From Green Right Now Reports

The City of Houston and Reliant Energy are launching a program to bring plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to the streets of Houston, to demonstrate the important role that electric cars can play in the city’s clean energy future.

Under the program, called the “Power of the Plug-In,” 10 city-owned Toyota Prius cars will be converted to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and 10 vehicle-charging stations will be installed to power them. The Power of the Plug-In is designed to raise consumer awareness and education about plug-in electric cars and to promote Houston and Texas as an electric vehicle center. Seven of the 10 stations will be available to the public, representing the largest public charging infrastructure in Texas, the city said.

“We’re committed to making Houston the nation’s green energy capital,” Houston Mayor Bill White said in a statement. “That commitment begins at City Hall and these clean-running electric cars and the charging stations that will be available to all Houstonians will get us farther down that road.”

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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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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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The Nissan LEAF (Photo: Nissan)

From Green Right Now Reports

Nissan North America said it will debut the LEAF zero-emission, all-electric car in Los Angeles on Nov. 13. After Los Angeles, the five-passenger, five-door, gasoline-free car will go on a nationwide tour in the coming months.

The Nissan LEAF Zero Emission Tour will stop in 22 cities, in 11 states, the District of Columbia, and Vancouver, Canada, offering the opportunity for interested drivers, media, civic partners, businesses and university students to learn more about the Nissan LEAF and the benefits of zero-emission driving.

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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

The Roscoe, Texas, wind farm (Photo: E.ON Climate & Renewables)

Global energy company E.ON Climate and Renewables today announced the completion of what it says is the world’s largest wind farm near Roscoe, Texas. The new wind complex has an installed capacity of 781.5 megawatts (MW), which can generate enough electricity to power more than 230,000 homes.

The project area spans parts of four Texas counties and covers almost 100,000 acres — an area several times the size of Manhattan. The wind farm has a total of 627 wind turbines manufactured by Mitsubishi, General Electric and Siemens.

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From Green Right Now Reports

Significantly more Gulf Coast homes and businesses are at risk of disastrous flooding from hurricane-related storm surges than previously recognized by property owners or policymakers, a new study says.

The study also found that government minimum flood elevation requirements for properties vulnerable to storm surge throughout the Gulf Coast region are woefully inadequate. The report comes one year after Hurricane Ike struck and wiped away many of structures on the Bolivar Peninsula near Galveston last September.

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From Green Right Now Reports

The increase in size and frequency of large hurricanes that make landfall from the Gulf of Mexico also is resulting in more tornadoes that form from the storms, according to a new report from researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

“As the size of landfalling hurricanes from the Gulf of Mexico increases, we’re seeing more tornadoes than we did in the past that can occur up to two days and several hundred miles inland from the landfall location,” James Belanger, a doctoral student in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech and lead author of the paper, said in a statement.

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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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By Tom Kessler
Green Right Now

When it comes to clogged drains, it’s been a struggle to find an effective alternative to the many harsh chemicals that most people rely on to break up trapped debris. But a Houston company has developed a product that is brilliant in its simplicity and has the added benefit of being as green as you can get where brownish goop is involved.

The PermaFLOW Self Cleaning Drain by PF WaterWorks has already won the Best of What’s New Award from Popular Science. It replaces an existing P-trap — that curved section of pipe just below your sink — with an improved version that has been engineered to eliminate the need for secondary maintenance products and procedures such as plunging, caustic drain cleaners and messy drain disassembly.

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Photo: Houston Airport System

From Green Right Now Reports

Houston Mayor Bill White and the Houston Airport System today announced that the City of Houston Department of Aviation has received $8.8 million in Federal Aviation Administration grants to install state-of-the-art equipment at George Bush Intercontinental Airport that is projected to reduce emissions by up to 60 percent.

The two grants awarded through the FAA’s Airport Improvement Program be used to purchase and install solar panels, heaters and chillers in the airport’s central operating plant, which controls the air conditioning and heating in the airport’s five terminals. The upgrades will replace an outdated gas-powered steam generation system currently in use.

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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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