Ten schools participated in the National Energy Education Development Project 38th Annual Youth Awards for Energy Achievement. Students and teachers submitted portfolios documenting their energy activities throughout the year, such as organizing their own energy fairs/expos, implementing conservation programs, building model wind turbines, conducting school energy audits, and teaching educational workshops for their communities and peers.

The portfolios were judged at the state level, with the state winners advancing to the national competition. The National Award winners received their awards in late June in Washington D.C. Rhode Island had another banner year with four National award winners!

Congratulations to the students and teachers from the following schools:

Hope Elementary School

Clayville Elementary School

North Scituate Elementary School

Western Coventry Elementary School – RI Elementary School of the Year/National Elementary Runner-Up of the Year

Feinstein Middle School – RI Middle School Runner-Up of the Year

Gilbert Stuart Middle School

John F. Deering Middle School

Scituate Middle School – RI Middle School of the Year/ National Junior Runner-Up of the Year

Scituate High School – RI Senior School of the Year/National Senior Runner-Up of the Year

West Warwick High School – RI Rookie of the Year/National Senior Rookie of the Year

Shaidzon Beer Company, located in West Kingston, Rhode Island, was recently voted the second "favorite solar brewery” in New England and 15^th in the country in the Brews from the Sun competition.

Shaidzon is located at the Fairground Business Development Center, owned by Beth and Andy Curtis. The building, which houses two other business tenants, features a 189 kilowatt solar array which went into operation last year. The system utilized a Renewable Energy Fund grant and currently offsets about one-third to half the building’s electrical usage in the winter, and nearly 100 percent in the summer. The carbon emissions prevented from entering the atmosphere are equivalent to saving 11,573 gallons of gasoline per year.

The brewery is the creation of friends Josh Letourneau and Chip Samson who both got their start brewing beer at home and decided to team up and form Shaidzon Beer Company. The founders say they came up with the name one day when the sun was in their eyes and they put their “shades on.”

Shaidzon opened for business last fall, around the same time as the solar installation became operational. Josh and Chip say local breweries are gaining in popularity because they offer customers the ability to try the beer on the premise before they buy it and take it home, which is not possible in liquor stores or restaurants. Their products are inspired by international beers, but are all brewed locally.

Lisa Bryer has been the Jamestown Town Planner for 21 years. She lives with her husband, James, who works as the town’s fire chief. They have a son, Ian, and daughter, Rachel.

Lisa has always considered herself to be environmentally conscious and wanted to do her part to help the world by reducing her reliance on fossil fuels. Two years ago, she made the decision to equip her home with 4.57-kilowatt solar array which supplies about 40 percent of her electricity during the year. She utilized a federal tax credit, which is available to all customers who install solar.

Before getting the solar installation, she received a home energy audit from RISE Engineering. Technicians replaced all the bulbs in her home with energy efficient LEDs and insulated the basement and hot water pipes.  They then reinsulated the attic with Eco blown-in insulation. It’s important for anyone considering solar to first get an efficiency audit to lower their energy use.

Lisa is proud of Jamestown becoming a Solarize community, in which neighbors sign up for solar together and enjoy a group buying discount. Jamestown reached Tier 3 before closing on September 21, which means that all new solar customers will receive the lowest price available.

This summer, the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources and the Commerce Corporation placed seven interns with six companies via the Clean Energy Internship Program. Funded by the Renewable Energy Fund, this program provided these young professionals with the opportunity to work with a clean energy company to gain experience in their fields.

One of those interns is Luke Phaneuf, who joined EcoMetric Consulting in Providence. EcoMetric provides energy conservation and efficiency consulting for utilities and government agencies. Specifically, the company designs, implements and evaluates these conservation measures to help its clients save money and reduce energy usage.

Luke graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a degree in environmental and natural resource economics with a focus on green markets and sustainability. He started with EcoMetric’s Providence-based team at the beginning of the summer.

“When I entered the internship program, I had an open-ended interest in the renewable energy industry and net metering,” said Luke. “At EcoMetric, I gained experience in energy auditing, software tools, and making calculations to learn about a facility’s savings based on the energy efficiency improvements they’ve made to their facility. I also learned about the consulting side of the business as well as how to conduct a post-construction analysis. I came away with more knowledge of how the renewable energy industry works and the important services companies like EcoMetric provide.”

The companies that participated in the Clean Energy Internship Program have found it to be rewarding as well.

“At EcoMetric, we’ve had interns before, but we loved the idea of having a sponsored internship position,” said Salil Gogte, CEO of EcoMetric. “It’s a great way to build a young professional’s capabilities and get candidates connected with employers. Luke came in wanting to find the right direction in the growing clean energy economy, and we helped him gain national experience working with clients across the country.”

For each paid internship, the participating companies received reimbursement for up to $12 an hour for up to 40 hours a week during the 12-week summer internship, though several companies opted to pay their interns more.

