News

The Princeton Review Gives 703 Colleges Green Ratings

The Princeton Review – known for its education services helping students choose and get in to colleges – today reported its third annual Green Ratings of colleges: a measure of how environmentally friendly the institutions are on a scale of 60 to 99. The Company tallied the rating for 703 institutions based its institutional surveys of colleges in 2009-10 concerning their environmentally related practices, policies and academic offerings.

Read more: The Princeton Review Gives 703 Colleges Green Ratings

   

In Kansas, Climate Skeptics Embrace Cleaner Energy

Residents of this deeply conservative city do not put much stock in scientific predictions of climate change.

“Don’t mention global warming,” warned Nancy Jackson, chairwoman of the Climate and Energy Project, a small nonprofit group that aims to get people to rein in the fossil fuel emissions that contribute to climate change. “And don’t mention Al Gore. People out here just hate him.”

Saving energy, though, is another matter.

Read more: In Kansas, Climate Skeptics Embrace Cleaner Energy

   

Skidaway Institute’s research center to receive LEED® Gold Certification plaque

The Savannah Branch of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) will present a LEED® Gold Certification plaque to the Marine and Coastal Science Research and Instructional Center (MCSRIC) at Skidaway Institute of Oceanography on Tuesday, October 19, at 6 p.m.

Completed in mid-2009, the MCSRIC research and laboratory building was designed from the outset to be environmentally friendly.

Read more: Skidaway Institute’s research center to receive LEED® Gold Certification plaque

   

Greenest Place in the U.S.? It’s Not Where You Think

Green rankings in the U.S. don’t tell the full story about the places where the human footprint is lightest. If you really want the best environmental model, you need to look at the nation’s biggest — and greenest — metropolis: New York City.

Read more: Greenest Place in the U.S.? It’s Not Where You Think

   

Building It Green

Sustainability is hardly a trend.  It's more of a movement - and it's happening from within.  In a time of slow growth, builders are shifting from fast and cheap to the affordable sustainable model.  It hasn't exactly galvanized a non-start sector, but construction work, like construction materials may improve as a result of sustainability standards.  When building come back, it will come back stronger.

The article can be found on page 64.

 

Read more: Building It Green

   

Welcome to The LEED Guide

Thank you for being part of this important time in the history of the environmental movement, the building industry and our nation’s economic recovery. In March 2000, when the LEED green building rating system was launched, it was with hope that we were about to change the face of the building industry — and, of course, with a little uncertainty about just what we’d be able to achieve. That first year, eight projects registered with LEED and three achieved certification.

Read more: Welcome to The LEED Guide

   

EPA Toolkit to Remove Red Tape for Green Projects

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released the Sustainable Design and Green Building Toolkit for Local Governments, which offers a guided assessment of codes and ordinances as they relate to green building practices. The toolkit is designed to help officials identify—and remove—barriers and obstacles to sustainable design. It leads officials through everything from site development and planning to green materials, energy efficiency, and water conservation.

Read more: EPA Toolkit to Remove Red Tape for Green Projects

   

SHINE – Sustainable Home Initiative in the New Economy – Residential Energy Efficiency Rebate Program

Money for energy efficiency upgrades to your house. City of Atlanta is in the pilot phase of launching an energy efficiency rebate program for single family homes. It’s called the SHINE program, which stands for the Sustainable Home Initiative in the New Economy. In short, the funding supports weatherizing your house. It can be paired with federal and utility rebates as well.  For more information, please see the links below.

Read more: SHINE – Sustainable Home Initiative in the New Economy – Residential Energy Efficiency Rebate Program

   

Whole Foods announces wine cork recycling program

Natural and organic grocer Whole Foods has announced a new wine cork recycling program at all 292 of its retail stores in the U.S., U.K. and Canada.  Whole Foods Market is partnering with Cork ReHarvest to help collect and recycle some of the 13 billion natural corks that are produced each year.  "We often forget that cork is a renewable, recyclable material that does not belong in landfills," said Erez Klein, wine and beer buyer for Whole Foods Market´s Pacific Northwest Region. "Cork ReHarvest allows us to help sustain cork forests, a critically important resource for our planet, and to do so with near effortless local community action.

Read more: Whole Foods announces wine cork recycling program

   

Amendment 1 Would Stifle Competition

On Nov. 2, an amendment to the Georgia constitution is on the ballot. The wording is misleading, "to make Georgia more economically competitive by authorizing legislation to uphold reasonable competitive agreements." Doesn't that make you think to increase competition? Wrong!

 

Read more: Amendment 1 Would Stifle Competition

   

Page 6 of 8