The resulting videos use those photos and Reilly’s words to explain the vast amount of resources we are now using — particularly in coal and water – and ways people can move toward sustainability.

The first step, Reilly says, is to recognize the scope of the problem.

Part 1 – Husband Resources

Part 2 – Flooding and Clean Water

Part 3 – Reuse Existing Infrastructure

SOURCE: St. Louis Beacon

The “Pure Power Is P.U.R.E. Genius” campaign featured real individuals, families and businesses who were among the first to enroll in AmerenUE’s Pure Power program.  “It’s been an impressive two years for Pure Power. UE customers are responding to the program and continue to show their enthusiasm for renewable energy by purchasing renewable energy credits,” says Cindy Bambini, senior Ameren partnership manager, 3Degrees, Inc. “Our P.U.R.E. Genius campaign helps create that enthusiasm for Pure Power, and we were honored to receive the 2009 Green Power Leadership Award.”

Garbage at a St. Louis County landfill will help generate enough electricity to power thousands of homes under a plan announced Thursday by the utility company AmerenUE.

Gov. Jay Nixon was among those joining Ameren officials at Fred Weber Inc.’s landfill in northwest St. Louis County to tout the “Methane to Megawatts” project expected to be operational by 2011. Financial terms of the agreement between Ameren and Fred Weber were not disclosed.

Nixon said the project “will protect our land, air and water resources and create good jobs at the same time.”

The idea isn’t new. Nationwide, the federal Environmental Protection Agency counts 480 landfills that use their methane to generate electricity and has targeted 520 others as potential candidates through its Landfill Methane Outreach Program.

Some states are also trying to turn methane from cow waste into electricity — agriculture accounts for about one-third of U.S. methane released into the atmosphere. Methane also comes from coal mines and oil refineries, and is considered the No. 2 greenhouse gas contributing to global warming, after carbon dioxide.

Ameren officials say the St. Louis County project will be the largest methane-to-power plant in Missouri and among the largest in the nation, generating 15 megawatts of electricity — roughly enough to power 10,000 homes.

AmerenUE CEO Warner Baxter said the project will benefit customers, the region and the state.

“Methane to Megawatts is consistent with our commitment to generate cleaner, reliable energy while meeting our customers’ expectations for renewable power at a reasonable cost,” Baxter said.

Microorganisms in material at landfills such as food waste and yard clippings cause natural decomposition of much of that material, producing methane gas. A blower plant will constantly deliver 6,000 cubic feet of landfill gas per minute to turbines installed at the Fred Weber landfill. The gas is collected through 120 wells connected by two miles of plastic pipes.

The blower plant already delivers landfill gas for another Fred Weber operation, its asphalt plant, and to nearby Pattonville High School and Jaeger Greenhouses, where it is used to generate heat. Those operations will continue once Ameren begins to use the methane gas.

Construction of the turbines is expected to begin next year.

“The community gets a reliable source of electric power from a renewable resource that doesn’t emit additional carbon dioxide to the atmosphere,” said Tom Dunne Jr., president of Fred Weber Inc.

AmerenUE is a subsidiary of Ameren Corp. AmerenUE provides electricity to about 1.2 million customers in central and eastern Missouri.

The preceding article appears here: http://www.cnbc.com/id/32797660

Explore the science, engineering,and business of energy to promote regional sustainability.

Schedule
Sept 9: Nuts and Volts: Basics of Electricity
Presented by St. Louis Science Center
An entertaining and informative discussion on the basics of the production, transmission, distribution and consumption of electricity in Missouri.

Sept 16: Utilities Unplugged: Talking with a Local Muni, Co-op, and Investor Owned Utility
Presented by AmerenUE and Cuivre River Electric Cooperative
Learn how our local Investor Owned Utility and a regional Electric C-operative operate as well as what each are doing to increase the use of renewables to generate power.

