fossil fuels

Five Tips to Launch Your Own Green Business: ECOPRENEURING

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Author
LISA KIVIRIST
Co-Author, ECOpreneuring, Rural Renaissance, Edible Earth
Are you at a job that doesn't reflect your mission to leave this world a better place? Feeling those Monday morning blues? Get out of the cubicle track of working for someone else. Blend your green lifestyle with your livelihood and become an ecopreneur: launch a business reflecting your passion for caring for the planet and people.

Here are some tips to get started, with much more detail found in the book, ECOpreneuring: Putting Purpose and the Planet Before Profits.

1. Identify your Earth Mission

Footnotes/Endnotes
ON THE WEB!

Green Routes, greenroutes.org

Profiles of sustainable rural businesses,
renewingthecountryside.org

 

Read Up!

ECOpreneuring: Putting Purpose and the Planet Before Profits, by Lisa Kivirist & John Ivanko, ecopreneuring.biz, New Society Publishers, 2008.

Rural Renaissance: Renewing the Quest for the Good Life, by Lisa Kivirist & John Ivanko, ruralrenaissance.org, New Society Publishers, 2004.

The Angry Trout Café Notebook: Friends, Recipes and the Culture of Sustainability, by George Wilkes, www.angrytroutcafe.com, Northwind Sailing, 2004.

The author in her garden.

Eco Cars

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Author
Eco Cars
HOURCAR Program Manager
Let's get this straight: the most efficient mile you can drive is a mile you don't drive. Despite technological advances, cars are still 3,000 pounds of steel moved around by (mostly) fossil fuels. That said, there are some exciting new technologies which promise more efficient driving, which can help both the environment and your pocketbook.

Eight years after the Prius was first introduced, hundreds of thousands have been sold, far outpacing all other hybrids, and it is a cultural symbol. After-market plug-in modules for the Prius are now available to the

Hard Times Come Again: THE FOOTHILLS OF PEAK OIL

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Author
BRIAN MERCHANT
MN Post Carbon
The world may look the same, but it has changed. The combination of $4.00/gallon gasoline, $130/barrel oil, and $12/BTU natural gas in the first half of 2008, sent a shockwave through the economy. The term peak oil, or the point when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached is not an arguable concept and many scientists believe we have already reached that point. Rising oil and natural gas prices affect all areas of the economy and places business plans in jeopardy along with lifestyles and livelihoods.
Footnotes/Endnotes

ON THE WEB!

The Community Solution,
communitysolution.org

Post Carbon Institute,
postcarbon.org

Read Up!

The Neighborhood Energy Connection. Twin Cities Peak Oil Resource Guide, thenec.org, 2007.

Relocalize Now! Getting Ready for Climate Change and the End of Cheap Oil-A Post Carbon Guide, by Julian Darley, New Society Publishers, 2007.

Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World, by Richard Heinberg, New Society Publishers, 2004.

Act Locally!

The Neighborhood Energy Connection
624 Selby Avenue
St. Paul, MN
651-221-4462
thenec.org

Fresh Energy
408 St. Peter Street, Suite 220
St. Paul, MN
651-225-0878
fresh-energy.org

Energy Transition

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Author
PHILIPP MUESSIG
Twin Cities Energy Transition Working Group
Huge energy price increases. Tight oil supplies. Climate change. Energy conservation. Major investments in renewable energy.

To many people, it looks like the world is in the midst of an energy transition. What is driving this transition, where are we going, and what can we do?

This energy transition is driven by three seemingly unstoppable trends:

Society's desire to prevent extreme climate change-burning fewer fossil fuels and developing more renewable energy sources.

Footnotes/Endnotes

ON THE WEB!

The Energy Bulletin, energybulletin.net

Climate Crisis Coalition, climatecrisiscoalition.org

Read Up!

Twin Cities Peak Oil Resource Guide, by Twin Cities Energy Transition Working Group, thenec.org.

Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines, by  Richard Heinberg, New Society Publishers, 2007.

The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience, by Rob Hopkins, Green Books Ltd., 2008.

Act Locally!

Fresh Energy
St. Paul, MN
651-225-0878
fresh-energy.org            

The Neighborhood Energy Connection
St. Paul, MN
651-221-4462
thenec.org

Oily Food

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Author
STEVEN L. HOPP
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Capturing Cardio Power

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Author
Compiled by
Do It Green! Minnesota

No pain, no gain, right? At the California Fitness Center, the new mantra may be “no pain, no power.” French inventor Lucien Gambarota has created a revolutionary concept in which energy burned through exercise is converted to powering light fixtures. The excess energy is then stored in a battery. Hong Kong’s California Fitness Center has installed these exercise machines in their club.

Footnotes/Endnotes

To view how the technology works go to: inhabitat.com/2007/03/08/human-powered-gyms-in-hong-kong/

The Coming of the Solar Age & Clean Energy

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Author
Carl Nelson
Director of Community Energy, Green Institute
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Footnotes/Endnotes

Resources

On the Web

Reading

  • Beyond Oil, by Kenneth S. Deffeyes 2005.
  • The Solar House: Passive Heating and Cooling, by Daniel D. Chiras 2002.

Act Locally

Opting for Wind Power

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Author
Don Vasatka,
The School of Environmental Studies

Footnotes/Endnotes

DOE - Wind & Hydropower Technologies

American Wind Energy Association

Fresh Energy - Wind Energy Resources


Energy Forever: Wind Power, Ian Graham, 1999

Wind Energy Basics: A Guide to Small & Micro Wind Systems, Paul Gipe, 1999


Minnesotans for an Energy-Efficient Economy
46 E 4th St
Minnesota Building, Suite 600
St. Paul, MN 651-225-0878

Xcel Energy
414 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, MN

What Everyone Should Know About Fossil Fuels

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Author
Mark Snyder
Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance

I attended a presentation recently titled, "The Love of Fossil Fuels: The Root of All Evil?" While the title was partly a clever play on the age-old phrase, "Money is the root of all evil," it also had some element of truth on its own.

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