Business Watch: Flair Cleaners

Adding green to dry cleaning
Business is urging customers to use biodegradable plastic bags, or no bags at all.
Burbank Leader: February 8, 2011 by Gretchen Meier

Flair Cleaners in Burbank has over the past year successfully asked customers to get their clothes naked — that is without all the plastic wrapping and other packaging.

In an effort to reduce waste, more than 30% of the customers at Flair now ask for their clothes naked, said store manager Ron Roscoe.

Flair Cleaners at 337 N. Pass Ave. already uses biodegradable plastic bags to hang freshly cleaned garments, but it wants customers to ditch plastic completely. Last week the store gave away a free reusable dry-cleaning bag to everyone who came in with two or more items to be cleaned.

Now, the bag’s manufacturer, the Green Garmento, uses Flair Cleaners as a mentor program for other dry cleaners that want to begin replacing plastic bags.

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The family-owned business began eliminating solvent with carcinogens more than 10 years ago, Roscoe said.

“We already use biodegradable bags, recyclable hangers and paper, and we try to reuse everything we can,” Roscoe said. “We’re trying to do everything we can to keep it green.”

The California Recycling Program has honored Flair with nine consecutive Waste Reduction Awards. READ MORE !

Business Watch: State of Green Business 2011

State of Green Business: 2011

The fourth annual edition of the State of Green Business report continues efforts to measure the environmental impacts of the emerging green economy. GreenBiz.com documents how well -- or poorly -- companies are improving their environmental performance despite the challenges posed by the Great Recession, and begin to note promising signs for a sea change in corporate sustainability efforts.

The free, downloadable report measures the progress of U.S. business and the economy from an environmental perspective, and highlights key trends in corporate culture in regard to the environment.

This year's report shows a dramatic shift is occurring in mainstream business: Companies are thinking bigger and longer-term about sustainability -- a an analysis of businesses in 2010 shows that even during economically challenging times, many companies invested more in their sustainability activities and made bold new sustainability commitments.

The 2011 report is the centerpiece of GreenBiz.com's State of Green Business Forums. The two-day events will take place:
San Francisco on February 2-3
Chicago on February 9-10
Washington, D.C., February 16-17

E-waste Recycling

ECS Refining Launches Ecollective E-Waste Recycling.

Ecollective (ECS) is a network of drop-off locations throughout the state for consumers and small businesses to recycle old electronics for free. Visiting the website, consumers type in their ZIP Code and are directed to nearby e-waste dropoff points. Directions to the site are included, as well as hours of operation.

The website also includes a list of what can be recycled through the program and the company's recycling procedures, which ensures e-waste is processed domestically and that personal data are destroyed.

About 100 ecollective locations have been established so far, including 17 in Southern California.

Facts about e-waste
~ the fastest growing municipal waste stream in the US
~ 20-50 metric tons of e-waste is thrown away worldwide every year
~ leaves behind lead, cadmium, mercury and other hazardous waste
~ only 13.6% is recycled

To manufacture 1 computer and monitor, you need:
530 pounds of fossil fuels
48 pounds of chemicals
1.5 tons of water

ecollective sites near 91502:

Andy's Moving and Storage
3464 N. Verdugo Road
Glendale, CA 91208

Santa Clarita Valley Recycling
14658 Raymer St
Van Nuys, CA 91405

New Haven Moving Equipment
13571 Vaughn St, Unit E
San Fernando, CA 91340

Yes We Can E-Waste
521 East 4th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013

A-1 Electronic Recycling Team
2646 South Hill Street
Los Angeles, CA 90007

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 !