As they look back over their accomplishments, the Roanoke Valley Broadband Authority (RVBA) has more than the holidays to celebrate at the close of 2018. In addition to stimulating competition in the region, the RVBA network is attracting more investment and helping local nonprofits operate more efficiently.… Read More
Recycling has long been known to be the enemy to waste management companies as it diverts materials that could be going to landfills, threatening profits and political influence. It makes sense. Landfilling waste is highly profitable, while recycling materials is marginally profitable and can also lose money. Flat recycling rates allow for companies to require more for processing recyclables while more waste flows to landfills. Profits from hauling and landfill operations supports high stock prices for consolidated national monopolies, which in turn allow them to use stocks to further consolidate hauling, landfilling, and most recently recycling processing capacity at centralized plants, or Materials Processing Facilities (MRFs).… Read More
Representative Michele Hoitenga from Michigan is at it again. Last year as Chair of the House Communications and Technology Committee, she attempted to pass a bill to discourage her state’s self-reliant municipalities from improving local connectivity. Deja vu as her committee’s agenda for tomorrow, December 6th, picks up HB 5670, a bill sponsored by a different lawmakers and deceivingly titled the “Broadband Investment Act.”… Read More
December 5th is World Soil Day, a good day to celebrate the power of COMPOST to enhance soil fertility, structure, water-holding capacity, and carbon sequestration. Healthy soils contain 5% organic matter and compost is the best way to add organic matter to depleted soils.… Read More
Minnesota’s community solar program hit a record 460 megawatts of operational capacity in November 2018, and the pipeline of projects is growing again!… Read More
When considering Iowa, what comes to mind? Open fields? Livestock? High-quality Internet access? According to the FCC, if you live in Iowa, your broadband problems are over. Of course, as ILSR Research Associate Katie Kienbaum points out in her recent piece in the Des Moines Register, the reality in the Hawkeye State is quite different than the FCC’s flawed stats report.… Read More
Earlier this summer, we talked with Jase Wilson and Lindsey Brannon from Neighborly, the investment firm that uses online investing to allow individuals to invest in publicly owned infrastructure projects, including broadband networks. Jase and Lindsey described a program they had just launched, the Neighborly Community Broadband Accelerator. … Read More
ILSR is convening the 6th National Cultivating Community Composting Forum in NYC next May. These events will bring together community composters (and those who love them) to network, share best practices, and build support for community-scale composting systems and enterprises. … Read More
We’re inspired by the passage of the Portland Clean Energy Initiative this week, a ballot measure that will now provide $30 million per year for the city’s clean energy and climate work. Even better, the funds will target local energy deployment that lifts up low-income folks and people of color with energy savings and solar energy, as well as jobs installing these cost-saving measures. But there are other tools more readily at a city’s disposal for funding climate work.… Read More
