Burbank Library Green PagesAugust 2011 CalendarCalendar of Green Events in Burbank and Greater LA. Check out State and National events on the Green Day Planner.Burbank and LocalAug 15: BUR Sustainable Task Force @ 4:30pmAug 20: BUR Compost Workshop @ Muir Middle School @ 10amAug 31: BUR Compost Workshop @ Monterey HS 6:30pmAug 2: SFV Critical Mass Bike Ride – Victory & Woodley @ 7pmAug 28+: Taste of the World Festival – LA ColiseumAug 30+: Women in Green Forum – S MonicaSouthern California and CaliforniaJul 31 - Aug 3: CRRA Conf Zero Waste – S DiegoAug 12: Clean Business Investment Summit – S Barbara @ 7amNational and InternationalAug 18+: American Renewable Energy Day Summit – Aspen COAug 22+: EcoCity – Montreal Canada
If your electric car poops out on the road,AAA can save the dayexaminer.com Long Beach: 7.21.2011 by Jon LeSagePlug-in electric vehicles like the Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Volt, Mini E, Tesla Roadster, and do-it-yourself conversions, are slowly starting to become mainstream. There may not be any more infamous GM EV1s on the roads, but don’t be surprised to see an electric car getting charged at your workplace, shopping mall, or neighbor’s garage.6666666
But what happens if your electric car poops out on the highway, and you’re two hours from home? Call a tow truck? That’s where AAA has stepped in, announcing that its roadside assistance trucks are capable of fast charging stranded electric vehicles.During the Plug-in 2011 conference in Raleigh, NC, AAA said electric vehicle drivers can get a 15-minute jolt of either Level 2 (240-volt), or Level 3 (480-volt) fast charging to get them to the nearest charge point. And there’s good news for Californians – AAA says it will roll the trucks out initially in Los Angeles and San Francisco; beyond that, Portland, Ore.; Tampa Bay, Fla.; and Knoxville, Tenn. Other areas will follow later.For the fast chargers, the standards haven’t yet been finalized, like they have with Level 1 and 2 stations. So far, only the Nissan Leaf and the upcoming Mitsubishi i are the only electric cars that can use the fast chargers. READ MORE !
Group pushes for plastic bag ban in BurbankTask force recommends the city ban their use by retail stores.Burbank Leader: 7.26.2011 by Maria HsinA ban on plastic bags from store checkouts has been recommended by the Sustainable Burbank Task Force.Councilman Gary Bric, a non-voting council representative to the task force, said the task force recommended the city move forward with a ban.6666666
The county ban went into effect July 1 for stores with gross annual sales of $2 million, or that have at least 10,000 square feet of floor space. Smaller stores in the county must comply by Jan. 1, 2012.In addition to the plastic bag ban, the county ordinance imposes a 10-cent charge on recyclable paper bags.Jessica Aldridge, executive director of the Burbank Green Alliance, who attended the task force meeting, said she is supportive of a plastic bag ban. READ MORE !Plastic Bag Poll @ Burbank Leader
The Governor’s Conference on Local Renewable Energy ResourcesCalifornia's Path towards the FutureJuly 25 - 26Governor Brown has called for 12,000 MW of renewable power generated within the local power distribution grid. Implementing this effort will provide important advantages in California’s drive for clean power – development of local resources, avoided costs of new intercity transmission or remote generation, and additional consumer autonomy.Achieving this goal calls for new approaches and coalitions between consumers, community leaders, utilities and power providers. Promising innovations:-Financing tools that help build new power sources, but also keep costs as low as possible.-Improvements to existing wires and transformers, and new policies to speed connections.-Policies and techniques to measure and manage power demand and variable power sources-New efforts in local land use, building and fire codes to speed up deployment.This two-day conference will explore these challenges in detail by catalyzing discussions between experts, regulators and other stakeholder groups. The invitation-only conference will be highly participatory and requires extensive facilitation and advance work. Some participants will take roles as participants or facilitators. All participants will review, in advance, conference materials including discussion papers set for each panel.Complete Agenda with links to Overviews of Issues and Recommended Reading.
