By Michele Chan Santos
Green Right Now

Green-minded visitors to northern Colorado should consider a tour of the New Belgium Brewing Company in Fort Collins. New Belgium, best known for its Fat Tire Amber Ale brand, is one of the most environmentally progressive breweries in the world. The brewery has used wind-powered electricity since 1999, and green-design methods have been incorporated throughout the company. I visited the headquarters on a recent trip and discovered that many aspects of company life are dedicated to sustainability.

New Belgium sponsors a charity bike-and-music event called “Tour de Fat” in eleven cities in the United States, including Austin, Chicago, Minneapolis and Portland, that encourages people to trade their car for a bike, at least for a day. At Tour de Fat events, beer is served in compostable cups, and performers take to a solar-powered stage. (A Tour de Fat schedule is online.)

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From Green Right Now Reports

SustainableBusiness.com has released its 8th annual list of 20 public companies that are leading the way to a sustainable economy. The selections are made in cooperation with a group of judges consisting of leading green stock analysts.

Judges select companies across the range of green business sectors: solar, wind, geothermal, smart grid, water, food, agriculture, green building and transport. SustainableBusiness.com said a third of the companies populating this year’s list are “corporate pioneers” — companies with conventional products and services that are greening their product lines.

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By Shermakaye Bass
Green Right Now

“Travel by long distance and stay a while…”

That catchy slogan from a few decades ago touted the power of long-distance telephone calls to keep you and your close contacts closer. Now, with dozens of online-conference companies hitting the market, long-distance relations and communications have really arrived at the next frontier.

Call it web-conferencing, virtual meeting, webinar’ing or call it what you like, but chances are before long your company already is — or will soon be — conducting business meetings over long distances using online technology that links individuals from around the world, in a virtual conference room accessed in real-time from your desk.

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From Green Right Now Reports

Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Restaurant Associates have unveiled a guide to green dining best practices, which is aimed at helping corporate cafeterias, museums and restaurants cut costs and spare the environment.

The science-based recommendations have been tested by two Restaurant Associates clients, Random House and Hearst Corporation. The two companies combined will save over $85,000 each year, cut 275 tons of carbon pollution and reduce landfill waste by 60 tons annually, according to early test results.

An earlier survey by the National Restaurant Association found that environmentally friendly equipment and sustainable practices topped chefs’ lists of hot trends and top cost-savers for 2009.

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From Green Right Now Reports

When it comes to employing green practices, golf courses have been pretty much buried in a sand trap. That could change, with the help of a new best practices handbook from the Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC) and LandStudies, Inc.

Golf course superintendents can now take advantage of the new Water Resources Best Management Practices Handbook to help make their courses truly green. The handbook includes a detailed description of each recommended practice, its environmental benefit, and a local example with contact information so that superintendents can learn first-hand how to install the practice. There also are links to additional online resources.

“Pennsylvania has over 800 public and private golf courses covering thousands of acres of open space, streams and ponds,” Don Welsh, president & CEO of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, said in a statement. “With this Handbook, superintendents can improve water quality and watershed habitat at their courses using proven best management practices that in many cases will also lower maintenance costs.”

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By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

Office Depot is taking its green commitment to a new level, putting its green buying policies and consumer guides onto a new environmental website to help businesses assess their eco-friendly options, learn why they might want to go green and read about Office Depot’s environmental strategies.

The consumer guides help people learn about certified products like, for instance, Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) paper, which is sourced from sustainable forests specifically managed to regenerate.

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From Green Right Now Reports

The California Public Utilities Commission yesterday approved a plan by Southern California Edison to build the largest U.S. installation of advanced solar panels on otherwise unused large commercial rooftops across Southern California.

The installation will occur over the next five years and will result in 250 megawatts of solar generating capacity. The utility also will conduct competitive solicitations offering long-term power contracts to independent solar power providers who will install an additional 250 megawatts, bringing to 500 megawatts the total generating capacity of the project — the largest photovoltaic program ever undertaken.

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FROM GREEN RIGHT NOW REPORTS:

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has announced it’s ditching polystyrene coffee and tea cups to switch to “Bio-Cups” coated with Ingeo plant-based plastic, which are biodegradable and take up less space.

“The introduction of the Bio-Cups on board fits in perfectly with our sustainability policy,” said Bart Vos, executive vice president of In-Flight Services for KLM. “Our staff on board are also enthusiastic as the cups are not only environmentally friendly, but also easy to store and have a good design as well.”

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From Green Right Now Reports:

Solazyme Inc., a Bay Area algal fuel company, has won the San Francisco Business Times’ Bay Area Green Business Award for Renewable Energy Fuels.

The awards, presented June 11, recognize the Bay Area’s clean technology companies. A panel of area experts judged more than 200 nominations in 14 categories. Judging took three months.

“The San Francisco Bay Area is the heart of Green Technology innovation, we are proud to be selected for this honor, recognizing the work we’ve done in bringing renewable oil production and algal fuel to commercialization,” said Jonathan Wolfson, chief executive officer of Solazyme, in a statement. “This award further demonstrates the importance of our technology and research and recognizes our position in the industry during this critical time for our environment and for energy security.”

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By Shermakaye Bass
Green Right Now

Last week, the Obama Administration announced a new youth-jobs program designed to simultaneously boost the country’s economy and ecology: a promising, if labyrinthine, new agency called the Office of Youth in Natural Resources (OYNR), which falls under the Department of the Interior. The OYNR debuts with a program, the 21st Century Youth Conservation Corps, patterned after the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930’s (but not expected to create the 3 million jobs CCC did).

The timing couldn’t be better. The White House has been increasingly criticized for the slowness with which ‘Stimulus Act’ money has resulted in actual shovel-ready jobs. Putting kids to work is a great way to counter the criticism.

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From Green Right Now Reports

Puget Sound Energy announced it has distributed more than 10 million free and discounted compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs to its more than 1 million electric customers in Western Washington since the residential lighting program launched in 2002.

The utility said there is now an average of 10 energy-saving bulbs in use for every customer in the utility’s 9-county electric service area. PSE has distributed the bulbs to electric customers through local retailers, events and special promotions.

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From Green Right Now Reports

American Airlines Flight 63 will depart from Paris this Thursday morning, headed for Miami but — the airline hopes — it will land in history.

This flight aims to prove that trans-Atlantic flights, a source of many global CO2 emissions, can be operated a bit greener and leaner.

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