Category: SmartPlanet

Why China isn’t taking American trash anymore

By Tyler Falk | May 10, 2013

Quick, what’s the biggest U.S. export to China?

Soybeans?

Officially, yes, it’s the biggest single product. But combined, the U.S. exports more scrap and waste to China than any other single product — $11.31 billion in 2011. Growth of waste exports has been quick and steep. In 1997, only $182 million worth of waste went to China. But expect that growth to come to a screeching halt.

That’s because China no longer wants all that U.S. waste, as Gwynn Guilford reports at Quartz:

[H]ints are emerging that American cities and the companies that sell trash are in for a rude awakening. A recent sign of this comes from Oregon, where truckloads of plastic are piling up at recycling depots because Chinese buyers cancelled their orders, as Oregon Public Broadcasting reports.

And it’s not just plastic from Oregon. American waste recycling companies are starting to panic. “What I’m hearing from folks in the industry, it’s that just that nothing is going,” the industry insider says. “[China's] not taking anything anymore. It’s a greenwall.”

Continue reading “SmartPlanet: China Refusing to Take US Trash — US Government Not Noticing….”

Small-town mayors: the cutting edge of climate action

How two mayors of small towns in right-wing America are showing the way to energy and climate progress: through local action.

By Chris Nelder

IBM uses cell phone data to redraw African bus routes

With data from thousands of cell phones, IBM is creating a better commute.

By Tyler Falk

Solar power produced 100% of new energy on U.S. grid in March

Solar power added twice as much to the grid in the first quarter of 2013 as it did in all of 2012.

Solar power accounted for 100 percent of new energy on the U.S.’ power grid in March 2013 – an energy matrix that includes coal, natural gas, oil, and a variety of other renewable sources of energy.

Notably, the 44 megawatts added by solar power were virtually the only source of new energy in a month that did not see any other sources provide new energy to the grid, according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

But, as shown in the chart below, March was hardly a fluke for solar power. In the first three months of the year, solar accounted for 537 megawatts of new generation, second only to wind power’s 958 megawatts.

Moreover, the first quarter of 2013 saw twice as much solar capacity added to the U.S. power grid as in all of 2012. And the 264 megawatts of solar power added to the grid in 2012 represented more than the previous three years combined.

As SmartPlanet recently reported, solar power has moved from being “an immaterial job creator to an economic driver.”

“Since 2008, the amount of solar energy powering U.S. homes, businesses and military bases has grown by more than 600 percent according to the Solar Energy Industries Association,” according to U.S. News and World Report, “underscoring projections that solar will be the nation’s largest new source of energy over the next four years.”

9 best ways to socially network your next live conference

By Joe McKendrick | April 16, 2013, 7:07 PM PDT

While social networks and technology have made it possible for anyone on the globe to connect and learn electronically, there is still a need for onsite conferences. There’s an immeasurable value to connecting with colleagues on a face-to-face basis that cannot be replaced by social media.

Still, social networking can greatly enhance your conference experience. In a new post at the Vocus blog, Brian Conlin does a good job of detailing the role social can play in… well, being social. The bottom line is social media now starts conferences weeks before the official opening session, and then keeps the conference going months after the meeting rooms are swept up and vacuumed.

Conlin’s advice:

Continue reading “SmartPlanet: 9 best ways to socially network your next live conference”

Fourth Estate 2.0 puts innovation above the fold

EXTRACT

The Tribune, which is known for its strong coverage of Texas politics and policy, has become proficient at taking information that’s either massive or confusing (or both) and distilling it down to a format more suitable for public consumption. The data is accompanied by related news stories that give context to the numbers.

Lawmaker Explorer, for example, is an interactive tool that launched earlier this year, allowing the public to learn the degree to which 180 state legislators’ personal interests (i.e. stock holdings, property listings) conflict with public interest when passing bills and shaping policy. Its data came from old-fashioned reporting, and the tech team figured out how to present the information. You can use a search box, click on head shots, sort by party, office or occupation.

Public Schools Explorer is a comprehensive database of the 8,500 public schools in the state of Texas. There are searchable applications for160,000 state inmates; salaries of 665,000 public employees; and 6.5 million contributions to candidates and political action committees.

ProPublica is also leading the way in nonprofit news media applications, graphics, databases and mapping. One of its most popular, with more than 4 million page views: the Dollars for Docs survey, which is a database of more than $2 billion in payments from drug companies to health care providers. It was developed in an effort to learn more about the relationship between drug companies, medical professionals and the effect on patient care.

Read full article.