Going green: Beaver Twp. man sends message through online TV channel

The president drives a hybrid car and lives in a house heated and cooled with a geothermal system.

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

NORTH LIMA — A piece about Namibian solar energy, a segment on New York’s high performance buildings and a presentation about hydropower in Kenya all meet in southern Mahoning County for distribution to the world.

Craig Zamary started GreenEnergyTV about six months ago. It’s a site, www.greenenergytv.com, where companies and individuals can send videos about the solar power, wind power or other environmentally conscious projects they’re implementing. Visitors to the site then download the videos for their viewing pleasure.

“It’s the only TV channel that airs videos on green, renewable and alternative energy,” Zamary said.

It’s sort of like YouTube, but instead of an unfortunate sound bite from a politician or a bulldog on a skateboard, the videos focus on the environment and various methods companies employ to preserve it.

Zamary, 33, runs the fledgling business out of his Beaver Township home. He and his wife, Lucy, are the only employees although Zamary works with independent contractors that help with advertising and Web site development.

The site

There is no charge to either upload videos to the site or to view them. They plan to pay the bills through advertising and sponsorships, Zamary explained.

This isn’t Zamary’s first foray into his own business. Last year, he sold XZam Corp., a consulting company on Western Reserve Road that specializes in quality assurance work, after running the business for eight years.

That sale provided him the time and money to focus on his passion: the environment.

Zamary doesn’t just talk the talk. He drives a Prius hybrid car, and a geothermal system heats and cools his house, which is filled with energy-efficient appliances.

“A lot of people don’t really know about green energy,” he said. “We’re trying to get the word out.”

So far, those companies that have uploaded their videos — U.S. Department of Energy, Yahoo, Wal-Mart — learned about the site through word-of-mouth.

His goals

Topics include solar energy, hydropower, energy conservation, recycling, hybrid vehicles, wind power and biofuels.

He hasn’t identified a specific target audience. That will happen using market research and through work with an advertising company.

In the meantime, people from schools, university students and teachers, companies and individuals have informed the site that they’ve used the information contained therein, Zamary said.

His goal isn’t just to inform, though — he wants to make a difference, too.

With some of the revenue generated by the site, Zamary wants to help people in Third World countries to get fresh drinking water. He believes he can do that with solar/wind energy projects that can be used to pump fresh water from deep within the earth to impoverished villages.

“I spent some time in Third World countries,” Zamary said. “To see these kids drinking and bathing in this filthy water, it made me want to go back, to help and to make a difference.”