The Great Copy Machine Epidemic

A friend, Kenny Luna, is working to create a day of action in schools with "The Great Copy Machine Epidemic of 2008"...and he's hoping you can help get schools in your area involved...Here's a link to his announcement on TreeHugger as well to their website...

If you’re a regular visitor here or at other green blogs, then you’re sure to have heard of Kenny Luna. Kenny teaches science at Robert Moses Middle School in North Babylon, N.Y...

Last year, Kenny and his grade 8 science students tried get Oprah to back their plan to see every kid (Pre-k - 12) in the US get a compact fluorescent light bulb to help raise awareness of and fight global warming. According to their calculations, if 50 million kids in the US replaced one incandescent in their home with a CFL, the US as a whole could realize $2.3 billion in energy savings, not to mention eliminate many tons of carbon emissions. this would fight global warming by reducing carbon emissions from power plants, and help put America on the path to environmental sustainability.

CFL light bulbs are 75% more efficient than incandescent light bulbs. This means less energy is needed and less harmful greenhouse gases are emitted!

His video "A Bright Idea..!" is a permanent part of this blog and can be found on the right sidebar next to this posting...Their mission was to get Oprah to give away something more practical than a bunch of cars that the recipients can’t afford to pay the taxes and insurance on. Kenny and his students wanted Oprah to use her super media powers to make this a reality... He succeeded in giving every child in North Babylon one thanks to Home Depot..!

Last year on Friday May 4 while I was the Co-President of the the Parents Association of Elizabeth Blackwell Middle School 210 in conjuction with Kenny's plan - we arranged for a visit by Ms. Kasey Jacobs a Program Coordinator at the Citizens Campaign for the Environment.

Kasey presented the original slide show of Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth"... Kasey had gone to Tennessee to train with Al Gore to show the slide show....She put on a fabulous presentation of the material...The kids were fascinated and had lots of question..

Kasey is committed to educating the public on the climate crisis, so please consider scheduling a CCE presentation on the climate crisis in your commutnity. And, for more information about global warming and how to reduce your carbon footprint, visit them online at
www.citizenscampaign.org/campaigns/global_warming.htm.

We also had Chris Neidl, the IT/Development Associate and Education and Outreach Coordinator for Solar One, who with his team brought 100 CFL bulbs to the presentation at the school. The PA distributed the 100 bulbs free of charge to all participants...

So we did our little bit to help solve the global warming problem...my thanks go out to Ruth Ann Farmer, Edwin Natal, Lali Estrada, Judy Chetri, Claudia Gleim, Maria Ferrer and Nadege Trenard for their helping to make this a successful event for all involved...

What's the Crisis?

The Great Copy Machine Epidemic

With confirmed cases in New York and Florida, and with rumors coming out of California, Texas, and Maine about possible outbreaks there, it’s clear that what experts are calling the Great Copy Machine Epidemic has struck schools across America. The symptoms include the tendency of school photocopy machines to chew up trees at an amazing rate, and furthering the use of enormous amounts of energy to create the paper on which they print, contributing to global warming.

Of course, the students and faculty on the crisis team at the Robert Moses Middle School where symptoms of the disease were first observed are working feverishly to uncover the cause. And they’re asking schools across America to join them in a national day of action to help stop global warming on April 17th by putting their school photocopier under quarantine for the day, and asking teachers and students not to make or use any photocopies in class.

Now that may help cure the problem but it won’t uncover precisely what disease is striking the machines. Fortunately there’s a great, fun way that you can help do just that by putting together a crisis team in your school to creatively demonstrate what you believe is making your photocopier sick. Then taking a photograph and emailing it to copy crisis headquarters for further analysis by the deadline of April 19th to help solve the crisis.

The most creative entries that convey the message that the use of excess paper contributes to global warming will be chosen as finalists and posted on the site where everyone is invited to come and vote.

The winning school will win the title of “Copy Crisis Team of the Year” along with a $100 grant to plant a tree on school grounds that's being provided by teacher and crisis team coordinator Mr. Luna, who points out that “There is no better time than now to get schools involved in a positive way in the fight against global warming. Unfortunately, the world will not stand still if we sit by and do nothing.”

To get involved head over to www.greatcopyepidemic.com and find out how easy it is to get your school on-board.

Worksman Cycles - Oldest Bike Manufacturer in the U.S. Goes Solar - Solar One...

Read original...

Last week, The New York Industrial Retention Network(NYIRN) in partnership with Solar Energy Systems (SES) announced the installation of a 15.12 kilowatt Photovoltaic (PV) system at the factory of Worksman Cycles, the oldest bicycle manufacturer in the U.S., located in Ozone Park in Queens, New York.

Through NYIRN’s RenewableNY program, Worksman Cycles met Brooklyn-based SES, a solar energy integrator speciallizing in commercial applications. SES designed and installed the system on the facility’s rooftop. It will generate more than 600,000 kilowatt-hours over its 40-year expected lifetime. Combining this production with NYC electrical cost savings programs will reduce Workman’s monthly electric bill by over 20 percent. The solar output will protect Worksman against future rate increases and lessen the burden on New York’s electricity grid.

“Because solar energy production peaks in conjunction with high usage, New York City benefits by further alleviating the need for peaking generators, which typically are the most polluting of all generation sources,” said David Buckner, President of SES.

However, one striking aspect of the 1700 sq ft system is that it is surrounded by 15,000 sq ft of empty roof space. Were it not for the restrictive net-metering policies of New York State, a much larger system might have been installed. Net-metering is the arrangement by which solar owners are able sell back excess electricity to the grid that is produced by their systems when solar production exceeds building consumption. This policy helps reduce the time it takes to pay back the initial cost of a solar system, and is widely recognized as being essential to building a viable solar market. New York State’s net-metering laws currently only allow small residential systems (10kW or smaller) to net-meter.

Not only is a system owner like Workman Cycles unable to currently net-meter, if it were to install a larger system that might at any point produce more electricity than is consumed by the building, it would be required to install an expensive piece of hardware called a reverse power relay that restricts solar electricity from entering the grid. The equipment can cost between $10,000 and $40,000. The result: in the absence of wider net-metering laws, there is a major financial disincentive for installing large solar systems in New York.

This spring, the New York State Legislature will likely vote on a new net-metering bill that would expand the law to include non-residential buildings while also dramatically raising the cap on the allowable size of systems. This would enable rooftops like Workman Cycle’s to add bigger solar systems.

Therefore take action: call your State Senator and Assembly Member today and urge them to support expanded net-metering!

Earth Day Celebration at MS210Q - "The Burning Truth of the Climate Crisis: Answering the Call to Action"...

click flyer to enlarge