Live Green Live Smart

There is green construction and then there is really green construction

tim_barsness — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:36:00 GMT

The Live Green, Live Smart Institute has announced that is has received the coveted Outstanding Custom Project Award from the US Green Building Council®(USGBC) for the highest rating home in the history of the LEED for Homes ® program.

The project referred to as The Sustainable House® was a comprehensive, residential construction, research project conceived and managed by the Live Green, Live Smart Institute. The house, a 1948 rambler, located in Minnetonka, Minnesota was planned and remodeled by 7 teams of 278 individuals over a period of two years. The house features a broad variety of sustainable energy systems, water saving devices, incorporates significant reuse of materials and has had extensive landscaping to demonstrate effective land management techniques.

The home received a platinum level rating of 121 points making it the first platinum remodel and gaining the highest score in the history of the LEED for Homes® program. The house is also the highest scoring home for Minnesota GreenStar and attained the top performance rating of Gold with 633 points. The house also is an Energy Star® Home with a HERS rating of 31.

According to the Institute’s Information Office: To date the home has had over 6,500 individuals tour it, be educated in it and it has been the subject of numerous TV shows, books, short films, magazine articles and has had extensive coverage on the Internet. A family of 3 who are tracking a variety of data for the Institute is currently living in the home. In a joint venture the Institute completed a second remodeled home in Minneapolis in the fall of 2008 and plans a third test home for late 2009 or early 2010.

Peter Lytle, Executive Director and founder of the Live Green, Live Smart Institute said in a statement to the press: “ We are very pleased to be honored by the USGBC for this award. The project was conceived to test the rating systems of several certification programs, to see if they actually performed as advertised. I am happy to say if you build to the higher standards of all these programs the homes will perform, as everyone believes. We have watched this home for almost one year and it is definitively saving energy, resources and has created a strong harmony with the surrounding environment as the USGBC, GreenStar and Energy Star® have promoted.”

Live Green, Live Smart Institute ® is a Minnesota-based organization dedicated to promoting a sustainable planet through education, primary research, linking of resources, and fostering a global, green community. The organization is formed for the benefit of those individuals concerned about the impact their housing, transportation and lifestyle choices have on the environment.

For more information: Visit our on-line Press Kit and Press Room and the Sections called Primary Research / The Sustainable House: http://livegreenlivesmart.org on the Live Green, Live Smart website. Viewers can also take an interactive tour on-line at: http://livegreenlivesmart.org/shelter/sustainable_house/interior.aspx

U.S. national parks still marred by Bush legacy

tim_barsness — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 19:36:00 GMT

Years of Bush administration policies pushing commerce over conservation have sapped much of the US national park system, reports Julie Cart of the Los Angeles Times.

Many of the country’s most scenic views remain threatened by the industrial roads and drilling platforms of looming energy projects placed near or within the borders of supposedly protected public lands.

Using the authority of the Bureau of Land Management, administration officials bullied through project after project, such as an approved uranium mine two miles from a Grand Canyon visitors center, or the auctioning off of oil and gas leases on 360,000 acres of public land in Utah.

Some of the Bush policies are easily reversible, like the controversial last-minute environmental rule changes immediately suspended by President Barack Obama upon entering office. Others are not (see: exploration and drilling leases).

Some park service veterans have said it could take decades undo the damage that has been done.

“The agency has been demoralized; the employees of the National Park Service have been beaten down,” said Bill Wade, former superintendent at Shenandoah National Park and co-founder of a park service retirees group that has been critical of the Bush administration.

Former park service director Roger Kennedy is more hopeful.

“If we get lucky and we have a good strong National Park Service director, a lot of this can be reversed quite quickly,” said Kennedy, currently director emeritus of the National Museum of American History.

In related news, Obama appointee and new Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar promised Friday to bring back “high ethical standards” to the scandal-plagued department, which oversees both the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management, reports Environment News Service.

EPA delays approval of proposed South Dakota coal-fired power plant

tim_barsness — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 21:48:00 GMT

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday temporarily pulled the plug on a planned South Dakota coal-fired power plant, citing conflicts with the Clean Air Act, Minnesota Public Radio’s Mark Steil reports.

The agency has filed several objections, via letter, to an air quality permit granted last November by the South Dakota Board of Minerals and Environment for the proposed plant, known as Big Stone II.

