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"...the world's governments alone cannot make progress, the kind of progress that is needed on global climate change. They alone cannot do it. They need everyone coming together, everyone working together. They need the cities, they need the states, they need the provinces and the regions. They need the corporations, the activists, the scientists and the universities. They need the individuals whose vision and determination create movements. They need everybody out there.
So ladies and gentlemen, let us regain our momentum, let us regain our purpose, let us regain our hope by liberating the transformative power beneath the national level.
That can be the great contribution of Copenhagen -- that could be the great contribution of Copenhagen.
"Mark Twain once said, 'Whiskey is for drinking, but water is worth fighting for," said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at the signing of the historic water reform legislation November 6, 2009.
Introducing and speaking alongside the Governor was L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
Video courtesy of HeadingtonMedia.
Posted via web from The Green Blog Network
The $2 billion, 390 MW power plant will be one of the first hydrogen-fueled electricity plants in the world with carbon capture and sequestration.
The company is part of the Hydrogen Energy group of companies owned by BP Alternative Energy and Rio Tinto. It will partner with Occidental Petroleum; the largest natural gas producer and the third-largest oil producer in California, which will use its sequestered carbon dioxide in a nearby oilfield.
The project draws on a number of technological breakthroughs to pioneer post-carbon fossil energy. While carbon dioxide has long been used to enhance oil recovery, it has not come from a power plant before now.
A coal gasification process will produce the fuel to power the plant, not with coal but with hydrogen gas. About 190 million standard cubic feet of hydrogen daily will run the gas turbines, which is another technological first: getting hydrogen to power a gas turbine.
The technology will capture 90% of the carbon dioxide before combustion and inject it into a local oilfield for sequestration and enhanced oil recovery. The gasification block will capture two million tons a year of carbon dioxide produced; and send it four miles in a pipeline to Occidental Petroleum’s Elk Hills oilfield; to aid in oil recovery.
The remaining 10% of the carbon dioxide emitted, at 250 pounds per megawatt-hour, according to the application, is well below the 800 pounds per megawatt-hour of electricity emitted by even a state-of-the-art natural gas plant, which is about half that of traditional coal-fired plant. (California’s emissions performance standard forbids emissions over 1,100 pounds per megawatt-hour, ruling out most coal plants.)
The application is among those currently under review, along with about 10 GW of solar thermal applications for California. The status of all applications is in this (pdf) map. Despite the fact that the US itself has not passed carbon-limiting legislation, the US will still get some post-carbon fossil energy from a major oil company.
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A Green Cooking Demonstration in honor of Thanksgiving, in preparation for Copenhagen.
VIDEO </object>
Hey, Obama, are you listening? 'Cuz the last we heard, people gotta EARN a Nobel Peace Prize!
Link to video: Do The Green Thing
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Recyle, Reuse, Rejoice!
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By: Alison Novak
Green Building Meets Match in Green Furnishings: The Hudson Companies Inc. collaboration with the Pratt Institute yields a bountifully green pairing.
Sustainable top to bottom, inside and out, is what can be said about Third + Bond, the 44-unit condo project in Brooklyn, NY. Third + Bond is expected to be LEED-Gold and Energy Star-labeled (as a building) when it is completed next spring. But the effort toward sustainability doesn’t end there. Third + Bond partnered with four academic departments and over 90 designers from Pratt Institute to outfit two model residences with sustainable furnishings.
This collaboration has been covered by Metropolis, Interior Design, the soon-to-close Metropolitan Home, and Yanko design, among others. With furnishings from revered designers Eva Zeisel, Harry Allen, and Bruce Hannah, just to name a few, and prototypes from the newest designers on the scene, like Tawny Hixson and Thomas Stern, the collaboration is undoubtedly buzzworthy.
