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Council Supports Recycled Sewage Demonstration Plant

Default admin account — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:44:41 -0700

San Diego's City Council voted 6-2 to award a $6.6 million contract to build a recycled sewage demonstration plant today, marking a legislative shift in favor of a new water supply that's long been politicized and, at times, demonized.

Report: Purified Sewage a 'Strong, Viable' Source

Default admin account — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:37:17 -0700

As San Diego's City Council prepares Tuesday to consider spending $6.6 million on a purified sewage demonstration plant, new analysis from a nonpartisan local nonprofit concludes the new drinking water source would be "a strong, viable addition" to the region's water portfolio.

Report: Wastewater-To-Tap Safer Than Other Water Sources

Default admin account — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:24:30 -0700

SAN DIEGO -- When it comes to the prospect of turning wastewater into drinking water, a new report from the non-partisan research group Equinox Center shows it could be safer than most would think.

Politics and water conservation

Default admin account — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:32:40 -0700

In June 2009, an ordinance limiting lawn and garden watering with sprinklers to two days a week took effect in Los Angeles. Citywide water consumption dropped by more than 20%.

Yet, 13 months later, the ordinance that pushed Los Angeles to the fore of the Western water conservation movement is about to be gutted, having become collateral damage in a roiling brawl over rate hikes and green energy between the City Council and the mayor's office.

San Diego team behind world's largest wind farm

Default admin account — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:23:06 -0700

A development team based in San Diego is leading an effort to build the world's largest wind farm in Mojave.

The $1.6 billion Alta Wind Energy Center consists of more than 600 wind turbines on desert ridge lines between Lancaster and Bakersfield.

Report: Purified Sewage a 'Strong, Viable Source"

Default admin account — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:14:43 -0700

House Democrats introduce bill to defend PACE clean-energy program

Default admin account — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:30:50 -0700

Thirty House Democrats signed on to a new bill on Thursday that would save Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs, which have been under attack from mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. PACE is a finance tool that helps homeowners afford energy-efficiency retrofits and renewable-energy installations.

Water bond now on the bubble

Default admin account — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:13:09 -0700

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently concluded that a proposed $11 billion water bond he personally nursed for three years will probably flop in November and has called on lawmakers to take the measure off the ballot and put it before voters in 2012 instead.

Renewables Must Generate 50% of Global Electricity: IEA

Default admin account — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 12:30:50 -0700

Renewable energies must generate almost half of the world’s power by 2050, up from the current level of 18%, says the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Global investment in green power was led by wind and solar in 2008, and reached a record level of US$112 billion and remained broadly stable in 2009 despite the economic downturn, explains IEA’s ‘Energy Technology Perspectives 2010.’

UN warns biodiversity loss poses greater business risk than climate change

Default admin account — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:52:44 -0700

The threat to businesses arising from unchecked biodiversity loss is larger and more immediate than that presented by climate change.

That is the stark conclusion of a long-anticipated UN-backed report to be launched in London later today, which warns that the vast majority of firms are ignoring risks associated with biodiversity loss and environmental degradation, despite the fact that they pose a serious and growing threat to their operations. Read More

Urban insight starts with useable data

Default admin account — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:28:09 -0700

Wrap your mind around these figures:

In 1800, only 3 percent of the world’s population lived in cities. Today, the figure is roughly 50 percent. By 2050, it’ll be about 75 percent. Read More

Teaching 'stuff' about ecology

Default admin account — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 10:32:20 -0700

Annie Leonard used to spout jargon. She reveled in the sort of geek-speak that glazes your eyeballs.

Externalized costs, paradigm shifts, the precautionary principle, extended producer responsibility.

