Auto industry requires unparalleled effort
While America’s auto industry is being transformed to become efficient and environmentally conscious, put laid off auto employees
to work educating students.
Energy & Environment
Articles
Architect recognized for ‘green’ efforts
The U.S. Green Building Council recently honored local architect Bill Brown for his contributions to sustainable design and
construction.
Sugar Creek Utility Co. seeks rate relief
Sugar Creek Utility Co. wants the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to grant it rate relief for the 84-lot manufactured
housing community Riley Village.
IU launches new energy research center
IU has launched another energy research center, this time the Center for Research in Energy, administered by the School of
Public and Environmental Affairs, in Bloomington.
Hoosier Energy hit with $120M claim from John Hancock
An electric co-op supplying power to customers in 48 central and southern Indiana counties could face a perilous spike in
its financial load following a $120 million claim against it by insurance giant John Hancock Life Insurance Co.
Indiana Municipal Power Agency buys wind power from Iowa
The Indiana Municipal Power Agency said it has agreed to buy up to 50 megawatts a year from Crystal Lake Wind Energy Center
in Hancock County, Iowa.
DePauw, Ball State, Purdue buildings among top AIA design winners
Three university projects, two of which contain green-building elements, dominated the most recent design awards presented
by the American Institute of Architects Indiana chapter. Of the four award winners, three involved college buildings: the
Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics at DePauw University, the Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering at Purdue University, and
the Straw Bale Eco Center at Ball State University.
Purdue University launches Center for Energy Systems and Policy to meld research, business, public policy
Last month, Purdue University launched the Center for Energy Systems and Policy to make sure its researchers
are working early in the process with business and public-policy experts at the university.
Let’s invest in wind, instead of coal
Developing wind energy for Indiana would be economical and could make the state a leader in the green economy of the future.
Apples, pumpkins, kids keep orchard tour guide hopping
Ruth Butterfield works as a tour guide at Beasley’s Orchard & Gardens three or four days a week every fall, leading
an average of two tours a day. Most are school groups, but some adults come with their church groups or
on nursing home outings, too.
Retailers save on energy costs through innovative lighting, heating and cooling
With energy costs at historic highs, retailers are struggling to find ways to trim the cost of lighting, heating and cooling
their stores and other facilities. The process of wringing out savings can be long, difficult and complex. However, the rewards
are too substantial to ignore.
Law targeting controversial landfill only fuels fight
Even for those with
a vested interest in the battle over a proposed landfill near Anderson, it’s hard to get too worked up over the latest twist
before the courts or government agencies. After all, the Mallard Lake Landfill battle is in its 29th year.
Alternative-energy company eyes Indiana for 4 wind farms
Alternative-energy giant Horizon Wind Energy is opening an Indianapolis office focused on developing up to four new wind
farms in Indiana at a cost of more than $2 billion. The Houston-based company is renovating space on the
top floor of the 12-story J.F. Wild Building at 129 E. Market St., where it plans to manage development
of new wind farms in Indiana and Ohio.
Oil companies drill in Indiana fields thought to be ‘played out’ a century ago
Sky-high oil prices have rekindled an industry in east-central Indiana that many thought had run its course a century ago.
A handful of wily prospectors motivated by oil prices approaching $150 a barrel are betting that’s not the case.
Port-a-potty cleaning not such a foul job after all
Danny Hutson jumps down from the cab of his truck, grabs a giant yellow and black hose, and gets ready to deal with a familiar
smell: human waste and disinfectant. It’s all part of the job for Hutson, who cleans as many as 45 portable toilets a day
for Aardvark Tidy Toilets, a division of Indianapolis-based Gridlock Traffic Systems Inc.
Reducing carbon emissions could send state power prices soaring
A report from Purdue University suggests industrial customers in
Indiana could see disproportional rate increases in the years ahead as the state’s coal-intensive electric utilities are forced
to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Local engineering firm backing effort to turn garbage into ethanol
Indianapolis-based engineering and consulting giant RW Armstrong has become lead investor in an upstart ethanol firm that
would apply novel technology to make the automotive fuel without using corn as the key ingredient. It would be the first big
commercial plant in Indiana to make the alcohol fuel with so-called cellulosic material–the holy grail, of sorts, in the
ethanol
industry.
Clean Wave hopes to invest $100M in alternative energy, sustainable technologies
A former Silicon Valley sales executive and a Cincinnati investment manager have formed a venture fund here that’s trying
to raise $100 million to invest in the new darlings of the investment world: clean technology firms. Clean Wave Ventures founders
Scott Prince and Rick Kieser are banking on soaring energy costs attracting investors to the risky but potentially lucrative
realm of alternative energy and transportation and related fields.
Area air quality given mixed reviews
Helped by a combination of plant closures and better emission controls, industrial air pollution in the nine-county region
has fallen 14 percent since the economic boom of the late 1990s, a federal database shows. But even with the reductions, the
metro area will struggle to comply with reduced ground-level ozone limits announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
March 12.
Acquisitions make Carmel company nation’s largest underground utility locator
A former Indianapolis Water executive who spent the last six years helping the United Nations find food for the starving has
returned and assembled the country’s largest underground utility locator company.