...and nothing short of a planetary rescue will save it from theenvironmental cataclysm of dangerous climate change. Those are notthe words of eco-warriors but the considered opinion of a group ofeminent scientists writing in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
By Steve Connor, Science EditorU.K. IndependentJune 19, 2007
Six scientists from some of the leading scientific institutions inthe United States have issued what amounts to an unambiguous warningto the world: civilisation itself is threatened by global warming.
They also implicitly criticise the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for underestimating the scale of sea-level rises this century as a result of melting glaciers and polar ice sheets.
Instead of sea levels rising by about 40 centimetres, as the IPCC predicts in one of its computer forecasts, the true rise might be asgreat as several metres by 2100. That is why, they say, planet Earth today is in "imminent peril".
In a densely referenced scientific paper published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A some of the world's leading climate researchers describe in detail why they believe that humanity can no longer afford to ignore the "gravest threat" of climate change."
Recent greenhouse gas emissions place the Earth perilously close to dramatic climate change that could run out of control, with greatdangers for humans and other creatures," the scientists say. Only intense efforts to curb man-made emissions of carbon dioxid eemissions and other greenhouse gases can keep the climate within or near the range of the past one million years, they add.
The researchers were led by James Hansen, the director of Nasa'sGoddard Institute for Space Studies, who was the first scientist towarn the US Congress about global warming.
The other scientists were Makiko Sato, Pushker Kharecha and Gary Russell, also of the Goddard Institute, David Lea of the Universityof California, Santa Barbara, and Mark Siddall of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University in New York.
In their 29-page paper, "Climate Change and trace gases", thescientists frequently stray from the non-emotional language of science to emphasise the scale of the problems and dangers posed byclimate change.
In an email to The Independent, Dr Hansen said: "In my opinion, among our papers this one probably does the best job of making clear thatthe Earth is getting perilously close to climate changes that could run out of our control."The unnatural "forcing" of the climate as a result of man-made emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases threatens togenerate a "flip" in the climate that could "spark a cataclysm" in the massive ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland, the scientists write.
Dramatic flips in the climate have occurred in the past but none has happened since the development of complex human societies andcivilisation, which are unlikely to survive the same sort of environmental changes if they occurred now."Civilisation developed, and constructed extensive infrastructure,during a period of unusual climate stability, the Holocene, now almost 12,000 years in duration. That period is about to end," the scientists warn. Humanity cannot afford to burn the Earth's remaining underground reserves of fossil fuel. "To do so would guarantee dramatic climate change, yielding a different planet from the one onwhich civilisation developed and for which extensive physical infrastructure has been built," they say.
Dr Hansen said we have about 10 years to put into effect the draconian measures needed to curb CO2 emissions quickly enough toavert a dangerous rise in global temperature. Otherwise, the extraheat could trigger the rapid melting of polar ice sheets, made farworse by the "albedo flip" - when the sunlight reflected by white ice is suddenly absorbed as ice melts to become the dark surface of open water.
The glaciers and ice sheets of Greenland in the northern hemisphere,and the western Antarctic ice sheet in the south, both show signs of the rapid changes predicted with rising temperatures. "The albedo flip property of ice/water provides a trigger mechanism.
If the trigger mechanism is engaged long enough, multiple dynamicalfeedbacks will cause ice sheet collapse," the scientists say. "We argue that the required persistence for this trigger mechanism is at most a century, probably less."
The latest assessment of the IPCC published earlier this yearpredicts little or no contribution to 21st century sea level from Greenland or Antarctica, but the six scientists dispute this interpretation. "The IPCC analyses and projections do not well account for the nonlinear physics of wet ice sheet disintegration,ice streams and eroding ice shelves, nor are they consistent with the palaeoclimate evidence we have presented for the absence of discernible lag between ice sheet forcing and sea-level rise," the scientists say.
Their study looked back over more than 400,000 years of climate records from deep ice cores and found evidence to suggest that rapidclimate change over a period of centuries, or even decades, have inthe past occurred once the world began to heat up and ice sheets started melting. It is not possible to assess the dangerous level of man-made greenhouse gases."
However, it is much lower than has commonly been assumed. If we have not already passed the dangerous level, the energy infrastructure inplace ensures that we will pass it within several decades," the scientists say in their findings."We conclude that a feasible strategy for planetary rescue almost surely requires a means of extracting [greenhouse gases] from the air."
http://environment.independent.co.uk/climate_change/article2675747.ece
Friday, June 22, 2007
Antibacterial Cleaners Do More Harm Than Good
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.21.07
Science & Technology
John previously noted that the triclosan in antibacterial soaps and cleaners was a gender bender that was disrupting the natural grown of frogs and was found in 55% of the rivers and streams in America, and provided a long and surprising list of products that included triclosan. (Its in toothpaste!)
Now we learn from Scientific American that it does more harm than good. It appears that after, say, spraying a counter with an antibiotic cleaner, some chemicals linger and continue to kill bacteria but don't get all of them. The ones that survive develop a tolerance: "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" Soon we have populations of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
"What is this stuff doing in households when we have soaps?" asks molecular biologist John Gustafson of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. These substances really belong in hospitals and clinics, not in the homes of healthy people." ::Scientific American
We reprint John's partial list of products to avoid below the fold.
Noxzema Triple Clean Antibacterial Lathering Cleanser
Colgate Total Toothpaste, Fresh Stripe
Revlon ColorStay LipSHINE Lipcolor Plus Gloss, Solar
Gentle Antibacterial Body Soap with Moisture Beads
Clearasil Daily Face Wash
Shield Deodorant Soap Bar, Surf Scent
Softsoap Gentle Antibacterial Body Wash with Vitamins
Aveeno Therapeutic Shave Gel
Softsoap Fruit Antibacterial Liquid Hand Soap
Right Guard Sport, Deodorant Aerosol, Fresh
Right Guard Sport, Clear Stick Deodorant
Suave Deodorant Soap, Antibacterial
Old Spice High Endurance Stick Deodorant,
pHisoderm Antibacterial Skin Cleanser
Softsoap Liquid Antibacterial Body Soap
Clean and Smooth Antibacterial Liquid Hand Soap
Old Spice Red Zone Antiperspirant & Deodorant
Colgate Total Toothpaste
Revlon ColorStay LipSHINE Lipcolor Plus Gloss
New Vaseline Brand Intensive Care Antibacterial Hand Lotion
Lever 2000 Soap Bar Antibacterial
Lever 2000 Deodorant Soap Bar
Imina Lathering Facial Cleanser
Softsoap 2 in 1 Antibacterial Hand Soap Plus Moisturizing Lotion
Softsoap Antibacterial Liquid Hand Soap with Light Moisturizers
Right Guard Sport, Deodorant Aerosol
Suave Liquid Hand Soap, Antibacterial
Bath & Body Instant AntiBacterial Hand Gel-Freesia
Dial Liquid Antibacterial Soap, Original Formula
Clean and Smooth Kitchen Antibacterial Liquid Hand Soap
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/antibacterial_c.php
Science & Technology
John previously noted that the triclosan in antibacterial soaps and cleaners was a gender bender that was disrupting the natural grown of frogs and was found in 55% of the rivers and streams in America, and provided a long and surprising list of products that included triclosan. (Its in toothpaste!)
Now we learn from Scientific American that it does more harm than good. It appears that after, say, spraying a counter with an antibiotic cleaner, some chemicals linger and continue to kill bacteria but don't get all of them. The ones that survive develop a tolerance: "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" Soon we have populations of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
"What is this stuff doing in households when we have soaps?" asks molecular biologist John Gustafson of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. These substances really belong in hospitals and clinics, not in the homes of healthy people." ::Scientific American
We reprint John's partial list of products to avoid below the fold.
Noxzema Triple Clean Antibacterial Lathering Cleanser
Colgate Total Toothpaste, Fresh Stripe
Revlon ColorStay LipSHINE Lipcolor Plus Gloss, Solar
Gentle Antibacterial Body Soap with Moisture Beads
Clearasil Daily Face Wash
Shield Deodorant Soap Bar, Surf Scent
Softsoap Gentle Antibacterial Body Wash with Vitamins
Aveeno Therapeutic Shave Gel
Softsoap Fruit Antibacterial Liquid Hand Soap
Right Guard Sport, Deodorant Aerosol, Fresh
Right Guard Sport, Clear Stick Deodorant
Suave Deodorant Soap, Antibacterial
Old Spice High Endurance Stick Deodorant,
pHisoderm Antibacterial Skin Cleanser
Softsoap Liquid Antibacterial Body Soap
Clean and Smooth Antibacterial Liquid Hand Soap
Old Spice Red Zone Antiperspirant & Deodorant
Colgate Total Toothpaste
Revlon ColorStay LipSHINE Lipcolor Plus Gloss
New Vaseline Brand Intensive Care Antibacterial Hand Lotion
Lever 2000 Soap Bar Antibacterial
Lever 2000 Deodorant Soap Bar
Imina Lathering Facial Cleanser
Softsoap 2 in 1 Antibacterial Hand Soap Plus Moisturizing Lotion
Softsoap Antibacterial Liquid Hand Soap with Light Moisturizers
Right Guard Sport, Deodorant Aerosol
Suave Liquid Hand Soap, Antibacterial
Bath & Body Instant AntiBacterial Hand Gel-Freesia
Dial Liquid Antibacterial Soap, Original Formula
Clean and Smooth Kitchen Antibacterial Liquid Hand Soap
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/antibacterial_c.php
Eco-Friendly Toys for Tots
The makers of Green Babies, the world's largest selection of certified organic cotton clothes for babies and kids, today announced the launch of their new, made in US wooden toy collection, Earth to Kid. While recent studies have suggested that plastic toys may leech a number of potentially dangerous chemicals including phthalates, which are endocrine disruptors and possible human carcinogens, these wooden toys will be made in the U.S. from non-threatened hardwoods instead. And that means that while your toddler is busy putting them in their mouth for an exploratory taste you won't have to worry about any of these toxins potentially leaching into their developing bodies to undo all the good from that organic baby food you've been feeding them. So far they’ve come out with heirloom quality baby rattles, building blocks, a school bus with removable people, and a train whistle, and there are more toys planned for holiday release. If you’d like to give them a shot while their new website is nearing completion the toys can currently be found at most Whole Foods Markets in Southern California, as well as several others in Austin, Houston, and NYC as well.
Never Ending Lightbulb
by Matthew Sparkes, London, UK on 06.22.07
Design & Architecture (lighting)
A UK firm has developed a bulb that is more than 3 times as efficient as CFL bulbs and will burn brightly for decades. They claim that it will burn for so long that the building or appliance that contains it will wear out before the bulb does.
The traditional light bulb remained the way it is for so long because there wasn’t enough of an incentive to change. No one bothered to develop newer, more efficient designs because they were so cheap to produce. They waste 95% of energy and don’t last long.
That is changing now with CFL bulbs, because the green movement is providing an incentive to change. Now they are becoming even more advanced. The Economist is reporting that a team of researchers has developed a bulb that lasts, for all intents and purposes, forever. It’s also far more efficient, converting more energy to light rather than heat.
UK Company, Ceravision, have created a new bulb design that doesn’t use electrodes, so cannot burn out. It uses a magnetometer to bombard a small piece of aluminum oxide with microwaves to create an electrical field. Gas is then passed into a hole in the aluminium, in order to ionise it and create a glowing plasma. Traditional bulbs convert only 5% of energy to light, CFLs make use of around 15%, but this new design converts over 50%.
There are other bonuses as well, both financially and environmentally. The bulbs are expected to last for decades, so will need replacing far less often. This means less carbon emissions from production, and lower costs. It also doesn’t have the traces of mercury that CFL bulbs have, so will be easier and cleaner to dispose of once it does burn out. ::The Economist
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/never_ending_li.php
Design & Architecture (lighting)
A UK firm has developed a bulb that is more than 3 times as efficient as CFL bulbs and will burn brightly for decades. They claim that it will burn for so long that the building or appliance that contains it will wear out before the bulb does.
The traditional light bulb remained the way it is for so long because there wasn’t enough of an incentive to change. No one bothered to develop newer, more efficient designs because they were so cheap to produce. They waste 95% of energy and don’t last long.
That is changing now with CFL bulbs, because the green movement is providing an incentive to change. Now they are becoming even more advanced. The Economist is reporting that a team of researchers has developed a bulb that lasts, for all intents and purposes, forever. It’s also far more efficient, converting more energy to light rather than heat.
UK Company, Ceravision, have created a new bulb design that doesn’t use electrodes, so cannot burn out. It uses a magnetometer to bombard a small piece of aluminum oxide with microwaves to create an electrical field. Gas is then passed into a hole in the aluminium, in order to ionise it and create a glowing plasma. Traditional bulbs convert only 5% of energy to light, CFLs make use of around 15%, but this new design converts over 50%.
