In New York State we are fortunate to be surrounded by family farms, a beautiful landscape, and (some) thriving local communities. In the towns in and around the mountains and valleys of the Hudson Valley you will find communities that are supporting their neighborhood businesses, farms, and farm stands. Local produce, beef, chicken, duck, and pork are the rule in resident’s refrigerators, not the exception. Yet local economies in New York are struggling, like much of the rest of the country.
New jobs are needed, along with tax revenue. The fossil fuels industry has made billions upon billions for the elite upper class in this country while very little has seen its way into the betterment of the lives of residents in each town, village, hamlet, or city in this country. In fact, the drilling and mining exploits of big oil & gas has left many areas of the country devastated by environmental damage.  Centralized, globalized Multi-National Conglomerates are dominating and leaving little choice to be had for the average citizen.

The alternative energy industry has been marginalized ever since its inception, even though the possibilities for a renewable & sustainable energy economy are real and expanding as we speak. Thermal Mass Construction INC has developed a system that achieves energy independence for home owners by reducing or eliminating their reliance on fossil fuels for heat and electricity. The call to retrofit homes for energy efficiency is just beginning in New York, and the goal is to create jobs. We are hoping that the new 'Green Jobs Financing Law' will put real investment into helping residents substantially improve the efficiency of their homes and put money back in their pocket. The local contractors can have consistent work rebuilding their communities. Excavators, general contractors, finishers, trucking, and drilling will all get a major boost from this law if serious funds are implemented to make the transition from fossil fuels to alternative energy for home owners.

Working class citizens deserve a break. They are locked into the grid and completely reliant upon the fossil fuels industry for the necessities of life (running their home). Renewable energy used with our "Thermal Mass Concrete/Radiant Panels can break that reliance and generate local wealth for the local businesses that are innovating to harness it in the most beneficial and effective way.  By choosing to support Green Construction we are in turn supporting our neighbors, local economies, and the environment.  Once you build a TMC INC Green Home you no longer are tied to the price fluctuations of fossil fuels.  Once they no longer receive billions in government subsidies they will be unable to buy politicians with donations and job offers.  Their industry has caused countless environmental catastrophes and needs to be moved away from.

The cost to our environment is too much.  There are only so many mountain tops the coal industry can blow up, only so many water aquifers Natural Gas can pollute with fracking, and only so many lifeless, industrial swathes of land we can tolerate.  We see things degrading all around us in terms of quality of life; I say it’s time we did something about it.  The planet cannot sustain it, and our wallets cannot sustain it.  Let’s go Green NOW!

Does anyone remember reading about the construction of the largest zero-energy office building in Golden, Colorado? Commissioned by the Department of Energy, this 222,000 square-foot research support facility is located on the National Renewable Energy Laboratory campus and is now complete!

This is the largest zero-energy office building in the United States, and it will hopefully serve as an example to other commercial developers. True to it's name, this building will create as much energy as it uses during the year. Estimates on energy efficiency peg it as consuming up to fifty percent less energy than buildings constructed to current commercial codes. How did they do it?

This morning I learned about an initiative currently going on at UCSB regarding renewable energy. Two thoughts immediately came to mind when hearing this: will students approve an increase in fees with the current financial fiasco the UC is going through, and will the program provide effective measures to bring the campus closer to zero net energy?

The first green fee ever put forth in the UC system happened back in 2006, and was called The Green Initiative Fund. Students voted in a fee increase to their tuition to help pay for efforts to reduce their educational footprint on the environment. This initiative continues in that vein and will mostly pay for large-scale photovoltaic arrays around the campus and ensure the highest possible LEED certification of most of the Student Affairs' buildings. The reason I ask if people will accept higher fees is due to the recent substantial increase to student tuition costs within the UC system. The cost to attend UCSB in particular has risen 30% since I finished school last year. This program looks to tack on a $6 fee per quarter for every student over 10 years. I feel that the students will accept a change like this as they have been more active in the environmental front these past few years. It would at the very least serve as a symbol to the rest of the UC and college community that Santa Barbara is getting serious towards their energy use.