Green Options

Tesla Motors hopes to secure federal funds by applying to redevelop brownfields - once-developed land that is now deemed hazardous or polluted - something judged quite favorably in loan process.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released a Google Earth-based interactive website that pinpoints opportunities for solar, wind or biomass siting on contaminated properties. The site combines the Google Earth platform with an EPA database that lists each property’s attributes for renewable energy development.

According to the EPA, many lands tracked by the agency, such as large Superfund sites, and mining sites offer thousands of acres of land, and may be situated in areas where the presence of wind and solar structures are less likely to be met with aesthetic, and therefore political, opposition.

Over the weekend, former President Bill Clinton addressed the U.S. Conference of Mayors, urging them to go green for the sake of the planet and their economies. Clinton boasted that his Clinton Climate Initiative will pump $5 billion into building retrofits in over 40 U.S. cities.

Large companies are also investing in green cities. CBS just announced a private-public partnership to bring green solutions to Miami, Chicago and San Francisco.

In many ways, cities have been ahead of State and Federal environmental efforts for the last few years. In July 2007, 600 U.S. Mayors signed a Climate Protection Agreement, pledging to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. There have been numerous notable investments across North America in public transportation and green roofs (Chicago comes to mind) and buildings. To learn more about one of the greenest cities in North America, I would check out Vancouver’s Sustainability website.