It could be colder in Boston this time of year. With overnight lows in the upper 40s, it’s not the worst or best condition for sleeping outside.

"Sleepers" gather in Boston

Still, that’s what dozens of college students and environmental activists across the state have decided to do to make a point about clean energy and press Gov. Deval Patrick to promote a bill that would power Massachusetts with 100 percent clean energy by 2020.

The students, organized through the student-led Leadership Campaign, began their “sleep out” protest this past weekend with about 70 students and community members sleeping out in Boston Common.

Participants came from Harvard and Boston Universities; from Clark University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute and even from Westfield State College and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in the western part of the state. Community members came from all over the state and included ordained clergy, according to organizers.

The plan: To sleep outdoors instead of in dormitories and houses powered by “dirty electricity”, until a plan is in place to power homes with clean electricity. Monday morning, after the first sleep in, students lobbied legislators at the Statehouse.

How long will the students shiver in the night? They’ll be back every Sunday night in Boston Common, and on other campuses students will continue to sleep out through the week,  until early December, if necessary. The activists want Patrick to introduce and pass a bill before Dec. 7, when global climate negotiations begin in Copenhagen. (Find out more about sleeping out on their website.)

“Massachusetts has already led on this issue,” said protest coordinator Craig Altemose. “When the science said 450 parts per million [of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was the safe upper limit], the Legislature passed a bill putting the Commonwealth on track with this target.

“But now the science says 350 is the highest safe level.  We’re now at 390, so we know that the Legislature and the Governor will again step forward and lead us to a clean energy future with accurate science-based targets.”

What the students and activists are asking for is realistic, says Dan Abrams, a spokesman for the Leadership Campaign.

Tents in Boston

“…There have been numerous reports that state that we can get a very high percentage of our energy in Massachusetts from wind and solar alone.  I have read a report that says we can get around 60% of our energy from wind alone. I also have heard of a report from the Union of Concerned Scientists that says we can get 92% of our energy from wind and solar (and that doesn’t include off shore wind or energy conservation),” Abrams said.

But moving to clean energy is not really a choice dictated by how easy or not it will be to shift the infrastructure and electricity generation, he said.

“The science has clearly stated the world needs to cap the carbon in our atmosphere at 350ppm and we must do whatever it takes to get us below that number; 10 years is how long we are giving our government because it’s very scientifically possible to get to this goal much sooner but it is the politics that take a little bit longer.”

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Northampton, Mass.-based non-profit Soldier On, which will break ground this month on a limited-equity housing project for formerly homeless veterans, said the project will use photovoltaic technology supplied by Berkeley, Calif.-based Borrego Solar to supply electricity to its 39 apartments.

Berkshire Veterans Village will house formerly homeless veterans. (Image: Soldier On)

Berkshire Veterans Village in Pittsfield is intended to serve as a new national model for transitioning veterans from homelessness to home ownership. The Soldier On, which has been helping get veterans off the street since 1994, said a second limited-equity housing project is planned for Leeds. The organization said it eventually hopes to take the model to a national level.

Borrego, which has its East Coast office in Boston, designed a 40.32 kilowatt DC photovoltaic power generation system for the project. According to Borrego:

• The system will reduce carbon emissions by 71,012 lbs of CO2 annually.
• The reduction in carbon emissions is equivalent to the emissions from an average passenger car driving 135,625 miles every year for 30 years.
• This system will reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 617 pounds over its life. Nitrogen oxides are a major contributor to smog and air-induced respiratory problems.

The housing project will give formerly homeless veterans the opportunity to become homeowners, in many cases for the first time in their lives. Veterans will have the opportunity to purchase an equity share that will be held in trust and will be available to them should they choose to move out, or will become part of their estate.

The housing units will be managed by the veterans who purchase equity in apartments. Those veterans will have completed a progression from Soldier On’s shelter in Leeds, Mass. to its transitional housing facility in Pittsfield. In the limited-equity housing project, they will continue to be surrounded by the services they need and the community of support Soldier On provides.

The Oct. 29 groundbreaking event for the project is scheduled to include as speakers Mass. Lieutenant Gov. Tim Murray and Stephen Coyle, CEO of the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust, along with Gordon Mansfield, former Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Department of Energy announced $10 million has been awarded to 16 cities for 40 new Solar America Cities Special Projects. The funds, made through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will enable the cities to increase solar energy use in their communities through innovative programs and policies that the government believes can be replicated across the nation.

The cities chosen for these awards came from the group of 25 large U.S. cities that are part of the DOE’s Solar America Cities program, which recognizes the participating cities as partners highly committed to solar technology adoption at the local level. Those cities already have been given millions of dollars in funds and technical assistance to accelerate solar adoption.

