[CoolCommunities] January Cool News

Wed Jan 14 11:37:44 PST 2009

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Cool News
January 2009
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Send Us Your News!
Share your successes with other Cool Teams

If you have an event, a program you want to share, or just an update on your campaign
please send us your news and we will include it in the next Cool Newsletter.

Send articles to maine.chapter at sierraclub.org [mailto:maine.chapter at sierraclub.org]

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Dates to Remember
January 15
Tour of Saco's Energy Efficiency Initiatives

View the geothermal heating and cooling system, the EW 15 wind turbine and other
 energy efficiency steps Saco has taken.
Saco Transportation Center
9:30 am
January 17 + 18
Maine Solar Energy Association Workshop

Learn how to build a 60w PV module
FMI: 733-1095 or seads at maineline.net [mailto:seads at maineline.net]
January 29
Legislative Breakfast

Come and meet your legislator at the Environmental Priorities Gathering. Followed
by a press conference.

8:00 - 9:30 am
Cross Cafe
Maine State Office Building, Augusta
January 29
"The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil"
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba's economy went into a tailspin. With
imports of oil cut by more than half and food by 80 percent, people were desperate.
This film tells of the hardships and struggles as well as the community and creativity
of the Cuban people during this difficult time. Cubans share how they transitioned
from a highly mechanized, industrial agricultural system to one using organic methods
of farming and local urban gardens.
"Everyone who is concerned about Peak Oil needs to see this film" - Richard Heinberg,
author of The Party's Over, Powerdown, and The Oil Depletion Protocol
Orono Council Chamber
59 Main Street, Orono
7:00 pm

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Energy Efficiency Tip
>From  LocalCooling.com

More than 30 billion kilowatt-hours of energy is wasted because many of us simply
forget to shut down our computers when we're not using them. If we could just improve
the efficiency of how we use our PCs, the savings in energy costs would be over 
$3 billion dollars! The CO2 emissions from just 15 computers are equivalent in energy
terms to the gas consumption used by one car.
Find Out more:
http://www.localcooling.com/ [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001drO4j9y1b7VBTlCXqjoDWBPS6GEN2knt5oil1rG73FiRtpJ8oyyr7Myl08raUCIGRYCoSS-VK83dzbFJYGNSEnUhAnaqkBuvABlEPJCaH32yu9w4Z2Bw7g==]
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Happy New Year Cool Teams!
All of us at Maine Partners for Cool Communities (MPCC) and the Sierra Club  hope
that you will make a resolution to make a special attempt to engage your neighbors
in dialogue about global warming and energy efficiency. Inspire them to become involved
in their neighborhoods and reach out to others to identify areas where they can 
become more energy efficient.
MPCC will soon be sending a survey to all Cool Teams in a effort to serve you better
and continue to share information and ideas, and we encourage you all to send us
 information for this newsletter.  To receive the newsletter or to send information
contact maine.chapter at sierraclub.org [mailto:maine.chapter at sierraclub.org].
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USM Muskie School Project Surveys Energy Efficiency
"What are the barriers and benefits of Maine municipalities making climate change
and energy efficiency a priority?" is a Masters Degree project that former Physicians
for Social Responsibility Executive Director, Melissa Boyd, is developing. Building
on her work with the Cool Communities Campaign, she will survey 20% of the 492 municipalities
in Maine based on diverse geographic areas and similar characteristics such as population
size. Some of these municipalities will be Cool Communities and others will not.
The survey questions will relate to global warming and energy efficiency benefits
and barriers. Following the results of the survey, she will organize the data along
themes and patterns. She will then contact 20 municipalities, some who are currently
doing energy efficiency work and some who are not, and conduct interviews of municipal
leaders in these 20 areas. The results will be informative and helpful for new and
older Cool Communities and for future guidance.
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Cool Funding - Deadline Change
Due to the current financial situation, New England Grassroots Environmental Fund
(NEGEF) is merging the winter and spring application deadlines for its Small Grant
Program for 2009.

The new deadline for New England Small Grants is May 1st, 2009 with funds available
in July 2009.
Please contact the NEGEF staff if you have any questions.
(802) 223-4622
www.grassrootsfund.org [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001drO4j9y1b7UIgV0zyjn38u_Qo0s8umM8mVe6K-QQ6SOd0QF9UFoZbeqvaiaXMtkp3-l9F5vloWrxHXGY6pYIwLoqG2ViQJuO7oz6UCsUS_tn7fCgMBKNwOL9fCcFsuxF]
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Kittery Wind Turbine Producing Power

