By Lena Babaeva Coradini

The New York Times has an interesting piece on the evolving solar energy industry.  Focusing on Puertollano, Spain, the article describes how the city went from solar boom to bust in a few short years due to inefficient, poorly designed solar plants and unsustainable governmet subsidies:

In September the government abruptly changed course, cutting payments and capping solar construction. Puertollano’s brief boom turned bust. Factories and stores shut, thousands of workers lost jobs, foreign companies and banks abandoned contracts that had already been negotiated.

All is not lost in Puertollano, however:

Even with the reduced incentives and local economic downturn, the solar industry gave Puertollano something of a face-lift and, potentially, a new economic future. Research institutes there are developing cutting-edge technologies. Unemployment, though now up around 10 percent, has not returned to the 20 percent figure. The city is home to a number of solar businesses: a new 50-megawatt thermal-solar plant owned by the Spanish energy giant Iberdrola created hundreds of jobs.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

Yet another industry is committing to going green:  movie theaters are making the effort by incorporating such changes as building LEED-certified theaters (in Chattanooga, Tennessee, at that!), incorporating renewable energy sources, and by using eco-friendly products.  

Environmentally conscious theater construction and design are growing trends, according to the Washington, D.C.-based National Association of Theatre Owners, which represents more than 29,000 movie screens in the U.S. Some theaters are installing solar panels to save energy--resulting in lower energy bills--and using recycled building materials for new theaters and existing facilities that are under renovation.

. . .

Carmike Cinemas' 12-screen Tennessee theater, called The Majestic, has 2,500 seats, twice the size of the previous theater on the site, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press. The LEED Silver requirements will be met by using recycled building materials and by a storm-water recycling system.

Dale Hurst, director of marketing for Carmike Cinemas, which has 247 theaters and 2,285 screens in 35 states, says being environmentally conscious is becoming more important to viewers. The company runs theaters in small- to mid-sized communities with fewer than 100,000 people and hopes that its first green theater will be a role model.

Excellent news, especially as Tennessee is featured as one of the few theaters to be LEED-certified.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

A subsidiary of UK petroleum giant BP will start building three wind farms this year and the next.  BP already has eight U.S. wind farms, and the three new ones will include a 124.5-megawatt facility this year in Idaho, a 200-megawatt facility in Oregon and 250-megawatt project in Colorado.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

Speaking of Europe: Sweden plans to build 2,000 wind turbines by 2020!  This move will expand Sweden’s total power production by 25 terrawatt hours from renewable sources, equal to half of power generated by the country’s nuclear reactors in 2009. 

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

Wow, impressive! A German commercial real estate investment company, Jamestown Properties, has decided to go "green" in nearly all of its $4 billion portfolio of buildings located across the United States:

The overhaul involves fixes as simple as installing low-flow water fixtures and as complex as revamping heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems. Jamestown expects to recoup costs through energy savings, the ability to charge higher rents and higher resale values.

What I found most encouraging was reading this opinion:

 “We come at things from a bit of a European perspective, and Europe is far ahead of the United States in the environmental movement,” Mr. Bronfman said. Sustainability “will become a key factor to the point where, if you haven’t taken environmental measures, you will have trouble, whether it’s leasing your office building or what have you,” he added. The company said it would spend $3 million to $10 million to retrofit all of its properties.

Lets hope sustainability will become a key factor, indeed.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

A bit of Tennessee news—a Florida company has bought Excel Waste, a waste service based in White House, Tenn. The key part of that article for sustainability purposes?

"With the acquisition of this C&D recycling facility, we will give our commercial customers the ability to bid on LEED certified projects [emphasis added] because they know that they have a waste and recycling partner in Advanced Disposal helping them reach their goals of waste reduction and sustainability throughout their business," Advanced Disposal's Mid-South Area President Gerald Greene said in a news release.

The company's rationale for the strategic acquisition shows that sustainability is a rising concern, and it's good PR too.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

I haven’t seen as much coverage on geothermal power as for other renewable sources, so it was good to see this headline: "Kenya’s Biggest Geothermal Project Planned: 280 MW": 

[A] new $1.3 billion, 280 MW, geothermal project could help the country meet more of the growing demand for electricity.

Kenya’s geothermal potential is quite high – 7000 MW according to the government – but the expected increase in energy consumption is also high. The country’s current peak power demand is around 1,070 MW, with a current generation capacity of 1,160 megawatts, and the projections are for a rise in demand of 10 percent each year over the next twenty.

The newest plant will be the biggest geothermal plant in the country, and is a joint venture between Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) and the engineering firm of Sinclair Knight Merz. Planned capacity of 280 MW will come from four geothermal generators, and the plant is expected to be online by 2013.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

We held our third breakfast in the Sustainability Breakfast Series yesterday! Organized by Brian Phelps (a landscape architect from Hawkins Partners), Erica Garrison (an attorney at Waller Lansden) and yours truly, the series focuses on different aspects of sustainability. 

