Green Affordable Housing in Indian Country
Green Affordable Housing in Indian Country is a “hands-on” green-construction training program involving Native American tribes in the upper Midwest, architects and landscape architects, builders and contractors, and students and faculty from the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The project is oriented toward community development on Indian reservations through technology transfer and job skills training in sustainable housing construction techniques based on natural systems, organic materials, local labor, and energy efficiency. Read more
Clean Energy Incentives Allow Simonton Windows to Rehire 400 Employees
Simonton Windows, a producer of vinyl windows and doors, announced in early August that it had extended offers to rehire all 402 seasonal and full-time workers—263 in West Virginia and 139 in Illinois—who were laid off by the company last winter, and that it is set to hire 55 additional employees in the near future. Read more
American-made Streetcars: Portland Company Rebuilds Lost Industry
United Streetcar, a union company in Portland, Ore., and wholly owned subsidiary of Oregon Iron Works, has built the first American-made streetcar in over half a century, with the help of funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. United Streetcar has a deal in place to build six streetcars for the city and is on the verge of signing a $26 million contract to build seven more for Tucson, Ariz. Read more
HECK, Let’s Retrofit Some Homes
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Volunteer receives weatherization materials. |
For the last two autumns, students from the University of Buffalo, Daemen College, and Nichols School stood side-by-side with union workers and community members to caulk, seal and insulate homes in Buffalo, New York. The all-volunteer energy efficiency crews are part of a project started by Frank Hotchkiss, chairman of the Western New York Apollo Alliance and New York State Apollo steering committee member. Read more
Lessons from the Gainesville Feed-In Tariff Program
At the start of the 20th century, the city of Gainesville, Fla., installed modern municipal water, electricity and sewer systems, which made it an attractive location for the University of Florida and helped it become a major educational and cultural hub in the state. Now, more than 100 years later, Gainesville is once again taking bold steps, this time to become a national clean energy pioneer. Read more
Chattanooga Choo-Choo Chugs Off The Grid
Chattanooga, TN - Twenty years ago, under popular mayor Gene Roberts, Chattanooga launched an effort to rejuvenate its deteriorating downtown. In 1992, the city opened what at the time was the world’s largest freshwater aquarium. That same year, the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority (CARTA) opened an electric transit vehicle (ETV) shuttle service with the aim of bringing people – and businesses – back downtown. Read more
“Lean and Green” Manufacturing Program Helps Washington’s Small Manufacturers Reduce Energy Use and Waste
When Nature’s Path Foods, an organic cereal manufacturer with a facility in Blaine, Wash., decided that being a green company meant going beyond using organic ingredients in its food, it wasn’t sure where to turn to find out how to green its manufacturing processes. Read more
Sunrise Solar Inc.: Powered by Passion
Few would have predicted the meteoric rise of Sunrise Solar Inc., a Midwest manufacturer of solar-powered attic fans, when company president Bill Keith launched the business in 2003 from his garage in St. John, Indiana. Keith, however, was so confident of the company’s eventual success that he mortgaged his own home to finance the start-up business. Read more
Oakland Green Jobs Corps Graduates First Class
On June 22, 2009, 42 members of the Oakland Green Jobs Corps’ first graduating class stood proudly before an audience of friends, family and media. “You are on the cutting edge of the training that will save the planet,” said Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, amid enthusiastic cheers from the crowd. Read more
Hybrid Bus Project Gets Rolling in Detroit
TROY, Michigan – Fisher Coachworks, a century-old legend of Detroit automotive manufacturing, has resurrected its time-honored brand under a green banner with a new program for building fuel-efficient vehicles for mass transit. Read more
