Energy Update #21 - Suscribe / Unsubscribe
1 September 2006

Dear friend,

We are making progress towards energy independence, though sometimes the progress seems slow. IERE has been supporting several outreach efforts to educate the community about the opportunities to save energy and how a PUD could work towards that goal. The public hearing for the PUD will be on September 5 th in King County Council Chambers. This is primarily an administrative meeting for the County Council to approve the ballot initiative for the November 7 polling.

This weekend (Labor Day), at our request and due to popular demand, the Vashon movie theater will be playing “who Killed the Electric Car,” another film that shows the potential for the country to operate without oil, and the forces behind the business as usual scenario. The documentary exhibits a sly sense of humor as well as some hard-hitting facts. If you are an islander, please attend.

Next week, South Seattle Community College (SSCC) with IERE’s help is offering a class on residential energy auditing, the first in a series that will lead to energy auditor certification. Students will learn how to audit their own homes, and also basic skills that they can build on should they want to have a career in energy conservation. The class is part of a green building program that SSCC is partnering with IERE to develop. Most of the classes will be offered at SSCC’s Duwamish campus. This work is funded by a grant from the Russell Family Foundation and another from the City of Seattle Economic Development Office. For more information on the energy auditing class, contact Betsy Gutierrez at 763-5134 or bmcconne@sccd.ctc.edu

Another class that is underway is one on green building maintenance. This class is being piloted with the City of Seattle Parks Department. All 90 maintenance workers will take an class, and an overview class will be offered at the National Parks Association meeting being held in Seattle in October.

Also in October, IERE is holding its InLCA/LCM 2006 conference in Washington DC (International Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Management). This annual conference is attended by about 250 people from all over the globe. It is the major event of IERE’s flagship program, the American Center for Life Cycle Assessment. ACLCA is the professional society for LCA in the US. This year the conference is subtitled “Business and Government Moving Ahead” and we are especially interested in the international trade implications of LCA. There are many European and Japanese laws based on LCA and we are trying to raise awareness of the implications of those laws.

Of course, none of this could happen without the generous support of our donors and volunteers. Your financial gifts are important to us. To donate, please go to www.iere.org and click on donate.

Thank you for your support.

Rita Schenck

Institute for Environmental Research and Education
PO Box 2449
Vashon, WA 98070

Phone 206-463-7430
Fax 206-279-1570
www.iere.org

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