The following photos are all projects by Natural Lighting Co. in Phoenix. The designs, manufactures and installs daylighting systems in schools, commercial, industrial, military and retail environments. There are no electrical lights in use in any of these photos.

Photo: Natural Lighting Co.

Arizona Department of Transportation

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By Shermakaye Bass
Green Right Now

Harvesting daylight is an ancient trick – as old as the first man-made structure, as old as life on our planet, actually. Using the sunlight provided by nature is the most basic and simple way to illuminate one’s world. But when it comes to modern, sustainable architecture, the idea is relatively young.

Only in recent times has “daylighting,” as it’s sometimes called, made a blip on the broader green movement’s radar, with industry experts speculating that fewer than 1 percent of all U.S. buildings use natural light in a substantive manner (going beyond windows). The 21st century approach is waaaay more technologically involved than, say, a prehistoric clan setting up its fire pit next to the cave entrance.

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THE FOLLOWING PRESS RELEASE IS FROM PANASONIC CORPORATION:

Secaucus, NJ (October 30, 2008) – Panasonic Corporation of North America, a market leader in electronics innovation and technology, announced today that it is creating a nationwide program designed to provide consumers convenient and easy recycling of their Panasonic branded TVs and other consumer electronics.[1] Consumers can drop off their Panasonic products free of charge.

“The focus of Panasonic’s new program will be on consumer convenience and environmentally sound recycling,” said Yoshi Yamada, Chairman and CEO of Panasonic Corporation of North America. “The new national program both gives life to our customers’ recycling expectations and embodies our company’s commitment to responsible product lifecycle management.”

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By Tom Kessler

The Philadelphia Phillies are still trying to close out the World Series, but the team has already been declared winners off the field. The National League Chanmipions were among the winners cited in the Environmenal Protection Agency’s 2008 Green Power Leadership Awards. The announcement was made at the the National Renewable Energy Marketing Conference in Denver, Colo.

EPA’s Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program helping to increase the use of green power among leading U.S. organizations. The program encourages organizations to purchase green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with conventional electricity use. The EPA says the program has hundreds of partner organizations buying billions of kilowatt-hours of green power annually.

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From the Environmental Protection Agency

The 2008 Green Power Leadership Awards were presented in conjunction with the National Renewable Energy Marketing Conference, held October 26-29 in Denver, Colorado.

Partner of the Year

Intel Corporation, a world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to advance how people work and live. Currently, Intel powers over 46 percent of its U.S. facilities through the purchase of more than 1.3 billion kilowatt-hours a year of renewable energy certificates (RECs) generated from wind, solar, geothermal and biomass sources. Intel’s purchase ranks among the largest in the Green Power Partnership, placing it on EPA’s National Top 50 and Fortune 500 purchaser lists.

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From the Environmental Protection Agency

The 2008 Green Power Leadership Awards were presented in conjunction with the National Renewable Energy Marketing Conference, held October 26-29 in Denver, Colorado.

Partner of the Year

Cisco Systems, Inc. is a multinational company with annual revenues of more than $39.5 billion. Cisco is a worldwide leader in networking technology that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Cisco believes that technology has the power to help the world manage its environmental challenges and is using networking technology to reduce its own environmental footprint. In June 2008, the organization announced a corporate global greenhouse gas reduction goal of 25 percent in absolute terms by 2012, sending a strong message that corporate growth and environmental protection can go hand in hand.

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From the Environmental Protection Agency

The 2008 Green Power Leadership Awards were presented in conjunction with the National Renewable Energy Marketing Conference, held October 26-29 in Denver, Colorado.

Green Power Purchasing Award

The Estée Lauder Companies is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of beauty care products. The company’s 36 million kilowatt-hour wind purchase powers 100 percent of its U.S. manufacturing, distribution, research and development and owned office spaces. In addition to the wind purchase, the company also installed a 600-kilowatt solar photovoltaic array at its Oakland, New Jersey facility, one of the largest solar photovoltaic projects in the state.

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By John DeFore

There may be a few billion reasons to worry about the environmental impact caused by rapid development in China and India, but one Chinese company has taken a green step serious enough to earn it a first-of-its-kind award from our own U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA’s Combined Heat And Power Partnership has been handing out awards to American companies since 1999, encouraging industries that use various technologies to produce both heat and electricity from a single fuel source. But it has never given one to a foreign company until now.

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By John DeFore

For a movie that explicitly addresses the perils of overconsumption, Pixar’s WALL*E is being used to promote an awful lot of consumer products.

One tie-in in particular is rankling Greenpeace. It seems that the lovable robot’s image has popped up on boxes of Kleenex, a product the activist group has criticized with a “Kleercut” campaign that asserts, “it takes 90 years to grow a box of Kleenex” because the product’s manufacturer Kimberly-Clark “all but refuses to use recycled paper in its products.” (Among other things, they’re trying to get parents and teachers to reject the company’s tissues in classrooms.)

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