Green technology : Innovation + Job News

Constellation is in the running for up to $7 billion in federal contracts to install alternative energy technology in the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force bases in this country and abroad.

The Baltimore-based regional energy provider, a subsidiary of Exelon, last month qualified to provide up to $4 billion in geothermal alternative systems. The company has submitted bids to qualify for the remaining, up to $3 billion, for solar, wind and biomass systems.
 
The Renewable and Alternative Energy Power Production contracts stem from a congressional mandate to reduce the U.S. military's reliance on fossil fuel. The goal is for U.S. Department of Defense installations to receive 25 percent production and consumption of energy from renewable sources by 2025. In 2012, the department reportedly spent more than $21 billion on conventional fuel contracts.
 
Constellation's executive director of the federal energy management programs John Dukes says geothermal was likely chosen as the first renewable to install because the technology can provide a reliable, steady source of energy for heating and cooling.
 
“The army strategically laid out geothermal as the biggest opportunity in compliance with their mission. It is starting with geothermal because that’s where they see the biggest bang for their bucks,” he says.
 
Dukes expects to hear by August whether Constellation qualifies for any or all of the other three renewables. He does not know how the up to $3 billion in contracts for solar, wind and biomass will be divided.
 
For the geothermal contracts, Constellation is one of five companies to qualify to bid on such contracts. The other companies are EEC Renewables LLC, California; Enel Green Power North America, Massachusetts; LTC Federal, Michigan; and Siemens Government Technologies, Virginia.
 
Within the next three to four months, the defense department will issue requests for proposals for possibly seven to nine projects within the U.S. and abroad. Dukes does not know if and when more geothermal contracts will be offered, although a meeting this week with army officials might answer that question.
 
The contracts will include power purchase agreements, meaning that the award-winning company builds and maintains the geothermal system at its own expense but has a guaranteed market for the energy produced. The government will buy the energy at a predetermined rate in long-term contracts that can run up to 30 years.
 
Geothermal uses the subsurface temperature to produce energy. There are different technologies and delivery systems depending on the location. Dukes says Constellation intends to bid on every geothermal contract although there is no guarantee that it will win any of them.
 
“It’s going to be highly competitive but we expect to be successful,” he says. “The awards will be based on the lowest price of electricity from the different geothermal technology.”
 
Source: John Dukes, Constellation
Writer: Barbara Pash

If you're looking for the safest and cleanest beaches this summer, there's an app for that.

Assateague Coastkeeper, a clean water advocacy nonprofit in Berlin, has launched a free app that tells if beaches and waterways in Worcester County are safe and open to the public, based on official monitoring of bacteria count.
 
The Swim Guide App can be downloaded from the Coastkeeper’s website or from iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

Kathy Phillips, Assateague Coastkeeper, calls the Swim Guide app a one-stop shop for swimming, fishing and water sports in Ocean City, Assateague and surrounding areas. 

Swim Guide information comes from Worcester County, which monitors the bacteria level at Ocean City beaches; the U.S. National Park Service, for Assateague Island’s beaches; and Assateague Coastkeepers, for Coastal Bay waterways like Horn Island, St. Martin’s River and Herring and Turville creeks where jet skiing, kayaking, standup paddling and other sports are popular.
 
Phillips updates the Swim Guide weekly, usually on Thursday night or Friday morning. It will remain operable through Labor Day Weekend.
 
Phillips expects the guide to be an annual summer program. She says the Assateague Coastkeepers is looking for funding to expand it next summer. “We’d like to put in the popular kayaking launch sites,” she says.

Assateague Coastal Trust runs Assateague Coastkeeper. The trust is a partner of Waterkeeper Alliance, an international movement of 200 clean water advocacy groups, whose Lake Ontario group inaugurated the app program in 2007.
 
“There was an issue of pollution. The Lake Ontario group thought it would be a public service to have a single place people could go to find out if a beach was open or not, and also to raise awareness of Waterkeepers,” says Phillips.
 
The idea quickly spread to other groups around the Great Lakes, then to California and the Pacific Northwest. Phillips estimates that about 50 Waterkeepers-affiliated groups now have apps for their local waters.
 
