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To maximize emission cuts, this Boston campus gets its power from the Midwest

Sarah Shemkus

February 18, 2021 |

Energy News Network |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Boston, Massachusetts

Boston University is getting all of its electricity from a wind farm in South Dakota, which should cover its annual energy needs of 205 million kilowatt-hours. Some energy advocates say the higher education institution should have purchased their renewable energy locally, but the university says their main goal was to maximize its reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. They hope to share their model with other “large energy buyers” and use the wind farm as an educational and research opportunity for students.

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Floating Wind Turbines Buoy Hopes of Expanding Renewable Energy

Sarah McFarlane

February 06, 2021 |

Wall Street Journal |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Scotland

Hywind Scotland is the world's first commercial wind farm using floating wind turbines to generate power for about 36,000 homes a year. This approach — which is being seriously looked at by several countries seeking to reduce their carbon emissions and oil-and-gas companies wanting to expand into renewable energy — allows wind farms to work in deeper waters where there is often stronger winds.

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An Architecture Firm's Push to Build Net-Zero Apartments—on a Budget

Russell Gold

February 05, 2021 |

Wall Street Journal |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Apartments at Front Flats, a new residential building in Philadelphia, is powered by 492 solar panels that are wrapped around the building. The point: to demonstrate that developers can design buildings that are energy-efficient and be built at an affordable cost. It’s not clear yet if the building is “net zero” in terms of producing as much energy as it consumes, but residents are paying only $40 a month for utilities.

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Michigan group helping to keep justice on the state's environmental agenda

Tom Perkins

January 29, 2021 |

Energy News Network |

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Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Michigan

The Michigan Advisory Council on Environmental Justice was created to advise Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on environmental justice issues related to pollution and energy access. In its first year, the 21-member council was influential in moratoriums on water shut-offs and provided input on the state’s latest climate plan. Some members would like the council to have “more teeth” in policy decisions, but other say they are poised to take up more issues, like injustices related to electric utilities, in their second year.

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Indigenous Elders Are at Risk of Freezing to Death Because Wood Is So Expensive

Terry Greene Sterling

January 29, 2021 |

Slate |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Navajo Nation, Arizona

A collaborative experiment between Indigenous community activists, tribal officials, loggers, nonprofits, and the U.S. Forest Service is delivering firewood to residents who need it for heating and cooking. The program, called Wood for Life, also doubles as a forest management initiative to thin out Arizona’s forests to prevent deadly wildfires. The shuttering of a local coal mine and the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this home heating crisis and group members in 2020 delivered a total of 650 cords of wood to several Indigenous nations.

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In pursuit of self-determined development, Borneo's indigenous tribes turn to homegrown renewables

Tim Ha

January 21, 2021 |

Eco-Business |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Malaysia, Kampung Buayan, Borneo

An indigenous-led nonprofit group called Tonibung installed a micro-hydro electrical system for a village deep in Borneo’s rainforests. The project not only supplied much-needed energy for the villagers of Kampung Buayan, but it is also protecting the surrounding ecosystems, creating jobs for people, and encouraging youth to get involved. “We want to advocate for native rights to self-determination and empower indigenous groups to choose the kind of development that meets the aspirations of their people,” says the founder of the organization.

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A Florida Study Showed How to Save Energy at Home. Why Aren't More Cities and States Following Suit?

Chad Small

January 21, 2021 |

Next City |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Florida

A pilot energy retrofit project in Florida has shown that these upgrades for homeowners ultimately saves them money and energy, and can be made accessible to people from all types of socioeconomic backgrounds. This private-public partnership retrofitted 56 single-family homes, some with “shallow” retrofits like LED lightbulbs and smart plugs and some with “phased deep” retrofits like energy-efficient windows and air conditioners. The program showed that all participants saved energy and could be scaled to other states.

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A Thin Green Line With Global Impact

Robert McClure

January 18, 2021 |

InvestigateWest |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

For over a decade, environmentalists, Indigenous tribes, ranchers, politicians, scientists, and fishers in the Pacific Northwest have been able to defeat more than 20 proposals from coal and oil firms to ship fossil fuels from their ports. Through protests, public hearings, and petitions to government agencies, activists blacked almost every fossil fuel effort in the region between 2004 and 2017.

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How activists successfully shut down key pipeline projects in New York

Greta Moran

January 04, 2021 |

Grist |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New York

Landowners, residents, community leaders, and activist groups across New York state came together to halt several pipeline projects. By conducting research, holding public events, and building a multiracial coalition of people who would be the most impacted by a pipeline, they were able to pressure state officials to deny a water-quality permit for the Constitution pipeline that would carry fracked gas throughout the northeastern United States and Canada. While some pipeline projects are continuing in the Empire State, their successful model could be used in other states.

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Chimney Sweeps Attack Deadly Pollution Crisis

Nansalmaa Oyunchimeg

December 06, 2020 |

Global Press Journal |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar

After banning the burning of raw coal as a way to reduce air pollution in Mongolia, residents of Ulaanbaatar switched to refined charcoal to heat their homes. However, that coal also wasn’t the cleanest and contributed to hundreds suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. To fix that, the government teamed up with a private company to hire more than 1,600 people to clean and inspect people’s chimneys and stoves. While critics say the program doesn’t solve the country’s pollution problem, the service has provided jobs to those who didn’t have steady work and helped those who aren't able to clean their stoves.

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