·:[ Environmental News Bits ]:·
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Read the full opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times.

Americans have by now become inured to China peeling off layers of the U.S. manufacturing base. The Asian giant, though, has never been at the starting gate of a new industry that promised exceptional growth. That’s a natural place for America, we like to think. Indeed, the U.S. booted up the Internet business, fostering phenoms such as Cisco Systems and EBay. Those innovators brought the world online, enriching our national economy.

But with “clean tech” and renewable energy heralded as the next world-changing opportunity — and our ticket out of the Great Recession — the United States is at risk of ceding this strategic terrain.

Read the full story from Reuters.

The U.S. Defense Department, the nation’s single largest consumer of energy, is putting increased focus on cutting its energy consumption and ensuring that future weapons are more energy efficient, the Pentagon’s new chief weapons buyer said on Monday.

Read the full story in the Green Bay Press Gazette.

The Green Bay School District hopes to take advantage of a federal program that would help fund energy efficiency projects in the district.

Read the full story in the Canton Daily Ledger.

Spoon River College has announced a $75,000 grant award from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation to fund an energy savings project at the Macomb campus in partnership with Control Technology and Solutions (CTS) which will design and install energy efficiency improvements.

Read the full story in the Miami Herald.

Pets aren’t polluters. Most keep the same toys for years and gladly eat table scraps. Others are quite content to skip bath time and conserve water.

Caring for pets, however, can impact the environment. Many animal care products are made with toxic or unsustainable materials.

Picking eco-friendly products can help pets avoid polluting.

Read the full story at enews Park Forest.

The Village of Park Forest and the Park Forest Environment Commission have arranged for Upcycle Products to provide rain barrels for $49 each – an extremely reasonable price if you have researched the costs of rain barrels on-line.

Read the full story in the Chicago Tribune.

A southern Indiana couple is putting the finishing touches on a home that’s so energy-efficient they expect their annual energy bills to total only about $650.

David and Carol Gulyas’ home is based on many of the latest concepts in green construction and energy conservation and is similar to what’s known as a German passive home.

Read the full story in the Toronto Star.

You want a more energy-efficient home. But you don’t want to replace your furnace or air conditioning system without knowing what the payback will be.

“Do the simple things first, those that give the biggest bang for the buck,” says Bob Marshall, a professor of sustainable energy building technology at Humber College.

Read the full story in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Philadelphia University was awarded a patent last month for an exterior insulation invented by three professors. A search for a company to make their “Exolation” is under way. In the interest of creating local green jobs, the city hopes to find a local manufacturer.

With its potential for broad application in residential and commercial construction – especially with federal stimulus dollars pouring into every state for weatherization programs – Exolation stands to be a financial boon for Philadelphia.

Read the full story in the New York Times.

Efforts by countries worldwide to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase energy security are in trouble if nothing is done to check the energy gobbled by both information and communication technologies and consumer electronics.

This warning came in a report published yesterday in Paris by the International Energy Agency. The study warns that energy used by computers and consumer electronics will not only double by 2022, but increase threefold by 2030.

Read the full post at ZDNet.

A contest sponsored by an airliner maker is looking for good ideas to make air travel greener. For each passenger mile chalked up air travel is the worst producer of greenhouse gas emissions. Walking barefoot would be the best, of course. So getting greener would be a sweet tnhing for airlines to consider.
European plane maker Airbus has invited student engineers to propose green innovations for commercial air travel.

Read the full story in the New York Times.

House Democrats negotiating a major energy and climate bill have reached a tentative agreement to include a scaled-back renewable power target of 15 percent by 2020, senior lawmakers said yesterday.

Read the full post at Environmental Capital.

“Jevons Paradox” is back, reports The Guardian:

Using energy more efficiently might not be as effective at tackling climate change as people think, according to a new study. A team of economists has shown that so-called “rebound effects”, where efficiency improvements are offset by behaviour changes, such as increasing demands for cheaper energy, could potentially slash future carbon and energy savings by half.
“The green stimulus packages being implemented to tackle the financial crisis in several countries all include investments in energy efficiency,” said [Cambridge researcher Terry] Barker. “They may be a lot less effective at reducing energy use than expected because of the rebound effect, especially in developing countries.”

The Jevons Paradox—the idea that greater efficiency just leads to greater consumption—has been popping up a lot lately in the energy debate. It’s especially prevalent in the debate over more fuel-efficient cars—getting more miles to the gallon might just make people drive more miles.

Read the full story in Environmental Leader.

A new study from Digital Realty Trust Inc., a wholesale datacenter provider, indicates that 73 percent of the survey participants identified energy efficiency as the key aspect of a green datacenter.

Read the full story at EWeek.

Google moved to publicly refute claims that its data centers and products are somehow energy inefficient, posting data on its blog that compares the energy used in a Google search against other everyday electricity-burning activities. Google CEO Eric Schmidt has placed his company at the forefront of the country’s energy debate, arguing that green IT can contribute to lowering the nation’s overall carbon footprint.

Read the full story from Plenty Magazine (via Mother Nature Network).

Q. The other day, after draining a cup of deli coffee, I noticed a message printed on the side saying that it was made from recycled fibers of some kind, corn, I think. The experience left me wondering: What (if anything) has the fast-food industry been doing to make the zillion tons of “disposable” waste they generate slightly more sustainable? —Taryn, Arizona

Read the full story in the Daily Green.

Real estate can see a new era coming in the green revolution. It is no longer business as usual. Years ago, all professions in real estate were forced to become part of the information age, a new information revolution. Fifteen or so years ago, in many areas hard copy paper descriptions of homes for sale and lease and commercial properties were hand delivered. When the information highway came about, computers delivered property information and allowed people to access public records and tax information, providing up-to-date statistical property reports.

We now look to the next 20 or so years from a real estate standpoint. In an age where values are declining, it is time to know why green can cause a major shift in a buyer’s decision. A selling price is and always has been what a buyer is willing to pay. Well, thanks to the media — through newspapers, websites and TV, especially HGTV and other stations — education for consumers is being offered. The days of accepting the risks of unhealthy indoor air quality are becoming fewer as consumers become educated.

Read the full story in the Miami Herald.

Commuting to work can be a miserable experience. Bus and train riders deal with delays, crowding and bizarre passengers. Drivers deal with gas prices and infuriating traffic.

Just because commuting is painful doesn’t mean the environment also has to suffer. There are little ways that mass transit commuters can make the trip to work even more green.