For the past 18 years, the NFL has been working to decrease the environmental footprint of the largest annual sporting event in the U.S. – the Super Bowl. This year, the NFL is trying to outdo itself yet again to make Super Bowl XLVI the greenest yet. As you can imagine, the Super Bowl with it’s jumbotrons, dazzling half time show, and NFL Experience theme park, uses a lot of electricity. To help reduce the impact of that energy consumption, the National Football League and the Indianapolis Super Bowl XLVI Host Committee are partnering with Green Mountain Energy to purchase 15,000 megawatt hours of renewable energy certificates (RECs) generated at wind farms in North Dakota to offset the power associated with the event. To engage fans and the Indianapolis community in these greening efforts and help address impacts outside Super Bowl operations, the NFL also organized the 1st & Green Environmental Challenge. Participants can track their carbon and water savings on the website and the winner of the challenge will be recognized on stage at the Super Bowl village. [Read this article]

Building on President Obama’s call in the State of the Union address for a new era for American energy, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu joined with Houston Mayor Annise Parker to announce that Houston, Texas is joining the Better Buildings Challenge. Houston is the latest community to join the Challenge, a public-private partnership that seeks to improve energy efficiency 20 percent by 2020 in commercial, government, and school buildings across the country. As the newest Challenge community partner, the City of Houston is committing to improve energy efficiency across 30 million square feet of public and private buildings throughout the city. “Through the Better Buildings Challenge, the city of Houston is helping to boost manufacturing, create U.S. jobs, reduce pollution, and build an American economy that lasts,” said Secretary Chu. [Read this article]

The historic bronze streetlamps that line America’s front yard, the National Mall in Washington, D.C., are casting a new, more efficient glow. This week, they were retrofitted with LEDs (light emitting diodes), donated by lighting manufacturer Osram Sylvania and installed pro bono by the city’s electric utility Pepco. The bulbs replace the Mall’s high intensity discharge and CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) lighting. They’re expected to use up to 65% less energy and last up to 25 years. “Using energy-efficient LED light bulbs is an important way Americans can save money by saving energy,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in switching on the lights for the first time. [Read this article]

The U.S. Department of Energy’s worldwide competition to build solar-powered, highly energy-efficient homes will move to Orange County in 2013. The biennial Solar Decathlon had been held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., since its inception in 2002. “We wanted to find a way to extend the competition’s reach beyond D.C. and showcase energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies across the country,” DOE spokeswoman Jen Stutsman said. By moving it to Orange County Great Park, in Irvine, “we’ll be able to reach millions of Southern Californians and demonstrate for a new audience the benefits that come with energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.” The DOE selected Orange County Great Park through a national competition. The site was chosen for its ability to accommodate 20 houses, its visitor parking and easy freeway access, as well as favorable weather conditions. For the Solar Decathlon, 20 teams from colleges and universities across the United States and the world spend two years designing, constructing and testing home designs that combine affordability, consumer appeal and design excellence. [Read this article]

While national governments grapple with economic issues and policy gridlocks, pushing sustainability measures to the side, cities are picking up the mantle. Some of the world’s largest cities are emerging as laboratories of innovative technologies, business models, and efficiency measures, many of them with salutary environmental and social outcomes. To the extent that the green economy flourishes, it is becoming clearer that it will likely be a bottom-up, grassroots evolution. It makes sense. Cities are where more than half the global population lives. During 2011, the role of cities in sustainability became increasingly evident. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former President Bill Clinton merged their respective sustainable city initiatives to create the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, a network of large cities around the world committed to implementing climate-related actions at the local level. The combined group, in turn, formed a partnership with the World Bank to help cities accelerate actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. [Read this article]

Which California city currently has more solar power installations within its boundaries and generates more solar energy than any other? Here’s a hint: it’s not Los Angeles. San Diego is the California leader when it comes to solar power, according to a new statewide analysis that will be unveiled by the Environment California Research and Policy Center. In 2011, San Diego had 4,507 solar power installations, generating almost 36.7 megawatts of power from the sun. To put that in perspective, Environment California said that would be enough to rank San Diego among the top 25 nations in the world. Los Angeles was second in the rankings, with 4,018 installations and a little less than 36.2 megawatts. San Jose was third, with more than 2,700 installations and 31MW. The report focuses on solar photovoltaic installations that are mostly owned by ratepayers or by third-party financing companies, as opposed to electric utilities. The report highlights just how far the state has come in utilizing the sun’s energy, but it also warns that it has much farther to go. [Read this article]