NYU Earth Matters is throwing a party for Earth Day’s 40th birthday, and you’re invited! Check out a fabulous exhibit of eco-art from the NYU community and beyond, eat delicious food from the Dosa Man and check out some exciting live entertainment from MC Andrew WK, Cold Cave, Oberhofer and North Highlands, plus a Special Secret Guest so exciting we won’t be able to reveal their name until Saturday morning!

This event is free and open to the public, rain or shine! We hope to see you there!

Beyond traffic, another major cause identified is fuel combustion for space and water heating.  This is because “New York City is unique in the large amount of #4 and #6 heavy or ‘residual’ oil used for heating. Burning residual oil for heating generates more PM2.5 and SO2 per unit of heat than burning regular #2 home heating oil. Natural gas emits even less PM2.5 per unit of heat produced.”

The report looked only at conditions during winter, and so misses out on some summer-specific causes like increased use of dirtier power plants to meet peak demand.  It also doesn’t get into issues like indoor air quality (which can be much worse, especially in buildings with old equipment) and the increased amount of time people spend outside during the warmer months.  Nor does it include data for the airports, which seem like they would be candidates for high pollution totals with all that jet fuel being burned.

That said, the solutions in the report are good to see, if somewhat obvious: a transition to cleaner fuels, increased efficiency, expanded mass transit and a shift to cleaner vehicles.  To that we might add: promotion of renewable energy solutions like PV for electricity, solar thermal for water heating and geothermal for heating and cooling.  More trees and planted areas like community gardens and green roofs could also be helpful.

Looking to upgrade  the efficiency of your building or maybe put in a PV system? Check out the resources and incentive information available on our new Energy $mart Communities page.

Check out these stats from WIRED Magazine comparing

artificial trees to the real thing

ARTIFICIAL TREES

-There were 8.9m artificial trees imported to the United States in 2008.

-A typical artificial tree contains 7.3lbs of plastic, mostly poluvinyl chloride (PVC).

-It takes 20 years of re-use for an artificial tree’s carbon footprint to be lower than that of an actual tree’s.

-In an entire year, approximately 600,000 U.S homes could be powered using the energy required to run decorative lights during the holiday season.

THE REAL THING

-In 2008 there were 28.2m real trees sold in the U.S.

-Each year, 5.8lbs of pesticides are sprayed on real holiday trees in North Carolina.

-There are approximately 4,000 tree recycling centers in the U.S.

-It is estimated the average conifer tree can absorb 1 ton of carbon dioxide over 60 years.

TIPS FOR KEEPING YOUR HOLIDAYS GREEN!

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Check out www.greenpromise.com/resources to find organic, pesticide-free tree farms near you.

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Switch to long lasting LED holiday lights and use approximately 90% less energy per string. Visit the New York Energy $mart Lighting Page for more info on LEDs. Visit www.holidayleds.com to recycle your old incandescent lights.

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To find out where your tree can be turned into compost or woodchips, go to www.earth911.com.

]]> http://solar1.org/2009/12/08/the-greenest-tree/feed/ 0 http://solar1.org/2009/09/16/2009-solar-powered-film-series-continues-for-second-week/ http://solar1.org/2009/09/16/2009-solar-powered-film-series-continues-for-second-week/#comments Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:49:40 +0000 Dina http://solar1.org/2009/09/16/2009-solar-powered-film-series-continues-for-second-week/ It looks like the weather will hold and the films will go on as scheduled this weekend! For those of you who have not memorized the schedule yet:

Thurs Sept 17: A Sea Change, 2008, 85 mins.
Fri Sept 18: The Garden, 2008, 80 mins.
Sat Sept 19: Burning In the Sun, 2009, 65 mins.
Rain Date for any of the above: Sun Sept 20

For trailers and descriptions, please visit http://solar1.org/events/film.

Tonight’s Event is full. Space is still available for the 1/25 Green From the Inside Out.

Solar One in partnership with the Office of Recycling Outreach and Education will be touring Green from the Inside Out, a three-part workshop on recycling, energy efficiency, and rooftop possibilities for multifamily buildings, throughout New York City.

