Hollywood’s feature films are greening up their productions thanks to the Producers Guild of America (PGA) Green Committee. Founded in 2008, the committee is reaching out to productions worldwide, reducing their carbon footprint and leading the industry in the fight against climate change. They are replanting trees, keeping Styrofoam out of their catering services, and recycling costumes, paints, props and fabrics.

“The Producers Guild of America (PGA) is a national non-profit trade group committed to protecting the rights and credits of producers in film, television and new media. Given the current climate crisis and the significance of the environmental impacts of film production, a movement is growing to support sustainable production practices,” said Amanda Scarano Carter, Co-Chair of PGA Green Committee West.

While it is the producers who have joined forces to encourage people to limit their environmental impact, they are getting some celebrity help. On the set of “Knight & Day”, Cameron Diaz has been proactive. She made sure there were no plastic bottles on the set, and that recycle bins were placed all around. “It makes it a lot easier when you have someone as influential as Cameron Diaz setting the tone,” said Fred Baron, Chair of the PGA Green Committee.

The committee’s website provides tools for industry professionals to exchange ideas and make suggestions about greening the filmmaking process. In the near future the committee’s website will become an environmental portal for the six major studios and film industry as a whole. It will feature a carbon calculator and a green marketplace where sets, costumes, and movie accessories can be exchanged. “I am very excited about the direction we are going,”  Baron said.

The PGA Green Committee also is taking their sustainable efforts off the set. This past Saturday, they joined with the Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles to green up a Lynwood, California community. The project will put up LEED-certified houses.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Officials gathered in a tiny corner of Utah yesterday to celebrate a new age of energy production that will carry the power of the wind to where it is needed most, in this case, to population centers in California.

Wind tubines outside Milford, Utah (Photo: First Wind)

The occasion was the opening of the “Milford Wind Corridor Project,” which is expected to generate enough electricity to power about 45,000 Southern California homes.

The project by First Wind, an independent power company based in Boston, is the largest renewable energy facility in Utah and comprises 97 giant wind turbines. This first phase of the project cost nearly $86 million (including “indirect” spending on wages and taxes) and created 250 development and construction jobs, according to a spokesman for the company.

Those attending the ribbon-cutting outside Milford, included Utah Lt. Governor Greg Bell and officials with the federal Bureau of Land Management, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), the cities of Burbank and Pasadena and the Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA).

“This development primes Utah’s economic engine, while also protecting our environment,” said Bell. “We’re pleased this project is online and look forward to the next phases of the project getting underway.”

“Not only is this First Wind’s largest project to date, but it is the largest wind farm in Utah and one of the largest in the West. We’re looking forward to expanding it in the months and years to come,” said Paul Gaynor, CEO of First Wind. “This project is a great example of the kind of development that helps create jobs and helps stimulate the economy.”

The details of the project:

• The 97 wind turbines include 58 2.5-MW wind turbines and 39 1.5-MW turbines. Components of the large turbines are made in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The smaller wind turbines, made by General Electric, are made outside the US.

• It was financed with the help of the Royal Bank of Scotland, which helped arrange a package of financing through   many other foreign banks.

• Compared with traditional electricity generation by oil- or coal-powered plants, the Milford project will save 210,000 tons of carbon dioxide in a year, the equivalent of taking 37,000 cars off the road.

• The project is the first wind energy facility permitted under the Bureau of Land Management’s “Wind Energy Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement” for Western States. Selma Sierra, Utah state director for the BLM lauded it as an example of how quickly and efficiently the US can produce “positive, clean, renewable energy” when federal and state agencies partner with private industry.

• The project broke ground in Nov. 2008, bringing its first phase to fruition in just under a year

• The project helps fulfill a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) that First Wind completed in 2007 with Southern Califronai Public Power AUthroity (SCPPA) on behalf of the LA Department of Water and Power (LADWP) and the cities of Burbank and Pasadena.

“This is another significant source of renewable energy that will help us meet Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s and the City of LA’s goal to achieve 20 percent renewables by 2010, reduce our carbon footprint, fight global warming, and foster cleaner air,” said LADWP General Manager S. David Freeman.

First Wind also is working on a project in Maine, and announced earlier this month that it has contracted with Harvard University to be a buyer of that wind. Harvard expects the wind farm to supply at least 10 percent of its power needs at its Cambridge and Allston campuses. The wind project, called the Stetson II, is near Danforth, Maine.

