Author Archives: Amy Sohner

The following article is sponsored content by Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives COOPERATIVE SOLAR program.

Homeowners and business owners who have sustainability goals to lower their carbon footprint or want to save money on their monthly energy bills have been Investing in solar energy for years. Solar is a clean, affordable way to produce energy using only the power of the sun.

Putting a solar array on a home or business can be challenging or impossible for many. For renters, or those whose homes aren’t suitable for solar panels, it’s not an option. The maintenance of the solar panels and associated equipment may also discourage someone from going solar.

But Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives has another option for its members. A sixty-acre solar array, Cooperative Solar Farm One, located just east of Lexington, provides the opportunity for any member who wants to offset their carbon footprint and lower their energy bill to invest in solar energy without having to put panels on their home or business.

Guy Huelat knew Cooperative Solar One was a good investment when he looked into using solar to offset his energy bill. He and his wife Debbi licensed 77 panels.

“The idea of someone else maintaining it was very attractive to us,” said Huelat. “This is much more efficient than everyone trying to figure this out on their own.”

The Huelats were concerned that the solar panels wouldn’t match the aesthetic of their home and property. Cooperative Solar Farm One was an attractive option because it made getting access to solar energy easy, without the hassle of putting the panels on their home.

“We have good friends in Florida, and about every seventh house has solar panels on the roof,” he said. “The reason is that it’s not offered by their electric company. The consumer is going to do this. This is proof that co-ops can be more competitive than other power companies.”

Huelat estimates that the panels will pay for themselves within 15 years, and said one of his concerns when he considered solar was the cost of fossil fuel energy will eventually go up.

Cooperative Solar Farm One has about 32,000 panels which make enough electricity to power about 1,000 homes.

For a one-time payment of $460 per panel, participating members will receive a 25-year license to one of the panels. That means they will get credit on their monthly power bill for their proportional share of the energy generated by the solar farm, as well as the market value of their panel’s capacity. And they can monitor panel performance online.

For more information or to license solar panels, go to www.CooperativeSolar.com.

This has been a busy fall with students learning about human impact on water quality and how our actions can improve that quality. Students at Eastern Elementary in Scott County began their unit on water quality with a litter cleanup of their school campus. It was an eye opening experience! They found 734 pieces of litter on the playground and beside the parking lot.

Students categorized their finds and added them to a litter map of the school grounds, using a color code to show what type of litter was found and where it was found. Candy wrappers, followed by juice box straws and wrappers, were the top items found. Students are working on a litter abatement plan to reduce litter at their school.

The following article is sponsored content by Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives.

A year ago, seeing a Tesla or any other electric vehicle was a rarity. But not any longer. Electric vehicles (EVs) are no longer a rarity on the roads, and the reasons are simple: they’re much cheaper to fuel than combustion engines. You plug them in to a charger at a much smaller cost, and they’re ready to go for hundreds of miles on a single charge.

When comparing gasoline prices to electricity prices, it’s clear that EVs are a winner. On average, a typical gas-fueled vehicle costs $1,800 a year to fuel. An average EV costs only $464 a year to charge. Here in Kentucky, where electric rates are some of the lowest in the nation, EV owners can take advantage of costs that average around 10 cents per kilowatt hour. That means you can drive a mile for about three cents.

According to Car and Driver magazine, there are 20 models of electric SUVs and sedans that have ranges beyond 240 miles, with 15 of those able to go more than 300 miles on a single charge. Electric vehicles not only are cheaper to fuel, but their battery technology puts many of them on par with the range of a regular gasoline vehicle.

You can find out more about the benefits of electric vehicles, including charger types, locations and trip planners for EVs at https://togetherwesaveky.com/.

Bluegrass Greensource (BGGS) staff is gearing up for a fantastic year of Environmental Education in the Bluegrass. We will continue to have many of the same excellent Environmental Education programs for preschool – 12th-grade.

Here are a few highlighted programs for the start of the 22/23 year!

Creek Day

• • Creek Day is continuing for Fayette County schools. BGGS will organize and facilitate activities on campus; we will discuss watersheds, water quality, and aquatic and streamside habitats. Limited spots are available, so if you have a stream on campus and are interested, please sign up with your BGGS Environmental Educator soon.

Preschool Programs

• • Junior Nature Explorers and Junior Energy Explorers engage preschool students in scientific discovery, guided by BGGS educators! Students explore regional plants and animals in the Junior Nature Explorers program–focusing on local freshwater ecosystems this year. The Junior Energy Explorers program invites students to investigate the power of the sun, wind, and water. 

Outdoor Classroom Consultations

• • New to BGGS, we are offering Outdoor Classroom consultations to FCPS. There is a minimal fee associated with the program. We can provide various services through this consultation, including organizational planning, native garden support, and curriculum training. 

Resource Library 

• • The Resource Library allows teachers and community members to check out Environmental Education Kits for classroom enhancement of various topics. Check out the kit topics available at this link, Resource Library.

If you’re interested in having one of our educators visit your classroom or just want to learn more about our programming, fill out an Interest Form or email pattie@bggreensource.org.

Students from Danville Independent High School and Hogsett Primary School immersed themselves in watershed education this year by exploring Clark’s Run Creek. Both schools participated in classroom water quality activities. Danville Independent High School took a field trip to Michael Smith Park to study the water quality of Clark’s Run.  Hogsett Primary participated in a native tree planting and Bluebird nesting box installation along a branch of the creek. In addition, some of their students also participated in a Jr. Watershed Festival at Michael Smith Park. 

Please enjoy this Creek Day VIDEO created by the Admiral Digital Studio at Danville Independent High School and photos of Hogsett Primary students at Michael Smith Park park during the Junior Watershed Festival.

Last week, thousands of Lexingtonians gathered in tables all across town to learn from each other, build community, and make their voice heard in local government. Additionally (per ottlex.org), “all participants will complete a survey about how Lexington is growing and changing. This data will be used to shape Lexington’s map for the future through the Comprehensive Plan, the city of Lexington’s most important planning document.”

We took the opportunity to host an OTTLex roundtable discussion at Mirror Twin Brewing on National Avenue on Monday, April 11 to discuss important topics regarding the future of Lexington, but through an environmental lens. Our staff met with a variety of community members and got some great conversations started. Here are the takeaways from those discussions:

Question 1 – How do you want Lexington to change over the next 20 years?

• Decrease smoking rate/tobacco trash
• More receptacles for all litter
• Promote use of pocket and car ashtrays
• Focus litter prevention and recycling education to off campus housing
• Add environmental education to schools
• More options for recycling (i.e. increase what is able to be recycled)
• Large scale community composting, ideally curbside
• Plastic bag ban and/or fee for bags at stores
• Exploration of more energy options with availability to all areas of Lexington
• Exploration of underground power line infrastructure/development to improve the canopy cover of Lexington above ground

Question 2: Think about our neighborhoods regarding housing, schools, amenities, and safety. How would you like to see them improve?

• Replace all Bradford Pears
• More street trees
• Stop cutting of trees for utility lines – bury lines everywhere possible
• Help with tree pruning
• Increase walkability in neighborhoods
• There seem to be the right amount of parks
• We like the intentional no-mow zones
• Continue help low income residents have access to environmental education and arts
• Smaller high schools/schools in general
• Better bridging and connectivity between inner city and outlying communities with expanded development of the Legacy Trail and adjoining trails
• More education opportunities outside the classroom
• Need for more affordable housing
• Developing more access to food/resources in current community ‘deserts’ without gentrifying neighborhoods

Question 3: What do you think should be done to protect the environment in Lexington?

• Household composting picked up at curbside
• Provide an incentive to compost
• Funding for homeowners to do environmental projects
• Plant more pollinator gardens
• Sell native plants at more commercial stores
• More pervious parking
• Energy efficiency programs and for middle/low income residents

Question 4: How can Lexington make it easier for everyone to financially succeed?

• Rent is too expensive/need for more affordable housing
• Do less desirable neighborhoods mean less trees? Would planting trees help low income neighborhoods?
• Areas with large rental populations don’t have as much money spent on landscaping – financial incentives to change that?
• Make sure parents are aware of opportunities for special schools and continuing education
• Sense of place education is needed
• Free early childhood education
• Work on promoting and growing green jobs (i.e. solar, green infrastructure, etc.)
• Access to more incentivized programs for participating in “green practices” in inner-city areas, not just high-income neighborhoods

Question 5: Transportation – what do you think would make it easier to get around our city?

• Promote and expand Park and Rides
• Encourage free bus passes through employers
• Lexington has too much parking to make bus riding desirable for middle income residents
• Bring back the downtown trolly
• Light rail to connect Lexington, Louisville, Cincinnati
• Have smaller transportation options, maybe even registered pickups
• Bike to church/bike to work days
• More bike events
• Investing in more Lextran service busses and expanding the public transportation routing further outside of the New Circle area

Question 6: Where and how do you think new growth should happen in Lexington?

• Eventually expand Urban Services boundary
• Make sure to have a well thought out plan
• Continue public input regularly
• Growing “up” vs. “out” by utilizing land and structures already established rather than continued developing on rural farmland or expanding the urban landscape further into natural land.

*Middle and bottom photos provided by Civic Lex.

Special thanks to all our attendees and we can’t wait to see what the future of Lexington and its environment holds!

Students in kindergarten through 12th grade, across our service region, get outside and discover the importance of clean water for all living things on Creek Days.  Students participate in macroinvertebrate hunts, perform chemical tests, and complete habitat surveys to determine the health of their waterways. Creek Days are designed to help participants learn the ways humans impact their local watersheds and students often take action by participating in litter cleanups of their school grounds.

Student learning extends beyond creek days with classroom pre- and post-lessons focused on water quality. BGGS leads lessons such as stream erosion investigations, modeling watersheds and their topography, and exploring the interconnectedness of ecosystems.  All lessons are aligned to Kentucky Academic Standards and offer hands-on student engagement.