I’m Thankful for…

• Everyone who has read or reads my blog, Thanks for all the comments and encouragements!
• My friends, both old and new. What would I do without you guys?
• Our chickens, Paris Hilton, Alpha Ueda, Beta Ueda, and Gamma Ueda, and our duck, Ueda Go. Thanks for eating bugs, fertilizing the land, and giving us eggs. You guys have been great companions!
• Our bees for pollinating plants. I would appreciate in the future, though, if you would refrain from stinging my head and between my thighs. They hurt.
• Our cats, Baby and Lulu, for putting up with the humans, chickens, duck, and bees. Actually, we humans do more putting up, but if I say that, I think they will pee on our bed.
• Local farmers and producers who feed us, most notably all the farmers at the Certified Arkansas Farmers’ Market, all the Asian vendors at the River Market Farmers’ Market, and the Arkansas Sustainability Network Local Food Club.
• Local businesses. Thank you for services that you provide and for investing in my community!
• Arkansas’s natural beauty that inspires me in countless ways.
• Local green activisits. I can’t list all of them because Arkansas has so many, but that’s a good thing.
• My partner in crime, Eddy. I love you very much.

Tuesday To-Do: Sustainable Business Network of Central AR Quarterly Networking Event

Join Sustainable Business Network of Central Arkansas for its Quarterly Networking Event, tonight at 5:30 p.m. at The Green Corner Store (1423D South Main) in Little Rock. Meet people involved in the sustainable business community and individuals interested in being involved in the sustainable business movement. Drinks and appetizers will be provided. Cost: $10/person. To RSVP or for more information, contact info@sbnca.org.

Monday To-Do: CEO of Clean Line Energy to Speak at Clinton School

Michael Skelly is CEO and founder of Clean Line Energy Partners, a project development company formed to build, own and operate renewable energy transmission lines. Previously, Skelly served as chief development officer of Horizon Wind Energy, which he helped transform from a two-man company to a leading player in the U.S. wind industry. At the Clinton School, Skelly will give a lecture titled “The Promise and Challenges of Renewable Energy.”
WHEN: Monday, November 15 – 12 p.m.

WHERE: University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service – Sturgis Hall

Reserve your seats by emailing publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu or calling (501)683-5239.

Save the Date! Sustainable Business Network of Central AR to Host Quarterly Networking Event

Join Sustainable Business Network of Central Arkansas for its Quarterly Networking Event, Tuesday, November 16 at 5:30 p.m. at The Green Corner Store (1423D South Main) in Little Rock. Meet people involved in the sustainable business community and individuals interested in being involved in the sustainable business movement. Drinks and appetizers will be provided. Cost: $10/person. To RSVP or for more information, contact info@sbnca.org.

Twelve AR Companies Receive $3.14 Million through AR Green Technology Grant Program

The Arkansas Energy Office (AEO), a division of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, yesterday announced 12 Arkansas companies will receive a total of $3.14 million through the Arkansas Green Technology Grant program. The grants go toward assisting companies that make or sell products that contribute to renewable energy production or storage, energy efficiency or reduction of energy use in the state’s economy.

These grants are funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and administered by the AEO.

“These grants will help Arkansans build renewable-energy companies, and will make existing companies more energy-efficient and cost-effective,” Governor Mike Beebe said. “The program is spread throughout the state, and will benefit both the current operations and future endeavors of these companies.”

Green Technology grants were provided to the following companies:

• AERT – Lowell: $190,000 for replacement of high energy use recycling equipment.
• AmerCable – El Dorado: $675,000 for installation of an additional product line for components used in solar panel construction.
• LGW Inc. – Fayetteville: $290,496 for a pilot project to demonstrate battery-based storage systems.
• EcoMembrane USA – North Little Rock: $315,000 to manufacture biomembranes for methane gas capture and utilization.
• Phigenics – Fayetteville: $300,000 for build out of a water analysis facility in commercial and industrial cooling towers and heat exchangers that will directly save 15 to 25 percent per facility in utility costs.
• NextGen Illumination – Fayetteville: $337,500 for a statewide demonstration of LED lighting.
• Columbia Forest Products – Trumann: $100,047 for the retrofit of existing boilers to supply heating steam to three on-site buildings.
• Cooper Power Systems – Fayetteville: $60,000 to replace an annealing oven with a high-efficiency oven.
• Bekaert – Fayetteville: $100,000 for a facility lighting retrofit.
• AP Fabrications – Stuttgart and Danville: $109,345 for a demonstration of their new economizer (an additional heat exchange that takes waste heat from a boiler to heat water or air) design.
• Global Manufacturing – Little Rock: $315,000 for retrofit of a roof to allow conversion of the space to a year-round manufacturing facility.
• Flexsteel – Harrison: $257,264 for a facility lighting and HVAC retrofit with significant energy savings.

For more information on the Green Technology Grant program, along with additional ARRA programs, visit www.arkansasenergy.org.

Sustainable Business Network of Central AR to Host Lunch & Learn

Sustainable Business Network of Central Arkansas will host a workshop titled Increasing Restaurant Profits with Energy Efficiency and Utility Rebates, Tuesday, November 9 between 12-1 p.m. at the Arkansas Studies Institute in downtown Little Rock.

Lance Orton of CenterPoint Energy will discuss low-cost to no-cost guides to reducing energy and CenterPoint Energy’s commercial food service rebate program.

RSVP to info@sbnca.org and bring your own brown bag lunch.

For more information, contact info@sbnca.org.

Environmental Defense Fund to Host Retail Sustainability Workshop

As the retailing community strengthens their call for sustainable products, many companies are wondering, “Are we doing the right things? Are our priorities appropriate? Are we doing enough?”

