Featured
The new renewable energy and energy efficient incentives for individuals
By Dan Shapley
Grist.org
Updated: 10/20/2008 2:26:17 PM
It's been widely noted that the passage of the financial bailout bill included $150 billion in additional "sweeteners" to gain passage in the House of Representatives. It's true that only in Washington could the solution to an overly expensive bill be an even more expensive bill, but it's also true that one of the provisions - energy efficiency and renewable energy tax credits - was among the important sweeteners to win passage.
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Featured
Builders entice buyers with healthier more energy efficient homes
By Bob Keefe
Cox Washington Bureau
Sunday, November 09, 2008
First came the push for fuel-efficient cars. Are fuel-efficient houses next?
As builders look for ways to move homes in a lousy market, they're increasingly taking their cue from automakers and turning toward energy efficiency as a selling tool.
In Atlanta, builders are pushing what the head of the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association calls "high-performance homes" that sip water and electricity like a Toyota Prius might sip gas.
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The experimental mats use grasses and weeds as natural water scrubbers to filter pollutants.
By
James Cannon Hoping to stem harmful algae blooms in the St. Johns River, Jacksonville is experimenting with a natural way of filtering out contaminants.
The answer may lie in floating gardens of specially selected grasses and weeds that serve as high-powered water scrubbers.
Initial testing by a company is being done at a retention pond near Talleyrand Avenue, and so far Jacksonville city officials are optimistic.
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Northeast Florida may become a 'caution area'
Aquifer levels will drop seriously in Northeast Florida within 20 years if a growing population doesn't waste less water, new estimates by water managers warn. That change could draw saltier water into some wells JEA uses to supply its customers, making them unacceptable for public use, say the projections by scientists at the St. Johns River Water Management District. It could also have far-reaching effects on the region's natural environment, from harming plants to lowering lake volumes in Putnam and southern Clay counties. "This is a fairly significant projected impact," said Hal Wilkening, director of the agency's resource management department. "When we look at it cumulatively ... this is not going to be sustainable."
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ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Today is inauguration day and a good time to check out Obama's energy and environmental agenda:
The energy challenges our country faces are severe and have gone unaddressed for far too long. Our addiction to foreign oil doesn't just undermine our national security and wreak havoc on our environment -- it cripples our economy and strains the budgets of working families all across America. President Obama and Vice President Biden have a comprehensive plan to invest in alternative and renewable energy, end our addiction to foreign oil, address the global climate crisis and create millions of new jobs.
The Obama-Biden comprehensive New Energy for America plan will:
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Aviation industry is searching for jet fuel alternatives
WASHINGTON - Burned by the cost of jet fuel, the aviation industry is trying everything from algae to camelina and jatropha as alternatives, but specialists say that some of the new fuels, which include coal, might simply trade one set of problems for another.
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The annual migration of northern right whales has begun
By Mark Davis
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, December 07, 2008
She crossed the state line about two weeks ago, trailed by a newcomer, following ancient impulse. Thus did another spawning season for Eubalaena glacialis begin off the coasts of Georgia and Florida.
The annual migration of northern right whales has begun, and spotters say three calves already have been born in the shifting, green swells of the Atlantic Ocean. More births are sure to follow: The mammals have been migrating from northern waters to spawn for millenniums.
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Finding harmful polymers in unexpected and unfortunate places
1 Dec 2008 | Teghan Beaudette
Most people consider themselves environmentally friendly, to the extent that conforming to this new trendy norm doesn't really interfere with their everyday conveniences. You might use cloth bags instead of plastic for grocery shopping and turn out the lights when you leave the room, both considerate things to do in consideration of the planet that suffers from our repeated abuses.
Most people are also blissfully unaware of how their early-morning and before-bed routines are seriously harming marine life - including sea turtles on the brink of extinction, birds and many fish species. But unlike most environmental issues, there is a fairly simple solution to a problem very few people are aware they are contributing to.
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