Sept 23: Kill-A-Watt: Energy Efficiency
Presented by AmerenUE and Energy and Environmental Solutions
Real-world solutions to energy efficiency challenges that will improve the financial performance for your business. The presenters will introduce the results of actual audits of Kaldi Coffee’s facilities, as well as how Ameren energy efficiency incentives apply to those buildings – both owned and leased.

Sept 30: Low Carbon Diet: Carbon Footprinting/Reduction
Presented by 3 Degrees, Pure Power, and St. Louis University
Local experts present case studies and provide step by step instructions for Green House Gas Inventories and Carbon Footprint reduction.

Oct 7: Here Comes the Sun: Onsite Renewables
Presented by Ameren Energy and Sustainable St. Louis
Onsite solar, wind, geothermal – does it make sense for my business in Missouri?

Oct 14: A Bright Future: Wrap Up and New Advances
Presented by St. Louis University
Bringing it all together with a look to the future, courtesy of Saint Louis University.

WHERE: Anheuser-Busch Auditorium, John Cook School of Business, Saint Louis University

WHEN: Six consecutive Wednesdays (September 9, 16, 23, 30 and October 7, 14), 7:30am – 9:30am

$50 workshop fee for all six sessions. STUDENTS GET IN FREE!

To register, go to: www.stlenergymatters.com

WHERE: Lockheed Martin office, 1000 Clark Avenue * St. Louis, MO 63102, Third Floor Conference Room

Orientation sessions will provide an overview of the AmerenUE’s Multifamily Energy Efficiency Program, including program requirements, incentives, and the Program Partner’s roles and responsibilities. Program Partners can be contractors or consultants working in energy-related fields such as electricians and other building trades like lighting and equipment distributors, energy auditors/raters, engineering firms, and HVAC contractors.

Register: Call Sharon Cumings at 314-898-1166 or Kenneth Weiland at 314-898-1165.

More information: www.uefficiency.com

The following is a press release from AmerenUE.

AmerenUE announced today that cash Incentives are now available for designers and developers who build energy-efficient buildings and customers who make energy-savings modifications to existing structures. These two new Incentives complement the Standard and Custom Incentives that were launched Feb. 11, 2009.

The goal of both Incentives is to encourage the installation of more efficient systems through training, design incentives and installation of energy-efficient measures. The level of available incentives varies according to building size and the project’s stage of development when the application is submitted.

For example, a new 70,000 square-foot building would be eligible for up to $7,000 toward completion of a technical analysis study, $10,000 for achieving a 20 percent electrical savings over building’s baseline electric demand and $5,000 for achieving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.

A “retro-commissioning” project for an existing building would cover 80 percent of the cost of an assessment study, plus an Incentive payment of $.06/kilowatthour saved during the first year of operation as a result of the retro-commissioning.

Full details of both programs are available at Ameren’s Business Energy Efficiency Program Web site, www.ameren.com/bizefficiency.

“This program rewards forward-thinking customers who recognize the long-term value of investing in energy efficiency,” says Steve Kidwell, VP of Regulatory Affairs and Energy Efficiency for UE. “These investments will help UE reduce the demand on its system and allow us to defer building more generation. That saves money for all energy consumers.”

UE plans to spend $90 million on energy efficiency programs through 2011, placing Missouri among the top states in the nation in per-capita spending on energy efficiency.

The following is a press release from AmerenUE.

Today, AmerenUE is announcing the rollout of several residential energy efficiency programs to help customers manage their energy usage, lower their monthly electric bills, and reduce their carbon footprint. This multi-year effort will create a sustainable marketplace for energy efficient products with the goal to lower energy demand by 540 megawatts by 2025, equal to the output of a medium-sized coal-fired power plant.

“As prices for energy and other household necessities continue to rise, energy efficiency can help customers manage their usage and lower their monthly energy bills, without sacrificing comfort,” said AmerenUE President and Chief Executive Officer Warner Baxter. “Customers have told us that they want more control over their energy costs. This program delivers.”

