On Thursday night, February 20, the Morgantown Municipal Green Team will present a Green Night at the Library on prospects for expanded solar energy use in West Virginia. The event will take place 6:00–7:30pm on the main floor of the downtown public library (373 Spruce Street).
Aaron Sutch of the Mountain Institute and Jeff Simcoe of Downstream Strategies will present the key findings of their recently released research report: Using Solar PV to Create Economic Opportunity and Energy Diversity in West Virginia.
The report presents five key recommendations on how to increase production of cheap, clean, reliable solar power—in the process, creating economic opportunity and a wider range of energy sources for the state.
Rounding out the presentation will be Dan Conant from Solar Holler—a West Virginia nonprofit working to make solar affordable and accessible for all West Virginians. Conant will talk about how new creative approaches to solar energy that are making solar more affordable and accessible to West Virginians.
This update on solar energy in West Virginia is sponsored by the Morgantown Municipal Green Team as part of a series of presentations on green topics of concern to the Morgantown community through May. The series continues monthly at the following locations:
• March 27: Green Night at the Library: Progress on Recycling in Morgantown Area (rescheduled from January), featuring a roundtable of city, county, and university personnel and citizens involved in expanding recycling in the Morgantown area.
• April 19: Green Morning at the Farmer’s Market: Sustainable Households Resource Fair, co-sponsored by the Morgantown Farmer’s Market, where residents can speak directly to a range of experts about various forms of organic and wildlife gardening; energy efficiency audits; reducing household waste; and more.
• May 15: Green Night at the Library: Results of Morgantown’s greenhouse gas inventory, part of a larger project to assess and implement energy-saving measures and reduce greenhouse gas emissions conducted by Downstream Strategies.
The Mountain Institute empowers mountain communities to implement solutions to challenges that threaten the cultural and environmental well-being of the mountain environments upon which we all depend. Visit the Mountain Institute online at http://www.mountain.org.
Downstream Strategies, with offices in Morgantown and Alderson WV, offers environmental consulting services that combine sound interdisciplinary skills with a core belief in the importance of protecting the environment and linking economic development with natural resource stewardship. For more information, see http://downstreamstrategies.com/index.html.
The Morgantown Municipal Green Team is a group of citizens that advises the City of Morgantown on matters relating to sustainability in public policy, planning, education, departmental management, development, and evaluation of environmental and energy-related issues. For more information, please visit www.morgantownwv.gov/green/green-team.
For more information on this and other Green Nights, please contact Pamela Cubberly, Morgantown Municipal Green Team (Pamela@Cubberly.net) or Aaron Sutch, Mountain Institute (asutch@mountain.org).
