Water saving tips

Posted on August 31, 2011 by JSivaguru

What is common between the beach, the pool , cold showers and lemonades ?

Water !

Even though water seems like it is an unlimited resource, is in reality a limited resource because there are no known new sources of water. Americans consume about 150 gallons of water every day, which is twice the world average. Water needs energy to be transported and has a huge environmental impact. More water required means more dams and reservoirs, which in turn means more damage to marine habitat.

Check out National Geographic’s water footprint calculator to discover how you use water and calculate your footprint.

Here are things you can do to conserve water and do your part to save the environment :
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Go here for more products that help conserve water.

Fun Facts

Running a cold-water faucet for 5 minutes uses as much energy as letting a 60-W bulb run for a week !
Water supply and treatment facilities consume about 56 bn KWh per year, which is equivalent to powering 5 million homes for an entire year !

Save water, save energy, save the planet

Meet the Interns, pt. 2: Dana

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Dean Fogarasi

Poster child: Dana Rubin shows off her silly side at work

One of our busier interns this summer has surely been Youth Liaison Dana Rubin. She leads an extensive effort to introduce ideas about energy efficiency to young people in Cambridge. Dana doesn’t play teacher here though–the idea is to get the right sort of educational materials into the right hands.

Ever since May, Dana’s been researching and compiling ideas for lesson plans, which present concepts related to energy use in bite-sized and fun ways. The lessons are geared towards kids age 9-13 and are very much hands-on or crafty. In one deceptively simple lesson, the children build paper pinwheels and stick them outside to twirl in the wind. At the most basic level, these toys are no different from our modern day giant wind turbines (minus the generators, of course) as a stationary device to intercept wind energy . The connections would then be drawn in discussion between wind and wind-generated electricity and why wind is considered a “clean” source. In a capstone lesson of sorts, kids get their detective caps on and become “energy sleuths,” applying what they’ve learned about energy efficient practices to find where improvements can be made at home or in school.

It’s through a set of connections between Dana and duly receptive local leaders that give life to her lesson plans. She started by meeting with program directors from Cambridge’s five youth centers: Area IV, Moore, Russell, Gately and Frisoli and has also met with Robert Lightbody (Director of Programming for all the Cambridge Youth Programs) to try to coordinate the youths’ energy efficiency activities and possibly have a competition between centers on who can reduce energy use more. Furthermore, Dana has met with Kristen Von Hoffman, Sustainability Manager of Cambridge Public Schools, to help her get a program started this fall. Lastly, efforts are being made to reach out to youths in low-income communities through Boy Scout troops. Dana hopes that her efforts will have a lasting effect–that, by introducing the right materials to the right people, programs to teach kids about energy efficiency will perpetuate.

Update – September 7, 2011: Download and view the final lesson plans (PDF)

Western MA Tornado Relief: ReBuild Western Massachusetts

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Tara Holmes

Image by Tara Holmes

On June 1st, three tornadoes touched down in western Massachusetts during a surprise series of storms, leaving a wake of destruction and confusion. Massachusetts, not known for tornadoes, is now beginning to rethink state policies surrounding severe weather preparation and emergency response.

ReBuild Western Massachusetts, a program developed by the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) and administered in partnership with the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), was announced on August 4th and will distribute more than $8 million to help building owners affected by the tornadoes rebuild using energy efficiency practices and renewable energy technologies. Eligible participants include those who can document damage caused by the June 1 storms, and who own buildings in communities in Hampden and Worcester Counties, including: Agawam, Westfield, West Springfield, Springfield, Wilbraham, Monson, Brimfield, Southbridge and Sturbridge.

The program will offer incentives for solar PV and solar thermal systems, as well as for renewable heating and hot water systems. Zero-interest loans and grants for building with energy efficient windows, doors, attic and wall insulation, and heating equipment will be offered to homeowner victims. Later this year, offerings will include energy efficiency and renewable energy assistance for other building owners, including businesses and municipalities. “There is now a package of incentives for these communities to rebuild cleaner, greener and more efficiently than ever before,” said DOER Commissioner Mark Sylvia. “For homeowners and businesses these programs bring significant reductions in energy costs and deep energy efficiency savings. These measures will also cut energy consumption, cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce our dependence on imported energy sources.”

