Gateway Greening, an urban and community garden organization in St. Louis, recently won $50,000 in the What Do You Care About TODAYcontest sponsored by the NBC® TODAY Show and the Pepsi Refresh Project.

Gwenne Hayes-Stewart, head of Gateway Greening, thanked the group’s supporters for the finalist’s finish. “Even though we weren’t the grand prize winner, we were shocked by the generous $50,000 grant from Pepsi Refresh,” she said. “It was an amazing surprise that will help us continue to provide the people of St. Louis with fresh food and more jobs.”

Gateway Greening’s City Seeds Urban Farm, located in the heart of St. Louis,  produces affordable, locally grown food on underused land, provided by the Missouri Department of Transportation. Its farmers, receiving comprehensive services provided by St. Patrick Center, are homeless, near homeless, dually diagnosed with chronic addictions and mental illness and/or recently released prisoners.

The Farm combines therapeutic horticulture with jobs training to help participants gain hands-on training in a variety of desirable green industry skills including irrigation, small landscape construction projects, greenhouse seedling production and how to tend fruiting trees, shrubs, native plants and ornamentals. The farmers sell their crops at St. Louis farmers’ markets, where they get feedback from the public. Food is also donated to emergency food providers.

City Seeds Urban Farm was established by Gateway Greening in 2006 as a Community Food Project funded by the USDA. Other collaborators on the farm include the University of Missouri Extension, St. Louis Master Gardeners, the Public Policy Research Center of University of Missouri—St. Louis, Operation Food Search, the Meramec Horticulture Department of St. Louis Community College, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Missouri Department of Transportation and the Department of Conservation.

In addition to the urban farm, Gateway Greening supports 200 community and youth gardens across the St. Louis area by providing the resources and knowledge that enable them to develop food producing gardens and landscaped areas on under-used or abandoned land.

About Gateway Greening
Gateway Greening is a non-profit organization celebrating 26 years of promoting urban neighborhood vitality and stability, healthy living and quality of life through community food projects, education and wellness programs and civic greening.

Gateway Greening forms alliances with non-profit organizations, faith based institutions, institutions of higher learning and neighborhood groups to provide resources for citizen-managed open spaces that encourage healthier, safer and more enriched lives. Gateway Greening provides the resources and knowledge that enable them to develop food producing gardens and landscaped areas on public land. Gateway Greening also works with area schools and institutions of higher learning to bring gardening programs into the classroom; educating children on the wonders of gardening.

For more information on Gateway Greening and its programs visit www.gatewaygreening.org or call 314-588-9600.

Where: Schlafly Bottleworks
7260 Southwest Ave. (at Manchester)
Maplewood, MO 63143
(314) 241- BEER (2337)

When: Wednesday July 21st, 6:30 to 9pm (panel 7pm)

Suggested donation: $3

One way you can work towards cutting down usage and costs is to do a home energy audit. This will help you assess how much energy your home currently uses and define ways you can improve energy efficiency.

What is a Home Energy Audit?

A Home Energy Audit is basically a measurement of your current energy usage. It is a process that evaluates your usage over time so you can see areas where energy usage is up and perhaps find ways to reduce the amount of energy used. There are many different ways to conduct a Home Energy Audit.

An energy audit of a home may involve recording various characteristics of the structure, including checking the walls, windows, doors, skylights and so forth to detect air filtration and resistance to heat flow. Programming and efficiency of heating, cooling and ventilation systems and equipment is also assessed. This is all taken into affect to identify the overall building’s thermal performance.

After the assessment is completed, a report will be written to show current energy usage issues and make suggestions for improvement. The more billing history and past energy usage you have available the better the report as it will have a long timeframe of comparison in order to make accurate short term and long term suggestions.

The overall point of the audit to allow you to understand ways to decrease your energy usage and hopefully, save you some money as well!

How Do I Get A Home Energy Audit?

There are several ways to conduct a home energy audit. We’ll explore different options below.

Do It Yourself

If you have your last 12 months of utility bills, you can use the ENERGY STAR Home Energy Yardstick to compare your home’s energy efficiency to similar homes across the country and get recommendations for energy-saving home improvements from ENERGY STAR. You will also need to enter some basic information about your home (such as zip code, age, square footage, and number of occupants). If you don’t have your bills, you can contact your local utility company to receive them.

Ameren UE has a great tool available on their website for determining energy saving if they are your electric provider. Visit UEfficiency for more information. Laclede Gas also offers an Energy Efficiency site as well with helpful hints and information.

Hire a Professional

If you would like to get the best possible information about making your home energy efficient, you should consider contacting a professional Home Energy Auditor. A professional auditor can use a variety of techniques and equipment to determine the energy efficiency of your home. Thorough audits often use equipment such as blower doors, which measure the extent of leaks in the building envelope, and infrared cameras, which reveal hard-to-detect areas of air infiltration and missing insulation.