The March topic was: Striving for energy efficiency and alternative energy: Creating synergy in Tennessee's built environment.   Our speakers were:

Tabitha Crawford
CEM | Division President
Balfour Beatty Energy Solutions LLC

Kirk Whittington
Business Development - Energy Solutions
SIEMENS Industry, Inc.

Erik Daugherty, MSc
Co-Owner
E3 INNOVATE LLC

Ryan Gooch
Director of the Energy Policy Office
State of Tennessee Economic & Community Development

Jim Purcell
Energy Services Manager
Nashville Electric Service

Ronald B. Merville, Jr. PE
President/CEO
Energy Source Partners

The breakfast fostered great discussion and we would like to thank the speakers for sharing their insight.  Many thanks to all who attended and to Waller Lansden for providing the food and the space for the breakfast!  Thank you to Brian Phelps for moderating this installment of the breakfast series.

If you are interested in reading about the first installation of the breakfast, please see this blog entry.  For information on the second breakfast, click here.

Listed below are the next events in the series:

April 8th - Increasing connectivity: What transportation changes should be coming down the pipeline in Nashville and Middle Tennessee

May 6th - Retrofitting yesterday's buildings to meet tomorrow's energy demands: To replace or to retrofit-that is the questions?

June 3rd - Striving to become the greenest city in the Southeast-What we can do to achieve this goal.

If you would like to attend, the program starts at 7:30 a.m. with  continental breakfast and the roundtable discussion runs from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.  To register or for more information, please contact Aja Hendrix at 615-850-8899 or via email at aja.hendrix@wallerlaw.com.  There's no cost to attend, but seating is limited.

If you have any questions, feel free to email Erica, Brian or me for information.

Thank you!

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

Great news headline featuring Tennessee in the discussion:

"Radioactive Waste Cleanup Project Becomes More Efficient, Greener." 

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

Speaking of key legislation that pertains to climate change: climate scientists are defending their work as the debate over climate change continues to heat up in both the media and the political circuit. 

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

The U.S. Green Building Council named the “Top 10” of green building bills in legislation and pending legislation this year.  Here's the list:

HOUSE

• The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - Public Law
• The American Clean Energy and Security Act - Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.)
• The 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act - Ben Chandler (D-Ky.)
• The Expanding Building Efficiency Act - Dave Reichert (R-Wash.)
• The Property Assessed Clean Energy Tax Benefits Act - John Sarbanes (D-Md.)
• An Act to Enhance Private Financing for Clean Energy Technology Deployment - Steve Israel (D-N.Y.)
• The Energy Efficiency Modernization Act of 2009 - Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Ohio)
• The Water Accountability Tax Efficiency Reinvestment (WATER) Act - Michael Coffman (R-Colo.)
• The Livable Communities Act of 2010 - Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) **pending introduction**
• The Federal Personnel Training Act of 2010 - Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) **pending introduction**

SENATE

• The Clean Energy and American Jobs Act - John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)
• The American Clean Energy and Leadership Act - Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)
• Energy Efficiency in Housing Act (EEHA) of 2009 - Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)
• The Livable Communities Act of 2009 - Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.)
• The Expanding Building Efficiency Incentives Act of 2009 - Olympia Snowe (R-Maine)
• The School Building Fairness Act - Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)
• Clean Energy for Homes and Buildings Act of 2009 - Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.)
• The Energy Efficiency Modernization Act of 2009 - Michael Bennet (D-Colo.)
• The Water Accountability Tax Efficiency Reinvestment (WATER) Act of 2009 - Mark Udall (D-Colo.)
• The Federal Agency Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2009 - Susan Collins (R-Maine)

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

Ooh something that combines my interests: sustainability and running!  Here is the headline that caught my eye—"The Running Shoe Leading the Race to Sustainability."  The article discusses Brooks Sports' approach to sustainability.  The company's overall social responsibility framework is comprehensive and includes both social and environmental issues throughout its supply chain and lifecycle of products.   It also reaches to their shoes:

Many shoes have High Performance Rubber Green (HPR Green) outsoles, made with sand rather than petroleum. Recycled materials have woven their way into laces, shoe and apparel fabrics, hangtags and packaging. The company seeks suppliers with bluesign certification, governing environmental practices in textile manufacturing.

In 2008, Brooks introduced the biodegradable BioMoGo midsole, used in a number of its shoes. An additive in the foam allows anaerobic microbes to eat the material once it hits a biologically active landfill, breaking it into nontoxic byproducts in 20 years (versus 1,000 years for a standard midsole).  . . .

The Green Silence, a performance racing shoe introduced in January, manifests Brooks environmental principles throughout, which Campbell terms "360 degree sustainability." Its name reflects Brooks' vision for a future where green is an unspoken given.

The shoe has a slim eco-footprint, with half the pieces found in similar styles, improved durability and extensive use of recycled and biodegradable materials. Brooks saved the equivalent of half a liter of oil and 41 percent of the energy used to make each pair.

Overall, 75 percent of its components are made with post-consumer recycled content and 3 percent contain post-industrial content, such as multiple pieces of the upper, laces, heel counters and rubber outsoles.

