Daily Loaf

A report released earlier this year by the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works claimed that green and clean energy jobs were lower paying than similar non-green jobs. For instance, it said that workers in renewable energy manufacturing facilities were making around $7-$10 an hour less than their non-green manufacturing counterparts. But a report from Clean Edge and PayScale released this past week says it may be quite the contrary for green collar jobs, which comes as good news to all of those who have lost their prior jobs due to the recession.

According to this Green Inc. article: “The median earnings found in the survey range from $36,100 a year for an insulation worker to $112,000 a year for design engineering managers in alternative energy, according to Al Lee, director of quantitative analysis at PayScale.” Mr. Lee also went on to say that several entry-level positions — including jobs as solar-energy system installers and solar fabrication technicians — require only high school or associate’s degrees and pay more than $40,000 annually.
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The 14th annual ASES Solar Home Tour this Saturday, October 3rd will be the first time tour conducted in Tampa. Don’t miss the opportunity to see some demonstrations, learn how solar photovoltaic installations work and how to save money by using energy efficient systems in your home.

In my last post, the energy savings I mentioned weren’t all that’s available for those of you who want to harness some of the sun’s power and claim it for yourself.  Unfortunately, there seems to be a little placating going on between the citizenry’s desire to move our state toward renewable energy and our legislator’s desire to make us think that they are on our side. Last November, Florida voters passed Amendment 3. What? You don’t remember Amendment 3? Not many people do, but then again, it seems there’s not much of a reason to.

What you may remember about November 2008’s ballot: the long lines for a voting booth, media hype and all of those pesky Constitutional Amendments. One of them, Amendment 3, was placed on the ballot under the authority of the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission; a gubernatorial appointed board that meets once every 20 years. Every 20 years – really? One of the ideas they managed to place on the ballot was amazingly clearly worded, but honestly, I don’t think it was the renewable energy part that prompted so many Floridians to vote for Amendment 3. Authors cleverly name amendments to attract attention, and often word them to confuse the general public, designed for a pass or fail depending on which outcome they prefer. Remember the “Florida Marriage Protection Amendment”? In the case of Amendment 3 it was the storm protection component that played to fear-stricken Floridians: fear of not only hurricane force winds, but fear that they’d improve their homes to protect themselves, and then get taxed. It passed. Couldn’t have been because of the renewable energy, there’s already an exemption on the books for that, but who knew?
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A great opportunity crossed my path when Jamie Trahan from the USF Clean Energy Research Center called. As a local green builder, she thought I could help her search for homes to feature on the 14th annual ASES National Solar Tour being held across the country on October 3rd.

Sadly, I informed her although I researched installing solar on our super energy efficient homes, I couldn’t find a way to make it work. Our mission is to build sustainable and affordable. We went with a gas fired tankless hot water system. Yes, it is natural gas, not a renewable, but still better than a traditional water heater sapping electricity around the clock. I know everyone can relate to waiting for water to come from the tank to your shower and up to a comfortable temp, wasting gallons upon gallons of water in our already deprived region. Tankless saves money and almost more importantly, water. Would I have preferred solar? Damn straight I would, future homeowners of our Ec0-Craftsman would have benefited from a zero energy home, but solar is caught in a conundrum of sorts. There’s not the demand to spur mass production, which leads to lower costs while at the same time, there isn’t the mass production leading to lower cost which would spur demand.
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What’s the buzz on the latest issues in the Green Community? Check out what you may have missed this last week:

Finding an emotional connection with our planet- Doing so allows us to look at what our needs are in life and what is of the highest and greatest importance to us and our environment.

Best of the Bay Readers’ Poll 2009: The race for Greenest Politician has Linda Saul-Sena in the lead- Who do you think should take the title of this year’s Greenest Politician in the Bay?

Clean energy and anti-offshore drilling rally in Ybor this Thursday- Thursday, August 27th, join Sierra Club, 1Sky Florida, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and other environmental groups for a real grassroots rally outside Big Oil’s staged gathering.
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Progress Energy announced that it applied for $200 million in U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) federal infrastructure funds for the development of an electric Smart Grid in the Carolinas and Florida.  The DOE grant would be shared equally between the two states.

A “Smart Grid” is a modernized digital electric transmission and distribution system that delivers detailed, real-time energy use information to customers. Read the rest of this entry »

Would you like to stand up against the Big Oil and Big Energy companies and oppose offshore drilling of the Gulf Coast? Would you like to support Clean Energy and green jobs in the Bay area? Then help make a difference and make your voice heard by attending this Clean Energy rally on Thursday in Ybor:

The American Petroleum Institute, a lobbying front group for Big Oil and other energy industries, is orchestrating staged “grassroots rallies” to try and stop the Clean Energy and Climate Bill from passing the U.S. Senate. The press calls these rallies “astroturf”: manufactured grassroots. This Thursday, August 27th, join Sierra Club, 1Sky Florida, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and other environmental groups for a real grassroots rally outside Big Oil’s staged gathering.

