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CoGo Bike Share Launching in Columbus this Summer

4/29/2013

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CoGo Bike Share will be the name of the Columbus, Ohio bicycle sharing system scheduled to launch this summer in coordination with the selected contractor, Alta Bicycle Share. 

The City of Columbus congratulates Benjamin Coifman for submitting the winning name during an online contest hosted by the Columbus Recreation and Parks. “Officially naming our city’s bike share system is a fun milestone in a project that is progressing rapidly,” said Mayor Michael B. Coleman. “Station locations are being assessed, pricing structures are being calculated and, soon enough, program memberships will be on sale.” Coifman’s submission was selected from nearly 200 entries and he has been awarded a CoGo Bike Share Annual Membership.

CoGo Bike Share will consist of a network of 300 bicycles and 30 stations located throughout downtown Columbus. The system enables users to purchase access and unlock bikes for short, quick trips. Bikes may be returned to any station within the network. Ongoing program support will be generated by sponsorships and membership sales. Bicycles will be black with the COGO and City of Columbus logos displayed on the frame.  Red panels on the front basket and rear fender will be reserved to feature sponsor logos.

courtesy: Sustainable Worthington
http://www.bikesharecolumbus.com/stations


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March 20th Fundraiser to Launch April Earth Day Service Events

3/15/2013

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  (Columbus, OH) – Green Columbus will unveil its plans for the 7th Earth Day service event – Stand Together 2013 -- on Wednesday, March 20 from 6 pm to 8pm at a special fundraising event at the Cultural Arts Center, 139 West Main St. in downtown Columbus. 

“The Columbus Earth Day service event weekend is the largest Earth Day service event in the nation, with a 2013 goal of more than 5,000 volunteers at 200 worksites giving more than 10,000 hours of collective time to keep Columbus beautiful,” said Tad Dritz, founder of Green Columbus. “The March 20th event will be a great way to announce our plans, recruit more volunteers and raise some much-needed funds for this huge effort.”

Attendees on March 20 will enjoy a night complete with a silent auction featuring local art and packages from Earth Day sponsors, delicious food, good spirits and friendly neighbors as they support the push to Stand Together 2013. This event will toast the efforts of volunteer organizers and collaborating local organizations with free samples of mead from Brothers Drake Meadery and delicious brew from Great Lakes Brewing Company. 

Green Columbus’ 7th annual Earth Day service event – Stand Together 2013 – focuses on a regional approach to local environmental action. Stand Together 2013 is set to be another record-setting event and Green Columbus is pleased to have The Green Funds of the Columbus Foundation championing the event as Lead Sponsor. For more information about Earth Day Columbus, visit www.earthdaycolumbus.org

About Green Columbus

Green Columbus is a non-profit organization that promotes sustainable living in Central Ohio by providing forums that encourage discussion and community participation in environmental awareness by recognizing the need for action and service. The demand for the work of Green Columbus grew from the success of Columbus' Earth Day 2007, the first city-wide Earth Day service celebration in over a decade.   This 100% volunteer-driven organization continues facilitate the annual spring event - the largest Earth Day volunteer service project across the country.  In 2012, Green Columbus’ 6th annual Earth Day event supported over 100 worksites powered by 3,300+ volunteers investing more than 8,000 hours to enhance local communities, assist area non-profits, revive community gardens, put litter in its place and help keep our waterways clean.

For more information and future updates from Green Columbus and Stand Together: Earth Day 2013, “like” Green Columbus on Facebook, and follow @Green_Columbus on Twitter.

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Viridiun Expands Food Waste Recycling Frontier With New Ohio Office

3/2/2013

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Viridiun, the nation’s leading provider of food recycling services, who is providing recycling services for the country’s largest grocery store chain Kroger, Ohio correctional facilities, American Electric Power and Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants has formally announced the opening of its Westerville, Ohio office.

The new office will allow the food waste and organics recycling company to build on what has been called the “next frontier of recycling”, curbing food waste, helping the local environment and creating new Ohio jobs, while assisting Ohio supermarkets, hospitals, universities, restaurants and other companies to achieve their sustainability goals.

Time Magazine reports that food scraps make up around 30% of our residential garbage stream, and it can make up as much as 40% of all landfill content in the U.S.

Sadly, statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) show that in 2010 alone, 35 million tons of food waste was generated, with only 3% being diverted for recycling. As landfill content, food waste becomes a source of potent greenhouse gas, methane, which the agency reports “carries 21 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide”.

The EPA also promotes the many environmental benefits of recycling food waste when turned into compost, which include diverting waste from landfills, improving soil health, reducing the need for supplemental water, pesticides and fertilizers, as well as improving health and sanitation at businesses by eliminating odors and discouraging insects or rodents.

Corporately Viridiun recycles almost three million pounds of organic-by-products per week, a number that increases daily. Spokesman for the company, Randy Abrams says “Viridiun delivers cutting edge food waste recycling solutions for companies that are seeking improved operations while meeting their green and sustainability goals”.

Marne Fuller, Retail Operations for The Kroger Co., the world’s fourth largest retailer, which has partnered with Viridiun stated that “Food waste recycling is a major component of our sustainability initiatives, as we are committed to reducing our overall waste footprint within the communities we serve. In Ohio we have been composting food waste since 2008, diverting 22 million pounds of organic material from Ohio landfills. Kroger associates find recycling food waste vs. throwing it away a natural part of their daily routine, and we are proud of the dedication each associate has toward sustainability”.

