London Mayor launches UK's first 'green homes' service

Publisher:  Jon Land
Published: 04/12/2007 - 16:18:36 PM

 

 
Mayor of London launches UK's first 'green homes' service

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone today launched the UK’s first ‘green homes’ service to help Londoners cut climate change emissions by offering an easy, one-stop-shop for information on how to make homes more carbon efficient.

The flagship London Green Homes service is unique to the capital, and will offer a free comprehensive telephone advice service, a free website and a paid-for green ‘concierge’ service to provide a hassle-free tailor-made package of carbon saving lifestyle improvements.

The advice service will be highly flexible, offering Londoners advice on any actions to reduce carbon emissions from their lifestyle, and explain how best to save money on energy bills.

The London Green Homes service is part of delivering the Mayor’s Climate Change Action Plan – a comprehensive programme of initiatives to reduce carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2025, including programmes for the capital\'s homes, organisations, transportation and energy supply system.

Sixty per cent of London’s housing was built before 1945, compared to 40 per cent nationally so it is less energy efficient than the UK average.

Over £4 million has been allocated to the Green Homes programme in 2007-08 and it aims to cut 500,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per year by 2010.

The Mayor opened the service with Nicky Gavron, Deputy Mayor of London and Darren Johnson, a London Assembly Green Party member, at a specially designed life-size eco-house in Trafalgar Square.

The exhibition house named ‘No 1 Lower Carbon Drive’ will tour the capital to promote the new services, and to showcase ideas to ‘green’ your home.

The London Green Homes Service consists of:

1. The Green Homes Advice Service: An information website – www.londonclimatechange.co.uk - where Londoners can access information and advice on how to reduce their carbon footprint. It includes interactive sections such as a carbon calculator, and advise on what grants are available to make changes

2. A free telephone helpline – 0800 512012- to access one-to-one, personalised advice from experienced staff on how to make your home ‘green’

3. The Green Homes Concierge Service: a paid-for concierge service - which has already been successfully piloted across London and is designed for homeowners who want to make more significant changes to their homes without the hassle. The innovative tailor-made service provides a customised audit of a property, including a thermal image, and a ‘blow door’ test to identify sources of draughts; a report of recommended ways to reduce emissions; and, if wanted, full project management of a programme to cut emissions, including sourcing of competitive quotes. The subsidised service will cost £199 for annual membership. For more information call: 0800 089 0098.

Ken Livingstone, said: "In London, energy use in the homes is the single biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions.

"But much of the energy we pay for in our homes is simply wasted, and there are simple changes we can make to cut energy use without any reduction in our quality of life – indeed the average household will save £300 if they carry out the Green Homes programme.

"We know Londoners want to help prevent climate change, and London Green Homes will provide the information and on-going support to enable them do so.

"I am proud that London is now leading the UK in offering a comprehensive and flexible ‘green homes’ service, as part of our wider programme to cut London’s carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2025."

Nicky Gavron, Deputy Mayor of London, said: "The Green Concierge Service launched today across London is hassle free and easy-to-use because it is tailored to each household’s needs. And it will save tonnes of the carbon emissions which are causing climate change.

"The Green Concierge Service is a great example of London working with the other cities who are part of the C40 group - all of whom are committed to sharing knowledge to tackle climate change. We scoured the world for the best scheme and found it in Toronto, who have helped us develop London’s new service.\' 

Darren Johnson, Green Member of the London Assembly, said: "Londoners want to help save the planet and we want to help them do it. This is a unique consumer service, which I believe will become standard practice across Britain in the next few years.

"We are not only helping people to create energy saving homes, but to access other services which could change their whole lifestyle. It is another example of London leading the way and the Government following."

Don\'t miss the 24dash.com audio bulletins for the latest news and information - http://www.24dash.com/podcasts

http://www.24dash.com/socialhousing/29818.htm

S.F. proposes subsidy program to encourage solar panel installation

Charles Burress, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Companies and homeowners who pay to install solar panels in San Francisco could save over 50 percent with help from an ambitious subsidy program, according to city officials who will announce the plan Tuesday.

Some experts say the effort is groundbreaking and, if implemented, could be the nation's biggest such program. The proposed subsidy would be $3,000 and $5,000 per residence and up to $10,000 for businesses. City officials are also proposing a low-interest financing program that would allow residents to incrementally pay back money borrowed for solar installations at below-market rates, possibly via charges on their property tax bills.

When combined with the state's solar rebate program and federal tax credits, the cost of installing solar could be cut in half for San Francisco residents and businesses, officials said Monday. With all those incentives, a typical 3-kilowatt residential system would cost between $16,370 and $18,370, based on current San Francisco installation costs.

"The type of leadership that San Francisco is demonstrating is probably unparalleled," said John Stanton, spokesman for the national Solar Energy Industry Association. "We haven't seen this type of local government commitment and initiative for a carbon-free future."

Claudine Schneider, president of the Solar Alliance of solar businesses and a former five-term congresswoman from Rhode Island, said her organization is excited about the program.

"We only hope that many other cities follow course," she said.

The subsidy and loan plans are separate programs and each must still be approved. The subsidy program needs support from the city Public Utilities Commission and the Board of Supervisors; the loan program needs the approval of both the Board of Supervisors and voters. Supervisors Tom Ammiano and Jake McGoldrick are co-sponsoring the subsidy ordinance.

The target start date for the subsidy program is July 1, and the end of next year for the loan program.

The cash-incentive is the centerpiece of 10 months of work by the city's Solar Task Force, city Assessor Phil Ting said Monday. Ting co-chairs the task force with PUC Commissioner Doug Hochschild.

"We think this is the largest local incentive program of its kind," Ting said.

A few other cities offer rebate programs. Los Angeles Department of Water and Power offers one of the most generous, amounting to about $4.50 per watt, or about $13,500 on a typical 3-kilowatt home solar system. However, Los Angeles customers aren't eligible for the state rebate available from Pacific Gas and Electric Co., which is $2.30 per watt, or $8,900 for a 3-kilowatt solar installation.

Under San Francisco's new cash subsidy, the city's PG&E customers would also receive a base subsidy of $3,000, plus an additional $1,000 if they use a San Francisco installer. Another $1,000 would be provided for customers residing in an "environmental justice district," meaning a neighborhood next to one of the city's two power plants. Solar systems cost an average of $9.99 per watt in San Francisco, meaning $29,970 for a 3-kilowatt system.

The commercial subsidy would be $1,500 per kilowatt, up to $10,000.

"There's no increase in property taxes and no increase in electricity rates to pay for this new program, which is really good news for San Franciscans," Hochschild said.

The cash incentive would be funded by city PUC renewable energy funds, which come from sale of power generated by Hetch Hetchy dam. Between $2 million and $5 million of those funds would be pledged per year for 10 years. The renewable energy funds now provide for solar installation on city buildings, a program that will continue, said PUC General Manager Susan Leal.

"It's another way to make renewable (energy) work in the city," Leal said.

The new loan program would apply not just to solar panels but also to other forms of renewable energy such as solar thermal and wind, Hochschild said.

The program's goal: Grow by 10-fold the amount of solar power produced in the city. Currently, the city produces roughly five megawatts of solar energy from solar panels placed on 666 rooftops, Ting said.

"San Francisco now ranks last among the Bay Area counties in solar watts per capita," Hochschild said. "You're going to see the volume of solar skyrocket."

nline resources

or information about solar installations in san francisco:

www.sf.solarmap.org

et involved

Interested in getting involved in San Francisco's proposed effort to offer additional cash incentives for people who install solar panels on their homes and businesses?

Contact the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission at (415) 554-3289.

Additional information about installing solar power is available at www.pge.com/solar.

The PUC and Board of Supervisors will discuss the programs at future meetings.

E-mail Charles Burress at cburress@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/11/BABGTRMNM.DTL

S.F. proposes subsidy program to encourage solar panel installation

Charles Burress, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Companies and homeowners who pay to install solar panels in San Francisco could save over 50 percent with help from an ambitious subsidy program, according to city officials who will announce the plan Tuesday.

Some experts say the effort is groundbreaking and, if implemented, could be the nation's biggest such program. The proposed subsidy would be $3,000 and $5,000 per residence and up to $10,000 for businesses. City officials are also proposing a low-interest financing program that would allow residents to incrementally pay back money borrowed for solar installations at below-market rates, possibly via charges on their property tax bills.

