Read More - American Council On Renewable Energy

We can and will [solve the climate crisis]and it begins in our cities.– Jerome Ringo, President, Apollo AllianceJerome Ringo cited the failure of local and nationalleadership to raise awareness about energy issues. Howto increase popular awareness of the importance of cleanenergy and energy efficiency is one of the biggest challengesAmerica faces.The damaging effects of global warming are often feltmost by the poorest communities, whose voices in theenvironmental movement are rarely heard. The UnitedStates has the opportunity to engage low income communitiesby training people from all walks of life for jobsbettering their environment.The poor are deeply affected by negativeenvironmental factors, and have significantlyless power to combat these changes.The poor are more occupied with daily life and theirimmediate future than wealthier Americans. They haveless money to invest in alternative energy, and mustspend 50% of their disposable income on fossil fuelgeneratedenergy. A disproportionate number ofimpoverished students are affected by infrastructureinefficiency and degradation at their schools and homes,as there are drastically more health issues—like a higherpercentage of children with asthma, or dangerous levelsof lead in children’s bloodstreams—in older anddilapidated buildings.The stimulus bill presents an once-in-a-lifetimeopportunity for energy and the environment tobe placed in the forefront of the Americaneducation system.Now that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of2009 has been passed and signed into law, there is aunique chance for educators and administrators to settheir agendas, curricula, and plans around renewableenergy and energy efficiency. This is the time for schoolsto create holistic and grand strategies to greatly reducetheir carbon footprints and greenhouse gas emissions.Teachers need to be well-versed and confidentin leading environmental education lessons, andneed to exude a green lifestyle themselves.The administrators of a green school should look toemploy teachers of all subjects who have studied or havea background in environmental science, sustainability, orgreen design. The school can provide training for teachersin specific “green” areas, or in particular lessons thatthey may not be familiar with. Teachers andadministrators should also understand the green featuresof their school.Green BuildingsBuildings should look to other forms of energygeneration, such as distributed generation andon-site generation from renewable sources.Agreen building can greatly decrease itsenergy usage from fossil fuels with theadoption of energy generation from solar, wind,or geothermal resources on site. By havingdistributed combined-heat-and-powergeneration systems installed, buildings cangreatly increase their efficiency.There are real barriers to entering the greenbuildings arena, so the process to receive siting,zoning, and planning permits needs to be madeeasier.The federal government has a real obligation to facilitatethe requests of, and issuing of permits on green buildingprojects. There are real challenges that have to be facedin the process of installing new energy generationsystems, including net metering limitations, third-partyownership of renewable energy generation equipment,and interconnection fees to the electric grid.The planners and designers of a green school,or any green building, should know their assetsand try to utilize their natural resources.In the case of the University of Minnesota-Morris, therewas huge wind potential in the western part of the stateas well as agricultural waste that the school began buyingand using in a biomass gasification generator. Theuniversity also put up a large, 1.65 MW wind turbine andis about to begin construction on another turbine ofsimilar size. Minnesota-Morris was able to utilize theirlocal resources to maximize the amount of renewableenergy on their campus.American Council On Renewable EnergyExecutive Summary Report 28