It is important to note that of the approximately $22 billion Massachusetts spends annually on energy, 80% – or nearly $18 billion – goes out of the state and the country to purchase coal, oil and natural gas from Canada, the Middle East and South America. ReBuild Western Massachusetts aims to encourage building owners to rebuild using cleaner energy alternatives thereby helping to keep energy sources local while decreasing GHG emissions.

Implementing a Deep Green Tenant Program

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Sustainable Business Leader Blog

by Peter Crawley, EBI Consulting

Cross-posted from the Sustainable Business Leader Program blog. See the original post here.

New England property owners are beginning to understand the benefits of a “green” building: higher occupancy rates, higher rental rates and lower utility costs, to name a few. But working with just the “sticks and bricks” of a building can make it only “light green.”

To go deeper, a building manager must engage the community that occupies the building: the tenants. A building and its tenants are two interconnected systems that must work in-tandem to produce eco-efficiency. Even if a building is built to green standards, it will not perform in a deep green manner if the occupants are not actively participating in green practices. Ultimately, it is the tenants who recycle, conserve water and energy, and choose green modes of transportation. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) recognized this and introduced the LEED Operations and Management (O&M) certification. To gain LEED O&M certification, owners must work with tenants to promote a variety of green practices in the building. At the same time, LEED O&M isn’t the only strategy to harmonize landlord/tenant green operations.

Promoting Green Practices

Many progressive landlords, such as Hines Real Estate Investment Trust, are instituting “green tenant” programs of their own design. These programs provide a system to green tenant behaviors as well as better coordinate them with the overall green protocols of the building, such as recycling or transportation programs (In most cases, tenant greening programs also qualify for points under LEED O&M). Another New England landlord, Equity Office Properties, recently completed a greening program for its own office operations and is in the planning stages of engaging its tenants via a similar program.

Landlords with a desire to go “deep green” realize they can only get there via tenant involvement; and conversely, tenants that desire green operations realize they need the landlord to adopt green practices for the building as well. When the two parties acknowledge this interdependence, a fresh, collaborative relationship around green initiatives develops that produces opportunities and benefits for both parties.

The Landlord’s Role

To be successful, tenant greening programs need to be well designed and actively managed by the landlord. Programs should cover at least the following key areas: energy conservation, waste management, water conservation, modes of transportation, pollution prevention, and sustainable management practices.

Key landlord related actions include:

· Clear communication plan and instructional materials to explain program and green protocols of building;

· Program designed to be useful to tenants of various sizes and levels of green practices;

· Landlord willingness to separately track tenant usage information for energy, water and waste;

· Landlord willingness to share cost savings from conservation achievements with tenants, and include “green lease” covenants in contracts.

To prove its commitment to the greening program, the landlord should be willing to fund at least low cost green upgrades, such as occupancy sensors, water faucet aerators and wireless utility meters – which also add long-term value to the landlord’s asset. The landlord should also require third-party building vendors, whenever possible, to track product/service usage by tenant (e.g., for recycling). Additionally, the landlord should research utility company green incentive plans, as well as new greening technologies, and make them available to tenants.

The Tenant’s Role

As for the tenant, key components for successful greening programs include:

· Creating an internal “Green Team” with representation from diverse management levels and operational areas;

· Establishing baseline performance metrics prior to instituting improvements;

· Showing a commitment to tracking metrics to highlight progress;

· Holding educational and training sessions for employees;

· Displaying attractive signage regarding green behaviors (e.g., water conservation, light and computer shut-offs);

· Communicating and celebrating achievements, translated into dollar savings, career advancements and environmental benefits.

Tenants should realize that in addition to cost reductions, the benefits of a greening program include increased employee engagement and productivity, as well as public relations enhancements.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offers an energy-focused tenant greening program called “Bring Your Green to Work” that includes training videos, tip sheets and posters (See www.EnergyStar.gov). For a program that addresses the more specific challenges and opportunities of their portfolio, landlords can work with consultants to develop customized greening programs. Landlord-sponsored green tenant programs not only reduce building operating costs and carbon emissions, but also improve landlord-tenant relationships, which in turn promote lease renewals and long-term tenancies.