To this point, the cities have used the funding to develop solar financing models, improve solar permitting processes, and create training courses for solar installers, among other uses. The DOE said this new award will enable the cities to scale up their most promising projects and concepts to overcome key barriers to urban solar energy use. The DOE plans to share the lessons learned and best practices from these projects with local governments throughout the nation through a substantial outreach effort planned to launch in early 2010.

The DOE has selected the following Solar America Cities Special Projects:

Austin, TX

• Solar Curriculum Development and School Demonstration Projects

Berkeley, CA

• Smart Solar Regional Expansion and Solar Map Enhancements

Boston, MA

• Solar Evacuation Route

Madison, WI

• MadiSUN Community Solar Financing
• Target Marketing Solar to Businesses
• Solar Business Center

Milwaukee, WI

• Solar Hot Water Business Council
• Solar Water Heating Demonstration Projects and Best Practices Manual
• Property Assessed Clean Energy Financing
• Solar School Swap

Minneapolis – Saint Paul, MN

• Solar for District Heating and Cooling

New Orleans, LA

• Third Party Solar Tax Credit Implementation
• Sustainable Energy Financing District Implementation

New York City, NY

• Smart Solar City Data Acquisition System
• Community Solar Financing
• Smart Solar Virtual Community

Portland, OR

• Solar Now! Regional Outreach Campaign
• Neighborhood-Based Volume Solar Purchasing
• Residential Solar Power Purchase Agreement Model for Utility-Bill Financing
• Neighborhood-Scale Distributed Energy Systems

Salt Lake City, UT

• Solar Rebate Program Expansion and Third Party PPA Legal Analysis
• Financing Options for Mid to Large Scale Solar Systems

San Diego, CA

• Solar Financing Options for Multifamily Affordable Housing
• Solar-Powered Fire Shelter Integration into Disaster Response Planning

San Francisco, CA

• Debt-Financed Solar Water Heating Retrofits for Affordable Housing
• San Francisco Sustainable Financing Program (SF²)
• Commercial Solar Power Purchase Agreement Model
• Solar Financing for Public Schools

San José, CA

• Property Assessed Solar Financing through Joint Powers Authority
• Solar Loans for City Staff
• Qualified Energy Conservation Bond Financing for Revolving Solar Loan Fund
• Streamlined Regional Solar Permitting Process
• Solar Train the Trainer Internship Program
• Solar Career Training for At-Risk Youth
• Green Vision Education and Demonstration Center

Santa Rosa, CA

• Clean Energy Advocate

Seattle, WA

• Community Solar Financing through Municipal Utility

Tucson, AZ

• Creative Financing for Municipal Solar Installations
• Solar One Stop Shop
• Solar Integration into Green Building Codes and Infrastructure Planning

The fifth annual Conference on Clean Energy, which showcases opportunities in clean energy for the New England area, will be held in Boston at the Hynes Convention Center on Nov. 12 and 13.

The conference unites entrepreneurs, investors, late-stage companies and market leaders and others in the clean energy start-up community. It will include panel discussions and two days of investor pitches by emerging clean-tech companies.

Dr. Steven Koonin, U.S. Department of Energy Under Secretary of Science will keynote the first day of the event. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Ian A. Bowles, secretary of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, will speak.

For more information and to view the full agenda, please visit the CCE web site.

St. Anthony’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Fla., has earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR, the national symbol for superior energy efficiency and environmental protection. St. Anthony’s is the first hospital in Florida and one of only 86 hospitals in the nation to achieve this recognition. Buildings that receive the EPA’s ENERGY STAR designation reduce greenhouse gas emissions by meeting strict energy-efficient specifications set by the government.

Commercial buildings that earn the EPA’s ENERGY STAR use an average of 40 percent less energy than typical buildings and also release 35 percent less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. St. Anthony’s Hospital improved its energy performance by managing energy strategically across the entire organization and by making cost-effective improvements to the building. The EPA’s national energy performance rating system provides a 1-100 scale that helps organizations assess how efficiently their buildings use energy relative to similar buildings nationwide. St. Anthony’s earned the EPA’s ranking of 87 out of 100 — placing it among the top 25 percent of energy efficient facilities in the country.

Since 2005, the hospital has conserved electricity by 1.5 million kilowatts, decreased natural gas use by 36 percent, and reduced water consumption by 4.7 million gallons. Ongoing maintenance focuses on efficient operation, including monitoring the performance of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. By conserving and managing energy strategically, and making cost-effective improvements to the building, the hospital saves hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual energy costs and reduces the emission of greenhouse gases.