Pratt Institute, the prestigious art, design and architectural college, completely outfitted the model residences from wall coverings to home accessories, furniture, textiles, art, lighting, and clothing. All items were designed by Pratt alumni, faculty and/or students. Some of the items have been classics for years, such as the T Sling Lounge Chair by Bill Katavalos. Others were created specifically for the project, such as the wallpaper designed by Pratt interior design students who were inspired by legendary, local oysters. Not only do the colors and graphics embody an organic, natural sense, but the wallpaper itself was manufactured PVC-free by Carnegie.
Traditional Brooklyn Townhouse – Modern Eco-Adaptation
Third + Bond was designed by Rogers Marvel Architects as a modern adaptation of the traditional Brooklyn townhouse. The furnished models are a 2 bedroom, 2 full bathroom condominium with a little over 1,000 square feet, and a 3 bedroom, 3 full bathroom condominium with private yard that’s just shy of 2,000 square feet. Green elements include energy recovery ventilators, low-VOC paint, dual flush toilets, pre-fabricated construction and R-39 insulation.
The Hudson Companies Inc. Paradigm: Quality Greens
As the first green building project for The Hudson Companies Inc, Third + Bond has also been an experiment in expanding the 22 year old company’s paradigm about quality. Known for both luxury and affordable housing, Hudson has built nearly 4,000 dwelling units in New York City and is known for its quality work. The idea of doing a green building before green was mainstream and when the cost premium was thought to be considerable, was a leap of faith. Now all of Hudson’s projects planned or in construction are green.
For more on Third + Bond, the collaboration with Pratt, and what it’s like for an established company to go green, check back with us on the Green Blog Network.
Photos by Diana Pau, Pratt Institute
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thing. The hard truth is that people who are very talented might be shuttered this year. It’s a real shame to see Christian Lacroix going into bankruptcy proceedings in Paris, and almost on the same day see Veronique Branquinho shutting her business. These are two immensely talented people with enormous conviction who shouldn’t have done anything any differently, but the system hasn’t worked for them at this moment. So in that sense, I don’t think the shake out is a great thing because it means that only the best will survive. I think a lot of really great people are having a really hard year and people who I don’t necessarily think have a lesson to learn from it. The same as people who are suffering from personal setbacks, they weren’t necessarily over-spending or living a false life, they were just trying to get by and a whole lot of things conspired against them.
exactly at one with the issues of sustainability. Do we need all those things for clothes we buy on Friday, to wear out at a club on Saturday and toss out by the next Friday? And where are they going? Those clothes may start to be made with organic fibers, made in different factories and made in line with ecological goals and a more conscious set of parameters. We’ve just seen this with Target and their collaboration with Loomstate. Rogan Gregory really pushed to have Target source differently.
re seeing biodegradable shoes, not just Nike, where if you drop off your shoes, they’ll remake it into something else. So we’re seeing that. And designers, such as Stefano Pilati at YSL doing collections out of old fabrics he found around. He just launched that collection at Barneys New York. I think it’s a fantastic model for how luxury goods should be working right now. But I also think designers are receiving an enormous pressure from retailers and consumers to make things at a less expensive price point, to broaden their price points, to offer entry level price points. And often what that means is to go overseas and China’s environmental standards are not necessarily the best. It’s not necessarily the quality; the real issue is that a designer is trying to work to a sensitive way to their customer and to the world. And it’s an awful lot of balls in the air.it’s a trend; it’s just going to take some time to sort itself out. Luckily there are a lot of people right now who know a lot about sourcing and the issues who are working in the industry right now, such as Rogan. As long as people continue to talk about it, it will be okay.
By: Charlene Brown
On behalf of the "Give Light" Initiative, I wish you an eco-holiday and to ask you to join in using solar powered lights this holiday to help reduce demand on the power grid and reduce your carbon footprint; And, of course, reduce your electric bill year after year.
Another objective of the Give Light Initiative is to help those who are without electricity to light their windows this season. Full program details and solar light samples are online at www.lookinggreen.org.
