·:[ Environmental News Bits ]:·
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The latest issue of Renewable Energy Weekly is now available. Highlights include:

• U.S. Renewable Energy Leaders: Don’t Count on Carbon Price Alone
• The Power of the Sun: Solar Lanterns Transform Lives in Malawi, Africa
• Inside Renewable Energy podcast: California Solar Initiative Update; Social Merchant Banking in the Developing World
• SOS: Schools on Solar
• Peak Exports and Our Economic Future

Read the full story in Environmental Capital.

American consumers just coming to grips with higher gasoline prices can now count on another worry: higher electricity prices. Something has to give—but will it be electricity demand, or power-company profits?

Read the full story in Environmental Capital.

Here’s a challenge: How do you keep clamoring for subsidies when your industry shatters growth records with numbing regularity?

Read the full story at News.com.

IBM, Google, and Microsoft apparently are model citizens when it comes to reducing their carbon footprint, while Apple has a long way to go.

A roundup of green tech news from News.com.

Read the full story in Environmental Protection.

Consumer interest in buying green environmentally friendly products and healthy organic food remains high despite the tough economy and rising food and energy prices. A recent market research survey released by Mambo Sprouts Marketing showed that consumers are placing a priority on buying green and finding ways to keep doing so.

Read the full story in Environmental Protection.

Monitoring Earth’s rising greenhouse gas levels will require a global data collection network 10 times larger than the one currently in place in order to quantify regional progress in emission reductions, according to a new research commentary by University of Colorado and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers.

Read the press release.

An Arkansas nanotechnology company has been awarded $224,997 from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program to develop a green alternative to fluorescent lighting.

Read the press release.

The Center for Resource Solutions announced today that The Philadelphia Phillies are the first Major League Baseball team to join Green-e Marketplace by purchasing enough Green-e Certified renewable energy to meet 100% of the annual electricity needs for its stadium, Citizens Bank Park. The team purchased 20,000 MWh of Green-e Energy Certified renewable energy certificates from WindStreet Energy. As a member of Green-e Marketplace, The Philadelphia Phillies can now display the Green-e logo to inform consumers that they purchased 100% Green-e Certified renewable energy.

An EPA independent advisory committee, National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology (NACEPT), today released a new report identifying actions that EPA and the investment community can take and partnerships they can create to achieve the goal of greater long-term private sector investment in the commercialization of environmental technologies.

The report, EPA and the Venture Capital Community: Building Bridges to Commercialize Technology, April 2008, is the third in a series of reports by the NACEPT Environmental Technology Subcommittee. The Subcommittee’s other two earlier reports on environmental technology are: EPA Technology Programs: Engaging the Marketplace, and EPA Technology Programs and Intra-Agency Coordination.

NACEPT, a balanced panel of representatives from academia, business and industry, nongovernmental organizations, and state, local and tribal governments, advises the EPA Administrator on a broad range of environmental policy, technology and management issues.

To view all three reports, go to http://www.epa.gov/ocem/nacept/reports/index.html or to http://www.epa.gov/etop

Read the press release.

eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) today announced the opening of an environmentally friendly building on its North Campus in San Jose. It is the first building in San Jose to be built to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold standards for new construction, which is the second-highest LEED rating a building can receive. The building sits on a campus with the largest commercial solar installation in the city.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule further outlining steps that state, local and tribal governments must take to reduce fine particle pollution (PM2.5). The rule describes how to apply the New Source Review (NSR) program at facilities that emit fine particles. EPA’s NSR program requires industrial facilities to obtain permits outlining emissions controls for target air pollutants before they begin construction.

The rule affects areas that do not meet the 1997 PM2.5 standards. Those areas must meet the standards by 2010.

Today’s rule complements the agency’s PM2.5 final implementation rule issued on April 25, 2007, which addresses the non-New Source Review provisions of PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standards. A related rule, proposed on Sept. 21, 2007, would complete the PM2.5 preconstruction review program framework by establishing increments, significant impact levels, and significant monitoring concentrations for EPA’s Prevention of Significant Deterioration program. Together, these three rules will establish the framework for implementing preconstruction permit components of the 1997 PM2.5 air quality standards. For more information on this rule, visit: epa.gov/nsr

Friday, May 9, 2008
http://cms.h2e-online.org/teleconferences/calendar/details/398

1:00 eastern, 12:00 central, 11:00 mountain and 10:00 pacific and will last for 90 minutes.

Note: A subscription is required to access Practice Greenhealth webinars. Visit http://www.h2e-online.org/subscribe/index.htm for more information.

Topic
Case studies of health care projects recently certified under the LEED for New Construction rating system will offer a survey of successful green building strategies and a snapshot of current architectural and engineering design innovations in the health care environment.

Take Home Value (THV)

1. Provide an overview of how a healthcare system’s holistic approach to the health and well-being of its patients, staff, and the environment led to building one of the first LEED Gold-certified healthcare facilities in the country.
2. Demonstrate the importance of an organization’s continuing commitment to achieving those goals through the design and construction process, on-going operations, and routine maintenance practices.
3. Review of the specific design strategies incorporated in the Parrish Healthcare Center.
4. Learn how an effective healthcare facility planning process can ease LEED certification.
5. Learn about a model of collaboration between the hospital owner, designer and construction team that contributes positively to the LEED certification process.

Presenters

• Harvey Anderson, St. Mary’s / Duluth Clinic Health System
• Chris Male, Parrish Medical Center
• Robert Robbins, AIA, LEED AP HKS Architects
• Ken Sidebottom, CEM, LEED AP Johnson Controls

Please note, this webinar will take advantage of updated technology.  Your confirmation email will list the phone number and web address required to access the call.  No visual presentation will be available for download on the site.

To register for the call:
http://cms.h2e-online.org/teleconferences/calendar/details/398

The January-March 2008 WMRC Library Acquisitions List is now available on the Library’s web site.