The GREEN MARKET ORACLE

Monday, September 23, 2013

Event - US Green Building Council: NJ Chapter's 11th Annual Gala & Awards Dinner

US Green Building Council – NJ Chapter's 11th Annual Gala & Awards Dinner will take place on October 9, 2013 (5 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.) at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, NJ.

The 24th annual National Bioneers Conference, is an annual three-day event that will take place on October 18-20, 2013 at the Marin Center in San Rafael. Established in 1990, this event is the original whole-systems forum of innovation and collaboration for social, cultural and environmental resilience. Serving the sustainability, environmentalism and social justice communities, BioCon speakers and presenters have included Bill McKibben, Jane Goodall, Gloria Steinem, Philippe Cousteau, Michael Pollan, Vandana Shiva and Paul Hawken, among many other luminaries. The conference also prides itself on introducing audiences to some of the most innovative voices yet to be discovered.

Event - 2013 AASHE Conference & Expo: Resiliency and Adaptation

2013 AASHE Conference & Expo: Resiliency and Adaptation will take place on October 6 - 9, 2013 in Nashville, TN. AASHE conferences are the largest stage in North America for higher education sustainability thought leadership.

The 6th annual SMi Energy from Waste Conference will take place on September 25 - 26, 2013. This event provides attendees with a complete view of the field! It will focus on policy and market updates, project deliverability, finance and investment, technological developments and the renewable heat incentive this informative event will bring together key leaders in the field to provide attendees with an in-depth look into current status of Energy from Waste.

SolarTech Expo Argentina 2013, is a strictly B2B conference and exhibition, it will be held in Buenos Aires on 23-24 September 2013. The event will focus on recent technology and commercial market developments within PV, CSP, CPV, OPVC, BIPV, Thin Film and solar thermal.

Located in the networking area exhibition will hold exhibition where leading solar energy technology companies will showcase their technologies and solutions for the industry.

Low Wind Forum will take place on October, 30-31, 2013 in Hamburg, Germany. Maximizing energy yield and return on investment on low and medium wind sites How commercially viable are low wind sites? As the availability of onshore high-wind sites decreases, low to medium wind sites (IEC II/III) are becoming feasible alternatives. Yet concerns over energy yield, as well as O&M and set-up costs, need to be addressed.

Use this forum to assess the feasibility of a low-wind project or learn how to maximise an existing project. In particular you will find out about:

This event will take place on September 23-25, 2013, at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Hamburg, Germany. Wind Farm Data Management and Analysis 2013 will focus on implementing an effective data management strategy to reduce O&M costs.

Windpower Monthly’s Wind Farm Data Management and Analysis Forum is the ONLY event focused on understanding how to optimise wind data to reduce O&M costs and improve turbine performance.

Topics covered include R&D from leading industry heavyweights including: OWI-Lab, ECN, RWTH Aachen, DTU Wind Energy, Fraunhofer Institut (IWES) & Durham University.

This event will take place on September 24, 2013 at 15 John Street, London, UK. With the ever increasing need for robust, sustainable and low cost treatment technologies, innovation in low energy options is key in helping the Water Industry meet its performance targets. The 2nd Low Energy Wastewater Treatment Systems Conference will focus on nutrient removal in small and medium works.

The programme consists of invited presentations from innovators from the water industry and academics conducting leading edge research on the topic, covering state-of-the-art technologies and results from specific case studies.

The GPCA Sustainability Conference will take place on December 17 - 19, 2013, in Dubai, UAE, at the Ritz Carlton. It will focus on planning a long-term future of responsible growth. The chemical industry and chemical companies have started heavily investing in sustainable solutions in the last few years, as the industry is continuously aiming to become more sustainable. The challenge is to make sustainability part of the business planning process of a company. Sustainability is not only a series of actions, but a fundamental plank of planning the business for the long term future. The GPCA Sustainability Conference will be your insight on how to become steadily more profitable while minimizing the environmental impact.

Video - Energy Efficiency Win-Win in the Shaheen Portman Bill

Senator Shaheen teams up with Senator Rob Portman to re-introduce their bipartisan energy efficiency legislation. The bill is a win-win-win, Shaheen said, as it strengthens the economy, reduces our energy use and protects the environment.

Video - Campus Sustainability at Western State Colorado University

Students are at the future leaders, and Western State Colorado University (WSCU) understands that it is critical to help students to inculcate sustainability. WSCU understands that students are at the heart of the sustainability movement. Getting students involved make sustainability sustainable. At WSCU students are passionate about sustainability that makes a difference in their community.

