What are 'green cities'?

What are 'green cities'?:
March 23rd, 2009 By E/The Environmental Magazine, Emagazine.com


Best described as a loose association of cities focused on sustainability, the emerging 'green cities movement' encompasses thousands of urban areas around the world all striving to lessen their environmental impacts by reducing waste, expanding recycling, lowering emissions, increasing housing density while expanding open space, and encouraging the development of sustainable local businesses.

Perhaps the archetypal green city is Curitiba, Brazil. When architect and urban planner Jamie Lerner became mayor in 1972, he quickly closed six blocks of the city's central business district to cars, delighting residents and business owners alike. Today the pedestrian-free zone is three times larger and serves as the heart of the bustling metropolis. Lerner also put in place a high-tech bus system, greatly reducing traffic, energy usage and pollution; the move also encouraged density around transit hubs and thus preserved open space in other areas that would have likely turned into suburbia. Today the bus system still goes strong, and three-quarters of the city's 2.2 million residents rely on it every day.

Another green cities leader is Rekyjavik, Iceland, where hydrogen-powered buses ply the streets and renewable energy sources - geothermal and hydropower - provide the city's heat and electricity. London, Copenhagen, Sydney, Barcelona, Bogota and Bangkok, not to mention Sweden's Malmo, Ecuador's Bahia de Caraquez and Uganda's Kampala, also score high for their green attributes and attitudes.

Green cities abound in North America, too. In 2005, Portland, Oregon became the first U.S. city to meet carbon dioxide reduction goals set forth in the landmark (if ill-fated) Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement forged to mitigate the threat of global warming. Seattle, Washington also committed to meeting Kyoto's goals and has persuaded 590 other U.S. cities to do the same under the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. And Vancouver, British Columbia draws 90 percent of its power from renewable sources while its metro area boasts some 200 parks and more than 18 miles of accessible waterfront.

San Francisco is a leader in green building, energy efficiency and alternative energy, and has been on the forefront of the battle to reduce plastic usage. Austin, Texas is fast becoming a world leader in solar equipment production and has made great strides in preserving open space. Chicago has invested hundreds of millions of dollars revitalizing its parks and neighborhoods, and has built some of America's most eco-friendly downtown buildings. It is also working to provide affordable clean power to low-income families. Of course, many would argue that New York City - with its densely packed housing, reliance on mass transit and walking, and recent green policy moves by Mayor Bloomberg - may be the greenest of all.

While there is no formal green cities organization, per se, many groups have sprung up to help urban areas achieve their sustainability goals. GreenCities Events, for one, hosts conferences around the U.S. at which local experts, policymakers and business leaders share ideas for greening their region. And International Sustainable Solutions takes urban planners, developers and elected officials on tours so they can check out some of the world's greenest cities to glean first-hand what works and what can be applied back home.

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(c) 2009, E/The Environmental Magazine
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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City buses turn to sewage for 'clean' fuel

City buses turn to sewage for 'clean' fuel: "City buses turn to sewage for 'clean' fuel
March 22nd, 2009 by Pierre-Henry Deshayes

A picture taken on March 5, 2009 shows passengers aboard a biogas bus in the street of Stockholm. The city officials of Oslo plan to introduce as of 2010 buses that run on biofuels. Biofuels, extracted from wastewater is a ''clean'' energy, which is methane generated by fermenting sludge, and will come from the Bekkelaget sewage treatment plant which handles waste from 250,000 city dwellers.

Can the key to 'clean' energy be found down in the sewer? That's the idea in Oslo, where city officials soon plan to introduce buses that run on biofuels extracted from human waste.

As of 2010, the new buses are due to start plying the streets of the Norwegian capital.

'It's a win-win situation: It's carbon neutral, it hardly pollutes the environment, it's less noisy and its endlessly renewable,' says Ole Jakob Johansen, one of the people in charge of the project at Oslo city hall.

The biofuel, which is methane generated by fermenting sludge, will come from the Bekkelaget sewage treatment plant which handles waste from 250,000 city dwellers.

"By going to the bathroom, a person produces the equivalent of eight litres (2.1 gallons) of diesel per year. That may not seem like a lot, but multiplied by 250,000 people, that is enough to operate 80 buses for 100,000 kilometres (62,000 miles) each," Johansen says.

Compared to diesel, biomethane is a giant green step forward.

In addition to being carbon neutral, it emits 78 percent less nitrogen oxide and 98 percent fewer fine particles -- two causes of respiratory illnesses -- and is 92 percent less noisy.