When combined with the state's solar rebate program and federal tax credits, the cost of installing solar could be cut in half for San Francisco residents and businesses, officials said Monday. With all those incentives, a typical 3-kilowatt residential system would cost between $16,370 and $18,370, based on current San Francisco installation costs.

"The type of leadership that San Francisco is demonstrating is probably unparalleled," said John Stanton, spokesman for the national Solar Energy Industry Association. "We haven't seen this type of local government commitment and initiative for a carbon-free future."

Claudine Schneider, president of the Solar Alliance of solar businesses and a former five-term congresswoman from Rhode Island, said her organization is excited about the program.

"We only hope that many other cities follow course," she said.

The subsidy and loan plans are separate programs and each must still be approved. The subsidy program needs support from the city Public Utilities Commission and the Board of Supervisors; the loan program needs the approval of both the Board of Supervisors and voters. Supervisors Tom Ammiano and Jake McGoldrick are co-sponsoring the subsidy ordinance.

The target start date for the subsidy program is July 1, and the end of next year for the loan program.

The cash-incentive is the centerpiece of 10 months of work by the city's Solar Task Force, city Assessor Phil Ting said Monday. Ting co-chairs the task force with PUC Commissioner Doug Hochschild.

"We think this is the largest local incentive program of its kind," Ting said.

A few other cities offer rebate programs. Los Angeles Department of Water and Power offers one of the most generous, amounting to about $4.50 per watt, or about $13,500 on a typical 3-kilowatt home solar system. However, Los Angeles customers aren't eligible for the state rebate available from Pacific Gas and Electric Co., which is $2.30 per watt, or $8,900 for a 3-kilowatt solar installation.

Under San Francisco's new cash subsidy, the city's PG&E customers would also receive a base subsidy of $3,000, plus an additional $1,000 if they use a San Francisco installer. Another $1,000 would be provided for customers residing in an "environmental justice district," meaning a neighborhood next to one of the city's two power plants. Solar systems cost an average of $9.99 per watt in San Francisco, meaning $29,970 for a 3-kilowatt system.

The commercial subsidy would be $1,500 per kilowatt, up to $10,000.

"There's no increase in property taxes and no increase in electricity rates to pay for this new program, which is really good news for San Franciscans," Hochschild said.

The cash incentive would be funded by city PUC renewable energy funds, which come from sale of power generated by Hetch Hetchy dam. Between $2 million and $5 million of those funds would be pledged per year for 10 years. The renewable energy funds now provide for solar installation on city buildings, a program that will continue, said PUC General Manager Susan Leal.

"It's another way to make renewable (energy) work in the city," Leal said.

The new loan program would apply not just to solar panels but also to other forms of renewable energy such as solar thermal and wind, Hochschild said.

The program's goal: Grow by 10-fold the amount of solar power produced in the city. Currently, the city produces roughly five megawatts of solar energy from solar panels placed on 666 rooftops, Ting said.

"San Francisco now ranks last among the Bay Area counties in solar watts per capita," Hochschild said. "You're going to see the volume of solar skyrocket."

nline resources

or information about solar installations in san francisco:

www.sf.solarmap.org

et involved

Interested in getting involved in San Francisco's proposed effort to offer additional cash incentives for people who install solar panels on their homes and businesses?

Contact the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission at (415) 554-3289.

Additional information about installing solar power is available at www.pge.com/solar.

The PUC and Board of Supervisors will discuss the programs at future meetings.

E-mail Charles Burress at cburress@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/11/BABGTRMNM.DTL

GE Real Estate Launches Green Initiative

GE Real Estate Will Assess Environmental Performance of Properties in Which it InvestsCommitment Includes New Partnership With the Clinton Climate Initiative
November 07, 2007: 12:17 PM EST

CHICAGO, Nov. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- GE Real Estate today announced a new initiative to green its real estate investment business, a global business that generates more than $30 billion in annual transaction volume across 28 countries. Sustainability will be embedded into its existing investment processes, from origination of investments to underwriting, due diligence and asset management in an effort to improve the environmental performance of assets, to positively impact the health of tenants, and to improve the value of the properties.

The announcement was made at the Greenbuild conference in Chicago, the world's largest gathering dedicated to green building. GE Real Estate also unveiled its new partnership with the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI). The partnership will allow GE Real Estate to access the elements of the CCI program as appropriate to improve the environmental performance of its properties. CCI, launched in August 2006, is working with major cities and members of the business community to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in large urban areas. GE Real Estate's partnership with CCI was announced by President Bill Clinton, the keynote speaker at the Greenbuild conference.

Ron Pressman, President & CEO of GE Real Estate, said his businesses' sheer size necessitates action. "We recognize that the building sector is one of the largest contributors to GHG emissions, with commercial buildings producing between 30-40 percent of these emissions annually," Pressman said. "We believe GE Real Estate is in a position to reduce those numbers. As one of the world's largest owners of commercial properties with thousands of buildings in our portfolio, and more added each year, we believe we can make a significant, positive impact on the environment and benefit our business."

Pressman added: "We are also pleased to be partnering with the Clinton Climate Initiative. Like CCI, we see an opportunity that has been for the most part overlooked. The green building movement has thus far focused primarily on new development. We see a significant opportunity to improve the environmental performance of existing properties."

President Bill Clinton said he was pleased that GE Real Estate has made this commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. "The tools we need to dramatically reduce our carbon emissions exist today," he said. "When it comes to climate change, the hurdles we face aren't technological, they're organizational, which is why my foundation is partnering with cities, businesses, nonprofits and schools alike to design systems and programs that reduce energy consumption. I'm grateful to them all for working to show the world that the solution to the climate crisis isn't far off in the future -- it's in the buildings we inhabit, our civic infrastructure and the way we organize our lives."

GE Real Estate's overall commitment will include the following:

-- Evaluation of acquired properties for financially attractive
environmental improvement retrofits using energy and environmental
audits;
-- Energy and environmental metrics on assets will be tracked, just as
financial performance is tracked;
-- USGBC's LEED rating system and international equivalents will be used
as a framework to benchmark GE Real Estate's portfolio;
-- Learnings and best practices will be shared with GE Real Estate's
customers and business partners to help extend the impact to the
owners of the properties the company finances -- a $30 billion lending
portfolio supporting some 11,000 buildings globally;
-- Engaging partners, customers and vendors across its global network of
more than 5,000 relationships on green issues.

The program will build on GE Real Estate's existing work in the green movement. Inspired by Ecomagination, GE's corporate initiative designed to help customers improve their environmental and operating performance, GE Real Estate has undertaken a number of green initiatives, including projects in development or re-development in the U.S., U.K, France, Spain and Australia. In the US, GE Real Estate also owns Arden Realty, which has an active energy efficiency upgrade program and currently possesses one of the largest portfolios of EPA Energy Star buildings in a single commercial portfolio. In 2006, GE Real Estate lowered electric energy consumption across 10MM SF in 99 buildings by approximately 72 million kilowatt hours. More than 35 thousand metric tons of CO2 emissions were eliminated, which represented a 30% reduction and the equivalent of taking more than 6,500 cars off the road annually or powering more than 6,000 homes every year.

About GE Real Estate
GE Real Estate (http://www.gerealestate.com) is one of the world's premier commercial real estate companies with more than US$72 billion in assets and a presence in 31 countries throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia/New Zealand. Backed by GE's AAA rating, GE Real Estate offers a comprehensive range of capital and investment solutions including equity capital for acquisition or development, as well as fixed and floating rate mortgages for new acquisitions or re-capitalizations of commercial real estate. With a 28% compound annual growth rate since 1993, GE Real Estate is one of the world's fastest growing and most profitable real estate enterprises. This extraordinary record of success grows out of a reputation for collaboration and partnership; a depth of knowledge and experience and a history of building relationships, finding opportunities and opening doors for more than 5,000 owners, builders, borrowers and brokers worldwide.

GE Commercial Finance (http://www.gecommercialfinance.com) offers businesses around the globe an extensive array of financial products and services. With more than US$259 billion in assets and expertise in the middle-market, GE Commercial Finance provides loans, operating leases, financing programs and innovative structured capital to help customers grow. Headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, GE Commercial Finance is a wholly owned subsidiary of the General Electric Company , a diversified services, technology and manufacturing company with operations worldwide.