There are other bonuses as well, both financially and environmentally. The bulbs are expected to last for decades, so will need replacing far less often. This means less carbon emissions from production, and lower costs. It also doesn’t have the traces of mercury that CFL bulbs have, so will be easier and cleaner to dispose of once it does burn out. ::The Economist
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/never_ending_li.php
Europe's Warmest Winter in 700 Years
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 06.22.07
Science & Technology
According to an article recently published in Geophysical Research Letters, the last fall/winter season was Europe's warmest in 700 years. In fact, the last time Europeans witnessed such unusually high temperatures was in 1289.
Jürg Luterbacher of the University of Bern, Switzerland, the study's lead investigator, mined temperature and climate records from across Europe that went back several hundred years to draw this conclusion. "People in churches, or doctors, wrote diaries, and usually they also included information about weather and climate. Climate historians can use and interpret this information and translate it into a temperature value," explained Luterbacher, who used these records to compare past and recent temperatures.
What is particularly unusual about the temperatures seen in the fall of 2006 and the winter of 2007 is not necessarily their values (though they were high), but the fact that one immediately followed the other, a sequential juxtaposition not seen since 1289.
While Luterbacher hypothesizes that the high temperatures experienced in 1289 were most likely the result of a large volcanic eruption, he and his colleagues attribute last year's warmer fall/winter season to the movement of warm air up from the Atlantic off the coast of North Africa.
Though they can't yet say with certainty whether such an unusual incident is due solely to global warming, they draw a direct comparison to a similar 2004 study that indicated that it was "very likely that human influence has at least doubled the risk" of extreme weather incidents such as the recent heat wave that killed 35,000 people in Europe.
Via ::Freak winter is Europe's warmest for 700 years (news website)
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/europe_winter.php
Science & Technology
According to an article recently published in Geophysical Research Letters, the last fall/winter season was Europe's warmest in 700 years. In fact, the last time Europeans witnessed such unusually high temperatures was in 1289.
Jürg Luterbacher of the University of Bern, Switzerland, the study's lead investigator, mined temperature and climate records from across Europe that went back several hundred years to draw this conclusion. "People in churches, or doctors, wrote diaries, and usually they also included information about weather and climate. Climate historians can use and interpret this information and translate it into a temperature value," explained Luterbacher, who used these records to compare past and recent temperatures.
What is particularly unusual about the temperatures seen in the fall of 2006 and the winter of 2007 is not necessarily their values (though they were high), but the fact that one immediately followed the other, a sequential juxtaposition not seen since 1289.
While Luterbacher hypothesizes that the high temperatures experienced in 1289 were most likely the result of a large volcanic eruption, he and his colleagues attribute last year's warmer fall/winter season to the movement of warm air up from the Atlantic off the coast of North Africa.
Though they can't yet say with certainty whether such an unusual incident is due solely to global warming, they draw a direct comparison to a similar 2004 study that indicated that it was "very likely that human influence has at least doubled the risk" of extreme weather incidents such as the recent heat wave that killed 35,000 people in Europe.
Via ::Freak winter is Europe's warmest for 700 years (news website)
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/europe_winter.php
N.J. Takes Lead on Global Warming War
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 06.22.07
Science & Technology
Photo credit: Manuel Bartual
New Jersey lawmakers launched one of nation's most aggressive attacks on global warming yesterday by approving a measure to cut the state's heat-trapping emissions to 15 to 25 percent below current levels by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050—a target equaled by only one other state so far: Minnesota. (A California law approved last year, by contrast, mandates only a cut in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emissions by 25 percent by 2020. Take that, you California hippies!)
The Assembly and state Senate overwhelmingly passed the measure 72-8 and 36-1, respectively. Governor John Corzine has said he will sign the bill.
"In the absence of leadership on the federal level, the burden of reducing
greenhouse gases has now fallen upon the states," said Lilo Stainton, a spokeswoman for Corzine. "This legislation ... will make New Jersey a national leader in combating global warming."
Lawmakers said New Jersey couldn't afford to dawdle, especially when projections have shown that warmer temperatures will mean more coastal flooding, heat waves, and air pollution. Recent studies say that North Jersey's weather could end up more like balmy South Carolina's by the end of the century if the trend remains unchecked.
Admittedly, even if the ambitious goal was met, it would make only a small dent in overall worldwide warming trends. Supporters say that the Garden State's move, along with those of other states, could be key in getting the federal government to follow their lead. (We're not holding our breath, but stranger things have happened.)
The bill was not without its detractors, of course. "The Earth has warmed up and cooled down hundreds of times. ... The debate is not over," Assemblyman Michael J. Doherty, R-Warren, said.
Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll, R-Morris, criticized the bill for not including "one single specific proposal" to decrease New Jersey's reliance on non-renewable energy sources. A better bill, he said, would encourage the use of radiant heating, hydropower, and wind farms. "If we had the political will, we could take steps today to lessen New Jersey's global imprint," he said.
New Jersey is already the second largest solar market in the United States (the first being California), and some predict that Thursday's bill could spur the state toward making less-polluting energy sources and high-efficiency hybrid vehicles ubiquitous.
Although cutting emissions will drive up costs for electricity and other products in the short run, Corzine and other lawmakers acknowledged, because much of the plan focuses on slashing energy use, they say consumers will reap savings in the long term as they use less power.
"New Jersey as a state will receive really incredible economic benefits, in addition to setting the lead for the rest of the nation," said Suzanne Leta Liou of Environment New Jersey, an advocacy group. :: The Record
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/nj_takes_lead.php
Science & Technology
Photo credit: Manuel Bartual
New Jersey lawmakers launched one of nation's most aggressive attacks on global warming yesterday by approving a measure to cut the state's heat-trapping emissions to 15 to 25 percent below current levels by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050—a target equaled by only one other state so far: Minnesota. (A California law approved last year, by contrast, mandates only a cut in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emissions by 25 percent by 2020. Take that, you California hippies!)
The Assembly and state Senate overwhelmingly passed the measure 72-8 and 36-1, respectively. Governor John Corzine has said he will sign the bill.
"In the absence of leadership on the federal level, the burden of reducing
greenhouse gases has now fallen upon the states," said Lilo Stainton, a spokeswoman for Corzine. "This legislation ... will make New Jersey a national leader in combating global warming."
Lawmakers said New Jersey couldn't afford to dawdle, especially when projections have shown that warmer temperatures will mean more coastal flooding, heat waves, and air pollution. Recent studies say that North Jersey's weather could end up more like balmy South Carolina's by the end of the century if the trend remains unchecked.
Admittedly, even if the ambitious goal was met, it would make only a small dent in overall worldwide warming trends. Supporters say that the Garden State's move, along with those of other states, could be key in getting the federal government to follow their lead. (We're not holding our breath, but stranger things have happened.)
The bill was not without its detractors, of course. "The Earth has warmed up and cooled down hundreds of times. ... The debate is not over," Assemblyman Michael J. Doherty, R-Warren, said.
Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll, R-Morris, criticized the bill for not including "one single specific proposal" to decrease New Jersey's reliance on non-renewable energy sources. A better bill, he said, would encourage the use of radiant heating, hydropower, and wind farms. "If we had the political will, we could take steps today to lessen New Jersey's global imprint," he said.
New Jersey is already the second largest solar market in the United States (the first being California), and some predict that Thursday's bill could spur the state toward making less-polluting energy sources and high-efficiency hybrid vehicles ubiquitous.
Although cutting emissions will drive up costs for electricity and other products in the short run, Corzine and other lawmakers acknowledged, because much of the plan focuses on slashing energy use, they say consumers will reap savings in the long term as they use less power.
"New Jersey as a state will receive really incredible economic benefits, in addition to setting the lead for the rest of the nation," said Suzanne Leta Liou of Environment New Jersey, an advocacy group. :: The Record
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/nj_takes_lead.php
Energy Bill? What Energy Bill?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.22.07
Business & Politics
That '57 Plymouth they dug up in Tulsa will get close to 25 miles per gallon, not much less than the current average. Yet the "compromise" reached in the so-called energy bill that the automakers were running over themselves to stop specifies an average fleet mileage of 35 MPG in 2020. It doesn't take sixty-three years to figure out how to get a 10 MPG improvement. The Times put it nicely:
"The combination of breakthroughs and setbacks highlighted the blocking power of the entrenched industry groups, from oil companies and electric utilities to car manufacturers, that had blanketed Congress in recent days to defend their interests. "
No money for renewables, a requirement for 36 billion gallons of ethanol, no pressure on utilities to use renewables, no cutting of incentives to oil companies that might, horror of horrors, "lead to higher gas prices." Nothing but 12 years to reach a fuel efficiency standard that the market will demand a lot sooner.
In 2020 three dollar gas is going to be a very distant memory and 35 MPG better be too; what a waste of time. ::New York Times
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/energy_bill_wha.php
Business & Politics
That '57 Plymouth they dug up in Tulsa will get close to 25 miles per gallon, not much less than the current average. Yet the "compromise" reached in the so-called energy bill that the automakers were running over themselves to stop specifies an average fleet mileage of 35 MPG in 2020. It doesn't take sixty-three years to figure out how to get a 10 MPG improvement. The Times put it nicely:
"The combination of breakthroughs and setbacks highlighted the blocking power of the entrenched industry groups, from oil companies and electric utilities to car manufacturers, that had blanketed Congress in recent days to defend their interests. "
No money for renewables, a requirement for 36 billion gallons of ethanol, no pressure on utilities to use renewables, no cutting of incentives to oil companies that might, horror of horrors, "lead to higher gas prices." Nothing but 12 years to reach a fuel efficiency standard that the market will demand a lot sooner.
In 2020 three dollar gas is going to be a very distant memory and 35 MPG better be too; what a waste of time. ::New York Times
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/energy_bill_wha.php
Canada's Largest Green Roof
This green roof will be the largest in Canada when complete. It's the roof of the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre. The whole Centre is being built with high environmental standards. Besides the multi-hectare intensive green roof, it will have energy efficient lighting and electrical systems, an on-site desalinization system, and a greywater treatment that will provide irrigation for the green roof.
The footings for the load-bearing piles have been designed to support marine life. The building will also house the Coal Harbour marine aerodrome, a seaplane airport with more than 400 daily flights. During the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics the building will serve as the international broadcast center.
China Tops U.S. As No. 1 Producer Of CO2 Emissions
Jun 21 2007
China’s emissions of carbon dioxide have exceeded those of the U.S., according to a report released this week by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, The Chicago Tribune writes.
The study estimated that surging power demand from China’s rapidly expanding economy caused carbon dioxide emissions to rise nine percent in 2006. That increase, coupled with a slight decline in the U.S., meant that China’s emissions for the year surpassed those of the U.S. by eight percent, the Dutch report said.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/06/21/china-tops-us-as-no-1-producer-of-co2-emissions/
China’s emissions of carbon dioxide have exceeded those of the U.S., according to a report released this week by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, The Chicago Tribune writes.
The study estimated that surging power demand from China’s rapidly expanding economy caused carbon dioxide emissions to rise nine percent in 2006. That increase, coupled with a slight decline in the U.S., meant that China’s emissions for the year surpassed those of the U.S. by eight percent, the Dutch report said.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/06/21/china-tops-us-as-no-1-producer-of-co2-emissions/
Nissan Releases Sustainability Report
Jun 21 2007
Nissan has released its fourth annual sustainability report (PDF).
In December, Nissan unveiled a new environmental action plan dubbed Nissan Green Program 2010.
The program includes:
Nissan has released its fourth annual sustainability report (PDF).
In December, Nissan unveiled a new environmental action plan dubbed Nissan Green Program 2010.
The program includes:
- Incorporating CO2 reduction as one of the key management performance indicators.
- Launching a three-liter car with a target of 2010; a gasoline-fueled car that runs 100km on three liters of fuel.
- Expand availability of Flexible Fuel Vehicles (FFV) within the next three years.
- Launch Nissan electric vehicle early in the next decade.
- Develop Nissan’s original hybrid vehicle targeted for launch in FY2010.
Accelerate development of plug-in hybrid technology. - Reduce CO2 emissions from global manufacturing plants by seven percent compared to 2005 by 2010.
Nissan no longer publishes the sustainability report in print. Instead, the report is available for download from the company’s CSR website.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/06/21/nissan-releases-sustainability-report/Leaving Computers On At Night Costs U.S. Businesses $1.72 Billion A Year
Jun 19 2007
U.S. businesses are wasting $1.72 billion a year on PCs that are not shut down at night, according to a survey (PDF) released by 1E and the Alliance to Save Energy.
A mid-sized company, which includes about 10,000 PCs, wastes more than $165,000 a year in electricity costs for computers left on overnight.
According to Sumir Karayi, chief executive officer, 1E, it is evident from the findings of the report that worker apathy and insufficient business systems are part of the cause for wasting a tremendous amount of energy. Power savings of significant value can be achieved only when all the stakeholders involved are satisfied, namely PC users themselves, IT departments–who need to keep computers up-to-date– and finally those tasked with managing their organizations’ Corporate Social Responsibility credentials.
“Ideally, everyone would shut down their PCs at the end of the working day, but the research released shows that this just doesn’t happen,” he stated.
