Creating new sustainable systems for the future that are local, efficient, and clean is what it's all about. Sounds kind of sensible, doesn't it? Here in Providence, the folks at City Farm are showing the way.  

This week, City Farm partnered up with our two local energy providers, Newport Biodiesel and People's Power & Light, to power and heat their office buildings and their urban farm operations totally with green energy.

Click on "More" to learn more about this story, and how our local, sustainable energy options are increasing. You'll also find info about a lecture coming up at Brown next Tuesday, where you can learn about Las Gaviotas, a village in Colombia that has pioneered the technology of sustainable development.

SCLT (Southside Community Land Trust, which operates City Farm) has signed up to purchase 100% renewable electricity through New England GreenStart, a program of RI’s non-profit People’s Power & Light (PP&L). Now, the offices of SCLT will be supporting producers of wind and solar energy in Rhode Island and elsewhere in New England. In February of this year, SCLT scheduled their first delivery of biodiesel fuel, made locally by Newport Biodiesel. The fuel, which is refined from used cooking oil, will be used to heat greenhouses at City Farm, SCLT’s Dudley Street urban farm and community garden.
 
Biodiesel is a non-toxic, biodegradable fuel that is made from recycled or renewable resources. As a drop-in replacement for diesel fuel and home heating oil, biodiesel can be used with little or no modification. In their Aquidneck Island microbrewery, Newport Biodiesel produces the biofuel from waste fats and oils collected from over 200 area restaurants and institutions including Providence College, RISD, and the Waterman Grille on Providence’s East Side. From used cooking oil to finished fuel, the biodiesel is created and consumed all within a 50-mile radius. It is that rare prize: truly sustainable biofuel.
 
Similarly, renewable electricity aggregated in the New England GreenStart mix is produced and distributed locally. PP&L—which purchases energy from wind, solar, low impact-hydro and biomass—supports small power producers and community-owned renewable energy projects on New England’s electric grid. This model of locally owned, decentralized energy production is aimed at reclaiming energy independence and a more secure and stable energy future for the region.
 
SCLT, a supporter of local food production for 27 years, has identified the link between localized food and localized energy resources. The organization’s mission states that local food should be grown using “appropriate technology and renewable resources.” SCLT’s executive director Katherine Brown elaborates, saying “It is integral to our mission to ensure that our local food system is strengthened through the increased use of sustainable, energy-efficient agricultural practices and distribution.”
 
The SCLT began using renewable energy in 2005 when they installed solar panels to meet part of their needs at City Farm. After seeing the positive impact of the solar installation, SCLT wanted to do more to support similar green power installations in the community. Rich Pederson, the manager of City Farm, explained the motivation to install solar panels and to use locally made biodiesel: “City Farm is striving to be a sustainable urban farm model. Part of that is meeting local needs and demands responsibly, including energy use. If we can have success from using alternative energies I think others will want to implement them themselves.”
 
"Local food, local fuel!" says Nick Fox, Asst. Production Manager at Newport Biodiesel. "Creating sustainable local infrastructure—that's really what motivates us everyday."
 
Rich Pederson at City Farm also gave his perspective on the relationship between local energy and local food. “Local food and renewable energy are about bringing what we need closer to home,” he says. “It’s also about making healthy economic and environmental improvements in our community while preserving resources and remaining creative in a changing world.” People’s Power & Light Deputy Director Omay Elphick agrees, and adds that "When people realize where the majority of their food and energy currently come from—from distant industrial farms and dirty, fossil-fuel burning power plants—they will be motivated to make a more local, sustainable choice."
 
For more information on switching to clean energy options for your home or business, visit People’s Power & Light on the web at www.ripower.org , or visit Newport Biodiesel at www.newportbiodiesel.com . For more information about Southside Community Land Trust and urban food production, visit www.southsideclt.org .

via: PP&L

Las Gaviotas: An Eco-Village to Reinvent the World

The Center for Environmental Studies and the Environmental Change Initiative invite you to join us for a discussion with Paolo Lugari, founder of Las Gaviotas.

Las Gaviotas, founded by Paolo Lugari, is an eco-village with a twenty-three year track record of rainforest regeneration, developing more sustainable lives for the inhabitants of the Vichada region of Colombia.

In 1965, when Colombian activist Paulo Lugari was flying over the impoverished region, he mused that if people could live here they could live anywhere. The following year Lugari and a group of scientists, artists, agronomists and engineers took the 15-hour journey along a tortuous route from Bogotá to the Llanos Orientales (eastern plains) bordering Venezuela.

Today, their venture has grown to a village of 200 that generates its own energy from renewable sources and grows its own food. Inventions from Gaviotas designers—including windmills, high efficiency pumps and solar kettles—are not patented and have spread quickly to villages across the country. The pine forest they planted for income in the 80’s has become a nursery to over 200 native rainforest species and the community now sells voluntary carbon offsets, based on the carbon sequestered.
 
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Lecture 4:00 p.m.
Reception 5:00 p.m.
 
115 MacMillan Hall
Brown University
167 Thayer Street
Providence, RI