Study: Global warming could affect quality of life

By Felicia Mello, Globe Correspondent  |  The Boston Globe

Put away your sled, get out the inhaler and forget about that lobster pie. A new report by some of the region's top climate scientists forecasts widespread changes in New Englanders' quality of life over the next century if global warming continues at its current pace.

In Boston, more frequent heat waves and a fourfold increase in days with poor air quality could endanger the elderly and children, says the study, the most detailed projection yet of the effects of climate change on the Northeast.

Rising temperatures could harm Massachusetts fisheries, while the state's heat-stressed cows could produce up to 12 percent less milk in the summer if greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced. The number of days snow covers the ground each year could decrease by more than half throughout New England by 2100, forcing many winter resorts to close.

''Global warming represents an enormous challenge, but we can meet it if we act swiftly,'' said Peter Frumhoff, director of science and policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, which produced the report in collaboration with dozens of climate experts, other scientists and economists. ''Our response to global warming in the next few years will shape the climate our children and grandchildren inherit.''

Average annual temperatures across the Northeast have increased by close to two degrees since 1970--and winter temperatures by more than four degrees--part of a worldwide warming trend. Scientists say the warming is likely due in part to emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from cars and power plants. The pollutants linger in the earth's atmosphere, causing the air to trap more heat.

While previous studies have used climate models to predict regional weather changes in the coming decades, the report marks one of the few times researchers have tried to identify how the warming could affect the economies of specific states.

 

New England rail corridor in line for $160m in US funds

By Alan Wirzbicki

Globe Correspondent / January 28, 2010

 

WASHINGTON - New England states are expected to receive $160 million to upgrade a rail corridor linking New Haven, Western Massachusetts, and Vermont when railroad stimulus grants are unveiled today, lawmakers said.

“It’s a good piece of news for the Pioneer Valley,’’ said Representative Richard E. Neal, Democrat of Springfield, the hub of the route. “This is precisely what stimulus was meant to do.’’

“The Obama administration recognized the project’s strong potential and the powerful impact it will have on our economy,’’ said Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts. “I couldn’t be more thrilled or more grateful.’’

The money will pay for track upgrades, signaling, and station construction. There are six Amtrak round trips weekdays between New Haven and Springfield, one of which continues on to St. Albans, Vt. The project envisions rerouting the Vermont segment to a more direct route through Massachusetts, slashing as much as 25 minutes off travel times, and restoring passenger train service to Holyoke and Northampton.

President Obama intends to detail which rail projects will share in $8 billion from the economic stimulus program, for improved rail service and high-speed trains, in Tampa today. Thirteen corridors are expected to win funds in the long-awaited announcement, and the administration will also award smaller grants for upgrades to existing lines.

Word of the winners began to leak out yesterday. Florida, which proposed building a bullet train between Orlando and Tampa, is expected to get a big chunk, as is California. More than $50 billion worth of applications were filed.

The Connecticut River Valley application was a joint project among Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Vermont. The status of two other Commonwealth applications - the South Coast rail project to link New Bedford and Fall River with Boston and another to improve a route between Boston and Springfield - was uncertain last night.

Tom Irwin, one of the founders of the New England Regional Rail Coalition, which advocates expanding the region’s passenger rail network, welcomed the funds for the Connecticut Valley route but said the region had a long list of other needs. “We’ll certainly be interested in seeing what else comes to the region and how New England fares as a whole,’’ he said.

In addition to the Massachusetts applications, Maine also applied for upgrades to the Downeaster route between Boston and Portland.

“Nobody’s going to sleep well tonight,’’ joked Wayne Davis, chairman of TrainRiders/Northeast, a Maine advocacy group.

Representative John W. Olver, Democrat of Amherst, who has long lobbied for upgrades on the Western Massachusetts route, praised the rail stimulus program, calling it “the most important transportation initiative since the Eisenhower interstate highway system.’’

Senator John F. Kerry also praised the funds for the Western Massachusetts route but said the government would need to commit far more money to catch up to high-speed rail networks in Europe and Asia, where trains running at more than 150 miles per hour are commonplace.

“We’re getting outspent by twenty-fold,’’ he said.

Congress voted last month to provide another $2.5 billion for high-speed rail, and Kerry has proposed legislation that would provide about $10 billion over the next five years.

What can you do to help reduce your environmental impact?

As we are all concerned with the environment, finding ways to save energy can be difficult and overwhelming. Don’t think big, but small. Start with small steps by encouraging co-workers, friends, and family to be aware of their impact and develop a plan together.

Our tip: Invite your co-workers, family, or friends to take public transportation, carpool, vanpool, or ride a bike together. If one person switches to taking public transportation rather than driving (based on a 20 mile round trip commute) the annual reduction of CO2 emissions is about 4,800 pounds a year!

For more tips and suggestions on how you can start saving the environment read the Environmental Leader article, “16 Tips for Small Businesses to Save Energy”.

Courtesy of  Commuter Check January 2010 Newsletter

Harvard University /Barefoot Runners Avoid Impact

By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff

We were born to run, but maybe not with shoes.

New research led by Harvard scientists shows that people who run barefoot or with minimal shoes -- as people have done for millions of years -- often land on their feet in a way that avoids a jarring impact.

Bare feet slamming down on all kinds of terrain without cushioned soles or arch support may seem like it would be hard on the body. But the new work, published online today in the scientific journal Nature, finds that the way the majority of people run in shoes -- striking heel first -- is not gentle at all.

"It's as if every time you land on the ground, someone hits you on the heel with a hammer," said Daniel E. Lieberman, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University, who studies the biomechanics of running in the lab -- and himself runs with minimal or no shoes. "It's an amazing thing. Running barefoot can be less impactful."

Instead of striking heel-first, barefoot runners tend to land on the ball or middle of their foot. Researchers need to do followup studies to test whether less impact translates into fewer injuries, but the new finding may become yet another example of the way in which evolution has made humans ill-equipped to handle some of the luxuries of modern life. Millions of years of evolution created humans best adapted to an environment lacking recent inventions such as desk jobs, video games, abundant processed foods, and -- perhaps -- the modern running shoe.

Several scientists not involved in the research said the findings were intriguing, but that the critical next step will be to test whether landing differently decreases injuries.

"I think the contentious part will be whether wearing shoes and changing the pattern of running...actually has an impact on foot injury," said Brian Richmond, an anthropologist at George Washington University. "It's an idea worth examining, because basically what they found is how people would run in a more natural setting."

The new work builds on Lieberman's longstanding interest in humans' ability to run long distances. While walking on two feet is often seen as a hallmark of human evolution, so is endurance running, argues Lieberman, who has previously found fossil evidence of numerous skeletal traits adapted for running. But if humans have been running for more than a million years, what did they do before the running shoe came about in the 1970s?

Now, by studying runners in the US and Kenya who normally run barefoot and comparing them with people who run with shoes, he and an international team of researchers have detailed the differences. Lieberman's lab receives support from Vibram, a company that makes FiveFingers, minimal shoes that look like gloves for feet.