According to the report, some people assume their IT departments need their machines to be left on overnight in order to deploy security patches and software updates. Others believe an on-board “sleep” or hibernation mode kicks in–which isn’t usually the case. And, a number of respondents admitted that they just don’t care.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/06/19/leaving-computers-on-at-night-costs-us-businesses-172-billion-a-year/
U.S. businesses are wasting $1.72 billion a year on PCs that are not shut down at night, according to a survey (PDF) released by 1E and the Alliance to Save Energy.
A mid-sized company, which includes about 10,000 PCs, wastes more than $165,000 a year in electricity costs for computers left on overnight.
According to Sumir Karayi, chief executive officer, 1E, it is evident from the findings of the report that worker apathy and insufficient business systems are part of the cause for wasting a tremendous amount of energy. Power savings of significant value can be achieved only when all the stakeholders involved are satisfied, namely PC users themselves, IT departments–who need to keep computers up-to-date– and finally those tasked with managing their organizations’ Corporate Social Responsibility credentials.
“Ideally, everyone would shut down their PCs at the end of the working day, but the research released shows that this just doesn’t happen,” he stated.
According to the report, some people assume their IT departments need their machines to be left on overnight in order to deploy security patches and software updates. Others believe an on-board “sleep” or hibernation mode kicks in–which isn’t usually the case. And, a number of respondents admitted that they just don’t care.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/06/19/leaving-computers-on-at-night-costs-us-businesses-172-billion-a-year/
World Clean Energy Awards Highlight Best Energy Projects
Jun 19 2007
The very first World Clean Energy Awards have been presented (via GreenBiz). The Swiss transatlantic21 association drew up the program for the World Clean Energy Awards. The following individuals were honoured at the 2007 ceremony:
The very first World Clean Energy Awards have been presented (via GreenBiz). The Swiss transatlantic21 association drew up the program for the World Clean Energy Awards. The following individuals were honoured at the 2007 ceremony:
Construction (new buildings, urban development, renovation)
Josefin Wangel, Communications Officer with Hammarby Sjöstad Sustainable City, Sweden. Resource consumption in this new area of Stockholm, which is home to 25,000 people, is at least 50 percent lower than the current standard for comparable new developments.
Transport and mobility
Bryan Willson, Chief Technical Advisor with the Philippine Two-Stroke Engine Retrofit Project. The Envirofit company has developed a retrofitting kit for two-stroke engines, which are found everywhere in the Philippines. The kit improves fuel-efficiency and thus massively reduces greenhouse gas and toxic emissions.
Products (agriculture, mining, industry, utilities)
Fredrick Ouko, Director of the Simple Solar Assembling Project in Kibera Slum, Kenya. The assembly of solar cells in one of Africa’s biggest slums has provided inhabitants not only with work, but also with clean energy.
Services, trade and marketing
Srinivasan Padmanaban, Project Manager, Green Business Center and Water Energy Nexus Activity, New Delhi, India. India’s leading center for energy, the environment and climate change supports “green” concepts for improving energy efficiency and sustainable development.
Finance and investment
Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, with the Masdar Initiative, United Arab Emirates. As a first among the world’s oil-producing nations, the United Arab Emirates, launched the Abu Dhabi-based billion-dollar Masdar Initiative to promote renewable energies.
Politics and legislation
Li Zhaoqian, Mayor of Rizhao, with the project: Popularization of Clean Energy in Rizhao, China. Home to more than three million, the city of Rizhao, north-east of Beijing, is using a combination of incentives and legislative tools to encourage the large-scale, efficient use of renewable energies. Over 500,000 people have already benefited directly from the scheme. In some areas, solar thermal collectors are installed on almost every single roof.
NGOs and initiatives
Russell de Lucia, CEO The Small Scale Sustainable Infrastructure Development Fund, Inc. (S3IDF), with the project: “Social Merchant Bank” – Approach to providing efficient lighting services to poor households, communities and SMEs in southern India. S3IDF provides around 5,500 people in southern India with light from a clean energy source. More light means that people can work longer and thus generate higher incomes. It also improves health and safety. The project is being extended.
Jury’s special awardAnandi Sharan, Project Manager, Women for Sustainable Development, with the Bagepalli CDM Biogas Project, India. The project is introducing biogas cookers as a substitute for India’s traditional cooking methods, which use non-renewable sources of energy. Under the Kyoto Protocol, the greenhouse gas emissions that the project saves can then be sold in the form of certificates.
Jury’s special award for couragePatrick Spears (President) and Robert Gough (Secretary), Intertribal COUP, with the Intertribal COUP/Rosebud Sioux Environmental Justice Revitalization Project: Tribal Wind Power Demonstration Project Plan. The Sioux are investing in wind power. In doing so, they are generating clean energy, creating jobs and earning income for the tribe. This is happening in an environment which presents many obstacles to the development of renewable energies.
Institutions such as the Worldwatch Institute, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), the local government sustainability union ICLEI and South-South-North Cape Town, South Africa, were invited to propose winners. Together with other institutions, they nominated a total of 70 candidates from 20 countries.
Google Launches Plug-In Hybrid Program, Turns On Solar Power System
Jun 19 2007
Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google Inc. has announced the RechargeIT initiative that aims to accelerate the adoption of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. As part of this initiative, Google.org awarded $1 million in grants and announced plans for a $10 million request for proposals to fund development, adoption and commercialization of plug-ins, fully electric cars and related vehicle-to-gridtechnology.
Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google Inc. has announced the RechargeIT initiative that aims to accelerate the adoption of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. As part of this initiative, Google.org awarded $1 million in grants and announced plans for a $10 million request for proposals to fund development, adoption and commercialization of plug-ins, fully electric cars and related vehicle-to-gridtechnology.
In addition, Google has switched on the solar panel installation at its Mountain View, Calif. headquarters. At 1.6 megawatts - and with an electricity output capable of powering approximately 1,000 average California homes - the Google project is the largest solar installation to date on any corporate campus in the U.S. and one of the largest on any corporate site in the world.
The majority of the solar panels were installed by EI Solutions on the rooftops of the Googleplex which include multiple buildings and required the use of four different mounting systems. The remaining panels were placed on newly constructed carports in existing Google parking lots
Real-time information about the current output of the solar system is available on the Google corporate web site. Images are available here.
Climate Counts Wants Shoppers To Make Climate-Based Buying Decisions
Jun 19 2007
Climate Counts, a new nonprofit group, has released a scorecard that ranks consumer companies, grouped by industry, on how they measure greenhouse gas emissions, their plans to reduce them, their support or opposition to regulation, and how fully they disclose those activities, The New York Times reports.
Gary Hirshberg, chief executive of the yogurt maker Stonyfield Farm, is the nonprofits’ chairman. Its goals are to help investors choose stocks and motivate corporations to make changes. In that respect, the nonprofits’ goals seem aligned with some of the work Ceres has undertaken to prompt corporations to specify how they are addressing risks associated with global warming. But what’s unique with climatecounts is its focus on consumers, rather than shareholders.
No company achieved a perfect 100. Canon, Nike and Unilever top the 56 companies scored on the inaugural Climate Counts Company Scorecard. At the very bottom – with scores of zero - are Amazon.com, Wendy’s, Burger King, Jones Apparel, CBS and Darden Restaurants (which owns popular restaurants Red Lobster and Olive Garden). Sixteen low-performing companies scored under 10 points, including big names like Apple, eBay.com and Levi Strauss.
Climate Counts will put the scores on its Web site, climatecounts.org.
Consumers can review all the company scores and download a pocket-sized shopping guide at www.climatecounts.org. Consumers will also be able to look up companies’ rankings by texting “cc company name” (for example, “cc Nike”) to 30644 from their cell phones so they can make climate-friendly consumer decisions while they shop. The nonprofit plans to update the scores every year.
What’s not clear is Climate Count’s plan to get in front of consumers.
A recent report from Ceres and Calvert found that only 47 percent of the members of the S&P 500 index responded to a request last year for information on their assessment of climate change risk.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/06/19/climate-counts-wants-shoppers-to-make-climate-based-buying-decisions/
Climate Counts, a new nonprofit group, has released a scorecard that ranks consumer companies, grouped by industry, on how they measure greenhouse gas emissions, their plans to reduce them, their support or opposition to regulation, and how fully they disclose those activities, The New York Times reports.
Gary Hirshberg, chief executive of the yogurt maker Stonyfield Farm, is the nonprofits’ chairman. Its goals are to help investors choose stocks and motivate corporations to make changes. In that respect, the nonprofits’ goals seem aligned with some of the work Ceres has undertaken to prompt corporations to specify how they are addressing risks associated with global warming. But what’s unique with climatecounts is its focus on consumers, rather than shareholders.
No company achieved a perfect 100. Canon, Nike and Unilever top the 56 companies scored on the inaugural Climate Counts Company Scorecard. At the very bottom – with scores of zero - are Amazon.com, Wendy’s, Burger King, Jones Apparel, CBS and Darden Restaurants (which owns popular restaurants Red Lobster and Olive Garden). Sixteen low-performing companies scored under 10 points, including big names like Apple, eBay.com and Levi Strauss.
Climate Counts will put the scores on its Web site, climatecounts.org.
Consumers can review all the company scores and download a pocket-sized shopping guide at www.climatecounts.org. Consumers will also be able to look up companies’ rankings by texting “cc company name” (for example, “cc Nike”) to 30644 from their cell phones so they can make climate-friendly consumer decisions while they shop. The nonprofit plans to update the scores every year.
What’s not clear is Climate Count’s plan to get in front of consumers.
A recent report from Ceres and Calvert found that only 47 percent of the members of the S&P 500 index responded to a request last year for information on their assessment of climate change risk.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/06/19/climate-counts-wants-shoppers-to-make-climate-based-buying-decisions/
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Group: China tops world in CO2 emissions
By AUDRA ANG, Associated Press Writer
BEIJING - China has overtaken the United States as the world's top producer of carbon dioxide emissions — the biggest man-made contributor to global warming — based on the latest widely accepted energy consumption data, a Dutch research group says.
According to a report released Tuesday by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, China overtook the U.S. in emissions of CO2 by 8 percent in 2006. While China was 2 percent below the United States in 2005, voracious coal consumption and increased cement production caused the numbers to rise rapidly, the group said.
"It's an expression of their fast industrial production activities and their fast development," Jos G.J. Olivier, the agency's senior scientist who compiled the figures, said Wednesday. The agency is independent but paid by the Dutch government to advise it on environmental policy.
The study said China, which relies on coal for two-thirds of its energy needs and makes 44 percent of the world's cement, produced 6.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2006. In comparison, the U.S., which gets half its electricity from coal, produced 5.8 billion metric tons of CO2, it said.
The group's analysis makes sense and had been predicted to happen by 2009 or 2010, said experts from the United Nations and the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and outside academics.
Bert Metz, a senior researcher at the Dutch agency and a leading expert on efforts to battle global warming, said the analysis was done using methods and data that "are the best currently available."
This means that "Chinese contributions to global CO2 emissions are getting more important," Metz said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Telephone calls to China's State Environmental Protection Agency and the National Development and Reform Commission, the Cabinet-level economic planning agency, were not answered Wednesday.
Earlier figures indicated China would likely surpass the U.S. in greenhouse gas emissions as early as 2009, although other predictions said it could happen this year.
Chinese environmental officials have said that while total emissions are going up, they are still less than one quarter of those of the United States on a per capita basis. Because China's population of 1.3 billion people is more than four times that of the United States, China spews about 10,500 pounds of carbon dioxide per person, while in the United States it is nearly 42,500 pounds per person.
Olivier said there was not much chance China will now lose its lead.
"China's growth will saturate at some point," he said. But "for now, we don't see a trend (toward) this saturation yet."
Olivier said the research was based on data on fossil fuel consumption from BP PLC's Review of Energy 2007, compiled by the British oil company, and cement production data through 2006 published by the U.S. Geological Survey.
John Christensen, head of the U.N. Environment Program's Center on Energy, Climate and Sustainable Development in Denmark, said the figures did not come as a surprise.
"The Dutch agency referred to BP statistics, which is the standard reference tool. We have no reason to doubt that the numbers are right. We have no reason to doubt the methodology," Christensen said. "It's been stated many times that China will overtake the U.S. in emissions."
Other sources of carbon dioxide, such as deforestation and the flaring of gas in oil and gas production, are not included in the data. They also do not include methane from fuel production and agriculture and nitrous oxide from industry.
Fatih Birol, chief economist of the Paris-based International Energy Agency also said the findings were not surprising, given China's economic growth of more than 9 percent annually over the past 25 years.
His agency had estimated China would overtake the U.S. before 2010; in November it sharpened the forecast to 2007 or 2008.
But the issue isn't just current emissions, but carbon dioxide stuck in the atmosphere, where it lingers for about a century trapping heat below, said Jay Apt, a professor of engineering, business and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
Apt and a colleague calculated the share of carbon dioxide now in the atmosphere that can be attributed to each country and determined that the United States is responsible for 27 percent, European nations contributed 20 percent and China only 8 percent.
"The planet does not respond to emissions, the planet responds to the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere," said Apt. "It means the U.S. will have the lion's share of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere for the foreseeable future. In fact, even if China's exponential growth continues, China will not surpass the U.S. in the numbers of carbon dioxide atoms in the atmosphere, that is concentration, until at least 2050, which is too late to start anything."
