Category: GLRPPR Website

These publications were recently added to GLRPPR’s Sector Resources. This list is continuously updated on the web, fed to GLRPPR’s Twitter and Facebook accounts, and is available as an RSS feed.

• Building America Energy Renovations: A Business Case for Home Performance Contracting
  This research report gives an overview of the needs and opportunities that exist in the U.S. home performance contracting industry. The report discusses industry trends, market drivers, different business models, and points of entry for existing and new businesses hoping to enter the home performance contracting industry. Case studies of eight companies who successfully entered the industry are provided, including business metrics, start-up costs, and marketing approaches.
• Virtual Energy Forum
  A free conference that brings together stakeholders in the energy industry with potential customers, policy makers, and investors. The event, which meets twice a year and features live video presentations, real-time Q & A and a virtual exhibit floor, answers the need many senior executives have today–to better understand how to implement renewable and cost-saving energy-efficient practices in business.
• Sustainable Materials Management – Making Better Use of Resources
  Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) is increasingly recognised as a policy approach that can make a key contribution to green growth and the challenges that are posed by sustained global economic and demographic growth. One of the key challenges of the SMM approach is to effectively address the environmental impacts that can occur along the life-cycle of materials, which frequently extends across borders and involves a multitude of different economic actors. This book outlines a series of policy principles for SMM, examines how to set and use targets for SMM, and explores various policy instruments for SMM. In addition it provides examples of policy action plans from the UK and the Netherlands, before presenting a series of conclusions and recommendations.
• The Guide to Safer Chemicals
  A hands-on-guide that charts pathways to safer chemicals in products and supply chains for brand name companies, product manufacturers, architects and designers, retailers, and health care organizations. The Guide: marks pathways to safer chemicals in products and supply chains; sets relative benchmarks for each of the four BizNGO Principles for Safer Chemicals; specifies actions for each benchmark; presents examples of business practices for each benchmark; and illustrates how downstream users are getting started and advancing on their paths to safer chemicals. Users of The Guide will learn how to: measure internal performance, identify areas of improvement, and track progress to safer chemicals; benchmark performance in comparison to other organizations; and communicate to the public their organization’s performance in moving to safer chemicals based on an independent metric.
• Principles for Safer Chemicals
  Demand for products made from greener chemicals is growing rapidly. Consumers, investors and governments want chemicals that have low to no toxicity and degrade into innocuous substances in the environment. Leading businesses are seeking to capture these emerging market opportunities by redesigning their products and catalyzing change in their supply chains. To advance an economy where the production and use of chemicals are healthy for humans, as well as for our global environment and its non-human inhabitants, responsible companies and their supply chains should adopt and implement these four guiding principles for chemicals policy.
• Forward Progress in Reducing Oily-Wastewater: A Forward Osmosis, Small-scale Pilot at a Metal Fabricator
  Forward osmosis is the natural diffusion of water through a semi-permeable membrane from a solution of a lower solute concentration to a solution with a higher solute concentration. Taking advantage of this natural process, Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) research staff successfully reduced volumes of three (3) common water-based industrial process waste streams at a small metal fabricator. Instead of conventional energy-intensive alternatives, researchers employed fledgling forward osmosis technology, using chemistry instead of energy to remove water from common process fluids.
• Northwest Product Stewardship Council
  The Northwest Product Stewardship Council (NWPSC) is a coalition of government organizations in Washington and Oregon that operates as an unincorporated association of members. The content of this website includes product stewardship activities in the states of Oregon and Washington. They also track the product stewardship activities in California and British Columbia, Canada.
• US State-level Chemicals Policy Database
  Includes state level legislation related to chemicals and chemical management. Search by state, region, status (e.g., enacted, proposed, and failed), policy category (e.g., pollution prevention, single chemical restriction, etc.), chemical, and product type (e.g., children’s products, cleaning products, etc.).
• AASHE Academic Commons
  AASHE’s Academic Commons aggregates educating for sustainability materials from across the sustainability community.
• Biochar as a Climate Change Mitigation Strategy: Does It Measure Up?
  This report evaluates the potential of biochar as a climate change solution and reviews the scientific literature to assess current data on biochar’s long-term stability in the environment.