These workshops are designed to give building owners, shareholders, and managers the tools, resources, and information they need to green their multifamily building.  Look below for the workshop descriptions, to see the date and location of the next workshop, and to reserve your spot.

If you would like us to bring these workshops to your neighborhood, contact Celia Salgado at celia@solar1.org, or 212-505-6050.

A Survey of Solar Energy Roof Applications for NYC: Solar Thermal, Photovoltaics, Green Roofs and White Roofs

In this workshop Solar One will introduce, define and discuss the economic and quality of life implications of three solar rooftop applications that have considerable promise in the five borough area: solar thermal technology, photovoltaics and white roofs.

Navigating NYC’s Recycling Landscape

Hear about new recycling laws and old misconceptions. Find out how to avoid fines, improve your recycling program and get your tenants to recycle.  Learn about other ways to reduce waste, recycle more and help make NYC a little greener. OROE is a program of the Council on the Environment of New York City.

Combating Rising Energy Costs with Energy Efficiency for Multifamily Buildings

Find out how to reduce fuel and utility costs while improving resident comfort and building performance. Solar One’s NYSERDA Energy $mart Communities Coordinator will present cost-effective ways for residential building owners and managers to make lighting, appliances, heating and cooling more energy efficient. Learn about the government and utility incentives that are available for your building, as well as the Community Preservation Corporation’s new Neighborhood Energy Loan Program that provides financing for retrofitting multi-family apartment buildings for energy efficiency.

WHEN:  Wednesday, January 20

6:00pm to 8:30pm, plus post-event mixer!

WHERE: Central Park Arsenal

830 5th Avenue, Suite 318, NY

RSVP’s required.  Send email to celia@solar1.org to RSVP.

And from 8:30-10:00pm we are hosting a special event! Only on this special evening we will be hosting a Winter Networking Mixer overlooking Central Park! Invite your clients and business partners to partake in this unique networking evening. Find out what’s going green, and who’s going green in the Upper East Side! Entrance is free and drinks can be purchased.

RSVP’d guests can arrive at 6:00 to speak with Vendors about products. Presentations will start at 6:30pm and run until 8:30pm. There will be breaks in between presentations to talk to Vendors.

Free!  Refreshments will be served.  Vendors will be available to answer any technical questions about energy audits, different roof applications, and recycling.

GREEN FROM THE INSIDE OUT is a product of Solar One, in partnership with the Office of Recycling Outreach and Education. This series was made possible by a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Sometime in the near future, you won’t even need to think twice about frying up that prize striper you hooked out of the Hudson.

After twenty-five years of court appeals and other evasive measures employed by General Electric, the first of what will be many scoops of PCB-laden sludge was dredged from the Hudson River this past Friday as the result of a “good-faith” agreement with the EPA.  The massive effort, only Phase One of the project, is expected to require the around-the-clock operation of twelve dredges six days a week through 2015; assuming this phase runs its course, this would equal 48,672 hours for the removal of sediment that has been accumulating since the end of the Wisconsin glaciation period around 12,000 years ago, but took two GE plants and other chemical facilities only thirty years to contaminate.  The dried sludge will then be trucked to a landfill in Texas, while the river water will be pumped through a filtration plant and returned to continue its meandering course.

Nearly 200 miles of the river from Hudson Falls to the tip of Manhattan, just under two-thirds of the Hudson’s total length, was declared a Superfund site in 1984, and though GE has now adopted a veneer of compliance, it also continues to challenge the constitutionality of the legislation – the 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) -that determines Superfund status and culpability.  As part of the agreement, GE has also given itself an out clause – it will review the status of the project in 2010 and can then decide to opt out.  The total cost of this phase is estimated at $750 million but could be much greater, though GE has declined to provide an estimate, a decision that, compounded by these other compromises, does little to alleviate the pervasive skepticism within the environmental community.

Still, the fact that the clean-up project is now more than simply a contentious point of debate is cause for at least tepid celebration.  I imagine most of those keeping a close eye on this will remain patient until the 2010 review process is complete before any claims of restitution will finally be made.  Meanwhile, for the past quarter century, those PCBs and their fellow contaminants have been just sitting there in the river bottom ooze, waiting for the party responsible to own up and make that first move.

