This Refugee Camp Is The First In The World To Be Powered By Solar Energy

By Willa Frej : huffingtonpost – excerpt (includes video)

A group of about 20,000 Syrian refugees living outdoors have access to electricity as of Wednesday thanks to a newly constructed solar plant in the Azraq refugee camp in Jordan. It’s the first and only solar-powered refugee camp in the world.

“Each family can now connect a fridge, a TV, a fan, have light inside the shelter and charge their phones, which is critical for refugees to keep in contact with their relatives abroad,” the U.N.’s refugee agency, UNHCR, said in a statement.

UNHCR built the 2-megawatt solar photovoltaic plant farm in collaboration with the IKEA Foundation’s Brighter Lives for Refugees campaign, which provided the funding, according to the statement… (more)

Are solar powered RV dwellers homeless, or are they just lacking an address to park their homes?

Kentucky Coal Mining Museum in Harlan County switches to solar power

By Travis M. Andrews : washingtonpost – excerpt

Housed in a former commissary building and tucked into the hollers of Harlan County — the heart of Kentucky mining country — is a museum dedicated to all aspects of extracting coal from the state’s mountains.

Mining equipment decorates its walls, while a two-ton block of coal at the front door greets visitors. Children can climb on the museum’s 1940s model electric locomotive that once carried Kentucky men into the mines. An exhibit dedicated to Loretta Lynn (who wrote and who is the “Coal Miner’s Daughter”) sits on the third floor. Guests can even wander through an actual underground coal mine.

Not much about the Kentucky Coal Mining Museum screams modern. Its website — nay, websites — boasts early 1990s Web design, and its advertisement on YouTube appears to have been shot on a handheld camcorder. It sits next to City Hall on Main Street, the only thoroughfare of Benham, Ky. That’s to be expected from a museum dedicated to an old form of energy, which is what makes its own power methods so interesting.

The museum is switching to solar power in hopes of saving money on energy costs, as reported by WYMT and EKB-TV. The installation of solar panels began this week…(more)

German Coal Company Allowed To Clear Cut 12,000 Year Old Forest

by jonathanturley

Germany has pledged to cut carbon emissions by up to 95 percent by 2050 by virtually ending the use of coal for energy. However, that will not come in time to save the spectacular Hambach Forest, an ancient woodlands in Germany that lies between the cities of Cologne and Aachen. The forest is 12,000-years-old and is irreplaceable. However, the government has given the go ahead to Germany’s second-largest electricity producer RWE to clear cut the ancient trees to extract the coal underneath…(more)

There isn’t much we can do about Hambach Forest, but we should try to protect our own forest in San Francisco from clear-cutting. The SF Forest Alliance is requesting that you help by sending letters opposing the slaughter of our trees in support of a little known or understood program that would replant the forest with “native plants”, primarily shrubs and grasses. Please send the prepared statement to the SF Planning Commissioners by clicking on the link below. A copy will also go to local and state politicians.   DO THIS NOW, before Dec 12th at 5 pm.

We need to make sure our voices for the forests and against pesticides are heard. The meeting date for the San Francisco Planning Department to certify the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on the Significant Natural Areas Management Plan for NAP is December 15th .

Please send this prepared statement: Click Here – to open letter to the SF Planning Department Commissioners, a copy will also go to local and state politicians.
Powered by EMF Contact Form

There is room for you to add your own words, which is even more powerful!
Here are a few of the shortcomings of the EIR:

• EIR claims implementing the SNRAMP will result in an increase in stored carbon.
• EIR claims there will be no increase in herbicide use when the plan is implemented.
• EIR fails to address the fact the Plan would close 95% of our Natural Areas to public access.
• EIR claims the SNRAMP is not being implemented ahead of the EIR certification, which would be a violation of CEQA.
• We have all seen the trail closures, access control fences and signs threatening us with $100 fines if we walk off designated trails.  These are all CEQA violations the writers of the EIR deny.

  Send this as soon as possible and before Dec 12th at 5 pm.

  Thanks for your support!

  San Francisco Forest Alliance

San Francisco could explore possibility of mandating solar systems on developments

by Joshua Sabatini : sfexaminer – excerpt

After two smaller California cities mandated that new developments install solar-energy systems, San Francisco officials are beginning to discuss a similar requirement.
The effort could build on The City’s 2008 Green Building Ordinance and also advance the goal of ensuring 100 percent of San Francisco’s electricity needs come from renewable sources.
“I think that requiring solar panels on new development is a great way to help green our city and create more good-paying clean-energy jobs for San Franciscans,” said Joshua Arce, chairman of the Commission on the Environment.
At an upcoming meeting, Arce intends to ask the commission, which sets policy direction for the Board of Supervisors, to recommend The City adopt a solar installation mandate.
Reserving judgment, board President David Chiu called it an “intriguing idea” and welcomed the conversation to determine if it was something that made sense for The City… (more)

Great idea, but solar installations need a lot of sun to produce enough power to make the system viable. The Plan Bay Area’s highrise stack and pack dense housing projects, will overshadow the solar panels on the rooftops unless someone in Sacramento puts together legislation to protect them. The sunny Eastern neighborhoods are the perfect place to generate solar power. But, only if you limit the building height to 4 or 5 stories . Anything higher can’t produce enough energy to supply the needs of the residents. Tell the supervisors and state legislators that you want to protect the sun on your roof so you can take advantage of all the new government deals on solar. Contact SF Supervisors