Keynote: Dr. Brenda Bateman. Topic: "Developing Oregon's First Integrated Water Resource Strategy". Catering by Fresh Palate Cafe.

What: “Native Pollinators”: Bountiful gardens and pollinators go hand in hand. Learn some easy, simple steps you can take to provide for the livelihood of these creatures and thereby the success of your own garden.
When: Saturday, October 17, 2009, 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Where:  McMinnville Public Library Carnegie Room
Questions to valleycreekfarm@gmail.com or call Judi at 971.237.3953

Some of the Sustainability Activities of the City

One of the things that I have discovered in my almost year-long association with the City’s Sustainability Committee is that there has been a plethora of sustainable activities that were going on, so I wanted to share some of them with you. Some of the activities were done under the guise of saving money or energy, and some of them are not completely sustainable, but the City is taking a number of steps to move in the right direction.

For Example:

The Fire Department’s lighting system was over 20 years old. The City will get rebates from Bonneville Power (BPA), a BETC (Business Energy Tax Credit) tax credit and Mac Water and Light that will provide for a new $40,000 lighting system that will save 156,000 kW of energy compared to the current lighting system. Net cost to the City……zero.

As long as we’re talking about energy savings, let’s look at the Water Reclamation Facility (Wastewater Services). Did you know that the Water Reclamation Facility uses 30% less electricity than it did 10 years ago, yet the population has increased about 33%? They’ve done this by analyzing energy usage and implementing energy savings projects. An example of this would be an air compressor project implemented in 2004 that resulted in an energy reduction of 117,000 kwh/yr.

Talking about water, let’s move to the Aquatic Center which is upgrading both its HVAC and lighting systems through the combination of BPA funding assistance, BETC support and grant supported reimbursements from Mac Water and Light. The combination of thee funding sources minimizes the City’s use of tax dollars for these significant energy savings improvements (which will be completed in October).

Public Works has the challenging assignment of making the City look nice.  This results in making a lot of visits to parks, buildings and street landscapes.  Public Works strives to consolidate trips, and sets up vehicles so all the tools and supplies necessary are on hand.  This is an ongoing effort, with the ultimate goal of reducing fuel usage.  They also have some clever park designs.  For example, the parking lot at Discovery Meadows slopes to the middle, where a vegetated swale captures the run-off.  From there it flows through a wetlands, and then eventually through the City’s storm system to Cozine Creek.  This approach has the dual benefit of evening out storm water flows as well as providing naturally filtering to the run-off before it enters the creek.

McMinnville Water & Light is working with Public Works on a pilot project evaluating the use of LED’s in the City’s street lighting system.  The LED’s are more expensive initially, but represent significant energy savings over the long term.  For example, a 65 watt LED produces approximately the same amount of light that a traditional 200 watt high pressure sodium lamp does, but uses approximately 1/3 of the energy.  This pilot project has drawn the attention and interest of various utilities and municipalities around the state.

If you go by the Public Library, you should notice a NO IDLING ZONE sign. The library receives daily shipments of books from other libraries in the system as well as daily UPS deliveries. The delivery trucks frequently idled for 5 to 10 minutes daily. Now they don’t, saving gas.

This City has a monthly e-newsletter (no paper waste here) that gives employees tips on sustainability and going green. It will soon appear on the City’s web-site.

The City Council has had 3 sustainability training sessions with Duke Castle (who is the Sustainability Coach for Lake Oswego). The City Council and especially the Mayor are determined to provide City services to residents in as sustainable manner as possible.

Finally the City has asked all departments to actively work to reduce their internal energy usage.

Duane Bond, Cool Mac member of McMinnville Sustainability Committee

Cool Mac, Slow Food of Yamhill County, and Cozine Community Cycle will be joining Yamhill Valley Peacemakers for their traditional summer get-together.  Please join us Sunday, June 28th, at 5 p.m. at Lafayette Locks Park. The covered area has been reserved, so plan to be there rain or shine! There is a small playground and lots of big trees, so arrive early to go for a stroll, explore the park, and talk with friends. This will be an opportunity to meet new people and brainstorm ideas about how to “inspire the local community to create a sustainable energy future using practical solutions while meeting the needs of current and future generations.” (our mission statement!)

The park is ½ mile east of Lafayette off 99W at the end of Locks Road. Please bring your own table service, cups, and drinking water.  YVP potlucks are traditionally vegetarian. 

See you there!

Come join us this Saturday for discussions about plans for the summer months.  We have lots of ideas, but we’d love to hear yours!

When:  Saturday, March 21, 9:30 a.m.

Where:  First Baptist Church , Bereans Room (2nd floor education building) Please enter Washington Street entrance. Up two flights of stairs (or take the elevator to 2nd floor). Turn right and look for Cool Mac signs. 

See you there!

Nathan Lewis, the George L. Argyros Professor of Chemistry at the
California Institute of Technology, will present “Where in the World
Will Our Energy Come From?” Tuesday, March 3, at 7:30 p.m. in the
Richard and Lucille Ice Auditorium.

The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored through
the Walter P. Dyke Endowment, honoring the Linfield alumnus and faculty
member who was known as a strong teacher, innovative scientist and
researcher, and philanthropist.

Lewis will discuss what it will take for the world to get away from
fossil fuels and switch over to renewable energy, including the
technical, political and economic hurdles that will need to be overcome
before renewable energy technologies will be widely adopted. Converting
to wind, solar thermal, solar electric, biomass, hydroelectric and
geothermal energy will not only take planning but also investment in
research and development, a variable price per unit of energy to get it
produced, and plenty of resources to create the energy sources.

Lewis has been on the faculty at Caltech since 1988. Since 1992, he has
also been the principal investigator of the Beckman Institute Molecular
Materials Resource Center. He previously taught at Stanford University.
He received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.

Lewis has been an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, a Camille and Henry Dreyfus
Teacher-Scholar and a Presidential Young Investigator. He received the
Fresenius Award, the ACS Award in Pure Chemistry, the Orton Memorial
Lecture, the Princeton Environmental Award, and the Michael Faraday
Medal of the Royal Society of Electrochemistry. He is currently the
editor-in-chief of the Royal Society of Chemistry journal, Energy &
Environmental Science. He has published over 300 papers and has
supervised approximately 60 graduate students and postdoctoral
associates. His research interests include artificial photosynthesis and
electronic noses.

Interested parties who would like to help with an Earth Day project at the Sue Buell School, please take note:

 They are trying to motivate the kids to develop gardening skills and will be setting up garden boxes for them.  On Earth Day they have contacted McMinnville Water and Light and WOW to bring some kind of education project for the kids.  Sort of a mini-workshop for kindergarten through 5th grade. They would like members of the community to join in so we can get some community gardens going!

There is a PTA meeting tomorrow night, Feb 3,  at Sue Buell School at 6:30.  Any interested parties are invited to just show up. They’ll be brainstorming for ideas and welcome any you might have.  Debra Weiner is the principal there and will be the facilitator, as I understand it.

If you can’t make it tomorrow night and are still interested, please contact Debra at the school. This will be an ongoing project. Earth Day is still several months away.

Just thought some of you might be interested.  Thanks!

Linda

“Cool Mac educates and inspires our community to collaborate towards a thriving, sustainable future.”

At our meeting we will also be discussing Cool Mac organization and procedures as well as doing a review of what we’ve accomplished so far. Please join us for coffee or tea and help us discover new ways to get involved in the future of the McMinnville area!