Creating Climate wealth

Friday 20 August 2010

Learn more about NASA's role in green institutions.

NASA Ames is working hard to reduce its carbon footprint, encourage sustainable institutional practices, and motivate employees to choose environmentally-responsible work and lifestyle habits. Learn more about NASA's role in green institutions.


Sustainability Report

The Environmental Management Division announces the release of the 2009 Ames Environmental Sustainability Report (3.4MB pdf). The report is intended to be the first in an annual series documenting the Center’s accomplishments in working toward Agency and Federal goals for sustainability with an emphasis on Executive Order 13423, Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management. The report also provides links to Center efforts in science and technology related to the sustainability.




Buildings

NASA Ames is getting ready to break ground on a revolutionary new high performance building. We also have a "cool roof" building, which uses white reflective foam to keep the building temperatures cool. Some of our buildings have carpets made from recycled bottles. And we include green performance metrics for our building contracts, which require energy efficiency savings over time.




Environmental Management

The Environmental Services Division is actively involved in many voluntary and required environmental management projects, including wildlife habitat protection, salt pond restoration, carbon footprint tracking/management, hazardous waste/chemical management, bioremediation research, and air quality monitoring. The Division is also voluntarily cleaning up past contamination at the Center.




Energy Management

Our Facilities Engineering Branch has a number of energy-related projects, including prototype LED streetlights and solar-powered parking lot lighting. Additionally, we have rooftop solar panels, a windmill that powers our storm management system, and energy-efficient motion sensor lightswitches in some of our buildings.




Energy Efficient Supercomputing

Power consumption and heat dissipation by today's high-end computers are important environmental and cost issues. NASA's Pleiades supercomputer, housed at Ames Research Center, is the fifth most energy-efficient and computationally powerful system in the world.

And, on the Ames green activities at-a-glance page (http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/greenspace/at-a-glance.html), please add the following bullets to the Energy Efficient Supercomputing listing:



High-end computing procurement requirements for reduced power usage
Automated methods ensure inactive processors idle at low power
Optimized computer room layout handles heating and cooling efficiently
Transition to use of water-cooled supercomputers for more efficient cooling





Water Conservation

We are partnering with the City of Sunnyvale to use reclaimed water for our irrigation and landscaping requirements on the northeast sector of the campus. This project will cut our water use by 10%. We also have installed low-flow toilets in some of our buildings.




Landscaping

Our Environmental Services Division and Facilities Engineering Branch implemented native plant landscaping. We also maintain an active compost pile, and we've been known to hire goat herds to mow some of our grassy areas at lower emissions and cost than powered mowing.




Recycling

NASA Ames has active programs that recycle paper, batteries, printer cartridges, bottles, cans, cardboard, building material, electronic waste, metal waste, and computers.




Transportation

We have an active commute-alternatives program, particpate in Bike-to-Work-Day, and offer subsidized employee public transportation passes. Additionally, we have compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles and Global Electric Motorcars (GEM) in our motorpool fleet, and use green products to maintain them. We also recycle antifreeze and use recapped tires on our vehicles.




Green Products

Our in-house office supply store carries many green products, including 100% recycled paper. As a Federal Agency, NASA Ames participates in the Affirmative Procurement Program (pdf, 24K), which requires us to purchase items that are made of recycled content. Our cafeteria features green, biodegradable takeaway cups, containers, and cutlery.




Employee Engagement

NASA Ames has a number of activities that are designed to engage our employees in green efforts, including the Annual Earth Day Expo, Sustainability Awards, GREEN seminars, and guest speakers.

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NASA TV Multichannel Broadcast includes: Public Services Channel (Channel 101); the Education Channel (Channel 102) and the Media Services Channel (Channel 103). › Watch NASA TV on the Web › View NASA TV Monthly Education Schedule › View the regular NASA TV Daily Program Schedule for the Public and Media Channels Programming Notice: All NASA Television Channels (Public, Education, Media, occasional HD feed and the Live Interactive Media Outlet) are now available on Satellite AMC 3. Cable and satellite service providers, broadcasters, and educational and scientific institutions need to re-tune receiving devices to AMC 3 to continue accessing NASA TV. "News networks, their reporters, and other broadcast media organizations must tune their satellite receivers to the Media Channel to ensure reception of clean feeds for all mission coverage, news conferences, and other agency distributed news and information. News and other media organizations will no longer be able to rely on content from the Public Channel for clean feeds of mission and other agency activities." For complete downlink information for Satellite AMC 3 please see “Important Information” at: www.nasa.gov/ntv The programs listed below are changes to the regular Daily Program Schedule. All times are Eastern U.S. time. **ALL PROGRAMS MAY BE PRE-EMPTED OR RESCHEDULED WITHOUT ADVANCE NOTICE** NASA TV Daily Schedule: All Times are Eastern Time Zone August August 30, Monday 11:45 a.m. - ISS Expedition 24 In-Flight Interviews with TBD - JSC (Public and Media Channels) August 31, Tuesday 10 a.m. - ISS Update Commentary - JSC (Public and Media Channels) 10:45 - Live Coverage of Demonstration Motor 2 Static Test Fire from Promontory Utah - MSFC (Public and Media Channels) 11:45 - Post Demonstration Motor 2 Static Test Fire News Conference - MSFC (Public and Media Channels) September September 1, Wednesday 11:10 a.m. - ISS Expedition 24 In-Flight Interviews with TBD - JSC (Public and Media Channels) September 2, Thursday 10:40 a.m. - ISS Expedition 24 In-Flight Interviews with TBD - JSC (Public and Media Channels) September 10, Friday 8 a.m. - ISS Progress 39 Docking to the International Space Station (Docking scheduled at 8:40 a.m. EDT) - JSC (Public and Media Channels) September 15, Wednesday 9 a.m. - ESA Media News Conference with Expedition 26/27 Flight Engineer Paolo Nespoli - JSC (will be in native language back to Europe; Public and Media Channels) 2 p.m. - Expedition 26/27 Crew News Conference – JSC (Public and Media Channels) All times Eastern. Programs may be pre-empted without advance notice.