Estimated to cost $1.6 billion, the new facility would supply between 500 and 580 megawatts of electricity to 400,000 homes throughout Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Iowa.

"We identified three key issues of the state's title five permit that we determined were not consistent with the requirements of the Clean Air Act," said the EPA’s Carl Daly, regional air permitting unit chief for the agency’s Denver office.

The EPA’s objections include the output limits the permit allows for the chemicals sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide – both contribute to acid rain – and whether proper controls exist to monitor the plant’s overall emissions.

South Dakota regulators and plant officials have 90 days make the required changes. Daly said he doesn’t expect that to be a problem.

Environmental groups opposed to Big Stone II applauded the EPA’s decision, and said they intend to keep fighting the proposed coal plant, which they argue will each year emit as much carbon dioxide as hundreds of thousands of cars.

Coal’s environmental impact has been under increased scrutiny recently; particularly after an accident last month at an eastern Tennessee plant dumped 500 million gallons of toxic coal-ash across hundreds of acres of surrounding river valley.

More than 1,300 similar dumps – each filled with hazardous heavy metals like arsenic, lead and mercury – exist across the country, unregulated and unmonitored, writes Shaila Dewan of The New York Times.

In Minnesota, the Tennessee disaster prompted the promise of renewed inspections by state engineers of three prominent coal-ash dikes, each 18 to 50 feet high, according to the Star Tribune’s David Shaffer.

GreenNews RoundUp - Jan. 5, 2009

tim_barsness — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:17:00 GMT

Welcome to the GreenNews RoundUp, a quick recap of some of the week’s top environmental stories.

Chesapeake Bay Foundation soaks EPA with Clean Water Citizens’ suit
After years of failed efforts to clean up Chesapeake Bay, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, along with several local politicians, has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, claiming the agency has violated the Clean Water Act.

The Washington Post reports that for years the administrators responsible for the bay failed to clean it up, all the while submitting false reports overstating their progress.

China plans to build world’s largest solar power plant
Two Chinese companies announced plans Friday to construct the largest solar project on the planet. Once completed, the plant is expected to be able to generate 1 gigawatt (1,000 megawatts) of electricity, nearly twice the amount of the next largest project, a proposed 550-megawatt facility in California. One megawatt of energy is enough to power roughly 1,000 homes.

Scientists say they expect global temperature to rise in 2009
British climate researchers are predicting this year to be one of the top-five warmest years on record, with the average global temperature expected to be more than 0.4 degrees Celsius higher than the planet’s long-term average.

In other climate news, the BBC reports that global warming has reduced the growth of the Australian Great Barrier Reef to its slowest rate in 400 years.

On a brighter note, British scientists have discovered huge algae blooms off the coast of Antarctica that could be capable of absorbing massive amounts of carbon dioxide, according to the Daily Mail. Ironically, the blooms are created as a result of iron released into the southern Ocean by melting icebergs.

Bush administration pushes two more last-minute environmental law changes
The Bush administration has proposed two new eleventh-hour environmental policy changes before leaving office: The Interior Department has decided to double the rate of logging in Oregon’s federal forests, while the U.S. Forest Service plans to ease restrictions currently blocking developers from converting mountain forests into housing subdivisions.

Indiana Department of Environmental Management stops issuing fines
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management has stopped imposing fines on state agencies that violate their environmental permits, to the ire of local environmentalists. The department has replaced the fines with toothless legal settlements, which carry no threat of penalties of any kind should an agency fail to comply.

Jumbo jet flies on fuel from vegetable oil

tim_barsness — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 22:12:00 GMT

It appears automakers aren’t the only ones interested in flex-fuel vehicles these days.

A Boeing 747 partly powered by vegetable oil performed a successful two-hour test flight on Tuesday, the BBC reports.

Heralded as a technological and ecological “milestone,” the Air New Zealand flight was reportedly the first time a second-generation biofuel – in this case jatropha plant oil – was used in a passenger plane.

Second-generation biofuels can be created using a wide variety of plants, and are generally considered cleaner than traditional biofuels, such as ethanol.

In February 2008, British airline Virgin Atlantic tested fuel in one of its jets that was derived from a blend of Brazilian babassu nuts and coconuts. Continental plans to try out its own biofuel blend in a Boeing 737 on Jan. 7 in Houston.

