Gabe Lourie-Wisbaum (left) and Steven Wisbaum Steven Wisbaum wasn t always obsessed with electric lawn mowers. Since 1996, he s been the founding owner of Charlotte-based CV Compost, which provides custom products to home gardeners, farmers and landscape contractors. But around 2009, spurred by concerns about the climate crisis and needing to replace his cohousing community s shared lawn mower, Wisbaum sought to reduce his fossil fuel use. He experimented with using biodiesel in company equipment and in the mower, but it caused mechanical problems. So he went looking for electric alternatives. By 2017, Wisbaum was the Vermont sales rep for Mean Green Mowers, an Ohio-based electric mower manufacturer. Aiming to convince people who were skeptical that these more expensive mowers could perform as well as gas ones, he became an electric lawn care evangelist, giving demonstrations, attending fairs and working with electric utilities
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One of the many things that make me proud to be a Vermonter is the willingness of so many thoughtful and experienced people to work for the greater good. The Vermont Climate Council (VCC) is one example. Established by the Legislature in 2020, the 23-member VCC (including representatives from agriculture, business, utilities, NGOs, state agencies and municipal governments) is charged with developing a Climate Action Plan this year that will serve as a road map to achieve meaningful greenhouse gas reductions in Vermont.
Vermont is certainly not immune from the impacts of the climate crisis. Our winters are getting warmer and shorter. We get more rain, more droughts and more intense storms. Since 2000, Vermont has had more than one federally declared disaster per year and Green Mountain Power, the stateâs largest utility, faced four of its five largest severe weather recovery events in the last five years.
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 4:05pm tim
Fossil Fuel Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Lower in 2019 and 2020; Action Steps Related to Energy Policy, District Energy, Bike Lanes, and Green Stimulus Are Key to Continued Progress
EV driver Linda Provost listens to a question outside her Burlington home on Monday. To Linda’s right are Darren Springer and Jennifer Green. To Linda’s left are Mayor Weinberger, Stu McGowan, and Gabrielle Stebbins. Courtesy BED.
Vermont Business Magazine Mayor Miro Weinberger, the Burlington Electric Department, and other city team and community leaders today jointly announced that Burlington is off to a great start toward meeting its ambitious Net Zero Energy city by 2030 goal and that continuing to stay on track will require strong action during the rest of 2021 and beyond.