·:[ Environmental News Bits ]:·
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Read the full story in the Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required).

The private, nonprofit Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program has become synonymous with green construction, and has kick-started a national conversation about energy efficiency, recycled building materials, and healthy work environments. Even people who know very little about green building know about LEED, as it is commonly known, as a kind of shorthand for environmental achievement.

In higher education, where sustainability is a hot issue, LEED certification is often a visible symbol of a college’s commitment. Since LEED began in 2000, more than 1,500 college projects have been registered in the LEED program, the bulk of those in the past couple of years.

But some college officials are raising questions about the process of LEED certification. Some say it emphasizes less-important priorities in building. Others believe the certification is costly and a pain. They think they can follow LEED’s principles to build green, without having to go through the expense and hassle of certifying.

Read the full story at News.com.

The personal computer was famously derided as a “toy” when it entered the computing world. Some companies in the hydrogen fuel cell industry are counting on toys to make the much-ballyhooed hydrogen economy a reality, if on a small scale.

Read the press release.

Communities in 43 states will share more than $74 million in brownfields grants to help revitalize former industrial and commercial sites, turning them from problem properties to productive community use. The grants, awarded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, also go to two tribes and two U.S. Territories.

Read the full story in the Opelika-Auburn News.

Earlier this week, David James, headmaster of Eastwood Christian School in Opelika, had a number of representatives from area laboratories and the U.S. Department of Agriculture present as he demonstrated a process in which algae (pond scum) could be collected from water, dried and pressed using a kinetic energy machine to extract oil that could be used as a fuel source. May 19, James plans to have a much larger alternative energies demonstration at Eastwood Christian School, where he will have equipment on the site of his school, capable of gathering algae used to make biodiesel fuels. A number of state officials, television networks, the National Guard and even a zeppelin fueled with biodiesel made from algae will hover over the private school on May 19. The vehicles at the school will all be running on a number of biodiesel fuels made from algae as well.