The International Air Transport Association has set a goal for one-tenth of aviation fuel to come from biofuels by 2017.

Some scientists are concerned, however, that widespread adoption of biofuels could cause environmental and economic harm via increased deforestation and diversion of crops from food to energy use, according to The New York Times.

Jatropha is particularly problematic, Reuters reports, because it can be toxic and yields are unreliable.

Best year-end green news reviews of 2008

tim_barsness — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 20:56:00 GMT

If you’ve picked up you’re local newspaper any time this past week, chances are you’ve seen it. The year-end review.

Every year, without fail, news organizations across the country do it. Like many people do, they look back at the days gone by and reflect on big happenings and important events.

And then they rank them, in “Best Of” and “Top 10” lists. The environmental news sector is no exception. So, as a farewell to the year 2008, here is a list of the best of this year’s green news year-end reviews.

10. We kick off our countdown with a trio of “Top Green Stories of 2008” topic reviews from GreenBiz.com, starting with Jonathan Bardelline’s take on the year’s best design articles.

9. Leslie Guevarra follows that up with some of the best green building stories of ’08.

8. Tilde Herrera then taps into the year’s top themes in business and climate change.

7. Next, green-tech trends take the stage as InfoWorld’s Ted Samson comments on which new 2008 ideas he thinks will stick around for 2009.

6. Even though in many ways 2008 was the year of blending business and sustainability, it can sometimes be a tough sell convincing others of how well the two concepts complement one other. To help, John Marshall Roberts, strategic communications consultant at Evenson Design Group, a sustainable brand and design firm, has offered six simple principles how sustainability is good for business.

5. A new study by Edmunds.com enlightens on the 10 cheapest vehicles to drive in ’09 (and not one is a hybrid).

4.C-NET’s Martin LaMonica assesses how the green-tech industry fared this past year – it’s ups, and it’s downs. Not to be remiss, he also prognosticates on what is yet to come.

3. A smattering of favorite 2008 environmental articles from the Gristmill’s David Roberts.

2. Jennifer Runyon, of RenewableEnergyWorld.com, touches on some of the most-read energy and tech stories to break last year.

1. And the top spot unquestionably goes to Plenty Magazine’s Ben Whitford, whose exhaustive month-by-month review of all things green in 2008 is frankly the most complete year-end review we’ve ever seen.

GreenNews RoundUp - Dec. 28, 2008

tim_barsness — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 21:36:00 GMT

Introducing the GreenNews RoundUp, a quick recap of some of the week’s top environmentally themed stories.

Tennessee homes, waterways flooded by coal plant’s deluge of toxic sludge
The debate over coal energy’s environmental costs continues after an estimated 500 million gallons of toxic coal-ash burst through an earthen dam Monday at a plant in eastern Tennessee, flooding hundreds of acres and swamping a dozen nearby homes in up to six feet of poisonous sludge. Federal authorities say cleanup could take weeks, or even years. See video of the massive spill here, as well as articles by the Associated Press and the Knoxville Sentinel News.

Beverly Hills doctor fueled SUV with fat from patients
Before falling under investigation by California’s public health department, a Los Angeles plastic surgeon turned the extra blubber taken off his clients into biodiesel for his vehicle, writes Peter Beller of Forbes magazine.

Ford previews spring debut of fuel-efficient Fusion hybrid
Still battling with possible bankruptcy, a not-yet-bailed-out Ford Motor Company hopes to earn favorable "street cred" as it announced the planned spring arrival of the Fusion hybrid, which once in production will be the most fuel-efficient midsize sedan on the market and the second stingiest gas-sipper on the road (behind the Toyota Prius).

Scientists suggest reflecting sun’s rays to help stave off climate change
Skeptical that current efforts to cut greenhouse-gas emissions will be substantial enough soon enough to significantly curb climate change, a pair of international scientists are proposing a radical plan to quickly and cheaply reverse global warming: deflect some of the sun’s heat by covering parts of the world’s deserts with reflective sheeting.

Winter season slows down renewable energy production
Yet another reason to complain about the winter season – as a time of year, it’s not too friendly to renewable energy. Lack of sunlight stymies solar power, while cold temps can cause biodiesel to congeal and wind turbine blades to ice up.

