·:[ Environmental News Bits ]:·
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Via Governing.com’s Idea Center.

One day soon, Floridians might find that their electricity comes from a wind energy farm in St. Lucie County or from solar panels on their roofs, thanks to a statewide campaign to make solar energy more affordable.

These are just two projects that won a grant from Florida’s Renewable Energy Technologies Grant Program. The program, now in its second year, is designed to encourage renewable energy projects involving solar, hydrogen, wind and other technologies. Since its creation in 2006 by the legislature, it has given out a total of $27.5 million. This year, it gave out $12.5 million to eight groups out of 139 seeking more than $200 million in funding.

Overseen by the state Department of Environmental Protection, the proposals are evaluated on a set of criteria that includes cost-share percentage, technical feasibility, production potential, energy efficiency and incorporation of multiple technologies. To learn more about the program and this year’s winners, visit http://www.dep.state.fl.us/energy/energyact/grants.htm.

The latest issue of Renewable Energy Weekly is now available. Highlights include:

• Hydrokinetic Permits Abound Despite Objections
• Scaling Up Solar in India
• Inside Renewable Energy Podcast: Conflicting Research on Renewables; Spanish Energy Companies Entering the U.S.
• Feed-in Tariffs: Getting off the Renewables Roller Coaster
• Time for stability: An update on international wood pellet markets

Read the full story in Technology Review.

Google, already the world’s most popular spot for finding Web sites, is aiming to become the go-to place for creating Web sites too.

Google Page Creator is available in Google Labs.

Read the full story in Technology Review.

Investors and utilities intent on building solar power plants are increasingly turning to solar thermal power, a comparatively low-tech alternative to photovoltaic panels that convert sunlight directly into electricity. This month, in the latest in a string of recent deals, Spanish solar-plant developer Abengoa Solar and Phoenix-based utility Arizona Public Service announced a 280-megawatt solar thermal project in Arizona. By contrast, the world’s largest installations of photovoltaics generate only 20 megawatts of power.

Through their Campus Climate Champions Program, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) reaches out to universities across the state and encourages them to reduce their GHG emissions by2percent per year. NWF has successfully worked with students, parents, and communities through their Campus Ecology program, which has been helping individuals and campuses address sustainability and climate change since 1989.

By joining the Campus Climate Champions Program, your campus commits to reducing emissions by 30percent by the year 2020. That’s an average of 2 to3 percent each year (on pace to exceed 80 percent by 2050). By using greenhouse gas inventories to demonstrate these reductions, your university can be confident that this designation is reserved for schools that are actually implementing the strategies that will ensure a low-carbon future. Modeling these strategies is the first characteristic of climate leadership. The second is promoting these strategies and the benefits of climate action to peer institutions, policy-makers, and the surrounding community.

Since 1989, NWF has developed a wide array of high-quality resources to help campuses generate project ideas and learn from the experience of other colleges. The following resources are available to participants in the Campus Climate Champions Program:

• Higher Education in a Warming World: The Business Case for Climate Action (2008)
• National Campus Sustainability Report Card
• Annual Campus Ecology Yearbook featuring best practices and strategies for climate action
• Resource guides on green building, sustainable investments, and other topics.

A complete listing of resources is available at: http://www.nwf.org/campusEcology/resources/index.cfm

Read the full story from Reuters.

Children exposed to cleaning products and other household chemicals before or after birth may be at increased risk of breathing problems, results of a study published Wednesday hint.

Read the full story in Environmental Protection.

The National Nanotechnology Initiative’s (NNI) Nanotechnology Environmental and Health Implications (NEHI) Working Group recently released its strategy for nanotechnology environmental, health, and safety research. The strategy outlines risk research for more than 20 federal agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

Read the full story in Environmental Protection.

Information on the 2006 reporting year now is available from EPA as part of the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) database. Nationwide chemical releases into the environment are down by 2 percent from 2005.

Quest Atlantis (QA) is an international learning and teaching project that uses a 3D multi-user environment to immerse children, ages 9-15, in educational tasks. QA combines strategies used in the commercial gaming environment with lessons from educational research on learning and motivation. It allows users to travel to virtual places to perform educational activities (known as Quests), talk with other users and mentors, and build virtual personae.

For the full Quest Atlantis experience, you will need to download & install QA’s newest software package. Currently, QA is only available for Windows computers.