That was before she discovered cartoons. Read More

Sunrise Powerlink approved on Cleveland National Forest land

Default admin account — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 10:16:34 -0700

More than five years after first proposing a big power line linking San Diego to the Imperial Valley, San Diego Gas & Electric Co. today is getting the news it has been waiting for — the last big roadblock to construction of the $1.9 billion Sunrise Powerlink is gone. READ MORE

No cleanup in huge TJ sewage spill Mexican discharge raises jurisdictional, legal issues

Default admin account — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:23:21 -0700

A mechanical breakdown and construction work at some U.S. sewage facilities allowed more than 2.1 million gallons of wastewater from Mexico to flood the Tijuana River Valley in San Diego County in early June. Read More

BP Prepares To Test New Cap At Gulf Spill Site

Default admin account — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:09:32 -0700

BP plans to begin tests Tuesday of a new undersea cap it hopes will curtail the oil gushing from the Gulf of Mexico and will know within two days if its latest attempt can succeed where numerous others have not. Read More

Plastic's Future May Not Be In The Bag

Default admin account — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:02:26 -0700

Plastic bags may have become victims of their own success. Their very ubiquity — an estimated 90 billion plastic bags are used in the United States each year — has led to a small but growing number of jurisdictions discouraging their use through fees or outright bans. Read More

Department of Energy awards $92 million clean tech grants

Default admin account — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:45:15 -0700

The federal Department of Energy on Monday awarded $92 million for 43 clean-energy research projects across the country, including 11 projects in California that will receive a total of $22 million. Read More

Science in Service to the Nation

Default admin account — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:14:07 -0700

In 1863, as the Civil War raged, Congress established the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), an honorary society of scholars that any government department could call upon to "investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science or art." In 1916, during another war, the NAS created the National Research Council to draw on the expertise of a wider scientific community. The NRC enlists committees of the nation's top scientists, engineers, and other experts, all of whom volunteer their time to study designated issues and provide scientific and technological advice for policymaking.

Killer whales make appearance off Dana Point

Default admin account — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 22:29:26 -0700

A report of a group of orcas, or killer whales, just four miles offshore from Dana Point prompted Dave and Gisele Anderson of Capt. Dave's Dolphin Safari to jump in their tour boat Wednesday afternoon and snap this picture of one of the five orcas they spotted breaching. The husband-and-wife tour operators say that it is rare for the creatures to come close to shore in this region and that it was the first time they've spotted one in more than three years. Read More

BP boss in MidEast talks as weather hampers cleanup

Default admin account — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:47:32 -0700

(Reuters) - BP boss Tony Hayward met officials from an Abu Dhabi state investment fund on Wednesday, the latest stop on an international quest for money to ward off takeovers and help pay the huge costs of the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Read More

Louisiana and Scientists Spar Over How to Stop Oil

Default admin account — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:31:05 -0700

With oil hitting Barataria Bay, a vast estuary in southeast Louisiana that boasts one of the most productive fisheries in the country, local parish officials hatched a plan in May to save the fragile ecosystem: they would build rock dikes across several major tidal inlets between the bay and the Gulf of Mexico to block and then capture the oil. Read More

British Panel Clears Climate Scientists

Default admin account — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:28:40 -0700

A British panel issued a sweeping exoneration on Wednesday of scientists caught up in the controversy known as Climategate, saying it found no evidence that they had manipulated their research to support preconceived ideas about global warming. Read More

Loan Giants Threaten Energy-Efficiency Programs

Default admin account — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 17:36:36 -0700

The Obama administration is devoting $150 million in stimulus money for programs that help homeowners install solar panels and other energy improvements, which they pay for over time on their property tax bills.

At the same time, the two government-chartered agencies that buy and resell most home mortgages are threatening to derail the effort by warning that they might not accept loans for homes that take advantage of the special financing.

Local agencies criticize water authority

Default admin account — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 17:30:47 -0700

Five local water agencies have launched a public salvo at the San Diego County Water Authority — an unusual move in the normally collegial ranks. They accuse the wholesaler of not doing enough to cut expenses while retail water sellers and ratepayers are struggling to make ends meet.

San Diego Region Awarded $4 Million Workforce Development Grant to Support Expanding Biofuels Industry

Default admin account — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 11:34:06 -0700

The California Department of Labor today (June 29, 2010) awarded the San Diego region a $4 million grant to implement new workforce training programs for careers in the emerging biofuels industry. The San Diego Biofuels Initiative, a collaborative effort including CleanTECH San Diego, BIOCOM, San Diego Regional EDC, San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology (SD-CAB) and the San Diego Workforce Partnership, captured the grant through the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency’s “Green Innovation Challenge.”

