Category: News

Constructing an additional bathroom is projected to be the most common home remodeling project in 2010, beating out the traditional favorites of remodeling existing bathrooms and kitchens, according to the website Remodelormove.com.  If you’re one of the multitude of homeowners stirring up dust this summer, consider a no-sweat way to save money on your home renovation: pick the right plumbing products.

Advances in plumbing technology and design mean that faucets, showers, and toilets can use significantly less water than standard models while still delivering the rinse, spray, and flush you expect.  Just look for the WaterSense label when selecting plumbing fixtures for your new or remodeled bathroom, and you can be assured that the products have been independently tested and certified to save water and perform well.  More than 2,500 different models of WaterSense labeled plumbing fixtures are available in a wide variety of styles, colors, and price points to help you save water and money.

Many water utilities and state governments offer rebates on WaterSense labeled products, creating an added financial incentive for buying smart showerheads and efficient toilets.

Thirty House Democrats signed on to a new bill on Thursday that would save Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs, which have been under attack from mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. PACE is a finance tool that helps homeowners afford energy-efficiency retrofits and renewable-energy installations.

The PACE Assessment Protection Act of 2010 would force the government-sponsored corporations to adopt standards that support PACE, based on Department of Energy guidelines.

Yet the bill’s author, Rep. Mike Thompson of northern California, hopes the legislation persuades Fannie and Freddie to accept a compromise before it’s signed into law.

The finance tool certainly has a lot of friends. It’s been backed by $150 million in Department of Energy stimulus funding, the vice president’s Middle Class Task Force, 23 state legislatures, governors such as Arnold Schwarzenegger [PDF], and mayors such as Michael Bloomberg [PDF]. California Attorney General Jerry Brown sued Fannie and Freddie yesterday to defend the PACE programs, the largest of which are in California.

PACE programs let home and business owners pay for rooftop solar arrays, high-efficiency furnaces, insulation, and other improvements through a surcharge on their property tax bills, removing high up-front costs. Fannie and Freddie dislike that those tax assessments have senior lien standing to mortgages, even though analyses and pilot programs have found that energy efficiency and PACE programs can make borrowers more financially secure.

Read the complete article at GRIST

MGM Resorts has won the Green Key designation for the efficiency and sustainability of its operations at 12 resorts, according to a report in Nevada Appeal.

The resorts include 11 in Las Vegas and one in Michigan, according to the company, and are the first hotels in both states to receive the Green Key designation.  Green Key evaluates hotels on a scale of one to five Keys, with five Keys being the highest ranking. Results are based on a comprehensive evaluation of the hotel’s sustainability efforts.

The properties earning “5 Keys” are ARIA and Vdara at CityCenter.  “4 Keys” designations went to: Bellagio, Excalibur, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand Las Vegas, The Mirage, Monte Carlo, New York-New York and MGM Grand Detroit. Circus Circus Las Vegas earned a “3 Keys” designation.

MGM Resorts’ focuses on five goals – natural resources conservation, sustainable construction and renovation, waste management, sustainable procurement, and communication and education.

Read the complete article at Environmental Leader

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences National Toxicology Program (NTP) and the National Institute of Health Chemical Genomics Center (NCGC) welcome the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to the Tox21 collaboration. The Tox21 collaboration merges federal agency resources (research, funding and testing tools) to develop ways to more effectively predict how chemicals will affect human health and the environment. The collaboration was established in 2008 to develop models that will be able to better predict how chemicals will affect humans. FDA will provide additional expertise and chemical safety information to improve current chemical testing methods.

“This collaboration is revolutionizing the current approach to chemical risk assessment by sharing expertise, capabilities and chemical information, which will lead to both a faster and deeper understanding of chemical hazards,” said Dr. Paul Anastas, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Research and Development. “Through the Tox21 collaboration, 2,000 chemicals have already been screened against dozens of biological targets and we are working to increase the number of chemicals to 10,000 by the end of the year.”

There are tens of thousands of chemicals currently in commerce and current chemical testing is expensive and time consuming.

“This partnership builds upon FDA’s commitment to developing new methods to evaluate the toxicity of the substances we regulate,” said Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

FDA will collaborate with other Tox21 members to prioritize chemicals that need more extensive toxicological evaluation, and develop models that can better predict human response to chemicals.

EPA contributes to Tox21 through the ToxCast program and by providing chemicals and additional fast, automated tests to NCGC.  ToxCast currently includes 500 chemical screening tests that have assessed over 300 environmental chemicals.

“Using the best science to protect human health and the environment is the ultimate goal of this collaboration,” said Linda Birnbaum, Ph.D., director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the NTP.  “The addition of FDA to this effort allows biomedical researchers and regulatory scientists to work together side by side to more rapidly screen chemicals and find more effective ways to protect the health of the public.  The NTP is pleased to bring its toxicology and coordination expertise to bear on making Tox21 a reality.”

A major part of the Tox21 partnership is the robotic screening and informatics platform at NCGC that uses fast, automated tests to screen thousands of chemicals a day for toxicological activity in cells.

“Our robots screen in a day what would take one person a year to do by hand, allowing a fundamentally different approach to toxicology, which is comprehensive and based on molecular mechanisms,” said Dr. Christopher Austin, director of the NIH NCGC.

