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 TwitterRead the full story at GreenBiz.
Gil Friend, president and CEO of the consulting firm Natural Logic, is a veteran of the green business scene, dating back nearly 40 years, to his involvement in Buckminster Fuller’s “World Game.” He recently spoke with GreenBiz.com executive editor Joel Makower on the occasion of the publication of Friend’s new book, The Truth About Green Business.
Read the full story at GreenBiz.com.
AMF Bowling is showing that saving energy can be easier than picking up a 7-10 split: this summer, bowling alleys across the country will be undergoing energy efficiency retrofits with the help of Lime Energy.
So far, AMF and Lime Energy have completed retrofits of 43 bowling alleys, starting with sites in Texas, California, New York, Florida, Michigan, Oregon and Washington state. When the project is completed this fall, a total of 286 locations will receive energy efficient overhauls.
Read the full story at GreenerBuildings.
First it was Bing vs. Google, now it’s Hohm vs. Power Meter.
Microsoft today launched Hohm, its still-in-beta (and as-yet-unavailable) home energy-management application.
The idea behind Hohm is to take advantage of growing investment in smart grid technologies to supply detailed data about the energy used by the appliances in your home (as well as the overall energy used in your home), as a way of spurring awareness and reductions in consumer energy use.
Read the full story at GreenerBuildings.
Random House and the Hearst Corporation have found that serving up a menu based on green dining practices can save their companies thousands of dollars while cutting down on waste and pollution.
Company dining rooms at New York offices for the firms were the test sites for a comprehensive set of Green Dining Best Practices devised by the Environmental Defense Fund and food service firm Restaurant Associates. EDF and the food service firm released the guidelines yesterday.
Read the full story at GreenBiz.
The Canadian government will reward some pulp and paper producers for making their operations more environmentally friendly.
But the $1 billion Pulp and Paper Green Transformation Program also attempts to level the playing field between Canada’s pulp and paper industry and its U.S. competitors.
Read the full story at ClimateBiz.
[Editor's note: This is the first in a series of blogs from the 2009 Climate Corps fellows. The program, from partners Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Net Impact, pairs MBA students with companies to identify energy efficiency opportunities and develop actionable strategies that help host companies reduce costs, energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.]
I’ve almost finished my first month working as a sustainability analyst for SunGard in Philadelphia…
One challenge I’ve encountered is deciphering the utility bills from PECO, the local utility. There are a few nuances to the billing structure that have taken more than one conversation with SunGard facilities managers and PECO account managers to understand.
Read the full post at Green Tech.
Will a better aesthetic tempt more people into going solar? SRS Energy is betting on it.
The company has partnered with US Tile, a leading manufacturer of Spanish, slate, and shake roof tiles, to design solar panels with the exact same shapes as their clay counterparts.
The result is solar tiles that can be seamlessly integrated with the terra-cotta tiles on your roof. Instead of the solar panels being on your roof, your solar panels are the roof. Instead of consumers going solar as aftermarket adaptation, the Philadelphia-based company hopes that solar will become part of the architecture and building of residences and commercial properties.
Read the full post at Treehugger.
Data on biofuel test flights than took place nearly six months ago (Continental Airlines’ flight took place in January and JAL’s a bit more recently) is resurfacing at the Paris Air Show.
The gist of it is something that has been repeatedly highlighted in the intervening months, that biofuels perform as well or slightly better than fossil fuels in jet engines, with Continental saying that their biofuel blend increased fuel efficiency by 1.1%. But that doesn’t mean that we’re really much closer to wide-scale use.
Read the full story from the Associated Press.
One contributor to global warming — bigger than coal mines, landfills and sewage treatment plants — is being left out of efforts by the Obama administration and House Democrats to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
Cow burps.
Belching from the nation’s 170 million cattle, sheep and pigs produces about one-quarter of the methane released in the U.S. each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. That makes the hoofed critters the largest source of the heat-trapping gas.
In part because of an adept farm lobby campaign that equates government regulation with a cow tax, the gas that farm animals pass is exempt from legislation being considered by Congress to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
Read the full story from NPR.