Baxter explained that the program tagline, “It starts with U,” highlights a collaboration between UE and its customers. UE is offering education and incentives to help customers make energy efficient choices. However, it will take customer participation to make a difference in energy usage across Missouri.

UE has launched a new Web site for residential energy efficiency, www.UEfficiency.com, to demonstrate how residential customers can save money through implementing specific energy efficient steps. The site will also direct customers to participating retailers and contractors trained to evaluate and deliver efficiency enhancements. Customers can also call UE’s dedicated Residential Energy Efficiency contact center, toll free, at (866) 941-9692.

Two initial programs are ramping up now:

Lighting and Appliance – Designed to increase the availability and lower the price of energy efficient products, the program combines layered incentives, consumer education, partnerships with retailers and manufacturers, and strong marketing/outreach campaigns to build market awareness of the multiple benefits and features of ENERGY STAR®-qualified lighting and appliance products.

The ENERGY STAR-qualified products targeted in the program will include: screw-in compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), dehumidifiers, freezers, window air conditioners, ceiling fans with lights, lighting fixtures and CFL torchieres.
Partner stores will hold special promotions and events throughout UE’s service territory. Supported by our sponsorship, manufacturers and retail stores will actively promote the energy efficient benefits of ENERGY STAR qualified products to our customers.

Multifamily Program – This program delivers cost-effective energy efficiency services to owners and operators of multifamily properties, while benefiting the tenants in those buildings. The program focuses on whole building and common area improvements. It is available to rental and condominium properties with three dwelling units or more.

Future residential programs will focus on whole house energy savings improvements and the needs of low-income customers.

“Our programs are bringing prices down right now for ENERGY STAR® qualified CFL bulbs and are providing information and incentives for customer purchases of ENERGY STAR-qualified appliances,” said Baxter.

Switching 10 standard light bulbs to CFLs can save a household $60 a year, and replacing an old window air conditioner with an ENERGY STAR unit could save $20.00 each summer, according to Baxter.

“The UE program helps retailers shift our inventory even further towards energy efficient models,” said Matt Gagnepain, general manager of Metro Lighting, a UE residential energy efficiency program partner. “With the help of programs like this one, customers and retailers will make ENERGY STAR products the norm instead of the exception.”

“One of the real strengths of this program is that UE has partnered with community retail stores to get energy efficient products into the hands of people who would normally not have access to them,” said John Banback, sales manager for Genuine Maytag Home Appliance with stores in Arnold and Festus. Genuine Maytag is also a program partner.

“Our customers have asked us for cleaner and renewable energy,” said Baxter. “In fact, there’s nothing cleaner than the power that isn’t used and isn’t produced. Energy efficiency has become a key part of UE’s energy portfolio, which also includes hydropower, nuclear, natural gas, coal and renewables.

“Active participation in energy efficiency programs by our customers will allow us to delay the need to build a costly new generating plant to meet their needs,” said Baxter. “It will also provide more time for cleaner coal and renewable technologies to develop and give us greater options when the time comes to replace our aging baseload coal plants.”

UE has committed $90 million to its residential and business energy efficiency programs through 2011.

UE has received 250 applications to-date for the business programs, which launched earlier this year. In just the first five months of the program, UE has provided $286,000 in cash incentives directly to business customers. Seventy-eight customers completed projects that, together, have reduced consumption by more than 9.4 million kilowatthours — the equivalent of taking more than 700 homes off the power grid for a year. In addition, 30 to 40 new jobs have already been added to Missouri employment rolls because of these programs.

Information on UE business efficiency programs can be found at www.ameren.com/BIZefficiency or by contacting the business contact center toll-free (866) 941-7299.

This article was provided courtesy of Ameren Pure Power/ 3 Degrees Inc.

The first green-certified hotel in St. Louis has committed to removing 345 tons of carbon dioxide annually by purchasing renewable energy credits (RECs) through AmerenUE’s Pure Power.