Video - Interview with Bill McKibben: Obama Can Salvage His Climate Legacy by Rejecting Keystone XL Oil Pipeline

Bill McKibben, co-founder and director of 350.org, joins Democracy Now to discuss "Draw the Line," a national day of action this Saturday to protest the Keystone XL oil pipeline. Already this week on Monday, 13 people were arrested during a protest in Houston in front of the offices of TransCanada, the company behind the controversial project. McKibben has just come out with the new book, "Oil and Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist." McKibben argues that Obama's pending decision on whether to approve or reject the Keystone XL's construction is a historic opportunity. "If [Obama] says no to the Keystone pipeline, he will be the first world leader ever to say, 'Here is something we are not going to build because of its effect on the climate,'" McKibben says. "It might have the effect of unfreezing the climate negotiations that have been wrecked ever since Copenhagen ... Sometimes Obama, correctly, can blame his absurd Congress. But in the case of the Keystone pipeline, he gets to make the call himself. So he darn well better make that call."

Video - On Sept. 21st, Draw the Line on Keystone XL

For the past two years, a grassroots movement has erupted to confront President Obama over the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. On September 21st, 2013, we will draw the line on Keystone XL and the tar sands to tell him that keeping his climate promises means rejecting Keystone XL.

Video - Protest Against the Keystone XL "Draw The Line"

Video - Summary of Evidence Linking Extreme Weather to Climate Change

In this video Prof. Jennifer Francis (2013) summarizes some of the massive and growing body of evidence linking extreme weather to climate change. This address was delivered in January 2013 at the 24th annual Glen Gerberg Weather and Climate Summit in Breckinridge (Colorado). It is ironic that Francis' talk was filmed in Colorado 8 months before the "biblical floods" that devastated that state.

Greenpeace Crew Arrested in the Arctic by Russian Agents

Balaclava clad, machine gun toting, Russian FSB agents, rappelled down ropes from helicopters to detain 30 peaceful Greenpeace activists after their ship, the icebreaker Arctic Sunrise was boarded on September 19. In addition to arresting the ship's crew, the agents did substantial damage to communications equipment. The ship has been impounded and crew members have been incarcerated and are being denied access to legal or consular assistance.

This two day workshop (or 16 hour online course) provides successful students with certification as an Environmental Specialist. Participating students will gain knowledge of environmental compliance issues and public safety concerns, participants will also get an intensive overview of EPA regulations. The course is intended and designed for environmental professionals that are working on projects that can pose a potential danger to the public or environment.

This course covers the Clean Air Act (CAA), Clean Water Act (CWA), Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) rule, Resources Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Emergency Planning & Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or "Superfund") and environmental compliance planning and expectations.

Extreme weather in the form of torrential downpours and drought are a very serious and growing problem in Mexico. This summer the country suffered from some of the worst droughts on record and now Mexico is being ravaged by hurricanes and heavy rains.

Hurricane Manuel and hurricane Ingrid slammed into Mexico this week. This was the first time in more than 50 years that two tropical storms or hurricanes had hit both of Mexico's coasts within 24 hours. Manuel hit Mexico's Pacific coast and Hurricane Ingrid struck on the country's Atlantic coast. They have caused flooding which is being blamed for more than 100 deaths. Another 58 people are missing and probably dead in a landslide that hit La Pintada, several hours north of Acapulco.

Bill McKibben, the founder of 350.org, is urging academic institutions and pension funds to divest their portfolios of stock held in fossil-fuel companies. Mckibben and 350.org have already enjoyed considerable success in the 10 months since the 350.org divestment campaign started. So far seven colleges, religious organizations and the cities of Seattle, San Francisco, and Providence have all agreed to divest from fossil fuels. Divestment bills are currently moving through the Massachusetts and Vermont state legislatures which control huge pension funds. There is also global support from places like Australia where a number of big pension funds portfolios are fossil-free. Here are some excepts from a recent interview McKibben did with Fortune's Brian Dumaine.

Online Energy Management Program

There is a free online, on-demand, energy management program that explores efficiency opportunities and solutions. Upon successful completion of the Professional Energy Manager (PEM) exam students are awarded certification. The program is available in 12 languages to energy-focused individuals all around the globe. The PEM online certification offers flexible class schedules, and a self-paced curriculum.

The program was launched by Schneider Electric and developed in consort with the Institute of Energy Professionals (IEP). It is a great option to earn credentials that are increasingly necessary for energy managers.

The new government of Australia has vowed to abandon efforts to combat climate change and they have also made it clear that they will increase the nation's exploitation of coal. Under the leadership of Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard Australia was working towards a low carbon future. However, the election of a new center-right government has killed the nation's green dream.

Coal exploitation has grown rapidly in Australia with production rising 80 percent since the early 1990s and its exports more than doubling in the past decade. Due largely to coal the nation currently has the world's largest per capita greenhouse gas emissions. Over the last 30 years Australia has exported more coal than any other nation on Earth.

