1. Home
  2. Articles posted by: Rona Fried (Page 2414)

Bay Area Car Sharing Program Spurring Fundamental Changes

“This is the data we’ve been waiting for – it proves that car-sharing is changing the car culture for the better,” said City CarShare Executive Director Larry Magid. The country’s first major study of the impacts of car-sharing, financed by the Federal Highway Administration’s Value Pricing Program shows the San Francisco Bay Area’s City CarShare, a non-profit group, is having measurable impacts in reducing driving, transportation costs, private car ownership, and environmental hazards. The findings by Robert Cervero, a professor with Univeristy of Califonia at Berkeley’s Institute of Urban and Regional Development, are the latest in his three-year evaluation of the City CarShare’s effects on travel, car ownership, the environment, parking and the quality of life in neighborhoods. Cervero’s study shows that many hoped-for benefits have occurred: * 30% of households that participate in City CarShare have sold one or more of their privately-owned cars; 67% have chosen not to purchase an additional car.* Most trips are made outside of peak travel hours.* Overall per-capita automobile travel among City CarShare members has dropped 47 percent, while use of public transit, walking and bicycling by CarShare members has increased.* City CarShare is saving 13,000 miles of vehicle travel, 720 gallons of […]

Read More

Audubon Certifies First Earth-Friendly Communities

WCI Communities, Inc. (NYSE: WCI), a leading builder of highly amenitized lifestyle communities, is the first homebuilder to have a residential community certified as an Audubon International Gold Signature Sustainable Development. Demonstrating its environmental commitment and incorporating green building principles into traditional home building, WCI received certification for two of its residential Florida communities. Evergrene, a 364-acre development in Palm Beach Gardens and home to WCI’s newest concept green house, the Geni G, is located on the East Coast of Florida; and Sun City Center, an active adult community in Fort Myers, is located on the West Coast. Geni G, – short for Generation Green – is a 1,500-square foot home styled as an American bungalow, and is the culmination of hundreds of hours of research on cost-effective green-building techniques, systems, appliances and finishes by WCI designers and engineers. It incorporates the latest energy-efficient building technologies, use of recycled materials and features that promote indoor air quality. It has bamboo flooring, a rain collection/storage system for irrigation, and paints and finishes that emit little or no fumes. The $75,000 in green building options include carpet made from recycled soda bottles, touchless faucets that encourage water conservation and fiber-optic cable lighting […]

Read More

Innovative Businesses Receive Prestigious CA. Environmental Awards

On December 1, California Governor Schwarzenegger announced the winners of the 2003 Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Awards. Established in 1993, the awards recognize individuals and organizations that sustain economic development while protecting California’s environment. 24 businesses, organizations and government offices in seven award categories won awards. Sustainable Practices: Pioneering efforts to integrate environmental values into long-term management practices. Fetzer Vineyards: Sustainability has long been at the core of Fetzer’s business philosophy. Fetzer was the first winery to be completely sustainable in California and is recognized as an industry leader for growing, producing, and marketing organic wines. Among its many accomplishments, it reduced landfill waste by 94%, reduced energy consumption by 28%, and increased sales by 15% annually. CourseCo, Inc. Golf Course Environmental Management: The California-based company manages 13 golf courses. Its sustainable practices include the use of reclaimed water, development and cultivation of disease resistant grasses, delineation of environmentally sensitive areas within course boundaries, using native plants and minimizing pesticides. Petaluma Poultry: is a leader in organic poultry farming, minimizing energy consumption and waste. Greening Ethnic Restaurants: partners with city, county and private organizations to implement 57 environmental measures in ethnic restaurants that minimize waste, and maximize water and […]

Read More