Hurricane Alex Disrupting Cleanup of BP Oil-Spill

 Tropical Storm Alex , now is a hurricane and is bearing down on the Gulf of Mexico.

There is tremendous concern regarding the effect the storm could have on the oil spill's cleanup efforts. Also, as is always the case when natural disasters hit, there are huge worries about potential damage and loss of life.                     







The Gulf oil spill disaster has reached day 72, with environmental and economic costs to tourism, wildlife, fishing and other industries still mounting and the future of BP, the London-based energy giant, far from clear.

Local residents are braced for heavy rains and flooding from Alex, which strengthened into a hurricane late on Tuesday. The storm was on track to make landfall near the Texas-Mexico border late on Wednesday or early Thursday.
 
 With high winds, large waves and flooding rains on the way, controlled burns of oil on the ocean, flights spraying dispersant chemicals and booming operations are on hold for now, officials said.




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Poll: Americans Are Willing to Make Energy Sacrifices for a Better Future

Maybe it's something in the air--or in the Gulf--but Americans have finally decided that they are willing to make personal sacrifices for the betterment of both the environment and the economy. In a recent national survey commissioned by GE, 79% of those polled said they would adjust their energy consumption habits and behaviors in the short term to ensure bigger changes in the long-term--most likely because 72% of respondents believe that their energy use can directly harm the country's economic growth. As part of their commitment to change, 88% of those polled said they would be willing to use a smart device like a smart meter, thermostat, or smart appliance. That's encouraging news for companies like GE that are investing big bucks in smart grid-aware microwaves, oven ranges, hot water heaters, dryers, and more. These surveys are tied into larger concerns about the economy, as reported in a poll this week from the New York Times and CBS. According to the poll, 48% of Americans disapprove of the way the President is handling the economy, and only 34% believe that Obama has a clear plan for creating jobs. And while GE's survey indicates that Americans are willing to take charge on energy issues, the CBS poll shows that they also want government leadership. Fifty-nine percent of those polled think that Obama doesn't have a plan to deal with the Gulf oil disaster, and the majority of respondents want more environmental regulation for offshore drilling. Changing attitudes about energy use might not be directly related to the Gulf oil disaster, but the heartbreaking images of oil-soaked animals certainly have an effect. And as long as environmental issues impact our checkbooks, Americans will continue to care. 
Via Fast Company





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BP plans to suspend shareholder dividend amid oil spill

BP is expected to announce next week that it will suspend its shareholder dividend, the BBC has learned.No announcement is expected to be made until after talks between BP and US President Barack Obama on Wednesday. BBC business editor Robert Peston says that BP directors are to meet on Monday to discuss the payments.BP has been under intense pressure from the US government, which wants BP to use the money to pay for the Gulf of Mexico clean-up.Meanwhile, BP's shares closed up 7.2%, recovering losses suffered on Thursday."In practice, Monday's discussion at newly instituted weekly meetings of the board will be about when to suspend the payments, how long to suspend the payments, and what to do with the billions of dollars that would be saved and not paid to shareholders," our business editor says.
Dividend options Pensions expert and former government adviser Ros Altmann told the BBC that if the company did cut its dividend it would be "a blow", but should not be taken "out of proportion".
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World Cup Stadium to Feature Green Design

 There’s hasn’t been an abundance of sustainability coverage for the upcoming FIFA World Cup South Africa. Perhaps the excitement around the first-ever hosting of the World Cup on African soil has monopolized the media coverage; or perhaps there just isn’t a lot of sustainability initiatives to report on.
Regardless of the reason, we did find it worthy to highlight a few programs, most notably the design of the newly-built Durban stadium.
Construction of the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban was completed in 2009 and is set to host  70,000 spectators for one of the semi-final matches and numerous group matches.
The design called for a “state-of-the-art landmark sports facility with excellent amenities and a sustainable recreational and multi-disciplinary sporting venue.”
The stadium is stunning in design. Its most notable feature is a large 150-meter arch rising high above the stadium center. A SkyCar funicular system transports visitors to a Skydeck, allowing a birds’ eye view of the stadium, city and nearby coast.
Though large scale event-driven construction is always heavy on resource use, the builders of the Durban stadium minimized construction and demolition impact by utilizing recycled materials from the old stadium. More than 30,000 cubic meters of concrete demolition material from the old stadium was used for construction of the new stadium.

The PTFE-coated roof membrane allows 50 percent of sunlight to filter through while protecting the stadium from glare and rain. The stadium also features a rainwater collection system, water-saving installations, energy-efficient heating and cooling systems and natural ventilation design.
When the World Cup comes to a close mid-July and South Africans find themselves in a sort of post World Cup hangover, the ten beautiful stadiums spanning the country, five new and five updated, will still be standing. The Durban stadium, among others, was built to Olympic standards in the hopes of hosting a future Olympic Games in South Africa.

