 |
|
If you’re like me, you probably wonder how to safely dispose of (or recycle) old electronics. We’re excited to announce that at the GOVgreen Conference and Expo next week, you’ll be able to bring in old phones and have them properly recycled by Sprint! What’s more, you’ll be entered for a chance to win a new Sprint green phone.
Haven’t registered yet? Head on over to www.govgreen.org to register for the 2010 GOVgreen Conference and Expo
Join us for a special 5-minute podcast with Ryan Daley, Federal Fleet Program Task Leader at National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). At the GOVgreen Conference and Exposition, Ryan will be speaking on day 1 at the session entitled Transporting People and Goods Sustainably.
Have you registered yet? Don’t miss the GOVgreen Conference
and Expo next week in Washington, D.C. REGISTER TODAY!
At next week’s GOVgreen Conference and Exposition, a who’s who of federal leaders will share a panel to discuss the challenges of greening the federal government. Questions submitted by GOVgreen pre-registered attendees fit the categories of green buildings, renewable energy, workforce and workplace green strategies, and smart growth and siting. That is an impressive array of topics for 4 senior government executives to comment on in an hour and 15 minutes. Elizabeth Shogren of National Public Radio will moderate.
Today I had the privilege of participating in a the conference call with the speakers and their staff discuss the questions. In just 30 minutes, the group shared their different perspectives and challenges (GSA, DoD, EPA, DoS) and added a few new topics. I heard enough to promise you that this will be a dynamic lively discussion that you will not want to miss.
Join us at GOVgreen Conference and Exposition at the Washington Convention Center next week.
Plenary Session: 10 a.m. November 9
Keynote: 10 a.m. November 10 Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Here is a great, simple video about how to go green in the workplace. While the video is designed for a small business audience, the individual government worker (as well as smaller departments) will find plenty of helpful information about how to make small changes that make a big difference.
Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing Nancy Somerville with the American Society of Landscape Architects. I’m excited to share the interview with you all in an upcoming podcast.
In the meantime, I suggest checking out ASLA’s Sustainable Landscapes case study page. The site features both commercial and residential projects, and provides valuable insight into the importance of landscape architecture in the “going green” process.
Government Executive Magazine hosted Leadership Briefing this week that included three key people from the Department of Defense as well as Michelle Moore, the White House’s Federal Environmental Executive. The program was titled “Blueprint for a Green Economy: Government Leading the Way,” but really focused on DOD’s efforts to adapt to the new reporting and budgeting requirements of EO 13415.
But first some fun facts: DOD oversees 2.3 billion sq ft of facilities (10 times more than GSA) in 300,000 facilities at 500 installations. That’s a lot of real estate to manage, let alone to green. And one more: DOD spent $4 billion on utilities for bases last year.
Of course DOD—like all federal agencies—has been working to improve its environmental stats for more than 20 years. But EO 13514 requires annual Sustainability Plans with set targets, brings OMB oversight into monitoring progress toward those targets and adds some new complications, such as monitoring direct and indirect Greenhouse Gas, setting reduction targets for water, wastewater and solid waste for the first time, and adding green procurement requirements.
The DOD representatives talked generally about the challenges of implementing changes in 2011 when the 2011 budgets are already submitted, or in converting base energy reporting to real time systems while at the same time protecting the security of the information. Challenges include:
Finally, DOD is working to educate managers throughout the agency and involve people in decisions and solutions who have not been before. Traditionally, meeting environmental policies and regulations was centered in the environmental offices. Now the mandates are so broad that the people making decisions are spread throughout the organization and they need to be educated about EO13514 and encouraged to share information.
The Center for Environmental Innovation and Leadership (CEIL) can help with communication! CEILeadership,org aggregates green news from the public and private sector and regularly interviews federal agency sustainability leaders who share plans and progress. And in November CEIL sponsors the GOVgreen Conference and Exposition with education by federal government leaders designed for managers charged with implementing programs affected by EO 13514. And the education is free to federal government and military professionals. www.GOVgreen.org.
Today’s guest blogger is Elisa Wood from RealEnergyWriters.com.
Photo: Nissan LEAF, nissanusa.com
Who will play the lead character in Who Revived the Electric Car?, the sequel that is bound to be made to the famous documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car?
Many are vying for the role: car manufacturers, battery producers, scientists and now the Obama Administration. The White House issued a report July 14 that credits federal stimulus money for the rapid drop in costs for electric cars. Once written off as a technological mishap, the electric car now appears nearly road ready for American consumers. The price tag is dropping rapidly, in part because of the $12 billion the federal government has pumped into alternative vehicles, according to the report. Of that $5 billion went to electrifying the US transportation fleet.
Electric cars will cost between $25,000 and $35,000, after tax credits, by the end of this year, says the White House. That’s down from $100,000 before passage of the 2009American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Electric cars are dropping in price because stimulus-funded manufacturers are producing batteries more cheaply.
