Archive for September, 2011

In September of 2010, more than 30 communities across the United States entered to compete in the U.S. EPA’s Green Power Community Challenge, which encouraged the participating communities to increase their use of green power generated from renewable resources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, biogas, and low-impact hydropower. Read the rest of this entry »

Dr. Richard Wool is a chemical engineering professor at the University of Delaware. Read the rest of this entry »

When Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted in June of 1991 – the second largest eruption of the twentieth century – all the expected things happened: pyroclastic flows, ash deposits, mass evacuations of nearby villages and lahars, or mudflows resulting from rain mixed with ash and sand. Read the rest of this entry »

Recessed lighting fixtures, also known as canned lighting or high hats, are in almost every home or office building. It is estimated that there are currently over 500 million fixtures in use today. They are clean looking but are notorious for being big energy wasters because of a lack of insulation. EcoCycle Solutions has a fix that is a safe, effective, and economical insulation solution to address energy loss and waste in attics and ceilings. Read the rest of this entry »

The Green Scissors campaign has brought together some strange bedfellows in the development of its recent report, Green Scissors: Cutting Wasteful and Environmentally Harmful Spending 2011. The report lists as its sponsors four organizations of diverse political persuasions and gives credit to authors from all four as well: Read the rest of this entry »

New York’s iconic Empire State Building has just undergone a green retrofit which has earned a LEED-Gold certification. The 102-story skyscraper, which was build 80 years ago, is expected to reduce energy use by more than $4.4 million annually, cut carbon emissions by 105,000 metric tons over a 15-year period and provide a payback in slightly more than three years. Read the rest of this entry »

Transforming cutting-edge technologies developed by scientists and engineers at government labs into commercial application in the marketplace is an ongoing effort that has the potential for great success. NREL projects involving use of silicon ink in PV cells, electrochromic window technology, and the development of black silicon for creating high energy solar cells have been granted awards for excellences by the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer’s Mid-Continent Region. Read the rest of this entry »

When it comes to cities that hold sustainability in high regard, New York probably doesn’t come to mind for most people. But that perception could change in the very near future thanks to the New York City Bike Share Program, which is pedaling closer to a launch date. Read the rest of this entry »