Last week California legislators passed the California Global Warming Solutions Act, requiring industrial producers of greenhouse gases to reduce emissions 25% by 2020. This is achieved by setting a "cap" on emissions and allowing companies that pollute less to sell or "trade" emissions credits to other companies, who buy them to offset their excess carbon. […]
(Photo By: Real Goods) Colorado’s Amendment 37 requires any utility with over 40,000 customers to offer a minimum $2/watt rebate for residential solar electric grid connected systems. On the Federal Level, as of January 1, 2006 there is a 30% tax credit for residential solar systems with a cap of a $2000. Consider this hypothetical
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"People now know the price of everything but the true cost of nothing. Price is what a person pays. Cost is what a society pays, here, now, elsewhere, and into the future. A pesticide may sell for thirty-five dollars a gallon, but what does it cost society as it makes its way into wells, rivers,
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The BBC reports that Professor Shuji Nakamura was awarded this year’s Millennium Technology Prize for his inventions of blue, green and white light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and the blue laser diode at a ceremony in Helsinki, Finland. As he received the award, Professor Nakamura said: "I hope the award of this prize will help people to
The Environment News Service reports that the Bush Administration has proposed revisions to air regulations that force power plants, oil refineries and other industrial facilities to install modern air pollution controls when they expand operations. The administration said the proposal would accelerate investment in cleaner, energy-saving technologies, but environmentalists contend that it would lead to
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AdAge.com recently reported on The Economist‘s recent attempt to directly address the impact their own publications have on the environment and the advertising opportunities generated from their efforts. The process entailed calculating all the carbon dioxide burned from all the traveling, production, printing and distribution of the issue so Carbon Neutral could trap the equivalent
Michael Kanellos of Cnetnews.com reports that Fiberstars, an Ohio-based company, has come up with a way to combine industrial-grade lamps with fiber-optic technology to create interior lighting systems that consume far less energy than traditional fluorescent or incandescent bulbs. A single 70-watt metal halide high-intensity discharge lamp from Fiberstars linked to the
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"In the long term, the economy and the environment are the same thing. If it’s unenvironmental it is uneconomical. That is the rule of nature."– Mollie Beattie
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ROCKY HILL, Conn. The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF), SunEdison and Whole Foods Market today hosted a dedication ceremony to celebrate the unveiling of a 121-kilowatt solar photovoltaic (PV) system installed on the rooftop of the Whole Foods Market Distribution Center located at 400 East Johnson Road in Cheshire, Connecticut. Covering about 10% of the
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The 6th annual SAM/SPG Sustainable Leadership Award, acknowledging personal excellence in implementing the principles of sustainability in the corporate sector has been awarded to WBCSD Chairman and retired Alcan President CEO Travis Engen. An international jury of sustainability experts chose Travis Engen for his many years as successful CEO of the Canadian Aluminum producer. Jeremy
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If you are from Colorado and have made the drive along I-25 over the last five years from Denver to Fort Collins or Denver to Colorado Springs, you have undoubtedly noticed it. The irony of vast corn fields and pastures surrounded by construction sites and tract housing. Productive pastures once grazed by livestock replaced by
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The AP reports that a trio of oil companies led by Chevron Corp. has tapped a petroleum pool deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico that could boost the nation’s reserves by more than 50 percent. Tim Haab, Environmental Economics, finds the reports "both promising and troubling. As most models of resource depletion would predict, rising
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TOP TEN REASONS TO BUILD GREEN: 1. In the event up-front costs are higher for for high performance green buildings, they can be recovered. 2. Integrated design lowers ongoing operating costs. 3. Better buildings equate to better employee productivity. 4. New technologies enhance health and well being. 5. Healthier buildings can reduce liability. 6. Tenants’
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Nancy Lofholm of The Denver Post offers an interesting article about Paonia, Colorado and how their desire "not to become Vail" has helped them become a hotbed of alternative-energy, blurring some of the traditional divisions between the coal mining crowd and "those who favor straw-bale homes", sharing the common goal of saving energy. Click here
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s new regional headquarters at 16th and Wynkoop has installed Metro Denver’s first "green roof", which is designed to insulate the building and help reduce the amount of rainwater that hits the streets. "We really think green roofs are the wave of the future and hope the EPA project will highlight
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(Photo By: Peter Wynn Thomas) In a recent New York Times article Alexei Barrionuevo finds that despite good will towards ethanol, "success is far from assured." Even with support from large companies like GM and Ford, Lawrence J. Goldstein, president of Petroleum Industry Research Foundation, feels that there is "no way E-85 (Ethanol) can survive
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Scientists at the University of Sydney in Australia have created molecules that mimic those in plants which harvest light. “A leaf is an amazingly cheap and efficient solar cell,” says Dr Deanna D’Alessandro, a postdoctoral researcher in the Molecular Electronics Group at the University of Sydney. “The best leaves can harvest 30 to 40 percent
Launched in 1999, the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes are the first global indexes tracking the financial performance of the leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide. Based on the cooperation of Dow Jones Indexes, STOXX Limited and SAM they provide asset managers with reliable and objective benchmarks to manage sustainability portfolios. Currently 56 DJSI licenses are held by
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(AP file / Peter M. Fredin) The Denver Post reports that Aspen Skiing Co. joined a lawsuit to stop global warming. Vail Resorts Inc. made a record-setting wind-energy buy. Tiny Wolf Creek Ski Area committed itself to renewable energy. Colorado Ski companies are beginning to understand the advantages and opportunities of moving towards sustainable business
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A recent article in (Reuters) reports that Japan’s Sharp Corp., the world’s biggest maker of solar cells, expects the cost of generating solar power to halve by 2010 and to be comparable with that of nuclear power by 2030, Sharp’s president said, "By the year 2010 we’ll be able to halve generation costs," Katsuhiko Machida
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The Washington Post reports that California’s legislature approved the broadest restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions in the nation yesterday. The California bill requires a 25 percent cut in carbon dioxide pollution produced within the state’s borders by 2020 in order to bring the total down to 1990 levels. It will set up a cap-and-trade program
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In Fast Company‘s September issue of 2006, they report that in the next 12 months Wal-Mart wants to sell every one of its regular customers–100 million in all–one swirl bulb. Says Andrew Ruben, Wal-Mart’s vice president of sustainability: "We realize that we can influence big things. Energy usage. Efficiency. Dependence on foreign oil. And we
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Growing consumer awareness of the cost and environmental benefits of recycled materials for home-building projects is creating a unique market for current and emerging retailers. This article from the Denver Post, outlines some of the reasons for this growing demand and the companies, big and small, that are meeting the needs of their "greener" customers.
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In a recent article in The Guardian, John Vidal highlights a new generation of small green companies emerging with radical but proven ideas to revolutionize engineering. The article discusses giant wind turbines based on a seed, and a desalination plant that mimics a beetle, identifying the following: An aero-generator turbine, now being laboratory tested before
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