Tag: Shepherdstown

Some Say West Virginia Can Survive the New EPA Regulations

West Virginia can actually thrive under new U.S. Environmental Protection Regulations that aim to reduce greenhouse gasses, according to three panelists participating in a public forum last week in Shepherdstown.

West Virginia must cut back its carbon emission rate by 20 percent by the year 2030 under the EPA regulations. The panelists leading the forum, entitled EPA Carbon Rules: How Can West Virginia Lead? voiced confidence that the state can meet that goal and create jobs as well. The West Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club organized the event. Jefferson County resident Mary Anne Hitt is director of the organization’s Beyond Coal Campaign

“There is a lot of misinformation out there about this rule, and what it requires of coal or gas or energy efficiency,” Hitt noted, “and the fact of the matter is, here in West Virginia, we can meet the standard through energy efficiency, through wind and solar. Through clean energy that’s going to provide a lot of new jobs in the state, and it’s a really exciting opportunity, and we all know that we’re struggling with low employment here in West Virginia, and we need more economic opportunity, and this is a great way to bring it to the state.”

Aside from Hitt, two other panelists seemed to get the most reaction from the audience. One was David Levine who is a leader in the West Virginia solar industry. Levine is founder and CEO of the company Geosteller Solar which is based in Martinsburg.

“This regulation is not job killing regulation,” said Levine, “It really is going to spur a whole new energy economy, which is really good for consumers, and that’s actually going to lower their utility bills, and it’s going to spur jobs, because solar creates many more jobs per Megawatt than big centralized nuclear power plants or coal plants, or natural gas power plants.”

Levine says that the installation process is frighteningly simple.

“Our business is solar energy marketplace, and the idea is we match people who want to go solar with the right solutions. We tell you exactly how much energy you can produce on your particular rooftop, and then the value of that energy based on the energy you’ll displace. So if I used to have a monthly energy bill of $120 a month, it says your new total electricity cost with your solar, plus what you’ll still paying your utility company for a reduced usage might be down to $80 a month, and that’s what we compare.”

Levine says once Geostellar Solar does a site assessment of your home, it takes a licensed contractor about a day to install the panels. But if it’s so easy, why aren’t more people taking advantage of it?

“The reason people aren’t going solar today is because they don’t have role models, where it’s still so sparse, there’s not a sense of oh, it’s common. It’s hard to say when the tipping point is going to be, it’s like the movement from the horseless carriage to the automobile. You know, cars were foreign, it was like, how can this possibly move without this horse. It’s going to be the same thing at some point. People aren’t going to talk about solar energy, it’s just going to be energy.”

Marketing Consultant and Jefferson County resident Sean O’Leary, says the numbers involving jobs in coal just don’t add up.

“From the time West Virginia hit its peak in employment in 1940 with about 130,000 jobs, we have dropped down to only about 19,000 jobs now,” explained O’Leary, “but in the meantime, the extraction of coal has actually increased. The bottom line is that employment in the coal industry has not ever, at least since 1929, been driven by the volume of coal that’s being extracted, and so consequently when politicians say that by defending the industry and increasing the…helping to increase the use of coal, they’re defending West Virginia jobs, it simply isn’t true.” 

The conversation about how the new EPA regulations will impact the country will continue at a public hearing in Washington DC on July 29th. The Sierra Club is sponsoring a bus to take Eastern Panhandle residents who are interested in attending.

New Organization Wants to Put Solar Panels on Non-Profit Buildings Across West Virginia

The Shepherdstown Presbyterians meet in a circa-1836 brick building that sits just across the street from the town’s post office- about two blocks from…

The Shepherdstown Presbyterians meet in a circa-1836 brick building that sits just across the street from the town’s post office- about two blocks from the main street.

A few years ago the growing congregation put on an addition that houses modern meeting and gathering rooms. Soon, the roof of this addition will be topped with solar panels thanks to the newly formed nonprofit organization Solar Holler. 

After working on solar initiatives in several other east coast states, Dan Conant wanted to come back to Shepherdstown where he was born and raised, so he founded Solar Holler.

“And (I) really wanted to use solar as a way to diversify our state’s economy and it’s just always been really hard, there’s been lots of challenges put in the way and it wasn’t easy to make the business case right away,” Conant said. “So we needed to develop innovative methods to making solar affordable for these groups.”

Helping Non-Profits Save Energy Costs

Conant says there are federal tax incentives for installing solar system on buildings, but nonprofit organizations, like churches, are not able to take advantage of these incentives because they don’t pay any taxes to begin with.

So that often leaves nonprofits scrambling for money by collecting donations and applying for grants when they want to install something like the $60,000 system that will go on the Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church.

“Instead we’ve taken out a loan to cover the cost of the system and then that loan is paid back over the next five years when individual families and businesses around Shepherdstown install little remote control devices on their home or business water tanks,” Conant said.

Credit Cecelia Mason / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Church supporters have agreed to allow a Maryland company instal small boxes like this that manage energy use on their water heaters.

120 people have agreed to have the boxes installed on their electric water tanks. The boxes constantly measure electric demand and adjust the energy use of the water heaters accordingly.

