Deval Patrick launched the Governor’s Clean Energy Challenge in March of 2009, pushing for businesses across Massachusetts to reduce their CO2 emissions by 10% over the following three years. The response and willingness of local businesses to meet Patrick’s challenge provides encouraging data for continued emissions reductions; after the first year of the program, participating organizations have already reduced CO2 emissions by a total 9.24%.…

Things have been going well in the world of Ivy League athletics. In just this past week alone, Harvard basketball player Jeremy Lin signed a contract with the NBA’s Golden State Warriors and Crimson swimmer Alex Meyer took home the gold medal for the United States at the FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships in [...]

The Union of Concerned Scientists, a national non-profit of citizens and scientists for environmental solutions based in Harvard Square, have cleanly outlined several concrete actions for you to take to meet those ends.…

Alas, attention to the administration’s Home Star/Cash for Caulkers program has waxed and waned since it first appeared last fall, and this component of a stimulus package meant to address the nation’s energy issues, and aid the (then) ailing construction industry has languished in the shadows, until it finally passed the House in May.…

This week, a blog post by Google announced that the company plans to enact a power purchase agreement to get enough energy to power several of its facilities. The deal will include a purchase of 114 megawatts of power from the NextEra Energy Resources wind farm in Iowa.…

This time last year we reported that a state law requiring heating oil to contain a paltry 2% biodiesel was finally being enforced. Alas, once again, implementation has been delayed.

Although Cape Wind gets most of the press, it is not the only contentious wind project in the Bay State.…

On Monday, the DOE announced a $18.5 million grant will be dispersed via the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) amongst various energy research labs and companies throughout New England.  The funds are part of the larger $349 million Recovery Act funding pool and will be used primarily for energy efficiency projects; specifically in this case, solid state lighting using gallium nitride, air conditioning efficiency, chemical flow batteries, and overall energy storage capacity research.…

It’s a huge success. It hasn’t gone anywhere. Actually, it’s a little of both.

Fifty states and six territories have launched “Cash for Appliances” programs since late last year. Each one had the same amount of money – about a dollar per resident – but the results have been wildly different.…

A story from Greenwire in the New York Times summarizes the findings of the Energy Information Administration’s report on the costs of implementing the Kerry-Lieberman energy bill. It concludes that in a middle of the road scenario, adoption of the bill would result in a (basis point) reduction of GDP1 by 2‰ (2 thousandths) over more than two decades of growth.…

Audit team members prepare for conducting home energy audits.

Cambridge residents looking to save on utility bills for electricity and heating can request a free audit this summer from the Youth Energy Audit Partners, a collaborative project of HEET (Home Energy Efficiency Team) and the Cambridge Community Center.…

Here are the updated totals for all candidates who sought the seat formerly held by Anthony Galluccio. Marjorie Decker is included because she was a candidate for part of this year.
2010 State Senate Campaign Finance (Middlesex, Suffolk, and Essex) CandidateStartEndOpenReceiptsExpendBalanceIn-KindLiabilities Albano, Michael J.1/1/20104/3/20100.00$46241.00$35716.01$10524.99$0.00$0.00 Benzan, Dennis A.11/5/20085/31/20100.00$44083.24$41996.53$2086.71$0.00$5600 Cesan, John1/1/20105/31/20100.00$92.30$92.300.00$0.00$0.00 Decker, Marjorie C.1/1/20106/30/20102229.66$26595.00$27210.42$1614.24$0.00$10116.97 DiDomenico, Sal1/1/20105/31/201019201.42$108955.00$124627.59$3528.83$350.00$1550.00 Flaherty, Tim1/1/20105/31/2010$756.91$154289.00$154753.44$292.47$0.00$0.00 Hill, Daniel C.12/2/20095/31/20100.00$11754.33$11433.30$321.03$0.00$0.00 Simmons, E. Denise1/1/20105/31/20101102.74$40162.00$38233.08$3031.66$0.00$1844.85

Full reports are available at: http://www.efs.cpf.state.ma.us/SearchReportResults.aspx?district=132

The results of the April 2010 Special Democratic Primary Election may be found here:
http://cambridgecivic.com/?p=616
The May 2010 Special Election was just a formality after the results of the Democratic Primary were determined.

It’s been a long time coming, but finally it’s time to talk about summer school students.  The reason it took so long for me to write this post is that I have been trying to compile the many reasons I dislike Harvard summer school students. The only problem is I can’t think of too many. [...]

The Gulf Oil Spill has been the event at the top of everyone’s mind for many weeks now, almost to the point of our adapting to the initially shocking concept. The images that have surfaced have been heartrending enough, though, that the shock factor hasn’t been allowed to completely fade.…

Speaking at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, President Obama issued new proposals for issuing tax credits to renewable energy companies as a means of stimulating job creation. The President urged increasing the current funds already approved by the Congress totaling some 2.3 billion dollars.…

CEA canvassing interns: Trevor, Laurence, Stephanie, Mira, Danit, Federico

Starting Wednesday, July 7th, a city-wide canvass will be visiting Cambridge business squares, bringing money- and planet-saving opportunities to the doors of hundreds of small businesses.  Canvassers will talk with business owners about what they can do to make their businesses more energy efficient, supplying them with ample information about which programs to employ to best suit their needs.…

One thing that I think is important to remind one’s self of is that college is very, very expensive. I was reminded of this last weekend when I received my financial aid information for the coming year. In this post I will explain how financial aid works and how Harvard expects it’s $53,000 a year [...]

While nations of the European Union are cutting down on spending and rolling back their budgets, the Obama administration is doing the very opposite, and pursuing renewable energy, despite the budget problems facing the US.…

Recycling directory website, 1-800-RECYCLING has a recent story about the obscure problem of tire—or tyre in most Commonwealth nations—disposal, accompanied by some pretty astonishing photographs. There aren’t too many major reuses for old tires where the resource doesn’t go up in smoke, so they keep piling up, but research is under way.…

On June 29th, a two-hour gubernatorial forum was held in downtown Boston’s historic Old South Meeting House.

All candidates for Governor were welcomed to make a statement, followed by a short Q&A by the audience and two panelists.…

As of this month, it’s official that California’s residents will be voting on the November ballot as to whether they would like to suspend the law that has been put in effect to help the state take responsibility for its greenhouse gas emissions.…