Sources: “Dredging of Pollutants Begins in Hudson”, The New York Times, May 15, 2009;“”Reclaiming a River”, The New York Times, May 16, 2009; “Shaking Off “Man’s Taint, Hudson Pulses With Life”, The New York Times, June 9, 1996; “What was the Wisconsin Glaciation?” Wisegeek.com;“25-Year-Old Hudson River Cleanup Plan Starts Today”, Running Scared (blogs.villagevoice.com), May 15, 2009; “Pollution and the Hudson River”, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies (www.ecostudies.org); Hudson River Sloop Clearwater (www.clearwater.org).

Imagine a technology that not only generates energy with minimal greenhouse gas emissions, but that can even remove existing emissions sources while also solving the problem of garbage disposal. If St. Lucie County in Florida proves correct, plasma incinerators may be one more option in our growing sustainability portfolio. Instead of dumping its trash in landfills, St. Lucie County hopes to blast it with streams of superheated gas (known as plasma) at temperatures of 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit. At this temperature, organic matter vaporizes into a form of gas that can be used to power turbines, generating waste steam that could be then be used to create more energy. Inorganic matter such as aluminum cans could be used as recycled material for construction and infrastructure, including filler for roadbeds.

Not only does St. Lucie County hope to provide power for 50,000 homes in the process, but, by keeping trash out of landfills, it would significantly curb methane emissions that would result from decomposition. In addition, the plasma process itself (also known as plasma arc gasification) apparently generates far fewer emissions than standard incineration, and the county administration expects that the resulting energy will be no more expensive than natural gas.

Though plasma plants have been around since the 1980s, St. Lucie’s will be the first intended specifically for waste disposal. Expected to go on-line in 2011, city planners anticipate that it will process 1,500 tons of garbage daily and will supply the local energy grid with 60 MW of electricity (though some sources claim that public outcry (see below) and other logistical difficulties have caused GeoPlasma – the plant’s owner and developer – to propose a scaled-back verison that will process only 200 tons per day).

The plan is not without controversy, however. Skeptics claim that the technology is unproven and may release unsafe amounts of dioxin and other cancer-causing particulates into the community. Others claim that the proposed benefits may be overblown; a study of a similar plasma arc waste disposal facility in Honolulu concluded that the technology actually increased waste disposal costs while providing little if any environmental benefit. Until such concerns are abated, our trash isn’t likely to go anywhere but into the ground.

Sources: “Plasma Turns Garbage Into Gas”, Scientific American; “Doctors Say: Be Careful, St. Lucie County; make Geoplasma prove its claims about proposed arc incinerator”, www.tcpalm.com; “City to Brief Council on Plasma Arc Recommendations For Landfill Reduction”, City of Honolulu Department of Environmental Services (press release); “Can We Turn Garbage Into Energy? The Pros and Cons of Plasma Incineration”, www.slate.com; “Plasma arc waste disposal”, “Plasma (physics)”, www.wikipedia.com; “How Plasma Converters Work”, www.howstuffworks.com; “The Prophet of Garbage”; Popular Science; “Generating Power From Waste”, www.recyclingexpert.co.uk; www.geoplasma.com (Geoplasma homepage).

When construction on the New York Mets’ new home was started in November of 2006, new ground was broken in more ways than one.

Citifield, the state-of-the-art facility set to replace the current Mets’ home Shea Stadium next April, is destined to be one of New York City’s first sustainable large-scale public buildings in accordance with Mayor Bloomberg’s PlanNYC. The baseball stadium will possess a number of environmentally friendly amenities, including a 15,000-square-foot green roof, 95% recycled steel, ultra-efficient field lighting that will cut energy consumption by as much as 50% and an on-site irrigation system and low-flow plumbing fixtures such as waterless urinals and sensor-activated faucets that will help save an estimated 4 million gallons of water a year.

Many of the measures implemented have even exceeded EPA recommendations, according to Mets management. The team will also partner with the EPA by joining its Energy Star and WasteWise programs and will work with the MTA and the LIRR to make mass transit to games more inviting and convenient. Extensive bicycle racks will be installed as well to encourage both fans and employees to bike to games. To quote Alan Steinberg, the EPA’s regional administrator: “As an environmental official and a baseball maniac, it doesn’t get any better than this… The Mets deserve an environmental MVP for their efforts to reduce the carbon footprint and the waste stream from the construction and operation of their new ballpark.”

