These 10 States Are Leading the Way in Solar Power. What’s Their Secret?

Solar power has made incredible progress here in the U.S. According to a new report from Environment America. In the last 10 years, solar panel capacity has increased more than 120-fold. In just 2011 to 2013 alone, solar power has tripled.
Incredibly, 10 standout states are responsible for a big chunk of that growth.
The Lighting the Way: The Top Ten States that Helped Drive America’s Solar Energy Boom in 2013 report notes that even though these 10 states account for only 26 percent of the U.S. population, they’re responsible for a whopping 87 percent of the county’s solar boom.
The states deserving a standing ovation? Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico and North Carolina, all of which are doing a massive part in helping the entire country curb its reliance on dirty (not to mention, increasingly expensive) fossil fuels by harnessing the power of the sun.
MORE: This Man’s Seriously Bright Idea is Giving People the Ability to Create Power Anywhere
Here are some of the most interesting points and lessons (highlighted in bold) from the Environment America report. Perhaps the states that didn’t make the cut should take note.
– The report emphasizes that the most important factor of solar success is due to support from state and local governments, who have created policies that push for growth in renewables. For example, the report states that New Jersey has a target of obtaining 4.1 percent of its electricity from the sun by 2028. California has an extremely high renewable energy target — 33 percent — by 2020.
– Speaking of California, the Golden State state is also expanding its battery storage technology so residents can rely on the sun’s power even after it sets, the report finds.
– Several states in the top 10 also encourage small businesses and individual homeowners to go solar by paying them for the renewable energy they create. For instance, Hawaii’s feed-in tariff pays 21.8 cents per kilowatt-hour for small-scale residential solar projects, the report says. Clearly, it really does pay to be green.
– Top-ranked Arizona has the highest solar electricity capacity per capita, with 275 watts of solar electricity capacity per resident — about seven times as much solar electricity capacity per person compared to the national average. So why is Arizona a solar success story? According to the report, the state was the first to require utilities to obtain a certain percentage of their electricity from solar energy. However, the Arizona Corporation Commission (the state’s utility regulator) recently voted to end tax incentives which could hurt businesses and residents who want to go solar, the report points out.
– It’s no surprise that sun-spoiled western states rank near the top, but even small eastern states such as New Jersey, Massachusetts and Delaware have made the cut thanks to high electricity prices as well as public concern about pollution and clean energy. It’s clear that many Americans want a clean and efficient energy future, and these states are responding to the call.
– North Carolina rounded out the top 10 due to its several large-scale solar energy installations by utilities, which shot the state’s solar capacity per-capita by more than 140 percent since 2012, the report says. The state also allows clean energy companies to compete utilities and lets consumers pick their energy supplier.
ALSO: So Meta: Using the Power of the Sun to Create Solar Devices
The big takeaway is that these states and their local governments have shown solid support and enacted polices that encourage and incentivize businesses, individuals and communities to make the switch to solar.
With the Obama administration’s new limits on emissions, the whole country needs to do their part. Especially since the planet is only getting hotter. Luckily, they can look to these 10 states that are truly lighting the way.
DON’T MISS: Help Your Favorite Spot Go Solar With Just One Click