There’s one piece of America’s climate-change strategy that’s coming increasingly under fire: biofuels. Just a couple of years ago, ethanol and biodiesel were celebrated as homegrown alternatives to foreign oil. But now, not so much. Policymakers are starting to pay attention to long-standing criticisms of crop-based fuels, and even green-minded cities like Seattle are backing away.
Updated Science Tracer Bullet on Environmental Science Projects from the Library of Congress.
This guide provides sources to assist middle school students and teachers in planning, preparing, and executing environmental science fair projects and updates Environmental Science Projects (TB 97-6). Sources in other areas of science are listed in Science Fair Projects (LC Science Tracer Bullet 07-6). More specialized titles are listed in Space Science Projects (LC Science Tracer Bullet 06-3) and Science Projects in Biology (LC Science Tracer Bullet 93-6). Not intended to be a comprehensive bibliography, this guide is designed–as the name of the series implies–to put the reader “on target.”
Via ResourceShelf.
From the Web Site:
PBS Teachers is PBS’ national web destination for high-quality preK-12 educational resources. Here you’ll find classroom materials suitable for a wide range of subjects and grade levels. We provide thousands of lesson plans, teaching activities, on-demand video assets, and interactive games and simulations. These resources are correlated to state and national educational standards and are tied to PBS’ award-winning on-air and online programming like NOVA, Nature, Cyberchase, Between the Lions and more.
PBS Teachers is also the gateway for local resources and services offered by your local PBS station. By localizing this website to your local PBS station, you gain access to educational resources, programs, TV schedules and more.
See Also: PBS TeacherLine
Professional development for PreK-12 educators. A service of PBS Teachers.
Source: Public Broadcasting Service (via E-Mail Post)
Read the full story at How Stuff Works.
It’s easy to get bystander syndrome about the environment and imagine someone else will “take care of it.” But the truth of the matter is, if the citizens of Earth don’t start taking care of the planet today, it might be too late to take care of it in the future. Imagine an old house in the country that’s been abandoned by early pioneers. Without anyone to maintain the structure, it eventually collapses in on itself. If humans continue to neglect their home, millions of species could die, droughts can get worse and the Arctic Ocean could become iceless [source: An Inconvenient Truth].
You can do your part by volunteering to help the environment. Plenty of organizations exist that will allow you to help in big or small ways. And if you can’t find one that seems like a good fit, you could start a group of your own. In this article, we’ll take a look at both of these options. Read on to get green.
Use this calculator from MyHomeIdeas to determine how much paint you’ll need before you begin your project. It will save you money and the hassle of figuring out what to do with leftovers.
Read the full post at Planet Green.
People are just so gosh-darn proud of their lawns. Lawn-lovers are often seen cavorting about on their grass, mowing it, weeding it, measuring it. That’s cool. A lawn is the public face of the home. Therefore, those who would like to impress their neighbors may do it via their immaculate and super-kempt lawn.
There is nothing wrong with yearning for lawn-perfection. However, those who long for impeccable lawns may take to bagging up their grass clippings and sending them off to the old landfill. That is not cool.
Watch the video at WhiteHouse.gov.
Van Jones, Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, hosted a live chat yesterday to discuss green jobs. He took questions through Facebook, as well as WhiteHouse.gov. If you haven’t checked out our new Facebook application, this video will show you how productive and intriguing these live discussions can be. Join us next time, and let your comments and questions be heard.
Read the full story from WWJ.
A new wind energy trade group was born late Saturday afternoon at the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association’s Michgian Energy Fair.
The Michigan chapter of Women of Wind Energy will likely begin holding monthly meetings later this year based on the interest of about 20 women who showed up for a 4 p.m. organizational meeting at the Manistee County Fairgrounds in Onekama.
Read the full post at the Green Office Blog.
This post is devoted to some great green ideas I’ve come across recently, some of which can be useful to your office or home and others that provide some inspiration for just how easy it can be to go green if you just put your mind to it and get creative.
Read the full post at ElephantJournal.com.
