; Installation Technician; Operation and Maintenance Technician; and Wind Farm Maintenance Manager.

Oregon Institute of Technology announced in March, 2008 the development of the country’s first four-year undergraduate degree program in renewable-energy systems. Although this program includes other renewable energy systems besides wind, the trend is obvious. Renewable energy – wind, solar, geothermal, etc., – are leading the way to economic recovery for the US.

Job search web site openings include wind turbine engineers, turbine technologists and wind technicians. And, the list of wind-related job types and job skills descriptions is definitely growing daily.

If you’ve just been laid off, or downsized or whatever other name losing your job is called these days…. go directly to your local community college and start preparing for a new job in wind technology or any other renewable energy-related field.

The more you know about wind energy technology, the more you will be prepared to either help promote a community with project or bring home the bacon and put it on the family table.

The old jobs are probably not coming back.

Global warming is not a myth. And despite some politician’s attempt to “say it ain’t so,” climate change really is man-made. Thousands of concerned observers around the world already agree that solar, wind, geothermal, ocean wave, and every other form of renewable, non-polluting energy will be the only forms with which Spaceship Earth – and all animal life (including us humans) will be able to survive.

Elsewhere on this website I point blog readers to Tom Friedman’s latest book – Hot, Flat and Crowded. In it he says that the US can re-establish its world economic leadership by creating technologies to make the Earth livable for man. As he sees it, new energy technology IS the “next great industrial revolution.”

And so back to the tanking US economy.

The US is in deep economic trouble right now, today. But instead of continuing to bail out the very organizations that got us into this dark and dismal economic crater, we need to invest our hard earned tax dollars into the new economic revolution that is already underway.

We need to step up to the front of the nation line and take responsibility for pushing the renewable energy revolution forward.

We need to refocus our educational mission. By developing green tech job training, green job skills development, and new energy education, we can re-establish the US as a world leader in innovative technology once again.

The need is out there. The opportunity is now. We can spend our efforts trying to preserve what won’t come back, or we can once again become a world leader in innovation, technology and education. Don’t believe we are on the cusp of a brand new economy?

The following clip from the Mesalands Community College in Tucumcari New Mexico…. pretty much says it all.

Certificate and Degree Programs

The high demand for wind turbines is creating a shortage of trained and qualified wind energy technicians who provide maintenance on the turbines. NAWRTC at Mesalands Community College provides instruction in wind turbine technology, turbine maintenance, tower safety, and wind economics. Completion of first-year courses will result in an Applied Science Certificate in Wind Energy Technology. Completion of the two-year program will result in an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Wind Energy Technology. Students in these programs will be prepared for rewarding and profitable careers in this growing field.

Click here to read more about the Mesalands future focused program.

Maryland’s Legacy Hotel and Meeting Centre is the first hotel in Montgomery County, to be powered by 100% wind energy. Working closely with Clean Currents, LLC of Rockville, MD and the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Legacy is quickly bringing its carbon footprint to zero through a combination of Renewable Energy Credits and programs and services for going Green.

Clean Currents, LLC is helping the Legacy get on board with Green Your Stay agendas. The hotel is converting its cleaning products and detergents to more organic, biodegradable solutions and installing recycling baskets in each of the 160 plus guest rooms. That’s consistent with the Green Your Stay ideas. But wait, there’s more.

The Legacy Hotel has developed its own Turn On™ service. Through this innovative new service, at the hotel guest’s request guest room energy is turned off during the guest’s absence and turned back on thirty minutes prior to their return.

Guests can also purchase an eco-friendly t-shirt with the hotel’s environmental campaign slogan “I Got Turned On At The Legacy!” and the proceeds from sale of the t-shirt contribute to Renewable Energy Credits through Clean Currents’ REC program.

Clean Currents, LLC the Green Your Stay and wind power helper in the Legacy’s program, is a Rockville, Maryland-based clean energy broker/aggregator operating in Maryland, DC, Chicago, and Texas. They are committed to promoting solutions to global warming and air pollution. And they provide wind power advocates several routes to supporting wind power projects.