With a brick exterior facade and main entrance rotunda intended as an homage to the legendary Brooklyn Dodgers’ home Ebbets Field, Citifield will stir the nostalgia of our city’s colorful past, but more significantly, as a model of sustainable building, it will represent the possibilities and hope of a new Big Apple.

For a more comprehensive list of Citifield’s environmentally friendly features, click here. Meanwhile, take a look at what The Gotham Gazette and The NY Times have reported about the new Yankee stadium.

Sources: “New Mets Stadium a Friend to Environment”, mlb.mlb.com; “Citi Field To Be Green Friendly”, www.nysportscene.com; “Yankee Stadium Parkland Swap”, www.gothamgazette.com; “Green Thievery in the South Bronx”, The New York Times.

In the not-too-distant future, it looks like you’ll be able to handle your CFLs without worrying about the hazards of mercury.

While Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFLs) have long been seen as a technology with significant potential to conserve electricity and reduce consumer energy costs, one of their main drawbacks has been public trepidation about exposure to this toxic element if a bulb happens to break. Now nanotechnology researchers may have developed a way to reduce this concern. According to an article in this week’s Science Times, experiments with microparticles of various elements including sulfur, copper, nickel and most notably selenium have demonstrated promising results when binding with mercury. Potential applications could weave “nanoselenium” into CFL packaging and special cloth with which to mop up breakage, even plastic bags for recycling spent or shattered bulbs.

This means one less reason not to make the switch to these spiral-shaped icons of energy efficiency. Anyway, you won’t have a choice beginning in 2012. As a consequence of last December’s energy bill, traditional incandescent bulbs will be phased out of use, beginning with the 100-watt bulb and ending with the 40-watt in 2014. This ensures that, while we may not necessarily know how bright the future will be, getting there will be a whole lot more efficient.

For everyone who has been wondering about what is happening at Solar One on July 4th, wonder no more. We will once again be working with Rooftop Films to sandwich some great music and short films around the (insert favorite sandwich filling) that are the Macy’s East River fireworks display. Once again we will offer a front row seat for the fireworks – word is we might even have a better view this year if that’s possible), plus great refreshments (some free from 5-7pm). Tickets are $30 and the proceeds go to support Solar One and Rooftop Films – two great non-profit organizations that (we hope) make New York City a more informed and more entertaining place to live. For full details and to purchase tickets, please head on over the the Rooftop Films site for the event.

The event will start at 5pm and everyone needs to be on site by 6pm in order to comply with NYPD rules that will have access blocked off after that time. Please note that in the case of inclement weather, our event will be happening as long as the fireworks are still happening. If the fireworks are moved to a different night (likely Saturday), we will honor all tickets. Otherwise, tickets are non-refundable.

If you have any questions, please call us at (212) 505-6050. Now here’s a photo from last year to whet your appetite.

Despite the apparently noble intent of this project, our initial report voiced some reservations. First, that CCS had not been adequately tested, with regard to both its large-scale feasibility and its lack of environmental impact (especially on groundwater and subterranean rock/mineral formations). Second, that massive cost overruns and delays were becoming an increasing burden to the project before ground had even been broken.

It now seems that those reservations may have been more than idle speculation. The Economist reported last month that FutureGen is, according to DOE parlance, being “restructured”. In their typically blunt fashion, the eminent policy journal translates this to mean “starting from scratch” (See “Up In Smoke”; Jan. 31, 2008). The DOE is now requesting more information on CCS from the private sector with an eye towards building several smaller plants based on the technology in place of Mattoon’s grand enterprise. This reconsideration was based partly on a March 2007 report issued by MIT suggesting the need for more extensive investigations into CCS and the adoption of less cumbersome federal legislation. The new plan pushes back the completion of the first wave of CCS power plants to 2015 and promises to “at least double the amount” of impurities sequestered. No one yet knows if Mattoon or a reincarnated FutureGen Alliance will be involved.

