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Friday, June 17, 2005
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American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
Date: Jul 19-22, 2005
Location: West Point, N.Y.
The three-day Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Industry will provide information on energy technologies, measures, programs and strategies for cutting energy costs, improving energy reliability and enhancing industrial productivity. Attendees will include energy experts from private industry, academia, government, consulting, and the nonprofit sector.
More Info:
Rebecca Lunetta
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
1001 Connecticut Ave. NW, Ste. 801
Washington, DC 20036
United States
Phone: 202-429-9973
E-mail: info@aceee.org
11:32:50 AM Google It! 
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Program supports feasibility studies and provides design and construction grants for both green schools and green buildings.
11:28:42 AM Google It!
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Project highlights include a 30% reduction in water use and a 40% reduction in energy use.
11:27:59 AM Google It!
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The supermarket chain has been upgrading to energy-efficient appliances, lighting, and refrigeration systems and cases in all Northern California stores since 2001.
11:27:22 AM Google It!
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Designed for architects, designers, developers, and builders, this guide features purchasing and specification information for salvaged wood, recycled content, and certified wood products. The tool offers strategies for specifying these types of wood products, and provides resources for achieving wood-related green building program credits. It also identifies additional opportunities for specifying and sourcing wood products in innovative ways that support healthy communities and forest ecosystems throughout the world.
11:24:32 AM Google It!
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The U.S. Department of Energy released this free online guide to aid in the construction of energy-efficient homes in hot, humid climates. Featuring sections for homeowners, property managers, site planners, and designers, the guide helps builders create homes that achieve 30% energy savings in space conditioning and water heating. It also features an array of case studies. The guide is first in a series of building best practices handbooks developed by the U.S. DOE.
11:23:35 AM Google It!
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A series of case studies on water conserving plumbing options includes water-free urinals, composting toilets, and more. By Robert Kravitz, Don Mills, and Alex Linkow [Source: GreenerBuildings.com]
11:22:31 AM Google It!
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NeoCon World's Trade Fair 2005*
June 13-15, Chicago
The Merchandise Mart
(800) 677-6278; www.merchandisemart.com/neocon
16th Annual Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living Fair
June 17-19, Custer, Wis.
Midwest Renewable Energy Association
(715) 592-6595; www.the-mrea.org
Building a Sustainable Campus Community
June 19-22, Santa Cruz, Calif.
University of California, Santa Cruz, Chancellor's Sustainability Action Council
(831) 459-5794;
www2.ucsc.edu/sustainabilityconf2005
AEC - Science and Technology 2005*
June 20-23, Orlando, Fla.
RCG Productions LLC
(800) 996-3863; www.aecst.com
Ecobuild America*
June 20-23, Orlando, Fla.
RCG Productions LLC
(800) 996-3863; www.ecobuildamerica.com
A&WMA's 98th Annual Conference & Exhibition
June 21-24, Minneapolis
Air & Waste Management Association (A&WMA)
(412) 232-3444; www.awma.org
Straw-Bale Construction: Professional Training Course
July 22-24, Marin County, Calif.
California Straw Building Association
(209) 785-7077; www.strawbuilding.org
ISES 2005: Solar World Congress
Aug. 6-12, Orlando
American Solar Energy Society
(303) 443-3130; www.swc2005.org
Energy 2005, The Solutions Network*
Aug. 14-17, Long Beach, Calif.
U.S. Department of Energy and Federal Energy Management Program
(800) 395-8574;
www.energy2005.ee.doe.gov
11:18:40 AM Google It!
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Climate Change--CO2 Emissions
Source: Pew Center on Global Climate Change
Buildings, Electricity and Climate Change
"The U.S. buildings and electricity sectors, which together account for the largest portion of our economy's physical wealth and enable almost every activity of our daily life, also account for approximately half of our nation's CO2 emissions. Effective long-term climate change policy in the U.S. must address emissions from these two sectors. Two new reports released today by the Pew Center on Global Climate Change identify a number of technologies and policy options for GHG reductions in both sectors. The first report is Towards a Climate-Friendly Built Environment, written by Marilyn Brown, Frank Southworth and Therese Stovall of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The other is U.S. Electric Power Sector and Climate Change Mitigation, written by Granger Morgan, Jay Apt, and Lester Lave of Carnegie Mellon University." [ResourceShelf's DocuTicker]
11:07:23 AM Google It!
