The State's War on Sustainable Communities. United Arab Emirates: The Future Centre Of Renewable Energy. Policymic. Despite what critics say, the DoE’s guaranteed loan program is a successful program and government investment to further develop clean energy is the right thing to do. Let’s start by definitively debunking the Solyndra critique: The company's loans process began under the Bush Administration, it raised $1 billion dollars in private capital, and was named the top cleantech company in 2010 by the Wall Street Journal. Yes, it defaulted and went bankrupt, but the default rate for the entire loan portfolio is less than four percent. By comparison, the default rate for the popular Small Business Administration loan program is three times as high. Solyndra’s failure is not representative of the industry or government investment. And, the idea that government shouldn’t be in the business of “picking winners and losers” is both misguided and disingenuous.
The Act also provides for direct investment of billions of dollars of taxpayer money in fossil fuel industries. Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Sprouting Soon: Solar Panels Sculpted As Artificial Leaves. Solar panels don't tend to win beauty contests. Manufacturers package their photovoltaics into black utilitarian boxes that only look good out of sight. But now Solar Ivy--who we've written about before in earlier stages--is making available its solar arrays, arrays that you actually want to show the world. Solar Ivy, part of the Brooklyn-based sustainable design company SMIT, hopes to "challenge our notions of what solar power can and can't do. " Solar Ivy uses recycled and reclaimed materials to design elegant solar systems--sculptures, almost--filling the niche between aesthetic and energetic. The technology layers wafer-thin PV onto individual plastic "leaves"attached to a wire mesh (some versions also include a piezoelectric generator at the leaf base).
A 4x7-foot strip of Solar Ivy generates 85 watts of solar power, and the whole assemblage can be wrapped around structures creating the appearance of a leafy facade while also powering the building. [Images: Solar Ivy] Breakthrough Solar Energy Technology from Israel | How To Build Solar Power. + New .COMs $7.99/yr plus 18 cents/yr ICANN fee. Discount based on new one-year registration prices as of 1/27/2012 with sale price reflected in your shopping cart at checkout. Discount applies to new registrations and renewals and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or promotion. Domains purchased through this offer will renew at regular price after the initial term has expired. Offer ends May 31, 2012 5:00 pm (MST). † Good for one 1-year registration of any available .COM, .US, .BIZ, .INFO, .NET or .ORG ‡ Annual discounts available on NEW purchases only. GoDaddy.com is the world's No. 1 ICANN-accredited domain name registrar for .COM, .NET, .ORG, .INFO, .BIZ and .US domain extensions.
Source: RegistrarSTATS.com 1 GoDaddy.com is rated the world's largest hostname provider according to Netcraft®. Share photos on Twitter. Top Ten Greenest Buildings Globally. On Small Farms, Hoof Power Returns - Green Business World. Biomass based renewable energy projects. Why We Must Learn From The Biosphere To Build Green Economies. Photo: Nogwater/Creative Commons Interested in ecological economics? (And if you call yourself an environmentalist or are even minimally concerned about green issues, you should be.)
Then here are two important pieces you should be paying attention to from the past couple of days: Some good new from the National Wildlife Federation on abandoning GDP as the most important measure of our economy; and some excellent (as always) words from David Korten on learning from the biosphere in structuring our economy.As reported by the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy, the National Wildlife Federation recently pass a resolution calling on the President, Congress, as well as governors and state legislators to adopt broader economic measurements in judging economic health, and abandoning GDP "as the economic indicator that economic policymakers seek to maximize.
" And CASSE really sums it up well: All of which links directly into what David Korten writes about in YES! Don johnston: "See how #electricty is ..." « Deck.ly. New Jersey real estate broker goes paperless. Last April, when real estate agent Carmelo "Mel" Oliveri found out New Jersey had changed a regulation to allow brokers to keep electronic records in place of paper ones, he put himself in gear. Two months after finding out about the change, he founded his own virtual and paperless brokerage, Paramus-based Property Hub Realtors. "The technology is out there (for brokerages to become paperless). Unfortunately, it’s underutilized in the real estate world. Everyone says that’s the future of real estate, but the future is here," Oliveri said.
A middle-school teacher turned real estate investor, Oliveri started his career as a real estate agent in 2006 with Exit Realty, later moving to Coldwell Banker and then Re/Max. Before launching his brokerage that same month, he had spent a year and a half researching how to start a business based almost entirely around the Web. Oliveri, 33, chose not to use a third-party platform. Oliveri expects to recoup the cost in about three years. How Starbucks Saves Millions a Year in Energy with LED Lighting | Business. Starbucks recently finished replacing nearly all of its incandescent and halogen lighting with LEDs during a two-year roll-out to over 7,000 company-owned stores, most in the United States and Canada, but with some in Europe and Asia.
