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Keeping It Green

Green Education

• Environmental
Research Institutes

List Is By Country or Region

(WIKIPEDIA), Sept. 30, 2020 -Here is a list of the world's environmerntal research institutes.

Click now for the list.

• • Resources Guide for Solar Energy Professionals

  There Are 50 in this Article

  January, 2021(KIP&ZONEN)-In our globally connected world, we have access to more knowledge than ever before. But finding useful and relevant content can be tricky. We have partnered with experts and technicians across the globe to collect resources that colleagues in your industry are utilizing to make their lives easier. We compiled this list with expert knowledge and want to share these resources with you. Included in our 2021 Brochure Edition for Solar Professionals, you can find:
  
  1. Trending Solar Industry Podcasts
  2. Solar PV Calculators
  3. Educational Solar Resources
  4. Industry Regulations .

  
  Click now to learn more.
• • Teaching Children About Renewable Energy

  A Guide for Parents and Educators

  greener ideal, Aug. 21, 2020 -Recently, renewable energy has skyrocketed to the center of conversations about the environment. Since sustainability and renewables are key for the future, teaching kids now is the right path to take. Bringing them in on these conversations shows them how important renewables are and how they can get involved, no matter their age.

  Click now to learn just what to cover.

• • Code Changes For Solar Installers

  What Solar Installers Need
  to Know about the 2017 National
  Electric Code and its Big
  Changes for the Solar Industry

  The 2017 NEC has more changes than any other version of the NEC since any of us have been alive. Most of those changes are due to what is on the cover of the NEC: a PV system,” says Dr. Sean White, instructor forHeatSpring’s Photovoltaic Systems and the 2017 NEC course, the 40-Hour Advanced Solar PV Installer Training, and others.

• • Commercial Solar Finance (Free!)

  Mastering Commercial Solar
  Finance - Self Study Online

  Solar Executive MBA Training instructors Keith Cronin and Chris Lord answer questions about nonprofit PPAs, and finding, pitching to and managing investors.

  Enroll and you'll access... -Over 2.5 hours of video with Chris and Keith -A comprehensive, downloadable takeaway
  guide -Advice from a $20MM solar tax equity investor [interview]

• • The Sustainable Women Series

  Grid Alternatives:
  Solar Power Ubiquity
  Through Training and Installing

  GRID Alternatives is a national 501(c)(3) certified non-profit organization that facilitates solar power implementation and energy efficiency projects between community partners, volunteers and job trainees. Since its beginning in 2001, GRID Alternatives has installed over 24 MW of clean power, provided almost $200 million in lifetime electricity cost savings, and trained 27,000 people in solar installation. Learn more about the mission to make solar power affordable to all from founder and CEO Erica Mackie

• • Upcoming Classes Calendar

  Our Calendar Showing Classes

  You can see some classes in sustainability and other green subjects.

• • Solar Executive MBA Training

  Solar Executive MBA Training

  During this 6-week online training, You'll find that this comprehensive, technical, and challenging. It’s the most intense six-week course you’ll ever find but also the most valuable. It was developed for leaders who are responsible for the financial details that drive large-scale solar projects

Newer (in the past year)

• • Yale: Solutions for a Planet in Need

  It's a Campus-Wide Initiative

  (Yale Climate Connections), Dec. 8, 2020 -Yale University has launched a campus-wide initiative that will unite institutional leadership and academic experts across the natural sciences, engineering, social sciences, professional schools, and the humanities in an intensive effort to tackle the environmental challenges threatening life on Earth.

  The Planetary Solutions Project will identify and advance solutions for an array of the most pressing environmental problems caused by human activities — especially climate change and biodiversity loss — through enhanced resources, expanded collaborations, and boundary-pushing problem-solving.

  
  Click now for the whole story.
• • Oxford University Launches Net Zero Initiative

  Will Address the How to Reach
  Global‘Net Zero’ By Achieving
  Equitable, Science-Based Solutions.

  (Renewable Energy World), Nov. 27, 2020 -The initiative will draw on the university’s expertise in climate science and policy, as well as leading academics from across the university’s disciplines, including Geography, Physics, Economics, Biology, Law and Earth Sciences.

