Welcome to the May 2009 Green InSight eNewsletter!

Jon Dougal Editor, Green InSight

"Environmental mitigation fees are civic penance for environmental sins you have yet to commit. They constitute a pre-paid penalty that absolves you of guilt for the crimes you’ve just been cleared to perpetrate." William John Warkentin, Architect

This insightful and progressive newsletter is concerned with present energy issues and technologies as well as the future of energy. The information is brought to you in living color, on widescreen digital HD format, and sparing paper use with our long shelf-life, greedy little electrons to deliver the latest from the far corners of the alternative and renewable energy empire to foster sustainable development. We exalt your feedback and contributions of your latest experiences and reactions to our content. Sustainability is not just our mission, it is our passion.

California Air Resources Board Adopts New Regs to Reduce GHG from Fuels

Date: April 24, 2009
Source: California Air Resources Board (CARB)

Ednote: California’s Air Resources Board – has become probably the most powerful agency in the state. Post AB32, the Anti-Global Warming act, a whole new economy is taking shape under the guise of air regulations. Accompanying AB32 is AB375 an overlay of transportation and development that will affect all citizens of the state. From history we know many other states will emulate California’s lead. These regulations are acting as incentives for both the solar industry as well as alternative fuels.

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Ed Mazria's Two-Year, Nine-Million-Jobs Investment Plan

Caroline Dobuzinskis
Date: April 15, 2009
Source: WORLDCHANGING (www.worldchanging.com)

With the job market crashing and a reported one in five mortgages underwater, the need for complex solutions to fix the US economy grows increasingly urgent. Ed Mazria, founder of the non-profit research and education organization Architecture 2030, has put forward a proposal to combat two urgent economic crises with one plan that will not only relieve financially strapped homeowners and generate job opportunities, but also leave us with a more resilient, more efficient built environment when this crisis is over.

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The Next Generation of LED Site and Street Lighting

By: Steve Honig
Date: Apr 22, 2009
Source: The Honig Company

Ednote: LED lighting is welcomed by almost everybody for interiors and space lighting. Street and parking lot lighting have been late coming to the green marketplace, until now. The importance of the following development is subtle – having to do with the DarkSky’s movement to reduce light pollution of the dark night skies by over flow. Most generated light on streets and parking lots, and sidewalks doesn’t just direct the light downward, but everywhere. Good lighting designers have attempted to curtail the overflow (when they’re aware of the issue) but haven’t really had the tools. LED to the rescue.

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Green Roof Systems

A Guide to the Planning, Design and Construction of Building Over Structure

By: Susan k. Weiler and Katrin Scholz-Barth

Ednote: With the Obama stimulus package emphasizing the effort to weatherize existing buildings this book couldn’t come at a better time. Reduced heat load, stormwater mitigation and reduced Urban heat island effect are all a benefit of green (cool) roofs. A designer’s one stop resource to green roofs that merges architecture and landscape. The book offers substantive and technical information on living green roof and landscapes over structure. It goes beyond a mere overview of the green roof movement by providing reliable advice on building ecologically practical, accessible, and useful open spaces over structures …

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Cow Power Could Generate Electricity for Millions

By: Joseph Winters
Date: July 24, 2008
Source: Institute of Physics

Ednote: Linda McCartney, Paul’s first wife while the Beetles were still together, forbid the band to eat meat (as the legend goes) because of the impact on the atmosphere (GHG’s). She always said it was the gas at the rear end that was the culprit. She was partially correct because that is where the methane exits, or so we all thought.

Did you know that methane is 20 times worse than CO2?

A pet peeve:

A scientist told me it is cow burps, not farts. It is probably both. The methane from cows comes not so much out of there rear end, but out of their mouths. Each time they bring up a cud to chew there is a puff of methane released. Humans have the anaerobic bacteria working later in a VERY different digestive process. Their methane and H2 does come out of their rear ends. However, the article below talks about the other general hazards of cow poop.

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I Believe...

Ednote: It seems that the more we know about the future of the planet the more dire the future seems. It is sometimes very depressing for those who are deeply enmeshed in trying to solve tomorrow’s problems. So we think it becomes a reader service to insert a little spiritual encouragement amongst the warnings of ……………… Have a seat. Relax. And read this slowly.

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Interested in sponsoring our next eNewsletter issue? Contact Jon Dougal at (415) 798-1933 or editor@greenmotion.org.