Connecticut Green Living

HARTFORD-APRIL 22, 2022: Last year there was enough solar power produced by Hartford's converted 4,000-acre closed landfill to power a thousand phones at full capacity. If you want to get geeky, it equated to 1 megawatt of electricity. This is one of many reasons that the city has ranked #18 per capita nationwide in a new report , Shining Cities 2022: The Top U.S. Cities for Solar Energy , when it comes to solar adoption. This is divided between both business and residential users. Johanna Neumann , senior director for renewable energy with Environment America, explained the methodology in their rankings. While Hartford is #18 for per capita solar use, it does not rank in the top 20 for overall solar output, an award that goes to Los Angeles. There is value, she explains, in both measurements. "So there are a lot of ways to slice and dice. How much solar per capita and overall [solar use]." She adds that it's equally important to look at small cities that are do...

This article originally appeared on Examiner.com, March 26, 2016. March 2,2017 update: Catch the film on Netflix. "What excited me so much about solar is that here is something we can all access and it’s a disruptive technology. Our electric grid was one of the biggest engineering achievements of the last century – and you put a lowly solar panel on your house and you've disrupted that." - Shalini Kantayya Filmmaker Shalini Kantayya has more accolades than a summer movie premiere has papparazi - from finishing in the top 10 out of 12,000 in FOX's "On the Lot" filmmaking competition produced by Steven Spielberg to being a TED and Sundance Fellow. Of course, this analogy only works until you realize that soon, this talented thirtysomething Hartford native will be bombarded by the press and she'll have as many shutterbugs in her face as she has plaques on the wall. The buzz is simple: this is a young filmmaker who gets what needs to be done. We nee...

Connecticut consistently ranks as one of the nation's most educated states. From Yalies to proud UConn alums, we've an embarrassment of intellectuals here. So why is the state so dumb when it comes to tapping public transportation? Although Hartford ranks pretty decently -- in 2010 an estimated 21.1 percent of its residents regularly chose public transportation -- the state pales overall. On the same annual ranking, a city that has no excuse not to be on the bus or the train, a dismal 13.3 percent were onboard. In 2012, the U.S. Department of Transportation reported that over 78 percent of our residents drive alone in their cars to work. This examiner wholly believes that the greatest impediment to getting more folks to share a ride, or get on the bus or train is reversing a stigma. Being a bus rider is even fodder for comic effect in movies. Women walking to the bus in the 'burbs sometimes get propositioned as ladies of the evening! It's the bus, people, not a meth d...