EPA Chief says CO2 from new coal plants can't be regulated

tim_barsness — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:09:00 GMT

U.S EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson has issued a memorandum declaring carbon dioxide off limits to agency officials reviewing new coal-fired power plant applications, report Matthew L. Wald and Felicity Barringer of The New York Times.

In the 19-page memo, released Thursday, Johnson said:

As of the date of this memorandum, EPA will … exclude pollutants for which EPA regulations only require monitoring or reporting … Since 1993, EPA has had regulations in place requiring monitoring and reporting of carbon dioxide emissions.

The outgoing EPA chief, appointed by President George W. Bush, published the memo in response to a November decision by the EPA Environmental Appeals Board denying the permit for a 110-megawatt coal plant in eastern Utah.

In its verdict, the three-judge panel accepted the argument that because federal law requires that carbon dioxide be monitored, and monitoring is de facto regulation, the impact of a plant’s CO2 output must be measured prior to any permit approval.

Johnson overruled the board with his memo, and directly contradicted the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled last year that the EPA could regulate carbon dioxide.

“It’s a marvel to behold an EPA action that so utterly disdains global warming responsibility and disdains the law at the same time,” said John Walke, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, in a statement. “EPA’s administrator is defying the agency’s own judges, the Clean Air Act, and the course of history that recognizes the urgency in tackling global warming.”

Global recession unlikely to slow greenhouse gas growth

tim_barsness — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:23:00 GMT

Faced with a slowing global economy, individuals and industries in countries worldwide are cutting back. On their spending. On their expectations. Not on their greenhouse gas emissions.

Even with more economic doom and gloom forecast for 2009, the annual 3 percent growth of global emissions is likely to ease only slightly next year, and could increase over the long term because of the downturn’s negative impact on international climate change talks and funding for renewable energy projects, the Guardian’s Adam Vaughan reports.

While Deutsche Bank analysts said this month that Europe and the United States could see emissions in 2009 drop by as much as 10 percent compared to 2007 levels, they don’t expect the cuts to last, with emissions back on the rise by 2010.

And any short-term declines in the U.S. or Europe are also likely to be offset by emission increases from developing world economies, said Abyd Karmali, Merrill Lynch's global head of carbon emissions.

“I don't think we'll see a reduction in emissions,” Karmali said. “We talk about global recession but the truth is economies in places like China and India are still growing.”

New technology has potential to harness cars' kinetic energy

tim_barsness — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:26:00 GMT

The sustained buzz surrounding plug-in hybrid technology remains one of the few bright spots for the auto industry these days, and while way greener than your average gas guzzler, plug-ins aren’t pollution free.

To recharge their batteries, they hook up to the nation’s overwhelmingly coal-powered electrical grid. But what if our cars could produce energy too?

They can, according to Israeli engineering firm Innowattech, developer of technology it claims can harness the energy expelled by any moving vehicle – cars, trains, airplanes – as they ride across any surface, and convert that energy to electricity, writes Daniel A. Begun at HotHardware.com.

Innowattech’s system uses piezoelectric generators, which when stuck under a surface, be it road, rail line or runway, get pressed down by the weight of the vehicles moving over them.

Piezoelectric material converts the energy from that pressure to electricity. The heavier and faster moving the vehicle, the more energy gets transferred to the generator, and the more electricity gets produced.

Innowattech says a 1-mile stretch of piezoelectric roadway could generate 0.5 megawatts (1 megawatt is enough energy to power about 1,000 homes).

Not everyone’s buying in just yet, though. Lloyd Alter of the environmental blog TreeHugger – published by the Discovery Company – calls the technology “highway robbery.”

Here is another great resource for free information

Green Technology by BusinessWeek

Obama announces picks for energy and environment team

tim_barsness — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:23:00 GMT

The rumors first sprouted last week.

President-elect Barack Obama confirmed them Monday when he officially introduced his green team of top energy and environment officials at a press conference in Chicago, CNET’s Martin LaMonica reports.

The team:

–   Steven Chu, a Nobel-Prize winning physicist and director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, was named Secretary of Energy.
–   Lisa P. Jackson, former head of New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection, who has drawn praise and criticism for her time there, has been tapped to serve as the new administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
–   Nancy Sutley, deputy mayor for energy and environment for Los Angeles, was appointed as chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
–   Carol M. Browner, EPA administrator under President Bill Clinton, has been nominated for a new position: assistant to the president for energy and climate change (aka “energy czar”).
–   Still to be formally announced is Obama’s pick for Secretary of the Interior, though unnamed sources say Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) will get the nod, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Obama said his picks show how serious his administration is about supporting clean energy technologies, which will benefit the economy and the environment.