This is the largest deployment yet of LED technology in an application that is very sensitive to the quality of light; Starbucks' success proves that the new digital lighting is ready for mass install. Jim Hanna, Director of Environmental Impact for Starbucks confirmed that the LED lighting program is on target to slash consumption by more than 80 percent compared to existing lighting. My back-of-the envelope calculations [see notes below] found that • Each LED light bulb saves approximately $30 annually in energy costs and eliminates the equivalent CO2 as half a barrel of oil; • Each 1,000 square foot store on average would save nearly $600 annually and eliminate the equivalent CO2 as 10 barrels of oil The roll-out after initial trials proceeded smoothly.
Apply for the Adventurous 'Best Internship on Earth'. Solar Power – Less Than Natural Gas | About Green Things. GreenBizDaily. Tesla to recycle electric car batteries in Belgium. Electric carmaker Tesla will recycle its battery packs in Europe by refining its innards to cobalt, nickel and other metals.
Tesla joins a long list of electric car manufacturers that are trying to figure out what to do with batteries at the end of their lives — which, per automaker warranties, are guaranteed to last seven to 10 years. While electric car demand is strong, batteries remain the most expensive and unwieldy component and raise environmental safety issues. GM and Nissan have both formed partnerships to research second-life uses for electric car batteries, exploring whether used batteries can be refitted to act as backup generators for hospitals or store renewable energy. Tesla has previously announced a partnership with SolarCity to collaborate on solar storage technologies. If more recycling mechanisms are set up, customers could recover some of the cost of their used batteries, potentially allaying fears about the technology and cost risks consumers have with electric cars.
eStar Electric Vehicle Will Provide Emission Free Inner-City Deliveries - Green Business World. Film Your Bike Ride, Be in a Music Video - Transportation. Ben Sollee is a musician who is attempting an impressive feat: Go on an entire 1,500-mile tour by bicycle. It helps when you're a solo cellist, sure, but it's still impressive. As part of the tour, Sollee is making a music video and he wants bikers everywhere to participate. If you're going out riding this weekend, see if you can't strap a camera on and get your footage in the final product. Here is what they're looking for: Strap your camera to the back of your bike or helmet and point it backwards. Full details of how to submit can be found here. Nine Unlikely Power Sources, from Revolving Doors to Battery-Charging Shoes - Technology.
Open for Comments: National Ocean Policy Strategic Action Plans. As part of President Obama’s commitment to move toward the first comprehensive national policy for our oceans, the National Ocean Council (NOC) is responsible for developing strategic action plans to achieve nine priority objectives that address some of the most pressing challenges facing the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes. Engaging with the public is a key component for us in the development of these strategic actions plans. That’s why today we are launching a public comment period to get your feedback and input on the development of these plans. The health and productivity of our waters is critically important to our economy and for American families. This is your opportunity to help ensure we make the most of these precious resources by sharing your comments and ideas during the development of the plans that will implement a National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and the Great Lakes.
Comments will be accepted through April 29, 2011. Redfields to Greenfields. Sometimes money does grow on trees. More than 150 years ago, America's greatest landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted, created Central Park and changed New York forever. He went on to transform dozens more cities, leaving a priceless legacy of vibrant, beautiful cityscapes. And, in the process, he increased property values. Olmsted discovered this himself when he tracked the value of land around Central Park and found that the city's $13 million investment had led to an astounding $209 million increase in just 17 years. The architect recognized what many planners still fail to grasp: Parks and managed green space are vital pieces of urban infrastructure that not only improve the quality of life for millions of people but also drive economic growth. Today we must act again to transform our cities. The commercial real estate binge of the past decade and the growth of online shopping as an alternative to brick-and-mortar stores have left more than 200,000 acres of vacant retail, office and industrial space.
Michael G. Social networking under fresh attack as tide of cyber-scepticism sweeps US | Media | The Observer. The way in which people frantically communicate online via Twitter, Facebook and instant messaging can be seen as a form of modern madness, according to a leading American sociologist. "A behaviour that has become typical may still express the problems that once caused us to see it as pathological," MIT professor Sherry Turkle writes in her new book, Alone Together, which is leading an attack on the information age.
Turkle's book, published in the UK next month, has caused a sensation in America, which is usually more obsessed with the merits of social networking. She appeared last week on Stephen Colbert's late-night comedy show, The Colbert Report. When Turkle said she had been at funerals where people checked their iPhones, Colbert quipped: "We all say goodbye in our own way. " Turkle's thesis is simple: technology is threatening to dominate our lives and make us less human. But Turkle's book is far from the only work of its kind. The backlash has crossed the Atlantic.