Via ResearchBuzz. Note that U.N. energy and environmental statistics are covered.

Thanks to Novalawcity for the pointer to UNData, a search tool for UN Statistics. It’s available at http://data.un.org/ aaaaand it’s in beta.

It looks like a regular search engine, with different tabs for searching data and glossary. (A “more” tab has additional options: going to an advanced search, browsing available statistics, looking at information by country, and reviewing available sources.) Suggested searches are shown along with a list of databases (the front page notes that more databases will be added “in due course” and that over 55 million records are currently being searched.)

I did a search for “south africa” exports. I got 118 results. Results look very Googly except for the left nav which allows you to filter by data type — in this case key indicators, MDG, National Accounts Official Country Data, and Trade. The results themselves allow you to preview a sample of the data, download the data (sometimes just in one format, like XML, and sometimes in multiple format, like tab- or comma-delimited), or explore similar data sets. You can click on the name of the data set to explore it and filter by various data points. The data set pages also contain the source name, source’s home page, and contact information.

There’s a FAQ available for this tool but it doesn’t say how often the database of records is updated. You can also get a little more information about the project here.

Read the full story in Medill Reports Chicago.

With scientists bickering over the benefits or disadvantages of biofuels production, it’s hard to know who to believe.

Read the full story in Northumberland Today.

Cramahe Township dairy farmer Bob McComb thinks the township should look at biodigesters before it moves forward with an expensive pipeline to move treated sewage out into Lake Ontario.

The innovative Cramahe resident knows of one biodigester converting farm waste into heat operating in eastern Ontario.

A biodigester takes waste and subjects it to microbes called achaebacteria. A biodigester uses heat to break down organic matter such as manure, waste products from livestock operations, waste grain products and municipal wastes. Bacteria interact with the waste and break it down into processed organic matter – biogas and liquid fertilizer.

The biogas can be burned to produce heat and electricity. The micro-organisms in the waste are killed in the process where temperatures can reach 1,000 degrees Celsius.

Read the full story in the Macomb Daily.

As hundreds of environmental activists gather in Washington today to mark Great Lakes Day in the nation’s capital, a new study finds a huge gap between local communities and the federal government in funding for the lakes.

Read the full story in Medill Reports Chicago.

As a source for Chicago’s drinking water, Lake Michigan has enjoyed a stable  water level that has fluctuated no more than six feet since Great Lakes record keeping began in the mid-1800s.

But scientists who study the lake, the world’s fifth largest with l,300 cubic miles of water, warn that global warning of 3 to 8 degrees Fahrenheit could  reduce water levels and disrupt the lake’s ecological balance.

Read the full story in the Chicago Tribune.

A congressional committee said Thursday that it was investigating why the Centers for Disease Control has declined to release a report about health problems near contaminated sites around the Great Lakes.

The Student Sustainability Committee (formerly the Student Clean Energy Committee) requests proposals to use the $2 Student Clean Energy Technology Fee and the $5 Sustainability Fee to fund sustainability, energy efficiency and renewable energy projects on campus.

The Committee allocates the Fees to fund projects that will maximize the quantifiable impact of each student dollar, will be visible to or impact a great number of students, and will help establish the University as a leader in sustainable practices. Becoming a sustainable campus environment necessitates a balancing of environmental and energy responsibility with sound economics and social fairness. All projects related to sustainability of the U of I campus will be considered.

Who can apply: Anyone students, faculty, staff, and registered student organizations. Community members and businesses may also apply if they are working in coordination with some university affiliate. All projects must meet fit within the student mandates outlined above in Categories. If needed, the Student Sustainability Committee will help provide access to campus resources and personnel to approved projects. If you are unsure your project meets the guidelines below or if you have any other questions regarding the application, please contact Stephanie Bogle, the Student Sustainability Committee Chair .

Deadline: Project proposals are due March 15; additionally, applications will be accepted in August, 2008.

Cassie Carroll and Aaron Pollack will be speaking this Tuesday, March 4th at 12:00 (noon) at the University YMCA’s Know Your University Lecture series on “Going Green in Champaign County.” The talk is free and open to the public and is in the University Y’s Latzer Hall. Lunch is available through the Y Thai Eatery for $6.00 for non-students and $3 for students (school ID is required). Lunch reservations are strongly encouraged. You can make a lunch reservation by calling Johanne at 337-1500 by 5 p.m. on Monday, March 3rd.