The app has proven so popular that Assateague Coastal Trust, which is funded by private donations, decided to inaugurate one for Worcester County, its jurisdiction.
 
Source: Kathy Phillips, Assateague Coastkeeper
Writer: Barbara Pash
 
 

Two of Baltimore's most prominent construction projects, M&T Bank Stadium's $35 million renovation and the Horseshoe Casino, are both aiming for the green building standard known as LEED certification.

Lorax Partnerships LLC, a Columbia-based sustainability consulting and certification company, is providing green services to the renovated stadium and the new casino. In order to get LEED certification, a LEED-qualified professional has to be involved from start tofinish, from the planning to selection of material and the construction.
 
The two-year renovation of the M&T Bank Stadium will begin this spring, with the National Football League Super Bowl champions the Baltimore Ravens primarily footing the bill. The design phase of the $400 million casino will be completed this summer and construction by July 2014. It will feature three full-service restaurants and six local eateries. 

Lorax Managing Partner Neal Fiorelli says part of the renovation at M&T involves installing energy-saving measures at a so-far undetermined cost. Fiorelli says the Ravens are aiming for a minimum LEED Silver operational standard for an existing building. Green changes at the stadium will involve lighting and refrigeration, waste recycling, cleaning products and products for the concessions.
 
The US Green Building Council’s LEED, for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a voluntary certification for structures with different rating levels of Silver, Gold and Platinum. A so-called green building meets certain sustainability markers for material, construction process and exterior environmental work.
 
Lorax is involved in the design and construction of Caesar’s Entertainment Corp.’s new Horseshoe Casino, located near M&T Stadium.  Fiorelli says the goal is at least a LEED Silver certification for new buildings. He says it is too early to know what green measures will be involved.
 
Founded in 2003, the privately financed Lorax provides green and LEED services directly to commercial building developers and owners, corporate real estate agencies, design teams and property managers in the private sector. In the public sector, the company works directly or as subcontractors on local, state and federal buildings.
 
Fiorelli says the company’s typical breakdown is 60 percent private and 40 percent public buildings but in the past few years, the breakdown has tended to be half private and half public.

Since 2006, when LEED certification became the widely recognized  standard in the construction industry, Fiorelli estimates Lorax has done 120 LEED projects with another 30 to 40 in progress, They range from public libraries and school buildings to private health clubs and office buildings.
 
He says the company works with all the major commercial real estate developers in the area, including Manekin, St. John Properties and Merritt Properties. “It has become a selling point” to attract tenants, he says. 
 
At the same time, the building industry underwent a dramatic change. Sustainable materials that were once expensive special-order items are now widely available at competitive prices, says Fiorelli of items like heating/air conditioning systems, windows and lumber.
 
Lorax currently does $1 million in sales per year but Fiorelli is hoping to double that this year by emphasizing the company’s corporate environmental consulting service. The company also oversees new construction and the retrofitting of existing buildings, to a LEED rating or whatever sustainability level the client wants.
 
Lorax’s staff of eight have all qualified to give LEED approval. Fiorelli says the company is hiring up to two staffers this year as researcher and assistant project manager.
 
Source: Neal Fiorelli, Lorax Partnerships LLC
Writer: Barbara Pash

Baltimore's Furbish Company unveiled its first product, SmartSlope, an eco-friendly green wall. The wall has been in development for two years and is now commercially available. It is being used by the first Costco in Washington, D.C., and constructionl was completed last week.  

Jimmy Dick, director of business development, says the "living" wall is intended to satisfy locally mandated storm water management regulations as well as for aesthetic considerations. The walls at Costco were installed as a vertical rain garden, with a circulating system that captures and recirculates storm water to water the plants that grow on the walls.
 
"The [DC] district told [Costco] it had to handle its storm water on site and this is how they are doing it," says Dick. Another green wall is scheduled to open next year at Phase 2 of The Shops at Dakota Crossing, in the DC area, as a component of its storm water management system.

Furbish was formed in 2003 to install and service green roofs. While it will continue that aspect of the business, Dick says it is developing products as well. SmartSlope, the living wall system, is its first product. Modern Foundations, in Woodbine, manufactures the system.
  
The living retaining wall system consists of individual concrete modules, each 20 inches wide by 15 inches deep by 8 inches tall. The modules link together.
 
