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Friday, September 30, 2005
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Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty announced today that Pennsylvania's leadership in the construction and certification of green buildings will be highlighted on Saturday, Oct. 1, as the DEP Cambria District Office takes part in the 2005 Northeast Green Buildings Open House. With 24 certified green buildings and 121 registered to become certified, Pennsylvania ranks second nationally – behind only California – in the number of buildings certified under the internationally recognized Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. [Great Lakes Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR) News]
11:54:08 AM Google It! 
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Seventeen homes in the Ann Arbor area will soon be using clean, renewable solar energy to help meet their electric or hot water needs thanks to the Go Solar Ann Arbor program, an initiative aimed at making solar power more affordable and accessible for Ann Arbor homeowners. The program helps homeowners to use green energy and also save on the cost of purchasing and installing solar electric and solar water heating systems. [Great Lakes Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR) News]
11:51:31 AM Google It!
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Printer's Row is the new 17-unit development that will take up most of the 600 block of South Grand Avenue in the historic Cherry Hill neighborhood. Gene Townsend of Odeena Development Group in Okemos said that Printer's Row will receive Michigan's first Energy Star five-star-plus rating for attached, owner-occupied homes. [Great Lakes Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR) News]
11:50:42 AM Google It!
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Via sustainablog:
From Greenbiz via TriplePundit, news that grocery giant Safeway has committed to a major purchase of renewable energy:
Safeway Inc. has announced that it will purchase 100% renewable energy to power the company's 270 fuel stations in the United States, its 15 stores in San Francisco, and the Safeway corporate campuses in Pleasanton and Walnut Creek, Calif. ...
"Protecting the environment and conserving our nation's valuable energy resources is something that Safeway and our customers care deeply about," said executive vice president Larree Renda. "By powering our fuel stations, stores and corporate offices with wind energy, we are taking a leadership role in using cleaner sources of electricity."
The EPA, using average avoided carbon dioxide emissions nationally, estimates that Safeway's purchase is equivalent to avoiding more than 85 million pounds of carbon dioxide, comparable to planting more than 10,500 acres of trees. Each store reduces carbon dioxide emissions by an equivalent of planting 200 acres of trees. The emissions reduction per fuel stations is equivalent to planting 24 acres of trees. Nick labels this "...a massive coup for alternative energy." I would assume that Safeway sees business sense behind this move, which is also very good news.
11:49:02 AM Google It!
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Via sustainablog:
Also from Green Car Congress, news of a new open-source hack for the Honda Insight that can produce even greater fuel efficiency:
A group of people on Insight Central, an Internet forum focused on the Honda Insight, have initiated a project that provides greater driver control over the activation/charging of the Insight hybrid system: MIMA, or Manual Integrated Motor Assist.
The premise behind MIMA is that (some) humans can do better than the relatively simple automatic hybrid control software in current hybrids at finding the best mix of gasoline to electric drive.
MIMA, which has just finished early beta testing, allows a driver to control the Insight electric motor/generator via a small joystick on the shift lever (or automatically through a programmable system) to activate the assist when the MPG drops to an adjustable set point and to activate the regeneration when the MPG raises to another set point. The results?
At (legal) highway speeds, a MIMA Honda Insight can achieve the nominal EPA fuel economy -- or beat it. In the hands of a careful driver it can beat the EPA mpg by a substantial amount.
With the MIMA modification, an additional 15% improvement has been realized, and the system software has a lot of room for improvement, according to Mike Dabrowski, the primary software and hardware developer for MIMA. I find it really interesting that hybrids seem to be attracting "hackers" -- is it me, or does that seem unique to this type of car? Furthermore, it's very cool that there seems to be a competitive mindset arising about achieving greater fuel efficiency among hybrid owners. But, most interesting, these ideas aren't coming from car manufacturers, but from owners and drivers. I'm sure there's a message here for the auto industry -- I'll let someone else try to spell it out, though...
11:47:08 AM Google It!
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GE Plastics, a subsidiary of General Electric, sponsored the New York City Innovation seminar last week, with a strong environmental component comprising part of the program. [ENN Business Headlines]
11:43:01 AM Google It!
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It sounds too good to be true -- turning "waste coal" into cheap, usable diesel fuel -- but Gov. Ed Rendell and developers John Rich and Robert Hoppe insist that it can and will be done. By By Tom Barnes. [Stateline.org RSS - Home]
11:41:43 AM Google It!
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From RenewableEnergyAccess:
Nextek Power Systems of Long Island, New York, announced the installation of their renewable energy lighting system in a 40,000 sq ft. Distribution Center in Rochester, New York. This LEED gold rated facility is equipped with a lighting system that uses DC fluorescent ballasts, roof-integrated solar panels, occupancy sensors, and daylight sensors for the highest possible efficiency. The building, including the lighting design, was designed by William McDonough and Partners of Charlottesville, Virginia.
The system consists of 35 NPS-1000 Power Gateways connected to standard fluorescent T-8 light fixtures. The fixtures are equipped with high efficiency DC (Direct Current) ballasts. Solar panels on the roof provide most of the power for the lights while the grid provides the remainder. Using the electricity generated by the solar panels to power the lighting eliminates significant inverter losses and improves efficiency by as much as 20 percent, according to Nextek Power.
11:39:31 AM Google It!
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Excellent article on biomimicry in the September 26 issue of Newsweek. An excerpt:
If we have Batman and Spider-Man, why don't we have any mussel superheroes?" asks biochemist Herbert Waite of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Mussels may not be the biggest or the flashiest of sea creatures. But they do one thing exceedingly well. They make a glue that lets them anchor themselves firmly to a rock and remain there—drenched by water, buffeted by the ocean's waves. "I don't know any other adhesive that can do that," says Waite.
