·:[ Environmental News Bits ]:·
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Read 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.

Direct to PBS Teachers

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.