Invite to Fargo's 1st green cruising event tonight

Bring your bike, street scooter, electric car, hybrid or ride a special MAT bus to join the classic cars on "cruising" night on Broadway Thursday.

We'll have a MAT Transit bus available for free rides to let folks cruise and get information on routes and get used to getting on the bus, GEM will have a couple of their electric cars dragging Broadway. We'll have some folks from the biking community and other bike riders (that use helmets, hand signals, and proper bike etiquette) we also have some Street Scooters, and we invite area folks with scooters, bikes, and electric/hybrid to join us.

This picture is from a town that has a light rail system, but on Thursday night in Downtown Fargo, to try a bus ride, you can jump on a special MAT bus to join the "cruisers" up and down Broadway for free Thursday Aug 7th from 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

Fargo is proud to be the #1 best environmental city by the Earth Day Network and our increasing use of alternative transportation methods to save energy and get more exercise.

We've lined up examples for opportunities for different modes of alternative transportation on 'cruising' night Thursday Aug 7th. 

All participants are encouraged to have fun, follow all traffic rules as they ride or drive their bikes, scooters, electric cars, hybrids, or classic cars (or not so classic) to demonstrate how we can all share the road with autos by being courteous and respectful.

Bring your ride or get on the bus, we'll assemble at 5:45 at Island Parks Bikes west parking lot.

There will be a table at the US Bank Plaza with informational materials from 6 pm - 7 pm  with some info about:
Transit, parking opportunities downtown, recycling information, Community Bikes program where people can earn a bike while learning how to fix them, tips on how to share the road as a driver, biker, scooter rider.

Posted by: Michael Williams on 8/07/2008 at 9:36 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

National conventions competing to be more green

"Oban and Miller purchased the offsets for North Dakota's delegation from the City of Fargo  The City of Fargo retired 220,460 pounds of carbon offset credits on behalf of the 25 members of the North Dakota delegation to the Democratic National Convention.  These emission reduction credits will more than equal each delegate's carbon footprint for the trip.

The independently verified credits were issued by the Chicago Climate Exchange to the City of Fargo for the City's destruction of methane from its landfill.  Clear Energy Brokerage and Consulting LLC helped to facilitate the transaction."  ~ End quote ~ 

Fargo is one of only 7 US cities that have joined the Chicago Climate Exchange CCX, and is an equal opportunity marketer of our carbon credits to willing buyers who want to offset their carbon footprint.   The list of cities is below and they're also well known for being attractive communities.

Fargo meters all the methane captured and converted to energy at the landfill since 2003 and sold the majority of those historic credits, along with over $243,000 in electric sales (in less than 8 months) with our methane powered generator. 

http://cityoffargo.com/CityInfo/Environmentalprotection/

There are also annual credits from the methane capture/generation project at the landfill.  At todays carbon capture market rates that could produce over $300,000 annually in carbon credits

The Chicago Carbon Exchange has some municipalities as members offsetting by trading carbon credits.

City of Aspen
City of Berkeley
City of Boulder
City of Chicago
City of Fargo
City of Oakland
City of Melbourne, Australia
City of Portland

http://www.chicagoclimatex.com/content.jsf?id=64

Here's the press release on the National Convention Green Delegate Challenge:

                                  North Dakota Completes

Democratic National Convention Green Delegate Challenge

Bismarck, ND  North Dakota today joined the ranks of states committed to offsetting 100% of their carbon footprint as part of the Democratic National Conventions Green Delegate Challenge.  In completing the challenge, North Dakota joins nine other state and territorial delegations with all members of their delegation participating in the challenge.

As part of its commitment to produce a sustainable event, the Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) has encouraged delegates traveling to Denver to purchase carbon offsets for Convention related travel. These credits support community-based clean energy projects throughout the country. To date, 48 delegations are participating in the program which continues through August 1st .

DNCC is offering special rewards for the delegation or delegations that demonstrate the highest level of commitment to offsetting their carbon footprint from attending the Convention.  These delegations will also be recognized in their seating section on the floor of the Pepsi Center during the Convention.

North Dakota reached its goal because of the generous sponsorship of North Dakota s delegates and alternates by Chad Oban and Carmen Miller of Bismarck , ND . 