New Detroit Edison program will enable customers to cut the cost of installing solar energy

Detroit Edison has introduced a new program that will make installing a solar energy system 50 percent more affordable for homes and businesses. Called SolarCurrents, the pilot program is intended to encourage Detroit Edison customers to purchase and install a solar energy system, and at the same time help the utility meet renewable energy targets contained in comprehensive energy legislation approved last year.

Solar energy systems generate electricity through the use of photovoltaic (PV) technology, which turns the sun’s light energy into electricity. After passing through a component called an inverter, the direct current electricity generated by the solar panels is converted to alternating current – the type of electricity accessed through standard electric outlets.

A solar energy system for a typical 2,000 square foot home or business can cost about $18,000 to install. Under SolarCurrents, customers will receive a one-time payment when their system is installed. They then will receive monthly credits on their electric bill for the next 20 years for providing Detroit Edison with renewable energy credits associated with the system.

Detroit Edison also plans to introduce a second-phase of the SolarCurrents programs in which the company will place large-scale solar energy panels it owns on customer rooftops or property. In return, Detroit Edison will pay long term leasing or rental fees to the property owners. Further details on the next phase of the SolarCurrents program are expected in the coming months.

Boston opens world’s first international green technology trade center

The International Green Technology Trade Center, the world’s first permanent trade show for Green Tech, today announced its launch at the TradeCenter128 green building complex located on Route 128, Boston’s Technology Highway, minutes from the region’s leading research universities.

The IGTTC is a permanent business marketplace designed to generate sales and brand recognition for 250+ cutting-edge green technology companies from around the world. For Green Tech companies seeking to join a beehive of economic activity, the IGTTC leverages economies of scale to attract trade buyers, manufacturers and investors to this dynamic networking environment.

The 3rd Annual Mass Energy Summit will educate business owners, executives, municipal leaders and others about the wide variety of energy supply choices, conservation methods, and the evolving array of alternatives to fossil fuels. Experts will participate in three panels: Funding Alternative Energy Projects, Economic Impact of Large Scale Renewable Energy Developments Retrofitting & Renovating for Energy Efficiency/LEED Certification.

Ian Bowles, Massachusetts Secretary of Energy & Environmental Affairs, will be the luncheon keynote speaker. The Central Mass. Green Awards, honoring businesses committed to green and sustainable practices, will also be presented at the lunch.

The cost of the Massachusetts Energy Summit is $55 and includes a networking breakfast and lunch. Register online at wbjournal.com. For more information call 508-755-8004 ext. 286 or email kprosser@wbjournal.com.

Grammy winner and environmental activist Sheryl Crow will open the U.S. Green Building Council’s Greenbuild 2009 Conference, the organization announced today.

“Performing at Greenbuild is like being on the international stage of the green movement, celebrating with you the progress we’re making on this important issue,” Crow said in a statement.

The Greenbuild International Conference & Expo, scheduled for Nov. 11 to 13 in Phoenix, has grown to be the leading forum on sustainable buildings and communities. Because of its increasing profile and size, the USGBC decided to open this year’s event at Chase Field, home to Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks.

“Beyond her music, Sheryl Crow’s informed and effective advocacy made her the natural choice to help us open Greenbuild in a new and powerful way,” Rick Fedrizzi, USGBC President, CEO and Founding Chair, said in a statement. “More than 25,000 people gather every year at Greenbuild because we know that the building industry can play a major role in reducing carbon emissions and increasing energy independence and economic growth.”

A graduate of the University of Missouri, Crow also holds honorary degrees from Temple University and Southeast Missouri University. She has been on the leading edge in urging the adoption of efficient technologies like CFLs and biofuels, and has applied her influence to the grassroots, the media, Fortune 500 companies and the government to build support for environmental protection.

In addition to guest speakers, Greenbuild 2009 also will feature more than 100 educational sessions, LEED and Education Provider workshops, off-site educational sessions, a two day Residential Summit, and tours of local green building sites throughout the Arizona area. More than 1,700 exhibitors will showcase some of the leading technologies and products in green design, construction and operations.

Last year’s Greenbuild, held in Boston, drew more than 28,000 attendees and featured more than 800 exhibit booths. Past Greenbuild keynote speakers have included President Bill Clinton, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, E.O. Wilson, Van Jones, William McDonough and Paul Hawken.

Related link:

• See presentations made at last year’s Greenbuild

Related video:

2008 Greenbuild Recap Video:

The Princeton Review has released its second annual Green Ratings of colleges: a measure of how environmentally friendly the institutions are on a scale of 60 to 99. The company tallied its Green Ratings for 697 institutions based on data it collected from the colleges in 2008-09 concerning their environmentally related policies, practices, and academic offerings.