Why More Cities Should Desire Streetcars Like Tucson’s

Last month, residents of Tucson welcomed a new form of transportation: Sun Link, a new line of zero-emission streetcars.
The eco-friendly option connects the University of Arizona campus and Medical Center with the 4th Avenue Business District downtown area, as well as the new Mercado community west of the Interstate, according to a Department of Transportation (DOT) release.
These sleek, modern streetcars may be a nod to the country’s transportation past, but the $196.5 million revival is directed at creating an environmental-friendly, seamless public transit experience in addition to other forms like buses. In fact, the Arizona Public Interest Research Group found that Tucson increased its transit ridership by 25 percent (per capita) over the last five years, Government Technology reports. While a population growth and the millennial generation’s proclivity for public transit are contributing factors, it’s important to see Tucson’s urban planners responding with initiatives like Sun Link.
The Downtown Tuscon Partnership estimates the four-mile route has raked in about $1.5 billion in public and private investments, which includes more than 1,500 new units in housing development, restaurants and retail.
“Roughly 100,000 people live within a half-mile of one of the new Sun Link streetcar stations, and that’s great news for everyone looking for an opportunity to leave their car at home and take transit instead,” said FTA Chief Counsel Carter.
That foot traffic alone is enough to sustain a transit system like Sun Link. In fact, on opening day 17,000 residents boarded the green streetcars.
Sun Link was partially funded by the DOT’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program, while its Portland-based manufacturer, United Streetcar, is supported by the country’s Buy America program, which ensures at least 60 percent of each vehicle bought with taxpayer money is American-made and assembled in the U.S. That means Sun Link’s economic stimulation extends to Portland as well. 
As Government Technology points out, investing in future transit combined with domestic manufacturing incentives is essential to spurring economic development and job growth. Strengthening that concept through the GROW AMERICA Act, which would increase the domestic requirement for transit vehicles to 100 percent by 2019, is one way the more cities can benefit from a system like Sun Link.
MORE: Why Salt Lake City May Become the New Leader in Public Transportation

Setting Politics Aside, Americans Are Stepping Up to Help Migrant Kids

A new Gallup Poll finds that the issue of immigration has become the number one national concern of Americans. And while there’s no legislative solution in sight to cope with the massive influx of refugee children fleeing Central American gang violence and arriving in the states that border Mexico, individuals across the country are putting partisan issues aside in the face of this humanitarian crisis, coming up with ways to help.
In San Francisco, 17-year-old high school student Julia Tognotti has been working tirelessly to collect clothing for the detained children ever since she saw a documentary on the crisis in her Spanish class last May. After school recessed for summer vacation, she traveled to Nogales, Texas, and volunteered in a shelter for the migrant kids.
“I talked to a boy there on the first day named Brian. He was 17 and I’m 17 and he was from Honduras and it took him two months to get to Mexico and he took seven trains. And I was so surprised to hear this because it really made me think, ‘could I do this?'” she told Sergio Quintana of ABC 7 News San Francisco.
Tognotti has collected two loads of clothes to send to Nogales and is planning to continue her work, accepting donations in Brisbane, California. She also hopes to organize a trip to the border for more teenagers to learn about the issue. Julia’s father David Tognotti told Quintana that the family doesn’t want to get “tangled up in the politics of the issue,” they just want to help the kids.
“We have a 17-year-old that’s trying to do what she believes is right to help people and it would be great if we could help support her.”
Meanwhile, the Hispanic Heritage Foundation (HHF), a Washington, D.C.-based national organization promoting Latino leadership, organized a trip for concerned people to volunteer at a refugee shelter run by Sacred Heart Church in McAllen, Texas. Actress America Ferrara, best known as the title character in “Ugly Betty,” joined the mission, reading books to the kids. HHF has also donated clothes, toys, books, and tablet computers.
In New York, La Casa Azul Bookstore is coordinating a book drive to supply migrant kids who arrive at shelters in the New York City area with free reading material. They’re looking for new and gently-used books in Spanish for kids and are offering a 10 percent discount to anyone who buys such books at their store. La Casa Azul will collect the books through August 10 and personally deliver them to children and teenagers in need.
As the actions of these caring Americans demonstrate, we don’t have to wait for government action before we reach out to help another human being.
MORE: Meet the Volunteers Bringing Relief to the Humanitarian Crisis in the Southwest
 

Can Comic Books Help Spread Public Safety Messages?

