I think the nation is divided into two lighting camps: CFLers and non.

I'm among those who are gonzo about the energy savings -- they use 75 percent less than incandescents. 

Many of the nons don't like the light quality, although that is changing.  You can pick from warm white to cool white, and if it's not bright enough you can easily pick a bulb with a higher wattage.

But then comes the mercury. People who initially find out about it are horrified.  True, it's there. And if you break a CFL, you have to clean it up carefully. But that was always the case with regular old fluorescents, too, and nobody minded then.

Today, the EPA has weighed in again, after a Pennsylvania resident to ask if the energy advantages outweighed the mercury risk. According to an EPA press release, electronics recycling specialist Dan Gallo responded to the writer, saying the advantages did outweigh the risk.

He pointed out that CFLs contain only trace amounts -- five milligrams -- "an amount that would cover the tip of a ballpoint pen." Okay, that's meaningless, I grant you. It's not how much, but how toxic. Anyway, he also said it would take 100 CFLs to equal the amount of mercury in older thermometers. And somehow we all survived them.

A researcher at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Rochester, N.Y., has concluded that the mercury released by a coal-fired power plant to light a single incandescent also is more than that in a CFL. Of course, the power plant mercury emissions aren't concentrated in the living room where you just broke the bulb, butterfingers.

So if you do break one, here's the word from Gallo:

"The first thing you want to do is to get everyone out of room, including pets. Open a window to air out the room for at least 15 minutes. If you broke the bulb on a hard surface, take a piece of stiff paper or cardboard and scoop up as much of the debris and residue as you can."

Gallo advises to use an old glove or sock to protect hands and then wipe up any remaining residue with a moist paper towel. "If you broke the bulb on a carpeted surface, you’ll want to use sticky tape to blot up any residue. Put everything in a plastic bag or a jar that can be sealed with a lid and dispose of it with the regular household trash."

I've read about a lot of substances researchers are attempting to turn into biofuel -- everything from restaurant trap grease to spent coffee grounds to algae.

But never this: Bloomberg is reporting today that the world's second-largest brewer is joining the British government in a $38 million effort to turn brewing waste into biofuels.

The company is SABMiller Plc, which makes Grolsch and Miller Lite.

It's about time I could drink a beer without feeling guilty about all those emissions. Not that efforts haven't been made. When I worked in West Chester, the brewer there gave spent grains to a local cow farmer.  According to Bloomberg, Anheuser-Busch uses giant balloons to capture natural gases emitted in the brewing process that are then re-used at several of its plants.  

Cheers to all of them.

Rob Fleming (left) is Ecoman, and Chris Pastore is the Skeptic

Thursdays are green radio days at Philadelphia University.

Last week, the university launched Ecoman and the Skeptic, airing from 3 to 4 p.m. and online as a podcast.

Ecoman is Rob Fleming, an architect, and the Skeptic is Chris Pastore, an engineer.  Both are sustainability experts and co-directors of PhilaU’s Engineering and Design Institute, an interdisciplinary research center focusing on green materials and sustainable design. They also head the Pennsylvania Green Growth Partnership, funded by the Pa. Department of Economic and Community Development.

“Rob and I have been arguing about sustainability for over a decade,” Pastore said in a prepared statement. “We find the dialectic process to be an efficient method for solving problems. As I like to say to Rob, ‘Are you sure about that?’ I respect faith, but we have to question everything to learn.”

Fleming responds: “And I say that perception can often trump reality – that what we believe to be true is often more important than the reality. Sustainability is partly driven by facts about how our behaviors have negatively impacted the world. At the same time, though, sustainability is also about belief – belief that there are better ways to live on the planet, better ways to run our enterprises and better ways to treat each other.”

Last week’s show, the first, looked at climate change and the role that humans play. Their guest was Steve Ghan, climate scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wa.

This week: Are we running out of oil? Will the world survive? Are people still buying SUVs? Ecoman and the Skeptic will explore peak oil and alternative energy options such as solar, wind and geothermal power. Liz Robinson, executive director of the Energy Coordinating Agency in Philadelphia, is the guest.

Regular features include green news and a greenwashing quiz.

Big money went out Tuesday to a number of regional organizations, universities and governments working to improve the environment of the Delaware Estuary — the tidal portion of the Delaware River.

The grants, administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, totaled $650,503. But add in matching funds raised by the recipients, and the amount going toward estuary projects is $1.44 million.

The awards for the 17 projects were announced at the annual Delaware estuary science and environmental summit, led by the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary.

The recipients are:

Partnership for the Delaware Estuary: $25,00, plus $45,000 in matching funds  to work with others to devise a plan to identify restoration, enhancement and protection priorities.

American Littoral Society: $49,872 plus $60,790  matching for restoration work.

Rutgers University’s Haskin Shellfish Lab: $50,000 plus $25,000 matching to plant 130,000 shells to create oyster habitat.

University of Delaware’s Water Resources Agency: $39,978 plus $18,000 matching to assess the feasibility of restoring fish passage and habitat to the White Clay Creek Watershed.

St. Joseph's Center for Community Service: $50,000 plus $11,450 matching to develop land stewardship plan for a 222-acre former school campus in Clayton, DE.

New Jersey Audubon Society: $10,000 plus $15,000 matching to publish a guide identifying important bird areas in the state.

Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, Inc.: $21,730 plus $18,298 matching  to train and deploy 25 stewards on nine Delaware Bayshore beaches to educate the public about shorebirds, assist with beach closings and census birds during spring migration.

