Ohio

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Comment by J Jay Pirko 20 hours ago

Notice to Entrepreneurs in the New Energy Economy:

ADVANCED-ENERGY BUSINESS INCUBATOR IN WARREN, OHIO

The Youngstown-Warren Ohio region (in northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania) is a hotbed for Green Energy technology and business opportunity.

The Youngstown Business Journal published this article, another example of their outstanding business news coming from the Youngstown region. (I strongly recommend subscribing to the Youngstown Business Journal daily news broadcasts, and in-depth printed newspaper.)

- James Jay Pirko
OH-17 District Leader


NorTech to Help Launch Warren Incubator
-- 12/15/2009
Dec. 22, 2009 6:48 a.m.
By Dennis LaRue
WARREN, Ohio -- Possessed of a vision and fortified with $2.7 million in federal and state grants and another $1.7 million in private funding, a steering committee of 26 will, over the next 10 months, work toward the birth of an advanced-energy business incubator downtown.

Midwife to this birth is Rebecca O. Bagley, president and CEO of NorTech, a consulting firm based in downtown Cleveland whose tagline is “Growing Northeast Ohio’s High Tech Economy.”

Bagley, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-17 Ohio, state Sen. Capri Cafaro, D-32 Hubbard, state Rep. Tom Letson, D-64 Warren, and Mayor Michael O’Brien, outlined their vision Monday of what such an incubator might achieve in the fields of “advanced energy and flexible materials.”

Long on optimism and short on specifics, the four expressed hope the incubator will rejuvenate manufacturing in Mahoning Valley through infant enterprises that one day produce parts for windmills, geothermal, solar and nuclear energy plants and sources of energy other than petroleum, coal and natural gas.

“Four hundred tons of steel go into a windmill,” Ryan noted.

Bagley offered a number of people she expects would be employed in the incubator -- “50 to 70 jobs” – rather the number of companies that would be housed there.

“We have done some market testing,” she said later, reporting that “450 firms” in the region are interested.

The incubator is incorporated as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that will be funded by both the public and private sectors.

The site of the incubator, whether it will be a converted building or a brand-new structure, and its design all must be worked out, to be determined by the steering committee that includes “nine CEOs or CEO-level executives,” Bagley said.

Mike Garvey, president of M 7 Technologies, Youngstown, and William Letson, president of the Trumbull 100, were present at yesterday’s press event in Ryan’s Warren office. So, too, were leaders from organized labor such as Gary Steinbeck, Sub-District 1 director of the United Steel Workers of America, and Mark Catello, business manager of Local 573 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Tony Iarusso, executive director of Warren Redevelopment and Planning, “will be involved,” O’Brien promised.

“Our role is facilitation,” Bagley said, “walking the steering committee through the process.”

The steering committee will look closely at the Youngstown Business Incubator, which Ryan called “a successful model [that will help the committee] avoid landmines.” He praised its success, noting it has earned national attention and, he hopes, the Warren incubator will too.

O’Brien voiced great optimism about the incubator, which in conjunction with the main campus of Eastern Gateway Community College to be established in Warren, should boost his city’s economy. Bagley and Ryan expect a partnership will develop between the community college and incubator.

“From North Park [Avenue] to Main Street,” O’Brien predicted, “within the next year, all [vacant buildings] will be filled.”

After nearly 30 years of neglect from Washington and Columbus, he rejoiced in the funding for the incubator and the development of the community college campus.

O’Brien pronounced himself “thoroughly impressed by the connectivity” of the Ohio House of Representatives, Ohio Senate and Congress that allowed the public funding of the incubator.

Before founding NorTech, Bagley served as deputy secretary for the Technology Investment Office of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development under Gov. Ed Rendell, says the biography provided by NorTech. There she “was responsible for the administration of several major state programs and initiatives, including the Life Sciences Greenhouse Initiative, the Ben Franklin Technology Partners, the Keystone Innovation Zone program, the research and development tax credit program and the manufacturing strategy.”

In that role, she managed “more than $1.7 billion in investments for Pennsylvania.”

Before that she was an investment banker in New York City where she was involved in oil and gas mergers and raising capital for various energy ventures.

She earned her baccalaureate in marketing at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Copyright 2009 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.

Comment by J Jay Pirko on November 22, 2009 at 8:31am

NEO Clean Energy Network Meeting in Trumbull County
Tuesday, November 24, 2009, from 7-8:30 p.m.

Energy Efficiency's Role in Green Building

Michael Hein and Jason Clark of The Green Building Pros are the main speakers for a Clean Energy Network Meeting in Trumbull County on Tuesday, November 24, 2009, from 7-8:30 p.m. The meeting will be held in Room 117 of the Kent State University Trumbull Campus Technology Building. The meeting is free and open to the public.

Hein and Clark will discuss "Energy Efficiency's Role in Green Building" and will deal with topics such as what makes a building "green," why energy efficiency is important to homeowners and small business owners, and energy audits. To make existing buildings more energy efficient, an energy audit is the place to start. The speakers will explain what is involved in an energy audit and the reports produced to help determine the steps needed to reduce energy use while maintaining a comfortable and healthy building. A question/answer session will follow the presentation. Also, attendees will discuss future meeting topics.

