Admission is $10 (there is a coupon for buy one get one free), but we have several free passes available. Please comment below with how many you would like and why. We’ll contact those we can for mailing addresses to send out the passes in time.

From the press release:

In particular the Expo will highlight all major governmental green programs and incentives in place or to be launched soon for the residents in Miami-Dade County plus presentations and exhibitions by major experts and suppliers on hot green topics and products. The Opening Session on Saturday, August 15 at 10:30 am will be: “Green Programs & Financial Incentives to Benefit Your Family Now”. Major politicians and celebrities involved with the green movement and initiatives in our community have been invited to the ribbon cutting ceremony and opening session.

At the Miami Living Green Expo family attendees…
o Find hundreds of green products and services on the floor.
o Bring & exchange old showerheads for a brand new high-efficiency model and home conservation kit absolutely FREE!
o Sign up to receive FREE recycling pick-up day alerts in their homes.
o Find out how they can get two FREE trees from Miami-Dade County’s Adopt-a-Tree program.
o See and explore new hybrid vehicles & busses.
o Win a Miami-Dade County “GREEN” shopping bag with hurricane preparedness supplies.
o Learn ways to save energy, water…and money!
o Learn how to get FREE outdoor air quality forecasts!
o Get FREE evaluations of their landscape to improve water efficiency.
o Win prizes every hour by the stage courtesy of Miami-Dade County
o Meet Vanessa Hauc, Journalist of Telemundo Network and major green advocate.
o Attend special presentation and book-signing session of major expert Dr Rob Streisfeld (Doc Rob), author of bestselling book “A Healthier Ever After”.
o Bring their kids to learn from Michelle Piwko, Miss Earth Florida 2009 & Aubrey Carr, Miss Teen Earth SW Florida “The Beauty of Going Green: Fun Activities for Learning to Take Care of Our Planet”.

o Attend major featured presentations:
o Andrea Rodriguez on her book “The 1 Word Revolution”, a simple guide to going green from the inside out”.
o Gabriele Marewski on “Edible Landscaping”.
o Lisa Harr on ““How to Save on Your Utility Bills AND Build Value in Your Home”.
o Attend sessions on: “Green Fashion”, “Go Green at Home and Save Money!” , “Job Opportunities in the Green Economy!…”, “Losing Weight Eating Organic (Spanish Speaking Session)”, “How to Prepare a Delicious Organic Dish in Minutes (Spanish Speaking Session)”, “A GREEN home may reduce your mortgage payments by 7 years (Spanish Speaking Session)” and more to be announced…

o Win an autographed “Mr. Marlin” Jeff Conine bat and 2009 season tickets. Meet “Stanley” the Florida Panthers mascot…
o Free Bounce House for Kids and entertainment for the entire Family!

In Brickell, where I live, a new 35 story office building is being built (1450 Brickell) and it is pre-certified as LEED Gold. LEED certified buildings operate at lower cost and have many environmental benefits compared to normal construction.

Also in Brickell, some local residents are working with their condo building to offer recycling for its residents. This is a challenge for many Miamians, including myself, even though it is the law for condos to provide recycling. Find more information on What Doesn’t My Condo Recycle?

Someone in Sunny Isles mentioned to us that their condo recently REMOVED recycling from the building, because it was such a mess. This is the big issue…if people do not put recyclables in the right spot, the entire process gets botched and all of this potentially recyclable material becomes trash. If we want to have recycling in our buildings, education to residents must be key.

We’ve also heard from friends in North Bay Village that a mom is driving around in a three wheel electric vehicle, and has managed to fit 2 car seats in the back! Now that’s green.

What’s going on in your neighborhood? Can you recycle in your condo (what building is it?)? Let us know in the comments section! Also let us know if you’d like to see this as a regular feature and would like to keep your eye out for green in your area!

Environmental Specialist

Examples of projects/programs include, but are not limited to: implementing City of Miami Tree Master Plan; developing or coordinating production of communications or educational materials; coordinating committees, summits, events or forums; functioning as liaison with nonprofit organizations receiving funds or working on projects with MSI; delivering community and departmental presentations and trainings on sustainable initiatives; monitoring and evaluating MSI projects.

