Sun April 14, 2019 | 12PM – 5PM

// FREE //
In collaboration with SunCommon and CYCLEffect

Regenerating Planet, People and Economy

We are thrilled to present our new Green Energy Fair, produced in partnership with pioneering environmental organizations SunCommon and CYCLEffect Regenerative Ventures.

By pairing a marketplace of new energy leaders and environmental advocates with an afternoon of presentations and discussions by community leaders and alternative energy experts, this new free, annual program will invite attendees to come together to seek solutions for the greatest communal challenge now facing us, the climate and energy crisis.

🔻 Call for marketplace participants 🔻

Presentation and panel schedule

12:10PM – 12:15PM
Melissa Auf Der Maur program introduction

12:15PM – 12:30PM
Chris Lindstrom keynote introduction

12:35PM – 1:05PM
COMMUNITY SOLAR PRESENTATION
“WHAT IS COMMUNITY SOLAR?”
An accessible and inspiring presentation by locally-based solar pioneers SunCommon into what we can do toward climate resolution, and showing how solar can be within reach of all homeowners.

1:20PM – 2:00PM
CLOSING THE LOOP: ON WASTE AND ENERGY
MATCH MAKING THE SYSTEMS
How many banana peels does it take to power a light bulb for 8 hours?
How many garbage cans of food waste does it take to generate the equivalent of one gallon of gasoline?

You’ll learn this and more when you hear about Impact Bio-energy’s HORSE bioenergy system that just arrived at the Basilica. The HORSE converts uneaten food scraps, liquids, and other organic waste materials into renewable natural gas and probiotic plant food with zero waste. The generated energy can be used in the form of building heat, hot water, radiant heat, light, electricity, vehicle fuel, and prime motion. The organic fertilizer can be used to help your lawn, flower beds, garden, or crops thrive.

Impact’s uniquely engineered and sized bioenergy units allow organizations and communities to practice onsite bioenergy food waste diversion, thus substantially reducing waste disposal, waste transportation, energy costs, fertilizer costs, and chemical use. The bioenergy systems provide economic returns while fostering a local circular economy.
PANELISTS
Craig Husa, Impact BioEnergy
Paul Greene, Montrose Environmental & American Biogas Council
Joanna Underwood, Energy Vision
Janice Kelsey, SOLARCITIES

2:15PM – 2:30PM
Film Screening – Hope On The Hudson:
GROWING WITH THE GRAIN
RESURRECTING GRAIN GROWING IN THE NORTHEAST
Upstate New York used to be a breadbasket of grain growing. Westward expansion yielded more ideal climates for growing and production shifted to the midwest. Scientists, farmers, bakers and brewers take part in a grain trial test that hopes to produce a new generation of grain suited for the northeast, bringing sustainable and more localized grain production back to the region.

2:30PM – 2:45PM
Q&A
Hope On The Hudson: GROWING WITH THE GRAIN

3:00PM – 3:30PM
DRAWDOWN: CREATIVE
A special presentation and conversation on the power of Project Drawdown to generate creative climate solutions and foster the creative process that builds a productive movement. Melissa Everett and Dorna Schroeter will review the 100 scientifically vetted climate solutions of Drawdown alongside the essential timeline provided by the Exponential Climate Action Road Map, and then discuss two key dimensions: the communications strategy of engaging the imagination, and the design strategies offered by the emerging practice of biomimicry. Audience ideas and inspirations will be encouraged.
PANELISTS
Melissa Everett, Ph.D., co-founder and Executive Director of Sustainable Hudson Valley
Dorna Schroeter, PNW Board of Cooperative Educational Services Center for Environmental Education

3:45PM – 4:45PM
GAME CHANGERS
HOW REGENERATIVE BUSINESSES CAN SHIFT POWER BACK TO THE PEOPLE AND PLANET
Regenerative agriculture, hemp, crowdfunding and alternative currencies have been gaining traction at phenomenal speed and are solutions that we can use to lead the transition to a green and regenerative future.
PANELISTS
Chris Lindstrom, CYCLEffect Regenerative Ventures, moderator
Ben Dobson, Managing Director Hudson Hemp and Hudson Carbon
Jeremy Kaufman, CEO of Propagate Ventures
Gregory Landua, Chief Regenerative Officer of Regen Network
Eric Harris Braun, Co-Founder/Executive Engineer of HoloChain
David McCarthy, Board Director of Hudson Valley Current and author of Civil Endowment – The Transformation of Economic Power
Cassie Marketos, SVP of Community Engagement at Kickstarter