  The team will be led by research director Professor Sam Fankhauser, who is joining Oxford from his current position as director of the LSE’s Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and director Professor Myles Allen, physicist and head of the Climate Research Program in Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute.

  Oxford Net Zero is a growing network and collaboration of leading researchers from across the university to provide advice and expertise in the global ‘race’ to net zero.

  
  Click now for the story.
• • Colorado State U Adding 10 MW Solar to Campus Capacity

  Another Positive for Green Campusus

  (ZME Science), Nov. 5, 2020 -Last week, Namaste Solar and financial partner, Solaris Energy, were awarded up to ten megawatts (MW) of solar installations by Colorado State University (CSU). This project, likely doubling the campus’s solar energy production is another large step toward CSU’s commitment to 100% renewable electricity by 2030 and complete carbon neutrality by 2050.

  Namaste Solar and Solaris Energy are working with CSU’s sustainability and CSU Facilities Management staff to identify site feasibility for installation on rooftops, carports, and ground mounts. Construction and installation is slated to begin in the first half of 2021 with project completion set for late 2022.

  
  

  Click now for more.

• • The Top 20 Coolest Schools 2020

  Here’s How They Earned A+ Marks, Despite Unprecedented Challenges

  (SIERRA), Sept. 27, 2020 -In the 14 years since Sierra started ranking colleges according to their eco bona fides and environmental commitments, one thing has become clear: Governments and businesses would be wise to take their cues from higher education. That’s because achieving carbon neutrality, divesting from fossil fuel companies, and incorporating sustainability into both campus operations and gen-ed curriculum have all become practically de rigeur in academia.

  This year, a record 312 institutions participated in our annual Cool Schools rankings—a remarkable feat, given the fact it’s been a school year like no other. Beyond having to suddenly pivot to virtual learning and community-building because of the coronavirus pandemic, many schools had to backtrack. Those that had phased out plastic bags and takeout containers, for example, found themselves having to bring them back to comply with COVID-19 safety protocols. Despite such setbacks, the schools on this list have shown incredible resourcefulness as they have innovated new ways to maintain—and in many cases, further—their sustainability objectives.

  Please join us in congratulating the following 20 tremendously cool schools. They’ve nearly mastered the most crucial subject of all.

  
  Click now for the list.
• • Solar Power on the Rise at US Schools

  Report Finds an 81% Increase
  in K-12 Schools Using Solar
  Power Over the Last 5 Years.

  (The Daily Climate), Sept. 16, 2020 -When Mount Desert Island High School in Maine decided to use solar power, they turned to the students.

  "We have a [student] club here that helped with the project, helped choose the installer we'd go with," principal Matt Haney told EHN. "They did research on vendors and helped evaluate proposals."

  About a year ago the roughly 550-student high school flipped the switch.

  "We had no pushback at all on solar panels, especially since this essentially cost us nothing," Haney said. "It was a no brainer."

  
  Click now for the whole story.
• • Real Estate Property Developers Must Learn About Solar

  A Crash Course In Solar Energy
  Interconnection Basics Being Given

  (Renewable Energy World), -Sept. 10, 2020, The clock is ticking for real estate property developers if they want to invest in solar energy for residential and commercial properties. Due to Investment Tax Credit (ITC) reduction, property developers need a crash course in interconnecting solar energy at all levels of the electric grid because electrical interconnection complexity increases with solar project size and location.

  Commercial property developers can incorporate carbon-free or “net-zero” goal considerations in community development. The gap in solar energy interconnection feasibility studies should not deter property developers from acting now before the expiration of tax incentives.

  Click now for more info.
• • UMass Amherst Researchers Rewarded
  For Sustainable Energy Transition

  $6.3 Million Has Been Granted

  (Renewable Energy World), -Sept. 2, 2020, A new program at UMass Amherst (UMA) has been awarded two grants totaling $6.3 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to ensure that the transformation of the electric grid is sustainable and benefits all members of society equitably.

