ROCHESTER, New York, July 30, 2008 (ENS) – A majority of Americans who responded to a June online survey say economic growth and development is more important to their region than environmental protection.

A Harris Poll conducted online among 2,454 adults aged 18 and over between June 9 and 16 found that as economic conditions worsen, people who are asked to make a decision between protecting the environment or economic growth and development have moved more strongly into the economic growth column.

More than three in five (63 percent) say economic growth and development is more important to their region while one-quarter (27 percent) believe protecting the environment is more important.

Still, many polls, including earlier Harris Polls, show very strong support for strengthening environmental protections and regulations.

Worker oversees sorting of solar cells
after final test at the BP Solar
factory in Frederick, Maryland.
(Photo courtesy BP Solar/ NREL)

Also, said Harris Interactive in a statement today, “most people do not see the hard trade off between economic development and protecting the environment. In fact, many people believe that we not only can do both of these, but that we should be doing both.”

The emphasis on economic growth over environmental protection has grown during the last year.

In a similar Harris survey conducted in June 2007, just under a majority (48 percent) thought economic growth was more important while 43 percent believed protecting the environment was more important.

In a November Harris survey, a 51 percent majority said they believed economic growth was more important, while 37 percent favored environmental protection.

U.S. respondents are divided evenly on how they perceive the direction of events in their own community – 38 percent say things are going in the right direction while 37 percent believe things have “pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track.”

This perception has changed over the past seven months. In November, almost half (47 percent) of respondents to a similar Harris poll felt things were going off on the wrong track in their community and one-third (32 percent) felt they were going in the right direction.

Looking ahead to the future, just over half of U.S. adults (56 percent) believe that the quality of life in the area where they live will decrease for their children and grandchildren while 44 percent believe it will increase.

Younger generations are more optimistic on this point. More than half (56 percent) of Echo Boomers aged 18-31 believe the quality of life will increase compared to 38 percent of Baby Boomers aged 44-62 and one-third of those aged 63 and older.

In Canada, there are different opinions on some of these topics.

Canadians are more evenly split on which is more important, economics or environment – 45 percent say economic growth and development are more important while 44 percent believe protecting the environment is of greater importance.

Canadians are more positive about the direction of their community as 63 percent believe things in their community are going in the right direction and 37 percent say they are going off on the wrong track.

One area in which Canadians and Americans agree is the quality of life in their region for children and grandchildren. Fifty-six percent of Canadians say it will decrease and 44 percent believe it will increase – the same percentages hold true for American respondents.

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ALBANY, New York, April 27, 2008 (ENS) – New York Governor David Paterson marked Earth Day by announcing that his administration will support the creation of New York state’s largest source of solar power by covering the roofs of Long Island malls, public and institutional buildings and parking lots with arrays of solar cells.

The move grows out of a recommendation of the Renewable Energy Task Force Paterson convened last year as Lt. Governor to identify and recommend ways of expanding the state’s use of renewable energy and alternative fuels.

Tuesday, on Earth Day, the Long Island Power Authority released a Request for Proposals calling for 50 megawatts of solar energy to be generated on Long Island.

LIPA president and chief executive Kevin Law said the solar energy would be produced by one or more developers of solar photovoltaic systems and would be purchased by LIPA and introduced onto the LIPA grid.

The plan is that the photovoltaic arrays will be installed at school buildings, on commercial and municipal rooftops, along parking lots, atop landfills, and at brownfield sites.

The project is intended to further stimulate the solar marketplace throughout the state, fostering the creation of more “green collar” jobs.

New York Governor David Paterson
(Photo courtesy Office
of the Governor)

“As our need for energy continues to grow on Long Island and throughout the state, it is imperative that we find new ways to develop more renewable energy resources that will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels,” said Governor Paterson.

The project is expected to provide enough power to sustain more than 6,500 households and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20,000 tons.

“The RFP issued today, which was one of the recommendations of my Renewable Energy Task Force, is just one of the actions we are taking to meet our energy needs while reducing the state’s carbon footprint,” the governor said.

The 50 megawatt solar project builds on the success of LIPA’s Solar Pioneer program, which now includes more than 1,200 participants and has resulted in more than $30 million in LIPA rebates.