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/AQW10807112007-1.htm

3-day expo seeks to build 'green' awareness
McCormick Place hosts conference and draws acclaim
By Mary Owen Tribune staff reporter
November 8, 2007

A recent interior design graduate, Madhoolica Dear was at McCormick Plaza on Wednesday learning about recycled carpets and cork flooring.Dear, whose future clients will want to be environmentally conscious, is one of 20,000 people registered to attend the three-day Greenbuild International Conference and Expo, which started Wednesday. The conference features more than 850 exhibitors who provide products and services for building "green.""I want to see the new products and stay ahead of the curve," said Dear of Westmont. "Some of the new technology is very interesting. It's like science fiction."

The sixth annual conference kicked off with an announcement by former President Bill Clinton and Mayor Richard Daley about three joint projects between the city and the Clinton Foundation to retrofit buildings and make them more energy-efficient. The buildings will include the Merchandise Mart, the Sears Tower and privately owned, multi-tenant housing.

"Chicago has always led by example when it comes to protecting the environment," Daley said. "The Clinton Climate Initiative will play a major role in helping us reach our goal of making Chicago the most environmentally friendly city in the country."

Clinton, who spoke to a crowd of more than 7,000 people, noted that 75 percent of carbon emissions come from urban areas, and most of that from buildings. "I'm not going to pretend this is going to be easy," he said. "We can do this. But to do this, we have to prove it's good economics."

Before the speech, Clinton and Daley praised the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, the owner and operator of McCormick Place, for receiving special recognition by the U.S. Green Building Council, a nonprofit group that sets national standards for environmentally friendly structures.

The council, which organized the conference, rates buildings on environmental performance based on several categories, including location, water efficiency, materials, energy use and indoor-air quality. McPier was cited for McCormick Place's West Building, which opened in August. The council said the annex was the largest new building in the country to receive the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification.

Exhibitors, which included small and large businesses selling everything from paint to bathroom supplies, said their products would help buildings win LEED certification. Paul DeJuliis, co-owner of Pennsylvania-based Expanko, showed off small squares of cork flooring that he said lasts as long as wooden floors, but don't require an entire tree to be cut down. The flooring is made of discarded bark that was already been holed out for wine corks. "It's 100 percent post-industrial waste," he said. "We just strip the bark off the tree, and the tree can be saved." He said the popularity of cork flooring has started to grow in the last five years and that trade expos are the best way to educate consumers about the benefits. "We're still a small, an almost minuscule, part of the market," DeJuliis said. "It's an awareness factor."

Bill Stacy approached the expo in terms of General Motors Corporation's more than 6,000 dealerships. Stacy, GM's director of strategic operations for dealer networks, said he wants to help dealerships be more environmentally conscious. "If we can help provide a guide for them to improve their energy efficiency, it will be an advantage to the environment. It just makes good business sense," said Stacy, who was looking at an exhibit featuring dual-flushing toilets, waterless urinals and low-volume water appliances.

The conference also features dozens of guest speakers talking about environmental trends in the building industry. Attendees come from more than 40 countries, spokeswoman Taryn Holowka said. This year's conference theme is "Transforming our community," which encourages people to think environmentally beyond a single building, she said. "It's not just thinking about the infrastructure," Holowka said. "We want people to think about the community, walkability and smart development, not just about more development, and combating urban sprawl."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/northwest/chi-green_08nov08,1,1673237.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

Can Green Jobs Save the American Middle Class?
By Brita Belli
E Magazine
November 9, 2007

The American middle class -- of which some 80 percent of Americans claim to be a part -- is getting anxious. While there is no carved-in-stone edict about what it means to be middle class, it's the term that Americans hang their dreams on.

It suggests earning enough to get by without struggling; being able to afford health care, college costs and the occasional trip to Disney World. The middle-class ideal is tied to earning power, and it's there that confidence is eroding. Over the last five years, while most workers' incomes have increased slowly or not at all, costs have reached record levels. Housing costs are up 23 percent, college costs up 44 percent and health insurance costs up 71 percent.

And while the traditional economic outlook is bleak, the green economy is taking shape, bringing with it the promise of well-paying manufacturing jobs; of management and sales opportunities with huge growth potential and lots of niche positions for enterprising students and job seekers looking for alternative careers. On the upper tiers of the economic ladder, many CEOs and CFOs are already jumping into green jobs, and online green job directories are heavy with listings for those with established business experience.

What remains to be seen is if the career ladders appearing in every sector, from green building to organic farming, solar installation and sustainable marketing, are available to all or to a select few. With the momentum behind environmental issues, Congress, spurred by advocacy organizations such as the Apollo Alliance and the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, is responding with legislation that could ensure a place for America's disadvantaged and disenfranchised in the new green economy. For that to happen, the House version of the new energy legislation -- spearheaded by Hilda Solis (D-CA) and John Tierney (D-MA) -- has to make it through Congress and past President George W. Bush's threatened veto.

The Green Jobs Act, which passed the House as part of the Energy Bill last August with a vote of 241 to 172, contains specific language about using the green economy as a "pathway out of poverty." Of the $125 million that would be set aside for job training in renewable energy, energy-efficient vehicles and green building, $25 million of that would be earmarked specifically for those most difficult to hire: at-risk youths, former inmates and welfare recipients. The Energy Savings Act of 2007 sponsored by Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Hilary Clinton (D-NY) in the Senate allows for $100 million in training for "green-collar jobs," but is not geared specifically toward low-income Americans.

That, says Van Jones, president of the Ella Baker Center, is a critical difference. "There's this whole invisible infrastructure trying to get people who need jobs connected with work," says Jones. "There are vocational training centers, return-from-prison work centers, community colleges. But none of that infrastructure is pointed at the green economy. There are a lot of 'certificate factories' pointed at the pollution-based economy, and lots of people going to night school for jobs that aren't there any more."

The Green Jobs Act is a way of "repurposing our job training," says Jones. He testified before Congress in favor of the bill -- a national version of the Green Jobs Corps his organization established in Oakland, California -- and says the shortage of skilled workers throughout the renewable energy sector is already leading eco-entrepreneurs to hire their college buddies. But there's a larger issue at stake. Unless the green economy is designed to include America's urban youth, they are bound to be overlooked, shuffled back into the same low-wage, go-nowhere retail and fast food jobs with little opportunity for improvement.

"The work of saving the polar bears and poor kids is the same work," says Jones. "If we give the jobs to the people who most need them, we solve two problems."

Many say that $100 to $125 million is miniscule money for such a major economic transition. But the government's initial investment is only meant to be a launch pad, says Kevin Doyle, president of green consulting and training company Green Economy. "The federal government serves best as an innovative leader," he says. "Money from the private sector should be at least five times that much."

Companies taking the risk of implementing new, sustainable technologies won't be eager to bear the cost of training unskilled workers. And that incentive is needed, especially in the educational system, to create a workforce that's ready for the new economy. Until sustainable practices move from testing phase to the norm, as they have in green building, companies need a reason to make the switch. "All economic activity has to be financed," says Doyle. "There are no jobs without money." At the same time, he notes, "We are reaching the tipping point where cost incentives no longer have to come from some strange amalgam of tax incentives. Green is tipping into the mainstream."

Green on Top

The green economy has already opened doors for those in the upper echelon of the business world, the managers, directors, CEOs and CFOs.

"CEOs and senior-level people across a broad spectrum are entering the environmental field in droves," says Rona Fried, founder and president of SustainableBusiness.com which includes a "Green Dream Jobs" online directory. "They're saying 'I'm the CEO of an IT company and I want to put my skills to work for the environment. How do I make that transition?'"
As corporations build environmental strategy into their policy, partnering with nonprofits and responding more quickly to rising public concern for environmental issues, they need strong communicators. "Many companies have environmental managers that are now being upgraded in terms of status," says Dan Esty, director of the Center for Business and Environment at Yale University, and co-author of Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value and Build Competitive Advantage. "To be a successful environmental manager, you need good analytic skills, to understand the environment in a business context -- as a core business strategy."

