Viability to Present at United Nations Forum in Kenya, Share Environmental Insight
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 24, 2010
Contact: Chris Byrnes, President
616-396-6101, chris@viabilityonline.com
West Michigan Business to Present at United Nations Forum in Kenya, Share Environmental Insight
Members of Viability, LLC will travel East Africa to meet with clean energy project developers and explore carbon credit ventures
HOLLAND, MI – February 24, 2010 – Three members of Viability, LLC, a West Michigan-based financial incentives firm, will be participating in the United Nations sponsored Africa Carbon Forum in Nairobi, Kenya, March 3-5, 2010. Dr. David Armstrong, Dan Kuipers and Kyle Denning will be representing Viability at the international event, including a presentation by Denning entitled, “Using carbon finance to fight poverty and environmental degradation.”
Viability’s participation and presentation at the Africa Carbon Forum is part of a larger two-week clean energy project analysis throughout East Africa.
The Africa Carbon Forum engages multiple United Nations agencies, public and private sector experts and local and national government officials to address the development of clean energy projects in Africa.
During the forum’s three days of speakers, Viability will use its expertise to speak on the importance and effectiveness of small, community focused carbon reduction projects and building smart infrastructure.
“We [at Viability] want to develop an understanding of the technologies, impact, and financial incentives for renewable energy projects in East Africa,” shares Kyle Denning, who leads Viability’s international development efforts and will present on the final day of the event. “These projects go beyond being a green energy source and truly make a difference in the lives of individuals, families, communities and even nations.”
According to the Africa Carbon Forum, Africa accounts for less than two percent of the 2,000-plus registered Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects worldwide.
After the forum, Viability’s contingent will meet with other renewable energy developers in Kenya and Rwanda to discuss possible wind, solar, and hydroelectric projects.
PiSAT Solar of Grand Rapids, MI, will be among the organizations to meet with Viability while in Rwanda. Viability is currently helping PiSAT develop a program to fund and distribute thousands of durable K-Light solar powered lanterns to Rwandans. The project will remove harmful kerosene emissions from home environments, reduce greenhouse gases and provide a source of lighting with zero fuel cost.
Viability will post updates and photos both during and after the trip on its Twitter account (@viabilityllc) and blog (http://viabilityloop.wordpress.com/).
Armstrong, Kuipers and Denning will depart for Kenya on March 1 and return March 15.
ABOUT VIABILITY
Since 2003, Viability, LLC has partnered with a wide range of businesses in over 20 states and secured millions in grants and incentives. Viability’s comprehensive services include domestic and international carbon credit development, grant and incentive research and preparation, and ViAlign, a free incentives eligibility tool.
For more information on the Africa Carbon Forum, please visit http://www.africacarbonforum.com/2009/english/index.htm.
For more information on Viability, LLC, please visit www.viabilityllc.com
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Click here to download a PDF of this release
Post on Feb 24 in Press ReleasesViability staff to present at United Nations carbon forum in Kenya
As part of their upcoming international business trip through Kenya and Rwanda, Viability’s Dr. David Armstrong, Kyle Denning Dan Kuipers will be participating and presenting on the role of small, community based carbon reduction and renewable energy projects at the three-day long Africa Carbon Forum. Specifically, Denning will give a presentation entitled, “Using carbon finance to fight poverty and environmental degradation.” The Africa Carbon Forum brings together project developers, environmental experts, local and international government leaders, and others to address issues surrounding the implementation of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects throughout Africa. Kenya is hosting 2010′s forum; Senegal hosted the first forum in 2008.
Click here to read the Press Release
Date: March 3-5, 2010
Time: Viability-hosted social event on the 3rd, and Denning’s presentation on the 5th
Location: United Nations Gigiri Compounds in Nairobi, Kenya
Sponsor: The government of Kenya and several United Nation’s related organizations, including UNFCC, UNEP, UNDP, UNITAR, and UNCTAD
Important Information: To learn more about the event, visit Africa Carbon Forum’s website. You can also follow Viability’s updates on its Twitter (@viabilityllc) and blog
Greenhouses Embrace Alternative Energy Sources
[Viability is able to work with greenhouses to secure financial incentives for biomass heating systems]
Fueling a Movement
By Kevin Yanik, Associate Editor
Greenhouse Grower magazine, February 2010
Fuel oil prices were becoming too expensive and natural gas wasn’t an option because it was not being piped into the area. So Grower Direct Farms, a wholesale greenhouse operation in Somers, Conn., began looking seriously at alternative energy sources for its facilities more than a year ago.
Wind. Solar. Geothermal. The list of energy source options available stretched beyond the fossil fuels growers historically had used. Renewable resources were becoming more viable, Grower Direct Farms found, and the more growers were gravitating toward them the closer newer options were to becoming mainstream.
For Grower Direct Farms, biomass was the renewable resource of choice and wood chips became its fuel. Now, the operation primarily uses wood chips to heat its greenhouses, and fuel oil is its secondary source. And like most growers who’ve moved to alternative energy systems, Grower Direct Farms largely made the transition because of rising fuel costs.
“Energy is one of the most important areas of our business in terms of the cost of our product,” says Sam Smith, sales manager at Grower Direct Farms. “Not just in the way we heat our greenhouses, but the fuel we put in our trucks to move our product, the electricity we consume to light the product we grow and just to do basic things like run our offices and computers.”