The placing of recyclable materials into recycling bins is only one component of the bigger picture. A vast disparity exists between the tonnage collected for the purpose of recycling and the tonnage of materials actually making it back into material used to make new, environmentally responsible product. What doesn’t make it back into new product composition, more than likely ends up in your local landfill or in a waste to energy (WTE) incinerator facility, neither contributing to creation of a sustainable planet for future generations.
How can we change? Oddly enough, look at our government. Change always happens slowly because of psychological inertia that slows the adoption of even obvious benefits. Government is important for facilitating the speed necessary and desirable changes — using its own buying power, setting an example, setting regulations, and providing tax incentives or subsidies. Government can, should, and will be a growing change agent for sustainable practices.
Read the full story in Environmental Protection.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. and U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan have teamed up to help improve access to affordable housing, more transportation options, and lower transportation costs while protecting the environment through the Partnership for Sustainable Communities.
Radisson(R) Hotels & Resorts today announced the opening of the Radisson Plaza Mississauga Toronto Airport, a USD 24 million, 100-room, all-suite hotel located at 175 Derry Road East in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. The hotel was recently recognized with a Four Key rating by the Eco Rating program from the Hotel Association of Canada as a hotel that has taken significant steps to protect the environment.
Read the full story at Hotelier.com.
Nanotechnology has a vital role to play in making hotels more sustainable, according to Claude Bérubé, design advisor to Sheikh Khaled Al Qassimi, director general of Sharjah Public Works.
Via WordSpy. Visit the WordSpy for citation and usage information.
n. An event where people support an environmentally-friendly store by gathering en masse to purchase the store’s products. Also: carrot mob.
—carrotmobber n.
—carrotmobbing pp.
Read the full story at How Stuff Works.
The intent of the Kyoto Protocol was to curb greenhouse gas emissions and thereby hopefully avert this disaster. It aimed for a combined effort that would bring emissions down to 5 percent below what they were in 1990. Of the nearly 200 nations that signed, only the 37 “developed” nations took on emissions-reduction goals; developing nations were given a pass so that environmental concerns didn’t interfere with their economic development. Instead, those nations were supposed to host projects that would further the emissions goals — projects paid for by the developed countries.
Of the 37 developed nations, one never ratified it. Ratification makes a country legally bound to the commitment it made when it signed the document. That one country is the United States, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. But many countries that did make commitments are failing to live up to them.
In this article, we’ll find out why Kyoto has so far failed in its purpose, and see what type of changes might make the next agreement (which will take effect when Kyoto expires in 2012) more successful.
Read the full story in the New York Times.
Two brothers plan to return a muddy river in northern Louisiana to its ancient floodplain by removing miles of levees.
Technology Transfer: Clearer Priorities and Greater Use of Innovative Approaches Could Increase the Effectiveness of Technology Transfer at Department of Energy Laboratories. GAO-09-548, June 16.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-548
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09548high.pdf
Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellites: With Costs Increasing and Data Continuity at Risk, Improvements Needed in Tri-agency Decision Making. GAO-09-564, June 17.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-564
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09564high.pdf
Polar-Orbiting Satellites: With Costs Increasing and Data Continuity at Risk, Improvements Needed in Tri-agency Decision Making, by David A. Powner, director, information technology management issues, before the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, House Committee on Science and Technology. GAO-09-772T, June 17.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-772T
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09772thigh.pdf
Did you know that a typical U.S. household spends about $2,200 a year on energy bills? EPA’s ENERGY STAR program offers a variety of tools and resources that can help utilities, state energy offices, local and tribal governments, and efficiency program sponsors educate consumers about how to reduce their energy bills through increased energy efficiency at home. ENERGY STAR tools and resources educate consumers about energy efficiency options — whether they are “do-it-yourselfers” or choose to hire a qualified professional.
- The Home Energy Yardstick tool allows homeowners to compare their energy use to others’ across the country to help them decide whether to improve the efficiency of their home. Users can learn how their home stacks up at http://www.energystar.gov/yardstick. Utilities, state energy offices, efficiency program sponsors, and others can embed the Yardstick into their own website by following the instructions at http://www.energystar.gov/ia/home_improvement/downloads/Home_Energy_Yardstick_Instructions.pdf.
