Green Neighborhood Council News

The Green Neighborhood Council will sponsor a second Omaha forum on Sustainable & Socially Responsible Investing  on Thursday, March 14, 2013 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Neighborhood Center, 115 S 49th Avenue. The speaker will be Tyler Mainquist, financial consultant with a specialty in Socially Responsible Investing (SRI). He is also active in community service and is currently Vice-Chair of the Executive Committee of the Nebraska Sierra Club, Board member and Non-profit Coordinator of the USGBC Nebraska Flatwater Chapter, Board President of WasteCap Nebraska, and Board member of Lincoln Green by Design.

Tyler will discuss the basics of the $3 trillion Socially Responsible Investment sector, how SRI funds integrate social and environmental objectives, the various screens used, shareholder advocacy, and community investing. The first Omaha SRI forum was held on February 26, 2011.

The GNC will provide an information table for social and environmental organizations to share event flyers, brochures, and other materials.

Questions? Please contact GNC Co-Chairs Helen or Ken Deffenbacher: hdeffenbacher@cox.net or kdeffenbacher@cox.net

Green Neighborhood Council Roundtable

When: November 8 – 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Where: Neighborhood Center, 115 S 49^th Avenue

Join reEnergize spokesperson Jason Kubicek for an update and learn how Omaha residents, businesses, and nonprofits are benefiting from this program.

Did you know?

*  Residents can now get up to half off on an Energy Upgrade Package.  There’s also a “Low and Moderate Income Path.” For most homeowners that means thousands in incentives.

*  If you own a commercial or nonprofit building, you can get FREE energy evaluation and advising services on your building.

Jason will discuss each of these benefits and more, so please join us for this informal roundtable discussion.

FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

A Preliminary Presentation Will Also Be Provided

When: Thursday, December 13, 2012 at 7:00 p.m.

Where: 5520 Lindbergh Drive (by Eppley Airfield)

Please note: Photo ID is required of adults for all tours.

You are invited to join the Green Neighborhood Council, Nebraskans For Solar, and the Missouri Valley Group of the Nebraska Sierra Club for a presentation and guided tour of OPPD’s Service Center. Located on a 13-acre tract, the Center includes a 60-kilowatt array of solar panels, a 1.2-kilowatt vertical-axis wind turbine and LED yard lighting.

For its many innovative features, the Center was awarded Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum. Additional sustainability features include: daylight harvesting, ground loop heat exchange, operational windows, occupancy sensors, white roofing material, use of recycled materials, water saving plumbing fixtures, pervious pavement, natural ground cover, storm water retention area, storm sewer inserts to mitigate oil spill threat—and more!

OPPD has incorporated these sustainability features to demonstrate in part their applicability, a benefit for customers interested in applying them in their homes and businesses.

RSVP REQUIRED with your name, email address or telephone number:

Helen Deffenbacher hdeffenbacher@cox.net or Mary Green megreen4@cox.net

Green Neighborhood Council Roundtable
Co-Sponsored by Nebraskans For Solar, Inc.
When: October 11, 2012 – 7 to 8:30 p.m.
Where: Neighborhood Center, 115 S. 49th Avenue
Speaker: Paul Vonderfecht from Energy Smart Company

Paul Vonderfecht will discuss how to create a new or modify your existing home to give it the lowest utility bills possible. “Our goal is to help our customers reduce their energy consumption and environmental impact while improving the comfort and quality of living in their homes.  Most Energy Smart products and services have a payback period of between three to ten years.”

In addition to energy efficiency products, Energy Smart also offers renewable energy options: the HeatWave Solar Air Heating System and the Velux Solar Hot Water System. The innovative HeatWave Solar products attach to south-facing walls, are easy to install, and provide a clean and reliable source of renewable energy. With Velux’s Solar Hot Water System, homeowners are able to offset 80%, or more, of their household hot water needs.

GREEN EXCHANGE: Everyone is invited to bring a gently used book on any topic for a Green Swap.