"One of the key points that I want to make at this press conference and I will repeat again and again during the course of my presidency is there is not a contradiction between economic growth and sound environmental practices," the president-elect said.

"I think that the future of innovation and technology is going to be what drives our economy into the future. And the energy economy is going to be part of what creates the millions of jobs we need," he said.

Placing the U.S. economy at the head of the green-tech revolution will be no easy feat, however. And plenty of challenges remain.

To start, the renewable energy industry has been hit hard in recent months by falling oil prices and the growing financial crisis.

Worse, many scientists say time is running out to act on global warming, and tackling climate change today is going to be much tougher than it would have been years ago.

EPA launches most-wanted list for environmental fugitives

tim_barsness — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 17:50:00 GMT

Litterbugs beware.

Taking a page from the FBI’s playbook, the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday debuted its own online most-wanted list for the world’s worst alleged environmental offenders, even as the agency is catching fewer criminals, reports Dina Cappiello of the Associated Press.

Published on the agency’s Web site, the list names the U.S. government’s 23 most sought-after eco-fugitives – complete with mug shots – charged with crimes against nature ranging from smuggling ozone-depleting chemicals to illegal dumping or storing of hazardous waste.

If caught, many people on the list face years in prison and up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.

“They are charged with environmental crimes and they should be brought before the criminal justice system and have their day in court,” said Pete Rosenberg, EPA’s criminal enforcement division director.

Fewer are getting there, however. EPA officials this year opened 319 criminal enforcement cases, compared with 425 in 2004. And the agency charged 176 defendants with environmental crimes in 2008, the fewest in five years.

Going green – good for people, the planet and profits too

tim_barsness — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:52:00 GMT

Once thought to be a drain on a company’s bank account, businesses – even small ones – across the U.S. are proving that in fact it pays to be green, writes Forbes magazine’s Melanie Lindner.

Sure, investing in eco-friendly infrastructure still requires some substantial deposits upfront, but it also yields serious savings and profits long-term.

“The perception is that going green is for rich guys, but it's actually all about saving money and resources,” says Charlie Szoradi, a longtime architect and CEO of the sustainable building Web site GreenandSave.com.

Take Joe Nelesen. Last summer, the Appleton, Wis., Culver’s restaurant franchise owner and businessman dropped $8,000 on a machine that could convert his eatery’s excess vegetable oil into fuel for his SUV and tractors. Nelesen figures he saves a combined $500 a week in diesel fuel and grease-removal costs at the restaurant.

Or there’s New World Stoneworks owner Ken Jackman, who built a pollution-free heating system for his 10,000 square-foot warehouse by capturing steam generated from his water-jet stone-cutting machine, which uses super-heated H2O to carve custom stone chimneys, fireplaces, outdoor kitchens and more.

Jackman said the whole system cost about $8,000, which he recouped in less than a year.

And for businesses that want to condense their carbon footprint but just don’t know how, call your local public utility.

Christine Saunders did, and with some help from her city’s economic development director the Anaheim, Calif., flower shop owner was able to install more energy efficient lighting, air conditioning and a programmable thermostat almost completely on the city’s dime.

Her shop’s new greener profile has bumped up her bottom line roughly $27,000 so far this year.

New environmentalist ad calls “clean coal” a myth, draws industry ire

tim_barsness — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 22:12:00 GMT

Coal industry bigwigs are criticizing a new ad campaign calling out clean coal technology as a farce, the Charleston Daily Mail’s George Hohmann reports.

The recently debuted environmentalist-sponsored TV spot (seen here) shows a man standing in front of a supposed state-of-the-art zero-emission coal processing plant while talking about the wonders of clean coal.

When he opens the door to the facility, however, there is nothing but a barren desert. The commercial ends with the line: “In reality, there’s no such thing as clean coal.”

The ad is the first in a campaign directly targeted at assertions made in past pro-industry commercials, such as this one.

Currently, clean coal, as defined by burning coal without releasing greenhouse gas emissions, does not exist.

The attacks on the country’s most prolific fossil fuel have some coal executives fired up.

