Solar One Receives MAS Award!
Solar One Executive Director Chris Collins accepts the award
Last week Solar One was an honored recipient of an Annual Award from the Municipal Art Society of New York. Celebrating “groups that help define what makes New York City great,” Solar One was selected along with NYC’s 311 service, the Long Island City Cultural Alliance, American Ballroom Theater and Jose the Beaver (accepted by the Bronx River Alliance). It was an eclectic mix of what makes New York City such a wonderful place to live and work, and we were proud to be included. We want to thank the Municipal Art Society, their Board and Nominating Committee, and everyone who has helped bring Solar One to where we are today in just 4 years. We can only hope that there will be more awards in our future.
Posted in New York City, S1 in the News | Permalink
Kudos to One of Solar One’s Own
A member of the Solar One family received high praise in the local press this week. Christopher Kennedy, ecological artist and Educational Coordinator at Solar One, was featured in yesterday’s New York Metro. CK’s “Urban Epiphyte” project caught the attention of New Yorkers throughout the city, as participants donned vegetation as part of their daily dress to draw notice to our local ecology. Epiphytes are organisms, mostly plants, that live by attaching themselves to other plants for physical support. Mainstays of rain forests such as orchids and bromeliads, which essentially grow in the upper canopy of their host trees, are the most well-known members of this classification.
Participants in the “Urban Epiphyte” project went through their normal routines wearing live plants culled by CK from Prospect Park in tool belts and fanny packs, documenting reactions and interactions with other New Yorkers. In one instance, a crowd gathered to help as one plant fell to the subway platform. Chris himself noted that the people he encountered treated his plants with the care normally reserved for pets and that many kept discussing the incident afterward. Ultimately, those fortuitous witnesses were inclined to consider aspects of their environments that they normally take for granted in a new light. Isn’t that the whole point to quality art?
Posted in Art, Energy Efficiency, Global Warming, Legislation, Native Plants, New York City, S1 in the News, Solar One | Permalink
The I Heart PV Street Team Visits Albany, Urges Stronger Solar Policies for the State.
On Monday June 16th, with only a week remaining until the end of the current legislative session, six members of the Manhattan Comprehensive Night and Day High School I Heart PV Street Team met with key leaders in Albany to make the case for solar energy in New York City and State. The group met with distinguished senators from throughout the state, including the Chair of the Senate Energy Committee, George Maziarz, and Senators Joseph Griffo and Michael Nozzolio.
The Albany expedition occurred as a result of Brooklyn Senator Eric Adams’ deep interest and appreciation for the I Heart PV project and the street team’s activities. After seeing the team in action last month at the Grand Army Plaza Green Market in his Brooklyn district, the senator invited them to join him for a fast-paced day of lobbying in Albany. I Heart PV warmly thanks him for his hard work, generosity and responsiveness to the campaign’s goals
The Senator and his wonderful office administrator Mary Harris arranged an amazing experience for the young members of the team that none of them will soon forget. In addition to meeting directly with Senators, during which time they were able to commend the officials for passing expanded net-metering legislation and the New York City Solar Property Tax Abatement as well as inquire about what the state might do next to help advance solar development, the group also appeared before a session of the Senate Minority Conference. After being formerly introduced by Senator Adams the group demonstrated their mobile solar charging unit and answered questions from curious senators, including Suzi Oppenheimer and and NYC’s own Velmanette Montgomery, Ruth Hassell-Thompson, and Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
Perhaps the team’s most exciting moment occurred at the end of the day when they met directly with Assembly Member Herman Farrell just one hour before he moved the Solar Property Tax Abatement bill (introduced by the Assembly Member himself) through the Ways and Means Committee, of which he is the chair. Team member Khaddy Ndiaye had the chance to directly relay to the Assembly Member the merits of the policy and why it should be considered a high priority during the last days of the session.
The street team has done an amazing job this spring reaching out to hundreds of New Yorkers, and encouraging voter interest in state solar policies and legislation. Their commitment was crucial to the campaign’s success and Solar One could not be more impressed by their efforts and proud of their accomplishments. Indeed, it would not surprise us in the least if at some point in the future one or more of them were to one day experience lobbying from the other end of the table.
Posted in I Heart PV, Legislation, Renewables, S1 in the News | Permalink
Solar One in Eyebeam’s FEEDBACK Exhibition
Eyebeam’s expansive new exhibition, FEEDBACK, surveys artists, designers, architects and engineers on the topic of sustainability, and presents their responses—19 projects varying from public art projects and industrial design to DIY energy solutions and software tools—to inspire discussion and action on this pervasive (and increasingly commodified) subject.