For more information about the other talks in this series, please visit us online at http://www.universityymca.org/friday_forum.html

Talk Description: Following the launch of a pilot program to bring recycling to the City of Champaign and the new Green on Green St. campaign with the Environmental Council and Blue Illinois, students from SECS will discuss the current state of recycling in Champaign County as well as ongoing sustainability efforts.

Read the full story by the Associated Press.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said Tuesday it will pay about $2 million to help restore two California redwood forests as part of a ratepayer-funded program to offset the utility’s greenhouse gas emissions.

PG&E’s ClimateSmart program will invest the money in restoration projects in the Garcia River Forest in Mendocino County and the Lompico Headwaters Forest in Santa Cruz County.

Read the full story from the Associated Press.

With gas and diesel prices pushing past $3 a gallon and crude oil hitting $100 a barrel in January, the science of fuel-efficient package delivery has taken on an even higher level of importance for UPS and other truck-dependent businesses. It includes high-tech solutions, old-fashioned fuel surcharges, equipment upgrades and simple epiphanies of common sense, such as UPS’ recent decision to eliminate left turns from its routes because they waste fuel.

Read the full story in Environmental Leader.

The Environmental Protection Agency has released the first draft (PDF) of the Energy Star power efficiency specifications for computer servers, EDN reports. The plan is for the EPA to first create a Tier 1 of relatively easily attainable power efficiencies, and then steadily raise the bar as customers and end- users of the equipment demand an Energy Star rating and make it a de facto standard. The draft is at a very preliminary stage.

Read the UNEP press release.

An emerging Green Economy is glimpsed in the latest United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Year Book as growing numbers of companies embrace environmental policies and investors pump hundreds of billions of dollars into cleaner and renewable energies.

Read the full story in The Age (Australia).

As sustainability enters the mainstream vernacular of business, expectations are skyrocketing and a risk has emerged that people will stop listening. While the changing language is a sign that business is responding to criticism and to the growing calls for sustainability, the massive growth in rhetoric is generating some unintended consequences — such as more cynicism.

Read the full story from the BBC.

The US is ready to accept “binding international obligations” on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, officials say, if other nations do the same.

Read the full story in Environmental Leader.

Fourteen California companies have formed a California affiliate network of The Green Power Group which will share best practices for purchasing and developing renewable energy. The big names involved include Advanced Micro Devices, Apple, BT Americas, Cisco, eBay, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Intuit, Levi Strauss, News Corporation, Pactiv Corporation, Patagonia, and Wal-Mart.

A full-color, graphic version of this newsletter is available online at:
http://www.greenerbuildings.com/enewsletter

Over 40 Facilities Join EPA’s Performance Track, Add New Environmental Goals
http://greenerbuildings.com/news_detail.cfm?Page=1&NewsID=55648
Forty-two facilities have made goals ranging from reducing carbon emissions to cutting water use as part of the Performance Track program.

U.K. Could Have Zero-Carbon Future
http://greenerbuildings.com/news_detail.cfm?Page=1&NewsID=55644
The United Kingdom will reportedly announce this week a call for all future non-domestic buildings, such as schools, supermarkets and hotels, to be zero carbon.

Southern California Gas Company Earns Fourth LEED Certification
http://www.greenerbuildings.com/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55633
Improvements to its Monterey Park facility’s water, lighting and waste recycling bring the company its fourth LEED certification.

Seattle, Los Angeles Announce Green Building Plans
http://www.greenerbuildings.com/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55626
Los Angeles will require all new buildings to meet LEED certification standards, while offering expedited permits to projects that aim for LEED-silver or higher; Seattle’s plan is more comprehensive, covering existing and new residential and commercial buildings.

ASLA Creates Climate Policy Recommendations
http://www.greenerbuildings.com/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55622
The American Society of Landscape called on Congress to incorporate principles of sustainable design into future climate change public policy.

Mumbai’s Largest Mall Gets Energy Retrofit Through Clinton Climate Initiative
http://www.greenerbuildings.com/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55613
The Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program, run by the Clinton Climate Initiative, is helping India’s Inorbit Mall cut its energy use.

