• Plug-In, Power Up: Toyota Motor Corp. is equipping about 40 Prius hybrids with emergency power supply systems that will enable the cars to generate and store electricity to aid earthquake-and-tsunami ravaged northeastern Japan. The move, detailed by the Associated Press, is one of many recovery efforts by the country's largest firms in the wake of the March 11 disaster.
• Solar Shelters: Japan's Sekisui Jushi Corp. and Kyocera go to market this week with a solar bus shelter that's also designed to help provide power during emergencies. Solar panels form the roof of the Eco-Shell, pictured above, and power energy efficient LEDs that light the structures. The shelters have an outlet that can be tapped for emergency power to recharge essential devices such as cell phones during disasters, the companies say. For now, the shelters will only be available in Japan.
• Smog Suit: The Natural Resources Defense Council, Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles and other environmental and public health groups have sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. They claim the agency failed to meet a deadline for determining whether the Los Angeles Basin had met a national standard limiting ozone pollution.
The EPA was to have certified by May whether air districts had met the standard, according to the Los Angeles Times, which noted that the suit filed yesterday is similar to one filed against the EPA the same day in California Central Valley. That suit was brought by the Sierra Club and Medical Advocates for Healthy Air.
• Rx for Energy Efficient ORs: Johnson Controls says its new offering to manage energy consumption in hospital surgeries can save as much as $10,000 annually in energy costs per operating room. The company's Healthcare Environment Optimization system, developed with the firm HDR, works with a hospital's building automation system so that the powerful HVAC equipment used to ventilate operating theaters and eliminate airborne contaminants only operates when the ORs are in use. The software system is being beta tested at Union Hospital in Terre Haute, Ind., where a new five-story, 500,000-square-foot facility includes a surgical suite of 10 operating rooms.
• An Energy Star is Reborn: The recently retrofitted Empire State Building has earned an Energy Star rating for a second consecutive year. The iconic skyscraper underwent a $20 million energy efficiency overhaul and more recently its owners announced the building would be powered 100 percent by green energy.
• Power Grid HQ Goes Platinum: The headquarters of California's power grid operator, the California Independent System Operator Corporation, has received the highest level of green building certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The facility in Folsom, Calif., earned platinum-level certification under the USGBC's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards.
Image from Business Wire.