Hazard Center Mall Getting Major Revamp

Default admin account — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 12:00:14 -0700

In a few years the Hazard Center Shopping Center is going to look a lot different, a lot less like a strip mall and more like a village. Last month the San Diego City Council gave the go-ahead for the shopping center’s revitalization project, which will be handled by downtown development firm Oliver McMillan. Dene Oliver, a partner in the firm, recently published an editorial that said the project will be a “stellar example of urban renaissance—taking an already great property and increasing its economic viability in an environmentally-sustainable way.” Read More

Demystifying Common Myths of Wind Power

Default admin account — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:49:09 -0700

With all the hoopla going around for and against wind farms going up all over the US, including here on the Great Lakes and off of Nantucket Sound, I feel it is important to weigh in with a little fact checking on "not-in-my-backyard" (NIMBY) claims. After reading all the comments that are inevitably posted to every article involving the wind industry, I feel it is important to quash all the falsehoods associated with wind power. Read More

Singapore Water Reuse Market springs up for Explosive Growth

Default admin account — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:54:17 -0700

A revolution is taking place in the water reuse sector, which dramatically repositions technology as a solution to the global water scarcity crisis, according to a new report published today by Global Water Intelligence*, produced in collaboration with PUB, Singapore’s national water agency. Read More

E.P.A. Lags on Setting Some Air Standards, Report Find

Default admin account — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:15:55 -0700

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency is 10 years behind schedule in setting guidelines for a host of toxic air pollutants, according to a report from the agency’s inspector general.

The report, which was released last week, found that the agency had failed to develop emissions standards, due in 2000, for some sources of hazardous air pollutants. These included smaller sites often located in urban areas, like dry cleaners and gas stations, but also some chemical manufacturers. Read More

Minimizing Car Travel by Changing How We Think About Development

Default admin account — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:09:12 -0700

While it’s intuitive that sprawl leads to more miles traveled by car, solutions to the problem are somewhat less instinctive. Should we continue the push toward mixed-use development, encourage dense developments or build up near existing city centers? Read More

Is Water the New Oil?

Default admin account — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 13:23:14 -0700

Water is a $425 billion-a-year business. It's the third-largest industry behind electricity and oil. Some call it the hottest new commodity, blue gold. But is there enough?

[15:00:10]

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, from Yemen to India to the United States, scarcity, contamination and conflict, the fight over the world's most precious resource. Is water the new oil?

http://www.wiserearth.org/article/c6eae066c4c8626a00c0958cea0e8ba5

‘Rebound’- Linking Bad Backs, the Gulf Spill, and the Economy Through Sustainably5

Default admin account — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 12:38:10 -0700

The center that I went to get this great news had a great name too-Rebound- and it got me to thinking. In mulling over the state of our economy and the ongoing oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, I suggest that those situations are representative of “structural issues” that require therapy of sorts. The economy appears to slowly be on the “rebound”, while the prognosis for the other (the Gulf spill) will still require more study to determine the full extent of the damage. Common among these two situations and my back is a call for change, to think more sustainably. In other words, considering the economy and the environment as linked systems requires a deeper, holistic, de-siloed way of thinking. Read More

CA Technologies Unveils Next Generation of Energy and Sustainability Solution to Manage Environmental Resources, Energy Efficiency and Carbon Impact

Default admin account — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 10:10:03 -0700

ISLANDIA, N.Y., June 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CA Technologies (Nasdaq: CA) today announced the general availability of CA ecoSoftware 2.0, the latest version of its energy, carbon and sustainability management solution designed to help organizations reduce carbon emissions, manage natural resource consumption, and cut energy costs.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ca-technologies-unveils-next-generation-of-energy-and-sustainability-solution-to-manage-environmental-resources-energy-efficiency-and-carbon-impact-96791034.html

Oh, the Humanity: Why our reaction to the oil spill absolutely terrifies me.

