QUOTE
“Large-scale energy efficiency advances are by far the smartest investment for America.”
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy’s
Director of Economic and Social Analysis, John A. “Skip” Laitner
America is thinking too small when it comes to energy efficiency. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) has been very clear in its latest report: “slashing energy use 60% could generate 2 million jobs and save the equivalent of $2,600 per household annually”.
http://www.renewableenergymagazine.com/renewableenergy/magazine/index/pag/energy_saving/colleft//colright/energy_saving/tip/articulo/pagid/18910/botid/52/len/en/
Must log in for free report- The Long-Term Energy Efficiency Potential: What the Evidence Suggests  http://aceee.org/research-report/E121

Ever suspect your apartment building’s heating was poorly managed because you needed to open the windows in winter? Now New York City residents can prove it with data. Columbia University yesterday released results from a mapping project that shows, block by block, how much energy buildings consume. Providing the data in a visual format makes it easier to locate buildings that are good candidates for efficiency improvements or potentially on-site energy production. “We want to start the conversation for the average New Yorker about energy efficiency and conservation.”
The map, which was built using MapBox, demonstrates the power of visualizing data. The Columbia map allows people to hover over one block and see that it uses more energy than one next to it.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-57369503-54/mapping-new-york-citys-energy-hogs/
For MapBox to make your own maps- http://mapbox.com/

- It’s clear far more needs to be done in energy efficiency. What potential! Architecture 2030 offers fine charts and defines what is next- we are all part of this mission! Work with your cities on building codes, get your neighbors and offices upping efficiency, etc. $6 trillion can make a difference! - Editor

- The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2011 Annual Energy Outlook (AEO) projections to the year 2030, clearly illustrate that estimates of residential and commercial building energy use to 2030 have been dropping dramatically since 2005 – by nearly 70% – due to considerable movement within the Building Sector to improve building design and efficiency. In its most recent estimate, the AEO 2011 forecasts that American consumers will spend $3.66 trillion less on energy between 2012 and 2030 than was originally projected in 2005.
If, by 2030, we embrace the most efficient building technologies available, these savings will top $6 trillion.
In order to adequately address the energy and climate crises, we need to re-double our efforts towards meeting the 2030 Challenge targets by:
Expanding professional education
Providing relevant tools, resources, and information.
Adopting advanced building energy codes.
Replicating the Seattle 2030 District initiative in cities across the U.S. and around the world.
Increasing product manufacturers and specifiers committed to the 2030 Challenge for Products.
http://www.architecture2030.org/enews/news_012312.html

- Hopefully you talk both publically and privately with people about the climate challenge and its solutions. These are practical guidelines for ways to word your messages. Do read this! - Editor
Creating a sustainable world is about getting individuals, organisations and nations to shift their perspectives and practices. What can you do to influence this process? I describe three psychological principles to help sustainability advocates be more effective.
- Be (mostly) positive
- Work with people’s worldviews
- Utilise people’s tendency to imitate others
If enough of us do what we can, and concentrate on bringing others along with us, we will slowly shift the social direction towards one that is better for us and the ecosystems around us. I also know that if we concentrate on those who are likely to be allies, maintain a positive focus and openly live the behaviours we believe to be sustainable, we will be enriched by the process at the same time. None of us has “the answer” to the sustainability “problem”, but the more of us who work in good faith towards a sustainable world, the more likely I suspect it is we’ll create one.
http://fleeingvesuvius.org/2012/01/28/a-guide-for-sustainability-advocates/

- Money speaks more than ever before. Those of us without a billion bucks have to strengthen our actions on climate change. Key media are controlled- not just the financials but the content- by some of the richest people in the world.  Murdoch acquired the prestigious Wall Street Journal by purchasing Dow Jones for $5 billion in 2007. Crazy Rush makes approximately $30 million a year, plus other fees.
And now political campaigns have skyrocketed with money- was Tuesday’s Florida vote decided on merit and reasoned argument or by money buying the airwaves? Romney and his super PACs spent five times as much money on Florida’s airwaves, and ran more than 60 TV ads for every Gingrich one.
Everybody needs to become a David because there sure are a lot of Goliaths around! - Editor

