HaraBara Daily Green Brief

Carbon emissions still rising, Asian pollution costs, carbon-neutral Chevys and more green business news

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 18:11:00 +0000

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"Carbon emissions set to be highest in history"—reliability high.
The latest report from the Global Carbon Project show that "Emissions of man-made carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are roaring ahead again after a smaller-than-expected dip due to the worldwide recession. Scientists are forecasting that CO2 emissions from burning coal, oil and gas will reach their highest in history this year." The analysis, published in Nature Geoscience, "show that national attempts to stabilise carbon dioxide have been too feeble to have any noticeable impact on global emissions." From The Independent. More details and access here. [In spite of lingering effects of the economic recession and continuing efforts to reduce carbon emissions on the part of companies and governments, 2010 greenhouse gas emissions will be the highest yet. Is there any chance of keeping global warming below 2 degrees C? Many recent items suggest the emphasis is shifting from limiting emissions to dealing with consequences (see previous post and items below).]

"Air pollution exceeds safety limits in big Asian cities: report"—reliability high.
"Air pollution in major cities in Asia exceeds the World Health Organisation's (WHO) air quality guidelines and toxic cocktails result in more than 530,000 premature deaths a year, according to a new report" from the Health Effects Institute, says this Reuters story. It quotes the institute's vice president, Robert O'Keefe: "The levels of air pollution across Asia routinely exceed WHO guidelines and that is evidenced in ... significant excess mortality from air pollution-related disease." See Reuters. Access the report here. [The very significant public health impacts (and costs) should eventually call forth measures to reduce air pollution, such as power plant and vehicle emissions controls. Particulates are a very large part of the problem, especially in the developing countries.]

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

"M&S insists Plan A is ahead of schedule"—reliability high.
"Marks and Spencer's Plan A programme is on course to meet half of its 180 sustainability commitments four years ahead of schedule, according to half-year results". "'Plan A is an integral part of our business and at the heart of the M&S brand,' said new chief executive Marc Bolland." More on the greening of M&S. See BusinessGreen.

"On heels of IPO, GM makes bold offset investment"—reliability high.
"Chevrolet yesterday announced plans to invest $40m in carbon offset projects across the country over the next three to five years." The projects will account for carbon emissions "roughly the annual emissions produced by the 1.9 million Chevrolet vehicles to be sold over the next year." See BusinessGreen from GreenBiz. [According to VentureBeat "The company will make investments through third-party groups like the non-profit Bonneville Environmental Foundation." Thus GM is buying offsets (over a period of years) that will make their 2011 fleet of Chevys "carbon neutral" for one year. I am still waiting for an oil company to pull the same stunt.]

Government and Regulation

"New Yorkers Learn the Troubles Posed by Sea Level Rise Flow Far Beyond Manhattan"—reliability high.
New York State officials are working to develop development guidelines that take into account the threat of sea level rise. "Any reforms to come from the process, starting next week, would affect about 62 percent of New York state's population ... . ...Among other changes, report authors say some rural infrastructure should be relocated away from coastlines, while new and existing buildings in the densely packed New York City metropolitan region should be reconfigured to allow for periodic flooding and sea intrusion. Planners also need to quickly come up with solutions to guard underground infrastructure, especially the flood-prone New York City subway and underground utility cables and pipes." See New York Times from ClimateWire.

"Vietnam launches low-carbon master plan"—reliability high.
"Vietnam will develop solar, wind and biomass resources as part of a plan to become a low-carbon economy by 2020, under new proposals set out by the government. According to reports in the Voice of Vietnam, the government has set a target of generating five per cent of the nation's electricity from alternative energy sources by 2020. ... Vietnam also plans to build 14 nuclear reactors by 2030 as part of its move to a low-carbon economy." From BusinessGreen. [Five percent "alternative energy sources" is not "low carbon" by any stretch of the imagination. Fourteen nuclear plants might significantly reduce the growth of emissions between 2020 and 2030, though.]

Who will pay huge adaptation bills? Worry on agricultural impacts, green jobs analysis and other news

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 21:01:00 +0000

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"Climate aid said focused too heavily on C02 cuts"—reliability high.
"Under the non-binding Copenhagen Accord agreed at a U.N. summit in December 2009, donors agreed that money to give a quick push to efforts to slow climate change from 2010-12 would have a 'balanced allocation between adaptation and mitigation.' But only 11 to 16 percent of the money promised so far will go to adaptation actions such as building sea walls and promoting new farming practices, according to the report by the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)." From Reuters. IIED press release here. Access the report here. [Of course rich-nation funding of mitigation (reduction of greenhouse gas emissions) might help the whole world, including those rich nations. On the other hand funding for adaptation (dealing with the local effects of global warming) has mainly local benefits in the poor nations themselves. There may also be a bias toward technological fixes where some of the technology bought with the funding will be supplied by the donor nations. This is an old foreign-aid trick.]

"Report: India faces major climate changes by 2030"—reliability high.
A recent study by the Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment says that t average temperatures in India could climb 2 degrees C (3.6 F) within two decades, with even higher temperatures projected for some coastal regions. "'There is no country in the world that is as vulnerable, on so many dimensions, to climate change as India is,' Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said in a statement released with the report on Tuesday. 'We must continue this focus on rigorous climate change science.'" Some highlights of the report. See The San Francisco Chronicle. More highlights of the report are here. PDF of the report here. [The India press had a range of reactions to the report, even claiming such warming would be a "blessing" to some states. Google it. The message for the nation, however, is that it will have to come up with lakhs of crores of rupees annually for adaptation.]

"Climate change and disease will spark new food crisis, says UN"—reliability high.
The FAO's latest Food Outlook Report warns of projected increase in prices for staples in 2011. "Price hikes of 41 per cent in wheat, 47 per cent in maize and a third in sugar are foreseen". "Climate change, speculation, competing uses such as biofuels and soaring demand from emerging markets in East Asia are the factors that will push global food prices sharply higher next year, claims the FAO." More highlights of report. In particular it notes "an expansion in food production is the potentially more lucrative use of crops for biofuels and non-grain or non-food crops such as sugar, cotton and soya" and "the FAO explicitly acknowledges climate change as a factor in jeopardising food supplies." It says, "adverse weather effects are undoubtedly a primary driver of wheat production shortfalls and, with climate change, may increasingly be so". From The Independent. PDF of the Food Outlook Report here.

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

"Pacific Northwest's Puralytics Wins National Cleantech Open"—reliability high.
Oregon-based Puralytics, a developer of photochemical water purification products, has been awarded the Cleantech Open's national business competition top prize. It will receive "the national prize of $250,000 -- comprised of $100,000 cash and $150,000 in-kind startup services." See Marketwire. [In addition to its LED-phochemical water purification machine, Puralytics also displayed a portable plastic pouch with an enclosed pad embodying its photochemical system, where the light can be provided by the sun, enabling purification of a couple of liters of water in two hours. Impressive technology.]

"New Study Shows Wind Energy Supply Chain Means Manufacturing Jobs and Corporate HQs for Illinois"—reliability high.
"The Environmental Law and Policy Center has released a new study of Illinois’ wind energy supply chain showing more than 100 Illinois companies with a total of over 15,000 employees." The report notes that while most nacelles are assembled domestically many of their components are imported. However, "domestic production of subcomponents such as bearings, electrical components and hydraulic systems" are increasing in Illinois. From Environmental Law and Policy Center. PDF of report here.