After the modules are installed, SmartSlope provides native grasses, herbs and plants to grow over and cover the wall. The company’s system costs about $5 more per square foot than the typical concrete wall installation of $25 per square foot.
  
However, the majority of SmartSlope's business remains green roofs. This consists of installing a roof-top drainage system, layer of soil and plants that can withstand weather and wind.
 
Dick says that 99 percent of its green roof business is with commercial customers. “There’s no return on investment for residential customers,” he says. “Also, home roofs are not built for the weight” of a green roof.
 
Federal and municipal regulations and tax rebates for installation of storm water management systems have spurred growth of the green roof industry. Dicks says that SmartSlope already has $3 million worth of green roof contracts for 2013.
 
It has installed green roofs on behalf of Princeton, Rutgers and George Washington universities; a US Department of the Interior building; and the Baltimore Hilton, connected to the Convention Center.
 
In 2009, Furbish received an investment of $81,000 from the Chesapeake Bay Seed Capital Fund, a partnership of the state Department of Natural Resources and the University of Maryland. The funding was used to develop SmartSlope. The Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute is a minority investor.  In August, SmartSlope received about $200,000 from the Maryland Industrial Partnerships for development of alternative blends of green roof material.
 
Michael Furbish is the founder of the company. In 2008, it moved into an 18,000-square foot former warehouse in the Brooklyn area of the city that was renovated for office use and retrofitted with solar panels to provide radiant heating and hot water. The company has 15 employees.
 
Source: Jimmy Dick, SmartSlope
Writer: Barbara Pash

TAI Engineering is expanding its office this month as the consulting engineering and technical services firm plans to enter new markets and add employees.

The firm has built a 5,000-square foot addition to its 30,000-square foot headquarters in Owings Mills and is expanding into automation and control, plumbing and electrical and mechanical engineering. Alan Miller, TAI Engineering owner and principal director, says the company will also beef up its existing presence in geographical instrumentation and control. The company will hire up to six people in those fields.

Adam Soutar, TAI Engineering’s division manager for onsite services, says the company takes a "proactive" approach to hiring. It recruits experts in the markets to which it plans to expand and then uses the employees' expertise and contacts to help it grow.
  
Besides hiring for its own staff, the 175-person company places workers on behalf of clients, placing between 10 to 12 per year.
 
Some staff placements are for specific projects.  A client like CocaCola, for example, might need 30 people as they ramp up for a new project, says Laurie Giner, chief marketing officer.
 
Founded in 1989, TAI Engineering has several different in-house groups that design new industrial plants and commercial buildings; retrofit existing facilities; and support facilities with management and services.
 
“We can build an office building, to serve as the company’s headquarters, and a manufacturing plant for the company. We are capable of working in both areas,” says Miller, who notes that TAI Engineering has grown 10 to 12 percent per year in revenue over the last decade.

Recent client projects include engineering design for a 75,000-square foot LEED-certified “green” building for Raytheon Company, located in the technology and research park at Aberdeen Proving Ground; mechanical and electrical consulting for a LEED-award winning 125,000-square foot office building; and a 125,000-square foot COPT Cornerstone Offices building in Columbia, for which TAI Engineering won a best LEED commercial interior award.

TAI Engineering is privately funded, and has two satellite locations, in Linthicum and Newark, Del.
 
Sources: Alan Miller, Adam Soutar, Laurie Giner, TAI Engineering
Writer: Barbara Pash

Clean Currents, an alternative energy company in Maryland, is moving into a new market and adding more employees. It launched operations last month in eastern and central Pennsylvania, and plans to expand to Philadelphia in early 2013.
 
Clean Currents provides electricity provided through sustainable methods, including wind and solar, for residential and commercial buildings. It also sells and installs hot-water tanks powered by solar-thermal for residences.
 
Founded in 2005, Clean Currents houses its operations in Silver Spring but opened a sales office in February in Baltimore's Federal Hill neighborhood.  “It’s a great city for green activities and it was time for us to be here,” Clean Currents spokeswoman Megan Barrett says. 
 
As a result of its expansion, Clean Currents is in the process of adding to its current staff of 25. The company plans to hire up to five people for sales positions in Maryland. It is also hiring one person to serve as a community organizer in Pennsylvania.
 
