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Archive for January 6th, 2011
Can the Green Building Council polish LEED’s tarnished standards?
Posted by Fast Company: Alec Appelbaum on January 6th, 2011
Fast Company: When Charlotte, North Carolina christened its Imaginon children's center and library in 2005, it highlighted the building's energy efficiency; it had applied for a LEED silver rating, which it earned officially in 2006. The center was wildly successful when it opened, drawing 150,000 more visitors than expected. But when a reporter for the Charlotte Observer investigated Imaginon's energy use, he discovered that instead of consuming a third less fuel, as expected, Imaginon was using twice as much...
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Canada: Minister vows not to let emissions rules hamper oil-sands investment
Posted by Globe and Mail: Steven Chase on January 6th, 2011
Globe and Mail: Citing the tentative economic recovery, new Environment Minister Peter Kent says the Harper government will not impose any greenhouse-gas reductions on the oil patch that discourage investment.
Canada, which has committed to roughly matching U.S. efforts on fighting climate change, is watching carefully as the Obama administration rolls out new emission rules for power plants and refineries.
Mr. Kent said Canada will draw up its own emission standards for petroleum refineries -- including oil...
Three California ecosystems endangered, report finds
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 6th, 2011
LA Times: In a classic example of winning a sweepstakes you don't want to be in, a report released Wednesday found that California has more endangered ecosystems than any other state, claiming three of the top 10 imperiled places.
The report, prepared by the Endangered Species Coalition, examined the effects of climate change on endangered species and came up with no surprises: Arctic Sea ice, shallow coral reefs and the Everglades.
California's vulnerability was exposed in its deserts,...
BP cost-cutting blamed for ‘avoidable’ Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 6th, 2011
Guardian: The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was an avoidable disaster caused in part by a series of cost-cutting decisions made by BP and its partners, the White House oil commission has concluded.
In a preview of its final report, due next week, the national oil spill commission said systemic management failure at BP, Transocean, and Halliburton caused the blow-out in the Gulf of Mexico, and warned that such a disaster would likely recur because of industry complacency.
Many of the poor decisions...