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Mazda Motor Corp. has developed ways to recycle the materials of dismantled car bumpers for use in those of brand-new vehicles, and has begun testing the methods in March, according to company officials. [ENN Business Headlines]
11:04:24 AM Google It!
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University of North Dakota researchers are studying the impact of chronic exposure to pesticides on children's ability to learn and comprehend. David Dodds of the Grand Forks Herald reports, 6/15/05. [SEJ: Environmental Journalism Today]
11:01:49 AM Google It!
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Tina Hesman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says researchers are looking at the possibility of converting waste -- specifically bacteria in wastewater -- into electricity, 6/16/05. [SEJ: Environmental Journalism Today]
11:01:02 AM Google It!
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Researchers at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University have come up with a way to dramatically reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal-burning power plants. Don Hopey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has more on a study that's due to be presented to Congress, 6/16/05. [SEJ: Environmental Journalism Today]
11:00:13 AM Google It!
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A bill introduced last week to bring the U.S. patent system into the 21st century has sharpened a debate between biopharma and other high-tech sectors over whether to strengthen or weaken the power to enforce an issued patent. Author: Eli Kintisch [Science: This Week's News]
10:48:10 AM Google It!
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Triplepundit has posted an overview of Retrobox, a company demonstrating that triple bottom line success isn't just a theory:
RetroBox is essentially a computer recycling firm, though they deal in all manner of electronic devices, breaking them down for recycling as well as selling functional equipment on the secondary market. [Stampp] Corbin's tales of the road to success were inspirational to say the least, but the fact that he's been able to embrace a serious environmental cause as the central tenet of his business makes his company a case study in triple bottom line principals: doing right environmentally, providing a valuable and profitable service to customers, as well as providing good jobs for the community in Columbus, Ohio. Corbin says "I sleep well at night, doing well by doing good." Of course, Nick steered his conversation with Corbin to the environmental aspects of his business:
Environmental concerns, in particular, are growing as the likelihood of more government regulation of e-waste increases. Such regulation could be a boon to business for RetroBox, but Corbin is particular about just what kind of government involvement would be best, and most efficient.
Currently, a system called an "advanced recovery fee" has been proposed in many states that would charge end-users a certain amount, say $10, on top of the price of a computer monitor, for example. This cost would pay for the price of having someone properly dispose of the unit at the end of its life. The problem is that the $10 disappears into the depths of bureaucracy and may not result in an efficient recycling system.
But what if the end-user were given a tax credit upon disposal of the unit instead? That way, there is immediate payback upon disposal and a company, like RetroBox, would be eagerly waiting to help end-users make it happen. Although both scenarios merit study, my instinct is to go with the second. I'm always happy to see stories of companies succeeding by addressing environmental issues, and Retrobox's story is further proof that conscious business may be the most effective route to sustainability. Now if the tax code could just catch up... [ sustainablog]
10:46:40 AM Google It!
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Well, that's actually a little misleading, but, according to RenewableEnergyAccess.com, the San Francisco Giants have entered into a unique partnership with Sharp:
Sharp Electronics Corporation and the San Francisco Giants Baseball Club have partnered to promote solar power as an energy alternative. As part of this unique sponsorship, Sharp has launched a radio promotion that encourages fans to generate their own power using a solar energy system, and has installed a Sharp solar electric system and multi-media kiosk at SBC Park...
"Solar is one of the key priorities for Sharp Corporation worldwide, so the timing is just right for us to raise awareness of solar through an association with a major professional sports franchise," said Ron Kenedi, general manager of Sharp's Solar Systems Division. "Our hope is that the installation at SBC Park will serve as a model for a stadium that satisfies a substantial amount of its electricity needs with solar energy." So that's one more institution of American popular culture on board with renewable energy. What do we need now? Game shows? Professional wrestling? [sustainablog]
10:45:54 AM Google It!
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You power the paper mill with wind, of course. That's the solution New York's Mohawk Paper Mills has put into practice:
This June, Mohawk Paper Mills, a family-owned upstate New York producer of printing papers, will begin using 45 million kWh of wind power annually to run its two mills in New York as well as a newly purchased facility in Ohio. With this annual consumption, Mohawk Paper will become a national leader in the use of wind power for manufacturing, second only to Johnson & Johnson, one of the largest consumers of electricity in the United States.