  UMA has research experts in energy technology and climate science, as well as scholars in equity and social justice, but these groups have rarely had a chance to collaborate. The new interdisciplinary program, Transition to a Sustainable Energy Future, brings these groups together to solve technical and public policy challenges that have emerged during the green energy shift. This program will use NSF awards to explore and develop pathways so that this transition also promotes the socioeconomic equity of communities.

  Click now for the whole story.

• • Getting Climate Studies Into Schools

  Hardly Enough Time Is Being Spent

  (NY Times Climate Forward), Sept. 2, 2020 -Only 36 states and the District of Columbia include the reality of human-caused climate change in their regulations that outline what students should learn. The rest reference the human role as a possibility or a matter of scientific debate, or omit it entirely.

  Even when climate change is on the syllabus, its coverage isn’t necessarily comprehensive.

  Click now to read all about it.

• • Choosing Earth's Climate Future

  Interactive Session
  (for Grades 9-12)

  PBS Learning Media, Aug. 27, 2020 -Students focus on the three interconnected choices global society faces as Earth’s climate continues to change—suffer, adapt, and mitigate—to analyze and predict current and future impacts to Earth’s systems.

  Using videos excerpted from NOVA: Decoding the Weather Machine, students explore ways that adaptation and mitigation strategies can work at various levels to minimize suffering and then develop an evidence-based action plan for their local community.

  Click now to get educated.

• • Climate Activists Gain Seats on Harvard Oversight Board

  The Candidates Were the
  First Ones Elected Through a
  Petition Campaign Since 1989

  NY Times Climate Forward, Aug. 21, 2020 -Bucking tradition, a group of climate activists has won three seats in an election to an important governing body at Harvard University, the Board of Overseers, the university announced Friday.

  The slate of candidates ran on a platform that included calls for the university to drop fossil fuel investments from its portfolio, part of a divestment movement that has swept college campuses for the better part of a decade.

  Click now to read all about it.

• • Kid Heroes for the Planet

  Who Are These Special Kids?

  April 17, 2020,(TIME for Kids) -Earth Day is April 22. It’s a day when people around the world work to help the planet. But many people, including kids, care deeply about protecting the Earth and its inhabitants every day. TIME for Kids spoke with a few of them. Read about five Kid Heroes for the Planet. Maybe they’ll inspire you to take action, too!

  Click now for the list
  of these special kids.

• • Sustainability Classes in Sarasota (April - Mid-May 2020)

  Education Webinars Courtesy of University of Florida (Sarasota)

  Apr. 7, 2020 (US IFAS Extension) - UF/IFAS Extension Sarasota County provides practical education you can trust, to help people, businesses and communities solve problems, develop skills and build a better future. This service is a partnership between the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Sarasota County.

  An Equal Opportunity Institution. Extension Service, University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Nick T. Place, Dean. Sarasota County prohibits discrimination in all services, programs or activities. View the complete policy here.

• • A Virtual Teach-in on Climate Solutions/Climate Justice

  Bard Center for Environmental
  Policy Leads International Virtual
  Teach-in on Climate Solutions/Justice

  Mar. 27, 2020 (Investorideas.com) -On the evening of Tues, April 7, the Center for Environmental Policy at Bard College (Bard CEP0) will lead a virtual teach-in on climate solutions and climate justice, focusing on ambitious but feasible state and local solutions to help solve climate change by 2030. The teach-in is part of Bard CEP's Solve Climate by 2030.

  The project features 50 university-led webinars in almost every U.S. state, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico, and at international sites in South America, Asia, and Europe through the Open Society University Network. "As learning and activism moves online, it is essential to continue teaching about this central global issue," says Bard CEP Director Eban Goodstein. "This April 7 teaching event is designed to engage secondary education, higher education, and local communities across the nation and around the world in a critical discussion about local climate solutions."

  The state-level teach-ins are free and open to the public. For more information, including start times, and to register for your local teach-in, visit solveclimateby2030.org. Solve Climate By 2030 is made possible by support from Clif Bar & Company.

