2nd Annual Live Green – Build Green Festival sponsored by Sierra Green Building Association (SiGBA).
Green Expo on Saturday and Sunday. Sustainability Conference on Sunday.
Visit www.sigba.org for more details.
By Matthew Wheeland
When it comes to fast ways to make a big dent in both your greenhouse gas emissions as well as your energy bill, PC power management is one of the easiest actions your company can make. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the most overlooked practices: Forrester recently released a study that found only 13 percent of companies have implemented organization wide power management.
PC power management at its most simple level is activating and managing the sleep settings on your fleet of desktops, laptops and monitors (some power management tools can also be used on other electronics, but for simplicity’s sake we’ll focus solely on computers).
If your firm hasn’t yet started a PC power management project, or if you have and haven’t yet seen big savings, then the following 10 tips, in no particular order, will get you on the right track.
Read the complete story at GreenBiz Greener Computing
By Barbara Bennet, EPA Chief Financial Officer
Last November I was confirmed as EPA’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO). For many people, I imagine my title conjures images of number crunching and spreadsheets (which are all certainly part of what I do). However, my experience in finance has taught me that numbers always tell a story.
In my role as EPA’s CFO, the numbers I look at every day help paint a picture of how EPA accomplishes its mission and goals throughout the year. One way we are able to tell a story here at EPA is through the Agency’s five-year Strategic Plan. This Plan is our way of communicating the framework for our environmental programs, the plans for our budget resources, and the progress we have made on our priorities to the U.S. public.
I am delighted to announce that the Draft FY 2011-2015 Strategic Plan is now available for your review and comment, and I invite you to engage and share your thoughts and ideas with us from now through July 30:
The Draft Plan presents measurable environmental and human health goals that EPA will work to achieve over the next five years. The Draft Plan also includes five Cross-Cutting Fundamental Strategies, which are integral in guiding how EPA will work to accomplish our goals, and which also foster a renewed commitment to accountability, openness, and inclusion.
I look forward to reading your ideas on the Draft Strategic Plan and how we can fundamentally change the way EPA works to protect our environment and human health in our communities, our nation, and beyond.
As sustainability increasingly moves from fringe to mainstream, getting into the green game has become a corporate imperative. Because most established companies were founded before sustainability was truly a management concern, they lack a green heritage and competencies in managing environmental challenges – and opportunities. To respond to this reality, most companies need to take two tracks. The first is developing internal know-how and organizational structures for identifying, evaluating and managing the sustainability issues surrounding the company and its operations. The second is formulating strategies to develop new green product offerings suited to their market space. In this month’s Harvard Business Review my colleague Richard Ettenson and I lay out three broad strategies companies can use to get into the green product game.
Read the complete story at the Environmental LEADER:
WalterFlierSee the Movie
Nicotine Bees, the movie, gets to the truth about why the honeybees of the world are in big trouble, and why our food supply is in trouble with them. Although the bees have been in a slow decline for years, something else happened between 2005 and 2006 that changed everything: a sharp and catastrophic collapse of bee colonies in dozens of countries simultaneously. We think we know why, and Nicotine Bees is ready to show what has happened.
For more information about the Northern Nevada Apiculture Society, visit http://www.nevadabee.com/ .
For greenUP! see www.greenupdays.org .
For SiGBA, www.sigba.org .
Learn to use eco-friendly landscaping methods to save time, money and help the environment. EPA’s tips can help homeowners create beautiful, easy to maintain, environmentally friendly yards. The basic principles include: selecting regionally native plants, reducing the use of turf, pesticides, and powered landscape equipment, and adapting soil and water conservation. For more information on healthy yards and greenscaping, visit http://www.epa.gov/reg3esd1/garden/index.htm.
For beneficial landscaping, go to http://www.epa.gov/reg3esd1/garden/benefits.htm.
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to revise a national primary drinking water regulation to achieve greater public health protection against waterborne pathogens in the distribution systems of public water systems. Waterborne pathogens can cause a variety of illnesses with symptoms such as acute abdominal discomfort or in more extreme cases, kidney failure, hepatitis or chronic concerns.
EPA is proposing to revise the 1989 Total Coliform Rule to incorporate improvements recommended by a federal advisory committee that included representatives from a broad range of stakeholder groups, including public health and public interest groups, environmental groups, state drinking water agencies and drinking water utilities. EPA used a transparent, collaborative process with stakeholders to help make this regulation more effective.
The revised rule will better protect people from potential exposure to dangerous microbes because it requires water systems to take action when monitoring results indicate that contamination or a pathway to contamination may be present. Water utilities are required to regularly monitor for microbial contamination in the distribution system. Although microbes detected in monitoring are not necessarily pathogens themselves, the detection can indicate that there is a pathway that would allow pathogens to enter the system, such as a water main break or an opening in a storage tank. Under the proposed rule, when monitoring results are positive, systems must find and fix any pathways leading to microbial risk.
The proposal also provides incentives for better system operation by improving the criteria for public water systems to qualify for and stay on reduced monitoring, which provides an opportunity to reduce system burden. In addition, the proposed rule updates conditions that will trigger public notices to better represent the relative health threat identified. It also makes the wording required in these public notices more clear. These changes increase consumer confidence in the safety of their water and understanding of the risks when contamination occurs.
EPA is seeking public comment on this proposed rule for 60 days following publication in the Federal Register.
Click on this link for additional information: Total Coliform Rule Revisions
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is launching a new technical assistance program to help state capital cities design more sustainable communities. Greening America’s Capitals will assist state capitals, selected through a competitive application process, develop a vision of distinctive, environmentally friendly neighborhoods that incorporate innovative green building and green infrastructure. This program is a new project of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities between EPA, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).
“EPA is excited to work with our partners at HUD and DOT to offer this new design assistance to capital cities,” said Lisa Heinzerling, associate administrator for EPA’s Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation. “The selected cities will offer sustainable development models for their states and for many communities around the country.”
EPA will provide design assistance to up to four cities per year to help them use sustainable designs to develop neighborhoods with multiple social, economic, and environmental benefits. With funding from EPA, these design teams will assist the city staff in developing project strategies to accelerate sustainable development in priority neighborhoods and create sustainability models for other cities to follow. The projects also could be used as testing grounds for larger, city-wide actions, such as changes to local codes and regulations to better support sustainable growth and green building.
Capital cities are invited to submit letters of interest to EPA by July 9, 2010. Letters of interest will be evaluated based on how well the proposed project describes the challenge, potential impact, and political and public support. A small group of applicants will be asked to participate in a follow-up call to further evaluate how well the applicant meets the criteria. Final selection will be made by early fall 2010.
More information on the program and application process: http://epa.gov/smartgrowth/greencapitals.htm