"People are cowering away from being criticized by people that are our enemies," said Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship of coal's opponents. "Would we be upset if Osama Bin Laden was critical of us?"

Said Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association: “My concern about it is, first of all I think it's so typical - what they do is throw stones but they don't offer any alternatives whatsoever for achieving energy security for America. It's as though they want us to continue to rely and depend on the Middle East for all of our energy needs.”

Duke study offers how-to on green job growth

tim_barsness — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:56:00 GMT

Greening the U.S. economy could grow millions of new manufacturing jobs, according to a recently released study by Duke University.

In their report, “Manufacturing Climate Solutions,” Duke researchers provide an in-depth analysis of the country’s current manufacturing landscape and what America must do to build up so-called “green collar” jobs while keeping down its greenhouse gas emissions.

“Until now, there was no tangible evidence of what the jobs are, how they are created and what it means for U.S. workers. We are providing that here,” said Gary Gereffi, a Duke professor of sociology and lead author of the study. “We don’t guess where the jobs are; we name them.”

Gereffi and his colleagues at Duke’s Center on Globalization, Governance and Competitiveness identify five eco-friendly technologies with serious growth potential. They include:
-   LED lighting
-   Concentrated solar power
-   High-performance windows
-   Back-up generators for long-haul trucks
-   “Super Soil Systems” (a new way to treat hog waste)

States most likely to benefit are Ohio, Indiana, Arizona, Nevada, California, Pennsylvania, New Mexico and North Carolina.

Universal Design Living Laboratory, Columbus, Ohio

tim_barsness — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:15:00 GMT

The Universal Design Living Laboratory is a national demonstration home in Columbus, Ohio that will showcase universal design and green building construction practices. The mission is to bring about awareness of the quality of indoor and outdoor lifestyle through universal design, green building, safety, and healthy home construction practices to the public, construction and design industries. The web site includes photos of the home, articles, and resources.

Battery being tested to store wind-generated energy

tim_barsness — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:27:00 GMT

Harnessing wind power is relatively easy (see: windmill). It’s storing that energy that’s the hard part.

Enter Xcel Energy’s “Wind-to-Battery” project.

Brought online last month, the experiment in southwest Minnesota is the first in the country to use a sodium-sulfur battery to try and store energy generated by wind farms, reports ABC news affiliate KAAL TV.

If successful, the technology could prove a windfall for the renewable energy sector. One of wind power’s greatest weaknesses has long been reliability because if the wind didn’t blow, no energy could be created.

“Energy storage is key to expanding the use of renewable energy,” said Richard Kelly, Xcel Energy Chairman, President and CEO. “This technology has the potential to reduce the impact caused by the variability and limited predictability of wind energy generation.”

The project is being tested in Luverne, Minn., about 30 miles east of Sioux Falls, S.D., and uses an 80-ton battery that Xcel says could power 500 homes for more than 7 hours when fully charged.

"This, of course, is a small test by utility standards, but it should be able to provide us the seed information that would help us determine what the impact might be," said Xcel Energy spokesman Frank Novachek.

OPINION: 'A Bridge for the Carmakers'

tim_barsness — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:47:00 GMT

The U.S. government needs to bail out the “Big Three” U.S. automakers for the sake of the economy – and the environment, Jeffrey Sachs writes in Monday’s Washington Post.

Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and the author of "Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet," argues three main points in his defense of a Detroit rescue package:

1. The car companies’ current crisis marks a major opportunity to transform a foundering industry while making the U.S. a world leader in producing better fuel-efficient vehicles; this is only possible through a public-private partnership.

2. The collapse of the car industry would put the U.S. economy further in the tank, possibly pushing the country from a recession to a depression.

3. Allowing the automakers to fail and be forced to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy simply isn’t an option; that would only drag down consumer demand for cars even more, and it would bankrupt many industry parts manufacturers.

“Some want to see the industry punished for its neglect of energy and environmental realities, but we should acknowledge that the SUV era reflected poor judgment across society,” Sachs says. “Yes, the industry ignored warnings about energy insecurity and climate, but so did the public and politicians.

“We face an unprecedented financial calamity, energy crisis and environmental threat,” he adds. “A vibrant, growing U.S. automobile industry should play an essential role in solving all three.”