"IT to Drive Vehicle Energy Efficiency"—reliability medium.
John Gartner posts about the many ways information technology will become more integrated into vehicle management and lead to greater transportation efficiency. Computers and communication technology increasingly transfer information between vehicles, drivers, and transportation infrastructure. Gives examples. See CleanTechies blog.

Government and Regulation

"A Call to Action on Ocean Acidity"—reliability medium.
John Rudolf posts that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has declared in a memo that states bordering water bodies that are becoming more acidic from the absorption of carbon dioxide should list them as impaired under the Clean Water Act. "The E.P.A.’s declaration, which also urges states to gather data on ocean acidification in their coastal waters, is a result of a successful lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental advocacy group. Under the Clean Water Act, states that list bodies of water as impaired must take action to curb the pollution responsible for the impact." See New York Times green blog.

"'Green stealth tax' carbon reduction scheme delayed"—reliability high.
The UK government has "announced it would delay the implementation of a scheme to encourage businesses and organisations to save energy, after controversially changing the programme last month into what critics described as a "green stealth tax"." The program has required large carbon emitters to register would have required them to buy allowances for their emissions. The revenues from sale of allowances was to have been returned to participating emitters according to a formula that would reward those minimizing their emissions. Recently the government had announced that it would instead just keep the revenues from sale of allowances. Now "the government will delay the implementation of the scheme, so that the first sale of permits to cover energy use will not take place next year, but in 2012." See The Guardian.

"Norway climate deal to drive Indonesia reform"—reliability high.
"A $1 billion dollar deal with Norway to save Indonesia's forests and cut planet-warming carbon emissions will trigger a much-needed shake up of Indonesia's notorious bureaucracy, a top official said on Thursday." Discussion of implementation of red-tape-and-corruption-reducing efforts connected with the vast foreign aid and forest protection program. From Reuters.

Science and Economics

"USAID Study Says Climate Impact on Himalayas Remains Unknown, but Worrisome"—reliability high.
.Highlights of a recent report by the U.S. Agency for International Development that calls attention to uncertainties on impacts of melting of glaciers in "High Asia". "The agency says more information about the glaciers' behavior is needed to help communities adapt to climate change-driven changes in glacier melt and the region's water cycle. ... 'it is important to start looking now at how to make communities more resilient,' said Kristina Yarrow, a health adviser to the agency's Asia and Middle East bureaus." At The New York Times from ClimateWire.

GE boosts cleantech startups, a plywood pledge, juice packaging, LED marketing, bag banning and other green news for business

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 18:00:00 +0000

Top Stories

"GE & Partners Announce Five $100,000 Innovation Award Winners"—reliability high.
"GE unveiled today the five innovation award winners of its $200 million open innovation challenge, the 'GE ecomagination Challenge: Powering the Grid.' ... The winning ideas are a lightweight inflatable wind turbine; a technology that instantly de-ices wind turbine blades so they never slow or shut down; an intelligent water meter that can generate its own power; a cyber-secure network infrastructure that allows two-way communications grid monitoring and substation automation from wind and solar farms; and a technology solves short-circuiting and outages from overloaded electric grids by enabling precise control over their flow and power." More details on winners, including videos. From GE site.

"California leads 'subnational' summit climate push"—reliability high.
"The so-called R20 coalition of some 100 regional, state and provincial governments, observer nations and corporations aim to use their joint economic heft to create industries and to make 'subnational' deals to create low-carbon projects." "The green movement is going full steam ahead without an international agreement," said California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The R20 group could come to represent 20% of the global economy as new members join. See Reuters.

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

"Plywood giant says it will make greener buys"—reliability high.
Georgia-Pacific LLC, the largest maker of plywood in the U.S., "will not buy timber from environmentally sensitive areas and will discourage landowners from clearing hardwood forests under a new policy, it said Tuesday." GP CEO Jim Hannan said, "We continue to believe it is possible to operate in a way that is environmentally responsible and also economically sound. This policy also gives us the opportunity to address issues of increasing interest to our customers and to consumers." More details of proposed policy, which was worked out in negotiation with environmental groups including the Rainforest Action Network. At MSNBC from AP. [The power of NGOs, who in this case pressured GPs big customers, like Home Depot, threatening to make them look bad if they didn't get their suppliers like GP to forswear wood from habitat-destroying sources.]

"GE, partners to invest $55 million in power-grid tech"—reliability high.
"General Electric Co and a group of venture-capital firms said on Tuesday they would invest $55 million in a dozen startup ventures and partnerships working on new power-grid technologies. ... GE ... is working with venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield, RockPort Capital, Emerald Technology Ventures and Foundation Capital". More on some of the specific investments made. From Reuters. [This is the first of $200 million GE and these investment partners plan to put into cleantech ideas in this particular program.]

Exchange Calls It Quits—reliability medium.
John Rudolf posts about the closing of the Chicago Climate Exchange. "With climate legislation in the United States dead in the water for the foreseeable future, participants in the exchange have lost interest, said Jeffrey C. Sprecher, chief executive of Intercontinental Exchange, an operator of futures exchanges for agricultural, credit, currency and energy contracts that purchased the Chicago Climate Exchange in July 2010 for $600 million." Intercontinental "will replace the cap-and-trade system with a less ambitious registry program for carbon offsets next year." See New York Times Green blog. [Evidently they don't think anything resembling cap and trade will be seen in the U.S. for years, at least not anything needing exchange trading or futures. Offsets traded under regional cap and trade programs will be traded over the counter?]

"Home Depot selling Philips 60-watt equivalent LED online"—reliability medium.
Martin LaMonica posts that Home Depot will begin selling on line, and have in stores by December, a 60-Watt-equivalent LED "bulb" from Philips at a price of $40. The Ambient LED lamp uses 12.5 Watts. "Its average life is listed at 25,000 hours and it does not contain mercury or lead." From CNET News Green Tech blog. [25,000 hours at say four hours a day--should last 15 to 20 years and save one megawatt-hour. At an average cost of around $0.20 per kilowatt-hour you'd save $200-300 dollars over those decades. Prius owners only?]

"Naked Juice Serves Beverages in Eco-Friendly Package"—reliability high.
Naked Juice will package its 10-oz., 15.2-oz., and 64-oz. juice and juice smoothies in bottles made from 100-percent post-consumer recycled PET plastic from early next year. 32-oz. containers have been using rPET since last year. See Environmental Leader.

Government and Regulation

"L.A. County passes sweeping ban on plastic bags"—reliability high.
"The ban, which will cover nearly 1.1 million residents countywide, is to the point: “No store shall provide to any customer a plastic carryout bag.” An exception would be made for plastic bags that are used to hold fruit, vegetables or raw meat in order to prevent contamination with other grocery items. If grocers choose to offer paper bags, they must sell them for 10 cents each, according to the ordinance." From The Los Angeles Times. [Unincorporated areas are islands like East Pasadena, dotted across the 4,752 square mile county, where about one million people shop according to the article.]

