KySEA meeting

About half of KySEA member groups attended a meeting in Lexington on Monday, November 7th, to discuss the upcoming 2012 Kentucky legislative session.

Thirty three representatives from 23 KySEA member groups participated in lively discussion about how to move the Clean Energy Opportunity Act forward this session and about how to support other opportunities that might arise to advance clean energy in the state.

The group heard preliminary findings about a Health Impact Assessment from the Kentucky Environmental Foundation, which shows the health advantages for Kentucky of moving to clean energy.

Curtis Stauffer, of Metropolitan Housing Coalition, also presented about a recent report from the Metropolitan Housing Coalition, entitled the 2011 State of Metropolitan Housing Report. It looked at a variety of factors surrounding affordable housing in the Metro Louisville area, focusing particularly on approaches to providing fair and affordable housing that uses less energy.  

He showed the graphic above to highligh that denser housing types in transit oriented developments are significantly more energy efficient than less dense housing types in suburban style development.  And, green, energy efficient  building practices- significantly reduce home energy use in all types of developments.

Those present at the KySEA meeting agreed that Kentucky needs better solutions both in building new homes and retrofitting existing homes in order to lower people's energy bills. With electricity rates rising across the state, this will be a topic of much consideration during the next session. And the Clean Energy Opportunity Act, supported by KySEA offers some of those solutions.

Monday, November 7th, 2011
10 am to 4 pm
Northside Library Branch
1733 Russell Cave Road
Lexington, KY

The Kentucky Sustainable Energy Alliance will host its fall meeting on November 7th. The agenda will include:

-Preview of the 2012 legislative session: Perspectives from key KySEA members including a green energy business and an affordable housing provider, as well as opportunities to plug into KySEA's legislative work

-Overview of the Clean Energy Opportunity Act

-Two exciting presentations on reports related to clean energy by Metropoltan Housing Coalition and Kentucky Environmental Foundation.

Bring a brown bag lunch. We hope you will join us.

Please RSVP by clicking here.

Several KySEA members gathered together yesterday to explore what we have learned over the last year of working together as an alliance and to consider what we'll plan for this year.

photo: Dick Watkins and Andy McDonald, representatives of KySEA member groups

There was healthy discussion about the current state of Kentucky's energy landscape and future, as well as reflection about the lessons KySEA learned from the 2011 legislative session, during which KySEA members lobbied and gave powerful testimony in support of the Clean Energy Opportunity Act. KySEA agreed to support the the bill again if it is introduced in the 2012 session and began to plot out a course of action in the areas of research, outreach and education, and alliance-building as well.

photo: Geoff Young and Subodh Das, KySEA members

KySEA members also got a preview of an outreach presentation we're calling the "Clean Energy Road Show." It covers the basics of what types of clean energy exist in Kentucky and explores their feasibility. It also considers what the obstacles are currently in place to widespread deployment of those resources. 

KySEA will host a webinar about the Clean Energy Opportunity Act and another meeting in the fall. Check this website's calendar or your email for more information!

If your group or church is interested in joining KySEA or hearing a presentation of the "Clean Energy Road Show," email nancy@kysea.org.

KySEA will meet at 9:30am for a daylong meeting about strategy, communications and biomass policy at the Lexington Libary -- Northside branch, located at 1733 Russell Cave Road.  Please join us if you can make it!  You can RSVP here.  Members will receive additional information and an agenda in the coming days.  If you are not a KySEA member and are interested in attending the October 12 meeting, please email kristin@kysea.org for additional information.  We look forward to seeing you!

There was great turnout and lots of new faces at the Kentucky Sustainable Energy Alliance June 1 meeting in Lexington. 40 people representing 28 different organizations, groups and businesses came together to learn about the Kentucky energy landscape, KySEA, each other and how to take the next steps of moving Kentucky to a clean energy future.

The goals for the meeting were to:

• Continue to build relationships and understanding about our work  – independently and collectively.
• Report and evaluate work on clean energy issues in the 2010 Gen. Assembly.
• Inform/educate ourselves about one or more topics related to clean energy.
• Review, improve and affirm a proposed action plan for remainder of 2010.
• Identify ways for each group to participate

First in the morning was a six-month recap of the need for state clean energy policy, Kentucky’s energy challenge, and KySEA’s history, principals and policy priorities.

Following the “look-back” was a brief summary of energy policy and politics in the 2010 Legislative session and what KySEA’s goals and accomplishments were.

The morning ended with a round-robin set of education sessions on:

Renewable Portfolio Standards