Green Events - BurbankJuly 23
eWaste Collection9:00 am - 3:00pmUnity Church637 S VictoryCompost Workshop10:00 am - 11:30 amBurroughs HS(818) 238-3900FREE Compost Bin for Burbank residents
Sizing the Clean Economy: A National and Regional Green Jobs Assessment Growth through Innovation, Environment, Cities, Competitiveness, Jobs and the EconomyBrookings: July 2011The clean economy, which employs some 2.7 million workers, encompasses a significant number of jobs in establishments spread across a diverse group of industries. Though modest in size, the clean economy employs more workers than the fossil fuel industry and bulks larger than bioscience but remains smaller than the IT-producing sectors. Most clean economy jobs reside in mature segments that cover a wide swath of activities including manufacturing and the provision of public services such as wastewater and mass transit. A smaller portion of the clean economy encompasses newer segments that respond to energy-related challenges. These include the solar photovoltaic (PV), wind, fuel cell, smart grid, biofuel, and battery industries.The clean economy grew more slowly in aggregate than the national economy between 2003 and 2010, but newer “cleantech” segments produced explosive job gains and the clean economy outperformed the nation during the recession. Overall, today’s clean economy establishments added half a million jobs between 2003 and 2010, expanding at an annual rate of 3.4 percent.6666666
Among regions, the South has the largest number of clean economy jobs though the West has the largest share relative to its population. Seven of the 21 states with at least 50,000 clean economy jobs are in the South. Among states, California has the highest number of clean jobs but Alaska and Oregon have the most per worker. READ MORE !Some Highlights:
California had 318,156 jobs followed by NY @ 185,038 and TX @ 144,081;LA Metro area had 89,592 jobs.
Average annual wage:California: $46,400LA Metro: $40,910US average: $43,773.
2010 Tables & Charts:
Table 1. Segments of the Clean Economy
Table 2. Job Growth Median Year of Establishment Birth by Clean Economy Segment
Table 3. Share of Clean Economy Jobs
Table 4. Metro Areas with the Most Clean Economy Jobs, 100 Largest Metros
Appendix A. The U.S. Clean Economy by Category and Segment
Appendix B. The Aggregate Clean Economy by State (Map)
Appendix C. The Aggregate Clean Economy 100 Largest Metropolitan Areas
Appendix D. The Clean Economy by Industry (NAICS-Based
Appendix E. Occupations of the Clean Economy
Water Conservation Measures ScorecardSierra Club Angeles Chapter: July 2011The Water Conservation Measures Scorecard rated 122 cities in Los Angeles and Orange counties by the number of mandatory water conservation measures enacted. Cities are ranked for measures in their ordinances that address appropriate water use, avoid water waste, improve building standards, and prescribe water-efficient business practices. Five cities were rated “Best” and five cities were rated “Worst.” The scorecard provides cities with a roadmap to update and expand existing water conservation measures in order to meet federal and state water efficiency standards and to work together to better manage use of the region’s limited water resources.The 5 cities that scored “Best” with water-efficient building standards and best practices for commercial and outdoor water use:Burbank, La Palma, La Verne, Los Angeles and Mission ViejoThe Report Includes a City Summary and City Scorecards. READ MORE !
Direct and indirect water useWater Foot Print NetworkPeople use lots of water for drinking, cooking and washing, but even more for producing things such as food, paper, cotton clothes, etc. The water footprint is an indicator of water use that looks at both direct and indirect water use of a consumer or producer. The water footprint of an individual, community or business is defined as the total volume of freshwater that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual or community or produced by the business. Includes:Product Water Footprint-Food & Animal Products: Apples to Wine(excellent graphic @ National Geographic)Your Water Footprint-quick calculator-extended calculatorNational Water FootprintCorporate Water FootprintGlobal Water FootprintWFPN: promote the transition towards sustainable, fair and efficient use of fresh water resources worldwide.*The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Hybrid Scorecard 2011Hybrid Scorecard for 2011 Shows Automakers Not Delivering Enough 'High Value' ModelsStronger Vehicle Efficiency Standards Needed to Make the Most of Hybrid TechnologyWASHINGTON (July 6, 2011) – The current crop of hybrid vehicles demonstrate automakers know how to provide dramatic fuel savings and pollution reductions, but have yet to fully deliver those benefits, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) announced today.The Union of Concerned Scientists (USC) released its 2011 Hybrid Scorecard that rates 34 Non-Luxury and Luxury cars for their fuel efficiency, environmental improvement, consumer value, and the “forced features” automakers install that artificially inflate the cost of some models.
