Leslie Guevarra

In a move to ramp up efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in San Francisco, the city will require owners of commercial buildings that are 10,000 square feet and larger to conduct an energy audit every five years and benchmark the energy performance annually under an ordinance adopted this week. Read More

The term "green dentistry" can launch a raft of misperceptions, the most common being that it must be code for "Birkenstock-wearing-incense-burning-commie-pinko-leftist" dentistry. But that's beginning to change, says Ina Pockrass. With her husband, Fred, a dentist, she cofounded a green dental practice as well as the Eco Dentistry Association. Read More

A team of students from Stanford and Aalto University in FInland has an answer to the problem of e-waste: They've designed a fully recyclable laptop that can be taken apart by hand in less than two minutes without using any tools. Read More

With two of its more high-profile facilities recognized as green buildings, FedEx Express is making LEED certification a requirement for all new construction. The move by FedEx's cargo airline is the latest sustainability measure to emerge under the rubric of the corporation's EarthSmart program. Read More

Kaiser Permanente's Santa Clara Medical Center will get almost 10 percent of its electricity from a recently installed solar power system. The facility is the first hospital among 15 California sites that will host installations as part of power purchase agreements between the managed care organization and Recurrent Energy. Read More

The Empire State Building, the New York City icon undergoing the largest green retrofit in the U.S., is purchasing wind power credits for 100 percent of its energy use in a deal that parties say provides more proof that sustainability can be achieved without paying premium.   Read More

A Southern California woman has sued the FIJI Water Company in a class action complaint that alleges the firm's claim of having a carbon-negative product amounts to false and misleading advertising that sways consumers to buy the pricey bottled water. Read More

The world's first hybrid electric tugboat, Foss Maritime's Carolyn Dorothy which plies Southern California's San Pedro Bay, emits 73 percent less soot, 51 percent fewer oxides of nitrogen and 27 percent less carbon dioxide than a standard tug of comparable size, according to a study by the University of California, Riverside.   Read More

Most people would not consider January an ideal time to plant crops, especially January in Montreal. But for Mohamed Hage, Kurt D. Lynn and Howard Resh, timing is one of the proof points of their project -- a commercial-scale rooftop greenhouse that's designed to yield produce year-round for an urban community. Read More

The University of California in San Francisco celebrated the groundbreaking yesterday for its $1.5 billion sustainably designed medical center in the city's Mission Bay area. In Oakland, ground was broken this week for the new $244 million Alta Bates Summit Medical Center Patient Care Pavilion for Sutter Health, which also will be built according to green designs. Read More