WHEN & WHERE: Meet beforehand at 9:30 am at La Tropicana Café, 1822 East 7th Ave. for some for great cuban coffee! The “Energy Citizens’” event begins at 11:00 am at The RITZ YBOR theatre, and we will counter rally out front at 1503 East 7th Avenue, Tampa, FL 33605 (there is a shady area where we’ll be).
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What’s the buzz on the latest issues in the Green Community? Check out what you may have missed this last week:

Fixing sprawl and redesigning suburbia- Grant Rimbey CNU explores a possible strategy towards improving existing sprawl. Fixing the sprawl that we have, along with sprawl demolition and recycling, are strategies that could be employed in the future as a new green industry.

Nation’s largest solar facility to be in DeSoto County by next year- Florida Power and Light is currently building the nation’s largest photovoltaic plant in DeSoto County, a $173.5 million, 25 megawatt solar generating facility.

Fresh: New Thinking About What We’re Eating screening – What’s wrong with the mega-industrial food industry- Struggling small farms, problems with food safety rules and the mega-industrial food industry, and a film about all of the above.
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The town of Arcadia in DeSoto County is currently building the nation’s largest photovoltaic plant.

According to Florida Power & Light (FPL) the $173.5 million, 25 megawatt solar generating facility should be operating by the second quarter of 2010.

In February, FPL broke ground on its DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center: Florida’s first commercial solar energy facility.  The facility is projected to produce an average of 42,000 MWh of electricity annually.  This enough to meet the needs of over 3,000 homes or over 7,000 people; nearly 20% of DeSoto County.
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What’s the buzz on the latest issues in the Green Community? Check out what you may have missed this last week:

Living with the land: Florida’s first Earthship (video) – Eric Stewart gives a firsthand look at Florida’s first Earthship in Manatee County, and gets his hands dirty while helping out.

Not getting a million-dollar bonus this year? Think local stimulus- Scott Milinder shows us a real stimulus package that will work for us: we all commit to “Buying Local First.” According to recent economic studies, shifting your buying habits to locally owned businesses creates more circulation of money, more economic activity and more jobs in the local economy.

Eco-friendly summertime fashion accessories- Are you searching for a unique and beautiful purse to enhance your summer wardrobe? Then why not consider one of these recycled handbags that are made from recycled items that help to promote a cleaner and healthier world, reports Jen Meier.
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As you’ve seen from a post earlier this week in the Green Community, Florida is getting its first Earthship. But what exactly goes into making an Earthship and what makes it so energy efficient and eco-friendly?

Not only do Earthships utilize solar and wind energy (for heating, cooling, and electricity), they are made completely of natural and recycled items and are built to harvest their own water, have contained sewage treatment, and their own built-in gardens so inhabitants can harvest their own food.
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Oil slicks have been described as an unpredictable phenomenon, their direction and behavior dependent upon the weather, currents, tides, wind direction, temperatures, and whether the oil is crude or refined.

Given the allegations against our recent House Leadership and the indictment of the entire House’s conduct, the slick move by Republicans during the wee hours of the waning days of session was disappointing but much more predictable. You may remember the late-filed council amendment allowing oil drilling just a few miles off our coasts and its subsequent passage on the floor. As I noted in an April blog entry for The Political Whore, zero notice was given to the amendment’s likely opponents, yet the new language was accompanied by Powerpoint presentations delivered by oil industry representatives. It was a surreal scene for many in the room, drawing comparisons to a Carl Hiaasen novel. Fortunately, the Florida Senate, often the more mature chamber, decided against hearing the amended bill. Unfortunately, the debate isn’t going away. Read the rest of this entry »

A year ago I was doing microfilm research on local history at the John German Library in Tampa. Anyone who’s done this research knows how tedious it is; there’s no index for microfilm so to find pertinent articles one must scan each newspaper page on each microfilm roll. While doing this I was flabbergasted to discover a Tampa Tribune article from November 25, 1924, that mentioned the work of the famous town planner John Nolen in connection with Tampa.

To my surprise, the City of Tampa commissioned Nolen to survey the city in 1924 in preparation for a master plan which he was to create for the city. I know a good deal about the planning and architectural history of the area but hadn’t heard that Nolen was working in our area. Tragically, Nolen created his survey but was never commissioned by the city to create his master plan for Tampa: 1924 was the height of delirium during the 1920s Florida real estate boom and the development industry of the time did not want to slow down the good times enough to allow the creation of a master plan and code to direct them. The great depression came early to Florida and by the end of 1926 the roaring 20s were over.

