In 2004, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection awarded the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) a grant to assess the supply and demand for recoverable residential building materials in Southeastern Pennsylvania. This report presents our findings and recommendations.… Read More
This July 2007 policy brief by John Farrell is a companion piece to the Wind and Ethanol: Economies and Diseconomies of Scale report. Policymakers who promote wind energy and biofuels argue that their policies have two goals: the rapid increase in renewable energy, and the betterment of the rural and agricultural economies. Yet to date their policies have been tailored almost entirely to achieve the first goal — more, not better.
Larger wind farms and ethanol plants do produce energy at a lower unit cost, but because they are usually more distant from their ultimate customers, transportation related costs increase. Thus, the net cost reductions are modest.
This July 2007 report by John Farrell finds that there are indeed small cost reductions from very large scale, absentee owned renewable energy facilities. But that these are overshadowed by the significant loss in potential economic benefits from locally owned and more modestly scaled facilities. The study finds that these transportation-related costs may offset a large part of the reduced production costs from large wind farms and ethanol plants.… Read More
A growing number of opinion leaders are rallying behind the argument that only federal leadership can stop the United States’ slide into broadband oblivion. In a widely circulated document, attorneys Jim Baller and Casey Lide set out their plan for developing a National Broadband Strategy, the crux of which is a blue ribbon task force that would establish national goals, and develop recommendations on how to get there. So far, the most substantial Congressional movement is West Virginia Senator John D. Rockefeller’s resolution advocating legislation toward this end.
It’s impossible to be against setting up a blue ribbon task force. Certainly, we need a national discussion about how to best use public assets, in particular the airwaves and rights of way, to rapidly expand broadband access. But we object to the way the discussion is being framed.
Spring 2007 The George Gund Foundation of Cleveland funded ILSR to research, conduct site visits, and prepare a report about the current status of deconstruction in Cleveland with recommendations for supporting the industry’s growth. ILSR staff, Neil Seldman and Linda Knapp, met with key public and private stakeholders in Cleveland from May 24-26, 2007. Research findings … Read More
A 2007 speech by ILSR Vice President, David Morris, presented at the 3rd National Renewable Energy Summit focuses on ways to ensure that our nation’s move to have 25 percent of our energy consumption come from renewable energy by 2025 will maximize the benefits to the communities in which these fuels are produced and harvested. Morris said, 25 by 25, by its very nature is a quantitative goal. Thus it is not surprising that most will view the challenge primarily as how to design rules that achieve this level of output. Yet we need to take into account qualitative goals as well. We need to strive not just for more, but for better." … Read More
The country’s two leading expert advocates for salvaging parts of unwanted houses rather than demolishing them explain the “green” art of unbuilding (or deconstruction) and take the reader on a fascinating tour of the process. … Read More
For 33 years ILSR’s “Waste to Wealth” program has helped to convert wastes from environmental and economic liabilities into valuable resources that contribute to community development. In 2007, our work has focused on the following: encouraging sustainable biomaterials to replace fossil-fuel-based plastics developing green industrial parks salvaging building materials through deconstruction deterring waste incineration projects and … Read More
ILSR’s 2007 Report to the Delaware State Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) presents an approach for changing solid waste management to resource management in this small Mid-Atlantic state. ILSR recommends a surcharge to finance infrastructure development for the public and private sectors. The $6 per ton surcharge would raise $20 million in 6 … Read More
