Friday, May 23, 2008

EPA Joins Sustainable Remediation Bandwagon

Green Remediation: Incorporating Sustainable Environmental Practices into Remediation of Contaminated Sites Green Remediation: Incorporating Sustainable Environmental Practices into Remediation of Contaminated Sites (EPA 542-R-08-002)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, April 2008

The EPA has issued a primer on "green remediation". The primer, which provides topical introductory information as opposed to "guidance", outlines the principles of green remediation as the EPA views the subject. The document describes opportunities to reduce the footprint of cleanup activities throughout the life of a project, and best management practices (BMPs) to help decision-makers, communities, and other stakeholders identify sustainable strategies. The EPA views these strategies as complements rather than replacements in the process used to select remedial options. BMPs can be incorporated into all phases of remediation, including site investigation, remedy construction, O&M, monitoring of treatment processes and progress, and site closure.

Follow this link to the document: http://www.clu-in.org/download/remed/green-remediation-primer.pdf

Northgate also has a copy of the primer available on our internal server.

Study on Premature Deaths Associated with Particulate Matter

Pollution danger higher than earlier estimated
Jane Kay, SF Chronicle, May 23, 2008


The State of California just released a draft report titled "Methodology for Estimating Premature Deaths Associated with Long-term Exposures to Fine Airborne Particulate Matter in California". The study presented in the report found a direct correlation between increased pollution from specks of dust, soot, metals and soil and a greater number of hospitalizations, emergency visits and missed school days. Assuming that a safe level is 7 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter of air, there would still be about 14,000 to 24,000 premature deaths every year in California associated with these small particles. That is two to three times the number of deaths previously predicted.

The California Air Resources Board will accept comments on the report until July 11.

Read the complete article here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/23/BAFB10RFT5.DTL

Read the complete report here: http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/health/pm-mort/pm-mortdraft.pdf

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Pollution to Profit

Once Polluted, Now Profitable for New Jersey Builders
Alex Tarquinio, NY Times, March 5, 2008

A decade or two ago, New Jersey’s brownfields would not have appealed to many developers, no matter how many carrots the state dangled in front of them. But in the past decade, the state has protected large swaths of relatively pristine land through statewide conservation initiatives, while also providing incentive programs for redeveloping brownfields.

“We want to encourage much more development in our urban centers, where we already have the infrastructure and transportation,” said Kenneth J. Kloo, the administrator of the brownfield program of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The state defines brownfields as former commercial or industrial sites where the authorities know or suspect that the soil or the groundwater has been contaminated.

The Brownfield Reimbursement Program, which the state created in 1998, allows developers to recoup 75 percent of the costs they incur for the environmental cleanup of brownfields.

Read the complete story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/business/05brown.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Stay Classy San Diego

Nearly built-out city revamps its long-term growth plan
Lori Weisberg, San Diego Union-Tribune, March 2, 2008


With just 4 percent of its 331 square miles available for new development, San Diego faces the daunting challenge of absorbing future growth without expanding ever outward into distant suburbs.

On March 10, the City Council will be presented with a general plan of more than 360 pages that seeks to guide San Diego's evolution over the next two to three decades as its population grows as much as 25 percent from its current 1.3 million.

Eight years in the making, the plan has been the product of hundreds of public meetings and formal hearings. Among the plans's key elements are: land use and community planning, mobility, public facilities, conservation, recreation, and economic prosperity.

However, according to community activists, the proposed general plan is chock-full of well-meaning goals and principles, but in the end, they're still just platitudes. Assurances are needed that ensure public facilities and services in older neighborhoods will be paid for before new development is allowed to proceed. While city planners have long promised that a detailed financing plan would be crafted, it remains unfinished.

Read the complete story here: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20080302-9999-1h02genplanm.html

Friday, February 1, 2008

Future Retro

Green Energy Industry Takes Root in California
Matt Richtel and John Markoff, New York Times, February 1, 2008

Interest in alternative energy is climbing across the United States...and in California, especially solar. Entrepreneurs, academics and policy makers say solar industry of today is different from what was tried in the 1970s, when Jerry Brown invited derision for envisioning a future fueled by alternative energy.

In recent months, the industry has added several thousand jobs in the production of solar energy cells and installation of solar panels on roofs. A spate of investment has also aimed at making solar power more efficient and less costly than natural gas and coal. At present, solar power is three to five times as expensive as coal.