Default admin account — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:58:43 -0700

Take your pick on what's most infuriating about the oil crisis in the Gulf. There's the growing evidence that the platform blowout that caused all that crude to erupt out of the ocean floor was entirely preventable and should never have happened in the first place. BP cut corners on safety to save money, and regulators barely seemed to care. And now no one has any real clue how to contain the spill—we just have to watch helplessly as the ever-expanding oil slick poisons fisheries and kills off marshlands and coral reefs.

http://www.tnr.com/article/environment-energy/75591/oh-the-humanity?page=0,0

SAVING THE WORLD FOR A ROLL OF TP : The climate bill would cost you up to $146 extra a year; what does that mean?

Default admin account — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:00:18 -0700

Yesterday, EPA released its long-awaited analysis of the American Power Act, Kerry and Lieberman's Senate climate bill. What most journalists and pundits have seized on is this finding: between 2010 to 2050, the legislation would cost the average American household between $79 to $146 extra a year.

By David Roberts

http://www.grist.org/article/2010-06-16-climate-bill-cost-you-up-to-146-extra-a-year-what-does-that-mean/

Far From Gulf, a Spill Scourge 5 Decades Old: An Oil Spill Unnoticed

Default admin account — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 09:46:05 -0700

BODO, Nigeria — Big oil spills are no longer news in this vast, tropical land. The Niger Delta, where the wealth underground is out of all proportion with the poverty on the surface, has endured the equivalent of the Exxon Valdez spill every year for 50 years by some estimates. The oil pours out nearly every week, and some swamps are long since lifeless.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/world/africa/17nigeria.html?ref=science

Rezoning By Ballot and What Voters Don’t Know about San Diego Landfills

Default admin account — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 14:57:08 -0700

Almost no information is available to voters about Proposition A. The East Otay Mesa Recycling Collection Center and Landfill Ordinance, a countywide proposition on the June 8 ballot, requires a simple majority to pass. Aside from approving a new landfill, the proposal will rezone 450 acres and amend the San Diego County General Plan. Because the proposition has been buried in silence, many voters will be divining rather than reasoning when it comes time to vote on this measure.

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2010/jun/02/city-light-2/

UCSD engineers, Sanyo to work on solar power

Default admin account — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 14:26:11 -0700

A new generation of solar technology could emerge in San Diego after two major local players announced a three-year, $3 million research partnership Thursday to more efficiently harness and use the sun’s power.

“We expect San Diego to be the most advanced green city in the world,” said Hiroshi Hanafusa, a top official for Sanyo Electric in Japan.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jun/04/ucsd-engineers-sanyo-to-work-on-solar-power/

San Diego Vaults into Solar Energy and Green Jobs Future

Default admin account — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 14:07:39 -0700

Two of the world’s solar energy leaders have just announced major plans to bring new solar energy technology and green jobs to San Diego. The Sanyo Electric group has embarked on a three year, $3 million partnership with the University of California, San Diego on next-generation solar energy systems and management, and in a separate development, solar cell efficiency wizard Kyocera has started up a solar module manufacturing plant in the city, aiming to produce about 30 megawatts annually.

http://cleantechnica.com/2010/06/05/san-diego-vaults-into-solar-energy-and-green-jobs-future/#more-10845

State Plastic Bag Ban Gaining Support

Default admin account — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:43:53 -0700

California would be the first state to ban plastic and most paper bags from grocery, convenience and other stores under a proposal that appears headed for a major legislative victory this week.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/02/MN6N1DO77G.DTL&type=printable

Del Mar firm signs deal for Mexican wind farm

Default admin account — Fri, 21 May 2010 18:19:08 -0700

A Del Mar company said Wednesday it plans to spend up to $1 billion to build as many as 500 wind turbines on the mountains between Tijuana and Mexicali to provide power to the United States and Mexico.

Cannon Power Group said it signed a 10-year deal with Spanish wind giant Gamesa for the wind turbines, technical support and additional work on the 1,000-megawatt Aubanel Wind Project.