What does sustainability really mean? This is a far more difficult question that it would at first appear. Sustainability is often falsely used synonymously with the word "green". Using terms like "green" are so vague that they offer little beyond abstract generalities. Green is a marketing buzzword that refers to everything that has minutest amount of environmental or ecological advantage, but may not be sustainable to any degree. A simple definition of sustainability is elusive, yet it is desirable because so many people now use the term in an incomplete or partial sense that it is being cheapened and its value is being diluted.

Leading sustainability strategies have shifted in the last five years from enterprise-focussed, looking at the impacts within a firm’s own four walls, to strategies encompassing product-based sustainability initiatives. This recognises the sheer scale of the life cycle impact of products, from raw material sourcing and manufacture to usage and disposal.

Join this Verdantix webinar as they reveal the business benefits of product sustainability, key features of leading strategies and emerging best practices. They will analyze the progress of buzzword concepts including sustainable innovation, closing the loop and net positive strategies and identify the trends shaping next generation strategies.

Webinar - 360report: Sustainability as an Essential Success Factor

Get to know 360report during a 45 minute free webinar on September 26, 2013. Matthias Keitel leads the webinar and answers all your questions. In recent years, public interest in the sustainability of economic activity has increased and as a result, companies are increasingly adopting the practice of sustainability reporting and benefiting from the economic advantages and additional market opportunities.

Sustainable corporate practice implies a company's acceptance of social, ecologic and economic responsibility and the orientation of economic activities towards this responsibility. However, sustainability comprises more than good sustainability performance within the organization's own business operations. In addition, investors, suppliers and employees have to be geared to recognizing and maintaining the same values.

This webinar takes you step-by-step through the information needed and how to calculate the carbon footprint of any hotel stay or meeting. The trend for greater transparency in carbon reporting is growing and this webinar explains why it is increasingly important for hotels to know their carbon footprint. How to measure the carbon footprint of a hotel stay or meeting – The Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative.

Getting support from Republican legislators on any issue is difficult, this is especially true of bills related to climate change. However, an energy efficiency bill moving through Congress has a good chance of securing bipartisan support, and according to a new analysis, it could provide much needed economic benefits including jobs while significantly decreasing climate change causing emissions.

As reported in Cleantechnica The Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act of 2013, also known as the Shaheen-Portman bill, could create hundreds of thousands of green jobs while saving consumers billions and cutting energy use and emissions.

Shaheen-Portman bill is named for sponsoring Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Rob Portman (R-OH). The modified bill already passed the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in April by a vote of 19-3. The bill promotes energy efficiency across the US economy through a mix of building codes, financing and rebates, voluntary labeling, and technical assistance. If enacted, the bill would target improvements in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors, which represented two-thirds of US energy-use emissions.

Infographic - Oil

Unprecedented Heavy Rains in Japan and Climate Change Impacts in the Summer of 2013

Warnings of “unprecedented heavy rain,” were issued by the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) for Fukui, Kyoto and Shiga, using a new warning system. The 18th typhoon of 2013 covered two thirds of Japan and unleashed torrential rain and strong winds which included Fukushima Prefecture, where radioactive water was discharged to prevent the damaged Fukishima nuclear complex from flooding.

According to local police tallies, Typhoon Man-yi had left at least three people dead and four missing and presumed dead while 70 people sustained injuries from the bad weather and nearly 1,500 houses were flooded. Almost half a million (498,000) Japanese residents were evacuated with some 268,000 residents ordered to leave in Kyoto alone. In Osaka, about 290,000 residents in the city’s harbor area were forced to flee.

During the next two weeks participants expect to take Rio + 20 outcomes further that include defining scientific mechanisms to measure monitoring. The eleventh session of the Conference of the Parties (COP11) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) opened this afternoon in Windhoek, Namibia.

During the two-week session, the 195 parties will define the action needed to improve land management at all levels. They will also review the progress made in the last two years to combat desertification and drought, and to mitigate the effects of drought.

This free webinar will take place on September 25, 2013, at 1:30 ET. It is intended for those who wish to tie their cause marketing promotions to real-world results (eg sales, traffic, loyalty, or engagement).

Join Anne Erhard, SVP, Cause Marketing at MSLGROUP, and Sandra Hijikata, March of Dimes Chief Revenue Officer, to explore cutting edge best practices for creating successful, mutually-beneficial cause marketing programs for retailers and consumer products that drive purchases and raise funds in this FREE webinar.

Biblical Colorado Flooding and the Cost of Climate Change

Years of drought followed by a once in a thousand years torrential downpour have caused massive flooding in eastern Colorado. US President Barack Obama declared the area a major disaster over the weekend.

Twenty thousand homes have been destroyed or damaged and streets have been turned into rivers and streams have turned into lakes. A vast number of roads are damaged or destroyed including three major highways and dozens of bridges. At last count 30 highway bridges are destroyed and as many as 40 are damaged.

Today is International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer. This day commemorates the 1987 signing of the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer. As we look back on how the world came together to combat ozone depletion we can take heart in acknowledging that when we work together we can make meaningful progress on important environmental issues.

The ozone layer shields us from harmful ultra-violet rays, specifically UVB which is known to cause skin cancer and cataracts. These ultra-violet rays can also be harmful to vegetation including the crops we grow which are critical sources of food.

Today, Monday September 16th, 2013, people across Canada are standing up for science against a federal government who has systematically eroded federal support for scientific research.

The campaign know as “Stand Up for Science” includes rallies scheduled for 14 cities across Canada. At these gatherings people will demand that the federal government stop their anti-science campaign and provide more support for science which is in the public interest.

Most Canadians want policy and legislation that is based on the best scientific research. However, under Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper federally funded science has been decimated either through budget cuts or through communications restrictions. Their scientific censorship opposes basic freedoms and the public interest. Scientists should have the freedom to comment and help inform policy.

The EcoHouse to be hosted at Glen Oaks Campus in Queens by Neighborhood Housing Services of Jamaica from September 19 through October 31 at PS/IS 266, 74-10 Commonwealth Boulevard, on the Glen Oaks Campus in Queens. The EcoHouse is a free sustainability exhibit and environmental education center.

Community Environmental Center (CEC) designed and built the 46-foot-long EcoHouse in 2012 and has taken it to schools, parks and other public sites in all five boroughs, attracting more than 7,000 visitors in the tri-state area. CEC is a Queens-based not-for-profit that recently won the EPA’s prestigious 2013 Environmental Quality Award.

Event and Seminar - GMO Labeling at the Natural Products Expo and All Things Organic

The event and seminar GMO Labeling at the Natural Products Expo and All Things Organic takes place on Friday, September 27, 2013, 10:00 - 11:00 am EDT at the Baltimore Convention Center, Room 319. Washington State's I-522, the Federal Just Label It effort and Lessons Learned from California's Prop. 37 GMO labeling advocates are rallying to support Yes on 522, the People's Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act, in Washington State.

Washington's I-522 is the only GMO labeling bill heading to voters this fall, and is a critical front in the battle to label genetically engineered foods. Learn how I-522 can withstand opposition from big biotech and the junk food industry, which considers the I-522 GMO labeling bill a serious threat and has already raised more than $11 million to defeat it. Also, hear from leaders about lessons learned from California’s Prop. 37 and what’s happening on a federal level to require labeling of genetically engineered foods.

Carbon Professional Path (Fast Track) will take place on Nov. 19, and Nov. 20, 2013, in Toronto, Ontario. This 2-Day ‘Carbon Professional Path – Fast Track’ program leading to CSA Groups globally recognized, professional GHG Inventory Quantifier Certification that demonstrates competence to develop, quantify, assess and report GHG Inventories.

The Green Power Mini-MBA will take place on September 22-26, 2013 in Dubai, UAE. This is a 5 day Business School for Renewable Energy. This course will review the ways in which renewable resources, technologies, policies and investors interconnect to determine market growth and project development. It will cover the fundamentals of the technologies, market impacts, opportunities and challenges for Solar, Wind, Geothermal, Biomass and Ocean energy (wave & tidal) as well as the factors determining how renewable energy fits into the energy market, the timescales over which it can scale, and how governments and external influences change these. Finally it will address the finances of renewable energy from country scales to project level investor returns.

The 2013 ACEEE National Conference on Energy Efficiency as a Resource will take place on September 22, 2013 in Nashville, TN. ACEEE’s (American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy) National Conference on Energy Efficiency as a Resource, a biennial event first held in 2001, is widely recognized as the premiere event for examining energy efficiency as a strategic and critical utility system resource. This conference draws together leading experts from a broad spectrum of energy industry stakeholders---including utilities, regulatory commissions, state government, consultants, manufacturers, environmental organizations, consumer groups and research institutes.

Carbon Professional Path, will take place on Monday September 23 to Friday September 27, 2013 in Dubai, UAE. This program provides comprehensive training in corporate climate-risk and carbon management. This unique program has been developed on the fundamental principle that all functions and processes need to integrate the new carbon math. The Carbon Professional Path equips professionals from different functional backgrounds with the necessary language and skills enabling them to apply the carbon knowledge within their respective vocations. The program also prepares participants to take the CSA GHG Inventory Quantifier Certification exam – a globally recognized credential from an ISO 17024 organization.

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