Green Day Planner: February 2011

Burbank Library Green Pages
February 2011 Calendar

Calendar of Green Events in Burbank and Greater LA. Check out State and National events on the Green Day Planner.

Burbank
Feb 5: FREE Compost Workshops & Bins - B Adult School 10am
Feb 5-6: Electronics Recycling BUSD Parking Lot 1900 W Olive
Feb 17: FREE Compost Workshops & Bins - Recycle Center Noon
Feb 21: COB Sustainable Task Force
Feb 24: FREE Compost Workshops & Bins - B Harte School 6:30pm

Southern California
Feb 5: TreePeople Park Tree Care – Glendale
Feb 7: Climatopolis Professor Matt Kahn, Institute of the Environment, UCLA
Feb 8+: Green Manufacturing Expo – Anaheim
Feb 12: Native Plants for the L.A. Garden Coldwater Canyon Park
Feb 12: EarthWorks - Community Sustainability Workshop Coldwater Cyn Park
Feb 13: Global Health Awareness Week Sustainable, Responsible Programs – LA
Feb 19: TreePeople Mountain Restoration – Calabasas
Feb 20: TreePeople Mountain Restoration – Agoura Hills
Feb 24: California Sustainability Indicators Symposium – USC
Feb 26: TreePeople Mountain Restoration – Topanga

California & National
Feb 24+: GeoPower Americas – SF

Product Watch: eBooks

The Green Buyer's Guide for e-Readers

Are ebooks greener than paper books ?
Ecolibris looks at the Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader and Kobo Wireless. Compares each one by:

Weight (pounds)
Battery Life
Can the battery be replaced by the user? *
Display
Memory **
Capability to loan eBooks to friends
Book Lending from libraries
Recycling
Toxins
Carbon footprint
Environmental Note
Price

BWP: Smart Grid

Burbank Water and Power Selects Trilliant for Smart Grid Advanced Metering Infrastructure
PRWeb: January 7, 2011

Trilliant Incorporated, a Smart Grid communications provider and leader in delivering solutions that enhance energy efficiency, utility operations, and renewable resource integration, today announced that it has successfully completed its pilot and has now been selected to implement the smart metering communications infrastructure at Burbank Water and Power in Burbank, CA. Burbank Water and Power (BWP) is a community-owned utility that has served the business and residents of Burbank with water and power since 1913.

BWP, a recipient of an American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) Grant, deployed approximately 1,000 commercial and residential meters during Phase I of its Smart Grid pilot program. As part of the initial deployment, all of BWP’s customers using 250 kW and above were converted to time-of-use rates. BWP relied on Trilliant’s SecureMesh™ communications infrastructure and UnitySuite™ head-end software to automate meter reading and deliver daily reports on late meters, outages, meter tampering, and more.

The next phase of BWP's Smart Grid program will deploy smart meters to all remaining business and residences in the utility area by year end 2011 amounting to more than 50,000 meters. BWP will utilize Trilliant’s solution to help manage service requests, customer inquiries, meter reading and service interruptions. READ MORE !

COB: Solar Energy

Solar energy installations heat up
Rebates from Burbank Water and Power draw in customers, and the number of systems have increased in last two years.
Burbank Leader: January 1, 2011 by Gretchen Meier

Spurred on by consumer rebates, Burbank Water and Power has seen a doubling in the number of solar installations in the past two years.

There are now 93 solar energy systems in Burbank, compared to 36 in July of last year, and nearly all were funded with grant money from the utility. Twenty-two additional systems are in the pipeline, officials say.

Combined, the solar panels generate more than 2,000 kilowatts of clean energy — enough electricity to power nearly 1,000 homes for a full year.

Burbank Water and Power brought 19 residential and four commercial solar energy systems online in 2010, according to solar support program manager said John Joyce, a solar support program manager for the utility.

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Local businesses are hopping on the solar train: Costco on Burbank Boulevard flipped the switch on its solar energy installation in November and IKEA has plans for its own panel system in 2011.

Costco's solar energy project will cover about 20% its electricity requirements and generate about 850,000 kilowatt-hours of energy annually, making it the largest such project in the city, said Burbank Water and Power General Manager Ron Davis.

IKEA's project will be roughly half the size in terms of output, according to the utility.

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Burbank Water and Power has already started construction on a 240-kilowatt solar powered parking structure on North Lake Street between West Olive Avenue and West Magnolia Boulevard. READ MORE !