Despite perceptions to the contrary, New York City is by some measures the most environmentally friendly city in America:

“Eighty-two per cent of Manhattan residents travel to work by public transit, by bicycle, or on foot. That’s ten times the rate for Americans in general, and eight times the rate for residents of Los Angeles County. New York City is more populous than all but eleven states; if it were granted statehood, it would rank fifty-first in per-capita energy use.”

Admittedly, these green credentials …click here to read more

Pre-fab homes and tract housing aren’t typically associated with green living.

But as more buyers become attuned to high energy costs, homebuilders appear more willing to market homes that consume less power, water and other resources.

On Earth Day Friday, for example, Meritage Homes plans to make its “net-zero” home available to buyers in select markets in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada and central Texas.

Already, Meritage has unveiled an Arizona housing development where …click here to read more

A report out Monday sees non-nuclear clean energy sources growing two-fold over the next ten years, via USA Today.

Published by Clean Edge, a research and advisory firm, the research shows that global revenue for solar photovoltaic (PV) energy, wind power and biofuels surged 35 percent in 2010, growing from $139 billion to $188 billion. The majority of this growth came thanks to global solar PV installations, which more than doubled over the past year, and “steady growth in the biofuels sector.” The market for wind power, notably, saw a modest decline in 2010.

“As witnessed over the past decade, clean tech has proven to be a significant business opportunity, and its growth rates now rival that of earlier technology revolutions like telephony, computers, and the Internet,” said Ron Pernick, Clean Edge co-founder and managing director. “We expect overall growth to slow down in some sectors as the clean-energy market reaches wide adoption and utility- scale deployment, but there’s still considerable room for expansion.”

Global nuclear power generation, meanwhile, is projected by the Department of Energy to grow from 2.6 trillion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2007 to 3.6 trillion kWh in 2020 — an increase of nearly 40 percent — and to 4.5 trillion kWh by 2035, an increase of almost 75 percent. The DOE figures suggest that the world will get about 2.5 times as much energy from nuclear reactors as it does from renewable sources, like wind, solar, biomass and hydroelectric power, which, in our eyes, is kind of a bummer.

On Valentines Day, the University of Maryland, College Park agreed to install one of the largest photovoltaic (PV) rooftop solar energy systems in the entire state atop its Severn Building — a building that stands roughly one mile away from the main College Park campus. University officials also announced that they will use a $630,000 grant from the state’s Sunburst Initiative Program to fund a majority of the installation. The Sunburst funds are meant to help fund renewable energy projects at public buildings throughout the state, and the University of Maryland is one of the first public schools in the state to receive funding through the program. The rest of the $2.6 million project will be funded by Washington Gas Energy services.

University of Maryland recently bought the former Washington Post printing press and, after installing the PV solar energy system atop it, the school will transform it into a multi-purpose center with a combination of offices and trade shops. When the solar energy system is completely built and installed this summer, the Washington Post reports that the more than 2,500-panel system will be able to produce 792 megawatt-hours (mWh) of electricity each year and annually reduce the carbon footprint of the entire university by over 600 tons.

Here’s Ann Wylie, Vice President of Administrative Affairs and Chair of the University on the University’s most recent environmental endeavour:

“The University is committed to addressing the significant challenges of this generation, including environmental sustainability, climate change, and renewable energy. The use of solar energy – a clean energy source that produces no greenhouse gases – will move us another step closer to achieving our vision for a greener campus embodied in the university’s Strategic Plan.”

The University of Maryland has been one of many schools at the forefront of the renewable energy movement at public schools around the country. In May 2007, it was one of about 700 schools to sign the American College & University President’s Climate Commitment. Just two years later, the University released a blueprint to become a carbon neutral campus by 2050.

Biennially since 2002, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has held the solar decathlon, a competition between 20 university teams from around the world that design, construct and operate homes that are affordable, energy efficient and attractive.

The finalists for the competition were recently announced. Among them is Team New Jersey, a collaboration of faculty members and students from Rutgers University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology. It is the first trip to the finals for Team New Jersey and yesterday at Civic Square Building in New Brunswick, New Jersey, State Senator Robert Menendez recognized Team New Jersey and its project, “eNJoy: A Generation House.” The team will next travel to Washington D.C. for the finals.