This is something that Carmen and I were happy to do for North Dakota s delegation going to Denver , Oban said.  This is a good program and a great opportunity to promote some of the things being done right here in North Dakota to reduce greenhouse gases.

Oban and Miller purchased the offsets for North Dakota s delegation from the City of Fargo .

The City of Fargo retired 220,460 pounds of carbon offset credits on behalf of the 25 members of the North Dakota delegation to the Democratic National Convention.  These emission reduction credits will more than equal each delegates carbon footprint for the trip.

The independently verified credits were issued by the Chicago Climate Exchange to the City of Fargo for the Citys destruction of methane from its landfill.  Clear Energy Brokerage and Consulting LLC helped to facilitate the transaction.

I appreciate that we were able to buy these offset credits locally, North Dakota Democratic-NPL Chairman David Strauss added. The City of Fargo and the folks at the Democratic Convention were great to work with on this project.   Fargo is doing great things to improve the environment while generating revenue for the city at the same time.

~ End article ~

We used Farmers Union's carbon program as an example at Fargo's Renewable Energy and Conservation committee to gain support to join the CCX, perhaps another reason Fargo is ranked #1 by the Earth Day Network for the city with the best overall environment.

This is another example of ways conservation saves and pays.   We marketed over $607,000 in historic carbon credits earned by methane captured since 2003, early this year by metering the captured methane at the landfill. 

At today's carbon rates could possibly be $350,000 - $500,000 annually in carbon sales. That methane that used to be wasted into the atmosphere as a potent greenhouse gas is captured and destroyed by converting it to heat and electricity, and a new revenue source made available through those energy sales.   

The EPA environmental equivalent of this process is equal to taking over 28,000 vehicles off the road, that would be a line of Suburban from Fargo to 6 miles past Jamestown.

Posted by: Michael Williams on 8/04/2008 at 5:27 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Wall Street Journal features GEM cars, Gas prices are high when Texans start driving golf carts instead of pickups

Those "golf carts" are assembled right here at the Global Electric Motorcars GEM plant in Fargo ND, perhaps another reason Fargo is ranked #1 by the Earth Day Network for the city with the best overall environment.

Thanks to GEM General Manager Rick Kasper and sales representative extraordinaire, Al McDougall, GEM cars have been featured in the past two Fargo Parade of Lights helping Fargo to prove that conservation saves and pays! 

Global Electric cars were a big hit, especially their new 6 seater.  Thanks GEM!!

You Know Gas Prices
Are High When Texans
Start Driving Golf Carts

HOUSTON -- In the garage where chiropractor Rick Peters once parked his Dodge pickup, two tiny electric cars now sit back-to-back next to his wife's small SUV.

For trips to work, to run errands or visit friends, Dr. Peters, 43 years old, and his wife, Kris, hop into the munchkin-size cars while their old gas guzzlers gather dust. Admittedly, it's cramped inside the miniautos, which move along city streets at just 25 miles per hour. But the Peterses are converts to their low-speed vehicles.

"It makes so much sense for getting around. We go everywhere in it," says Mrs. Peters, 41.

It's a sure sign electric cars have a future when they're catching on in Texas. Others here, too, are abandoning the family car and driving to the office in what appear to be fancy little golf carts. Small battery-powered vehicles have been on the market for years but have mainly been used by workers driving around factories and university campuses.

The small cars are powered by batteries charged by plugging them into regular 110-volt house current. Though they do look like golf carts, they have heftier frames and more powerful engines. Now, with high gasoline prices driving booming sales, many are going to ordinary folks like the Peterses, who have fallen in love with gasoline-free transportation.

Orders at ZAP, a Santa Rosa, Calif., maker of small electric cars, have exploded to about 50 a day from just five six months ago. Shipments at Chrysler LLC's Global Electric Motorcars, or GEM, which made the Peterses' cars, have jumped 30% from last year's second quarter, with some of its 150 dealerships around the country tripling their sales.

Switching to tiny electric cars requires some big adjustments. With three children, the Peterses must use both their little cars when they take family outings. Every trip is an adventure into the land of the giants where they're dwarfed in traffic by SUVs and trucks. They've had to learn how far -- about 30 miles -- they can go on a single charge. The night they got their first car, they rousted a friend dressed in his pajamas for a test drive and he wound up having to help them push the car home.

