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13 Countries Plus United States Will Recover Methane

WASHINGTON, DC, November 17, 2004 (ENS) – Mike Leavitt, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), joined representatives from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Columbia, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom Tuesday in signing a Terms of Reference formally creating the Methane to Markets Partnership. The partnership is intended to advance international cooperation on the recovery and use of methane as a clean energy source. "The Bush administration welcomes this global partnership, a partnership that we believe will deliver significant economic, environmental, and energy benefits," said Leavitt. "Together we will harness the power of collaboration, technology and markets to achieve real, near-term reductions of global methane emissions." Countries participating in the partnership are expected to undertake activities aimed at capturing and using methane emitted from landfills, coal mines, and oil and gas systems. It is anticipated that developed countries will work with developing countries to accomplish these goals. The partnership encourages active involvement by private industry, financial institutions and other nongovernmental organizations. The United States will commit up to $53 million over the next five years to facilitate the development and implementation of methane projects in developing countries and countries with economies in transition. The […]

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USGBC Launches LEED for Commercial Interiors Green Building Rating System

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced the launch of the LEED Green Building Rating System for Commercial Interiors (LEED-CI). Previously in pilot, the rating system has been balloted by the USGBC membership and is now a fully launched product. LEED-CI is the third green building rating system that has been developed by the USGBC following the LEED for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB) and LEED for New Construction (LEED-NC) green building rating systems. LEED-CI serves building owners and occupants as well as the interior designers and architects who design building interiors and the teams of professionals who install them. LEED-CI addresses performance areas including: selection of sustainable tenant space; efficiency of water usage; energy performance optimization including lighting and lighting controls; resource utilization for interior building systems and furnishings, and; indoor environmental quality including comprehensive emissions criteria. Said Rick Fedrizzi, USGBC President, CEO & Founding Chair, "The commercial interiors market is 16 times larger than the new commercial construction market. With the challenge of taking on the commercial interiors market, also comes a unique opportunity to shape this sector." A companion rating system, LEED for Core & Shell developments (LEED-CS), is currently under development. Together, LEED-CI and LEED-CS will establish green […]

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Zipcar Achieves Record Growth, Profitability

Zipcar, a regional car-sharing service in New England and NY, announced it has achieved record sales, member growth and profitability in 2004. The company projects revenues to increase again by more than 100% in 2005. Based on this success, Zipcar announced it plans to aggressively expansion into a national brand. Zipcar has realized a 100% increase in members in 2004 thus far, the company's fifth year of operation. With approximately 30,000 members, Zipcar claims to have the largest active membership base of any car-sharing service. On average, 1,500 new customers join Zipcar's service each month. Recent growth has been fueled by several new partnerships with major universities and corporations, frequent driver pricing plans, record business- to-business sales and expansion of the Zipcar fleet to include luxury sedans, hybrids and SUVs. Zipcar's operating revenues are expected to grow by 100% in 2004 to approximately $7 million. Projected revenues for 2005 are expected to exceed $15 million. Since July, Zipcar has operated profitably in all of its markets. On the heels of this success, Zipcar plans to roll out service to at least three new major U.S. metropolitan areas in 2005, with the first rollout in January. Plans are being developed to […]

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Weekly Clean Energy Roundup:November 17, 2004

News and Events Shell Adds Hydrogen Refueling to a Retail Gas Station Sandia to Help Build a 150-Kilowatt, Six-Dish Solar Facility Idaho PUC Gives Go-Ahead to State’s Largest Wind Power Plant German Company Erects Prototype 5-Megawatt Wind Turbine China Supports Plan to Build World’s Largest Tidal Power Plant Lexus to Launch Hybrid SUV in April 2005 Site NewsGermany’s Agency of Renewable Resources Tackles Biomass Energy News and EventsShell Adds Hydrogen Refueling to a Retail Gas StationSecretary of Energy Spencer Abraham joined representatives of Shell and General Motors Corporation (GM) last week in the opening of the first hydrogen refueling station in Washington, D.C. The Shell station?the first in North America to offer both gasoline and hydrogen?will be used to refuel GM fuel cell vehicles as part of DOE’s Vehicle and Infrastructure Learning Demonstration and Validation Project. The station is the first in a potential hydrogen corridor running from the capital to New York City. See the DOE and Shell press releases.Secretary Abraham announced the Vehicle and Infrastructure Learning Demonstration and Validation Project on April 27th as an opportunity to assess important data under real world environments that will refocus research efforts. See the story from the April 28th edition of […]

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