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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
An interesting article popped up today about clean energy purchasing practices in the private sector. According to Bloomberg news:
Computer-chip manufacturer Intel Corp. and Kohl’s Corp. department stores lead the U.S. in purchasing electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar energy, the Environmental Protection Agency said.
Intel, for the third year in a row, is the biggest buyer of renewable power by volume, the EPA said in a statement today. The company, based in Santa Clara, California, is buying clean and low-carbon energy equal to 51 percent of total consumption, up from 46 percent a year earlier.
Using power generated from wind, solar, geothermal and other renewable sources reduces greenhouse-gas emissions associated with fossil fuels such as coal. The top 50 buyers are purchasing more than 12 billion kilowatt-hours of green power a year, which equals the carbon-dioxide emissions from electricity use of more than 1 million average U.S. homes, the EPA said.
Others on the Top 50 list include Starbucks, Whole Foods and Wal-Mart. But, for our readers that work in the government, you’ll be happy to hear that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, U.S. Air Force, the cities of Houston and Chicago, and the EPA are also on the list. View the entire list here.
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.
Last week, Hyundai announced that its cars will average 50 MPG by 2025. That would be an improvement of about 60 percent from the ratings of the cars and trucks Hyundai sells today.
You can read more about the announcement in a New York Times article here:
Wheels: Hyundai Says Its Cars Will Average 50 M.P.G. by 2025
Hyundai America’s chief executive, John Krafcik, said that 75 to 80 percent of the lineup would still be gas-engine vehicles. The Korean company is already the nation’s fuel-economy leader, with an average rating of 30.9 miles per gallon.
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
We love sharing “how things work” videos here at CEIL. The technology and engineering behind many green technologies is simply fascinating.
This week, we’re sharing a video that explains how wind turbines generate electricity. So, the next time you see turbines on the horizon, you’ll know just how they are generating electricity for the homes and businesses nearby.
I came across a great post on the New York Times’ Green Blog late last week about a new solar light bulb. The durable, rainproof light bulb is about the size of a standard incandescent bulb and can be charged during the day to provide hours of clean, safe light at night. It’s also designed with a replaceable, rechargeable battery so it can be renewed to operate for several years.
While the inventors were primarily thinking about people that live off the grid (whether by choice or not) when they developed the bulb, it’s clear that it will have an impact in the consumer and commercial markets, as well.
“We’ve done everything we can to make this solar bulb affordable and long-lasting so the people who need it can afford it, and reap the benefits, ” said Nokero’s inventor and founder Stephen Katsaros. “There are so many ways this product can change lives: It can help keep families and shopkeepers safe, help students study at night, eradicate indoor pollution, and reduce worldwide carbon emissions.”
Nokero has set up a great press room for the bulb, which you can check out here: http://www.nokero.com/press.php
Every office has plenty of appliances that are plugged in 24 hours each day. But few people realize that many of those appliances will use electricity even when they are not in active use. To help offices identify which appliances are using the most “phantom power,” Belkin has developed a line of products designed to monitor an appliance’s energy use and even shut it off it off when it is not in use. The first of these products, the Conserve Insight, will be available in July. Read more about these products at the Belkin website.
Working at CEIL, you get exposed to a lot of really interesting and innovative methods for sustainability and environmental innovation. But, I have to say, the “Beetle Kill Wall” at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Research Support Facility (RSF) located on the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) campus in Colorado might take the cake.
Since the mid-1990′s, beetles have killed pine trees on more than 3.5 million acres in Colorado. For the architects and designers working on the RSF, the bark beetle infestation meant an abundant source of wood close to the construction site that fit numerous project constraints.
“The designers specifically looked for regional materials that allowed for creative expression within the RSF and were within the budget of this project,” Philip Macey, RSF project manager for Haselden Construction, said.
Check out this amazing video to see how architects turned what could’ve been a huge environmental tragedy into a sustainable work of art.
Read the entire news release here: http://www.nrel.gov/features/20100524_sustainable.html
