Using Wild Woods Conserves World's Forests
Tired of oak, oak, oak in floors, cabinets and furniture? Using lesser-known wood species are aesthetically pleasing, and helps maintain biodiversity.
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Scaling Up a New Biorefinery
PureVision's technology substitutes fossil fuel produced products with biomass-derived products.
Weekly Clean Energy Roundup:March 3, 2004
*News and Events First Commercial Wind Power Plant Slated for Arizona Kansas Utility Seeks up to 200 Megawatts of Renewable Energy Solar Power Companies Reach New Heights in Efficiency Honda Fuel Cell Vehicle Passes Cold-Weather Test Fuel Cells Help Convert New York City Odors into Electricity Company Completes Construction of Wave Energy Converter *Site News Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Energy Web Site *Energy ConnectionsEIA Releases New Statistics on Alternative-Fueled Vehicles ———————————————————————- NEWS AND EVENTS ———————————————————————-First Commercial Wind Power Plant Slated for ArizonaAPS, Arizona’s largest electric utility, announced last week that it will partner with Western Wind Energy Corporation, a Canadian company, to build the state’s first commercial wind power plant. The Eastern Arizona Wind Energy Center will be located near the New Mexico border in east-central Arizona, about 5 miles east of St. Johns. The wind energy facility will consist of ten 1.5-megawatt wind turbines for a total generating capacity of 15 megawatts. APS expects construction to begin in September, and the plant should begin producing power before year-end.APS is pursuing wind power in part to meet the requirements of the state’s Environmental Portfolio Standard, which requires utilities to generate 1.1 percent of their power from renewable energy […]
Weekly Clean Energy Roundup:February 25, 2004
*News and EventsEnergy Star Program Aims to Cut Energy Use in Power Supplies EPA Launches Partnership for Energy-Efficient Freight Maryland Launches High-Tech Program to Boost Mass Transit Ski Areas Buy Green Power, Use Solar to “Keep Winter Cool” Energy Star Program Aims to Cut Energy Use in Power SuppliesHere’s an energy fact that’s sure to appeal to the paranoid: little boxes plugged into outlets around your home and hidden in your electronic equipment are sapping about six percent of the nation’s electricity. No, this is not a result of some conspiracy, but rather a consequence of the many electronic devices that run on direct current (DC), the same kind of power produced by batteries. Since our power lines supply alternating current (AC), these devicesour cell phones, telephones, computers, and most other electronic devicesuse an AC/DC power supply (generally a transformer) to convert that AC power into the DC power the devices need. Unfortunately, some energy is lost in that power conversion, and for the nation as a whole, that adds up to about 207 billion kilowatts per year.According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), more efficient power supplies could reduce that energy use by about 15 to 20 percent. […]
Greening Ethnic Restaurants
Ritu Primlani, founder of Thimmakka’s Resources for Environmental Education, is on a remarkable mission. Through her brainchild, Greening Ethnic Restaurants (GER), Primlani reaches out to Indian and other Asian eateries with little environmental knowledge and transforms them into “green” enterprises. That’s no easy feat, considering that restaurants consume more energy per square foot than any other industry, gobbling water and producing huge amounts of solid waste. Add in the difficulty of approaching overworked restaurant owners who rarely speak fluent English, and the task seems nearly impossible. “Given that these are small, family-owned businesses, they really don’t have the money or time to make changes,” says Primlani. “They may want to help the environment, but it just doesn’t seem possible.” So Primlani focuses on fianncial benefits, demonstrating how environmental changes can increase efficiency and save dollars. Participating restaurants, mostly in the San Francisco area, spend a maximum of 24 hours a year improving in four areas: water and energy conservation, waste reduction and pollution prevention. Environmental experts assess the premises pro bono, accompanies by GER volunteers who translate for the owner. After the assessment, the restaurant chooses several environmental measures to enact. GER helps research and implement the reforms, often using […]
Empower to the People
by Jacquelyn OttmanThe most successful brands connect with their customers emotionally in addition to logical facts and rational appeals. Effective green product marketers connect with concerned and aware consumers willing to pay a premium to buy green products by empowering them to clean the air, purify the water, or help save endangered forests and species.Product purchasing and consumption are the #1 ways in which Americans act upon their environmental worries. Ask an American adult what he/she is doing to save the planet and their responses most likely will center on product-related behaviors like turning off the lights when leaving a room, recycling products and packages (and more recycling), and looking for green labels when shopping. These activities are more prevalent than donating to environmental groups or voting for green candidates, for instance.So showing people how products will help them address environmental issues is a key quiver in a green marketers arsenal.EducateAccording to Ropers Green Gauge, 50% of American adults say they would do more for the environment if only they knew how. So, education is critical. Does your product save water or energy? Does it help cut down on waste that must be landfilled? Does it contain fewer toxics that […]
Does Odwalla Go Better with Coke?
How is one of the pioneering natural food companies doing as a division of Coca-Cola?
Spreading The Green Message: Marketing Vital to Expanding Green Building Beyond The Leading Edge
Green building is gaining market acceptance but it still needs a major "marketing" push.
Weekly Clean Energy Roundup:February 18, 2004
*News and Events Dow Installs a 75-Kilowatt GM Fuel Cell, Earns DOE Kudos Engineers Find Economical Way to Make Hydrogen from Ethanol New Hampshire Slated to Earn Ethanol Exemption; California Wants In Natural-Gas and Hybrid-Electric Cars Top Green List Five Power Companies Commit to Clean Energy, Cap Greenhouse Gases Florida Power & Light Launches Green Power Program Dow Installs a 75-Kilowatt GM Fuel Cell, Earns DOE KudosDow Chemical Company began drawing on a 75-kilowatt fuel cell to help power its Texas Operations site in Freeport, Texas, on February 10th. The fuel cell, manufactured by General Motors Corporation (GM), marks the first concrete step in a Dow-GM fuel cell collaboration first announced in May 2003. Dow produces the hydrogen fuel for the fuel cell as a byproduct of its chemical manufacturing process; currently, Dow either burns the hydrogen in its boilers or sells it to industrial gas companies. Although the new installation is a test that will last four to six months, with more fuel cells to be added this summer, Dow and GM plan to eventually install 35 megawatts of fuel cells. That would meet two percent of the power needs for Dow’s Texas Operations site, which is Dow’s largest […]
Weekly Clean Energy Roundup:February 11, 2004
*News and Events Researchers Gain Insight on How Plants Split Water PacifiCorp Seeks 1,100 Megawatts of Renewable Energy Breakthrough May Shed Light on High-Temperature Superconductivity Two Large Solar Power Systems On Order in California Audubon Center Uses Only Solar Energy, Earns Greenest Rating *Energy Connections EIA Updates Summaries of Seven Energy-Intensive Industries ———————————————————————- NEWS AND EVENTS ———————————————————————-Researchers Gain Insight on How Plants Split WaterPhotosynthesisthe process plants use to produce energy-rich carbohydrates using sunlightis the basis for all plant life on Earth, but the process remains poorly understood. At the heart of the photosynthetic process is a simple reaction that could be the key to our energy future: the technique that splits water into its constituent elements, hydrogen and oxygen. In a plant, the oxygen is released to the atmosphere and the hydrogen is used to help produce the complex sugars that fuel the cells throughout the plant. But if people can replicate the process, the hydrogen could instead be used to fuel our vehicles and provide heat and power for our buildings.Last week, researchers at Imperial College London announced they had moved a step forward in understanding the water-splitting process, using high-resolution X-ray crystallography to study two protein complexes that […]
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