The vast majority of shoe-wearing runners strike the ground with their heel first, experiencing an initial collision with an impact two to three times their body weight. Shoes slow the collision, but barefoot runners avoid it by landing on their forefoot or midfoot with a more springy step.

"If it's true this kind of running could reduce stress injuries, that can help people," Lieberman said. "We can use evolutionary principles -- evolutionary medicine -- to help people run in a way that's less injurious."

That possibility still has to be tested, but many barefoot runners report anecdotally that shedding shoes helped with injuries.

Jeffrey Ferris, a Jamaica Plain resident, said he got his first taste of barefoot running four decades ago, during cross-country practice in high school in Coronado, Calif. In his 20s, he found himself dealing with knee problems that forced him to give up running until he accidentally discovered that when he ran barefoot his knees didn't hurt.

"It's fun, it's tactile, it's stimulating," Ferris said. "I run faster, it protects the knees and the joints, it's different. It kind of matches the notion that our body evolved to work as a runner ... that's really how the body is made to work."

Ferris now runs barefoot regularly and was an early research subject for Lieberman. While he has tried minimal shoes designed to mimic being shoeless, he prefers to protect his feet against cold or abrasive conditions by wearing socks with a protective layer of duct tape.

Benno Nigg, co-director of the Human Performance Lab at the University of Calgary, said that barefoot running seems to emerge as a fad on a regular basis. It got a lot of attention in 1960, when Abebe Bikila won the Olympic Marathon in a record time running barefoot. In 1985, South African Zola Budd broke the world record in the women's 5000 meters barefoot. The current interest is driven in large part by the 2009 book, "Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Ever Seen," which tells the story of a Mexican tribe who run long distances without running shoes.

Sean Murphy, manager of advanced project engineering at New Balance, said that for the past year the company has been testing some of the ideas of barefoot running in its biomechanics lab. The company is integrating what it is learning into products, but also has found that "barefoot or close to barefoot condition is not for everyone," Murphy said.

People who want to go barefoot or land in a different way should proceed cautiously, Lieberman stressed. Runners should transition gradually, because calf and foot muscles will need to build up to avoid injury. More information is available at barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu.

Four-time Boston Marathon winner Bill Rodgers said that he tends to land on his forefoot, though he runs in shoes. He thinks people should use the shoe or stride that works for them.

"I am in favor of people becoming fit and I believe running and walking are the ultimate ways to do that -- I believe we are meant to move," Rodgers said. "Everybody's biodynamics are a little different."

80 U.S. CEOs urge President Obama to push climate legislation

In a letter to President Obama and members of Congress, the chief executives of about 80 U.S. companies urged members of the government to pass comprehensive climate change legislation before the U.S. falls further behind the rest of the world in the race to develop clean technologies.

"We need strong policies and clear market signals that support the transition to a low-carbon economy and reward companies that innovate," the letter said. "It is time for the administration and Congress to embrace this policy as the promising economic opportunity that will empower American workers to compete and American entrepreneurship to lead the way."

The CEOs, which include the chief executives at Ebay and Virgin America, argue in the letter that climate legislation will drive innovation, improve unemployment rates, and increase U.S. companies' competitiveness against foreign competition.

For more information and to read the letter, check out this story from Business Green.

Los Angeles Considers Replacing Traffic Lanes with Public Park Space

The Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles is proposing that traffic lanes between 9th and Olympic Avenue in downtown be reduced by two lanes and replaced with public green space. In addition to providing desperately needed open space in dense downtown Los Angeles, the reduction in lanes would also serve the purpose of creating a more pedestrian-oriented environment.
www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=7478

Trail of the Month: New York's Walkway Over the Hudson

by: Rails-to-Trails Conservancy

The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy has chosen New York’s Walkway Over the Hudson for its January 2010 Trail of the Month. Built in 1888, the 1.25-mile Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge launched out across the Hudson River in New York. Considered a technological wonder, the mammoth structure towered 212 feet above the water and became the longest railroad bridge in the world. It connected downtown Poughkeepsie on the east bank and Lloyd on the west, providing an important link for trains carrying Pennsylvania coal to factories in New England. At its peak, the route serviced 3,500 train cars a day.

After a fire severely damaged the tracks in 1974, though, nearby communities debated whether to tear down the railroad relic. The bridge sat idle for nearly 20 years before local advocate Bill Sepe began promoting the idea of restoring the landmark as a pedestrian walkway.

Learn all about the trail’s history at the link below.

Resource: http://www.railstotrails.org/news/recurringFeatures/trailMonth/index.html

article courtesy of Smart Growth

Los Angeles Considers Replacing Traffic Lanes with Public Park Space

The Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles is proposing that traffic lanes between 9th and Olympic Avenue in downtown be reduced by two lanes and replaced with public green space. +In addition to providing desperately needed open space in dense downtown Los Angeles, the reduction in lanes would also serve the purpose of creating a more pedestrian-oriented environment.

''The bottom line is, we need more park space,'' said Mike Pfeiffer, president of a downtown neighborhood stakeholders group.

''According to this article in the Los Angeles Times, this is the first time the city has considered replacing asphalt with parkland. ''We decided with the city that we could close some of the lanes on the street and create a new street that was smaller and more pedestrian-friendly,” said Lillian Burkenheim, the redevelopment agency's project manager for downtown. As the article notes, the concept of street narrowing has become increasing popular in planning and engineering circles—as streets become narrower, drivers become more cautious, making the street more appealing for pedestrians and other modes of transportation.

The idea of turning asphalt to parkland has become so popular that a similar idea is being proposed a few blocks away at Hill and 9th streets. New residents to downtown want to convert an underused parking lot into a residential park.   1/6/2010

Resource(s): www.latimes.com/

articles courtesy of smart commute

Latest Breeze

The truth about idling
Cars may be found idling when the driver is waiting for someone, running a quick errand or trying to warm up the vehicle– especially this time of year. Many people may leave their engines running for various reasons, but they may not realize the health, environmental and economic consequences of idling. Here are some reasons to think twice about idling¹:

• Help protect our air - For every 10 minutes your engine is not idling, you prevent the release of one pound of carbon dioxide, the main contributor to global warming, into the air.
• Protect your health - While sitting in an idling vehicle, drivers are exposed to higher levels of vehicle pollution than when the vehicle is in motion because exhaust enters the cabin. The pollutants from idling tailpipes have been linked to asthma, heart disease, chronic bronchitis and cancer. 
  
• Save money - You needlessly spend 1/5 to 7/10 of a gallon of fuel per hour of idling. Those minutes add up quickly and equate to dollars.
  

It's up to you to spread the word. Talk to family, friends and neighbors about the benefits of not letting their vehicles idle. Encourage them to help you in protecting our environment, contributing to a healthier community and saving money.

¹Information from the Environmental Defense Fund/Clean Air NY

 

 

Study links Asia to smog element in US West

GRANTS PASS, Ore. - Ozone blowing over from Asia is raising background levels of a major ingredient of smog in the skies over California, Oregon, Washington, and other Western states, according to a new study appearing in today’s edition of the journal Nature.

