Green Real Estate Appraiser

Happy Valentine’s Day – Eco-Friendly Florists

Posted on February 14, 2012 | Leave a comment

The global cut-flower industry is a multibillion-dollar business, with the United States producing only a fraction of the world’s flowers sold each year. According to the U.S. Labor Education in the Americas Project, more than 80 percent of the flowers produced in Colombia are exported to the United States, and one-third of Ecuador’s yearly production is exported to the United States for Valentine’s Day.

So a little over a year ago when Christina Stembel decided to launch her locally sourced and bicycle-delivered floral service, Farmgirl Flowers, many colleagues thought it would be impossible to alter the habits of flower shoppers looking for bouquets that are inexpensive, attractive and long-lasting.

But like the organic and local food movement that has made headway in the mainstream marketplace, growers and floral designers who sell eco-friendly and organic products are winning over consumers with local, seasonal items and product labels that identify how and where plants were grown.

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Green Economy Resilient, Growing Quickly, Report Says

Posted on February 13, 2012 | Leave a comment

Since the mid-1990s, green jobs in San Diego County have grown more than twice as fast as the overall average and weathered the past two recessions better than most other industries, according to a report released Tuesday by Next10, a research organization focused on the environmental industry.

According to the report, there were 20,500 “green economy” workers in San Diego County at the beginning of 2010 — the most-recent year for comprehensive data — compared to just 12,400 in 1995.

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Those jobs — including solar-panel installers, wind-turbine manufacturers, biofuel developers, energy conservation consultants, recycling collectors, wastewater processors and “clean-building” designers — grew at an average pace of 4 percent per year, compared to 1.8 percent for the overall workforce.

Even at the depths of the Great Recession, green jobs held steady in San Diego County. Only 300 jobs were lost — a 1 percent drop in employment — that compared to a 4.5 percent drop in the county’s total workforce.

California Renewable Energy Costs Are Starting To Come Down

Posted on February 12, 2012 | Leave a comment

The price of renewable power contracts signed by California utilities more than doubled from 2003 through 2011 but has now started to plunge, according to a long-awaited state report issued Friday.

The report is the most detailed accounting yet of the costs of California’s push to use more solar, wind and geothermal power. Until now, most of those costs have remained hidden from the public. The California Public Utilities Commission, which issued Friday’s report, has for years published quarterly updates on the number of contracts signed but has never before included the costs.

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only

Happy Valentine’s Day – Eco-Friendly Florists

Green Economy Resilient, Growing Quickly, Report Says

California Renewable Energy Costs Are Starting To Come Down

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