Plus, often your utility company will offer a rebate program for hiring a professional. Ameren UE offers UE’s Missouri Energy Efficient Natural Gas Equipment Rebate Program that lists what you can apply for. Laclede Gas also has a rebate plan for home energy audits.

If you don’t have Ameren or Laclede as your energy provider, contact them and to see if they offer similar incentives. Most utilities are offering Energy Efficient Rebates. After all, it benefits both you and them!

To find a local certified energy audit professional in the state of Missouri check out this list.

Types of Audits

Preliminary Audit

A preliminary audit, or simple audit, is the simplest and quickest type of audit. It involves minimal interviews with the homeowners, a brief review of utility bills and other operating data, and a walk-through to become familiar with the home structure and identify glaring areas of energy waste or inefficiency.

In this instance, typically only major areas of improvement are indentified and suggestions made. This is good for a quick overview of what might need to be done, and for short term purposes to at least get things started.

If your home is already relatively energy efficient, this would suffice and you may not need to do a more in depth audit. Most however, will need to continue beyond this and complete a general audit as well.

General Audit

General audits, or complete site energy audit expands beyond the preliminary audit by collecting more detailed information to generate a more in depth report.

This general includes looking over utility bills from a 12 to 36 month period to allow the auditor to evaluate the facility’s energy/demand rate structures, and energy usage profiles. Additionally, metering of specific energy-consuming systems is often performed to supplement utility data. In-depth interviews with homeowners are conducted to provide a better understanding of major energy consuming systems as well as insight into variations in daily and annual energy consumption and demand.

This type of audit is the best way to determine all possible ways to make your home more energy efficient. All major and minor areas of improvement will be included, to maximize your overall energy savings.

A detailed report is performed for each measure based on detailed implementation cost estimates; site-specific operating cost savings, and the customer’s investment criteria.

It’s Tax Deductible!

Another good reason to get a Home Energy Audit? It’s tax deductible! According to the Missouri Department of Revenue, “any taxpayer who paid an individual certified by the Department of Natural Resources to complete a home energy audit may deduct 100 percent of the costs incurred for the audit and the implementation of any energy efficiency recommendations made by the auditor. The maximum yearly subtraction may not exceed $1,000, for a single taxpayer or a married couple filing a combined return. For all years in which you incur expenses, the maximum total subtraction you may claim is $2,000. To qualify for the deduction, you must have incurred expenses in the year you are filing a claim, and the expenses incurred must not have been excluded from your federal adjusted gross income or reimbursed through any other state or federal program.”

So even if your utility company doesn’t offer a credit, you can always count it as a tax deduction. Save energy and money and get a tax break – not bad!

Once again, to check out the list of Missouri certified professional home energy auditors, visit the Department of Natural Resources.

Article by Katie Sorensen, EcoLifeSTL Staff Writer

The American Solar Challenge Race will roll into Jefferson City on June 22 as an official checkpoint for the race. Engineering and science technology join together to “rayce” under the Midwest sun this summer.  Missouri S&T’s entry, Solar Miner VII, will be trying to win back the famous Wilson Cup trophy during the 2010 American Solar Challenge Race.

The American Solar Challenge is a competition to design, build and race solar-powered cars in a cross-country event. The Road Race or Rayce will begin in Tulsa on June 20 and travel 1,100 miles to Chicago where the race will end on June 27.  Race officials have selected three Missouri communities as checkpoint locations during the week-long race including Neosho on June 20, Jefferson City on June 22 and Rolla on June 23, with the race restarting there on June 24.

To show case the efforts of the race and celebrate science, engineering and technology, the Department of Natural Resources is hosting an Energy and Innovation Fair on the Capitol’s south lawn on June 22 from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.  The free event is open to the public and will provide displays and exhibits for viewing while awaiting the arrival of the cars and teams that will be checked in by race officials in front of the Capitol.

Race teams will be required to stay in the capital city for two hours before rolling down the highway towards their next stop in Rolla.  While on location at the Capitol, visitors will be able to watch and ask questions of the various race teams while they raise their car’s solar panels to collect additional sun rays and complete their road checks. In addition to checking out the race teams, visitors attending the event can check out the latest technology some Missouri businesses are using to build more energy-efficient products.

Follow the race to the Jefferson City checkpoint

Sponsors

The event at the Capitol is sponsored by the following:

• Missouri Department of Agriculture.
• Missouri Department of Economic Development.
• Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
• Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
• Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
• Office of Administration.
• Missouri Department of Transportation.
• City of Jefferson.
• Jefferson City Convention and Visitors Bureau.
• Missouri S and T University.

The American Solar Challenge is hosted by the Innovators Educational Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted to applied learning in the areas of science, engineering and technology.