Peter Crawley is the former Director of the Sustainable Business Leader Program and now serves as the Director of Sustainability Services at Burlington, Mass.-based EBI Consulting, an environmental consulting firm offering a variety of green building services.

Meet the Interns, pt. 1: Ilona and Ben

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Dean Fogarasi

This is the first installment in a series of featurettes on our current interns’ summer projects.

Ilona Shmulevich in action!

At CEA, our overarching aim is to spread better energy efficiency to buildings in the city of Cambridge. We target this goal with what can effectively be described in four steps: First, we encourage residents to sign up for a free energy audit through MassSave. Second, an auditor visit is scheduled and carried out wherein they perform a full assessment of a building’s energy usage, providing a list of recommended improvements. Third, the residents learn about available rebates and decide what improvements they are willing to invest in. Finally, a MassSave or independently-appointed contractor comes and does all the installations, leaving the residents with increased building performance and predictions for fuller wallets in months and years to come.

When the program *doesn’t* work as smoothly as all that is described above, we have a plan for that, too. That’s where our research interns Ilona Shmulevich and Ben Baldwin step into the scene.

Ilona and Ben have designed and launched an online survey to gather feedback on the effectiveness of the program–both in terms of participation and realized energy cost savings. If you’re a Cantabridgian who’s ever expressed any interest with us in getting audited, there’s a good chance you’ve been emailed about this survey! Ilona is interested in uncovering where so-called “service gaps” lie–that is, in what ways do CEA and MassSave need to be more helpful? Ben is hunting for data from participating homes and businesses on their energy savings–information which has so far been hard to obtain. Ben is also seeking out information on peoples’ experiences with financing their energy efficiency improvements.

Ben and Ilona will present us with important findings by summer’s end and help us take our services to the next level!

Stay tuned for more Intern Featurettes in weeks to come.

Cambridge Energy Alliance PSA!

Posted on July 21, 2011 by JesseGorden

Click on the title of this entry to see the video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoY_v3mimak

Thanks to our Graphics intern Chelsea Lane, CEA is now available in cartoon form! With this short clip, our message is clearer than ever; energy efficiency is easy to get started on, and you’ll start saving money quickly. (Don’t you want a vacation somewhere tropical 😉 ?!) Get started right now.

Mt. Tom Station Cleans Up?

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Tara Holmes

Mt. Tom Station in Holyoke, MA has been a thorn in the sides of local environmentalists for many years. Sitting on one of the most pristine mountain ranges in western Massachusetts, the coal burning power plant has, according to the Conservation Law Foundation, violated clean air standards thousands of times from 2005 to 2010, despite $55 million worth of pollution-control equipment that was installed from 2007 to 2009.

Now, however, the plant plans to comply with more stringent air-quality standards, install air-monitoring equipment, and hire an outside consultant to correct air pollution problems under a settlement announced by the state Attorney General’s Office. In addition, FirstLight Power Resources, the station’s owners, and GDF Suez North America have agreed to pay a $25,000 penalty to the state of Massachusetts and $70,000 for an education program targeting owners of old wood stoves and wood-fired boilers in the greater Holyoke area. It’s important to note however that while burning wood remains a common heating and power option for those living in remote areas, it’s not a clean energy source.

The arrangement between the state and Mt. Tom Station settles allegations that Mt. Tom violated clean air standards in 2009 and 2010, yet there is still much to be done and this story is far from unique. Hundreds of other coal-fired power plants across the U.S. face identical concerns, namely outdated design and poor oversight. It’s thereby critical that the EPA along with local and state environmental agencies increase monitoring and random site checks on all coal-fired power stations to ensure safety and liability until they can be brought offline.

Unfortunately however, in today’s world of increasing energy demand, fossil fuels like coal remain a standard power producer. Growing sectors such as natural gas are advertised as a “clean” domestic alternative to coal, but that too comes at a large price with hydrolic fracturing, or fracking, leading to many questionable health and environmental concerns. Until the clean energy revolution makes a cheaper, mainstream splash in the U.S., stories like Mt. Tom will remain all too common.