Heating greenhouses is one of a grower’s most costly expenses, though. And the more burdensome fossil fuel costs get, the more growers are turning to alternative energy solutions.
“Energy usage has been and will continue to be an area of concern for growers,” says Randy Monhemius, an Ohio-based business program specialist for USDA’s Rural Development program. “I believe growers are looking to save money, or at least manage costs better through the installation of energy-efficient improvements or renewable energy.”
From Propane To Wood [thumbshot url=http://greenhousegrower.com/magazine/?storyid=2969]
Rick Webb, owner of Webb Perennials in Logan, Ohio, was one grower looking for cost savings when propane approached $2.50 a gallon last year. Propane simply isn’t affordable for his small operation when it’s over $2 a gallon, Webb says, so he sought relief in the form of biomass.
Nearby Hocking College hosted a biomass workshop that introduced different systems to him. Webb got a few ideas, did some research on his own and tried to determine which wood form would produce the best, most-efficient heat for Webb Perennials.
“I’ve done a fair amount of research looking at different options,” Webb says. “The (wood) chip system would have been nice if my operation was a little bigger. I was looking at a system but then we got up to like $120,000 potentially and I still didn’t have a front-end loader to handle them.”
Eventually, Webb settled on logs and he installed a wood gasification boiler to accommodate them. His system is not automated – he loads logs into the boiler by hand – but automation did not make financial sense for Webb because he only needed to heat a facility that’s less than a half-acre.
“I live in an area where there’s a lot of firewood,” he says. “It’s Southeast Ohio – 90 percent forested area. There is a lot of firewood available. By the time I finished and built a barn to store wood, I only put $32,000 into it.”
Midway through the process, Webb Perennials was awarded an $8,000 USDA Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) grant. It ultimately paid for one-fourth of Webb’s system.
Now that Webb’s system is up and running, he’s using wood as his primary fuel with propane as the backup.
“If I don’t get out in time to stoke the wood boiler, the propane kicks in,” Webb says. “I’ve used 300 gallons of propane (as of January 5) and I probably would have used 3,000 gallons so far. I have my wood delivered and split. We stack it here. And I’ve figured the equivalent to 3,000 gallons in propane costs $1,000 in wood.”
Click here to Read Full Article
Post on Feb 11 in Related storiesKuipers’ Article in Industry Publication Explores RPS, Energy Independence
By Dan Kuipers, Viability Carbon Specialist
Alternative Energy Magazine, February/March 2010
Resetting the Clock: RPS and Realizing Energy Independence
The most pressing questions surrounding energy policy now are: 1) How do we reach these goals? And 2) Are they even attainable? Advocates from both sides of the aisle and in many industries, such as wind, solar, biomass, nuclear, and even domestically sourced natural gas and clean coal, have all thrown their hats in the ring professing that their technological approach is the way to go if there is any hope of truly changing the energy landscape.
In 2007, the Energy Independence and Security Act was legislated by the US House and Senate as a means to promote petroleum based independence and alternative forms of energy in the United States. While originally intended to directly affect the federal and institutional subsidization of the oil industry, effectively “leveling” the playing field for new technologies and innovative ways of thinking, political negotiations necessary for the act’s passage significantly limited and altered the final version of the bill that we know today. Instead, this roadmap now focuses mainly on automobile fuel economy, development of bio-fuels and efficiency measures in public buildings.
The policy has steps in the right direction, and coupled with aggressive Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) mandates in at least 25 states, the future of those working in the renewable energy sector appears rather sunny (pun intended). Goals have now been set within the energy generation sector of our economy as they relate to increasing the use of renewable fuels, and a de facto line in the sand has been drawn. Meanwhile, the clock continues to tick and impending target dates, most notably the year 2020, are getting closer and closer.
Reassessing Priorities
The most pressing questions surrounding energy policy now are: 1) How do we reach these goals? And 2) Are they even attainable? Advocates from both sides of the aisle and in many industries, such as wind, solar, biomass, nuclear, and even domestically sourced natural gas and clean coal, have all thrown their hats in the ring professing that their technological approach is the way to go if there is any hope of truly changing the energy landscape. However, as this argument continues to be broadcast live on nightly news programs, CSPAN floor votes, and The Daily Show, no single front-runner has emerged. And the clock keeps ticking.
Author and NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman speaks of this quest for cheap, abundant, clean, reliable electrons as the next truly world changing industry. As global populations continue to grow exponentially and energy demand sets new records with each passing year, it is evident that there currently is no silver bullet when it comes to solving our looming energy and environmental crisis. In many ways it is very similar to the IT bubble of the 1990’s and the oil bubble at the turn of the century: AOL Search or Google, Betamax or VHS. Each had its own internally perceived competitive advantage and unique business model, but it’s clear who won out in these instances.
This illustrates that what is needed is a combination of public/private partnerships, interaction of market forces and new innovative companies offering superior solutions to carve out niches in ways that have defined the American Dream and the capitalistic ideals that this country was founded on. These are great words, but still there is no demonstrable proof that these goals will be met on time, despite state and federal progress reports indicating movement towards RPS attainment in some states.
Click here to Read Full Article
Post on Feb 01 in Viability in the News