The home is concrete, making it durable. It’s been described as a “passive solar house,” meaning the sun’s heat enters the home in its natural state of solar radiation by way of the roof and is used for both heating and light. This means there’s no need for fans or pumps to maintain a comfortable temperature. Additionally, Team New Jersey built the roof in the shape of an inverted hip for optimal solar exposure and rainwater collection.

The 20 finalists are chosen after schools submit proposals to be reviewed by renewable energy experts from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, American Institute of Architects, National Association of Home Builders, the U.S. Green Building Council, and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers. After the competition, the homes are on display for the public free of charge and are usually used as energy research labs.

Here is a list of Solar Decathlon Accomplishments since the 2002 inaugural competition:

• Involved 92 collegiate teams, which pursued multidisciplinary course curricula to study the requirements for designing and building energy-efficient, solar-powered houses
• Established a worldwide reputation as a successful educational program and workforce development opportunity for thousands of students
• Affected the lives of 15,000 collegiate participants
• Expanded its outreach to K–12 students by inviting schools in the Washington, D.C., area to visit on class tours.

Check out images of the 2009 Solar Decathalon.

California’s Lodi Wine Region is catching on to the solar energy craze and energy efficient frenzy that her permeated throughout the rest of the state. Granted, it took a solar energy pioneer to get the ball rolling.

Tony Sarich, co-founder of American Modular Systems (AMS), is working on California’s first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold certified winery, with an accompanying LEED-certified home to soon follow. The project is called the River Vine Project and consists of two phases. The first phase included the construction of the 3,000-square-foot River Vine Winery that was actually delivered to the Lodi region last week, fully equipped with a 1.8 megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic (PV) rooftop energy system large enough to power the entire winery, well, and house that will be built alongside the winery. The finished structures hope to become the Central Valley’s first LEED Gold home and the first prefab winery built offsite to LEED Gold standards.

AMS designs and constructs a wide range of buildings, from warehouses, to homes, to schools. The company is most recognized for its Gen7 Classrooms, which incorporate the cleanest building materials on the market and can cut the cost of a room’s utility bill by as much as 30 percent through various energy efficient solutions.

Sarich used many of the same methods used in Gen7 classrooms to design the winery, which he hopes will be “an inspiration” to others in the area in terms of solar energy use and energy efficiency. The winergy has LED lights, harvests daylight in order to reduce the energy consumption of the winery by as much as 65 percent, and is made of 100 percent recycled or recyclable materials. The construction of Sarich’s accompanying home is the second phase of the River Vine Project. It will include many of the same features as the winery and should be delivered to the Lodi region during the Fall of 2011.

Google’s foundation, Google.org, has made it widely known that it intends to aid the progression of renewable energy development in any way possible. The company is pushing for quicker development of rechargeable vehicles through its Recharge IT Project and, though its RE<C program, is trying to develop one gigawatt (GW) of renewable energy capacity in the next few years at a price that is cheaper than one GW of coal-based electricity. (One GW is enough to power a city roughly the size of San Francisco for a full day.) Each of these initiatives is part of Google.org’s Clean Energy 2030 Plan — a proposal on how to shift the global economy from one that depends on fossil fuels to one that is based on clean energy.

RE<C, or “renewable energy cheaper than coal,” is arguably the most important of all of the company’s programs, as it deals with the greatest obstacle between us and wide-scale renewable energy use: cost. Here are three main steps Google.org is taking through RE<C to make renewable energy cheaper than fossil fuels:

1. Give grants to and invest in companies and technologies working toward making renewable energy more affordable than energy produced at coal-fired plants.

2. Support public policies that accelerate renewable energy development.

3. Use its own technology to spread information and raise awareness about the benefits of renewable sources of energy.

In 2008, Google invested over $45 million through RE<C alone in companies it views as having breakthrough technologies in solar energy, wind and geothermal power. Google is also sponsoring a project to create what it calls the first, “Geothermal Map of the World.” The map will help reveal resources underground that are currently hard to detect, and show an area’s potential to develop and deploy clean energy. Check out this video to see how the map would work.

The Clean Energy 2030 Plan was first introduced in October 2008 and is far from over, as Google sees the need for $4.4 trillion in investment between now and 2030.

The symbolism can’t get much better. In southern West Virginia, a region known for its coal, a new rooftop solar energy system has been installed in Williamson and is now producing clean energy.