The International Energy Agency's Birol said the key message from the emission figures isn't who is No. 1, but the need to slow growth in CO2 emissions. "The rest of the world with the help of China needs to find ways for China to reduce CO2 emissions," Birol said.
China has come under growing international pressure to take more forceful measures to curb releases of greenhouse gases.
This month, China unveiled its first national program to combat global warming with promises to rein in greenhouse gas production. While the program offered few new concrete targets for greenhouse gas emissions, it outlined steps the country would take to meet a previously announced goal of improving energy efficiency in 2010 by 20 percent over 2005's level.
Beijing also indicated an unwillingness to enforce mandatory emissions caps.
Ma Kai, the minister heading the National Development and Reform Commission, said economic development is a priority for China, but efforts would be made to raise awareness about global warming.
China signed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which caps the amount of carbon dioxide that can be emitted in industrialized countries. But because China is considered a developing country it is exempt from emission reductions — a situation often cited by the Bush administration and Australia for not accepting the treaty.
Yang Ailun of Greenpeace China called on the country to take more steps to protect the environment. "Due to the urgency of climate change, China has the responsibility to take immediate actions to reform its energy structure and curb its CO2 emissions," Yang said in a statement.
She noted that Western consumers use products made in China.
"All the West has done is export a great slice of its carbon footprint to China and make China the world's factory," she said. "This trend has kept the price of projects in the West down, but led to a climate disaster in the long term."
___
Associated Press writer Arthur Max in Amsterdam and Science Writer Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070620/ap_on_sc/china_climate_change_2
BEIJING - China has overtaken the United States as the world's top producer of carbon dioxide emissions — the biggest man-made contributor to global warming — based on the latest widely accepted energy consumption data, a Dutch research group says.
According to a report released Tuesday by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, China overtook the U.S. in emissions of CO2 by 8 percent in 2006. While China was 2 percent below the United States in 2005, voracious coal consumption and increased cement production caused the numbers to rise rapidly, the group said.
"It's an expression of their fast industrial production activities and their fast development," Jos G.J. Olivier, the agency's senior scientist who compiled the figures, said Wednesday. The agency is independent but paid by the Dutch government to advise it on environmental policy.
The study said China, which relies on coal for two-thirds of its energy needs and makes 44 percent of the world's cement, produced 6.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2006. In comparison, the U.S., which gets half its electricity from coal, produced 5.8 billion metric tons of CO2, it said.
The group's analysis makes sense and had been predicted to happen by 2009 or 2010, said experts from the United Nations and the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and outside academics.
Bert Metz, a senior researcher at the Dutch agency and a leading expert on efforts to battle global warming, said the analysis was done using methods and data that "are the best currently available."
This means that "Chinese contributions to global CO2 emissions are getting more important," Metz said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Telephone calls to China's State Environmental Protection Agency and the National Development and Reform Commission, the Cabinet-level economic planning agency, were not answered Wednesday.
Earlier figures indicated China would likely surpass the U.S. in greenhouse gas emissions as early as 2009, although other predictions said it could happen this year.
Chinese environmental officials have said that while total emissions are going up, they are still less than one quarter of those of the United States on a per capita basis. Because China's population of 1.3 billion people is more than four times that of the United States, China spews about 10,500 pounds of carbon dioxide per person, while in the United States it is nearly 42,500 pounds per person.
Olivier said there was not much chance China will now lose its lead.
"China's growth will saturate at some point," he said. But "for now, we don't see a trend (toward) this saturation yet."
Olivier said the research was based on data on fossil fuel consumption from BP PLC's Review of Energy 2007, compiled by the British oil company, and cement production data through 2006 published by the U.S. Geological Survey.
John Christensen, head of the U.N. Environment Program's Center on Energy, Climate and Sustainable Development in Denmark, said the figures did not come as a surprise.
"The Dutch agency referred to BP statistics, which is the standard reference tool. We have no reason to doubt that the numbers are right. We have no reason to doubt the methodology," Christensen said. "It's been stated many times that China will overtake the U.S. in emissions."
Other sources of carbon dioxide, such as deforestation and the flaring of gas in oil and gas production, are not included in the data. They also do not include methane from fuel production and agriculture and nitrous oxide from industry.
Fatih Birol, chief economist of the Paris-based International Energy Agency also said the findings were not surprising, given China's economic growth of more than 9 percent annually over the past 25 years.
His agency had estimated China would overtake the U.S. before 2010; in November it sharpened the forecast to 2007 or 2008.
But the issue isn't just current emissions, but carbon dioxide stuck in the atmosphere, where it lingers for about a century trapping heat below, said Jay Apt, a professor of engineering, business and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
Apt and a colleague calculated the share of carbon dioxide now in the atmosphere that can be attributed to each country and determined that the United States is responsible for 27 percent, European nations contributed 20 percent and China only 8 percent.
"The planet does not respond to emissions, the planet responds to the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere," said Apt. "It means the U.S. will have the lion's share of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere for the foreseeable future. In fact, even if China's exponential growth continues, China will not surpass the U.S. in the numbers of carbon dioxide atoms in the atmosphere, that is concentration, until at least 2050, which is too late to start anything."
The International Energy Agency's Birol said the key message from the emission figures isn't who is No. 1, but the need to slow growth in CO2 emissions. "The rest of the world with the help of China needs to find ways for China to reduce CO2 emissions," Birol said.
China has come under growing international pressure to take more forceful measures to curb releases of greenhouse gases.
This month, China unveiled its first national program to combat global warming with promises to rein in greenhouse gas production. While the program offered few new concrete targets for greenhouse gas emissions, it outlined steps the country would take to meet a previously announced goal of improving energy efficiency in 2010 by 20 percent over 2005's level.
Beijing also indicated an unwillingness to enforce mandatory emissions caps.
Ma Kai, the minister heading the National Development and Reform Commission, said economic development is a priority for China, but efforts would be made to raise awareness about global warming.
China signed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which caps the amount of carbon dioxide that can be emitted in industrialized countries. But because China is considered a developing country it is exempt from emission reductions — a situation often cited by the Bush administration and Australia for not accepting the treaty.
Yang Ailun of Greenpeace China called on the country to take more steps to protect the environment. "Due to the urgency of climate change, China has the responsibility to take immediate actions to reform its energy structure and curb its CO2 emissions," Yang said in a statement.
She noted that Western consumers use products made in China.
"All the West has done is export a great slice of its carbon footprint to China and make China the world's factory," she said. "This trend has kept the price of projects in the West down, but led to a climate disaster in the long term."
___
Associated Press writer Arthur Max in Amsterdam and Science Writer Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070620/ap_on_sc/china_climate_change_2
Sunday, June 17, 2007
States Pass Energy/Greenhouse Bills
New Hampshire Senate Unanimously Passes Renewable Energy Standard
>>After years of hard work from advocacy groups, utilities and legislators, New Hampshire finally passed a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) Thursday, which will require state utilities to generate 25 percent of electricity from renewable resources by 2025.<<
http://cleanergy.blogspot.com/2007/04/new-hampshire-senate-unanimously-passes.html
New Mexico Governor Enacts Four Clean Energy Bills
>>New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson Bills recently signed four significant renewable energy bills: SB 994 (Advanced Energy Tax Credit); SB 489 (Biodiesel Blend Required by 2012); HB 318 (Power plant mercury emissions control); SB 463 (Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit Amendments).<<
http://cleanergy.blogspot.com/2007/04/new-mexico-governor-enacts-four-clean.html
Alaska's Governor Starts Exploring Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
>>Gov. Sarah Palin plans to explore ways Alaska can reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions as part of a global-warming strategy to be developed by a new subcabinet of top administration officials.<<
http://cleanergy.blogspot.com/2007/04/alaskas-governor-starts-exploring.html
>>After years of hard work from advocacy groups, utilities and legislators, New Hampshire finally passed a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) Thursday, which will require state utilities to generate 25 percent of electricity from renewable resources by 2025.<<
http://cleanergy.blogspot.com/2007/04/new-hampshire-senate-unanimously-passes.html
New Mexico Governor Enacts Four Clean Energy Bills
>>New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson Bills recently signed four significant renewable energy bills: SB 994 (Advanced Energy Tax Credit); SB 489 (Biodiesel Blend Required by 2012); HB 318 (Power plant mercury emissions control); SB 463 (Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit Amendments).<<
http://cleanergy.blogspot.com/2007/04/new-mexico-governor-enacts-four-clean.html
Alaska's Governor Starts Exploring Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
>>Gov. Sarah Palin plans to explore ways Alaska can reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions as part of a global-warming strategy to be developed by a new subcabinet of top administration officials.<<
http://cleanergy.blogspot.com/2007/04/alaskas-governor-starts-exploring.html
A Firefox plug-in that inserts bar charts depicting CO2 emissions data into travel related e-commerce websites. the 1st version visualizes CO2 emissions information to airfare websites such as Orbitz.com, United.com , Delta.com, etc. following versions will work with car directions, car rental, & shipping websites.
http://infosthetics.com/archives/2007/05/real_costs_browser_plugin.html Exposure to human female hormones endangers male fish, species
Tue May 22, 11:17 AM ET
MONTREAL (AFP) - Tiny amounts of human female hormones in fresh water have a "feminizing" effect on male fish, and could endanger fish in the wild, a US-Canadian study released Tuesday found.
Researchers from Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the US
Environmental Protection Agency' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> Environmental Protection Agency over seven years added a small amount of synthetic estrogen to a man-made lake in northern Ontario, Canada, at a level similar to what is found in the waste water of major Canadian cities.
Synthetic estrogen in such waste water comes almost entirely from birth control pills.
The young male fish observed -- fathead minnow or Pimephales promelas -- produced less fertile sperm, egg proteins and in some cases eggs were found in their testicles, researchers said.
The same effects were seen in larger fish that feed on the minnow.
Earlier research had noted that male fish in contact with estrogen could suffer "feminizing" effects, but did not address the effect the changes would have on the survival of species.
The study, led by Canadian Karen Kidd and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, concluded that "the concentrations of estrogens and their mimics observed in fresh waters can impact the sustainability of wild fish populations."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070522/sc_afp/canadaushealthfish_070522151701
MONTREAL (AFP) - Tiny amounts of human female hormones in fresh water have a "feminizing" effect on male fish, and could endanger fish in the wild, a US-Canadian study released Tuesday found.
Researchers from Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the US
Environmental Protection Agency' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> Environmental Protection Agency over seven years added a small amount of synthetic estrogen to a man-made lake in northern Ontario, Canada, at a level similar to what is found in the waste water of major Canadian cities.
Synthetic estrogen in such waste water comes almost entirely from birth control pills.
The young male fish observed -- fathead minnow or Pimephales promelas -- produced less fertile sperm, egg proteins and in some cases eggs were found in their testicles, researchers said.
The same effects were seen in larger fish that feed on the minnow.
Earlier research had noted that male fish in contact with estrogen could suffer "feminizing" effects, but did not address the effect the changes would have on the survival of species.
The study, led by Canadian Karen Kidd and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, concluded that "the concentrations of estrogens and their mimics observed in fresh waters can impact the sustainability of wild fish populations."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070522/sc_afp/canadaushealthfish_070522151701
Global warming "is three times faster than worst predictions"
By Geoffrey Lean,
Environment EditorU.K. Independent
June 3, 2007
Global warming is accelerating three times more quickly than feared,a series of startling, authoritative studies has revealed.They have found that emissions of carbon dioxide have been rising atthrice the rate in the 1990s. The Arctic ice cap is melting threetimes as fast - and the seas are rising twice as rapidly - as hadbeen predicted.
News of the studies - which are bound to lead to calls for eventougher anti-pollution measures than have yet been contemplated -comes as the leaders of the world's most powerful nations prepare forthe most crucial meeting yet on tackling climate change.
The issue will be top of the agenda of the G8 summit which opens inthe German Baltic resort of Heiligendamm on Wednesday, placingunprecedented pressure on President George Bush finally to agree tointernational measures.
Tony Blair flies to Berlin today to prepare for the summit with itshost, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. They will discuss how totackle President Bush, who last week called for action to deal withclimate change, which his critics suggested was instead a way ofdelaying international agreements.
Yesterday, there were violent clashes in the city harbour of Rostockbetween police and demonstrators, during a largely peaceful march oftens of thousands of people protesting against the summit.
The study, published by the US National Academy of Sciences, showsthat carbon dioxide emissions have been increasing by about 3 percent a year during this decade, compared with 1.1 per cent a year inthe 1990s.
The significance is that this is much faster than even the highestscenario outlined in this year's massive reports by theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - and suggests thattheir dire forecasts of devastating harvests, dwindling watersupplies, melting ice and loss of species are likely to beunderstating the threat facing the world.
The study found that nearly three-quarters of the growth in emissionscame from developing countries, with a particularly rapid rise inChina. The country, however, will resist being blamed for theproblem, pointing out that its people on average still contributeonly about a sixth of the carbon dioxide emitted by each American.
