How to cut your home energy bill

CFAES and its partners are holding their second Green Home Workshop on May 16 in Columbus. The deadline to sign up is Monday, May 15.

Included will be tours of Ohio State’s student-designed and -built enCORE solar home, shown here, which is just a short walk from the workshop site. (Photo: Office of Energy and Environment, Ohio State.)

‘A Race Against Time’ to grow the world’s solar

Race Against Time stillNext in Ohio State’s 2017 Environmental Film Series is “A Race Against Time,” which looks at global solar energy development. David Letterman, retired host of “The Late Show,” explores how India is using solar to expand its electrical service, power its economy, and bring electricity to 300 million people who’ve never had it before. In Florida, “Saturday Night Live” cast member Cecily Strong gets the inside story on what’s been blocking solar’s growth in America. The film is an episode in the National Geographic Channel’s “Years of Living Dangerously” series. It screens at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14, in Columbus. Free admission. Location and other details here.

Climate change consequences, solutions

Ris Twigg reported on Jan. 11’s Environmental Professionals Network breakfast program, which looked at climate change, energy conservation and renewable energy, in Ohio State’s student newspaper, The Lantern.

The network is a public service of CFAES’s School of Environment and Natural Resources.

Wooster Science Café is tonight : ‘Reducing our carbon footprint’

The next Wooster Science Café is tonight. CFAES scientist Fred Michel will present “Reducing Our Carbon Footprint.” It’s at 7 p.m. at Muddy’s Restaurant, 335 E. Liberty St., in Wooster. Admission is free. Michel works for CFAES’s research arm, OARDC in Wooster, where he studies composting and bioenergy. He’s also president of the Wayne County Sustainable Energy Network. He spoke on the solar panels on his own home and car at last week’s Scarlet, Gray and Green Fair.

Green fair to host Renewable Energy Workshop

Image of sunshine and two sunflowers_3Fred Michel, a Wooster-based biosystems engineer with CFAES, has solar panels gleaming on his home and his car.

He’ll share his experiences with both setups in a Renewable Energy Workshop during the Scarlet, Gray and Green Fair in Wooster. Continue reading

New series on renewable energy in Ohio

When it comes to boosting the use of solar and wind energy, “Ohio can do better,” reporter Peter Krouse wrote yesterday in a slideshow story on cleveland.com — and until it does, it’s losing out on “the economic benefits that come from a fast-growing industry.” Among those benefits are jobs. The slideshow went with a main story by Krouse, called “Renewing our commitment to renewable energy: Impact 2016,” which says it’s the first installment in a series that “will examine why Ohio lags behind other states in promoting renewable energy and what we might do to catch up, or get ahead.” Check it out.

Want to add solar power to your farm? Go to this workshop

Photo of solar panels on barn 2Farmers can save money with solar energy. So can other farm-related businesses. And grants and incentives exist that can help them get started.

So say the organizers of a March 10 workshop at CFAES’s research arm, OARDC in Wooster, who plan to shed light on those topics.

Read the story …