Front Porch Blog
Updates from Appalachia
Announcing the Energy Savings for Appalachia webinar series
If you happened to miss our first energy efficiency on-bill financing webinar on May 11, don’t despair. You can watch the recording of the webinar, which is the first in a series describing the benefits of on-bill financing entitled “Leveraging Energy Savings: On-bill Financing as an Economic Opportunity in the Southeast.”
Big steps for Energy Savings for Appalachia
We launched our “Energy Savings for Appalachia” program in 2013 with high hopes of making home energy-efficiency improvements more affordable for more area residents. We reached a major milestone in April when Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corp. (BRE), a rural electric cooperative in western North Carolina, announced a new financing option for its members.
Connecting the economic dots in Southwest Virginia
More than 300 people turned out for the recent Southwest Virginia Economic Forum hosted by UVA-Wise — perhaps the largest gathering of people coming together to talk specifically and hopefully about solutions for the region’s economic future. A week later, the positive energy coming out of the forum is still palpable in the community, with some feeling it may have been the turning point for the region.
DEQ dodges legitimate coal-ash safety concerns
Enabled by anti-regulatory powers in the legislature, the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality has abandoned the principles necessary to serve the public. It’s time for lawmakers to acknowledge DEQ’s failures and focus on moving forward on coal ash cleanup.
RECLAIMing Central Appalachia
From The Appalachian Voice: A rare bipartisan proposal aims to tackle two pressing issues related to the flailing coal industry — the need for new economic opportunities in central Appalachia and repairing environmental damage from decades of mining.