Environmental Coordinator

The duties of the position include, but are not limited to: analyzing, implementing, and evaluating long-term plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from city operations; compiling and preparing detailed reports and making recommendations for operational improvements; performing statistical and financial analysis and hypothesis testing; identifying system and organizational difficulties hindering the accomplishment of MSI goals & objectives; assisting in the installation of new procedures and management techniques; conducting research on national environmental trends; performing analysis of departmental practices and policies and comparing them to industry-wide best practices; researching legal and policy issues related to MSI goals & objectives; drafting memorandums, ordinances, and a variety of other correspondence; conducting community and departmental presentations and trainings; assisting with improving community relations and responsiveness to issues raised by citizens.

In addition to the two positions noted above, the office is also looking for an Administrative Assistant.

Well, to those of us who have been pushing for what seems like eternity for Florida to take action on global warming, the last couple months have been flat-out surreal.  First we have our newly elected Governor, in his first State of the State address, actually declare that climate change is not only real (duh) but that it is “one of the most important issues that we will face this century.”

That’s a real quote.  From the Governor of Florida no less.  I’m not kidding – look it up yourself if you like.  You could have knocked me over with a feather.

Now top that with not one, not two, but three conferences either hosted or attended by Florida Cabinet members over this summer on the very issue of Climate Change.  It’s like someone flipped a switch (or made a really popular movie out of a slide show) and now everyone wants to be green.  Kermit’s day has finally arrived!

Anyway, the point of this post is really to let you know that the big show – a star studded event that so far includes union pariah, turned greenest governor ever, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the environmental super-dude Robert F. Kennedy Junior, and Theodore Roosevelt IV – descendant of The Teddy himself and the Chair of the Pew Center for Global Climate Change – will be hosted in the “canary in the coal mine” for climate change.  Yep, Miami. Tomorrow. Check it out yourself at myfloridaclimate.com.

The agenda page of the website just published and includes a pretty good compilation of experts in various fields.  Unfortunately not too many from Florida.  The State may be slow to realize the importance of this problem (better late than never at least), but we have some great people with lots of experience in academic circles and local government.  Hopefully we’ll hear a bit of that in the late Thursday session.

Although the cynic in me wants to make this conference no more than a tour of the next Atlantis, I’m truly hopeful that we can focus this event (and the inevitable international media spotlight) to finally get our Country on track and join the rest of the world in trying to come up with a real plan.  And quick.

As you may know, I’m co-Founder and Editor of Ecorazzi.com, a popular "green gossip" website – eco-friendly paparazzi, if you will. On Ecorazzi, we’ve got team members all over the world contributing content to our site. Not just writers, either: field reporters, photographers, videographers, and more. I’ve always treated greenerMIAMI quite differently than Ecorazzi, and I’m beginning to wonder why.

Sure, greenerMIAMI is a sub-topic of an already small subject, but there is a lot going on in the environmental arena locally, and a lot of people that are interested in hearing about it. So, we are now officially looking to grow the greenerMIAMI "staff", if you will. Please note that all of these positions are VOLUNTEER, but will be a lot of fun, and interesting to say the least. If you have written us before regarding an interest to contribute, please write us again – there are a lot of emails coming in and we don’t want to or mean to skip over you.

Positions available include, but are not limited to:

• Bloggers: general environment / Miami topics or select your own "beat" and write about a specific eco-issue.
• Bloggers en español: Escribe o traduce sobre el medio ambiente y Miami
• Field Reporters: attend local eco-events and report back on them. A digital audio recorder is nice to have, a digital camera is almost necessary.
• Video Producers: we need more original content! Attend events or create your own locally focused eco-videos
• Photographers: a picture is worth a 1,000 words!
• Podcasters: we could definitely use an audio piece, as well
• Programmers / Designers: ideally, greenerMIAMI will become a full blown website – if you’d like to help and have some tech experience/background, we’ve definitely got some work to do in that area

The possibilities are endless. If one of these ideas doesn’t float your boat but you’ve got one of your own, let us know! Do eco-experiments and write about them! Blog about your daily experiences riding the bus! Go on a quest to recycle! 