“LIPA’s Solar Pioneer program for homeowners has helped transform a virtually non-existent residential market into a fast growing success story,” Gordian Raacke, executive director of the not-for-profit organization Renewable Energy Long Island said. “I hope that LIPA’s new large-scale solar initiative will do the same for commercial and institutional buildings on Long Island.”

“The roofs of our malls, institutional buildings and covered parking lots present a huge opportunity to turn Long Island’s abundant sunshine into clean and green electricity,” he said.

The new 50 megawatts of solar will count for nearly one percent of LIPA’s total annual demand and will be the single largest block of solar energy in New York State.

Environmentalists approve of the initiative. Ashok Gupta, senior energy economist for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said, “Governor Paterson and LIPA’s leadership on solar is to be commended.”

“Having 50 megawatts of solar in LIPA’s portfolio will not only help reduce the pollution that causes global warming but it will also provide critical peaking power which is otherwise very expensive and often dirtier than baseload generation,” Gupta said.

“This project will diversify Long Island’s energy portfolio, strengthen the local economy, transform the solar photovoltaic marketplace, and reduce our dependency on costly fossil fuels,” said LIPA chief Law.

A Proposers’ Conference will be held at LIPA’s offices in Uniondale, New York on May 12, where LIPA staff will provide an overview of key elements of the Request for Proposals and answer questions from interested parties. Further details of the conference will be posted on LIPA’s website [www.lipower.org].

The deadline for RFP responses is June 27, 2008. Recommendations for an award are expected to be made at the October 2008 meeting of LIPA’s Board of Trustees.

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Establish a few years back, Electrolux Design Lab hosts an annual design competition open to student designers around the globe, and every year since 2003, the appliance manufacturer’s contest has generated some really interesting, forward-looking, greener-thinking designs. This year, for its fifth installment, the competition’s theme is sustainability; students are invited to design household products that go beyond efficient use of materials and resources; the objects should encourage the users themselves to adopt more sustainable behaviors.

That’s really the key — adopting sustainable behaviors. At TreeHugger, we talk a lot about moving from knowing to doing, and it’s a tough, tough step. When our devices and our appliances start helping us do that — without us having to think about it — we know we’re getting somewhere.
“Design is at the heart of the Electrolux brand,” says Henrik Otto, Senior Vice President of Global Design. “I’m excited that this year’s competition will bring us some innovative sustainability ideas. And who knows? What’s impossible to manufacture today might be possible in 2020.”

The top 8 finalists have been announced for the 2007 competition; among them, a solar cooker, water-saving shower, automatic food composter and solar-powered air filter; they are:
Return Pot: a plastic decomposer that turns bags made of bioplastic into compost, by Juan Ying-Hao from Cranbrook Academy of Art, US (pictured above, left)

Fog Shower: water-saving shower that uses less than a gallon of water for a five minute shower, by João Diego Schimansky from Pontificia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Brazil (pictured above, right)

Pebble: solar food cooker that uses spray-on solar cells and induction heat for quick, efficient cooking by Laura Pandelle from École Boulle, France (pictured below, right)

e-Wash: natural detergent washing machine that uses soap nuts instead of conventional detergent by Levente Szabó from Moholy-Nagy University of Art & Design, Hungary

Pure: dual kitchen sink and detergent-free compact dishwasher by Tatjana Voronova from Hochschule für Gestaltung Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany

NatureWind: eco-solar air cleaner by Bae Won-Ho from Dong-A University, South Korea (pictured below, left)

Circompo: automatic food composter that createsby Thanat Tengamnuay from King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Thailand (pictured below, left)

Go Fresh: energy-saving fridge with individual, honeycomb-shaped compartments by He Cheng Fei from Jiangnan University, China (pictured below, right)

The finalists are being announced as you read this, in Paris; keep your eyes locked on TreeHugger for the results!

Recent studies show that most Americans believe solar power [www.sundancechannel.com] has the greatest likelihood of allowing America to be independent of foreign energy sources. This is interesting since solar power [www.sundancechannel.com] currently provides less than one percent of all the alternative power in the country. There must be something enticing about the idea of getting power from the sun, or Americans have gotten too many sun tans, because solar power [www.sundancechannel.com] suffers from the major problem of being too expensive to replace fossil fuels. If the cost of producing solar panels were not so high, then this energy source would be the most efficient way of producing electricity.

