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With Democratic Senators Boxer and Kerry preparing to launch their Climate Bill salvo into the Senate, opponents are gearing up for a fight.

According to USA Today, "Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., one of the Senate's most vocal opponents of climate-change action, predicted the bill won't even be debated on the Senate floor before the end of the year, let alone come up for a vote."

The New York Times reports that "...the 684-page Senate draft bill (pdf) diverges from the House measure in its push for a 2020 emissions target of 20 percent, compared with the House's bill's 17 percent limit.

Both the House-passed bill, H.R. 2454 (pdf), and the preliminary Boxer-Kerry proposal contain the same longer-term emissions limits of 42 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 and an 83 percent cut for 2050."

I haven't had a chance to read the Senate draft bill, but will try to have a look at it in the next day or so.

But it sounds like Senators on both sides may want to get out their boxing gloves.

The World’s First Zero Carbon, Zero Waste City Masdar City – the world’s first carbon-neutral, zero-waste city. A vibrant and beautiful city, powered by renewable energy, innovative building practices and new standards in sustainable living currently under construction in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Masdar City, soon to become home to 40,000 [...]

Project Green Search is a full fledged search for the next green “it girl” - The woman who wants to take a stand, get noticed, and align her career endeavors with her personal beliefs, to be an advocate for the environment, animal welfare, ... [visit site to read more]

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Where are you on the path to sustainability – how did you first get on the path, where you are now and where you want to go next? Nature's Path and Everyday with Rachael Ray are hosting a contest called "My Path to Sustainable Living," ... [visit site to read more]

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Welcome to the September 28th, 2009 edition of All Things Eco.

Be sure to Stumble the posts you like, or submit them to other social bookmarking services. Let's promote each other, as well as this blog carnival.

Today's ... [visit site to read more]

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Saving The Planet, One Pint At A Time Everybody is jumping on the green wagon. PARTY!! Embedded video from <a href=”http://www.cnn.com/video” mce_href=”http://www.cnn.com/video”>CNN Video</a> …. as the green future unfolds.

I'm a big fan of fruit, and being from New England, where Fall is a big deal, I LOVE apples and all things apple. In spite of this, believe it or not, I had never tried dried apple chips - until now.

Yogachips from Yogavive are apple chips made from USDA ... [visit site to read more]

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The last couple days of the Zosimos Botanicals and BuyGreen.com giveaways were amazing, a huge influx of entries! Not sure what happened 2 days ago, but I hope it happens with every giveaway from now on

Anyway, I'm here to announce the winners! The winners were chosen with the random number generator at random.org (which is how it's always done!). Each winner will, as usual, have 48 hours from the time of my emails, which will be sent out after I post this announcement, to respond with ... [visit site to read more]

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I love being able to pass on good information that saves both energy and money.  This product does just that, with three versions to choose from.   Monster Green Power™ is a revolutionary new way to automatically reduce energy waste,  and save you money.   All you need to do is, plug your computer, or AV receiver [...]

September 25th's Tip

Shortening Showers: It's easy to lose track of time when in a warm, comforting shower, especially if you're trying to wake up or wind down from a long day.

One way to cut ... [visit site to read more]

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Commentary: Let’s launch the ‘next revolution’ You know that tinglely feeling you get when you sense something exciting is afoot? This commentary written for cnn.com by Sir Richard Branson and Kathleen Rogers left me with that “are we there yet” grin on my face, …. so without further ado …… CNN Editor’s note: Sir Richard Branson founded [...]

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Image via CrunchBase

I've been watching Lithium-ion car battery maker A123 Systems (NASDAQ:AONE) for a few years now and have been anxiously awaiting their IPO. Thus far, AONE shares have not disappointed, rocketing as much as 45 percent in its NASDAQ debut.

$AONE began the trading day at $17, got as high as $20 before noon, and is hovering around $19.86 as I write this post. The IPO delivered a premium over its $13.50 share price.

The brain-child of MIT scientists, Waltham, Massachusetts-based A123, develops batteries and battery systems for electric vehicles, including plug-ins using a proprietary nanophosphate technology.

A123 has an impressive list of investors among its principal shareholders, including GE, Qualcomm, Motorala, and North Bridge Venture Partners, an equally impressive client list, and a recent vote of confidence from the federal government, receiving $249M as part of the stimulus funds for electric car advancement.

I know there are plenty of naysayers out there. After all, A123 has been losing money since its launch in 2001 ($146M on $168M in revenue). But it has done one thing extremely well: focused on improving its technology and becoming the leading developers of advanced car system batteries and battery systems for the electric grid and consumer markets in the US.