• • Climate Education Empowers Students to Action

  Students In Action
  on Climate Change

  Mar. 17, 2020 (Allegheny Front) -One way that schools can provide climate change education to their students is with some outside help. That’s how Woodland Hills School District in Allegheny County became the first in Pennsylvania to pass a climate change resolution.

  The school district’s climate change efforts first started when Communitopia, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit that aims to slow climate change and build resilient communities through education, did a presentation for 8th graders at Woodland Hills last school year.

  Click now to read or listen to the story.

• • A Geothermal Powered Education Center In Lousiville

  Geothermal-powered Education CenterWaterfront Botanical Gardens

  Feb. 26, 2020 (inhabitat) —A notorious old landfill in Louisville, Kentucky is being transformed into the new Waterfront Botanical Gardens, a verdant 23.5-acre site designed by architecture firm Perkins + Will. At the heart of the newly opened gardens is the 6,000-square-foot Graeser Family Education Center — also designed by Perkins + Will — that features an organic, sinuous form evocative of the nearby Ohio River. Engineered for a small environmental footprint, the energy-efficient building is powered with geothermal energy.

  Opened last fall as part of the first phase of the Waterfront Botanical Gardens, the Graeser Family Education Center doubles as an events venue that seamlessly connects to an outdoor landscaped plaza.

• • Denmark's Green School Emphasizes Sustainability

  Denmark School Where
  Education Is All About Sustainability

  Feb. 19, 2020 (Deutsche Welle) — At the Green Free School in Copenhagen, you're more likely to find pupils repairing a bicycle or doing urban farming than sitting in front of a blackboard. Could a different approach to learning spark a green transition?

  A dozen children are sitting in a circle when the bell rings. Instead of rushing to their next class, the children close their eyes.

  "Raise your hand when you can no longer hear a sound," says their teacher, holding a pair of bronze cymbals — the kind you might find in a Buddhist temple. One by one, their hands go up.

  At the Green Free School (Den Gronne Friskole), in Copenhagen, educating children for a world affected by climate change begins with putting them in the right frame of mind — literally. Classes here include urban farming and often start with mindfulness training.

• • Student Led - Zero Waste Solutions for a Sustainable Future

  Zero Waste: Solutions
  for a Sustainable Future

  Jan. 29, 2020 (University of California - Berkeley)—"Zero Waste: Solutions for a Sustainable Future" is an award-winning, crash-course Everything We Can Do to Save The Planet 101 that aims to equip its students with the tools necessary for changing the fate of humanity. We begin with an in-depth look at consumption, waste streams, and the materials that modern society is made of.

  Following that, we delve into the circular economy, cradle-to-cradle design, the industrialization of modern food, sustainable cities & architecture, climate change & politics, decarbonization, and more. This course is solutions-based, with scalable actions that you can implement in your life, community, and career to properly address the ecological crisis. Past students agree that it will invariably change your life and make you see the world differently.

  Learning Objectives:
  • Students are equipped to make informed personal and political decisions regarding the topics discussed in class.
  • Students have learned to view every resource as valuable and limited.
  • Students leave the class feeling inspired and capable of making positive change in the world.

Older

• • Solar Schools & Electric Buses: Good Start

  What Are Schools Doing to Go Green?

  Inside Climate News Jan. 30, 2019 -

  Click now to read more from
  the NY Times Climate forward.

• • The Top 20 Coolest Schools 2020

  The Top 20 Coolest Schools 2019

  Jan. 2, 2020 (Sierra Club) — In the 14 years since Sierra started ranking colleges according to their eco bona fides and environmental commitments, one thing has become clear: Governments and businesses would be wise to take their cues from higher education. That’s because achieving carbon neutrality, divesting from fossil fuel companies, and incorporating sustainability into both campus operations and gen-ed curriculum have all become practically de rigeur in academia.