If built as planned beginning next year, the project will dwarf wind farms proposed for the mountains of San Diego County and will put towers as high as 25-story buildings with blades bigger than the wings of a Boeing 747 on desert ridges in a region of striking wind-carved rock formations spread over 140 square miles.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/may/20/del-mar-firm-signs-deal-for-mexican-wind-farm/

Reclaiming the Streets

Default admin account — Thu, 20 May 2010 18:19:04 -0700

Cars promise mobility, and in a largely rural setting they provide it. But in an urbanizing world, where more than half of us live in cities, there is an inherent conflict between the automobile and the city. After a point, as their numbers multiply, automobiles provide not mobility but immobility, as well as increased air pollution and the health problems that come with it. Urban transport systems based on a combination of rail lines, bus lines, bicycle pathways, and pedestrian walkways offer the best of all possible worlds in providing mobility, low-cost transportation, and a healthy urban environment.

San Diego Explained: Recycled Sewage as a Water Source

Default admin account — Thu, 20 May 2010 18:16:51 -0700

Examining and explaining San Diego's study of sewage as a source to boost drinking water supplies.

Water, solar power work together

Default admin account — Mon, 17 May 2010 08:33:38 -0700

Some of the biggest producers of solar power in San Diego County aren’t power companies, they’re water agencies.

That’s because they have a combination of lots of space — the tops of their huge water tanks -— and high energy usage.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/may/16/water-solar-power-work-together/

Conversation Starts in San Diego about Permanant Water Restrictions

Default admin account — Thu, 13 May 2010 18:04:01 -0700

SAN DIEGO — Conversations started Wednesday about permanently implementing water use restrictions in the city of San Diego.

Council member Donna Frye is pushing to make the water restrictions permanent. The city’s been operating under temporary conservation methods for about a year. The restrictions dictate when lawns can be watered, how cars can be washed, and which fountains can operate. Frye said these should be in place from now on.

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/may/13/converstation-starts-sd-about-permanent-water-rest/

In the Age of Electric Cars, Who Pays for Highways?

Default admin account — Wed, 12 May 2010 11:12:35 -0700

Here's a conundrum as the electric-car future arrives: Once we all start hitting the highway in our Nissan Leafs, Chevy Volts and Think City's, who's going to pay for our roads?

State and federal excise taxes on every gallon of gasoline sold in the United States currently finance a big chunk of road construction and pothole fixing, as Allan Schurr, an IBM executive, pointed out to me Tuesday when we sat down for some green car chat in San Francisco.

http://www.grist.org/article/2010-05-07-electric-cars-require-creative-taxation

Power Plants Face Closures

Default admin account — Tue, 11 May 2010 11:11:14 -0700

Three power plants on the San Diego County coastline face major changes — from shuttering operations to building new cooling towers — in the wake of a landmark ruling by California’s water-quality officials to protect sea life.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/may/11/power-plants-face-closures/

St. Louis votes for better transit, despite Tea Party campaign

Default admin account — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 11:17:09 -0700

Here’s some good news: St. Louis citizens want robust mass transit, and they’re willing to pay for it. Despite a Tea Party opposition campaign, St. Louis County voters on Tuesday approved a half-cent sales tax increase to stabilize and eventually expand the region’s ailing transit network.

http://www.grist.org/article/2010-04-07-st.-louis-votes-for-better-transit-despite-tea-party-campaign

2 New Trains on Track to Cut Pollution

Default admin account — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 12:32:54 -0700

Everyone has heard of green cars and maybe even green boats, but green trains?

Two low-emission locomotives have started chugging away in the county thanks to a $1.7 million grant from the California Air Resources Board and an investment in new technology by San Diego & Imperial Valley Railroad.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/apr/01/2-new-trains-on-track-to-cut-pollution/

Group Aims to Derail Governor's Green Train

Default admin account — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:17:36 -0700

With the state’s unemployment rate hovering at 12.5 percent, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spent the last month touring the state, promoting green technologies as the way of putting Californians back to work as well as paving the way to economic growth.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/mar/28/group-aims-to-derail-governors-green-train/