Green Fire Times
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Posts by Green Fire Times
Albuquerque Sunport Solar System Installed
Jun 1st
Goal is to become the “Greenest Airport in the United States”
The city of Albuquerque recently contracted Consolidated Solar Technologies, LLC and Mosher Enterprises, Inc. to design, engineer and integrate a large solar photovoltaic (PV) array for the Albuquerque International Sunport. It was the city’s intent to utilize an existing structure that would be the most efficient and cost effective site to produce renewable energy.
The new solar system incorporates 480 SunPower 305w mono-crystalline PV modules attached to the existing carport shade structures atop the sunport’s parking facility. The system will produce an estimated 235,170 kWh of energy annually. This is projected More >
Coal Mining Giant Peabody Invests in Carbon Capture
Jun 1st
Peabody Energy has bought a $15 million equity stake in Calera, a developer of technology that converts carbon dioxide released from power plants into sustainable building materials. The deal is an example of fossil-fuel corporations’ attempts to fit into greener supply chains.
Calera’s technology can capture carbon dioxide gas released from all kind of industrial facilities — from coal-fired power plants to cement manufacturers — and, using simple seawater, solidify it into hard carbonates that can be used in bricks or eco-friendly cement. The company says every ton of its building materials can sequester up to half a ton of carbon More >
New Mexico’s Weather: A Quick Portrait
Jun 1st
New Mexico is landlocked with moisture arriving from the Gulf of Mexico (500 miles to the southeast) in summer; the north Pacific (500 miles to the northwest) in winter; with occasional heavy rains from the Gulf of California/East Pacific. The west and northwest facing slopes, the highest mountains as well as the lands west of the Continental Divide capture the Pacific frontal storms in winter and have the most snow. The lands farthest from the Pacific, especially in the south, have the least rain or snow in winter. Those farthest from the Gulf (especially the Colorado Plateau) have the least More >
NM Greenbuilt Tour Presented by the US Green Building Council – NM Chapter
Jun 1st
This year’s GreenBuilt Tour comes at an exciting and challenging time. Despite a difficult economy, green building continues to expand. Locally and nationally, both homes and commercial/institutional buildings are being sustainably built or remodeled. The number of projects pursuing certification through LEED, Build Green New Mexico, and other third party rating systems continues to rise. Every new project brings increasing awareness to the people that live, work, and learn in these green buildings. By encouraging ongoing practices like green housekeeping and recycling, these buildings influence behavior in positive and lasting ways.
In support of these efforts, USGBC has launched several new More >
The Low Hanging Fruit – A Place To Start When Remodeling Green
Jun 1st
Faren Dancer
If you’re looking to do a major renovation on an existing residence, a large menu of possibilities exists for how to green your project. You might look at not only potential energy savings and a lower carbon footprint, but also an array of healthful and sustainable solutions to add to your ever-expanding wish list. Most of us may not be able or willing to tear off the roof, demo the old wing or leave just one wall standing. There are sensible levels of attainment based on what the budget allows.
In our Santa Fe climate a great place to More >
Immigration Policy March
Jun 1st
Arizona’ controversial immigration law prompted a May 1st march in Santa Fe, one of many across the country, to demonstrate support for immigrants. Led by Aztec dancers, about 1,000 people of all ages marched and chanted, calling for the recognition of human rights and comprehensive immigration reform. A small group wore orange jail uniforms to dramatize immigrants being arrested, and to assert that most of the people who come to the US looking for work to feed their families are not criminals.
The Arizona law requires police to question people about their immigration status if there’s “reasonable suspicion” that they’re in More >
Santa Fe Recognized as National Leader in Green Jobs
Jun 1st
The city of Santa Fe and ¡YouthWorks! have been selected as one of seven city programs to be profiled by the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC). Along with other cities with exemplary green programs (Boston, New York, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco and Boulder), Santa Fe was included as part of an information sharing exchange for leading cities in green job creation efforts.