New BIM Solution from Autodesk Aims to Bring Teams Together for Greener Projects
http://www.greenerbuildings.com/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55608
Autodesk unveiled a host of upgrades to its Building Information Modeling suite
of applications at an event last week, allowing architects, engineers and owners
to work together more closely on environmental issues in building projects.

GeoSun Helps Buildings Reduce Emissions
http://www.greenerbuildings.com/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55598
A company specializing in renewable energy systems for corporate customers launched “Zero Solution” Thursday to eliminate energy costs and carbon emissions from office buildings.

Doing Good: Business and the Sustainability Challenge
http://greenerbuildings.com/tool_detail.cfm?LinkAdvID=97307
Energy efficiency has become one of company leaders’ three most important priorities when it comes to greening operations, and bringing down energy use in offices and facilities is a significant way of achieving that goal, according to this new study.

Sustainable Facility Management is the Next Wave
By Christopher P. Hodges, The McMorrow Report
http://greenerbuildings.com/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55656
Green buildings have taken off in a major way, but the drive to renovate and improve the millions of existing commercial buildings has lagged behind. Not for long: here is what facility managers should expect in the coming months.

When Buildings Talk, People Listen
By Peter Sharer
http://greenerbuildings.com/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55654
The green economy is bristling with new technologies that have to the potential to lead us into a new sustainable economy, but when people change their behaviors, change will increase exponentially. New technologies in Building dashboards — think a Prius display for your office — aim to jumpstart behavioral change.

The Father of LEED Takes on China and India
By Violet Law, Plenty Magazine
http://greenerbuildings.com/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=36636
Robert Watson aims to make green building standards global with his recently-founded enterprise EcoTech International, a consultancy that provides green technology and project development expertise.

Read the full story in the Riverside Brookfield Landmark.

During a recent phone interview about the Lyons Township Recycling Club, club co-sponsor Will Meuer was temporarily distracted by a school P.A. announcement, ironically enough, mentioning the LT Recycling Club. The timely interruption served as proof positive that the burgeoning club is “making news” in its inaugural year at LT.

Read the full story in the Martinsville (VA) Bulletin.

A Patrick Henry Elementary School third-grader proposed a project to recycle paper that has caught on with her classmates.

Read the full story in the Berkshire (MA) Eagle.

In the world of energy consumption, schools and colleges are the guerillas of change: changing light bulbs, supplementing power with solar panels, adding recycling bins, posting real-time power usage on school Web sites, switching to hybrid vehicles and sprouting new ideas for sustainable campus living.

And at some institutions, the efforts have been infused with an interscholastic twist: competition.

Read the press release.

The Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC), a nonprofit, public service organization dedicated to recycling used rechargeable batteries, today announced the recipients of its seventh annual “Recycling Leadership Awards.” This year’s participants recognized for their exceptional recycling efforts with RBRC’s Call2Recycle(TM) program include: the City of Los Angeles; COGERNO (New Brunswick, Canada); Hennepin County (Minnesota); Montgomery County (Maryland); the City of Austin (Texas); and Marine Corp Base Camp Lejeune (North Carolina).

Read the press release.

Academic publisher Taylor & Francis, UK, has announced that it will publish the journal Environmental Technology with effect from Volume 29, 2008. A monthly publication, the journal is seen as a key title in applied environmental research, covering environmental biotechnology, environmental and sanitary engineering, industrial waste management and hazardous waste disposal, air and water pollution control, solid waste management, industrial hygiene and associated technologies.

Read the full story in the Newport News Daily Press.

When you think of polluters, dentists aren’t typically the first thing that comes to mind.

“The amount of waste generated from the dental industry is minuscule. I mean, minuscule,” said Dr. Jennifer Howard, D.D.S. “But everything helps. Anything you can do to make some sort of an impact is always good.”

Howard tried to cut down on pollutants and build an environmentally friendly office when she opened her dental practice, Isle of Wight Family and Cosmetic Dentistry, on Gumwood Drive in Smithfield in 2007.

Read the full story in the Seattle Times.

King County Executive Ron Sims plans to introduce legislation that would allow the county to reject or modify development projects because of their effect on global warming.

Read the full story in the New York Times.

The entire fleet of roughly 10,000 limousines that are used by businesses would be required to meet fuel-efficiency standards, attainable only with hybrid vehicles.