There has been a surge in private investment, led by venture capitalists. In 2007, VC put $654 million in 33 solar-related deals in California, up from $253 million in 16 deals in 2006, according to the Cleantech Group, which tracks investments in alternative energy. California received roughly half of all solar power venture investments made in 2007 in the US.

Read the complete story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/technology/01solar.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5087&em&en=3c94b2d421f827be&ex=1202014800

Thursday, January 24, 2008

2008 Environmental Performance Index

The results are in...and we come in 39th.
Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, Yale University, Daniel C. Esty Director

The 2008 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) quantitatively tracks national performance on a core set of environmental policy goals for which every government can be – and should be – held accountable.

The EPI focuses on two overarching environmental objectives:
1. Reducing environmental stresses to human health, and
2. Promoting ecosystem vitality and sound natural resource management.

The two overarching objectives are gauged using 25 performance indicators tracked in six well-established policy categories, which are then combined to create a final score.

Switzerland, Norway, and Sweden top the list, while Sierra Leone, Angola, and Niger rank at the bottom.

See the rankings and learn more about the index at http://epi.yale.edu/2008EPIOverview.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Advancing the New Energy Economy

Green Jobs and Investment in California
Green Tech Summit, Yerba Buena Center, San Francisco, January 14, 2008

This one-day summit was attended by nearly 800 investors, policy makers, educators, industry experts, and labor leaders to discuss investment, growth, and job opportunities in green tech. It was a very interactive and educational meeting with the primary goal to identify mechanisms to achieve tangible economic, environmental, and social benefits through California's progressive climate and environmental policies.

The summit began with opening addresses from Timothy Alan Simon, Commissioner for the California PUC, Willie Brown, former Mayor of San Francisco, and Gavin Newsom, Mayor of San Francisco.
- Amongst other things, Willie Brown said buy his "g*ddamn book".
I missed a lot of what he said because the audience was laughing so loudly.
- Gavin Newsom basically said that San Francisco is committed to going green, and showed a very hip music video to prove it. He also mentioned some more concrete examples, including the transition to natural gas-powered taxis, the carbon neutralization of the city through the purchase of locally based carbon offsets from three SF-based trading companies, and the move toward replacing revenue from city payroll taxes by assessing carbon taxes.

Later in the day we were also treated to video feeds from California State Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez (live) and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (not so live), as well as a visit from Attorney General and former Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown. Jerry Brown had some pithy advice for the forward-looking audience:
- There will be resistance to moving towards a green economy. Some people think that talking about the future is 'flaky', so try to make it all sound like yesterday.
- Try not to get too far ahead of yourself.
- The road ahead is rocky, with obstacles, and strewn with Republicans.

The first panel, moderated by Phil Angelides, Chairman of the Apollo Alliance and former Treasurer and Democratic candidate for Governor, focused on how to prepare California for a booming green economy. The panel comprised Van Jones, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Peter Darbee, Chairman of the Board, CEO, and President of PG&E, Nancy Pfund, JPMorgan, Dr. Marshall Drummond, Chancellor of the LA Community College District, and Jay Hansen, Legislative and Political Director of the State Building & Construction Trades Council. The panel identified that there are large gaps between labor demand and supply, and a significant need to develop a diversified and skilled green workforce. Some key comments:
- Training and education in green technologies needs to begin with vocational training and adequate training investment, starting in primary and secondary schools, community colleges, and prisons.
- There needs to be equity in the new green workforce. The green economy should be inclusive, especially of those who were left out of petroleum-powered industry jobs.
- With only 4% of the world's population, the US accounts for 25% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions and 25% of the prison population (of those known to be incarcerated?).

The second panel, moderated by Dan Kammen of UC Berkeley, focused on how to go from investment and innovation to green jobs to meeting the state's climate change goals. The panel comprised Julie Blunden of SunPower, Nancy Floyd of Nth Power, Joseph Perkins, President and CEO of the Home Builders Association of Northern California, and Dan Reicher, Director of Climate Change and Energy Initiatives for google.org and former Assistant Energy Secretary under President Clinton. The panel proposed that in addition to private investment, there need to be government incentives to initially subsidize the green economy, just as the petroleum economy has been subsidized historically. Some key comments:
- Solar/thermal energy technology and application is growing exponentially. It is estimated that solar energy costs will decrease 50% by 2012 as compared to today's costs.
- 10% of today's venture capital dollars are going to research, development, and product innovation in new energy technologies.
- 50% of US energy still comes from coal. We need a carbon price and cap immediately.
- The easiest and largest energy efficiency gains to be made right now come from conservation.

