Around the Arch Blog

The Nevada State Office of Energy just received a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to retrofit 50,000 Nevada residences with energy efficiency upgrades. The Nevada Retrofit Initiative is projected to have an impact of $220 million in Nevada.

Read their news release to learn more and how to participate.

The first two wind turbines have been placed on Reno City Hall. They are the Cascade Engineering Swift turbines. Funded through the stimulus bill and NV energy rebates.

Artists interested in painting the City of Reno’s Windspire wind turbine during a live Artown event have one week left to submit their qualifications. Deadline for submissions is Monday, May 24.

The project is a partnership between Windspire Energy, the City of Reno, and Artown that seeks to draw attention to Reno’s commitment to arts and renewable energy during the month long art festival. The artist(s) selected for this project will work closely with Windspire Energy and the City of Reno to design and paint the 10 foot base pole of the Windspire that will be installed on the roof of the Downtown Parking Gallery. The Artown live painting event will be held on July 8 at the West Street Market.

Windspire Energy (formerly Mariah Power), developer of the Windspire® wind turbine, and the City of Reno released a request for proposal (RFP) on April 22. The RFP is available for download at http://windspireenergy.com/news-center/artown-rfq/ and is open to all artists in the northern Nevada and Northern California area. Interested artists can also contact Kristyn Bishop at Windspire Energy at marketing@windspireenergy.com  or 775-852-0200 x224.

The Windspire wind turbine at the Downtown Parking Gallery is part of the City of Reno’s $19 million Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Initiative. Funding for the initiative is completely through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act from rebates, federal grants, and bonds paid in energy savings. Projects from the initiative will help to save money in the City’s general fund.

The City of Reno and Windspire Energy™ (formerly Mariah Power), developer of the Windspire® wind turbine, released an RFP to paint the City of Reno’s Windspire wind turbine during a live Artown event on July 8th at the West Street Market. The event is a celebration of the City’s commitment to both art and renewable energy.

To read more about this exciting partnership and event with the City of Reno, Windspire Energy, and Artown click here.

The City of Reno will join millions of people around the world in a bold statement showing concern for our planet. Will you join too?

On Saturday, March 27 the historic Reno Arch along with Reno City Hall and other city buildings will go dark for one hour in recognition of Earth Hour. The symbolic event is from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. (local time). Along with the darkening of the Reno Arch, downtown businesses have also been asked to join in this effort by turning off exterior or non-essential lights.

Sponsored by World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour is the largest event of its kind in the world. According to World Wildlife Fund, in 2009, nearly one billion people from 4,100 cities in 87 countries turned off their lights, as well as international landmarks including the Golden Gate Bridge, Empire State Building, Eiffel Tower, Great Pyramids, and the city skylines of Las Vegas, Hong Kong, and Tel Aviv. The goal of Earth Hour is to raise awareness about climate change issues, to encourage businesses, individuals, and government to take actions to reduce their carbon emissions and their impact on the environment in their daily lives and operations.

Extinguishing non-essential lights for one hour will help show that Reno stands with the rest of the world in seeking solutions about climate change and bringing awareness about environmental concerns. The City of Reno encourages everyone to join in this symbolic statement.

On January 22, 2010, the FAA approved the installation of the wind turbines on top of City Hall. For information on the project, visit the Green pages of Reno.Gov.

Photos of the Solar photovoltaic installations at the Downtown Parking Gallery and Downtown Events Center and the wind turbine at the Stead Wastewater Treatment plant have been added to the Green paged of Reno.Gov

The City of Reno is trying to install three small wind turbines on City Hall. The FAA ia currently reviewing and seeking comments on proceeding. Please show your support by going to http://oeaaa.faa.gov and registering your support. You find them by state and ASN# 2009-WTW-6023-0E and 2009-WTW-6024-0E. Support wind energy and spread the word.

City Hall – Two Cascade Engineering-Swift, 1.5 kW horizontal axis turbines on parapet mounts; One Aquilopower, 5 kW vertical axis turbine with a roof tripod mount. They are all less that 30′ high, shorter than the flag pole.

Reno’s famous Arch is now energy efficient. The City replaced 2,076 lights with LED bulbs that use 75% less energy. The City held a celebration to turn on the new lights after Reno Mayor Bob Cashell and Council Members screwed in the last energy efficient lights. The Reno Arch is world famous and one of the most photographed fixtures in Reno. After the lights went on, the Council, children and other adults got their pictures taken next to the arch with local sports mascots, including the Reno Aces’ Archie, the Bighorns’ Bruno and the UNR Wolfpack’s Wolfie. The move to make the arch more “green” is part of a $20 million plan to make the City more energy efficient.

Re-energizing Reno
The Reno Arch goes green!

Date: Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Time: 5:00 p.m.
Location: On Virginia Street under the Reno Arch.

The 2,076 incandescent 11-watt bulbs in the Reno Arch will be replaced with highly energy efficient 2.5-watt LED bulbs. Mayor Bob Cashell and the Reno City Council will celebrate the re-lighting of the Arch. The Reno Arch going green is just one project in the City of Reno’s $20 million Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Initiative.

The City of Reno looks forward to seeing you at the celebration!