The Green Building Pros (GBP) is a collaboration of energy efficiency and sustainability experts dedicated to bringing their expertise to the marketplace in Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. The staff at GBP has decades of experience in the construction industry and hold advanced degrees and certifications in sustainability and green building. This experience and education – coupled with memberships and accreditation by leading organizations in green building and energy efficiency organizations such as the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET), and the Building Performance Institute (BPI) – position GBP to be a leader in the growing green building market. GBP is on the Web at http://thegreenbuildingpros.com/.

Clean Energy Network in Trumbull County is a group dedicated to increasing awareness in sustainability, green building and renewable energy technologies by bringing together like-minded people in the area. The Clean Energy Network in Trumbull County is a regional affiliate of Green Energy Ohio.

For more information about the Clean Energy Network and the Trumbull County meeting, contact Dave Ambrose at 330-647-3666 or dambrose1@neo.rr.com.

Green Energy Ohio is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting environmentally and economically sustainable energy policies and practices in Ohio. GEO is the Ohio Chapter of the American Solar Energy Society. GEO promotes renewable energy (solar, wind, biomass and low-impact hydro) statewide by acting as a clearinghouse to inform Ohioans on sustainable energy. The GEO

Comment by J Jay Pirko on November 15, 2009 at 1:57pm

This was sent to me by Kenneth Prendergast, Executive Director of All Aboard Ohio!

The Oil Situation Is Really Bad
by Dave Cohen

Published Nov 12 2009 by ASPO-USA, Archived Nov 12 2009


On the eve of the International Energy Agency’s release of its annual World Energy Outlook (WEO), a whistleblower at the IEA claims the agency “has been deliberately underplaying a looming [oil] shortage for fear of triggering panic buying” in the world markets. As the young fan said to “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, who was wrongly convicted of helping to throw the 1919 World Series, but knew the fix was in, say it ain’t so, Joe.

Ah, but apparently it is so. Another dose of disillusionment for the naive. A second Guardian informant went so far as to say the situation is really bad—

The senior official claims the US has played an influential role in encouraging the watchdog to underplay the rate of decline from existing oil fields while overplaying the chances of finding new reserves.

The allegations raise serious questions about the accuracy of the organization’s latest World Energy Outlook on oil demand and supply to be published tomorrow – which is used by the British and many other governments to help guide their wider energy and climate change policies…

A second senior IEA source, who has now left but was also unwilling to give his name, said a key rule at the organization was that it was “imperative not to anger the Americans” but the fact was that there was not as much oil in the world as had been admitted. “We have [already] entered the ‘peak oil’ zone. I think that the situation is really bad,” he added.

READ MORE AT:
http://www.energybulletin.net/node/50688

READ IEA'S WEO REPORT AT:
http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/

READ THE GUARDIAN ARTICLE AT:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/09/peak-oil-international-energy-agency#history-byline

Comment by J Jay Pirko on May 25, 2009 at 3:26pm

Join Green Energy Ohio for a Clean Energy Network Meeting in Trumbull County on Tue-26-May 7-8:30 pm, in Room 117 of the Kent State University Trumbull Campus Technology Building. The meeting is free and open to the public, especially those interested in sustainability, green building and renewable energy technologies.

Scot Loveland will explain how wind turbines work and what is involved in a typical installation. In addition, Loveland will provide examples of energy savings that can be expected and help attendees determine if small scale wind is appropriate for their situations.

Loveland is in charge of Renewable Energy Projects for Tri-County Tower Service Inc. of North Jackson, Ohio. He is a high school teacher, and developed classroom curriculum based around renewable energy and green building projects.

The company installed their first wind turbine in 2003 and now considers renewable energy projects to be a full-time division of the organization. They offer complete turnkey construction of wind projects and are authorized dealer/installers for several small wind turbine manufacturers. More information about Tri-County’s products and services is available at http://www.tricountytower.com .

A question/answer session will follow the presentation. Also, we will discuss topics for future Trumbull meetings.

For more information about the Clean Energy Network and the Trumbull County meeting, contact Dave Ambrose at 330-647-3666 or ambrose@infohio.org .
The GEO Web site is http://www.greenenergyohio.org .

-Jim Pirko
OH-17 District Leader

Comment by J Jay Pirko on September 16, 2008 at 6:16pm

Does anyone have any information on zoning or other local regulations that either permit or otherwise affect wind turbines, PV, and other energy sources?

Comment by J Jay Pirko on September 7, 2008 at 7:29pm

Sugarbeets produce more usable sugar per acre than corn, and already grow well as far north as Saginaw, Michigan. As a root crop, they can survive hailstorms better than any grass crop (like corn.) Corn is too valuable and expensive to produce for motor vehicle fuel.

"For a Farmer, every day is Earth Day." (Painted on a barn in Columbiana County, Ohio.)

Comment by Bill Mollring on July 21, 2008 at 4:15pm

Thank you for starting this site. I am very interested in seeing how alternative energy ideas develop across the country. We are in the process of building a new Mariah plant in Youngstown, Ohio. Please include me on your updates and notices. I wish you much success. We are listed on the Pickens Plan as Mariah Power.
I invite you to join our group for updates on the Windspire and
other alternative energy items and ideas.
http://www.push.pickensplan.com/group/mariahpower
To see our other alternative energy sources please go to:
http://www.emsystems.net
Aloha, Bill