Three reasons to build green

Found a great article on a LEED home - Our family recently built a new home on the edge of Downtown. I had known from the beginning that I wanted to pursue LEED Certification. LEED is an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council to define and measure “green” buildings. LEED for Homes is a national, voluntary certification system that promotes the design and construction of high-performance green homes and encourages the adoption of sustainable practices by the homebuilding industry. Personally, I had been researching healthy building materials, appliances and fixtures, and was well-versed in energy efficiency and renewable energy from my work with a solar energy...

Read more »

Veolia earns LEED certification

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has awarded LEED certification to Veolia Environmental Services Solid Waste for a new building at its Veolia Evergreen Landfill, Inc. in Valdosta, Ga. The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating SystemTM is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. This is the first LEED-certified building constructed in Valdosta, Ga. “As part of our commitment to developing sustainable, environmentally friendly solutions for the city of Valdosta and Lowndes County, we intentionally pursued LEED certification standards in the development of our new building,” said AJ Rodgers, area manager for Veolia ES Solid...

Read more »

Taking the LEED

In the latest effort to encourage construction of high-density, environmentally sustainable, affordable rental housing, the Asheville City Council approved a new “transformation development” incentives policy March 8 on a 6-1 vote.The policy implements a points system: 10 points exempts the developer from a year’s worth of property taxes and grants a 10 percent reduction in permit and fee charges. One way to score points is via Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification: LEED Bronze would be good for 10 points, each higher level would score an additional 10 points, with a maximum of 40 for Platinum. (The U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED program rates buildings based on specific performance criteria.)Developers can also score...

Read more »

Procter & Gamble commits to LEED certification for new plants

P&G says that it will strive to certify all new production facilities according to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certifcation standards.P&G executives performed a ground breaking ceremony to start the construction process in Taicang last week, and the company says that all other future production facilities worldwide will also be constructed according to the standard.“Pursuing LEED certification for all new sites including offices, innovation center and our manufacturing and distribution centers is the next evolution in our facility eco-design process that will ensure excellence in sustainable design,”said Keith Harrison, P&G global product suppler officer.LEED was established by the...

Read more »

IBM Buys Tririga for Smarter Building Software

IBM will use Tririga for its smarter buildings initiatives, and IBM said in a release that it estimates its Smarter Planets project — which includes its Smarter Buildings products — will generate $10 billion in revenue by 2015. Buildings consume 40 percent of the energy in the U.S., and estimates indicate up to half is wasted in one form or another. The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy predicts efficiency upgrades in commercial and industrial buildings could represent a $250 billion market over the next decade.Smarter building software is a crowded market filled with large players including, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Siemens, Schneider Electric and even Cisco, as well as innovative startups including Scientific Conservation,...

Read more »

Oil Hovers Above $102

Oil prices hovered above $102 a barrel Tuesday as traders mulled how long Libyan oil exports will remain shut down after a third night of allied attacks on forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi.By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for April delivery was down 16 cents to $102.17 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The April contract, which expires Tuesday, rose $1.26 to settle at $102.33 on Monday. Fierce fighting during the last month has halted most of Libya's 1.6 million barrels a day of crude production, and investors are concerned coalition military intervention on the side of rebels could prolong the shutdown of oil output from the OPEC nation.In London, Brent crude for May delivery was down 25 cents...

Read more »

A conversation with the CEO

I just got off the phone with  a customer who had been solicited by numerous ESCO’s over the past few months  and she wanted more information on just what exactly the Retail Choice, Power your way, Power Move, ESCO program and the many other names our industry goes by. To be honest I have this same conversation with someone at least every few days and I always give the same response. Think of it like this, you go into Nordstrom’s to buy a jacket, you find the one you want and the price tag is $500. You come to terms with paying that much for a jacket and bring it up to the cashier. The cashier then asks you “Would you like to pay the retail price $500 or the sale price $450”? Now being the jaded New Yorker that you are you ask “What...

Read more »

ESCO's NYC

This afternoon we will be publishing a blog on the importance of having ESCO's here in NYC and why you should choose o...

Read more »

Seeking Wind Power Innovation: Europe's Largest Wind Turbine Test Facility Now Open

Early last month, an innovative new wind turbine prototype testing and certification site, the largest of its kind anywhere in Europe, opened its doors for business.Located on the leafy campus of Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands, Test Site Lelystad is scheduled to start testing the next generation of wind turbines later this month.Day-to-day management of the purpose-built 3,000-acre site is contracted out to Dutch company Ecofys, which has created a new company called Ecofys Wind Turbine Testing Services (WTTS) especially for the purpose.  Lelystad has already entered into agreements with several wind energy companies eager to make use of its services.  So eager, in fact,...

Read more »

The Brew Barons: Masters of Advanced Fermentation, Driving the Redefinition of Biofuels

They are the new Brew Barons. In an earlier age, they might have been content to make White Lightning, or craft brews. Today their targets are jet fuel, renewable gasoline, renewable diesel, ethanol, a boatload of renewable chemicals, plus feed grains, food oils, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, and more.One thing is for sure. Based on the advances they are making, anyone who begins a sentence with “biofuels are…” isn’t up on the science. They are too turbulent to be characterized – too fast-moving to be catalogued or pigeon-holed. The nature, potential, and value of biofuels are changing nearly as rapidly as feedstocks in a fermenter.Who are they? Let’s look at some of the best and the brightest. LanzaTechThe LanzaTech process increases industrial...

Read more »

Big Challenges Remain for U.S. Offshore Wind

The U.S. could see as many as 10 GW of offshore wind capacity installed by 2020. But it won't be easy, say industry experts."There are some 5 GW in planning right now, but who knows how much of this can be realized," says Dirk Matthys, the North American chief executive of Spanish turbine maker Gamesa. He says that growth will hinge on how fast the government can streamline a new program to approve projects.Other hurdles such as local opposition and the need for a new transmission network could also hinder progress, says Matthys. Nevertheless, he believes it is possible to develop 5-10 GW in the U.S. within the next decade.Washington's incentive programs must also be increased for longer-term planning, observers add."There is a big lack...

Read more »

Nova Scotia Joins Surge on Tidal Power

To date much of the focus on tidal power has been on the Eastern side of the Atlantic with demonstration projects in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Over on the Western side however, the Canadian Province of Nova Scotia looks set to give the old country a firm run for its money.The latest step forward came in February 2011 with the announcement that Atlantis Energy had won the fourth and final test bed in Nova Scotia's demonstration facility – part of the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE).Officially founded in 2009, FORCE aims to take advantage of the enormous tidal potential available in the region.Sandra Farwell of the Nova Scotia Department of Energy said that the project is “well underway.”“The Province has provided...

Read more »