ABOUT BASILICA GREEN ENERGY FAIR

With a particular focus on exploring both community solar and bioenergy – the generation of energy from food waste and similar organic materials – as vital examples of the move away from the archaic, destructive energy models which have left us in climate chaos, the Green Energy Fair will give attendees the tools to protect our future and to together serve, inspire and care for the region we live in.

Moving toward our ten year anniversary in 2020, our commitment is to enter a more sustainable means of running our building, a reclaimed, solar-powered factory on the waterfront of the historic Hudson River. Basilica firmly believes that the only way to move forward is by harnessing the power of new technology and new energy. Basilica will move the Climate and Energy crisis to the top of our mission and agenda by offering access to information and solutions while transforming our building into a model of what is possible..

Basilica hopes that, through working with inspiring partners in sustainable energy, we will be able to improve its environmental infrastructure both in in its own building and in the wider world.

Presenting partner SunCommon has served the Hudson Valley for the past 16 years, previously as Hudson Solar. SunCommon is a passionate mission driven B-Corp with a triple bottom line commitment to people, planet and profit. They are also proud to have been awarded the designation of NYSERDA’s 2019 QualitySolar Installer. Out of the 279 registered and authorized installers in New York State, SunCommon is only 1 of 29 or 10% who were awarded this prestigious designation. In addition to residential and commercial ground and roof mount, SunCommon offers community solar as an option for those previously unable to acquire solar. They are a certified Tesla Powerwall installer for home energy storage. They will present their vision of community solar, explaining the pioneering measures they have taken to ensure that solar power can now be a viable option within reach of all homeowners in our region.

Venture Capital Cooperative Firm and presenting partner CYCLEffect will also present its inspiring vision of ethical and environmentally focused investing, with a particular focus on its work into biogas, a model which captures, reuses and recycles food waste to create sustainable energy, ‘closing the loop’ between waste and energy and restoring the planet’s biological and social systems to a healthy balance. CYCLEffect will present its newly installed biodigester by Impact BioEnergy on public display for the first time onsite at Basilica. Impact BioEnergy is a leader in the biogas industry specifically around transportable, modular and distributed digester technologies, and is soon to install its first east coast installation at Basilica to expand its inspiring vision of biogas, a renewable and clean alternative to natural gas.

Basilica will also continue its long-standing and popular partnership with acclaimed filmmaker Jon Bowermaster with a screening of the latest film in Jon’s Hudson River Stories series of stunning short films. The series, produced by Jon’s Ocean’s 8 Films, explores and examines the environmental issues facing the region’s waterways, and presents studies into those working to protect this vital asset to our state, our country and our planet.

INFO TABLES

BerkShares, Inc., Bread Alone, Capital District EV Drivers, Churchtown Dairy, Columbia County Citizen’s Climate Lobby, Columbia County Democratic Committee, Common Energy, Custom built, CYCLEffect, Energy Vision, Green Mountain Energy, Hudson Hemp, Hudson Valley Current, N Y Solar Energy Society, New Yorkers for Clean Power, Propagate Ventures, Scenic Hudson, Seeding Sovereignty, Social Enterprise and Training Center, Solar CITIES: Global Biogas Education, SunCommon, Vegan for the Animals, Vegan for the Planet, Zeroth LLC

PARTNERS

Basilica Green Energy Fair would not be possible without the generous support and like-minded spirit of partners and collaborators. Basilica Hudson is grateful for the support of the following friends and community partners:

CYCLEffect // SunCommon // Green Mountain Energy // BerkShares, Inc. // Seeding Sovereignty // Hudson Hemp // Zeroth LLC // Hudson Carbon