The History of Climate Change

I just watched a great online lecture "the discovery of global warming" which follows the history of climate change since the discovery of the greenhouse effect in 1824. It's a bit lengthy but the page is cool since you can click on individual slides and jump around the presentation:
http://csuci.hosted.panopto.com/CourseCast/Viewer/Default.aspx?id=6ee495f0-719d-4d5a-a525-b12d37e918fc
The link was published on Terrapass footprint: http://www.terrapass.com/blog/posts/a-history-of-global-warming

one of the last slides really resonated with me:

Humans started global warming...and we can stop it
It's easier than lots of things we've done
It's not a scientific problem now... it's a political problem

(chew on this: Who thinks global warming is really happening? 45% of republicans, 86% of democrats)

BREEAM, LEED, Green Star comparison

Hi All,

Came across this article that compares BREEAM, LEED and Green Star rating systems. I thought it was interesting to compare the numbers. Of course it doesn't get as indepth as our research.

http://www.climatechangecorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=6094

Adrienne

Health Risk Concerns with Smart Meters

Apparently, electromagnetic radiation and radio waves that are emitted from Smart Meters, may pose health risks, especially to those individuals with sensitivity to electromagnetic radiation. Pacific Gas & Electric's smart meter installation project set to begin in July 2010 (California), has been halted because of raising health concerns. Pacific Gas is arguing that the low levels emitted are actually safe and are no cause for concern - the company also believes that part of the complaining is due to consumers not being educated enough about the role of smart meters and how the help to conserve energy.

SmartMeter

Petition to open LEED to other certified forests

Hi All,

I came across this link in "Green Source Magazine" where we are able to petition the USGBC to open LEED to other certified forests. As we all know, LEED currently only recognizes products certified under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Let your voice be heard and petition on the link below:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/leed/

Thanks,
Adrienne

The Weed Brings Affordable Solar Power Worldwide

Wake Forest University's Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials is currently developing a new solar cell that is low-cost and will make solar power more accessible. The common pokeberry plant, a native weed to North America, South America, East Asia, and New Zealand, is used to coat solar cells to create a more efficient fiber-based solar cell. Coating fibers with the pokeberry, will help it to absorb more sunlight. Researchers discovered that fiber-based solar cells coated with the pokeberry generates twice as much power than current technology.

weed

First Offshore Windfarm in US Approved

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar approved the first offshore windfarm off the coast of Cape Cod, Mass. The 130 turbine windfarm will be constructed off the coast of Nantucket. This could pave the way for future windfarms and hopefully lead us to a more sustainable energy future. The project was largely controversial, and several key politicians, such as the late Ted Kennedy opposed the farm. This is mostly due to the fact that the Kennedy's residence is on Martha's Vineyard, close to the project and some of the windmills are seen as eyesores to the public living near them.

Here's the article from the Post today:

http://views.washingtonpost.com/climate-change/post-carbon/2010/04/salazar_approves_cape_wind_project.html?hpid=topnews

University of Tennessee to launch first e-bike sharing program in the US!

By late this summer, the Univ of Tennessee will launch an innovative e-bike share program using pedal assisted solar powered electric bikes. The university specifies a 25 % decrease in CO2 emissions from campus transportation activities. This program was modeled after Sanyo's recently installed community bike share program in Tokyo using 100% solar energy.

e-bikes