Sustainable Tucson will show 5 top-rated sustainability films
covering critical sustainability topics:

* The U.S. financial crisis erupted in 2008 and still looms on the horizon.
* Resource depletion including non-renewable fossil fuels and clean water threatens further economic growth.
* Global warming and climate change threaten most life-forms including people and future food.
* Social disruption following economic dislocation and government contraction can threaten our capacity to solve-problems and build a more sustainable culture.
* Many solutions are being identified but most require abandoning “business as usual.”

Sunday, August 12th.

1) 11th Hour    1:00 – 2:30pm, is a comprehensive presentation of the sustainability crisis and a pathway out of our predicament. Many sustainability leaders are interviewed including  Wes Jackson, Paul Hawken, David Suzuki, Kenny Ausubel, David Orr, Janine Benyus,, Stuart Pimm, Richard Heinberg, Paolo Soleri, Thom Hartmann, Lester Brown, James Hillman, Joseph Tainter, James Woolsey, Stephen Schneider, Stephen Hawking, Sandra Postel,  Bill McKibbon, James Hansen, Dr. Andy Weil, Ray Anderson, Andy Lipkis, Tom Linzey, Herman Daly, Peter Warshall, Jerry Mander, Mikhail Gorbachev, Bruce Mau, William McDonough, John Todd, and Gloria Flora among others.

2) Inside Job     2:30 – 4:15pm, is an award-winning documentary describing the financial crisis which erupted in 2008 and continues to play out today as the global economy is beginning to contract. Financial experts help tell the story of how the largest financial bubble in history grew and finally burst. These include Simon Johnson, George Soros, Satyajit Das, Paul Volker, Nouriel Roubini, U. S. Rep. Barney Frank, Kenneth Rogoff, Raghuram Rajan, Martin Wolf, Christine Lagarde, and among others.

3) Power of Community    4:15 – 5:00pm, is a special film describing how the island nation of Cuba became more self- sufficient and resilient after the food and energy subsidies ended from the Soviet Union which collapsed in 1991.

Monday, August 13th,

1)  Taken For A Ride 5:00 – 6:00pm, is a documentary about how the many electric street car systems in U.S towns and cities were intentionally scrapped by a group of automobile-related corporations. The result is that the U.S. is the only industrial country in the world without electric rail systems within and between most cities.

2) Blind Spot   6:15 – 7:45pm, is a comprehensive presentation of the sustainability crisis and the need to find a pathway out of our predicament. Many sustainability leaders are interviewed including Richard Heinberg, Lester Brown, U. S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, Albert Bartlett, Joseph Tainter, David Pimental, Terry Tamminen, Bill McKibben, James Hansen, David Korten, Derrick Jensen, and William R. Catton, Jr. among others.

Sustainable Tucson August Film Festival  – August 12th and 13th

Joel D. Valdez Main Downtown Library, Large Lower Level Meeting Room,
101 N. Stone, Tucson, AZ

Free lower level parking off Alameda St.

Doors open at 1:00 pm on Sunday, August 12th.
Doors open at 4:45 pm on Monday, August 13th.

From Sustainable Tucson:

In March Sustainable Tucson hosted our first “Conversation with our Elected Officials.” One hundred Tucson community members met with Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, Council Member Regina Romero, and Council Member Steve Kozachik to discuss a wide range of sustainability issues such as water policy, urban form, food security and transportation.

On June 11, from 6 – 8pm, Council Member Karin Uhlich and Leslie Ethan, Director of the City of Tucson Office of Conservation and Sustainable Development, will join us for our second “Conversation.” A networking session will precede the meeting from 5:30 to 6:00.

We believe that building a sustainable future will take the cooperation and partnering of residents, government, institutions and organizations. It is in this spirit that we are reaching out to our public officials and bringing them together with Sustainable Tucson and the wider public in this discussion and process. Our ultimate intent is to build partnerships and work together toward our common goals.

We invite you to join us in our second conversation with local public officials.

June Sustainable Tucson General Meeting
Monday, June 11th
6:00 – 8:00 pm

Joel D. Valdez Main Library
101 N. Stone, Downtown (free lower level parking off Alameda St)

Doors open at 5:30 pm.
The meeting will begin promptly at 6:00 pm.

