In my opinion, I believe that the individuals behind the North Carolina Green Business Fund get that it takes investment in research and development to implement changes in consumer and institutional behavior to make energy and water conservation a priority in North Carolina. They realize that to create a green economy takes hard work, a lot of investment, and a little luck. It should also be pointed out that many of the small businesses that have received these grants have a great deal of technical expertise and have procured matching funds to obtain these grants (which probably makes the total investment per job closer to $200,000 per job if I were to conservatively estimate).
As I see it there are four primary areas and one miscellaneous category of investment in this round of grant funding: 1) generating energy from hog lagoon waste, 2) education about energy conservation and renewable energy technologies, and 3) conducting energy audits of residential and commercial buildings and 4) installing renewable energy technologies/fuel cell generators/electric vehicle charging stations. Although these categories are not mutually exclusive I will sum up the totals for each category based on which category I feel the group most likely fits into but I encourage everyone to read the press release for themselves( press release: http://www.ncscitech.com/PDF/gbf/NCGBF%202010%20awards%20press%20release.pdf).
- Generating Energy from Hog Lagoon Waste (a major byproduct of the large scale hog farms in NC)
- Black Farms (Bunnlevel, Harnett County) -- $295,130.00
- Butler Farms (Lillington, Harnett County) –$373,780.00
- Storms Farms (Bladenboro, Bladen County) – $500,000.00
- Vestal Farms (Kenansville, Duplin County) - $369,050.00
- Total - $1,537,960.00
- Education about Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Technologies
- Cape Fear Green Building Alliance (Wilmington, New Hanover) – $155,000.00
- Go Green Lighting (Chapel Hill, Orange County) – $300,000.00
- Total - $455,000.00
- Conducting Energy Audits of Residential and Commercial Buildings
- Southern Energy Management, Inc. (Raleigh, Wake County) – $374,129.00
- Energy Tight (Charlotte, Mecklenburg County) -- $222,466.00
- Total - $596,595.00
- Installing Renewable Energy Technologies/Fuel Cell Generators/Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
- Biowheels, Inc (Asheville, Buncombe County) – $375,852.56
- Community Development Specialists Incorporated (Asheville, Buncombe County) --$149,480.00
- Kyma Technologies (Raleigh, Wake County) –$427,760.00
- North Carolina State University, Center for Marine Sciences and Tech (Morehead City, Carteret County) – $228,519.0
- Praxis Technologies Inc. (Raleigh, Wake County) – $247,304.00
- Onslow County Farmers Market Inc (Jacksonville, Onslow County) – $24,095.89
- Microcell Corporation (Raleigh, Wake County) – $484,120.00
- Total - $1,937,131.45
- Miscellaneous Category
- Essential Energy Efficiency Technologies & Services (Charlotte, Mecklenburg County) --$55,000.00
- Total - $55,000.00
The real question is how effective will this be for creating a green economy? Where will the materials be sourced for this project? As far as we know there are not many areas of manufacturing in North Carolina? The other piece of information that we do not know is how many secondary jobs will be created from the investment made in North Carolina's green economy?
Lastly, the one area that I would love to see a follow up on is how effective are the programs that received small scale investments (i.e. Essential Energy Efficiency Technologies & Services (Charlotte, Mecklenburg County) --$55,000.00 and Onslow County Farmers Market Inc (Jacksonville, Onslow County) – $24,095.89) versus the hundreds of thousands of dollars thrown into other endeavors? Which ones conserve or generate the most energy? These will be the questions that the American taxpayer and future generations have invested approximately 4.6 million dollars to answer. Let's hope its worth it.
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