In fact, nature can accomplish feats that engineers have only been able to dream of until now. But as scientists peer deeper into the cellular and molecular workings of nature, engineers are starting to find information they can apply to everything from advanced optics to robotics—even a mussel-inspired glue that could one day be used to repair shattered bones. The result is a new field called biomimicry, or biologically inspired design. And though nature's innovations often need radical adaptation to suit human purposes, the new approach has the potential to improve the way we do everything, from desalinating water to streamlining cars. "If you have a design problem, nature's probably solved it already," says Janine Benyus, cofounder of the Biomimicry Guild. "After all, it's had 3.8 billion years to come up with solutions."
11:01:16 AM Google It!
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Talk about driven. Volvo has just announced the world's first CO2-free automotive plant -- its new Volvo Trucks plant in Tuve, Sweden. The company plans to maximize the plants efficiency and invest in wind power and biofuel to zero out the facility's carbon footprint. [Joel Makower: Two Steps Forward]
10:57:47 AM Google It!
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Corporate Citizenship--United States
Source: U.S. Chamber of Commerce
The State of Corporate Citizenship in the U.S.: Business Perspectives in 2005
"Executives tend to define a broad array of corporate citizenship attitudes and practices that include serving the interests of shareholders, employees, the environment, customers, and communities. The data in the 2005 survey show that companies are actively involved in public life, participating in a wide range of social issues. However, the data also suggests actions tend to lag behind expressed attitudes."
Full Report (PDF; 854 KB) [ResourceShelf's DocuTicker]
10:55:55 AM Google It!
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As part of a national effort to replace older woodstoves, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today awarded $100,000 to the Southwest Air Quality Partnership to conduct a woodstove changeout campaign for low-income families. The Allegheny County Health Department has also contributed an additional $80,000 to kick-off the initiative. For more information on clean-burning woodstoves, visit http://www.epa.gov/woodstoves.
10:51:38 AM Google It!
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Builders of new homes in the United States will have to significantly increase the energy efficiency of their homes to meet new Energy Star requirements released yesterday. [ENN Business Headlines]
10:46:17 AM Google It!
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The Washington Post's Justin Blum writes about concerns on the energy front. He says if futures prices remain at elevated levels, national prices for a gallon of regular gas could move above $3 a gallon again. And a run-up in natural gas prices likely will mean increases for winter heating bills, 9/29/05. [SEJ Environmental Journalism Today]
10:45:07 AM Google It!
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Yahoo!, Nortel, AstraZeneca, Valley Metro Regional Public Transportation Authority and North Texas Clean Air Coalition are among the companies and organizations with leading professionals who recently won EPA awards for efforts to conserve fuel, reduce air pollution and ease traffic congestion across the country. [ENN Business Headlines]
10:43:56 AM Google It!
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Reports on worm composting, waterwise gardening, sprouting, community gardens, and more. Topics include regions around the world, community gardens, gardening with children, hydroponics, insects, livestock, and water. This site is lengthy and disorganized, but searchable. Some information is specific to the Vancouver and larger British Columbia regions of Canada. City Farmer, "Canada's Office of Urban Agriculture," is a nonprofit organization. [Librarians' Index to the Internet]
10:39:54 AM Google It!
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When we last checked in on Ralph Semrock almost a year ago, two or three dozen visitors who had grown weary of rising energy bills stood in awe in the basement of his largely unfinished and totally unconventional home in rural Ottawa County. [Source: Toledo Blade]
10:37:46 AM Google It!
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Capturing the carbon dioxide generated by power plants and factories could play an important role in limiting global warming caused by humans, a report says. By ANDREW C. REVKIN. [NYT > Science]
10:35:45 AM Google It!
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Sinai High School will be the first Silver LEED-certified building in Detroit. [Source: Contractor Magazine]
10:17:57 AM Google It!
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A legislative report showing Iowa energy costs could top $11 billion next year prompted calls Wednesday for a high-level meeting of state officials and industry experts to consider ways to manage the situation. By By Jonathan Roos. [Stateline.org RSS - Energy]
10:16:05 AM Google It!
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North Carolina can generate tens of thousands of jobs by preparing for an economy that will rely more on alternative energy than fossil fuels, according to a report released yesterday by a panel created by the advocacy group Environmental Defense. By By The Associated Press. [Stateline.org RSS - Energy]
10:15:16 AM Google It!
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The American Prospect has a big package of stories in the latest issue called "The Environment: Death and Rebirth." In it, Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus -- authors of the infamous "Death of Environmentalism" paper -- have a follow-up called "Death Warmed Over." It's meant as a response to critics of the original and something of a look ahead. While it, like the original, contains nuggets of insight, the bulk is taken up with strawman bashing, bad analogies, and an entirely unwarranted degree of smug self-satisfaction. [Gristmill]
10:04:03 AM Google It!
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Commuting on a trusty 10-speed seems like a healthy way to go about your business. But is it? What about all those fumes you inhale? What about the peril posed by passing trucks? A faithful but doubtful bicyclist wonders whether the risks outweigh the benefits, and Umbra gears herself up to offer an answer everyone can handle. new in Ask Umbra: The Wheel Deal [Gristmill]
10:01:28 AM Google It!
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© Copyright
2005
Laura L. Barnes.
Last update:
10/25/2005; 12:12:04 PM.
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