If you are interested in any of these volunteer positions with greenerMIAMI, please send us an email. If blogging is what you are after, please send a sample post that is relevant and appropriate for the site. Please be aware that if it is accepted, it will be posted to the site with credit to you. If you are with a non-profit environmental organization, consider having a monthly column on greenerMIAMI that you post yourself.

We look forward to hearing from you and have you help make greenerMIAMI.com a resource FOR the community, BY the community!

Additionally, Roberta Fernandez, an environmental consultant and climate change messenger came with her presentation from The Climate Project. This is the program that Al Gore helped create to train messengers to deploy into their communities and teach people about climate change. If you’ve seen An Inconvenient Truth, it was very similar information, but presented right in front of you and without all of those slow shots of Al Gore on a plane and on his farm.

Finally, we heard from Tim Center of Council for Sustainable Florida, which I don’t think I knew about until last night. A cool guy, and a great organization that I can’t wait to learn more about. He gave us some crazy statistics about the kind of growth we should expect in South Florida over the next several decades. (Five million today to 10 million in 2060.) He pointed out that this is an amazing opportunity. "Most of the build environment that will exist is 2030 has yet to be built…it’s an amazing opportunity…to look at how to do things."

Welcome to the greenerMIAMI tour of pre-Super Bowl festivities. Surprise, surprise, there were some things we didn’t like. The good news? We have suggestions on how to make the 2010 Super Bowl in Miami even greener.

Attire: I went decked out in my organic tee from ReusableBags.com that says Plastic Bags Blow. If not that day, then when, right? Number of positive comments received = 1. Number of interesting looks = several.

Favorite Publicity: I can’t believe I’m saying this, but the most eco-friendly advertising was from Flagler Dog Track. Animal-friendly, not really…but their marketing was carbon neutral!

Worst Publicity: So many planes! What a waste of fuel! Oh, and don’t even get me started on the fliers. Get rich quick idea – create an effective publicity company that doesn’t burn up tons of gas or require mass amounts of paper to be thrown on the ground.

Moment I Was About To Throw Down: When the girl working at the Motorola throw-a-football-through-the -hole-and-get-a-free-inflatable-vinyl-chair-place (we threw, but didn’t want or receive the chair) started putting trash from their stage onto the beach. I said, "You should throw it in the trash can." She said, "We don’t have a trash can, and I don’t want it on the stage." I said, "You should go find a trash can and throw it away." She said, "I didn’t put it there." Argh! Recommendation: Make sure all vendors have trash cans!

Worst Trash Moment: Several companies were giving out free drinks on Ocean Drive – bottles of water, energy drinks, etc. Now, I’m not going to say this shouldn’t happen, because at a mass event like this, it’s just not feasible for everyone to BYOBottle. Plus, free non-alcoholic drinks sounds like a public service. But come on – not enough trash cans and no recycling? If you allow these companies to set up on the street and hand out products, require them to have recycling bins and a plan to get them recycled!

Via – Hugg

For simplicity’s sake, I’m going to type my notes up here, with a bit of commentary mixed in. Please note that PV = Photovoltaic = Solar power technology.

Why PV? Limited oil, fossil fuels generate CO2. How a PV cell works.
(This was very technical…something to do with electrons and charges
and electric fields.) Each PV cell = 4 watts.

Here’s the big thing I learned: PVs need to be kept cool. The
warmer they get, the less power they generate. He says they work well
in Alaska where there is sun but not heat. Additionally, I learned that
they respond much better to completely clear skies. This is another
reason that Florida is not the perfect environment for solar power.
They work well in the desert where it is pure sunshine. Now,
this is not to say that solar is no good in Florida. It certainly is.
But just because we are called the Sunshine State doesn’t mean that we
have the ideal environment for solar power.

So, since the panels/cells need to be kept cool, you pretty much
always need to build them in a way that air can flow underneather the
panels.