The amounts are small and, so far, found only in a region of the atmosphere known as the free troposphere, at an altitude of 2 to 5 miles, but the development could complicate US efforts to control air pollution.

Though small, the levels have risen steadily since 1995, and probably longer, said Owen R. Cooper, lead author and a University of Colorado research scientist attached to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo.

“The important aspect of this study for North America is that we have a strong indication that baseline ozone is increasing,’’ said Cooper. “We still don’t know how much is coming down to the surface. If the surface ozone is increasing along with the free tropospheric ozone, that could make it more difficult for the US to meet its ozone air quality standard.’’

The study is the first link between atmospheric ozone over the United States and Asian pollution, said Dan Jaffe, a University of Washington-Bothell professor of atmospheric and environmental chemistry.

He contributed data from his observatory on top of Mount Bachelor in Oregon to the study.

The US Environmental Protection Agency is considering whether to lower the current limit on ozone in the atmosphere by as much as 20 percent and is working with China to reduce its emissions of the chemicals that turn into ozone. Ozone is harmful to people and plants.

Article courtesy of the Associated Press

 

Avatar Review

Each week we review a film with an environmental theme that's currently in theaters or available on DVD.

One of the highest grossing movies of all time, Avatar has wowed moviegoers with its phenomenal 3D and computer special effects. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paraplegic veteran, is sent to the planet Pandora (home to the Na’Vi--lithe, blue, cat-like aliens), where he has signed on to inhabit a second body engineered with a mix of human and Na’Vi genes. He is charged with winning the Na’Vi’s trust in order to provide military intelligence for a mega-corporation intent on its destructive mining of  a mineral called unobtainium. 

In his Na’Vi body, Jake discovers a spectacularly lush world (we hear about a planet earth devoid of green). Stranded in the forest for the night, he encounters Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), a young, winsome Na’Vi female. She brings him back to her tribe and is appointed to teach him their ways. As Jack gradually masters Na’Vi customs and survival skills, his loyalty shifts and he tunes in to the natural world around him. Eventually he leads the Na’Vi in their fight against the forces that threaten their existence. 

Director James Cameron has created a visually stunning spectacle that is a delight to see. The corporate home base, where the colossal scale of machinery dwarves human beings as if to emphasize their insignificance, contrasts sharply with the enormous plants and trees that provide a home for the Na’Vi.  
The plot is predictable and simplistic. Pandora is a jungle-topia, the Na’Vi the alien version of the noble savage. But the story’s simplicity renders the message no less important. The final battle scene reminds us that if we don’t respect the power of nature, it retaliates with destructive force. Hopefully, movie-goers worldwide will find inspiration in seeing the instinct to nurture and protect nature win out over the forces of greed and exploitation.

--Wendy Becktold -The Green Life

New reasons for eating organic?

By Francesca Lyman

msnbc.com contributor

SEATTLE, Dec - If you include organic foods in your menu, you’ll be in step with the latest food trends, according to industry polls. And you may also be doing your children’s health a favor. Parents who feed their children organically grown food can substantially lower the levels of pesticide residues to which their kids are exposed, according to a new study.

Even before the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “organic” seal went into effect last October, which certifies foods grown free of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, growth hormones and genetically-engineered substances, Alexandra Ramdin decided to give organic foods a try.

“Nothing had been conclusively proven showing organic food to be healthier or more nutritious,” says Ramdin, a Seattle mother of two daughters, ages 2 and 5. “But I decided to give organic the benefit of the doubt.”

---

---

Now, having enrolled in a study that tested children to determine whether eating organic food reduced their exposure to pesticides, Ramdin is even more certain about her choice.

She and a neighbor, whose family eats a conventional diet, were among 40 households who kept food diaries of their children for three days, then collected their kids’ urine for analysis. The study by researchers at the University of Washington concluded that children fed a diet of organic foods were exposed to far fewer — six to nine times less — toxic pesticides than children fed a conventional diet.

“Buying organic makes me feel good, that I’m doing something good for the land,” says Ramdin. “But it’s great to hear that there are real differences in what chemicals my children were exposed to.”

Study compares diet
While other studies have documented the presence of pesticide metabolites, or breakdown products of the synthetic chemicals, in children’s bodies, this is the first study to document the difference in exposures to pesticides offered by an organic versus a conventional diet, says Richard Wiles of the Environmental Working Group, a non-profit research organization based in Washington, D.C.

The researchers measured six metabolites that derive from some 39 organophosphorus pesticides, the most commonly used in the United States and also some of the most toxic. They compared a group of 18 organic-eating children with 21 conventional food-eating children all roughly the same age (2-to-5-years-old on average), gender, and of similar family income. The children with primarily organic diets had far lower levels of the metabolites in their bodies.

The study was in the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ journal “Environmental Health Perspectives” and will be forthcoming in its print edition this spring.

“It’s definitely a big step ahead,” says Wiles. “It proves what we’ve said all along — that eating food with more pesticide residues can make a difference in what actually gets into the body.”

Now Wiles and his group are hoping to convince the USDA to inform consumers of the findings.

“USDA has always insisted that organic is no safer, but it is safer with respect to pesticide exposure, as this study shows ...,” Wiles said in a statement on the group’s Web site.

Industry downplays results
Representatives of the agricultural chemical industry downplayed the significance of the study.

“We can speculate all day about the possibilities of what those pesticide exposures might mean for children, but these researchers haven’t proven that these children are having their health harmed in any way,” said Ray McAllister of Crop Life America, a trade association representing manufacturers and distributors of agricultural chemicals. “In fact, those metabolites are not toxic to the children.”

But some scientists familiar with the study disagree.

“The sheer presence of a metabolite shows exposure to these toxic pesticides,” said Dr. Philip Landrigan, director of the Children’s Center for Health and the Environment at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. “This study contributes to public understanding of the importance of eating organic food and changes the perception that it’s no safer than conventional food — at least with respect to chemical exposures.”

Just how toxic those exposures were to the children is difficult to say, said Richard Fenske, one of the researchers involved in the study. The metabolites in question could derive from any of a number of organophosphorus compounds in use on fruits and vegetables, some of which are more toxic than others.

“What we do know is that chronic exposures to low levels of pesticides could very well be significant,” said Cynthia Curl, another researcher involved with the study. Children exposed to high levels of organophosphate pesticides are at risk for bone and brain cancer, neuroblastoma and childhood leukemia, she added.

The researchers did not conclude that children eating conventional diets were being exposed to higher levels of toxins than those set by the EPA.

“That they were being exposed is a grey area of concern,” said Curl.

“Their metabolites were higher than the adult averages found in some of the most recent Center for Disease Control human exposure studies,” added Fenske.

In light of the uncertainty over how much pesticide is on food and how it might affect children, the researchers concluded that one way parents can take steps to reduce their children’s exposure is to feed them organic food

World's first ethanol power plant opens

A Brazilian utility company has opened the world's first power plant that has the ability to run off bio-ethanol.

