Sustainability efforts grow across N.C.

By: Katie Saylors

Sustainability efforts grow across the state despite a slow, recovering economy, according to many groups in North Carolina.

“What we're seeing is strong attention to North Carolina because we are the only state with the mandatory REPS program in the Southeast,” Katie Shepherd said, a marketing and communications manager at NC GreenPower.

The REPS program, enacted in 2007, requires that all electric power providers in the state provide a portion of electricity to renewable energy generators. The types of energy generators include wind, solar photovoltaic and hydro-electric.

At NC GreenPower, a nonprofit organization, Shepherd works with sponsors to help improve North Carolina’s environment. Shepherd said that NC Greenpower is 100 percent dependent of any other program and the only partnerships they have are when they provide outreach services.

“We may work with small groups and large groups to educate and obtain donations,” she said. The donations NC Greenpower receives are put toward supplementing the state's existing power supply with renewable energy sources.

Shepherd, who grew up in N.C., said it is nice to watch the transfer from coal to more renewable energy sources in the state.

“Seeing the shift from traditional fossil fuels over to more renewable energy sources, I feel that we have seen a shift in opinion across the country about North Carolina,” Shepherd said.

Working for NC GreenPower allows her to travel and see a change in the state in terms of energy efficiency, she said.

“The ability of my job to connect me statewide to people who are working to be sustainable in whatever way that is, it's definitely been a big plus to my job,” she said. “It seems that everyone I have met has something to add to my job, to help me to do my job better, and to enlighten me and open my eyes to another issue that maybe I wasn't aware of.”

Other green projects in the state include the Sustainability Management Plan, which began three years ago in Asheville. The plan aims to reduce the municipal carbon footprint by 80 percent by 2050.

“In the last three years, we've actually reduced by 8.4 percent so we're ahead of the game,” Maggie Ullman said, the energy coordinator at the Office of Sustainability in Asheville. “It's amazing to be part of this group and see growth and change,” Ullman said, who is head of the Office of Sustainability.

Ullman said their current initiatives will cut down on waste and conserve energy in the city. A new project they are working on with Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College is to create a recycle photo booth.

“You have to recycle to get your photo taken and your picture will be uploaded to our website,” Ullman said. The project is both a recycling and social marketing tool that will promote positive behavior changes.

Aside from nonprofits and cities increasing efforts to raise awareness on sustainability, some communities are making sustainability a way of life.

In Black Mountain, one communities mission is to live as sustainably as possible. At Earth Haven Ecovillage, this off-the-grid community of about 70 people creates their own energy from hydro-electric power and solar photovoltaic panels.

“We are our own utility service,” Kimchi Rylander said, a member and community coordinator at Earth Haven.

Other than living off the grid, Rylander said she lives in a home which was built from trees milled on the property along with recycled materials and minerals found in the village. Rylander said while living sustainably is hard and can take time to get used to, the rewards are worth it.

“To live sustainably means to be intimately connected with the Earth from which all life springs. It's really powerful to be conscious of this connection and to give back to the Earth by caring and sharing,” Rylander said.