That's the advice Esty gives his Yale students: if they want to improve the environment, they should find ways to help companies tackle the issues that are important to them -- be it safe drinking water, less urban pollution or protecting the rainforest.

And the growing partnerships between corporations and environmental activist groups have created jobs on both sides of the aisle. Greenpeace and Coca-Cola are now collaborating on hydrofluorocarbon (HFC)- and chlorofluorocarbon (CFC)-free refrigeration equipment. Other high-profile partnerships include Chiquita and the Rainforest Alliance, which vastly improved that company's labor and environmental practices in Latin America; and McDonald's with (among others) Environmental Defense which led to the fast-food chain eliminating those wasteful Styrofoam containers. "There are many more jobs today focused at managing the business-environmental interface," says Esty.

The 300 largest corporations are in the initial stages of crafting a new social frontier, writes author Bruce Piasecki in World Inc. "Enlightened self-interest is what fuels the global equity culture, from the search for fuel cells and biofuels to new ways to package and new ways to power our economy, transportation and computing infrastructure," writes Piasecki, president and founder of consulting firm the American Hazard Control Group. "Business first seeks to sustain and further itself, but this revolution has the side benefit of being good for us all."
While green jobs are often touted as a way to create a solid American workforce, it's the installation and maintenance jobs in solar and wind that can't be outsourced. "The technology, where a big part of the upper money is...it's not at all clear the U.S. will win that game," says Doyle. "Right now there are a lot of technology companies in Spain, Japan and Switzerland."

Turning Blue Collars Green

But those in-country manufacturing jobs are not to be taken lightly. They represent a huge possibility for a new "green-collar" economy to restore a rapidly disintegrating American middle class. The 10 Midwestern states, ideally suited for wind energy development, could see nearly 37,000 new jobs by 2020, according to the Environmental Law and Policy Center, if the nation's renewable energy portfolio were set to 22 percent. According to a University of California at Berkeley study in 2004 (and updated in 2006), "Putting Renewables to Work: How Many Jobs Can the Clean Energy Industry Generate?" the renewable industry consistently produced more jobs per megawatt of electricity generated in construction, manufacturing, installation, operations and management and fuel processing than the fossil fuel industries. With a 20 percent national renewable energy standard that included 55 percent wind energy, that would equal 188,018 new jobs by 2020.

Kate Gordon, program director for the Apollo Alliance, a nonprofit working for American energy independence, says, "There's been a wholesale loss of manufacturing jobs, which are union-protected, highly skilled jobs. But with wind turbines, solar panels, energy-efficient retrofits -- there's a whole world of green jobs. It's pretty exciting if you can harness it."

Both recent college graduates and professionals looking to redirect their careers need to find ways to plug into this new green economy. As those pathways from conventional to green are still being laid, that's not always easy. But Doyle, who offers consulting and training for the new green economy, says there are two key strategies. One is to look at what skills are needed by all industries to solve environmental problems. All need information management and financing.
"So much starts with gathering huge amounts of data," Doyle says. This includes jobs in information technology, geography and statistics. And whether a nonprofit, a government agency or a business is looking to purchase open space, or evaluating smart growth versus sprawl, people are always needed to find funds. This opens up jobs like sector analysts, green accountants, government finance officers and foundation managers, among others.

The second strategy for green job seekers is to "pick a niche without any sense of ideological blinders," he says. Someone wanting to "fix" climate change would investigate the major sources of carbon emissions -- power plants, automobiles, gas flares -- and focus on finding solutions within these polluting industries.

People on the forefront of this rising green economy see enormous green growth potential within once-suspect corporate entities, from Wal-Mart to Starbucks. "At one point, five to 10 years ago, it was unusual to have an employee involved in corporate social responsibility," says Ted Ning, conference director of LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) and executive editor of the LOHAS Journal. "Now corporate social responsibility is a whole department for large corporations like Office Depot or Trader Joe's." Looking at the big picture, from corporate scandals to Hurricane Katrina to rising gas prices to the conservative ideology of the current administration, Ning says it's "a perfect storm -- people are fed up with what's typically given to them."

Of course, as savvy marketers have realized, the conscious consumer behind many of the fastest-growing green businesses, from eco-travel to organic food to hybrid cars and Fair Trade coffee, are as seduced by the comfort and social status of these items as by their reduced carbon footprint. "People don't have to sacrifice their lifestyle anymore," says Ning. "They don't have to wear burlap or eat sand."

Brita Belli is managing editor of E Magazine.

http://www.alternet.org/story/67138/

Mayor Bloomberg still touting congestion-pricing plan
BY FRANK LOMBARDI and ADAM LISBERG
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU
Tuesday, October 9th 2007


Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday that his congestion-pricing plan is a good thing for mass transit in the city - even though it would cost the MTA an extra $767 million to set up and $104 million a year to operate.

"We need mass transit in places that it's not currently existing, and we need mass transit that is faster and we need mass transit that is better and more pleasurable," Bloomberg said. Bloomberg's plan would charge cars $8 and trucks $21 to drive into Manhattan below 86th St. on weekdays. He claims it would keep 112,000 cars and trucks off the streets each day and generate $380 million a year for mass transit.

The federal government has awarded New York $354 million to set up a congestion-pricing system, but the MTA says in a new report that it needs far more money to accommodate all the people who would stop driving into Manhattan.

"Successful implementation of the city plan will require the MTA to provide a full complement of new and enhanced service," the report says. "Neither the operating nor capital costs associated with these improvements are provided for."

The MTA said it would need 309 new buses to serve additional riders, including 12 new express routes in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens, and 46 new subway cars to run more frequently on the 1, E and F lines and to make C trains longer.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/10/09/2007-10-09_mayor_bloomberg_still_touting_congestion.html?print=1

Cities Take the Lead on Climate Change
By KARL RITTER

VAXJO, Sweden (AP)
When this quiet city in southern Sweden decided in 1996 to wean itself off fossil fuels, most people doubted the ambitious goal would have any impact beyond the town limits. A few melting glaciers later, Vaxjo is attracting a green pilgrimage of politicians, scientists and business leaders from as far afield as the U.S. and North Korea seeking inspiration from a city program that has allowed it to cut CO2 emissions 30 percent since 1993.

Vaxjo is a pioneer in a growing movement in dozens of European cities, large and small, that aren't waiting for national or international measures to curb global warming. From London's congestion charge to Paris' city bike program and Barcelona's solar power campaign, initiatives taken at the local level are being introduced across the continent — often influencing national policies instead of the other way around.

"People used to ask: Isn't it better to do this at a national or international level?" said Henrik Johansson, environmental controller in Vaxjo, a city of 78,000 on the shores of Lake Helga, surrounded by thick pine forest in the heart of Smaland province. "We want to show everyone else that you can accomplish a lot at the local level."

The European Union, mindful that many member states are failing to meet mandated emissions cuts under the Kyoto climate treaty, has taken notice of the trend and is encouraging cities to adopt their own emissions targets. The bloc awarded one of its inaugural Sustainable Energy Europe awards this year to Vaxjo, which aims to have cut emissions by 50 percent by 2010 and 70 percent by 2025.

"We are convinced that the cities are a key element to change behavior and get results," said Pedro Ballesteros Torres, manager of the Sustainable Energy Europe campaign. "Climate change is a global problem but the origin of the problem is very local." So far only a handful of European capitals have set emissions targets, including Stockholm, Copenhagen and London. Torres said he hopes to convince about 30 European cities to commit to targets next year. While such goals are welcome, they may not always be the best way forward, said Simon Reddy, who manages the C40 project, a global network of major cities exchanging ideas on tackling climate change.

"At the moment a lot of cities don't know what they're emitting so it's very difficult to set targets," Reddy said. More important than emissions targets, he said, is that cities draft action plans, outlining specific goals needed to reduce emissions, like switching a certain percentage of the public transit system to alternative fuels.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone's Climate Action Plan calls for cutting the city's CO2 emissions by 60 percent in 2025, compared to 1990 levels. However, planners acknowledge the cuts are not realistic unless the government introduces a system of carbon pricing. Barcelona, Spain's second biggest city, has, since 2006, required all new and renovated buildings to install solar panels to supply at least 60 percent of the energy needed to heat water. The project has been emulated by dozens of Spanish cities and inspired national legislation with similar, though less stringent, requirements, said Angels Codina Relat of the Barcelona Energy Agency.