The boxes belong to Mosaic Power, a Maryland company that pays property owners willing to participate. The supporters of the Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church project have agreed to give that payment to the church to pay back the loan over a five year period.

“About 40 percent of the church’s power would be coming from the solar panels on the roof here,” Than Hitt, a church member who serves on the solar committee, said.

“And that’s going to be a cost savings to the church moving forward,” Hitt said. “We know energy prices are increasing and this really is about a long term plan for financial stewardship.”

Expanding Across the State

The Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church project is the first of what Conant hopes will be many projects across West Virginia that will allow nonprofits and governments to lower their electric bills by installing solar panels.

He said a number of other organizations, including libraries, schools and affordable housing groups, have approached Solar Holler asking for help.

“We wanted to make a program that was not just going to work in Shepherdstown or in other fairly well-to-do places across the state; we wanted to make a system that could work for any community, any county, and any organization in West Virginia so long as they’ve got community support,” Conant said.

Hoping to Offset the ‘Brain Drain’

And Conant has a larger goal beyond giving nonprofits a way to save on energy costs. He hopes Solar Holler will help create jobs- the kind that young adults like him will be willing to do so they can stay in West Virginia.

“We can’t keep holding on to the jobs of the 1950’s and 60’s and thinking that’s the way it’s always going to be,” Conant said.

Conant wants to see jobs in West Virginia that include creative communities building new things. He mentions examples like solar power, software design and high tech industries.

“Its things that will stop the brain drain and actually keep people at home,” he said.

Conant said West Virginia has a lot to offer including amazing mountains, rafting and beauty.

“But we need to make it possible for people to actually make a living here and do it in a way that isn’t just punching a clock but is actually a joy to be a part of every single day,” he said.

The Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church expects to have its solar panels installed sometime in August. In the meantime, Conant is busy talking to other organizations to determine what the next big project will be.

Is Shepherdstown America's Best Place to Live?

Shepherdstown is among the 64 towns vying for the title of Best Place to Live in America in Outside Magazine. The competition is broken down into four…

 
Shepherdstown is among the 64 towns vying for the title of Best Place to Live in America in Outside Magazine. 

The competition is broken down into four geographic regions of the US; West, East, Midwest, and South. Shepherdstown is one of 16 towns from the south.

In this first round of voting it’s up against Little Rock Arkansas. An Outside Living news release says there will be six rounds of voting on the magazine’s web site with each round lasting five days. When only two towns are left, there will be a seven day showdown to determine the winner, which will be featured in the September issue of the magazine.

This is the fourth year Outside Magazine has sponsored the contest, which attempts to find the town that is the best ‘jumping off point’ for adventure.

Shutdown may affect upcoming marathon

The federal government shutdown could possibly impact the upcoming Freedom’s Run marathon in the Eastern Panhandle if the shutdown is still going on at the end of next week. But the Marathon will continue regardless of whether the government’s closed.

This is the fifth year for the marathon and one of its main attractions is the route it takes through four national parks. Those parks are closed because of the federal government shutdown. But there is a contingency plan.

“It’s something that when you plan for an event like this for a year you run through all your contingencies and think of things you can control and this one didn’t come into the radar until about 10 days ago,” Mark Cucuzzella, Freedom’s Run director, said. “So yes if there is a government shutdown we will not be able to use the parks.”

Cucuzzella is hoping for a quick resolution to the shutdown but said organizers have mapped out “a really nice alternate route” for runners to use if the federal government is still closed the day of the event, Oct. 12, 2013.

“So the show will go on and I think this will be a good stance of solidarity to health and fitness and community doesn’t stop when the government decides they can’t figure things out and come to agreement,” he said.

Freedom’s Run offers a one mile kids run, a 5K, 10K, half marathon and full marathon. The number of participants is capped at 25 hundred for the four races and Cucuzzella said close to that number is signed up.

The afternoon and evening before the race there are several events in Shepherdstown, W.Va. and at Shepherd University. A pre-race pasta dinner will feature a talk by West Virginian Jamie Summerlin.

“And Jamie ran across the country last year to raise money for military foundations and he just wrote a book called Freedom Run,” Cucuzzella said. “So he’s very generously offered to come here and speak at the pasta dinner, share his story. He’s going to run the race too.”

There will also be a free screening of the film In the High Country, which followed runner Anton Krupicka for a year as he lived and ran in the mountains. Krupicka and filmmaker Joel Wolpert will be there.

“I think what will be really cool is they’ll answer questions from the audience and talk about how to make a movie,” Cucuzzella said. “Meet Anton, he’s kind of an icon in the ultra-running world, one of the best ultra-marathoners in the world and people will be coming from all over just to meet Anton.”

Cucuzzella calls Krupicka “kind of a cult figure out there, (who) travels, sleeps in his truck and runs up and down mountains when the spirit hits him.”

“Probably a lot of us wish we had that kind of life where we don’t have to be at work at seven o’clock every day,” he said.

Freedom’s Run is featured in last month’s Running World Magazine and Cucuzzella said he’s excited that a little event he started five years ago to raise money for trails and gardens for schools is gaining national attention.

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