Benefits of Green Building

While it may initially seem like the only benefits of "green building" efforts go to the environment – at the cost of human comfort and expense – this is not the case. Proponents of eco-friendly architecture take a holistic approach to the concept of environmental health, including human well-being in their calculations. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lists three goals of green building programs: to increase efficiency in the use of water, energy, etc.; to protect the health and increase the productivity of the building's residents; and to reduce pollution and waste.

Greater Efficiency

According to the EPA, in 2002, buildings accounted for 67.9% of the total electricity consumption in the United States. It has been said many times already, but decreasing energy use is not only good for the environment – it's good for the wallet. When a building is more energy efficient, less HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) equipment is necessary. Since heating and cooling the air accounts for roughly half of a building's energy expenditure, improving efficiency can significantly reduce operating costs. Other small measures, such as upgrading insulation and sealing any air leaks, can make a big difference in a monthly electricity bill.

 Treehugger

The high costs commonly associated with going green are usually a result of installing new technology in a new building or retrofitting an older one. On-site renewable energy generators from sources such as photovoltaic solar panels or wind power can include prohibitive start-up costs and may not be feasible for every structure. However, efficient appliances with the Energy Star label often cost the same as traditional appliances, and installing ceiling fans to reduce the need for air conditioning is a simple step that makes a measurable difference. For new buildings, passive solar heating principles that take advantage of the orientation of the sun and the landscape go a long way toward improving energy efficiency.

Article Continues: http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/jasonking/20484/guest-post-human-benefits-green-building?utm_source=scc_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter
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Wanted-Used-Micon NM64 wind turbine

Wanted! Good conditioned used Micon NM64 wind turbine urgently wanted. Due to fire, one of our turbines was destroyed and we are now looking urgently into our options for a replacement. One option is to purchase a second-hand NM64C Brief technical details for the NM64C turbine we are replacing are: Rated Output: 1500 kW Rotor diameter: ..

contact info: Ralph <ralph@mywindpowersystem.com>

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Tell Congress to restore the solar project funds

solar project funds to H.R. 1 Share on Facebook Dear Green Blog Readers, In documents released this weekend, members of the House of Representatives have proposed cutting billions of dollars in loan guarantees for solar projects. While there is certainly a need to address the long-term fiscal issues in the United States, these cuts to the loan guarantee program would be disastrous for all solar projects with pending loan guarantees. At a time when the economy is beginning to recover, we cannot afford to jeopardize the tens of thousands of jobs these projects represent. Tell Congress to protect American jobs and restore the solar loan guarantees by striking sections 1425 and 3001 from H.R. 1! More information: Loan guarantee programs serve a critical market function by enabling new technologies to move from the prototype stage to commercial deployment. It would be a huge breach of trust and faith for Congress to eliminate this program as the projects are nearing finalization of terms and financial closing. Many have invested significant time and money during the lengthy approval process. Technically, these funds are not obligated until a loan guarantee is closed and therefore conditional loan guarantees and applications that are in due diligence are considered un-obligated.  However, Congress and the Administration should treat funds for in-progress loan guarantees as if they are obligated. As always, we here at SEIA appreciate your efforts. Thanks for being a part of Team Solar! Michael Rader SEIA