It's not only in Europe that cities are taking action on climate change. Several U.S. cities including Austin, Texas; Portland, Ore.; and Seattle have launched programs to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Bogota, the capital of Colombia, has reduced emissions with the TransMilenio municipal bus system and an extensive network of bicycle paths.

In Vaxjo, (pronounced VECK-shur), the vast majority of emissions cuts have been achieved at the heating and power plant, which replaced oil with wood chips from local sawmills as its main source of fuel. Ashes from the furnace are returned to the forest as nutrients. "This is the best fir in Sweden," said plant manager Ulf Johnsson, scooping up a fistful of wood chips from a giant heap outside the factory.

He had just led Michael Wood, the U.S. Ambassador to Sweden, on a guided tour of the facility, which is considered state of the art. Not only does it generate electricity, but the water that is warmed up in the process of cooling the plant is used to heat homes and offices in Vaxjo. Every week, foreign visitors arrive to see Vaxjo's environmental campaign. Last year, even a delegation of 10 energy officials from reclusive North Korea got a tour.

A similar but much larger system is in place in Copenhagen, Denmark's capital, where waste heat from incineration and combined heat and power plants is pumped through a purpose-built 800-mile network of pipes to 97 percent of city. Copenhagen is often cited as a climate pioneer among European cities. It cut CO2 emissions by 187,600 tons annually in the late '90s by switching from coal to natural gas and biofuels at its energy plants. Its goal is to reduce emissions by 35 percent by 2010, compared to 1990 levels, even more ambitious than Denmark's national target of 21 percent cuts under the Kyoto accord.

In 1995, the city became one of the first European capitals to introduce a public bicycle service that lets people pick up and return bikes at dozens of stations citywide for a small fee. Similar initiatives have since taken root in Paris and several other European cities. Next, Copenhagen plans to spend about $38 million on various initiatives to get more residents to use bicycles instead of cars.

Transport is one of the hardest areas for local leaders to control since traffic is not confined to a single city. Without stronger national policies promoting biofuels over gasoline, Vaxjo, for one, will never reach its long-term target of becoming free of fossil fuels. But it's doing what it can locally. So-called "green cars" running on biofuels park for free anywhere in the city. About one-fifth of the city's own fleet runs on biogas produced at the local sewage treatment plant.

Using biofuels instead of gasoline in cars is generally considered to cut CO2 emissions, although some scientists say greenhouse gases released during the production of biofuel crops can offset those gains. Vaxjo has also invested in energy efficiency, from the light bulbs used in street lights to a new residential area with Europe's tallest all-wood apartment buildings. Wood requires less energy to produce than steel or concrete, and also less transportation since Vaxjo is in the middle of forests.

Although Vaxjo is tiny by comparison, the C40 group, including major metropolitan centers such as New York, Mexico City and Tokyo, has been impressed by the city's progress and uses it as an example of "best practices" around the world.

"They're a small town," Reddy said. "Apply that to 7 million? It's doable but its going to take a lot longer."

On the Net:

City of Vaxjo: http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.vaxjo.se&usg=AFQjCNHejfZTzBmrVkSyvQvDnVE4Fh_aZQ
C40 cities: http://www.c40cities.org/

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gBGIgfbWCSCTLsKDJTXae26YRLowD8S8FGKG0

The Poor Fly Under the Solar Water Heating Radar
Gail Jennings
CAPE TOWN, Oct 12 (IPS/IFEJ) -

Earlier this year, IPS reported that the South African coastal city of Cape Town was debating a "first of a kind" bylaw that would make solar water heating compulsory for relatively costly new buildings, and certain renovations. This got us thinking: what of solar water heating for less expensive structures -- especially homes being built under the country's extensive low cost housing programme...Are any initiatives on the drawing board in this regard?

Since coming to power in 1994, the African National Congress government has spearheaded the building of low cost, subsidised houses to overcome the homelessness created by apartheid. However, many of these structures are what is termed "core houses", meaning they lack flooring, geysers and other amenities. Solar water heaters (SWHs) can be somewhat expensive to install; but this cost is normally recovered within a few years through energy savings that continue long after the units are paid for. The heaters can provide an environmentally friendly source of hot water for low income housing residents, and cut their household water heating bills in the long run -- good news all round, surely, especially if financial aid were provided to help people get a foot on the SWH ladder. Not necessarily, it seems. Low energy usage "Generally, people living in low income households don't spend enough money on energy for water heating," Andrew Janisch of Sustainable Energy Africa, a Cape Town-based consultancy, told IPS. "As a result, the saving from using solar energy for this purpose would not repay the upfront cost of the solar water heater, even with attractive financing options."

A solar water heater is made up of a hot water storage tank or geyser, and a roof-mounted panel (called a "collector") that absorbs the sun's energy and uses it to heat the tank water. The cost of SWHs ranges from about 500 dollars to 2,200 dollars, depending on factors such as the volume of the tank and the square meterage of the collector -- and whether a high pressure water flow from the tank is required for bathroom and kitchen equipment. "It's a tough issue," said a project manager at a Johannesburg-based company that is co-ordinating an initiative offering incentives for the installation of solar water heating systems in several houses for the middle and upper income brackets. "We used to look at government subsidised houses, but it was just too expensive in the greater scheme of things," the manager told IPS. "Add the cost of a geyser to the 49,000 rand (about 7,000 dollars) per house subsidy, and it would not fit the bill."

"We're still taking our lead from our previous minister of minerals and energy: she directed us not to force technologies onto low income housing," the manager added. "These things must go on the houses in Sandton to create the aspiration among low income households, was her message." (Sandton is a wealthy suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa's financial centre.) These observations are echoed by Peter Lukey of the chief directorate for air quality management and climate change in South Africa's Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. "We must avoid the 'ghetto-ification' of renewable energy. Solar should never be seen as second class power," he told IPS. "In South Africa, we need to take into account our vulnerability to climate change, and focus on where we can make the biggest impact. It is not the poor who are polluting with their energy use -- it's middle and upper income households."

As a result, SWH initiatives remain focused on the relatively wealthy, and the downright rich. In the case of low earners, "Either the government must pay, and it's too expensive, or the individual must pay -- and it's too expensive," said Lukey. For its part, the state energy utility, Eskom, is largely focused on securing South Africa's energy supply. Demand for electricity is growing at a brisk 4.5 percent annually, and South Africa has a reserve margin of only some "7.5 percent, which is low by international standards," says Andrew Etzinger, Eskom's general manager for investment strategy. The company has little incentive to fund the provision of solar water heating to a sector of the population that is not among the country's big energy consumers. "

Eskom's primary business is not poverty alleviation, but securing energy supply to its market," noted the project manager at the firm involved with SWH incentives. Pilot projects Still, as concerns about global warming mount -- and the need grows for countries to use energy sources that don't contribute to greenhouse gas emissions -- even low cost housing will probably have to be brought in to the environmentally friendly fold. Where low cost developments have benefited from solar water heating, it has been largely under pilot projects designed to assist local authorities in reaching renewable energy targets, or because environmental impact assessments have stipulated energy efficient developments.

Cape Town, for example, has set a target of having 10 percent of all households in the city with solar water heaters by 2010 -- this in addition to the proposed bylaw. The Kuyasa Low Income Urban Housing Energy Upgrade Project in Khayelitsha, on the outskirts of Cape Town, is one step towards achieving this. This city funded project has fitted 10 houses with solar water heaters, insulated ceilings and compact fluorescent light bulbs, resulting in a 40 percent reduction in household energy costs. Cape Town has also secured an additional 4.35 million dollars from the national Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and the Western Cape provincial Department of Housing and Local Government to install solar water heaters at a further 2,300 low cost, subsidised houses. Carbon credits will cover about 15 percent of the expenses for this initiative.

The use of carbon credits occurs in terms of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which established various processes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Under the CDM, industrialised nations can meet targets for greenhouse gas reductions through investing in initiatives that cut emissions in developing states; this enables the issuing of Certified Emission Reductions -- also referred to as carbon credits, which can be traded internationally. One credit is equivalent to a tonne of carbon dioxide, a leading greenhouse gas.