Sea level rise, peak oil, Unilever's bold plan, illegal paper, unintended consequences and other green business news

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 18:45:00 +0000

Top Stories

"As Glaciers Melt, Science Seeks Data on Rising Seas"—reliability high.
Feature story about research showing world's ice sheets may be melting faster than previously thought, and the potential impact on sea levels. "researchers have recently been startled to see big changes unfold in both Greenland and Antarctica. As a result of recent calculations that take the changes into account, many scientists now say that sea level is likely to rise perhaps three feet by 2100 — an increase that, should it come to pass, would pose a threat to coastal regions the world over. And the calculations suggest that the rise could conceivably exceed six feet, which would put thousands of square miles of the American coastline under water and would probably displace tens of millions of people in Asia." From The New York Times. [A good in-depth article about the science and practical issues around sea level rise. The current consensus is around three feet over the rest of this century. That's a lot. Costs will be enormous.]

"Unilever’s big, broad, bold sustainability plan"—reliability medium.
Global fast-moving consumer products company Unilever "intends to improve the health of 1 billion people, to buy 100% of its agricultural raw materials from sustainable sources, and to reduce the environmental impact of everything it sells by one-half, while doubling its revenues." Post links to the plan, and includes highlights. Unilever recognizes that much of the life-cycle emissions associated with their products result from the way consumers use them. So, for example, "To save water and energy, Unilever says that 'We aim to reach and persuade 400 million consumers to change their shower habits by 2020' and 'if we can persuade 20 million people to cut a minute from their shower time, it would save emissions of 1 million metric tonnes of CO2 a year'." See Marc Gunther's blog. [Cutting environmental impact of products while doubling sales--doesn't that suggest total environmental impact will not decline? But at least it will not increase as much as it would without these efforts.]

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

"Risk Free? Paper and the Lacey Act"—reliability medium.
The 2008 amendments to the U.S. Lacey Act, which prohibit trade within the United States of products made from plants that are harvested in contrary to international law or the law of their countries of origin, including in theory plants used to make paper products. WRI investigations demonstrated that illegally harvested fibers are in many paper products traded in the U.S., and thus the firms trading them are potentially liable. Article lists the steps companies should be taking to avoid running afoul of the act. See WRI site. [The post says "it is possible to detect potential Lacey violations for paper, thanks to modern technology," but the wood anatomy they describe is 200-year-old knowledge. Nevertheless, like genetic analysis this exposes the presence of problem materials throughout the supply chain, and means paper users must be conscientious to avoid liability.]

"Green Building Market Grows 50% in Two Years"—reliability high.
"The value of green building construction starts was up 50% from 2008 to 2010--from $42 billion to $55 billion-$71 billion--and represents 25% of all new construction activity in 2010, according to a new market report. The green building market size is expected to reach $135 billion by 2015, state McGraw-Hill Construction’s "Green Outlook 2011: Green Trends Driving Growth" report." More highlights of report. From Sustainable Business.

"5 Tips for a Smooth Carbon Management Software Installation"—reliability high.
Interview with Intuit's sustainability manager on their experience with implementation of an enterprise carbon accounting system. See GreenBiz.

"World's major economies suffering 'extreme' water stress"—reliability high.
"The world's largest emerging economies could be fast running out of water as demand from businesses and domestic users continues to outstrip supply, according to a major new report." Risk analyst Maplecroft has calculated a water stress index that suggests "India and China's fast-expanding industries and populations were putting extreme pressure on their renewable water supplies." More on future water challenges. From BusinessGreen. More about the report here.

"Is 'Peak Oil' Behind Us?"—reliability medium.
John Rudolf posts that the latest report from the International Energy Agency says conventional oil has peaked, and will plateau over coming decades. "According to a projection in the agency’s latest annual report ... production of conventional crude oil ... probably topped out for good in 2006, at about 70 million barrels a day." It says production of unconventional oil and gas liquids will continue to increase over the next 25 years. See New York Times Green blog. [Post again warns of significant oil price increases.]

Government and Regulation

"Biofuel plan will cause rise in carbon emissions"—reliability high.
"Britain's promise to more than double its use of biofuels by 2020 is "significantly" adding to worldwide carbon emissions, the Government admitted yesterday. ... ministers have said that the policy is proving counter-productive and the greenhouse emissions associated with biofuels are substantially greater than the savings." More on biofuels policy issues. From The Independent. [More for the "Not So Green--Unintended Consequences" file.]

Perverse incentives, water pressure, Singh's fuel worries, regulatory moves and market opportunities, and more green business news

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 20:12:00 +0000

Top Stories

"The Curious Case of HFC-23"—reliability medium.
NRDC has issued a report on the refrigeration chemical HFC-23 and the curious business that has developed around its production, destruction, and the carbon credits thereby generated. "A small group of carbon offset projects under the climate treaty is reaping billions of dollars in windfall profits while worsening both global warming and depletion of the ozone layer". See NRDC blogs. Access the report here. [Another example of perverse effects of well-intentioned incentives. Ends up in the Not-So-Green department.]

"Growing pressure on water supplies affecting one in five global businesses"—reliability high.
A survey on water issues by the Carbon Disclosure Project has found that "At least one in five of the companies using the largest amounts of water in the world is already experiencing damage to their business from drought and other shortages, flooding, and rising prices," according to The Guardian. Many companies in water-intensive industries, such as those in the food and drink, tobacco, and metals and mining sectors, said they were already experiencing detrimental impacts or expected risks in the next few years. "Companies that ignore water dangers 'pose a risk to investments', said Anne Kvam, head of corporate governance of Norges Bank Investment Management, a lead sponsor of the report." Article in The Guardian. PDF of the report here.

"PM of India: Demand for hydrocarbon fuels to increase 40% in ten years"—reliability medium.
Eric Loveday posts highlights of Indian PM Manmohan Singh's address at the Petrotech 2010 conference. "Dr. Singh predicts that India's demand for hydrocarbon fuels will rise 40 percent over the next ten years, whereas increase in supply from the world's maturing oilfields is only expected to grow by 12 percent." The PM sees supply uncertainties on the horizon. Text of whole speech included. See Autoblog Green. [Sounds like significantly higher prices for petroleum products are inevitable.]

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

"Investment Firm Pressures Starbucks, Google for Sustainability Committees"—reliability high.
Investment firm Harrington Investments has introduced shareholder resolutions at Starbucks and Google calling for creation of board-level Sustainability Committees. More on Harrington's efforts with other companies. See Environmental Leader.

"Sugarcane ethanol plant will help California’s low carbon ambitions"—reliability high.
Private equity firm Clean Energy Capital plans to develop a sugar cane ethanol plant in California's Imperial Valley. "The project is expected to cost about $575m and produce 66 million gallons of ethanol" per year, plus biomethane for heating or electricity generation. "Scott Brittenham, CEO of Clean Energy Capital, said, 'There will be strong demand for ethanol from the refinery because the ethanol produced will meet stringent low carbon fuel mandates imposed anywhere in the US.'" From NewNet. [California's low-carbon fuel standard survived an attempted repeal funded by oil companies in recent voting. Several other states are considering adopting the same rules. In 2011 California fuels must not exceed on average 95.61 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent released per megajoule of energy produced. Midwest ethanol from maize made at plants partly powered by coal is far above this limit, but California-produced cane ethanol from plants using natural gas should be well below it, enabling refiners to use it to blend down to the target.]

"Trees grow in Brooklyn"—reliability high.
About efforts in cities in the U.S. Northeast to improve wastwater management. "New York recently unveiled a grand plan to clean up its waterways. Instead of spending billions on new tanks and pipes (ie, 'grey infrastructure'), which take years to build and never quite address the problem, the city intends to invest in 'green infrastructure', such as roofs covered with vegetation, porous pavements and kerbside gardens." More. See The Economist.