Read the full story in Technology Review.

A versatile new process for making biofuels could slash their cost.

Read the full story in Technology Review.

Frances Arnold is designing better enzymes for making biofuels from cellulose.

Read the full post at EarthTalk.

An online game, which was designed by a small group of socially conscious people from three continents, was developed to permit players choose from a variety of real-world causes, which include helping the environment and fighting poverty in the real world. This unique concept turns in-game winnings into actual help for that cause.

The game, called Glupod, will debut worldwide on May 30. It’s the brainchild of Ioannis Tsiokos of Athens and a small band of colleagues at Something, Inc. who collaborate online from Greece, India, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Glupod is the first Video Game to deliver direct emotional fulfillment to the player.

Read the full story in the Houghton Daily Mining Gazette.

Renewable energy could be a key part of Michigan’s economic future, according to James Epolito.

The president and CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corp. spoke at a forum that state agency held Monday afternoon at the Chippewa Room of the Ojibwa Casino in Baraga.

Read the full story in the New York Times.

Regional government agencies around the Great Lakes say they need help to protect the lakes from invasive species, contaminated sediment and sewage overflows.

Read the press release.

New West Charter Middle School announced today that it is offsetting all its carbon emissions with Carbonfund.org, one of the country’s leading carbon offset organizations. This commitment establishes New West as an environmental leader in the public school community and demonstrates the proactive steps it is taking in the fight against global climate change.

Read the press release.

When SC Johnson’s sales force hit the highway, they will be driving to save the planet. The leading consumer products company recently inked a lease deal to add new hybrid vehicles to its fleet each year through 2011.

Read the full story and listen to the interview from the Brownfield Network.

On July 1, a new state law in Illinois goes into effect that requires all biodiesel pumps selling B6 to B20 blends be labeled. Kayla Rassi, Communications Manager for the Illinois Soybean Association (ISA) tells Brownfield they are working with the state to provide pump labels.

Read the full story from WWJ Newsradio.

A Grosse Pointe biodiesel technology startup has installed its first test fuel blending unit at the NextEnergy Center in Detroit.

Read the full story in the Wall Street Journal.

For decades, conventional wisdom has held that daylight-saving time, which begins March 9, reduces energy use. But a unique situation in Indiana provides evidence challenging that view: Springing forward may actually waste energy.

To view the full solicitation, visit http://www.epa.gov/region5/solidwaste/funding.htm. It’s also available on grants.gov. The solicitation can also be found on grants.gov by using the funding opportunity number: EPA-R5-LCD-2008

Summary: EPA Region 5 is soliciting proposals that address the national Resource Conservation Challenge (RCC) priorities of increasing recycling of municipal solid waste; increasing industrial materials recycling; and greening electronics in Region 5 [Region 5 encompasses the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin]. Specific Region 5 priorities are listed in the full text under each RCC priority. Applicants are encouraged to partner and collaborate on projects with other organizations involved in similar efforts.

Contact: Susan Mooney, 312-886-3585, mooney.susan@epa.gov

For a full-color, graphic version of this newsletter, go to
http://www.greenercomputing.com/enewsletter.

No-Cost and Low-Cost Ways to Green Your Data Center Right Now
By Preston Gralla
http://www.greenercomputing.com/columns_third.cfm?NewsID=55645
Greening your IT department can seem an overwhelming task that requires months of planning and expenses that will pay off in the long run, but cause financial pain right now. But it needn’t be that way: the truth is there are plenty of simple steps you can take today to make it work for your business.

Semiconductor Company Rewards Green Designs From Around the Globe
http://www.greenercomputing.com/news_third.cfm?NewsID=55647
Freescale Semiconductor is holding contests to find and reward sustainable computer systems designs.

Green Computing Drives Government Technology Purchasing
http://www.greenercomputing.com/news_third.cfm?NewsID=55631
Technology purchases from all levels of government through an IT contract rose 45 percent thanks to interest in wireless and green computing.

EPA Starts Process to Make Environmental Standards for Copiers
http://www.greenercomputing.com/news_third.cfm?NewsID=55627
The online university’s classes include instruction on efficient power, cooling and layout, all aspects that can cut emissions The U.S. EPA has taken the first steps towards the creation of green standards for copiers, similar to EPEAT for computers.

