Policy and Sustainability

 

 

http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itgic/0300/ijge/ijge0300.htm

This page is an electronic journal of the U.S. Department of State. It is dated March 2000 and is volume 5, number 1. Various government officials, as well as variety of other individuals, wrote the articles included in this issue. The information is presented in a fairly neutral manner. Although the information may be dated, there are many links to external sources that are kept current. This page covers many different issues including the environment of cities, working toward sustainability, and environmental protections.

 

http://www.tpl.org/index.cfm

This is the web page for The Trust for Public Land. They are a nonprofit organization whose central goal is land conservation. They try to achieve this by many different means. TPL creates greenways, conserves watersheds, deal with community growth, and help preserve historic sites. The Board of Directors represents a large cross section of society and this helps to ensure that different views are addressed. They have many different projects and the information on these projects is up to date on the site.

 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/energy/index_en.html

This is a sub-site within the European Commission web page. It is specific to the energy policy that the European Commission upholds. They have information about conventional sources of energy and information about new and renewable energy sources. With each source to energy you can navigate deeper into them and gain more information about the policy of the European Commission. It was last updated about a month ago (12-16-2002).

 

University of Michigan: Center for Sustainable Systems
http://css.snre.umich.edu/   Charting courses toward sustainability. Sustainable Development International


http://www.sustdev.org/Copyright Henley Publishing. Articles!  There is a lot of information and it is all up to date, and it
can give you insight into what is going on in the mainstream media about  sustainability issues, but please, take it lightly.  The articles have a lot of information that is unsupported, undated, and not factually reliable.  But there are a lot of them!  The authors are just random names that do not name sources.  But there are a lot of them!  This page covers a huge amount
of topics including agriculture, energy, oceans, climate change, coastal zones, transportation, water resource management, and health and social issues.  They are written on policy, issues, and debates.  There are quick and easy links to the Dow Jones sustainability index!  Good or bad, useful or useless you decide.

 

Watch Your Step:  Understanding the Impact of Your Personal Consumption on the Environment

http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/projects/cases/footprint/footprint.html

 I've heard about this website for a while.  It attempts to "address the sustainability of humans on Earth."  The fun part is a spread sheet to assess your own personal consumption on Earth, is it sustainable?  The questions are  more in depth then other similar websites, though computations have their limitations.

 

http://solstice.crest.org/  This site covers a wide variety of information ranging from Bioenergy to Green Products and Practices.   The main classifications are renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainable development.  The information is detailed.  http://www.crest.org/  This is the new version of the CREST web site.  It offers information about new markets and jobs in the area of renewable technology. They also provide information about research and development as well as progress on current projects.  This is a good all around website.

 

Montana Greenpower:  www.montanagreenpower.org

Customers of NorthWest Energy, with the logos of Million Solar Roofs and Energy Star on the homepage, bring Montana Greenpower to you.  This website offers a guide to renewable energy in Montana specifically, as well as general information on solar, wind and other renewable energies.  Montana Greenpower offers publications, compiled resources, a cool photo of Earth at night.  A lot of links, with description of each website, including one specific to Native American developments of green power.  I think is updated daily with headlines

 

American Green Network:  www.americangreen.org

This organization is sustainable energy advocates, dedicated to provide information to keep America and their policy makers informed, and an active member of sustainable energy coalition.  Over a hundred links A-Z. Only date is the web page established in 2001.


. www.itdg.org Intermediate Technology Development Group

This website contains a plethora of information on bringing energy saving technology to developing countries. ITDG’s mission statement is centered around poverty reduction, environmental conservation and technology choice. Information is provided on food production, energy, transport, small-scale development, and disaster mitigation, among other topics. They have specific information on Latin America and have included their report on projects (including financing) for their work in Latin America.  The founder of ITDG was EF Schumacher, a quoted character from The Prize: “There is no substitute for energy.  The whole edifice of modern life is built upon it.  Although energy can be bought or sold like any other commodity, it is not ‘just another commodity,’ but the precondition of all other commodities, a basic factor equally with air, water, and earth.”   ITDG is a registered charity in the United Kingdom. ITDG has no volunteer program because they work to employ the people from the countries in which they work, although they provide extensive information on where to volunteer or become educated to help with poverty reduction around the world.