It’s a paradox of public safely: often those most in need of learning about health and safety risks and solutions are the most difficult to reach. They may not even be able to read.
The answer may be pictures — they’re worth 1,000 words, after all. Specifically, comic books, with easily understood drawings and messages that appeal across generations.
Enter Miguel Lopez and his wife, Helen Anaya, of Chandler, Ariz. Lopez used to work for a bank, and he remembered counterparts in Mexico using comic books to teach customers about saving and investing. The comics reached those who couldn’t read well.
Lopez and Anaya thought, why not bring this idea to the U.S.?
And so a genre that typically entertains kids and collectors may now reach a whole new audience — with some of the most important lessons of their lives.
The couple launched Storynamics in 2006, and they’ve hooked up with governments, schools, and other organizations to produce comic books about serious topics: hand washing, the West Nile Virus, water safety, diabetes, even how to deal with bat bites. The comics are printed in Spanish and English, with pictures to help reach those who struggle to read.
“One of the… significant challenges we are trying to address with the stories is literacy about health issues,” Lopez told Aaron Rop of AZCentral. “When you are not comfortable reading, you miss out on many things and many of those things are important to your health.”
Storynamics has produced and distributed over 240,000 comic books in 16 states. The comic book approach appeals to many local governments, because they can provide them to families via their children. Their appeal to kids is universal.
Among the project’s smart moves: the kids get the books in school, then bring them home and beg their parents to read. Few parents can resist their kid coming home excited about a gift from school, begging for Mom or Dad to tell a story.
“They go to their parents and they say, ‘Dad can you read this for me? Look at what they gave me at school’,” Lopez told Rop.
With the help of Storynamics comic books, soon it could be the kids helping their parents to eat right, exercise and get to bed early.
MORE: This Special Comic Book Makes Autistic Kids Feel Like Superheroes

How an Incredible Teacher Kept His Outlawed Ethnic Studies Classes Alive

This is America. Why should we study about Mexico?
Well, because it brings attention to a part of America’s history that’s usually glazed over. Because it helps Mexican-American students identify with their roots. And most significantly, it allows Latino students to achieve tremendous academic success.
As Yes! Magazine reports, the Mexican American Studies (MAS) program in Tuscon, Arizona has bucked national trends since its founding in 1998. It brought about such positive change that by 2011, the high school dropout rate for MAS students in the city was a mere 2.5 percent (opposed to 56 percent for Latino students nationwide). Ninety-eight percent of these students did their homework and 66 percent went on to pursue higher education after high school.
But the political climate and tide of anti-immigration sentiment in Arizona did not favor these classes. Curtis Acosta, a leader in developing Tucson’s MAS program, saw the state legislature ban these studies in schools in 2010. The school district was forced to end the classes or lose $15 million in annual state aid.  As a New York Times editorial puts it, “It was a blunt-force victory for the Arizona school superintendent, John Huppenthal, who has spent years crusading against ethnic-studies programs he claims are ‘brainwashing’ children into thinking that Latinos have been victims of white oppression.”
MORE: This Could Be the Most Passionate Plea Ever for Why We Can’t Turn Our Backs on Undocumented Students
Not going down without a fight, Acosta, MAS students and other activists successfully restored the MAS program three years after the ban with a federal court order. (Sort of.) These classes are now known as “culturally relevant” classes that also include African American studies. This contentious battle was taken on in the 2011 documentary, Precious Knowledge. (Watch the trailer for this film below.)
Despite the victory, Acosta (who left his teaching position at Tucson High Magnet School to start the Acosta Latino Learning Partnership) says the fight and controversy is far from over — Arizona superintendent Huppenthal says the Tucson curriculum is still inappropriate.
“People need to understand this has been happening for years. This is what’s happening in Georgia, in Alabama, in Arizona. And it’s happening in a lot of other places,” Acosta told Yes! Magazine. “If we share knowledge, resources, and information, we can have a national response locally.”
“We’re right back to the civil rights movement, we’re right back to the Farm Workers’ movement for my people,” Acosta, who continues to advocate Latino-American studies through his organization, added. “We need to find new spaces to meet and organize as a community since our public institutions, such as schools, are limiting and banning us from their spaces….The students are the present-future.”
[ph]

