New social network/industry association for sustainable energy

I've been asked to serve as one of the (unpaid) members of the Advisory Board of a new site that launched August 1. Sustainable Energy Alliance - http://www.sustainea.com -- aims to bring together people and their organizations working on solar, biofuels, wind, geothermal, wave and any other alternative energy solution. The idea is that the industry associations charge too much (thousands of dollars) but you don't get quite enough from the free groups, such as those on linkedin.com. Check it out!

Starter list

Here's a great reminder list of what we (US, other countries) need to do. It's a bit bigger than (most) companies can handle, but it's good to know it's a feasible list:
Stein's list of next steps to combat global warming.

What shade of green are top CEOs?

Let's see: seasick green. That would be Red (really) Cavaney, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute: "I think there's no question that there is going to be some successor fuel to oil and gas. The issues is that the transition, for which nobody knows the duration, be managed...[Ethanol] is going to play an important role, but it's got to be a longer transition..."

Envy green: "The U.S. ambassador to Sweden is raising money for Swedish companies -- and the U.S. is glad he's doing so." (Okay, so to call it "envy" is cynical; let's make it envoy.)

Forest green: Jim Jungwirth, CEO of Jefferson State Forest Products is the poster boy. "The same movement that drove towns like Hayfork, Calif. to the brink of collapse is now giving them a second chance at life."

And of course, money green: John Doerr, partner in VC firm Kleiner, Perkins: "The internet market, $100 billion or so; the energy market, $6 trillion. This is the mother of all markets."

--From The Wall Street Journal's special section drawn from its Eco-nomics conference.

A sustainable gas station?

This might be the last place you'd look for green design, but why not? Gasoline or some kind of transportation fuel will be with us for a long time, and the places we have to stop to keep our personal transportation vehicles going are ubiquitous. BP alone has 25,000 worldwide. Hence, "Helios House" -- the first gas station built out of recycled and recyclable materials. Commissioned by BP, the oil company that is trying to appear greener than thou, the structure is built of concrete consisting of crushed, unrecyclable glass, with sinks and toilets of aluminum scrap, and covered with solar panels (BP brand, of course!). Visit it at the corner of Robertson and Olympic Boulevards in Los Angeles. About the station.

What time is it? Time to act

Of course it's been time to act for decades, but if you haven't yet, why not start today? That's what I'm doing.

This blog will chart my own learning curve about the things my or any business can do to reduce energy use, reuse, prevent waste -- measure progress, and get others to hop on the anti-global warming bandwagon, both within your company and in your community.

I have questions and huge areas where my knowledge is limited (construction techniques, zoning and permitting regulations, electrical wiring, and well, much much more), but with the Web at our fingertips (yes, we'll look at greening computing, too), I'm hoping we can both learn and make progress.

My first question, in stream-of-consciousness order only: what can we do about the banks of long-tube "sprawling" (opposite of compact?) fluorescent lights that blanket so many office buildings? But first, I think, is to assess your actual energy consumption, CO2 emissions, waste and so on. Open Eco, a joint project of Sun Microsystems and Natural Logic, is a good place to start. (See link at right.) I'll be back soon!