2nd Green Revolution

I Don’t Understand Parking Lots

In an op-ed a few months back I alluded to the coming diatribe against parking lots. As a form of land use, parking lots make no sense to me. Conversely, ...

The Angry Pedestrian: An Introduction

Let me say first off that I own a car. I drive. I don't drive a ton, I don't drive everyday, I don't drive to my job, but I understand ...

What Will It Take to Make Mass Transit the Norm?

Will people start consistently riding mass transit when gas prices stay above $5 per gallon? $10? What about when we are paying the true cost of driving (i.e. emissions, disposal)? ...

Designing Cities with People in Mind

I'm not a city planner. I took one class in college, so I don't even pretend to be qualified. However, living in a city and trying to commute without a ...

Earth Day 2012

Celebrating the 42nd Earth Day and 4.5 billion years of earth. Image from NASA Johnson Space Center

Honeywell Goes After Nest Labs for Patent Infringement

by Justin Manger on February 7th, 2012

As we have profiled here, Nest Labs has come up with a clean and classy look for their new energy saving and “auto-learning” thermostat. They will now have to come up with a team of lawyers to defend allegations from Honeywell International that Nest infringes on several (seven to be precise) patents that Honeywell has for thermostat technology. Filed in a district court in Minnesota, the patents are related to simplified methods for operating and programming a thermostat. These include controlling it with information stored in a remote location and user interfaces that facilitate programming and energy saving.

A former Apple executive and developer of the original iPod, Tony Fadell, recently launched Nest Labs with Apple’s penchant for clean, user-friendly interfaces, and a simple but technologically advanced style.

Honeywell is a maker of aerospace products as well as building-control and safety products. With the lawsuit,

New York City Gets Tidal Energy Project

by Justin Manger on February 6th, 2012

Verdant Power was granted the first US license for a tidal energy project right on New York City’s doorstep, the East River. While the 1MW project is tiny compared to the over 2,000MW wind farm on the drawing board for Wyoming, it is good to see various renewable technologies being tested around the country. Localization of power sources by taking advantage of the renewable types of energy specific to a region is important as we broaden our power generation options.

The announcement on January 23rd that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a pilot commercial license for the project – the first-ever commercial license for tidal power in the United States – capped off a full decade of work. It’s been a long road for Verdant Power, as the project began in 2002 with prototype testing. The Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy (RITE) Project is being developed in three phases:

Are Cities Really More Sustainable?

by Eric Wilson on February 5th, 2012

In the most recent Five Friday Facts, Justin provided information on the growth in cities outside the developed world. He points out that increasing populations pose challenges for sustainability. How can we support a global population in denser cities? The argument tends to go that cities are more sustainable since they use less land to provide habitation for people. Unfortunately, these people still consume (in developed countries at least) an inordinate amount of materials. The rise of collaborative consumption may help, but it only delays the inevitable.

I, sitting at my desktop, am not immune. While living in a 30-unit apartment building and “only” owning one car, my family does use fewer resources than if we were in a single family home (suburban, urban, or otherwise). However, there are now 30 families (probably 50 people) living in the space of what was former about three single family homes. That’s roughly 40 more people in a confined space. By building up (the structure is three stories) more people can fit in a smaller space.

The density achieved by apartments, condos, and townhomes means that people tend to use less energy (think heating and commuting) than they would if they lived further apart. However, the increase in population allows for ever greater numbers of people to inhabit a small space and import resources.

3 Honda Fit EVs Arrive in California

by Eric Wilson on February 4th, 2012

Three 2013 Honda Fit Electric Vehicles were delivered to different institutions across the state of California last month. Stanford University, Google, and the city of Torrance received the new cars as a test run for Honda’s electric vehicle. A few years back, the Honda Clarity debuted in Southern California, further cementing the state as a leader in transport electrification.

Honda unveiled the Fit EV last fall at the Los Angeles Auto Show. In the press release, the company states that the car will be available summer of 2012. Specifically, Honda will begin “leasing the Fit EV to customers in select California and Oregon markets next summer [2012], and will expand to six East Coast markets in early 2013. The Fit EV’s Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price² (MSRP) is $36,625 with an estimated lease priced at $399 a month.” Depending on market penetration, Honda “expects volume at this early stage of production to be approximately 1,100 Fit EV’s over the next three years.”

According to a more recent press release, “Honda delivered a 2013 Fit EV battery-electric vehicle to the city of Torrance . . . as one of the first major steps in the Honda Electric Vehicle Demonstration Program, a prelude to the retail market launch of the Fit EV with customers in California and Oregon this summer.”

RecycleMania 2012 Kicks Off

by Eric Wilson on February 3rd, 2012

One way to encourage progress on a goal like energy reduction is to have a competition. Many of these competitions take place in the education sector. The ongoing Green Cup Challenge is one example. In addition, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has organized a number of national competitions, including the Battle of the Buildings and the Game Day Challenge.