The Princeton Review also named 15 colleges to its “2010 Green Rating Honor Roll” – a list that salutes the institutions that received the highest possible score – 99 – in this year’s rating tallies:

(in alphabetical order)

• Arizona State University at the Tempe campus
• Bates College (Lewiston ME)
• Binghamton University (State Univ. of New York at Binghamton)
• College of the Atlantic (Bar Harbor ME)
• Colorado College (Colorado Springs CO)
• Dickinson College (Carlisle PA)
• Evergreen State College (Olympia WA)
• Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta)
• Harvard College (Cambridge MA)
• Middlebury College (Middlebury VT)
• Northeastern University (Boston MA)
• University of California – Berkeley
• University of New Hampshire (Durham)
• University of Washington (Seattle)
• Yale University (New Haven CT)

San Francisco residents are more likely to go for a green vehicle than drivers in other cities, according to new research from Nielsen. The Nielsen Claritas’ PRIZM Market Potential Report found that households in San Francisco are 60 percent more likely to buy a green vehicle than the average U.S. home.

Washington D.C. was second (44 percent more likely) and New York City finished third (31 percent more likely).

The research looked at the national ownership rates of high-mileage vehicles including the Honda Fit, Toyota Prius, Toyota Yaris and Mini Cooper. Using auto registration data from RL Polk and Nielsen’s PRIZM segmentation, the percentage of each segment owning these vehicles was calculated. Individual market potential then was calculated based upon the segment composition of each market.

“These estimates help manufacturers and marketers better understand the markets that have ‘green’ potential, and help them focus their resources,” Bruce Wilkinson, vice president of media and communications for Nielsen Claritas, said in a statement. “Additionally, it helps them to plan media campaigns and determine inventory levels for each model, market-by-market.”

10 Top Cities With Market Potential For Green Autos
(City — Potential Buyers – Index)

1. San Francisco et al, CA – 11,184 – 160
2. Washington et al, DC-MD – 9,301 – 144
3. New York, NY – 27,417 – 131
4. Boston et al, MA-NH – 8,625 – 129
5. San Diego, CA – 3,842 – 129
6. Chicago, IL – 12,218 – 125
7. Monterey-Salinas, CA – 807 – 125
8. Honolulu, HI – 1,525 – 124
9. Los Angeles, CA – 19,519 – 122
10. Baltimore, MD – 3,765 – 122

Places where gas guzzlers still rule the road tended toward the south and Midwest, with the states of West Virginia and Mississippi holding seven of the ten areas that had the lowest rates of green auto ownership.

Cities With Lowest Market Potential For Green Autos
(City — Potential Buyers – Index)

1. Glendive, MT – 6 – 56
2. Charleston et al, WV – 738 – 55
3. Tri-Cities, TN-VA – 504 – 54
4. Clarksburg-Weston, WV – 168 – 54
5. Hattiesburg-Laurel, MS – 161 – 53
6. Columbus et al, MS – 263 – 50
7. Presque Isle, ME – 43 – 49
8. Bluefield et al, WV – 194 – 48
9. Meridian, MS – 97 – 48
10. Greenwood-Greenville, MS – 98 – 46

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) Mayor Thomas Leighton won the 2009 Mayors’ Climate Protection Awards, the U.S. Conference of Mayors announced today.

The awards, sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Mayors and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., recognizes mayors for innovative practices in their cities designed to increase energy efficiency and curb global warming. An independent panel of judges determined the winners from a pool of 140 applicants.

Conference President Manuel Diaz, Miami Mayor, said the two winners were “great examples of the local action taking place within our cities to become climate friendly.”

Denver worked with the area’s 32 metropolitan mayors and the Regional Transportation District to win support for a sales tax increase to build FasTraks, the largest transportation initiative in the country with 119 miles of new light rail.

Regionwide, 51 of the 57 new stations will have Transit Oriented Development potential – meaning the potential to reduce sprawl, and provide pedestrian- and bike-friendly environments that encourage residents to live, work, shop, and play in close proximity to transit, thus reducing their carbon footprint. Last year, Mayor Hickenlooper also pledged to make the Democratic Convention the greenest in history.

“We were able to demonstrate to residents throughout the metropolitan area how they would benefit — that even if they wouldn’t ride light rail, they’d end up with shorter commute times by getting as many people possible off the highways and onto the trains,” Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper said in a statement. “FasTraks will be a crown jewel for Colorado and a clear example of what can happen when government and the communities they serve come together for a common goal.”