Mohawk Paper Mills are the only paper mills in the U.S. to use wind energy to manufacture paper. Over the past two years, Mohawk Paper has taken a leadership role in producing environmental papers. With many of its corporate customers seeking ways to mitigate impacts on the environment and looking for a means to highlight their contributions to socially responsible organizations, Mohawk responded by developing a line of process-chlorine-free 100% recycled paper manufactured with non-polluting, wind-generated energy from wind farms in upstate New York and Pennsylvania.
According to George Milner, Mohawk's Senior Vice President, Energy, Environmental and Governmental Affairs, wind energy now provides 21 percent of the total power for its two mills in upstate New York and 50 percent of the annual power required for the Beckett Mill in Ohio.
"There is a misconception that choosing the environmentally correct path costs a lot more," Milner said, "but with the technological advances in windmills, the cost of wind power is within range of traditional energy sources. And our customers find it a tangible way to express their own commitment to sustainability." [sustainablog]
10:45:16 AM Google It!
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Via sustainablog:
While not exclusively a project of the Garden's Earthways Center, the annual Plastic Pot Recycling program at the Missouri Botanical Garden demonstrates another example of how this St. Louis institution is committed to creating local sustainability. The program's pretty simple: St. Louisans bring in plastic plant pots that they've collected from their gardening to the Garden, and the pots are recycled into plastic lumber planks that are sold through the Garden's gift shop. Now in it's seventh year, the program appears to be wildly successful: I inquired about buying some of the lumber last summer, and the gift shop's manager told me I'd better reserve some right then or it'd be spoken for...[ sustainablog]
10:44:25 AM Google It!
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Heading toward a collision with the House and White House, the Senate sought to put an environmentally friendly stamp on its energy legislation. By CARL HULSE. [NYT > Science -- need a login/pw?]
10:42:27 AM Google It!
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Air Quality--United States Source: NOAA/EPA NOAA and EPA Extend Reach of Air Quality Forecasts "Air quality forecasts produced by the NOAA National Weather Service and the Environmental Protection Agency have been enhanced and expanded to better serve more regions of the United States. Forecast information for ground-level ozone that has been available for the northeastern United States will now include areas from just east of the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Hour-by-hour forecasts, through midnight the following day, are available online, providing information for the onset, severity and duration of poor air quality to more than 180 million people." Direct to NOAA/EPA Air Quality Forecasts . [ ResourceShelf]
10:37:34 AM Google It!
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Resource of the Week
By Steven M. Cohen, Associate Editor
PubSub
Librarians
An Introduction to PubSub
This week, Shirl and Gary gave me the ROTW floor to talk about a resource that we released at PubSub on June 1st (For those who don't follow my blog, I started at PubSub in the beginning of the year, continuing my untraditional library career.) First, a bit about the company:
PubSub Concepts, Inc. is a real-time matching service that instantly notifies you when new published content is created that interests you. We monitor:
+ Weblog postings and any other syndicated content (http://www.pubsub.com/weblogs.php)
+ Newsgroups (http://www.pubsub.com/newsgroups.php)
+ SEC filings (http://www.pubsub.com/edgar.php)
+ Full-text press releases (http://www.pubsub.com/pressreleases.php)
+ Airport delays (http://www.pubsub.com/airports.php)
+ Earthquake activity (http://www.pubsub.com/earthquakes.php).
You enter your query and the result will be delivered to you the moment an item is published that matches your query. You can receive the results in a number of ways including your favorite RSS reader (Bloglines, etc), the PubSub sidebar (http://www.pubsub.com/downloads.php), or just by bookmarking the resulting subscription page.
In order to demonstrate the capabilities of our service, we released our first integrated set of sample subscriptions - PubSub Government (http://www.pubsub.com/government) -- which let users to keep track of what is being said about various aspects of the U.S Government. These are pre-built, advanced queries using the numerous Boolean syntaxes we offer (http://www.pubsub.com/booleanhelp.php). PubSub Government users can access up-to-date content on:
+ Every member of Congress (http://www.pubsub.com/features/government/state.php)
+ U.S. Supreme Court Justice (http://www.pubsub.com/features/government/justices.php)
+ Congressional Committees (http://www.pubsub.com/features/government/committees.php)
+ Cabinet members (http://www.pubsub.com/features/government/cabinet.php), including the departments that each cabinet member heads.
