Blog

Apr 30, 2012

Focus Coordinator Selected as WoWE Rudd Mayer Fellow

Focus the Nation is proud to announce Katrina Montoya as a recipient of the Women of Wind Energy (WoWE) Rudd Mayer Memorial Fellowship. Katrina graduated in 2009 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Environmental Science from Oregon State University, but returned to school to pursue her interest of clean energy. Katrina is now in Columbia Gorge Community College’s Renewable Energy Technology program, where she is a member of the Delta Energy Student Club and a Focus Coordinator. Katrina has been working with other Delta Energy Club members to build a community renewable energy project through FTN’s Forums-to-Action program.

WoWE promotes the education, professional development, and advancement of women to achieve a strong diversified workforce and support a robust renewable energy economy. Each year, Women of Wind Energy awards fellowships to women college students or recent graduates to attend the annual American Wind Energy Association WINDPOWER conference. The fellowship honors wind industry pioneer Rudd Mayer of Boulder, Colorado, who passed away in 2002. The Rudd Mayer Memorial Fellowships support women to participate in WINDPOWER, attending seminars on current wind energy issues, viewing state-of-the-art technology, meeting women and men in the wind energy field, and connecting with employers about potential internships or permanent positions.

Focus the Nation is a proud partner of WoWE and collaborates to support young women seeking to increase their knowledge of wind power and enter the wind energy sector, whether as an Innovator, Storyteller, Politico, or Technician, like Katrina.

Apr 06, 2012

"Oregon Schools Present Solutions to Clean Energy"

by Anne Bertucio

Focus the Nation teams in Oregon are thriving in the Forums-to-Action program! Oregon Campus Compact covers the great work of these student teams on their latest blog.

"Through a partnership with Focus the Nation, Columbia Gorge Community College, University of Portland, and the University of Oregon are inspiring innovative solutions for clean energy. These campuses are hosting Forums-to-Action, a program that empowers student leaders to organize their campus and community to discuss, develop, and implement sustainable energy ..." (read more at Oregon Campus Compact)

View Comments (0) Tags: Oregon University of Portland F2A Campus Compact CGCC University of Oregon

Jan 04, 2012

Energizing Service-Learning

by Jessica Earley

Here at Focus the Nation, we learn best by doing. We learn by engaging with super smart people on the cutting-edge of energy, we learn from listening to communities, and we learn through designing and implementing programs aimed at developing our next generation of clean energy leaders. Everyday, our staff members stretch their brains by learning through service. We find it uber-effective. The campuses and the students we work with in our Forums-to-Action program agree. That’s why our clean energy leadership development programs are designed to help people learn, grow and make a positive energy impact on their community.

Service-Learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities. Service-learning has proven so effective that many campuses have departments dedicated solely to it or have partnered with our friends at Campus Compact to design and deliver service-learning opportunities to their students.

At Focus the Nation, our Forums-to-Action (F2A) program energizes service-learning, literally. Students go through a transformative community engagement experience centered on issues pertaining to energy; transportation, fuel, electricity, renewables, sustainability. While immersing in the F2A curriculum and planning a forum students learn about what the most relevant energy issues are in their community and collaborate to take action on it.

At the University of Portland, F2A student leaders have implemented a biodiesel project which will expand to include the surrounding community to create a “closed-loop, local energy-sourced lifestyle”. This project not only benefits the students on the UP campus, but also the North Portland community they call home.

The awesome F2A team at Gainesville State College in Georgia has chosen to energize service-learning with a different approach. The team is revving up for their February 15th, 2012 Clean Energy Forum which will help launch their Home Energy Audit project in their local community. These young leaders are serving their community by reducing energy bills while conserving energy.

If you are interested in energizing service-learning on your campus the first step is to let us know! We will be choosing our 2012-2013 F2A Campuses this spring!

Students can launch an F2A team!
Campus faculty/staff can launch an F2A team!

Or contact Marisa Pond, our Programs Coordinator, at marisa@focusthenation.org for more information.

View Comments (0) Tags: Oregon F2A service-learning Georgia Campus Compact

Nov 02, 2011

Progress on the Alternative Path

by Sasha Tenzin

Dan Browne takes a break from hauling 55 gallon barrels into the truck and breaks the skin of a plum that was hidden in his hoodie. "Do these look legit enough?" He asks as he gobbles the stone fruit in one gnash. It's hot out; steam rises from the paved driveway. I'm surprised he didn't swallow the pit.

He was referring to the forest green barrels, which from what we can tell, were formally used to house much harsher chemicals than anything we were going to use them for. These barrels were going to be our oil collection terminals. Precious waste-oil from the University of Portland's food service kitchens (managed by the impeccable Kirk Mustain of Bon Appetit) would be transferred into these once-orphaned barrels to complete the first stage of our on-campus biodiesel production project.

This project, borne by the backs of alumni before us, was finally coming into its own and through the complicated dance of administration approval finally had a toehold of a chance to flourish because of the university's recently enacted Climate Action Plan. The biodiesel project falls under the actions stated on Pages 10 and 11 of the Plan and according to all the hard work our team had put into the last year, our Solutions-in-Action were absolutely 'legit'. But he had a point, were we 'legit' enough?

Since first completing our Action Plan in April 2011, to institutionalize biodiesel production at the University of Portland for the use of groundskeeper and service vehicles, Dan and I had set to practice our biodiesel production skills during the summer so we could put together a feasible work plan for the upcoming academic year. He, the Innovator, was much more advanced than I, the Politico (not having touched a chemistry set since grade five), and already familiar with the biodiesel reactant process. The summer flew by and our team had garnered a working knowledge on the chemicals used to formulate fresh B100 (100% biodiesel). We were ready to roll out batches; all we needed was a couple of Jane and John Hancock's.