And, the study shows, developed countries, with less than a sixth ofthe world's people, still contribute more than two-thirds of totalemissions of the greenhouse gas.
On the ground, a study by the University of California's NationalSnow and Ice Data Center shows that Arctic ice has declined by 7.8per cent a decade over the past 50 years, compared with an averageestimate by IPCC computer models of 2.5 per cent.
In yesterday's clashes, masked protesters hurled flagpoles, stonesand bottles and attacked with sticks forcing police to retreat. Thepolice said they were suffering "massive assaults" and that thesituation was "very chaotic". They put the size of the demonstrationat 25,000; organisers said it was 80,000.http://environment.independent.co.uk/climate_change/article2609305.ece
Environment EditorU.K. Independent
June 3, 2007
Global warming is accelerating three times more quickly than feared,a series of startling, authoritative studies has revealed.They have found that emissions of carbon dioxide have been rising atthrice the rate in the 1990s. The Arctic ice cap is melting threetimes as fast - and the seas are rising twice as rapidly - as hadbeen predicted.
News of the studies - which are bound to lead to calls for eventougher anti-pollution measures than have yet been contemplated -comes as the leaders of the world's most powerful nations prepare forthe most crucial meeting yet on tackling climate change.
The issue will be top of the agenda of the G8 summit which opens inthe German Baltic resort of Heiligendamm on Wednesday, placingunprecedented pressure on President George Bush finally to agree tointernational measures.
Tony Blair flies to Berlin today to prepare for the summit with itshost, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. They will discuss how totackle President Bush, who last week called for action to deal withclimate change, which his critics suggested was instead a way ofdelaying international agreements.
Yesterday, there were violent clashes in the city harbour of Rostockbetween police and demonstrators, during a largely peaceful march oftens of thousands of people protesting against the summit.
The study, published by the US National Academy of Sciences, showsthat carbon dioxide emissions have been increasing by about 3 percent a year during this decade, compared with 1.1 per cent a year inthe 1990s.
The significance is that this is much faster than even the highestscenario outlined in this year's massive reports by theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - and suggests thattheir dire forecasts of devastating harvests, dwindling watersupplies, melting ice and loss of species are likely to beunderstating the threat facing the world.
The study found that nearly three-quarters of the growth in emissionscame from developing countries, with a particularly rapid rise inChina. The country, however, will resist being blamed for theproblem, pointing out that its people on average still contributeonly about a sixth of the carbon dioxide emitted by each American.
And, the study shows, developed countries, with less than a sixth ofthe world's people, still contribute more than two-thirds of totalemissions of the greenhouse gas.
On the ground, a study by the University of California's NationalSnow and Ice Data Center shows that Arctic ice has declined by 7.8per cent a decade over the past 50 years, compared with an averageestimate by IPCC computer models of 2.5 per cent.
In yesterday's clashes, masked protesters hurled flagpoles, stonesand bottles and attacked with sticks forcing police to retreat. Thepolice said they were suffering "massive assaults" and that thesituation was "very chaotic". They put the size of the demonstrationat 25,000; organisers said it was 80,000.http://environment.independent.co.uk/climate_change/article2609305.ece
GE's Hybrid Locomotive Prototype On Track
GE unveiled a prototype hybrid locomotive at its Ecomagination event in Los Angeles last week. The 4,000 hp locomotive uses a set of sodium nickel chloride (Na-NiCl2) batteries to capture and store energy dissipated during dynamic braking, as well as an on-board fuel optimizer system.
The energy stored in the locomotive batteries will reduce fuel consumption and emissions by as much as 10% compared to most of the freight locomotives in use today. Railroads account for about 2.5% of national fuel usage in the US. In addition to reduced emissions, a hybrid will operate more efficiently in higher altitudes and up steep inclines.
Locomotives are electric drive vehicles—the diesel engines function as gensets to power the electric traction motors. Locos use dynamic braking - traction motors ceasing to act as motors and becoming alternators - to decelerate or to maintain speed on a downhill grade. Typically, a resistor is used to dissipate the electric power (about 7,000 hp per locomotive) as heat produced by the electric motor during dynamic braking.
In the hybrid, the energy storage system (ESS) is connected to the main DC link through an electronic converter controlled by an energy management system and associated vehicle system controls. The ESS provides supplemental power to the traction motor along with the power from the genset, and receives power during regenerative braking.
The hybrid battery system for a locomotive has to provide both high energy and high power. GE's hybrid prototype has a power/energy (P/E) ratio of about two. By contrast, the Toyota Camry hybrid has a P/E ratio of 19, the GE/Orion V prototype hybrid transit bus a P/E ratio of about five, and the Sprinter plug-in hybrid prototype with SAFT Li-ion batteries a P/E ratio of about seven, according to GE.
Before the GE hybrid locomotive is offered commercially, the engineering team will continue work and analysis on the batteries and control systems on-board the locomotive. Following lab testing, GE will produce pre-production units for customer field trials. :: GE, Green Car Congress
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/ges_hybrid_loco.php
Hawaii Passes Global Warming Legislation
May 7
Hawaii has become the second U.S. state to pass legislation capping greenhouse gas emissions. Modeled after California's landmark law, Hawaii's Global Warming Solutions Act of 2007 requires the island state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. A task force would have until the end of 2009 to devise a regulatory plan to achieve the greenhouse gas emissions limits. Like California, Hawaii will consider a carbon trading market as one way to meet the targets. The Democrat-controlled Legislature passed the global warming law late last week by a huge margin, with only four legislators voting against it. Republican Governor Linda Lingle has until July 10 to act on the legislation.
Hawaii has become the second U.S. state to pass legislation capping greenhouse gas emissions. Modeled after California's landmark law, Hawaii's Global Warming Solutions Act of 2007 requires the island state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. A task force would have until the end of 2009 to devise a regulatory plan to achieve the greenhouse gas emissions limits. Like California, Hawaii will consider a carbon trading market as one way to meet the targets. The Democrat-controlled Legislature passed the global warming law late last week by a huge margin, with only four legislators voting against it. Republican Governor Linda Lingle has until July 10 to act on the legislation.
Japan vows 100M to stem climate change
May 7
KYOTO, Japan - Japan pledged $100 million in grants to the Asian Development Bank on Sunday to combat global warming and promote greener investment in the region and called for a stronger international agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The money is part of a new initiative by the government in Tokyo to support sustainable development in response to increasing concern that Asia's breakneck economic growth is destroying the environment. It comes just days after a breakthrough agreement in Thailand set the world's first roadmap for fighting climate change. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070506/ap_on_re_as/asia_climate_change_6
KYOTO, Japan - Japan pledged $100 million in grants to the Asian Development Bank on Sunday to combat global warming and promote greener investment in the region and called for a stronger international agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The money is part of a new initiative by the government in Tokyo to support sustainable development in response to increasing concern that Asia's breakneck economic growth is destroying the environment. It comes just days after a breakthrough agreement in Thailand set the world's first roadmap for fighting climate change. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070506/ap_on_re_as/asia_climate_change_6
Citi Earmarks $50 Billion For Green Activities
May 8
Citi says it will direct $50 billion over the next 10 years to address global climate change through investments, financings and related activities to support the commercialization and growth of alternative energy and clean technology among the clients and markets it serves, as well as within its own businesses and operations. The major announcement comes one day after Citi launched its new global, corporate brand identity advertising campaign with the theme "Let's Get it Done."
In March, Bank of America launched a $20 billion initiative to support environmentally sustainable business activity.
Citi says that the $50 billion target is a realistic estimate based on market-based activities and transactions with clients as well as energy saving projects within Citi's own operations. This target includes nearly $10 billion in activities Citi has already undertaken to address climate change to date.
Citi will increase tenfold, to $10 billion, its commitment to improve energy use in its own operations and reduce emissions.
The markets and banking group will invest in and finance more than $31 billion in clean energy and alternative technology through existing activities and the launch of new client services.
Various businesses at Citi Alternative Investments are supporting environmentally friendly investments.
In the global consumer group, Citi "is offering climate-friendly mortgage, card and commercial finance products," the bank said. This includes financing of home solar energy systems, it said.
For participants in its global wealth management division, Citi research produced more than 70 climate-related notes in 2006. More are planned.
Citi says it will direct $50 billion over the next 10 years to address global climate change through investments, financings and related activities to support the commercialization and growth of alternative energy and clean technology among the clients and markets it serves, as well as within its own businesses and operations. The major announcement comes one day after Citi launched its new global, corporate brand identity advertising campaign with the theme "Let's Get it Done."
In March, Bank of America launched a $20 billion initiative to support environmentally sustainable business activity.
Citi says that the $50 billion target is a realistic estimate based on market-based activities and transactions with clients as well as energy saving projects within Citi's own operations. This target includes nearly $10 billion in activities Citi has already undertaken to address climate change to date.
Citi will increase tenfold, to $10 billion, its commitment to improve energy use in its own operations and reduce emissions.
The markets and banking group will invest in and finance more than $31 billion in clean energy and alternative technology through existing activities and the launch of new client services.
Various businesses at Citi Alternative Investments are supporting environmentally friendly investments.
In the global consumer group, Citi "is offering climate-friendly mortgage, card and commercial finance products," the bank said. This includes financing of home solar energy systems, it said.
For participants in its global wealth management division, Citi research produced more than 70 climate-related notes in 2006. More are planned.
Shell Catches Flak Over Green Ad, Releases Sustainability Report
May 8
On the day that Royal Dutch Shell has released its 2006 sustainability report, Friends of the Earth Europe is filing simultaneous complaints (PDF) to the national advertising standards authorities of Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UK about a Shell advertisement which Friends of the Earth says depicts the outline of an oil refinery emitting flowers rather than smoke and claims that it uses its “waste CO2 to grow flowers and [its] waste sulphur to make concrete.”
Friends of the Earth Europe is objecting to the overall message and imagery used. The advertisement says ‘Don’t throw anything away, there is no away,’ but FOE says that “the implication that Shell carries out its operations in line with this is false and misleading. Shell’s advertis also misleading because it suggests that Shell uses all of its waste CO2 to grow flowers while in reality it uses less than 0.5 percent of it to grow flowers.”
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/05/08/shell-catches-flak-over-green-ad-releases-sustainability-report/
On the day that Royal Dutch Shell has released its 2006 sustainability report, Friends of the Earth Europe is filing simultaneous complaints (PDF) to the national advertising standards authorities of Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UK about a Shell advertisement which Friends of the Earth says depicts the outline of an oil refinery emitting flowers rather than smoke and claims that it uses its “waste CO2 to grow flowers and [its] waste sulphur to make concrete.”
Friends of the Earth Europe is objecting to the overall message and imagery used. The advertisement says ‘Don’t throw anything away, there is no away,’ but FOE says that “the implication that Shell carries out its operations in line with this is false and misleading. Shell’s advertis also misleading because it suggests that Shell uses all of its waste CO2 to grow flowers while in reality it uses less than 0.5 percent of it to grow flowers.”
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/05/08/shell-catches-flak-over-green-ad-releases-sustainability-report/
Graduating green
Progressive MBA program makes sustainability the bottom line
by Jacob Shafer
For a long time, the prevailing opinion in both the business community and the environmental movement seemed to be that the two sides were incompatible. You were either pro-bottom line or pro-preservation—but almost never both.
Things have changed. Resources, particularly fossil fuels, are growing ever scarcer; global climate change is threatening to fundamentally alter the face of the planet; old paradigms are shifting. And businesses are beginning to wake up to the reality that sustainable industry is the wave of the future, and those who don't ride it are going to drown.
It is with this spirit of environmentally conscious enterprise that the Green MBA program was created. The brainchild of John Stayton and Jane Lorand, founder of the nonprofit Institute for Environmental Entrepreneurship, the program first launched at Santa Rosa's New College of California in 2000 as an M.A., morphing into an MBA in 2002.
Now, it's moving with staff and curriculum intact to Dominican University in San Rafael, with the first slate of classes set to begin in the fall.
"We're extremely excited about [coming to Dominican]," says Stayton. "They've been so welcoming and accommodating thus far."
The move is something of a homecoming for Stayton, who earned an MBA in International Business from Dominican in 1995. He says that Dominican was an appealing destination for the program for a number of reasons, including the university's centralized location and its established status as a mainstream institution.
"I have nothing but good things to say about New College," Stayton adds emphatically. "But it felt like it was time for us to move on, and this feels like the right fit."
Stayton says that while the program will undoubtedly change and grow in its new home, it's coming to Marin fully formed, with a group of 12 faculty members and an educational philosophy that has gained a reputation for being dynamic, forward-thinking and effective.
Joey Shepp of Fairfax, a graduate of the program, offers a ringing endorsement.
"I was part of the third graduating class, so I had a huge opportunity to help shape the program," says Shepp. "It was amazing—small classes, great faculty and really self-directed."
Shepp has parlayed his educational experience into a career with a Web strategies firm called Earthsite (ww.earthsite.net ) that helps green businesses build and maintain an online presence. He's also founder of Green Maven (www.greenmaven.com ), which he describes as "the green Google." It's a search engine that highlights environmentally conscious Web sites—helping enviro types find everything from fair-trade coffee to organic socks.