IBM Creates Suite of IT Solutions to Help Any Retailer Go Green
http://www.greenercomputing.com/news_third.cfm?NewsID=55621
IBM’s new “Green Retail Store” platform offers retailers in every industry a string of tools — from point-of-sale systems to blade servers — aimed at boosting performance, lowering energy use and reducing related emissions.

Green IT Departments Save Companies Money, Research Finds
http://www.greenercomputing.com/news_third.cfm?NewsID=55615
Big savings in energy costs and opening new markets are among the top drivers for companies making their IT departments more energy efficient, according to new research from PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

Energy Star Specs for Efficient Servers Released
http://www.greenercomputing.com/news_third.cfm?NewsID=55601
As the EPA unveils its long-awaited draft specifications for energy efficient servers, a new survey reveals European IT chiefs are happy to pay more for greener products.

Health Insurance Company Tops List of Green IT Users
http://www.greenercomputing.com/news_third.cfm?NewsID=55605
Computerworld surveyed and ranked the top companies implementing green IT equipment and practices, shining a light what’s available and what works.

Hosting Company Launches Green Data Center Initiatives
http://www.greenercomputing.com/news_third.cfm?NewsID=55599
The Planet aims to increase the operating efficiency of its data center by as much as 13.5 percent, and expects to save over $1 million in 2008 alone.

How Sustainable IT Can Meet CSR Challenges
http://www.greenercomputing.com/tools.cfm?LinkAdvID=77407
This report from the Butler Group examines how the increasing necessity of CSR programs by companies of all sizes is affecting IT managment, and explains how IT managers can take the lead in supporting their company’s sustainability goals.

Read the full story in the New York Times.

Senator Barbara Boxer of California suggested the denial of her state’s request to set rules for auto emissions may have been affected by the unusual lobbying.

See also Congressional Quarterly’s EPA Chief Overruled Staff on California Greenhouse Gas Rules.

GLRPPR has created an RSS feed for documents recently added to its Sector Resources. You can add the feed to your favorite reader or view it on the web.

The latest issue of Renewable Energy Weekly is now available. Highlights include:

• Global Green Light for Renewable Energy
• Green Britain Gears Up for Climate Change Battle
• How Future Renewable Energy Professionals Are Breaking into the Industry
• A Public Relations Strategy for Ethanol Fuel
• New Name, New World
• Will Massachusetts Meet its RPS?
• China Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development Report: January 2008
• Management of growth: Concentrating Photovoltaics

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) last week released its study of policy options for reducing CO2 Emissions.  The CBO concluded that the most efficient options are, in descending order, a carbon tax, a cap-and-trade system with a safety valve, a cap-and-trade system with a circuit breaker, and finally, an annual inflexible cap.

The CBO report said that a cap-and-trade with a safety valve design could help reduce the problem of price volatility that has been associated with previous emissions reductions programs.  It also noted that an upstream point of regulation in a domestic carbon emissions program would be beneficial, as it would require regulating the least number of entities.

The CBO study can be found at http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/89xx/doc8934/02-12-Carbon.pdf.

ICLEI, an international association, is composed of local governments as well as national and regional government organizations devoted to sustainable development. Every year ICLEI hosts the ICLEI Local Action Summit for local governments to promote climate protection and sustainability at the local level. The ICLEI Local Action Summit brings together mayors and local elected officials, environmental policy leaders, and the business community from across the country that are leading climate and sustainability efforts at the local level.  This year’s conference is being co-hosted with the City of Albuquerque and Mayor Martin Chavez, and will be held at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on May 14-16, 2008.

The ICLEI Local Action Summit will offer skills training, keynote presentations, breakout sessions, and network opportunities to help local governments improve upon and expand their town’s, city’s, or county’s sustainability efforts. Over the course of ICLEI’s 3-day summit, participants will hear from the most experienced experts on climate action — local governments. Participants will learn about the latest in local government innovations to promote climate protection and sustainability, receive trainings on how to develop a local action plan, and how to pay for it.

More information about the ICLEI Local Action Summit or to register, visit
http://www.icleiactionsummit.org/

Limited sponsorship and exhibition opportunities are still available for this year’s Local Action Summit. For more information, please go to www.icleiactionsummit.org/sponsor

For more information about ICLEI, visit http://www.iclei.org/