The worldwide movement toward sustainability has made significant progress over the past half-dozen years as companies and cities have pursued strategies that balance future and current societal needs. Now, sustainable development is entering a new phase, characterized by greater alignment within and between the public and private sectors. Many well-coordinated initiatives in recent years have pointed the way forward for companies and cities. Here are major trends shaping the sustainable development movement in 2012. The common theme to all these trends is of an industry poised to break through to the next level. The industry has moved swiftly through initial phases of understanding the basic costs and benefits, implementing low-cost initiatives, exploring more sophisticated strategies, and navigating around roadblocks. Today, it is easier to see the opportunity for dynamic progress by cities, property owners and corporate tenants that have laid the groundwork for growth and success. [Read this article]
4 Sustainability Trends That Will Shape 2012
Date: 01/03/2012 | Source: GreenBiz.com 
How New Financing Models Could Make Solar The Facebook Of The Energy Industry
Date: 01/03/2012 | Source: Forbes
Rapidly dropping polysilicon prices over the past year have inspired several utility-scale solar developments to move forward after many months’ pause. At the same time, those in favor of distributed generation (placing solar on every available rooftop to supply energy locally) have also made strides in improving the business case for small-scale solar, particularly with respect to what is being called “community solar” – centrally located solar projects that enable those who can’t necessarily put solar on their own roofs to support and benefit from solar energy. Now, two emergent financing mechanisms are shaking up the energy business case, creating models that could work for a variety of renewable energy sources. Berkeley-based Solar Mosaic has taken a crowd-funding approach to solar, enabling citizens to earn back their investment once the solar has been installed. The solar garden approach also enables those without the option of putting solar on their roofs – renters, people who live in historical buildings, people whose homes are in a Homeowners Association, or people whose roofs aren’t positioned to make efficient use of the sun – to reap the rewards of solar energy. [Read this article]
7 Green Home Tech Trends Of 2011
Date: 01/03/2012 | Source: Earth Techling
2011 was supposed to be the breakthrough year for home energy management. That didn’t quite happen, but there was a lot of progress. Here are the top trends of the year. Being energy efficient is no longer about being green. It’s about saving money, eliminating waste – and maybe doing the right thing. Though studies show that while most are more receptive to being energy efficient, they either don’t follow through or have wrong ideas about how to save energy. Conclusion: More education – much more education – is needed. And that’s not such a bad thing. Service providers have rolled out basic energy management systems with wireless thermostats and lighting control – operable from your smartphone. With every sale of energy management options they are showing people that it’s easy to be energy-efficient. Maybe even fun. Reasonably affordable energy monitoring/management systems are available or becoming available. TVs are markedly more energy-efficient than they were two or three years ago. And now even the cable TV industry is looking to make their set-top boxes, which can consume 20 to 30 watts of power 24/7, more efficient. [Read this article]
5 Tips For Healthier, Cleaner Air For You And Your Family In 2012
Date: 01/03/2012 | Source: Mother Nature Network
According to the EPA, most of us spend about 90 percent of our time indoors. And although there are plenty of laws and regulations about outdoor air pollution, most of us don’t give a second thought to the air in our homes. But we should: ”… a growing body of scientific evidence has indicated that the air within homes and other buildings can be more seriously polluted than the outdoor air in even the largest and most industrialized cities. Thus, for many people, the risks to health may be greater due to exposure to air pollution indoors than outdoors,” advises the EPA. You could choose to invest in an air purifier or filter, but getting significantly cleaner, healthier air in your home doesn’t have to come from making big changes or even spending any money. Here are some simple and mostly free ways to clear the air. [Read this article]
How New Energy Efficient Lighting Creates Green Jobs
Date: 01/03/2012 | Source: GreenBiz.com
Deep in the heart of America’s rust belt, a new generation of companies is riding a wave of job-creating lighting technologies as new federal lighting efficiency standards are phased in. In Ohio, the birthplace of Thomas Edison and home to light bulb manufacturers GE and TCP, engineering, production and installation jobs are being created as an tsunami of new lighting products pours into home and business markets. Despite Congressional Republicans’ last minute efforts to undermine new light bulb efficiency standards, the money-saving law remains in place and takes effect on January 1 as planned. That’s good for American consumers – and for American workers and their companies. Of course, Ohio isn’t the only place where an efficient lighting stampede is taking place. People and businesses across the country are realizing it’s smart to make the switch to new money-saving lighting technologies like LEDs. And new high-tech bulb manufacturers like Florida’s Lighting Science Group are hiring former NASA scientists to design these money-saving technologies. [Read this article]
Storehouses For Solar Energy Can Step In When The Sun Goes Down
Date: 01/03/2012 | Source: The New York Times
If solar energy is eventually going to matter – that is, generate a significant portion of the nation’s electricity – the industry must overcome a major stumbling block, experts say: finding a way to store it for use when the sun isn’t shining. That challenge seems to be creating an opening for a different form of power, solar thermal, which makes electricity by using the sun’s heat to boil water. The water can be used to heat salt that stores the energy until later, when the sun dips and households power up their appliances and air-conditioning at peak demand hours in the summer. Two California companies are planning to deploy the storage technology: SolarReserve, which is building a plant in the Nevada desert scheduled to start up next year, and BrightSource, which plans three plants in California that would begin operating in 2016 and 2017. Together, the four projects will be capable of powering tens of thousand of households throughout a summer evening. That job will become more important if photovoltaic panels, which have plunged in price lately, become even cheaper and sprout on millions of rooftops. [Read this article]
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