The Green-e Program is developing this new certification standard

New Certification Standard Proposed for Climate Offset Products

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 21, 2006 - A new Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Product Certification Standard has been published for stakeholder comment by the Center for Resource Solutions.

CRS is developing the new standard with the Green-e GHG Advisory Group, composed of key environmental organizations, government agencies, businesses, and advocacy organizations who work on climate change issues.

CRS believes the creation of this draft standard is the first step in ensuring credibility in the marketplace for voluntary GHG reduction products, such as carbon offsets offered to help "neutralize" an individual's or organization's climate impacts. Based on recent press coverage and uncertainty in the marketplace, it is evident that buyers of these products are seeking a higher level of certainty in the market about the quality of products. CRS aims to provide consumer protection to the growing number of individuals and businesses who choose to decrease their own contribution to global warming by purchasing greenhouse gas reductions.

CRS’ well-established stakeholder process is the next step in ensuring a well-designed standard that meets the needs of the marketplace.

The Green-e Program is developing this new certification standard to ensure customers are getting high quality reductions and are protected from double counting and misleading marketing practices.

For 10 years, CRS has developed standards for renewable energy in a complex regulatory environment. CRS brings that valuable experience to the table in the creation of this new standard for greenhouse gas reduction products. The CRS consumer protection standards use transparent, open, stakeholder-driven processes to ensure consensus-based standards that are widely accepted by stakeholders.

The draft standard will be out for comment until the end of January 2007. The draft standard, along with instructions on how to submit comments, can be found online


CRS will host a stakeholder conference call in late January to answer questions about the draft Standard. Interested parties should contact Alex Pennock at alex@resource-solutions.org.

Business and Promotional Services:
Voluntary Renewable Energy and Carbon Markets
CRS works to empower companies, institutions and individuals with the knowledge and opportunity to choose clean renewable energy options that reduce global warming. We cultivate best practices in marketing to maximize awareness and understanding of high quality renewable energy, and increase access to products and services that are "Made with Certified Renewable Energy."

LOHAS 11 Forum - MDR - May 14 2007

LOHAS 11, the premier event that brings together leaders from all LOHAS market segments to network and share new ideas on how to expand the marketplace that serves the conscious consumer.

When: May 14-16th, 2007
Where: Marriott Hotel, Marina del Rey

Registration will be available online starting December 1st at www.lohas.com. The group code for reservations at the Marriott will also be available at that time.

Ticket pricing: Early bird registration $650 until February 1st.

Regular price after February 1st $795
On site $825
Nonprofit $395

Questions regarding sponsorship or exhibiting please contact 303-222-8263 or email ted.ning@lohas.com.

Look for more updates to come shortly. We hope to see you there!



Marriott Marina del Rey
13480 Maxella Avenue
Marina Del Ray, California 90292

Green California Summit and Exposition March 13 2007

In a meeting held at CalEPA headquarters in Sacramento, CA, a group of senior state officials responsible for California’s energy and environmental programs laid the groundwork for the 2007 Green California Summit and Exposition – an event that will be the first of its kind in the nation. Joining them on the board are leaders from the U.S. Green Building Council, Flex Your Power, U.C. Berkeley, U.C. Davis, the Sacramento Metropolitan Utility District and the California Commissioning Collaborative.

The summit’s Advisory Board, co-chaired by Secretary of State and Consumer Services Rosario Marin and CalEPA Secretary Linda Adams, discussed the challenges involved in developing a culture of “working green” within California government and in making the most of the opportunities created by Governor Schwarzenegger’s executive orders on energy efficiency and green building.

California government aims to inspire the private sector by demonstrating both the feasibility and the economic benefits of green technologies – from energy efficiency to environmentally preferable office products.

“California boasts one of the world’s largest economies,” said Green Technology president Bob Graves. “It has long been recognized as the nation’s leader in environmental protection, and the programs it has set in motion have the potential to change the practices of government and businesses throughout the country.”

The summit, which will be held at the Sacramento Convention Center of March 13 and 14, 2007, will provide state officials with an unprecedented opportunity to learn about the full range of green products and services that can help the state achieve its goals. It will include seminars and training programs for officials at all levels – an effort that is being guided by the advisory board and other experts within state government.

The event will also feature numerous interactive and educational elements. Among these will be an Energy Pavilion designed by staff at the UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center, the Sacramento Metropolitan Utility District and the state’s Department of General Services.

“It appears that a combination of energy concerns, an explosion of greentech innovation and enthusiasm from the investment community have created a ‘perfect storm’ for progress in environmental protection,” said Graves. “The summit will provide a needed forum for exploring the possibilities and developing partnerships and plans.”

Sacramento Convention Center
1301 L St.
Sacramento, California 95814

Questions?
For questions about exhibition space, contact Nancy Miller at 323.936.7125,or write her at nmiller@green-technology.org.

For questions about event sponsorships, call Keith Miller at 323.936.7125, or write to him at kmiller@green-technology.org.

Growth of Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accelerating - CSIRO

Podcast report by

We're not doing enough...is it time for drastic measures equivalent to emergency life saving efforts?

Global emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide have more than doubled since 1990 and the rate of increase is accelerating, according to new information gathered and analyzed by the Australian government research service.

By Environment Society of Australia

San Diego takes first step to ban giant retail stores like Wal-Mart

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The City Council here voted late Tuesday to ban certain giant retail stores, dealing a blow to Wal-Mart's potential to expand in the nation's eighth-largest city.

The measure, approved on a 5-3 vote, prohibits stores of more than 90,000 square feet that use 10% of space to sell groceries and other merchandise that is not subject to sales tax. It takes aim at Wal-Mart (WMT) Supercenter stores, which average 185,000 square feet and sell groceries.

Mayor Jerry Sanders will veto the ban if the Council reaffirms it on a second vote, which will likely happen in January, said mayoral spokesman Fred Sainz. The Council can override his veto with five votes.

Wal-Mart has about 2,000 Supercenter stores, including 21 in California, but none in the San Diego area. The retailer has 18 regular Wal-Mart stores in the San Diego area, including four within limits of the city of 1.3 million people.

San Diego's move comes two months after the Chicago City Council failed to override Mayor Richard Daley's veto of a so-called "living-wage" ordinance that would have required giant retailers to pay their workers higher wages.

Wal-Mart plans to sell 100 mllion compact flourescent lamps in 07

Wal-Mart Aims to Sell 100 Million Efficient Light Bulbs in 2007

December 20, 2006

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. announced in late November that it has set a goal of selling 100 million compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) at its Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores by the end of 2007. CFLs can replace conventional incandescent bulbs in most light fixtures, using about 75 percent less electricity and generally lasting much longer than incandescent bulbs. The twisted spiral shape of modern CFLs allows them to fit into fixtures for which earlier CFLs were too big, and although CFLs have always paid for themselves many times over in energy savings, the dropping prices on CFLs are making their up-front costs more palatable for consumers. Wal-Mart plans to achieve its 2007 goal through marketing promotions and in-store displays.

The Wal-Mart goals will contribute greatly to the "Change a Light, Change the World" campaign, an annual effort of DOE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

LA named best public transit system in the country!!!

In October, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) named Los Angeles County's Mass Transportation Authority the best public transportation system in the country -- truly a man-bites-dog turnaround for an agency that for years was known for incompetence and shady deals. Other cities interested in expanding their public transit systems, notably Atlanta and Tampa, are even studying Los Angeles.

In November, voters in California approved the biggest infrastructure bond package in U.S. history, which will provide the MTA at least $2 billion to continue to build the system, thanks to lobbying from Los Angeles's determined mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa (D).

"The untold secret about L.A. is while it's known for its freeways and for the attitude that the highway is king, it has -- in fits and starts -- begun to piece together a world-class mass transit system," said APTA President William W. Millar. "This is an enormous change."

To be sure, the car still rules in Los Angeles, and the APTA's award appears to be not so much for the system that is -- a motley collection of buses, subways and light rail -- than for what will be. (It took this reporter two hours to travel 20 miles on three buses to interview the mayor on a recent Friday.)

Only 6.6 percent of the workforce in this region uses public transit to get to work. Each day, automobiles on Los Angeles's freeways travel 136 million miles -- tops in the nation

Commuters here spend more time caught in traffic jams than those in any other city in the country -- almost four days and nights per person per year, burning 407 million excess gallons of gas in delays that cost $11 billion, 50 percent more than in the runner-up, New York.

Los Angeles is known throughout the world as 100 suburbs looking for a city. But although it lacks the downtown core of a Manhattan or a Washington, it is hemmed in by mountains and the Pacific Ocean, and it has evolved into the most densely populated urban region in the nation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

This "dense sprawl," as it is known in the argot of urban planners, has helped shift public opinion toward support for public transportation. Roger Moliere, who heads the MTA's real estate development business, speaks of a "paradigm shift" in the way Angelenos view mass transit. Real estate ads now regularly use proximity to transit as a selling point.

Work is continuing on a six-mile extension of the Yellow Line -- a light-rail route running from Pasadena to downtown -- into East Los Angeles, a predominantly Latino area. Construction has just begun on the Exposition Line, which will link downtown with the University of Southern California and Culver City on the Westside.

Also on the books is a downtown subway system that will connect two light-rail systems and the city's lone subway line, which were never joined because of shoddy planning.

But the Holy Grail for Villaraigosa and others in the city administration is what he calls a "subway to the sea" that would run under Wilshire Boulevard, one of the most heavily traveled avenues in the nation, and bond the Westside with the rest of the region.

Villaraigosa said he plans to lobby Congress aggressively for federal funds to bankroll his dream. "We want to rethink what the city looks like," he said, "to focus on a new urbanism that makes transit-oriented development and mixed-use development the future of L.A."

In a sense, Los Angeles is returning to its roots. In the 1920s, the region was home to the most elaborate rail system in the country: almost 1,500 miles of track connecting the eastern desert with the Pacific Coast. It was Los Angeles's great transit network, not the automobile, that jump-started the region's sprawl, said Martin Wachs, a transportation expert at the Rand Corp. But by the 1960s, the car had taken over, and all the trains were gone.

The MTA now finds itself rebuilding the old system -- in some places along the same rights-of-way.

"Sometimes retro is the wave of the future," mused Bart Reed, executive director of the Transit Coalition, a Southern California-based nonprofit organization. "L.A. can't really sprawl anymore. So we are retrofitting our city. There really is nowhere else to go."

SOURCE: John Pomfret
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 17, 2006; Page A03

LED lamps making progress...but now quite there

DOE Study Finds Commercial LED Lamps Fall Short of Claims

While compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) are generally far superior to incandescent lights, many energy professionals expect solid-state lighting sources, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), to be the ultimate winner in energy-efficient lighting.

Unfortunately, a DOE pilot test of four LED lamps has found that they all fall short of their claims. The pilot tests examined two "downlights"—the type of spotlight that is typically recessed into a ceiling—as well as a task light and an under-cabinet light. The test results, which protect the identity of the LED manufacturers, found that all four lamps fell far short of their claimed output in terms of lumens of light per watt of energy.

The manufacturers claimed lighting efficacies of 36 to 55 lumens per watt, while the pilot test found efficacies of 11.6 to 19.3 lumens per watt, placing them below CFLs in lighting efficacy.

Developers of individual LEDs are undoubtedly achieving significant gains in efficacy. For instance, Cree, Inc. announced in October that it has developed a white-light LED that produces up to 85 lumens per watt. DOE helped fund the development of the LED, which can pump out as much as 160 lumens. By 2025, DOE's goal is to achieve 160 lumens per watt in cost-effective, market-ready, solid-state lighting products.

LED lights for holidays

Alliance to Save Energy (ASE) points out, there are a number of energy efficient options, of which one of the best is LED (light-emitting diode) lighting. According to ASE, each LED bulb is up to 90 percent more efficient than its incandescent counterpart. The LED bulbs can last up to 20 years, produce very little heat, and yes, they're bright.

Keep the twinkle, but lower the costs, with LED holiday lights. Each LED (light-emitting diode) bulb with this new technology uses only 0.04 watts and is up to 90 percent more efficient than its incandescent counterpart. So a household burning 10 strands of lights with 100 lights per strand, eight hours a day for a month, would spend almost $175 for large, incandescent bulbs, about $11 for traditional mini-lights, and just over $1 for LEDs (based on $0.1003 per kilowatt-hour). These newer bulbs are sturdy, can last more than 50,000 hours, or 20 years, and barely warm up, eliminating fire concerns.