This post takes a look at hydro power potential in the US, which is significant. For example, Oak Ridge National Laboratory has estimated that there is more than 12GW of untapped capacity at existing dams across the US; this is in part due to the fact that only 3% of existing dams generate electricity. Furthermore a 2006 DOE report noted that in every region realistic increases in generation capacity ranged from a minimum of 50% to well over 100%, which represents a lot of potential additional power. Large dams have serious environmental issues, disrupting Salmon runs for example, but a lot more power can be generated from existing dams and from less disruptive run of the river hydro.
Electric cars are finally coming to market in the U.S., but what is the future potential for this much-touted technology? A good way to find out would be to launch demonstration projects in selected U.S. cities to determine if, given incentives and the proper infrastructure, the public will truly embrace plug-in vehicles.
Interview with Solar Fred, who is a well known voice in the solar social media marketing space. The interview provides the reader with some insight into effective social media marketing, for solar and how effective a tool it can be if used well. It makes the point that in order to be effective and build trust social media marketers need to provide good information to the communities that they are trying to reach.
This post provides an overview of socially responsible investing and touches on some of the background and issues surrounding it. Socially responsible investing (SRI) is a method of investment in which the investor invests capital only into companies that engage in socially responsible behaviors. This post is targeted towards those who may not already have had previous exposure to the SRI movement and the issues facing it.
In this post John outlines two developments in the thermosolar concentrated solar power (CSP) arena that are enabling CSP to fulfill the role of baseload suppliers. Molten salt energy storage is naturally suited for CSP facilities and is quite efficient as an energy store — both in terms of low loss and in terms of capital expenditures (compared with batteries for example). By storing power in this way CSP plants can continue delivering power even after the sun has gone down. In addition by pairing CSP with stand-by combined-cycle natural gas generators greater overall reliability can be achieved.
Many architects feel that the civil engineer is the hardest one to get onboard with green buildings or that they contribute the least among the design team toward a LEED project. It shouldn’t be that way, civil engineers should be an enthusiastic and integrated contributor to the LEED process and the project is likely missing a lot of opportunities for true collaboration and integrated design. The credits that can benefit from the civil engineer’s input are: construction activity pollution prevention, site selection, development density and community connectivity,brownfield redevelopment,alternative transportation,site development,stormwater design,heat island fffect,light pollution reduction,water efficient landscaping,innovative wastewater technologies,optimize energy performance ,construction waste management, recycled content, regional materials,innovation in design,and regional priority.
In recent months, several conservative governors have rejected federal funds to begin constructing high-speed rail lines in their states. But a high-speed rail advocate argues that such ideologically driven actions are folly, as other U.S. states and countries around the world are moving swiftly to embrace a technology that is essential for competitive 21st-century economies.
Twitter has done a great deal for CSR communications. The social network brings CSR leaders closer,facilitates networking, as well as partnership creation, and dealmaking. Twitter gets the news and information out about CSR conferences out to a larger audience, as well as being the absolute best source of CSR news. CSR reports are always announced on Twitter and it is used as a CSR jobs recruitment platform too. It is also used to promote brands, customer service, or to announce new products and services, which all these link to CSR as well. This is all helping to create greater interest in the CSR body of knowledge. Ultimately, Twitter makes CSR info accessible to more people and it is changing the way people view it.
Green marketing and marketing in general is affected more and more by consumers researching products and services online. In light of this, what are the best practices that are being used by businesses to connect over the Internet with customers seeking green and wellness products? This video interview with Dan Piech, of comScore, outlines their research and observations regarding best practices for using video in marketing to consumers.h