Sink or swim? City of Cambridge Plans for Climate Adaptation

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Dean Fogarasi

If you’re a habitual reader of the environmentalist news stream, as I am, you notice that much of the discussion about climate change pertains to the urgent need for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. It’s a focus that’s well-warranted given both the huge scale and urgent timing of emissions reductions that are necessary to lessen (or ‘mitigate’) the amount of warming that occurs and avoid the severest impacts.

The flip-side of the climate science picture is the undoubtedly gloomy understanding that a certain amount of future warming is unavoidable regardless of how quickly emissions are drawn down. It’s in the spirit of realism and responsibility—not defeatism—then, that people are beginning to think about how we should prepare ourselves for the coming climatic changes. In the lingo of climate policy thinkers, this type of planning is called ‘adaptation.’

Low-lying areas along the Esplanade are at risk for more storm flooding as global sea levels rise

Serious adaptation planning is starting to move from an academic exercise to one that various levels of government are undertaking. Large cities—particularly ones situated on coastlines—have led the way. New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Miami, among others, have set the adaptation wheels in motion.

The City of Boston is following in their footsteps; in their recently published climate plan, they made it a goal to “give adaptation the same priority as mitigation,” and mentioned that a comprehensive adaption study is in the works. The State of Massachusetts, under the 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act, established an Advisory Committee of experts and stakeholders to report on and make recommendations regarding adaptation to the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. Kathleen Baskin, manager of this committee, informed me that their first report, provisionally entitled the Massachusetts Climate Adaptation Plan, is now under review and should be published by late summer. The report will include a qualitative assessment of the state’s vulnerability to climate change and provide strategies for response under several predicted climate scenarios.

Last week, I sat down with John Bolduc, an environmental planner for the City of Cambridge, to learn about how the city is moving forward with adaptation. When the city began climate planning in 1999 with a resolution to join ICLEI’s Cities for Climate Protection program, attention was squarely on the potential for reducing Cambridge’s carbon footprint—that is, mitigation. And until the past couple of years, it remained this way, whether for fear that adaptation would divert attention and resources from mitigation or hope that civilization would be on course to avert crisis by now. Last year, Cambridge (in addition to Boston) was one of the inaugural cities in ICLEI’s new Climate Resilient Communities program.

The first step in the process is to conduct a vulnerability assessment, which involves analyzing climatic threats to Cambridge in detail. The Climate Protection Action Committee (CPAC), which advises the City Manager on climate change issues, presented some general vulnerability findings to him last year in a recommendation for a full assessment. Sea level rise—which is currently expected to be 1 to 2 meters by 2100—presents a major risk to Cambridge in the form of storm surge flooding from Boston Harbor. In the present climate, the Charles River Dam protects Cambridge against coastal storms that have more than one percent chance of happening in any year. By the middle of the century, the Charles River Dam and other coastal defenses could be overwhelmed regularly by sea level rise and coastal storms. A scenario involving sea level rise of 2 feet, a moderate estimate, and a current 100 year storm would see the Charles River Dam and other coastal barriers overtopped. In addition to sea level rise, direct effects on public health are expected—more hot summer days and nights (made worse by the urban heat island), increased ground-level ozone (smog) formation, and greater risk for insect-borne diseases are just a sampling of concerns articulated by CPAC. According to Mr. Bolduc, City Manager Healy has already acted on CPAC’s recommendation and the City will be starting a vulnerability assessment this summer.

Looking forward, Mr. Bolduc emphasized that potential adaptation measures shouldn’t be looked at in isolation—that is to say, adaptation strategies are not only about protecting citizens and infrastructure from climatic hazards. For example, tree-planting and ‘green roofs,’ which can help buildings stay cool in the summer, are also helpful for air quality—a ‘co-benefit’ of action. A city must be looked at holistically for the interconnected social-ecological-economic system that it is. The bottom line is that climate change adaptation planning is really a continuation of what the City already does to reduce and manage risks to the community from a range of potential threats. In the past we could count on a relatively stable climate, but now we have to expect conditions will change. To Mr. Bolduc, the goal is to make Cambridge a more “resilient” city.

