Nature Conservancy’s ROV Embarks on Maiden Voyage

(San Francisco, CA – September 25, 2009)  The Nature Conservancy announced today the winner of a national online competition to help name its new Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV).  The public voted to name the deep-sea robot “Beagle” – in honor of Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday and the famous research ship on which he traveled to the Galapagos.  Today the Conservancy launched a study using the ROV to assess the impacts of bottom trawl fishing off California’s Central Coast, the first controlled study of its kind on the West Coast.

“In the face of a variety of threats to our oceans, we must learn more about marine species and habitats in order to protect them,” said The Nature Conservancy Lead Marine Scientist Dr. Mary Gleason.  “Fortunately, advances in ROV technology are expanding our ability to explore and understand deep underwater realms where divers can’t reach.  This will help us identify the most appropriate intensity of fishing in the right locations to minimize seafloor damage, while still catching economically important fish.”

The ROV — an underwater robot that “flies” just above the seafloor hundreds of feet below the surface — gathers high-resolution video and still photographs of marine life and habitats — vital data in the fight to save California’s threatened oceans.  The species and habitats under study are found amid broad continental shelves, deep canyons and offshore reefs and banks — areas beyond the reach of divers. The ROV enables researchers to travel to these hard-to-reach places, expanding their ability to explore and understand these deep underwater realms.In a strong show of support for the Conservancy’s commitment to promote better management of our marine resources, the California Ocean Protection Council (through the California State Coastal Conservancy) provided the Conservancy with a grant to acquire a ROV for underwater research.

Rules will reduce oil usage and global warming pollution

Washington, DC The Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration today announced new fuel economy and greenhouse gas rules for vehicles, calling for a fleet average fuel economy of 35.5 miles per gallon and emissions of 250 grams per mile of CO2-equivalent-emissions by the 2016 model year.

Statement of Ann Mesnikoff, Sierra Club Green Transportation Campaign

"After decades of inaction, President Barack Obama directed the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety to work together to speed up the pace for cleaning up the nation's new cars and trucks.  We applaud President Obama for this move to curb global warming and our dependence on oil while giving Americans better vehicle choices.

"This is the biggest single step the U.S. can take to curb global warming and save oil - we will work to ensure the final rule delivers on President Obama's promised oil savings and greenhouse gas reductions and sets a firm foundation for standards beyond 2016.  

"The Administration's action will reduce U.S. global warming pollution by 950 million metric tons and save 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the lifetime of the vehicles sold in model years 2012-2016.  The proposal includes the nation's first greenhouse gas standards, which will put the whole country on a trajectory to achieve the reductions California and 14 other states were poised to implement.  It also accelerates compliance with the 35 mile per gallon fuel economy standards Congress set in the 2007 energy bill. 

"The auto industry is fully capable of meeting these vehicle standards and keeping Americans safe. The industry is already using technologies from better engines, transmissions, and high strength, light weight materials to low rolling resistance tires to improve fuel economy.  Just one technology --  Ford's Ecoboost engine yields a 20% fuel economy improvement.

"These standards will help consumers save at the pump, keeping dollars at home instead of going overseas to pay for oil -- both agencies note that the standards announced today provide benefits of as much as $250 billion.

"Americans want more fuel efficient vehicles, as they showed in the Cash for Clunkers program. These new standards will ensure that consumers will have better choices across the entire vehicle fleet, from SUVs to minivans to cars. "

Set for completion in 2019, the First Solar project represents the world’s biggest photovoltaic power plant project to date, and is part of an 11,950-megawatt renewable-energy park planned for Ordos City in Inner Mongolia.

The memorandum of understanding between Chinese officials and First Solar, the world’s largest photovoltaic cell manufacturer, would open a potentially vast solar market in China and follows the Chinese government’s recent moves to accelerate development of renewable energy.

When completed, the Ordos solar farm would generate enough electricity to power about three million Chinese homes, according to First Solar.

First Solar, based in Tempe, Ariz., is also likely to build a factory in China to make thin-film solar panels, said Mike Ahearn, the company’s chief executive. “It is significant that a non-Chinese company can land something like this in China,” Mr. Ahearn said in an interview.

Most proposed large-scale solar projects use solar thermal technology, which deploys mirrors to heat a liquid to create steam that drives an electricity-generating turbine. But as photovoltaic technology becomes more cost-competitive, utilities are turning to companies like First Solar for big solar power farms. Such projects generally have fewer environmental impacts and can be brought online faster than solar thermal plants.

“This is nuclear power-size scale,” Mr. Ahearn said of the China project. “A two-gigawatt solar project, if this is connected and is economical at the grid level, demonstrates that solar on a large scale really does work.”

SACRAMENTO, Calif – State officials and local construction workers gathered at the corner of Q and 7th streets this morning to celebrate the opening of the new Central Plant that heats and cools the Capitol and 22 state office buildings daily. The 78,000 square foot facility is the largest of its kind in the western United States and will operate on 90 percent less water than its predecessor. Because of the new plant's progressive "Green" design, it will help the state reduce energy costs; cut water usage and provide better reliability to state buildings.

In less than two years, more than 300 local construction workers built the state of the art facility in the heart of downtown. The design of the seven story tall plant allows enormous chillers, pumps and boilers churning inside to be nearly silent to the neighbors living across the street. The Department of General Services built the new facility to meet and exceed the goals set by Gov. Schwarzenegger’s in his 2004 Executive Order that directed the "greening" of state buildings. The new central plant will achieve the Leadership in Energy Efficiency and Environmental Design (LEED®) Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council next year.

"California leads the nation in green building design and construction and with this project we have set the bar for reaching beyond the ambitious goals the governor laid out for us," said the Secretary for the State and Consumer Services Agency, Fred Aguiar. "This Central Plant will be the 17th building we’ve constructed to meet the most comprehensive energy efficiency and environmental design criteria in the world. It allows us to launch an effort to reduce energy consumption in all our downtown state office buildings in the coming years."

Since its groundbreaking, the Central Plant project was responsible for putting between 75 to 375 full-time construction employees to work every day. During the peak manpower on the project, from November 2008 to March 2009, the central plant project put approximately $3.5 million dollars per month in payroll into the local economy.