The plant was designed using a twin turbine system that allows the plant to instantly switch between running off of natural gas or ethanol.

Brazil is the world's second largest producer of ethanol and is exploring back-up sources of energy to hydro-electric power, which is the country's primary source of power.

The bio-ethanol plant will undergo five months of tests and trials to make sure it is running properly and that it meets emissions requirements. After that, the plant will be commercially operated.

For more information on the world's first ethanol power plant, check out this story from Business Green

6 of the Greenest Cars You Can Buy (Plus 6 of the Meanest)

You might be surprised by some of the most eco-friendly, as well as least eco-friendly, 2010 vehicles.

January 21, 2010 at 12:30PM by Jim Motavalli Comment

The countdown to zero-emission battery cars has begun, but very little of the rubber has hit the road yet. That means that, for the 2010 model year, hybrids (and a lone natural gas car) are the cleanest and greenest vehicles on the market. Each year, at Greenercars.org, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) presents its list of best and worst choices, and the news this year is not that Honda and Toyota are the stars of the show (that's been a given for more than a decade) but that American companies, Ford and Chevrolet, actually made the list (with the Fusion Hybrid, also known as the North American Car of the Year, and the soon-to-be-replaced Cobalt XPE).

ACEEE awards a green score based on fuel economy, emissions and other variables, including manufacturing practices. The low-emissions Honda Civic GX, which is the car that natural gas-loving billionaire T. Boone Pickens drives, is once again the top green scorer, at 57. The GX is the only natural gas vehicle on the U.S. market, however, in part because we have no significant public infrastructure for the fuel. The chances are, then, that you're looking for something a bit more mainstream.

It's no surprise that the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid are at the top of the list, and they're both excellent choices. Honda's newest hybrid, the Insight, is at #5, just below the Smart fortwo. I'm not a huge fan of either of these -- the Insight is bare-bones compared to the Prius and Civic, and the Smart is simply not the best small car choice: The top-rated Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, Hyundai Accent and Mini Cooper are better bets. The Nissan Altima Hybrid, also on the list, remains a good alternative.

Now the fun part: Not the greenest, but the "meanest" cars on the road. It may surprise you to learn that the winners here aren't for the most part huge, gas-guzzling SUVs but the kind of "supercars" routinely celebrated in the pages of Car and Driver and Motor Trend. The single worst environmental performer is the Lamborghini Murcielago and its roadster variant. Not only does this European boulevardier get only eight mpg in the city and 12 on the highway from its 6.5-liter V-12 engine, but it also does dismally in the emissions ratings.

The Bugatti Veyron (a whopping 16 cylinders and eight liters of displacement) is almost as bad, though it musters 14 mpg on the highway. Greens can take a grim pleasure in a YouTube video showing the owner of a brand-new Veyron accidentally dumping his car into a Texas salt marsh (below).

Other big offenders include the Bentley Azure/Brooklands, the Maybach 57S limo, the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti and the Mercedes ML63 AMG. I assume there's no Hummer on the list because it's slightly better than behemoths like the Chevrolet Suburban K2500 and the Dodge Ram 2500 Mega Cab, but the sale of the brand to China may have something to do with it.

Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/living-green/blogs/cars-transportation/greenest-cars-460110#ixzz0dLSptdXs

Daily Tip

New models of automatic dishwashers can actually save water over hand-washing. According to the University of Bonn in Germany, an efficient dishwasher uses one-half the energy, one-sixth of the water, and far less soap than doing it the old fashioned way. Of course, you save the most by running the dishwasher when it’s full and skipping the (usually unnecessary) pre-rinse.

Article courtesy of The Green Life

California Leads States in Climate Change Adaptation

In December 2009 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled the final version of the California Climate Adaptation Strategy, a project of the California Natural Resources Agency examining the likely impacts of climate change on the state and proposing a suite of adaptation measures.

The strategy, a 200-page document available for download at www.climatechange.ca.gov/adaptation/, was developed in response to an executive order by Schwarzenegger in 2008, presented as a draft in August 2009, and opened to the public for comments before its final approval.

As reported in EBN and elsewhere, scientific consensus overwhelmingly concludes that greenhouse gas mitigation is necessary but not sufficient to prevent harm to human life and livelihood from changes wrought by rising global temperatures; adaptation is also necessary (see EBN Sept. 2009). California is the first state in the nation to adopt an official plan for adapting to climate change

 

Newsbrief from Environmental Building News January 1, 2010

Water Now More Valuable Than Oil?

Savvy Investors and Successful Companies are Turning Water Into Gold

The most valuable commodity in the world today, and likely to remain so for much of this century, is not oil, not natural gas, not even some type of renewable energy. It’s water—clean, safe, fresh water.

Follow the Money
When you want to spot emerging trends, always follow the money. Today, many of the world’s leading investors and most successful companies are making big bets on water. Do a little research, and it’s easy to see why. There simply isn’t enough freshwater to go around, and the situation is expected to get worse before it gets better.

According to Bloomberg News, the worldwide scarcity of usable water worldwide already has made water more valuable than oil. The Bloomberg World Water Index, which tracks 11 utilities, has returned 35 percent to investors every year since 2003, compared with 29 percent for oil and gas stocks and 10 percent for the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

"There is only one direction for water prices at the moment, and that's up," said Hans Peter Portner, who manages a $2.9 billion US Water Fund at Pictet Asset Management in Geneva, according to a report by Bloomberg News. The value of the fund increased 26 percent in 2005, and Portner expects water to provide 8 percent annual returns through 2020.

Freshwater Becoming More Scarce
The United Nations estimates that by 2050 more than two billion people in 48 countries will lack sufficient water. Approximately 97 percent to 98 percent of the water on planet Earth is saltwater (the estimates vary slightly depending on the source). Much of the remaining freshwater is frozen in glaciers or the polar ice caps. Lakes, rivers and groundwater account for about 1 percent of the world’s potentially usable freshwater.

If global warming continues to melt glaciers in the polar regions, as expected, the supply of freshwater may actually decrease. First, freshwater from the melting glaciers will mingle with saltwater in the oceans and become too salty to drink. Second, the increased ocean volume will cause sea levels to rise, contaminating freshwater sources along coastal regions with seawater.

Complicating matters even further is that 95 percent of the world’s cities continue to dump raw sewage into rivers and other freshwater supplies, making them unsafe for human consumption.

The Need for Freshwater is Increasing Rapidly
Yet, while freshwater supplies are at best static, and at worst decreasing, the world’s population is growing rapidly. The United Nations estimates that the world population—approximately 6.5 billion in 2006—will grow to 9.4 billion by 2050.

The cost of water is usually set by government agencies and local regulators. Water isn't traded on commodity exchanges, but many utilities stocks are publicly traded. Meanwhile, investments in companies that provide desalinization, and other processes and technologies that may increase the world’s supply of freshwater, are growing rapidly.