 

. swtdi.nmsu.org

            The Southwest Technology Development Institute is affiliated with the New Mexico State University.  For twenty-five years, it has conducted research on appropriate technology for Latin America.  The Institute is located on the NMSU campus and was originally funded with a grant from the Department of Energy to research residential photovoltaic systems.  They are also sponsored by the US government through the Sandia National Laboratories (who are in turn sponsored by Lockheed-Martin!) which is not surprising due to the fact Sandia is a huge resource for funding, etc in New Mexico.  SWTDI offers training programs and workshops for people of all educational levels, from basic instruction and installation procedures, to engineering level courses.  The website provides information of present workshops available in renewable technologies, publications on these subjects, and links to other organizations with similar directives.  These include governmental departments, non-profits, and corporations/small businesses.  A bonus goes to this website because it is bilingual!

 

www.i4at.org

            The Institute for Appropriate Technology was founded through the non-profit Global Village in 1980.  It works to bring technologies to developing nations so as to use less energy and work towards environmental sustainability.  The website includes information on the organization’s history, including project reports and summaries for the last four years, an annual financial report, and highlights of current technologies for home design and home cooking.  I4AT is especially concerned with incorporating women into sustainability issues.  The website has an impressive list of available technologies for sale and great links.

 

www.efn.org/~apro/index.html

            This is the web direction for the Eugene, OR, based company Aprovecho.  This company was one of the first (founded in the 1970s) to make available appropriate technology for Latin America and other developing regions.  They offer many products, including a home solar cooker, and do good work in outreach to countries needing the technology.  One report on their work said they had more fame in Latin America than they did in the USA.  Although this is a great website, I have found it down a few times, but keep trying!

 

www.inforse.dk

            The International Network for Sustainable Energy is comprised of 150 non-governmental organizations and is based in Denmark, although it was founded in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.  All membership requests are screened for their independence from government and coincidence with INFORSE’s mission statement.  The website has links by region where they are doing work to other organizations it that area.  It also has publications and activities, including downloaded versions of every newsletter they have published.

  

http://www.ucsusa.org/index.cfmThe Union of Concerned Scientists

An alliance established in 1969 of 50,000 concerned citizens and scientists across the country seeking to ensure that all people have access to air, energy and transportation that’s clean and that they all have access to food that is produced in a safe and sustainable manner. This web site features a wide range of topics from Antibiotics to Nuclear warheads with faqs, analysis and fact-sheets keeping the users informed. Many pages often feature possible solutions to some of our biggest issues with articles like “7 Ways to Switch America to Renewable Energy” and “Coal vs. Wind Power: You be the Judge”. On top of all this, they even had the courtesy of providing me with links to web sites based on articles that I looked up. If you get bored don’t forget to play “The Great Green Web Game”,  a trivia game that punishes ignorance with more knowledge.

 

http://www.sustainableenergy.org/Default.htm

Sustainable Energy Coalition

A coalition of more than 30 national businesses, environmental, consumer, and energy policy organizations with updated links to news articles related to energy and sustainability. One of the best features is the “Find An Expert” which allows the user to gain contact information on various people with expertise in specific fields, such as wind power or biomass.

 

http://www.ulb.ac.be/ceese/meta/sustvl.html

                        The Center for Economic  and Social Studies on the Environment, located at the Universite’ Libre de Bruxelles, maintains this virtual library web site on sustainable  development( http://www.ulb.ac.be/ceese/meta/sustvl.html).  Their list of hundreds of web sites includes: other virtual library, web sites, data bases, electronic journals, documents, references, news, organizations, events and other information.  Many of these web sites are valuable to my research and have current  information.  Unfortunately, I am unable to connect  to some of these web sites, I believe this is because  it has been almost a year since this web site has been updated (March 24, 2002). 

 

http://www.sustainable-cities.org.uk/home.html

                        The purpose of The Sustainable Cities Research Institute at Northumbria Universities home page is to promote  and develop sustainable urban living.  I did not see a date when this web site was last updated, however the calendar of events and conferences was up to date.  This web site list the director and managers of this organization, as well as current  and past projects, news and links to other sites and organizations.

 

http://www.icsc.ca/      

            The International Centre for Sustainable Cities (ICSC) is an organization based out of Vancouver, Canada  it is made up of over 30 cities around the world who share information  and resources to improve their cities. Its web site (http://www.icsc.ca/) gives many examples of sustainable city projects  around the world-many  in developing  nations, a current  news letter and other information.

 

http://www.teriin.org/index.htm 

            The Tata Energy Research Institutes (TERI) web site (http://www.teriin.org/index.htm) promotes the institutes’ work towards developing sustainable and efficient use of the world’s natural resources.  The TERI web site contains  current news, research done by the TERI School of Advanced Studies, information resources, publications and projects.  TERI is based in India and much of this information applies to developing  nations.