The cars aren't for long-distance travel. On average, Andrew Kunev, also of Houston, can go about 25 miles on one charge in his Tic Tac-shaped three-wheeled electric car, which is technically a motorcycle and goes up to 40 mph. He sometimes plugs in his car at friends' homes for a refresher charge while he visits.

To fit his 6-foot-2 frame into the tiny driver's compartment so that he can see properly out the windshield, Mr. Kunev has to recline in his seat.

MORE ON ELECTRIC VEHICLES

 

" Video: Electric Bicycle Against Human Power

" Bicycle Review: OHM Cycle's Man-Machine Hybrid

It's a price he doesn't mind paying considering the gas savings -- more than $100 a month -- and the unexpected bonuses. "You wouldn't think it, but it's a chick-magnet," says the unmarried, 40-year-old chemical engineer, adding that women -- and pretty much everybody else, too -- approach him to talk about his unusual car.

Local Sensation

Owners now for two years, Elaine Triplett and her husband are pioneers in their small East Texas hometown of Palestine, where their tiny electric pickup is a local sensation and has inspired two other people they know to buy electric cars. At the request of her supermarket, she drove the gasoline-free vehicle into the store and parked it next to the produce section for Earth Day.

The Tripletts decided it made financial sense to buy the electric truck even when gasoline was costing them less than $2 a gallon. Their 9-foot-long truck is big enough for all their needs, including hauling lumber for a renovation project, and bringing home a 9-foot Christmas tree.

The Peterses have experienced their own neighborhood celebrity in the two months they've owned their GEM electric cars. On a recent trip to the doughnut shop, they met up with people snapping pictures with cellphones. "Everybody looks at you and waves," marveled 8-year-old Alex Peters. The family has been followed home by curious strangers. Other drivers have jumped out of their big cars at stoplights to run over and ask them about their vehicles.

Laws governing the roadworthiness of the little autos vary by state. In Texas, they're legal to drive only on streets with speed limits no higher than 35.

But some owners modify engines so the cars can travel much faster, and a few audacious drivers take them out on the highway. The Texas Department of Transportation recently got a call from a flabbergasted policeman who had stopped a "golf cart" on the freeway, says Kim Sue Lia Perkes, a spokeswoman for the agency. Starting Sept. 1, the department will no longer issue license plates for the tiny vehicles to dissuade drivers from using them like regular cars.

The Peterses' cars get about 30 miles from a full charge, which at about 15 cents per kilowatt hour, amounts to a 60-cent fill-up, or two cents a mile. Compare that with 20 cents a mile for a car that goes 20 miles on one $4 gallon of gasoline. Dr. Peters's chiropractic practice is just a few miles from his home, so he has no problem taking neighborhood streets to get there.

Enjoying the Breeze

Electric cars like the Peterses' can cost from about $7,000 to more than $18,000, depending on the model and accessories, though they paid about $10,000 altogether for the two cars, which they bought used off the Internet. Although the cars share many features with their bigger, gasoline-powered brethren, including blinkers and windshield wipers, they are decidedly more basic. The Peterses' cars don't have air conditioning or even doors -- something that at first made Mrs. Peters particularly nervous when transporting the children. With the kids safely belted in, now she sees the extra breeze as an advantage in the Houston summer heat. The cars make for a bouncy ride along rough streets, and emit a whirring noise that seems to attract barking dogs.

Sharing the road with bigger cars requires extra caution and alertness, say owners. And drivers of normal-size cars sometimes get impatient with the slower, tinier vehicles. Dr. Peters recalls one driver who screamed an expletive-laced version of "get that thing off the road." Generally, though, faster drivers just pass him by. Then, Dr. Peters says, he usually catches up to them at the next light.

Write to Ana Campoy at ana.campoy@dowjones.com

Posted by: Michael Williams on 7/31/2008 at 11:11 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

ND Farmers no till farming practice adds value of over $2 million with new carbon trading market

"Everett Dobrinski is getting a $4,000 check this week for storing carbon dioxide in his soil

But Dobrinski, who farms near Makoti in northwestern North Dakota, said protecting the planet from global warming is not the primary reason he enrolled in National Farmers Union Carbon Credit Program, It's about money.

"I am considerate of the environment, but I'm doing it more for my own pocketbook," Dobrinski said. "It just makes economic sense."