Wilkes-Barre initiated an efficient energy service program that lessened the city’s impact on the environment while saving an estimated $170,000 annually. The broad-based, public initiative relied on a combination of energy efficiency upgrades in various city departments. These ranged from new compact fluorescent lamps; overhead and pyramid lighting in public parking garages and public spaces; LED traffic signalization lamps; and a new HVAC system in city hall.

The project was completely financed through a 15-year bank loan to the City of Wilkes-Barre. In 15 years, the annual energy savings to the City of Wilkes-Barre will be sufficient to pay back the loan with interest.

“By winning this award, we hope to serve as a model for other communities and businesses who strive to become more environmentally conscious,” Wilkes-Barre Mayor Thomas M. Leighton said in a statement.

The following cities were selected as finalists for the awards:

Large City Finalists:

Boston; Charleston; Chattanooga; Colorado Springs; Frisco, Texas; Honolulu ; Houston; Louisville; San Francisco; Seattle; Stamford; and Tallahassee.

Small City Finalists:

Carmel, In.; Chapel Hill, N.C.; Columbia, Mo.; Highland Park, Ill.; Manhattan Beach, Calif.; North Miami Beach, Fla.; and Pleasanton, Calif.

By Shermakaye Bass
Green Right Now

The world is not our oyster. At least, not according to The Nature Conservancy, which presented a pioneering survey on the state of global shellfish to the International Marine Conservation Congress in Washington, DC in late May that uncovered some startling statistics.

Conducted by Nature Conservancy scientists from five continents over a five-year period, the first-ever report states that 85 percent of the world’s oyster reefs have disappeared over the last 150-odd years, largely due to over-harvesting, poor water quality and degraded environments. The complex habitats, also called oyster beds by some, are vital to the world’s bays and estuaries. And as go the reefs, the report warns, so, potentially, go much larger, interlocking marine ecosystems.

“One third of the places that we looked at globally were functionally extinct,” lead author Mike Beck, senior scientist for the Conservancy’s Marine Initiative, told GreenRightNow. “That means they had less than 1 percent remaining of the former habitat, as best as we could tell. That occurs on every continent except Antarctica – where oysters don’t occur.”

He explained that European coasts once thrived with oyster reefs, and even the once legendary fisheries of America’s West Coast are in dire straits.

“Now, there’s virtually nothing left in all of Europe. We’ve also seen extraordinary declines in the Northwest and Chesapeake – and we’ve almost forgotten (laymen, not scientists) that there used to be a native Olympia Oyster out there, from British Columbia to Mexico. The San Francisco Bay used to be full of them,” Beck said, pointing out that one famous American writer made a few bucks off the Golden Gate’s oyster trade, in more ways than one.

From Green Right Now Reports

The University of New Hampshire announced today that it has completed its “EcoLine” gas-to-energy project, which will use purified methane gas from a nearby landfill to power the campus. The five million square-foot campus in Durham, N.H., will receive up to 85 percent of its electricity and heat from the system, making UNH the first university in the nation to use landfill gas as its primary fuel source.

EcoLine is a partnership between the university and Waste Management’s Turnkey Recycling and Environmental Enterprise in Rochester, N.H. Methane gas, a naturally occurring by-product of landfill decomposition, is collected via a state-of-the-art collection system consisting of more than 300 extraction wells and miles of collection pipes.

“This massive project, more than four years in the making, will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and stabilize our fuel source and costs,” UNH President Mark W. Huddleston, said in a statement. “EcoLine showcases UNH’s fiscal and environmental responsibility and secures our leadership position in sustainability.”

After the gas is purified and compressed at a new UNH processing plant at Waste Management’s facility, it travels through a 12.7-mile-pipeline from the landfill to UNH’s cogeneration plant, where it will replace commercial natural gas as the primary fuel source. In operation since 2006, UNH’s cogeneration plant captures waste heat normally lost during the production of electricity and uses this energy to heat campus buildings.

The project’s cost, including construction of the pipeline and the landfill processing plant, totaled $49 million. UNH officials said they will sell renewable energy certificates (RECs) generated by using landfill gas to help finance the overall cost of the project and to invest in additional energy efficiency projects on campus. The university also plans to sell excess power back to the electric grid.

“By selling the RECs from EcoLine, UNH will further fund its aggressive plan toward climate neutrality,” Tom Kelly, UNH chief sustainability officer and director of the office of sustainability, said in a statement. “With this climate action plan, called WildCAP, UNH has committed to lowering its emissions by 50 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2080.”

The University of New Hampshire was founded in 1866 and has 11,800 undergraduate and 2,400 graduate students.

Related video: