An extension of the production and investment tax credits for solar energy were approved by Congress as part of the $700 billion bail-out package for the financial industry.

The House of Representatives passed Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 by a vote of 263 to 171, and less than two hours later, President George W. Bush signed it into law. The Senate passed it on Wednesday.

The tax credit package will extend the renewable energy production tax credit for one year and the investment tax credit for eight years. The extensions will be partly paid for by a change in the tax code for the oil and gas industry.

The one year production tax credit extension also applies to other energy sources such as geothermal; closed-loop biomass; hydropower; landfill gas; and trash combustion facilities.

It also creates a tax credit for a new energy production category – marine renewable - which is energy derived from waves, tides, and currents.

The bill creates a new limitation on the amount of credits that can be claimed with respect to property placed in service after 2009.

The measure increases the tax credit limitation for fuel cells from $500 to $1,500 per half kilowatt of capacity.

The bill provides tax credits for advanced coal electricity projects with highest priority given to projects with the greatest separation and sequestration percentage of total carbon dioxide emissions at a cost of $1.4 billion over 10 years.

The $2,000 monetary cap for residential solar electric installations is eliminated and so is the prohibition on utilities from benefiting from the credit.

It also authorizes $800 million for clean energy bonds for renewable energy generating facilities, including solar.

Phoenix zoning ordinances allow chickens so long as the size of your residential lot is 10,000 square feet or more.  That leaves most of us out.  Things in Albuquerque look much better for those inclined to raise chickens.

Accoring to “a href=”http://media.www.dailylobo.com/media/storage/paper344/news/2008/09/30/News/Student.City.WellSuited.For.Urban.Chickens-3460097.shtml”>this article</a>, Albuquerque City Ordinances allow up to 15 chickens and one rooster in a household.

“We definitely have more than most cities, but New York City doesn’t have a regulation on the number; you can keep as many as you want,” said UNM graduate student KT LaBadie, who started the Urban Chickens project in Albuquerque in 2007.

<A href=”http://media.www.dailylobo.com/media/storage/paper344/news/2008/09/30/News/Student.City.WellSuited.For.Urban.Chickens-3460097.shtml”>Click Here</a> to read more.

The latest item of interest to thieves? Solar Panels. Thanks right: solar panels.

ECOtality Life brings us this report that police in California are seeing a massive increase in stolen panels from around the more than 33,000 installations in the state..

Engrave your driver’s license number on your panels.

Click Here to read the article.

Thanks to EcoRenovator.org for pointing us to this list from consumer reports:

25 Ways to Save Money at Home

Schwinn and Toshiba have teamed up to produce a bicycle that could revolutionize the electric bicycle market.

Schwinn has incorporated Toshiba’s new Super Charge ion Battery (SCiB) technology into the Schwinn Tailwind, a brand new electric bike it formally unveiled yesterday in Las Vegas at the Interbike International Bicycle Expo.

Click Here to read the entire article on Alternative Consumer.

Click Here to go to Schwinn’s electric bicycle website.

Rhode Island has granted a New Jersey-based renewable energy firm the right to develop a wind farm in Narragansett Bay that would generate 15 percent of the state’s electricity needs in the coming decade, officials said.

Click Here to read the article

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Agritopia a unique subdivision in Gilbert Arizona.

In this vdeo, my friend Jay Thompson - AKA The Phoenix Real Estate Guy - brings us some video of the houses in Agritopia:

Click Here to read the entire post on Jay’s blog.

Do you remember last week when I wrote about Will Allen, the former NBA player who started a community urban farm in Chicago?

He will now have an extra $500,000 to help his efforts.

The MacArthur Foundation announced yesterday that they will honor his work with one of their 25 annual ‘genius’ grants–a five-year grant that the recipient can use as he or she chooses. Mr. Allen joins a group of artists, physicians and scientists recognized for their unique contributions to improve society. This may be the first time that an urban farmer has been given such a coveted award.

Click Here to read more.

Welcome to Freshly Green!

Your hosts, Greg Peterson and Amy Godfrey, are here to bring you a fun approach to living green! Sit back and listen, and learn about what “living green” means to them, plus some easy tips for conserving that everyone can follow, because living green doesn’t mean living without.

