The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Weatherization and Intergovernmental Program is hosting two Webinars tomorrow, Wednesday, November 18. The first targets recipients of Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants (EECBG), and the second targets state and local officials interested in the role of policy in renewable energy market development.
Keyline design is rooted in the natural topography of the land. It promotes the rapid growth of natural fertility and of topsoil by distributing water more evenly over the landscape and encouraging the development of good soil structure. It does this by adapting to the natural landform and by using subsoil ploughs to create a comb like network of deep subsoil cuts that disturb the soil profile as little as possible.
Steven Chu, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary has announced up to $338 million in Recovery Act funding for the exploration and development of new geothermal fields as well as for research into advanced geothermal technologies. The newly announced grants will be awarded to 123 projects in 39 states and will be matched more than one-for-one with an additional $353 million in private and non-Federal cost-share funds, for a total grant pool of $691 million. This is a pretty big number and represents a major investment in a promising and yet often overlooked renewable energy resource. Recipients of the new grant funding include private industry, academic institutions, tribal entities, local governments, and DOE’s National Laboratories.
President Obama, speaking at Florida Power and Light’s (FPL) DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center, announced the largest single energy grid modernization investment in U.S. history. The newly announced funding is designed to help the nation transition to a smarter, stronger, more efficient and reliable electric system i.e. the Smart Grid, which will provide energy-saving opportunities, increase efficiency, and help grow renewable energy sources like wind and solar.
Are you a recent graduate discovering how difficult the current market is, unemployed, worried you might soon lose your job or just feel that your career seems stuck in place? Are you thinking that now may be the best time to re-tool your career? Going for a green MBA, now, while the job market is stagnant may be a smart move; both for recent graduates, currently unemployed (or underemployed) professionals as well as for those who want to forge a path into a career in corporate sustainability. But what is a Green MBA, why is it important and what schools are offering them? These are the questions this post delves into.
A new study by the Marine Biological Lab (MBL) of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has reported that biofuels that displace food crops may have a much bigger carbon footprint than previously thought. MBL senior scientist Jerry Melillo and his colleagues at the MBL have reported that carbon emissions from land-use change caused by the displacement of food crops and pastures by a global biofuels program may be twice as much as the emissions from lands directly devoted to biofuels production.
Palo Alto, a chartered city located in Silicon Valley in the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California has put out a Request for Proposal (RFP), seeking proposals to provide electric power generated by renewable resources. The city is seeking contracts for power for terms ranging from five years to 30 years from eligible renewable resources.
The California Energy Commission is currently seeking applicants for their Energy Innovations Small Grant Program (EISG). EISG provides up to $95,000 for hardware projects and $50,000 for modeling projects to small businesses, non-profits, individuals, and academic institutions researching the feasibility of new, innovative energy concepts.
The movement to adopt sustainability practices in the corporate world can trace its roots back to the environmental movement; however it is not just a synonym for or re-branding of environmentalism. Sustainability is best understood as being its own thing; grasped in its own terms. What sets it apart is the growing realization within the executive decision making centers of corporations, governmental, educational and other organizational bodies across the world is that there is a powerful win-win dynamic that can be harnessed by adopting sustainable practices and that sustainability is not a zero sum game with winners and losers. The public wins, the environment wins, those cute animals win, but shareholders also win as well because sustainability makes excellent sense purely from a bottom line perspective.
