Even a decade later, I still recall a conversation I had as the mayor of Indianapolis with a regional Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official about the challenges of dealing with combined sewer overflows (CSO). I asked him if the measure of our success would be how clean the river was or how much money we had spent reducing the overflows. He admitted it would be the latter.

Over 100 billion pieces of unsolicited mail are stuffed into U.S. mailboxes each year. Not only is this junk mail considered by many to be simply annoying, it is also extremely wasteful. Most of the 100 billion pieces of paper are thrown away, contributing greatly to this country’s waste levels. The AFP reports that at least one billion dollars is spent per year on mail disposal.

Some cities have taken notice and plan to fight the waste. This week, cities including Chicago, Berkley (CA), and Ithaca (NY) have begun a program targeting unsolicited junk mail. A mail preference service gives residents the ability to stop receiving junk mail. Designed by Catalog Choice, residents can sign up for the program on a local website.

Each three- to five-minute video includes interviews with county officials and staff, as well as images of county projects. Counties featured include Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; Broward County, Florida; Dorchester County, South Carolina; Frederick County, Maryland; Los Angeles County, California; Maricopa County, Arizona; McHenry County, Illinois; Snohomish County, Washington; Sonoma County, California; Tarrant County, Texas; and Will County, Illinois.

The videos are available online at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/NACoVideo#grid/user/70AE4221EF1A9CC1

Polystyrene makes comeback in US Congress building after Republicans reverse green initiatives brought in by Democrats.

The U.S. government isn’t known for efficiency, but this could change if President Obama’s sustainability initiative takes root.

The Green Gov Challenge was launched by executive order in October 2009 to establish a strategy for energy conservation while setting an example of environmental leadership.

As a crucial part of his ambitious goal to turn the federal government into a leader in green practices, President Obama has turned to an unexpected resource to help drive the effort: the government’s purchasing and property arm, the General Services Administration.

• producing as much energy on site as they use;
• limiting consumption of fresh water and returning water back to the same watershed; and
• reducing, reusing, and recovering waste streams, with nothing going to the landfill.

February 10, 2011, 2:30-3:45 PM (EST): Benchmarking in Portfolio Manager for National Building Competition Applicants
Sponsored by ENERGY STAR, this webinar discusses the basics of benchmarking your building in EPA’s Portfolio Manager, a no-cost online tool that tracks energy and water use across an entire portfolio of buildings. Applicants to EPA’s 2011 National Building Competition may attend this session to learn how they can benchmark their facility and share it with EPA’s master account. To register, visit: https://energystar.webex.com

February 15, 2011, 2:00-3:00 PM (EST): Benchmarking in Portfolio Manager for Large Portfolios
Sponsored by ENERGY STAR, this webinar discusses tools available to those with a large portfolio of buildings. Topics discussed include best practices for bulk data management for new and existing accounts, with real-life examples of organizations that have successfully benchmarked large portfolio of buildings. To register, visit: https://energystar.webex.com

February 15, 2011, 2:00-3:00 PM (EST), Responding to the Climate Change Imperative: Setting Energy use Targets with ENERGY STAR
Sponsored by ENERGY STAR, this presentation illustrates the use of EPA’s online building energy performance rating system, Target Finder, which enables design teams to determine a target for annual energy use that corresponds to a user-selected, superior level of energy performance. The presentation also identifies actions at each stage of the design process that focus attention on energy and help to accomplish an integrated building design process.
To register, visit:https://energystar.webex.com

DOE Webcasts

February 15, 2011, 1:00-2:30 PM (EST): Financing Programs: RFP & Contract Terms and Conditions
This webinar will discuss structuring a partnership with a financial institution, including specific language that state and local governments have used successfully in RFPs and contracts to build their programs. Dan Clarkson of the Energy Efficiency Finance Corporation, a DOE technical assistance expert, will share insights and sample contracts, and provide advice on writing effective legal documents for financing programs. To register, visit:
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/wip/solutioncenter/webcasts/default.html

February 17, 2011, 2:00-3:00 PM (EST): Integration of Renewables and Efficiency: Leveraging Interest and Funding
This webinar will discuss guidelines, best practices, and case studies of successful policies and programs designed to develop synergy between efficiency and renewables. To register, visit http://www1.eere.energy.gov/wip/solutioncenter/webcasts/

February 23, 2011, 3:00 PM-4:15 PM (EST): Optimizing Solar Installations – Tools and Strategies
Sponsored by DOE’s Technical Assistance Program for state and local officials, this webinar will focus on solar energy system development and installation. The first presentation will explain the importance of a detailed operations plan and implementation strategy to manage a renewable energy program as it grows. The second presentation will highlight a software tool that can optimize a solar system’s functionality based on its location, available area, building type, current hot water system, and annual utility use. For more information, or to register, visit: http://www.nrel.gov/applying_technologies/state_local_activities/webinar_20110223.html

February 24, 2011, 1:30 PM-2:30 PM (EST): Energy Savings Performance Contracting: Savings Measurement and Verification
Sponsored by DOE, this webinar will focus on the measurement and verification (M&V) of savings from the energy savings performance contracting process.  Presenters will provide background, outline M&V savings, the M&V plan and report, and discuss typical methods for M&V. To register, visit: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/wip/solutioncenter/webcasts/

Other Webcasts

March 1, 2011, 1:00 PM-2:30 PM (EST): Preparing States for a Changing Climate: Low-cost Strategies for State Climate Change Adaptation Planning
American Rivers presents a webcast on climate change adaptation planning that provides an in-depth look at recently released adaptation frameworks from Maryland and Oregon. The webcast will examine how Maryland and Oregon plan to reduce vulnerability to climate change in a budget-constrained environment. Representatives from state agencies directly involved in these planning processes will highlight key elements from their states’ adaptation planning frameworks, discuss lessons learned in the process, and examine the challenges that lay ahead in implementing the recommendations.

This webcast will build on recent EPA adaptation webcasts that have focused on the process of identifying climate change vulnerabilities and initiating planning efforts. In this event, we will move beyond a focus on process to examine the most cost-effective and flexible management practices and policy changes for building resilience over the long term. For more information, or to register, visit: http://www.americanrivers.org/newsroom/blog/preparing-states-for-changing-climate-2-4-2011.html

The federal General Services Administration (GSA) has awarded a $6.7 million, five-year contract to Blue Bell, Pa.-based Unisys Corp. to provide secure cloud-based e-mail and IT collaboration tools. Unisys will provide transition, data migration, training and cloud-based software as a service for the new environment. As a result of the deal, GSA employees will be able to collaborate and work remotely from any location at any time.

New York City wants its software and application programmers to serve the public with great Web sites and applications, not be slaves to keeping up the city’s technology and data center infrastructure. Plus, it supports a major metropolitan sustainability agenda in the form of PlaNYC2030, one that supports a goal of cutting carbon emissions for the city by 2030.