As the culmination of Eyebeam’s Beyond Light Bulbs programming series, the show highlights the concerns, interests and work of Eyebeam’s Sustainability Research Group, with work by individuals, collectives, students, local community groups and the Eco-Vis Challenge winners. Free, artist-run workshops are integral to the exhibition’s design and are scheduled Saturdays throughout the show’s duration. See Solar One in the FEEDBACK exhibition today at Eyebeam: 540 W. 21st St.
Posted in Art, Education, Energy, S1 in the News | Permalink
Futurefarmers + Solar One Collaboration Mentioned in NY Metro
Modern Victory Gardens may ease urban hunger
by amy zimmer / metro new york
FEB 12, 2008
UNION SQUARE. To Amy Franceschini, the empty space in front of the Gandhi statue here could be an urban garden. The windows on buildings could have boxes for herbs and tomatoes. The roofs could have raised beds.
Franceschini, founder of the San Francisco-based design collective Futurefarmers, has convinced her city to plant crops in front of its City Hall as part of a pilot program to turn yards, balconies and unused land into food production areas. [...]
Franceschini plans to document their gardens online and help other cities adopt the program. She’s been contacted by several New York groups, she said, including Grow Greenpoint.com, the Conflux festival and Solar One.
“We want our audience to think about the potential for change through participation, but also about the messy politics of implementation”… full article
more on victory gardens: here
Posted in Art, Citysol, Native Plants, New York City, S1 in the News | Permalink
Solar 2 Featured in GreenSource Magazine
Design for a Carbon-Free Life: The Pursuit of “Net” Zero Energy
October 2007
A Growing Number of Projects Focus Attention On An Elusive Goal
By Molly Miller
Buildings are responsible for nearly half of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions and consume more than 70 percent of the electricity generated by U.S. power plants, according to the Energy Information Administration. These numbers have become more and more widely cited in the press and are the mantra of Santa Fe-based architect Edward Mazria, who has long spoken out on the link between buildings and global warming. In 2002, Mazria founded Architecture 2030, a non-profit organization with the mission of dramatically reducing the building sector’s greenhouse gas emissions. In late 2005, the group issued the 2030 Challenge, calling for an immediate 50 percent reduction in fossil fuel use in new buildings and for climate-neutral buildings by 2030. (full article)
Posted in Green Building, S1 in the News, Solar 2, Solar One, Sustainability | Permalink
Solar One Films Presents Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Issue 375
August 16, 2007
Even after the planet is ruined by ill-advised nuclear strikes, the military brass in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove obsess over Russia’s capacity to build more effective fallout shelters — a twisted lesson on the dangers of single-minded politics. - JW
Note: Other films in Solar One’s free, eco-friendly series (Wed-Fri: 8.15-8.24) include Martin Scorsese’s After Hours (1985) and Mel Brooks’ 1974 camp classic Young Frankenstein.
Posted in S1 in the News | Permalink
Follow the Sun Panel
Alternative energy powers alternative entertainment on the East River
By Rachel Fershleiser
August 2007
Outdoor movies, free dance performances, open-air concerts—there are so many reasons to skip the Hamptons and enjoy the electric summer streets of New York City. But what about all that electricity? What if the things keeping urban life great aren’t keeping it green?
Enter Solar One. The green energy, arts, and education center is an entirely solar powered building designed to inspire New Yorkers to be environmentally responsible city dwellers. Located in Stuyvesant Cove Park, where the East River meets 23rd Street, Solar One is an easy bike ride or beautiful stroll from the Lower East Side. (more…)
Posted in S1 in the News | Permalink
Selling a Lofty Concept (Free Energy) by Appealing to a Basic Desire: Free Beer
Gregory Altman enjoyed a free Brooklyn Lager while talking with Lorrie Cleneger, an employee of Community Energy, after he signed up to use wind power.
By Tim Murphy
July 15, 2007
To shake up an often apathetic public, environmentalists have sometimes appealed to fear (warnings about rising seas, Al Gore’s movie) and theatrics (tree-hugging, crying American Indians on TV). (more…)
Posted in S1 in the News | Permalink
‘Green’-Lighted
April 28, 2007
SOLAR FLAIR: The futuristic “zero-carbon” center will open in 2009.
Eco-Friendly Center A City Groundbreaker
By Sharri Markson
Construction of the first building in the nation to leave a “zero carbon footprint” will begin next year on the East Side.
The eco-friendly center will be open to the public with interactive environmental exhibits, a cafe, bookstore and green theater, showing films powered by the sun. Construction is slated to begin in September 2008 and will open a year later. (more…)
Posted in S1 in the News, Solar 2 | Permalink
