You already look for the Energy Star logo on electronics when you’re shopping, but soon you may be able to seek out similar endorsements from companies with less tangible products—data. The Environmental Protection Agency has announced plans to launch an Energy Star Data Center Certification program this coming June. The program creators are hoping that certification will give data centers incentive to improve their energy efficiency and also provide a method for tracking how different energy saving projects fare.

It’s a logical step for the popular Energy Star program, with a large portion of the impact from electronic use now coming from data storage (just refer to Facebook, a company with no material product but about 40 billion photos tucked away in their data center). The EPA is also already at work on certification programs for storage equipment and UPS systems.

To receive their Energy Star ranking, data centers will use an online tool that rates efficiency on a scale of 1 to 100. Provided a company receives a 75 or better on the online ranking, they can request a physical audit from the EPA and following that they’ll earn Energy Star certification. Click here to read more

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Imagining a wind farm in a wide open space out West is easy, but what about in the middle of an urban area like New York City? Impossible, right? Well, not according to Majid Rashidi, a Cleveland State University mechanical engineer. He designed a new wind turbine that can attach to the sides of the water storage tanks found on many city apartment building rooftops.

Wind power is a green renewable energy alternative that could help cities lower their carbon footprints. In urban settings, turbines often can’t catch enough wind to reach high speeds. But Rashidi’s work in areas where wind would normally be too low thanks to four rotating turbines that accelerate the flow. They could produce 8 kilowatts an hour, a small amount compared to the 2000 kilowatts an hour full-sized turbines can produce, but obviously there’s no place for those behemoths in the city. Click here to read more

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Biofuel made from Plants, beyond Ethanol:

Biofuel made from Algae: Algae grows with only water, air and light. Algae oil is used for biofuel feedstock and ingredients in food, pharmaceuticals, and health and beauty products at a significantly lower cost than comparable oil-producing crops such as palm and soybean. Please also watch this other video.

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Alongside maverick and main street, energy and environment were major buzzwords in the 2008 Presidential Election. The strongest emphasis came from our now President Elect, Barack Obama, who not only acknowledged the importance of environmental protection and aggressive environmental policies, but suggested that  getting greener as a country was a great opportunity to create new markets and jobs in the field of renewable energy and infrastructure. With inauguration day quickly approaching, we have created a brief a retrospective look at Obama’s position and action on environmental issues during his run in the State and US Senate.

A Respectable Record:

• While still active in the Senate, Obama was a co-sponsor of the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act (S. 309) This important legislation would reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. by 80% in the year 2050, but Congress has yet to vote on the bill.

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