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The pilot phase has begun on a new LEED: LEED for Neighborhood Development – the first national standard for neighborhood design. A collaboration between the US Green Building Council, the Congress for the New Urbanism and the Natural Resources Defense Council, the new rating system integrates the principles of smart growth, urbanism and green building. LEED certification will provide independent, third-party verification that a development’s location and design meet accepted high standards for environmentally responsible, sustainable, development. The program emphasizes the design and construction elements that knit buildings together in to a neighborhood, and provides guidelines for better location, design and construction of new residential, commercial and mixed use development. Specifically, the pilot program for neighborhood development evaluates projects in four areas: – smart location and linkage– neighborhood pattern and design– green construction and technology– innovation and design process238 projects across the U.S. are participating in the pilot phase, which concludes in early 2008. Comments will be incorporated and the final version of LEED for Neighborhood Development will be released later that year. Learn more: [sorry this link is no longer available]
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Are electric trucks feasible? UK-based Smith Electric Vehicles is proving they are. The company manufactures all-electric, highway-ready trucks and vans. This year, it introduced the Newton truck and Edison van in Europe. Both are totally battery-powered, and are capable of 50 mph and up to 150 miles on one battery charge. The company just celebrated its first order from Royal Mail in the UK – a test order for its 33,000 fleet of commercial delivery vehicles. The adoption of the Low Emission Zone in London and expected road pricing in 10 other urban conurbations across the UK will significantly increase the addressable market for electric vehicles. Now Smith is coming to the U.S. – it’s building a $30 million production plant capable of producing 1000 vehicles a year. It will produce US-specific versions of the urban delivery vehicles, Edison and Newton. Smith is planning another plant for 2009 that can produce up to 5000 vehicles a year for North America. The company says it’s already receiving about 25 enquiries a week from major fleet operators in the US. In the UK, Smith sources vehicle shells and chassisy from major automotive manufacturers and then assembles them for their own vehicles. The […]
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Remote industrial production, transport and distribution are prime contributors to global warming. We need to stimulate local economies instead.
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News and EventsNorth American Countries to Cooperate on Appliance Standards Energy Star Program Tightens Requirements for Computers Maryland Removes Utility Disincentives for Energy Efficiency Georgia and Michigan in Race to Convert Wood to Ethanol Growing Wind Industry Yields New Plants in Four States FERC Aims to Simplify Licensing for Wave and Tidal Pilot Projects Energy ConnectionsReport: Energy Efficiency, Diversity are Keys to Our Future Energy Needs News and EventsNorth American Countries to Cooperate on Appliance StandardsThe North American energy ministers agreed on Monday to cooperate on energy efficiency standards and on energy science and technology. U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman met with Gary Lunn, minister of Natural Resources Canada (NRC), and Georgina Kessel, Mexico’s energy secretary, in Victoria, British Columbia. The ministers confirmed their commitment to further aligning energy-efficiency standards on key consumer products, noting that recent collaborative efforts had resulted in the harmonization of energy performance standards for refrigerators, air conditioners, and large electric motors. They identified seven additional energy-using products as potential candidates for harmonization and committed to strengthening trilateral cooperation on motor vehicle fuel efficiency and “standby power” consumption, that is, the energy used by electrical devices when they are switched off.The ministers also endorsed the […]
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Want to see where the pollution is coming from in North America? Now you can through a partnership of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation and Google. You’ll be able to locate pollution reported from 33,000 industrial facilities in Canada, Mexico and the U.S, how exciting!Just enter your zip code or city name to zoom in. You’ll find inforation on the kinds of pollution produced and how the facility handles it. You can compare the performance of facilities in one community to similar ones locally, nationally, and across North America.The Information comes from publicly accessible “pollutant release and transfer registers,” (PRTRs), which are maintained separately by the three North American countries: the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) in Canada, the Registro de Emisiones y Transferencias de Contaminantes (RETC) in Mexico, and the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) in the United States.Using this data as a starting point, the CEC publishes the annual Taking Stock – a report that provides an apples-to-apples snapshot of North American industrial emissions and trends. [sorry this link is no longer available]
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This is the sixth year for the SB20, which includes 20 top stocks in energy efficiency, renewables, green building, natural food, forestry, water and consumables.
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News and EventsDOE Awards $375 Million for Three Bioenergy Research Centers DOE to Invest $60 Million for Solar Energy Research DOE Awards $4 Million to Two Wind Turbine Blade Test Facilities BLM and U.S. Forest Service to Consider Expanded Geothermal Leasing New System Will Certify Renewable Power Generation in the West Global Annual Investment in Renewable Energy Hits $100 Billion Energy ConnectionsChina Now Leads in Total Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Says Report News and EventsDOE Awards $375 Million for Three Bioenergy Research CentersDOE announced yesterday that it will invest up to $375 million in three Bioenergy Research Centers in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Madison, Wisconsin; and Berkeley, California. The centers will focus on understanding how to reengineer biological processes to develop new methods for converting the cellulose in plant material into ethanol or other biofuels that serve as a substitute for gasoline. Future biofuels production will require the use of feedstocks more diverse than corn, including cellulosic material like agricultural residues, grasses, poplar trees, inedible plants, and non-edible portions of crops.The diverse teams of researchers at the centers will hail from 18 of the nation’s universities, seven DOE national laboratories, at least one nonprofit organization, and a range of private companies. Work […]
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It's under the radar screen, but even the real estate industry is getting much greener, and there are investment vehicles for green investors.
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The market is beginning to reward green buildings and sustainable business practices with discounted insurance rates.
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US independent power producer FPL Energy (NYSE: FPL) narrowly edged out Spanish utility Iberdrola to become the top global wind power owner in 2006, according to the latest rankings from Emerging Energy Research (EER), an advisory and consulting firm that tracks emerging technologies in global energy markets.FPL Energy closed 2006 ahead of Iberdrola by just 156 MW following major US project activations, but Iberdrola will likely reclaim leadership in 2007 with the acquisition of ScottishPower, which represents 1,400 MW of wind power capacity installed in the UK and the US. According to EER, the top 20 wind plant owners together account for about a third of wind power capacity worldwide.“Competition for global wind power leadership remains intense, with North America’s sustained growth providing a major boost to FPL and up-and-coming IPPs to compete with the acquisition strategies of European rivals,” says EER Research Director Keith Hays. “The rankings reflect a continuation of European utility dominance, though US players’ activations of mega projects and North America’s broader growth prospects will increase competition across the Atlantic in the near future.” Led by firms active in the U.S. and Spain, the top 20 wind power operators added over 5,100 MW in 2006 – […]
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