Back in California, the SCPPA will soon be gathering more wind from another source, a Cannon Power Group wind farm in Washington state.

Cannon, a veteran in the wind energy field with installations around the world, announced today that it has received $19.4 million in federal renewable energy grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to start construction of a 400 megawatt wind farm in Washington state. The power from the Windy Point/Windy Flats project will be used by California cities.

This new project is expected to take 18 months and employ more than 300 people in construction and permanent jobs, providing a “much needed financial cushion for many area families,” noted Gary Hardke, president and managing director of Cannon, which is based in San Diego.
The project is expected to produce enough electricity to supply more than 250,000 households.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Peter Schulberg and the nonprofit Eco-LogicalART Gallery announced that “Taking It All Off For ART/3” will premiere Oct. 10th, 2009 at 7 p.m. The exhibit features a “live” curtain drop to reveal a 14-foot by 48-foot art piece painted on a recycled billboard and installed directly over the Eco-LA Gallery. Now called “Second Saturday at Eco-LA” once installed, the art over the gallery will be seen 35,000 times daily and over 1 million times by months end.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict that it will become increasingly fashionable, practical and accepted to do away with your perfectly coiffed green velvet, water-sucking, chemically dependent lawn…and replace it with…a vegetable garden!

I’m not saying the neighbors will rush into your newly composted, tomato and potato plot with tambourines or anything, just that they might not file a homeowner’s association complaint.

There are just too many trendsetters in this arena for the concept of literally laying down roots to not take hold.

Remember the Eat the View campaign? A modest kitchen gardener in Maine and his like-minded buddies pushed through a petition with some 100,000 signers convincing the Obamas to convert some turf to veggie gardening at the White House. The presidential garden, although still surrounded by fields of grass, has been warmly watched by veggie gardeners and struck just the right note in this year of economic hardship.

Even before that eco-event, artist and free-thinker Fritz Haeg, author of Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn was lapping the country, setting up demonstration projects and appealing to everyone to consider growing food instead of ornamental grasses that drink up valuable water.

Haeg is putting out a new edition of his book, by the way, and is seeking food-growing pioneers in Zones 3,4,5, and 9. Contact him and your garden may be featured in the 2010 edition of “Edible Estates.” Contact his assistant, Claire Zitzow, in Los Angeles (323-255-5998 or go through his website.)

For more on Haeg, who’s an artist who advocates “confrontations” with the status quo via gardening (as opposed to a gardener who sees artistry in plants), see our story about him during an appearance in Austin last year.

The lawn-seizing movement isn’t all about food. Many front yards, such as those with hot Western exposures or those with Northern orientations that lack the light for growing veggies, are better appointed with native shrubs and flowers. Native gardens not only conserve water, they lure pollinators, provide shelter for wildlife and can be sustained without chemicals.

The majority of landscapers are still wedded to installing ornamental non-native grasses and exotic blooming shrubs. (And no wonder, many homeowner’s associations require certain types of turf; not to mention our own entrenchment). But some designers are stepping out of the mold.

California landscaper Rama Nayeri, who has a degree in landscape architecture from California Polytechnic State University at Pomona, has been blogging about how to kill the grass. It ain’t easy. The blog features pictures of a project in Irvine by Nayeri’s Creations Landscape Design that shows less can be more when it comes to sacking the green carpet and going native. The result (see right) is lovely. No mowing required.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

You’re thinking you should have a green wedding, go local with the food, maybe order some sustainable, um, items….

Truth is, you’re not really sure what a green wedding entails. Local greens for the rehearsal dinner? Elephant poop name plates? Pistachio bridesmaid’s dresses. Argh!

You can go as far as you want, or you can go all out, says green guru Sarah Shewey, founder of Pink Cloud Events, a full-service, LA-based events company that specializes in green affairs.

Pink Cloud is helping introduce betrothed couples to all the green options at a day-long salon of workshops for couples on Aug. 29 at the James Irvine Garden at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in downtown LA’s Little Tokyo. The Soi-Même (French translation: “oneself”) event is aimed at DIY wedding couples who want to have an eco-sensitive nuptials, but need help pulling all the pieces together. It will feature a variety of vendors, from caterers to sustainability experts.