It’s a region heavily invested in coal mining. But as unemployment figures have grown in recent years, so too has the opportunity to change the minds of West Virginians about how they get their energy. It’s not a coincidence that the rooftop solar energy system was built and installed by unemployed and underemployed coal miners and contractors.

The idea to install the rooftop solar energy system was first introduced a year ago by The Jobs Project, an organization that promotes renewable energy throughout Central Appalachia. The focus is not so much on solar power as a way to save money on utility bills or help the environment (though those two factors don’t hurt). Rather, the group promotes renewable energy as a way to create long-term, good paying jobs.

Nick Getzen, spokesman for The Jobs Project, explained exactly what the group is trying to do:

“This is the first sign for a lot of folks that this is real, and that it’s real technology, and they can have it in their communities. In no way are we against coal or trying to replace coal. There’s still going to be coal mining here. This is just something else to help the economy.”

There’s already proof that the group’s method of marketing solar to the region is working. According to Bloomberg, demand for solar energy in West Virginia is on the rise, and it has a lot to do with The Jobs Project teaming up with Mountain View Solar & Wind of Berkeley Springs roughly a year ago. The two organizations introduced a privately funded job-training program in which trainees earned $45 an hour.

Don’t expect West Virginia to turn into a solar energy leader overnight. But hopefully the state can make the transition on rooftop at a time.

While the California officials have been working overtime to approve solar power plants in time to meet a statewide renewable energy goal, its utility companies are faced with a slightly different task: How do we incorporate all of that renewable energy it our electric grid?

Southern California Edison (SCE) — one of the state’s three main investor owned utility companies (IOUs) — outlined its plan to build a smarter, more secure grid with more renewable energy flowing through it. By 2020, SCE hopes to have one-third of its grid power coming from wind, solar and othe renewable energy sources.

Many expect energy storage to play a key role in the future smart grid. Generally speaking, because solar and wind are intermittent sources of power, the resulting energy either needs to be consumed or stored. As energy storage technologies improve and become more efficient, utilities will have more flexibility in how they dispatch power across the grid. Other measures include installing smart devices that enable individuals and businesses to monitor their energy use.

None of it will be easy. Executive Director of the the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies (CEERT) V. John White used a pretty accurate analogy when describing the process at the fourth annual VerdeXchange in Los Angeles:

“It’s like building a symphony orchestra. We’re going to have lots of different instruments. The [challenge] is to harmonize them.”

According to SCE Engineer Mike Montoya’s smart grid outline, the process will take 20+ years to fully complete. That figure could change based on the pace of developments in green technology. But it’s clear that if California, or any other part of the world, is to realize a clean energy future, we’re going to have to invest some serious money and time.

There are plenty of ways to be a good neighbor: pick up the mail when they’re out of town, don’t make too much noise at night, return a lost pet. But we think there’s one tactic that stands above the fray: convince your neighbor, or several neighbors, to install a solar home energy system. Here are few ways to turn your neighborhood into a solar generation hot spot, starting with the most obvious.

1. Install a solar PV system yourself.

Start by practicing what you preach. It’s going to be hard for you to convince neighbors to install a rooftop solar energy system if your roof is missing one. So install one atop your home before trying to convince others to do so. You’ll save money on monthly electric bills and, having already gone through the process, you can help your neighbor get the best price, apply for solar energy incentives and find a trustworthy installer.

2. Show off your system.

Once you’ve installed solar, don’t keep quiet about it. Talk to your neighbors about the money you’re saving by using solar energy. You may be familiar with how solar photovoltaic (PV) panels produce energy, but many folks are not. In fact, the system will look foreign to many people in your area, and you’re probably going to get a lot of questions. Take the time to answer them and demystify solar for them. The more they know, the more likely they are to install a solar energy system.

3. Convince the HOA to Install Solar

If you live in an area overseen by a Homeowner’s Association (HOA), you may need to convince the rest of the HOA that solar panels aren’t scary or ugly or loud. So present the idea at a meeting and clearly explain why the neighborhood should encourage solar. If the HOA is going to be difficult, you’re going to have to bring out the law books. Ready? They’re called solar access laws. In some states, these laws include provisions that prevent an HOA from saying no to solar, including: Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin. Your HOA may have restrictions on where and how solar panels may be installed, but it can’t block you or intentionally delay you from doing so.

Check out the Solar Bill of Rights to see what the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) is doing to make installing solar energy easier for everyone.