- The Guide to Energy Efficient Heating and Cooling gives homeowners in-depth recommendations that can help them save on their utility bills. Users can access the guide at http://www.energystar.gov/hvacguide to start saving.
- The Home Advisor tool helps homeowners get specific recommendations on home improvement projects to increase energy efficiency. Users can go to http://www.energystar.gov/homeadvisor for more information.
- In typical houses, about 20 percent of the air that moves through ducts is lost due to leaks, holes, and poor connections. ENERGY STAR’s Duct Sealing Brochure helps homeowners improve duct performance in simple steps. The brochure is available at http://www.energystar.gov/ia/products/heat_cool/ducts/DuctSealingBrochure04.pdf.
- The Heating and Cooling Quiz asks homeowners five basic questions about their HVAC system to see if it is being properly maintained. The quiz is available at http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=hvac_quiz.showQuestions and can be hosted on your own website by following the instructions at http://www.energystar.gov/ia/home_improvement/downloads/Heating_Cooling_Quiz_Instructions.pdf.
- Home Performance with ENERGY STAR offers a new strategy to home improvement contracting that encourages whole-house energy improvements in existing homes that typically save homeowners 20 percent or more on their energy bills. The site is available at http://www.energystar.gov/hpwessponsors.
- The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Sealing and Insulating with ENERGY STAR offers homeowners step-by-step instructions for sealing common air leaks and adding insulation to the attic to improve energy efficiency and comfort. This guide is available at http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=diy.diy_index.
Hard copies of the brochures and guides listed above may be ordered at http://www.energystar.gov/publications.
Via The Scout Report.
Sure enough, there is a good deal of “waste” online, so it’s nice to learn about the Waste Online website which serves as a great repository for information about an entirely different set of waste-related matters. This British-based website has been funded by the New Opportunities Fund Digitise project. The project is overseen by Waste Watch, which is “the leading environmental charity dedicated to the reduction, reuse and recycling of household waste.” First-time visitors can get started by clicking on “Wacky waste facts”, which contains some basic facts about the nature of waste in the United Kingdom. In the same vicinity, visitors can dig deeper by looking into sections titled “The problem with waste”, “Waste in the workplace”, and “Waste at home”. Moving on, the “Search our library” area allows guests to
the site to look for specific items of interest related to dozens of topics, such as household recycling, office recycling, and metal recycling. Moving along, the “Information Sheets” area features almost two dozen fact sheets that can be used as guides to composting, battery recycling, and the history of waste.
Via The Scout Report.
Design for a Living World [Flash Player]
The Nature Conservancy commissioned high-profile designers such as Isaac Mizrahi, Kate Spade, and others to produce textiles, furniture, jewelry, handbags, and decorative objects that were sustainable and used materials and methods from local craftspeople around the world. Some of the innovative designs, found at the top of the page in the “Project” tab, include FSC-Certified Plywood Furniture”, “Chicle Latex Vases”, and “Bamboo Furniture”. The materials used for the projects can be found under the “Place” tab, and include such varied locations as Gondwana Link, Australia; Lava Lake Ranch, Idaho; and Santa Cruz, Bolivia. The website is well designed, and the user can view the projects by designer, project, or the place the materials originated. Once the user has chosen a mode of viewing,
a slideshow and accompanying description of either the place, designer, or project will appear on the screen. At the top of the screen are available links to the complementary methods of viewing these materials, either buying the book or visiting the exhibition in person.
The ISTC Library is now tweeting. Follow us at http://twitter.com/ISTCLibrary.
This award recognizes outstanding student research that advances the field of campus sustainability. Students are invited to submit research papers on campus sustainability of any length. The winning paper or papers will receive priority review for possible publication in Sustainability: The Journal of Record. Longer papers will be edited to meet the Journal’s length standards. The awards will be presented at the Greening of the Campus VIII Conference (Sept. 20-23 in Indianapolis, IN).