A wedding, of all life’s events, offers people a special opportunity to act on their beliefs and “share their cool green lifestyle with the people around them,” Shewey said.

“In this stage of a couple’s relationship, you’re making a lot of decisions together about your life and how you represent that to the people closest to you. Planning a green wedding just seems to be a natural fit.”

Among those who will be featured or have representatives at the day-long (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.) event:

• Paperless Post – It’s like an e-vite, says Shewey, but with customization possibilities, so your wedding mail and RSVPs can have the “look and feel” of an exquisite wedding invitation. “It’s a really beautiful stationery and can look like letterpress.”

• Large Marge Sustainables – This catering company focuses on vegan, vegetarian and pescatarian foods. They compost all their waste, and throw an elegant, but not super formal buffet or sit-down feast.

• The Green Life Company – This Santa Monica business offers a green registry for brides and grooms that has been set up especially for the Pink Cloud salon. It can help couples identify green home goods, such as organic linens, ceramic pots and kitchen ware with eco credentials. The registry makes it easier for invitees to choose a green gift.

Couples interested in attending the Soi-Même salon can register online at Pink Cloud Events. The price to attend is $25. Brides who pre-register online will get the chance to win a four-night honeymoon stay at one of 14 private villas in the Azulik eco-resort located in Playa del Carmen’s Tulum, Mexico.

“Soi-Même is the place for DIY brides and grooms to find the perfect items they’ve been searching for, pick up expert tips on planning a smooth and authentically green wedding, as well as have a fun time sharing their stories with each other in a serene environment,” says Shewey.

(Pink Cloud  is a full service event company founded in 2006; it’s name refers to that wonderful LA twilight that graces the early evening, lending beauty to the opening of so many nighttime soirees.)

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Related story:

• Green is the new white in weddings

Los Angeles County has more businesses than any other county in California that stand to benefit from the state’s leadership on climate change, according to a first-of-its-kind map of green businesses in California released today. The map was released in conjunction with an Environmental Defense Fund report outlining how the Los Angeles area can leverage its environmental leadership to create economic opportunities.

The California Green Economy map features more than 2,200 businesses statewide in four categories — energy generation, energy efficiency, green building and transportation — that are likely to grow as California transitions to a low-carbon economy.

Southern California alone has more than 1,000 green companies, according to the Los Angeles Greenprint report, which details how the implementation of Green LA and Solar LA initiatives proposed by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa are expected produce high-quality green jobs for people living in the Los Angeles area.

Companies on the map can be sorted by city, county and congressional district. The top five counties are:

1. Los Angeles County, 398 companies
2. San Diego County, 208 companies
3. Orange County, 202 companies
4. Santa Clara County, 173 companies
5. Alameda County, 131 companies

“To our knowledge, this is the first time that a map of California’s green companies has been published online, creating a visual dynamic resource for people to better understand what a green economy looks like,” Tim O’Connor, an attorney and California climate change analyst at EDF, said in a statement. “As Congress considers a federal climate bill modeled after California’s Global Warming Solutions Act, this map gives local members of Congress a preview of the footprint of the green economy, both statewide and in each district.”

Implementation of Green LA will be overseen by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the largest public power utility in the country and the utility that uses the most solar energy nationwide. The plan calls for fighting global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions 35 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 through the use of renewable energy, conservation, new green building standards and strategic land use planning. Solar LA calls for growing the region’s green economy by adding 1.3 gigawatts of solar power by 2020, enough to meet 10 percent of L.A.’s energy needs and more than is currently available nationwide.

“Los Angeles and Southern California are uniquely vulnerable to climate change because of existing pollution problems, our coastal setting and overstretched water supplies,” said Erica Fick, an EDF clean energy fellow based in Los Angeles, who co-authored the report. “Green LA and Solar LA will be a shot in the arm for the entire Southern California economy, creating a lasting upswing in the manufacturing, construction, technology, and ‘green’ service sectors.”