These publications were recently added to GLRPPR’s Sector Resources. This list is continuously updated on the web, fed to GLRPPR’s Twitter and Facebook accounts, and is available as an RSS feed.

• Petroleum and Emission Reduction Planning Tool
  This planning tool helps your vehicle fleet reduce petroleum consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Create a comprehensive plan for your fleet by using several savings methods. If your fleet includes multiple vehicle types, add more vehicles to each method.
• Trivalent Chromium Plating Conversion Case Study: Independent Plating, Worcester, Massachusetts
  Traditionally, metal finishing relies on the use of a number of toxic chemicals to achieve the performance requirements of its customers. Independent Plating recently converted a nickel plating line to accommodate a new technology that substitutes trivalent chromium for hexavalent chromium, a Higher Hazard Substance. This case study documents the company’s decision-making process and the business case for making the change.
• Sustainable Architecture Resources
  This guide provides information about frequently used reference resources and journals related to sustainable architecture and building. Additionally, helpful tips are located around this guide on how to go about searching for green architecture sources in the library catalog and databases.
• The Perennial Question 2012: Farmers’ Choices and the Biofuel Future
  The U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) is a strategic response to concerns under the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 about petroleum fuel supplies and environmental sustainability (EPA 2012). RFS2 regulations mandate specific amounts of renewable fuels to be blended into gasoline and diesel. Analyses of the shifts in land use, crop management, and crop marketing implied by RFS2 typically either neglect or simplify farmers’ choices, whether due to the investigative questions asked, the modeling frameworks used, or the suppositions made in those analyses. Much remains unexplored and, therefore, unknown about the bases for farmers’ actual decisions to dedicate their land, labor, and resources to the production of perennials. This report aims to start narrowing the gap between science and practice by exploring the bases for a subset of farmers’ choices, specifically those surrounding decisions to engage in perennial planting, management and marketing. We do not assume the processes that farmers’ use to make decisions mimic the calculus of scientific optimization. Rather, we suggest farmers’ behavior patterns, decision-making processes, and decision contexts are important variables that are worthy of investigation and of incorporating into to the scientific and policy-analysis mix. Information about farmers’ choices can provide new depth to scientific analyses that are driven by such policies as RFS2. Perhaps most importantly, a better understanding of the bases for farmers’ choices can provide information important for analyzing and developing a full range of effective policies and interventions.
• Air Leakage Testing and Air Sealing in Existing Multifamily Units
  Envelope air sealing was included in the retrofit of a 244 unit low-rise multifamily housing complex in Durham, N.C. Pre- and post-retrofit enclosure leakage tests were conducted on 51 units and detailed diagnostics were performed on 16. On average, total leakage was reduced by nearly half, from 19.7 ACH50 to 9.4 ACH50. Costs for air sealing were $0.31 per square foot of conditioned floor area, lower than estimates found in the National Residential Efficiency Measures Database (NREMD) and other sources, perhaps due in part to the large-scale production nature of the project. Modeling with BEopt software — using an estimate of 85% of the envelope air leakage going to the outside (based on guarded tests performed at the site) –calculated a space conditioning energy cost savings of 15% to 21% due to the air sealing retrofit. Important air leakage locations identified included plumbing and electrical penetrations, dropped ceilings/soffits, windows, ducts and wall-to-floor intersections. Previous repair activity had created significant leakage locations as well. Specifications and a pictorial guide were developed for contractors performing the work.
• Winchester/Camberley Homes New Construction Test House Design, Construction, and Short-Term Testing in a Mixed-Humid Climate
  The NAHB Research Center partnered with production builder Winchester/Camberley Homes to build a DOE Building America New Construction Test House (NCTH). This single family, detached house, located in the mixed-humid climate zone of Silver Spring, MD, was completed in June 2011. The primary goal for this house was to improve energy efficiency by 30% over the Building America B10 benchmark by developing and implementing an optimized energy solutions package design that could be cost effectively and reliably constructed on a production basis using quality management practices. The intent of this report is to outline the features of this house, discuss the implementation of the energy efficient design, and report on short-term testing results. During the interactive design process of this project, numerous iterations of the framing, air sealing, insulation, and space conditioning systems were evaluated for energy performance, cost, and practical implementation. The final design featured numerous advanced framing techniques, high levels of insulation, and the HVAC system entirely within conditioned space. Short-term testing confirmed a very tight thermal envelope and efficient and effective heating and cooling. In addition, relevant heating, cooling, humidity, energy, and wall cavity moisture data will be collected and presented in a future long-term report.
