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  • McDonald’s Claims First “Ecological Restaurant” in Latin America

    Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

    McDonald’s just inaugurated what it claims to be the first “ecological restaurant” in Latin America — well, at least, the first one of their chain, anyway.  Take a look at why McDonald’s calls this an ecological restaurant and see if you agree: Arcos Dourados (“Golden Arches”), the company that manages the franchise network of McDonald’s […]

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    Outlook for “Green Jobs” / Prognóstico para “empleos verdes”

    Monday, December 15th, 2008

    While the idea of creating a “green economy” with “green jobs” has been around quite a while, it really started to gain serious consideration as the climate change debate heated up,  and recently moved front-and-center during the US presidential elections and the debates about how best to respond to the global financial crisis (here, here, […]

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    Future Environmental Challenges for Mexico and its North American Partners

    Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

    Whether or not you perceive it as a good thing, Mexico long ago decided to link its environmental policymaking to that of its two partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Canada and the United States. The main vehicle for their collaboration is the Montreal-based North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation (CEC). CEC […]

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    Toward a Green Building Rating System for Mexico

    Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007

    Quiz time, folks. Did you know that Mexico has one of the two Latin American buildings that are Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified? That nine other Mexican projects await LEED certification by the US Green Building Council (USGBC)? That Mexico has had its own green building council since 2005? That the Council […]

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    GEF Grant to Tackle Brazil’s Barriers to Energy Efficiency

    Thursday, June 28th, 2007

    Temas Note: The GEF press release does not say so, but the executing agencies for this grant will be the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP). It also does not make clear that a major focus of the seven-year program is making public buildings energy efficient, with a view to cutting […]

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    Greening the IDB / A Verdecer el BID

    Saturday, April 21st, 2007

    From the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB): Calling for eco-efficiency at the IDB In celebration of Earth Day, IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno will challenge IDB staff to participate in a Bank-wide greening campaign On the occasion of Earth Day (April 22), the Inter-American Development Bank renews its commitment to the protection of our environment, and […]

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    Guadalajara Building Keeps Cool by Design

    Saturday, January 6th, 2007

    Just read about this very interesting experiment in “sustainable office building design” in Guadalajara, Mexico. The office building was designed by Catalan architect Carme Pinos, in part with a view to providing a way to keep the occupants cool year-round in sunny Guadalajara without (energy-sucking) air conditioning. Read all about it at the Myninjaplease Architecture […]

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    Brazilians Seek to Design the Eco-Efficient Home

    Sunday, November 19th, 2006

    In a prior entry I introduced you to the experiments of the Federal University of Santa Catarina’s (UFSC) Construction Systems Laboratory with constructing homes using PET bottles. Today I’ll introduce you to the work of another innovative part of the UFSC, the Energy-Efficient Construction Laboratory (LabEEE). LabEEE’s main mission is research and development in improving […]

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