Government and Regulation

"Europe Unveils Plans for Single Energy Market within 10 Years"—reliability medium.
"The European Union has unveiled plans for a single European energy market, a 1 trillion-euro ($1.38 trillion) strategy to achieve energy security and cut fossil fuel emissions. The 10-year plan would include upgrades to the continent's aging pipelines and build infrastructure that allows energy to flow across borders from one end of Europe to the other. The new system also will help the expansion of renewable energy supplies across the continent, the EU said." At Reuters from Yale Environment 360.

And related: "Power to the European market"—reliability medium.
"Charlemagne" posts about the benefits of creating a single European energy market, rather than the fragmented national markets that now exist. "The European Commission this week said that €1 trillion ($1.4 trillion) of investment would be needed in the next decade" to link together national grids into a more robust network. A more flexible gas distribution network in particular could reduce Russia's power to threaten specific markets with cutoffs. See The Economist blogs.

EPA clarifies CO2 regs, some renewables reaching parity, biofuels uncertainty, other news, and the not so green department

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 20:38:00 +0000

Top Stories--EPA Permitting Guidelines

"EPA Issues Guidelines for States' Permitting for Greenhouse Gases"—reliability high.
The "U.S. EPA has released a long-awaited guidance document that instructs state and local officials how to start issuing permits for power plants, refineries and other large stationary sources of greenhouse gases when EPA's new climate rules take effect next year." The guidance document emphasizes using energy efficiency and "best available control technology" to reduce carbon emissions where feasible. At The New York Times from Greenwire.

"EPA to push efficiency on big carbon emitters"—reliability high.
"U.S. environmental regulators said on Wednesday they will not force coal plants and manufacturers to adopt specific technologies to cut greenhouse gas output, but will push them to become more energy efficient in order to comply with looming climate rules." Article discusses implications of regulatory guidance recently issued by the EPA. See Reuters.

The EPA's guidance is here as PDF.

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

"Concentrated solar, biofuels competitive soon: BCG"—reliability high.
A new report from Boston Consulting Group suggests that some renewable energy technologies will be cost-competitive with fossil fuel technologies within a few years to a decade. "'There may be a silent revolution under way,' Balu Balagopal, a senior partner, said in an interview ahead of the report's release." The report is particularly positive about solar thermal generation technology and second-generation biofuels. Reuters story. Press release from BCG here. "What’s Next for Alternative Energy?" report available in PDF here.

"Bioplastics information overload"—reliability medium.
Doris de Guzman posts a roundup of recent news on bioplastics, including info about Cardia Bioplastics, BayerMaterial Science, Dow Chemical, Wacker Chemie and several others. See ICIS Green Chemicals blog.

"EU biofuels growth on hold as green benefits queried"—reliability high.
"The (biofuels) industry is being held back by a lack of robust discrimination between what is good and what is bad," says Alwyn Hughes, chief executive of major UK biofuels firm Ensus. Referring to the indirect land use change debate he said, "The uncertainty around this clearly puts question marks over the growth of the industry but it is equally clear there are some very good biofuels out there. The NGOs are really having a go at the people who are driving deforestation. I agree with them that they should be taken out of the mix." He said that the issue needed to be resolved before companies like his could invest further in the sector. Article in Reuters. [It is obvious that the use of wheat and maize to make biofuels drives up the prices of wheat and maize. That is why farmers, and their representatives, are so keen on promoting such markets. If the price of wheat and maize go up, more wheat and maize will be planted. The question is where they will be planted. On conservation set-asides? On former virgin forest? On formerly uneconomical pasture and range land? From land formerly planted to other crops (which will drive up the cost of those other crops in turn)?]

Utility Company Turns Food Scraps Into Electricity—reliability high.
Feature story about East Bay Municipal Utility District's use of restaurant food waste in its biodigesters to generate additional electricity to power its sewage treatment plant in Oakland. This is the largest food-scrap-to-energy system in the U.S. See The Bay Citizen.

"Lights out for London"—reliability high.
"The London Assembly's Environment Committee are launching an investigation into the reasons lights are left on in workplaces overnight in London." "Turning off lights saves energy and money. So we want to understand why so many workplaces leave lights on overnight., " said GLA Environment Committee chair Darren Johnson. From edie.net. [Every city dweller has probably asked, "Why do those big buildings leave so many floors all lit up all night?]

"5 Simple Ways to Create a Green Procurement Program"—reliability medium.
Suggestions from Richard Goode, Senior Director of Sustainability at Alcatel-Lucent, on how to green your supply chain. "By wisely using the influence your purchasing power gives you, a company can raise the environmental performance of an entire industry. Make sustainable purchasing a priority and ask for the most environmentally friendly alternative at the same price as traditional offerings." Some more specific recommendations. See GreenBiz.

"EU reports biggest ever fall in car emissions in 2009"—reliability high.
"Average carbon dioxide emissions from new cars sold in the European Union dropped by 5 percent last year, the biggest annual fall ever recorded, European climate chief Connie Hedegaard said on Wednesday." The economic crisis and scrappage schemes contributed to the decline, she said. From Reuters. [Perhaps economic uncertainty led potential buyers of heavier, more powerful, more polluting (and more expensive) vehicles to put off purchases. Will we see a bounceback in 2011 as economies improve, or have tastes really changed?]

Government and Regulation (and Not So Green Department)

"$1.1bn wasted on solar power"—reliability high.
"More than $1 billion of taxpayers' money was wasted on subsidies for household solar roof panels that favoured the rich and did little to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions, a scathing review has found. ... In total, the government spent $1.1 billion installing 107,000 rooftop solar panels. ... All solar panel systems installed under the program combined reduced Australia's emissions by just 0.015 per cent, and cost up to $301 per tonne of carbon saved". ''When poorly targeted and designed, these programs can be wasteful and produce predominantly private rather than public benefits,'' says the review. From Sydney Morning Herald.

Future energy prices, life-cycle analysis pilot, ethanol expansion worries food industry and other green news for business

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 18:47:00 +0000

Top Stories--IEA 2010 World Energy Outlook

"Oil demand to rise for 25 years despite green push: IEA"—reliability high.
The International Energy Agency predicts that oil demand and price will rise substantially over the next 25 years, in spite of policies to reduce carbon emissions and improve energy efficiency. "The IEA concluded that this 'rising demand for fossil fuels would continue to drive up energy-related carbon dioxide emissions ... (and) make it all but impossible to achieve the two degree C goal...'" At Yahoo from AFP.

"Charting China’s Energy Explosion"—reliability medium.
The IEA's 2010 Global Energy Report says China will be the driver of increased energy use, prices and emissions over the next 25 years. "The agency predicted that Chinese energy demand will soar 75 percent by 2035, accounting for more than a third of total global consumption growth." This growth will put pressure on global fossil fuel supplies. See New York Times Green blog.

"World should eradicate fossil fuel subsidies: IEA"—reliability high.
"Eradicating subsidies to fossil fuels would enhance energy security, reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollution, and bring economic benefits," says the IEA in its latest World Energy Outlook report. "The report estimated such subsidies at $312 billion in 2009, mostly in developing countries, compared with $57 billion in subsidies for renewable energy." Reuters story.

