Obama says renewable energy key to economic future

I read this article by Tom Doggett about President Obama's ideas on green energy in America. I think Obama makes some sound arguments about the need for more green energy and how it can help us economically.

Below is the article. What do you think?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday pushed for more investment in solar and wind energy, saying the country that can make renewable energy sources price-competitive with traditional fossil fuels will become the economic superpower of the future.

Obama, speaking at a townhall meeting in Elkhart, Indiana, said renewable energy companies needed tax breaks and loan guarantees to provide incentives for firms to manufacture and customers to purchase solar and wind energy.

Obama acknowledged that while the cost of producing electricity by wind and solar has declined, it is still cheaper to generate power from plants fueled by coal or natural gas.

However, Obama said he wanted the government to invest every year in new technologies to drive down renewable energy costs over the long term.

"The country that figures out how to make cheaper energy that's also clean, that country is going to win the economic competition of the future," he said.

The roughly $800 billion stimulus package pending in Congress to revive the American economy includes billions of dollars in tax breaks and other financial incentives to boost the use of renewable energy.

They are intended to ensure solar and wind energy companies have steady business.

Obama called on Congress to require U.S. utilities to generate a certain amount of their electricity supplies, such as 15 to 20 percent, from renewable energy sources.

He said that, once such a benchmark is set, then renewable energy companies can "count on a pretty solid market that they're going to be able to sell their energy to."

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee was scheduled to hold a hearing on Tuesday on draft legislation that would set a national renewable energy standard.

Under the bill, the amount of the U.S. electricity supply coming from renewable energy resources would gradually increase to 4 percent by 2012, 8 percent by 2015, 12 percent by 2018, 16 percent by 2020 and 20 percent by 2039.

Obama also pledged to double U.S. renewable energy production within the next three years.

For Every Home's New Green Catalog

For Every Body's home party division, For Every Home, released a new catalog on February 1. It is amazing! Inside, it is packed with hundreds of items, most of them made from soy based wax which is an environmentally friendly alternative to paraffin wax (a petroleum product) which is used to make most candles on the market today.

Some of the great things that I love about For Every Home products are that they are natural and safe for the environment. For example, the odor eliminating spray with O.A.M. technology is completely biodegradable and instantly eliminates stinky odors on contact. It is some really incredible stuff! I also love the new Soy Cubes which are again, made from soy based wax. You put these cubes in a warmer and they release fabulous fragrance, all without flame or the release of harmful toxins into the air.

To top it all off, For Every Home's new catalog is printed in recycled paper. You can learn more about the sources made to make the paper at http://www.fsc.org/. It is a small thing really, but every little bit counts. Really, that's how we're ever going to make a difference isn't it? One step at a time...

Way to go For Every Home. You should be proud of this new catalog!

Innovation is Everywhere

I don't know why I haven't blogged about this yet, but For Every Body has been doing something quite remarkable, and quite green. For the past few months, we have been creating shipping boxes out of 100 percent completely recycled material. We make the boxes ourselves and there is absolutely no waste. We love this because it saves money on broken product (no more broken candles) and we're very proud of the fact that everything in the process is reused. It is amazing what green technologies are out there that can help businesses in so many ways.

What green practices are you employing that are good for business and good for the environment?

Innovation: Waist Watchers

For Every Body has been working hard to innovate itself and come up with new ideas to stretch and continue its green ideals.

The lastest idea is "Waist Watchers." There are about 25 members of the group who cook once every five weeks. They try to stick to low fat, high fiber, healthy meals. They save money on lunches since it costs on average about $1.50 a day to eat, they save on gas because they’re not driving out for food, and they eat better than when they are eating fast food. Some people didn't eat out before, but they prefer it becase they don't have to pack a lunch, and they get something different everyday.

Think about all the waste that is eliminated when 25 people eat in for lunch on reusable dishes, rather than driving out and grabbing a bag of fast food. Everybody loves it and we think it is a really green idea, not to mention healthy!

What do you think?

America's 50 Greenest Cities

I came across an interesting article in Popular Science about America's 50 Greenest Cities. The article ranked cities according to different criteria. The results are below. What do you think? Have you visited any of these cities? What are your thoughts on their green innovations?

Here, they explain how the rankings work:
We used raw data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Geographic Society’s Green Guide, which collected survey data and government statistics for American cities of over 100,000 people in more than 30 categories, including air quality, electricity use and transportation habits. We then compiled these statistics into four broad categories, each scored out of either 5 or 10 possible points. The sum of these four scores determines a city’s place in the rankings.

Our categories are:
Electricity (E; 10 points): Cities score points for drawing their energy from renewable sources such as wind, solar, biomass and hydroelectric power, as well as for offering incentives for residents to invest in their own power sources, like roof-mounted solar panels.

Transportation (T; 10 points): High scores go to cities whose commuters take public transportation or carpool. Air quality also plays a role.

Green living (G; 5 points): Cities earn points for the number of buildings certified by the U.S.
Green Building Council, as well as for devoting area to green space, such as public parks and nature preserves.

Recycling and green perspective (R; 5 points): This measures how comprehensive a city’s recycling program is (if the city collects old electronics, for example) and how important its citizens consider environmental issues.