Luke plans to take some time to travel over the next few months before looking for his first full-time job, but he is interested in exploring new possibilities in the residential energy efficiency sector.

The Clean Energy Internship Program will be opened again next summer.
 

Helping Hands Community Partners, a Providence-based nonprofit organization, actively works with government agencies and banks to acquire distressed properties. Using local labor, Helping Hands rehabilitates those properties so they can be sold at below-market prices to underserved populations including veterans, seniors, and low-to-moderate income families.

When the nonprofit acquired its present Elmwood Avenue headquarters, the 100-year-old property was in dire need of an update. The building had no air conditioning, very poor insulation, out-of-date wiring, and utilized three different heating systems. The building was virtually unusable during the hottest days of summer and coldest days of winter.

Helping Hands contacted the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank to inquire about the new Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy Program (C-PACE). This program enables owners of eligible commercial and industrial buildings to finance up to 100 percent of energy efficiency improvements. In most cases, the energy cost savings exceed the monthly loan payments, allowing the building owners to maintain a positive cash flow.

“I would say that C-PACE provides a crucial piece of what can turn around distressed commercial properties in Rhode Island,” said Bill Fegley, managing director of Helping Hands Community Partners. “Often we see many dilapidated buildings in the area because there hasn’t been financing available to rehabilitate them and bring them up to code. C-PACE is the way to get back into the game.”

Helping Hands became the first organization in Rhode Island to utilize the C-PACE program for energy efficiency improvements. The nonprofit adopted water conservation measures, replaced all lighting with energy efficient LED bulbs, reinsulated the building and installed a new HVAC system. Helping Hands will save an estimated $133,000 over the life of the improvements and now the building is much more comfortable for employees and customers in all seasons.

The Town of Westerly, with its world-famous Watch Hill coastal village, is among Rhode Islanders’ favorite summer destinations. Rich in history, it has been home to Hollywood legends such as Clark Gable and business titans including Henry Ford. Today, over 22,000 residents call Westerly home, but the population nearly doubles during its peak summer season. And now, Westerly just became a little greener.

The Westerly town government is leading by example when it comes to clean energy, having completed several energy efficiency projects in the town hall, highway garage and police station. The 100-year-old town hall installed the most upgrades, receiving new insulation, weather stripping, a heating system and an efficient water heater, all which increase the warmth and comfort of the building. The three buildings also replaced their old incandescent lights with new energy efficient LEDS.

Westerly Buildings Manager Charles Sposato says the new lighting is not only energy efficient, but improves safety in the Department of Public Works garage, where mechanics have needed better visibility to do their work.

The town also replaced 2,930 streetlights with LEDs. All together, these improvements are estimated to save the town $243,000 in energy costs each year.

But that’s not all. The Department of Public Works building also received a new solar array, which will save the town another $2,000 per month on electricity bills.

To finance these projects, Westerly used the Efficient Buildings Fund, a program administered by Rhode Island Infrastructure bank in partnership with the Office of Energy Resources.

Westerly’s clean energy upgrades are to be commended and serve as a shining example for others to follow!

In October, the first electric buses were unveiled in Rhode Island, signaling the beginning of a new era of clean transportation in the state. RIPTA is testing these buses on routes with plans to purchase up to 20 more by 2021.

The new electric buses have a special connection to Rhode Island because their bodies were fabricated here. TPI Composites, located in Warren, uses a special molding process to make the bus bodies lighter, stronger and last longer. The lighter body allows the bus to use less electricity and travel more miles on a single charge than a traditional diesel bus. TPI shipped the completed body to Proterra in California where the company assembled the bus.

Founded in Rhode Island 50 years ago, TPI Composites now has its headquarters in Arizona with divisions located around the globe. TPI’s primary focus is on renewable energy and the company is the largest independent manufacturer of composite blades for wind turbines in the world.

Brian Lucchesi received his engineering degree at URI and started as an intern with the company in 2002. He worked his way up through engineering and design to general manager of TPI-New England and now runs two facilities with 200 workers.

“Our teams work hard every day to build components for clean energy projects all over the world, but we rarely get to see the final product when installations are completed,” says Brian. “It is an extra special treat to be able to ride in the electric buses we helped build, right here in Rhode Island.”

We see builders all over Rhode Island working on roads, bridges and buildings. However, there is another type of builder we never see – those working in the depths of rivers, lakes, bays and the open ocean.

Nick Tanionos is CEO of Specialty Diving Services, an underwater construction company located at the Quonset Port and Commerce Park, North Kingstown, in the heart of Narragansett Bay.

“We do anything a construction worker would do on land, but underwater,” says Nick.

His team was responsible for building key components of the Block Island Wind Farm which started spinning in 2016. Underwater builders and welders worked on the foundations, set up special buoys for data collection, and built the underwater structures on Block Island to accept the incoming undersea transmission cables. His company also built a 2,500 square foot maintenance facility on his property to accommodate components of the Block Island Wind Farm project and potential future projects.