2010 World Energy Outlook report access and related info here. PDF of press release accompanying report here.

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

"GE ploughs $2bn into China clean tech push"—reliability high.
General Electric will GE will spend $500m on R&D in China, and more than $1.5bn on technology and financial services joint ventures there between now and the end of 2012, mainly in low-carbon technologies. "The company said it has signed four new joint venture agreements – two with the state-owned energy grid operators and two with state-owned rail firms." More details of JVs. See BusinessGreen.

"Spain's Gamesa May be Acquired as China Firms Target Clean Energy Takeover"—reliability high.
Speculation about consolidation in the wind and solar industries as some firms' valuations fall due to overcapacity in some markets. China's Shanghai Electric Group Co., Trina Solar Ltd. and Dongfang Electric Corp. mentioned as potential buyers. From Bloomberg.

"Private equity sees 'buckets of money' in water buys"—reliability high.
"Water scarcity will generate big returns for the irrigation sector once climate change and population growth take their toll on farming, private equity managers said on Tuesday" at an agricultural investing conference. "Irrigation is a big industry and it is growing. I think it's going to grow dramatically,'" said Judson Hill of NGP Global Adaptation Partners, "estimating the sector at $3.5 billion today." See Reuters.

"Walmart, Seventh Gen Give Free LCA Tool a Trial Run"—reliability high.
Seventh Generation, Walmart and Tetra Pak are testing a new open source life-cycle-assessment tool, Earthster 2 Turbo and its companion open source database. "The tool highlights supply chain hot spots and gives users recommendations for improving environmental impacts. The Software-as-a-Service platform combines with the Earthster Open Commons, a wiki that expands with the addition of data from new users in order to fill in the gaps that plague some LCA databases." More about the pilot program. From GreenBiz.

"Food groups sue U.S. for ethanol boost in gasoline"—reliability high.
"The Grocery Manufacturers Association, the National Meat Association and other groups sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), saying regulators overstepped their authority when they ruled last month that gasoline retailers could sell fuel containing up to 15 percent ethanol." From Reuters. [The plaintiffs are concerned that increasing conversion of maize to ethanol could increase costs of raising poultry and livestock, and thus the prices of food products. Higher corn prices are good for farmers, and don't bother ethanol producers because they receive subsidies and can pass on costs to refiners. But the other major users of corn are squeezed by higher costs.]

India-U.S. deals, China-U.S. deals, environmental concern in Asia, and more green business news

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 20:34:00 +0000

Top Stories

"$175-m worth deals on clean energy signed"—reliability high.
Indian and U.S. companies recently signed joint venture deals worth $175 million in the renewable energy sector, according to Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director General for the Foreign Commercial Service at the U.S. Department of Commerce Suresh Kumar. Article lists deals. From The Hindu.

"Chinese Solar Project Developers Tackling U.S."—reliability high.
Chinese firms are getting into project development for solar farms in the U.S. "Wells Fargo on Monday said it will fund 'over $100 million' worth of projects to be developed by GCL Solar Energy, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based GCL-Poly Energy Holdings." GCL-Poly claims to be the largest maker of silicon wafers for solar cells. See The GigaOM Network.

"Concern Over the Environment Rises in Asia"—reliability medium.
"climate change and environmental issues have moved up Asia’s list of worries, often topping any concerns about the global economy, according to opinion polls released over the past two weeks." Discusses studies by HSBC and by Civic Exchange. Strong economies and environment-related disasters have affected attitudes. From The New York Times.

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

"Biodiesel plant set to open in Baton Rouge"—reliability high.
A 75-million-gallon-a-year biodiesel plant owned by Tyson Foods and fuel manufacturer Syntroleum Corp. is coming on line soon. It uses leftovers from Tyson’s meat-processing factories and eateries, including chicken fat, beef tallow and grease as its feedstock. Comments about U.S. biofuels markets. See Biofuels International. [While the companies complained that the plant needs tax breaks to be successful, Tyson Foods may also be avoiding substantial waste disposal costs.]

"Sonoma Wine Unveils Solar Cogen Installation"—reliability high.
"Sonoma Wine Company is now getting heat and electricity from its 272-kilowatt (kW) solar cogeneration system at its winery operations in Graton, California." The system was installed by Cogenra Solar and "displaces approximately 64,000 kilowatt-hours and 12,500 therms of natural gas annually" under a 15-year heat and power purchase agreement. The Cogenra panels have both PV and solar water heating components. From Environmental Leader. Press release here.

"Asian buyers, emissions in focus at green palm oil meet"—reliability high.
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil has seen certified palm oil increase to 7% of production driven by European demand. But it wants to get Chinese and Indian buyers, who take 40% of global production, to increase purchases of sustainable oil to keep the certified segment growing. Discussions of problems facing the RSPO and its standards system. Reuters story. [Creating a premium segment within an agricultural commodity market.]

"P2 Web App Calculates Energy Savings for Lighting Retrofits"—reliability high.
"Precision-Paragon (P2), a division of Hubbell Lighting, has launched a free web app that helps business owners calculate energy and cost savings for commercial and industrial lighting upgrades. P2 says about 40 percent of the electricity used in a typical commercial building is consumed by lighting." See Environmental Leader. The calculator is here.

Government and Regulation

"EU adopts stricter rules on industrial emissions"—reliability high.
"New EU legislation adopted today will bring down industrial emissions from large combustion plants across the EU, bringing several environmental and health benefits to Europe's citizens, like an expected reduction in premature deaths of 13,000 per year." More details on the provisions and implementation of the new rules. See Environmental Expert.

China energy missteps and successes, India-USA cooperation, geoengineering and other green business news

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 17:04:00 +0000

Top Stories

"China energy steps spur diesel shortage: media"—reliability high.
"Forced power outages aimed at meeting China's energy-saving goals have led to "unprecedented" diesel shortages, as companies buy diesel generators to keep operating, the Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday," according to Reuters. When the center demanded compliance with energy-use-reduction targets many provincial and local authorities used the heavy-handed tool of power cuts, which led energy users to install diesel backup generators. These sucked diesel fuel out of the markets and probably negated the emission-reduction goals of the central policy. See Reuters.

"Businesses failing carbon accounting test"—reliability high.
"Companies are woefully under-prepared to meet carbon accounting standards should the current [UK] government guidelines become mandatory, according to a new survey published" by Deloitte. "Although well over half of companies reported carbon information to some degree – rising to 98 per cent among the FTSE100 firms surveyed, an improvement on the previous year – only nine per cent disclosed information in line with the Defra recommendations." From BusinessGreen.

"China’s Growth in Clean Energy Matches Ambition"—reliability high.
"China is emerging from the global recession even more dominant in clean energy and with greater ambitions to be the world’s leader in this sector than previously thought, a new report from the Worldwatch Institute shows. Using a combination of technological advances, aggressive policies, and a strong financial position, China’s growth in renewable energy has far outstripped that of most developed or developing nations." "If China keeps on its current pace, it will be the undisputed global leader in clean energy within the next two years," says Worldwatch President Christopher Flavin. Highlights of report. See Worldwatch Institute site.

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

"Siemens aims to increase green revenue a third by 2014"—reliability high.
Industrial supplier Siemens plans to increase its sales from its environmental portfolio to €40bn in revenue by 2014, from about €28bn in fiscal 2010. "‘Green innovations are our lifeblood. We’re the largest supplier of environmental technologies in the world. We want to – and we will – increase our advantage over our most important competitors,’ said Siemens’ Environmental Portfolio managing board member Barbara Kux." From NewNet.