From the news release on Business Wire:

TUCSON, Ariz.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) has recognized Tucson Electric Power (TEP) as the 2012 Investor Owned Utility (IOU) of the Year for the company’s leadership and continued investment in solar energy.

Photo by Kate Kaemerle

“TEP has studied and maintained solar energy systems for more than a decade. In recent years, we’ve dramatically expanded our solar resources in Southern Arizona, and we are committed to adding solar resources in the future.”

“We’ve worked very hard to embrace solar energy as a clean, renewable resource for our customers and an opportunity for economic development in our community. We couldn’t be more pleased to receive this honor,” said Paul Bonavia, Chairman and CEO of TEP and its parent company, UNS Energy Corporation (NYSE: UNS). “TEP has studied and maintained solar energy systems for more than a decade. In recent years, we’ve dramatically expanded our solar resources in Southern Arizona, and we are committed to adding solar resources in the future.”

TEP currently has more than 45 megawatts (MW) of solar generating capacity, enough to meet the annual electric needs of more than 8,000 Tucson homes. By the end of 2014, TEP expects to have more than 240 MW of solar generating capacity, enough to meet the annual electric needs of more than 46,000 homes.

SEPA is a Washington D.C.-based trade group with more than 1,000 utility and solar industry members nationwide. The award was presented yesterday to Bonavia and David Hutchens, President of TEP and UNS Energy, in Orlando, Fla., during a ceremony held on the eve of the annual convention of the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), an association of shareholder-owned electric companies representing approximately 70 percent of the U.S. electric power industry.

To select the recipient of the Investor Owned Utility of the Year award, SEPA evaluated the 2011 solar energy initiatives of more than 50 utility companies. Criteria included completion of solar projects, program diversity, program partnerships, innovation, net-metering and interconnection policy, leadership and support from management, community awareness and marketing efforts, and customer service and accessibility.

During SEPA’s evaluations, TEP’s solar initiatives shined for several reasons:

• With the launch of the Bright Tucson Community Solar program, TEP was the country’s first IOU to offer a program that allows customers to purchase energy from local solar arrays in 150 kilowatt-hour (kWh) “blocks,” thus reducing or eliminating their use of conventional power while locking in an affordable solar energy rate for up to 20 years. Last year, SEPA recognized TEP with an award for Utility Innovation in Solar Program Design for the program.
• Continued partnership with the University of Arizona (UA) Science and Technology Park’s Solar Zone, where TEP both owns and purchases power from large, utility-scale solar farms built by several solar developers using different solar technologies.
• TEP’s 5 MW Sundt Solar Boost Project, which will produce up to 5 MW of electricity using a concentrating solar power system without added emissions at the company’s H. Wilson Sundt Generating Station in Tucson.
• TEP is currently studying various forms of electric energy storage (EES) technologies, which will play a critical role in renewable integration. TEP is working with the Arizona Research Institute for Solar Energy (AzRISE), the UA and other project partners to develop a combined compressed air and battery storage system at the UA’s Science and Technology Park southeast of Tucson.

“It’s important for us to develop solar energy programs and strategies that are achievable and cost-effective for our customers,” Hutchens said. “Our partnerships are an important part of our long-term solar strategy. We share this award with our customers and the community.”

“Last year, solar energy was the nation’s fastest growing generation source thanks in large part to utilities like Tucson Electric Power,” said Julia Hamm, SEPA President and CEO. “Through their first-of-a-kind community solar program to their storage and CSP initiatives, TEP has proven why it is deserving of the Investor Owned Utility of the Year title. Their innovation and strong portfolio should serve as a model for other IOUs on how to successfully embrace clean solar energy.”

“TEP is a national leader in the deployment of renewable energy. The partnership between TEP and the University of Arizona in developing the Solar Zone at the UA Tech Park is an example of TEP’s leadership and forward thinking in the utility industry. The Solar Zone has emerged as a leading center for solar energy development, especially in the testing, evaluation and demonstration of new solar technology,” said Bruce Wright, Associate Vice President for Research Parks at the University of Arizona.

Tucson Electric Power provides safe, reliable service to more than 404,000 customers in southern Arizona. To learn more about TEP’s solar energy programs, visit tep.com.