Nick’s career began at the University of Rhode Island where he was part of a research diving program that studied the movement of fish. He worked on URI’s 230-foot research vessel, Endeavor, and took trips north of the Arctic Circle. In 1986, Nick started Specialty Diving Services out of a garage in North Kingstown and later moved his growing company to the Quonset Port and Commerce Park in 1992.

Today, the company leases a pier in the port and owns five acres of property with 26,000 square feet of building space, as well as a fleet of barges, cranes and special purpose marine support equipment. His company employs 30 people including 12 divers, most of whom are based in Rhode Island. Much of his company’s work comes from projects such as rehabilitating dams, pipelines, undersea cables, bridges, ports and other marine-related projects.

The proposed Revolution Wind Farm, with 50 wind turbines planned 15 miles southeast of Rhode Island’s coast, is a signal to Nick that the offshore wind industry is growing quickly.

“It’s going to be a huge plus for the State,” says Nick. “It will generate jobs and a lot of people in the supply chain will be positively impacted.”

Nick plans to hire more employees to accommodate the growing industry. Right now, his company is working on the Quonset Port North Pier 2 Extension, planned as part of the $70 million port infrastructure improvements bond measure passed in 2016. The Revolution Wind project, if approved, will use Rhode Island ports such as Quonset, as staging areas.

When we asked Nick about what he thinks about working in Rhode Island, he said, “I love the quality of life here. It’s great. Rhode Island is a good central location for our business in New England.

When the Revolution Wind project starts construction in 2022, hundreds of workers will be needed for the assembly of about 50 offshore wind turbines. However, transporting all these workers to their job sites and then back to shore at the end of the day presents a logistical challenge.

Blount Boats, a manufacturer of workboats, ferries and specialty vessels, started in Bristol, Rhode Island, 70 years ago. Run by sisters, Marcia and Julie Blount, the company built a custom 21-meter wind farm crew transfer vessel called the Atlantic Pioneer. The vessel taxied crew back and forth during the construction of the Block Island Wind Farm and continues to be used for operations and maintenance runs.

Marcia Blount, president of Blount Boats, says that the Revolution and Vineyard Wind Farms will need many boats to accommodate the construction and maintenance of their wind turbines, but not just any boat will do. The Blount transfer vessels are built specifically for the construction and maintenance of offshore wind farms. For instance, they are designed to allow passengers to safely disembark in rough seas, they are equipped with an elevated tower to allow the captain to see over any cargo that may be carried on deck, and the catamaran hull allows the vessel to be operated in shallow depths, such as rivers, where a traditional boat would run aground.

While Blount Boats may have a specialty in wind farm transfer vessels, the company’s other vessels are used throughout the world. Bloat boats may be found ferrying passengers in the New York City bay and throughout New England, Puerto Rico, and even the South Pacific. Many of the local vessels will return home every few years to Blount’s dry dock in Bristol for maintenance and repairs.

Blount Boats has about 40 employees and 30 subcontractors, with about three-quarters of its workforce living in Rhode Island. Companies such as Blount are part of the rapidly expanding offshore wind supply chain, which is expected to bring nearly 1,000 jobs to Rhode Island.

A major transformation is underway at Cranston Public Schools. As one of the largest cities in Rhode Island, Cranston has 26 school buildings – many of them built between 50 and 70 years ago – and they are long overdue for an update.

But instead of simply bringing the schools up to modern building standards, Cranston is completely rethinking how a 21st century education should be delivered.

This fall, students at the Eden Park Elementary School started the year in a brand-new wing, which features an open floor plan, equipped with a library and the latest in education technology, including tablets, smart boards and projectors. The classrooms are separated by walls of glass, creating a feeling of openness, which allows plenty of natural light into the space. There are study nooks, “wobbly” stools, and even a sensory room to help students take a break or relieve anxiety.

The new wing of Eden Park Elementary is part of Cranston’s pilot project that departs from the traditional lecture-style classroom setup. Instead, it focuses on creating small groups in which students with different learning styles can receive more personalized attention.

The facility uses the most up-to-date energy efficiency practices, including R33 insulation in the walls, LED lighting, and a “smart” heating and cooling system, which runs on electricity and natural gas instead of using the older oil-powered system. The smart system helps regulate the temperature automatically and will shut itself down if a teacher opens the windows so that it does not waste energy. Since the windows let in plenty of natural light, less power is needed to brighten up the room. The ability to regulate temperature is important for helping students stay focused on learning. Cranston used rebates from National Grid to help pay for the energy-efficient upgrades.

Most of Cranston’s older school buildings are unusable in the summer because they lack air conditioning. The Eden Park school, with its new HVAC system, can be used all year-round for education and special summer programs.

According to Ed Collins, chief of facilities management and capital projects for Cranston Public Schools, if the Eden Park pilot project is successful, it will be used as a model for the other schools in need of updates. “We are not just thinking about how to retrofit and update our aging schools – we also want our upgrades to enhance the learning environments for teachers and their students,” said Collins.