How This U.S. Army Base Is Leading the Way in Alternative Energy

As the largest energy consumer in the United States, the Department of Defense is ramping up efforts in renewable energy, and Arizona U.S. Army base Fort Huachuca is setting the bar for the military’s greener future.
Fort Huachuca, located about 50 miles southeast of Tuscon, Ariz., is breaking ground on a photovoltaic array, or solar panel installation, aimed at replacing 25 percent of the base’s electricity.
The ambitious, 68-acre project is described as the Department of Defense’s largest solar undertaking yet, according to Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the Army for military installations, energy and environment. Officials hope to launch commercial operations by the end of the year.
The announcement is one of several recent efforts by the U.S. military to implement energy efficiency and renewable energy to meet a 2025 deadline to produce a quarter of all energy from renewable sources. Last week the DoD issued a department-wide directive on its energy policy, emphasizing a push toward more alternative energy. 
MORE: The U.S. Navy May Have Found A Game Changer in Renewable Energy
Thanks to cheaper costs of wind and solar installment, renewable energy installations are expected to rise 37 percent over the next two years, according to research group Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
But residents at Fort Huachuca have been bucking the trend over the last few decades, paving the way for future adapters.
The base has spearheaded a number of energy conservation projects since the 1980s, when the fort installed a solar pool-heating system, a domestic hot water system and small photovoltaic systems, according to the U.S. Army. Fort Huachuca also opened a wind turbine in January 2011 and is home to the Col. C. Smith Middle School, a “net zero” or self-sustainable school, which has won national and international recognition for its environmental design and stewardship.
“The project goes beyond the megawatts produced,” Maj. Gen. Robert Ashley, Fort Huachuca commanding general, said in a statement. “It reflects our continued commitment to southern Arizona and energy security. The project will provide reliable access to electricity for daily operations and missions moving forward.”
The Fort Huachuca solar project is a collaboration between the U.S Army Energy Initiatives Task Force (EITF), Fort Huachucha, The General Services Administration, Tuscon Electric Power (TEP) and German-based developer E.ON Climate and Renewables. TEP will fund, own and manage the project, which means no taxpayer dollars spent on the ambitious installation.
Though the project is months away from commercial use, the public-private partnership underscores a new era of alternative energy expectation, and one that Fort Huachuca has long held.

How Does Running Coast-to-Coast Help Veterans?

If you think your feet are tired at the end of the day, talk to Anna Judd.
Last month, the Orange County, California resident set out on an epic run to help veterans. Her plan? To run 3,200 miles from Venice, California to New York City’s Washington Square Park in an effort to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project and Team Red, White & Blue. Judd runs 40 miles a day, six days a week, charting her grueling adventure on her website and Facebook page. Along the way, veterans and other supporters run alongside her.
According to Lori Corbin of KABC, Judd raises funds through the Charity Miles app. Corporate sponsors have committed to donating $1 million to the startup, which allows anyone to fundraise for 26 different charities just by signing up and being active. Biking a mile earns 10 cents, while running or walking a mile earns 25 cents. Anyone who exercises can participate in Judd’s fundraising effort by downloading the app and entering in #runamerica to join her running team. You can also use the app to find a map of where Judd is currently running.
Under the direction of her trainer Navy veteran Sean Litzenberger, Judd hopes to finish the run in a hundred days. As she jogs, Judd (who has completed 30 marathons) is constantly refueling with water, chia seed packs, super food shakes, liquid supplements, and coffee with butter. She lives out of an RV and takes breaks when needed. She started out the run barefoot, but was wearing shoes by the time she arrived in cactus-filled Arizona. Still, nobody can accuse this remarkable runner — set to travel on foot through 17 states — of not being tough.

MORE: This Amazing Non-Profit Helps Wounded Vets Rebuild Their Lives
 

How an Innovative Scholarship Encourages Low-Income Families to Save

When bills for food, housing, and transportation consume most, if not all, of a low-income family’s money, saving for college can seem impossible. But some think that society is so convinced of poor peoples’ inability to save that they aren’t giving them a fair shot by encouraging them to do so. And that a good saving habit, once established, will help these people in college and beyond.
A new program in Arizona, AZ Earn to Learn, provides low-income families with college scholarships while rewarding them for doing their own saving for school. The program, which currently exists in all three of Arizona’s state universities, provides low-income students with a $4,000 scholarship each year. In return, the students and their families must attend financial literacy workshops and save $500 of their own money toward college each year.
So far 1,500 scholarships at Arizona State, the University of Arizona, and Northern Arizona University have been funded through a $3.47 million grant from the Assets for Independence Program which the universities are matching with their own funding.
Katrina Verduzco, who is a freshman at the University of Arizona and the first in her family to attend college, told Michael Stratford of Inside Higher Ed, “I had never saved a dollar in my life,” but “If someone says they’re going to give you $4,000, you do it.” She put together the required annual $500 by working three part-time jobs. By combining this grant with Pell Grants, she’s able to attend college loan-free, saving herself from massive future debt.
Because of this important encouragement through AZ Earn to Learn, Verduzco sounds like she’s well on her way to breaking the cycle of poverty for good.