Cosmo City, a new housing development in Johannesburg, has also taken steps towards SWH. The project includes 3,000 low cost homes, of which 170 have been fitted with solar water heaters at a cost to the city of some 290,000 dollars. Manda Mandavha, a project manager in Johannesburg's environmental management department, says the solar water heaters have also been used to raise awareness of climate change among residents. "We would like to install more, but we do not have the funding," he told IPS. Further use of carbon credits might, at first glance, seem an ideal way to pull in extra funding.

But this idea also stumbles on the fact that energy use by the poor is relatively low -- with investment in SWH schemes for low cost houses offering only small reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. In short, other initiatives offer more bang for the carbon credit buck. Examples elsewhere Brazil may point the way for introducing solar water heating on a large scale for low cost housing. Earlier this year, the National Agency for Electrical Energy (Agencia Nacional de Energia Electria, ANEEL), the electricity sector regulator, stipulated that all electricity utilities in this Latin American state should contribute 0.5 percent of their after tax profits to a fund that ANEEL will use to provide solar water heating for low income families.

This has increased the number of households with solar water heaters almost ten-fold. Sustainable Energy Africa is working with three urban authorities in the northern province of Gauteng, South Africa's economic hub, to establish a similar fund. "Cities are currently facilitating and endorsing solar water heating rollout business plans for their middle and high income installation programmes," explained Janisch. "Our plan is that in order for companies to receive this endorsement, certain criteria will have to be met. One of these is that a contribution is made towards a pro-poor fund that will subsidise appropriate energy interventions in low income households."

The importance of such schemes notwithstanding, Robin Thomson of Cape Town-based solar water heating company SunPower believes the pool of people who can afford SWHs may be larger than is generally assumed. The cost of a low pressure 100-litre unit with a geyser can be as low as 29 dollars a month for 24 months -- the amount many people spend on mobile phone calls, furniture and the like. "There's a big difference between low income and no income," Thomson told IPS.

(* This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS -- Inter Press Service -- and IFEJ, the International Federation of Environmental Journalists.) (END/2007)

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=39639

Hot World? Blame Cities.

By Joel Kotkin and Ali Modarres
Sunday, October 14, 2007; B01

It's all the suburbs' fault. You know, everything -- traffic congestion, overweight kids, social alienation. Oh, and lest we forget, global warming and rising energy costs, too.

That latest knock against the burbs has caught on widely. With their multiplying McMansions and exploding Explorers, the burbs are the reason we're paying so much for gas and heating oil and spewing all those emissions that are heating up the atmosphere -- or so a host of urban proponents tells us. It's time to ditch the burbs and go back to the city. New York, Boston, Chicago -- these densely packed metropolises are "models of environmentalism," declares John Norquist, the former Milwaukee mayor who now heads the Congress for a New Urbanism.
But before you sell your ranch house in Loudoun County and plunk down big bucks for that cozy condo in the District, take a closer look at the claims of big cities' environmental superiority. Here's one point that's generally relegated to academic journals and scientific magazines: Highly concentrated urban areas can contribute to overall warming that extends beyond their physical boundaries.

Studies in cities around the world -- Beijing, Rome, London, Tokyo, Los Angeles and more -- have found that packed concentrations of concrete, asphalt, steel and glass can contribute to a phenomenon known as "heat islands" far more than typically low-density, tree-shaded suburban landscapes. As an October 2006 article in the New Scientist highlighted, "cities can be a couple of degrees warmer during the day and up to 6¿ C [11 degrees Fahrenheit] warmer at night." Recent studies out of Australia and Greece, as well as studies on U.S. cities, have also documented this difference in warming between highly concentrated central cities and their surrounding areas.

This is critical as we deal with what may well be a period of prolonged warming. Urban heat islands may not explain global warming, but they do bear profound environmental, social, economic and health consequences that reach beyond city boundaries. A study of Athens that appeared this year in the journal Climatic Change suggested that the ecological footprint of the urban heat island is 1 1/2 to two times larger than the city's political borders.

Further, urban heat islands increase the need for air conditioning, which has alarming consequences for energy consumption in our cities. Since air conditioning systems themselves generate heat, this produces a vicious cycle. Some estimate that the annual cost of the energy consumption caused by the urban heat island could exceed $1 billion.

This is not to say that big buildings can't be made more energy efficient by using new techniques, such as high-tech skin designs, special construction materials to reduce energy consumption, green roofs and passive cooling. But one big problem is that making large buildings green also makes them much more expensive, so that they're less and less affordable for middle-class and working-class families.

Low-density areas, on the other hand, lend themselves to much less expensive and more environmentally friendly ways of reducing heat. It often takes nothing more than double-paned windows to reduce the energy consumption of a two- or three-story house. Shade can bring it down even further: A nice maple can cool a two-story house, but it can't quite do the same for a 10-story apartment building.

Focusing on the suburbs has the added virtue of bringing change to where the action is. Over the past 40 years, the percentage of people opting to live in cities has held steady at 10 to 15 percent. And since 2000, more than 90 percent of all metropolitan growth -- even in a legendary new planners' paradise such as Portland, Ore. -- has taken place in the suburbs.
So we shouldn't be trying to wipe out suburbs. Even with changes in government policy, it would be hard to slow their growth. Europe has strict zoning and highly subsidized mass transit -- policies that are supposed to promote denser development -- but even so, their cities are suburbanizing much like American ones. "Sprawl cities," notes Shlomo Angel, an urban planning expert at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, also are becoming ever more common throughout much of Asia and the developing world.

Here's an Earth-to-greens message: Instead of demonizing the suburbs, why not build better, greener ones and green the ones we already have?

One approach might be to embrace what one writer, Wally Siembab, has dubbed "smart sprawl." Encouraging this sort of development will require a series of steps: reducing commuters' gas consumption with more fuel-efficient cars, dispersing work to centers close to where workers live and promoting continued growth in home-based work. We'll also have to protect open spaces by monitoring development and establishing land conservation based on public and private funding, the latter coming from developers who wish to work in suburbs.
Building what we call "an archipelago of villages" seems far more reasonable than returning to industrial-age cities and mass transit systems. For the most part, the automobile has left an indelible imprint on our cities, and in our ever-more-dispersed economy, it has become a necessity.

This is not to say that transit of some kind -- perhaps more cost-efficient and flexible dedicated busways, or local shuttles -- can't play a role in serving those who can't or would rather not drive. But short of a crippling fuel shortage or some other catastrophic event, it's highly unlikely that we'll ever see the widespread success of heavily promoted strategies such as dense, transit-oriented developments or the wholesale abandonment of the suburbs.

We can accommodate our need for space and still leave ample room for a flourishing natural environment, as well as for agriculture. By preserving open space and growing in an environmentally friendly manner, we can provide a break from the monotony of concrete and glass and create ideal landscapes for wildlife preservation.

Such notions -- developed before the term "green" existed -- go back to a host of visionaries such as Ebenezer Howard, James Rouse, Frederick Law Olmsted, Frank Lloyd Wright and Victor Gruen. And they have already been put into practice. Starting in the 1960s in his development of Valencia, north of Los Angeles, Gruen envisioned a "suburbia redeemed" that mixed elements of the urban and the rural.

Valencia's elaborate network of 28 miles of car-free paseos -- paths designed for pedestrians and bicyclists -- helped make the natural environment accessible to residents. Gruen also recognized the commercial appeal of such an environment. A 1992 ad for the development featured a smiling girl saying: "I can be in my classroom one minute and riding my horse the next. I don't know whether I'm a city or country girl."

Similarly, The Woodlands, a sprawling development 27 miles from downtown Houston, is a model for a greener suburbia in a region not much celebrated for its environmental values. The Woodlands name, said its former president, Roger Galatas, was seen not as "just real estate hype" but as part of a plan to allow development without destroying forest lands and natural drainage.

In the Washington area, Reston and Columbia, the latter the brainchild of legendary Maryland developer James Rouse, have become far more than mere bedroom communities; they have become places, or villages, in themselves.

All these places evoke a more environmentally friendly suburbanism, which also can be promoted in areas that did not benefit from the foresight of a Gruen or a Rouse. Town centers, revived older shopping districts, even re-engineered malls can all be part of a greener, more energy-efficient future in a large number of communities. And this process is already well underway.

