Plug-in charging stations in the northeast

According to an article in the Hartford Courant, Northeast Utilities is looking for government funding to install a network of plug-in hybrid charging stations in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Connecticut-based NU announced plans on Tuesday to install 575 stations over the next two years. Approximately half of the funding for the plan will come from a nearly $700,000 grant from the US Department of Energy that will be decided in June.

Their plan is similar to the "green highway" plan in Oregon and California where charging stations, as well as biodiesel, ethanol and other forms of alternative energy will be available along the I-5 corridor.

The NU plan has been embraced by local officials as a necessary catalyst to drive change in electric automotives. They hope that consumers will gain confidence by seeing the system in place.

Green upgrades for Empire State Building

A $20 million project to upgrade the Empire State Building was announced today. An article in Forbes reports that the upgrades will result in $4.4 million of annual savings due to increased efficiencies.

The upgrades will also reduce carbon emissions by 105,000 tons over the next 15 years (roughly equivalent to taking 17,500 cars off the road). New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg hopes that this will help move the city towards their goal to reduce carbon emissions by 30% by 2030.

The cost of the project is being supported by the Clinton Foundation. Bill Clinton said that the project would serve as an example to the world that established buildings can be made greener to great affect.

Specific plans include replacing each of the building's 6,500 windows with insulated glass that will prevent heat transfer in both hot and cold weather. There are also plans to install more insulation around radiators and upgrade water cooling systems, ventilation, heating and lights.

Recycle your cell phone

The upcoming week is National Cell Phone Recycling Week, according to the EPA. Their goal is to raise awareness about cell phone recycling and prevent about 90 million unwanted cell phones from entering landfills every year, according to this article.

They are cooperating with cellular manufacturers and retailers to get information out to the public. Most of these companies have programs to recycle your old phone and information is readily available from those companies.

Cell phones contain a number of materials--copper, precious metals and plastics--that have a high carbon footprint to produce. Using materials from recycled cellphones has the potential to reduce the energy used in production by enough to power 18,500 homes for a year.

UK retailer tests new packaging return policy

British based Tesco, the worlds fourth largest retail outlet is testing out a new recycling system at select stores in the UK.

An article in The Guardian reports that the retail giant is asking customers to discard unwanted and bulky packaging near the tills. They will use this to find out what packaging consumers are prepared to do without.

The store aims to divert 95% of its waste stream away from landfills--largely through reduced and recyclable materials--by the end of the year. They are currently at 87%. Tesco uses the least packaging measured against a group of similar retail outlets.

The pilot project will also ensure that materials are recycled properly. Head of energy, waste and recyling Alasdair James said, "We know our customers expect us to help them recycle easily and we have also committed ourselves to cutting our own waste."

Environmentally safer concrete

According to an article in the New York Times, a new bridge on I-35 outside of Minneapolis is built using a concrete blend that is friendly to the environment.

The bridge was built to replace a bridge that collapsed in 2007. The engineers were focused on finding a more durable concrete to prevent a future collapse. Their solution was to use multiple blends of concrete that were specialized for each component of the bridge.

Most of the concrete blends used in the project were made without Portland cement, the traditional bonding material with a high carbon footprint. Instead, Kevin MacDonald of Cemstone Products Company developed a way to use industrial waste products--fly ash and blast furnace slag--as the bond material.

Using these recycled materials reduces the carbon footprint of the bridge because their carbon output was already accounted for when they were originally produced. Portland cement also releases about one ton of CO2 for each ton of concrete.

MacDonald is just one of many researchers working on reducing the carbon footprint of concrete.

Harvesting manure for biofuel

According to an article in Environmental News Network, the world's largest biomass power plant is located in the Netherlands. It runs on chicken manure and provides power for 90,000 homes.

The power plant has a 36.5 MW capacity and generates approximately 270 million kWh of electricity annually. It uses the carbon dioxide and methane gasses produced by the manure to produce power.


Not only does this method of power production spare the carbon cost of traditional power sources (coal, oil, etc), but it prevents the methane and CO2 in the manure from escaping into the atmosphere.

The power plant will use about 440,000 tons of chicken manure per year, which is about one third of the total yearly amount produced in the Netherlands.

San Francisco boosts green economy

San Francisco is currently enrolled in two programs that have proved effective at stimulating a green economy, according to an article in CleanTechnica.

One program is geared around energy efficiency for commercial and multi-family residential properties. Known as SF Energy Watch, the program provides technical assistance and financial incentives. SF Energy Watch will pay for up to half of upgrade costs towards energy efficiencies.

The other program, Go Solar SF, provides incentives to install solar panels. Using a variety of federal, state and local incentives, residents can reduce the cost of a solar installation by about 50%.

Residents and businesses using Go Solar SF are responsible for 2MW of solar production, about one quarter of the total solar production in the city. They also provide about 150 jobs in the city.