Try GoToMyPc.com! free for 30 days!

This week, Greg and Amy talk with Deborah Thum of The Zen of Beauty Transformations in Scottsdale. They take a holistic approach to health and wellness, and make use of organic products in providing their services. The chat ranges from using organic essential oils for aromatherapy, to homeopathic remedies, skin care options and more.

Your internal environment can need just as much attention as the external environment does.

Link: The Zen of Beauty Transformations
Link: Fresh Start Women’s Foundation
Link: Your Guide to Green

 

 Freshly Green #37: Organic Health and Beauty Care [22:02m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (3779)

Have you noticed that there are a lot more bicycles on the road these days? With the price of gas, it’s no wonder. Most drivers - myself included - are not tuned in to looking for cyclists and anticipating their moves.

Sustainablog has a great article this week about sharing the road with cyclists:

Click Here to read it.

Benjamin Jones, author of the EcoModder blog has created a new blog focused on home improvements for improving your home’s energy consumption. Check It Out.

Eco Renovator

If you have time to read just one story today, this is it:

A Growing Movement: Urban Farming In Chicago

It started with the vision of Will Allen, a former NBA player: a comprehensive, non-profit agricultural complex complete with greenhouses, composts, outdoor pens for livestock, and a small retail store. He also implemented an urban farming training program that teaches schools, government agencies, and community members how to operate and sustain farms themselves.

Click Here to read the article

Farm Fountain is a system for growing edible and ornamental fish and plants in a constructed, indoor ecosystem. Based on the concept of aquaponics, this hanging garden fountain uses a simple pond pump, along with gravity to flow the nutrients from fish waste through the plant roots. The plants and bacteria in the system serve to cleanse and purify the water for the fish.

This project is an experiment in local, sustainable agriculture and recycling. It utilizes 2-liter plastic soda bottles as planters and continuously recycles the water in the system to create a symbiotic relationship between edible plants, fish and humans.

Click Here to read more

Courtesy of City Farmer News

Welcome to Freshly Green!

Your hosts, Greg Peterson and Amy Godfrey, are here to bring you a fun approach to living green! Sit back and listen, and learn about what “living green” means to them, plus some easy tips for conserving that everyone can follow, because living green doesn’t mean living without.

This week, Greg and Amy talk with Tom Spellman of Dave Wilson Nursery about growing fruit trees in an urban setting for harvesting your own produce, and the increasing numbers of people who are becoming backyard growers. Tom talks about some of the misinformation that has been given to backyard growers from a commercial point of view rather than a small growers perspective, and more.

Link: Dave Wilson Nursery
Link: Your Guide to Green

 

 Freshly Green #36: Urban Orcharding [30:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (6065)

Greg Peterson Appears on ABC Channel 15’s Smart Shopper.

Be sure to watch the video in the upper right corner:

Click Here to read the article and watch the video

The X PRIZE Foundation, an educational non-profit that designs and administers competitions with prizes of $10 million or more, is launching a $25,000 video contest on YouTube sponsored by Prize Capital, LLC (www.youtube.com/xprize). The $25,000 will be awarded for the best video proposing a new, world-changing X PRIZE in the field of Energy and the Environment.

The X PRIZE Foundation and Prize Capital, LLC are offering $25,000 for the best video proposing a new Energy and Environment X PRIZE. Contestants need to submit a 2-minute video via www.youtube.com/xprize. Entrants will be narrowed down to 3 finalists by the X PRIZE Foundation. Once the 3 finalists are identified, XPRIZE.org users will vote to determine the winner. The winner will be announced on XPRIZE.org in December 2008.

The winning video must answer the following three questions:
1. What is the specific prize idea?
2. What is the Grand Challenge or world-wide problem that you are trying to solve?
3. How will this prize benefit humanity?

Click Here for more information

URBANA, Ill. - Jim Payne is a one-man recycling program.

He walks the streets each morning, as he has for 25 years, sifting through your trash for the treasures within.