One success story cited in the LA Greenprint report is Suntrek Industries, a company in neighboring Ventura County that specializes in solar pool heating, solar heating and electricity. Suntrek has six offices located in California. Today, Suntrek serves more than 200,000 customers, employs nearly 80 people, and has increased its sales by 300% since 2007, according to its President and CEO Roy Heine. Even in these challenging economic times, Heine has been able to expand his business and hire new employees. Suntrek employees attribute the company’s growth to large rebates available for solar energy through the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), the newly extended federal tax credit for residential solar and the progressive initiatives laid out by Mayor Villaraigosa in his Green LA plan.

In addition to describing the economic and environmental benefits of Green LA and Solar LA, the Los Angeles Greenprint urges the city to establish a dedicated climate team to implement the plans and measure progress towards the 35% greenhouse gas emission reduction goal. The Greenprint also calls on the city to maintain a high level of transparency and accountability as it proceeds with all 50+ Green LA measures and all three components of Solar LA.

Watt Plaza, a twin 23-story office tower complex encompassing 900,000 square feet in the heart of Century City, has been awarded Gold LEED Existing Buildings Operations and Maintenance (EB O&M) certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, making it the first office building in Los Angeles to achieve this distinction in this category.

Watt Plaza is one of five buildings in California and one of 12 buildings in the United States to be certified LEED EB O&M. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the U.S. Green Building Council’s primary rating system for designing and constructing the world’s greenest, most energy efficient and high-performing buildings.

LEED Certification of Watt Plaza was based on a number of green measures taken to positively impact the project itself, the broader community and reduce global climate change. These measures include: water conversation, waste recovery, alternative transportation options, energy efficiency measures, and an indoor air quality management program.

Watt Plaza installed low-flow faucets, low-flush toilets and 88 water-free urinals – measures which save millions of gallons of water per year. Based on the Pacific Institute Water-to-Air Model, which correlates water and energy demands to calculate carbon dioxide emissions, the use of the water-free urinals alone reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 39,600 pounds per year.

The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service says it will add $5 million to California’s air quality resources. With the grant, California has received a total of $20.9 million from NRCS to help farmers and ranchers reduce air quality emissions from off-road mobile or stationary agricultural sources.

The primary goal of this new portion of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program is to help farmers and ranchers attain the standards set by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Producers in the 36 California counties that are currently not in compliance with one or more of these standards are eligible for the program.

“These funds should help California producers comply with local and state regulations,” Dave White, chief of the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, said in a statement. “We believe agriculture can be on the leading edge of setting a cleaner, greener example for protecting the air we all breathe. We’re doing what we can to help in that pursuit — technically and financially.”

White was named chief of NRCS in March. With approximately 12,000 employees and an annual budget in excess of $3 billion, NRCS is the nation’s leading agency in conserving natural resources on private lands.

White announced the new funding program while in California to chair the national Agricultural Air Quality Task Force meeting in Fresno. The funds help pay for practices that have been shown to reduce ozone precursors, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC), particulate matter and fine emissions from agricultural sources. The agency says applications will be ranked and funded based on the amount of emission reductions achieved in the proposed plan.

The 36 eligible counties are: Alameda, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Fresno, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Merced, Mono, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Placer, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tulare, Tuolumne, Ventura and Yolo. Interested applicants in eligible counties should contact their local NRCS service center.

Applications are being taken until June 26, 2009

SOURCE USDA – Natural Resources Conservation Service

Montage Beverly Hills, the 201-room luxury hotel that opened November 2008 in Beverly Hills, has earned Gold certification under the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED for New Construction rating system.

This is the first certified ultra-luxury hotel in Southern California for LEED for New Construction and one of only four Gold certified hotels worldwide designated by this third-party benchmarking system designed to encourage the design, the construction and the operations of more sustainable buildings. Montage Beverly Hills also is the first newly constructed mixed-use hotel and residential project to be LEED certified as a single development, denoting it as a high performance building that is a responsible, efficient and healthy place to live and work.

“We’re gratified to have created and be operating Southern California’s first hotel and residential project to obtain Gold level certification,” Alan J. Fuerstman, founder and CEO of Montage Hotels & Resorts, said in a statement.

A total of 18 hotels worldwide have to date achieved LEED certification at Certified Silver, Gold or Platinum levels. The specific LEED for New Construction V2.2 rating system designations reflect assessments of factors such as site selection, water efficiency, energy efficiency, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality. LEED, begun in 2000, now encompasses more than 22,000 registered and certified projects in the U.S. and 91 countries and is administered by the USGBC, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit coalition of building industry leaders.

