Green Needham receives NSTAR grant to promote improved home energy assessments

It’s a classic win-win situation — Green Needham Collaborative has been awarded a grant from NSTAR to make Needham greener and more energy efficient. The goal is to get more Needham residents to take advantage of NSTAR’s no-cost home energy assessments and to follow up with efficiency upgrades. Green Needham is honored to be selected to take part in this pilot program, which gives community organizations a chance to promote NSTAR’s energy efficiency programs. In fact, the more energy that is saved in Needham, the more bonus money is given to Green Needham by NSTAR to help us further our work for sustainability. Read more: http://www.greenneedham.org/blog/2011/04/green-needham-receives-nstar-grant-to-promote-improved-home-energy-assessments/

Article courtesy of The Boston Globe -Green Blog-Posted by Eleanor Rosellini

 

Metro Phoenix Air Now Rated 2nd-Worst in U.S.

The air over Phoenix is no longer the most-polluted in the nation, but local officials say even second place - the region's ranking in the American Lung Association's annual air-quality report card - requires an asterisk.

In its report released today, the association lists Bakersfield, Calif., as the metropolitan area with the dirtiest year-round air. Bakersfield, which was second in year-round pollution in 2010, also had the most-polluted air when measured with daily readings.

Metropolitan Phoenix dropped one position from its dirtiest-air ranking in 2010 and, as state and county regulators did last year, they said the high ranking for year-round pollution is skewed by the inclusion of data from an air monitor in Pinal County, 40 miles from downtown Phoenix

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/04/27/20110427phoenix-air-quality-2nd-worst-in-us.html#ixzz1KjCEB5Pt

Article courtesy of The Arizona Republic by Shaun McKinnon

Los Angeles hikers and bikers mobilize to save a popular trail

For at least half a century, Angelenos have hiked and biked up the Hastain Trail, a wide path that winds through oak trees and wildflowers in Franklin Canyon to a promontory overlooking the city and the ocean. Today, three chain link fences are erected along the path with signs warning against trespass.

It turns out that 45 acres along the trail are private property -- not publicly owned by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. The entrance to the trail, through Conservancy land, lies off Mulholland Drive between Beverly Hills and Studio City.

Now developer Mohamed Hadid, who has built more than a dozen Ritz-Carlton hotels and many Beverly Hills mansions, plans to construct six or seven homes on the ridgeline.The move comes as public outcry is growing over mega-mansions that encroach on Los Angeles' dwindling open space.

Read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2011/04/franklin-canyon-santa-monica-mountains-conservancy-development.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GreenspaceEnvironmentBlog+%28Greenspace%29

Article courtesy of The Los Angeles Times-Greenspace by Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times

 

2 electric cars earn top safety ratings

DETROIT — The Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf got top safety ratings in some of the first tests of electric cars by insurer-funded researchers.Both earned top scores for front, side, and rear impact crashes and for rollover crash protection in tests for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Read more:http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/articles/2011/04/27/2_electric_cars_earn_top_safety_ratings/

Article courtesy of The Boston Globe-Green Blog

 

 

Lobster-shell golf balls may revive cruise ship pastime

University of Maine researchers want to drive the state’s lobsters back to sea — with a 3-iron.

An engineer, a scientist, a student, and an alumna have teamed up to develop a biodegradable golf ball from crushed lobster shells that could be used on cruise ships.

Inexpensive to make, the ball is designed to sink and degrade within weeks, depending on the ocean’s depth and temperature. The balls would degrade in a similar time frame in fresh water — and break down if lost in the woods, although that would take longer.

Read more: http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/articles/2011/04/25/lobster_shell_golf_balls_may_revive_cruise_ship_pastime/

Article courtesy of The Boston Globe -Green Blog by Beth Daley

The bioplastics industry may have a new symbol to slap on its products and packaging – an abstract plant to denote plastics made without petroleum.

More than 1,500 designers submitted entries into a contest seeking an icon to represent plastics created using potatoes, corn, wheat, tapioca, sugar, algae and other natural materials.

The competition, backed by El Segundo bioplastics maker Cereplast Inc., was inspired by the 1970 contest that produced the image of three green arrows now ubiquitously as the emblem of recycling.

Article courtesy of The Los Angeles Times-Greenspace by -- Tiffany Hsu

Read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2011/04/bioplastics-biodegradable-plastics-icon-plant-symbol.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GreenspaceEnvironmentBlog+%28Greenspace%29

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Water pumped from Japan plant

TOKYO — The difficult task of pumping highly radioactive water out of the basement of a turbine building at a damaged Japanese nuclear power plant began yesterday, but officials cautioned that the work would be slow and difficult.

The Tokyo Electric Power Co. said that it planned to pump 10,000 metric tons of water into a storage building at a rate of 480 tons a day, which would take nearly three weeks. The company is still working on ways to remove an additional 57,500 tons of highly contaminated water at the same building, Unit 2, and at other nearby buildings.

Read more: http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/articles/2011/04/20/highly_radioactive_water_pumped_from_japan_plant/

Article courtesy of The Boston Globe –Green Blog  by Keith Bradsher and hiroko tabuchi/new york times