Doubletree Hotel St. Louis at Westport, certified green by the Missouri Hotel and Lodging Association, will purchase 240 RECs each year to offset ten percent of the hotel’s energy usage, a commitment that qualifies the hotel for the elite UE Pure Power Leader status.

Enrollment in Pure Power is just one part of the hotel’s green initiative. Among the numerous other eco-conscious commitments made by the hotel are the implementation of recycling, energy audits and water conservation programs, as well as the use of eco-friendly cleaning and laundry products, recycled paper office products, low-VOC paints and environmentally responsible landscaping procedures.

Doubletree Hotel St. Louis at Westport is owned and operated by Lodging Hospitality Management (LHM).

“LHM is proud to share our commitment to the environment with all our conference attendees and host,” says Robert O’Loughlin, Chairman and CEO of Lodging Hospitality Management- owners and operators of the Doubletree St. Louis at Westport, “We make this choice not only to reduce harmful air emissions that lead to global warming, but also to encourage further development of renewable resources.”

Click here for more information on Ameren’s Pure Power Program >

Click here for information about 3 Degrees Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) >

Being green and environmentally conscious is no longer an option in today’s world, and the St. Louis RCGA wants St. Louis to be in the lead with sustainability initiatives.

The St. Louis Climate Prosperity Project, one of four initiatives approved by the RCGA Board of Directors for the strategic plan, has as its goal for St. Louis to be nationally recognized as a “Top Ten Green Region” in the next five years. St. Louis is one of 8 pilot regions participating in the Climate Prosperity Project, supported by the Rockefeller Brother Foundation.

This regional economic development strategy advances the idea that innovation, efficiency, conservation in the use and reuse of resources are the best ways to increase jobs, incomes, productivity and competitiveness of a region. The three pillars of the Project are “green savings, green opportunities, and green talent,” and the RCGA is developing specific strategies and goals for those areas.

St. Louis already has many regional businesses and governments who have begun their own green initiatives in this area.

BUSINESS GOING GREEN

Steve Poplawski, attorney at Bryan Cave LLP, led his firm’s sustainability initiative to reduce paper usage and consumer waste.

“We rolled out the program in 2008,” he says. “The key parts were the preferred policy of two-sided copying. This has basically
cut our paper copying usage in half. We are in the process of installing two-sided printers as the leases expire. The other component was making sure all of the paper had at least 30 percent post-consumer content.”

Poplawski says that Bryan Cave “has always been and will continue to be the largest supplier of recycled paper in downtown St. Louis.”

The goal is to eventually eliminate most of the copying and do as much as possible electronically, he says.

Other initiatives include recycling of consumer products with recycling bins in the “wet centers,” where beverages are served. The dining room vendor uses “green” biodegradable products, and when the firm holds conferences at hotels, pitchers of water are provided instead of bottled water.

“Sustainability is everyone’s buzz word,” Poplawski says. “More and more people are realizing we have a paradigm shift going on so that we either have to do sustainability or we’re in trouble. We have to set up our economy so we’re not burdening the future by our use of resources today.”

Engineering firm Burns & McDonnell, based in Kansas City, will be working with the RCGA this spring in using a carbon calculator, then performing energy audits for some members who wish to take advantage of this service.

Candace Derks-Wood, sustainability specialist with Burns & McDonnell, says that the carbon calculator does a greenhouse gas inventory and determines the emissions that companies have, and the greenhouse gasses generated by them. These gasses come from three different sources, she says.

“Scope I emissions are any greenhouse gas emissions generated on site, such as the production of electricity, or natural gas consumption. Scope II is purchased electricity, and Scope III involves employee business travel and employees traveling to and from work.”

Energy audits, which come after the greenhouse gas inventory, help companies determine their biggest source of emissions.

“We go in and do an audit on the different equipment they have that uses electricity,” Derks-Wood says, “Then we can go into what specific pieces of the facility need to be retrofitted or upgraded to gain the efficiency of the builder. That can be boilers, HVAC systems, or sometimes retrofitting or changing out the light bulbs.”