Examples of research topics that could merit an award include:
Applicants may submit as many papers as they wish. AASHE will post eligible submissions on its website to help build the field of campus sustainability.
Eligibility: Any undergraduate or graduate student currently enrolled at a US or Canadian institution of higher education who has written a paper on campus sustainability is eligible for this award. Groups of students who have written papers on campus sustainability are also eligible for this award. Papers that have been previously published, are in a language other than English, or were not completed within the 12-months prior to the application deadline are not eligible for this award.
To apply for a 2009 Award for Student Research on Campus Sustainability, complete the online application form by July 1, 2009. Applicants will receive notice of the award decisions by late August.
Previous Student Research on Campus Sustainability Award Winners
Ryan Graunke, University of Florida (2008)
This resource, developed by AASHE, contains links to information about sustainable landscaping practices, policies, and plans.
Carolyn Adams, program coordinator for the Humanities Research Center, was among the those who took advantage of Rice’s first “free”-cycling event, held at Rice Memorial Center’s Grand Hall May 21. Departments dropped off their excess or unused office supplies in the morning, and in the afternoon those items that had been one department’s surplus became another’s provisions — for free.
Thirty-six tables were filled with various office supplies, including an abundance of binders, which proved to be a popular item. “At the end of the day, we had nine binders left out of several hundred,” said Ute Franklin, manager of Delivery Services.
Items that were not claimed by the end of the event were slated for donation to a charitable organization.
A group of Virginia Tech students have produced more than 200 gallons of biodiesel as part of a senior design project for the department of mechanical engineering. The Virginia Tech Bio-Fuels group (http://www.vtbiofuels.com/) is putting the fuel to direct use, running two pickup trucks on the liquid in a bid to not only stave off the use of foreign-bought oil but also to be environmentally friendly.
The next time you see an Oberlin College grounds person mowing the lawn you may pick up the whiff of fried foods emanating from the tractor instead of diesel exhaust. That is because veggie-oil powered lawn mowing has come to campus.
The brainchild of Oberlin Grounds Services Manager Dennis Greive and his crew, the changeover was implemented by Sam Merrett of Full Circle Fuels, who converted the vehicle to run on 100% waste vegetable oil from campus dining halls. Greive believes it is one of the first such conversions by institutions of higher learning in the country.
Vice-chancellors and presidents from Universitas 21, the international network of 21 research-intensive universities in 14 countries, on Friday signed a statement on sustainability at their annual meeting held in Seoul, South Korea. The statement emphasises the important role universities play in facing the challenges of climate change, the decline of biodiversity, the need for energy, food and water security, and of economic sustainability and of human health.
Students in a Technology Clinic class are working with Easton’s West Ward Neighborhood Partnership on issues concerning the management of surface water runoff.
Tech Clinic is a hands-on course founded in 1986 that brings together students from different majors to help solve real-world problems of a business, nonprofit organization, or government body. This project is a continuation of a previous Tech Clinic’s efforts in the West Ward to improve the neighborhood’s urban ecology, which concerns interactions between people and nature in city environments.
Alabama State University’s science program is leading the way in a model energy conservation program that will advance the study of biodiesel fuels, allow students to study conservation methods, and help make the Earth a “greener” place to live.
ASU, the Montgomery Public Schools (MPS) and the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries (ADAI) have announced a three-way partnership to establish a “Save the Environment” program, which will produce biodiesel fuel from recycled cooking oils for use in MPS buses and other equipment they use.
The scientific portion of the program will be administered by Alabama State University.
Read the full story from Inside Higher Ed.
Signatories of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment publicly pledge to take a series of concrete steps “in pursuit of climate neutrality.” The biggest deadline is yet to come: Climate action plans, which are to outline an institutional strategy for achieving climate neutrality and include a target date, are due for the charter signatories by September 15. Colleges can set their own timelines for achieving climate neutrality, but are (voluntarily) bound to set reporting deadlines along the way.
