Current News

NativeEnergy Partners with Cascade Sierra Solutions
Energy Efficiency Partnership Expecting To Save Over 2 Million Gallons of Fuel & Reduce Air Pollution
[December 3, 2008] South Burlington, VT- NativeEnergy, an international marketer of high quality carbon offsets and renewable energy credits (RECs), today announced its first energy efficiency project partnership, adding to its portfolio of effective climate crisis solutions. Working with Cascade Sierra Solutions (CSS), a non-profit organization dedicated to making ground freight transportation more energy efficient and sustainable, NativeEnergy continues its mission providing clients with high quality emissions reductions from new projects that have significant social value.
Cascade Sierra Solutions helps truckers to save fuel and reduce emissions from long haul, heavy-duty diesel trucks. NativeEnergy is supporting Cascade Sierra Solutions objective to upgrade and/or replace 50,000 trucks by 2013.

Public Comment period extended to Dec. 15:

Burlington Waterfront Access North Transportation Improvement Project
The City of Burlington will extend the deadline for public comment on the alternative designs focused on access to the Waterfront until Dec 15, 2008. For further details go to http://www.cedoburlington.org/waterfront/waterfront_access_north_project...
The proposed alternative designs include:

* Base improvements to Battery Street: new signals, streetlights and crosswalks

* Base improvements to Depot Street: selective restriction of motor vehicles, pavement, street lights, pedestrian connection to Sherman Street and a sidewalk connecting to Lake Street.

* Base improvements to the Lake Street and the Moran site: paving, streetlights, storm water improvements, bike path paving, sidewalks and crosswalks.
Or

First Year of New Economic Incentive Program Successful

Week Ending November 29, 2008
There were 1,823 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance last week, an increase of 261 from the week before. Altogether 10,628 new and continuing claims were filed, 1,136 more than a week ago and 2,266 more than a year earlier. In addition, the Department processed 1,144 claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008, an increase of 18 from last week.
The Unemployment Weekly Report can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/

Previously released Unemployment Weekly Reports and other UI reports can be found at:
http://www.vtlmi.info/lmipub.htm#uc

ABC FORECASTS DOWNTURN

Food Stamp Participation Reaches All-Time High in Vermont During Holiday Season
Burlington, VT, December 2, 2008 - While many in Vermont were savoring Thanksgiving treats last week, others were signing up for food assistance; 60,062 Vermonters, almost 1 in 10, now participate in the Food Stamp Program according to data released by the Department for Children and Families. This number is up by over 1,500 in just one month, up 7,000 since this time last year, and represents a record high for Vermont.

PSB approves small rate increase
RUTLAND, VT The Vermont Public Service Board has approved a small rate increase for Central Vermont Public Service (NYSE-CV), an increase of one-third of a percent.
The increase will take effect with bills rendered starting Jan. 1, 2009. In its order approving the rate increase, the PSB also opened an investigation to review CVPS's rates and could reduce rates after doing so.
The bill for a residential customer who uses 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month will rise from $73.11 to $73.35, a difference of 24 cents.
By comparison, the same customer would pay up to $83.16 elsewhere in Vermont, and as much as $117.45 elsewhere in New England, according to the Edison Electric Institute.
"We have worked hard to control costs," CVPS spokesman Steve Costello said. "Our long-term contracts with Vermont Yankee and Hydro-Quebec continue to provide us with a strong competitive advantage in the Northeast."

The Fastest ISPs in Americaand Where You Live
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Time is Money: PCMag.com Names the Fastest ISPs in America

The Vermont/New Hampshire Marketing Group announced a special event to assist marketers throughout the region. The topic is Marketing in a Down Economy and it is an all-day workshop in Concord, NH that will discuss the best practices for generating business through online marketing, email, and Web 2.0 strategies.

The session will be lead by marketing experts sharing their knowledge from various vantage points. They are Daryl Eames of the Herrington Catalog, Sundeep Kapur of NCR eCommerce and Regan Taylor, also of NCR eCommerce. They will be joined by other eMarketing veterans with experience in financial services, sports and entertainment to discuss strategies that can benefit many different types of businesses in challenging times.

CSWD reinstitutes recycling fee for haulers
The economic crisis has come to roost in, of all places, your recycling bin. Chittenden Solid Waste District's Materials Recovery Facility - where most blue-bin recyclables are sorted - is funded in large part by the money it makes by selling recyclables on international commodities markets. Those markets have been shaken badly by the current economic crisis and the recent plunge in prices CSWD receives for those same commodities means that the District will have to resume charging haulers for the recyclables they bring to its Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). At this time, recycling will remain free at CSWD Drop-Off Centers, where quantities up to a cubic yard are accepted.

IBEW will host an open house style event on Wednesday, Dec. 3 from 6-8 pm. It is open to all electrical contractors and vendors who want to learn about the union;s new solar photovoltaic energy systems training, the only year-round course of its kind in the state.

IBEW Local 300 staffers Jean Watkins and Matt Lash will present about the solar training and the union as a whole. Renewable Energy Vermont Executive Director Andrew Perchlik is also scheduled to speak about the green economy and the importance of the IBEW Local 300 solar initiative. Contractors and electricians that already completed the program will be there as well.

The program recently began solar training as an enhancement to its existing five-year electrical regimen. Utilizing framework developed by the National Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee, trainees learn about the fundamentals, design and installation of solar photovoltaic technology through both classroom and hands-on components.