• Greenbuilt Retrofit Test House Final Report
  The Greenbuilt house, is an all-electric, 1980’s era home in the eastern Sacramento suburb of Fair Oaks that was retrofit by Greenbuilt Construction as part of Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s (SMUD) Energy Efficient Remodel Demonstration (EERD) Program. The project was a joint effort between the design-build team at Greenbuilt Construction, led by Jim Bayless, SMUD and their project manager Mike Keesee, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The goal of the Energy Efficient Remodel Demonstration program is to work with local builders to renovate homes with cost-effective energy efficient retrofit measures. The homes remodeled under the EERD program are intended to showcase energy efficient retrofit options for homeowners and other builders. The Greenbuilt house is one of five EERD projects that NREL has supported. NREL’s main role in these projects is to provide energy analysis and to monitor the home’s performance after the retrofit to verify that the energy consumption is in line with the modeling predictions. NREL also performed detailed monitoring on the more innovative equipment included in these remodels, such as an add-on heat pump water heater.\
• National Bioeconomy Blueprint
  The Bioeconomy Blueprint will guide Federal agencies–in coordination with one another and in partnership with private-sector entities–to enhance economic growth and job creation, improve the health of all Americans, and move toward a clean-energy future through scientific discovery and technological innovation.
• Energy and Water Linkage: Challenge to a Sustainable Future
  Needs for affordable and clean energy, for water in adequate quantity and quality, and for food security will increasingly be the central challenges for humanity: these needs are strongly linked. In some regions, the increasing demands for water in support of energy development and use pose challenges to its availability for food and other human needs and for important ecological systems. It is critically important that planning and investment in energy and water infrastructure and associated policies take into account the deep interaction between water and energy. A systems approach based on specific regional circumstances and long-term planning is essential. Viewing each factor separately will lead to inefficiencies, added stress on water availability for food production and for critical ecosystems, and a higher risk of major failures or shortages in energy supply. In almost all regions of the world, innovative ways of achieving higher efficiency in use of energy and water will be the key factors that determine whether these linked challenges can be met.
• The Power of Curiosity: How Linking Inquisitiveness to Innovation Could Help to Address Our Energy Challenges
  Almost every country in the world will face massive energy challenges over the next few decades. In the UK we are already faced with an energy ‘trilemma’ — three important goals that are pulling us in different directions. We need to aggressively reduce carbon emissions, while ensuring that a varied energy supply can reliably meet our energy needs, and we need to achieve this without exacerbating fuel poverty, by keeping energy bills at affordable levels. In this context, we need fresh insight into energy supply, demand, and efficiency. The challenge is that innovative solutions will need to engage with the complex interplay of technology and behaviour, suggesting that the traditionally technology-led energy sector needs to become more curious about the foibles of human nature, and customers need to become more curious about their interaction with the energy technologies they rely on every day. Unfortunately, most people are not particularly interested in their relationship to ‘energy’ as such, and a variety of attitude surveys suggest growing levels of ‘green fatigue’. We may think about the issue of ‘energy’ when we notice our gas and electricity bills are getting higher, but our curiosity is rarely piqued while turning up the heating or leaving the lights on. Perhaps if we better understand the nature of curiosity in general, we might find ways to cultivate curiosity about our shared energy needs, both in the energy industry and the population at large. If we can do that, it may help us spur the kinds of social and technical innovation that are now political, economic and ecological imperatives.