Barrett says that part of Clean Currents’ mission involves encouraging and supporting green activities in local communities. It partners with neighborhood groups, nonprofits and schools to do so. The company's Green Neighborhood Challenge gives communities and nonprofits the opportunity to raise funds for green projects such as building community gardens, starting recycling programs and preserving green space.

On the energy side, the company contracts with wind farms nationally and in the mid-Atlantic region that are connected to the electricity distribution grid. Clean Current sells wind-generated electrical power to customers in the form of renewable energy certificates that are applied to their electricity bills.
 
Barrett says the cost varies by utility area. Clean Current offers fixed-rate contracts of one and two years, in which customers pay the same rate regardless of price fluctuation in the market.
 
Currently, a Clean Currents one-year residential contract to receive 100 percent of your electricity from wind power costs 9 cents per kilowatt hour, the standard measure used for electrical power. By comparison, BGE’s electricity rate for standard offer service is 8.964 cents per kilowatt hour effective through May 31, 2013.
 
Clean Currents uses Solar City, a national company with a Maryland office in Beltsville, for rental of solar panels. This arrangement allows customers to rent rather than buy the solar panels after installation.  Starting in 2013, Clean Currents will have its own solar panel installation program, says Barrett.
 
Federal and state tax credits may apply to solar panels and to solar-thermal hot water tanks.
 
Source: Megan Barrett, Clean Currents
Writer: Barbara Pash
 
 
 

SemaConnect Inc., a manufacturer of electric vehicle charging stations, has moved from an Anne Arundel County incubator to new headquarters in a business park in Bowie. The relocation last month from the Chesapeake Innovation Center in Annapolis to an 8,000-square foot facility in Melford Business Park more than triples the size of its office. It allows SemaConnect to have its business and manufacturing operations under one roof for the first time and to continue its market expansion. 
 
Founded in 2008, SemaConnect’s station is web-based, wired into a 240-volt electrical source and can be mounted on a wall or pedestal. The company moved into the incubator in 2010, after having developed its first product and winning a federal contract administered by the state of Maryland and the Baltimore Electric Vehicle Initiative to build and install 58 electric vehicle stations around the state.
 
By 2012, SemaConnect has manufactured and sold almost 100 electric vehicle stations in Maryland and almost 500 stations across the US, from Washington, D.C., to Hawaii, according to Naly Yang, director of marketing.
 
Since 2010, when nearly all sales were to public entities like the state of Maryland, the number of private entities buying stations has grown. It started as a free program the state of Maryland was running. Now, says Yang, a lot of businesses like commercial real estate developers and hotels are interested in having a charging station as a way to promote themselves. The station owners determine what, if anything, they will charge for the stations’ use.
 
SemaConnect was recently commissioned to produce 1,500 stations for major retail sites across the U.S. like Walgreens and Simon Properties. This year, too, it is expanding its market to Canada, starting with British Columbia.
 
SemaConnect went from four staffers in 2010 to its current 25 employees, including a national sales team. Yang says the company is the third largest manufacturer of charging stations in the US based on the number of stations deployed.
 
Source: Naly Yang, SemaConnect
Writer: Barbara Pash

Blue Water Baltimore is using a $400,000 federal grant to improve storm water management in Baltimore City. The nonprofit advocacy group intends to contact about 5,000 homeowners and institutional property owners as part of the Water Audit Program. 

Blue Water Baltimore was formed in 2011 from five different nonprofit organizations, all of which shared the same environmental goal, says Dana Puzey, Blue Water’s water audit program manager. The nonprofit will help homeowners pay for green roofs, rain gardens, conservation landscaping and other projects.
 
After doing an initial assessment of storm water on the individual sites, staffers will recommend ways to reduce the volume of water runoff, Puzey says. If the property owner decides to go ahead with the recommendation, he or she can apply for a rebate from Blue Water for the project.
 
Based on previous outreach efforts, Puzey says that many homeowners want to undertake such a project, but it isn't feasible because it’s too expensive or they don’t have a big enough site to make it work.
 
She figures that the 5,000 people they contact will result in 400 projects per year. The number of “in-ground” projects will vary depending on whether Blue Water is able to get matching grants from local government for the federal money.
 