Even the price is advantageous, says Johansen.

All included, the cost of producing biofuel equivalent to one litre of diesel comes to 0.72 euros (98 cents), while diesel at the pump in Norway currently costs more than 1.0 euro.

"The fuel is less expensive but the cost of the new buses and their maintenance is higher. In total, it's about 15 percent more expensive," notes Anne-Merete Andersen of Ruter, the operator of Oslo's public transport system.

Contrary to first generation bio-ethanol, made from grains and plants, biomethane has the added advantage of not impacting food supplies, nor does it require fertilisation or deplete precious water resources.

Environmentalists are delighted.

"We've been waiting for this for a long time. It's extremely good for the climate and also for the quality of urban life," beams Olaf Brastad of the Bellona environmental organisation.

"I see absolutely no downsides. On the contrary, it is an optimal way of using a renewable energy that has always been there, just waiting to be exploited," he adds.

The initiative, if extended to Oslo's second waste treatment plant and complemented with biofuels made from food waste, could provide enough fuel for all of Oslo's 350 to 400 buses.

"If our entire fleet switched to biomethane, carbon dioxide emissions would be reduced by around 30,000 tonnes per year," according to Ruter.

Biofuel buses have already been introduced in several cities, including the French city of Lille and Stockholm, Sweden, where 70 such buses are already in service.

"There were some teething problems with the introduction, but now that those problems have been resolved we see that we have a fuel that works well," Sara Anderson, a biofuels specialist for Stockholm's public transport system SL, told AFP.

And, for those who remain sceptical, Johansen stressed that "there is absolutely no smell."

(c) 2009 AFP

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Portuguese wave-power snake dead in the water

Portuguese wave-power snake dead in the water: "Portuguese wave-power snake dead in the water
March 24th, 2009 by Anne Le Coz

An off-shore electricity generator based on wave power off of Portugal?s coast. Opened in September as a world 'first' in producing electricity from waves, a pioneering installation here is dead in the water having functioned for only a few weeks in a stormy process of research and development

Opened in September as a world 'first' in producing electricity from waves, a pioneering installation here is dead in the water having functioned for only a few weeks in a stormy process of research and development.

First it had to be taken out of service and dismantled because of technical problems. And now one of the main investors in the project, which had a start-up cost of nine million euros (12.3 million dollars), has gone bankrupt.

The structure, five kilometres (three miles) out to sea off Povoa do Varzim in northern Portugal, was put into service officially in September by Economy Minister Manual Pinho after three years of development.

"The first project in the world for the commercial exploitation of wave energy." With these words the minister launched the so-called "wave park." A frigate of the Portuguese navy stood by to honour the event.

The installation has modest generating capacity however, being capable of producing 2.25 megawatts or the output equivalent to that of one wind turbine.

It comprises three units built like articulated sea snakes which lie semi-submerged and undulate with the movement of the waves to generate current.

The three serpent-like units were taken ashore several times for so-called "checks" but since November they have been lying immobile in the northern port of Leixoes.

"There was a recurrent problem with the movements of the hydraulic screws in the three machines, and this is why they have been removed from deep water," Rui Barros, who is one of those in charge of the Agucadoura wave park told AFP.

But, on inspection, "we saw that the problem was serious, generalised, and not incidental."

The main partner in the park is Energias de Portugal. A senior executive in the group, Jorge Cruz Morais, said: "The machines had a hard winter in maritime conditions, and they have been brought ashore for repairs. Do not forget that this is a project."

However, several sources involved in the scheme said that beyond the technical failings, the very existence of the installation is now threatened by the bankruptcy of Australian investment group Babcock & Brown.

The Australian firm owns 35 percent of a consortium called Ondas de Portugal, which was created to develop the system. EDP owns 45 percent of the entity and Portuguese electrical engineering group Efacec owns 20 percent.

An unnamed source in the Australian company, quoted by the website of the Portuguese weekly magazine Expresso, said: "It is not a profitable project. It will become so by growing in size. But the current phase is compromised unless a new partner can be found."

Meanwhile, British company Pelamis Wave Power, the partner for technology in the project, announced in February that it had signed a contract with EON-UK, a subsidiary of EON, the leading energy group in Germany, to develop a similar project in Scotland using a new generation of power converters.

Cruz Morais said that EDP was also considering using this new version or "two or three other technologies" which exist.

EDP was still ready to invest in wave power despite "perfectly normal setbacks in a process of research," he said.

(c) 2009 AFP

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Agencies Divide Alternative-Energy Oversight Offshore

Agencies Divide Alternative-Energy Oversight Offshore
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 18, 2009; Page A03

The Interior Department and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will divide responsibility for regulating offshore alternative energy sources such as wind and wave power, ending an interagency turf battle.

In a joint statement, the agencies said they will draw up "a short Memorandum of Understanding" that gives Interior the right to decide on wind power proposals in federal waters, while FERC will oversee wave, tidal and ocean-current projects. Officials had quarreled for a year and a half over whether Interior's Minerals Management Service would add jurisdiction over water-powered projects to its supervision of offshore windmill development.

"Our renewable energy is too important for bureaucratic turf battles to slow down our progress," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement yesterday. "This agreement will help sweep aside red tape so that our country can capture the great power of wave, tidal, wind and solar power off our coasts."

Interior oversees offshore oil drilling as well as dredging of sand and gravel for commercial purposes, while FERC has traditionally handled wave, tidal and ocean-current applications. Last fiscal year, the commission received 25 such applications, which are pending. It has gotten two this year, and so far it has approved a river-current project in Hastings, Minn., and a tidal venture in Makah Bay, Wash.
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On Monday, Salazar told reporters in a conference call that the tug of war could hamper the new administration's efforts to expand renewable-energy capacity. "If we don't resolve the jurisdictional issues between FERC and the Department of Interior," he said, "we are not going to be able to move forward in the development of our offshore renewable energy resources."

Renewable-energy entrepreneurs, especially those in the wind sector, hailed the agreement as a way to level the playing field for competing projects. The Minerals Management Service subjects permitting applications to a detailed review that typically takes two years, while FERC can grant permits much more quickly.

"The most important thing is to make sure all the renewable technologies receive fair treatment and equitable treatment going forward," said James Lanard, who heads strategic planning and policy for Bluewater Wind, a New Jersey firm developing two projects offshore of New Jersey and Delaware.

In the past, Lanard added, wind companies had feared that wave and ocean current entrepreneurs would "tie up large swaths of the ocean" by getting an operating permit from FERC: "It's sort of been a race to the courthouse, a race to the permitting agency."

Interior and other "relevant federal land and resource agencies" will still be able to weigh in on hydropower licenses, the agencies said, though the commission "will have the primary responsibility to manage the licensing" of wave, tidal and ocean-current projects.

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Self-Heating Ecological House

Self-Heating Ecological House: "March 11th, 2009

Ecological House We come across scores of people unmindful of giving back to nature what they are taking and consuming the resources of nature, haphazardly. But we also come across a privileged few who care about environment and their surroundings and they believe in consuming less and utilizing the resources of nature intelligently. Veljko Milkovic belongs to that rare category of people who believe in and practice clean and green living. He has also written a book known as “Ecological Houses” discussing the details of self-heating sod houses.

Veljko Milkovic was instrumental in building ten sod houses in Serbia, and the first one was constructed in 1979. The experience tells us that one can save 85% in heating, 30% in lightning, and 18-40% in building materials. As a side effect, tenants are not complaining and happy with the accommodation! The over-ground house costs you more in terms of material and space. As we all are familiar that a traditional house requires deep foundation, more space for heating installation and heating material. But a self heating ecological house is almost free from all these necessary vices! An ecological house has a stratum of soil; this soil shields the house from extremes of weather. They don’t get too cold during winters and too hot during summer. This soil layer also protects the walls of the house from wear and tear or erosion.

A self heating ecological house’s strength lays in reflecting surfaces i.e. surfaces that reflect direct and diffuse radiation of the Sun (around 80%). Glossy coats (of lacquer and paint), aluminum foils and metal sheets are used on hard surface for reflecting surfaces. Milk-white paint is also good enough for this purpose since there is not much diffusion loss because the reflecting surfaces are positioned next to the window. Special consideration is given to the reflecting surfaces. They are not only cost-effective and act as heating agent but they also increase the amount of sunlight entering the area. The Eco house in Novi Sad (Serbia), saves up to 30% in lightning. The upper reflecting surface is built into the eaves of the object and is fixed. The lower one is positioned under the window and acts as a shutter.

The greatest experience from living in a self heating ecological house can be peace of mind and a great feeling that you are living light on this planet! According to Aleksandar Nikolic, “The owners of self-heating solar sod houses or eco houses do not have to worry about the heating material, they are protected from noise and vibrations, which places this solution amongst best achievements in the world.”

Please visit the website for more information.

What do you think of this house concept?

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Europe's Climate Satellite Fails to Leave Pad | Universe Today

Europe's Climate Satellite Fails to Leave Pad | Universe Today: "Europe's Climate Satellite Fails to Leave Pad

Written by Anne Minard

Europe's Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) seems to be stuck on the pad.

The climate change satellite was expected to launch out of Russia at 14:21 GMT (10:21 EDT) today, from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia. The weather was fine and mission managers were optimistic with seconds to liftoff — and then, everything froze. With seven seconds left on the countdown clock, an unexpected hold went into place and ESA broadcasters simply stopped talking.

Update, 12:30 p.m. EDT: The ESA has announced that launch failed when the doors of the launch service tower did not open. The tower was held in position and did not move back as required for a launch. An investigation is under way, and the agency intends to try again tomorrow at the same time (15:21 CET; 14:21 GMT; 10:21 a.m. EDT).

GOCE is the first of a new family of ESA satellites, called Earth Explorers, designed to study our planet and its environment in order to improve our knowledge and understanding of Earth-system processes and their evolution, to characterize the challenges of global climate change.

The satellite is supposed to launch into a Sun-synchronous, near-circular polar orbit by a Russian Rockot vehicle – a converted SS-19 ballistic missile. Its specific mission is to map Earth’s gravity field with unprecedented accuracy, providing insight into ocean circulation, sea-level change, climate change, volcanism and earthquakes.

GOCE has been undergoing preparations for launch since it was taken out of storage around three weeks ago. Launch campaign activities included a series of mechanical and electrical tests, mating to the Upper Stage and finally encapsulation in the launcher fairing. A video of the anticipated fairing separation was produced pre-launch, and is available here.

Today’s go-ahead followed a successful countdown rehearsal conducted by ESA’s Mission Control Team, the Russian Mission Control Centre and the international tracking station network on Friday.

"We've been in this room for many hours and many days in the past. We want to do the real thing now," said Paolo Laberinti, head of verification and testing, just moments before the seemingly foiled launch.

This isn't the first time GOCE has encountered problems. The craft had to stand down from launch in September 2008 when problems were discovered with the guidance and navigation subsystems on the Russian Breeze KM rocket. GOCE had to be de-mated from the rocket and brought back into the clean room.

Stay tuned for updates to this post as the ESA releases details about the failure.

Source: ESA

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Australian oil spill '10 times worse' than thought

Australian oil spill '10 times worse' than thought: "Australian oil spill '10 times worse' than thought
March 14th, 2009

The slick has contaminated a 60km (40 mile) stretch of the region's beaches

Council workers use heavy machinery to remove contaminated sand in Coolum, Queensland. Dozens of popular tourist beaches on Australia's northeast coast have been declared a disaster zone, with their once-pristine sands fouled by a massive oil and chemical slick.

An oil spill polluting popular tourist beaches on Australia's northeast coast is 10 times worse than originally reported, according to the state government.

Dozens of beaches have been declared disaster zones after they were fouled by a massive oil slick spilled from the Hong Kong-flagged ship Pacific Adventurer in wild seas on Wednesday.

Initial estimates put the spill at 20-30 tonnes of oil but 'it is now apparent that it was about 230 tonnes,' Queensland state's Deputy Premier Paul Lucas told public radio.

About 60 kilometres (almost 40 miles) of beaches have been hit by the oil, with Moreton Island about 40 kilometres off Brisbane city the worst affected.

he crisis was sparked when high seas whipped up by Cyclone Hamish toppled 31 containers of ammonium nitrate fertiliser from the ship's deck.

As they fell, the containers punctured the hull, before taking 620 tonnes of the explosive chemical to the ocean floor.

The ship's owners, Swire Shipping, said an inspection of the hull by a diver on Friday had found that the damage was greater than initially believed and "it is likely that substantially more oil has spilled than the earlier estimate".

Swire faces 1.5 million dollars (977,000 US dollars) in fines if found guilty of environmental or maritime breaches

"The company very much regrets the environmental impact caused as a consequence of the vessel being caught in Cyclone Hamish," it said.

"The company and its insurers will meet all their responsibilities."

Swire had to launch a separate clean-up effort Friday after the ship docked and leaked more oil into the river running through Brisbane, Queensland's capital.

Apart from the oil damage, experts fear the fertiliser could cause harmful algal blooms, suffocate fish and kill natural habitats.

Moreton Bay, a marine sanctuary, is home to a range of sea birds as well as turtles, dolphins and pelicans.

Hundreds of people are working to clean the beaches and save affected wildlife.

(c) 2009 AFP

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