Join the NC Chapter of the Sierra Club for a panel discussion about the opportunities and obstacles for development of offshore wind energy in the Tar Heel state. North Carolina has incredible wind potential, with better shallow-water wind resources than any other state on the Atlantic Coast – potentially 140 GW of total offshore wind capacity. On July 1, 2011, Governor Bev Perdue signed Executive Order No. 96, establishing North Carolina’s Offshore Wind Economic Development Task Force. What’s next?

First in Flight, First in Wind Forum –  7–9 p.m.   Feb. 7 in Joslyn Hall at Carteret Community College.

The City of Raleigh's 1.3-megawatt solar farm is up and running.

The City has scheduled a Neuse River Solar Farm Celebration at 1:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 16 at the Neuse River Water Treatment Plant, 8500 Battle Ridge Road, Raleigh. Please RSVP by Feb. 13 to public.affairs@raleighnc.gov.

The 1.3 megawatt solar voltaic array at the City of Raleigh's Neuse River Wastewater Treatment Plant was energized on the afternoon of Dec. 22.

The 10-acre site is located at the intersection of Battlebridge Road and Brownfield Road. The arrangement between the City of Raleigh, Progress Energy Carolinas, Southern Energy Management, and NxGen Power reaffirms the City's commitment to being a leader in the community in sustainability.

Under the terms of the lease agreement, approved by the City Council, NxGen Power of Charlotte will own and operate the array and sell the output to Progress Energy Carolinas for distribution to its customers. No City capital investment was required for this project. Southern Energy Management, winner of the City's 2011 Environmental Stewardship Award, designed, engineered and constructed the project.

The solar photovoltaic array is expected to generate approximately 1.7 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 1,300 tons annually. This is equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions from the use of about 140,000 gallons of gasoline.

In 2008, Raleigh's Public Utilities Department started investigating solar photovoltaic generation and determined the Neuse River Wastewater Treatment Plant site was a potential location for an array. This was done with the assistance of Mike Nicklas of Innovative Design, an internationally known and environmentally sensitive architectural firm based in Raleigh and the winner of the City's 2009 Pioneering Environmental Award.

The City invited several experienced solar power developers to provide a project bid in response to Progress Energy Carolinas' request for renewable energy proposals. The company's request was designed to meet the requirements of North Carolina's Renewable Energy and Efficiency Portfolio Standard, passed in 2007. After an evaluation process, Progress Energy Carolinas accepted Southern Energy Management's proposal.

The 2012 Entrepreneurial Summit will be Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012 from 8:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. at the Regional Center for Economic, Community, and Professional Development in COMTech Park, Pembroke, NC.

The theme is "Small Business/Entrepreneurial Growth and Sustainability." The content for each presentation will focus on those key skills and competencies that are required by entrepreneurs to grow, sustain, and create wealth for their businesses.

AGENDA

08:00 – 08:55 a.m. - Registration & Continental Breakfast
08:55 – 09:00 a.m. - Welcome
09:00 – 09:15 a.m. - Opening Comments
09:15 – 09:45 a.m. - Sustainability Overview
09:45 – 10:15 a.m. - Sustainability in Manufacturing
10:15 – 10:30 a.m. - Break
10:30 – 11 a.m. - Sustainability in Services
11 – 11:30 a.m. - Sustainability in Construction
11:30 – 12 p.m. - Elevator Competition
12 - 1 p.m. - Lunch and Awards (Lunch provided free of charge)
1 - 2 p.m. - NC Efforts for small business sustainability
2 - 2:15 p.m. - Closing Remarks

Registration deadline is Friday, Feb. 17, 2012. Click here to save your seat.

The School of Government’s Environmental Finance Center (EFC) will conduct a one-day course on “Financing and Implementing Energy Initiatives in Government and the Community” in Lake Junaluska (west of Asheville) on Feb. 28, 2012. The one-day course focuses on the finance and policy challenges that arise when local governments consider implementing energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements in government facilities and in the community at large. The course is co-organized by the Local Government Training Program which is administered by Western Carolina University.

Where: Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center, Lake Junaluska, NC

Registration: $35/person. For more information and to register, click here. The registration deadline is Feb. 21.

Who should go: Sustainability Managers, Finance Directors, City and County Managers, Municipal and Cooperative Power Providers, Council/Commission/Board Members, and technical assistance providers.

Do you have an opinion on clean energy in the High Country, or do you want to learn more? Appalachian State University will be hosting the forum Energy Innovation in the High Country. The objective of this forum is to discuss current energy issues in our area, and collaborate on ways to move forward. Local business leaders, industry experts, and ASU faculty will provide their professional opinions on the subject. Community members are encouraged to attend the event and voice their opinions. The forum will include small group discussions on various clean energy topics, such as financing, state/federal policy, and available technology.

You are invited to participate in an economic development workshop scheduled for March 6 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at North Carolina State University-College of Natural Resources (Jordan Hall Addition, Room 1216).  The workshop agenda is attached to this email message, "Wood to Energy II: Promoting BioEnergy in Your Neck of the Woods".

Participants in this single day workshop will learn about biomass and biofuel resources within North Carolina, the economic benefits and job creation from bioenergy projects, bioenergy industry trends, public and private partnerships, policy and market development, port authority updates and opportunities, and available resources and tools to help recruit sustainable bioenergy industries to North Carolina.   Participants from the first workshop included economic developers, county commissioners, military growth task force members, biomass industry entrepreneurs and experts, university professors, and representatives from the North Carolina Biofuels Center and Division of Environmental and Natural Resources.

Online registration and additional details are posted here or contact: Natasha James, NCSU-FEOP Program Assistant, NC State University Extension Forestry, at (919) 515-9563.

The Renergy 2012 Conference will be focused towards enabling Tamil Nadu become even more attractive to renewable energy investors and entrepreneurs. To this end, the conference will analyse critical pain points for the primary renewable energy sectors solar, wind, biomass, waste to energy, energy efficiency. The conference will feature expert speakers from all over India who will share their insights and perspectives on accelerating the adoption of renewable energy in Tamil Nadu in specific, and India in general. The Renergy 2012 Exhibition will focus on exhibiting and promoting solutions from diverse stakeholders along the business value chain for all renewable energy sectors. The vision for the exhibition is to enable the industry and end users to understand the latest available renewable energy solutions, and for the solution providers to gain relevant exposure for their solutions and to understand the needs of the target segments. The exhibition will be organized along themes closely reflecting that of the conference sessions, there by ensuring that the focused industry professionals and delegates who attend the conference will also have an opportunity to interact with the exhibitors.

http://www.renergy2012.com/

Reinventing Fire: Bold Business Solutions for the New Energy Era offers actionable solutions for four energy-intensive sectors of the economy: transportation, buildings, industry, and electricity.

Built on Rocky Mountain Institute’s 30 years of research and work in the field, Reinventing Fire maps pathways for running a 158%-bigger U.S. economy in 2050 but needing no oil, no coal, and no nuclear energy.

Come hear Amory Lovins, the author of this new study on March 13 at 1:30 p.m. in Witherspoon Student Center, Room 117 at NC State University in Raleigh, NC

To register, click here. To listen to an NPR interview with, Lovins, click here.