MORE FROM GRN

Tesla Motors announced it will open a sales and service center in London, the first of three European stores that the electric vehicle manufacturer plans to launch this year.

The London facility will open this spring at 49-51 Cheval Place in the Knightsbridge district.

Tesla says it is scouting sites in Munich and Monaco. The company, based in San Carlos, Calif., plans to deliver cars to European customers beginning in late June. Tesla initially will sell a Roadster sports car followed by the Model S sedan in 2011.

Teslas qualify for a $7,500 US federal tax credit and enjoy incentives in several European countries and cities, including waivers of luxury tax, reductions in VAT, free parking and free charging. In London, Teslas are exempt from the congestion charge, a saving of up to £2,000 per year for commuters.

The first Tesla showrooms opened last summer in Los Angeles and Menlo Park, Calif. Tesla will open another store this spring in Chicago, and the company says it is finalizing site selection in Manhattan, Miami and Seattle and is reviewing sites in Washington, D.C.

MORE FROM GRN

Learning not to waste – whether it’s food, electricity or water – is not only good in these economic times, but even more important, it’s beneficial for the environment.

The Nalgene Least Wasteful City Study, released this week, ranks the country’s 25 largest metropolitan areas on wasteful behavior. San Francisco led the group with the least wasteful habits, while Atlanta ranked at the bottom.

The survey of 3,750 people, commissioned by Nalgene (the maker of reusable water bottles), looked at 23 waste-focused habits of city dwellers ranging from recycling and use of public transportation to shutting off lights and eating leftovers. The results were weighted, says Eric Hansen, senior business manager of Nalgene-Outdoor. “We gave more credit to behaviors that had an immediate and significant impact on the planet, such as reduced driving and recycling trash.”

One conclusion of the study is that the easier and more convenient an action, the more frequently it’s practiced. Convenience trumped prudence, the report says. Shutting off lights was easier to do than hanging clothes on a clothesline.

“This study highlights habits that our society has adopted out of convenience, but on a whole can have a huge impact on the sustainability of the planet,” says Hansen.

The survey also notes that despite the economy, saving money is not the main reason urbanites are changing their wasteful ways. More than half of those surveyed said it is their responsibility to ensure the health of the planet for future generations. “Being frugal and helping the planet, these behaviors tend to go hand in hand,” says Hansen.

The top five least wasteful cities were San Francisco; New York City; Portland, Or.; Seattle and Los Angeles. The five most wasteful major cities were Atlanta, Dallas, Indianapolis, Houston and St. Louis.

The good news, according to the study, is that urban Americans are increasingly taking everyday steps to cut waste. The top five areas where most people comply: saving leftover food to eat again; shutting off lights when not in the room; turning off water when brushing teeth; using energy efficient light bulbs; and recycling glass, metal, plastics on regular basis.

The areas where people are less likely to be concerned with wasteful ways: avoiding drying clothes in a dryer, using a rain barrel, composting, taking public transportation and not driving a car for trips that are less than two miles from home.

These latter five areas are what the top cities had in common. For instance, San Francisco residents were not only good about turning off water, but also excelled at not using their car for short trips. The cities that did not score well, were not energy efficient with even the simple things such as recycling. In Atlanta, residents threw out more than two bags of trash each week and didn’t use as many energy efficient light bulbs.

The study, which was compiled over two months by the independent research firm Greenfield Online, also had several recommendations for folks – urban or not – on reducing waste:

• Small changes such as reusable containers and water bottles (not surprising, since that is what Nalgene manufactures) or walking instead of driving.
• Compost yard trimmings and food leftovers. The EPA estimates that 24 percent of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream is made up of yard trimming and food leftovers. Composting avoids filling the landfills and is environmentally beneficial.
• Rain barrels. Even in the city, rain barrels can be installed in a building. They save money on water that can be used to water the yard.
• Bikes. Help the environment and get some exercise by skipping the car.
• Public transportation. Even if using public transportation a few times a week, this has an impact on reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
• Buy used or Freecycle. Thrift stores, libraries, used book stores are all good ways not to waste and to support local businesses. And if there’s a Freecycle group in your zipcode, that’s another good way to avoid waste.

Related story:

• See the full list of America’s least wasteful cities

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media