Browsing environmental news sources so you don't have to. Contact Laura Barnes (lbarnes@istc.illinois.edu) with questions, comments, and suggestions.
Follow ENB on TwitterApplications due May 08, 2008.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, is seeking applications proposing research to better understand the effect of global change on U.S. water quality.
Read the full story in the Wall Street Journal.
Your credit card can help save the planet. That’s the message companies are pitching to consumers as they roll out new credit cards designed to cash in on people’s worries about global warming.
Read the full story from Reuters.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc is willing to pay more for products that last longer and hurt the environment less, the company’s director of sustainability said on Thursday, adding it might not necessarily have to raise retail prices as a result.
Read the full story in the Nashville Business Journal.
Bank of America Corp. has exited a proposed joint venture with holding company Climate Exchange.
The pair decided not to form the venture because it wasn’t necessary “to pursue projects of mutual interest,” Reuters is reporting.
Read the full story from Environmental Leader.
Getty Images has released its second MAP Report (shorthand for what Makes A Picture) covering environmental-related marketing. Here are some of the reports key findings.
Read the full story in the Chicago Tribune.
Last week Recycled Energy Development closed on a deal to build an electricity-generation system for West Virginia Alloys, a subsidiary of Globe Metallurgical Inc. that is the country’s largest silicon producer. The system, to be engineered, built and operated by Recycled Energy Development, will capture hot gases coming from silicon furnaces to make steam and run generators.
Read the full story at Environmental Leader.
Burt’s Bees has purchased 3,954,000 kilowatt hours of renewable energy credits generated by wind farms. The REC purchase, made through Renewable Choice Energy, will offset 100 percent of the company’s electricity use.
In addition, when employees sign up for Renewable Choice Energy’s home wind power program, the company will pay 50 percent of the employee’s first year charges as part of its employee benefits package.
A full-color, graphic version of this newsletter is available online at http://www.greenerbuildings.com/enewsletter.
Creating the Greenest Auto Mechanics on the Block
By Matthew Wheeland
http://greenerbuildings.com/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55562
AAMCO, the auto service chain, launched a green certification program that will close the loop on waste in certified franchises and promote efficiency at every step. Matthew Wheeland sat down with AAMCO CEO Todd Leff to learn more, and discuss some of the challenges the company faced in launching the program.
Xcel Energy, PG&E Among Utilities with Leading Energy Efficiency Programs
http://greenerbuildings.com/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55580
The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy released its second survey of the country’s best utility-based efficiency programs, finding that a handful of companies are significantly stepping up efforts to reduce their customers’ energy usage.
Over 4,200 Buildings Have Been Energy Star Certified
http://greenerbuildings.com/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55584
The EPA’s Energy Star program has certified more than 4,200 office buildings, supermarkets, schools and other facilities as being highly energy efficient.
CEOs Increasingly Seeing Real Estate as Key to Sustainability Practices
http://www.greenerbuildings.com/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55592
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 a new study.
Group Established for Sustainable Courts, Jails
http://greenerbuildings.com/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55577
The Academy of Architecture for Justice established a Sustainable Justice Committee to promote green design and construction of police stations, courts and prisons.
New Campus Sustainability Program Launches Comprehensive Push to Green Campuses
http://greenerbuildings.com/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55574
The Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS), developed by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, will bring attention to everything from buildings to food programs to education.
New Green REIT Aims to Make Investing in Sustainable Retrofits Easier
http://greenerbuildings.com/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55560
Green Realty Trust, a new project from real estate investor Rob Hannah, is a new kind of Real Estate Investment Trust, one that hopes to make it easier to bring big money to green building retrofit projects.
USGBC Boosts Research Funds, LEED for Homes Network
http://greenerbuildings.com/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=55564
The U.S. Green Building Council has doubled the amount of money it will dedicate toward research at a time when interest in green building is escalating and its network of LEED for Homes Providers has multiplied.