UPDATE: Activists debut e-waste recycler certification program following 60 Minutes report

tim_barsness — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:37:00 GMT

Activist groups rolled out on Monday a new campaign aimed at recognizing responsible recyclers of electronic waste in North America, according to a news release from the Basel Action Network (BAN).

The certification program, known as the e-Stewards Initiative, is the result of a joint effort by BAN, the Electronics TakeBack Coalition and 32 electronics recycling companies in the United States and Canada.

As part of its ethical guidelines on e-waste processing, the e-Stewards program forbids the dumping of toxic e-waste in developing countries, local landfills and incinerators; the use of prison labor to process e-waste; and the unauthorized release of private data contained in discarded computers.

“Unfortunately today, most of those companies calling themselves electronics recyclers are scammers,” said Sarah Westervelt, e-Stewards project coordinator for BAN. “They simply load up containers of old computers and ship them off to China or Africa. By choosing an e-Steward recycler, consumers and large businesses are assured that their old computers and TVs will be safely managed and not simply tossed into a local landfill, processed unsafely by prison laborers, or exported to developing countries.”

The groups announced the new initiative the day after 60 Minutes aired a report highlighting problems in the e-waste recycling industry.

In related news, the company named in the 60 Minutes story has posted a response on its Web site. Here’s an excerpt:

Sadly, Executive Recycling appears now to be the victim of others who have obtained electronic and computer products from our company and then acted irresponsibly. These buyers apparently sought to hide their own misconduct by leaving the impression that their shipment was the responsibility of our company. We have discovered that forged documents (provided by the port authorities) were used to improperly shift blame to us when ER sold the tested working units to a Canadian wholesale buyer. We are currently seeking legal actions against this one wholesale buyer in regards to this report.

E-waste recycling's dirty little secret

tim_barsness — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:57:00 GMT

In Sunday’s 60 Minutes, the TV news magazine uncovered first-hand the human cost of the booming black market in electronic waste recycling.

Correspondent Scott Pelley and his film crew took viewers to Guiyu, China, a hub in the developing world for dismantling e-waste, such as old televisions and computers.

There, workers make $8 a day breaking down discarded electronic products under dangerous conditions with no protection measures for either health or personal safety.

The villagers must use highly corrosive chemicals to burn away the products’ plastic parts to harvest their valuable components, including gold, and in the process are exposed to toxins released into the surrounding environment.

Ground water is no longer safe to drink in Guiyu, and scientists have discovered that the city has the highest levels of cancer-causing dioxins in the world.

“This is smuggling. This is illegal," said Jim Puckett, founder of the Basel Action Network (BAN), a group working to stop the dumping of toxic materials in poorer countries by richer nations, such as the United States. "A lot of people are turning a blind eye here. And if somebody makes enough noise, they're afraid this is all going to dry up."

In 2002, BAN released a report on the exportation of e-waste: Exporting Harm: The High-Tech Trashing of Asia; followed by another in 2005: The Digital Dump: Exporting Re-Use and Abuse to Africa.

For more, read:

"Recycling That Harms the Environment and People ." - New York Times

"High-Tech Trash." - National Geographic

Naturally capturing carbon – for cheap

tim_barsness — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:52:00 GMT

Scientists at Columbia University say they’ve found a cheap way to use rock found in the Middle East to capture massive amounts of the climate-changing gas carbon dioxide (CO2), according to a university news release.

A study of their findings is published in last week’s online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Known as peridotite, the rock reacts naturally with CO2, forming solid minerals similar to limestone or marble when exposed to the gas, sucking it up and permanently trapping it.

But peridotite absorbs much more CO2 than previously thought, the researchers claim. They estimate a Massachusetts-sized field they discovered in the Omani desert naturally captures 10,000-100,000 tons of carbon a year.

The process can be sped up 100,000 times or more, they argue, by drilling down and injecting pressurized CO2 contained in heated water, creating a self-sustaining chain reaction capable of absorbing roughly 4 billion tons of carbon per year.

Currently, humans release about 30 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year.

“This method would afford a low-cost, safe and permanent method to capture and store atmospheric CO2,” said geologist Peter Kelemen, the study’s lead author and Columbia University professor.

But, he adds: “We see this as just one of a whole suite of methods to trap carbon. It’s a big mistake to think that we should be searching for one thing that will take care of it all."

