Fresh AIRE

Join Al Gore's Fight for Climate Change

The We Campaign is an effort founded by former Vice President Al Gore – a campaign started to help bring awareness to climate change (a campaign we’ve discussed in this blog previously).  As I am sure many of you know, the former Vice President has long been a leader in the fight against global warming.  And earlier today, the We Campaign held an event in DC which included a speech by former Vice President Al Gore.  The speech included a portion in which Gore issued an “unprecedented challenge” to politicians as to solving the climate crisis. Check out the details on their website. He hopes to change how the public views and thinks about energy and the effects of the climate crisis on the American economy.  The event will certainly be history making and former Vice President Al Gore may change the American landscape from this moment on.  For more information on the event and the Web Campaign, visit www.wecansolveit.org.

Nate Kresh, Intern with Arlington County and Student at Washington-Lee High School

25 degrees of separation

"Here comes the sun, doo doo doo doo..." And with the sun comes warm yellow light, vitamin D, and HEAT!

We're fortunate to have big picture windows with views of Arlington, the monuments, the Capitol, and the national cathedral. On a really clear day, we can see Jack Kent Cook stadium. With our eastern exposure, our windows get a lot of lovin' from the sun, too.

We measured the temperature just inside our double-paned windows (our building is new, just 3 years old) at... are you ready?... 118 degrees. Ouch! No wonder we keep the blinds down during the hottest parts of the day. To help reduce the window heat, we took on a project over the weekend -- applying heat-reflecting window film to most of the windows.

Bottom line? The heat now measures 93 degrees, or 25 degrees cooler. In this photo, the right window  has the film (it's slightly darker).

The kit was reasonably priced and relatively easy to use -- though you really, truly need two people to wrangle the film. My husband bought the kits at a home improvement store, and you can easily find it online.

---

Diana Sun (no relation to the big ball of heat) is Director of Communications for Arlington County, a walking commuter, bicylist, and happy resident of the urban village of Clarendon.

Be a “Green” Jammer!

Think “green” thoughts this summer...especially if you’re taking part in the Dave Matthews Band (DMB) 2008 tour.  When singing along to the tunes, especially the infamous DMB song Tripping Billies, “Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we’ll die,” hang on to your bottles and cans!  DMB wants you to take this one seriously and is challenging you to recycle at the remaining shows of their 2008 tour by seeking out the specially marks bins – in exchange for some cool stuff, like front row seats!  It's called 'So Much to Save.'  DMB is going beyond recycling though.  The band’s efforts are known as “The Bama Green Green Project.”  Other cool efforts, like ‘Eco-Rideshare’ - launched to promote carpooling to shows, are taking off.  How cool is that?  And so easy too!!  As if DMB isn’t already one of the sweetest bands around, they’ve just earned extra points in my book.  Keep on jammin’!

Oil stain on Nationals Park?

Count me among the thousands of people who've enjoyed the Washington Nationals new LEED-certified baseball stadium.  Although not thrilled about $7.50 beers and $4.00 waters, at least there are recycling containers clearly marked for our empties.  Plus, energy-efficient lighting is evident throughout, and the roof above Red Hot and Blue inside the park is vegetated to keep cooler and control rainwater runoff.

A 20-game ticket plan holder, I've been aware of the Exxon-Mobil advertising throughout the Park.  Recently, however, a coalition of Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Friends of the Earth, and Greater Washington Interfaith Power & Light has begun calling attention to this sponsorship, and the possibility that XOM may buy the naming rights to this green stadium in our nation's capital.  Whaddaya think of that?

I am brilliant

My husband and I moved from suburban life 3 years ago to a condo in Clarendon (Arlington) -- and I felt brilliant at the time, with gas at $3/gallon. With gas now at $4+, I feel like a downright genius!

Now the New York Times has confirmed my genius-ness with an article, "Fuel Prices Shift Math for Life in Far Suburbs." As the article states, "The shift to costlier fuel is threatening to slow the decades-old migration away from cities."

Higher fuel prices may at last be providing the big motivation for people to seek a more transit-oriented, walkable, bikeable life. We've already seen that Arlington's urban villages have weathered the housing downturn better than our ex-burban neighbors.

Urban villages = healthier and now, wealthier! Am I brilliant, or what!

---

Diana Sun is Director of Communications for Arlington County, a walking commuter, bicylist, and happy resident of the urban village of Clarendon.