These publications were recently added to GLRPPR’s Sector Resources. This list is continuously updated on the web, fed to GLRPPR’s Twitter and Facebook accounts, and is available as an RSS feed.

• Inherently Safer Technology Gaps Analysis Study
  This project consisted of an analysis of the current state of knowledge for improving safety regarding toxic industrial chemicals, including an examination of current and state-of-the-art techniques and technologies capable of increasing safety and security This project consisted of an analysis of the current state of knowledge for improving safety regarding toxic industrial chemicals, including an examination of current and state-of-the-art techniques and technologies capable of increasing safety and security in production, transportation, storage, and use of hazardous chemicals. The primary goal was to improve national security through improved safety by providing a foundation for a comprehensive evaluation of the current state of knowledge surrounding the source and production methods of the “Release – Toxic” chemicals in DHS CFATS Appendix A list of chemicals of interest. Additionally, this project assisted in the data gathering and development of the CSAC IST Metrics. This involved an in-depth effort to understand specific chemical processes followed by a conceptual effort to redefine the Chemical Release Reduction Modifier that was included in the original Index. involved an in-depth effort to understand specific chemical processes followed by a conceptual effort to redefine the Chemical Release Reduction Modifier that was included in the original Index.
• Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs)
  Energy savings performance contracts (ESPCs) allow Federal agencies to conduct energy projects with limited to no up-front capital costs, minimizing the need for Congressional appropriations. An ESPC is a working relationship between a Federal agency and an energy service company (ESCO). The ESCO conducts a comprehensive energy audit for the Federal facility and identifies improvements to save energy. In consultation with the Federal agency, the ESCO designs and constructs a project that meets the agency’s needs and arranges the necessary funding. The ESCO guarantees the improvements will generate energy cost savings sufficient to pay for the project over the term of the contract. After the contract ends,all additional cost savings accrue to the agency. Contract terms of up to 25 years are allowed.
• Water Scarcity: A Dive into Global Reporting Trends
  In this edition of KPMG’s Sustainable Insight we explore how the world’s major businesses are setting out their approaches to water scarcity via their key communication vehicles on corporate responsibility (CR) and sustainability. We investigate what they are reporting on and — sometimes more importantly — what they are not reporting on, and we draw out significant variances between sectors and geographic regions. Water scarcity has risen to the top of the corporate agenda over the past few years. In the face of dire predictions about dwindling supplies, a growing number of businesses are taking measures to become better stewards of this vital resource. The results suggest that while most companies are at least paying lip service to the issue in their reports, far fewer are presenting a convincing picture of a thorough and robust response to the challenge. You will also understand what best practice looks like; how — and why — they should improve their company’s response to water scarcity; and how they can communicate that response more effectively to their stakeholders. We conclude with ten key questions designed to help you develop and communicate strategic responses to the water scarcity challenge.
• CARMA – Carbon Monitoring for Action
  CARMA is a database containing information about the carbon emissions of over 60,000 power plants and 20,000 power companies worldwide.
• Implementing Agricultural Conservation Practices: Barriers and Incentives
  This publication is one in a multi-volume set developed by the Water Quality Information Center at the National Agricultural Library in support of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP). The bibliography is a guide to recent literature examining agricultural producers’ views of conservation programs and practices. It provides people working in the area of agriculture and the environment with a guide to information resources that focus on the psychological and socioeconomic factors that influence agricultural producers’ behavior with regard to environmental issues.
• Climate and Energy-Water-Land System Interactions: Technical Report to the U.S. Department of Energy in Support of the National Climate Assessment
  This report provides a framework to characterize and understand the important elements of climate and energy-water-land (EWL) system interactions. It identifies many of the important issues, discusses our understanding of those issues, and presents a long-term research program research needs to address the priority scientific challenges and gaps in our understanding. Much of the discussion is organized around two discrete case studies with the broad themes of (1) extreme events and (2) regional intercomparisons. These case studies help demonstrate unique ways in which energy-water-land interactions can occur and be influenced by climate.