Clean Water 15: Whether you have never been on the river before or are an experienced paddler, you will enjoy this opportunity to canoe or kayak down the Missouri River. Floaters will start at Franklin Island Access in Boonville, MO and end at River Fest at Katfish Katy’s in Huntsdale, MO, a total of 15 river miles.  A shuttle service will be provided and safety boats will be in the water.  Awards will be given to the first 3 finishers in each division, but that doesn’t mean you have to rush- sit back and enjoy the river!  This would also make for a great Father’s Day outing!

Clean Water 50: Canoe and Kayak Racers will challenge themselves on a 46.5 mile river race starting at Stump Island Access in Glasgow, MO and ending at River Fest. This would make for a great challenge to test your grit or an excellent training day for those taking on the MR 340 in July. This stretch of the river will take you through Lisbon Bottoms- the most respected and sometimes feared part of the river by MR 340 Racers who usually tackle it at night.  Awards will be given to the first 3 finishers in each division- so get your paddle on!

River Fest: From 12:00 – 7:00 p.m. Katfish Katy’s Campground will have something for everyone!  There will be delicious local food and beverages, informational booths from local organizations and businesses, and a silent auction with all kinds of goodies!  Oh, and don’t forget- live music by Chump Change and The Hennessey Brothers with Henry Clay.

Bike or Boat for a Beverage: There are numerous recreational opportunities connected to the Missouri River.  To help promote some of these opportunities, we will be offering one free beverage (yes, even a beer counts) to all registered racers and anyone who bikes to the festival!

Pledge for a Paddler: Paddlers entering the Clean Water 15 and Clean Water 50 will not pay an entrance fee, but rather are asked to come up with a minimum pledge to benefit the Missouri River Communities Network’s mission to enhance stewardship of the Missouri River.  Even if you can’t make it to the festival, you can help us out by making a tax deductible pledge for a paddler.  The top three pledges (in excess of their required minimum pledge) will receive recognition and prizes at the festival.

Camping Opportunities: Available at Stump Island Park and Katfish Katy’s.

Volunteer Opportunities: Groups or indiviuals are invited to help out!

Ride or walk through neighborhoods that are growing their own food,

teaching children to eat right and setting up farms in the heart of the City.

When:  Saturday, June 26, 2010

Tour: Community gardens, an urban farm and farmers’ market

Terrain: Urban, mostly flat, about 10 miles

Start: Norman Seay Park,

Dayton & Glasgow, 63106

Time: Registration at 8am, Ride leaves at 9am

Tickets: Free members, $5 non-member

A VIP reception will be held the night before the summit, March 3^rd, from 5:30-7:30 pm, at the Piper Palm House in Tower Grove Park.  Mark Winne will be reading from his book and it will include samples of local food.  The early bird cost for the VIP reception is also only $30.  Early Bird Registration for both the Reception and the Summit is $50, a saving of $10!

Please visit www.healthyyouthpartnership.org and click on “Register Today for our Food Summit 2010” for more information and to register online, and feel free to contact Sara Rasmussen, HYP Americorps VISTA, at 314-539-4277 with any additional questions.

WITS is dedicated to underserved populations and nonprofits. Through education and training we can empower all populations to become more productive in their environments while saving the landfills. Our goal is to be run and staffed by students/mentors with a “pass it on” value.

REUSE

Everyone will have the opportunity to receive complete computer systems and peripherals free or for an incredibly affordable rate. We also offer free computers for those who are desperately in need of a computer to continue their education or for career advancement.

WITS is dedicated to giving everyone the basic physical and intellectual resources they need to compete in today’s world. Through learned values in teaching and being taught, the youth will have an understanding of the value of giving and receiving in a peer environment.

WITS does not discriminate by age, race, sex or ethnicity. We only ask that each person who gets involved in our training donate their time to teach others what they have learned.

RECYCLE

Any materials that cannot be reused are recycled onsite at our recycling facility. We do this by offering at-risk men and women who cannot gets jobs otherwise a chance to contract with us. These men and women learn the skills needed to demanufacture and appropriately recycle all nonreusable materials.

WITS offers many services to businesses that not only enhance the community efforts, but also assists businesses with appropriate recycling of their electronic, business, office, medical and industrial equipment.

The goal of the Automotive X Prize is to inspire a new generation of viable, super fuel-efficient vehicles. Prizes totaling $10 million dollars will be awarded to the teams that win the competition to create clean, production-capable vehicles that exceed the energy equivalent of 100 miles per gallon of gasoline. DOE is supporting the competition through a $3.5 million grant for an associated education program and through technical support, which is funded with $5.5 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The Automotive X Prize is administered by the X Prize Foundation, an educational nonprofit prize institute, based in St. Louis, whose mission is to create radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. See the Automotive X Prize press release and Web site.