Rutgers Foundation/Rutgers Cooperative Extension, Water Resources Program: $50,000 plus $24,600 matching to stabilize 100 ft of eroded shoreline and restore 1.3 acres of tidal wetland and forest along Rancocas Creek.

Mount Holly Township: $50,000 plus $100,000 matching to Install a fishway on the Rancocas Creek.

D&R Greenway Land Trust: $30,000 plus $828,000 matching to implement a model urban waterfront plan in Burlington County involving riparian restoration, invasives removal, and linking with Delaware River Heritage Trail system.

South Jersey Resource Conservation District: $50,000 award plus $124,000 matching to restore 100 acres of warm season grasses and wetland habitat in Columbus.

Camden County Soil Conservation District: $49,999 plus $15,375 matching to prepare a watershed plan addressing water flow, sediment loading and watershed protection and restoration along Upper Big Timber Creek.

Partnership for the Delaware Estuary: $44,971 plus  $30,194 matching to enhance and stabilize 3,500 ft of tidal marsh along the Maurice River using living shellfish reefs.

Ocean County Dept. of Parks and Recreation: $30,336 plus $26,870 matching to restore 40 acres at six parks by removing mowed fields and replanting them with native warm-season grasses and wildflowers.

American Rivers, Inc.: $29,700 plus $32,950 matching  to remove of an unused and unsafe dam in the west branch of Chester Creek and plant a riparian buffer for multiple fisheries.

Heritage Conservancy: $24,011 plus $57,000 matching to prepare a master plan for the 66-acre Bellwood Preserve in Northampton Township to maximize biodiversity.

Fairmount Park Commission: $49,905 plus $14,740 matching to convert two lawns near Cobbs Creek into 11-acres of meadow to benefit migrating neotropical and native birds.

I just heard from University of Michigan ornithologist and coffee-drinker Julie Craves, who has developed an entire website devoted to shade-grown coffee. She delves into birds, farmer poverty, sustainability, industrial coffee and more.

She even lists the five indicators of sustainable coffee and outlines how commercial coffee is contributing to to poverty.

"I don't profit from this web site or have any financial connection to coffee," she writes. "My horse in this race is my passion for both birds and coffee."

I found it fascinating. 

And if you want to know more about Craves herself, just go to the University of Michigan website and do a search for Craves. You'll find all sorts of info about her work and her published articles. 

In this morning's GreenSpace column, I wrote about the benefits of shade-grown coffee. It can help birds, other wildlife and the environment.  Plus, it tastes good and it's fun to discover new brews.

Here are some links for more information:

The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center website had so many pages of data and studies and general information that it was almost overwhelming. You could go through many cups of joe while browsing this fascinating site. Through it, you can also find roasters and dealers.  It lists at least one local dealer, Golden Valley Farms in West Chester.

Likewise, the Rainforest Alliance website is chock full of info. Audubon had adopted their certification for its on-line coffee club, another source for buying shade-grown coffee.

The certification helps make things easy, but it's also possible to ferret out your own sources of coffee.  Apparently, getting certified under some of the set-ups costs a farmer money, and not all can afford it. So while some operations claim to have "shade-grown" coffee and may not, others may be organic or shade-grown and not have the documentation.

It could be fun and interesting to sort all this out, which my sister is in the process of doing. She's an excellent coffee detective.  It also may foster personal connections. My brother-in-law discovered a particular source of shade-grown, Green Parrot Coffee, while he was volunteering with his church group in Honduras. Their website is personal, charming and thorough.

Happy drinking!    

The ribbon that Chestnut Hill Academy students made for this morning's official opening of a new Science and Technology Center certainly set the tone: It was all recycled stuff, including plastic cups, plastic bottles, old CDs, shopping bags, cardboard cut out in the shape of a devil's tale (the school teams are called the Blue Devils) and paper cut in spirals.

The $12.5 million building is LEED-certified, which means it has met the rigorous standards of the U.S. Green Building Council's program, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

"The LEED accreditation is great, of course," Deidra A. Lyngard, director of communications and marketing, said in an email. "But the more important aspect of the building is how it, itself, will be an environmental teacher, through its surrounding arboretum and rain gardens and the environmental technologies used throughout the facility. These will become part of the students' learning about science and environmental stewardship."

Among the facility's features:

o Demonstration photovoltaic cells, solar cells and a wind turbine on the roof. Data detailing their energy savings will be displayed on a screen in the lobby.
o A porous parking lot that will retain stormwater and release it slowly into the Wissahickon watershed.
o Rain gardens that will absorb stormwater runoff.
o A graywater collection and storage system to supply water for all of the building's toilets.
o Lights in the classrooms are motion- and light-sensitive. Sensors will adjust the intensity of the fixtures according to how much light is needed.
o A native species arboretum surrounding the building.
o On an artsier note, images of native flora and fauna sandblasted into the stone paving both inside and outside the building. A 2-story mural - not yet installed - will depict various facets of the watershed.

The building was designed by Lilley Dadajian, a Massachusetts architectural firm specializing in green design.

Some of Britain's largest supermarket chains recently agreed to halve the number of paper and plastic bags they supply to customers, compared to a 2006 baseline.  They pledged to do it by the spring.

The 50 percent figure was set by British Environment Minister Jane Kennedy and the British Retail Consortium. Kennedy said the "bold commitment" would result in around five billion fewer bags being handed out.

The Environment News Service reports that in 2006, around 13 billion bags were used by consumers in the UK. The number of bags saved by spring through this agreement would fill 60 Olympic-sized swimming pools, environment officials calculate.

Longterm, the retailers are looking at a 70 percent reduction.