Company News: Pfizer goes GREEN and saves $ MONEY $

Green chemistry has ecological, financial benefits for Pfizer
	Feb 13, 2011	The Day
	Lee Howard Feb. 13, 2011 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- When people hear the word "green" these days, they automatically think "environmentally friendly." But among chemists at Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) Inc. in Groton, the word also denotes efficiency, which equals a different type of "green" -- money. And Pfizer's local laboratories have been saving the company plenty of money -- millions of dollars, most likely, though the company won't provide specific figures -- over the past few years through a relatively new idea called green chemistry. Scientists in Groton are constantly reviewing and revising the chemical processes that go into the manufacture of top-selling medicines such as the cholesterol blockbuster Lipitor and pain reliever Lyrica, making sure new drugs are produced in the most efficient manner possible. "Pfizer is a leader in both the research and implementation of green-chemistry and green-engineering practices," said S. Stewart Slater, a professor of chemical engineering at Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J. By going green -- which local scientists spearheaded at Pfizer a decade ago, though the chemistry principles date to the early 1990s -- the making of pharmaceuticals is being done in a less wasteful, safer and more benign manner. "By being green chemists, I think we provide a particular benefit to the environment," said John Wong, senior research fellow at Pfizer's Groton labs and leader of the eight-member Green Chemistry Team there. "When you use enzymes to do chemistry, they are not toxic and certainly environmentally friendly." In the pharmaceutical industry, green chemistry often means the replacement of organic solvents with enzymes, commonly referred to as "nature's catalysts" and naturally occurring in all living organisms. Companies try to implement green chemistry ideas right from the start, because changing drug formulations after a product is out requires additional human testing for safety and effectiveness. Eric Watters, environmental manager of the Groton facility and a team member, said the use of green-chemistry methods doesn't have a big impact on the local air and water because the pharmaceutical giant no longer has extensive manufacturing facilities here. It's at the company's drug-making plants worldwide that the use of green chemistry is most noticeable on the environment, he said. The environmental impact is felt most profoundly with reductions in the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. Efficiencies and cost savings come largely from reduced use of raw materials and significant cuts in energy use. To give an example, Wong pointed to a new process for manufacturing Lyrica developed by his team in Groton that reduced carbon-dioxide emissions by 43 percent using one of Pfizer's measurement tools. The company expects a further reduction in emissions of 20 percent as it continues to refine the method through the end of next year, he said. Avoiding chemical waste "The pharmaceutical sector has embraced green chemistry most enthusiastically, perhaps because it has the most to gain," according to an article last month in Nature News. "Pharmaceutical plants typically generate 25 to 100 kilograms of waste per kilogram of product, a ratio known as the environmental factor, or 'E-factor.' So there is plenty of room to increase efficiency -- and cut costs." The company expects that green-chemistry processes used to reimagine the production of Lyrica will, over a 13-year period, avoid about 200,000 metric tons of organic chemical waste. Pfizer scientist Peter Dunn, who in 2006 became the pharmaceutical industry's first full-time green chemistry leader, has said the rejiggering of three product lines alone saved the company the cost of 500,000 metric tons of chemicals. According to Pfizer spokeswoman Sperry Mylott, the company's drugs currently in late-stage development use 24 percent less solvent per kilogram than the most advanced compounds it was testing a few years ago, "thus achieving one of Groton's chemical R&D team's environmental goals two years ahead of schedule." Chemists do small-scale experiments in Groton before trying out their ideas on a bigger stage with Pfizer's manufacturing partners, said local team leader Wong. The idea is to be as "atom economical" as possible, he added, meaning that less material used up front leads to less waste in the end. "The company is quite good at implementing process improvements," he said. Although the pharmaceutical industry in general did not embrace the principles of green chemistry right away -- chemical companies faced with outcries after the Love Canal fiasco and the Bhopal disaster had a greater incentive -- it now is more motivated, as drug discovery has waned and cost-cutting is getting more attention. As far back as 1998, Pfizer scientists in Sandwich, England, had worked to improve efficiencies in the manufacture of Viagra, which at that point produced 105 kilograms of waste for every kilogram of product. Pfizer eventually reduced the E-factor to 8, meaning the production of Viagra became more than 90 percent more efficient. "Ultimately, it's all economics that drives it," said Connecticut College chemistry chair Marc Zimmer. "You can't just let waste go down the drain anymore. You have to dispose of it, and that means you have to pay for it." Improving production methods of antidepressant Zoloft as well as Viagra and Lyrica have won Pfizer major green chemistry awards. The 2002 Zoloft green chemistry project, conducted at the Groton labs, won the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Presidential Green Chemistry Award. Early stage development The local labs also have their own internal awards, and winners may designate the prize to an educational institution. In the past year, the prize went to Pfizer scientist Jamison Tuttle, who designated that the $5,000 award be given to his former Connecticut College professor Timo Ovaska, who in turn plans to use it for research stipends for summer students. "Green chemistry is still in an early stage," Ovaska said, "but it's definitely having more and more of an impact." Wong said Pfizer doesn't force green chemistry on anyone, but there is a constant effort to educate employees in the science. He added that chemists have been quick to embrace the concept and are always brainstorming and experimenting with new ideas for making pharmaceutical production less costly and easier on the environment. "It's part of our day-to-day activities," he said. l.howard@theday.com Newstex ID: KRTB-0139-100655794

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[WindPower] Cost of Wind Energy, Project Financing, and Funding Webinar Wednesday 2/16 at 3 p.m. Eastern

On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 4:21 PM, Anne Margolis <Anne@cleanegroup.org> wrote:

 

Dear States Advancing Wind listserv members:

 

Please join the Wind Powering America webinar on Cost of Wind Energy, Project Financing, and Funding this Wednesday at 3:00 pm. Eastern.  Mark Bolinger of LBNL will be discussing his new report on innovative financing for community wind projects, which discusses the use of New Market Tax Credits and other tools to help communities finance wind projects, available at: http://eetd.lbl.gov/EA/EMP/re-pubs.html.