Environmental Defense Fund, in partnership with the University of Arkansas Applied Sustainability Center, would like to help you answer those questions through a unique one-day workshop – the Green Innovations in Business Solutions Lab on November 5, 2010, at the University of Arkansas Applied Sustainability Center in Fayetteville.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Fred Bedore, Walmart’s new Senior Director, Business Strategy & Sustainability
• Chip Jones, Senior Vice President, Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, Dean Foods
• Kyle Tanger, Founder, ClearCarbon Inc.
• Vonda Lockwood, Director, Store Innovations & Sustainability, Walmart
• Greg van Buskirk, PhD, Green Works chemist, Clorox

Prioritizing sustainability, assessing progress, greening the supply chain, financing sustainability, and employee and leadership engagement are among the topics to be explored.

If sustainability is a topic of interest for your clients, your customers, and your company, you want to be in Fayetteville on November 5th.

The workshop details and registration information can be found at the Fayetteville GIBN Solutions Lab site: http://gibn2010fayetteville.eventbrite.com.

Tuesday To-Do: Growing Arkansas’ Green Economy Conference

Arkansas can no longer afford business as usual. The Growing Arkansas’ Green Economy Conference faces this challenge and brings together the brightest innovators leading the growth of the new green economy in the state.

Join Pulaski County Brownfields Program and other partners on Tuesday, October 26 in North Little Rock to forge new strategic partnerships and get the inside view on the current trends and technologies. Explore the latest in sustainability strategies and best practices, and lead your organization to success.

Speakers include:

• Carlton Brown, Chief Operating Officer, Full Spectrum
• John Coleman, Sustainability Director, City of Fayetteville
• Dr. Walter M. Kimbrough, President, Philander Smith College
• Scott Reed, Reed Realty Advisors
• Rev. Malik Saafir, Chair, Environmental Justice Committee, Village Commons
• Ragan Sutterfield, Founder, Felder Farm
• Jasmin Moore, Planner, Metroplan

Yours truly, along with Jasmin Moore with the Metroplan and Melinda Glasgow with the City of Little Rock, will conduct a workshop in the morning and afternoon.

Conference registration is free. RSVP by visiting here.

For more information, please contact the Pulaski County Brownfields Office at (501) 340-6157 or visit: https://sites.google.com/site/gageconference/home.

Register for Growing Arkansas’ Green Economy Conference

Arkansas can no longer afford business as usual. The Growing Arkansas’ Green Economy Conference faces this challenge and brings together the brightest innovators leading the growth of the new green economy in the state.

Join Pulaski County Brownfields Program and other partners on Tuesday, October 26 in North Little Rock to forge new strategic partnerships and get the inside view on the current trends and technologies. Explore the latest in sustainability strategies and best practices, and lead your organization to success.

Speakers include:

• Carlton Brown, Chief Operating Officer, Full Spectrum
• John Coleman, Sustainability Director, City of Fayetteville
• Dr. Walter M. Kimbrough, President, Philander Smith College
• Rev. Malik Saafir, Chair, Environmental Justice Committee, Village Commons
• Ragan Sutterfield, Founder, Felder Farm
• Jasmin Moore, Planner, Metroplan

Conference registration is free. Please RSVP by October 12, 2010, by visiting here.

For more information, please contact the Pulaski County Brownfields Office at (501) 340-6157 or visit: https://sites.google.com/site/gageconference/home.

Tuesday To-Do: Sustainable Business Network of Central AR Quarterly Networking Event

Join Sustainable Business Network of Central Arkansas for its Quarterly Networking Event, today at 5:30 p.m. at Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects (2222 Cottondale Lane, Suite 100) in Little Rock. For $10 per person, you get appetizers, a cash bar, and networking with fabulous sustainability-minded business people. To RSVP or for more information, contact info@sbnca.org.

Sign Up for Sustainable Business Network of Central AR Lunch & Learn

Come to this workshop to learn an innovative way to Save Energy & Money for Your Business & Employees. Learn how Addison Shoe Factory saved money following an energy audit. The savings were used to create a revolving loan fund for employees to implement energy efficiency measures at home. As an employee benefit, the company provides free home energy audits and employees can borrow no-interest loans from the company-created revolving loan fund to implement recommendations from the audit. Loans are repaid to the fund from the energy savings employees experience as a result of more energy-efficient homes. This program is being piloted at other businesses around the state of Arkansas. Could your business start its own program?

This workshop is scheduled for Tuesday, September 14 from 12-1 p.m. at the Arkansas Studies Institute (401 President Clinton Avenue, Little Rock). The presenters will be Martha Jane Murray (Clinton Foundation and HEAL AR) and Ashley Davis.

Paid parking is available in the River Market parking deck, library parking lots, River Market parking lots, private lots, or street parking. Space is limited and reservations and pre-payment are required. The workshop costs $10 per person, and you can RSVP to info@sbnca.org. Don’t forget your lunch!

This workshop is co-sponsored by the Sustainable Business Network of Central Arkansas and the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Thursday To-Do: U.S. Green Building Council Residential Green Discussion Group

Interested in building or renovating your home using green design and materials? Then, join this discussion group hosted by the U.S. Green Building Council – Arkansas Chapter, tomorrow, August 26 between noon and 1 p.m. at Arkansas Studies Institute (401 President Clinton Avenue) in downtown Little Rock.

Toby Burkett, President, Pulaski County Habitat for Humanity, will discuss Habitat’s ReStore resale outlet in North Little Rock. ReStore sells donated reusable and surplus building materials to the public for a fraction of the original retail price. Every ReSTORE has different merchandise, but they all help fund local Habitat homes through proceeds from sales.

No reservation necessary for this free event. Bring your own lunch. For more information, contact Anncha Briggs at anncha1@aol.com.