From Green Right Now Reports

Star Market at Chestnut Hill in Newton, Mass., recently became the first grocery store in the nation to receive US Environmental Protection Agency’s GreenChill Partnership platinum store award. The advanced refrigeration technology in the new store, which is part of the Shaw’s line of supermarkets, significantly reduces its impact on climate change and the stratospheric ozone layer by cutting the use of refrigerants by 85 percent compared with the typical supermarket.

Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, called the store’s efforts “wicked cool.”

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From Green Right Now Reports

Kimberly-Clark Corp. and upcycling firm TerraCycle today announced they will partner on a program to enhance the sustainability performance of some of K-C’s product packaging. The new program also will create fundraising programs that benefit schools and communities nationwide.

The new program allows participants to earn funds for their selected charity of choice for every used piece of plastic packaging associated with Scott or Huggies brands that they collect. The collected plastic packaging will be upcycled into affordable, high-quality products available next year at major retailers nationwide, the companies said.

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A field monitor checks a gas meter for leaks. (Photo: Department of Energy)

From Green Right Now Reports

Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell announced today that the first installment of $123 million in federal Recovery funds for weatherization will begin to be released Nov. 2, part of $253 million that the state will use for this purpose.

The Governor said the funding represents an unprecedented level of investment that will help to create new, “green” jobs, save money for struggling families, and stimulate local economic activity as weatherization agencies buy required material, vehicles and equipment.

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From Green Right Now Reports

Ocean waves near Freeport, Texas (Photo: National Weather Service)

Ocean waves off the coast of Texas may soon provide the first commercial wave power in the US to generate electricity and desalinate water.

Renew Blue Inc. said today that the Texas General Land Office has granted it the first-ever state off-shore wave energy lease. The company said it will use ocean water and waves to produce desalinated water; the first 100 percent fossil-fuel-free bottled water.

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From Green Right Now Reports

Organizers of the second IEEE Green Technology Conference are seeking technical papers on topics related to current and emerging renewable energy sources and energy-reduction technologies.

Accepted papers will be presented during the conference April 15-16 at the Gaylord Texan Hotel and Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas. They will also be published in a conference proceedings CD and available through the digital library IEEE Xplore.

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By Tom Kessler

ADDISON, Texas (ADDISONGREEN.INFO) — When you have the word “green” in your school name, it’s probably safe to assume that environmental awareness is top of mind. That’s exactly the case at Addison’s Greenhill School, a coeducational private day school with more than 1,200 students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12.

Over the last four years, the school’s Green Team — composed of parents and faculty — has led a series of sustainability initiatives that are truly putting the green in Greenhill. School leaders have looked for ways to make the school a more sustainable place and to promote eco-friendly habits in the students. >> Read the full story

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From Green Right Now Reports

Newsweek has launched a ranking of the greenest companies in America and Hewlett-Packard tops the initial list. The Newsweek Green Rankings, based on companies’ environmental footprint, policies and practices, appears in the Sept. 28 issue of the magazine.

The green ranking covers America’s 500 largest publicly traded companies as measured by revenue, market capitalization and number of employees. Companies were ranked based on criteria such as each company’s greenhouse gas emissions, toxic waste emissions and use of other natural resources. Newsweek and its partners also assessed the companies’ management of environmental issues and policies, regulatory compliance and policies concerning climate change. Newsweek said the rankings also factor in the results of a reputational survey of CEOs, corporate social responsibility officers, members of the media, academics and members of key environmental groups.

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By Harriet Blake
Green Right Now

Daryl Hannah brings a personal sweetness and actor’s intensity to the stage of environmentalism, a term she doesn’t like.

Like many environmental terms — green, eco, sustainability, organic – “companies have co-opted and glommed onto these words,” she told an audience in Fort Worth this week. Luckily, she says the public is learning to be more informed.

“People are making ethical choices that help all living things to thrive, not to just sustain,” said the casually dressed actress who has starred in many memorable films such as Splash (with Tom Hanks), Steel Magnolias (with Sally Fields), Roxanne (with Steve Martin) and two Kill Bill movies directed by Quentin Tarantino.

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From Green Right Now Reports

Whole Foods Market announced today that it purchased 776 million-kilowatt-hours of renewable energy credits from wind farms — equal to 100 percent of its electricity use in its North American operations. The company said nearly 90 percent of this year’s purchase will help fund E.ON Climate & Renewables’ recently-completed Texas-based Panther Creek wind farm.

The Panther Creek wind farm iis 50 miles east of Midland in Big Spring, Texas. It began operating in 2008, and its final phase of construction was recently completed. The project is built and operated by EC&R North America, a renewable energy developer headquartered in Chicago, with development offices in Austin and Denver. The remaining RECs come from a number of different wind farms in locations across the U.S. and Canada. The total purchase of 776,115,000 kilowatt hours, the largest to date by a U.S. retailer, was made in partnership with Boulder, Colo.-based Renewable Choice Energy.

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From Green Right Now Reports

SunChips, PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay division’s brand of multigrain snacks, announced it will work with Kroger to help raise up to $1 million to help revitalize Galveston, Texas, which was devastated by Hurricane Ike in 2008.

SunChips said that through Sept. 19, when consumers buy two bags of SunChips snacks at any of the more than 2,400 Kroger stores across the US, $1 will be donated until the project reaches $1 million. the funds will be used to create an environmentally friendly park on the famous Galveston Seawall.

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From Green Right Now Reports

Motorists in Dallas-Fort Worth now have the option of going green with their oil change service. City Garage this week began offering 100 percent re-refined motor oil called Universal ECO Performance at its 16 Metroplex locations.

The eco-friendly motor oil is the result of technology that Universal Lubricants introduced to the market in August from its re-refinery in Wichita, Kan. According to Mike Maloney, CEO of Universal Lubricants, the company has been collecting used motor oil for the last seven years. Until now, the collected motor oil had been used primarily as a combustible and in making asphalt.

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From Green Right Now Reports

A year after showing up and discovering all the trays had vanished fron their dining halls, many college students returning to campus this fall will find more “green” changes. ARAMARK Higher Education is introducing a re-usable “to go” food container for use at the campus dining halls.

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