The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF) was created by the Vermont Legislature to identify and fund market driven solutions to our pressing economic, social, and environmental issues.
What’s New
6-11-2009
Pew Charitable Trusts Report on Clean Energy Finds Vermont "Small and Growing".
A new Pew Charitable Trusts report finds that Vermont has 311 clean energy businesses (2007), 2,161 clean energy jobs (2007), and a 15.3% growth rate from 1998-2007.
It classifies Vermont as small and growing, a middle of the pack type of ranking: "Another 12 states have small and growing clean energy economies, with fewer than average jobs and some annual job growth, although their rates of growth— less than 2 percent—lag behind states with similarly sized clean energy economies. These states are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Vermont."
Click here for more information.
2-4-2009
VSJF 2008 Annual Report is Now Online
Click here to read about our major activities for 2008.
12-30-2008
The Vermont Woodworking School is getting ready to open its new facility on Route 104 in Fairfax, just three miles west of the town of Cambridge. We have completely fit up a late 1800's, three-story, 15,000 square foot, high drive barn to house our woodworking school. We have space for woodworkers and artists. All shop residents and members will have access to place their items in our gallery.
12-10-2008
Support Local Tourism!
Tough economic times are driving the Vermont Outdoor Guide Association's web traffic way up, as more people decide to take local vacation trips, reports VOGA Executive Director Gray Stevens. VOGA, a VSJF grantee in 1999, continues to provide the most complete directory of outdoor services and adventure travel resources in Vermont. Please consider visiting the VOGA website for your family's next vacation.
12-4-2008
VSJF in the News
Two new articles about VSJF activities have just come out! An overview of VSJF by one of our co-founders, Bruce Seifer, appears in the latest issue of Communities & Banking, a publication of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. And an overview of VSJF's market building approach to small-scale, sustainable biodiesel production appears in biodieselSMARTER.
11-24-2008
P2P Client Union Street Media Wins Entrepreneurial Spirit Award!
Heartfelt congratulations to Union Street Media, a VSJF Peer to Peer Client, and winner of the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce's Entrepreneurial Spirit Award!
The award is presented annually to a local business that exemplifies entrepreneurship, leadership, creativity and business expertise. Click here to read more about Union Street Media.
11-21-2008
Vermont Grass Energy Symposium a Big Success
Where is Vermont today in its knowledge and capacity in the production, processing, and combustion technology of grass and other pelletizable fuels? What don’t we know in this emerging yet rapidly growing area? And, where do we want to be in the next couple of years to position ourselves to depend less on petroleum imports and more on our wood and herbaceous energy resources?
To start to answer these questions, VSJF, the Biomass Energy Resource Center, and the University of Vermont Extension held a Grass Energy Symposium on November 12th, 2008 at Shelburne Farms.
Click here to download presentations from Roger Samson, Executive Director of R.E.A.P.-Canada, and many others on growing, harvesting, processing, pelletizing, and combustion.
10-29-2008
Energy conservation and renewable energy production are increasing the bottom line for businesses in Vermont and New Hampshire. USDA Rural Development can pay for up to 25% of eligible efficiency or renewable energy system costs with grant funds and help finance an additional 50% of the project costs with a guaranteed loan. Biofuel production equipment is also an eligible program purpose. The maximum grants are $500,000 for renewable systems and $250,000 for efficiency projects.
10-28-2008
New State Line Biofuels and Borderview Farm Webpage Updates
Check out the history and development of Vermont's first two small-scale on-farm biodiesel facilities.
State Line Biofuels
Borderview Farm
Vermont currently meets most of its demand for oilseed co-products and substitutes through importation: Vermont farms import over 100,000 tons of livestock meal and over 6 million gallons of diesel fuel per year. On-farm energy production offers opportunities for Vermont farmers to develop new value-added revenue sources (e.g., organic, local livestock meal), reduce on-farm expenditures and greenhouse gas emissions, ensure their energy security, and circulate money locally.
10-14-2008
New Solar Powered Grain Dryer at State Line Farm
Vermont's marquee on-farm biodiesel production facility, State Line Biofuels, has experienced a significant challenge posed by the need to dry and store oilseeds. A new feasibility study completed by Chris Callahan Engineering at State Line Farm has shown that the use of a solar hot water system to power a grain dryer dries the grain in half the time compared to an ambient air drying system. Additionally, the solar hot water system will be used to heat the biodiesel barn, raise the temperature of pressed oil for conversion to biodiesel and may be used for the recovery of methanol following biodiesel production.
