Friday Photo: Recession Helps VMT Reduction
Strange, but true. The recession might be good for sustainability, at least in one way — people are cutting down on car trips.
Life.com caught this glimpse of a less congested New York city traffic today (8 July 09). Says Life:
Drivers wait in traffic during the afternoon commute July 8, 2009 in New York City. High gas prices and a struggling economy have helped to slightly ease rush hour commuting with the first two-year decline in nationwide traffic congestion since the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University began studying the issue in 1982. The average motorist spent 1.3 fewer hours in traffic in 2007 than in 2005.
Enjoy your weekend!
Save the Date: EcoTuesday on 28 July
This is just a quick note to let you know that I’ll be at EcoTuesday on Tuesday, 28 July, speaking about Galley Eco Capital’s latest initiatives, green finance trends and where we see opportunities in today’s economy.
And, yes –> we think there are indeed, opportunities in today’s market.
Here’s EcoTuesday’s overview of the event:
EcoTuesday is a forum for sustainable business leaders to come together to network, collaborate, and engage with one another in a structured environment. Each month EcoTuesday features opportunities for sustainable business leaders to network and learn about current issues from an innovative speaker and from one another.
Meeting Details
Date: 28 July 2009
Time: 6:30pm
Location: The W Hotel, 181 Third Street, San Francisco
Click here to RSVP
Give me a shout if you’re coming. Would love to see you there!
Friday Photo & Idea: Recycle E-waste for Your Tenants?
Most landlords we work with usually talk about the pressure to compete for and retain tenants when they explain why they are greening their buildings. And we see that the more successful landlords are those who go out of their way to find low or no-cost service offerings, which help their tenants to adopt sustainability practices within their own buildings.
Food for thought…helping tenants properly dispose of their e-waste can be one such practice that relieves them of a huge headache and is a big win for all involved.
Example in Photo: Japan
Yesterday while you were probably working away, Life Magazine caught this cool photo of workers at a Panasonic eco technology recycling facility in Kato, Hyogo Japan, processing e-waste.
In 2001, Japan enforced the Home Appliance Recycling Law (HARL), which calls for end-of-life home appliances to be recycled through the cooperation of consumers, retailers, and manufacturers.
At the Panasonic Eco Technology Recycling Facility Centre, approximately 700,000 home appliances such as televisions, air conditioners, washing machines and refrigerators are dismantled each year and 90% of these products are recycled [author's note: wow!].
I wonder what would happen for energy efficiency and community level sustainability, if more real estate developers and investors embedded direct e-waste recycling within their projects and/or neighborhoods? Some landlords here in San Francisco subcontract for this service to help their tenants. However, across the country and around the world, many overlook this particularly green opportunity.
There are lots of landlords that offer the multi-colored recycling office cans to their tenants, but leave tenants to deal with e-waste on their own.
That would be a great service offering for any asset class and market that eases tenants of a big burden and has real positive environmental impact.