Drawing on the findings of a collaborative research project completed by New York University and the South Bronx community, this discussion will focus on waste management, traffic hotspots, highways, and zoning in the South Bronx and how the environmental health risks associated with them can impact sensitive populations such as asthmatic children attending schools located in close proximity to major highways. Understanding the spatial relationships between these environmental health risks and land use could be an important input to environmental policy in the South Bronx.

Source control strategies that decrease the amount of stormwater entering the wastewater treatment system are valuable tools to reduce the occurrence and volume of CSOs and other stormwater discharges. Effective source control strategies also provide other benefits, such as decreased energy consumption and economic benefits associated with supporting local markets for source control strategies. The Council finds that the development and implementation of a sustainable stormwater management plan is vital to improve water quality in the City and thereby better protect the public health through the restoration and protection of the ecological health of the City’s waterbodies and to the enhanced use and enjoyment of the City’s waterbodies for recreational activities.

Among the strategies to be considered in drawing up the plans are green roofs, permeable pavement, cisterns and rain barrels, and tree/vegetative cover. This is all great news for the city and its waterways, which currently absorb up to 27 billion gallons of untreated waste water each year via CSOs. It’s also great news for beaches and other water-based recreational opportunities as part of the plan will include a more comprehensive system of warnings to protect public health when CSOs do happen.

Of course, legislation like this doesn’t happen without the hard work of a lot of dedicated people, in this case the folks at the S.W.I.M. coalition. Congratulations to them for everything they did to get this legislation passed.

For more information on water resources, check out our East River resource page. And if you haven’t already, take a look at our plans for Solar 2, which will include many water-saving and recycling techniques.

Our friends over at INFORM have started a new series called The Secret Life. First on the agenda: cellphones. These devices that have totally transformed communication over the past 20 years have also become too-synonymous with “disposable” leading to their being sent by the millions to landfills and incinerators. And yet, many, if not all, of the materials used to make them are reclaimable and/or recyclable.

INFORM has put together a great 5 minute video about the need for more cellphone recycling, while also showing in some detail what happens to these phones during the recycling process. We encourage you to check out their website, watch the video, and then take those old phones out of your junk drawer and find a way to recycle them (they provide the info on how to do just that, of course).

In addition, this seems like a great time to remind everyone about the Greener Gadgets Conference coming up this Friday, February 1st. Our recent Green Renter with conference co-chairs Marc Alt and Jill Fehrenbacher was a great overview of the need to re-think the design process for digital technology, complete with some great examples like the BOGOlight that the audience got to pass around and test out. We’ll have a video version of their presentation on our site soon, but you can register for the conference right now.

Cellphone image by Chris Jordan, taken from inhabitat.com

While EPA honcho Stephen L. Johnson spent last week thwarting the attempts of California and 16 other states to adopt measures limiting automobile emissions, the European Union is taking unprecedented steps of its own to limit the carbon footprint of cars sold within its countries’ borders.

According to an article published in last week’s Economist (“Collision Course”; Dec. 22, 2007), the EU is about to adopt “the world’s strictest CO2-emission standards”. By 2012, new cars sold in the EU must meet an emissions threshold of 130 grams of CO2 per kilometer; at present, European-made cars average about 160 g/km. The European Commission will also recommend the imposition of a fine of $137 per car per gram over the 130g/km limit. While this standard will undoubtably present a problem for all of Europe’s car manufacturers, the most vociferous protests are emanating from German luxury car giants BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Vehicles produced by these two companies average in the range of 184 g/km and 188 g/km respectively, about $7,000 in fines per car above the proposed threshold. In contrast, French and Italian automakers Citroen, Renault and Fiat — all whose fleets are “heavily biased towards fuel-efficient small cars” — average 142-147 g/km per car.

However, the ultimate form that this legislation will take is not yet settled. German auto lobbyists have pushed for a special “weight dispensation” that will provide relative emissions allowances for heavier cars; much to the dismay of environmental activists, the European Commission has agreed in principle. Ultimately, though, by focusing this emissions cap on cars sold in Europe rather than on cars manufactured, this mandate may do little to curb global greenhouse gases, as the main markets for both BMW and Mercedes lie abroad — mainly in the US, Russia and China, all countries whose clean-air standards still leave much to be desired.