Click here to download the new report.
10-6-2008
Former Peer to Peer Client Danforth Pewter Named Addison County's Business of the Year
The Addison County Chamber of Commerce has announced that Danforth Pewter was the recipient of its Business of the Year award.
The Business of the Year award is given to a business located in Addison County that has shown a significant improvement in the development of their business, positively impacting the economy on a local, regional or international level. According to Andy Mayer, Chamber President, "Danforth Pewter, and its owners Fred and Judi Danforth, have been active in serving the Addison County community by expanding their business through the years, and they have created an environment that their employees love being a part of. Danforth Pewter has donated time in the community and contributed to many events. Additionally, Fred and Judi encourage their employees to donate time back to the community."
...Click here to read more...
9-29-2008
Unassuming Algae Eyed as Green Fuel
Click here to read a recent MSNBC story on algal biofuel.
8-19-2008
New Renewable Energy Organizations & Activities PDF...
Download a a copy of Overview of Vermont Renewable Energy Organizations and Activities, a summary of over 30 energy organizations and activities, as well as a listing of Vermont renewable energy studies.
8-19-2008
The Department of Public Service is now accepting proposals for the Clean Energy Development Fund Grant program, which funds renewable energy and combined heat and power technologies that generate electricity and are grid-connected. The Department expects to award $2 million in funding for projects in the following categories: Pre-Project Financial Assistance, Small-Scale Systems, Large-Scale Systems, and Special Demonstration Projects. There is a maximum award of $25,000 for Pre-Project Financial Assistance, $60,000 for Small-Scale Systems, and $250,000 for all other projects. Proposals are due on Wednesday, October 1, 2008.
02-19-2008
New Report Released: Homegrown Feed, Food & Fuel: The Market Potential of Farm-Scale Oilseed Crop Products in Vermont
The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund and Vermont Biofuels Association commissioned an oilseed crop market potential and economic feasibility study, Homegrown Feed, Food & Fuel: The Market Potential of Farm-Scale Oilseed Crop Products in Vermont, in order to explore whether Vermont farmers could sustainably, economically, and competitively produce some portion of Vermont’s liquid fuel and livestock feed demand. We were also interested in the requirements for and characteristics of small-scale, Vermont-made biofuels for local use, as an alternative to industrial-scale biofuel production.
This report provides important market data and analysis that will be of use to farmers, policy makers and entrepreneurs who are interested in further exploring the opportunities for various oilseed products.
As part of this research project, we have created an Enterprise Budget to assist farmers in making important economic decisions about whether or not to go into the oilseed crop business, based upon current market prices and known variables.
Click here to download this report and the biodiesel production enterprise budget.
2-15-2008
Shortly after my return from the Sustainable Biodiesel Summit in Orlando Florida, last week, a story ran in the national media and The New York Times, "Biofuels Deemed a Greenhouse Threat". The story highlights the findings of two recent biofuel studies published in the journal Science, and points to the possible consequences of utilizing lands to produce biofuel feedstocks, especially corn-based ethanol and biodiesel from palm oil. This has generated an understandable amount of concern among Vermont biodiesel users, fuel suppliers and the research and agricultural community.
We are convinced that "Not all biofuels are created equal" and so we are writing to you today to explain where Vermont Biofuels Association stands in relation to these issues unfolding on a global scale.
2-1-2008
Download VSJF's 2007 Annual Report and Ten Year Retrospective
Click here to read VSJF's 2007 Annual Report and Ten Year Retrospective.
Since 1997, the VSJF has made grants of over $2.7 million to 150 recipients—who utilized these funds to leverage an additional $11.8 million to implement their projects, test their ideas, and assemble the building blocks of a green economy. VSJF grants have benefited over 8,800 businesses and created or retained at least 800 jobs. Our technical assistance programs have assisted 15 Peer to Peer Collaborative clients (representing 384 employees), 132 Business Coach clients and hundreds of other businesses who have sought some form of assistance over the past 10 years.
10-30-2007
New Report Released: Homegrown Fuel: Economic Feasibility of Commercial-Scale Biodiesel Production in Vermont.
The second report of the Feed & Fuel Project, Homegrown Feed, Food & Fuel: The Market Potential of Farm-Scale Oilseed Crop Products in Vermont, explores the feasibility of small-scale biodiesel production, its environmental impacts and the effects of key macro and micro-economic variables on the venture, especially the rising cost of crude oil and livestock feed. This research project also received funding from the Vermont Sustainable Agriculture Council.
Click here to access this report.
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