FEATURES AND NEWS
3 Phases Renewables last week said that it has signed a contract with Santa Monica, CA, to provide it with renewable power to all of its municipal operations. The use of power from the company will start this month, according to the press release. The contract, which meets the city’s ... Read more »
The efficiency of existing buildings will become a greater focus of greenhouse gas reduction efforts, according to a Bloomberg story. The piece quotes U.S. Green Building Council statistics that buildings account for 39 percent of carbon dioxide emissions. To date, the piece suggests, the focus has been on increasing efficiency ... Read more »
It’s a concrete jungle out there — literally. Humans today consume more concrete than any substance aside from water. That presents a huge problem for the environment. Concrete comes from cement, and each ton of cement generates a matching ton of carbon emissions. Many builders and designers are recycling water or ... Read more »
DuPont Industrial Biosciences and Archer Daniels Midland today said they have developed a “game-changing” technology — a process to develop a molecule that can be converted into several biobased chemicals and plastics with applications in packaging, textiles, engineering plastics and other industries. The companies have developed a method for producing ... Read more »
Some 50,000 acre feet of recycled oilfield wastewater is used to irrigate about 90,000 acres of crops in California’s Central Valley, one of the world’s most productive agricultural regions. But is this produced water safe for use on food crops? A newly formed panel aims to answer this question. “There ... Read more »
Partner Content
“In response to the exorbitant and counter-productive subsidies currently under consideration for FirstEnergy and American Electric Power (AEP),” Houston-based Dynegy announced on January 12 that it is offering two counter-proposals to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) that it claims “will save the state’s ratepayers billions of dollars over ... Read more »
Dublin, Ohio-based retailer IGS Energy announced on January 6 that it had acquired DPL Energy Resources, a retail affiliate supplier of the utility Dayton Power & Light (DP&L). The deal closed on January 1. Founded in 1989, IGS already serves as an independent retail supplier to more than 1 million ... Read more »
A bill (LD 1398) that would reduce the rates paid by Maine’s commercial and industrial electricity customers failed to gain traction at a session of the state legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Energy, Utilities, and Technology on January 7. Sponsored by Sen. Garrett Mason (R-Lisbon), An Act To Reduce Electric ... Read more »
Following a three-year amnesty on electricity rates – with increases limited to 2 percent annually through 2015 – residents and businesses in Naperville, Illinois, will have to dig deeper to pay their bills, effective February 1. City Council members voted on January 5 to boost rates by 8.3 percent this ... Read more »
Insulation is a huge factor in energy efficiency efforts and, consequently, on the amount of money an organization spends on heating and cooling. The news seems to be good in this sector on a couple of fronts: Two research projects – one focused on premise interiors and one on exteriors — ... Read more »
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One of the buildings that Cornell University plans for its Cornell Tech Applied Science campus could be the most efficient skyscraper ever built. The project is slated for Roosevelt Island, which is in the East River between Queens and Manhattan in New York City. It is scheduled for completion in 2017. The tallest of ... Read more »
Long Beach, CA, is deploying smart gas meters throughout Long Beach and Signal Hill. The goal is to make natural gas usage more efficient and eliminate monthly visits to homes and businesses by meter readers. The meters will increase the accuracy of data that is collected. The meters also will send ... Read more »
Reducing e-waste not only conserves resources and keeps toxins out of the environment, it also saves money in waste management costs — and can help firms avoid costly compliance fees as a result of illegally storing or disposing of e-waste. Machine Design offers five strategies to reduce e-waste. These include ... Read more »
The Obama administration today said it will stop issuing new coal mining leases on public lands as it conducts a review of the federal coal program. “Given serious concerns raised about the federal coal program, we’re taking the prudent step to hit pause on approving significant new leases so that ... Read more »
A system for online monitoring of chromate in industrial wastewater has been launched by Metrohm Process Analytics. The turn-key product uses titration with subsequent photometric detection and is based on the ICON Analyzer, a dedicated online photometer for water and wastewater analysis, the company says. Chromate is useful in many ... Read more »
The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) has approved a settlement agreement authorizing Cloverland Electric Cooperative to increase its rates by $1.9 million – or 3 percent– beginning in mid-January, the utility announced on January 6. Cloverland serves 42,000 accounts in Chippewa, Delta, Mackinac, Luce, and Schoolcraft counties in the Wolverine ... Read more »
In a filing (Docket No. 14-1297-EL-SSO) submitted to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) on December 30, Exelon Generation (ExGen) – the largest operator of nuclear power plants in the United States – intervened in the ongoing, contentious FirstEnergy rate case – asserting that it could offer ratepayers a ... Read more »
NuTerra, a waste and biosolids management company, has commenced installation of a CleanB system at the wastewater treatment plant in Vero Beach, Florida. The new system will save transportation and energy costs, eliminate odors, and provide environmental benefits to the city. Completion of the project is slated for summer 2016. ... Read more »
BioHiTech has partnered with Natural Systems Utilities to test a process that will allow BioHiTech’s food waste disposal system, the Eco-Safe Digester, to digest, tank, and deliver the effluent from its Eco-Safe Digesters to anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities anywhere in the world. Other project partners include the village of Ridgewood, ... Read more »
The North American Precast Concrete industry has released Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) in three key precast concrete product categories: architectural and insulated wall panels, structural precast concrete products and underground precast concrete products. The EPDs will allow architects, engineers, building owners and other specifiers to better understand the environmental impacts ... Read more »
Building owners and those who advise them face important choices in the financing of energy efficiency projects and, a bit more indirectly, must understand the financial underpinnings of their renewable energy suppliers. This week – in conjunction with its annual conference and expo in Washington, DC – The National Institute of ... Read more »
Earthplace, a 62-acre nature sanctuary in Westport, CT, has secure financing and is closing in on the end of the second phase of a sustainability upgrade, according to The Hour. The recent work was the addition of 32 kW of solar power, an LED retrofit and upgrades to the heating ... Read more »
Salesforce.com has agreed to buy 24 MW of wind-generated power from EDF Renewable Energy, according to Bloomberg. The Salt Fork Wind project in Texas will be completed this year. The deal, the story says, follows an agreement last month in which Salesforce.com agreed to by 40 MW of power from ... Read more »
Environmental Leader announces the call for submissions for the Environmental Leader Product & Project Awards. This year, the award winners will be publicly announced at Environmental Leader’s first-ever live awards event, during the Environmental Leader 2016 Conference in June. In its fourth year, the renowned Product & Projects Awards program which recognizes ... Read more »
No one likes uncertainty, least of all investors. Good, actionable information is their most important tool for risk management and key to successful investing – because without proper data, investors are flying blind. And yet, none of the 65 oil and gas companies reviewed in a just-released study by Environmental Defense Fund ... Read more »