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Gucci Goes Green

 Gucci is going green. The Italian luxury brand has announced that it is going to make a few green changes, including redesigning their packing to be eco-friendly, using 100 percent recyclable FSC Certified paper.
The Italian label will now forgo the usual plastic laminate surfaces found in their tissue paper, bags and boxes. The ribbon and garment bags have been switched to cotton from the original polyester material.
They will be packing their shoes in one flannel instead of two. They will also give out gift boxes only when requested.
Also, Gucci is replacing all of its mannequins with a new version, designed by Frida Giannini, which is made with shockproof polystyrene and finished with water-based paints.
Creative director Frida Giannini was quoted by vogue.co.uk as saying, "This project proves hat you sacrifice nothing creatively when working with environmentally friendly materials."
"The new packaging is very beautiful and evokes perfectly the combination of Gucci's values and the traditions for which is has become renowned since Guccio Gucci founded the company in Florence nearly 90 years ago."
"I believe we have a collective responsibility towards future generations to minimize our impact on the environment."
The initiative will be introduced in all of its 284 stores starting this month.

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US experts find undersea oil from spill

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Duke Energy Center gets highest 'green' designation

Wells Fargo & Co. said yesterday that the Duke Energy Center  has been certified at the highest level of environmental certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.
The 48-story building, which opened in January, is the first and tallest office tower to receive the certification.
The building initially was meant to be the new headquarters for Wachovia Corp. But after Wells Fargo bought the collapsing Wachovia in late 2008, Duke Energy Corp. took over the naming rights to the tower.
Among the center's green attributes are recycling rainwater, and a roof that reduces heating and cooling costs.  The Duke Energy Center is located in Charlotte, North Carolina.







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Wake Up America - Eco-Friendly Song

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Gulf oil spill reaches day 50, Obama wants an 'ass to kick,' residents just want a solution

The Gulf Coast has had its behind beaten for the past seven weeks. Now President Obama wants an "ass to kick."
When an offshore oil rig near the Louisiana coast exploded April 20, no one immediately anticipated the blast would spark the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
Fifty days later, the environmental catastrophe is crystal clear.
In the following weeks, Americans have watched the CEO of the company responsible for the disaster jam his foot into his mouth repeatedly while efforts to stop the massive spill failed.
The government's response, lacking sufficient outrage according to the public, has been equally unable to keep thousands of gallons of oil each day from spewing into the Gulf.
BP CEO Tony Hayward has recently apologized for comments like, "I want my life back," that the Gulf was "a big ocean" and that "the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to be very, very modest."
President Obama used the gaffes to fire back, most notably saying in a "Today" show interview that he would fire Hayward if he were his boss and that he's looking for an "ass to kick."
All this while black ooze smothers the region's wildlife and economy.
Thad Allen, the Coast Guard admiral in charge of the government effort, summed up the chaos and confusion.
"Everyone wants certainty," he said. "With an oil spill like this, there isn't any."
Even the numbers are murky. Estimates peg the amount of oil floating in the ocean between 23 million and 49 million gallons.

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BP Gulf Oil Spill Update

Florida Oil Update:

Satellite imagery has confirmed as early as the beginning of this week that large sheens of oil were approaching the beaches of Florida. It’s really been a guessing game for the residents of Florida as to when exactly the oil would start hitting the beaches.  
Musician Jimmy Buffett, wearing his Margaritaville-brand flip-flops, stood Saturday on a pier at tar-ball blotched Pensacola Beach and led a pro-beach rally, urging Floridians to "not get a 'sky is falling' attitude" over the looming oil slick.
Buffett said he has survived hurricanes, getting shot at in Jamaica and a plane crash, and he insisted he's ready to ride out the oil-spill disaster that in the last two days has hit the white sand beaches of the Florida Panhandle.
"This is an environmental disaster nobody asked for, but Floridians are  tough people," Buffet said to the crowd of 1,000 beachgoers.
Tar balls swept along by strong winds hit more of the Panhandle coast Saturday, including Perdido Key at the far west end of the state and Grayton Beach, about 60 miles east of Pensacola Beach. A dozen tar mats — slabs of thickened crude as long as 30 feet  — were found near Navarre Beach.
As spill-response workers collected oil blobs in the background, Buffett was joined by Gov. Charlie Crist. Although the expanding slick is largely offshore, it continues to drift east and threatens to devastate the state's crucial tourism industry.      See Full Story

Containment Cap Update:

A containment cap that sucked some of the oil from a blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico offered a small sign of progress for a region that has seen its wildlife coated in a lethal oil muck, its fishermen idled and its beaches tarnished by the nation's worst oil spill.
Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said Saturday that after its first full day of work, the cap placed on the gusher near the sea floor trapped about 252,000 gallons of oil, which is somewhere between a quarter to half of the oil flowing from the well, according to government estimates.
Next, engineers at BP PLC must attempt to close vents on the cap that were deliberately allowing streams of oil to escape the system so water cannot get inside. When water and gas combined in an earlier containment box, it formed a frozen slush that foiled the system.
Allen, who said the goal is to gradually increase the amount of the oil being captured, compared the process to stopping the flow of water from a garden hose with a finger: "You don't want to put your finger down too quickly, or let it off too quickly."
While BP plans to eventually use an additional set of hoses and pipes to increase the amount of oil being trapped, the ultimate solution remains a relief well that should be finished by August.  Click For Full Story 







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