Questions? Please contact GNC Co-Chairs, Ken & Helen Deffenbacher: kdeffenbacher@greenomahacoalition.org

Green Neighborhood Council Roundtable Discussion
When: September 13, 2012 – 7 to 8:30 p.m.
Where: Neighborhood Center, 115 S. 49th Avenue, Omaha, Nebraska
Speaker: John Atkeison

John Atkeison is Energy Policy Director at the Nebraska Wildlife Federation. He is a campaigner, publicist, and lobbyist in the energy policy arena. He has served as television producer for the cable news magazine, GreenViews and producer for the troupe, Climate Action Theatre. He served as Director of Climate and Clean Energy programs at the Alliance for Affordable Energy in New Orleans. He now lives in Lincoln.

John is working with Duane Hovorka, Executive Director of the Nebraska Wildlife Federation, and many others to organize Clean Energy Nebraska, a coalition of statewide environmental and social organizations, renewable energy advocates, and professionals who work in Nebraska’s emerging renewable energy industry.  The potential for producing electricity from the power of wind and the energy of the sun is better in Nebraska than in 80% of the rest of America. The cost of producing that electricity from both have come down dramatically in recent years.

The GNC will give a FREE green book to each of the first 50 attendees and will also have more of their popular refrigerator posters available, “A Checklist of Ways to Save Energy & Money.” Information tables will be set up, and attendees are invited to bring brochures, flyers, and other materials, including commercial literature on renewable energy.

Questions? Please contact Green Neighborhood Co-Chairs Ken or Helen Deffenbacher kdeffenbacher@greenomahacoalition.org or hdeffenbacher@greenomahacoalition.org.

You are invited to join Green Neighborhood Council members & friends on September 8th at 1 p.m. at Caffeine Dreams, 4524 Farnam Street to plan fall and winter workshops and green fieldtrips. We’ll meet on the patio if weather permits. September and October workshops have already been scheduled (see information below). Except for onsite visits, GNC workshops are held at the Neighborhood Center, 115 S 49th Avenue, 7 to 8:30 p.m. the second Thursday of each month.

September 13th Speaker: John Atkeison, Energy Policy Director at Nebraska Wildlife Federation. He is working with Duane Hovorka, Executive Director of the Nebraska Wildlife Federation, and many others to organize Clean Energy Nebraska, a coalition of statewide environmental and social organizations, renewable energy advocates, and professionals who work in Nebraska’s renewable energy industry. He’ll discuss Nebraska’s renewable energy future and how we can get involved.

October 11th Speaker: Paul Vonderfecht, owner of Energy Smart Company at 4441 S 102nd Street. He will discuss how businesses and homeowners can save energy and money using a variety of energy efficiency products. He’ll also provide information on Energy Smart’s new cost-effective solar products: HeatWave Solar Air Heating Systems: www.energysmartcompany.com/page/heat-wave-solar and Velux Solar Hot Water Systems: www.energysmartcompany.com/page/velux-solar-water-heater-omaha-nebraska-contractor-installer

The Green Neighborhood and Green Education Councils are also planning to co-sponsor a winter Green Projects Fair for kids and grownups. Date and place to be decided.

If you’re unable to attend the September 8th planning meeting but would like to contribute one or more ideas for workshops, please email GNC Co-Chairs Ken Deffenbacher:  kdeffenbacher@greenomahacoalition.org or Helen Deffenbacher: hdeffenbacher@greenomahacoalition.org

Dear Neighborhood Leader,

The Green Neighborhood Council has received a $10,000 grant from the Mammel Foundation for a small grants program. The council is now accepting grant applications from community gardens, Omaha neighborhood associations, and other nonprofit groups to help with green projects, such as: Bike Racks, Community Gardens, Youth Gardens, Compost Bins, Rain Barrels, Rain Gardens, Butterfly/Bee Gardens, Energy Conservation Workshops and Kits, Trail/Walking Path Signage, Dog Waste Receptacles, Recycling Receptacles, Benches, Picnic Tables, Energy Efficient/Solar Lighting, Tree Purchasing/Planting, among others.

Grants for $250, $500, or $1000 (maximum) are available, depending on the proposed project. The GNC requests that an evaluation form be submitted upon completion of a project. The deadline for applications has been extended to August 31, 2012. Grant recipients will be notified the first week in September.