May Sustainable Tucson General Meeting
Monday, May 14th
6:00 pm
Joel D. Valdez Main Library
101 N. Stone, Downtown (free lower level parking off Alameda St)

From the Sustainable Tucson website:
Prosperity Without Growth – What does it look like?

Please join us at Sustainable Tucson’s May meeting to hear local experts talk about Sustainable Economics, and share your thoughts about what this looks like and what it entails. Help us engage the planners with solutions appropriate to our time.

Planning efforts in Tucson (including Imagine Greater Tucson) assume growth to be inevitable and good.

Until recently, there was no reason to question that belief. With a seemingly endless supply of resources and space to dump waste products, there was no feedback raising our awareness, nor reason to ask questions.

Now, however, the pinch has begun. The high carbon energy fuels upon which we have built our modern civilization are not only becoming more problematic to supply, but the effects of their combustion are destabilizing the climate, decimating biodiversity, disrupting food security and beginning to affect social cohesion. The problem is the result of the collective impact of our human species. Our numbers have increased to the point where our resource consumption and related waste is beyond the planetary ecosystem’s ability to continue to supply and absorb them.

If the planet were our house, the debt we have accumulated is coming due, foreclosure is on the horizon, and we may soon lose our home.

Ecological economist Herman Daly notes that growth can become “uneconomic” when the “bads” accumulate faster than the “goods”, the “illth” faster than the wealth.

What are the alternatives to Growth?
What positive vision can lead us away from the “inevitable”?

Doors open at 5:30 pm.
The meeting will begin promptly at 6:00 pm.

You can recycle the following items at the event:

• TVs
• Computers
• Monitors
• Printers
• Batteries
• Chargers
• Cell phones
• VCRs
• CD players
• DVD players
• Fax machines
• Small appliances
• Cables & cords

WHEN: Saturday, April 7
WHERE: Whole Foods Markets, Tucson
7133 N. Oracle Rd. & 3360 E. Speedway Blvd.
TIME: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

For more information call (520) 795-9844

This event is sponsored by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, Whole Foods Market, World Care and Westech Recyclers.

You can find the press release about the event here.

Saguaro conducted a thorough analysis of the potential impacts of eliminating the sale of disposable bottled water and soda, and determined that the more sustainable solution is to provide new water bottle filling stations for visitors to refill their own reusable containers.

There are new water bottle filling stations located at each visitor center as well as the Rincon Mountain District bike ramada. BPA free, reusable water bottles are available for purchase in either visitor center for as little as $1.99.

The EPA estimates that less than 15% of plastic water bottles are recycled, which means the rest are thrown away and go into landfills.

Click here for the Saguaro National Park announcement.

As desert dwellers, we’re hyper-aware of our precious water. Plus saving water means saving money and who doesn’t like that? Here are twelve ways to conserve water, save some sheckels and earn a little smug self satisfaction for your eco-groovy self.

1. Fix that leak. A leaky faucet can drip away over seven gallons of water a day. Fixing the leak will save 5o bathtubs of water each year – that’s a boatload.

2. Turn water off while brushing your teeth. This is the easiest fix of all and can save up to eight gallons per day. What’s not to like?

3. Install low-flow showerheads and aerator faucets. Easy to install and many low-flow showerheads are under $10 at your neighborhood hardware store. This simple step can cut your water usage by as much as half.

4. Skip the bath, take a shower. Showers save water. A five minute shower (or long ten minute shower with a low-flow showerhead) uses about one-third of the water you’d need to fill the bathtub. A bathtub takes 60+ gallons of water and a shower only about 20. Do the math and you’ll find some serious savings.

5. Dishwasher vs. hand-washing dishes. It’s dishwasher for the win! If you fill up the dishwasher, it’s no contest that this saves money over hand-washing. And don’t bother rinsing off the dishes first, just scrape the plates and most dishwashers can handle the rest. This simple step alone can save you 20 gallons per load. And you avoid dishpan hands.

6. Washing machines like a full load. Washers are most efficient when you run a full load. One large load uses about 40 gallons and two medium loads use roughly 60 gallons. Ka-ching.

7. Use the broom. Instead of hosing off the driveway, sidewalk or patio, grab the broom instead. This saves 150 gallons or more each time.

8. Capture tap water. While you wait for hot water in the shower or at the sink, catch the flow in a watering can to use later on house plants or your garden. Saves over 200 gallons per month and your perky plants will thank you.