 

http://www.iscvt.org/ischome3.html      

            The Institute for Sustainable Communities  home page (http://www.iscvt.org/ischome3.html) was last up dated on January  21, 2003.  I think  the most interesting part of this web site was this organizations projects with sustainable business development  in developing countries and environmental education projects.   The Institute for Sustainable Communities  also names  whom they  receive their funding from.

 

http://www.altenergy.org

An informative site aimed at educating the public on non-renewables and their damaging effects. While focusing on solutions through traditional renewables and new energy technology.  AEI is an institute actively working to solve the imminent energy situation through a community network of information.

 

International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives Energy Fact Sheets

 www.iclei.org/efacts/content.htm

This website provides 30 factual web pages on past, present, and future use of all energy sources. Major topic heading covered include Fuels of Today and Yesterday, Nuclear Energy, Energy Use/Waste of Society, Consequences, Alternative Fuels, and Renewable Energy Sources.  The website articles are factual information pages and serve as an aid to understanding energy and renewables.  Provides a solid introductory learning in the above-mentioned topics. 

 

Northwest Seed (Sustainable Energy for Economic Development)

Out of Seattle, WA, NW SEED is a non-profit organization working to maximize the benefits of renewable energy resources.  Their website lists upcoming conferences in the area relating to renewable energy, progress on their wind co-op, lists of current world-wide articles on sustainable energy, and internship and volunteer opportunities.  This is a great local website developing motive and change for community sustainability. S. Godin

www.nwseed.org

 

http://www.energyideas.org/topics/?o=h,t&c=z,z

This website is made for people who live in the Pacific Northwest.  If you are interested in going to an energy-related conference, this site will tell you what is going on where.  The website gives you access to articles and reports.  It is conveniently organized into a wide range of topics, such as building design, heat recovery, lighting, pumping systems, refrigeration, and steam systems.  It is especially useful to people considering building a home.  The site is funded by the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance and managed by The EnergyIdeas Clearinghouse, part of the Washington State University’s Cooperative Extension Energy Program.  You can write to them with a technical question about energy efficiency or renewable energy and they will email you a response.  The web page is very up-to-date.  WM

 

http://www.sida.se/Sida/articles/8200-8299/8264/rep_5.pdf

This Web Site (www.sida.se/Sida/articles/8200-8299/8264/rep_5.pdf) is a article called Physical Planning and Sustainable Urban Transport: A Comparative Analysis of Four International Cities from December 1998 by Ulf Ranhagan and Sara Trobeck. The four international cities compared in this article are Tehran, Curitiba, Port Elizabeth and Hanoi. Although the history of these cities are completely different they all have the same goal, to improve transportation. The point of this article is that with good planning high, urban density is a effective way to reduce the consumption of transport energy. Despite the age of this article, it contains a useful point of view on urban sustainable transportation in developing countries.

SF

 

http://www.sustainabledevelopment.org/ blp/learning/SC_Framework.html

Julian Hart constructed a sustainable city framework based on Abraham Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Human Needs” that can be found on this web site (www.sustainabledevelopment.org/ blp/learning/SC_Framework.html ). This web site is under the local leadership programme of the UN. Julian Hart believes sustainability is the balance of social, economic and environmental aspiration and many sustainability projects today do not fit this framework.   SF

 

http://www.vista.gov.vn/VistaEnglish/VistaWeb/ tindientu/infotera/1999/inf2/rif.htm

The History of Hanoi as a ancient sustainable city is described in this Web site (www.vista.gov.vn/VistaEnglish/VistaWeb/ tindientu/infotera/1999/inf2/rif.html) that is an exert from the 1995 book Sustainable Cities: The Case of Hanoi by Clarence Schubert . For most of its 1000 year life Hanoi has been a sustainable city, but unfortunately in the last 50 years this has started to change because of war, population growth, and rapid economic development. This web site is useful, because it is important to know the reasons why many developing nations that were once sustainable and prosperous, now live in poverty and depend on developed nations.  SF

 

http://www.ruaf.org/

The Resource Centre on Urban Agriculture and Forestry’s web site (www.ruaf.org/) was last updated on January 15, 2003. It focuses on this organizations purpose to integrate urban agriculture in the city planning. It has information on many projects in developing nations such as wastewater management and urban agriculture, news, a magazine and links to other organizations.