And for every ten solar light sets sold, we will give a gift of light to a needy family in the neighborhood.
Give Light Initiative Goals:
d. One million solar powered LED lights distributed (10,000 strings of 100 LED bulbs each)
e. One million watts saved during the holidays, and up to 10,000 hours of light for years to come
f. Two Hundred Thousand dollars to benefit local non-profits and needy residents
g. Three Thousand solar light strings gifted to needy families in the neighborhood
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Posted via email from greenblognetwork's posterous
By Linda Buzzell
Psychotherapist, co-editor "Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind"
Read more at: Huffington Post
Permaculture's popping up all over. It's really catching on with young green activists like Juno star Ellen Page, who recently took a break from Hollywood to talk on the Ellen DeGeneres show about her experiences studying permaculture design in an eco-village near Eugene, Oregon.
Teen Hollywood
Page told Teen Hollywood "It's about living in a holistic way with the earth and reintegrating our lifestyles with the natural cycles ... It was amazing. Anyone at all who has a passion for it can learn about it and use it in their lives in so many different ways ... like peeing in a bucket and using it on your compost. Pee is an excellent source of nitrogen."
But what the heck IS permaculture, besides peeing into a bucket?
Permaculture is an ecological design system based on deep observation of nature, and can be applied to gardens, farms, landscapes, homes and also to "invisible systems" like communities, economies, societies, our psyches and even our spiritual practices. It's a path towards sustainable living that is patterned on the way nature works, and can be applied in rural, suburban and urban areas.
Permaculture was invented in Australia in the 1970s by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren and is just now really catching on around the planet. The word "permaculture" is an abbreviation for "permanent agriculture" or "permanent culture."
NaturalNews.com reports that "Permaculture is a way of living; it involves sustainability, ethics, community living, harmony with nature, appropriate technology, organic living, organic farming, etc. It is a way to integrate nature and people in the most sustainable way."
"In permaculture, ethics and design principles are used to help us make good decisions for the people and the environment." NaturalNews also tell us that Permaculture follows three ethics:
Care for the land: Actions to protect the environment and improve it. Earth should be seen as a whole.Care for the people: It involves the physical and psychological aspects, for example providing food and shelter, natural medications, reduce daily hard work, and provide equal opportunities for all people.
Care for the future: It is very important if we want to conserve our resources. Some of the aspects that it involves are recycling, planning, cooperation not competition, supporting local economy, and the use of renewable energy and resources.
My husband and I took the Permaculture Design Course a few years ago and found it incredibly useful and eye-opening. (No peeing in a bucket during our class, though!) What we learned was that the permaculture principles can be applied to every aspect of your daily life as you move towards a happier, more nature-connected and sustainable way of living.
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Here are a few resources for those who would like to learn more about permaculture:
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First and last, the purpose of Blog Action Day is to create a discussion. We ask bloggers to take a single day out of their schedule and focus it on an important issue.
A: For Aqua. In the great white north, we have an abundance of the most important resource of all things life on the planet. The majority of Canada’s power production (just under 60%) comes from hydroelectricity. In Ontario, Nuclear and Hydro combined represent 75% of power production – all of which is non carbon emitting. (*Source: laforet.ca)
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"The code provides guidance to inform the user about minimum health and safety requirements and then allows a system to be designed...at a scale that is appropriate...This can range from the simplest of low technology (a drain to a mulch basin) to the most complex...system.
Typically, small systems are very simple and adding the cost of building permits and professional design/engineering quickly becomes too expensive and burdensome to be practical. This problem has been addressed in the new graywater regulations by not requiring a construction permit for the installation of a clothes washer or single fixture system.
Homeowners would still have to check with their local authority to be sure graywater systems are allowed in their jurisdiction, therefore these regulations do not supersede any local code. Additionally, the systems would still have to be built to the requirements specified in the state Building Code. More complex systems will still require a construction permit and any system will still be regulated."
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