• On carbon footprints and growing energy use
  Could fractional reductions in the carbon footprint of a growing organization lead to a corresponding real reduction in atmospheric CO{sub 2} emissions in the next ten years? Curtis M. Oldenburg, head of the Geologic Carbon Sequestration Program of LBNL’s Earth Sciences Division, considers his own organization’s carbon footprint and answers this critical question? In addressing the problem of energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change, it is essential that we understand which activities are producing GHGs and the scale of emission for each activity, so that reduction efforts can be efficiently targeted. The GHG emissions to the atmosphere of an individual or group are referred to as the ‘carbon footprint’. This terminology is entirely appropriate, because 85% of the global marketed energy supply comes from carbon-rich fossil fuel sources whose combustion produces CO{sub 2}, the main GHG causing global climate change. Furthermore, the direct relation between CO2 emissions and fossil fuels as they are used today makes energy consumption a useful proxy for carbon footprint. It would seem to be a simple matter to reduce energy consumption across the board, both individually and collectively, to help reduce our carbon footprints and therefore solve the energy-climate crisis. But just how much can we reduce carbon footprints when broader forces, such as growth in energy use, cause the total footprint to simultaneously expand? In this feature, I present a calculation of the carbon footprint of the Earth Sciences Division (ESD), the division in which I work at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), and discuss the potential for reducing this carbon footprint. It will be apparent that in terms of potential future carbon footprint reductions under projections of expected growth, ESD may be thought of as a microcosm of the situation of the world as a whole, in which alternatives to the business-as-usual use of fossil fuels are needed if absolute GHG emission reductions are to be achieved. Originally published in: Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology, 1(1).
• Hot for Warm Water Cooling
  Liquid cooling is key to reducing energy consumption for this generation of supercomputers and remains on the roadmap for the foreseeable future. This is because the heat capacity of liquids is orders of magnitude larger than that of air and once heat has been transferred to a liquid, it can be removed from the data center efficiently. The transition from air to liquid cooling is an inflection point providing an opportunity to work collectively to set guidelines for facilitating the energy efficiency of liquid-cooled High Performance Computing (HPC) facilities and systems. The vision is to use non-compressor-based cooling, to facilitate heat re-use, and thereby build solutions that are more energy-efficient, less carbon intensive and more cost effective than their air-cooled predecessors. The Energy Efficient HPC Working Group is developing guidelines for warmer liquid-cooling temperatures in order to standardize facility and HPC equipment, and provide more opportunity for reuse of waste heat. This report describes the development of those guidelines.
• The Value of Energy Performance and Green Attributes in Buildings: A Review of Existing Literature and Recommendations for Future Research
  Labels, certifications, and rating systems for energy efficiency performance and “green” attributes of buildings have been available in the U.S. for over 10 years, and used extensively in the European Union and Australia for longer. Such certifications and ratings can make energy efficiency more visible, and could help spur demand for energy efficiency if these designations are shown to have a positive impact on sales or rental prices. This policy brief discusses the findings and methodologies from recent studies on this topic, and suggests recommendations for future research. Although there have been just a handful of studies within the last 10 years that have investigated these effects, a few key findings emerge: To maximize sales price impact, label or rating information must be disclosed early and visibly in the sales process; The approach to evaluating energy efficiency labels (e.g., ENERGY STAR) and general “green” certifications (e.g., LEED or GreenPoint Rated) may need to be different, depending on the type, vintage and market penetration of the label; Collaborative efforts to promote label adoption and build a large dataset of labeled buildings will be required to produce reliable study results.
• Our Impending Energy, Climate, and Economic-Development Crisis
  Slides for talk presented at Conference: Renesan Institute for Lifelong Learning ; 2012-09-14 – 2012-11-14 ; Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States.

