Out of the ashes rose a green phoenix

Greensburg today

When the initial shock subsided and the time to rebuild arrived, the residents realized that they had an opportunity to turn a tragedy into a triumph—an opportunity to make Greensburg something even better than it had been before. Living close to the land, they knew the value of solar and wind power and of using water efficiently. Conversations began about translating these concepts to rebuilding as a model “green” community, and the idea quickly picked up steam. Soon after the tornado, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) dispatched a team, including its own energy experts and some from its National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), to Greensburg to assist the residents with the technical aspects of rebuilding. DOE’s ultimate goal was to demonstrate energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions that would help Greensburg and could be replicated in other disaster recovery and general rebuilding efforts across the country. Researchers on the DOE/NREL team were interested in understanding how far a city, with the opportunity to completely rebuild, could go toward becoming a net-zero energy community. Project goals included helping rebuild the city as a model community of clean, affordable, and energy-efficient technologies and buildings; facilitating renewable electricity generation for long-term, clean, and economical power; and supporting the reconstruction of Greensburg with access to information and materials to achieve national goals related to energy diversity and reliability.

Burlington, Vermont: Vermont’s largest city reached their 100 percent renewable energy generation in 2014.

With little fanfare, the Burlington Electric Department crossed the threshold this month with the purchase of the 7.4-megawatt Winooski 1 hydroelectric project on the Winooski River at the city’s edge. When it did, Burlington joined the Washington Electric Co-operative, which has about 11,000 customers across central and northern Vermont and which reached 100 percent earlier this year.

Kodiak Island, Alaska: The year was 2012, some people were able to pretend Sarah Palin had never happened. The small community of Kodiak Island, who had been working on a renewable energy plan since 2002, were far ahead of schedule.

Chester County Ready for 100% is pleased to acknowledge Kodiak Island, Alaska for its foresight and determination in having made the change to 100% renewable energy as of 2012! In 2002 the Kodiak Electric Association created a strategy to lower their reliance on expensive diesel fuel and began to plan for wind power, hoping to be 95% powered by renewable energy by 2020. We are so impressed that the Kodiak Electric Association not only reached this goal, but managed to reach it 6 years ahead of schedule! By 2014 it was reported that the 15,000 residents of Kodiak Island were receiving 99.7% of their power from wind and hydropower. The shift to these combined renewable energies has saved the local residents $22 million compared to diesel costs. Before adding the wind turbines, the Kodiak Electric Association had been burning roughly 2.8 million gallons of diesel a year. The change not only saves residents money, but they have also reduced their carbon dioxide emissions by 62 million pounds per year!

Aspen, Colorado: Aspen added its name to the list of American cities that don’t want to end up on history’s “Dark ages” list. Already developing wind power, solar power, and geothermal heat, Aspen was able to push themselves to the max in 2015.

Aspen's transition to 100 percent renewable occurred Thursday after the city signed a contract with wholesale electric energy provider Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska, in order "to achieve this final leg of our goal," Hornbacher said. The city had been using about 75 to 80 percent renewable energy beforehand, former city Project Coordinator Will Dolan said. Aspen eliminated coal and added to its wind power to replace the remaining 20 to 25 percent of non-renewable energy and reach its 100 percent goal, Dolan said.

Georgetown, Texas: Mayor Dale Ross is getting lauded for turning this central Texas city on to 100 percent renewables. In a state that is floating on oil, it was the cheaper alternative energy that drove their decision.

"We're worldwide; today we had a crew from Japan filming, and did an interview with commissioner of Wales on UK last Friday, so we truly are an international kind of story... people have a lot of interest in what's going on in Georgetown," said Georgetown Mayor Dale Ross. The city is currently using wind power from a wind farm West of Amarillo and will use a new solar panel unit in West Texas. It's scheduled to go online in 2018.

Yeehawww! Just remember who is telling you it can’t be done. It can be done. It’s being done. Let’s get it done.

(Via)