A New Way to LEED Our Communities

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Dean Fogarasi

What does ‘green building’ mean? How can principles of sustainability be implemented in building design and construction and be certified as such? These were questions that the U.S. Green Building Council (www.usgbc.org) dealt with when they rolled out their first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (“LEED”) guidelines in the 1990s. Although LEED has received criticism for not incorporating measured building performance in its accreditation service, their guidelines have evolved over the years and are regarded as the leader in the world of green building certification [1]. Warm Home Cool Planet contributor John Bolduc reports that here in Cambridge–one of the nation’s most accomplished cities in sustainable practices–64 buildings have either been registered with LEED or accredited.

But for all the usefulness a green building certification system brings with it, it still doesn’t get at the need for sustainable developments on a slightly larger scale–that of a neighborhood or development project. After all, so much of our lives–and environmental impacts–are tied in with the nature of our neighborhoods. Things like transportation needs, population density, recreation space, air quality, and energy use are interrelated. This is what LEED’s newest volume of wisdom is all about. Known as LEED-ND (for “neighborhood development”), the set of guidelines and certification scheme has come out of a collaboration between the USGBC, National Resources Defense Council and the Congress for the New Urbanism. Sounds like a lovely idea, right? But in practice, not all locales have the luxury of cutting-edge environmental planning and certainly not all developers want to put the time and money into comprehensively green projects. That’s why I am so excited that NRDC just released “A Citizen’s Guide to LEED for Neighborhood Development.”

The Citizen’s Guide, which may be downloaded here, is just that–a very readable document intended to empower people to evaluate neighborhoods, whether they already exist or are only on paper. A wide swath of sustainability principles are embodied in LEED-ND, including “smart growth,” transportation, pedestrian-friendly streets and architecture, affordable housing, protection of natural resources, and climate change considerations. The guide includes a handy checklist so that anyone can get a rough idea of how well a neighborhood fares. Optionally, one can also try tabulating points to estimate what its LEED-ND score would be (in the formal certification assessment). Or, one can simply use the guide to ask better questions at a town meeting or push for more informed zoning policies–it’s all up to you!

[1] Keim, Brandon. “LEED the Way.” Stanford Social Innovation Review 8.2 (2010): 66-71.

Google Pushes for Solar Panels

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Tara Holmes

Google, a company that continues to invest in and push for clean energy technology, has recently announced its newest, and potentially biggest, capital venture: funding a no-cost installation solar panel program for homeowners. While already investing in other mammoth clean energy projects across the US, such as a $100 million investment in the world’s biggest wind farm, the company is now creating a $280 million fund to finance SolarCity‘s residential solar projects. Google essentially aims to erase any initial economic burden thereby moving more rapidly towards installation. Given many homeowners today struggle with the up-front costs of putting up solar panels on their roofs, even with state-funded rebate programs and incentives, such a program comes at an opportune time.

Of course, Google also expects to make plenty of return on its investment. Rick Needham, Google’s Director of Green Business Operations and Strategy, believes that SolarCity is “attractive enough for us to invest given the risks of the project.” Furthermore, Google will reap a 30% federal tax investment credit for installed solar systems. In addition, SolarCity’s CEO Lyndon Rive expects Google’s funding will allow the company to install between 7,000 and 9,000 new rooftop systems. “This is one of the first corporate investments into distributed solar. Historically, most of the investments have been made by the banks. These have a limited amonts of capital that they can distribute, which is a constraint for solar adoption,” says Rive.

SolarCity hopes Google investment will encourage other corporate investment in the solar panel market. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, less than 0.1% of U.S. homes have rooftop solar panels today, however, that number is expected to increase to 2.4% by 2020. Investments like Google’s are important market drivers in the demand for clean energy and renewable technologies and it will be interesting to see how much of an impact Google continues to have in this arena. Countries like Germany, for example, have already pioneered the rapid installation of resident solar panels through widespread government subsidies and incentives and China is not far behind. The US, however, continues to shift between the push for cleaner energy and our continued reliance on fossil fuels. Corporate investments, such as Google’s, may be just the message the US needs in order to help kick-start a sluggish national clean energy economy.