Participating RCGA members can determine how far they want to go with the audit.

In October 2008, after completing an $8 million renovation, Cannon Design moved into the Powerhouse Building, located at the corner of 11th and Clark, adjacent to the Cupples Warehouse District. The 82-year old building had been vacant many years, and now is on track for LEED certification, according to Vice President Punit Jain.

“We were committed to Downtown,” Jain says. “We took this building, renovated it and made it much more energy efficient. We converted asphalt into green space, and are collecting rainwater to irrigate it. This also reduces storm water runoff.

“We installed insulated windows which let in light, but keep out heat, and we don’t have a lot of artificial light with these big tall windows,” he says.

Much of the construction waste was diverted from landfills and recycled, and the site, which was a Brownfield site, was remediated. Bicycle storage and showers are provided for employees, and the offices are close to public transportation, all of which earn LEED points.

“We specified that the materials used be regionally or locally manufactured which, again, supports local economy and prevents the use of virgin materials” Jain says. “We use low VOC (volatile organic compound) paint, adhesives and carpet systems.

“We have implemented a green cleaning program, so all cleaning agents are sustainable and don’t contain harmful compounds,” Jain says. “There’s no point installing green products if you come back and clean them with chemicals.”

Cannon has committed that every time they renovate or build a new office, they will make it a LEED-certified project.

UTILITY COMPANIES

AmerenUE, Laclede Gas Company and the Metropolitan Sewer District have all begun sustainability programs for their customers.

Pat Justis, senior program manager for the AmerenUE Business Energy Efficiency Program says that two years ago, they identified energy efficiency as a key resource to meet customers’ rising demand for electric energy.

“As of February 11, we launched a business program with a standard and custom incentive,” he says. “What this means is we’re helping to make energy efficiency improvement at our business customers’ facilities. If they’re more cost effective, we give cash incentives for them to upgrade lighting or motors or refrigeration, cooling systems, anything they can think of that cost effectively saves energy, and we would help them invest in it.”

AmerenUE’s Pure Power program enables residential and commercial customers to purchase renewable energy credits (RECs) in an amount equal to the actual energy that they use. This helps support wind and other renewable resources here in the Midwest.

Bill Barbieri, Ameren’s Manager, Renewables, says, “In comparison to traditional fossil generation, renewable generation in our service territory is still more expensive, primarily due to the intermittency in generation; the wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine. But programs like Pure Power help developers offset those price differentials providing the added revenues that allow renewable generation facilities to compete in the market.”

Laclede Gas Company has two rebate programs for its commercial and residential customers. Ted Reinhart, director of utility market analysis and development, says both programs began last November. “The resident program is designed for space heating requirements with furnaces, boilers and ENERGY STAR appliances. The idea is to try to encourage people to put in high efficiency furnaces so that it becomes the standard.”

He says that after the customer installs the equipment, he or she sends in an application with the required documentation and Laclede will send them a rebate check.

“The commercial and industrial program is similar to the residential one in that there are specific pieces of equipment that, if the customer buys, they can get pre-approved for a rebate,” Reinhart says.

In March, the Southern Gas Association named Laclede Gas as the winner of SGA’s 2009 Marketing Best Practices Award in their “Green Marketing” category. Laclede’s submission, “GREENING the EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION” detailed the company’s participation in the planning and execution of the episode of the popular ABC television show filmed in St. Louis last fall.

To encourage water conservation and lessen stormwater runoff, the Metropolitan Sewer District began selling rain barrels to customers, so they can collect and store rainwater from a home or building’s roof. This prevents the water from flowing through the downspout and eventually into a storm drain. The program, which ran from March 2 to April 3, was part of their $2 billion campaign to clean up local streams by reducing storm water and sewage overflows.

Bruce Litzinger, manager of environmental compliance, says that using the rain barrels reduces the amount of pollution in the natural water environment or the amount of water that MSD is required to treat which costs energy.

