Featured in the Asheville Citizen Times "Growing Asheville's Fiber Economy"

Within 100 miles of Asheville, there…

Last week Henderson County and the Town of Mills River each gave the green light to incentive packages for a major manufacturing company — widely believed to be California-based Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. — to expand here.

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Hailed by politicians and local officials as a major victory for the state and regional economy, Diamond Brand formally announced Monday a $28.3 million contract with the U.S. military to produce the Two-Man Marine Combat Tent.

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North Carolina farmers are finding innovative ways to lower costs and increase revenue with solar energy and energy efficiency. On Jan. 31, 2012 members of the USDA in Guilford County will be hearing from professionals in solar…

After holding a 30-minute closed session, the McDowell County Commissioners agreed Monday to lease some county-owned property for a solar farm. After the session, the commissioners voted unanimously to issue a non-binding letter of intent to lease some county-owned property to N.C. Renewable Energy, LLC. The energy generated by the solar farm would be sold back to Duke Energy. The revenue that would be made from leasing the site is still being negotiated. “We have not nailed down the…

Featuring 5,000 panels covering a six-acre site, Biltmore Estate's 1.5 MW solar farm will be one of the largest and most advanced system to date in western North Carolina. The final electrical inspection was set for Wednesday, Dec. 14, and project managers hope that the installation will be commissioned for operation the following week. When it does, the electricity generated will offset nearly 40 percent of the Biltmore's energy use. This power project is just part of Biltmore's larger…

Iberdrola Renewables has decided not to start construction on a …

TSF_JobsCensus2011_Final_Compressed.pdf

"The developer of the largest wind farm ever proposed in North Carolina says the project has stalled because no utility wants to buy the power the project would produce.

Iberdrola Renewables, having put more than three years into a 31-square-mile wind farm near the coast, this week began notifying property owners and public officials in Pasquotank and Perquimans counties that the project is on hold indefinitely. If built, the Desert Wind Energy Project near Elizabeth City would have…

The time is here again to get your business listed in the 2012 Green Building Directory. The WNCGBC is once again partnering with the Mountain Xpress to put out the ever more popular WNC Green Building Directory. 25,000 print copies will be distributed in 2012 in addition to the online version.Take advantage of the Early Bird Display Ad Rates until December 16th. 

3-Step process for being listed:

1. Go to…

Asheville company opens new solar-powered station to charge electric cars

http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20111212/NEWS/312120023/Driving-sunshine-reality-solar-powered-charging-station?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Frontpage

http://energync.org/blog/ncsea-news/2011/12/01/ncsea-continues-work-on-duke-progress-merger/

NCSEA filed a brief Monday, November 28 at the NC Utilities Commission underscoring its opposition to the Duke Energy-Progress Energy merger in the absence of several important modifications to the final agreement. This is the latest action by NCSEA, which has been involved…

Clean energy groups have reached an agreement with Duke Energy and Progress Energy to address concerns the groups raised in a South Carolina Public Service Commission proceeding on the proposed merger of the two companies. If the merger is approved, the newly formed holding company, Duke Energy, will be the largest electric utility in the country. Two subsidiaries, Duke Energy Carolinas and Progress Energy Carolinas, will continue as operating companies in South Carolina and North…

Clint Spiegel didn’t exactly reinvent the wheel, but he came close with his revolutionary redesign of bike hubs and spokes found on his eye-popping Industry Nine rims. Read full article here.

From Mountain Xpress:

A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held on Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 2 p.m. to commemorate the completion of the Watauga High School Skystream 3.7 wind turbine. Boone mayor Loretta Clawson is expected to attend, as well as Appalachian State University Wind Applications Center staff, Watauga High School students and faculty. The event is open to the public...ASU Wind Applications Center staff worked with Watauga High School faculty…

The new McKinsey report Resource Revolution: Meeting the world’s energy, materials, food, and water needs shows that the resource challenge can be met through a combination of expanding the supply of resources and a step change in the way they are extracted, converted, and used. Such resource productivity improvements, using existing technology, could satisfy…

Asheville-based, BioWheels RTS will celebrate our first Brightfield™ Charging Station at the City of Asheville’s Public Works Building with a press event and formal ribbon cutting on December 12 at 10:00. Speakers will include US Congressman Heath Shuler, Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy, AdvantageWest CEO Scott Hamilton and Deputy Secretary of NC Department of Commerce Dale Carrol. There will be a Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt and a Tesla Roadster to check out, all…