Denver Company Donates Insulation for Greening Government Program
http://greenerbuildings.com/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=36624
The state government plans to cut its energy use by 20 percent by 2012. To achieve that goal, the Governor’s Energy Office is adding efficient insulation to its walls and ceiling.
Southern Methodist to Launch Sustainable Design Degree Program
http://greenerbuildings.com/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=36621
Bringing together leaders from industry, government and academia, SMU is working to develop an advanced degree program in sustainable design that combines ideas from engineering, architecture and technology into a forward-looking Master’s degree program.
Honeywell Helps Hotel and Motel Rooms Become Energy Efficient
http://greenerbuildings.com/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=36614
Honeywell plans to retrofit some 12,000 hotel and motel rooms in California to make them more energy efficient on behalf of a program from PG&E.
WebEx’s Green Guide to the Office
http://greenerbuildings.com/tool_detail.cfm?LinkAdvID=97275
This report looks at the many ways that businesses of all sizes can contribute to combating climate change, from employee-level recycling programs to solutions from the IT department like collaborative working.
Via Librarians’ Internet Index.
Links to recent news about human energy sources. “Human kinetic energy can be transferred in a number of ways. Human energy is most commonly used to propel bicycles, but can also be used to generate electricity and power hand-crank tools. … The articles on this page are about human kinetic energy and its many uses.” Also includes links to related sites, many about human powered vehicles. From a site about alternative energy sources.
One example is the Twike (see the Wikipedia entry for more information) . I saw someone tooling around Champaign in one yesterday. It certainly made me look twice.
For another take on this, see Human energy harvesting–a very silly idea, also via Librarians’ Internet Index. LII says about this item:
This September 2007 blog post describes some problems and issues associated with harnessing human kinetic energy and transferring it into electric energy. Includes links to related sites such as one describing how two graduate students “have proposed to extract energy from the motion of humans through public spaces such as train stations,” and another about human-powered laptop computers. From the CNET News Blog.
Facing the Future is pleased to announce the release of Climate Change: Connections and Solutions. These 2-week curriculum units, one for middle and one for high school, encourage students to think critically about climate change and to collaborate to devise solutions. Students learn about climate change within a systems framework, examining interconnections among environmental, social, and economic issues.
Through a generous grant from Hewlett-Packard Company, Facing the Future also invites you to apply for a Climate Change Camera Grant. You have the opportunity to collaborate with other educators and give your students a chance to document climate change and the positive actions that they are taking in their communities. You could receive a classroom set of digital cameras to use in conjunction with Facing the Future’s Climate Change: Connections and Solutions units. Until March 7th, Facing the Future will be accepting applications from U.S. educators to receive one of 30 classroom sets of 5 HP Photosmart R847Digital Cameras. Please visit our website to learn more and apply.
Facing the Future staff is available to come to your school or district to provide a workshop on this resource or other global sustainability curriculum. Click here for more information. For questions or comments, contact Kim Rakow Bernier at kim@facingthefuture.org or (206) 264-1503.
NASCAR fans will have the opportunity to recycle this weekend at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series(TM) Daytona 500, with support from Coca-Cola Recycling. Coca-Cola Recycling will debut its new 24-foot interactive trailer, designed to educate fans on the benefits of recycling, and encourage them to drop their plastic bottles and aluminum cans in designated bins as they head into the track. The trailer will feature interactive media, including new public service announcements from members of the Coca-Cola Racing Family, such as: Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, Dale Jarrett, Greg Biffle and Kyle Petty. Fans who visit the Coca-Cola Recycling trailer will be eligible to win prizes, and for every bottle and can recycled, a donation will be made by Coca-Cola to The NASCAR Foundation, which supports a wide variety of charities that support the core values of the entire NASCAR family.
Read the full story in the Washington Post.
Human activities are affecting every square mile of the world’s oceans, according to a study by a team of American, British and Canadian researchers who mapped the severity of the effects from pole to pole.