With an impressive list of businesses that have taken the Go Green challenge, their Chesapeake Green program for MD and DC residents, and a growing list of news items on their website this company is already making an impact on the Chesapeake region.

As for the Legacy Hotel’s commitment to wind power and zero environmental impact, Eric Siegel, Executive Vice President of Cohen Companies, the owner group of the Hotel states. “We are proud of our commitment to both traditional hospitality and contemporary environmental responsibility. We are introducing our 100% recycling policy and hope that our guests will join our efforts to greening their stay.”

For more on the Legacy Hotel story click here

And with thanks to the folks at Green Living Ideas, here are some ideas for you personally to help green your next stay away from home.
 

• Turn off the AC, heat, lights, TV, and radio when leaving the room.
• Use the hotel van instead of renting a car, or even better, use public transportation if you’re staying in an area that provides it.
• Take short showers and don’t request fresh towels and sheets each day.
• Participate in hotel recycling programs if the hotel offers one.
• If you have the option to check out electronically through the hotel TV, take advantage of this paperless system.
• Request that mini bottles of shampoo and soap not be replaced until they are empty. Some hotels even replace the soap every day with a new bar.
• If the hotel provides complimentary newspapers, pass yours on to someone else when you are finished or see if it can be recycled.
• Take advantage of hotel guest comment cards to suggest more energy efficient light bulbs, recycling programs, and an increase in energy efficient appliances such as toilets or mini bars.

Patterson manages energy leases on state lands and waters for the State of Texas. In way more than just Big Talk, he views Texas as the real Big Kahuna of Wind Power and tells ‘why’ for a number of really Big Reasons:

• Unlike the Cape Wind hoo-hah in Massachusetts, Texans do not say they favor green power, and then jump up and down yelling NIMBY when it comes. Texans are realists; they know we are going to run out of oil and natural gas.
• Texas has a lot of open space to build wind power. And, unlike California, Texas is not overly regulated.
• Texas has an energy history in exploration, production, leases, and mineral estate laws; apply this experience to wind power development and Texas is way ahead of many other places in the US.

Like most things in Texas, the potential for offshore wind production in the state really is HUGE.

• The Texas Gulf Coast is huge, over 21,000 square miles
• The offshore jurisdiction of the state is BIG compared to most other coastal states. They have offshore jurisdiction of 3 nautical miles. The Texas jurisdiction is 9 nautical miles – 10.3 statute miles.
• Wind projects in the Gulf off Texas are governed by the state and not the federal government; right of way issues go directly through the state.
• Texas has a 60-year experience building offshore oil and gas rigs just ripe and ready for building offshore wind platforms.
• Offshore wind generators will be only 10 miles from the nearest transmission grid; this is not the same for many onshore wind locations.

The July issue Fast Company interview with humorous Patterson will make you laugh out loud.

As this Texas wind power cheerleader claimed to interviewer Kermit Pattison, “I got a little skirt, a little sweater that says W.” — reading this interview you can almost believe that he does.

Click here to read the full interview with Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson in Fast Company on line.

Rock Port’s Loess Hills Wind Farm was built by the Wind Capital Group, and employed 500 workers from 20 states for about a year. Its four 1.25 MW wind turbines will generate 16 gigawatt hours (16 million kilowatt hours) of electricity annually. Since Rock Port’s energy needs are quite a bit less than that, the excess power will be purchased by Missouri Public Utility Alliance, the local electric company.

Rock Port, Missouri, is about half-way between St. Joseph, Missouri and Omaha, Nebraska. Located in rolling agricultural country, the city is home to some 1,400 residents. “Small town” you might say, no wonder they got together to get the place 100% wind powered. If that were the case then, why are there not hundreds of RockPorts 100% powered by wind all over the United States?