Companies Investing in Water
General Electric Chairman Jeffrey Immelt said the scarcity of clean water around the world will more than double GE’s revenue from water purification and treatment by 2010—to a total of $5 billion.

GE’s strategy is for its water division to invest in desalinization and purification in countries that have a shortage of freshwater. Saudi Arabia is expected to invest more than $80 billion in desalinization plants and sewer facilities by 2025 to meet the needs of its growing population. And while China is home to 20 percent of the world’s people, only 7 percent of the planet’s freshwater supply is located there.

"This will be a big and growing market for a long time," Immelt said at the GE annual meeting in Philadelphia in April 2006

By Larry West, About.com Guide

How Much Energy Does It Take to Make Bottled Water?

Bottled Water Sales are Up, and So is the Energy Needed to Quench Our Thirst

Producing, packaging and transporting a liter of bottled water requires between 1,100 and 2,000 times more energy on average than treating and delivering the same amount of tap water, according to a peer-reviewed energy analysis conducted by the Pacific Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in Oakland, California.

Popularity of Bottled Water is Rising
Bottled water has become the drink of choice for many people around the world, and sales have skyrocketed over the past few years. In 2007, for example, more than 200 billion liters of bottled water were sold worldwide. Americans alone purchased more than 33 billion liters for an annual average of 110 liters (nearly 30 gallons) per person—a 70 percent increase since 2001.

Bottled water has become so popular that it now outsells both milk and beer in the United States. Carbonated soft drinks are the only bottled beverage that U.S. consumers buy in greater quantities than bottled water, and per-capita sales of bottled water are rising while per-capita sales of milk and soft drinks are going down. The irony here, of course, is that a lot of bottled water is little more than tap water, which costs very little and is much better regulated and more rigorously tested than bottled water.

Adding Up the Energy Costs of Bottled Water
For the energy analysis, environmental scientists Peter Gleick and Heather Cooley of the Pacific Institute assessed the energy used during each stage of bottled water production. They added up the energy it takes to make a plastic bottle; process the water; label, fill and seal the bottle; transport bottled water for sale; and cool the bottled water before it ends up in your gym bag or your car’s cup holder.

Writing in the February 19, 2009 issue of Environmental Research Letters [pdf], Gleick and Cooley report that manufacturing and transportation are the most energy-intensive processes involved in putting a bottle of water in your refrigerator.

The two scientists estimate that just producing the plastic bottles for bottled-water consumption worldwide uses 50 million barrels of oil annually—enough to supply total U.S. oil demand for 2.5 days.

Transportation energy consumption is harder to figure, because some water is bottled locally and travels short distances to reach consumers while other brands of bottled water are imported from distant nations, which increases the amount of energy needed to transport them. According to the report, imported bottled water uses about two-and-a-half to four times more energy than bottled water produced locally.

Overall, the two scientists estimate that meeting U.S. demand for bottled-water—assuming the 2007 consumption rate of 33 billion liters—requires energy equivalent to between 32 million and 54 million barrels of oil. The energy required to satisfy the global thirst for bottled water is about three times that amount.

Think Before You Drink
If you imagine that every bottle of water you drink is about three-quarters water and one-quarter oil, you’ll have a pretty accurate picture of how much energy it takes to put that bottle of water in your hand.

By Larry West, About.com Guide

Deepwater to start building R.I. wind farm in 2010

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Deepwater Wind expects to start construction in 2010 of a wind farm off the shore of Rhode Island that could cost more than $1.5 billion, state Gov. Donald Carcieri said in a release on Thursday.

The project would generate about 1.3 million megawatt-hours a year or about 15 percent of the state's electricity use.

Deepwater would build the wind farm in two phases.

First, it would install turbines capable of generating about 20 megawatts in state waters beginning in late 2010 with operation expected in late June 2012.

In phase two, Deepwater would install turbines in federal waters capable of producing 1.3 million megawatt-hours a year within three years of approval of the U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service.

The exact location of the wind project will be determined by the state's Special Area Management Plan permitting process led by the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council in partnership with the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography. That process will take about two years, according to the governor's release.

In 2006, Gov. Carcieri said he wanted to boost the use of renewable sources of energy to 20 percent with wind energy making up about 15 percent.

Rhode Island selected Deepwater in 2008 after reviewing seven bids on its request for proposals to build an offshore wind farm.

To help seal the deal, Deepwater pledged to establish a regional development office in Rhode Island and build a manufacturing facility in Quonset that would create up to 800 jobs with annual wages of $60 million. The Quonset facility will manufacture the support structures upon which the turbine and its tower are based.

Rhode Island hopes Deepwater's presence will be a catalyst to attract additional jobs in the renewable energy sector.

Deepwater was established to develop utility-scale offshore wind projects in the northeast United States. It is developing projects in other states including a 350 MW offshore wind farm in New Jersey.

The major investors in Deepwater are Newton, Massachusetts-based First Wind, a developer of onshore wind projects in the United States, and New York-based capital investment firm D.E. Shaw & Co.

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by David Gregorio)

Article courtesy of Reuters.com 

MA Makes Wind Energy Plans, ND Wraps Up 149-MW Wind Project

The state of Massachusetts is still struggling with its wind energy plans and approval siting process, while a $300-million wind project in North Dakota has been completed that is capable of generating 149 megawatts (MW) of power.

Massachusetts officials unveiled an updated plan for wind energy projects and other uses of state ocean waters, which includes additional regulatory standards for environmental protection, reports Cape Cod Times. While the Ocean Management Plan retains many components from an earlier draft, some changes were made to the five-year plan after concerns were raised over the potential impacts to areas such as Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod, reports the newspaper.

The plan covers waters from about 1,500 feet offshore out to three miles, and allows for commercial wind energy projects of up to 150 wind turbines in two areas southwest of Martha’s Vineyards, reports Cape Code Times.

The Cape Cod Ocean Sanctuary off the coast of the Cape Cod National Seashore is protected from most activities, according to the plan, reports Cape Cod Times. However, in the waters around the Cape 24 turbines are now allowed if adjacent communities and the Cape Cod Commission agree to the size and location of the turbines, and an additional 17 turbines are possible off the Vineyard and 11 turbines around Nantucket, according to the article.

The new plan does not impact the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm in federal waters. The U.S. Interior Department hopes to reach an agreement by March 1 over the long-delayed Cape Wind power project, which would boost the Obama Administration’s plan to increase renewable energy in the U.S., reports Reuters.

The proposed $1 billion wind farm, which would consist of 130 towers, has been delayed since 2001 over a number of issues including a lawsuit filed by native American Indian tribes who want to block the project, reports Reuters.

The new plan also includes a commitment from the Massachusetts Ocean Partnership for a $2.5 million research project for coastal waters, according to the Cape Cod Times.

An editorial in The Boston Globe suggests that the Massachusetts legislature should streamline the siting of wind farms to reduce the amount of appeals, as it has done for fossil-fuel plants that generate 100 megawatts (MW) of power or more.

According to the editorial, the approval process for wind development has significantly delayed projects even some that have received clearance from their host communities.

