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New economy cities: A Seattle slew of advantages
The Christian Science Monitor
11/22/2009
Seattle is the prototype city of the future. It embodies in one leafy landscape virtually all of the forces driving the New Economy – exports, an educated workforce, a vibrant high-tech base, a budding green-tech sector, and an enviable lifestyle. Still, Seattle is far from perfect.
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US companies making carbon cuts
San Francisco Chronicle
11/19/2009
A survey of 90 big US companies found that most were addressing climate change, either by cutting energy use, measuring greenhouse gas emissions, adopting policies to cut emissions, or pushing for federal legislation to do the same.
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Home energy-efficiency startup wins CA green contest
San Francisco Chronicle
11/18/2009
Startup companies with ways to save energy and make plastic from wastewater took top honors Tuesday evening in the 2009 Cleantech Open, an annual contest to find and nurture California's promising environmental entrepreneurs.
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Boise company's solar charger may save gas
Boise Idaho Statesman
11/17/2009
Treasure Valley Solar is marketing a way to keep electronic devices revved up in the car without turning on the engine.
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Paying extra for green power, getting ads instead
New York Times
11/17/2009
Close to a million electricity customers have signed up for voluntary "green power" payments, and the amount of electricity sold in this way has nearly tripled since 2005, amid rising concern about climate change and energy security. But the participants are in a distinct minority, with a sign-up rate of only about 2 percent in programs run by utilities.
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Largest Portland-based firm mum on sustainability
Portland Tribune
11/12/2009
Portland prides itself as a green Mecca, but the largest company based in the city -- Precision Castparts Corp. -- isn't exactly jumping on the sustainability bandwagon, ranking near the bottom in a recent US sustainability scorecard.
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Sea-Tac Airport honored for 'green' concessions
Seattle Business Journal
11/11/2009
Concessions operators at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport are the "greenest" airport concession operators in the country, as shown by the airport's first-place win at a recent awards event.
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Gore pushes for renewable energy
San Francisco Chronicle
11/10/2009
Al Gore and his crusade against global warming landed in the Bay Area this week with a call to arms and a message for those who still think the former vice president is tilting at windmills.
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A new lease on solar
USA Today
11/08/2009
California-based SolarCity has helped pioneer a way to bring solar to the masses and remove one of the biggest hurdles to its widespread adoption: up-front costs. Its residential customers can lease a system at no money down, and in many areas, save 10% to 15% a month on their combined electric and lease-payment bill.
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Oregon reins in renewable tax breaks
Oregonian
11/03/2009
Oregon energy officials released new rules Tuesday aimed at curbing a controversial state program that grants lucrative tax subsidies for wind, solar and other renewable power plants. The changes are intended to rein in some of the runaway costs of the program.
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MEC raises ire of bicycle industry
Toronto Globe and Mail
11/03/2009
Vancouver BC's Mountain Equipment Co-op, which has built its retailing reputation on a feel-good image of environmental and social responsibility, has ignited anger in an unlikely place - the bicycle industry.
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Campbell announces sweeping BC energy policy goals
Vancouver Sun
11/02/2009
BC's premier aims to make the province an international leader in green power development -- both for local energy needs and for export to the US and elsewhere in Canada. He's rolling out the red carpet, seeking proposals from private industry.
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WA, OR on cutting edge for green jobs
Vancouver Columbian
11/03/2009
The green research firm, Clean Edge, has released a study of "clean-tech" jobs, identifying the top 15 metro areas in the US for jobs in fields such as renewable energy and energy efficiency. The Puget Sound region (Seattle, Tacoma, Bremerton) and the Portland-Salem area in Oregon, ranked seventh and eighth, respectively.
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Green energy tax incentives cost Oregon more than predicted
Coos Bay World
11/02/2009
According to an investigation by the Oregonian, OR officials underestimated the cost of Gov. Ted Kulongoski's plan to lure green energy companies to Oregon with big subsidies, resulting in a program that cost far more than expected. Kulongoski's staff says that they had no idea the program would be this popular when they designed the policy.
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BC seeking green energy proposals from private industry
Toronto Globe and Mail
11/03/2009
British Columbia will ask private industry for a new slate of green electricity proposals in the spring, Premier Gordon Campbell says, as the government pushes to more quickly develop clean energy for the province and for export.
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Obama urges 'bold innovative action' to create jobs
Los Angeles Times
11/02/2009
Convening a meeting of his economic advisory board, the president calls for a focus on three areas: increasing US exports, expanding green technology and rebuilding infrastructure.
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Obama to detail stimulus spending on 'smart grid'
Los Angeles Times
10/27/2009
A $3.4-billion chunk will go toward grants to modernize the US power system to more easily use renewable resources. The president will speak at a solar facility in Arcadia, Fla.
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Food plants make comeback in Oakland
San Francisco Chronicle
10/25/2009
At a time when most industries in CA are suffering, Oakland's food business - including everything from tofu to doughnuts - appears to be expanding and hiring workers for living wage jobs.
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WA company crafts a sleeker solar panel
Everett Herald
10/25/2009
Sometimes it's what you don't see that makes a product special. When you stand beneath a solar panel built by Arlington's Silicon Energy, Washington's first solar panel manufacturer, you won't see jumbled, ugly wires or opaque padding. You'll see blue from the silicon cells and sunlight streaming through.
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Looking through green-colored glasses
Willamette Week
10/21/2009
Portland's mayor seeks federal dollars for a sustainability center and the world's first large-scale "net-zero" building. But with projected rents of $30 a square foot, could the pricey building's proposed tenants - non-profits, university groups and sustainability start-ups - afford it?
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Seattle companies produce bio-energy
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
10/19/2009
Two Seattle bio-energy companies, Blue Marble Energy Corp. and Bionavitas, have joined forces to produce biochemicals from microalgae using a Bionavitas process that can greatly increase large-scale algae production.
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Green development practices may rebound
Oregonian
10/20/2009
The recession has temporarily diminished the importance of climate change and alternative energy sources as a factor in commercial real estate investment decisions, but interest is likely to pick up when the market rallies, according to a survey of US financial industry leaders conducted by the Urban Land Institute.
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Target, CVS put plastic bags in the bull's-eye
USA Today
10/20/2009
Just in time for the holidays, reusable shopping bags are about to go decidedly mainstream.
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UN: Solar energy often preferable to biofuels
Recharge
10/20/2009
Photovoltaics (PV) and solar-thermal systems are a more efficient and environmentally friendly way of tapping the sun's energy on abandoned land than crops grown for use in liquid biofuels, according to a new UN report.
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New "green" high-rise opens Tuesday in downtown Missoula
Missoulian
10/13/2009
The architect Kent Bray has designed enough buildings to no longer be surprised when they rise from drawings to finished projects.
But something about Missoula's new First Interstate Bank, which opens downtown on Tuesday, hadn't fully caught his eye.
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