“You can use this to water plants, lawns or gardens,” he says. “The idea is that you’re not using purchased processed chlorinated water either. You’re using it onsite and the water is much healthier for the gardens.”

Litzinger said that no firm plans had been made about offering the program again.“ I suspect we’ll see how things went, evaluate and go from there.”

GOVERNMENTS GOING ON BOARD

Last year, the National Association of Counties awarded a Conservation Leadership Award to Madison County, Ill.

Frank Miles, director of the planning and development department, says Madison County has several programs to manage the environment, and the department works year around promoting green initiatives, creative community programs, and sustainable solid waste management.

“The programs also deal with land use planning issues and planning and zoning issues,” he says. “We manage a curbside recycling program for all of Madison County, and a school recycling program for all of Madison County,” he says. “Since 1996, all residents in single and two-family homes are required to recycle.”

He says the county has won awards from Focus St. Louis and the East-West Gateway Coordinating Council for their environmental programs “above and beyond our recycling. We have a top notch school recycling program. Each school has a recycling coordinator and last year they recycled about 3,000 tons of paper, and 48 tons of clothes, much of which goes to third world countries. We also recycled about 44,000 pounds of cardboard.”

The East-West Gateway Award came from the county’s efforts in managing wetlands and working with the Confluence Greenway resulting in over 100 miles of biking and hiking trails that connect most of the county’s communities.

“We’re also working with the Corps of Engineers with an ecological restoration project,” Miles says. “We’re trying to buy wetlands in the bottom and protect them and restore a natural drainage that will help alleviate flooding.”

The City of St. Louis has formed a Sustainability Task Force with an eye to forwarding sustainability objectives throughout this governmental entity.

Chairman Marjorie Melton says that their initial object was to define what sustainability meant to the City and how they would deal with this problem.

“Over the last two years, we have developed a climate protection plan which is a set of goals to reduce our carbon footprint and, ultimately, conserve energy both from electricity and gas,” she says.

Some of the other objectives include an energy savings investment program whereby money saved from energy conservation is used to fund additional projects, and a program to reduce fuel consumption by studying routes taken by city-owned vehicles then finding a more efficient way to reduce the miles traveled.

“We’re also looking at a program in San Francisco where they convert fry oil to biodiesel, and vehicles can take up to 20 percent of this biodiesel without any modification,” Melton says.

“We’re hiring a consultant to look at our buildings one by one and develop an energy master plan to make these buildings as energy efficient as possible. Some of these buildings range from 30 to 150 years old,” she adds.

Another goal is to divert 25 percent of the solid waste from city government operations by 2015 and 40 percent of city residents’ waste by 2015.

“We also have double-sided copying.” Melton says. “We hope to stop copying all together and do communications online.”

NEXT STEPS

The RCGA engaged Doug Henton, Chairman and CEO of Collaborative Economics of Mountain View, California, to refine the strategy for the St. Louis Climate Prosperity Project. Henton is the author of the “Silicon Valley Greenprint,” a regional strategy to improve the supply and demand of clean technology and investment in the Valley. He will bring his expertise in regional economic development strategy and identify a specific approach for St. Louis.

The RCGA Energy and Environmental Council, chaired by Steve Poplawski, meets throughout this year to work on the St. Louis Climate Prosperity Project and to share best practices on sustainability. The Council has discussed goals to improve the regions’ air and water quality, reduce fossil-fuel energy, encourage transit, and better educate and promote green building. If you would like to participate in the RCGA Energy and Environment Council, please contact Eric Schneider at eschneider@stlrcga.org or at (314) 444-1148.

AmerenUE President and Chief Executive Warner Baxter calls the move “a significant first step” toward diversifying the utility’s fuel mix and demonstrating its commitment to environmental stewardship.  This purchase signifies AmerenUE making good on it commitment to add 100 megawatts of renewable capacity to serve its Missouri customers by 2010.

For more information on Ameren’s wind purchase- http://ameren.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=678