Triangle Green Home Tour Coming Soon!

The 4th Annual Green Home Tour has been expanded to two weekends in 2009: Apr 25-26 and May 2-3. This free, self-guided event will feature 36 entries in six counties.

As usual, the tour will allow you to examine a number of green building features in a wide variety of homes in all styles and price points -- ranging from Habitat and entry-level homes to luxury custom entries.

One of the entries is currently under construction at the Streets of Southpoint by Sun River Builders. This green-built home became open to the public this past Saturday, March 28, just one short week after construction began. To learn more, check out their website.

Plug Into the Smart Grid

GE's ecomagination group put together an interactive website to demo Smart Grid technology.

In addition to seeing a digital hologram of Smart Grid technology come to life in your hands, the website explains how it will allow us to manage energy more efficiently, save money by using electricity at off-peak hours, and even distribute alternative energy from one part of the country to another.

Check it out at... PlugIntoTheSmartGrid.com

PSNC Offering Incentives to Go Green

Yesterday, the News & Observer reported that PSNC Energy, the Triangle's natural gas utility, has been given the go ahead to offer customers financial incentives to make their homes and businesses more energy-efficient.

PSNC will immediately offer a discount of about 5 percent to customers who live in homes with the federal Energy Star Efficiency Rating. A similar discount will be offered to businesses whose buildings meet the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED certification.

In the spring, PSNC will start offering customers a billing credit of $100 for installing energy-efficient water heaters and furnaces. The rebate will help offset the cost of upgrading to high-efficiency appliances, and will be available only for replacing an older furnace or water heater.

Then in the fall, PSNC will offer $25 energy audits for customers whose homes were built before April 15, 1993. The audit will recommend energy-saving upgrades, and the $25 fee can be applied toward the purchase of materials from PSNC.

Read the full story.

6th Annual NC Sustainable Energy Conference

On April 14-15, 2009, the NC State Energy Office is hosting the 6th Annual Sustainable Energy Conference at the McKimmon Conference & Training Center at NC State University in Raleigh.

With energy becoming tied to economic recovery and environmental quality, event organizers plan to include sessions that will provide attendees insight into some of the strategic opportunities that are unfolding in NC. Sessions will cover the following topical areas: Energy Efficiency (Residential, Commercial, Industrial), Economic Development and the Green Economy, Utility Savings Initiative in Public Buildings, Renewable Technologies, and Alternative Fuels and Transportation. Two new sessions will also be presented: Consumer Issues and Linking Investors to New Projects.

Download a brochure or register online for this event.

Solarize Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival

Spring is almost here, which means Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival will be here soon! Don't miss this family-friendly festival of music, dance, art, and education. 4 days, 4 stages, and over 40 bands in beautiful, green Chatham County. It will be held April 16-19, 2009.

According to their website, Shakori Hills uses about 10,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity each year during 2 festivals, a fiddlers convention, and other events. To offset this usage, they are creating a permanent grid inter-tied solar electric system located permanently on the site, with the hope of making the festival fully-powered by solar energy in the near future.

Announced this past Fall, Shakori Hills and The Abundance Foundation have teamed up to help achieve this goal. Anyone can sponsor a cell for just $10 each, or sponsor on a corporate level for multiple cells.

Learn more about this worthy project.

Green Construction Firm to Open Littleton Plant

Foam and Steel Technology Associates Inc. (FASTA), a Virginia-based company that manufactures steel and foam construction panels and trusses, has announced plans to open a plant in Littleton, NC. The company received a $300,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund, and expects to create about 100 jobs over the next three years. Read the full story from the Associated Press.

Triangle Business Journal Green Awards

On Oct. 23rd, the Triangle Business Journal will recognize individuals, businesses, government leaders and entities, and nonprofit organizations in the Triangle who make efforts to incorporate environmentally sustainable practices into their businesses and their communities. By doing so, they show others how to strengthen the environmental health of our region.

To be considered, companies must have operations in at least one of 13 counties that comprise the Triangle region: Chatham, Durham, Franklin, Granville, Harnett, Johnston, Lee, Moore, Orange, Person, Vance, Wake, and Warren. Work or projects completed from June 2008 to June 2009 will be considered. To nominate someone or learn more, click here.

Southern Energy Management Wins National EPA Award

Congratulations to Southern Energy Management (SEM) for being named a 2009 EPA Partner of the Year for its outstanding contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions through its work as a Home Energy Rater for the Energy Star program and promoting energy-efficient homes in our community. They join a short list of companies in the U.S. that have received this award three years in a row.

Award winners were selected from more than 12,000 organizations that participate in Energy Star, a joint program of the EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy aimed at helping Americans save money and protect the environment through energy efficient products and practices.

SEM inspected and verified more than 1,700 new homes and served more than 250 builders across NC in 2008. Read the press release.