(Disclosure: Long AONE)

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• A123Systems is ready for its close up - preps for tomorrow's IPO (green.venturebeat.com)
• Lithium-ion new hotness in electric cars - except for Toyota (arstechnica.com)
• When an Electric Car Dies, What Will Happen to the Battery? (scientificamerican.com)
• Entire Mercedes S-Class Could be Hybrids (abcnews.go.com)
• DOE juices battery companies with $2.4B in stimulus funds (green.venturebeat.com)
• Will car battery maker A123 Systems jump start the IPO market? (dailyfinance.com)
• A123 IPO priced to charge car battery market (money.cnn.com)

I'm a sucker for companies that are doing what they can to help people worldwide, from donating profits to providing jobs, education, training, etc. Soap Hope is a business with a somewhat unique model - it "invests 100% of its profits for a period of one year into ... [visit site to read more]

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I dropped into the GridWeek conference today and found that the Smart Grid is alive and well and flush with dreams of stimulus money and full of players both big and small.

But as I toured the exhibit space in between press briefings, I couldn't help thinking that there are a heck of a lot of smart meters, Home Area Networks (HANs) and energy management web portals competing for the same, well, bandwidth.

A company I've been watching, Boulder-based Tendril was there showing off its TREE (Tendril Residential Energy Ecosystem). TREE is an in-home wireless network that allows appliances and electrical outlets to talk instantly and directly to a home energy monitor or web portal. Through the web portal consumers can understand and manage their energy consumption in real-time and adjust usage according to their needs -- even remotely. (No more calling the neighbor to have them adjust the thermostat you accidentally left set too high or too low.)

And Redwood City's Silver Spring Networks was there, too, announcing this morning that they are acquiring Greenbox Technologies (the latest venture from the creators of Flash).

This is likely the first of many such mergers and acquisitions in this space -- both vertically integrated and otherwise -- as others are talking about various interoperability partnerships.

"Interoperability" is the buzzword at GridWeek 2009, along with cybersecurity. It will become an even more important concept once the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reveals its plan for interoperability standards and protocols. NIST is responsible for developing what amounts to the next generation communications protocols and standards.

Interoperability, according to NIST, is "the ability of diverse systems and their components to work together" and "is vitally important to the performance of the Smart Grid at every level. It enables integration, effective cooperation, and two-way communication among the many interconnected elements of the electric power grid."

In other words, these standards will allow "smart" appliances and meters to inform consumers about their power consumption and its cost. Consumers will have much more control over their power consumption and energy bills.

Such standards will also allow utilities (and decentralized power generators) "mix and manage varying supplies of solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources and better respond to changing demand."

Department of Energy Secretary Chu announced his vision for the Smart Grid on Monday (here's a link to his presentation in PDF format).

As part of his presentation, the Secretary announced a $144 million jobs training program to support implementation of the Smart Grid and an additional $44.2 million in awards to State Public Utility Commissions (PUCs) to hire and retrain PUC staff as utilities ramp up Smart Grid activities.

Secretary Chu stopped short of announcing when the first round of DOE stimulus awards would be made in the Smart Grid space, and a spokesperson later asserted that the announcement would not be made until November.

But for today and the rest of this week, the future has arrived -- and it is connected, networked, and smart.

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• Silver Spring Networks gobbles up Greenbox to become Smart Grid powerhouse (green.venturebeat.com)
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• Spinning Flywheels Said to Make Greener Energy (usnews.com)
• San Jose, PG&E lift veil on major Smart Grid collaboration (green.venturebeat.com)
• GE wants to enable zero-energy housing (arstechnica.com)
• GE plans new products to help consumers cut electric bills (timesunion.com)
• Duke Energy taps Ambient for Smart Grid communications (green.venturebeat.com)
• VW enters the home power market (innovationtoronto.com)

I have baby fine wavy hair that is almost never interested in behaving. After trying a number of curly hair products - some of which even worked better as straightening products (no joke!), I was looking for a product with no parabens that doesn't test on animals, ... [visit site to read more]

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Come with me, relax and enjoy a brief mind vacation, while celebrating the Autumn Season! See where the cutest ladybugs live! Best Related PostWhat's FUELING High Gas Prices? by Barbara Rae on June 12th, 2008Take A "Green" Vacation! by Barbara Rae on June 13th, 2009The High Price Of Everything by Barbara Rae on June 26th, 2008A New [...]

On my fire escape vegetable garden in Manhattan.

Last week there was a post on The Big Money titled Why Gardening Won’t End the Recession.

Personally I found a lot of the points in this article to ... [visit site to read more]

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The Green Energy of Creating an Artificial Sun Completed and operational in May, the $3.5 billion home to the National Ignition Facility (NIF), was initially funded 15 years ago as a way to better understand the aging process of nuclear weapons. Now, researchers in this gigantic 10 story Livermore, California facility are taking the first steps [...]

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Welcome to the September 21st, 2009 edition of All Things Eco.

Be sure to Stumble the posts you like, or submit them to other social bookmarking services. Let's promote each other, as well as this blog ... [visit site to read more]

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