Meanwhile, the attempts of California and other states to adopt their own clean-air initiatives are being stonewalled. Despite the recent deservedly-lauded legislation set to increase fuel efficiency in US-manufactured vehicles by as much as 40% by 2020, the California ruling unfortunately demonstrates the current administration’s continued reticence to recognize the global environmental crisis. It’s probably no coincidence that Johnson rendered his decision only after the latest round of Vice-President Cheney’s confabs with auto lobbyists, where Cheney purportedly promised to kill the California bill in exchange for industry support on the federal bill. Though EU officials seem willing to take an albeit limited lead on emissions reduction, the Bush administration continues to send mixed signals to the global community, slapping itself on the back with one hand for passing legislation it never wanted in the first place, while surreptitiously removing the bill’s teeth with the other.

Sources: “Collision Course”, The Economist; “Cheney Repeatedly Met With Auto Execs Before White House Killed California Emissions Law”, thinkprogress.org.

Despite the disappointments of the 2007 Energy Bill, the coal industry is getting some disappointments of its own this year. According to Bangkok-based NGO Palang Thai (via Grist), 12 US states have abandoned major coal expansion projects since September 2006, and in several cases have replaced them with wind projects. Apparently communities in Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Oklahoma, Kentucky, North Dakota, Texas, Illinois, North Carolina, Idaho, Washington and Colorado were willing to defy coal industry rhetoric and reject or alter their plans. Quite a turnaround from 2005, when the revitalization of the coal industry was being widely touted as the solution to the national energy crisis.

Say goodbye to the Ford Crown Victoria. The TLC announced today that it will definitely be increasing fuel efficiency standards for NYC taxicabs purchased after October 1, 2008 to 25 mpg, and then to 30 mpg for new cabs in fall 2009. To meet these standards, fleets will probably be buying hybrids, making NYC’s taxi fleet “the cleanest, greenest large city taxicab fleet in the world”, according to Matthew Daus, the TLC chairman. The NYT reported last May that replacing the 13,000 yellow cabs currently on the streets will have the same air-quality effect as eliminating 32,000 private vehicles from the road. Not bad.

Though state law prevents the treated waste water from flowing directly into the taps of Southern California homes, the hope is that the replenished groundwater will be able to accommodate current needs and the needs of the projected 500,000 additional people who will live in the county by 2020. And while the treatment process leaves the resulting liquid “as pure as distilled water,” there are those who question how clean the processes can really make the water. Never mind that testing it seems like it would be a very simple way to find out just how clean it is, or that the same people skeptical of the science involved might never bother to question other contaminants that they come into contact with every day like the pesticides used to grow the food that we eat.

Part of the water filtration process used in the system

At any rate, it’s nice to see communities taking actions like these, even if dire circumstances are the main instigation for doing so. If this venture succeeds, we hope it will lead to more proactive efforts to manage wastewater in other areas like, say, New York City.

For more details, check out the Groundwater Replenishment System website.

The EPA’s inaction on California’s waiver request to regulate greenhouse gases (as is their right because the CA EPA predates the Fed EPA) has prompted them to file suit against the EPA in federal court. They expect fourteen other states, including New York, to join them.

“California has a long and proud history of leadership in reducing pollution and fighting for clean air for our residents. And we are upholding that tradition today by filing a lawsuit against the federal government that takes a big step forward in the battle against global warming,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “California is ready to implement the nation’s cleanest standards for vehicle emissions, but we cannot do that until the federal government grants a waiver allowing us to enforce those standards.

The EPA has yet to deny California a waiver, granting 40, in the past 30 years under the Federal Clean Air Act.

It’s the time of year once again when the trees turn red, the breeze turns chilly, it’s dark before you get home from work and your back starts to ache from lugging huge recycling bags full of holiday catalogs. Save a trip to the chiropractor and sign up for Catalog Choice, a free web service sponsored by Berkeley’s Ecology Center that lets you opt out of receiving catalogs in the mail. You go through a list of catalogs and click on the ones you can live without. It’s good for your back, and good for the environment- they’ve helped over 120,000 people opt out of over 1,000,000 catalogs!