The third session consisted of interactive break-out groups of approximately 150 people each. Each group focused on a different topic, with the goal of developing strategies and solutions that advance clean energy investment in California. My group was moderated by Jose Carmona, policy coordinator for the non-profit Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technology (CEERT). Honestly, I didn't hear any concrete solutions come out of our or the other sessions, except one guy did propose that if we could convince 14-year old girls that fuel inefficiency was really uncool, they would never date another guy who drove a Hummer, which would ultimately drive up CAFE standards.

The fourth and final panel was moderated by Bob Epstein, co-founder of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2). This session basically verbalized the perspectives, experiences, and opinions of the panel members, who comprised Dr. Philip Day, Chancellor of City College of San Francisco, Raquel Pinderhughes, Professor of Urban Studies at SFSU, Peter Liu, founder of New Resource Bank, and Tom Martinez, Business Development Director for the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).

The summit hosts included the California Public Utilities Commission, the Willie L. Brown Jr. Institute on Politics and Public Service, the California Clean Energy Fund, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, and the Apollo Alliance.

Other sponsors included Manatt, PG&E, Southern California Edison, Morrison Foerster, Cal-Am, Independent Energy Producers Association, Goodin MacBride Squeri Day & Lamprey LLP, Constellation NewEnergy, Merriwether & Williams Insurance Services, Shell, Blaylock & Co., Grant Capital Management, Renewable Energy Marketing Board, Woodside Natural Gas, EnXco, Bloomenergy, Navigant Consulting, and many others.

And here's a link to an article about the summit published last week in the SF Chronicle.

Sustainability Coming Soon to a Building Code Near You

Sustainable Building Standard Expected by Year-End
Nadine M. Post, Engineering News-Record, January 23, 2008


The first US standard for high-performance buildings--called Sustainability in Building Codes, ASHRAE/USGBC/IESNA Standard 189.1P--could be released by the end of the year, according to one of the co-developers of the standard. The proposed standard will provide minimum requirements for the design of new high-performance commercial buildings and for major renovations. It will address energy efficiency, a building's impact on the atmosphere, sustainable sites, water use efficiency, materials and resources, and the quality of the environment indoors.

The standard is being developed by the American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA), and the US Green Building Council (USGBC). In writing the standard, the committee "considered and incorporated" other aspects of national initiatives on sustainable buildings, including those of federal agencies, the American Institute of Architects (AIA), and the US Conference of Mayors.

Read the complete story here: http://enr.ecnext.com/coms2/article_nebuar080123

Not All Biofuels Are Created Equal

Europe, Cutting Biofuel Subsidies, Redirects Aid to Stress Greenest Options
Elisabeth Rosenthal, New York Times, January 22, 2008

There is increasing evidence that the total emissions and environmental damage from producing many “clean” biofuels outweighs their lower emissions when compared with fossil fuels. European biofuel manufacturers and sellers will now have to quantify their fuel’s net effect on the environment before being eligible for subsidies. Governments in Europe and elsewhere have begun rolling back generous subsidies for biofuels, acknowledging that the environmental benefits of some have often been overstated. Under a proposed Swiss directive, for example, a liter of biofuel would have to produce 40 percent less in emissions than fossil fuel to qualify for special treatment. It will be hard to make corn ethanol or even rapeseed (used to make canola oil) meet the standard, said Lukas Gutzwiller of Switzerland’s Federal Energy Office.

Read the complete story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/business/worldbusiness/22biofuels.html?em&ex=1201237200&en=e6734a420d6683cb&ei=5087%0A

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Dreaming of a Green Christmas

Friends of the Urban Forest and SF Environment are offering delivery, pick-up and planting of living, potted trees in time for the holidays. The eight-ft tall trees have been hand-picked to thrive in San Francisco. There are four types of trees to choose from: Southern Magnolia, Small Leaf Tristania, Strawberry Tree, and New Zealand Christmas Tree.

Trees are $90, and orders are available through Tuesday, December 19, 2007. Or visit their Green Christmas Tree lot on Saturday, December 15 from 4-7 pm to tag one for delivery or take one home on the spot.

Delivery and pick-up available to SF residents only. Maybe next year, Oakland?