[GWSG] Sandstone; heat battery; ACEEE on behavior; new IECC standards; golden buildings; electric taxies

[Tilley, Al]

1.  An idea which won a Korean award would use microbes to bind sand with calcium carbonate into sandstone which might replace asphalt.  Life forms which produce calcium carbonate typically fix atmospheric carbon to do so.  If that is the case here, and the surface is usable, we could not only replace our asphalt but draw down and store atmospheric carbon.  We need more details (which I couldn’t find online), but the idea is worth watching.  Even if sandstone is an unlikely surface for roads it may have other uses.  http://cleantechnica.com/2010/10/31/bacteria-can-build-better-roads-for-our-peak-oil-years/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+cleantechnica+%28CleanTechnica%29

2.  A new substance now makes it possible to store heat in a kind of battery.  Solar power plants could store heat during the day and use it at night.  http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2010/10/mit-researchers-find-a-stable-way-to-store-the-suns-heat?cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-November3-2010

3.  The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy presents ten case histories of successful programs to increase energy efficiency by changing behavior.  The report recommends making energy use as easily visible as the gas gauge in a car.  Visible and Concrete Savings: Case Studies of Effective Behavioral Approaches to Improving Customer Energy Efficiency also recommends programs designed for a specific social context.  http://www.aceee.org/research-report/e108

4.  The 2012 version of the International Energy Conservation Code will require new and renovated buildings, residential and commercial, to be 30% more energy efficient than at present.  The IECC is used for building code standards in 47 states and D.C.  With the new standards the average home will return $500 annually in energy savings, after the costs of the improvements have been paid.  Buildings account for 40% of our energy consumption and 2/3 of our electricity usage.  The new standards represent a significant improvement in the nation’s energy efficiency, and therefore more room for an orderly transition to renewable energy.   http://climateprogress.org/2010/11/05/building-energy-codes-institute-for-market-transformation/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogress%2FlCrX+%28Climate+Progress%29

5.   All new federal buildings will now aim for LEED Gold certification.  (The requirement had been LEED Silver.)  All federally leased space in new construction must meet the standards for LEED Silver certification.  http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/104462

6.  New York’s Mayor Bloomberg now chairs C40, an association of large cities representing 1/12 of the world’s population.  Observing that cities are in some ways more able to combat climate change than central governments, he called for a transition to electric taxies and other mitigation measures.  (Miami, among hundreds of other cities, has already moved in that direction.)  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101106/ap_on_re_as/as_hong_kong_mayors_climate_conference