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Thursday, September 29, 2005
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With gasoline prices high and rising, it's worth revisiting an old post by our very own Clark Williams-Derry, which makes a simple point: if you want to reduce gas use, the best route is not more efficient cars but more efficient cities. Give it a look. [Gristmill]
3:18:38 PM Google It! 
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Via sustainablog:
I've made mention of ideas out there related to more sustainable rebuilding ideas in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita -- Gristmill has an excellent post from yesterday on an Alternet article focused on this topic. But the company Green Energy Resources provides another take on the "green lining" that could come from these storms:
Green Energy Resources (Pink Sheets:GRGR) is forging American efforts to recycle hurricane damaged wood for renewable energy. Hurricane wood waste could generate up to 10 percent of America's electric power needs. Nearly 50 million tons of wood waste was openly dumped in Florida last year from four hurricanes. Over 200,250 megawatt biomass power plants could have reduced our energy vulnerability and saved taxpayers billions of dollars. The $1.5 billion dollars in FEMA-awarded contracts so far this year is three times greater than all federal monies appropriated for all renewable energy in the U.S. Energy bill. Green Energy Resources has pledged to purchase up to 2 million tons of wood chips from the Gulf states for international export. Joseph C. Murray, Green Energy Resources' CEO, announced today it could purchase another million tons for power plants in the northeast.
Wood biomass for energy creates jobs, new exports, and diversifies our energy structure. Biomass can be transformed into ethanol, gasified, or mixed with coal to reduce greenhouse gases....The demand for wood biomass is expected to increase with the newly agreed upon northeast states Kyoto like compact. Twenty new biomass power plants are expected to be built in the north east in 2006 alone. The hurricanes exposed current U.S. energy policy as grossly inadequate. The evacuation disasters of New Orleans and Houston are major setbacks to any nuclear power comebacks in the United States. Clearly, there's a lot of trash piling up in New Orleans and on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and that will also be the case for SW Louisiana and SE Texas. While nothing can ease the pain and shock of the devastation caused by these storms, it's good to see that many are thinking about we can take a sustainable step (or two) forward as we rebuild.
UPDATE: Also meant to mention this WorldChanging essay from Alan Atkisson on New Orleans rebuilding...
3:15:31 PM Google It!
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Bosch Bi-Fuel management system Bosch has developed an engine management system specifically geared to bi-fuel (bivalent) vehicles which can be alternately powered by gasoline or compressed natural gas (CNG). Production will start in 2006. [Green Car Congress]
3:11:44 PM Google It!
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Placing shredded tires on top of -- rather than in -- landfills can save money and benefit the environment, researchers from the University of Illinois say. [Source: AZo Build.com]
3:10:28 PM Google It!
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One Chicago school bus company has taken a big step to see that thousands of Chicago area schoolchildren are breathing cleaner air by using soy-based biodiesel fuel to reduce the emissions from its diesel-powered school buses. [Source: RenewableEnergyAccess.com]
3:03:13 PM Google It!
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CINCINNATI, Ohio, Sept. 29, 2005 - The consumer products giant expects to save over $1 million by implementing new energy-efficiency measures at its U.S. plants. [GreenBiz.com]
2:59:34 PM Google It!
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The concept behind this Web site is to get the general public and companies thinking about their carbon emissions and their own personal contribution to global climate change. [GreenBiz.com]
2:58:46 PM Google It!
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A 2004 survey of 900 peer-reviewed and published scientific papers on climate change failed to find a single one who went against the belief that man-made change is happening and is dangerous. [Environmental Health News]
1:40:57 PM Google It!
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Governor Edward G. Rendell today awarded 22 grants totaling $120,353 to help small businesses put in place equipment or processes that enhance energy efficiency or promote pollution prevention.
9:56:14 AM Google It!
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From Grist Magazine, a story about the Apollo Alliance:
By now the mission of the two-year-old D.C.-based Apollo Alliance -- to mobilize a grand-scale federal commitment to energy independence, with the triple-whammy promise of creating good jobs with new technology, bolstering national security with energy independence, and saving the planet from carbon emissions -- has become something of a cliché...
Named after President Kennedy's visionary moon shot, which launched America's space-exploration program, the Apollo Alliance is a coalition of labor, business, and environmental advocates that aims to unify the country behind a 10-year, $300 billion program of investment in clean-energy technology. The alliance claims its proposal would create more than 3 million new jobs, eliminate American dependence on Middle East oil imports, lead to 15 percent of U.S. electricity coming from renewable sources, and reduce national energy consumption by 16 percent.
9:54:51 AM Google It!
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Buying a new furnace or more efficient washer and dryer should be rewarded with a cash rebate, Ohio's utility watchdog said Wednesday. [Environmental Health News]
9:52:15 AM Google It!
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Soybean farmers are celebrating but truckers are bracing for increased costs as the nation's first state mandate to blend agricultural products into diesel fuel takes effect today in Minnesota. By By Conrad Defiebre. [Stateline.org RSS - Environment]
9:51:02 AM Google It!
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They are small fields in big cities. They are riversides and canyon lands. They are farms and ranches managed by the same family for more than a century. By By Matt Canham. [Stateline.org RSS - Environment]
9:50:13 AM Google It!
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With gas prices soaring, and sales of hybrid vehicles expected to double this year, Johnson Controls is moving to cash in on the battery assisted car boom with a new $4 million laboratory. [ENN Business Headlines]
9:49:16 AM Google It!
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A new international cross-sector coalition is launching a European education program offering consumers immediate and lifelong solutions to tackling climate change. [ENN Business Headlines]
9:48:29 AM Google It!
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Although some automakers have discontinued their electric vehicle programs, battery-powered cars seem to inspire deep devotion among their drivers. By DANNY HAKIM. [NYT > Science]
9:46:38 AM Google It!
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The author of "State of Fear," a novel that casts doubt on scientific theories of global warming, testified before a Senate committee. By MICHAEL K. JANOFSKY. [NYT > Science]
9:45:58 AM Google It!
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From collapsed houses to abandoned cars, debris covers the ruined city as far as the eye can see. There is an estimated 22 million tons of garbage in New Orleans alone, much of it toxic and hazardous and needing special handling. [Environmental Health News]
9:45:07 AM Google It!
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© Copyright
2005
Laura L. Barnes.
Last update:
10/25/2005; 12:12:03 PM.
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