Environmental Alliance and Duke University are challenging each member of the Duke community to take responsibility for the environmental impact of their electricity use by signing up for green power. Did you know that...

* Electricity generation is the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States
* Over 70% of our electricity still comes from burning fossil fuels

By signing up for the Duke Green Power Challenge, you can now choose to have a school year's worth of energy generated by a clean, renewable source, such as wind power. When you sign up, the University is going to double your impact by matching your purchase of green power!

New York University has received a 2007 Green Power Leadership award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The annual awards recognize leading national green power purchasers for their commitment and contribution to helping advance the development of the nation’s green power market. NYU was recognized for purchasing more than 118 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power annually. In 2007, NYU was the largest academic purchaser of green power. NYU’s purchase helps to reduce the environmental impacts associated with the campuses’ purchased electricity use.

EPA will present the Green Power Purchase Award to Cecil Scheib, NYU’s director of Energy and Sustainability for the Division of Facilities and Construction Management, at an awards event, Monday evening, Oct. 22, in conjunction with the 12th National Renewable Marketing Conference taking place in Philadelphia, PA.

“We are honored to receive this prestigious award from EPA in recognition of our commitment to sustainability and the environment,” said Scheib. “We are proud of the work that we have been able to do thus far and look forward to continuing to ‘green’ NYU.”

The City is strengthening its commitment to the environment by developing environmental outcome based objectives and key performance indicators.

Environmental Management Plan
The City of Sydney Environmental Management Plan sets the vision, targets and actions to reduce environmental impacts of Council and the community.

Grant Funded Projects
The Environmental Grants Program provides funding to community groups to undertake environmental improvement and awareness programs. The following projects have been funded to date.

State of Environment Reporting
In NSW, Local Councils are required to prepare State of Environment reports as part of the annual reporting provisions of the Local Government Act 1993 and the Local Government (General) Regulation 1999.

Awards
Information on environmental awards the City of Sydney has recently received.

Environmental Partnerships
Environmental groups and government organisations that work with the City of Sydney.

Household Energy Consumption Trial
One hundred households in the Local Government Area have had energy monitors installed in their homes and are participating in a 12-month trial to see if the monitors help them reduce their energy use.

It goes without saying that switching to renewable energy resources is an important strategy for achieving climate neutrality and buying green power is one way of making that transition to carbon-free energy. This week I will be discussing green power purchasing but before I focus on that topic I want to put campus renewables in a conservation context.

Maybe it’s not sexy but energy conservation is “Job #1” for kicking the fossil fuel habit. Opportunities for serious energy conservation exist on all college and university campuses – even those that have been doing conservation for years. Through what might be called “deep conservation” (i.e. going well beyond picking the low hanging fruit and doing quick payback projects), campuses can reduce their energy use and fossil fuel use to a minimum. This is environmentally beneficial because nothing is cleaner than the kilowatt hour or BTU that is not used. Energy conservation also sets the stage for campus renewables by minimizing the amount of carbon-free renewable energy that schools need to generate or buy in the first place.

Reducing your renewable energy requirements through conservation is a big plus because (a) generating renewable energy on campus is expensive and can be difficult to do in any quantity and (b) buying green power can be expensive and imposes on-going annual costs.

Energy plays a vital role in our everyday lives. We use it for many purposes including keeping warm in winter and cool in summer, providing light to our homes, refrigerating and cooking our food and heating our water.

As beneficial as energy is to our lives, its use can have undesirable effects on the environment. Just about every time we switch on the light or turn on an appliance, we're contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. On average each Western Australian household produces around 6 tonnes of greenhouse gases every year (excluding energy used for personal vehicles and public transport).

It is important that we all realise the implications of our energy use. Not only can it have an adverse effect on the environment - it also costs us money.
There are many easy and inexpensive ways to reduce energy use at home, most of which simply require a change in behaviour. Some others require an investment but will pay for themselves through lower energy bills. Check out OOE's Top Ten Energy Smart Tips for Your Home.

It’s Getting Hot in Here is the voice of a growing movement, a collection of voices from the student and youth leaders of the global movement to stop global warming. Originally created by youth leaders to allow youth to report from the International Climate Negotiations in Montreal in 2005, It’s Getting Hot in Here has since grown into a global online community, with over 300 writers from countries around the world.

Alliant Energy's PowerHouse is an award-winning educational program designed to help you improve the energy efficiency, safety and comfort of your home.
Along with this Web site, the core of our effort is the PowerHouse television show. This half-hour weekly program has a unique focus on home energy, including heating, cooling, insulation, lighting, safety and more.
Each week, hosts Megan Turner and Pete Seyfer demonstrate easy do-it-yourself projects, explore new energy technology and ask the experts for tips that you can use in your own home.
PowerHouse debuted in 1996, and is now in its beginning its 13th season. The show is written and produced by Alliant Energy, with production by KCRG Studios in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.