SF

 

http://www.saplanners.org.za/SAPC/pa-papers.htm

This web site(www.saplanners.org.za/SAPC/pa-papers.htm) was submitted by Dr. Abraham Ndung’u of Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya to Planning Africa in September of 2002. This document points out the importance of developing sustainable cities and he also emphasizes the importance of citizen participation and ownership in their cities.  SF

 

www.undp.org/energy/index.html

The United Nations Development Program works on sustainable development issues around the world.  Information on energy can be found either by searching the site from the home page or by going to the Energy and Environment link.  Publications by the UN can be downloaded and there is information on projects by region. AW

 

www.fallsbrookcentre.org

The Falls Brook Centre is a sustainable demonstration community in New Brunswick, Canada.  They work for sustainable energy, forestry, and agriculture systems and strive to educate people through workshops and internships.  Recently, The Big Blue Discovery Bus made its debut, featuring traveling information and demonstration of renewable energy sources.  FBC also has projects in Nicaragua and India.  This site has especially good links on a variety of topics, many related to Canada but others offer international information. AW

 

www.oneworld.net

One World International is an umbrella organization that governs centers around the world working on sustainability issues and information dissemination.  It was originally started in the United Kingdom as a non-profit as since grown to be large group.  They are supported partially from donations from the following organizations: Sun Microsystems Limited, Ford Foundation, Hivos (Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.  The website has a lot of different information, including a job search and information on energy, climate change, food issues, etc around the world.  AW

 

http://www.nrtee-trnee.ca/eng/main_e.htm

This is the web page for the Canadian National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy. There are links to many different areas of development including eco-fiscal reform, urban sustainability, green budgeting as well as others. The information is geared toward business but has a "green" tilt to it. The page was last updated two days ago so the information is current. N

 

http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/4127/

This site was created as a final project for an Urban Sustainability class at York University in Toronto, Ont, Canada. It was researched, written and produced by the ENVS 3220 class of 1998. On the site there is a number of links to issues connected with urban sustainability as well as the final papers of the students of the class. The topics include energy, transportation, social issues, urban sprawl, waste, water, and wildlife.

The work is all from 1998, but most of the links are kept up to date. N

 

http://www.sustainabledc.org/sustdc.htm

This is the web site for Sustainable DC.  Sustainable DC (SDC) is a public/private partnership incorporated as a nonprofit organization (501c3) in the District of Columbia, in partnership with the Government of the District of Columbia. They discuss what sustainable development is and the reasons for pursuing sustainable development. The board of directors is composed of many different people from many different backgrounds so that will lend to a more diverse set of interests being represented. The web site is kept up to date as to what is being done and the plans for what they want to accomplish. N

 

http://www.mfe.govt.nz/

This is the web site of the New Zealand Ministry for the Environment. They state the official position about many different topics. Among those that are covered are air quality, energy, climate change, GMO's, sustainability, transportation, and many more. They also have a number of links to issues related to many of the things discussed on their site. N

 

http://www.rmi.org/

This is the web site of the Rocky Mountain Institute which "is an entrepreneurial, nonprofit organization that fosters the efficient and restorative use of resources to create a more secure, prosperous, and life-sustaining world." Site navigation is very easy and clear-cut. They cover topics that range from energy, communities, and transportation. They base much of their authority on the research they are able to do and the reputation that they have earned over the years. They keep the page up to date and discuss the issues that are current. N

http://www.hydrogenus.com/ The National Hydrogen Association is a membership organization founded by a group of ten industry, university, research, and small business members in 1989. Today the NHA’s membership has grown to nearly 70 members, including representatives from the automobile industry; aerospace; federal, state, and local government; energy providers; and many other industry stakeholders. The NHA serves as a catalyst for information exchange and cooperative projects and provides the setting for mutual support among industry, government, and research/academic organizations. JQ

http://aceee.org/ The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing energy efficiency as a means of promoting both economic prosperity and environmental protection. ACEEE fulfills its mission by conducting in-depth technical and policy assessments, organizing conferences and workshops and publishing books, conference proceedings, and reports. They work on Policies to improve energy efficiency can reduce oil imports, improve the reliability of the U.S. electric grid, save consumers money, reduce air pollution, create jobs and reduce prices. JQ

 http://www.geni.org A non-profit organization, Global Energy Network Institute was founded in 1986 by Peter Meisen to investigate the idea of Dr. R. Buckminster Fuller, proposing a global electric energy grid as the number one priority to solve many of the world's most pressing problems. GENI's mission is to accelerate the attainment of optimal, sustainable energy solutions in the shortest possible time for the peace, health and prosperity of all. JQ

www.flexyourpower.ca.gov/state/fyp/fyp_homepage.jsp

This web site (www.flexyourpower.ca.gov/state/fyp/fyp_homepage.jsp) is maintained by the State of California and is kept current. This web site has a few energy saving tips for residents, government, agriculture, and industry. It also has basic information on renewable energy. But what I like most about this web site is its database for rebates and incentives for Californian residents using energy-efficient technologies. SF