  This year, a record 312 institutions participated in our annual Cool Schools rankings—a remarkable feat, given the fact it’s been a school year like no other. Beyond having to suddenly pivot to virtual learning and community-building because of the coronavirus pandemic, many schools had to backtrack. Those that had phased out plastic bags and takeout containers, for example, found themselves having to bring them back to comply with COVID-19 safety protocols. Despite such setbacks, the schools on this list have shown incredible resourcefulness as they have innovated new ways to maintain—and in many cases, further—their sustainability objectives.

  Click now for an impressive list.

• • Teens Want to Learn About Climate Change (In School)

  One Teen Grapples With Her
  Questions About Climate Change

  Sept. 19, 2019 (Allegheny Front)- Kayonia Sowell is one of the many Pennsylvania students who haven’t been taught about climate change in school.

  She says she didn’t learn about climate change in elementary school, or in her three years at Pittsburgh Public Schools, where climate change is taught in-depth in 4th and 6th grades. A climate change component was added to the district’s 9th grade biology curriculum this year. But Sowell, now in 10th grade, didn’t have those classes.

  Click now to learn what she thinks
  about her climate education so far.

• • Education and Sustainability in One Package

  The Akshar Foundation Is Creating
  Sustainable Schools to Teach
  Children Important Life Skills

  Inhabitat, May 24, 2019  - Based in Assam, India, the Akshar Foundation is on a mission to create a new type of sustainable school with its unique education model. The education reform initiative strives to create government schools that are eco-friendly, low-cost and centered in building the most successful environment for children to learn and grow.

  Click now for the story and a slideshow.

• •  Journalism Institute for Teens

  ICN Expands Summer
  Journalism Institute for Teens

  InsideClimate News, Jan. 30, 2019 -Colleges in Maine and New York City will host two-week workshops for budding environmental writers in July 2019..

  InsideClimate News is expanding its summer Institute for Environmental Journalism in 2019 to include a boarding course in Bar Harbor, Maine, along with its day program in New York City.

  Both feature rigorous hands-on coursework for students entering 10th through 12th grade in the fall of 2019, as well as graduating high school seniors. The program serves students who are looking for an introduction to environmental journalism and those who want to practice their skills and deepen their knowledge with one-to-one mentoring from professional journalists. Need-based financial aid is available by applying to the institute's Hollywood Foreign Press Association Scholarship Fund.

• • Learn About Green Living While Young

  5 Tips for Teaching
  Green Living Early

  July 20, 2018 - Read about the following tips:
  1. Why you are never too young to go green
  2. Monkey See, Monkey Do
  3. Give them Responsibility
  4. Tour the Facilities
  5. Experiment! Have fun!

  Click now for a further
  look from  The Greener Ideal.

• • Informed, But Not Brainwashed

  Texas Railroad Commissioner
  Thinks the Opposite is True

  May 11, 2018 - “We’re teaching our kids negative things — we’re pre-biasing them.”

  Wayne Christian recently claimed the reason Millennials like me care about solving climate change and aren’t elbowing each other for jobs in the oil and gas industry is because our entire generation has been brainwashed. Brainwashed? If true, it’d be a national emergency. After all, who could so effectively organize such an epic conspiracy to brainwash the 91 percent of us who accept climate change is happening?

  Click now for more
  from the Texas Tribune..

• • Downplaying Environment Education

  Some States Downplay Teaching
  Climate Change. Teachers
  See ‘educational malpractice’

  Feb. 20, 2018 - Teaching climate change in schools is a hot-button issue in a number of states, including Idaho and New Mexico, where lawmakers have tried to weaken or dismantle science standards crafted by educators and scientists. Amid a climate-change skeptical Trump administration, legislators cite a concern about one-sided arguments. Special correspondent Lisa Stark of Education Week reports.

  Click now for more from PBS News.

• • Geothermal Scholarships

  2017 Geothermal Resources
  Council Scholarships Announced

  Feb 6, 2017 - To qualify for one of these awards a student must be a GRC member (student memberships are only $5 per year) as well as be a student in an accredited academic institution.

• • Solar & Higher Ed - a New Partnership

  Higher Education and Solar Energy:
  A Partnership Whose Time Has Come

  Dec. 29, 2017 - At campuses across the country, a few early adopters took the lead with solar projects demonstrating how the technology worked predictably and reliably. Unfortunately, many of these projects were not economic, but rather showpieces or research opportunities.