The case study on Santa Fe’s partnership project highlights efforts to promote integrated workforce and economic development, and workforce training tied to educational advancement. It also notes that these innovative programs are designed to create green collar More >
Skyfuel Concentrating Solar Power Study Funded
Jun 1st
The US Department of Energy has selected Albuquerque-based SkyFuel Inc. to receive up to $4.3 million for research, development and demonstration of “baseload” concentrating solar power (CSP) systems capable of producing low-cost electricity. SkyFuel is developing a larger version of its utility-grade SkyTrough® system that could enable the displacement of traditional coal-burning power plants. Skyfuel will also work on heliostats, reflective surfaces that capture sunlight.
CSP systems collect sunlight over a wide area and focus it on a single point in order to heat up a fluid that can then be used to drive an electricity-generating turbine or engine. Because the More >
May 2010 Edition
May 3rd
Water is Life, The Tale of Two Cities, 2010 Sustainable Santa Fe Awards, United Communities of Santa Fe County, The Potential of a Green, Local Economy, Transparency in County Government, Protect Our Public Lands, Renew Santa Fe, Touring a Green School, Why Use Green Building Materials?, Affordable Housing, Kidnapp ed by the House (part 2), Dreaming NM : Agro-Ecoregions, Dig and Eat Local, Only Healthy Soil Grows Healthy Plants, What’s Going On! and more…
Download the May 2010 PDF Edition
Renew Santa Fe – Contractor Feedback Forum on the Renewable Energy Finance District
May 2nd
Michael Connolly
A meeting took place on April 15th at Santa Fe Community College for solar contractors and installers interested in the County of Santa Fe’s Renewable Funding Program for the new Renewable Finance District. The “RenewSantaFe” program leverages the local government’s borrowing power to allow property owners to cover the large up-front costs of installing their solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, wind or geothermal project from a special assessment to their property taxes. The county and Renewable Funding are developing the program, which was approved by the 2009 state legislature. The program aims to begin funding projects in June. Contractor and More >
Why I Live in New Mexico and Why I Want to Be Your Next Land Commissioner
May 2nd
Ray Powell
Experiencing New Mexico has shaped who I am and what I want to learn. This unique and wonderful place is part of my bone marrow. Marveling at the ruins at Bandelier National Monument or the stunning petroglyphs that are found in the most unexpected places gave me an insatiable craving to understand who lived here before and how they did it successfully for so long. Through the study of anthropology I understood that many of my lifelong friends, playmates and mentors were decedents of these very special ancestors, and that far from being a footnote of the past, their More >
Transparency in County Government; Sustainable Local Development
May 2nd
Paul White
I am a committed community advocate who is running for the Santa Fe County Commission. I live in Chupadero, where I grow rye and oats, and I am a parciante on the Acequia de Chuparero.
I have been working for over a decade to help improve the lives of my neighbors and all of the residents of the county. I took on Qwest to bring high-speed internet to the valley, worked with the county to create an Agricultural Revitalization Initiative, and I am a founding member of neighborhood associations, water basin alliances, and the United Communities of Santa Fe County.
As More >
Only Healthy Soil Can Grow Healthy Plants – The story of the Arboretum Tomé
May 2nd
Michael Martin Meléndrez
Twenty miles south of downtown Albuquerque, in the valley near Los Lunas, sits a garden that’s an inspiration to those of us who love plants, trees, clean air and the comfort of green. It’s called the Arboretum Tomé, a botanical garden of trees, rich healthy soil, more oak species than you can shake a stick at (over 40), a grove of Giant Timber Bamboo, Walnuts from Japan, Eucalyptus and Redwoods from all over the world. Developing the arboretum has been a passion of mine for almost a quarter of a century, and it now represents the largest species More >
May GFT Letters to the Editor
May 2nd
Dear GFT,
I appreciated reading the passionate and thoughtful article on Housing, Land and The Green Imperative. I look forward to the next installment. Green Fire Times is the kind of publication that we need to counteract the mind-dulling media to which so many people have become accustomed. But because I believe that power comes from not believing oneself a victim, I have some thoughts to share with you. I am one of the 27% of New Mexicans who own my home, and until last year was categorized in the lowest income bracket. I am not a member of a Pueblo More >
“Kidnapped by the House” – Affordable Housing, Land, and the Green Imperative – Part 2
May 2nd
Rebekah Zablud Azen
Private Property – The American Dream Coming to a new land where the institution of private property had never touched these shores, settlers and their descendants had an unprecedented, golden opportunity to not only question, but throw off the worst of feudalistic land tenure arrangements. However the opportunity for change was entirely lost.