These publications were recently added to GLRPPR’s Sector Resources. This list is continuously updated on the web, fed to GLRPPR’s Twitter and Facebook accounts, and is available as an RSS feed.

Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill
Getting food from the farm to our fork eats up 10 percent of the total U.S. energy budget, uses 50 percent of U.S. land, and swallows 80 percent of all freshwater consumed in the United States. Yet, 40 percent of food in the United States today goes uneaten. This not only means that Americans are throwing out the equivalent of $165 billion each year, but also that the uneaten food ends up rotting in landfills as the single largest component of U.S. municipal solid waste where it accounts for almost 25 percent of U.S. methane emissions. Reducing food losses by just 15 percent would be enough food to feed more than 25 million Americans every year at a time when one in six Americans lack a secure supply of food to their tables. Increasing the efficiency of our food system is a triple-bottom-line solution that requires collaborative efforts by businesses, governments and consumers. The U.S. government should conduct a comprehensive study of losses in our food system and set national goals for waste reduction; businesses should seize opportunities to streamline their own operations, reduce food losses and save money; and consumers can waste less food by shopping wisely, knowing when food goes bad, buying produce that is perfectly edible even if it’s less cosmetically attractive, cooking only the amount of food they need, and eating their leftovers.

The Hidden Costs of Electricity: Comparing the Hidden Costs of Power Generation Fuels
This report challenges the underlying notion of the Clean Energy Standard: that “clean” can be measured by a single emission rate, ignoring land and water impacts and ignoring a technology’s full life cycle. This report analyses six fuels used to generate electricity — biomass, coal, nuclear, natural gas, solar (photovoltaic and concentrating solar power), and wind (both onshore and offshore). Water impacts, climate change impacts, air pollution impacts, planning and cost risk, subsidies and tax incentives, land impacts, and other impacts are all considered.

Great Lakes PAH reduction
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is engaged in a project funded by U.S. EPA’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative through 2014 to promote phase-out of coal tar-based pavement sealcoat (CTS) in order to reduce environmental loading of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Tools and strategies used in Minnesota will be disseminated to partner states in the Great Lakes Basin and beyond.

Sustainable Industries’ 2011 Green Office Guide
Learn strategies for creating a Green Team, a Sustainability Plan, and tools for tracking your progress. You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Find out how to audit your current office operations, set goals and measure your success. Also learn how “green leases” can help your company save money. Ensure your purchasing decisions have the least impact on the environment and human health, while promoting social justice. Other sections include: Paper; Printing; Office Supplies; Technology; Vehicles; Furnishings; Cleaning Supplies; Food; Carbon Offsets & Green Power; Meetings; Event Planning.

Sustainable Energy Guide
A company’s physical location is probably the most resource intensive part of business operations. This Sustainable Energy Handbook aims to address energy use in facilities and transportation.

Eco-Health Relationship Browser
The Eco-Health Relationship Browser illustrates the linkages between human health and ecosystem services–benefits supplied by Nature. This interactive tool provides information about our nation’s ecosystems, the services they provide, and how those services, or their degradation and loss, may affect people.

Water Reuse: Potential for Expanding the Nation’s Water Supply Through Reuse of Municipal Wastewater
Expanding water reuse–the use of treated wastewater for beneficial purposes including irrigation, industrial uses, and drinking water augmentation–could significantly increase the nation’s total available water resources. Water Reuse presents a portfolio of treatment options available to mitigate water quality issues in reclaimed water along with new analysis suggesting that the risk of exposure to certain microbial and chemical contaminants from drinking reclaimed water does not appear to be any higher than the risk experienced in at least some current drinking water treatment systems, and may be orders of magnitude lower. This report recommends adjustments to the federal regulatory framework that could enhance public health protection for both planned and unplanned (or de facto) reuse and increase public confidence in water reuse. PDF download available at no charge. Print copy: $64.