ND Farmers Union has been encouraging no-till farming for many years.  No-till reduces soil erosion and helps maintain moisture, plus saves energy by not having to till before planting.

This carbon capture program is voluntary in the US.  The Chicago Carbon Exchange CCX is one of the primary exchanges in the country.  Last year Fargo was one of only 8 cities that have completed the certified carbon analysis that helped us market our own carbon credits.  

Early this year we sold some of our metered historic carbon credits for over $600,000.  We meter all the methane captured and at the landfill since 2003 and sold the majority of those historic credits, along with over $243,000 in electric sales (in less than 8 months) with our methane powered generator. 

There are also annual credits from the methane capture/generation project at the landfill.  At todays carbon capture market rates that could produce over $300,000 annually in carbon credits

N.D. farmers get paid for capturing carbon

By James Macpherson, Associated Press
Published Wednesday, July 30, 2008

BISMARCK, N.D.  Everett Dobrinski is getting a $4,000 check this week for storing carbon dioxide in his soil.

But Dobrinski, who farms near Makoti in northwestern North Dakota, said protecting the planet from global warming is not the primary reason he enrolled in National Farmers Union Carbon Credit Program. It's about money.

"I am considerate of the environment, but I'm doing it more for my own pocketbook," Dobrinski said. "It just makes economic sense."

North Dakota Farmers Union President Robert Carlson said 990 farmers and ranchers in the state are getting about $2.6 million this week for using no-till and other practices to capture carbon dioxide, which is widely blamed for global warming.

The program pools carbon credits for sale on the Chicago Climate Exchange, a private agency that trades greenhouse gases and other pollutants just as other exchanges trade such commodities as crops and livestock.

Members of the exchange, such as corporations or cities, can buy carbon credits to help offset their emissions.

Producers around the country have earned $8.5 million since the voluntary program started in 2006, in North Dakota, Carlson said.

"North Dakota is the largest state in terms of carbon sequestration and program participation," Carlson said.

About 2,300 farmers and ranchers in about 20 states are enrolled in the program, Carlson said. Enrollment has tripled in the past year, he said. Carlson said the nationwide enrollments in the National Farmers Union Carbon Credit program in 2006 and 2007 captured carbon dioxide from 2.8 million acres, or the equivalent of sequestering carbon from about 320,000 cars a year. Spot checks are done by administrators of the program to make sure farmers are capturing carbon on their land, Dobrinski said.

Carbon dioxide credits sold on the Chicago Climate Exchange have ranged from $2.50 to $7 a metric ton since the program began in 2006, Carlson said. CO2 credits are fetching about $4 a metric ton now, he said. Farmers, ranchers and landowners can participate in the program by using no-till farming practices or growing grasses and trees to limit the release of carbon dioxide from the ground. Livestock producers also can participate in the program by installing systems to capture methane from manure, Carlson said.

"Methane is one the most destructive greenhouse gasses," Carlson said.

Dobrinski plants durum, malting barley, canola and lentils on his 2,000 acres, all without the use of a plow. No-till farming involves using a machine to inject seeds and fertilizer into standing stubble from a previous crop.

Dobrinski said getting money from the carbon-credit program is a bonus for using no-till farming practices, which he said preserves moisture in the soil and saves on fuel.

"It's a farming method that is cost effective,' Dobrinski said. 'And every little bit helps.'

http://www.in-forum.com/News/articles/209786

Posted by: Michael Williams on 7/30/2008 at 9:23 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Fargo ranked among top 5 healthiest US cities with Honolulu

Here's a snippet from the AARP rating, we're up there with Honolulu, and beat Boulder CO,  This new rating from the AARP may help raise national awareness of some of the many advantages our living in our area.  Some say 60 is the new 30!

Fargo Planning Director Jim Gilmour and I were recently on a panel assembled by Governing magazine where Fargo was one of four cities to discuss what makes a "livable" community.  They seemed especially impressed with our growing successes in conservation and transit as well as our vibrant downtown redevelopment that enhances and preserves historic buildings, along with a growing assortment of eclectic stores, residents, and restaraunts. 

Here's the full article online :

 AARP the Magazine Names the Top 10 Healthiest Places to Live in America

Posted by: Michael Williams on 7/26/2008 at 1:42 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink