Top 10 Sustainable Business Stories of 2012 – Harvard Business Review’s blog network has collected their top stories on green business into a summary post which includes macro trends and company stories. Here are the main points: Historic drought and Hurricane Sandy sweep away (some) climate denial The math and physics …
A $5 Light For The Developing World With An Ingenious Fuel: Gravity – provides illumination similar to a kerosene lamp and runs for about half an hour, but it’s safer and free, especially when the alternative is no light. Simply push the bag of sand up to start another half …
Wind, solar power paired with storage could be cost-effective way to power grid – Recent research from the University of Delaware and Delaware Technical Community College says this can be done by 2030 at costs comparable to today’s. The study drew on data from 13 states, about one fifth …
The Importance of Soil and Its Conservation [Video] – this 5+ min video is packed with statistics about soil and how we use and thoughtlessly misuse this most valuable of resources. See more at Global Soil Forum, a European partnership that recently sponsored the first Global Soils Week. The Global Soil …
Living Architecture Monitor magazine – if you’re into green roofs and walls, take a look at the quarterly publication Living Architecture Monitor. It works with the organization Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC), and is focused on North America. Scroll down on the home page to see past digital editions. …
Australian Energy: Greening ‘Oz’ Infographic – Australia has punched above its weight in the global energy sector for years, with its huge natural resources providing a platform for the country’s economy that allowed it to outperform much of the world throughout the lingering post-crisis recessions in the developed world.
Venticool | The European platform for ventilative cooling – This is a just-launched website. See articles on the energy-saving potential of ventilative cooling at the end of the FAQ section.
A Little Bit of Data, A Lot of Building Energy Saved – new software uses utility bills to measure building energy performance and displays it in clear, well-designed graphics. Here’s WegoWise’s website. WegoWise can compare how individual buildings compare to benchmarks they’ve created with data from over 10,000 …
Microsoft Recycles Waste to Provide Clean Power for Data Center R&D – from Microsoft’s Global Foundations Services Blog: Microsoft is excited to announce its research and development of the first zero carbon data center – called the Data Plant – that will be completely independent of the grid and will …
Climate Change Among Top Sustainability Priorities for Business, Poll Finds – overview of the BSR/GlobeScan State of Sustainable Business Poll 2012. 500 business leaders were asked to rank 14 sustainability challenges. The poll looks back 20 years, forward 20 years, “and identifies the top priorities for companies in the coming year.” …
Blueprint to the new energy era – great infographic from the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) contrasting America’s energy sources and usage today and in 2050. Click the ‘Reinventing Fire’ tab on the menu bar and you’ll see details for Transportation, Buildings, Industry, Electricity. See also a 27-min TED talk by …
A healthy grant to support healthy buildings | Official Google Blog – Google recently gave $3 million to the USGBC to support research into green building materials, especially in the workplace. Read more about it on BuildingGreen: In one of the biggest announcements to come out of Greenbuild 2012 in …
Just discovered Talkitect | architecture, art, & design, a blog covering contemporary architecture and design. The posts aren’t that frequent but they’re pretty interesting. Some examples: Bambooline Berlin by Peter Ruge Architekten – “Bambooline Berlin explores the city’s urban development and proposes a new approach for the temporary, interim use of sustainable …
The Top 10 Smartest European Cities – first of two posts from Co.Exist written by Boyd Cohen. The next one will be The Top 10 North American Cities, out next month. In an attempt to improve the rankings, I developed a metric called the Smart Cities Wheel, which contains six …
Renewable energy to become world’s second-largest power generation source by 2015, says IEA – post on Renewable Energy Focus about a recent report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), World Energy Outlook 2012. In 2011, subsidies for renewables (including for biofuels) amounted to $88 billion – over the period to 2035 …
Healthy Hospital Study Finds Savings in Plain Sight – a nine-hospital study from the Health Care Research Collaborative finds plenty of savings in waste management, energy use, and operating room supply procurement. “This study turns on its head the belief that introducing environmental sustainability measures increases operating costs,” said …
Newsweek’s 2012 Green Rankings: This time it’s serious – post on GreenBiz about annual ranking of 500 largest companies from around the world describes it this way: …this year’s rankings represent the first meaningful, apples-to-apples comparison of company performance in the rankings’ four-year history. Companies are ranked by three …
The ACEEE – American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy has a wealth of resources on energy efficiency in the U.S. states. Here are a few: The State Energy Efficiency Scorecard – shown here; top 3? MA, CA, NY State Energy Efficiency Policy – click on a state and get a full …