Some additional features include:
+ The ability to put all subscriptions for each state, all the Supreme Court justices, the entire cabinet, and/or the committees, in your aggregator by using the OPML feature. (For example, the OPML feed for NY would be: http://www.pubsub.com/features/government/state_detail.php?state=ny&;format=opml.) This saves you from having to subscribe to each individual feed.
+ The ability to add any of the subscriptions to your PubSub account by clicking on the green plus signs next to every pre-built subscription. This also allows you to edit or add to the query syntax that has already been created, allowing for more personalization of content.
Also, on each state page, we've indicated which congress member was discussed most often during the previous day and how often this person was mentioned.
Who can benefit from using PubSub Government? Librarians, activists, watch groups, campaign managers, journalists, lobbyists, and anyone else interested in monitoring the U.S. government. If you have any questions about PubSub Government, you can contact us at government@pubsub.com. - Steven [ResourceShelf]
10:35:30 AM Google It!
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Thinking about reporting on BP's global warming policy? Their pollution control performance? Their energy efficiency record? Their romance with alternative energy? Better watch out. This company which has positioned itself as the poster child of green energy might pull its ads from your paper or station if it doesn't like what you write.
According to stories in Ad Age, BP "has adopted a zero-tolerance policy toward editorial coverage it is not informed about in advance, 'regardless of whether editorial is deemed positive or negative.' ... The policy demands that ad-accepting publications inform BP in advance of any news text or visuals they plan to publish that directly mention the company, a competitor or the oil-and-energy industry."
The policy was revealed in a memo to publications from Mindshare, the media buyer for BP, which refers to a BP corporate policy memo. Ad Age editorialized against the practice (mentioning similar practices by Morgan Stanley and GM). A BP spokeman later called the wording of Mindshare's memo "unfortunate" and claimed the company never asked to review editorial copy in advance (as Ad Age strongly implied it had). The company also said the policy was aimed only at magazines.
According to Ad Age, BP spent some $95.5 million on advertising in the US during 2004 u $23 million on cable TV, $18.6 million on magazines, $17 million on spot TV, $2.1 on national newspapers, and about $1 million on other newspapers.
Reporters who expect their editors and publishers to back them up when they write tough stories about BP might consider another angle. It was Ad Age u not any of the publications who received the Mindshare memo u who broke the story. As it editorialized against BP, Ad Age also called "shame" on those publications who bore the new policy without a peep.
- "BP Institutes 'Ad-Pull' Policy for Print Publications; Demands Advance Review of News Content," Ad Age, May 24, 2005 (free registration required). "Shame on BP and Morgan Stanley Ad Pull Policies (editorial)," Ad Age, May 24, 2005.
- "Hidden Angle: Fortifying the Firewall," Columbia Journalism Review, May 24, 2005, by Susan Q. Stranahan.
[SEJ: Watchdog TipSheet]
10:33:03 AM Google It!
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Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act last week landed one UK paper a scoop on White House-oil industry collaboration on climate policy u a collaboration that oil giant ExxonMobil denied and the White House has kept secret.
The Guardian on June 8, 2005, printed a story by John Vidal quoting testimony in 2003 by Exxon public affairs chief Nick Thomas to the Science and Technology Committee of the House of Lords: "I think we can say categorically we have not campaigned with the United States government or any other government to take any sort of position over Kyoto."
But documents obtained by the environmental group Greenpeace under a FOIA request seem to prove that testimony untrue. Briefing papers for Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky in the same time frame show the Bush administration seeking Exxon's advice on climate change policy and thanking Exxon for its "active involvement."
The Guardian story came during a week when President Bush met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and discussed action on climate, among other issues. While the UK is pushing for action on climate, the US has closely followed the position suggested to it by Exxon and other large energy companies, who say climate science is too uncertain to justify action. The same week saw revelations in the New York Times that political appointees at the Council on Environmental Quality were rewriting U.S. scientific reports to emphasize uncertainty. The White House successfully fought, all the way to the Supreme Court, to keep secret the ways in which big energy companies have influenced its policies.
10:31:32 AM Google It!
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While the Bush administration is looking to clean up coal power in the future, the Dakota Gasification Company is living proof that there's no time like the present. Peter Fairley profiles its innovative coal-to-synthetic gas plant in the July issue of Technology Review Magazine. By peter@fairley.ca. [SEJ: Environmental Journalism Today]
10:28:00 AM Google It!
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© Copyright
2005
Laura L. Barnes.
Last update:
10/25/2005; 12:10:50 PM.
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