 

ALSO A REMINDER: Please register for TOMORROW's USOWC & CESA Building the U.S. Offshore Wind Supply Chain, SESSION #3 webinar, which will focus on three regional case studies of offshore  wind supply chain building in the U.S. Register at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/406304609.

 

Best,

Anne

 

 

 

 

Cost of Wind Energy, Project Financing, and Funding February 16 at 1:00 p.m. MST (3:00 p.m. EST) This free Webinar is part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Wind Powering America 2011 Webinar Series. It will explore how consumer-owned utilities, electric cooperatives, and communities are financing wind projects using creative structures that push the envelope of wind project finance in the United States; and the challenges that go along with wind project financing and funding. Speakers Amy Hille, American Public Power Association Challenges to Financing Public Power Wind Projects Mark Bolinger, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Community Wind: Once Again Pushing the Envelope of Project Finance Brian Minish, South Dakota Wind Partners New Approach to Community Wind Financing The Webinar is free; no registration is required. Login information is below. Audio Access Toll-free #: 888-946-8388 Toll #: 1-210-234-0109 Participant passcode: 2351963 Web Access URL: https://www.mymeetings.com/nc/join.php?i=PW2531588&p=2351963&t=c If you have trouble with the above link, try going to this Web site and enter the info separately. URL: https://www.mymeetings.com/nc/join/ Conference number: PW2531588 Audience passcode: 2351963 Save the dates for future Webinars March 16: Small and Distributed Wind April 20: Radar and Wind Systems

If you have any questions, concerns, or announcements that you would like to add to this e-newsletter, please do not hesitate to contact us. For general comments, contact E. Ian Baring-Gould, WPA technical director. For Web-related communications, contact Julie Jones. For general communications, contact Ruth Baranowski. This service is provided to you at no charge by DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE). Visit the Web site at http://www.eere.energy.gov.

 

Sent by DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy · 1000 Independence Ave., SW · Washington DC 20585 · 877-337-3463

 

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St Louis Renewable Energy Updated Web Pages

Find the Latest Web Page Additions at the Links Below

Scotts Contracting Job Site Photos

Solar Web Page

Clean and Renewable Energy IPOs

Renewable Energy IPOs

With Renewable Energy Investments Increasing 21% Last Year... Is this the Year to Earn Income from Clean Energy Investments?

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The Renewable IPO, Part 1: the Good, Bad and Ugly

By Greg Pfahl, CPA   |   February 12, 2011   |

A two-part article on how renewable energy companies are benefiting from public offerings. Part 1: A look at the market.

2010 proved to be a much better year for the initial public offering and renewable energy companies, perhaps surprisingly, saw their share of activity. In 2010 there were more than double the number of initial public offerings than in 2009, and we also saw a significant increase in secondary offerings as well.

Worldwide public investment in renewable energy increased 21 percent last year, with China representing 20 percent of the 2010 market, according to VB/Research of London. The REW 40 Index is up 15 percent over the past year at this writing. While it's hard to predict if 2011 will be a frothy IPO market for renewable companies, it is clear the public's appetite for risk in renewables is growing. Despite what you may hear about the effect of lower natural gas prices on renewables, I believe that it is public market performance and availability of willing investors, not commodity prices, that drives the IPO market.

The renewable IPO field saw a series of fits and starts in 2010. The fits — Solyndra, PetroAlgae, Trony Solar — withdrew or reduced their IPOs. But there were some starts as well. Even though Codexis didn't raise the $100 million it had hoped for last April, it still pocketed $78 million from public investors with its IPO. And Amyris is trading at the $30 level, nearly double the IPO of $17.20.

Codexis and Amyris both had successful IPOs even though they are money-losing early stage companies because they have proven technology and real revenues and contracts, with potential high-revenue products in the pipeline. Revenues were $101.5 million last year. The company develops custom enzymes and catalysts for industrial chemical production and has a project going with Shell, a major investor, to speed up production of biofuels from nonfood sources.

Amyris had revenues of $68.5 million for its synthetic biofuels technology. Article Continues Click Here

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