Dragooning Americans into a dense urban lifestyle that's attractive to only a relatively small minority isn't the best way to address concerns about energy and resource depletion or global warming. Instead, we need to take gradual, sensible, realistic steps to improve the increasingly dispersed places where most of us choose to live and work.

Joel Kotkin is a fellow at Chapman University and author of "The City:
A Global History." Ali Modarres is associate director of the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs at California State University at Los Angeles.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/12/AR2007101201884_pf.html

Businesses seize green initiative
State companies see big gains ahead tackling greenhouse gases
By THOMAS CONTENT

Oct. 6, 2007
Sixth part in an occasional series
What's good for the planet, it turns out, could be great for Wisconsin's largest company.
Global Warming and Wisconsin

Energy experts with Glendale-based Johnson Controls Inc. are busy crafting their first proposal aimed at winning a piece of an ambitious $5 billion plan to reduce global warming by retrofitting energy-wasting buildings in 16 of the world's largest cities. Step one: Houston, one of the country's most polluted cities, where more than 270 buildings could see upgrades.

Meeting in Milwaukee last week, managers and experts from Johnson Controls offices around the country scoured slides of aging boilers and control systems in buildings they had toured in Houston, including fire stations, libraries and the downtown convention center, where the city once housed 5,000 people who fled New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Johnson Controls plans to show how energy use in the buildings can be cut 30% to 50%. The cities participating in the Clinton Climate Initiative will invite Johnson Controls, Trane - a leading employer in western Wisconsin - and several other competitors to bid on their energy-efficiency overhauls. Upgrades will be financed by multinational banks that have pledged $1 billion each.

"We have a real responsibility and a real opportunity," said Clay Nesler, global vice president of energy and sustainability at Johnson Controls.

The initiative, spearheaded by former President Bill Clinton's foundation, seeks to accomplish with energy-efficiency upgrades what the foundation did, with pharmaceutical companies, to cut the cost of AIDS drugs and boost their use in the developing world. It aims to double the world market for highly efficient building systems. It's also a striking example of how an issue linked with peril, with forecasts of rising sea levels, devastating storms and droughts, can open up markets and create jobs in Wisconsin and elsewhere.

Steve Roell, chief executive of Johnson Controls, said helping governments and corporations comply with mandates to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions will be a potent growth driver for the company. Roell said the company is poised to increase sales by 10% a year and hit $50 billion in four years. Milwaukee will see investment, and likely more white-collar jobs, he said, because it is home to the "thought leaders" for Johnson Control's worldwide efforts to improve energy efficiency and reduce global warming emissions.

Johnson Controls, which also is working to develop more-efficient batteries for hybrid cars, isn't the only Wisconsin company addressing global warming. Modine Manufacturing Co. in Racine is helping design fuel cell systems that can power and heat homes or supply electricity to a business. That work could produce $200 million in sales within five years, said Mark Baffa, director of Modine's fuel cell group.

In a former pots-and-pans factory in Manitowoc, Orion Energy Systems is making high-efficiency lighting used in warehouses, schools and gymnasiums. After Bemis Manufacturing Co. replaced all of its lights with Orion's bulbs, the company got a call from the local utility, wondering what had happened - the factory's lighting switch had cut power use in the city of Sheboygan Falls by 8%. Last summer, Orion announced plans to raise $100 million in a public offering.

A start-up company hatched by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Virent Energy Systems Inc., is creating "green" gasoline - using sugar as the feedstock. Investors have noticed: Virent recently enjoyed one of the most successful rounds of venture capital financing ever, pulling in $21 million.
Riding a wave of investor enthusiasm about the promise of clean technology, Virent and Orion together now employ more than 238 people in Wisconsin, up from a few dozen five years ago.

Clean tech is the hottest area in venture investment, and the Milwaukee 7 economic development initiative this year targeted "clean and green" as a key growth opportunity for the region. While some businesses worry that regulating carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases will drive energy prices higher as utilities build costly nuclear or next-generation coal plants, other businesses see an opportunity.

"The message to businesses about global warming is 'Jump in, the water's fine.' This is not something anyone has to be afraid of," said Terry Tamminen, former climate adviser to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. "When it comes to global warming, what we're asking people to do is to put money in their pockets - to pick $100 bills up off the ground."

Energy efficiency and renewable energy are creating jobs for entrepreneurs who have left other work to become home energy-efficiency consultants and solar panel installers. Two years ago, Andrew Bangert of H&H Electric Co. in Madison was an electrician who dabbled in solar power. Now, interest in solar power has increased so much that Bangert spends 95% of his time on solar, and he's hired two other electricians to install panels. It's still a small piece of the revenue pie at H&H, but the solar business has doubled in the past year, with projects installed at the Urban Ecology Center and a wastewater treatment plant in Milwaukee.
Still, the most high-profile and high-stakes attempt by the private sector to tackle global warming through energy efficiency is ramping up at Johnson Controls and its rivals.

Within two weeks, Johnson Controls and other companies must submit detailed proposals on how they would improve energy efficiency in the Houston buildings, including every police and fire station, every library, City Hall and five convention and entertainment centers. The scale of the project is daunting. But so is the $5 billion in up-front financing pledged by the banks, which would be paid back over time from the saving generated by the energy-efficient buildings.

"That's a big enough number to be interesting to everybody and can have a significant impact, certainly, on climate change," Nesler said. That will translate into jobs, both for companies such as Johnson Controls and for contractors, electricians and others who would do the work in each city.

In the past, in any given city, "we might have been doing work, onesy-twosy, a couple schools here, a couple office buildings there," Nesler said. "The value proposition here is let's combine a lot of these into a single large project and allow those buildings to be greened."

Since Clinton announced the project in May, Johnson Controls has put teams in place in all 16 cities that are signed on to participate, he said. The push for businesses to do more is coming not from the federal government but from corporate America and local governments. Efforts are arising from California, the world's seventh-largest economy, to Milwaukee, Madison and hundreds of other cities that have vowed to cut greenhouse emissions.

"We see it top-down, from Fortune 100 companies," Nesler said. "We also see it bottom-up, from a school district in Illinois with three schools saying, 'How can I make an impact?' " To gear up for more business, Johnson Controls this year created a renewable-energy team as another way to help clients reduce emissions. The company sold a geothermal heat pump system for a Silicon Valley green office building unveiled Friday as "one of the first net-zero energy, zero carbon emission commercial office buildings in the nation."

Beyond buildings, Johnson Controls sees markets opening for greener and more fuel-efficient products in its auto-parts businesses. That includes development of next-generation batteries for hybrid vehicles and the use of renewable soy foam as a material in car seats. A joint venture with Saft, a French company, won a contract to build lithium-ion car batteries for Mercedes sedans that will be built next year. This fall, plug-in hybrid Dodge Sprinters outfitted with its batteries are being tested on the road in New York and California.
Experts say a massive infusion of hybrids that plug into the power grid could, by 2050, have the effect of taking 83 million cars off the road. But plug-ins are years from hitting dealerships, and the attention they get has masked the emissions that could be prevented if automakers sold more conventional hybrids.

"In the next 23 years, if we put mild hybrids in 25% of the general fleet, that would be equivalent to taking 64 million vehicles off the highway today," said Mary Ann Wright, who heads the Johnson Controls hybrid business. Other area manufacturers are working to make cars more fuel-efficient and comply with tough regulations in Europe.

Actuant Corp. of Butler expects by 2010 to double sales - to $100 million - of systems that would reduce emissions of another greenhouse gas, nitrogen oxide, from diesel truck engines, said Karen Bauer, director of investor relations. Modine, which makes heating and cooling systems for cars and off-road equipment, has developed a way to use carbon dioxide as a refrigerant in vehicle air conditioners.

Anthony de Vuono, vice president and chief technology officer at Modine, said using carbon dioxide will phase out a different greenhouse gas, a hydrofluorocarbon that is 1,300 times more harmful to the atmosphere. "It's going to be a very, very big market, and you just don't want to get left behind," he said.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=671757

Houston forecast murky
Experts say global warming checked or unchecked threatens city and region
By ERIC BERGER
Houston Chronicle

In a warming world, the long-term forecast for Houston's climate and economy is cloudy. If governments leave greenhouse gas emissions unchecked, scientists say, increasing concentrations would continue to push temperatures higher, raise the seas and possibly intensify hurricanes and other severe weather events that cause flooding.

