Green Room

In a dramatic endorsement of nuclear energy, President Barack Obama has announced $8.3 billion in low- interest stimulus loans for construction of two more nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle in Waynesboro. This huge chunk of dough means that opposition to…

Gov. Sonny Perdue has endorsed a transportation funding plan, finally. He has also proposed $3 billion in bonds over the next 10 years to get transportation projects rolling. The regional “T-SPLOST” plan, which allows counties to band together to create…

Atlanta Beltline now brands itself as simply Beltline. The shift is almost imperceptible but speaks volumes. For one thing, it speaks confidence. Former CEO Terri Montague shepherded the $2.7 billion plan, aimed at creating a 22-mile ring of parks, neighborhoods…

Clean air is often taken for granted – you can’t see it until it’s gone. By then the federal government may be punishing you for fouling it, which is what happened in the late ’90s, when Atlanta’s failure to meet…

Talk about calling out the cavalry: Gov. Sonny Perdue’s new Water Contingency Task Force, announced in October, consists of more than 80 heavy hitters throughout the state, chaired by John Brock (Coca-Cola Enterprises) and Tim Lowe (Lowe Engineers). Its focus…

A number of impressive environmental efforts were spotlighted recently by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ first Conserve Georgia Natural Leaders awards, which promote the Conserve Georgia program and successful examples of its different elements: Atlanta’s Clean Air Cam-paign won…

The EnergyStar and WaterSense programs are helping people help the environment by doing something they love – shopping. You don’t have to understand how the technology works or have a huge personal stake in green issues to appreciate Energy-Star appliances,…

More stimulus money is flowing into Georgia, this time to finance water and sewer improvements; $40.5 million of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is part of $91.5 million approved by the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority (GEFA) for upgrades…

Georgia Trend’s first GreenRoom Summit, covered in the July issue, produced some revelations, especially information from the energy companies that residents, not big companies, use the most power and water. That means the onus is on residential developers and citizens…

Seemingly, green is mainstream. Conservation, sustainability and environmental responsibility are part of the daily dialogue, as individuals, businesses and communities come to grips with some new realities and line up for funding from the Obama stimulus package. In Georgia, the…