"ADM to Construct Biodiesel Facility in Joaçaba, Brazil"—reliability high.
Archer Daniels Midland Company today announced that it will construct a second biodiesel plant in Brazil. The facility, to be built in Joaçaba, Santa Catarina, will be adjacent to existing ADM soybean crushing and refining facilities. With an annual biodiesel production capacity of 164,000 metric tons, the plant will increase ADM’s biodiesel capacity in Brazil by more than 50 percent. From ADM site.

"Cost of Green Power Makes Projects Tougher Sell"—reliability high.
The declining cost of fossil energy, due to the recession and to increasing supplies of natural gas from new extraction technology, is forcing state utility commissions to reject PPAs to purchase renewable energy as the cost gap widens. See The New York Times. [Of course the costs of fossil fuels' externalities are never included in these calculations in the West.]

Government and Regulation

"India and U.S. to cooperate on clean energy, shale gas"—reliability high.
India and the USA have concluded a 10-year energy research agreement. They will establish a R&D center for clean energy in India to be funded at $5 million annually for the first five years, with additional funding to come from the private sector. They will continue "our joint research into solar, biofuels, shale gas and building efficiency." See Reuters.

Science and Economics

"'Sustainable wood' may still cause damage"—reliability high.
Discusses results from Canadian research that suggests that even wood harvested under various sustainable certification schemes such as that of the Forest Stewardship Council, may cause more carbon release than previously thought. Cutting trees releases soil carbon, which takes many years to be rebuilt as the forest regrows. In the research plots soil carbon took 30 years to reach pre-harvest levels, and 100 years to fully recover. Many "sustainably" managed timber sources are not expected to allow long enough rotations. "Shortening harvest rotation times have the potential to make the resource unsustainable, and to contribute to the rise in atmospheric greenhouse gases." See The Guardian from environmentresearchweb.

"Biofuel worse for climate than fossil fuel: study"—reliability high.
"The indirect effects of the EU's biofuel strategy will generate an extra 27 to 56 million metric tones of greenhouse gas emissions per year, says the report." The report was prepared by nine environmental groups. On the other hand, "The European Commission's energy team says shortfalls in grain can be avoided in several ways, including by improving farming yields and cultivating abandoned land." The biofuels industry says the groups' analysis is based on uncertain science. From Reuters. [Why is that abandoned farmland available--why was it abandoned? Inside Europe, probably because subsidies were decreased so it was no longer profitable to farm it. Outside Europe, probably because prices declined or costs (e.g. irrigation, taxes) increased so it was no longer profitable to farm it. The only way for such farmland to be drawn back into production is for the prices of agricultural commodities that can be grown on it to increase to levels where it is profitable to farm it again. But rising commodity prices will also draw in newly cleared farmland. And even resowing abandoned farmland entails a significant release of CO2 that has been trapped in grassland or forest on the abandoned hectares.]

"Geoengineering"—reliability high.
The Economist looks at issues surrounding geoengineering. Looks at some proposed geoengineering ideas, quotes researchers and other participants. "Geoengineering’s growth spurt will need to be matched by some grown-up questioning. Who benefits? Who decides? Who faces the risk?" See The Economist. [Good overview of some of the issues. See also previous posts here and here. Such an article still comes under "Science", but soon these may be appearing in "Government and Regulation".]

Cloud computing cuts carbon? Warming reverses progress? Mn and Parkinson's, trimming jeans' water footprint, BMW EV factory and other sustainable business news

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 15:38:00 +0000

Top Stories

"UN report warns of threat to human progress from climate change"—reliability high.
The latest Human Development Report says failure to tackle climate change could put at risk decades of progress in human development around the world. In spite of the global financial crisis, human development measures have shown progress in recent years. "Climate change may be the single factor that makes the future very different, impeding the continuing progress in human development that history would lead us to expect. While international agreements have been difficult to achieve and policy responses have been generally slow, the broad consensus is clear: climate change is happening, and it can derail human development." The 2011 report will focus on sustainability. See The Guardian. Access the report here.

"Pollutants in some urban areas increase Parkinson’s disease risk"—reliability high.
"High levels of manganese and copper pollution in urban areas are linked to increased risk of Parkinson’s disease, according to a large-scale analysis of urban pollution and Parkinson's incidence in the United States." The study "found that people living in areas with higher levels of manganese pollution had a 78 percent greater risk of Parkinson’s disease than those living in areas free of such pollution. High levels of copper in the environment increased Parkinson’s risk by 11 percent." From Washington University. Abstract here (paper behind $40 pay wall).

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

"Coca-Cola Hellenic Improves Energy Efficiency by 31% since 2002"—reliability high.
Coca-Cola Hellenic, the world's second-largest Coke bottler with operations in 28 countries, "says it has embedded carbon emissions control across all operational levels in 28 countries, which has resulted in an energy efficiency improvement of 31 percent since 2002." It plans to reduce CO2 emissions another 25% by installing Quad Generation Combined Heat and Power (CHP) technology. More on the company's energy efficiency and carbon reduction plans. From Environmental Leader.

Soft Jeans = Water Waste?—reliability medium.
Leslie Kaufman posts about efforts at Levi Strauss to reduce the water footprint of bluejeans. A lot of water us used in final finishing to get the desired look, sometimes 3 to 10 washing cycles. "Levi’s brand is announcing a new line of jeans, called Water<less, that it says will reduce water consumption in the manufacturing process by an average of 28 percent and as much as 96 percent in some products." The post points out that the largest part of the product's water footprint comes from irrigating cotton fields: "Irrigating this crop can require 900 to 1,800 gallons per pair of jeans (depending on lots of variables like the aridness of the region it is grown in)." Levi Strauss does participate in the Better Cotton Initiative. See New York Times Green blog. [I remember when Levis came stiff and dark blue. They softened up (and shrank) after a month or two of wear and washing. Now they are industrially washed a few times and otherwise treated during manufacturing. Value added?]

"Microsoft Study Finds Cloud Computing Is Good for the Environment"—reliability medium.
A study commissioned by Microsoft and performed by Accenture and WSP says businesses can achieve significant IT energy savings by shifting on-premises business applications to cloud-based equivalents. Businesses with around 100 users can save over 90% of their IT energy use, mid-size businesses with 1000 users can save 60-90%, according to the life cycle analysis. More highlights of report. See eWeek. Access the paper here from GreenBiz.

"BMW Inaugurates First Factory for Electric-Powered Cars"—reliability high.
BMW will invest €400 million, or $568 million, through 2013 to expand a factory in Leipzig to build battery-electric vehicles. The "Megacity" is expected to go on sale in 2013. It is thought the new production line will have capacity to produce tens of thousands of cars per year. From The New York Times.

"Panasonic snaps up $30m stake in Tesla"—reliability high.
Panasonic has invested about $30 million in Tesla to obtain a 2% stake. "Panasonic is already working with Tesla on next-generation battery cells and packs for its forthcoming Model S, a premium electric sedan set to be released in 2012, and the latest investment is expected to cement that partnership." Naoto Noguchi, president of Panasonic's battery cell business, said: "Panasonic aims to be the number one green innovation company in the electronics industry by 2018, the 100th anniversary of our founding. Our sophisticated lithium-ion battery cell technology, combined with Tesla's market-leading EV powertrain technology, helps us fulfil this goal by promoting sustainable mobility." See BusinessGreen.

