Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Encore Renewable Energy, a leading full-service community-scale renewable energy development company, announced today that Blake Sturcke is now CEO, joining Encore’s Founder and CEO, Chad Farrell, to jointly lead the company’s expansion and accelerated deployment of solar and energy storage projects. Blake has been with Encore since 2015. In addition to having served in several leadership positions in the clean energy industry, Blake has a wealth of experience in corporate and project finance, capital markets, and mergers and acquisitions gained over a 15-year career as an investment banking executive prior to joining the clean energy workforce.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and Representative Cori Bush (D-MO) on Thursday introduced legislation that would cap the list price of insulin at no more than $20 per vial, substantially reducing the cost of the lifesaving drug for the more than 7 million people who use insulin across the United States and the 1.3 million Americans who were forced to ration insulin last year.

Vermont Business Magazine America’s SBDC Day is set for March 15th, 2023, a day that will unite nearly 1,000 Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) across the country and the hundreds of thousands of clients they’ve served in their 42-year history. On March 15, Vermont’s Small Business Development Center (VtSBDC), along with clients, business advisors, and community partners, will celebrate in person and virtually, posting on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn throughout the day, using the hashtags #SBDCDay and #VtSBDCDay. Participants are encouraged to like, comment, and share how VtSBDC has created a difference in their lives and communities. VtSBDC’s business advisors will stop in to see many of their clients in person as part of the celebration.

Vermont Business Magazine Spring is a season of celebration. Unfortunately, the resulting waste from all the sweet treats consumed and the wine drunk at these holidays and gatherings adds up quickly. Casella Waste Systems, Inc, a regional solid waste, recycling and resource management services company based in Rutland, in partnership with TerraCycle, an innovative recycling company that specializes in hard-to-recycle materials, is offering consumers a sustainable way to dispose of snack & candy wrappers and corks and even Styrofoam that local recycling services won't accept curbside.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott has appointed Paul F. Noel of Irasburg as the new Fish and Wildlife Board member from Orleans County. Originally from the northern Adirondacks, Noel earned his bachelor’s degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Management from SUNY Cobleskill. His career includes a first job out of college at the Bald Hill Fish Hatchery in Newark, and a more than three-decade tenure at IBM.

Vermont Business Magazine Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux, PhD, professor in the Department of Geography and Geosciences at the University of Vermont and the Vermont state climatologist, will participate in “Campus and Community-Scale Climate Change Solutions,” an event co-hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the University of Washington, on March 8 and 9, 2023. On March 8, climate, sustainability, and resilience leaders and educators from across the country will convene with U.S. Government officials for a series of speakers and panel discussions. These will focus on innovative ways to support climate change efforts on college campuses that also benefit surrounding communities.

by Abby Carroll, Community News Service Lawmakers are looking to create a new grant program to help small farmers diversify their products or transition from one type of farm to another. The bill, H.205, would appropriate $500,000 for the project in 2024 to be administered through the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets. Each grant would be capped at $15,000 to boost the number of farmers able to access the program. Recipients would have a year to complete their projects. The goal of the program is to help small farmers start projects to help their bottom line while making their business more stable and sustainable.

Vermont Business Magazine Mayor Miro Weinberger, Burlington Electric Department General Manager, Darren Springer, and renewable energy advocates on Wednesday hailed the passage of the proposed Carbon Pollution Impact Fee and new thermal heating requirements in Burlington. Burlington is the first City to source 100 percent of its energy from renewable sources (in 2014) and to announce a plan to become a Net Zero Energy City by 2030 (in 2019); and the City continues to advance innovative climate policy. Once implemented, Burlington will join a short list of U.S. cities regulating the use of fossil fuels for thermal energy and heating and is the first Vermont municipality to solve for the future costs of carbon pollution by applying a science-based fee for some users.