What makes Rock Port special? To be honest, several factors made this smaller scale project possible. The city has a bluff within the city limits with good resources, John Deere’s Wind Energy is financing the project, and Rock Port is not that far from the power grid. But if it weren’t for Eric Chamberlain – one person with an idea and the drive to make it happen – Rock Port would likely still be just another sleepy “show me” town.

Click here for Rock Port’s project announcement.

Click here for the Rock Port city website.

One of the best comparisons I’ve seen between the Goliaths of wind generation and us Davids is an excellent presentation that Tom Wind gave in Kansas in March 2008. Tom is a community wind activist working out of Jefferson Iowa. He is an engineer experienced in the utility business sector and has been involved in a number of projects where towns/farms/businesses have installed single turbines or small clusters of turbines on distribution lines.

In Getting Community Wind Off the Ground Tom first compares Corporate-owned and Community-owned wind projects, then drills down on Community Wind Project specifics:

• Describing some example projects
• Identifying key issues
• Laying out the development steps for various types of projects
• Identifying the policies needed to make Community Wind possible

He provides good information that will help you identify the project with the greatest interest and potential for success (Step One in the Seventeen Steps to Success):

• Wind turbines for farms make economic sense for small to medium sized farms when net metering is available, but are generally not favorable for very large agricultural operations.
• Wind turbines are attractive for family owned businesses where longer pay-back periods are acceptable but may not be attractive to large businesses where short pay-back periods on capital investments are expected.
• A single person or small group who pushes the project and doesn’t give up can make your school or college project successful.

And Tom suggests “currencies” that can attract potential stakeholders:

Farmer-owned wind farms: Make a case for a good economic return to attract the equity partner and to justify the farmer’s out-of-pocket development costs.

Although Tom doesn’t mention these all in his presentation, there are definitely specific issues for Community Wind Projects that do not affect Corporate Wind Projects:

• Problem: Big Corps are snapping up new turbines before they even hit the market leaving us little guys on a 2-year wait list; unless you order 50 or more turbines you may not even get turbine producers’ attention.
• Possible Solutions: Find reasonable used/refurbished turbines; find a non-US manufacturer who will sell smaller numbers of turbines; nose around in the wind business news to find turbines that were committed to other projects that are now not needed.
• Problem: Single turbine projects cost more money. Well yes, that IS true.
• Possible Solution: Reasonable cost savings can come from getting a used/refurbished turbine instead of a new one.

There are many economic factors involved in any wind project. Some are positive, some are negative. Your job is to do your homework. Find every possible plus factor that relates to your project. Research into every possible negative factor and see if/how it can be mitigated.

If you are interested in Community Wind Projects Tom Wind suggests that you work with/support your local, state and federal wind advocacy groups to get wind power policies in place that support us “little guys” – valuable things come in small packages…

 ….and community wind projects keep those crucial energy dollars so much closer to home.

As a final thought, Tom notes that a key factor in the success of every Community Wind Project is a determined local champion who does not give up easily. (That would be YOU!)

“If someone is going to be making money off my land, it should be me–not some power company, and especially not an Australian or Spanish company,” adds Tom Arends a Minwind member and a semi-retired grain and hog farmer.

“We must find ways to keep more of these wind-energy dollars within our state and within the Midwest–and we need to collaborate to make it happen,” says Willers. And collaborate they did!

Most other wind farms in the U. S. are owned by private power companies. Minwind Energy is owned by the 300 farmers and community members who came together to develop this wind farm.

The Minwind Energy story is less about gathering allies to support an agenda than it is a case study of the power of a commited community, although as I dig deeper I am sure I will find a lot more about how that community actually came together. If you are doing your homework on whether to own a turbine or to lease your land for someone else’s turbine, you really should read the rest of this story.

There was virtually no opposition to the Minwind project. “That is the beauty of a community project. When neighbors all own part of it and will get a return from it, it really makes a difference,” says Willers.