"Analysis: For Dow Chemical, solar shingle a new path"—reliability high.
Wall Street analysts believe Dow Chemical's solar-power-generating shingle could be a billion-dollar product for the company, and help establish it in a rapidly growing new sector. Rob Stone, a solar industry analyst with Cowen & Co., said: "A product like that, that is tailored to U.S. building practices, is particularly attractive. I think Dow's shingle is going to add incrementally to the size of the solar pie." From Reuters.

Greener shipping, data centers; GM EV for China, Nukes in Korea, Arab water crisis and other green business news

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 15:37:00 +0000

Top Stories

"Analysis: Voters deliver mixed message on renewable energy"—reliability high.
"Tuesday's election results sent a mixed message on alternative energy, with Republican victories in Congress likely to curb national alternative-energy policy while California results look set to help the sector." Observers say the strong endorsement of aggressive climate policies in California will boost green business there and lead to significant additional renewable energy investment, while prospects for federal legislation to cut carbon are nil. See Reuters. [This assures some sort of cap-and-trade system will continue develop at state/provincial level in North America. See New Mexico item below.]

"Shipping Industry Targets CO2 Emissions Reductions, Verification"—reliability high.
Shipping line Maersk "claims that it is the first shipping company to receive independent verification of its CO2 emissions data, vessel by vessel." It says its objective is to provide transparency so that customers can accurately assess their supply chain emissions. "Maersk Line says the next challenge is to get other shipping lines to participate and to make independent verification an industry standard, enabling customers to choose shipping lines based on their environmental performance." From Environmental Leader. Press release here.

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

"GM making EV in China with prototype out at year-end"—reliability high.
"'Shanghai GM has started making the electric New Sail and a prototype will be available at the year-end,' a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Thursday." Initial production will be small numbers for market testing. GM has thus stolen a march on "its rivals in the country's fledgling green vehicle business, which analysts say could be the next hotly contested sector." See Reuters.

"Data Centers Tighten Energy Belts"—reliability high.
European data center companies have been pushed by the weak economy to reduce energy bills, and at the same time have found marketing benefits from being more "green". Example of Digital Realty Trust, a major data center operator, which offers technology to let customers monitor the energy efficiency of the computers they are using. "Not only is this an excellent marketing device for prospective customers, but the added benefit of efficiency means we cut costs, saving D.R.T., and customers, money," said a D.R.T. representative. More on energy saving at European data centers. From The New York Times.

"IEA: Climate pledge failure would boost oil prices: report"—reliability high.
A draft of the International Energy Agency's 2010 World Energy Outlook report says lack of greenhouse gas reduction policies generate higher oil price projections. "The inflation-adjusted price of oil would be $113 by 2035 in the WEO scenario that takes into account new environmental policies, versus $135 in the main scenario, with demand at 99 million barrels per day (bpd) and 107 million bpd respectively," Reuters says of the draft, which has been leaked in the Financial Times. The report is due out next week. Reuters story. [No wonder oil companies are not so keen on emission-reduction programs.]

"South Korea set to cut coal imports ahead of green revolution"—reliability high.
"South Korea aims to expand the role of renewable energy from less than five per cent of its energy mix to 11 per cent in 2020, and nuclear from 26 per cent in 2008 to 40 per cent in 2030." This will result in reduction of fuel imports, reducing ''The portion of fossil fuels [in South Korea's energy mix] ... from 40 per cent in 2008 to 30 per cent in 2030." "However, Yoo added that the country's use of gas would keep increasing until at least 2050." See BusinessGreen. [Replacing coal and oil with natural gas will help reduce carbon emissions, but the real emphasis here is on nuclear energy. Korea wants to build a leading nuclear sector and become a significant exporter of nuclear power hardware.]

Government and Regulation

"New Mexico Quietly Adopts Country's Most Comprehensive Greenhouse Gas Rules"—reliability high.
Ecopolitology reports that the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board has approved two new global warming regulations, including rules for greenhouse gas reporting and verification and regulations for cap-and-trade markets under the Western Climate Initiative. "The rules will require about 63 facilities, primarily fossil fuel-fired power plants and oil and gas operations, that emit more than 25,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases annually to start cutting emissions by 2 percent per year below 2010 levels, beginning in 2012." At Reuters from Matter Network.

Science and Economics

"Arab world faces worsening water crisis: report"—reliability high.
"The Arab world, one of the driest regions on the planet, will tip into severe water scarcity as early as 2015," a report by the Arab Forum for Environment and Development says. "The Arab world is already living a water crisis that will only get worse with inaction," the report says. Water supply per capita has plunged to only a quarter of its 1960 level. The report also says that climate change will affect rain-fed agriculture, "with average yields estimated to decline by 20 percent." Other highlights of report. From Reuters. Access the report here. [Maybe someone should form OWEC (the Organization of Water Exporting Countries)?]

California carbon law survives, nukes in India, auto parts suppliers must adapt, push for greener buildings in U.S., UK; plus more green news

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 17:10:00 +0000

Top Stories

"Climate law survives Prop 23 challenge at California polls"—reliability high.
A campaign "largely funded by oil companies" to block implementation of California's AB 32, which calls for a cap-and-trade system to reduce the state's greenhouse emissions among other things, has been defeated at the polls. "The defeat of Proposition 23 marked a big victory for Silicon Valley investors, who poured millions of dollars into defending California's AB 32 law and protecting their massive investments in green technologies ranging from solar power to electric cars." Election of Gerry Brown as governor also encouraged the industry. He is in favor of higher renewable energy requirements. See The Guardian from Reuters. [A big sigh of relief is heard in Silicon Valley, among the members of the Western Climate Initiative carbon trading plan, and from carbon marketers, among others. Markets like certainty, and this segment has eliminated a big source of unpredictability.]

"India signs nuclear liability convention"—reliability medium.
India has signed India has signed the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage at the IAEA which sets standards for compensation in the event of a nuclear accident. However this does not change India's domestic nuclear liability law. This post from Dan Yurman reviews the complex political and diplomatic situation that arises from India's law that puts liability on nuclear plant component suppliers, which is unacceptable to private U.S. companies who want to sell such components to India. From Nuke Notes. [A good summary of the tangled diplomatic situation in advance of President Obama's upcoming visit to India. Indian PM Singh is in a tough spot. Signing the IAEA convention doesn't change the situation but is seen by the U.S. as a "very positive step". Shadow of the Bhopal disaster: India doesn't trust foreign companies or foreign technologies (or in the case of nuclear technology even Indian companies--only the government can operate atom plants), but it can't build nuclear plants on its own. (And is the government really more competent to handle complex technology than private companies? That's another question.)]

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

"GE to supply wind turbines to Suncor wind project"—reliability high.
Suncor, Canada's biggest oil company, has ordered 55 General Electric Co 1.6 megawatt wind turbines for an 88 MW wind project near Calgary, Alberta. See Reuters. [In spite of slump in the wind industry, orders still come in.]

"Japan’s Auto Parts Makers Try to Anticipate Shift to Electric Cars"—reliability high.
People in Hamamatsu, Japan, refer to it as "electric vehicle shock". They are concerned what will happen to their car parts industry as EVs replace those with internal combustion engines. Osamu Suzuki, president of Suzuki Motors, says, "We are in the midst of an industrial revolution. Our suppliers need to start studying how they can transform their businesses." This story says, "According to a study published in August by the Shizuoka Economic Research Institute, almost 30 percent of sales in Japan’s 34.6 trillion yen ($430 billion) auto parts industry comes from parts that could be rendered obsolete by electricity-powered vehicles." From The New York Times. [ICEs aren't dead yet. And some "electric vehicles" still have gas engines, like the Volt. But parts makers are right to anticipate change. Is this really that different from other shifts in auto technology? What happened to carburetor makers?

