News

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Smarter Than Your Average Building

Submitted by TimJFowler on Wed, 2009/10/07 - 5:39pm
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Professor Andrea Mammoli and solar collectors on the UNM Mechanical Engineering Building

The phrase 'Smart Grid' has been thrown around quite a lot recently. Unfortunately, it isn't clear to many of us what a 'Smart Grid' actually is. Some folks at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque have built and are testing one of the first pieces of the future smart grid - a smart building. The Mechanical Engineering Building at UNM has a newly refurbished solar-thermal energy array that provides 90% of the building's heating needs and 35% of its cooling.

Desert Rock Air Permit Remanded

Submitted by TimJFowler on Wed, 2009/09/30 - 3:15pm
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Navajo Woman in Gas Mask Banner

Good news for the Four Corners region and everyone downwind of the proposed Desert Rock Coal Power Plant. The EPA has been ordered to remand (i.e. revoke) the Air (pollution) Permit that had been granted to Desert Rock Energy Company LLC. The Environmental Appeals Board held that the permit had not properly considered the possibility of CO2 capture. Coal-fired power plants have many other dirty problems beyond CO2 emissions, including mercury and other heavy metals pollution. But perhaps most notable is the problem that Carbon-capture coal plants simply don't exist!

Coal Ash Waste - In Our Backyard

Submitted by TimJFowler on Wed, 2009/09/02 - 10:12am
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TVA Kingston TN Coal Ash Pond Failure

0n December 22, 2008 a 'storage pond' dam broke in Harriman, TN flooding the Tennessee River Valley with over 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash sludge. What wasn't known at the time of this man-made disaster is how many more Coal Ash dump sites exist in the U.S.A. Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request by the Environmental Integrity Project, Earthjustice and the Sierra Club the EPA released a list of 584 coal ash dump sites across the country. 35 states, including New Mexico, have coal ash dumps containing arsenic, lead, mercury and other toxins.

Breeding Diversity Organically

Submitted by TimJFowler on Mon, 2009/08/24 - 4:52pm
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IFOAM Conference logo

What: 1st International IFOAM Conference on Organic Animal and Plant Breeding
Where: Santa Fe Convention Center, Sante Fe, NM, USA
When: August 25-28, 2009

  • The Conference Opening Ceremony and Reception on Tuesday, Aug. 25 at 7 pm, are open to the public at $10 per person. Keynote speakers include New Mexico Agriculture Secretary Miley Gonzalez and Indian food activist Vandana Shiva.
  • IFOAM Conference Program

    • How Can You Stop The Sun From Shining?

    Submitted by TimJFowler on Thu, 2009/08/20 - 4:52pm
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    NREL Solar Photovoltaic Resource Map

    For a state with so much solar potential, New Mexico has realized very little actual solar power. PNM (the major electrical utility in NM) currently has about 1.4 megawatts of solar PV capacity, almost all of which is owned by individual customers. PNM owns two solar facilities, a 25kW solar PV system located in Algodones and a 5kW system in Aztec. With so little solar photovoltaic power in place, PNM's most recent proposal to limit privately-owned, grid-tied solar PV systems has the Renewable Energy Industry Association of New Mexico (REIA-NM) concerned.

    Native Plant Day in Santa Fe

    Submitted by TimJFowler on Wed, 2009/08/12 - 3:10pm
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    Native Summer and Fall Flowers

    What: Native Plant Day, promoted by the Native Plant Society of New Mexico.
    When: All day Saturday, August 15th
    Where: Agua Fría Nursery, Payne's Nurseries, Santa Fe Greenhouses, and Plants of the Southwest

    Are You All Natural?

    Submitted by TimJFowler on Wed, 2009/07/29 - 12:17pm
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    All Natural ?

    Fairtrade, 100% Organic, All Natural, Salmon Safe, CSA Sustainable Forest Management. All of those sound great and are the sort of labels that many of us look for on the food and other products we buy. But, what do all of those labels REALLY mean? Food labeled USDA Organic is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation. On the other hand, a, 'All Natural' label doesn't mean much at all.

    High Speed Rail from Texas to Colorado

    Submitted by TimJFowler on Fri, 2009/07/10 - 4:08pm
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    Santa Fe R.R. Freight Train

    Could New Mexico be on the path of a new High-Speed Rail Corridor running from Texas to Colorado? Imagine being able to take a bullet train from El Paso, TX north to Denver, CO with stops in between at Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Colorado Springs. You could catch a dedicated, high-speed passenger train instead of spending hours driving by car or trying to book a flight that doesn't connect through Phoenix, Dallas or even further away.

    Roll out the Rain Barrel for Colorado

    Submitted by TimJFowler on Tue, 2009/06/30 - 1:18pm
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    Wine Barrel to Rain Barrel

    Colorado has just begun a new program to allow rainwater harvesting. Strangely enough, due to the complexities of Colorado's water laws, it had been illegal to catch and hold the rain that fell on your roof! On June 2, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed the rain water collection bill into law. While there are many restrictions as to who can harvest the rain in Colorado, it is definitely a good step towards sustainability. Congratulations Colorado, starting July 1st you will no longer have to hide your rain barrels! Next, we have to work on Utah.

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