At Viridiun, recycling is more than just a process, it encompasses an entire ecosystem of people, process and technologies designed to help companies reduce their carbon footprint on the planet and improve the communities they work in. Choosing to operate on a local level, Viridiun Ohio is donating $100 directly to the Mid-Ohio Foodbank for each new client acquired during the month of March.

Viridiun Ohio, in collaboration with Ohio Mulch, operates a completely turnkey process, all of which takes place in Ohio. Jim Weber, President of Ohio Mulch says “Viridiun organizes and manages food waste collection and transport to Ohio Mulch. Ohio Mulch recycles and processes the organic waste into Green Envy™ soil and potting soil and distributes the end products to our Ohio retail locations to be purchased by Ohio landscapers and consumers”.

Ohio business owners interested in finding out more about food waste recycling in Ohio will find Viridiun on the web at http://www.Viridiun.com .

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lawmakers renew wind energy tax credit

1/15/2013

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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Blue Creek Wind Farm in Van Wert and Paulding counties is Ohio’s largest with more than 150 wind turbines that produce 350 megawatts of power. The developer benefited from a federal wind energy tax credit valued at about 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour of energy.

Bill Spratley, executive director of Green Energy Ohio says Blue Creek is a towering testament to the growth of wind energy in recent years.

"It was the biggest private investment in Ohio, $600 million in the year 2011 followed by auto plants and other factories, so these are enormous investments,” Spratley said.

Julian Boggs, state policy advocate for Environment Ohio, said Ohio’s wind energy capacity has grown from 10 megawatts in 2010 to more than 400 megawatts currently.

"Ohio actually, in 2011, had the largest increase in wind capacity of any state and it's certainly a growing economy here," Boggs said.

Source: NBC4i.com , Green Energy Ohio Newsletter


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SWACO Announces Shift Away From Landfilling

1/9/2013

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TEAM GEMINI TO DEVELOP GREEN ENERGY PARK USING FUEL CREATED FROM WASTE

The Board of Trustees ("Board") for the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio approved two land lease contracts today (Jan. 8, 2013) which serve as blueprints for new facilities that will significantly increase the area's recycling rates. The Board approved the agreements today with Team Gemini, LLC ("Gemini"), a sustainable project design and development company headquartered in Orlando, Florida.

The leases mark completion of contract negotiations between the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio ("SWACO") and Gemini after an eight-month selection process. SWACO Executive Director Ronald J. Mills also recently signed a contract where Gemini agrees to construct the recycling center and an industrial park that will be powered primarily by renewable energy.

Under details spelled out in the contract and land leases, Gemini agrees to lease 22-acres of SWACO land next to the Franklin County Sanitary Landfill to construct receiving facilities; Gemini will lease 343-acres of SWACO land north of State Route 665, which will house Gemini's green-energy industrial park. In both cases, Gemini agrees to pay SWACO $1,000 per acre per annum once the facilities are constructed.

The contract also requires Gemini to build at its expense a combined Receiving Facility, that will be owned and operated by SWACO, and a Material Recovery Facility ("MRF"), which will be owned and operated by Gemini. Once completed in 2014, Team Gemini agrees to recycle a minimum of 1,000 tons of waste a day that would otherwise be headed to the landfill and pay SWACO $4.81 per net ton for the usable material. This payment is in addition to normal tipping fees paid by haulers at the gate.

Under terms of the contract, SWACO can increase the amount of waste Gemini receives, leaving the potential for larger scale recycling.

Mills said the projects will not affect existing curbside recycling programs. About 60 percent of landfill waste comes from businesses.

"Curbside programs can continue to harvest the best of recyclables. This project is a way for us to increase recycling in what is left," Mills said. "This project is a tremendous step toward SWACO's goal of decreasing dependence on the landfill while providing SWACO financial stability where ratepayers ultimately benefit."

In addition, Gemini agrees to build a conveyor system that will bridge State Route 665 and transport the recyclables from the Material Recovery Facility to processing facilities located in the industrial park. The park is also expected to include greenhouses, a fish farm, an anaerobic digester and other production and industrial facilities. Under the design concept, waste from one center will help fuel another.

Team Gemini President, Douglas P. Haughn, who was born and raised in Grove City, Ohio, said that he is excited to come back home and be a part of such a project.

"It is our goal to both build and attract proven technologies that can recover and use the resources of the landfill while generating clean power," Haughn said. "The demand for renewable resources and energy are increasing. This Project creates access to those resources on a concentrated industrial scale and will be made available to the market place. "

"Some countries in Europe no longer have landfills, because they are recycling 100 percent of their waste Why can't we use those same technologies and have a similar goal?" Haughn further noted,"With SWACO and the involvement of industry experts and our team members, we can create a synergistic center of industry, powered completely by our waste stream, thus creating a Carbon Negative Footprint."

Both contracts offer 99-year leases, provided performance milestones are met.

The Ohio State University's Ohio BioProducts Innovation Center has expressed an interest in collaborating with Gemini.

"This agreement and related investment is transformational because of synergistic impacts of bringing together world class technologies into an eco-industrial park, " said Dennis Hall, Interim Director of the Ohio Bioproducts Innovation Center (OBIC) at OSU. "The utilization of existing waste streams, both bio-based and other recyclable materials allows for high value products to be created from what was previously regarded as garbage."

SWACO issued two Requests for Proposals ("RFP") in June and August 2012 dealing with development on SWACO land and use of waste. Team Gemini was selected from that RFP process.

SWACO's Chairman of the Board Bradley N. Frick said this project marks a historic milestone.

"This marks where waste transitions from a cost-center to a revenue generator," Frick said. "What we are doing here can not only set a trend in Ohio, but throughout the nation as well."

Additional information is available on SWACO's website at www.swaco.org

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