Author Archives: J Lundee

About J Lundee

I grew up in the small town of Utica, NY. Attendee of a community college and a highly web savvy individual, I began my career as a work-at-home web designer. Host to a number of political blogs, I grew a strong green following and began a more "call-to-action" oriented approach. It's important to seek out what's buzz worthy and encourage folks to pursue green activity.

Large corporations making large investments in renewable energy

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Money doesn't grow on tree ! But investing in them is the best way to capture the Carbon by pfala 21st century green initiatives are sparking life in today’s economy. Particularly, there have been a few major investments in renewable energy technologies that have positively influenced the stock market. In recent news, ProLogis, a distribution warehouse provider has made a tremendous investment in solar rooftop implementation in Southern California totaling 11.1 megawatts But what impact is this type of investment really having on our planet and economy?

The master agreement between Southern California Edison (SCE) and ProLogis has positively influenced the company’s stock. The company is able to provide such power through the direct installation of over 4 square kilometers (1.6 square miles) of rooftop panels that will effectively power the entire facility. The project is considered to be “multi-phase,” and will be a progressive installations beginning with nearly ¼ square kilometers. ProLogis currently maintains solar projects on 32 buildings throughout France, Germany, Japan, Spain and the United States.

With large size and and flat roof structure of facilities such as Prologis’, installation of solar power is a natural solution to powering the facility, and obtaining added value from the structure. Vice President of renewable energy for ProLogis states “Our partnership with SCE works well for both parties—we have flat, available roof space and local construction management expertise in place to support the growth of SCE’s renewable energy program.” This is one such example of how electric companies are working with larger organizations to promote sustainability and renewable energy. FedEx is another, earlier adopter of similar systems.

Online service giant Google recently made their biggest renewable energy investment in history. With projects beginning back in 2007, Google has pursued sustainability and renewable energy efforts as wise business investments and as a natural extension of their unofficial motto “Don’t be evil.” On May 3rd a press release went out stating Google’s 38.8 million dollar investment in two North Dakota wind farms. “On Friday we made our first direct investment in a utility-scale renewable energy project—two wind farms that generate 169.5 megawatts of power, enough to power more than 55,000 homes.” Rick Needeham, (Google’s Green Business Operations Manager), wrote within that Google is greatly interested in discovering new opportunities to invest in renewable energy projects that really ”push the envelope.” With enough energy to power nearly 55,000 homes, Google is making a tremendous impact on sustainability for our planet.

With Google’s acquisition of wind turbines in North Dakota, they are able to produce nearly 170 MW of power. Combined, this is a whopping 194.6 MW of clean energy, driven to both business and residential. With lessened maintenance costs and new job openings, these investments are major players in the welfare of our economy as well. It’s with efforts from both energy and non-energy groups that we begin to see hope for the future of our planet.

Edited by Jerrad Pierce

Is trash to energy part of the solution?

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The Incinerator by jimmyboyhay When it comes to environmental discussion, waste management is an environmental concern that many feel needs to be addressed. Many also feel that clean energy innovations are needed to ensure a greener earth. Yet, what many fail to realize is that the solution to the garbage and clean energy problem may be garbage itself.

Denmark has installed a number of garbage plants that take trash and make it into energy. These plants are at the forefront of waste/energy technology. How they operate is that the waste taken into the plant is incinerated which creates heat that generates steam for a turbine that goes on to run generators that create electricity and even heat. Statistics have shown that plants like the ones in Denmark, while creating new forms of energy, also help to cut down on waste caused emissions. 0.56 metric tons of CO2 is emitted from these conversion plants, which is considerably smaller than the 3.35 metric tons of CO2 that is emitted from landfills. Denmark has shown that there are other answers to waste problem than the common practice of landfills, but some countries like the United States are still hesitate to make the change.

There are over 13,000 active and inactive landfills in the United States alone. These landfills make up 54% of the nation’s waste management, which compared to the 4% in Denmark shows the differences in the way garbage is taken care of between the two countries. The negatives of landfills are that they take up space, have been known to leak toxins, and have almost six times the emission rate than that of trash energy plants. So what is stopping the United States from embracing the change? Well, it may be coming from an unlikely opponent: environmentalists.

Some environmentalists feel that incinerators, even ones that help to create energy, are counterproductive to the cause. In their opinion, incinerators promote a waste culture instead of a culture based around recycling. Yet, many American organizations like the Clinton Global Initiative (an international aid and philanthropy organization started by former President Clinton and adviser Doug Band back in 2005) see carbon emissions as the true environmental problem regardless of where it comes from. This is why CGI has worked tirelessly to create green initiatives that cut down on CO2 emissions.

What the waste conversion plants in Denmark have shown is that there are plenty of solutions to environment worries around the world waiting to be utilized. The United States may not be eager to join just yet, but the victory is that the world is thinking of ways to create cleaner energy even if it’s from a trashy source.