- New Jersey approves a huge loan program to help people install photovoltaics, covering 40-60% of the installation costs, with the goal of adding 30 MW of solar power over the next 2 years.
- And speaking of solar, Treehugger profiles four ways to generate your own power, enabling you to live off the grid. Treehugger also profiles off the grid living.
- The young and idealistic who also want to make money are flocking to the carbon market.
- A California company has developed a plug-in hybrid, and despite the price, there is a market for it. So why haven’t the major auto companies caught on?
- Manufacturers are making biodegradable plastic bags and plastic bags made from recycled plastic bag material, but that still doesn’t make many environmental groups happy.
- Last week we mentioned the Nationals stadium in DC achieved a LEED certification. The stadium has shuttle busses, lots of public transportation access and valet bike parking, which was so effective that their parking lots weren’t even full on opening day.
- The Pacific Fishery Management Council has voted to ban commercial and sport fishing off the coast of California and most of Oregon, in response to the collapse of the chinook salmon.
- Salmon are the only marine species starting to collapse – scientists are trying to figure out why the northern fur seal population has been dropping over the last decade.
- U.S. Department of Agriculture is being pressured from all sides regarding next steps for its Conservation Reserve Program. Conservationists and environmental groups would like preserved land to remain in the program, but others support cropland increase.
- A bunch of us from the New York office helped out planting trees as part of New York Care’s Hands On New York Day, and in light of that, someone brought this Northeast Community Tree Guide to our awareness.
- A sign of significant progress being made with respect to biking in New York City, a community board in Brooklyn overwhelmingly voted in support of removing on street parking in favor of a buffer protected bike path in an industrial area.
- Do you have a stand alone garage? Maybe you too can turn it in to a green roofed garden. (via City Dirt)
- A new housing development in Connecticut aims to seek LEED certification, despite being huge luxury homes not willing to compromise on appliances or water fixtures. But can huge homes really be considered green? (via Re-nest)
- Two graduate students from Hunter College have released detailed analysis of their NYC Bicycle Parking Survey conducted last fall.
- Green building is good, but preservation is even better. “If 40% of the materials in a new building are recycled, it would take 65 years for a green, energy-efficient new office building to recover the energy lost in demolishing an existing building.”
- A congestion pricing plan failed to pass at the state level in New York by the federal deadline, thereby disqualifying New York City from being eligible for $354 million in federal funding.
- UPenn team wins student design competition to redesign the Cedars neighborhood of Dallas at ULI last week.
- Could urban sprawl improve public health? It does lessen exposure to other peoples diseases by avoiding close quarters as much, and you might be able to sleep better without being woken up by your neighbor’s screaming baby. (via Archinect)
- As mentioned a few weeks ago, a case in California pitting solar panels against redwood trees made it to court. And the solar panels won. The owners of the redwood trees must prune or cut down their trees to ensure that at most 10% of the panels are shaded.
- A number of innovative ideas for transforming New York City’s streets are being proposed, to improve the quality of the streets and plazas and make it easier for people to get around.
Photo of a plug-in hybrid from NPR
Hi. Please join the Bicycle to Work! LinkedIn networking group. Members pledge that they will try to ride their bicycle to work or on an errand at least once a week. Although the benefits should be obvious, let me outline them here.
Right now people in the industrialized world are facing two very grave problems: obesity and a growing scarcity of oil. Compounding this problem is the new food shortage brought about, in part, by the conversion of food cropland to bio-fuel crop production. Most people feel powerless to help, but there is one thing that we can do. Ride our bicycles to work.
If everyone would agree to ride their bikes to work one day per week we could cut oil consumption by as much as 10-15%. No one would argue that riding a bike burns more calories than driving the car. Although popular politically right now, most bio-fuels consume more energy than they produce. We would be much better to eat those bio-crops then use our own energy to transport us around.
So spread the word. Make it a movement! Bicycle to work one day a week and do your part to cut back obesity and the overuse of oil and precious cropland.
Just go to my profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreylstevenson and you can click on the group to be included. While you are there, don’t forget to ask to link to my network of more than 7,000,000 like-minded professionals. I accept all invitations and look forward to meeting you.
Jeff