To apply, fill out the Grant Application below and email it by August 31st to: hdeffenbacher@greenomahacoalition.org or kdeffenbacher@greenomahacoalition.org

Best regards,

Helen and Ken Deffenbacher
Green Neighborhood Council Co-Chairs

Grant Application

Please include the following information, using as much space as needed to describe your project.

1.   Organization’s Name
2.   Contact Person, Title, Email or Phone Number
3.   Organization’s Address
4.   Amount of this request
5.   Date of this request
6.   Summary of Proposed Project
7.   Target Date for Completing the Project

Project Evaluation/Progress Report

When you’ve completed your project, the Green Neighborhood Council would appreciate knowing how the funds were used and the results.  We want to continue this green grants program in the future, and this information will help us file our report with the Mammel Foundation and make any needed improvements in the future. Photographs would be welcome. If your project is ongoing and won’t be completed by May 31, 2013, please submit a progress report by that date.

1.   Organization’s Name
2.   Contact Person, Title and Phone Number
3.   Organization’s Address
4.   Date Project Was Completed
5.   Description of Completed Project and How Your Grant Money Was Spent in Helping You to Complete It

The Green Neighborhood Council will not meet during the months of June, July, or August. Our members are encouraged, instead, to volunteer for community service projects through the summer hiatus. A number of Council members will also be working hard with others to help develop the Nebraska Solar Co-Op, a GNC partnership program.

We want to, once again, thank each of our workshop presenters and everyone who attended one or more GNC programs. We will begin a new series of green workshops on Thursday, September 13^th , from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Neighborhood Center, 115 S. 49^th Avenue. If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact Co-Chairs Ken and Helen Deffenbacher: kdeffenbacher@greenomahacoalition.org or hdeffenbacher@greenomahacoalition.org

What:    Community Solar Workshop
Date:      Saturday,  May 12, 2012
Time:     1:00 – 3:00pm
Where:  First Unitarian Church’s Common Room (3114 Harney Street)

Community Solar is a relatively new concept that allows community members to reap the benefits of solar energy, even if it is not installed on their own property! Joy Hughes, Founder and Director of SolarGardens.Org in Westminster, Colorado has worked on this idea with communities across the country. On Saturday, May 12th, Joy will be in Omaha to help develop a Community Solar model for Nebraska.

Please register using this link: http://www.e-rezz.com/event/publicDetailsFull/272

Hope to see you there!

Brice Miller, Lead Coordinator on Community Solar for the Nebraska Solar Co-Op

Parking Information: If the church lot is full, the parking garage next to it is available. The first 3 hours are free.  If anyone stays longer than that for our event, there is a device in the Common Room to validate your ticket for the extra time, for which there will also be no parking fee.

You are cordially invited to tour the Fort Omaha Campus solar greenhouse, followed by a discussion of solar greenhouse designs & kits. Both will be led by MCC Solar Instructor, Michael Shonka.

When:    Saturday, April 28th at 1 p.m.
Where:   Metropolitan Community College
Fort Omaha Campus, 32nd & Sorensen Parkway (second right north of Sorensen)

This is one in a series of workshops sponsored by a Solar Energy Co-Op that is organizing in Nebraska and whose founding members include representatives from a number of local green organizations, including the Green Neighborhood Council and the Nebraska Solar Energy Society, among others, as well as solar enthusiasts not affiliated with any organization.

Please plan to join us for the tour & workshop, where you will have the opportunity to vote on a name for the Solar Energy Co-Op and become a founding member of it.

MCC’s greenhouse solar system was the first to be built in Nebraska and the only of its kind among community colleges nationwide. Students assisted with assembly of the eight-panel system, water tank and radiant tubing as part of MCC’s hands-on classes on solar energy and technology.  More workshops are scheduled for the new solar lab attached to the greenhouse in solar air, water and electric systems.

The technology used in MCC’s greenhouse system is readily transferable to greenhouses and hot houses across the state for bedding plants and vegetable crops, providing greenhouse growers year-round crops with little or no heating costs.

For more information, contact Michael Shonka: mshonka@mcc.edu

To RSVP, email GNC Co-Chairs Helen Deffenbacher:  hdeffenbacher@cox.net or Ken Deffenbacher: kdeffenbacher@cox.net.