All It Took to Get This Homeless Vet an Apartment Was a Poster

Just because you have a roof over your head doesn’t mean you have a home.
When Army veteran Frank Maryn had trouble finding construction work and then lost his housing, the American Legion in Williams, Arizona took him in. He was allowed to sleep at the Legion in exchange for work that included hanging posters for programs and events. Maryn was thankful for the shelter — but it wasn’t the most comfortable home. Each night after the Legion’s bar closed, Maryn rolled out his sleeping bag on the hard floor. Eventually he got a cushion to sleep on, but the Legion post lacked a key amenity: a shower. One day Maryn hung up a poster that offered him a solution, advertising the Catholic Charities Community Services’ Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program.
Maryn told Marissa Freireich of Williams-Grand Canyon News that he didn’t call the SSVF program immediately after seeing the poster. “I was just going, well, I’ll land a full time job here or something and then I’ll just take care of this myself. But then I fell off a roof in November, so that was two months of not doing anything.” Maryn contacted SSVF, who set him up with a caseworker that located him an apartment. He moved in this month.
Catholic Charities received a million-dollar federal grant last October, which funds the SSVF program. Its goal is to end homelessness among veterans by providing them with up to five months rent and getting them on their feet by providing assistance with benefit paperwork and finding employment. They launched the SSVF program in December, and Maryn is the first veteran in Williams that the organization helped find a home.
Maryn told Freireich that he’s happy to be in his own apartment. “I’ve had a bed for two days, and except for when I was visiting somebody or something I’ve been on a floor, so that’s different. It’s nice. And the shower of course is great. I’m content.”
MORE: Meet the Musicians Who Are Helping Veterans Write Their Own Country Songs
 
 

This Innovative Idea Brings Produce Directly to Low-Income Communities

Food desert: Urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food.
This definition, provided by the USDA, accurately describes the situation in some of Arizona’s burgeoning cities, where there are neighborhoods of low-income people that have to travel long distances — mostly via public transportation — to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables. Because of this hardship, many of the residents don’t bother to make such a trek.
Recognizing the negative impact that the lack of access to healthy food can have on a person’s health, a group of Arizona businesses and educators, including Arizona State University’s College of Nursing and Health Innovation and Chase Bank, organized the Fresh Express bus. Traveling between Phoenix and Tempe, the aisles of this renovated city bus are chockablock full of bins containing fresh fruits and vegetables — bringing nutritious produce to people at discount prices.
The Discovery Triangle, a corporation that assists developers in the triangle-shaped area between Scottsdale, Phoenix and Tempe, came up with the ingenious idea when it realized how few grocery stores existed there. Discovery Triangle president Don Keuth told Jill Galus of Good Morning Arizona that a recent study by St. Luke’s Health Initiative designated the area between downtown Tempe and downtown Phoenix as an official food desert. “Although we’re trying to help with economic development issues,” he said, “if we don’t have a healthy community, we’re not helping it reach its full potential.”
The Fresh Express bus starts making its rounds on March 25. Two days a week, the bus will make five stops — two at different public schools and three at places such as senior centers and community centers where a high concentration of low-income people gather. Accompanying services also include free health screenings provided by ASU’s College of Nursing and cooking ideas for health-conscious eating, courtesy of Fresh Express employees.
Instead of hauling bags of groceries across town on the bus, the bus now brings the groceries directly to shoppers. Talk about convenience.
MORE:An Oasis in One of America’s Largest Food Deserts: The Local Quick Mart