Medical Waste: Product Stewardship — Extended Producer Responsiblity
Resource conservation has become an important issue internationally, especially in communities suffering from economic difficulty. Resource conservation is dependent on markets, locations willing to accept used materials and reprocess them to put them back on the market, or turn the materials into something else for resale.

Meaningful Impact: Challenges and Opportunities in Industrial Energy Efficiency Program Evaluation
Impact evaluation of industrial energy efficiency programs is a necessary activity to ensure public funds are used in a responsible manner. However, some stakeholders believe the manner in which industrial programs are currently evaluated for their impacts does not accurately reflect the reality of how customers use industrial energy efficiency programs. Others believe the metrics sought in evaluation are not meaningful and alternatives could be considered.

This report is based on interviews and surveys of program administrators, evaluators, and regulators. It discusses how industrial energy efficiency program evaluation is conducted and the types of data and metrics derived by evaluators. It discusses six issues in-depth that were of particular interest to respondents. They are:

• The development of a facility’s baseline
• The timing of evaluation activities
• The measurement of net savings and the use of net-to-gross ratios
• The measurement of free riders and their associated savings
• The measurement of spillover effect
• The measurement of non-energy benefits

Stakeholders believe many of the above components of evaluation are insufficiently or inaccurately conducted. This report explains these concerns about each issue and suggests best practices and suggested directions for improvement where available and applicable.

EPA’s DfE Standard for Safer Products (DfE Standard)
This document establishes minimum requirements for identifying cleaning products that meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s DfE Safer Product Labeling Program (also know as the Formulator Program) criteria.

These publications were recently added to GLRPPR’s Sector Resources. This list is continuously updated on the web, fed to GLRPPR’s Twitter and Facebook accounts, and is available as an RSS feed.

Green Hotel Pilot Project Final Report
In the spring of 2009 and in conjunction with the New York State Governor’s Green Hospitality & Tourism Partnership (the Partnership), NYS Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I) initiated a pilot test of a green certification program for the NYS hotel industry, using the Audubon International Green Leaf Eco-Rating Program as the third party certifier. To this end, the “Green Hotel Pilot Project” was created. The project’s goal was to test a program aimed at assisting lodging properties in reducing their environmental footprint and improving their competiveness while saving operating costs and increasing revenue by attracting environmentally conscious tourists. In addition to the participants demonstrating the certification process, they would increase the population of green certified hotels and be featured in green tourism marketing.

New York State Printing Industry Report: Positioning Industry for the Future: Energy, Environment, Sustainability
The Center for Integrated Manufacturing Studies (CIMS) at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in collaboration with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), RadTech-The UV & EB Technology Association, and the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I) set out to understand the state of the New York State commercial printing industry and to what extent industry has faced or is currently facing challenges associated with energy, environment and sustainability. Continue reading “Documents Recently Added to Sector Resources”

These publications were recently added to GLRPPR’s Sector Resources. This list is continuously updated on the web and is also available as an RSS feed.

ACUPCC Five Year Report
Mon, 02 Jul 2012 14:58:49 GMT
The report quantifies the progress the agreement between nearly 700 colleges and universities to promote sustainability through teaching and action. These actions includes reducing carbon emissions on their campuses; deploying sustainable practices; revising their curriculums and cultures to raise awareness of sustainability in students and graduates; sponsoring research and developing best case practices; and engaging local economies and communities.

Annual Energy Outlook 2012
Mon, 02 Jul 2012 14:13:03 GMT
he projections in the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA’s) Annual Energy Outlook 2012 (AEO2012) focus on the factors that shape the U.S. energy system over the long term. Under the assumption that current laws and regulations remain unchanged throughout the projections, the AEO2012 Reference case provides the basis for examination and discussion of energy production, consumption, technology, and market trends and the direction they may take in the future. It also serves as a starting point for analysis of potential changes in energy policies. But AEO2012 is not limited to the Reference case. It also includes 29 alternative cases (see Appendix E, Table E1), which explore important areas of uncertainty for markets, technologies, and policies in the U.S. energy economy. Many of the implications of the alternative cases are discussed in the “Issues in focus” section of this report.