Right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch strikes again! For years now, all of Murdoch’s far-flung properties, including Fox News, have made every effort to deny mainstream scientific theories regarding global warming. Never mind that not even one reputable scientific organization in the world disagrees with those mainstream theories.
Accordingly, under the headline “No Need to Panic About Global Warming,” Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal published an eminently assailable opinion piece the other day signed by 16 scientists, several of whom are notorious cranks. This was after the Journal had turned down an article from 255 members of the National Academy of Sciences explaining the urgency of the climate-change issue.
http://www.timesreporter.com/community/blogs/applesauce/x1368170771/WSJ-rejects-global-warming-article-from-255-scientists-accepts-denialism-piece-from-16-crackpots
For a denial video- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204301404577171531838421366.html
Also worth reading- http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2010/06/21/206277/pnas-study-climate-science-media-balance-deniers/

The fifth annual edition of our State of Green Business report continues our efforts to measure the environmental impacts of the emerging green economy. We document how well - or poorly - companies are improving their environmental performance despite the challenges posed by the Great Recession, and begin to note promising signs for change in corporate sustainability efforts.
http://www.greenbiz.com/event/2012/02/07/state-green-business-2012-good-news-and-bad?utm_source=GreenBuzz&utm_campaign=fa0c7000dc-GreenBuzz-2012-01-31&utm_medium=email
To sign up- https://vts.inxpo.com/scripts/Server.nxp

- Two opportunities here for learning more about urban agriculture. This first one is a “pathway to making healthy food more available for low-income communities, and shifting economic revitalization efforts.”  Get potential growers, even 15 years old, to sign up for both. Great, too, for school teachers to get their classes going. - Editor

Growing Urban Agriculture Webinar- Feb. 16

PolicyLink will be hosting a mini-series of webinars focusing on how low-income communities and communities of color are incorporating urban agriculture into their community development efforts and into policy infrastructures supporting this work.
http://www.cityfarmer.info/2012/02/01/equitable-strategies-for-growing-urban-agriculture-webinar/#more-20149
To register for the webinar Feb 16, 2012 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. (PST); 2 p.m. - 3 p.m. (EST)- http://www.kintera.org/cms.asp?id=2888350&campaign_id=116731&msource=urbagwebinar&tr=y&enString=ddRyPrQjJhLIKXOwHdJIIMOnGfJuEvOaOORCPVOqGjJPKRPoG8LNF&auid=10226048
For a video on Brooklyn’s Red Hook Community Farm- http://vimeo.com/14181741?msource=urbagwebinar
AND
- It doesn’t say this, but it seems that one would have to pay for later training. If that’s an issue for you, ask about discounts/ trades etc. - Editor

Make Money as an Urban Farmer video training
Let Curtis Stone teach you how he makes $60,000/year in sales growing food on 3/4 of an acre. He wants to create a movement of young people farming as a profitable business to build community, resilient local food systems, and income to support a family, with a goal to empower 1000 people to become successful commercial urban farmers in 2012.
To receive the first section, “Site Selection”, for free- http://www.groaction.com/urbanfarm/index

- Another video to share with your community. - Editor

Can coal ever really be made “clean”? Watch the 90-minute documentary. Half our electricity comes from coal, the largest single source of greenhouse gases. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Featuring stories from China to West Virginia, Dirty Business reveals the true social and environmental costs of coal power and explores the murky realities of “clean coal” technology. The film highlights the work of energy innovators and the viable, renewable alternatives they offer in an age of rapid climate change.
http://dirtybusinessthefilm.com/buy-dvd

- Being able to store energy makes wind and solar far more functional. Here is one way that is ready now. - Editor

BrightSource Energy, a major player in the market for concentrating solar power, or CSP, announced the installation of new thermal energy storage technology at three of its planned power plants in California. This thermal energy storage technology will go a long way toward solving the intermittency problem for concentrating solar power. The thermal energy storage systems work by using hundreds of parabolic mirrors to concentrate the rays of the sun on a tank of molten salts, heating the salts to several hundred degrees above the boiling point of water. The added storage capacity will allow the power plants to continue producing electricity up to two hours after the sun stops shining. It will also enable the power plants to produce electricity at a steady and predictable rate throughout the day and will smooth out fluctuations that make managing solar power tricky for grid operators. Even better, the new thermal storage systems will allow the CSP plants to produce twice the electricity on the same amount of land as could be produced by traditional photovoltaic panels.
http://scienceprogress.org/2012/01/super-hot-salt-a-super-cool-solar-technology-innovation/
and
http://www.brightsourceenergy.com/images/uploads/press_releases/BSE_SCE_PPA_Storage_112811_FINAL.pdf