They went through things that you would need to set up a system: PV
Array, mount, source circuit combiner box, GFDI devices, charge
controllers, inverters, batteries, etc. You’ll need to determine system
cost, system life-cycle cost, and then look for grants or incentives to
help you out.

Here’s another issue that needs to be addressed in Florida. When you
set up a system that is connected to the grid, you can sell any surplus
energy to FPL. However, unlike many areas that offer net metering,
here it would be dual metering. What’s this mean? With net metering,
your electricity meter simply goes up as you use electricity. If you
feed electricity back to the power company, the meter would start to go
backwards. This means that you basically get discounted for whatever
energy you produce. However, the way it currently works with FPL, is that you get another meter installed. If you sell back any energy to the power company, they buy it from you wholesale, at a price of 5 cents/watt. You currently pay about 12 cents a watt. It’s a silly process, and we need to start talking to local officials to let them know that net metering is important to us.

Some positives on solar power/PVs: They are quiet (no noise), pollution free, good back up in case of a storm power outage, and they are all guaranteed for 25 years. As Dr. Messenger said, "Sometimes you do something because it is the right thing to do." He also stated that, "If it takes more than a barrel of oil to make a barrel of oil, it will no longer be a viable solution. We are getting closer to this scenario every day."

Rebate Program

Florida just started with a rebate program in July. Residential rebates: Federal: 30% up to $2000. Florida: $4/watt. So, for example, if you install a 2000 watt system, which is enough to power a refrigerator, window a/c and very few other things, it would cost about $20,000 (typically costs $9 -12 /watt installed). You would get $2000 back from the federal government and $8000 back from Florida, so you just got a 50% discount. And it would produce enough energy to maybe knock off about $36/month from your FPL bill.

The commercial rebates are much more complex and much more exciting. Basically, the idea is that you will get over 100% of your money back in 5 years time. Florida will give you $4/watt up to $100,000. Federal will depreciate your system over 5 years.

More info on rebates from the Florida Solar Energy Center.

Solar Water Heaters

I have heard so much in the last few days, these are super effective, super efficient, and every home should install one – Solar water heaters. There is $500 rebate, but look into the fact that if you take that rebate, you may not be able to apply for the big rebate (if you are planning on doing so) for PV installation residentially.

Hurricanes?

So you’re worried about hurricanes, right? Consensus among those in the know is that you shouldn’t be. These systems are installed and created to be tough. I’ve even got an anecdotal story for anyone interested.

Other tips

I mentioned that the panels need to have access to air underneath to keep them cool. You’ll also want to put them south-facing, and make sure that they don’t get any shade from 9 am to 3 pm. A 23 degree tilt is ideal, which also makes a  5/12 roof is ideal, though 3/12s and 4/12s also work.

Also, concerned your home owner’s association won’t let you install? We were told of a little known Solar Access Law that says associations can’t say no. There is even a website that points you in the direction of the law for your state. Here is ours or check out the entire Database of State Incentives for 
Renewables and Efficiency.

Looks like you can see solar installed and exhibited at the Museum of Science, as well.

A special thanks to Earth Ethics Institute at Miami Dade College, Architecture Club – AIA Miami, and US Green Building Council South Florida Chapter for organizing the FREE event.

FIU, Biscayne Bay Campus, is holding a Green Building Conference on Friday, November 3. Called, Green Buildings & Sustainable Construction: A Road Map for the Future, you will need to pre-register for the conference. It costs $50 per person, with a discount for USGBC members.

The conference is being hosted by FIU’s Institute for Technology Innovation & Canadian General Consulate of Miami.

The event is described as follows:

This event will bring together corporate leaders from our community in industries such as real estate, land development, construction, and architecture, as well as experts in climate, green technology, and the environment, focusing on three areas:

• New technologies and construction practices that decrease the energy footprint of buildings.  This will cover construction materials, energy and water use, and management practices.
• The future of government environmental regulations at the local, national, international levels as well as emerging industry standards and certifications.
• The future of global climate change and the effects this has on construction and building management strategies

View more event details and RSVP. The view the flier above, simply click on the image.