Last night, I attended a meeting hosted by SF Environment, a department of the city and county of San Francisco.  I was in awe and inspired by how much one city can accomplish when it comes to educating the public about energy efficiency and environmental consciousness.  Not only is San Francisco leading the domestic urban composting charge with a city-wide composting program, whereby the city mandates composting in addition to recycling, but the city is making the process of being an ecoconsumer easier and easier.

When I relocated here two months ago, I was astounded at how commonplace composting was – the city simply places compost bins throughout the city and provides them to each city resident.  In addition, SF Environment provides free compost containers for your kitchen so you… [view entry]

In celebration of Pollution Prevention Week and amid an atmosphere of intelligent concern for the environmental health and safety of products we use in every day life, the EPA has launched a simple online guide for the eco-labeling  programs it supports; the Greener Products Portal.

Consumers, small businesses, retailers, manufacturers, and institutional purchasers can use the Portal to search for products that are included in EPA-approved product labeling systems. Using a set of 3 drop down boxes to narrow their inquiries folks can find information on a wide range of products; from appliances to building materials, from automotive products to cleaning products. This tool can be useful for a wide range of people; from parents to industrial purchasers, and the many demographics in between.

For those most concerned with… [view entry]

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 :

… [view entry]

Dresden, a city of 220,000 in the eastern part of Germany, was the target of Allied firebombing in World War II that largely destroyed the city.  The wonderful skyline of towers built by the Saxon kings was restored and the downtown area is vibrant.   While the eastern part of Germany has suffered from emigration to other regions, Dresden has been growing modestly.

The City is bisected by the Elbe River and has a number of tributaries that flow into it.  In 2002, Dresden saw a major flood that inundated the city center, including the central railway station.  Over 1 billion Euros in damage was inflicted by the floods and some lives were lost.  The flooding was the result of the Elbe River overtopping its banks, rising groundwater, and the Weisseritz River defying… [view entry]

Cross-posted from the Sustainable Business Leader Program blog.

On May 23rd the Sustainable Business Leader Program, Cambridge Local First, and the Cambridge Energy Alliance hosted a new kind of business sustainability workshop:  a business-to-business conversation featuring the Cambridge Brewing Company, a handful of business-centered sustainability services, and a score of small business representatives curious about their own green options.

By having many of the players in the room at the same time, small Cambridge businesses were able to comfortably learn how they could make their businesses more environmentally friendly while saving valuable natural resources and money.

The workshop featured a presentation by Phil “Brewdaddy” Bannatyne, owner of Cambridge Brewing Company, who highlighted the steps that his business took to “go green,” including much… [view entry]

Cycling in Groningen, Netherlands

Recently, I had the opportunity to travel to the Netherlands and visit many different areas within the country. I landed in Amsterdam and took a train roughly 200 kilometers (125 miles) to the city of Groningen in the northern part of the country. The trip took about as long as it takes to get from one end Boston to the other via the green line (sadly I’m only half joking here). It doesn’t take long to notice the public transportation system in the small European country is as efficient any.

Stepping out in Groningen, we made our way to catch a bus to the apartment where we would stay for the next few days. Finally outside of airports and train stations, I… [view entry]

A coal-fired power plant in Shuozhou, Shanxi, Chin

Unrest in the Middle East has yielded change in the region, but the effects of anti-government protests are slowly being felt globally as oil soars to its highest price in over 2 years. The New York Times reported that Chinese Energy Specialists revealed that the government plans to announce strict goals for energy conservation.

Make no mistake, this is not an altruistic attempt by the world’s leading energy consumer and greenhouse gas emitter to go green or make strides to curb carbon footprint (energy security far out ways climate change in Chinese policy priorities). China views energy as a national security issue; the concern here is how rising oil prices will effect inflation, export competitiveness, and the country’s… [view entry]

The Environmental Protection Agency recently announced updates to its Energy Star Rating requirements on televisions and cable boxes. The revisions are the first in a list of about 20 products that will receive updates to their Energy Star Rating requirements this year.

Currently, Energy Star rated televisions hold at least 70% of the Market Share. The stricter standards mean, according to the EPA, “substantial overall energy bill reduction, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions reductions.”

The new standards are requiring a 40% reduction in watt usage. For example, a 60 inch television currently averages about 282 watts, but the come September the same 60 inch TV will be required to use less than 108 watts to receive an Energy Star Rating. Talk about saving a… [view entry]

What would you do if your doorbell rang on Halloween and instead of saying “trick or treat!” your visitors handed you a new, curly-cue light bulb (or two)? This year’s Halloween saw an event that was a brand new take on the usual compact fluorescent light bulb canvasses that the CEA hosts.  We are thrilled to see that this creative event went off without a hitch, and that it has set a great precedent for following years!

Please see below for the post featured on the Green Medford blog:

A group of us from Green Medford and Fletcher Green (a Tufts graduate student group) trolled the streets around the Columbus School last night–Halloween evening–handing out bags of treats to delighted and laughing residents at 84 addresses. People… [view entry]

The Cambridge Energy Alliance has participated in many CFL exchange canvasses. On a chosen day, we and volunteers head out into neighborhoods and knock on doors, offering to give an equal number of CFLs for the number of regular light bulbs a household will hand us. As a special treat with Halloween approaching, Green Medford has announced an event that is a new take on this idea.

From the Green Medford blog:

Hi all! I want to share with you a very fun idea and ask for your help in making it a big success!

We’re calling our event “Reverse Trick or Treat,” thought up by JR Siegel, a student at the Fletcher School and a Medford resident. The idea is for a bunch of residents to… [view entry]