Fabulous Bike to Work Day!

Yes, the weather is fantastic again for BTWD. And this year was even better because Piedmont had it’s own Energizer Station at Grand Lake Ace. An Energizer Station is a small booth or table set up along the roadways of bicycle commuting routes that has food, goodies and neighbors to encourage cyclists on Bike to Work Day.

Bicyclists who stop at a stations get a free re-usable Bike to Work Day bag with useful bicycling information. Piedmont Connect organized it and Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Arizmendi, and Piedmont Grocery supplied coffee, pastries, and fruit.

Piedmont’s station got a visit from Mayor John Chiang and councilmember Garrett Keating, who were on their way downtown.

Later, I rode to Emeryville and stopped at the Xtracycle Energizer Station on West St and another on 65th and the Emeryville Greenway.

  

Keep biking!

Piedmont Connect General Meeting

Piedmont Connect General Meeting January 19^th 7 pm– all invited!

Over the past year and a half, Piedmont Connect has helped bring Piedmonters together to take a number of initiatives towards greater environmental sustainability at the local level – from our green garden rambles, where residents have learned from each other about native and drought tolerant plants and organic gardening methods, to hands-on events and projects which demonstrate how we can save energy in our homes, to educating Piedmonters about the issue of plastic pollution and investigating what actually happens with the plastics we put in our recycling.

What’s next for Piedmont Connect? We hope you’ll attend our next general meeting to help create an answer. If you’ve been thinking you’d like to join with others in taking action to create a more environmentally sustainable future, or if you have ideas about activities you’d like to initiate or be involved in during the coming year, please come to the meeting! What the future holds is in all of our hands.

When: Thursday January 19^th, 7 pm

Where: Havens Elementary School – Science Room – 344
2nd floor overlooking the Mulberry’s parking lot. Enter through the Vista Ave. doors across from City Hall

For more information: piedmontconnect@gmail.com 

To RSVP go to: www.piedmontconnect.org

 

Vanquishing the Electricity Vampires in Your Home

Simple Steps for Saving $ and Reducing Your Carbon Footprint

Wednesday, November 16, 7 – 8:30pm
Havens Elementary School – Science Room – 344
2nd floor overlooking the Mulberry’s parking lot.
Enter through the Vista Ave. doors across from City Hall

As we move into the darker and colder days of winter, it’s a good time to learn more about the ways we waste electricity in our homes without even realizing it. The good news is that there are some relatively easy steps you can take to reduce your electric bills month over month. Piedmont Connect has invited Chris Hunt, founder of the residential electricity auditing firm PowerDown, to share a few case studies of homes that have substantially cut down on their electrical usage, as well as show us some hands-on examples of specific products that are proven to help. We hope you will join us.

Since space is limited in the room, please RSVP at https://sites.google.com/site/connectpiedmontenergy/

Questions? Please contact Margaret Ovenden at movenden@sbcglobal.net

Local Resources to Improve Your Home Energy Efficiency



Could you use help acting on your intention to improve your household’s energy efficiency? Come find out about three local resources that offer concrete ways to accomplish this goal:

Now’s the Time! Local Resources to Improve Your Home Energy Efficiency

Tuesday March 29 at 7 p.m.
Piedmont Veterans Hall – 401 Highland Avenue
Co-sponsored by City of Piedmont , Piedmont CONNECT, and League of Women Voters of Piedmont

Featuring …

• Energy Upgrade California in Alameda County (EnergyUpgradeCA.org): This new program, dedicated to helping homeowners save energy, is a “one stop shop” for making home improvements included in either a “basic” or “advanced” upgrade package designed to increase your home’s energy and water efficiency. Homeowners participating in the program are eligible to take advantage of rebates and incentives worth up to $4,000 being offered by PG&E and the City of Piedmont on a first-come-first-served basis (until December 2011). Presented by Judi Ettlinger of StopWaste and Kevin Jackson of the City of Piedmont ’s Planning Dept.

Plus short presentations from …

• Piedmont CONNECT’s Electricity Monitoring Project: A group of Piedmont volunteers is helping other Piedmonters install TED (The Energy Detective) meters, giving them access on their home computer networks to real-time data on their electricity usage. Participants are anonymously sharing their data for a study of how information gained from monitoring electrical usage leads to usage reductions. Since January, 14 homes have had meters installed. Hear about how you can join this project aimed not only at helping households save electricity and money, but also at collectively making a difference in lowering our community’s greenhouse gas emissions.
• California Youth Energy Services: If you are interested in a simple energy audit and help switching out incandescent light bulbs for compact fluorescents (CFLs), or installing water-saving faucets or retractable clotheslines, CYES is the group for you. Funded by local utilities, CYES hires teenagers from urban neighborhoods, trains them in people skills and energy efficiency practices, and sends them out in pairs to homes which have requested a visit. The goal is to reduce household gas, electricity and water use while training the next generation of environmental leaders.

For more information about the event, contact Kevin Jackson at kjackson@ci.piedmont.ca.us (City of Piedmont ) or Margaret Ovenden movenden@sbcglobal.net (Piedmont CONNECT, a community group that supports local efforts toward environmental sustainability in Piedmont )

New Community Group Supporting Local Efforts Towards Environmental Sustainability

All Piedmonters, young and old, are invited to the first meeting of Piedmont CONNECT, a new community group dedicated to building a more environmentally sustainable future right here in Piedmont.

Recognizing that there are already many great environmental efforts afoot in our community, the objective of CONNECT is to provide a forum where people can share ideas and find ways to collaborate.  While national, state and city policies are going to be important in shaping how our society takes on the twin challenges of climate change and peak oil (declining oil reserves), the initiatives citizens take on the local level, in our day-to-day lives, are immeasurably important. The goal of CONNECT is to celebrate and encourage these efforts.  Depending on who chooses to participate in this process, groups may coalesce around topics related to food, transportation, energy, waste reduction, health, and other issues–for example, some people may be interested in starting an organic gardeners’ exchange, others in forming a pool of volunteers to monitor waste sorting at major City events, others in sharing information about energy efficiency with other homeowners … there are many possibilities for how citizens can connect with each other and take positive action towards a creating a greener, more resilient community.

Feel free to bring information about projects you or your group are already working on or are interested in.  Everyone with an interest in or curiosity about promoting environmental sustainability on the local level is encouraged to attend.

Date: Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Time: 7:00 p.m.

Location: Guild Hall, Piedmont Community Church , 400 Highland Avenue

For more information, contact:
Heather Clapp clappheather@gmail.com, Margaret Ovenden movenden@sbcglobal.net,
Terry Smith terrysmith@pobox.com, Stella Kennedy stellakennedy@hotmail.com or John White babado@comcast.net

Website: http://sites.google.com/site/connectpiedmont/