Blue Water’s grant is part of an overall $9.2 million in grants the Chesapeake Bay Program and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation distributed last month. A total of 41 projects in six states and Washington, D.C., got awards for Chesapeake Bay environmental initiatives.
 
The Baltimore metro area received nearly $750,000. Besides Blue Water’s grant, the Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education at the University of Maryland Baltimore County received $324,000 to work with the Maryland Transit Administration and Highway Administration on adopting pervious concrete and subsoiling. The project includes a demonstration project to replace an existing parking lot at the Maryland Science Center with pervious concrete.
 
Source: Dana Puzey, Blue Water Baltimore
Writer: Barbara Pash
 

GreeNEWit, an energy efficiency and implementation company, expects to hire at least a dozen employees within the year. It is looking for retrofit service providers, engineers and software developers, says Co-founder Jason Jannati.
 
The company is also working on a new product that it expects to roll out next year. The product is a proprietary software program to measure and assess energy efficiency measures that was originally developed for internal company use.
 
Jannati co-founded the company in 2008 with Josh Notes and Matej Harangozo, who were all classmates at Oakland Mills High School, in Columbia, where greeNEWit has its office. The company is a member of the Howard Technology Council but is not a tenant in its incubator. GreeNEWit won the council’s annual technology award for 2012 Green Company of the Year.
 
The company now employs 35 people and expects to have $4 million to $7 million in sales for FY 2012. It subcontracts with utilities BGE and Pepco to evaluate and install energy-efficient measures in individual residences, multi-family units and businesses. Jannati says greeNEWit is the leader in multi-family properties, having seen over 15,000 apartment units in under a year, from August 2011 to July 2012.
 
The company also works with property managers and property owners on an apartment complex’s common areas like pools and parking lots, focusing on storm water run-off and rain water capture.
 
Depending on the situation it encounters, Jannati says the company may do something as simple as installing energy-efficient light bulbs and timers so power is off when not needed to replacing heating and ventilation systems.
 
He mentions that the state of Maryland recently announced Empower Maryland, a program whose goal is to cut energy consumption by 15 percent by 2015. “It’s all about building sustainable communities,” he says.
 
Source: Jason Jannati, greeNEWit
Writer: Barbara Pash

For the second year in a row, the Chesapeake Bay Trust and the state of Maryland received federal grants to further green jobs training and environmental projects such as stormwater management.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Green Streets, Green Jobs, Green Towns initiative awarded $375,000, with more than $100,000 going to projects in Baltimore City.

Last year, the EPA initiative awarded $211,000 to the Chesapeake Bay Trust and the state. The initiative is long-term and ongoing but applicants must apply each year for grants.

The award is open to local governments and nonprofit organizations in urban and suburban watersheds of the Chesapeake Bay region of Maryland, Washington, D.C., Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia for infrastructure projects.

For this year's grants, there were 31 applicants, of which 10 were awarded grants, says Dr. Jana Davis, executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Trust, which administers the grants. The grant applications must have a "green," aka environmental, component and to specify training in green jobs. 

Davis says the initiative benefits the Chesapeake Bay for stormwater management, the communities for improvements and companies by providing a supply of employees with green jobs skills and experience. Davis does not have a figure for the number of jobs the 2012 grants will create. It depends on how the projects are handled, she says.

The 2012 Green Streets-Green Jobs-Green Towns grants went to the following projects:
Baltimore City, Belair-Edison Neighborhoods Inc., $34,900 for a green sidewalk infrastructure;
Baltimore City, Southeast Community Development Corp., $67,100 for bioretention areas in Patterson Park and Ellwood Park;
Cecil County, Housing Initiaitve Partnership, $35,000, for stormwater management in North East;
Wicomico County, Town of Delmar, $18,900 for stormwater management;
Prince George's County, Town of Forest Heights, $55,000 for techniques homeowners can use;
Maryland, Water Environment Federation, $10,000 for educational outreach;
Virginia, Town of Ashland, $25,000 for green improvements to municipal buildings;
Virginia, Matthews County, $85,000 for stormwater managment;
West Virginia, City of Romney, $25,000 for stormwater management; and,
Pennsylvania, American Rivers, $20,000 for educational outreach.