 

www.energyhawk.com/

Maintained by Wilson Strategies this web site (www.energyhawk.com/) contains consumer information on appliance efficiency, government policy, and many links to alternative energy web sites. SF

 

www.nwalliance.org

NW Energy Efficiency Alliance

This alliance is non-profit.  They have many projects attempting to make energy-efficient products and services affordable and available. This site has overviews and details about many efficiency projects.  It also has news following projects in action, and information about project proposals.  It’s a good place to find out what is actually happening out there in terms of change.  AH

 

www.energyideas.org

Energy Ideas Clearinghouse

This site is mainly to provide businesses, industry, government and utilities with resources and information on how to be more energy efficient.  It can benefit us by showing us the latest recommendations and standards.  The best resources here are the articles available about renewable energy and energy efficiency. AH

 

http://environet.policy.net/security/security.vtml

America, Oil & National Security: What Government and Industry Data Really Show

I will let the title speak for itself.  This is an excellent summary of national security, energy independence, consumption, trends, etc.  It has lots of graphs in accompaniment.  It is downloadable and printable, but also very readable online.  AH

 

www.crest.org

This Renewable Energy Policy Project provides information in all renewable fields.  It gives mostly overviews, but has links to articles as well.  Most information revolves around policy and applied sustainable practices.  They are “a pioneering force publishing information about renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainability available on the Internet.” AH

 

www.wnenergy.com World Energy News.  A vast collection of world energy news.  Divided up into regions, energy sources, politics, and more.  I found myself wanting more time to explore.  Gives a background as well as current status of the industry within the confines of politics, need and business. AE

 

http://energy.sourceguides.com  The Source for Renewable Energy.  This site was a little confusing to use but worth exploring it’s renewable energy news.  The articles contained on this site come from a number of different sources and contain many a different opinion, from a reporter rolling their eyes at Ralph Nader to the exploration of policy in Maryland pushing the use of wind power.  An extensive list of businesses that can be accessed via country, state or technology totaling 5972 is available.  I’m sure there are more, but a good start.  AE

 

http://www.niua.org/newniuaorg/index.htm

Web page for National Institute of Urban Affairs, a part of the India Urban Information Resource Center. This page discusses many different policies of the Indian government. There are links to ongoing projects, current research, and many other things. This allows us to see what other countries are doing to address issues that the U. S. may not be or may be doing differently. E

 

http://www.urbanwater.org/default_eng.htm

This is a site about urban greywater. There is a sub page that has links to organizations, which are mainly in Sweden. There is also a sub page that discusses different model cities, projects, and system analysis. There are also many links to external sources. There is also a current news section that looks like it is updated every few weeks. E

 

http://www.geographyinaction.co.uk/Urban_structure/Urbanstructure_intro.html

This is a sub site within a site for use by all geography students and teachers, although much of it has been designed with the Northern Ireland Geography Curriculum in mind. The topic discussed is the city of Belfast. The topics discussed include the urban structure of Belfast, the central business district, and a few others. The topic that caught my attention was Belfast - a sustainable city? They talk about the ecological footprint and show how much affect a small area can have on the whole. An interesting way to incorporate this concept into more mainstream education. E

 

http://www.sustainable-city.org/

This is the web page of the Sustainable City: Working Toward a Sustainable Future for San Francisco. They discuss many different topic of sustainability and how they want to achieve these ideas. They also have links to different pages where you may learn about additional ideas on these topics as well as different organizations involved with the project. E

 

http://rnp.org Renewable Northwest Project is a coalition of public interest organizations and energy companies. They provide general information about renewable energy as well as specific applications, incentives, and potential for northwestern United States. Last updated 2000. AM

 

http://www.ceert.org/ Ceert is a non-profit organization to promote a community among scientists, consumers, and technology companies. The focus is on global warming, air quality, transportation, and energy. This web page provides news and links INDEXED by industry, non-profit, education and government. Updated daily. AM