Dancing; it's been a passion of mine since I learned to stand and from what I've decided, I'm pretty good at it. Dancing in and out of meetings looking for project approval was a little harder. A green light for our green project meant we needed to set up a club, find a Campus Advisor (CA), look into a paid student work position (preferably funded as Federal Work Study), and scare up funding for material costs and club member incentives. There was lots of groundwork to put in, but finally in September we secured a CA (noted biodiesel enthusiast and original champion of the project, Kevin "Dr. C" Cantrell, PhD, from the Chemistry department), and Dan put in an application for an official student organization, making the project eligible for funding.

Much progress has been made throughout the semester, Dan and his executive board had successful club member recruitment meetings, showing students from multiple disciplines the path waste-oil takes to become biodiesel. The barrels were set up behind the main dining hall; 40 gallons of waste-oil a week are transferred from the kitchen to the reactor by crews of students. Updates of the project were communicated twice monthly to Dr. C, the university's service-learning center and the Presidential Advisory Committee on Sustainability to create transparent and inclusive partnerships between students and administration. Since graduating in May, I now work behind the scenes at FTN as a Leadership Development Fellow in hopes to support Dan and Co.’s biodiesel efforts in a new role in this Phase 3 project. The only hitch in the works was hold-up from the committee that approves new student clubs due to an unforeseen, prolonged committee recess.

Currently, the project is in need of an executive document stating project goals and the means to achieve them; basically it would be an expanded version of our original Action Plan. The document would be used to prove cause for a student paid work position to handle the day-to-day maintenance of the reactor and development of the community outreach phase of the project (doesn’t that sound more fun than sweeping leaves as a student job on campus?). Dan and I have some lofty goals for the biodiesel project. In our vision, the university will one day use the project as a landmark example of successful and sustainable cross-pollination between university departments and administration-student relations.

In the video you’ll see a sped-up version of part of the biodiesel process, specifically titration. Titration is part of a volumetric analysis where a substance is discovered in a solution (triglycerides) and then reacted with another solution (in this case Potassium Hydroxide--KOH). Used in biodiesel, titration separates the glycerin from the oil and replaces it with methanol to activate it’s potential as a fuel.

Here is what I learned from working hands-on with such an advantageous alternative fuel: while the biodiesel reactant process is mostly closed-loop, glycerol is a by-product from batch washing (a necessary step to producing the fuel) and can be used for other purposes; such uses include, but are not limited to, sweetener additive, thickening agent, personal care items (soap) and pharmaceutical agents. While producing biodiesel is our primary objective to the project, we could also determine a use for the glycerol we happen upon for free; this is where the business part of my brain switches on.

Our long-term goal for the project is to include the surrounding neighborhoods surrounding the campus; our first step in community outreach would be to quantify the need for either waste-oil capture or biodiesel use. In exchange for waste-oil and to incentivize broader alternative fuel use we would like to offer the community possible course credit on campus in an effort to engage continuing education, and foster a more intimate relationship between the campus and local neighbors. Alumni, like me, could find ways to either capture waste-oil or use UP-produced (think of all the awesome logo ideas!) biodiesel and continue what we learned during our tenure at the university by expanding the closed-loop, local energy-sourced lifestyle; what I believe would fall under the UP mission tenet of “Service and Leadership.” Legitimacy is in the wings or too legit to quit? Let us know below in the comments.

View Comments (0) Tags: Oregon biodiesel Action Plan University of Portland

Oct 24, 2011

Delta Energy Club Hosts Clean Energy Film Festival

by Richard Sentinella

F2A Focus Coordinator at Columbia Gorge Community College and Delta Energy Club Vice-President Bob Calvert says “We hope this film festival will promote dialogue about the types of renewable energies available and possible options for our communities in The Dalles and Hood River.”

Delta Energy Club is a student club at Columbia Gorge Community College and it will host a FREE Clean Energy Film Festival at The Discovery Center on Saturday, October 29, 2011 from 11 am until 5 pm. The film festival will feature three award-winning documentaries including Kilowatt Ours, Last Mountain, and Wind Uprising.

Local non-profit organizations and businesses working in renewable energies will have tables and outreach materials at the event. All community members are invited to attend one film or all day if they choose.

Where: The Discovery Center, Columbia Gorge Community College 5000 Discovery Drive, The Dalles, OR (see map here)
(541) 296-8600

When: Saturday, October 29, 2011 – 11 am to 5 pm

Cost: FREE

Films: Kilowatt Ours, Wind Uprising, and Last Mountain

Festival Program Schedule

11:00 – Meet and Greet
11:45 – Official Welcome by Delta Energy Club
12:00 – Kilowatt Ours (56 minutes)
1:00 – Q/A
1:15 – Intermission
1:25 – Wind Uprising (32 minutes)
2:00 – Q/A
2:15 – Intermission
2:25 – Last Mountain (92 minutes)
4:00 – Q/A
4:20 – Closing and Thank You by Delta Energy Club
5:00 – End of Festival

For more information please see the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center website at gorgediscovery.org or call (541) 296-8600.

View Comments (0) Tags: film festival Oregon Delta Energy Club Phase 3

Sign in

Blog

Apr 30, 2012

Apr 06, 2012

Jan 04, 2012

Nov 02, 2011

Oct 24, 2011

Archives

By Tags

Join our mailing List: