Energy Ace, Inc. Newsletter
Energy Ace - Creating Environmentally Sustainable Buildings(tm)
 February 2008
Energy Ace Moves
But not very far; just across the hall to larger space.  Emails and phone numbers remain the same. 

Interesting Environmental Website, Radio Program and PodCast

Check out "Living On Earth, " www.loe.org to read about or listen to an excellent national radio program on the enviromnent. 

Carbon Baseline

Energy Ace now offers Carbon Inventory baseline services for those organizations who have signed the Mayor's 2030 Challenge, the Cities for Climate Protection Pledge, or the President's Climate Commitment.  Please send for our Greenhouse Gas Factsheet.

LEED Services

Contemplating a LEED project?  Send for Energy Ace's LEED Factsheet - one for Schools and one for New Construction and Major Renovations.  State which you would prefer. LEED Factsheet

 

More Efficient TV's in your Future
EPA has raised its standards for Energy Star-rated television sets starting in November.  

Energy Star-labeled TVs will consume 30% less power than conventional TVs. That's important, as there are now 275 million TVs in use in the United States, consuming more than 50 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.

According to the EPA, the new standards should save about $1 billion annually in energy costs, while avoiding the greenhouse gas emissions equal to that of one million cars. The EPA is already planning ahead, intending to tighten its requirements further in 2010.

 
Energy Performance Contracting

Energy Performance Contracting is gaining more and more acceptance as a means of financing energy retrofit projects and upgrades in facilities, especially in the public sector.

 
Visit our website for info on the Performance Contracting.
 
Quick Links
  Phone: 866-610-LEED

114 New Street, Suite K2, Decatur, GA  30030

178 Orchid Ridge Trail, Whittier, NC  28789
We hope you enjoy this newsletter and find it informative and helpful.  Please forward to others who can use this information by using the "forward email" link at the bottom.
 
Thomas Edison on Solar Energy
In 1931 Thomas Edison told his friends Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone "I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power!  I hope we don't have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that."

Building Commissioning

Building Commissioning pays for itself over sixty percent of the time before construction is complete, via reduced change orders and field errors.  Send for Energy Ace's Commissioning Factsheet.

 
Tap Water versus Bottled

Drinking water is good for us, no doubt, but what about the estimated 60 million emptly water bottles discarded daily?  Only about one-eighth of them are recycled, despite considerable demand by recyclers.   Producing those bottles burns 1.5 million barrels of crude oil annually--enough fuel to keep 100,000 cars running for a year. Recycling helps but reusing is even better. Invest in portable, dishwasher-safe bottles that won't leach nasty chemicals into your water. (Don't get into the habit of refilling the water bottle you just emptied; the polyethylene terephthalate it's made of breaks down with multiple usings.) .

Why drink tap water?  It is safe (tested daily), cheap (bottled water is 500 to 1,000 times more costly), and healthy (fluoridated to help prevent tooth decay). 

Think Globally, Act Locally

REPORT HIGHLIGHTS LEADING COMMUNITIES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT through Green Building

Municipalities are increasingly promoting sustainable development to help address an array of problems, from traffic congestion to global warming. Green building is quickly becoming a key component of sustainable development efforts. To help understand the scope and characteristics of those efforts, The American Institute of Architects has released a new report entitled Local Leaders in Sustainability: A Study of Green Building Programs in Our Nation's Communities.

Download the full report at http://www.aia.org/SiteObjects/files/LLinSustain(full)_final.pdf.

Goodbye Tupperware Party, Hello EcoMom

"Move over, Tupperware. The EcoMom party has arrived, with its ever-expanding "\'to do' list that includes: preparing waste-free school lunches; lobbying for green building codes; transforming oneself into a 'locovore,' eating locally grown food; and remembering not to idle the car when picking up children from school (if one must drive). Here, the small talk is about the volatile compounds emitted by dry-erase markers at school," so reported the New York Times last week.  An EcoMom Alliance has been created (in California, of course) that now has 9,000 members. 
 
Part "Hints from Heloise" and part political self-help group, the alliance joins a growing subculture dedicated to the "green mom," with blogs and Web sites like greenandcleanmom.blogspot.com and eco-chick.com. Web-based organizations like the Center for a New American Dream in Takoma Park, Md., advocate reducing consumption and offer a registry that helps brides "celebrate the less-material wedding of your dreams."
 

Women have been instrumental in the environmental movement from the start, including their involvement in campaigns a century ago to save the Palisades along the Hudson River and sequoias in California and, more recently, Lois Gibbs's fight against toxic waste at Love Canal.

In public opinion surveys, women express significantly higher levels of environmental concern than men, said Riley Dunlap, a professor of sociology at Oklahoma State University.
Factoid
DSIRE is a handy source of information on state, local, utility, and federal incentives that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency.  http://www.dsireusa.org/.