Cub Foods debuts “green” grocery store

tim_barsness — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:30:00 GMT

Cub Foods opened its first “green” grocery store Friday in Minnesota.

Stocked with various energy-saving designs and technologies, the Midwest-based supermarket chain is hoping its newest addition will be one of the first stores in the nation approved for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold Certification.

The grocery, located in St. Paul’s Phalen neighborhood, is already the first ever to garner gold-level certification under the Environmental Protection Agency’s GreenChill Partnership for its eco-friendly refrigeration technology.

The 62,900 square-foot building also boasts 44 skylights, which combined with a GPS system to track and redirect sunlight should brighten 75 percent of the store while shaving 35 percent off lighting costs. Cub expects to generate another 50 percent in energy savings by using only LED (light-emitting diode) lights to illuminate its parking lot.

The property installed a landscape irrigation system to cut water usage in half, and 75 percent of the waste from constructing the building will be recycled.

“The store that Cub Foods is opening on St. Paul’s East Side shows that smart investments can be good for neighborhoods, good for the environment and good for a company’s bottom line,” said St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman. “Environmental stewardship, living-wage jobs and urban revitalization are not mutually exclusive goals.”

Before leaving, Bush fast-tracks environmental policy changes

tim_barsness — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:31:00 GMT

In the 77 days between the election and the next U.S. President’s inauguration, the Bush administration is hoping to push through several key environmental policy changes before leaving office, Reuters’ Deborah Zabarenko reports.

Among the proposed plans:

-   Removing wolves from the Endangered Species List.
-   Allowing power plants to operate near national parks.
-   Weakening regulations governing factory farm waste.
-   Easing restrictions on mountaintop coal-mining outfits.

Not included: mandatory cuts to greenhouse-gas emissions, due to lack of time.

Several environmental and watchdog groups oppose most of the late-term rule changes, arguing most Americans don't support the measures, which they say benefit business at the environment’s expense.

“Whether it's the electricity industry or the mining industry or the agriculture industry, this is going to remove government restrictions on their activity and in turn they're going to be allowed to pollute more and that ends up harming the public,” said Matt Madia of OMB Watch, a nonprofit group that monitors the White House Office of Management and Budget, through which the proposed regulations must pass.

Air-powered car may soon land in U.S.

tim_barsness — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:54:00 GMT

A car that runs on air – yes, air – could soon be breezing down American roadways, Kiplinger’s Jeff Ostroff reports.

France-based automaker Motor Development International said it plans by 2011 to have factories in the U.S. able to produce its nearly emission-free vehicle, which uses compressed air to propel the car’s traditional engine pistons (regular cars burn gas to create similar air bursts).

According to MDI, the air car can travel up to 60 miles at 35 mph on a tank of compressed air. Add a small amount of fuel and the auto can go nearly 800 miles before a fill-up. The car can run on gas, diesel, biodiesel, ethanol or vegetable oil.

It’s cheap, too, by alternatively powered auto standards, with an estimated sticker price under $20,000. Due out around the same time, the Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in hybrid able to drive about 40 miles gas-free, is expected to cost between $30,000 and $40,000.

Skepticism abounds about MDI’s claims, however, as pointed out in this recent New York Times article.

An earlier report by the Times’ Richard Chang also raised questions.

Before being approved for sale in the U.S., MDI’s air car would have to first pass federal crash tests.

Smaller scale wind turbines are on their way

tim_barsness — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:14:00 GMT

At the forefront of the race for more renewable energy, wind power is whipping up a flurry of attention these days.

Now, the focus is on giant wind farms growing crops of hulking turbines. Next: a turbine made for your home?

They’re already here.

The Swift wind turbine – the latest addition to the home turbines sector – hit the U.S. market Monday, CNET’s Martin LaMonica reports.

Designed by Scotland-based Renewable Devices, the company has so far sold more than 250 turbines in its home country. Its U.S. partner, Cascade Engineering, out of Grand Rapids, Mich., has already installed 9 Swift turbines, with 25 more on order.

The Swift is not the first small-scale wind turbine (see more here), but it claims to operate quieter and more smoothly than other brands.

Swift stats:
-   Cost: $10,000
-   Size: 7-foot diameter
-   Power: 2,000 kilowatt-hours per year (typical U.S. home uses 6,500 – 10,000 kwh per year)
-   Design: five blades circled by outer ring