P2 Pathways
Fri, 29 Jun 2012 21:10:02 GMT
P2 Pathways is a monthly column written by contributors affiliated with the Pollution Prevention Resource Exchange (P2Rx). Topics vary each month.

Life-Cycle Assessment of Energy and Environmental Impacts of LED Lighting: Products Part I: Review of the Life-Cycle Energy Consumption of Incandescent, Compact Fluorescent, and LED Lamps
Fri, 29 Jun 2012 20:43:46 GMT
This report provides a comparison of the total life-cycle energy consumed by LED and other lamp types based on existing life-cycle assessment (LCA) literature.

Life-Cycle Assessment of Energy and Environmental Impacts of LED Lighting Products: Part 2: LED Manufacturing and Performance
Fri, 29 Jun 2012 20:35:16 GMT
This study develops a conservative LCA method for considering both the direct and indirect material and process inputs to fabricate, ship, operate and dispose of LED products in 2012 and estimated for 2017. An LCA comparison to an incandescent lamp and a compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) is provided.

Sustainable Packaging: Threat or Opportunity?
Wed, 27 Jun 2012 20:41:58 GMT
Under constant pressure from government, the media, customers and consumers, the packaging industry is increasingly being forced to consider how its products can be made more sustainable. Faced with pressing issues of over capacity, low prices and high raw material costs, should ‘sustainable packaging’ be a top concern for packaging senior executives? Based on in-depth interviews with senior executives from leading packaging companies in Europe, we outline in this report the key challenges and opportunities the issue of ‘sustainable packaging’ raises for leaders in the industry.

Three Decades and Counting: A Historical Review and Current Assessment of Electric Utility Energy Efficiency Activity in the States
Wed, 27 Jun 2012 16:28:21 GMT
Providing programs to electric utility customers to reduce their energy use through improved energy efficiency is an innovation with roots in the energy crises of the 1970s. The concept that energy utilities should substitute electricity savings in new and existing end-uses for more costly alternative sources of electricity was a radical departure from the regulatory and business models established and followed by energy utilities since their inception in the early part of the 20th century. From these early roots, energy efficiency programs for electric utility customers have grown rapidly, despite some fluctuations in funding and support. Electric utility restructuring led to a precipitous decline in program funding in the late 1990s. Since then, electric utility energy efficiency programs have grown continuously and rapidly. In 2010, total budgets for these programs were $4.6 billion. Numerous policy and program innovations have occurred to drive such changes and to reach goals established for these programs. Over three decades of experience with these programs have demonstrated their ability to reduce energy use and thereby provide significant economic, environmental, and system benefits. The emergence of energy efficiency as a valuable, cost-effective, and significant energy resource has established the foundation for a new era of energy efficiency, an era marked by continued expansion and innovation.

Lighting the Clean Revolution: The Rise of LEDs and What It Means for Cities
Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:59:11 GMT
The Climate Group’s LightSavers trial concludes that LEDs are now mature enough for scale-up in most outdoor applications, and that LEDs combined with smart controls promise greater savings. Note that Philips Lighting is the report sponsor.

Do What Matters: Lake Friendly Practices and Actions
Mon, 18 Jun 2012 22:10:51 GMT
Lake Friendly Practices will reduce nutrients and improve water quality to Lake Winnipeg and all waterways. The practices will maximize social, economic and environmental benefits and may have linkages to existing programs.

Unfinished Business: What the Midwest needs to do to Lead in the Clean Energy Economy
Wed, 06 Jun 2012 22:35:49 GMT
This report evaluates regional progress — or shortfalls — in meeting goals put forward by a bipartisan group of Midwestern governors and stakeholders in 2007 and 2009 to turn around the economic prospects of the region by becoming global leaders in the clean energy economy.