The Call for Energy Efficiency in the U.S. Has Finally Hit Main Stream
from Building Design & Construction
On Feb. 5, President Barack Obama spoke in a press conference held at the U.S. Department of Energy and declared that now is the time for America to become more energy efficient. Well, there isn’t a better place to start then with building energy efficiency as the lowest hanging fruit. According to the U.S. Green Building Council Web site, commercial and industrial buildings utilize 72 percent of all the electricity produced in the United States while producing 39 percent of all the CO 2 emissions into our atmosphere. More

Sweden Plans to Reverse its Ban on Nuclear Build
from Modern Power Systems
Sweden looks set to reverse a decades-old ban on the construction of new nuclear power plants as part of a new energy and climate policy. The country’s alliance government has presented a policy document that proposes allowing the construction of new nuclear reactors in order to improve energy security and combat climate change. It has also proposed a range of other policies to improve energy efficiency and increase the level of renewable energy use. More

Cutting Costs with Solar Walls
from The New York Times
Amidst the general gloom in the renewable energy sector, one energy company based in Toronto is discovering a renewed appetite for a low-cost, low-tech solar air heating system based on one of the immutable laws of physics: hot air rises. Conserval Engineering is responsible for SolarWall panels, made from corrugated and perforated galvanized steel. The cladding is affixed to south-facing walls of industrial and commercial buildings, creating a cavity in which sun-warmed air is vented up and into heating ducts. More

America's Future Wind Web?
from The Christian Science Monitor
Out across this wind-swept, wheat-growing state, Jeffrey Nelson sees a new crop rising—electricity from the world’s largest wind-turbine farms sending electrons thousands of miles east to Chicago or Boston. But it’s a vision the South Dakota Wind Energy Association president says will never happen without something far larger, more controversial, and even more expensive: gigantic new high-voltage transmission lines. More

How Employers Can Promote Health and Reduce Costs
from North American Press Syndicate
Healthy workers can increase productivity and profitability and reduce health care costs for their employers, and employers can affect their workers' health. More and more employers around the U.S. are trying to test their effect by starting healthy living programs that include nutrition classes, walking clubs and cholesterol monitoring at the work site. These employers draw on the Prevention Research Centers (PRC) Program, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's research arm in the battle against chronic disease. PRCs around the country develop and test interventions to prevent diseases, and all settings are fair game-churches, schools, community centers and the workplace. More

Spiraling Skyscraper Farms for a Future Manhattan
from Inhabitat
As the world’s population continues to skyrocket and cities strain under the increased demand for resources, skyscraper farms offer an inspired approach towards creating sustainable vertical density. More

Want LEED® Credits for Your Lights? Plan Early
from Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce
The vast majority of the building industry agrees that sustainable design is the right thing to do, and the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification process has become a main tool to certify buildings that meet stringent sustainability requirements. Whether it’s due to environmental stewardship, government mandates, market drivers or peer pressure, owners are choosing more than ever to “go LEED.” But when the decision to go LEED comes late in the design process, it can bring on major design challenges for lighting designers and other consultants. More

Solving Workplace Communication Problems
from The Queens Courier
Meetings that drag on…team frustration and stress from lack of direction…important issues being pushed to the side…do these situations sound familiar? When time is wasted, directions are unclear and re-work is costly, it usually means one thing: a lack of clear communication. Unfortunately, companies of all sizes experience this issue, from Fortune 100 corporations to mom-and-pop businesses. To strengthen your workplace relationships, increase productivity, add money to the bottom line and garner loyalty from team members, you need to learn how to effectively listen and communicate. The best thing is, it will not cost you money! You simply need time and focus. More

First Carbon-free Polar Station Opens in Antarctica
from Boston Globe
The world's first zero-emission polar research station recently opened in Antarctica and was welcomed by scientists as proof that alternative energy is viable even in the coldest regions. More

The State of Green Business 2009: Water Becomes the New Carbon
from Greener Buildings
It has become eco-chic in recent years to declare that "water will be the oil of the 21st century"—an essential and limited resource, unevenly distributed around the world, the growing shortage of which will lead to economic power for water-rich nations and poverty for the rest, possibly even resource wars between the haves and have-nots. Given that, how do water-dependent companies manage in a world where water quality and quantity become a constraint to doing business? More