January 25th, 2013 
Eric Wilson 
The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) just released their top 10 list for 2012 in terms of the most LEED certified square footage (per capita). Despite a slowdown in LEED certification, the numbers are impressive. Here are a five facts from the report: Approximately 2.2 billion square feet of space has been certified worldwide [...]
Posted in Business, Clean Technology, Conservation, Eric Wilson, Five Friday Facts, Green Building, News 
Tags: Energy Conservation, Green Technology, LEED 
No Comments » January 24th, 2013 Chris DeArmond 
Two of the biggest challenges to solar power are cost and efficiency, though scientists at Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, took another small step towards conquering both obstacles. Less than a week ago, an independent laboratory confirmed that Empa surpassed the previous world record (which it also held), for energy [...]
January 21st, 2013 Sean Connell Mount Hood and Crater Lake may be Oregon’s most famous volcanic sites, but a much lesser known companion may soon be joining them. While lacking the towering cone of Hood, Newberry Crater is actually the largest of the Cascade Range volcanoes, covering 1,200 square miles (or about the size of the state of Rhode Island). The U.S. [...]
January 17th, 2013 Eric Wilson 
What comes to mind when you think of New Jersey? Snooki? The Situation? The Boss? Fughedabouddit, try solar. New Jersey is the second largest installer of solar energy in the United States behind only California. National Geographic’s Great Energy Challenge has a piece looking at the revolution in solar that’s taking place in the “Garden [...]
Posted in Behavior, Business, Eric Wilson, News, Renewable Energy Tags: California, Landfill, Photovoltaic, Solar Energy No Comments » January 17th, 2013 Chris DeArmond 
This probably is not the best forum to talk about 6.2-liter V8 sports cars going green, but bear with me. The Corvette has been with us since 1953, and none is as fast or fuel efficient as the C7 generation unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show last Sunday. Many details have yet to emerge, but [...]
Posted in Business, Transportation Tags: CAFE Standards, Carbon Dioxide, Cars, Chris DeArmond No Comments » January 11th, 2013 Justin Manger 
After a year and a half of building on a shaky linguistic base, my Japanese has progressed enough to be able to read the newspaper (thank you ICI). It’s still slow going but reading a newspaper in a foreign language is a great complement to other news sources and brings a nice cultural perspective while [...]
Posted in Business, Clean Technology, Green Products, Japan, Justin Manger, News, Transportation Tags: Battery, Cars, Electric Vehicles, Green Technology No Comments » January 8th, 2013 Justin Manger 
Though controversial, I think the Keystone Pipeline should be built. (Eric, of course, reminds me that “not all of us at 2GR agree.”) However, it now looks as though it may actually come to pass. A report released by the state of Nebraska late last week contains the evaluation that the pipeline “could have minimal [...]
Posted in Business, Economics, Justin Manger, Local Energy/Food, Policy, President Obama Tags: Environment, Oil, Washington DC No Comments » January 7th, 2013 Justin Manger 
Walking around exploring the new neighborhood (Yoyogiuehara/Komaba) I moved to in Tokyo over winter vacation, I came across what seems to be a Japanese version of Zipcar, the car-sharing service that was recently acquired by Avis. The service is called Times Plus（タイムズプラス; website in Japanese only) and seems fairly similar to Zipcar, with only a few [...]
January 4th, 2013 Eric Wilson 
It appears that I misspoke in the calendar post from earlier this month. The Production Tax Credit for renewable energy, namely wind, which expired on December 31, 2012 after 20 years, was spared in the deal to avert the fiscal cliff. According to the White House’s blog, “Tax credits that encourage the production of clean [...]
January 2nd, 2013 Justin Manger 
Though I wish they would stay independent and continue to lead the car sharing movement, Zipcar will be bought by Avis rental car company. An offer of $12.25 per share in cash is almost a 50% premium on Zipcar’s stock price and will come to a total buyout price tag of around $500 million. The [...]
