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Source: Rocky Mountain Institute Outlet

In the 1933 movie King Kong, the Empire State Building sets the backdrop for the ape’s climactic defeat. Throughout decades of art and culture, America’s favorite building has hosted tragedy and inspired grand solutions. The building magnifies our indomitable spirit and aspirations that carry America forward.

Delve into the past — and the ideas that emerge are powerful.

Built during the Great Depression, the Empire State Building changed the course of real estate development in Manhattan, and it is poised to do so again. In a time of global warming and lackluster economics, is the “world’s most famous office building” leading us again to a more inspired way forward?
Continue reading Building Inspiration Through an Iconic Retrofit

Source: David Roberts, Grist.com

The installed cost for residential solar power systems in Germany — that is, installations of up to 10 kW — is considerably less than in the U.S. Why? That’s the subject of a fascinating analysis [PDF] from sharp minds at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

The researchers conducted a survey of German solar installers and reviewed public and private consultant data to get a handle on the German market. The answers they found aren’t as obvious as you might think.

For one thing, it isn’t mainly about the hardware, or the panels themselves. Those costs are comparable. The difference comes almost entirely in “soft costs” — customer acquisition, labor, interconnection to the grid, and the like. Long story short, when it comes to residential solar, in the U.S. it costs a little bit more to do … just about everything.

Let’s look at some graphs! (All these graphs come from the paper — you can find sources documented there.)
Continue reading Why is rooftop solar cheaper in Germany than in the U.S.?

Source: Huffington Post Green.com

A recent Symphony of Science video titled “Our Biggest Challenge” uses musical creativity to shed light on the seriousness of climate change — all while featuring the expert minds of Bill Nye, Isaac Asimov, David Attenborough, and Richard Alley.

The Symphony of Science remix series was created by artist John D. Boswell, known as melodysheep on YouTube. He describes this latest video as “a musical investigation into the causes and effects of global climate change and our opportunities to use science to offset it.”

In the mash-up music video, Nye croons, “We can change the world.”

Check out this inspiring Symphony of Science video at Huffington Post Green.

Source: Blomberg.com

It finally seems to be dawning on many Americans that there’s something to this climate change thing. The historic drought has been hard to ignore. While belief in a long-term trend because it’s hot out right now is a bit ridiculous, it’s a start.

You can see a shift in how the media covers weather. The statement “because of climate change…” is often stated clearly without caveats such as, “what some scientists think may be a warming planet.” You see it in the UN calling for action to help the hungry cope with rising food prices “in an age of increasing population, demand and climate change.”

And you see it in the growing number of mega-corporations — including America’s Alcoa, Coca-Cola, Cisco, HP, J&J, Nike, and P&G — signing on to the “2 Degree Challenge Communiqué,” a call for the world’s governments to take strong action to slow greenhouse gas emissions.

Climate change is basically accepted as fact the world over. But you wouldn’t know it watching our political conventions (or at least one of them). So while the world seems to be waking up to a fundamental, existential threat to our species (and not to “the planet,” which will be fine with or without us), the US policy debate remains mostly deaf, dumb, and blind.
Continue reading Politicians Who Deny Climate Change Cannot Be Pro-Business

Source: Environmental Expert.com

PNNL compares environmental impacts of LED, CFL and incandescent lights

RICHLAND, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Today’s light-emitting diode light bulbs have a slight environmental edge over compact fluorescent lamps. And that gap is expected to grow significantly as technology and manufacturing methods improve in the next five years, according to a new report from the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and UK-based N14 Energy Limited.

“The light-emitting diode lamp is a rapidly evolving technology that, while already energy efficient, will become even more so in just a few short years,” said Marc Ledbetter, who manages PNNL’s solid-state lighting testing, analysis and deployment efforts. “Our comprehensive analysis indicates technological advancements in the near future will help people who use these lamps to keep shrinking their environmental footprints.”

The report examines total environmental impact, including the energy and natural resources needed to manufacture, transport, operate and dispose of light bulbs. Fifteen different impacts were considered when evaluating environmental footprints, including the potential to increase global warming, use land formerly available to wildlife, generate waste and pollute water, soil and air. The report examines the complete life cycles of three kinds of light bulbs: light-emitting diodes, also called LEDs, compact fluorescents, or CFLs, and traditional incandescent light bulbs.

Completed for the Solid-State Lighting Program of DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, this is the first public report to examine the environmental impact of LED manufacturing in depth. Manufacturing processes contribute substantially to a light bulb’s overall environmental impact, but companies generally keep manufacturing information private. The research team was able to gather manufacturing data with the help of industry consultants and some companies on the condition that the final report would not reveal individual company data.

Incandescents lose out
Continue reading LEDs Winning Light Race to Save Energy, the Environment