NC State Named Among Top 5 Green Schools
From NCSU Press Release:
North Carolina State University has been named one of the Top 5 Greenest Schools in the Southeast by Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine. The March issue recognizes NC State for its aggressive commitment to a more sustainable future.
Backed by achievements in energy, transportation and academic programs, NC State’s balanced approach to sustainability helped garner the No. 4 ranking.
NC State’s alternative transportation options are specifically lauded. These include free commuting options like the “GoPass” that is available to all faculty, staff and students for use on the regional bus system, as well as “WolfWheels,” a bicycle-rental program launching March 29.
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Cool Recyling Web site
Where can I recycle ___________?
Find out on this nifty recycling Web site: http://1800recycling.com/.
Portion of Cary Greenway to Close for Expressway Construction
CARY, N.C. – Due to the North Carolina Turnpike Authority’s construction of the Western Wake Freeway segment of the Triangle Expressway project, the Town of Cary will be temporarily closing the central section of White Oak Creek Greenway effective March 15, 2010.
This 450-foot section of trail is in the middle of the recently completed 2-mile stretch of the White Oak Creek Greenway between NC Highway 55 and Green Level Church Road. It is anticipated to reopen in January 2012. While the trail is closed, there will be no detours or alternate connections between the two ends of the trail. All other parts of the White Oak Creek Greenway will remain open.
“Citizens using White Oak Creek Greenway should be advised that it does extend under Highway 55 via a pedestrian tunnel and continue east for another 1.8 miles, connecting to White Oak Park and Davis Drive Park,” said Doug McRainey, Town of Cary Parks Planning Manager. “In addition, we are also proud to offer citizens 23 public parks and 50 miles of other greenways and trails to enjoy while this part of White Oak Creek Greenway is closed.”
The White Oak Creek Greenway originates in Bond Park and will eventually connect to the American Tobacco Trail. The 2.2-mile section west of Highway 55 to Green Level Church Road was completed in 2008. The crossing for the White Oak Creek Greenway is one of five crossings included in the construction of the Triangle Expressway. Other greenways that will safely cross the Expressway in the future include: Batchelor Branch, Panther Creek, Morris Brant and Nancy Branch Greenways.
Direct questions about the Western Wake Freeway segment of the Triangle Expressway to Raleigh Durham Roadbuilders at comments@westernwakeinfo.com or (919) 369-5100.
To help share information relevant to Cary citizens regarding the Triangle Expressway construction project, the Town of Cary has also established a special Triangle Expressway page at www.townofcary.org.
Chatham Wants You for Green Building Board
PITTSBORO— Chatham County seeks applicants for the newly formed Green Building and Sustainable Energy (GBASE) Advisory Board. Applicants must be Chatham residents with a background or interest in green building or sustainable energy. They have until Friday, April 9, at 5 p.m. to apply for the initial appointment of the board.
The Chatham County Board of Commissioners finished forming the board March 1 to advise county commissioners on green building and sustainable energy policies and procedures and increase public awareness those opportunities.
“The creation of this advisory board is an important step in positioning Chatham County to attract high quality green-collar jobs and industries,” said Chatham County Commissioner Tom Vanderbeck, who will serve as liaison to the board.
The county’s economic development strategic plan includes energy conservation, alternative energy and green technology services as one of seven industry “clusters” that the Chatham County Economic Development Corporation has targeted for economic growth through retention, growth, and attraction of jobs in this area.
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Wake Tech Expands “Green” Technology Training
RALEIGH, N.C. – Wake Technical Community College announces two new programs in the rapidly-expanding field of “green” technology. The eight-week programs are designed to prepare workers for jobs that focus on home energy efficiency and “smart” home technology. The programs are free for unemployed and under-employed workers who qualify.
Students who complete the programs are awarded certificates demonstrating proficiency in the following areas:
● Smart Home Technology: The “smart” home includes devices
that automate lighting and manage energy consumption. In this program, students will learn to install energy-efficient lighting, temperature, and water systems and to perform post-installation service and maintenance.
● Home Analyst for Safety and Energy Savings: The Home Analyst
program provides the skills to evaluate energy usage through a complete home audit, and to make recommendations to homeowners about how to achieve greater energy efficiency.
The new programs, which begin March 29 at Wake Tech’s Plastics Technology Center in Zebulon, are supported by a $20,000 grant from the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund. They expand Wake Tech’s existing green technology offerings, which include programs in alternative fuels, hybrid vehicle technologies, and green building fundamentals.
Unemployed and under-employed workers, including former tobacco farmers and other displaced agriculture workers, may qualify for free tuition by completing a Career Readiness assessment. For more information, visit http://greenjobs.waketech.edu.
Wake Residents Invited to Environmental Summit
NEW HILL, N.C. – On Saturday, March 20, the New Hill Community Association, in conjunction with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice and the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, will host a summit on environmental justice and environmental racism at the First Baptist Church New Hill from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Currently Site 14, which is located in the New Hill historic district, is the preferred location for the Western Wake Regional Wastewater Management Facility, causing great concern among New Hill residents and their supporters. The Environmental Justice Summit will focus on the history and legacy of environmental racism in North Carolina, and on environmental consequences that Site 14 will place on the New Hill community.
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Pig Power
Winston-Salem Journal Editorial
North Carolinians may soon be thanking pigs for powering their light bulbs.