9. Harvest rainwater. Want free water? You got it! Just put the water running off your roof to good use. A simple way to harvest rainwater only requires a barrel at the end of a gutter downspout. The captured water can be saved to water the garden or wash the car.

10. Install gray water irrigation. This project may require a plumber, but it can save you a lot of the water by irrigating your yard with the not-really-dirty water from showers and washing machines. Think of it as free water the second time around.

11. Choose water-saving appliances. The Energy Star label will help you pick dishwashers and washing machines that use up to half the water of less efficient models. Less water, more savings. How zen.

12. Install a dual flush toilet. Even better than a low-flow toilet, it allows you to use just the right amount of water depending on what kind of waste you’re flushing.

What is your favorite water saving tip? Do you know how much water you use at home? Share with us in the comments.

Photo by Kate Kaemerle

Creating a sustainable Tucson is going to take the cooperation of residents, government and organizations. Tonight’s meeting features a conversation with Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothchild and Council Members Regina Romero and Karin Uhlich about building a sustainable future.

The meeting is tonight at 5:30 PM at the Joel D. Valdez Main Library.

From the Sustainable Tucson website:

The Sustainable City Project will address many areas, including renewable energy, climate change, economic development, affordable housing, transportation, water management, public health and ecosystem conservation.

From the UA News:

Through the UA partnership, the project is designed to build and support teams composed of University faculty members and students representing a diverse array of academic disciplines – architecture, landscape architecture, city and regional planning, environmental science, geography and development and public administration – and representatives from local and state agencies, community groups, developers, business and industry.

“This initiative is a great opportunity to make UA research on sustainability – especially in climate, solar energy, water and ecology – more relevant and accessible to our local community and for the University to better understand the needs and future of our city,” said Diana Liverman, co-director of the Institute of the Environment.

The Sustainable City Project is based at UA Downtown in the historic Roy Place Building at Stone Avenue and Pennington Street in Tucson. There, UA faculty members and students can connect with city officials and staff, community leaders and project developers for dialogue, vision, analysis and development of sustainable scenarios for the future.

UA Downtown also serves as a forum where academic, civic, cultural and business leaders can meet to discuss sustainability scenarios for the future of Tucson and Southern Arizona.

For the rest of the article, click here.

Photo by Kate Kaemerle

The U.S. Department of Energy anticipates a future where many households will utilize solar on their rooftops and that power will be transferred to the shared grid.

They are funding the Community Power Project in Flagstaff to test a shared grid system. It is anticipated that as many as one in three households will have solar capacity in the near future.

From the Clean Technica article:

Preparing for a future when a third of us will make our own electricity from solar on our roofs and ship that power onto the shared grid - the U.S. Department of Energy has funded the development of a solar community in Flagstaff, Arizona to help test how well the grid can handle that.

With everything expected to be complete this month, the test is now ready to be switched on.

The DOE supplied a $3.3 million grant in 2010 to help American Power Service (APS) set up the Community Power Project in the northern Arizona city to study the effects of a high concentration of solar rooftops on the grid.

APS, the oldest electricity utility in Arizona – and the owner of the largest coal power plant in the Southeast – must in turn run tests to see how well the grid can handle that much solar, spread out among individual customers, rather than coming from a single utility-scale project.

This Flagstaff neighborhood will have a distribution line that carries 30 percent solar energy, and “the question is: how do you optimize the grid in that case,” Dan Wool, spokesman for APS  told Energy Prospects West. This study “envisions a future when everyone has solar.” (Or one in three of us.)

Within the single Flagstaff neighborhood, APS has now installed photovoltaic systems on 125 residential rooftops ranging from 2 KW to 4 KW, along with solar water heaters in some low-income households and a 400 KW solar system at a local elementary school.

In addition to the small distributed rooftop solar arrays, about a third of the renewable energy for the Community Power Project will be generated from a 500 KW ground mounted solar farm consisting of PV panels arranged in several rows on top of single-axis tracking supports at the Doney Park Renewable Energy Site on 10 acres of land owned by APS.

To back up the solar energy and provide storage to even out the grid, APS included a 1.5 MWh battery storage system into the local grid at a substation.

Complete article at: Clean Technica