The wind turbine located at the Kittery Solid Waste Transfer Station began producing
power on October 2, 2008. The turbine had produced 1,715 kilowatt hours of electricity
by the end of December and with stronger winter winds, significantly more is expected
in the next few months.
It has been estimated that the turbine should produce approximately 80,000 kilowatt-hours
of electricity per year, which, at the current cost of electricity (10 cents per
 kilowatt hour), translates to $8,000 per year in savings.
The wind turbine produces enough electricity to power the transfer station and about
one-quarter of the electricity used at Shapleigh Middle School.
The wind turbine in Kittery is one of at least four in southern Maine. Appledore
 Island has a seven kilowatt system, powering air quality monitoring equipment and
Saco has installed two systems similar to Kittery's.
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Carbon Reduction Through New Innovative Cement Product
Five percent of the world's annual CO2 emissions come from cement use.  According
to a recent Guardian article, a new environmentally friendly formula for making 
cement could reduce the emissions considerably.

Nikolaos Vlasopoulos is the chief scientist at London-based Novacem, who invented
the product. Novacem's invention has garnered support and funding from industry 
and environmentalists. The new cement is based on magnesium silicates, a different
material than traditional cement. Not only does it requires much less heating than
traditional cement, but it also absorbs large amounts of CO2 as it hardens, making
it carbon negative.

The full article can be read at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/31/cement-carbon-emissions
[http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001drO4j9y1b7X2au_MzaEtTSPn92pupeGRUmW1rsvv9bf5cfdVdR5wnCylZaV4iYLF9qqMVp3kY5Fas_L1SK_fO4Nm2qzBIOhBAry71Cx6HXVR6YZca2SgpEA_rBxg-Lp-lMBshffQcbPivvy3r43GANVro2BIsFSU8aOscfJLrdbi0tsy9Cd3m2YJ61m4_ayY]
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Follow the Legislature
Keep in contact with Augusta during this critical legislative session. You can get
 up to date schedules on committee hearings and listen on line to those hearings.
Committee clerks will send out a weekly schedule for your convenience. Email them
to request you be added to the list.

Maine State Legislature http://janus.state.me.us/legis/ [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001drO4j9y1b7WSUnPjoRjt3UqCtOctKyMai4pZCPJ7-eBBDrbnF0k20aFmOfMB8NADjsYTak0avx4g35MRTwZALbCky_VzcciTZ4ckBs3Uponcp0NpJLnR5u7RMNPd4ZZj]
State Senate - http://www.maine.gov/legis/senate/ [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001drO4j9y1b7Xjz0-KPdm60Ut5GwB4VVaGl76uaKoQlp-VlzmN5-37wxmfVoQklPR-ZfnQKvFNgfYmthcbF9KXfaHsTeFjiieICBcV-1n61p5j-q5d0hwXxHHoL14u8Evk0Sq2rDPEyDE=]
State House - http://www.maine.gov/legis/house/ [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001drO4j9y1b7XvqyIeH-gjClBIYjqVWzuCcD5aqRhpM2xbHGVq0e7-DGcKQozaOlieVkXilQbhnE97OgQoH4lJ791mC9ma3jM7aexOy1AdPKGvGshVyXjih3TcDOwPjL9E]
On-line audio
http://www.maine.gov/legis/audio/cmte_directory.htm [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001drO4j9y1b7XKAifeAf6Xs3pP_LYNrHt9w_WPajWVlSRGE6iHpqRBEtgiVqPhRDnq5Ha2_PZXcWOeI7aIQ5pRV14FPwIqK2wE8SIpKaUwf5_lE9arD69uSXekSD4kTKaoXIFEs9zCLFZQsIonwBt9RNZPRxovvcgB]
Committee Clerks:
Natural Resources
Veronica.Snow at legislature.maine.gov [mailto:Veronica.Snow at legislature.maine.gov]

Transportation
Kathie.Bilodeau at legislature.maine.gov [mailto:Kathie.Bilodeau at legislature.maine.gov]

Utilities
Kristen.Gottlieb at legislature.maine.gov [mailto:Kristen.Gottlieb at legislature.maine.gov]
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Consumer Electronics
With the growing improvement in consumer electronics technology comes the potential
for increased residential electrical load. A Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)
study found that consumer electronics were 18 percent of the residential load in
 2005 but expected to see an increase of 57 percent by 2010. They found an average
home in 2005 could have as many as 30 or more chargers for things like mobile phones
and MP3 players.
Consumers can look for Energy Star qualified consumer electronics and review TopTen
USA [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001drO4j9y1b7XS0UvrtGcJIGSPdfs1moox1-RUGrQAq8LR5CNICEquyR9Yxxy8hoqRQ7NdPYjAE6YM7Pmzm7vO0N39ymoTv8POwRZyS2CQv7jwTGgg2ze5lV2IwK-vtvqbFnDuAM2Jv98=]
to search for the most efficient technologies and become aware of opportunities 
to unplug computers and other appliances when not it use to minimize phantom load.

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