The colonists were more than observers; they studied Native land tenure arrangements in an effort to find parallels (there weren’t any) with English property, organized as it was for exploitation and expropriation, in an effort to secure “legal title” to Native lands. It was apparent that More >
Solar Manufacturing Company Coming to Rio Rancho
May 2nd
Green 2V, a renewable energy company, is planning to build its corporate headquarters in Rio Rancho. The site will house the firm’s research, development and manufacturing operations. Construction is to start this summer on the million square foot facility in a new commercial/industrial area next to V. Sue Cleveland High School. The company expects to hire 1,500 workers over the next five years, and have an annual payroll of $64 million. Green2V also plans to build more manufacturing facilities around the state.
Rio Rancho city councilors have approved arrangements to provide land and financing. $500 million in industrial revenue bonds will More >
Dreaming New Mexico – An Age of Local Foodsheds and a Fair Trade State
May 2nd
TOWARDS A RELIABLE PROSPERITY
AGRO-ECOREGIONS
A Multiple-part series from the Dreaming NM Project Project Co-Directors: Kenny Ausubel and Peter Warshall Production, Writing, Research: Peter Warshall and Arty Mangan Project Coordinator: Nikki Spangenberg
Can you trace in your mind the ingredients that will soon become your flesh and blood?
Where Does Your Food Come From?
When you sit down and say grace or gobble a burger, can you trace in your mind the ingredients that will soon became your flesh and blood? Most food now arrives like the proverbial stork carrying the baby. But all dreams about healthy food and sustainable agriculture must actually start More >
The Potential of a Green, Local Economy
May 2nd
David Bacon
I respectfully dedicate these words to Lou Schreiber, Stewart Udall and sustainable innovators and visionaries everywhere throughout space and time. We need you now.
Without a government that is fiercely protective of local human rights, we will fail.]
We humans are slipping and sliding on the shifting ground, water and air of an unprecedented moment in history. Looking one way, it’s almost too horrible to contemplate. But looking another way, vast windows of potential, of meaning, of redemption open to us. The entire planet, the entire universe even, welcomes us to rejoin with all life, with all living systems, with each More >
Dig and Eat Local:
May 2nd
Grow Your Own Food and Receive a Share of Farm Raised Vegetables, Fruits, Eggs and Cheese from Beneficial Farms
Do you want to learn more about growing your own food this spring? Beneficial Farms CSA has a Garden Outreach Program where founder Steve Warshawer provides workshops, supplies advice and hands-on training at many community gardens around Santa Fe. The workshops help CSA members and community gardeners increase their yields of tomatoes and other vegetables. The classes are customized to the individual gardens and many will be a question and answer format.
Beneficial Farms will also hold events in May and More >
Sustainable Building – Touring a Green School
May 2nd
Ann Euston
V. Sue Cleveland High School, Rio Rancho’s newest and “greenest,” isn’t your typical high school. It combines a refreshing award-winning architectural concept with a twenty-first century emphasis on energy and environmental conservation. Built completely with existing technologies, it’s on its way to LEED Gold certification. And, especially for a public school building, it incorporates remarkable attention to design detail: attractive airy spaces, student lounges, even classroom chairs that recline.
Clearly, Cleveland proves the potential of green building for green education.
A Tour of Cleveland High Opened August 2009, Cleveland is New Mexico’s largest high school structure (almost 378,000 square feet) and More >
In the Green Fire Times we spotlight initiatives that create positive social impacts on climate change, energy independence, and green job development...
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