By weight, 52 percent of materials are post-consumer recycled and 7 percent are post-industrial recycled-yielding 60 percent total recycled content. Biodegradable components include the BioMoGo midsole, insole and collar foams. Brooks reduced volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by 65 percent, using low- and non-VOC materials and inks, and water-based adhesives. The sole is HPRGreen.  

Awesome!

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

Thomas Friedman of the New York Times provides an interesting article on how and why the Republican party is reaching out to different voter demographics by crafting energy policy that goes beyond drilling for oil.  In a conversation with Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican, certain indicators are noted for why the Republican party is shifting on some of its points as to energy policy: 

[S]hort answer: politics, jobs and legacy. We start with politics. The Republican Party today has a major outreach problem with two important constituencies, “Hispanics and young people,” Graham explains:

“I have been to enough college campuses to know if you are 30 or younger this climate issue is not a debate. It’s a value. These young people grew up with recycling and a sensitivity to the environment — and the world will be better off for it. They are not brainwashed. ... From a Republican point of view, we should buy into it and embrace it and not belittle them. You can have a genuine debate about the science of climate change, but when you say that those who believe it are buying a hoax and are wacky people you are putting at risk your party’s future with younger people. You can have a legitimate dispute about how to solve immigration, but when you start focusing on the last names of people the demographics will pass you by.” . . .

Remember, he adds: “We are more dependent on foreign oil today than after 9/11. That is political malpractice, and every member of Congress is responsible.”

This isn’t just for the next generation, says Graham: “As you talk about the future, if you forget the people who live in the present, you will have no future politically. You have to get the people in the present to buy into the future. I tell my voters: ‘If we try to clean up the air and become energy independent, we will create more jobs than anything I can do as a senator.’ General Electric makes all the turbines for the G.E. windmills in Greenville, South Carolina.” He also is pushing to make his state a manufacturing center for nuclear reactor components and biomass from plants and timber.

What would most help him bring around his G.O.P. colleagues? The business lobby. “The Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers need to tell my colleagues it is O.K. to price carbon, if you do it smartly,” he says.

The most encouraging part of the article?

Sure, Graham’s strategy will give many greens heartburn. I don’t agree with every point. But if there is going to be a clean energy bill, greens and Democrats will have to recruit some Republicans. Graham says he’s ready to meet them in the middle. “We’ve got to get started,” he says, “because once we do, every C.E.O. will adopt a carbon strategy, no matter what the law actually requires.”

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

"Religion comes slowly to environmentalism" is a headline that I was surprised to read, because for awhile there seemed to be numerous articles highlighting how in other parts of the nation churches lead the environmental movement in green building practices and sustainability.  Additionally, Dodd Galbreath, a leader from Lipscomb University, consistently tie in religion with environmental stewardship has also led me to believe that such sentiment was frequent.  The other headlines may have been misleading, however, as it appears that religion is slow to support the environmental movement:

While only 21 percent of Americans report being active in the environmental movement, a 2008 survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that nearly 90 percent of Americans described themselves as religious.

"Simply based on the numbers, the faith community could be critically important to the environmental dialogue," said Jerry Lawson, national manager of the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star Small Business and Congregations Network, a division of EPA that helps congregations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Energy Star estimates that if each of the more than 300,000 houses of worship in the United States cut energy consumption by 10 percent, congregations would save
$200 million and would eliminate greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 400,000 cars.

Because of their large numbers, American evangelicals could be a critical component of the burgeoning eco-religious movement. About 59 million Americans identify as evangelical Protestants, according to the 2008 Pew study.

What is interesting is the history of why there is not a larger group of supporters in the evangelical movement:

Evangelical attitudes toward environmentalism are complex. As early as 1970, the National Association of Evangelicals equated preservation of natural resources and ecological balance with preservation of God's creation.

Around that time, evangelicals began to clash ideologically with scientists and leaders of the early environmental movement over issues of population control and evolution, Wilson said. Environmentalists advocated abortion as a solution to population control, while evangelicals opposed abortion. Meanwhile, political conservatism began to dominate evangelical thought, and environmentalists became associated with liberalism.

Executive Pastor Don Bromley of the Vineyard Church of Ann Arbor counts himself a former skeptic of the environmental movement.

"I used to believe stereotypes that environmentalists didn't care about human beings as much as they did the natural world," Bromley said. "They were anti-progress."

Today, those divisions still hold.

 

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

Another biorefinery has opened in Tennessee.  This one processes wood:

Tennessee officials say two companies have signed an agreement to develop a biorefinery that will convert 1,000 dry tons of wood product per day to renewable diesel or jet fuel.

Hawaii-based ClearFuels will have the facility at the Hughes Hardwood wood component products manufacturing facility in Collinwood in Wayne County.

Officials said Tuesday in announcing the plan that at least 50 jobs will be created. Groundbreaking is scheduled for late 2011 with operation beginning some two years later.

The biorefinery will be capable of producing 16 million gallons of diesel and 4 million gallons of the gasoline feedstock naphtha each year.