Eco-Portal: An Information Gateway Empowering the Movement for Environmental Sustainability

July 15, 2008

• PSE&G Partners With Four N.J. Cities to Test LED Street Lights
  The six- to 12-month tests involving 24 LED street lights place the Public Service Electric and Gas Company and the cities in which the tests are being conducted among a small but growing number of municipalities and utilities that are exploring application of LED technology to green public lighting. - 5 months
  source: (GreenBiz.com)
• Green Marketing Failing: Report
  The number of people concerned about climate change continues growing, but they aren't convinced that the business sector is doing as much as it should because companies are failing to adequately communicate their climate change-related efforts, according to a new study. - 5 months
  source: (GreenBiz.com)
• PSE&G Partners With Four N.J. Cities to Test LED Street Lights
  The six- to 12-month tests involving 24 LED street lights place the Public Service Electric and Gas Company and the cities in which the tests are being conducted among a small but growing number of municipalities and utilities that are exploring application of LED technology to green public lighting. - 5 months
  source: (Energy & Climate | Energy Efficiency | Greenbiz.com)
• Undersea Volcanic Rocks Offer Vast Repository For Greenhouse Gas, Says Study
  A group of scientists has used deep ocean-floor drilling and experiments to show that volcanic rocks off the West Coast and elsewhere might be used to securely imprison huge amounts of globe-warming carbon dioxide captured from power plants or other sources. In particular, they say that natural chemical reactions under 78,000 square kilometers (30,000 square miles) of ocean floor off California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia could lock in as much as 150 years of US carbon dioxide production. - 5 months
  source: (ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News)
• Record Land Grab Predicted As Demand Soars For New Sources Of Food, Energy And Wood Fiber
  Escalating global demand for fuel, food and wood fiber will destroy the world's forests, if efforts to address climate change and poverty fail to empower the billion-plus forest-dependent poor, according to two reports just released by the US-based Rights and Resources Initiative, an international coalition comprising the world's foremost organizations on forest governance and conservation. - 5 months
  source: (ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News)
• To Set Tone, Exelon Plans Huge Cut in Emissions
  Exelon, the electric company based in Chicago, will promise to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 by an amount larger than its total emissions in 2008.
  
  - 5 months
  source: (NYT > Environment)
• Australia considers first new coal port for 25 yrs
  CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia, the world's biggest per-head greenhouse-gas polluter, is considering its first new coal export port for 25 years, despite official efforts to curb coal-fired carbon emissions to fight climate warming.
  
  - 5 months
  source: ( Reuters: Environment)
• Australia considers first new coal port for 25 yrs
  CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia, the world's biggest per-head greenhouse-gas polluter, is considering its first new coal export port for 25 years, despite official efforts to curb coal-fired carbon emissions to fight climate warming.
  
  - 5 months
  source: ( Reuters: Environment)
• Fisker Auto chooses Porsche vet to make Karma
  

  Fisker Automotive on Monday said that Valmet Automotive of Finland, which makes the Porsche Boxster and Cayman, will manufacture the Fisker Karma.

  The Fisker Karma will be a luxury plug-in hybrid sedan the company intends to start selling in the fourth quarter of 2009 to North American customers with an ...

  - 5 months
  source: (Green Tech )
• NASA Mission To Be Crystal Ball Into Oceans' Future, Mirror To The Past
  Imagine the lives that could be saved from flash floods and drought, the millions of dollars in fuel costs that could be avoided for fishing vessels, and the homes that could be spared from the effects of coastline erosion if only scientists could more accurately predict the dynamics of Earth's often unpredictable oceans. Armed with increasingly more accurate forecasts, weather services in countries across the globe are improving time-sensitive warnings of cyclones, flooding and high sea winds, as well as information about when it's safe to scuba dive, sail, or fish 48 kilometers (30 miles) or more beyond coastlines. - 5 months
  source: (ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News)
• Researchers Generate Hydrogen Without The Carbon Footprint
  A greener, less expensive method to produce hydrogen for fuel may eventually be possible with the help of water, solar energy and nanotube diodes that use the entire spectrum of the sun's energy. - 5 months
  source: (ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News)
• NOAA Predicts Largest Gulf Of Mexico 'Dead Zone' On Record
  Scientists are forecasting that the "dead zone" off the coast of Louisiana and Texas in the Gulf of Mexico this summer could be the largest on record. Mississippi River flooding is major contributor to size of this year's dead zone. - 5 months
  source: (ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News)
• Corporations Can Profit From Being Environmentally Friendly
  Though many policymakers have argued that environmental regulations can negatively impact on an organization's bottom line, a new study shows that companies that develop green production processes can not only offset the costs of regulations, but can also reap further benefits. The study looked at more than 2,600 manufacturing facilities in seven different countries. - 5 months
  source: (ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News)
• Women Exposed To High Levels of Pollutant PCB More Likely To Give Birth To Female Children
  Women exposed to high levels of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls -- a group of banned environmental pollutants) are less likely to give birth to male children. A new study found that among women from the San Francisco Bay Area, those exposed to higher levels of PCBs during the 50s and 60s, were significantly more likely to give birth to female children. - 5 months
  source: (ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News)
• Pollination Habits Of Endangered Texas Rice Revealed To Help Preservation
  A type of wild rice that only grows in a small stretch of the San Marcos River is likely so rare because it plays the sexual reproduction game poorly. - 5 months
  source: (ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News)
• Future Snowmelt In West Twice As Early As Expected; Threatens Ecosystems And Water Reserves
  Global warming could lead to larger changes in snowmelt in the western United States than was previously thought, possibly increasing wildfire risk and creating new water management challenges for agriculture, ecosystems and urban populations. Researchers discovered that a critical surface temperature feedback is twice as strong as what had been projected by earlier studies. - 5 months
  source: (ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News)
• Scientists Close In On Source Of X-rays In Lightning
  Engineering researchers have narrowed the search for the source of X-rays emitted by lightning, a feat that could one day help predict where lightning will strike. - 5 months
  source: (ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News)
• Management Practices Key To Watershed Condition
  Animals thrive on the banks of waterways. And those same tree-covered, green grassy areas are keys to maintaining healthy watersheds for creeks and rivers. Landowners must learn how to manage these properties to strike an ecological balance that benefits wildlife and livestock and still protects watersheds, scientists say. - 5 months
  source: (ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News)
• For Toy-like NASA Robots In Arctic, Ice Research Is Child's Play
  Several snowmobiles navigated speedily over arctic ice and snow in Alaska's outback in late June. This scene might seem ordinary except that the recently unveiled snowmobiles are unmanned, autonomous, toy-size robots called SnoMotes -- the first prototype network of their kind envisioned to rove treacherous areas of the Arctic and Antarctic capturing more accurate measurements that will help scientists better understand what is causing the well-documented melting of ice in those regions. - 5 months
  source: (ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News)
• Rock Port, Missouri, First 100 Percent Wind-powered Community In U.S.
  Rock Port Missouri, with a population of just over 1,300 residents, has announced that it is the first 100% wind powered community in the United States. Four wind turbines supply all the electricity for the small town. Rock Port's 100% wind power status is due to four wind turbines located on agricultural lands within the city limits of Rock Port (Atchison County). The city of Rock Port uses approximately 13 million kilowatt hours of electricity each year. It is predicted that these four turbines will produce 16 million kilowatt hours each year. - 5 months
  source: (ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News)