The state’s electric utilities are looking for business partners that will convert swine waste into electricity. They’ll pay more than they spend, themselves, to generate power from coal, natural gas or nuclear fuel. But the cost will hardly be recognizable on utility bills.
Duke Energy residential customers are expected to pay 16 cents more each month.
North Carolina is on the verge of realizing some of the benefits of 2007 legislation that aims to reduce the burning of fossil fuels in power plants. The legislation requires the state’s utilities, over the coming decade, to hit benchmarks for the use of a number of alternative fuels. One is swine waste, and the utilities must produce .07 percent of their electricity from it next year. That share rises to .14 percent in 2015 and .20 percent in 2018.
According to a report on the Carolina Journalism Network, an online publication at UNC Chapel Hill, the utilities hope farmers will put swine waste into bioreactors and convert it to a biofuel and organic fertilizer. The biofuel will produce electricity, and the fertilizer can be used or sold.
If the whole process works, everyone wins. The swine waste now stored in lagoons, which is an environmental disaster waiting to happen, will be put to a good use producing clean electricity. The air around farms will not smell as bad because the lagoons will be capped. And farmers should generate new cash from the sale of both electricity and fertilizer.
There’s even a possibility that such processes will increase the number of hogs that any individual farmer can raise.
The primary beneficiary will be North Carolina’s environment. As swine waste sits in lagoons, it releases climate-changing gases. And, as hurricanes approach our coast every fall, the threat of a catastrophic lagoon spill only increases. In heavy rains, lagoons have burst in the past, dumping their waste into rivers and streams.
The 2007 law was a major step forward for North Carolina. Although similar legislation had passed in other parts of the country, this act was the first of its kind in the Southeast.
The utilities aren’t exactly sure of what they will get in their search for bids. But there’s a very good chance that the swine waste-to-fuel industry, which for so long has been a distant promise, is ready to get started.
It may be years before a significant amount of electricity is generated in this fashion. But we’re on our way. And, considering the number of hogs in this state, there’s almost no limit to the potential here.
Snows Heat Up Warming Debate
by Media General News Service
Some people seem to think this winter’s snows prove that global warming is a bunch of hot air.
They are wrong, the experts say.
“That is totally a red herring,” said Jerry Stenger, director of the University of Virginia’s climatology office.
“That’s just silly,” said Jim Kinter, a meteorologist and part-time George Mason University faculty member.
It’s no more legitimate to say the East Coast’s recent heavy snows disprove global warming than to say Vancouver’s unusual warmth at the start of the Olympics proves it.
People who make those kinds of leaps are confusing weather — what’s happening outside — with climate, which is average conditions over a long time, the experts said.
If anything, Kinter said, global warming might — and he emphasized “might” — have contributed to this year’s snows.
Here’s how:
To get snow, you need a collision of warm, moist air with cold, dry air. Global warming might have helped produce extra moisture, and that could have resulted in extra snow, Kinter said.
But the main culprits behind this winter’s snows, Kinter said, are two well-known meteorological phenomena: the Arctic Oscillation, an expansion and contraction of cold air over the North Pole, and El Niño, a warming every few years of the tropical Pacific Ocean.
This winter, the Arctic Oscillation has sent cold air down from the north, particularly in December and February, and El Niño has increased the likelihood of severe coastal storms from Virginia through New England, Kinter said.
“To use the trite phrase, it’s the perfect storm for getting blizzards on the East Coast,” Kinter said. He is director of the Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies, a Calverton, Md., nonprofit dedicated to climate research.
Stenger said: “When we look at global climate change, one of the things we look at is globally average temperatures. When you’re looking at your backyard, that’s not the globe.”
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Are you Participating in Earth Hour?
On March 27, millions of people will turn off their lights for an hour at 8:30 p.m. 
It’s a worldwide effort focused on improving the climate and reducing our carbon footprints. And hey, you might actually see a few more stars with the lights off.
Check out an interactive map to see which state governments are participating. So far, North Carolina isn’t on the list, but in its newsletter, the city of Fayetteville said officials will use timers turning off government building lights.
From the Fayetteville newsletter: “We are committed to doing everything we can to helping our environment and this is an easy way to send that message,” said Jerry Dietzen, the City’s Environmental Services director and local Earth Hour coordinator. “We need citizens’ assistance with Earth Hour and urge them to participate. And we hope that more people are educated by this event, so that they will turn their lights off when they can throughout the year in order to have a cleaner climate.
Sustainable Sandhills will be at Fourth Friday signing people up for its Conservation Assistance Project, which helps low-income and elderly residents with measures like installing energy efficient light bulbs and low-flow showerheads and replacing air filters.
Learn More About Earth Hour.
Steel Recycling
Raleigh
Sam’s Wholesale Club
Location – 2537 South Saunders Street Raleigh, North Carolina
Zip code 27603
Raleigh Metal Recycling
Location – 2310 Garner Rd Raleigh, NC Zip code 27610
Phone. 919 614 5426
Jaycee Park Recycling Drop-Off Center
Location – 2405 Wade Ave Raleigh, NC Zip code 27607
Phone. 919 831 6522
Durham
S. Swartz and Son, Inc
Location – 217 South Holman St Durham, NC Zip code 27701
Phone. 919 682 0429
City of Durham Waste Disposal and Recycling Center
Location – 2115 E Club Blvd Durham, North Carolina Zip code 27704
Phone. 919 560 4611
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