Posts Tagged ‘San Francisco Chronicle’


San Francisco embraces aggressive recycling law

June 1st, 2010 by chelsea

In San Francisco, trash is the exception — not the rule.

The city approved an aggressive recycling law more than a year ago that required homeowners, business owners and residents to spearate food from trash to improve composting, according to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle. Most received the law with kicking and screaming, but the goal of removing compost from landfills and incinerators by 2020 prevailed.

“People are dealing with it just fine,” said the spokseman for the City’s environmental department in the article. “For most people, the green composting bin is just another part of life in San Francisco.”

The amount of scraps collected in April is up 22 percent from that time last year — and more than 63 percent of residents and 75 percent of the city’s restaurants are in compliance.

Things happen when we’re all on board!

 


Photo via sfgate.com




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Historic UC building in Berkeley to try on new look as art museum

March 9th, 2010 by chelsea

Berkeley’s form of spring cleaning is keeping the old and adding the new — with the historic printing plant to become a framework for a new art museum.

The 1939 building was on deck for demolition, but the Berkeley Art Museum scrapped those plans after falling short of funds, according to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle. Now the historical landmark will serve as the shell for 30,000 museum pieces and the largest collection of Japanese films outside of Japan with roughly 70 staff members, the article said. Of course, that means the museum will have to enlarge the building, with its size only measuring about half of the current museum.

“That printing plant offers exciting options for accommodating a substantial part of our programs,” the museum’s director said in the article.

We think it suits the building.

Photo via sfgate.com

Photo via sfgate.com

 

 

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San Francisco’s sustainability is blooming

March 2nd, 2010 by chelsea

Most plants need water to create energy, but one power plant from a San Francisco start-up is generating clean energy all on its own.

Bloom Energy recently revealed its “power plant in a box,” which is essentially a metal box that creates clean electricity from fuel cells, according to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle. The “box,” or energy server, is made mostly from sand and can produce the same amount of energy day and night. The electricity can be used to power homes, offices and even entire villages.

“Like everyone says, it sounded too good to be true,” said the Cox Enterprises chairman in the article. “So we sent some people to check it out, and they said, ‘It could be true.’ “

We think it’s a bright idea.

Photo via geekygadgets.com

Photo via sfgate.com

 

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