Italy's 'Slow City' goes global with mellow message
Among the list of Slow Cities are three in the U.S., all in California: Sonoma, Fairfax and Sebastopol
Read MoreCategory: Localization
An Economy That Benefits Ordinary People? What We Learned From the 1%
When thinking 40 years into the future, people step out of the current political situation, and our sense of what’s possible becomes much more expansive. We are not only able to think bigger—we crave it.
Read MoreMountain Grown: Appalachia's New Local Food Economy
Since 2002, skyrocketing demand for local food has been recorded in the Local Food Guide published annually by the Asheville-based Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project.
Read MoreSDAT urges expanding narrow agendas and opening communication
Happily, I am pleasantly surprised by the AIA Sustainable Design Assessment Report for Coos County. Walking away from the SDAT presentation last June, I was concerned the team was overly influenced by a small faction of the county but it seems they did a lot of homework and recognized some of the bottleneck for future economic success.
According to the local paper, the final report is available at the Importing essential services is a downward slide to economic disaster
As I have been railing for years now, importing essential services like energy and food exports...
Read MoreJoin me at the Coos County Fair Oak Grove at 12 noon
Will be talking about empowering local communities with renewable energy. The venue is outdoors under an awning but I don’t believe there will be a screen or projector to allow for a power point presentation so I am just...
Read MoreSpeaking at the Coos County Fair on Saturday
More on this when I get back from Portland but the talk will be about local revenue production through energy generation and keeping those dollars in the community. Decentralized power will be a big factor in the discussion as...
Read MoreMajor flaws in Wal-Mart study – small businesses are hurt
A widely publicized study claiming that there is no evidence that Wal-Mart has had a negative impact on the small business sector is debunked. Careful review of the study by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance found fatal...
Read MoreSmart microgrids can help fund Coos County schools
This weekend we, (by we I mean Rogue River Wind, Ltd) submitted a federal appropriations request to implement a 5MW micro-grid that will produce enough power to supply the Coquille, North Bend and Coos Bay school districts, Coos...
Read MoreSmart grids and micro-grids should be part of new stimulus package
Heat waves in Australia and ice storms in the US have caused recent wide spread blackouts to millions of customers dependent on the centralized grid system, seven hundred thousand in Kentucky.
Energy business still thriving
Winter weather has brought about more wide spread power outages from Illinois, Ohio and east to New England. The Western States are not expected to fare much better according to the North America Electric Reliability Corporation, which oversees reliability of the U.S. electric power grid, is projecting an increasing risk for blackouts because of the lack of available power.