The discovery of John Nolen’s survey of Tampa is important as he’s arguably the finest town planner to have worked in Florida and is the namesake of the John Nolen Medal for Contributions to Urbanism in Florida, given by the progressive planning organization Congress for the New Urbanism, Florida Chapter. In Florida, Nolen was the genius behind the town plans of Venice, Sarasota, West Palm Beach, Clewiston, and Temple Terrace.

In 1924, the problems that Mr. Nolen identified in Tampa’s planning remain problems to this very day: Read the rest of this entry »

Nick Algee of 1Sky & CleanEnergy.org hit my inbox last night: Friday night May 15th is Pecha Kucha Night at the Roosevelt. WTF is that? I gotta say it is one of the more intriguing events to arrive amongst a tedious list of a gazillion emails I rather not read. Nick is a cool guy, with an important mission, so I read his emails first, and damn, I’m glad I did. This is tonight!

I also have to say Ken Cowart, Pecha Kucha organizer, is responsible for helping Tampa is move up on the way cool scale with this event, starting with the venue itself. The Roosevelt, owned by Joe Redner, is a 103 year old building in the throes of a massive green retrofit. A model of sustainability, it will serve as a showcase of 21st-century construction ideas. The Campus TV Project 3.0 at The Roosevelt is a place in which artists and other creative types can lease space and incubate new ideas.

So what is Pecha Kucha? Held in 195 cities around the world, I betcha I couldn’t find anyone except some architect geek types, sorry Adam, to tell me. Enter the Google Gods, a quick trip round the net to reveals that it was conceived by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham as a place for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. The first Pecha Kucha took place in Tokyo at Klein Dytham Architects offices at 8:20 p.m. on March 20, 2003, yes the time and date is very relevant, give me a minute, err 20 seconds to explain. Under the PKN rules, 20 presenters show 20 slides on a topic relative to urban design, with only 20 seconds to narrate each slide. As someone who has sat through many a dry, monotone speaker presenting such exciting topics as “Trends in Solid Waste” and “Measurement of Indoor Air Quality Toxins” , no joke it was at the same conference, not one of the middle aged men in the room was laughing. 20 slides in 20 seconds, is gift from heaven that lands Tampa on the map of a city on the upswing. Read the rest of this entry »

[Eds. note: Cathy's post was written Monday, before Senate President Jeff Atwater told reporters that he would not bring the offshore drilling bill up for a vote this year, effectively killing it, at least for now.]

Once again the foes of Florida’s future have united to pillage our natural resources.  You can hear the lip smacking and feel the glad-handing from here.  HB 1219 – the bill to allow oil drilling within sight of Florida’s Gulf Coast (that’s our coast), was passed in the House today by a vote of 70 to 43.  This is a bad bill for Florida, for the future of our beaches and the future of real energy policy change.  This bill buys a revenue band-aid, while trading the long-term health of our economy and our environment.  And let’s not forget that pesky climate change problem.  But I guess the creek won’t rise while these folks are in office.

However, as in most things, hope springs eternal.  The Governor has been making noises that he may not support this bill and we need to encourage that veto now.  Likewise, the senate can and must be contacted.  Let our local elected officials know that we want new energy policy or we choose new policymakers.   The stakes have never been higher.  Do whatever it takes to make them make them speak up for us now.  There’s info below the phone list with everything you ever wanted to know and everything they need to know about offshore drilling.  Let’s jam those phone lines! (See phone numbers below.) Read the rest of this entry »

You’ve heard him on the radio and on TV, the rumbly voice of oil magnate T. Boone Pickens and his new clean energy plan.

The first time hearing it, you probably thought it was a John McCain commercial. But after listening to his seemingly heartfelt call to stop our “addiction to oil” and move toward more renewable resources, you kind of liked T. Boone Pickens. What better voice for clean energy than an smooth talking oil man from Texas?!

Or, perhaps, you were like me and wondered: “OK, where’s the catch.” After all, isn’t this the same Pickens who funded both Bush presidencies and the Swift Boat attacks on former presidential candidate John Kerry?

Alternet.org has an interesting article on T. Boone Pickens today that debunks the oil magnates sudden change of heart. And though I don’t think anyone should write-off Mr. Pickens yet, it should you give you pause about his real motives.

In the story, journalist Scott Thill outlines Pickens’ investments in hedge funds supported by foreign oil, his own personal stake in natural gas (which he’s promoting as clean energy) and his bad record on water sustainability. His conclusion? That the Pickens’ plan is just a well-advertised Ponzi scheme.

The facts and links Thill put together are too numerous to summarize here, so if you have a few minutes, read the article.

(Photo credit: PRNewsFoto)