Asked if green business is a growth industry, Shepp answers without hesitation. "What we're seeing is a new, modern environmentalism that's pro-business and pro-profit," he says. "Environmental problems can be seen as business opportunities, and I think more and more companies are realizing that to maybe sacrifice a little now is to grow for the future. This is a bright green market—one that's looking seven generations into the future."
Shepp is, of course, just one example of the many students who have used the Green MBA as a springboard. Stayton says graduates generally find jobs in three key areas: entrepreneurship, sustainability consulting and what he calls "intrapreneurship," working within established corporations to effect change from the inside out.
"Green MBA students are prepared for the modern workforce in a number of ways," says John Regatz, an adjunct faculty member who lives in Novato. "About half of our students go out and start their own companies. The other half end up working in a variety of fields—nonprofits, socially responsible companies. They bring new knowledge about how to reduce waste, find substitute materials, encourage recycling, provide living wages, reduce energy consumption. Their learning can help in the development of new products for the new era."
While he feels we have "reached a tipping point" in terms of environmental issues, Regatz emphasizes that hope, rather than gloom, should be the order of the day.
"[We teach] the concept of the 'triple bottom line'—that all business decisions need to consider economic profit, people and the planet," he says, adding that this doesn't necessarily mean giving up a high quality of life. "We are learning that environmentalism is not always about sacrifice. [Energy efficient] light bulbs are a good example. So are solar panels. So is wind energy. Adapting does not have to mean a lower standard of living."
Henry Wong of Sausalito, another adjunct professor, says that the Green MBA is different from other programs in that it approaches business with an entirely new philosophy.
"I teach corporate finance at UC Berkeley, but my course in the Green MBA program is called entrepreneurial finance—which is a completely different skill set and allows students to break free from traditional limitations and think outside the box to solve today's crucial business issues."
Wong agrees that green jobs are booming—and takes things a step further.
"There are many studies that show green jobs are on the rise," he says. "However, it's more important to note the upward trend in the 'greening' of business. In other words, all jobs will be green jobs eventually, as we re-think our roles in the business environment."
Sound idealistic? Perhaps, but it's also a refreshing antidote to the discourse one often hears regarding the future of enterprise and the planet—a maddening back-and-forth between head-in-the-sand deniers and pessimistic doomsayers.
With some predicting the impending collapse of life as we know it, it's nice to hear there's a growing movement that not only holds out hope for a bright tomorrow, but is developing a plan for how to get there.
"This is an exciting time for us," says Stayton, his enthusiasm apparent. "We're really on the edge of something that's already big, and is just going to continue growing. We've come a long way as a program, and there's still a long way to go."
To learn more about the Green MBA program, call the Dominican graduate admissions office at 888/323-6763 or visit
http://www.pacificsun.com/story.php?story_id=842
by Jacob Shafer
For a long time, the prevailing opinion in both the business community and the environmental movement seemed to be that the two sides were incompatible. You were either pro-bottom line or pro-preservation—but almost never both.
Things have changed. Resources, particularly fossil fuels, are growing ever scarcer; global climate change is threatening to fundamentally alter the face of the planet; old paradigms are shifting. And businesses are beginning to wake up to the reality that sustainable industry is the wave of the future, and those who don't ride it are going to drown.
It is with this spirit of environmentally conscious enterprise that the Green MBA program was created. The brainchild of John Stayton and Jane Lorand, founder of the nonprofit Institute for Environmental Entrepreneurship, the program first launched at Santa Rosa's New College of California in 2000 as an M.A., morphing into an MBA in 2002.
Now, it's moving with staff and curriculum intact to Dominican University in San Rafael, with the first slate of classes set to begin in the fall.
"We're extremely excited about [coming to Dominican]," says Stayton. "They've been so welcoming and accommodating thus far."
The move is something of a homecoming for Stayton, who earned an MBA in International Business from Dominican in 1995. He says that Dominican was an appealing destination for the program for a number of reasons, including the university's centralized location and its established status as a mainstream institution.
"I have nothing but good things to say about New College," Stayton adds emphatically. "But it felt like it was time for us to move on, and this feels like the right fit."
Stayton says that while the program will undoubtedly change and grow in its new home, it's coming to Marin fully formed, with a group of 12 faculty members and an educational philosophy that has gained a reputation for being dynamic, forward-thinking and effective.
Joey Shepp of Fairfax, a graduate of the program, offers a ringing endorsement.
"I was part of the third graduating class, so I had a huge opportunity to help shape the program," says Shepp. "It was amazing—small classes, great faculty and really self-directed."
Shepp has parlayed his educational experience into a career with a Web strategies firm called Earthsite (ww.earthsite.net ) that helps green businesses build and maintain an online presence. He's also founder of Green Maven (www.greenmaven.com ), which he describes as "the green Google." It's a search engine that highlights environmentally conscious Web sites—helping enviro types find everything from fair-trade coffee to organic socks.
Asked if green business is a growth industry, Shepp answers without hesitation. "What we're seeing is a new, modern environmentalism that's pro-business and pro-profit," he says. "Environmental problems can be seen as business opportunities, and I think more and more companies are realizing that to maybe sacrifice a little now is to grow for the future. This is a bright green market—one that's looking seven generations into the future."
Shepp is, of course, just one example of the many students who have used the Green MBA as a springboard. Stayton says graduates generally find jobs in three key areas: entrepreneurship, sustainability consulting and what he calls "intrapreneurship," working within established corporations to effect change from the inside out.
"Green MBA students are prepared for the modern workforce in a number of ways," says John Regatz, an adjunct faculty member who lives in Novato. "About half of our students go out and start their own companies. The other half end up working in a variety of fields—nonprofits, socially responsible companies. They bring new knowledge about how to reduce waste, find substitute materials, encourage recycling, provide living wages, reduce energy consumption. Their learning can help in the development of new products for the new era."
While he feels we have "reached a tipping point" in terms of environmental issues, Regatz emphasizes that hope, rather than gloom, should be the order of the day.
"[We teach] the concept of the 'triple bottom line'—that all business decisions need to consider economic profit, people and the planet," he says, adding that this doesn't necessarily mean giving up a high quality of life. "We are learning that environmentalism is not always about sacrifice. [Energy efficient] light bulbs are a good example. So are solar panels. So is wind energy. Adapting does not have to mean a lower standard of living."
Henry Wong of Sausalito, another adjunct professor, says that the Green MBA is different from other programs in that it approaches business with an entirely new philosophy.
"I teach corporate finance at UC Berkeley, but my course in the Green MBA program is called entrepreneurial finance—which is a completely different skill set and allows students to break free from traditional limitations and think outside the box to solve today's crucial business issues."
Wong agrees that green jobs are booming—and takes things a step further.
"There are many studies that show green jobs are on the rise," he says. "However, it's more important to note the upward trend in the 'greening' of business. In other words, all jobs will be green jobs eventually, as we re-think our roles in the business environment."
Sound idealistic? Perhaps, but it's also a refreshing antidote to the discourse one often hears regarding the future of enterprise and the planet—a maddening back-and-forth between head-in-the-sand deniers and pessimistic doomsayers.
With some predicting the impending collapse of life as we know it, it's nice to hear there's a growing movement that not only holds out hope for a bright tomorrow, but is developing a plan for how to get there.
"This is an exciting time for us," says Stayton, his enthusiasm apparent. "We're really on the edge of something that's already big, and is just going to continue growing. We've come a long way as a program, and there's still a long way to go."
To learn more about the Green MBA program, call the Dominican graduate admissions office at 888/323-6763 or visit
http://www.pacificsun.com/story.php?story_id=842
Wind power association sees market soaring 19 percent per year
BRUSSELS (AFP) - The wind energy market will grow by 19 percent per year through the end of the decade as the high-flying sector keeps enjoying powerful Chinese and US demand, an industry association said Friday.
Even though that would mark a slowdown from the annual 24 percent growth registered in 2002-2006, the market would still double by the end of the decade, the Global Wind Energy Council said.
"Despite the strong growth we have witnessed in the past, we estimate that the biggest developments are still ahead," GWEC director Angelika Pullen said in a statement.
"Until the end of the current decade, the cumulative capacity of wind energy installations is predicted to reach 149.5 gigawatts, more than double the installed capacity at the end of 2006," she added.
Last year, 23 billion dollars (18 billion euros) worth of new wind generators came on line worldwide, lifting total capacity by 25 percent to more than 74 gigawatts.
The wind power sector is in the midst of a major boom as countries try to reduce their dependence on increasingly expensive fossil fuels while cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions to fight global climate warming.
"If decision makers around the world are genuinely committed to making a difference now, they have to rethink their energy policy and make the deployment of renewable energy technologies, such as wind energy, their number one priority," said GWEC's secretary general Steve Sawyer. Although the European Union is currently the main market for wind power, demand in both Asia and North America is expanding at "a tremendous pace", the association said.
While the US market is expected to become the biggest worldwide by 2010, "the Asian market has exceeded all previous estimations thanks to unexpectedly strong growth in China."
The GWEC claims to represent over 1,500 companies, organisations and institutions in more than sixty countries, including all major wind turbine makers.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070511/sc_afp/energyalternative_070511192713
Even though that would mark a slowdown from the annual 24 percent growth registered in 2002-2006, the market would still double by the end of the decade, the Global Wind Energy Council said.
"Despite the strong growth we have witnessed in the past, we estimate that the biggest developments are still ahead," GWEC director Angelika Pullen said in a statement.
"Until the end of the current decade, the cumulative capacity of wind energy installations is predicted to reach 149.5 gigawatts, more than double the installed capacity at the end of 2006," she added.
Last year, 23 billion dollars (18 billion euros) worth of new wind generators came on line worldwide, lifting total capacity by 25 percent to more than 74 gigawatts.
The wind power sector is in the midst of a major boom as countries try to reduce their dependence on increasingly expensive fossil fuels while cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions to fight global climate warming.
"If decision makers around the world are genuinely committed to making a difference now, they have to rethink their energy policy and make the deployment of renewable energy technologies, such as wind energy, their number one priority," said GWEC's secretary general Steve Sawyer. Although the European Union is currently the main market for wind power, demand in both Asia and North America is expanding at "a tremendous pace", the association said.
While the US market is expected to become the biggest worldwide by 2010, "the Asian market has exceeded all previous estimations thanks to unexpectedly strong growth in China."
The GWEC claims to represent over 1,500 companies, organisations and institutions in more than sixty countries, including all major wind turbine makers.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070511/sc_afp/energyalternative_070511192713
Pitt's green building project begins
NEW ORLEANS - With a brass band accompaniment, developers in this city's devastated Lower 9th Ward celebrated the start of construction Thursday on an environmentally friendly new home, based on the winning design in a competition started by Bradd Pitt.
Bundles of hay were used to outline the site of the first house, which will serve as a model home and visitor center while construction of other houses is under way. The first house is expected to be completed in August — around the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
The home will be made with energy-saving materials such as metal roofing and recycled textiles.
"Hopefully this can be a model for the level of redevelopment that can be done here," said Matt Petersen, president and CEO of Global Green USA, the environmental group working with Pitt on the project.
Global Green plans to sell the homes and plans to give preference to former residents of the Lower 9th Ward's Holy Cross neighborhood, where the homes are being constructed.
Pitt's green building project begins - Yahoo! News http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070510/ap_en_mo/katrina_green_buildings_2
Bundles of hay were used to outline the site of the first house, which will serve as a model home and visitor center while construction of other houses is under way. The first house is expected to be completed in August — around the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
The home will be made with energy-saving materials such as metal roofing and recycled textiles.
"Hopefully this can be a model for the level of redevelopment that can be done here," said Matt Petersen, president and CEO of Global Green USA, the environmental group working with Pitt on the project.
Global Green plans to sell the homes and plans to give preference to former residents of the Lower 9th Ward's Holy Cross neighborhood, where the homes are being constructed.
Pitt's green building project begins - Yahoo! News http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070510/ap_en_mo/katrina_green_buildings_2
Staples Offers Computer Recycling Nationwide
May 21 2007
Staples says it is the first national retailer to offer everyday-in-store recycling for computers and other office technology.
The company says that consumers can bring computers, monitors, laptops, printers, faxes and all-in-ones to any U.S. Staples store, where the equipment will be recycled in accordance with environmental laws. All brands will be accepted, regardless of whether or not the equipment was purchased at Staples, for a fee of $10 per large item.
Staples is working with Amandi Services to handle recycling of the equipment.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/05/21/staples-offers-computer-recycling-nationwide/
Staples says it is the first national retailer to offer everyday-in-store recycling for computers and other office technology.
The company says that consumers can bring computers, monitors, laptops, printers, faxes and all-in-ones to any U.S. Staples store, where the equipment will be recycled in accordance with environmental laws. All brands will be accepted, regardless of whether or not the equipment was purchased at Staples, for a fee of $10 per large item.