The proposed Wind Energy Siting Reform Act could change that by establishing statewide standards for appropriate locations for wind facilities, taking into account all existing regulatory concerns, according to The Boston Globe editorial. The law would also allow permitting boards to consolidate local permits and applications into a single process without weakening existing regulations, according to the article.

Meanwhile a $300-million wind project in North Dakota has been completed, reports ABC News. The wind farm, developed by Iberdrola Renewables, consists of 71 turbines and can generate up to 149 MW of electricity, according to the article.

So far, Missouri River Energy Services of Sioux Falls, S.D., which supplies power in four states, will buy 40 MW of power from the project, reports ABC News.

Despite the completion of the project, a recent study indicates the lack of extra-high-voltage transmission lines through the upper Midwest states, including North and South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota, is a significant barrier to harnessing wind as a viable energy source.

This article courtesy of Environmental Leader

Manufacturers might take a lesson from Oregon's farmers

January 12, 2010, 10:30AM

Oregon's farmers believe agriculture's economic impact is often overlooked, and some have taken to describing their work as the ultimate green -- as in growing -- industry.

Aaron M. Renn, blogging at "The Urbanophile" says America's lagging or outdated manufacturing sector could take a lesson from farmers. Here's a sampling, which will no doubt ring true with the Portland area's supporters of urban agriculture and locally grown food:

"Agriculture seems to be further ahead than manufacturing. There is already significant mindshare around organic and regional foods. Books like Home Grown Indiana document the burgeoning scene. Farmers markets are going crazy in America, as are specialty groceries like Goose the Market.

"Microbreweries, now nearly ubiquitous in America, are in the same line. There are more and more local processed food producers, in house charcuterie operations, etc. There is significant awareness of the distance food has traveled from farm to market. There is a developing ecosystem that is actually starting to relink cities to their rural hinterlands. It's not a huge employment or economic base yet, but it is getting there. I would like to see something analogous happen on the product side.

"For things like organic and locally sourced foods or other artisanal and craft products, they are often targeted and marketed as luxury products today. However, there's room to believe they could be more mass market tomorrow. Many product categories started out as luxury products for the rich such as automobiles and flat screen TVs. But eventually scale economics won out.

"Products that are truly hand crafted will likely always be somewhat pricey due to the increasing scarcity value of human labor. But it is easy to see how the values embodied in them could be applied to more mass market products. Especially for food, many people associated with that movement are interested in promoting broader changes in the American diet and lifestyle. That can only be done by getting to the right price points and volume."

By Eric Mortenson, The Oregonian courtesy of Oregononline.com

 

Recycling Used Ink Cartridges East Weymouth MA

Ink cartridges are constructed out of plastic, petroleum-based products and take about 1,000 years to decompose. According to recent estimates, 20-40% of ink cartridges are recycled, meaning 60-80% end up in landfills. The recovery and reuse of empty printer cartridges diverts millions of cubic feet of material from waste disposal, saving us the millions of tax dollars needed to pay for additional landfill management.

 

This article courtesy of Commuter User

Photoshop Helps Narrow Streets in Los Angeles

Narrow Streets: Los Angeles is re-imagining some of Los Angeles's best known streets by using Photoshop to narrow them. The idea is called design by proximity, where the viewer assigns more meaning as two objects come closer together. This blog hopes to show how better street design can help create more walkable streets even in a city known for its dependence on automobiles. Over 18 intersections have been altered, presenting streets that help create a more urban and pedestrian setting. Each street is accompanied by a short blurb explaining its significance in Los Angeles and how a street diet would help change the landscape. Narrow Streets: Los Angeles shows what might be possible in street design.
www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=7461

 

Article courtesy of Smart Growth

 

 

Clean Air Watch Hails EPA Smog Proposal as 'Breath of Fresh Air'

WASHINGTON-- The non-profit Clean Air Watch today hailed the Environmental Protection Agency's new smog proposal as a "breath of fresh air."

The EPA today proposed to set tougher national standards for ground-level ozone, commonly referred to as smog.

Technically, the EPA is proposing to reconsider a decision made in 2008 while President Bush was in office. At that time, the EPA rejected the unanimous recommendations of EPA's science advisers and set standards that were too weak to protect public health and the environment. It was disclosed that President Bush personally intervened to weaken part of the EPA standards.

By contrast, the new EPA plan would follow the recommendations of the science advisers. The agency proposed a range of possible public health standards - all of them tougher than those put forth by the Bush administration. EPA also proposed special smog protection for the environment, including plants and trees.

EPA deferred a final decision until August, and O'Donnell predicted that "big polluters will mobilize in opposition." He noted that oil industry lobbyists have already been to the White House to protest tougher standards.

Clean Air Watch will join the American Lung Association and other health advocates to press for the best possible standards.

Article courtesy of Betsy Kraat/MetroGreen+Business

Autism: Rising Numbers Point to the Growing Problem of Environmental Toxicity

NORWALK, CT-- As many as one in 90 children are today being diagnosed with autism--and autism research continues to focus almost exclusively on genetics. In its January/February 2010 issue, E-The Environmental Magazine looks at another factor that may be driving up autism rates--environmental toxicity.

Richard Lathe, Ph.D., a molecular biologist who wrote Autism, Brain, and Environment says that since the 1980s, autism rates "have gone up at least tenfold. It indicates that it can't just be genetic--it must be environmental."

"These chemicals are everywhere," says Michael Merzenich, Ph.D., a neuroscientist at the University of California San Francisco. "They've looked at levels of contamination from PBDEs in the Polar Regions and there are significant airborne levels everywhere. You really can't escape them."

The research that is taking up the environmental challenge is uncovering surprising answers--particularly in relation to the link between heavy metal toxicity and autism. Some of this research focuses on porphyrins: chemicals that increase in the blood in response to heavy metal toxicity. It turns out that autistic kids have more porphyrins in their blood following chelation--a detoxifying process--than do typical kids.

The antioxidant glutathione--critical for the body to excrete metals--plays a role, too. In 2004, researcher Jill James, Ph.D., of the Arkansas School of Medicine, led a pioneering study that showed autistic kids had significantly less glutathione than typical kids--which put their bodies in a state of "constant oxidative stress." In other words, autistic kids were genetically predisposed to having low glutathione levels, making them particularly susceptible to heavy metal toxicity. That toxicity--whether from vaccines, fish, dental amalgams, air pollution, tainted water or other environmental toxins, might provide the "toxic tipping point" to render a child autistic.

Article courtesy of Betsy Kraat-Metro Green + Business

 

Controversial roundup of wild horses underway

Mustangs are herded into corrals as Bureau of Land Management begins a two-month operation to capture 2,500 of Nevada's wild horses. Equine activists say the action is unnecessary

 

A controversial roundup of 2,500 wild horses from public and private lands in Nevada began on Monday amid protests from activists who call it needless and inhumane.

