Green Computing and Smart Grid Technologies To Play Huge Role U.S. Energy Efficiency Gains

Energy solutions that are described as “smart”, from smart buildings to smart appliances to the Smart Grid and semiconductors are projected to make a huge impact on the United States’ ability to significantly reduce our spending and use of energy. Between now and 2030, electricity bills could be reduced by $1.3 trillion assuming that the right investments and policies are in place, eliminating the need by the end of the period for 296 power plants with the use of the semiconductors used to improve the software capabilities of the technologies we use on a daily basis, says a report released recently by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).

The Greenest Cities in America

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) recently announced their list of the greenest cities in the United States and have released their findings on a new web site, called Smarter Cities. The survey includes all cities in the United States with populations larger than 50,000. Smarter Cities is considered to be one of the nation’s most comprehensive and robust database of U.S. urban progress toward sustainability. Seattle ranked number one and San Francisco ranked number 2 among the 67 large cities that were evaluated. Madison, Wisconsin placed firstand Santa Rosa, California came in second among the 176 medium cities that were surveyed. Among the 402 cities that were evaluated, Bellingham, Washington came in first place and Mountain View, California came in second.

Princeton Review Rolls Out List of The Greenest Colleges

The Princeton Review, today released its second annual Green Ratings of colleges. In this measure of how environmentally friendly the institutions are on a scale of 60 to 99, the company tallied its Green Ratings for 697 institutions based on data it collected from the colleges in 2008-09 concerning their environmentally related policies, practices, and academic offerings. The Princeton Review also named 15 colleges to its “2010 Green Rating Honor Roll” – a list that salutes the institutions that received the highest possible score – 99 – in this year’s rating tallies.

German Company Investing $1 Billion in Solar Energy Plant in Tennessee

Wacker Chemie AG will build a $1 billion plant in southeastern Tennessee that is estimated to create 500 green collar jobs in the region to manufacture hyperpure polycrystalline silicon, primary material used in the manufacture of solar panels. The company has purchased a 550-acre site about 30 miles northeast of Chattanooga. purchasing the site in Chattanooga will enable it to quickly build up its production capacity outside of the Euro zone in order to meet the projected growth in demand for solar cell feedstock in the US market.