Source: Dr. Jana Davis, Chesapeake Bay Trust
Writer: Barbara Pash; [email protected] 

Green Street Academy, a Baltimore City public school, will more than double enrollment and relocate to a new home to accommodate the expanded student population.

That's according to Green Street Co-founder and Chairman David Warnock who calls the academy a "transformation" school. Warnock says that means it operates within the public school system and is funded by the Baltimore City school system, along with $500,000 from corporate sponsors and private donors. The city school system also provides administrative and janitorial services, unlike a charter school that operates totally independent of the school system.

Besides the standard academic studies, the academy focuses on the environment and sustainability. “We use the green economy to inspire kids. We work with our corporate and private partners to create real world skills,” says Warnock.
 
The academy opened in fall of 2011 with 270 middle school students in grades 6, 7 and 8. In fall 2013, it will add a 9^th grade and a 6th grade class, turning it into a combined middle/high school. When fully built out, Warnock expects the school to have about 700 students. Acceptance is by lottery.

“We will follow the students through high school,” Warnock says.

The academy is currently housed in a public school building, the former West Baltimore Middle School, on North Bend Road. To accommodate the increased enrollment, Warnock is searching for a new, larger home, preferably on the city's west side. He expects to move within the next two years. Warnock is raising money for the new home but declined to give a figure.
 
To showcase their skills, academy students are hosting an expo June 6-8 for parents, sponsors and community members. Energy and environmentally focused businesses will give demonstrations, sponsored by Accenture. Chef Spike Gjerde of Woodberry Kitchen will give a cooking demonstration from the academy’s own tilapia farm (in the school basement). Students will race the electric vehicles they’ve built, sponsored by Constellation Energy.
 
Source: David Warnock, Green Street Academy
Writer: Barbara Pash

Veolia Transportation launched the first taxi fleet in Baltimore powered by propane gas last Friday. Baltimore is the second city in the national transportation company’s roll-out of propane-powered taxis, with Denver first and Pittsburgh to follow.
 
Veolia is starting with 25 taxis in Baltimore but expects to add another 25 taxis in the next month, for a total of 50, as parts arrive. Dwight Kines, regional vice president for Veolia, says the propane tanks can be installed in any full-size automobile. In Baltimore, they are being installed in the Ford Crown Victorias that the fleet uses.
 
Veolia is Baltimore City’s largest operator of taxicab services. Operating under the names Yellow, Checker, and Sun Cabs in Baltimore City, and Jimmy’s Cab in Baltimore County, the company has a fleet of nearly 700 vehicles.
 
Kines says that of its 580 taxicabs in Baltimore City, 430 are privately-owned and 150 are company-owned. “Eventually we will convert all of our cabs to propane and will offer [conversion] to the private owners,” Kines says.
 
So far, private owners have been reluctant to convert to propane but Kines expects that to change as gas prices rise. The company installed a fueling station for propane, a form of natural gas, which currently sells for $2.45 per gallon. With gas, a Ford Crown Victoria gets 12 miles per gallon; with propane, 23 to 25 miles per gallon.
 
“We get fuel economy and a cheaper cost per gallon,” Kines says, adding that because propane is a “cleaner” fuel” than gas, there is less air pollution and also less wear on the vehicle’s engine.
 
The company looked at other clean energy options like electric vehicles, but decided on propane. Veolia received a grant from Virginia Clean Cities for the propane conversion. The Southeast Propane Autogas Development Program, a public-private partnership, provided the grant money to Virginia Clean Cities.
 
Veolia operates in about a dozen cities. Kines says that after Pittsburgh, the company is considering Kansas City, Mo., and Jacksonville, Fl., for further roll-outs. Eventually, plans call for a total of 300 of its cabs nationwide to be converted to propane.
 
“We are setting an example,” he says of the Baltimore roll-out.  “We hope other fleets in the city follow our lead.”
 
 
Source: Dwight Kines, Veolia Transportation
Writer: Barbara Pash; [email protected]
 



 
 
 
 
 

Parks aren’t just for beauty and relaxation anymore. In this environmentally-conscious era, they play a role in sustainability as well.

