http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php The Publisher's Watch highlights news & information about the real estate industry as well as best practices relating to green and sustainable living. en-US http://backend.userland.com/rss092 <p>Last week, Roger Meiners, a senior fellow a the Property and Environmental Center in Bozeman, MT and a professor of economics at the University of Texas, Arlington wrote an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal proclaiming the federal stimulus program directed at creating green jobs to be a "turkey." Meiners' reasoning is based on the cost of installing solar panels at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Ennis National Fish Hatchery at a cost of $179,000--all paid for by stimulus money.</p> <a href="http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/08/24/p3282#more3282">[...] Read more!</a> http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/08/24/why_beat_up_a_fish_hatchery_s_solar_pane <p>When shopping, how many times do you hear the cashier ask, "Would you like a receipt"? And how many times do you take one? Well, here's some eye-opening news that may help make that decision easier.</p> <a href="http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/07/30/p3211#more3211">[...] Read more!</a> http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/07/30/think_twice_before_taking_a_paper_receip <p>The good news at press time is that the spill at the Deepwater Horizon oil well in the Gulf of Mexico has been plugged. Whether it will hold or not has yet to be seen, and what will ultimately be done with the well is also unknown. However, it's a great piece of news after 90 days of this environmentally devastating disaster.</p> <a href="http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/07/25/p3195#more3195">[...] Read more!</a> http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/07/25/after_bp_will_we_have_learned_anything <p>Verizon Wireless has announced the opening of the company's new state-of-the-art green store in the Bank of America Tower, located at One Bryant Park in Manhattan. Developed and constructed by The Durst Organization, the Bank of America Tower has received Platinum Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification designated by the United States Green Buildings Council (USGBC).</p> <a href="http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/07/14/p3157#more3157">[...] Read more!</a> http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/07/14/verizon_s_new_green_store_how_smart <p>In last week's Wall Street Journal blog, The Wealth Report, Robert Frank wrote about the "paralyzed plutocracy" and how the moneyed class of the country is still quite insecure about its wealth. Meir Statman, behavioral-investment expert at the Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California, explains some of the factors contributing to these insecurities.</p> <a href="http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/06/30/p3117#more3117">[...] Read more!</a> http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/06/30/recycling_capitalism <p>On January 28, 1969, the Union Oil Platform A, an oil platform 5.5 miles off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, blew out and dumped 100,000 barrels of crude oil, according to an estimate by the U.S. Coast Guard. The well was 3,500 feet below the ocean floor, and the temporary cap did not work. Additional fissures opened up soon after. Union Oil promised to have the leak plugged in 24 hours, but it took 11 days, during which the oil flowed into the Santa Barbara Channel. More than 10,000 birds and other animal life died due to the disaster. This oil spill seems almost quaint in light of the magnitude of the current BP disaster in the Gulf.</p> <a href="http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/06/22/p3093#more3093">[...] Read more!</a> http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/06/22/pardon_this_disaster_there_s_deregulatio <p>The big news about former vice president and Nobel Prize and Oscar winner Al Gore is that he and his wife Tipper are separating after forty years of marriage. As surprising as this is, the one part of this "drama" that hasn't been covered is the actual implications in greenhouse gas creation. In other words, the Gores have just doubled their carbon footprint by creating the need for two residences, one for him and one for Tipper. Actually, their footprint has only increased by 65%, due to the fact that their residence in Tennessee is 10,000 square feet and the new one in California is only 6,500 square feet. Of course, if you consider the guest houses, swimming pools, and other luxurious amenities, this is really splitting hairs.</p> <a href="http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/06/10/p3061#more3061">[...] Read more!</a> http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/06/10/al_gore_doubles_his_carbon_footprint <p>It was not an easy decision to post an unflattering piece about New York's junior senator. I held back for several months and made the decision based, in part, by mounting frustration about our legislative process. The disconnect between voter and elected official seems to be widening, even though the digital age was supposed to make us closer. The day when one could walk into a congressional representative's office or send a letter and expect an immediate reply is far gone. The digital era, for all its promise of instant gratification, has made it nearly impossible for any elected official to respond personally given the volume of email.</p> <a href="http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/06/03/p3034#more3034">[...] Read more!</a> http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/06/03/dear_senator_gillibrand_thank_you <p>Soon after the attempted, and thankfully foiled, terrorist attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, aka Underwear Bomber, on Christmas Day of 2009, there was much talk about what steps need to be taken to ensure this never happens again. One of the many ideas offered did not sit well with me, mostly due to my history as a cancer survivor. This particular plan was to give full body x-rays at airports, which could certainly prove unhealthy to those of us who have had radiation therapy in the past.</p> <a href="http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/05/27/p3020#more3020">[...] Read more!</a> http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/05/27/title_36 <p>Last week the Wall Street Journal reported that the childhood home of erstwhile presidential candidate Mitt Romney is going to be torn down under a new plan by Detroit Mayor Dave Bing. The plan calls for the razing of 10,000 vacant or abandoned homes as a way to "right size" the city due to its shrinking population. Citizens have been calling for this plan to start ridding the city of decay and blight. Currently there are 90,000 of these homes.</p> <a href="http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/05/19/p2987#more2987">[...] Read more!</a> http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/05/19/reduce_reuse_reromney <p>What happens when millions of gallons of oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico, threatening environmental destruction and the loss of thousands of jobs? You'd think that a move toward renewable energy--such as the Obama administration's go-ahead last week for the Cape Wind project off the coast of Nantucket and Cape Cod--would be met with much fanfare.