The Elle Gallo band will be solar powered at Haverhill Goes Green!, but volunteers are needed to help run this major Haverhill event:

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: We need about 75 volunteers to help run Haverhill Goes Green! on the day of the event. If you can help please email Haverhill Goes Green! Volunteers keep their trendy Haverhill Goes Green! T-shirts.

• April 25, 2010
• 12:00 to 4:00
• Winnekenni Castle

Haverhill Goes Green! will feature alternative energy companies and hybrid and electric cars.

Haverhill’s Brightside, in conjunction with most of the other volunteer groups serving Greater Haverhill, is organizing an environmental fair called Haverhill Goes Green! This event is to promote the efforts of local business and the community to grow in a sustainable way. Here you can learn about wind, solar, and geothermal alternatives to oil, the benefits of green cleaning using non-hazardous ingredients, and hook up with local farms to set your table with healthier foods for your family. Live music will accompany a host of vendors and speakers and demonstrations of green technologies.
For more information email hgg@haverhillsbrightside.org. Businesses and organizations interested in participating will find the application here.

April 25, 2010, 12:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Winnekenni Castle

Many of us in Haverhill recently received a postcard from Sunlight Solar, announcing a presentation hosted by them at 7:30 pm in the Johnson Auditorium at the Haverhill Public Library. It sounds interesting, and I plan to attend.

http://sunlightsolar.com/meet-us/local-events/massachusetts-local-events/

Each year the Haverhill Universalist Unitarian Church hosts an Earth Day fair. Sometimes the Haverhill Energy Task Force has a display of some sort. But this year the theme centers on how we power ourselves: ethical eating and local food sources. For details click on the image.

Come join us! To support the Haverhill Solar Challenge announced by Mayor Fiorentini, the Haverhill Mayor’s Energy Task Force will show the movie Kilowatt Ours:

Thursday June 19, 7:00 pm
Johnson Auditorium Haverhill Public Library
99 Main Street
Haverhill, MA

From the coal mines of West Virginia to the solar panel fields of Florida, Jeff Barrie highlights solutions to America’s energy related problems. Find out how he and his wife, Heather, cut their energy bills in half and use a portion of their savings to buy green power. Best of all, “Kilowatt Ours” will teach you how to dramatically cut your own energy bill.

Experts from organizations such as Clean Water Action will explain specifically what Haverhill can do, and answer questions. After learning about clean energy you will have the opportunity to help Haverhill win a solar power system for a school building by signing up for clean energy. A representative from the New England Wind Fund will be on hand to answer questions and take applications.

Has the cost of commuting become a serious chunk of your budget? Massachusetts has a great ride matching service for commuters called MassRIDES. Provide your commuting profile when you register, and MassRIDES will let you know when there are people you may be able to carpool or vanpool with. There is also an emergency ride home program, for those times when someone needs to leave early or late. The MassRIDES web site has a lot of usefule information and tools, such as the Commute Cost Calculator.

It is important to save fuel any way we can: by driving less, carpooling, taking public transportation, walking, biking, and buying more efficient vehicles. For those who are skeptical about peak oil theory, the Wall Street Journal reports in Energy Watchdog Warns Of Oil-Production Crunch that even the International Energy Agency, an organization known for repeatedly overestimating oil production, is admitting that the ability to expand oil production is much less than previously thought. More on this in An Introduction to Peak Oil.

While people debate about whether to drill in new areas (oil projects rarely live up to the claims, and take a long time to get going), we can drive down the price of oil and gasoline today by simply using less of it. High prices and fluctuating prices are caused by the combination of inelastic supply and inelastic demand. We need to make the demand for gasoline and oil products more elastic by reducing demand as the price goes up. If we don’t, then obviously fuel is still too cheap to have an efficient market.

Carpooling, or using less fuel in any way we can, both saves us money directly and lowers the price of fuel!