Staples is working with Amandi Services to handle recycling of the equipment.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/05/21/staples-offers-computer-recycling-nationwide/
Solar-powered plane prepares for aviation history
by Peter Capella Tue May 22, 11:38 AM ET
GENEVA (AFP) - A dainty solar-powered plane with wings the width of a giant Airbus will retrace exploits in aviation history, including Charles Lindbergh's first ever transatlantic crossing, before a pioneering round-the-world flight in 2011, project leaders said Tuesday.
The "Solar Impulse" project led by Swiss round-the-world balloon pioneer Bertrand Piccard, undertook real-time computer simulations of a circumnavigation this week, a year before a prototype is due to take to the air.
The virtual flights, which can be followed on the Internet, are designed to replicate long-distance journeys through existing, real weather conditions by the high-tech but lightweight and slow-moving aircraft .
The ground crew will try to ensure Solar Impulse has maximum exposure to the sun during the daytime to charge its batteries, but will also guide it around or above turbulence, unfavourable winds and bad weather.
Each of its five legs around the world should last three to five days each.
"We have no idea if the virtual flight will be a success or not. We're dealing with real conditions, so it may be a failure," Piccard said.
"It's a real opportunity to learn," he told journalists at the control centre in Geneva Airport.
The team is adamant that they will try a first non-stop crossing of the United States by a solar powered aircraft and a first transatlantic flight before they launch the keynote circumnavigation of the globe in May 2011.
"My dream is for a flight one day from New York to Paris, this is the most difficult because of the weather," said team meteorologist Luc Trullemans.
"For the first time in my life I'm always looking for sunshine," he added.
The carbon-fibre Solar Impulse will have an 80 metre wingspan equivalent to that of a 580 tonne Airbus A380, and 250 square metres (2690 square feet) of solar panels.
Yet it will weigh just two tonnes and barely squeeze the lone pilot -- Piccard -- into its narrow, ultra-computerised, cockpit.
The solar panels charge up ultralight lithium batteries which power four electric propellor engines along the wings.
The Swiss adventurer underlined that the 70 million euro (94 million dollar) project -- the price of two business jets -- was not the template for a solar-powered commercial airliner, but designed to stimulate ideas for pollution-free travel.
"What's sure is that if we consume energy like we do now, we're going to the wall. Solar Impulse shows how solar energy can be attractive, it's showing that new energy is sexy," he added.
Piccard dismissed current attempts at solar powered flight as "largely anecdotal," because they involved relatively short flights in daytime in perfect weather.
"That doesn't show the potential of solar power, it shows its limits," he added.
A first prototype is being designed and built in Switzerland by the 45-strong team using innovative and sometimes untested technology.
It will later be succeeded by the aircraft that will make the record attempts, possibly taking off from the Gulf region for the circumnavigation.
The project initiated in 2003 brings Piccard back together with some of his companions on the first non-stop balloon flight around the world in 1999, including British co-pilot Brian Jones and Trullemans.
Piccard, who comes from a dynasty of pioneers, said that the idea of Solar Impulse partly came from being goaded about the balloon flight being the last challenge available.
"It became obvious that the adventures of the 21st century would not be adventures of conquest, but adventures to improve the quality of life," he explained.
Piccard's grandfather, Auguste, and associate Paul Kipfer, became the first human beings to fly into the stratosphere in the 1930s, in a balloon.
By contrast, his father, Jacques, plumbed the depths of the earth, and made the deepest dive in history, reaching 10,915 metres (35,810 ft) in a submarine in the Marianas Trench in 1960.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070522/sc_afp/switzerlandaviationenergysolar_070522153315
GENEVA (AFP) - A dainty solar-powered plane with wings the width of a giant Airbus will retrace exploits in aviation history, including Charles Lindbergh's first ever transatlantic crossing, before a pioneering round-the-world flight in 2011, project leaders said Tuesday.
The "Solar Impulse" project led by Swiss round-the-world balloon pioneer Bertrand Piccard, undertook real-time computer simulations of a circumnavigation this week, a year before a prototype is due to take to the air.
The virtual flights, which can be followed on the Internet, are designed to replicate long-distance journeys through existing, real weather conditions by the high-tech but lightweight and slow-moving aircraft .
The ground crew will try to ensure Solar Impulse has maximum exposure to the sun during the daytime to charge its batteries, but will also guide it around or above turbulence, unfavourable winds and bad weather.
Each of its five legs around the world should last three to five days each.
"We have no idea if the virtual flight will be a success or not. We're dealing with real conditions, so it may be a failure," Piccard said.
"It's a real opportunity to learn," he told journalists at the control centre in Geneva Airport.
The team is adamant that they will try a first non-stop crossing of the United States by a solar powered aircraft and a first transatlantic flight before they launch the keynote circumnavigation of the globe in May 2011.
"My dream is for a flight one day from New York to Paris, this is the most difficult because of the weather," said team meteorologist Luc Trullemans.
"For the first time in my life I'm always looking for sunshine," he added.
The carbon-fibre Solar Impulse will have an 80 metre wingspan equivalent to that of a 580 tonne Airbus A380, and 250 square metres (2690 square feet) of solar panels.
Yet it will weigh just two tonnes and barely squeeze the lone pilot -- Piccard -- into its narrow, ultra-computerised, cockpit.
The solar panels charge up ultralight lithium batteries which power four electric propellor engines along the wings.
The Swiss adventurer underlined that the 70 million euro (94 million dollar) project -- the price of two business jets -- was not the template for a solar-powered commercial airliner, but designed to stimulate ideas for pollution-free travel.
"What's sure is that if we consume energy like we do now, we're going to the wall. Solar Impulse shows how solar energy can be attractive, it's showing that new energy is sexy," he added.
Piccard dismissed current attempts at solar powered flight as "largely anecdotal," because they involved relatively short flights in daytime in perfect weather.
"That doesn't show the potential of solar power, it shows its limits," he added.
A first prototype is being designed and built in Switzerland by the 45-strong team using innovative and sometimes untested technology.
It will later be succeeded by the aircraft that will make the record attempts, possibly taking off from the Gulf region for the circumnavigation.
The project initiated in 2003 brings Piccard back together with some of his companions on the first non-stop balloon flight around the world in 1999, including British co-pilot Brian Jones and Trullemans.
Piccard, who comes from a dynasty of pioneers, said that the idea of Solar Impulse partly came from being goaded about the balloon flight being the last challenge available.
"It became obvious that the adventures of the 21st century would not be adventures of conquest, but adventures to improve the quality of life," he explained.
Piccard's grandfather, Auguste, and associate Paul Kipfer, became the first human beings to fly into the stratosphere in the 1930s, in a balloon.
By contrast, his father, Jacques, plumbed the depths of the earth, and made the deepest dive in history, reaching 10,915 metres (35,810 ft) in a submarine in the Marianas Trench in 1960.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070522/sc_afp/switzerlandaviationenergysolar_070522153315
New York's yellow taxis to be green by 2012
Tue May 22, 10:41 AM ET
NEW YORK (AFP) - New York's signature yellow taxis will all run on hybrid energy by 2012, reducing air pollution and helping to prevent climate change, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Tuesday.
Bloomberg, who earlier this year announced an ambitious program to cut the city's greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent before 2030, said the new vehicles would be phased in immediately, replacing the current fleet.
"The idea is to make our cabs more efficient," Bloomberg told NBC television.
"We have to do something. There's too much traffic and too much stuff in the air. We're not green enough."
The city's 13,000 taxis currently use almost 17 liters of gasoline per 100 kilometers (14 miles per gallon) on average, while the new fleet would see fuel economy of around eight liters per 100 kilometers (30 miles per gallon.)
Taxis are currently taken off the road after five years, meaning that the fleet should be entirely hybrid by 2012, Bloomberg said. "We're trying to do what's right," he explained.
"There's an awful lot of taxicabs on the streets of New York City obviously. It makes a big difference. These cars just sit there in traffic sometimes belching fumes. This does a lot less. It's a lot better for all of us."
The city was also working on introducing hybrid buses, garbage trucks and cars for its own fleet, he said.
In a speech to mark Earth Day last month, Bloomberg unveiled 127 broad policy initiatives to cut greenhouse gas emissions, increase access to parks, reclaim unused industrial land and reduce water pollution.
The initiative that received the most attention was a congestion charge imposing an eight-dollar fee on drivers seeking to enter Manhattan. The proposal is also aimed at reducing car use in the city and improving air quality.
Other headline announcements included a plan to plant one million new trees in New York over the next decade.
"Climate change is a national challenge, and meeting it requires strong and united national leadership," Bloomberg said at the time.
Last week, Bloomberg also hosted mayors from around the world at a summit dedicated to reducing world cities' carbon footprint, notably by improving energy efficiency in existing buildings.
His environmental campaigning and recent trips to other parts of the United States, where he has addressed issues of national importance, have fueled speculation that he could be preparing to run for president in 2008.
Bloomberg has consistently denied such rumors, saying he is committed to serving until the end of his second mayoral term in 2009, although reports last week suggested he had set aside one billion dollars for a White House bid.
If he does mount a presidential challenge, he is expected to run as an independent, even though he was elected mayor on a Republican ticket.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070522/sc_afp/environmentuswarming_070522144115
NEW YORK (AFP) - New York's signature yellow taxis will all run on hybrid energy by 2012, reducing air pollution and helping to prevent climate change, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Tuesday.
Bloomberg, who earlier this year announced an ambitious program to cut the city's greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent before 2030, said the new vehicles would be phased in immediately, replacing the current fleet.
"The idea is to make our cabs more efficient," Bloomberg told NBC television.
"We have to do something. There's too much traffic and too much stuff in the air. We're not green enough."
The city's 13,000 taxis currently use almost 17 liters of gasoline per 100 kilometers (14 miles per gallon) on average, while the new fleet would see fuel economy of around eight liters per 100 kilometers (30 miles per gallon.)
Taxis are currently taken off the road after five years, meaning that the fleet should be entirely hybrid by 2012, Bloomberg said. "We're trying to do what's right," he explained.
"There's an awful lot of taxicabs on the streets of New York City obviously. It makes a big difference. These cars just sit there in traffic sometimes belching fumes. This does a lot less. It's a lot better for all of us."
The city was also working on introducing hybrid buses, garbage trucks and cars for its own fleet, he said.
In a speech to mark Earth Day last month, Bloomberg unveiled 127 broad policy initiatives to cut greenhouse gas emissions, increase access to parks, reclaim unused industrial land and reduce water pollution.
The initiative that received the most attention was a congestion charge imposing an eight-dollar fee on drivers seeking to enter Manhattan. The proposal is also aimed at reducing car use in the city and improving air quality.
Other headline announcements included a plan to plant one million new trees in New York over the next decade.
"Climate change is a national challenge, and meeting it requires strong and united national leadership," Bloomberg said at the time.
Last week, Bloomberg also hosted mayors from around the world at a summit dedicated to reducing world cities' carbon footprint, notably by improving energy efficiency in existing buildings.
His environmental campaigning and recent trips to other parts of the United States, where he has addressed issues of national importance, have fueled speculation that he could be preparing to run for president in 2008.
Bloomberg has consistently denied such rumors, saying he is committed to serving until the end of his second mayoral term in 2009, although reports last week suggested he had set aside one billion dollars for a White House bid.
If he does mount a presidential challenge, he is expected to run as an independent, even though he was elected mayor on a Republican ticket.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070522/sc_afp/environmentuswarming_070522144115
Fri May 25, 6:18 AM ET
PARIS (AFP) - France may follow Germany in imposing restrictions on a strain of genetically-modified corn made by the US giant Monsanto, Ecology Minister Alan Juppe was quoted Friday as saying.
"Germany has just suspended authorisation for MON 810 seed. In this particular instance, we must be steered by the German case," the newly-appointed minister told the daily Le Parisien.
"They have just discovered that the toxin which is supposed to kill the corn pest is being secreted in ways that are not precisely what was expected."
MON 810 is a genetically-engineered breed of corn, also called maize, that exudes a poison to kill an insect called the European corn-borer.
Juppe was referring to restrictions applied by the German federal government, which has reportedly told Monsanto that MON 810 may only be sold if the firm also provides an accompanying "monitoring plan" to research the effects on the environment.
The restrictions have the impact of a de-facto moratorium, as Monsanto has not presented any MON 810 monitoring plan so far.
Juppe said, however, that transgenic research, both in medicine and in food, "should not be stopped".
Genetically-modified foods, while widely on sale in North America, are a deeply sensitive issue in Europe, where green groups are fighting to have them banned.
Juppe said the question of GM crops in France would be addressed at a national review of environment policies, expected to be held in October.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070525/sc_afp/francebiotechfarming_070525101859
PARIS (AFP) - France may follow Germany in imposing restrictions on a strain of genetically-modified corn made by the US giant Monsanto, Ecology Minister Alan Juppe was quoted Friday as saying.
"Germany has just suspended authorisation for MON 810 seed. In this particular instance, we must be steered by the German case," the newly-appointed minister told the daily Le Parisien.
"They have just discovered that the toxin which is supposed to kill the corn pest is being secreted in ways that are not precisely what was expected."
MON 810 is a genetically-engineered breed of corn, also called maize, that exudes a poison to kill an insect called the European corn-borer.
