Last week, Sierra Magazine named the nation’s top 20 “coolest” schools for their efforts to stop global warming and operate sustainably. The magazine’s September/October cover story spotlights the schools that they believe are making a true impact for the planet, and marks Sierra’s third annual listing of America’s greenest universities and colleges. The […]
The great American car culture is literally running out of gas. Many leading petroleum geologists are warning us that the era of easy cheap oil is over and that we are facing a much steeper rate of depletion than commonly believed. There is nothing that can replace these vast stores of liquid fossil energy that is being pumped out of the ground and drives our car culture. Without cheap plentiful oil the American car culture will rapidly crumble. The impending demise of the car culture and the types of spread out low density living that it has fostered is perhaps the most profound socio-economic earthquake we will have faced in many decades. Will we wisely prepare and build out alternatives to this doomed way of life or we wake up one day unprepared and find that the pumps really have run dry? Talking about giving up on the car culture in America is quite the third rail — no one wants to give up their car — and discussion often veers off into irrational sound bite, talking point filled shouting matches. But the facts are the facts. Cars run on gas and the era of cheap easy oil is over… the world now stands at the top of the oil production curve… at the peak of production. It is like we are all sitting in some great roller coaster ever so slowly rolling perched right at the very top of the precipice. We do not have much time at all to begin re-inventing America and building a green economy that can carry us into the future; if we dilly dally and do nothing events will soon race ahead of us and force drastic sudden change upon us all.
Grassroots Environmental Education recently launched a new web portal called, “HowGreenIsMyTown.org (HGIMT ), which is designed to provide local citizens and decision makers the tools they need to bring about meaningful and lasting environmental change in their communities. The 200-plus page online initiative draws together resources from government agencies and non-profits across America to address the issues of climate change, sustainability and environmental health in one web site.
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.
A report released today from President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers says that cleantech and healthcare jobs will drive a jobs recovery. “Preparing the Workers of Today for the Jobs of Tomorrow,” offers an overview of how the U.S. labor market is expected to grow and develop over the next few years. The analysis suggests that the that the U.S. economy will likely emerge from the current economic downturn with strong growth over the next five to ten years in industries such as health care, education, transportation, and construction. There will also be strong growth in employment in industries devoted to the production and distribution of clean energy.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently selected 33 Colorado community leaders to participate in its 2009 Executive Energy Leadership program (Energy Execs). The leadership program is focused on educating business and government leaders about clean energy solutions that can boost the local economy. The six-month leadership program gives executives from Colorado-based businesses, government entities, universities, and economic development and non-profit organizations an in-depth look at solar and wind power, biofuels and transportation, and energy efficient building technologies. Briefings by technology experts, research laboratory tours and visits to field applications are part of the monthly classroom experience.
The report, entitled “Cleantech Comes of Age,” discusses the trends in clean technology from the impact of oil prices to the M&A market and includes data from the MoneyTree Report, a quarterly survey that tracks cash-for-equity investments by the professional venture capital community in private emerging companies in the United States.The increased venture capital investment into the Cleantech sector can be directly associated with the growing concerns about the environment, energy costs and security. Despite signs of a weakening economy, the high investment level and intensified adoption rate of technologies in this sector validates the expected growth predicted by industry experts.
Scientists are examining biomass – plant matter that’s grown and used to generate energy – as a potential power source. Two biomass technologies involve ethanol and electricity. Biomass converted into ethanol, a corn-based fuel, can power internal combustion vehicles. Biomass converted into electricity can fuel a vehicle powered by an electric battery. A study by University of California, Merced, Assistant Professor Elliott Campbell and two other researchers in the online edition of this week’s Science journal suggests that biomass used to generate electricity could be the more efficient solution.
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