Tthe U.S. Green Building Council has announced its newest initiative, The Center for Green Schools at USGBC. There are nearly 140,000 schools, colleges and universities in the United States; no one has ever counted the buildings, but thousands are barely built to code. The Center for Green Schools is how USGBC is working toward the
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The two moose sightings logged in Western Connecticut last week, one of which ended in a car accident, point to a situation state officials have been highlighting for several years—these large animals are living among us and their population is growing. Over the past 17 years, moose sightings increased from an average of 4 per
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A Next-Generation High-Speed Rail service could be successfully developed in the Northeast with trains operating up to 220 mph on a new two-track corridor resulting in a trip time of about three hours between Washington and Boston, according to an Amtrak concept plan released earlier this week.

Agriculture Commissioner F. Philip Prelli’s July 16 hiring of Debra Hinman — a former pizza restaurant chef and school bus driver who is the mother of an ex-aide to Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s chief of staff — was labeled “outrageous” by state Sen. Edith Prague, D-Columbia, co-chairwoman of the legislature’s labor committee. via Hiring
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Testing has now begun on the wind industry’s first production-scale Compact Wind Acceleration Turbine at Klug Farm in Torrington.

The turbine is the first the company has built and will provide power to Klug Farm, owned by George “Butch Klug.”

Owned and operated by the Klug family since the 1890s, the farm will be entirely powered by Optiwind’s locally harvested wind power once the turbine is fully operational in the next few months.

There are two over-riding points that speak to why the New Britain-Hartford Busway is a key part of New Britain’s future. First, of course, is to eliminate congestion on I-84 and make it easier for people to get to New Britain. Second, the potential for economic development at the downtown transit station, as well as
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A study of agriculture in Connecticut found that the industry provides $3.5 billion a year in sales — an output that translates to $1,000 per Connecticut resident. The industry also generates 20,000 jobs statewide, two-thirds of which are from farming alone.

Additionally, the industry contributes about $1.7 billion in ‘value added,’ which is the difference between the value of output and the cost of raw materials — the money left in the hands of residents and business taxes, both of which stay in Connecticut.

The Congressman from New York has asked the EPA to approve a “No Discharge Zone” designation for all New York waters in Long Island Sound, as requested by the New York State Department of Environmental Protection in August.

The Connecticut League of Conservation Voters has endorsed incumbent state Rep. Diana Urban, D-North Stonington in the Nov. 2 election. via The Day – Conservation voters league backs Urban | News from southeastern Connecticut. Blog this! Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tweet
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The Fairfield Conservation Commission unanimously approved “the concept” of providing two acres of Hoydens Hill Open Space to the Fairfield Organic Teaching Farm along with approving the sharing of two barns with town departments, when it met on Sept. 16. But then, as the commission gave with one hand, it took away with the other.
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Alexion Pharmaceuticals has earned two LEED for Commercial Interiors Gold Certifications for its global headquarters and research facility in Cheshire, Conn.

Transportation advocates looking for a fully funded multi-year transportation bill got a boost last week when USDOT Secretary Ray LaHood told members of the Transportation Equity Network that he had received a green light from the White House to move on the country’s next 6-year transportation bill. According to Transportation for America, USDOT officials now
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A court decision has for the second time been handed down in favor of the town in a case involving hundreds of acres that have been at the center of a tug-of-war for nearly a decade.

Yankee has named Kent No. 1 and East Haddam as No. 11 on its list of Top 25 towns in New England for fall foliage travel.

One of four Connecticut towns, East Haddam is the only town outside Litchfield County to be mentioned.

Also in the Sept./Oct. issue: Bill McKibben wraps up his four-part series, “How New England Can Change the World,” with an article on how small-town banks in Massachusetts’ Berkshire Hills are printing their own regional currency.

CT DEP and the Commission on Culture and Tourism are planning green certification training workshops beginning Thursday Oct. 7 at the Nathan Hale Inn and Conference Center in Storrs.

Leon Pierhal, chief executive officer of Shelton-based Opel Solar Inc., had to ask himself whether his latest plan to turn polluted industrial sites into solar-energy parks was a foolish pursuit. The federal program that’s supposed to subsidize such projects virtually has been inactive for the decade of its existence. “No one knows how to fill
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Along with CL&P President Jeff Butler and Nissan reps, Rell lauded the launch of Nissan’s battery-powered car, the LEAF, which goes on sale in limited markets in December and will be available nationwide some time in 2011.

CTLCV has announced its endorsement of George Jepsen in his campaign for Attorney General. The organization noted Jepsen’s impressive environmental track record and his eagerness to create a meaningful relationship between the Office of Attorney General and the Department of Environmental Protection.

The CFB is holding a series of free seminars statewide to help explain PA 490 and to distribute the Bureau’s latest PA 490 guide to landowners, government officials and anyone interested in how the law is applied.

Dairy farmers are lamenting a reduction in a state government aid program and are calling for changes in federal milk pricing.