California Archives - Green Businesses

20 Universities That Encourage Green Living

1) Nanyang Technical University – School of Art, Design and Media - The architectural structure of this building maximizes interior daylight, makes smart use of lack of space and land in the local area, minimizes materials, and uses lower water and electricity uses. 2) Yale University – Kroon Hall - Kroon Hall at Yale University is made from 80% certified timber, 16% recycled content. Also, 34% of the purchased materials came from regional sources. As a result, there is an 81% reduction in annual potable water use, which saves an average 500k gallons of city water a year. They are also seeing a 61% reduction in energy use compared to a similar building and program. It features rooftop photovoltaic panel providing 25% of the building’s electricity. Half of the red oak paneling came from a forest in northern Connecticut that’s managed by the school itself. 3) Carnegie Mellon University – Gates and Hillman…

California Officially Joins the War on Plastic Bags

Great news for the environment occurred last night, when CA government voted to ban single-use plastic bags across the state. “The bill, SB 270, will phase out single-use plastic bags in grocery stores and pharmacies beginning July 2015, and in convenience stores one year later, and create a mandatory minimum ten-cent fee for recycled paper, reusable plastic and compostable bags” states Stephanie Spear, author at EcoWatch, who wrote California Bans Plastic Bags. If the already agreed upon bill is signed by the CA governor, California will be the first state to ban these environmentally un-friendly products.

“More than 120 California local governments have already banned single-use plastic bags with more than 1 in 3 Californians already living somewhere with a plastic bag ban in place, in an effort to drive consumers towards sustainable behavior change,” affirms Spear. With such a large amount of the population already embracing the plastic ban bag, this measure will …

NRDC: President Obama Announces Next Phase of Landmark Clean Car Agreement

Photo courtesy NRDC President Obama announced two major new steps today to reduce America’s carbon pollution and oil dependence. He instructed the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation, working closely with California and other stakeholders, to issue a second round of greenhouse gas and fuel economy standards covering cars and light trucks for model years 2017-25. These will build on the landmark clean car standards for the 2012-16 model years announced in April. The president also directed those agencies to work together with California and stakeholders on the nation's first-ever greenhouse gas and fuel economy standards for heavier trucks, from urban delivery trucks to 18-wheelers, that will be built in model years 2014-18. For more on this story, please visit NRDC's website.