On Wednesday night, the toast of the Twitter and Doterati communities came out to tweet about the upcoming Green Cities event. Everyone came out for an excellent selection of organic brews with dynamic names such as: Pompous Ass IPA, Miami Weiss, and Box of Chocolates to just barely scratch the surface! @taralamberson the President of Doterati.com was in attendance with other members like @therootlist, @ecofactory, and @webfugitive. @norm_fl came with @wayneroth who had most of us in stitches that night! There were friends who tagged along who may not be on Twitter and will hopefully join Florida’s growing social networking community. Thanks to the rest that came out: @butterflycomet, @ecohuset, @jefforlchi, @rgeorg, @raediant1, @senrad, @ddwordnerd, @ezrafree, @lovelyrita 904, @gil_lopez, @turnandface, @networkingorlando, @mgrossfl, @blinkrichmedia!

There were raffles for a $25 gift card to Dandelion Communitea Café won by Cassandra, @therootlist and a tour and tasting for 10 guests at the @BrewOrlando (Orlando Brewing) taproom valued at $200 that was received by @rgeorg! Beer tokens were given away and some of our tweeters followed @GreenCitiesNews on Thursday for a chance to win 1 of 2 complimentary all-access admission to Green Cities Florida, like @turnandface! We thank the Orlando Brewing Company @BrewOrlando for hosting us and @doterati for partnering with @GreenCitiesNews for this event. It truly marks a community effort to collaborate towards sustainable and progressive change!

The next tweet up will be on May 14th at the Dandelion Communitea Café at 6:00 pm in the Thornton Park neighborhood!

Major thanks to @TuffCreative and @AMSenn for their hard work in coordinating this event!

Yours,

@GreenerCity and @skimtheocean

Doterati.com, Green Cities Florida and The Orlando Brewing Company invite you to join us for a fun evening of networking at the Orlando Brewing Company, Florida’s only fully certified Organic Brewery.  

If you represent or have been looking to connect with the growing ‘green’ business and government community in Central Florida, join us for the first Green Cities Tweet-up on Wednesday May 6 at 7pm at the Orlando Brewing Company.

Connect with other sustainably minded professionals and learn more about what is coming to Florida in terms of green economic growth. 

 Just a few more reasons you should join us on Wednesday May 6 for THE progressive networking event of the year!

• Great door prizes including one-day passes to the Green Cities Florida Conference
• Enjoy award winning certified organic beers & wine—right from the source.
• Meet and network with ‘eco-preneurs’, business leaders and other ‘green’ professionals from Orlando
• Green Cities Twitter team will be on hand to help de-mystify the world of Twitter and help you connect with the people, businesses and communities you have been wanting to meet.
• Learn more about Green Cities Florida and get to know other conference attendees.

And don’t worry, you don’t have to be a Twitter expert to attend. This event is designed to be beneficial to anyone interested in creating professional connections with the ‘green’ focused businesses and sustainably minded professionals in Central Florida.

Directions to the Orlando Brewing Company: http://www.orlandobrewing.com/Directions.php

 If you are not on Twitter yet, click here to sign up and for the latest buzz be sure to follow us @GreenCitiesNews or @GreenerCity!

Early Bird Registration for Green Cities Florida ends May 11 – Registered today at www.greencitiesflorida.com

*FYI:  Orlando Brewing has Wi Fi, so feel free to bring your laptop and tweet till your heart’s content*

 UPDATE: We will be hosting a GreenTweetup on May 6th at 7 PM! Mark your calendars and watch our tweets for updates. In the mean time, be sure to follow @GreenCitiesNews, on Twitter, Thursday at 1:00 pm for our next tweetaway. We will have 2 1-day passes (you choose the day) and this prize package from the Orlando Brewing Company 

            -A private tour for 10 of the Orlando Brewing Company

            -Certificate of Participation

            -1 flight of 4 samples per person

            -Valued at $200

Orlando Brewing is Florida’s only certified organic brewery. What does it mean to be organic? It means that ingredients used in crafting our ales are grown without insecticides, bioengineering, or irradiation. Our Blonde Ale has been officially certified Organic by the USDA. Our beers are the only ones declared “Fresh From Florida” by the State’s Department of Agriculture. You can taste the difference.

They brew in accordance with the German Purity Law of 1516. This means they use only natural, organic ingredients and never any cheap fillers or adjuncts. The beer is fresh and never pasteurized.

Come visit us! We are located near Downtown Orlando at 1301 Atlanta Avenue (adjacent to the Orlando Amtrak Station).

For more information, visit www.orlandobrewing.com

Want to meet some of the folks headed to Green Cities Florida while enjoying some of the finest organic beer ever made?  Yes…yes you do.  Make sure you attend the Green Cities News Tweetup at Orlando Brewing Company May 6th at 7pm.

The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program (by way of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) will provide over 3 billion dollars to projects in US territories, which reduce total energy and promote energy efficiency. The city of Fort Lauderdale will be receiving $2 Million to put towards energy efficiency and conservation projects.