Like a brand-new vacuum cleaner, still in the box. Microwave ovens. Unopened boxes of laundry soap, A perfectly good computer printer/scanner. A six-pack of beer. And those are just the recent finds.

Payne is not homeless, or even poor. He owns a small manufacturing firm and lives with his wife, Mare, in a charming brick duplex with a yard bursting in colorful prairie plants.

Payne is waging a private crusade to stop the Earth or at least his corner of Champaign-Urbana from becoming the desolate, trash-strewn planet.

Read More…

Courtesy of ChicagoTribune.com

MINNEAPOLIS, Sep 12, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — freEner-g (”free energy”) LLC, a residential solar leasing company, announced today they are seeking homeowners in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area for a new solar energy program. The new program is based on a leasing, installation and service package for a monthly fee and will allow residents to lease solar-generated electricity for the first time.

“Our goal is to make solar electricity available for all consumers who want to use renewable energy, but may not be comfortable with the upfront cost of solar,” said Gerardo Ruiz, founder and CEO of freEner-g. “We are reaching out to Twin Cities’ residents who are committed to a sustainable lifestyle. The homeowners in the freEner-g program will definitely be the pioneers for residential solar leasing in this country.”

The new program from freEner-g requires no up-front installation costs for homeowners, who instead pay a deposit and monthly fee proportional to the number of solar panels they lease. The costs of installing solar energy capability for residential homes can be $50,000 or more, making it difficult to justify for many homeowners. The solar energy leasing program is a way for Twin Cities’ residents to utilize solar energy for electricity without incurring large initial fees for materials and services.
freEner-g is encouraging interested Twin Cities’ homeowners to complete a form expressing interest in solar energy at www.mysolarlease.com. Based on home site inspections, the company will select approximately 50 qualified homes for the pilot project. freEner-g plans to begin installing solar systems on approved homes in October of this year.

The freEner-g pilot program will last approximately fifteen months. Once 280 KW capacity of solar generation is installed, the pilot program will be completed. However, freEner-g will continue maintaining the installed systems and will begin delivering more solar home systems to a wider group of homeowners in Minnesota and elsewhere.

The above pilot project is made possible in part by a $1.48 million grant from Xcel Energy’s Renewable Development Fund (RDF) that was recently awarded to freEner-g. In addition, freEner-g has entered into a long term partnership agreement with Abengoa Solar to ensure the long term viability and growth of the company in the residential and commercial solar PV markets.

About freEner-g

freEner-g is a Minnesota eco-venture with a triple bottom line of people, planet and profits. Its vision is tomake solar electricity financially accessible to all, manifest a downward trend in solar electricity costs, and help perpetuate a positive change in the environment. More information is available at www.mysolarlease.com

About Abengoa Solar

Abengoa Solar develops and applies technologies to generate clean energy from the sun. Abengoa is a technology company that applies innovative solutions to sustainable development in the infrastructures, environment and energy sectors. It is a publically listed companyand it currently has a presence in more than 70 countries in which it operates with its five business groups: Solar, Bio-Energy, Environmental Services, Information Technologies, and Industrial Construction and Engineering. More information is available at www.abengoa.com

Modern appliances may allow you to lower your water heater’s thermostat.

The instruction manual for my Maytag wash machne says:

beginner or an expert.
This washer has a heating element that automatically heats the
water to the best temperature on select cycles.

My dishwasher also has a flow-through eater that heats water upon demand to a temperature of up to 161F

These are the only two appliances in my house that use hot water. Our only other use of hot water is showering. If that’s the case in your house too, then you should be able to lower the thermostat of your hot water heater to your normal shower temperature and suffer no ill effects - The dishwasher and clothes washer will take care of their own hot water needs.

Plastic has been sacked at the registers at the Real Food Market in Helena Montana.

As of last Friday, customers no longer have a choice between paper and plastic when having their groceries bagged.

Instead, customers can pay between a nickel and 15 cents for a paper bag (of varying size), or bring their own bags and get a modest discount at the register — a dime a bag, or 1 percent off your bill if you’re using a Real Food reusable sack. Cardboard boxes are also available.

Click Here to read the article.