Juppe was referring to restrictions applied by the German federal government, which has reportedly told Monsanto that MON 810 may only be sold if the firm also provides an accompanying "monitoring plan" to research the effects on the environment.
The restrictions have the impact of a de-facto moratorium, as Monsanto has not presented any MON 810 monitoring plan so far.
Juppe said, however, that transgenic research, both in medicine and in food, "should not be stopped".
Genetically-modified foods, while widely on sale in North America, are a deeply sensitive issue in Europe, where green groups are fighting to have them banned.
Juppe said the question of GM crops in France would be addressed at a national review of environment policies, expected to be held in October.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070525/sc_afp/francebiotechfarming_070525101859
Japan goes for comfort, ecology in new bullet train
TOKYO (AFP) - Japan is adding environmental awareness and a bit more comfort in the latest version of its celebrated bullet train which comes into service in July.
The new N700 model will be gradually rolled out through 2010 on the line between Tokyo and western Japan, the world's busiest passenger track.
The N700, which cost 260 billion yen (2.1 billion dollars) to develop and build, travels no faster than current bullet trains, reaching a top speed of 300 kilometers per hour (185 miles per hour).
Instead of trying to beat France's TGV in speed, the N700's joint designers -- private companies Central Japan Railway and West Japan Railway -- have invested in improving comfort levels and the environmental performance.
The N700 -- which will stop in Kyoto, namesake of the pioneering environmenal treaty -- will use 19 percent less electricity than earlier models, the designers said as they showed the train to the press this week.
"The substantial reduction in power consumpion and CO2 emissions," a statement said, "contributes significantly to the effort to counter global warming."...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070525/bs_afp/japanrailtransporttravel_070525055328
The new N700 model will be gradually rolled out through 2010 on the line between Tokyo and western Japan, the world's busiest passenger track.
The N700, which cost 260 billion yen (2.1 billion dollars) to develop and build, travels no faster than current bullet trains, reaching a top speed of 300 kilometers per hour (185 miles per hour).
Instead of trying to beat France's TGV in speed, the N700's joint designers -- private companies Central Japan Railway and West Japan Railway -- have invested in improving comfort levels and the environmental performance.
The N700 -- which will stop in Kyoto, namesake of the pioneering environmenal treaty -- will use 19 percent less electricity than earlier models, the designers said as they showed the train to the press this week.
"The substantial reduction in power consumpion and CO2 emissions," a statement said, "contributes significantly to the effort to counter global warming."...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070525/bs_afp/japanrailtransporttravel_070525055328
Paramount Installs Largest Privately-Owned, Operating Solar Plant In U.S.
May 25 2007
Paramount Farms, a supplier of pistachios and almonds, has opened a 1.1 mega-watt, $7.5 million solar plant in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Spanning eight acres, it is the largest privately-owned, operating solar plant in the U.S., according to the company, and is expected to supply about 15 percent of the energy that the company’s nut processing facility uses each year.
The plant was built and installed by SolarCraft. According to Chris Bunas, vice president, the 1.1 mega-watt plant is expected to generate enough clean electricity each day to power about 300 average homes, sparing nearly 2,600 tons of harmful greenhouse gases annually.
Paramount Farms, a supplier of pistachios and almonds, has opened a 1.1 mega-watt, $7.5 million solar plant in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Spanning eight acres, it is the largest privately-owned, operating solar plant in the U.S., according to the company, and is expected to supply about 15 percent of the energy that the company’s nut processing facility uses each year.
The plant was built and installed by SolarCraft. According to Chris Bunas, vice president, the 1.1 mega-watt plant is expected to generate enough clean electricity each day to power about 300 average homes, sparing nearly 2,600 tons of harmful greenhouse gases annually.
The alternative power generated by the plant will ease the burden on local power supplier Pacific Gas & Electric and the California power grid while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and fuel consumption. Energy generated by the plant contributes to the municipal power grid, supplementing the city’s power supply.
KQED: Paul Hawken on Forum
"Paul Hawken: " from the program Forum:
The program welcomes Paul Hawken, author of "Blessed Unrest," for discussion on global social justice and environmental movements, as well as today's unified effort to improve the world.
http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R705290900
The program welcomes Paul Hawken, author of "Blessed Unrest," for discussion on global social justice and environmental movements, as well as today's unified effort to improve the world.
http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R705290900
300 Schools On Green Building Council’s Certification Waiting List
May 30 2007
Nearly 300 schools are on a waiting list for certification from the U.S. Green Building Council’s school certification program, Associated Press reports.
So many schools are going green that the council, which previously certified schools based on commercial-building guidelines, just came out with benchmarks specifically for schools.
So far, 27 schools have received the certification.
The Council of Educational Facility Planners International estimates that green building will comprise as much as 10 percent of the school construction market by 2010.
Most school districts building green schools are willing to spend the two percent more in construction costs in order to ensure lower utility bills over the long run.
A recent report found that building green would save an average school $100,000 each year - enough to hire two new additional full-time teachers.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/05/30/300-schools-on-green-building-councils-certification-waiting-list/
Nearly 300 schools are on a waiting list for certification from the U.S. Green Building Council’s school certification program, Associated Press reports.
So many schools are going green that the council, which previously certified schools based on commercial-building guidelines, just came out with benchmarks specifically for schools.
So far, 27 schools have received the certification.
The Council of Educational Facility Planners International estimates that green building will comprise as much as 10 percent of the school construction market by 2010.
Most school districts building green schools are willing to spend the two percent more in construction costs in order to ensure lower utility bills over the long run.
A recent report found that building green would save an average school $100,000 each year - enough to hire two new additional full-time teachers.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/05/30/300-schools-on-green-building-councils-certification-waiting-list/
ITA Plans Green Manufacturing Day
May 30 2007
The International Trade Administration has announced its intentions to organize a “Green Manufacturing Day” to “enhance public-private interaction in the field of sustainable manufacturing,” IndustryWeek reports.
The ITA notes that “at this early stage in sustainable manufacturing’s development, increased public-private interaction can be an effective means for government and industry to identify the opportunities and challenges faced by manufacturers in pursuing sustainable production practices and promote capacity-building among individual firms and industry sectors as a whole.”
“Green Manufacturing Day” is tentatively scheduled for September 2007. The Department of Commerce is requesting feedback. Contact William McElnea, U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 2213, 1401 Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20230 , william.mcelnea@mail.doc.gov.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/05/30/ita-plans-green-manufacturing-day/
The International Trade Administration has announced its intentions to organize a “Green Manufacturing Day” to “enhance public-private interaction in the field of sustainable manufacturing,” IndustryWeek reports.
The ITA notes that “at this early stage in sustainable manufacturing’s development, increased public-private interaction can be an effective means for government and industry to identify the opportunities and challenges faced by manufacturers in pursuing sustainable production practices and promote capacity-building among individual firms and industry sectors as a whole.”
“Green Manufacturing Day” is tentatively scheduled for September 2007. The Department of Commerce is requesting feedback. Contact William McElnea, U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 2213, 1401 Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20230 , william.mcelnea@mail.doc.gov.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/05/30/ita-plans-green-manufacturing-day/
Nike Plans To Be Carbon Neutral By 2011
May 31 2007
Nike released its fiscal 2005 and 2006 Corporate Responsibility Report today. The company says it has exceeded its reduction targets for CO2 emissions over the last two years through the World Wildlife Fund’s Climate Savers program.
The company also says it eliminated fluorinated gases across all Nike brand products following 14 years of research and development in the company’s Nike Air cushioning system.
Among its future targets, Nike says it will make all Nike brand facilities, retail and business travel climate neutral by 2011. The company also says it will design all Nike brand footwear to meet baseline targets by 2011 for waste reduction in product design and packaging, elimination of volatile organic compounds and increased use of environmentally preferred materials.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/05/31/nike-plans-to-be-carbon-neutral-by-2011/
Nike released its fiscal 2005 and 2006 Corporate Responsibility Report today. The company says it has exceeded its reduction targets for CO2 emissions over the last two years through the World Wildlife Fund’s Climate Savers program.
The company also says it eliminated fluorinated gases across all Nike brand products following 14 years of research and development in the company’s Nike Air cushioning system.
Among its future targets, Nike says it will make all Nike brand facilities, retail and business travel climate neutral by 2011. The company also says it will design all Nike brand footwear to meet baseline targets by 2011 for waste reduction in product design and packaging, elimination of volatile organic compounds and increased use of environmentally preferred materials.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/05/31/nike-plans-to-be-carbon-neutral-by-2011/
Carbon Footprint Labels for UK Produce
The Government unveiled a scheme yesterday, where produce will carry a label indicating the size of its carbon footprint. It will take into account the production, distribution and even disposal of the packaging after use.
It's not an easy task though, because the footprint of an item in a supermarket is not always obvious. For example, a vegetable grown in Africa and shipped to the UK may have a smaller footprint than the same vegetable grown in the UK, if the greenhouse required heating.
"More and more, businesses are looking for ways to reduce their impact on the environment. To help them achieve that we need a reliable, consistent way to measure these impacts that businesses recognise, trust and understand," said environment minister, Ian Pearson. "This will be fundamental in our efforts to move Britain towards a low-carbon economy in the decades ahead."
Although the scheme is voluntary, Tesco has promised to place the labels on all the goods it sells, which will inevitably place pressure on other companies to do the same. :: The Guardian
Amish are surprise champions of solar technology
June 2
When thinking of technologically advanced societies pushing the envelope on alternative energy, the Amish of rural Middle America are about the last group that come to mind. Yet the conservative Christian religious sect known for their plain dress and abhorrence for modern conveniences such as automobiles and electricity is embracing solar power.
In Holmes County, Ohio, home to the world's largest Amish community, an estimated 80% of Amish families now have photovoltaic panels. They use solar power for basic electrical needs like home lighting, powering sewing machines, and charging batteries for lights on horse-drawn buggies. The Amish have gone solar partly for safety concerns - gas lamps are a fire hazard - and partly out of legal requirements - transportation codes require electric lights on horse-drawn buggies. Another reason they are embracing solar power is to avoid connecting to the electric grid, something they feel would endanger their efforts to remain separated from the rest of American society.
Amish communities have previously relied on diesel generators and windmills to provide limited amounts of electricity. Recent advances in solar technology, however, have made photovoltaic panels an attractive alternative.
And in an unusual turn of events, green techies, including the advocacy group Green Energy Ohio, are now looking to what many once considered a technologically backward community for alternative energy innovations. Green Energy will showcase local Amish solar systems at the upcoming American Solar Energy Society annual conference in Cleveland, Ohio in July.
Phil McKenna, New Scientist correspondent
http://www.newscientist.com/blog/environment/2007/06/amish-are-surprise-embracers-of-solar.html?feedId=earth_rss20
When thinking of technologically advanced societies pushing the envelope on alternative energy, the Amish of rural Middle America are about the last group that come to mind. Yet the conservative Christian religious sect known for their plain dress and abhorrence for modern conveniences such as automobiles and electricity is embracing solar power.
In Holmes County, Ohio, home to the world's largest Amish community, an estimated 80% of Amish families now have photovoltaic panels. They use solar power for basic electrical needs like home lighting, powering sewing machines, and charging batteries for lights on horse-drawn buggies. The Amish have gone solar partly for safety concerns - gas lamps are a fire hazard - and partly out of legal requirements - transportation codes require electric lights on horse-drawn buggies. Another reason they are embracing solar power is to avoid connecting to the electric grid, something they feel would endanger their efforts to remain separated from the rest of American society.
Amish communities have previously relied on diesel generators and windmills to provide limited amounts of electricity. Recent advances in solar technology, however, have made photovoltaic panels an attractive alternative.
And in an unusual turn of events, green techies, including the advocacy group Green Energy Ohio, are now looking to what many once considered a technologically backward community for alternative energy innovations. Green Energy will showcase local Amish solar systems at the upcoming American Solar Energy Society annual conference in Cleveland, Ohio in July.
Phil McKenna, New Scientist correspondent
http://www.newscientist.com/blog/environment/2007/06/amish-are-surprise-embracers-of-solar.html?feedId=earth_rss20
Thomas Edison, Off-Grid and Solar
One does not think of Thomas Edison as a "green pioneer" but oil was expensive at the turn of the century, and he worried that it might be running out.
According to Heather Rogers in the New York Times, Edison was also eager to sell his light bulbs and phonographs to people far away from the electrical grid, and developed alkaline batteries for electric cars.
"In 1912 Edison unveiled an energy-self-sufficient home in West Orange, N.J. Billed as an experimental "Twentieth Century Suburban Residence" and designed to showcase his batteries, it bulged with luxuries like air heating and cooling units, a clothes-washing machine, an electric cooking range and, of course, plenty of light bulbs. Completely off the grid, the house received its juice from a generator that charged a bank of 27 cells in the basement. For this first attempt, Edison used a gas-run motor, but evidence suggests that he hoped to hook up to a wind turbine. The system would allow the prospective homeowner to be, according to The New York Times, "utterly and for all time independent of the nearness or farness of the big electric companies."
In 1931 he told Henry Ford: "I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don't have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that." ::New York Times
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/thomas_edison_o.php
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