Contractors in helicopters and on horseback herded some of the mustangs into corrals in the Black Rock Range, a chain of mountains 100 miles north of Reno, according to a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Land Management. Heather Emmons said she did not know how many horses were captured on the first day of the roundup, which will take two months and stretch across 1,750 square miles in the Calico Mountains Complex.

The BLM said the capture is necessary because the area cannot support its estimated 3,000 horses. The population must be reduced to protect the horses and the environment, the agency said.

Animal activists dispute that assessment, saying that the horses are healthy and that cattle and other grazing livestock do more damage.

The roundup, they say, will frighten the horses and could injure or even kill many of them.

"It's a brutal process no matter how they do it," activist Elyse Gardner said. "Legs get broken, horses get sick, foals can't keep up and get separated from their mothers."

Horses with broken legs typically are euthanized.

Gardner, who monitored a BLM roundup on the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range in Montana last summer, said she was alarmed that Monday's capture was held on private land, where the public could not watch.

The BLM's Emmons said the agency began the roundup there because it offered the best access to the animals. She said she expected the agency to work on private land for the next two weeks, or until it had captured about 250 mustangs, then move west.

Once the horses are captured, they will be trucked to Fallon, Nev., for veterinary care, Emmons said. Some horses will be offered for adoption. The rest will be transferred to pastures in the Midwest.

By law, they cannot be sent to slaughter.

More than 30,000 wild mustangs are already in captivity, and adopting them out has not been easy. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has said the U.S. has spent $50 million on its wild horse program this year.

An animal rights group, In Defense of Animals, sued to try to prevent the roundup, contending that the mustangs are vital to the ecosystem. A federal judge rejected its request for an injunction last week.

A group of celebrities, including singer Sheryl Crow and actor Viggo Mortensen, objected to the roundup in an open letter to President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) last week.

Obama has had no comment, but a spokesman for Reid said Monday that the senator was disappointed with the BLM's handling of the horses.

"The BLM has failed to properly manage these herds for many years, requiring the large gather," said Jon Summers, Reid's spokesman.

In 1971, Congress passed the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act, granting federal protection to wild horses and burros as "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West." The horses were introduced to North America by the Spanish conquistadors. Some of today's wild mustangs are descendants of escaped Spanish horses.

The BLM estimates that half of the nation's more than 36,000 wild horses live in Nevada, where the state quarter features galloping wild stallions

 

Article courtesy of  Kate Linthicum /Los Angelos Times

Washington's orca baby boom: Turnaround or fluke?

Story Updated: Jan 10, 2010 at 1:45 PM PST

J47, a baby orca whale, swims alongside J35, it's mother, near Vashon Island, Wash. in Puget Sound. (Jan. 3, 2010, photo by Orcanetwork.org)

Comments (16)

SEATTLE (AP) - A little over a year after researchers feared a drop in the Northwest's endangered killer whale population meant disaster, the number of orcas has bounced back with six new babies and no whales lost.

Though scientific evidence is skimpy, some whale experts say the good news might be the result of enough salmon for the majestic black-and-white mammals to eat. Others say so little is known about orcas that the baby boom could be due to any number of factors - or simply a statistical fluke.

Whatever the reason, they're overjoyed about the new arrivals.

"We're all very happy to see so many births," said Susan Berta of the Whidbey Island-based Orca Network.

"We're all hoping that they find lots of fish to keep them healthy and keep the mothers in good condition so they can feed the calves," she said.

The Center for Whale Research says that in 2008, eight orcas in the three pods, J, K and L, that make up the southern resident population in Washington and southwest British Columbia went missing and were presumed dead, including two females of reproductive age and the 98-year-old matriarch of K Pod. With just one surviving birth that year, the total in the three pods as of December 2008 dropped to 82.

That alarmed researchers - "This is a disaster," Ken Balcomb, a senior scientist at the San Juan Island-based center, said in October of that year.

But in 2009, no deaths were reported and five new calves were spotted, giving a December total of 87. A sixth infant was born Jan. 3 while its family, J Pod, was near Seattle on a winter visit, making it 88.

Both Balcomb and Howard Garrett, director of the Orca Network, think food might have something to do with it.

The whales feed on salmon - particularly chinook salmon, the largest and arguably tastiest of the Pacific species. Chinooks are listed as threatened or endangered in several Northwest waterways, including Puget Sound and the Columbia River.

"Unfortunately, they're very picky," Garrett said, with chinooks sometimes making up 80 percent of the whales' diet.
It sounds simplistic, Garrett said, but "the way that we can tag the population fluctuations is directly from the chinook runs."

Taken as a whole, the runs in the region have held steady over at least the past two years, he said.

It's not that simple, said Brad Hanson, a wildlife biologist with the federal Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. He said that for much of the year, little is known about what salmon stocks the whales eat and where.

The southern orcas can range widely, from the north end of Canada's Vancouver Island to Northern California for K and L pods.

Depending on the river, he said, some salmon stocks are up, some down, some about average. And orcas face the same problem that bedevils all fishermen: hitting the right run at the right time under the right conditions.

"There's just so many different variables involved," Hanson said.

The three pods in the southern resident community - J Pod based in the San Juan Islands, K Pod in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and L Pod off the coast - are genetically and behaviorally distinct from other killer whales. Besides sticking to this region, their sounds are considered a unique dialect, they tend to mate only within their community and they usually gather each year to socialize in a "super pod" near the San Juans.

Orcas have a 17-month gestation period, so at least six of the whales were pregnant a year ago. From a distance it's hard to tell whether an orca is pregnant, so no one on land knew they were expecting when worries over the lost whales emerged.

Over the years the Center for Whale Research has tracked the southern population, their numbers have varied from a low of 71 in 1977 to a high of 97 in 1996, and the current total of 88 only matches the total in 2007.

It's also far below the 140 or so that lived here before dozens were captured for aquariums and parks in the 1960s and early '70s.

A 20 percent drop in their numbers in the late 1990s, blamed by many on pollution and dwindling salmon stocks, led to their listing as an endangered species. Experts estimate a long-term steady population of about 200 would be needed to take them off the list.

Experts caution that young orcas have a rough life - commonly, about 50 percent die in their first year - and that one good year isn't a recovery. Critical to their long-term survival, they say, will be cleaning up the marine environment and eliminating the toxic chemicals that collect in the whales' bodies, and restoring the region's once-massive salmon runs.

Still, Balcomb said: "I'm just optimistic that this year's bumper crop of babies will prove to be their investment in the future. And we should invest in the food resources for them and for us.

"We like salmon, too."

 

Article courtesy of  GEORGE TIBBITS, Associated Press Writer

Try This Trick to Reduce Heat Loss

 Save money on your home heating bills.    

While you are waiting for the windfall that will pay for all new windows for your house, you can still reap many of the benefits of low-E coated glass by applying one of the several types of window film to your panes. A plastic film with low-E coating can reduce heat loss through old windows by 40%.