So far, the early signatories have had to submit an implementation profile identifying the “tangible actions” with which they’ll begin, and a baseline inventory of their current greenhouse gas emissions. Participating colleges submit to public accountability and scrutiny of their progress: In that spirit, 78 percent are meeting their reporting deadlines and are considered “in good standing,” according to the recently-released annual report. Another 22 percent are not. (The reporting system is available online.)
Read the full story from the Associated Press.
River views, granite countertops, stainless-steel appliances, 9-foot ceilings. This is student housing?
When classes start this fall — if all goes as planned — some 300 students at Johnson & Wales University will be living in Capitol Cove, an upscale condominium project that had been languishing on the market for more than six months.
Read the full story in the Christian Science Monitor.
From kindergarten to college, school cafeterias become ecofriendly by banishing trays, growing veggies, and composting waste.
Read the full story in the New York Times.
A new oath to be taken by graduates of Harvard Business School next week says, in effect, that greed is not good.
Beginning in June 2010, Kresge will only award capital challenge grants to colleges and universities building environmentally sustainable facilities.
Read the full story in the New York Times.
The 1970s-era modernist building in Chicago will undergo a $350 million green retrofit, which includes the installation of wind turbines on its roof.
NetDMR is a national tool for regulated Clean Water Act permittees to submit discharge monitoring reports (DMRs) electronically via a secure Internet application to U.S. EPA through the Environmental Information Exchange Network. NetDMR allows participants to discontinue mailing in hard copy forms under 40 CFR 122.41 and 403.12.
NetDMR is now available to EPA Regions and select States, Tribes, and Territories. EPA Regions and States that are currently utilizing NetDMR include: Region 1 (New Hampshire and Massachusetts), Region 3 (District of Columbia), Region 6 (Gulf of Mexico), Utah, and Louisiana. Additional States, Tribes, and Territories may adopt Network Discharge Monitoring Report (NetDMR) and enable their regulated NPDES facilities to begin utilizing the electronic reporting tool.
Built on previous efforts to create electronic discharge monitoring reports (eDMRs), NetDMR was developed under an EPA grant by a consortium of states coordinated by the Environmental Council of States (ECOS) and led by Texas. NetDMR provides a generic, open-standards-based, CROMERR-approved eDMR system. The application can be implemented by the U.S. EPA, by a state, or by any other organization with the authority to accept DMRs.
For more information visit:
Continuing its commitment to provide more certification options for its customers, International Paper (NYSE: IP) today announced the expansion of its Forest Stewardship Council(R) (FSC(R)) Chain-of-Custody certification to include a majority of its U.S. pulp and paper mills and a number of converting facilities across its businesses. The increase establishes the company as having the largest FSC manufacturing platform across the globe.
Read the full post at Cybertration.
Considering introducing solar power into your home? Well, if so, you’ll be pleased to hear that I have gathered together some information so you can get a good idea of how much it will cost and exactly what the scale of the job is.
The new Climate Change, Wildlife and Wildlands Toolkit for Formal and Informal Educators is an updated and expanded version of Climate Change, Wildlife and Wildlands Toolkit for Teachers and Interpreters, first published in 2001.
The new kit is designed for classroom teachers and informal educators in parks, refuges, forest lands, nature centers, zoos, aquariums, science centers, etc., and is aimed at the middle school grade level. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in partnership with six other federal agencies (National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, USDA/Forest Service, U.S. Geological Survey, Bureau of Land Management), developed the kit to aid educators in teaching how climate change is affecting our nation’s wildlife and public lands, and how everyone can become “climate stewards.”
Read the full story from Renewable Energy Magazine.
The European Environmental Agency (EEA) has published a technical report entitled “Europe’s onshore and offshore wind energy potential: An assessment of environmental and economic constraints”, in which it estimates that wind power could cover the continent’s energy demand 20 times over in 2020, with total annual production amounting to 70,000 TWh.
Read the full story at NPR.
Promoting responses to global warming as an economic opportunity — rather than as a pollution problem that needs to be solved through regulation — has long been championed by a tiny think tank in Oakland, Calif.
Hat tip to Thomas Vinson-Peng for the link.