This miracle of innovation in solar energy may have happened. Everything has changed with the completion of a new solar factory in San Jose, CA. A company called Nanosolar, whose seed money was provided from the google.com founders, has created a new technology that has made solar power [www.sundancechannel.com] many times less expensive than it was before. Incidentally, the Google founders also started the non-profit company, google.org. This non-profit has supported many projects and is currently pushing a RechargeIt.org campaign [google.org]. This campaign tries to accelerate the adoption of plug in hybrid cars.

The invention that gave life to Nanosolar is exactly what the title implies, microscopic solar cells that can be painted on metallic sheets as thin as paper. The resulting product, or PowerSheets, as Nanosolar calls them, are like large flexible sheets of durable metal. They are incredibly cheap to produce; in fact, they cost 30 cents per watt to produce. Coal plants were the most efficient and cheap way of creating electricity before this, which cost $1 per watt to produce. This price reduction in solar power [www.sundancechannel.com] is revolutionary. The new factory has the capacity to create 430 megawatts worth of PowerSheets in the first year. The technology is based on printing technology, which makes this the best way of creating electricity ever invented. Find out more info on this exciting new company by visiting their website [www.nanosolar.com].

We’ve been talking all week about simultaneously going green and saving green. One of the best ways to do so is to take some initiative, and do it yourself. Not only can you save some cash, but can actually improve upon some ideas — think bicycle plus crank generator for your own power generator. Here are some of TreeHugger’s favorites.

1) Fashion tips: turn old men’s shirts into sassy women’s wear [www.treehugger.com], perform some t-shirt surgery [www.treehugger.com] to create some fun new pieces, make that old sweater into a new outfit [www.treehugger.com] and pimp your shoes [www.treehugger.com] to create better stuff without buying anything new.

2) Design tips: make your own version of MoMA’s Satellite Bowl out of chopsticks [www.treehugger.com], take a crack at a chair made of newspaper [www.treehugger.com] (really!) and build a Tensegrity Table [www.treehugger.com] (that’s “tensional integrity”) from stuff you can get at the hardware store.

3) Mobility and energy tips: build your own bicycle-powered energy generator [www.treehugger.com] or take it a step further and add solar cells to your scooter [www.treehugger.com] — it really works [www.treehugger.com]! Alternately, put a little pep in your pedal-powered step with something like this propeller-powered trike [www.treehugger.com].

4) Finally, for the geek in all of us, check out one of the many things you can do with your old floppy computer disks [www.treehugger.com].

We’ve been talking about some solar options for your home this week, working on ways to have the sun help you lower your utility bills and reliance on conventional power from the grid. Some options are available locally for specific areas around the country, like the example we gave for Long Island [www.sundancechannel.com], but those aren’t available for everyone, of course (and we could spend weeks talking about all the different systems available for different locales around the country). Instead, we’ll let your fingers do the walking, and if a quick internet search doesn’t turn up anything in your neighborhood, we can point you toward a few different companies who can help you plug in to the sun, no matter where you live.

BP Solar [www.bp.com] (a subsidiary of the — ahem — oil company) has a veritable bevy of options for those interested in solar. They offer a free quote for your project, can help you estimate your savings [www.bp.com] and can help you understand the costs (which can be significant) and rebates available to you [www.bp.com] (which can cut those costs by up to 70%). In California, a figurative and literal hotspot for solar, BP Solar has hooked up with The Home Depot to help, offering local help and installation (learn more about their partnership here [www.bp.com]. There’s lots to see and lots to learn; we recommend getting started at their website [www.bp.com].

General Electric [www.gepower.com] also offers similar products and services. They have both customizable solar modules [www.gepower.com] and pre-packaged systems [www.gepower.com] to fit lots of different residential (and even commercial) situations. Want to learn more about how their solar cells work[/img]? Have some questions about how it’d work at your place? Check out their [url=http://www.gepower.com/prod_serv/products/solar/en/faqs/index.htm]frequently asked questions [www.gepower.com], or plan to go see them at their global events, which range in location from New Jersey to San Francisco to Milan and Germany. No matter which way you slice it, if the sun shines down on your home with pretty fair regularity, there’s an option for you to hop on the solar bandwagon and get the sun’s help in powering your home.