1. Portland, Ore. 23.1
2. San Francisco, Calif. 23.0
3. Boston, Mass. 22.7
4. Oakland, Calif. 22.5
5. Eugene, Ore. 22.4
6. Cambridge, Mass. 22.2
7. Berkeley, Calif. 22.2
8. Seattle, Wash. 22.1
9. Chicago, Ill. 21.3
10. Austin, Tex. 21.0
11. Minneapolis, Minn. 20.3
12. St. Paul, Minn. 20.2
13. Sunnyvale, Calif. 19.9
14. Honolulu, Hawaii 19.9
15. Fort Worth, Tex. 19.7
16. Albuquerque, N.M. 19.1
17. Syracuse, N.Y. 18.9
18. Huntsville, Ala. 18.4
19. Denver, Colo. 18.2
20. New York, N.Y. 18.2
21. Irvine, Calif. 18.1
22. Milwaukee, Wis. 17.3
23. Santa Rosa, Calif. 17.2
24. Ann Arbor, Mich. 17.2
25. Lexington, Ky. 16.8
26. Tulsa, Okla. 16.7
27. Rochester, N.Y. 16.1
28. Riverside, Calif. 16.0
29. Springfield, Ill. 15.7
30. Alexandria, Va. 15.7
31. St. Louis, Mo. 15.0
32. Anchorage, Alaska 14.4
33. Athens-Clarke, Ga. 14.1
34. Amarillo, Tex. 14.0
35. Kansas City, Mo. 13.8
36. Salt Lake City, Utah 13.5
37. Pasadena, Calif. 13.2
38. Norwalk, Calif. 13.0
39. Laredo, Tex. 12.9
40. Joliet, Ill. 12.0
41. Newport News, Va. 11.9
42. Louisville, Ky. 11.9
43. Concord, Calif. 11.9
44. Fremont, Calif. 11.3
45. Elizabeth, N.J. 10.5
46. Livonia, Mich. 10.2
47. San Bernardino, Calif. 10.2
48. Thousand Oaks, Calif. 10.2
49. Stockton, Calif. 10.1
50. Greensboro, N.C. 10.0

Making a Big Green Impact

I recently heard about a group from Utah who landed a huge deal to help Walmart out with its sustainability efforts. The company is called Rocky Mountain Recycling and their awesome idea is called The Plastic Sandwich Bale. I found this press release with more information. It's a pretty neat idea! Check it out...

Wal-Mart, in partnership with Rocky Mountain Recycling, is stepping up a pilot program that promises to keep tons of plastic out of landfills and revolutionize plastic recycling. The Plastic Sandwich Bale™ is a new process that is going to revolutionize the way retailers think about recycling and waste management.

“In just 11 months, in just 10 percent of our stores, we’ve recycled enough plastic to fill a football stadium 38 feet deep,” says Dick Pastor, director of environmental management for Wal-Mart.

“This program could quite possibly become one of Wal-Mart’s biggest recycling efforts to date. We are so happy with the results that we’re adding another 267 stores to the program this fall.”

The Plastic Sandwich Bale works like this:

• Wal-Mart and SAM’S CLUB associates place 10 to 20 inches of cardboard at the bottom of large trash compactors that already exist at store locations.

• Shrink wrap, plastic bags, apparel bags and other loose plastic is loaded in, and another section of cardboard is placed on top.

• The compactor then presses the bale into a “sandwich” with 9 inches to 18 inches of recyclable plastic in the middle.

• These bales are then loaded onto a truck to be recycled into other products that range from very dense plastic lumber to very thin shopping bags.

Wal-Mart facilities in the United States have already been recycling plastic for a number of years. So far, in 2005, the company has recycled over 5,734 tons of plastic. “We wanted to explore new ways to improve our recycling efforts, and saw an opportunity to lead the charge to increase plastic bag and film recycling,” says Pastor. In September of 2004, the company launched the Plastic Sandwich Bale as a pilot program in 326 Wal-Mart stores and SAM’S CLUBS.

To date, the Plastic Sandwich Bale has sent 1,100 tons of plastic to recycling centers instead of landfills. Now, Wal-Mart is excited to roll out the program in 593 stores in 15 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, and in some areas of Connecticut, and New York.

Rocky Mountain Recycling Sales Manager Jeff Ashby says the Plastic Sandwich Bale, solves a long-standing barrier to plastic recycling by compressing loose plastic into a bale sandwiched between two layers of cardboard. “The compressed plastic is easier and more efficient to transport to recycle centers,” he adds.

"The American Plastics Council (APC) applauds Wal-Mart and Rocky Mountain Recycling for their dedicated efforts to identify and implement new plastic recycling programs,” said Tim Shestek, APC’s western regional director of state and local public affairs. APC looks forward to working with Wal-Mart and its partners on this and other plastic film recovery programs."

Calculating Your Carbon Footprint

I've been doing some reading lately to help me become more informed about carbon footprints - what the term means, how the values are calcuated and what can be done to combat such environmental impact.

While browsing, I came across this pretty neat carbon footprint calculator from the Nature Conservancy. Here is the link:

http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator

All you have to do is answer some basic questions about your lifestyle and you are given a result that estimates how many tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases your choices create each year. Here are my results. Try it out and let me know how you do!