This grant is rather versatile and will help Fort Lauderdale support sustainable transportation efforts, curb methane emissions and improve renewable energy instillations throughout the city. Along with the eco-friendly benefits, this grant should create much needed jobs in the region as the money is funneled out to recipients. The Department of Energy will be in charge of oversight and help monitor how the funds are dispersed and used.

With all the talk of trillions and billions in the news, it’s hard to remember that 2 million is still a lot of legal tender. The Obama administration is making good on their plan to push our cities forward in regards to sustainability. We eagerly wait to see how the city uses the grant funds, as Fort Lauderdale is in the position to set the example for other cities in the state and nation.

From My Fox Orlando

DANIA BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Florida Atlantic University will receive nearly $1.2 million from the federal government to continue research into harnessing energy from the powerful Gulf Stream off Florida’s coast.

Democratic Congressman Ron Klein joined scientists on Friday at the school’s Center for Ocean Energy Technology in Dania Beach to announce the funding. Klein says the money will help researchers in their quest to harness the powerful Gulf Stream as a new potential commercial energy source.

Researchers at the school are studying the possibility of using the current to drive thousands of underwater turbines. They say the project could one day produce as much energy as perhaps 10 nuclear power plants, and supply one-third of Florida’s electricity.

[ Read original article ]

Current registrants comprise a significant cross-section of our communities. While 60% of current registrants for Green Cities Florida come from the Greater Orlando area, 40% are coming from outside of the region to learn applicable solutions to share in their own communities. Currently, 10% of Green Cities Florida registrants are from separate provinces in Canada.

Profession of registrants is another notable cross-section: half of those registered work in government, 40% work in the business sector, 5% work in higher education, and 5% of current participants are students.

Registration is open and can be accessed by visiting the Green Cities Florida Conference website.

(Source: The Herald Tribune.com)

A recent remodeling project on Siesta Key by the company My Green Buildings has been declared “the greenest house in the state” by the Florida Green Building Commission.  Not one to rest on past accomplishments, My Green Buildings once held the honor of “the second greenest house in the state” for their work on a home on Goldenrod street in Sarasota.

Some of the features in the “Siesta Key Zen” house include:  closed and insulated attic design, solar hot water, energy-saving lighting, Energy Star appliances,  water-saving plumbing fixtures and washing machine, Florida-friendly landscaping, and zero-VOC paints, sealers and adhesives and much more.  The house scored 232 points out of a possible 300 on the Florida Green Building Commission’s Version 5 green-certification program.  High honors indeed, but with room to improve and a growing demand for sustainable homes one should expect the competition to challenge for My Green Buildings’ title in the near future.

For more information on the green-certification program visit www.floridagreenbuilding.org. ]]> http://greencitiesmedia.com/2009/03/my-green-buildings-achieves-greenest-home-acknowledgement/feed/ 0 http://greencitiesmedia.com/2009/02/undeveloped-volusia-county-attracts-atttention/ http://greencitiesmedia.com/2009/02/undeveloped-volusia-county-attracts-atttention/#comments Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:02:19 +0000 derekgordon http://greencitiesmedia.com/?p=237

Volusia County

The Orlando Sentinel recently ran an article about land development plans in untouched Volusia County. This isn’t going to be a few subdivisions, but an entire city of up to 23,000 housing units named Farmton.  These plans are being proposed by Miami Corp, a Chicago based company founded by the family who once owned Miami’s Vizcaya.  The major conflict is a compromise between conservation and development.  Add the element of a pending vote that would change how voters reject or approve land use changes in the Florida Hometown Democracy constitutional amendment in 2010 and you have one complicated conundrum.

The development is still in it’s infancy and has to pass numerous reviews at the local and state level.  Miami Corp’s lawyer Glenn Storch estimated it would take 50 years to complete the project.  Developing Volusia isn’t all about just making more strip malls and subdivisions, in fact that’s the exact opposite of what Miami Corp wants..  The developers have taken the liberty to include several green measures such as:  solar panels, native vegetation, a prohibition on septic tanks, irrigation with potable water and a naturalist on site during consturction.  Further to consider is the affect this will have on the wildlife of the region.  It is speculated that the endangered Florida Panther may use this area to travel and Volusia is the residence of snowy and great egrets and Florida black bears.  Keeping with the green movement that has currently overtaken Florida is going to be a monumental task over the course of this project.

Creating the identity of Farmton will be as difficult as constructing the city itself.  Miami Corp wants to stay consistent with their conservative approach to the environment, but that idea is compromised by the act of removing trees and manipulating the land to build more homes.  This is a delicate balance between profit and sustainability.  Their first land proposal isn’t up for review until June, so hopefully then we’ll have a better idea of what their vision is.

In a few years, the trash you see at landfills will be used to generate environmentally friendly electricity for thousands of Progress Energy customers in Florida. On Tuesday, state regulators approved Progress Energy’s plan to buy up to 60 megawatts of power from a power plant that will produce electricity by burning rubber tires, plastic, paper and other household waste.

The waste will be converted to clean-burning gas used to generate the power, and according to Horizon Energy Group, the Tennessee-based company that will build and operate the plant, the process produces “almost no greenhouse gas emissions.”

[ Read entire article ]

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