National, regional and local experts came together to share expertise during a Clean Energy Forum held Oct. 7 at Hastings Middle School. The event was sponsored by Sustainable Upper Arlington, a local organization that promotes "green" solutions.
Panelists included state Rep. Ted Celeste, chairman of the Ohio House Alternative Energy Committee; Samantha Herd, district director for Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy; Caleb Bell, an attorney with Bricker & Eckler who focuses on environmental issues; Wendy Patton of Policy Matters Ohio, a nonprofit economic research organization; Mary Flint, community affairs manager for American Electric Power; and Justin Milam, a planner with the city of Upper Arlington.
Serving as moderator was Eric Zimmer of Tipping Point Renewable Energy, a Columbus-based green energy company. Zimmer opened the forum with an overview of why communities around the world are devoting an increasing amount of attention to renewable energy.
Population growth and increasing demand for energy are two of the major factors driving the growing focus on renewable fuel sources, Zimmer said.
"Worldwide, countries like China, India, Brazil are driving the demand," he said. "It's not just the population. It's not just that there's a lot of people there. It's that they want a lifestyle like ours. They want cars, they want TVs, they want air conditioning."
Milam described local green initiatives. The city of Upper Arlington is in the process of updating its unified development ordinance to include regulations for wind turbines and geothermal energy.
The city may adopt some of these technologies to improve energy efficiency at municipal buildings, Milam said.
"We are looking at solar thermal and electric installations for city hall and public services center," he said.
The city also recently converted 41 of its 51 traffic signals from incandescent to LED (light-emitting diode) bulb, which will result in a 65 to 70 percent cost savings annually, Milam said. The remaining 10 traffic signals are scheduled to be converted to LED lighting by June 2010.
Celeste discussed efforts at the state level to promote green technologies. In order for renewable energy to become a major revenue source for Ohio, the state must manufacture and not just adopt green technologies, Celeste said.
"The question is, are we just going to put people to work installing those (solar) panels," he said, "or are we going to be building those panels?"
Herd spoke about federal efforts to promote renewable energy. The federal stimulus package included $45-million for the Energy and Green Jobs Programs. On the local level, $7.7-million has been awarded to retrofit the Joseph P. Kinneary U.S. Courthouse in downtown Columbus with green technologies, a project which is expected to create 100 jobs over two years.
Herd also discussed the energy bill that the U.S. House of Representatives passed in June. The energy bill would include the creation of a Midwest Power Authority in which Ohio and bordering states could save money by jointly purchasing energy.
Senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry introduced a Senate version of the energy bill at the beginning of October, but Herd said he assumes the bill will not receive serious consideration until after the vote on health care reform.
"It may be a few more months before the Senate addresses this," Herd said.
The move to renewable energy sources will take the cooperation of people from all walks of life, Zimmer said.
"It's important to think about clean energy not as liberal or conservative," he said. "It's a nonpartisan issue that affects us all."
