FEATURES AND NEWS
A diverse coalition of more than 30 consumer, environmental, and low-income assistance organizations petitioned the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on March 7, demanding that the energy regulator create a level playing field for utility ratepayers by founding and funding an Office of Public Participation – as the U.S. Congress ... Read more »
In a move that expands its recycling technologies in the North American market, Andritz MeWa says M-L Environmental of Westminster, Colorado, has taken over North American sales of shredding and crushing machines for electronic scrap, refrigerators, metal scrap, cable scrap, used tires, household and industrial waste, and many other applications. ... Read more »
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for the first time has approved the Associated Air Balance Council’s (AABC) manual for system balance, according to the organization. This is the seventh edition of the manual. At the highest level, balance essentially refers to a system that is operating as it was ... Read more »
HanesBrands said today that five of its manufacturing plants have won U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Challenge for Industry awards for reducing energy use by an average of 18 percent. The press release says the awards are given if the facility reduces energy use by 10 percent within a 10-year ... Read more »
The Naval Air Station Patuxent River Building 409/Administration is being retrofitted with an energy-efficient exterior insulation and finish system (EIFS). The Naval Air Station Patuxent River Tester reports that the building, which has historic significance dating back to World War II, says that the EIFSs include a variety of insulating ... Read more »
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Water—there is no other natural resource as precious and powerful. Yet studies show that our growing population, intensive irrigated agriculture and climate change are increasing the vulnerability of this resource. World Water Day this past Tuesday gave us a chance to reflect on the role that corporations play in shaping ... Read more »
Hardwood flooring retailer Lumber Liquidators has paid the California Air Resources Board (CARB) $2.5 million to settle CARB claims that Lumber Liquidators sold composite wood products that exceeded the state’s formaldehyde limits. Lumber Liquidators says it has not sold these products since May 2015. “Consumer safety is our top priority ... Read more »
Office decommissioning has the potential to generate huge amounts of waste — or to recycle and divert potential waste from landfills while investing in the community. Calgary-based energy company Enbridge chose the later, partnering with Green Standards on a renovation project to ensure that its office decommission — the clearing ... Read more »
In a move that is intended to make northern Illinois more attractive to expanding and prospective businesses, Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) – a unit of Chicago-based Exelon, with about 3.8 million customers in the area – has modified a policy that requires some business customers seeking new or expanded electric service ... Read more »
On March 17, the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) issued an order (Docket No. 16-ATMG-079-RTS) approving a $2.22 million annual revenue increase in energy rates for Atmos Energy’s 131,000 natural gas customers in the Sunflower State – who will see a 39 cent uptick on their monthly bills. The rates finally ... Read more »
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Darrell Smith, the Executive Director of the International Window Film Association (IWFA), said that in the past, window film installations in California schools were only done in conjunction with bigger projects. There simply was no way to assess the value of these projects in isolation and, thus, no way to qualify ... Read more »
A team at the Virginia Institute of Technology is working on a project that could reveal a means of generating more electricity from toilet wastewater. The research was reported at HNGN and based on a paper published at Scientific Reports. It focused on the relationship between materials. The story traces the way in which the ... Read more »
The Coolidge (AZ) Unified School District is taking steps to change how it consumes energy, according to the Casa Grande Dispatch. The site says that the school district has retained McKinstry to help it design cultural changes for the 2016-2017 school year. The story notes that McKinstry’s PowerED program takes ... Read more »
BASF is producing dispersions for interior paints using renewable raw materials. The German chemical company says the paint binders use the “mass balance process,” which uses biomass instead of fossil raw materials. To manufacture the binders of the Acronal brand, the company replaces 100 percent of the fossil resources used ... Read more »
Short-Term Price Benchmark Trends The ERC national price benchmark for retail electricity in deregulated states rose last week by 1.66% to $0.0721 per kilowatt hour. Every state posted a price increase, with the greatest gains in Texas (3.88%), Maine (2.14%), and Rhode Island (2.06%). Last week’s price hike brings the ... Read more »
Coal is against the ropes and gasping for air. And the industry’s most viable path forward is to look to technology. And that’s exactly what it is now doing, given that it has garnered bipartisan support for legislation that would finance new carbon capture projects through tax credits. Coal, of ... Read more »
Walmart has violated a corporate-wide safety agreement it signed with the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 2013, OSHA says. A Walmart spokesperson, however, told Environmental Leader that the retailer is “confused” by the allegations and took steps two years ago to improve its environment, ... Read more »
A mobile waste shredder by UNTHA is the first of its kind to shred with a low-power electric drive and, because of its on-board auxiliary power pack, it can be moved around a production facility and plugged back in, the company says. The UNTHA XR mobil-e waste shredder provides customers ... Read more »
Continuing their call for reforms to New England’s energy capacity markets, Representative Joe Kennedy III (D-MA-04) and Senator Edward J. Markey (D-MA) jointly sent a letter on behalf of the New England congressional delegation on March 14 – urging Gordon van Welie, CEO of ISO-New England (ISO-NE) and Norman Bay, ... Read more »
Houston-based LS Power – an employee-owned, independent developer, owner, operator, and investor in power generation and electric transmission infrastructure – announced on March 16 that it plans to enter the North American competitive retail energy supply sector. The company said it will launch an affiliate, LifeEnergy – to be led ... Read more »
The California Independent System Operator Corporation (CAL-ISO) filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on March 4 for approval of a new tariff (Docket No. ER16-1085) designed to encourage owners of smaller distributed energy resources (DERs) – such as rooftop solar systems – to participate in the Golden State’s ... Read more »
The use of solar energy is growing in low and middle income communities. Creative financing has a lot to deal with causing — and extending — this trend. In low income communities, solar is given an extra push because it creates local jobs. GreenBiz cites research from Kevala Analytics on the broadening of solar. ... Read more »
Halco Lighting Technologies has expanded its HID Series of retrofit lamps. The company says that it has added mogul base (E39) lamps of 36 watts, 45 watts and 54 watts. They all are DLC qualified, the company said. These lamps are designed to replace HID lamps that operate at levels as ... Read more »
Green roofs offer a number of benefits, according to David Charron, the President and CEO of MRIS, a multiple listing service in Rockville, MD. Charron posted a commentary in The Washington Post to extol green rooftops. One of the big advantages, he writes, is that they “drastically lower utility bills” ... Read more »
by Geoffrey Henderson, Ranping Song and Paul Joffe China has officially unveiled its 13th Five-Year Plan, which will guide the country’s economic and social development from 2016 through 2020. This latest edition builds on progress made over the last five years, and makes clear that environmental stewardship is an increasingly integral component of China’s development. The plan ... Read more »