Just how that is accomplished is the subject of a talk on new trends in park design, to be held on Wed. April 25 at the University of Maryland, Baltimore BioPark, 829 West Baltimore Street.
 
Joan Floura, of Baltimore-based Floura Teeter Landscape Architects, and Glenn Marschke, of Wallace Montgomery, will review environmental site design and what it means for public parks. The hour-long event is being held in a Floura Teeter-designed pocket park. It is free and open to professionals, civic leaders and the public.
 
In particular, the speakers will focus on Maryland’s 2007 Stormwater Management Act and Environmental Site Design, says Kathy Walsh, Floura Teeter’s marketing coordinator.
 
“The regulations are intended to prevent storm water runoff going into the Chesapeake Bay. They will talk about the types of plants, the design and irrigation,” says Walsh.
 
The state regulations as well as those in Baltimore City and other local jurisdictions “affect landscape design, especially in urban parks,” she says.
 
The talk is part of Baltimore Green Works’ 9th Annual Green Week and features a variety of programs through Sat. April 28.
 
Among them: Wed. April 25, 7 p.m. film premiere and panel discussion of “Green Fire,” life of Aldo Leopold, founder of the modern green movement, at Cylburn Arboretum, 4915 Greenspring Ave.; Thurs. April 26, 6 p.m., social mixer sponsored by Civic Works, at The Red Maple, 930 N. Charles St.; Sat. April 28, 8:30 a.m. urban farming workshops and tours, at Civic Works’ Real Food Farm in Clifton Park.
 
Source: Kathy Walsh, Floura Teeter Landscape Architects
Writer: Barbara Pash
 
 

A scientific study of the change in the seasons has implications for the tourism and travel industries. Researchers at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science found that spring is arriving earlier – and autumn will be later – in the suburbs of Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
 
“Spring is arriving earlier in the cities relative to the rural areas, the reason being the cities have warmer climates because of rooftops and asphalt” streets and parking lots, says Andrew Elmore of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. “Also, the cities don’t have vegetation around them, which has a cooling effect.”
 
Elmore conducted the research with Steven Guinn, of the UMd. Center, Burke Minsley of the U.S. Geological Survey and Andrew Richardson of Harvard University.

Using high resolution satellite data of trees and forests in the region collected over the past 25 years, the group found that the urban landscape traps heat in the summer and holds it throughout the winter, triggering leaves to turn green earlier in the spring and to stay green later into the fall.

The urban heat islands affected the growing season in areas within 20 miles of the cities, allowing for a longer growing season and the cultivation of new varieties.

Elmore says that temperature difference can have an economic impact. “If spring comes earlier, that’s an important time for tourism,” he says. “There are so many people living in urban areas and they are responding to an earlier spring.”
 
The study did not address climate change specifically, although Elmore may examine that in the future.
 
Source: Andrew Elmore, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
Writer: Barbara Pash
 
 

A newly released nationwide survey ranks Maryland in the top five states for the number of “green” jobs.
 
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ first-ever Green Goods and Services Service is based on 2010 data. The state’s workforce came in fourth, with 87,000 Marylanders, or 3.6 percent of the workforce, holding jobs in green services and goods production.
 
“The green economy is thriving in Maryland, and it’s almost certain to expand in the future,” according to Stuart Kaplow, immediate past chair of the Green Building Council of Maryland.
 
Kaplow said he wasn’t surprised by Maryland’s high ranking. “But it’s nice to be validated” by an official survey, he says.
 
Of the green jobs in the state, the largest percent was in utilities, accounting for 13.6 percent of all employment in that sector. Almost 9 percent of all workers in the construction industry were “green,” as were those in transportation and warehousing.

California had the most green jobs, 338,000 workers or 2.3 percent of the state’s workforce. Vermont had the highest proportion of green jobs, 13,000 workers or 4.4 percent.

In the mid-Atlantic, Washington, D.C. had more green jobs than Maryland, 3.9 percent of its workforce, mainly because of the many public employees who were involved in green goods and services. Pennsylvania was the only other state in the mid-Atlantic that ranked in the top 10.

Green jobs accounted for 2.4 percent, or 3.1 million jobs, of all workers nationwide.  

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; Stuart Kaplow, Green Building Council of Maryland
Writer: Barbara Pash