  While well intentioned, these initiatives resulted in the mistaken view held by institutional decision makers that solar projects are a nice (but unaffordable) “luxury.” This perspective is no longer accurate, as technological progress has combined with innovative financing and large-scale manufacturing to usher us into an era of economically viable solar projects. We must get the word out that large-scale solar can be deployed cost-effectively today on campuses across the country. 

  Click now for the story from Renewable Energy World.

• • Solar Job Training for South Carolina

  Cypress Creek to
  Launch a $1.5b Project

  Nov, 6, 2017 - Cypress Creek Renewables is set to launch a partnership with Greenville Technical College in order to grow South Carolina’s PV workforce and spur the state’s economy. This partnership will assist the state’s PV sector by helping to train and prepare the next generation of energy workers.

  In addition to this PV job training initiative, Cypress Creek is also putting forward a plan to invest over US$1.5 billion to develop and build 2GW of solar across 80 projects in South Carolina. Together, these 80 projects will create nearly 10,000 construction jobs and power over 600,000 homes with renewable energy.

  Click to read more.

• • A Bronx Teacher's Green Classroom

  How He Started a
  Green Classroom Revolution

  September 6, 2017 - Have you ever been in a position to change the world, or at least your small slice of it? Did you do it? Did you take the risks that would make a difference in the lives of others? If something held you back — unfavorable odds, fear of failure, lack of courage or something else — then Stephen Ritz's "The Power of a Plant" is for you.

• • Eco-Schools & Tanglewood Middle

  Eco-Schools USA and Tanglewood
  Middle School – The Perfect Match

  July 13, 2017 -(as expressed by Gib Hennington) The Eco-Schools USA program, National Wildlife Federation’s core Education for Sustainability program, is a great fit for Tanglewood Middle School in Houston ISD. We are an international Baccalaureate school so we strive to develop students who will build a better world, who will take responsibility of their own learning, who are challenged to think critically and who consider both local and global contexts.

• • It’s a School, and it Floats!

  Solar Powered Floating
  Educational Opportunity On
  The Miami Science Barge

  Aug. 3, 2016 -The Miami Science Barge, a 3,600 square foot barge docked in the Museum Park in Biscayne Bay, was designed to focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education and sustainability initiatives. It features three interconnecting zones which will educate visitors on a number of topics including living ecosystems, marine experiments, and renewable energy.

  JinkoSolar’s high-efficiency modules will be powering the Barge, allowing it to function completely off the grid. Aboard the Miami Science Barge there will be around 75 kWh of storage, enough for a total of 3 days’ worth of stored energy. There will be a cost savings of over $1,000 per year, which will be used towards ensuring that the Barge’s programs can be provided free to those with limited financial means.

  Click now for more
  from Solar Thermal Magazine.

• • Solar Schoolhouse - a Bright, Sunny Idea

  Solar Schoolhouse -
  Education Energized by the Sun

  - They’ve created Team Solar Schoolhouse and encouraging you and your students (friends & family too) to join Team Solar Schoolhouse when you set up a personal profile on the Drawdown EcoChallenge website. There are a wide variety of challenges to explore and commit to action, from Food, to Transportation, Clean Energy, Women & Girls, Buildings, Materials. Anyone motivated to Spring into Action can join Team Solar Schoolhouse for the Drawdown EcoChallenge.

  Click now for more information.

Undated

• • M.I.T. Energy Initiative

  Linking Science, Innovation,
  & Policy to Transform the
  World's Energy Systems

  The MIT Energy Initiative is MIT’s hub for energy research, education, and outreach. Our mission is to create low- and no-carbon solutions that will efficiently meet global energy needs while minimizing environmental impacts and mitigating

  Click to get educated.

• • Certified "Green" Schools 101

  Clark County is #1 for
  Certified Green Schools:

  The County was honored for having more certified green schools than any in the state, with 68 participating in the program and 38 certified. Almost 300 schools in Washington participate in the program.