RecycleMania represents another in this long line. It is a “friendly competition and benchmarking tool for college and university recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities to their campus communities.” For 8 weeks during the spring, schools tally weekly trash totals. This year’s competition begins this Sunday, February 8th. Registration is currently closed, but RecycleMania is an annual activity. Final results will be posted in mid-April.

RecycleMania is a non-profit “governed by a steering committee made up of recycling and sustainability managers from a variety of participating universities.” Beginning in 2001 as a friendly contest between two rival schools (Miami University and nearby Ohio University). Since then, it has grown to include more than 600 universities and colleges.

FFF: Fastest Growing Metropolitan Regions in the World

by Justin Manger on February 3rd, 2012

A very comprehensive report by The Brookings Institute reveals just how rapidly the cities of the developing world are growing. In the midst of the largest human migration from the countryside to cities, the report portends a rise in living standards for millions as well as highlights the challenges in sustainably providing energy and food for the inhabitants of these thriving metropolises.

The Brookings report analyzed “per capita GDP (income) and employment changes in the 2010 to 2011 period for 200 of the world’s largest metropolitan economies, which account for nearly one-half (48 percent) of global output but contain only 14 percent of world population and employment.” The study reveals that,

Largest Windfarm in U.S. Slated for Wyoming

by Justin Manger on February 2nd, 2012

Even given the backlash over the very public bankruptcy of solar panel maker Solyndra, the Obama administration remains set on pushing clean energy. It has fast tracked plans for the largest windfarm in the U.S., a 2,000 to 3,000MW facility that will consist of 1,000 wind turbine generators and be built just south of Rawlins, Wyoming. Called the ChokeCherry/Sierra Madre Wind Project, the project should get final Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approval in the next few months. The BLM site has detailed information if you’re interested. The plan is to feed the electricity into the grid. Since it’s only a couple hundred miles from Ft. Collins/Denver/Boulder, perhaps it will boost the percentage of green energy for that metropolis.

The largest windfarm at the moment in the U.S. is the 781MW Roscoe Wind Farm facility in Texas. For comparison sake,

California Strengthens Vehicle Emission Standards

by Chris DeArmond on February 2nd, 2012

Over the past couple of decades, California has earned a reputation for passing its own environmental standards that are often much more rigorous than those set by the federal government. Following this trend, California’s Air Resources Board (ARB) released a tougher vehicle emissions program for vehicle model years (MY) 2015 through 2025. The Advanced Clean Cars program, which was passed unanimously on January 27th, is designed to “encourage” the sale and development of environmentally advanced cars by mandating significant cuts in smog and carbon dioxide emissions.

According to ARB Chairman Mary Nichols, the new rules “will clean our air, fight climate change and provide cars that save consumers thousands of dollars at the pump.” Specifically, by proposing tougher smog standards starting with MY 2015, cars built in 2025 will emit 75 percent less smog-forming pollution compared to 2014. In the past, similar legislation (known as Low Emission Vehicle I) reduced smog by 75 percent between 1994 and 2003. Greenhouse gas emissions, for which regulations go into effect in 2017, are predicted to be 34 percent lower for MY 2025 vehicles than those made in 2016. Over the course of the regulations, it is estimated that greenhouse gases will be reduced by roughly 52 million tons, or the equivalent of taking 10 million cars off the road for one year.

The vital source of these emission reductions is the 1.4 million plug-in hybrid and zero-emission vehicles that will be on the road by 2025—if all goes according to plan.

Dioxins in Food, Should There Be a Limit?

by Megan Stilley on February 1st, 2012

Most people have heard of dioxin even if they do not fully understand what the term means. Dioxins are one of the most toxic known substances. Dioxins are known to cause “ reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system, interfere with hormones and also cause cancer.” Currently, “Dioxins mainly enter the food chain as by-products of industrial processes.”

The scariest thing about dioxin is, “More than 90% of human exposure [to dioxin] is through food, mainly meat and dairy products, fish and shellfish.” Dioxin also tends to stay in the body once it is absorbed. It is one of the nasty chemicals that is fat soluble, so it clings to your fat cells and is nearly impossible to remove, similar to DDT. “A single hot dog can contain more dioxin than the proposed limit for a 2-year-old [a day].” That is a terrifying fact.

The WHO (World Health Organization) believes, “Food contamination monitoring systems must be in place to ensure that tolerance levels are not exceeded. It is the role of national governments to monitor the safety of food supply and to take action to protect public health.” Currently Americans are consuming dioxins at higher levels than recommended.

February 2012 Clean Energy and Sustainability Events

by Eric Wilson on February 1st, 2012

With an extra day this year, February gets its quadrennial opportunity to step up and fill its 29 days with as many events as possible. With that in mind, there are a number of domestic events jammed into February. These include two here in Denver, one of which I will attend at the end of the month (the Green Schools National Conference).

Take a look at the conferences and symposiums below. They range from a solar conference in San Francisco to one focusing on organic farming in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Let us know of any conferences, events, or festivals in your area. We will gladly add them to our green events calendar. Please send us an email with the event’s name, date, location, description, and website.

Here are a few of the events happening around the world:

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