Flipped one way, the film keeps solar radiation out in hotter regions. Flipped the other way in cold climates, it reflects heat back inside. For those who are particularly thrifty, it is a great DIY project. Or you can pay to have the film professionally installed

Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/going-green/tips/1059#ixzz0c1pljxAq

Article courtesy of The Daily Green

California gives green light to space solar power

Energy beamed down from space is one step closer to reality, now that California has given the green light to a deal involving its sale. But some major challenges will have to be overcome if the technology is to be used widely.

On Thursday, the California Public Utilities Commission gave its blessing to an agreement that would see the Pacific Gas and Electric Company buy 200 megawatts of power beamed down from solar-power satellites beginning in 2016.

A start-up company called Solaren is designing the satellites, which it says will use radio waves to beam energy down to a receiving station on Earth.

The attraction of collecting solar power in space is the virtually uninterrupted sunshine available in geosynchronous orbit. Earth-based solar cells, by contrast, can only collect sunlight during daytime and when skies are clear.

Article courtesy of  David Shiga

Washington state gets $13.5 million for green jobs

SEATTLE (AP) -- Washington state is receiving $13.5 million from the U.S. Department of labor to train people for green jobs.
   Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray said Wednesday that three projects will receive money as part of $100 million in grants that the Labor Department is distributing nationwide.
   The Washington money includes $3.9 million for an energy training partnership in King, Snohomish, Pierce, Kitsap and Clallam counties. A training program for health care jobs in King County and counties in four other states will get $4.6 million. And $5 million is going for renewable energy technology training for Washington and Oregon. Clark, Cowlitz and Wahkiakum counties are part of that program in Washington state.

 

This article was courtesy of AP 

 

MA Commuter Rail Customer Service Notice

Effective January 11, 2010, except in the case of emergency, customers will no longer be allowed to enter or exit from the “operating end” of the control coach.  The engineer operates the train from this location on inbound trips.  Upon arrival into Boston, there are mandatory safety duties for engineers to perform which do not allow for foot traffic through the operating end of these coaches.

Signs will be placed on the coach door on that end of all control cars to remind customers of this rule.

Please enter and exit only through a door that is attended by a crewmember.

We appreciate that there will be some inconvenience to our passengers that are accustomed to using the control car exit door, but for safety reasons we must enforce this new policy.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Commuter rail service information, including updated commuter rail advisories/alerts is available on the MBTA website at www.mbta.com, or by calling the MBTA Customer Support Services Center at 617-222-3200

OLED wallpaper may soon replace light bulbs

Organic LEDs, or OLEDs, are being hailed as the next generation of environmentally-friendly lighting. OLEDs can produce light with very little power, significantly less than what is required to power conventional light bulbs.

OLEDs are being used more and more, and one company is incorporating them into wallpaper with the goal of making the technology good enough to light rooms withou the use of conventional lighting. However, two main problems have kept the technology from widespread use: the cost to create products using them and the short lifespan OLEDs currently have. The company hopes more research can make the technology cheaper and more efficient.

For more information on this next-gen source of lighting, check out this story from Business Green

Portland Needs More Winter Cyclists to Meet 2030 Goals

It's true that more residents are bicycling their way around Portland, Oregon, even during cold winter temperatures. Still, the overall number of bicyclists drops considerably during winter. But if Portland hopes to meet its goal of tripling the number of bicycle commuters over the next 20 years, more cyclists will have to brave the cold.
www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=7454

 

This article was courtesy of New Smart Growth Network State by State and International News Headlines

It's Now Illegal to Trash that Computer or TV!

The new year brings an important reminder to all Oregonians: Beginning Jan. 1, 2010, it's illegal to dispose of computers, monitors or TVs in the garbage or at disposal sites such as landfills, transfer stations and incinerators.

This disposal ban is part of the same law that created Oregon E-Cycles, which provides free recycling of computers, monitors and TVs at any of the program’s 220 collection sites statewide. The law states that anyone violating the ban could receive a penalty of up to $500 for each violation. Each computer, monitor or TV disposed of improperly is considered a separate violation.

Visit Oregon E-Cycles to find a conveniently located collection site or call the toll-free hotline at 1-888-5-ECYCLE (1-888-532-9253).

Neither the ban nor Oregon E-Cycles covers computer peripherals (keyboards, mice, etc.) or other types of electronics, but DEQ encourages all Oregonians to recycle these items as well.  You can find a partial list of other electronics recyclers on the Oregon E-Cycles website.

 

This articles was courtesy of the Oregon Environment eNewsletter - Winter 2010

Verizon Center Earns Prestigious 'Green' Building Certification; Among Most Energy Efficient in U.S.

First reported by VSO

Verizon’s operations center in Basking Ridge, N.J., has earned the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Silver certification for the center’s environmentally friendly design and energy efficiency.

About 3,000 employees, including the leadership teams of Verizon’s two business groups, work at the center, which is situated in northern New Jersey’s Somerset County.

To make the 1.4 million-square-foot facility more energy efficient, Verizon uses temperature sensors and energy-management systems to monitor heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. The company also controls the facility’s lighting schedules; tracks maintenance and service requirements; uses air handlers with variable frequency drives for energy-efficient heating and cooling; and has installed energy-efficient light-emitting diode and fluorescent T-5 lights.

“The efficient management of the Verizon operations center is an extension of the company’s commitment to the environment, but it’s also an example of our focus on implementing sensible business practices and reducing energy consumption,” said Tanya Penny, vice president of real estate for Verizon.

Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chair of the U.S. Green Building Council, said: “Verizon’s LEED certification demonstrates tremendous green building leadership. As the newest member of the LEED family of green buildings, the Verizon operations center is an important addition to the growing strength of the green building movement.”

The Verizon Operation Center’s LEED (Leadership In Energy and Environmental Design) certification comes just months after the center earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s prestigious Energy Star rating, the national symbol for superior energy efficiency and environmental protection.

To qualify for the Energy Star rating, the center had to place among the top 25 percent of the most energy-efficient facilities in the United States. Commercial buildings that earn the Energy Star rating use an average of 40 percent less energy than typical buildings and release 35 percent less CO2. Verizon operates 46 Energy Star-rated facilities, including many retail stores across the country.

Verizon Commitment to the Environment
Overall, Verizon’s carbon intensity is approximately nine times below the U.S. average, as reported by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Verizon’s rate of 64 metric tons of CO₂ emissions per million dollars in revenue represents a year-over-year improvement of 3 percent.

The company remains committed to finding practical and innovative ways to increase energy efficiency and bolster conservation efforts. For example, Verizon operates the largest fuel cell site of its kind in the nation. Using seven fuel cells, the company’s Energy Star Award-winning facility in Garden City, N.Y., can generate enough electrical power per hour to meet the energy needs of 400 single-family homes.

Other Verizon initiatives include:

• Creating an industry standard – Verizon was the first telecommunications company to require that the network equipment it purchases be 20 percent more energy efficient.
  
  
• Employees have reduced engine idling, which has cut fuel consumption by more than 2 million gallons (equivalent to taking some 3,400 cars off the road for a year).
  
  
• Electronically delivering approximately 100 million bills to customers.
  
  

This article was courtesy of Verizon's eWeb