The new electric car is seen as a way to reduce reliance on oil, which now supplies 95% of our transportation fuel. But the electric car has several interesting side stories as well. Electricity is cheaper than gasoline. So, consumers should find themselves paying the equivalent of only $1/gallon to fuel electric cars, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Photo: Nissan LEAF, www.nissanusa.com
Keeping operating costs low will depend on wide-spread implementation by utilities of time-of-use pricing, and of consumer willingness to take advantage of electricity at bargain times. Prices for electricity fall at night when demand diminishes. Electric grid planners are hoping consumers will charge their cars at night. Otherwise we may have to build more power plants to accommodate the cars, and that will negate some of their environmental and cost savings. Time-of-use pricing, which reflects lower night-time costs, should help encourage consumers to plug in at night. But consumer behavior is hard to predict. Another side story is that the electric vehicle gives consumers a chance to act as power producers. The car batteries can store power which consumers can sell back to their local utility, possibly at high prices if done when the grid is in short supply.
And finally, it looks like the electric car will help the US create manufacturing jobs. The White House report says that in 2009, we had only two factories manufacturing advanced vehicle batteries. Those factories produced less than two percent of the world’s advanced vehicle batteries. By 2012, the US should have 30 factories with a 20 percent market share and by 2015 a 40 percent market share.
Should all this come to be, it is hard to say who will get the credit. What’s clear is that the story offers lots of happy endings to today’s energy woes. Here’s hoping it is a tale told true.
Reprinted from Energy Efficiency Markets newsletter, available by free subscription at www.RealEnergyWriters.com
Photo: Nissan LEAF, nissanusa.com
I work hard to live a green life and try to instill environmental values on my family – I purchase 100 percent wind energy from our electricity provider, drive a hybrid, compost, don’t eat meat (but my family does), and all of my appliances are Energy Star certified. I was excited to learn about and take the Greendex, National Geographic’s survey which measures consumer consumption and its environmental impacts to see how I compare to others in terms of green behavior.
The sad result: I live like a Canadian (my score 48, Canada’s average 47.9). I’ve always liked our neighbor to the north and have many Canadian friends and relatives, but I was hoping to be more Swedish (50.7) or German (score: 50)—two countries that I think of as having very environmentally conscious citizens. I do live a slightly greener life than most of my American compatriots (average score 45: the worst in the entire global survey).
My failings were very much in the food and vehicle departments. My strategy for improvement: buy locally grown food as much as possible, consume imported food less than once per week (so long Trader Joes!), and pick one or two days per week to leave the car at home.
What is your Greendex Score? Take the survey (it only takes about 3 minutes) and send me your results and your ideas for how you will score higher in the future.
To learn about how federal agencies, and states and local governments are improving their own Greendex’s sign up for GovGreen, taking place November 9-10, 2010 at the DC Convention Center.
GOVgreen Conference and Exposition announced that Dr. Dorothy Robyn, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Installation and Environment is scheduled to be a keynote speaker during its conference taking place this November 9-10.
Dr. Robyn provides management and oversight of military installations worldwide and manages environmental, safety and occupational health programs for DOD. DOD’s installations cover 29 million acres, with 539,000 buildings and structures valued at more than $700 billion. Dr. Robyn’s responsibilities include energy programs, environmental management and restoration of closing bases, pollution prevention, conservation and environmental research and technology. Meeting the mandates set forth by President Obama’s Executive Order 13514 will be integral to the programs Dr. Robyn oversees.
The GOVgreen Conference and Exposition is the first ALL Government, ALL Green event to focus exclusively on providing real-world solutions for all government professionals charged with implementing EO 13514. Located in Washington, DC to provide easy access for the widest range of government professionals, GOVgreen’s programming—free to credentialed government and military professionals– focuses on energy, transportation, conservation, facilities and workforce management. The more than 30 educational sessions will include panel presentations, interactive workshop sessions and moderated discussions with speakers drawn from federal agencies. In addition, the exhibit floor will feature a new green product showcase (the Extreme Green Pavilion) as well as prototype presentations (Green Alert).
Save the date, November 9-10, for the first ALL Government, ALL Green event, GOVgreen Conference and Exposition: Where Government Professionals Purchase Green Solutions!
|
|
Green Government Podcast: Episode 3Interview with Sam Pulcrano, Vice President of Sustainability for the United States Postal Service. Join us for a chat with Sam Pulcrano, Vice President of Sustainability for the United States Postal Service. Sam is responsible for unifying the Postal Service’s sustainability efforts across every function and location. Sam has been instrumental in the Postal Service’s “green” environmental efforts, which have brought national recognition from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Performance Track. In this interview, Sam speaks with us about some of the Postal Service’s recent green projects, including experimentation with new fleet vehicles, as well as the green roof on the sorting facility in Manhattan. Sam also discusses Executive Order 13514, and how the Postal Service is working to meet its goals. |
Interview with Sam Pulcrano, Vice President of Sustainability for the United States Postal Service.
Join us for a chat with Sam Pulcrano, Vice President of Sustainability for the United States Postal Service. Sam is responsible for unifying the Postal Service's sustainability efforts across every function and location. Sam has been instrumenta" data-image="http://blog.ceileadership.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/spacer.jpg" data-site="Center for Environmental Innovation and Leadership">