Yet quick action advocated by environmentalists to arrest global warming, such as a steep tax on fossil fuels that spew carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, could rock the area economy. Some 49 percent of Houston's economy comes from the energy sector. It now appears likely that some measures will be taken to address global warming as the debate moves beyond questioning of its existence. Late last month, a long-skeptical President Bush declared that human activity was warming the planet and that governments must take action to reverse the trend. It's impossible to say what that action will be or whether it will be effective.

But for a warm, energy-producing region like Southeast Texas, the issue is central to the region's climatological and economic future. "Houston clearly has some unique vulnerabilities," said Andrew Dessler, a professor of atmospheric science at Texas A&M University. While climate researchers haggle over some details of global warming, all but a smattering of scientists agree on the basics: The world has warmed, greenhouse gas emissions from sources such as automobiles and power plants are largely to blame, and such warming will continue and possibly accelerate in the absence of strict regulations on greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.

Without such regulations, scientists generally agree, global temperatures will increase by 4 degrees to 5 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100. Winter insects? Temperatures in Southeast Texas would probably rise a similar amount, maybe a bit more, said John Nielsen-Gammon, the state's climatologist and a Texas A&M climate professor. "Texans are adapted to the heat, so there may not be much increase in morbidity except for those who can't afford air conditioning," Nielsen-Gammon said.

During warmer winters, tropical vegetation — and, unfortunately, insects — could flourish. Although there would be more moisture in the atmosphere, it's unclear whether a warming world would lead to more overall rainfall in Texas, Nielsen-Gammon said. Flood events, however, almost certainly would increase in frequency and severity.

Scientists differ on whether hurricanes would become stronger and if the exceptionally active 2005 Atlantic hurricane season would become the norm. However, with at least a foot or two rise in sea level — and possibly much more if the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets melt more rapidly than expected — high tides and storm surges could inundate low-lying areas, including much of Galveston Island, scientists warn. Much of the upper Texas shoreline already is receding.

If energy costs rise as expected, global warming could have a greater impact on newer, Southern cities than on cities in the North. "A lot of cities in the southern United States were built with the idea that people have cars, access to cheap energy for air conditioning and don't need public transportation," Dessler said. "Living in Boston without energy would be a lot easier than doing so in Houston."

Acknowledging 'risks'As a local issue, global warming is complicated by Houston's deep ties to oil and gas, dating from Spindletop and the birth of the modern oil industry. The crucial question for Houston's economy is whether this entrenched industry can and will adapt if the federal government begins regulating the emissions of carbon dioxide. Some of the largest oil and gas businesses, such as Irving-based Exxon Mobil, have until recently resisted the concept of global warming.

Early this year, the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit group of more than 200,000 citizens and scientists, issued a report charging Exxon Mobil had adopted the tobacco industry's disinformation tactics toward global warming. According to the report, Exxon Mobil had funneled nearly $16 million between 1998 and 2005 to 43 advocacy organizations that sought to confuse the public on global warming science.
Exxon Mobil initially called the report a smear. A few months later, however, CEO Rex Tillerson began openly talking about global warming as a valid concern. While saying there was "still much that we do not know" about the phenomenon, Tillerson said it would be "prudent to develop and implement sensible strategies that address these risks."

Challenges, opportunitiesOther energy companies have viewed global warming as a serious problem for a longer time. "There's no question that setting carbon dioxide regulatory targets will have a profound impact on our business," said Bill Gerwing, general manager of regulatory affairs for BP. "But it's our fundamental belief that climate change is happening, that human carbon dioxide is a major factor, and that this creates as many opportunities as challenges for our business."

Barton Smith, professor of economics at the University of Houston, studied the impact of an alternative energy economy on Houston a few years ago and said he found the effect to be less than one might expect.
"As we get more and more involved in the menu of non-oil alternatives, you have to know Houston-based firms are going to be involved in that," Smith said. "Houston's oil industry has got its fingers in many, many pies, including alternative energies such as biofuels and wind." Houston could plausibly become a capital of alternative energy, Barton said.

To that end, BP recently opened the headquarters of its alternative energy and renewables firm, BP Alternative Energy, in Houston and plans to invest $8 billion in solar, wind, hydrogen and natural gas power technology and projects. BP and other alternative energy businesses have chosen Houston, Gerwing said, because of the city's traditional role as an energy capital and its welcoming regulatory environment, among other reasons. Coal threatsYet if federal caps are not placed on carbon emissions, it's plausible that Texas could ultimately lose its status as an energy center.

Most analysts believe that cheaply available oil and gas will be extracted during the next few decades. The question is, what will then fill the oil void? In the absence of carbon regulation, the clear answer is coal, many analysts say, because it's a cheap energy source in greater abundance in the United States than in any other country. Yet under such a scenario, both Houston and the environment could lose.

Houston is far removed from the coal belt, and heavy coal use would exacerbate global warming, because coal-fired power plants emit more carbon dioxide than any other source of electricity.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5194040.html

Shanghai residents see the light over energy
By Zhang Jun 2
007-9-29

AN Internet survey of 500 Shanghai people reveals most local residents are taking measures to conserve energy.But the same residents also are largely unaware of the government's energy-conservation policies.The survey was conducted in late August by Mytianhui.com, a city-based research provider, which also cooperates with Shanghai Daily.

Nearly 90 percent of the respondents said they have taken various steps to conserve energy, but 47 percent did not know the Chinese government has established laws to improve energy efficiency. The leading two popular residential measures are using energy-saving bulbs (73 percent of the respondents) and turning off computers completely instead of leaving them on stand-by (71 percent).

Sixty percent completely turn off televisions and 50 percent unplug air conditioners when not using them. The respondents believed that not using disposable products, setting air conditioners' temperature above 26 degrees Celsius in summer and using energy-saving bulbs are the most effective ways of saving energy.However, only one percent unplug microwave ovens and only six percent unplug sound systems when not in use.Z

hao Guotong, a city official and expert on energy efficiency, said:"The survey results show energy-saving should be promoted by economic policy instead of government-initiated education." He said the survey shows the local residents do much better than their US counterparts at conserving energy. One contributory cause is that utility fees account for a higher percentage of Chinese salaries than US salaries.

An average Shanghai family will consume up to 500 yuan (US$67) of power each month in summer, more than a fifth of the city's average salary this year. In the US, however, utilities cost far less than Shanghai, Zhao said.

In recent years, the Chinese government has issued a range of administrative regulations to cut energy consumption and maintain sustainable economic development, such as the architectural energy-saving standards.

Zhao suggests the government take the lead in implementing its regulations.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2007/200709/20070929/article_332986.htm

Mayor Bloomberg praises Paris for rent-a-bike program

BY LINDA HERVIEUX
September 30th 2007

PARIS - Mayor Bloomberg got a two-wheeled lesson yesterday on French efforts to save the planet. In Paris on the second day of a two-city European tour, Bloomberg praised the French capital's innovative rent-a-bike program hailed as a model for other cities to curb traffic pollution.

The trip marks Bloomberg's first transatlantic visit since speculation flared that he is considering a run for President as an independent candidate. Last night, he was scheduled to dine with British Conservative Party leader David Cameron in Blackpool, England, ahead of a speech he will deliver at today's party conference. The tour ends tomorrow in London with security issues and traffic congestion on the agenda.

Environmental issues have boosted Bloomberg's profile and he wasted no time yesterday exporting his vision, touting his 127-point PlaNYC plan and saluting Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe for his Velib bike program. "It's fascinating," Bloomberg said, shortly before watching a demonstration of the bikes, which Parisians rent from docking stations across the city.

New York City Transit officials are already studying the program, which was bankrolled by a private company in exchange for advertising space. "Some things will work in New York and some things won't," Bloomberg said, citing tough road conditions, a lack of protected bike lanes and harsh seasons.

Bloomberg also met the French poverty minister yesterday and then had lunch with Delanoe, whose postprandial cigarette did not seem to bother his rabidly anti-smoking guest. The pair agreed to form a "working committee" to tackle issues facing the two cities.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/09/30/2007-09-30_mayor_bloomberg_praises_paris_for_rentab.html