Editor's Take: May 03, 2009
Wayfinder 73, flickr
A Cleaner Economy
Solar and wind power aren't the only clean industries taking root in the Northwest. Today's news highlights lesser-known local businesses that could help the environment, from algae farmers to a company that helps people find jobs close to home. But apparently not everyone loves their work -- the prolonged recession has many feeling trapped in less-than-perfect employment.
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Your editor today is Jennifer Langston | View All Today's News
Puget sound businesses redefine 'clean'
Kitsap Sun
05/04/2009
People understand that innovations in solar and wind technologies qualify as clean tech, but many lesser-known Puget Sound services offer environmental benefits -- from a company that helps people find jobs within 25 miles of their home to manufacturers of equipment that stabilizes voltage on a power line and reduces electricity usage.
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Wind power: Green but fickle
Oregon Public Broadcasting
05/04/2009
Despite hundreds of windmills that have gone up in Oregon, wind remains an intermittent source of energy. Sometimes plants can't produce a single kilowatt during a heat wave or snowstorm, so companies are looking at pumping water uphill and even electric cars as a way to achieve the industry's holy grail: storing excess energy.
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Here comes the sun. Right?
New York Times
05/03/2009
At first glance, the timing of SolarWorld's decision to invest $500 million in a Hillsboro, Oregon factory during a recession couldn't have been worse. Prices for the company's solar panels have slid about 15 percent since the factory opened, but new federal incentives to encourage renewable energy should give the industry a boost, analysts say.
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Bellevue, Microsoft split on Sound Transit
Seattle Times
05/04/2009
Bellevue is asking Sound Transit to build a light-rail tunnel under the city's downtown, even though that would add $600 million to the cost and leaders don't know where to find the money. Microsoft is fighting the effort, telling Sound Transit it should put tracks on the surface instead of underground, so money can be saved to extend the tracks farther east - perhaps to downtown Redmond.
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Salmon-saving efforts could mean nothing
Boise Idaho Statesman
05/03/2009
The Pacific Northwest has spent two decades and hundreds of millions of dollars retooling dams, rebuilding damaged watersheds and restoring stream flows to keep salmon from disappearing. But a new threat - climate changes that make rivers warmer and spring runoff earlier - raises doubts about whether salmon will survive in the Northern Pacific at all.
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WA company beaming solar energy to algae
Seattle Times
05/04/2009
A Redmond company says it has developed a technology using glass rods that allows light to travel deep within ponds, whch generates higher yields of algae growth for biofuels. Bionavitas is one of dozens of startups nationally vying for a place in the young algae industry, which experts say has many hurdles before it becomes a useful tool.
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Cheaper deals for land conservation
Oregonian
05/03/2009
Bad times for builders mean more opportunities for conservation land deals. On the fast-growing fringe of Portland and across the nation, property that conservationists have eyed for years is now cheaper, there's less competition from developers and time is plentiful, even if cash is not.
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BC Greens want homeopathy in health care
Georgia Straight
05/04/2009
The BC Greens have always promoted a holistic approach to health care. And in a leaders debate, Green Leader Jane Sterk promised provincial funding for homeopathy. Care by a nurse practitioner, an RN, a homeopath, a naturopath physician, and this would all be funded within the public health-care system on a prevention model.
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Take this job and...keep it
Washington Post
05/03/2009
Perhaps your job has turned from difficult to dreadful as staffing has fallen and workloads have increased. Or maybe your office culture has gone bad along with the economy. Feel stuck in a job you no longer want? It's a feeling that's spreading as unemployment rises and more people decide it's too risky to quit.
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Saving the planet, with a thesaurus
New York Times
05/03/2009
"Energy efficiency" makes people think of shivering in the dark. Instead, it is more effective to speak of "saving money for a more prosperous future," according to a non-profit environmental marketing firm aiming build public support for climate change legislation. But is taking a page from the oil companies the way to achieve lasting social change?
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