Ahead of President Obama’s trip to Holland, Michigan tomorrow for the official groundbreaking of the new Compact Power plant, the Department of Energy today released a new report on the economic impact of Recovery Act investments in advanced batteries and vehicles. The report, “Recovery Act Investments: Transforming America’s Transportation Sector,” documents how Recovery Act funds are being matched with private capital to create new jobs, construct new plants, add new manufacturing lines, install electric vehicle charging stations across the country and help build the emerging domestic electric vehicle industry from the ground up.

Read the battery and electric vehicle report.

Among the key highlights of the report:

• For every dollar of the $2.4 billion in seed money the government provided through the Recovery Act advanced battery and electric vehicle grants, the companies have matched it at minimum dollar for dollar.
• Pre-Recovery Act, the U.S. produced just 2% of the world’s batteries for advanced vehicles, but due to Recovery Act investments, the U.S. will have the capacity to produce 20% of these batteries by 2012 and up to 40% by 2015—that’s a jump from 2% to 40% in a span of just five years.
• Nine of the nine new battery plants opening as a result of Recovery Act investments will have started construction by Thursday – and four of those will be operational by the end of the year. In addition, twenty-one other plants will make battery or electric vehicle components with the help of Recovery Act grants.
• Before the Recovery Act, high battery costs meant a car with a 100 mile range would need a battery that cost $33,000. But because of the higher-volume domestic manufacturing the Recovery Act is spurring, the cost of such a battery could come down to $16,000 by the end of 2013 and $10,000 by the end of 2015, dramatically driving down the cost of an electric vehicle and greatly expanding the domestic market.
• Before the Recovery Act, there were less than 500 electric vehicle charging locations in the U.S., but as a result of Recovery Act investments, there will be over 20,000 by 2012.

Compact Power is the ninth of nine new advanced battery plants that will open as a result of the $2.4 billion in Recovery Act advanced battery and electric vehicle awards President Obama announced last August. Before the Recovery Act, there were no domestic factories doing high-volume manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles, but due to Recovery Act investments, the U.S. will have the capacity to produce up to 40% of the world’s batteries by 2015. The $151 million Recovery Act grant awarded to Compact Power last August has been matched more than dollar-for-dollar by the company. As a result of this public-private partnership, the Compact project is expected to create and save hundreds of construction jobs in Holland and put hundreds of Michigan workers on the job at the new Compact Power plant once it is fully operational. The Compact Power plant in Holland will manufacture batteries to support 52,000 Chevy Volts a year and will also supply batteries for the new electric Ford Focus.

EPA’s WaterSense program helps consumers save money and water

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) WaterSense program today is kicking off its national “We’re for Water” campaign to encourage Americans to make simple choices that save water.  The program, in collaboration with its partner, American Water, will spread the word about saving water by traveling cross-country, stopping at national landmarks and educating consumers about WaterSense labeled products.  WaterSense products use about 20 percent less water than standard models.

“Whether by replacing an old, inefficient plumbing fixture with a WaterSense labeled product or adopting more water-efficient behaviors, together we can help save water for future generations,” said Peter Silva, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Water.  “WaterSense offers consumers simple tips that can help the environment and keep money in their pockets.”

Consumers can start saving water today with three simple steps: check, twist and replace.

• Check toilets for silent leaks by putting a few drops of food coloring in the tank; if the color shows up in the bowl indicating a leak, fixing it may be as simple as replacing the toilet’s flapper.
• Twist on a WaterSense labeled bathroom faucet aerator to use 30 percent less water without a noticeable difference in flow.
• Replace a showerhead with a WaterSense labeled model that uses less water and energy, but still has all the power of a water-hogging model.

 

WaterSense, a partnership program sponsored by EPA, seeks to protect the future of our nation’s water supply by offering people a simple way to use less water with water-efficient products, new homes and services. In 2009, EPA’s WaterSense program helped consumers save more than 36 billion gallons of water and $267 million on their water and sewer bills.

More information on the We’re for Water road trip:  http://www.epa.gov/watersense/wereforwater

To take the “I’m for Water pledge:”  http://www.epa.gov/watersense/pledge

To learn about water-saving tips: http://www.facebook.com/EPAWatersense

The Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the launch of a technical assistance program that will support projects funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through DOE’s State Energy Program (SEP) and Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program (EECBG). Funded with up to $25 million under the Recovery Act, the program will provide states, cities, and tribes with the tools and resources they need to implement successful and sustainable renewable energy projects, such as wind farms and solar systems, and deploy cost-effective, clean, and reliable energy-saving technologies in buildings and infrastructure nationwide. The Technical Assistance Program (TAP)—which is jointly-funded with EECBG and SEP Recovery Act funds—will accelerate project execution, improve program performance, and increase the return on Recovery Act investments. This effort is another way that the Department is creating green jobs, making homes and businesses more energy efficient, and installing renewable energy systems across America.

Full story

Contractors for the federal government that do not track their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions could risk losing their contracts, according to a report in the Federal Times about new rules by the General Services Administration (GSA).

The new rules are a part of the GSA’s response to an executive order by the Obama administration issued in October which directed federal agencies to find ways to reduce their GHG emissions. Potentially, the new rules could have far-reaching consequences through the entire economy, not just government contractors.

Once the new rules go into effect, preference will be given to suppliers that are tracking and reducing their GHG emissions. Third-party accreditation and reductions in supply chain emissions would also be taken into effect when the GSA decides on awarding contracts.

Currently, few companies, including government contractors, track their emissions. Threatening suppliers with the potential loss of lucrative government contracts could create a sea-change among American companies as they try to conform to federal demands for carbon accounting.

Read the complete story at Environmental Leader