Getting Started is Easy

Thanks to the entreprenurial spirit of some local DC area inhabitants, getting started on reducing your personal carbon footprint is easy!  We’ve recently come across two organizations providing their services and products to the DC area and we encourage you to take a look too:

• Earth Aid Enterprises LLC:  Initiated as a campaign to “accelerate the development and deployment of sensible home energy efficiency solutions for all Americans.”  The goal:  reduce America’s greenhouse gas emissions equivalent of over 1,000,000 cars each and every year.  To achieve this, they provide a customized Earth Aid Kit^TM, which is a collection of products that anyone can easily install in his/her home at a very low cost. 
• Energy Shift:  Founded on the belief that “the backbone of change is individual action.”  The goal:  move away from dependence on fossil fuels.  To this end, Energy Shift provides information and products to consumers enabling them to make better choices.  Energy Shift provides a Starter Kit of products and information to implement at home and again, at a very low cost. 

Take a look today and see just how easy it can be. 

Compact Floursent Bulb Recycling - Home Depot

While Arlington started a compact fluorescent (CFL) bulb recycling program 2 months ago as noted in our previous post HERE, Home Depot really wins the big prize. 

As of yesterday you can bring used and unbroken CFL bulbs to the store’s returns desk. “The bulbs will then be managed responsibly by an environmental management company who will coordinate CFL packaging, transportation and recycling to maximize safety and ensure environmental compliance.”

"The CFL recycling program is another example of how The Home Depot is empowering customers to help make a difference in their own homes, and have less of an impact on the environment," said Ron Jarvis, senior vice president, Environmental Innovation. "With more than 75 percent of households located within 10 miles of a Home Depot store, this program is the first national solution to providing Americans with a convenient way to recycle CFLs."

At the same time, The Home Depot announced that by Fall 2008 light fixture showrooms in its US stores will be switched from incandescent bulbs to CFLs. The measure will save the company $16 million annually in energy costs.  This is yet another example of how being environmentally responsible has very tangible financial payback. 

You can still recycle your used CFL bulbs at these locations in Arlington; or just bring them with you on your next trip to Home Depot.

Additional Resources:

http://www6.homedepot.com/ecooptions/stage/pdf/cfl_recycle.pdf

http://www6.homedepot.com/ecooptions/index.html?&cm_sp=homepage%2d%5f%2dwk21%2d%5f%2dF1%2d%5f%2dCFL%5frecycling%5fat%5fTHD%5f062608%2d%5f%2dlearn%5fmore

At the same time, The Home Depot announced that by Fall 2008 light fixture showrooms in its US stores will be switched from incandescent bulbs to CFLs. The measure will save the company $16 million annually in energy costs.  This is yet another example of how being environmentally responsible has very tangible financial payback. 

You can still recycle your used CFL bulbs at these locations in Arlington; or just bring them with you on your next trip to Home Depot.

Additional Resources:

http://www6.homedepot.com/ecooptions/stage/pdf/cfl_recycle.pdf

http://www6.homedepot.com/ecooptions/index.html?&cm_sp=homepage%2d%5f%2dwk21%2d%5f%2dF1%2d%5f%2dCFL%5frecycling%5fat%5fTHD%5f062608%2d%5f%2dlearn%5fmore

Additional Resources:

http://www6.homedepot.com/ecooptions/stage/pdf/cfl_recycle.pdf

http://www6.homedepot.com/ecooptions/index.html?&cm_sp=homepage%2d%5f%2dwk21%2d%5f%2dF1%2d%5f%2dCFL%5frecycling%5fat%5fTHD%5f062608%2d%5f%2dlearn%5fmore

What if Metro trains never stopped?!

Sure, a train that never stops would inherently be more energy efficient without all of the stop and start motion.  They would also be more reliable BUT is it really practical?

While this isn't in the works for Metro here in the greater Washington DC area, it is an interesting idea.  One can only wonder what is being said in the video since it is in Taiwanese but it poses a very interesting concept.  It is hard to visualize how a train could allow passengers to board and exit while speeding along but the 3D animation illustrates this top-mounted boarding shuttle system.

Arlington Residents continually call our office with great ideas to save emissions and reduce energy use. While this idea is rather abstract, we always welcome your thoughts and input.

Click below to get an idea on how this concept might work:

If you have reduced your energy use at home or work please let us know.  We would love to share your success in future blog entries!