</p> <a href="http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/05/05/p2946#more2946">[...] Read more!</a> http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/05/05/a_very_mighty_wind <p>The impact from last week's oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico cannot be overestimated. There was loss of life as well as untold damage to the environment. The oil spill currently measures 1,800 square miles and it is headed toward the United States coastline. Where this ultimately ends nobody knows for sure. Transocean Ltd. owns the oil rig and BP PLC operates it. One imagines that these two companies are doing their best to stanch the gushing of 42,000 gallons per day.</p> <a href="http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/04/29/p2932#more2932">[...] Read more!</a> http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/04/29/impact_of_the_gulf_of_mexico_oil_spill <p>In recent published reports, the University of New Hampshire has found a new way to generate energy. The university's EcoLine project, four years in the making, is a gas-to-energy initiative that uses purified methane gas from a nearby landfill to power its operations. The campus, five million square feet in size, expects to garner 85 percent of its electricity and heat from purified natural gas.</p> <a href="http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/04/21/p2904#more2904">[...] Read more!</a> http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/04/21/green_is_garbage <p>The U.S. Energy Information Agency just released its report ranking the fifty states in terms of renewable energy. The top five are Washington (hydroelectric), California (solar, wind, and geothermal), Oregon (hydroelectric), New York (hydroelectric), and Texas (wind). The bottom five are Delaware, Rhode Island, Nebraska, Indiana, and Utah. According to the report, nearly 50% of all energy generated in this country comes from the burning of coal. Although this has been known for some time, it's apparent that it's going to take more than legislation to make our way to a cleaner way of generating electricity.</p> <a href="http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/04/13/p2878#more2878">[...] Read more!</a> http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/04/13/renewable_energy_investment_is_a_long_te <p>Last week the EPA released its second annual list of the top twenty-five cities with the most buildings with its Energy Star rating. And for the second year in a row, Los Angeles topped the list with a total of 293 buildings, followed by Washington, DC at 204 buildings, and San Francisco in third position with 173(for the full list, see <a href="http://www.energystar.gov/ia/business/downloads">http://www.energystar.gov/ia/business/downloads</a> /2009_Top_25_cities_chart.pdf). If you want to have a little fun, tell your friends and associates who are not very proficient in green and sustainable information which city topped the list. Most likely you'll get responses that range from "no way" to "no effing way". Either way, whatever city leads the pack, most important is that every year the amount of buildings continues to grow.</p> <a href="http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/03/30/p2837#more2837">[...] Read more!</a> http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/03/30/los_angeles_ranks_first_in_energy_effici <p>There aren't many people with Internet access who don't use Google's search engine. If you enter "Google" into Google's search field, approximately two billion items come up within .17 seconds and the first bit says Google "Enables users to search the Web, Usenet, and images." This is Google's service in a nutshell. Of course, Google has grown beyond a simple search engine and is one of the most powerful corporations of the digital era. With annual revenues reaching over $20 billion, it has expanded into everything from smart phones to mapping software. Basically, if you use any part of the Internet, there is a good chance Google will find a way to be there.</p> <a href="http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/03/16/p2791#more2791">[...] Read more!</a> http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/03/16/google_vs_green_google_is_there_a_confli <p>This week I had the opportunity to moderate and co-produce a panel with Paul McGinniss, writer and green advocate and the SUNY New Paltz Environmental Task Force at SUNY New Paltz, "The Future of Gas Drilling in New York State," primarily focusing on the process of hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale formation, including parts that lay in the New York City watershed. Hydraulic fracturing, also known as "fracking," uses massive amounts of water and chemicals to access oil and gas trapped in hard-to-reach shale formations. The EPA has urged state regulators to further study the environmental impact of such techniques primarily because the federal government has no oversight in this matter.</p> <a href="http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/03/10/p2772#more2772">[...] Read more!</a> http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/03/10/fracking_in_new_york_s_marcellus_shale_a <p>Darden Restaurants, Inc., owner of Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and LongHorn Steakhouse, is taking the first steps in going green. The Orlando-based food purveyor, with over 1400 company-owned restaurants, is implementing a sustainable design program for its facilities with eight slated to complete the transition in 2011. The company's headquarters has already applied for a USGBC LEED Gold certification, and all new restaurants will be built green.</p> <a href="http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/03/03/p2751#more2751">[...] Read more!</a> http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/03/03/a_green_lobster <p>The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada have proven to be exciting and exhilarating save the one tragic death of the Georgian luger. The Olympic Village is a 1.4-million-square-foot eco-community with buildings achieving both LEED Gold and Platinum certifications. The structures have been fitted with solar panels and green roofs, in-slab hydronic systems used for heating and cooling, and other sustainable features. All in all, it's a prototype for future sports facilities as well as communities as a whole.</p> <a href="http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/02/23/p2727#more2727">[...] Read more!</a> http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/02/23/nbc_de_greens_the_winter_olympics <p>In a play on words from an unfortunate anagram from years ago, Ford Motor Company has been at the forefront of green automobiles for nearly a decade. This is apparent not only from its advancements in automotive technology but from its return to black ink on its bottom line as well. While the other domestic car companies languished and failed on many levels, Ford is way out in front.</p> <a href="http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/02/17/p2707#more2707">[...] Read more!</a> http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/news/publisher.php/2010/02/17/f_o_r_d_found_on_road_delightfully