CleanTechnica.com, December 23, 2011
Vermont is known for its lush Green Mountains, idyllic farm landscapes, and progressive politics. What many people may not realize is that Vermont has a pretty active secessionist movement too.
Vermont isn’t likely to secede from the U.S. But it is undertaking an ambitious renewable energy program that could at least put it on a path toward “energy secession” — developing a road map for procuring 90% of its heat, electricity and fuels from renewables by 2050.
Camilla Cornell, Financialpost.com
December 19, 2011
When Tom Heintzman travels, he either uses a plug-in hybrid car or purchases carbon offsets for all of his flights, takes public transport from the airport where possible, and uses hotel chains that are powered at least partially by renewable energy. But you would expect that of the co-founder and president of Toronto-based Bullfrog Power Inc., a green electricity producer.
Mr. Heintzman argues there’s a business case to be made for all companies – whether they style themselves as “green” or not – to reduce their transportation footprint.
“We definitely have a lot of polling data that suggest consumers are increasingly aware of companies’ corporate social responsibility and environmental practices and they’re increasingly relevant,” he says.
By Andrew Michler
September 13, 2011
Up to 20 square miles of virgin desert in New Mexico will soon be home to the nation’s newest town, only with a twist — no one will live there. Developer Pegasus Global Holdings (a communication, technology and defense contractor) and the state of New Mexico have announced plans to create a “mid-sized” smart city that they are calling The Center for Testing, Evaluation and Innovation. Details are vague, but the concept is clear enough: design a town that mirrors real cities in order to test sustainable infrastructure and technologies to see if they would work in the actual built environment without fear of disrupting real communities. Think of it as the green version of Westworld – only if something goes wrong nobody gets hurt.
CleanTechnica
December 13, 2011
We have the pleasure of working with hundreds of people every day that want to reduce their energy bills, go green and jump on the solar power bandwagon. And the question we see over and over again is: Just how much do I need and what will it cost? We’ll tackle that question here and show you how we calculate system size and cost. We have simple solar calculators that can do this on our website but so many people have asked how this is actually calculated that we thought we’d give a quick solar design lesson.
Susan DeFreitas
November 29th, 2011
Zero waste. Better batteries. Less money. That’s what earthCell has a plan for, and — with a little help from you, via Kickstarter — perhaps even the cash to make it a reality.
CleanTechnica.com
November 21, 2011
Feed-in tariffs are a comprehensive renewable energy policy responsible for two-thirds of the world’s wind power (64 percent) and almost 90 percent of the world’s solar power. With simplified grid connections, long-term contracts and attractive prices for development, that’s policy that works.
EarthTechling.com
October 20, 2011
Ontario likes its eggs sunny-side up – literally. The province’s aggressive feed-in tariff (FIT) program has prompted Drouin Farms, a large family-owned organic egg producer, to install a 250-kilowatt photovoltaic (PV) system. Producing over 300,000 kilowatt-hours per year, the project will reduce CO2 emissions by 2,800 tons annually and produce enough electricity to power about 30 homes.
The Guardian
June 16, 2011
What happens when individuals act in ways that seem out of kilter with their attitudes and values? Academics call it the “value action gap”, and have noted that it’s particularly evident in people’s attitudes toward the environment. We have the knowledge to act more sustainably but when it comes to actually doing something, other factors take over.
Companies have values, too. The dynamics of the value action gap are complex enough in individual choices, but with large companies they reach an entirely different dimension. The recent evidence we have seen at Global Action Plan is that there is a growing gulf between the aspirations and values of business leaders and the day-to-day reality of working life.
Fast Company
Fri Jul 23, 2010
Industry-Wide Eco Index Will Rate Apparel on Sustainability
BY Ariel Schwartz
Judging by the recent actions of companies like Walmart and Samsung, sustainability indexes (aka green supply chain rating systems) are the next big thing in corporate social responsibility. So it isn’t all that surprising that a group of 100 retailers and apparel brands are joining together to form an industry-wide Eco Index—a software-based tool that allows companies to track product impacts through a series of questions on labor and environmental efforts.
View the Full Article at: http://www.fastcompany.com/
CNN Opinion
May 28, 2010 7:47 a.m. EDT
What if carbon dioxide were as black as oil?
By Christopher Reddy, Special to CNN
CNN)—What if carbon dioxide were as black as oil?
When your house is on fire, you may not be in the mood to hear about an impending cancer epidemic that threatens your neighborhood, so I hesitate to bring up this topic.