"PG&E’s 5MW Wave Energy Project Sinks"—reliability medium.
Ucilia Wang posts that Pacific Gas and Electric Company has shelved a proposed project to test wave energy electricity generation off the north coast of California. "PG&E opted to discontinue with the project because of the costs of financing a project that would’ve involved unproven technologies and been limited in its ability to expand, said company spokesman Brian Swanson. ... The company is continuing with its proposed plan to do a pilot project off the coast of Santa Barbara County in central California." See The GigaOM Network.

"Honda CEO sees potential in electric car market"—reliability high.
Takanobu Ito, CEO of Honda, says it looks like electric vehicles are a viable market segment, a switch from Honda's stance of years past. He said, "It's starting to look like there will be a market for electric vehicles (EVs). We can't keep shooting down their potential, and we can't say there's no business case for it." He said pure EVs make more sense than plug-in hybrids. Reuters story.

"New Zealand wine first in world to come with carbon footprint label"—reliability high.
The New Zealand Wine Company will calculate life-cycle carbon footprints for its Mobius Marlborough sauvignon blanc for each of its export markets and provide a label on the bottle. "So bottles sold in New Zealand, for example, will carry a figure of 140g CO2 [per 125ml glass], whereas bottles shipped to Australia will display 190g. ... the wine is the world's first to be certified by the UK's Carbon Trust". From The Guardian. [The main purpose is for marketing, to provide a "warm and fuzzy" feeling. Especially so since if no other wines carry such labels there is no possibility of comparison. No consumer would know if 190g of CO2 per glass (more than 1 kg per bottle) is a lot or a little.]

Government and Regulation

"Historic US Vote Makes Buildings 30% More Energy Efficient"—reliability medium.
Susan Kraemer posts about vote by US building officials to support the building codes that require 30% more efficient buildings for every state under the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code. "Under the terms of the Recovery Act (ARRA), every state that accepted State Energy Program funding had to commit to 90% energy code compliance by 2017. Virtually every state did accept this assistance". Implementation of these modern codes around the country could have a significant impact on growth of greenhouse gas emission. From CleanTechnica. [Washington isn't the only place carbon-reducing laws and regulations can come from. See also California item above. (After Republican House victories nobody expects any serious federal climate legislation for a while.) ]

"Landlords face fines for energy inefficiency"—reliability high.
Britain's newly proposed scheme for improving the insulation of existing homes includes a provision to fine landlords who rent housing without adequate insulation. Earlier promotional schemes got some homeowners to upgrade insulation, but not landlords. The program allows building owners to improve insulation at no up-front cost, with the cost added to utility bills over several years. The theory is that energy savings will offset the additional costs. "The government will press councils to use existing legislation more actively, under which they are able to compel a landlord to carry out the work or do the work themselves and charge the landlord. They can also impose a fine of £5,000." A few more details of the proposal. See The Guardian.

Wind power woes, UN calculates environmental costs to business, smart grid companies, and more green business news

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 16:19:00 +0000

Top Stories

UN tries to quantify financial impact of environmental degradation—reliability high.
A report prepared for the UN Environmental Program says that "the likelihood has climbed sharply that declines in biodiversity would have a "severe" $10bn (£6bn) to $50bn impact on business. ... it suggests banks, investors and insurance companies are starting to calculate the losses that could arise from diminishing supplies, tightened conservation controls and the reputational damage caused by involvement in an unsound project." It cites the loss of value at BP caused by the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster as an extreme example of the costs of environmental mismanagement. See The Guardian. Press release from UNEP here. PDF of the report here.

"China says no significant cut for rare earth quotas"—reliability high.
China asserts that it will make no significant change in the export quotas for rare earth minerals and that 2011 quotas will be about the same as those for 2010. "This year, Beijing has slashed export quotas by around 40 percent from 2009 levels, saying it needs to protect reserves from reckless exploitation." Reuters quotes Vice Minister of Commerce, Chen Jian: "China has a management system, but China has no embargoes. But that does not mean you can buy freely, there will be a quota system -- the quota system is a way of management." Reuters article. [Such assurance is unlikely to stop the rush to find alternative suppliers.]

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

"Suzlon sees China leading wind power revival in 2011"—reliability high.
Comments from Tulsi Tanti, chairman of Suzlon Energy, on Suzlon's hopes for growth in the Chinese wind power market. Suzlon's China plant has been operating below 30% capacity, but the company expects it to be running at capacity from next year. The Indian market still absorbs half of Suzlon's total output. "The Indian market, one of the largest in the world for wind turbine firms, is likely to expand to around 3 to 3.6 gw in 2011, Tanti added." "The Chinese government, meanwhile, has set an ambitious goal of increasing the country’s wind power capacity from around 20 gigawatt (gw) at the end of last year to 90 gigawatt by 2015 in its 12th five-year plan." See DNA. [Those figures suggest the Chinese want to install 10 GW a year over the next five years, three times the 2011 India market.]

However, "Pipestone wind-turbine factory idled; 110 layoffs"—reliability high.
"Wind-turbine maker Suzlon Group will idle its Pipestone, Minn., plant, putting 110 workers out of jobs, because the once-booming U.S. wind energy market has lost headway. The layoffs, to take effect Dec. 29, were announced Monday, the same day Suzlon, the world's No. 3 wind energy company, reported a 70 percent drop in U.S. wind turbine installations for the first half of the year." From Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune. [Another retrenchment in the wind power industry.]

"Cleantech Venture Investments Fall 55% in Q3"—reliability high.
A report from Ernst & Young says "Q3 US venture capital (VC) investment in cleantech companies fell 55% compared to Q3 2009. Companies in the sector saw 53 financing rounds adding up to $575.6 million." Other facts and figures from the report. Video of Joe Muscat, the head of Ernst and Young's cleantech practice, with comments on cleantech financing. See Renewable Energy World.

"Campbell Soup, BNB Napoleon Solar to Build $21.6M for Solar Facility"—reliability high.
Napoleon Solar will finance, own and operate a $21.6 million solar facility at Campbell Soup's big manufacturing site in Napoleon, Ohio, using solar panels from SunPower. Campbell will buy all of the electricity under a 20-year power purchase agreement. Campbell wants to get 40% of its power from renewables by 2020. From Environmental Leader.

"32 companies charging the Super Grid now"—reliability high.
"In this article, we cover the major fields of super-grid opportunity and the companies, large and small, playing in them. It’s not an exhaustive list, but rather a guide to the companies we believe are currently best positioned to charge up the super grid." Links to many companies active in smartgrid in many subsectors, with comments. See VentureBeat. [A good list.]

Government and Regulation

"Starting in 2011, FTC Will Require EnergyGuide Labels for Televisions"—reliability high.
"Televisions manufactured after May 10, 2011 must display EnergyGuide labels so consumers shopping for TVs will have more information about different models and how much energy they use. ... 'Unlike many years ago, before flat screens and plasma, today’s televisions vary widely in the amount of energy they use,' said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. 'By comparing information on the EnergyGuide labels, consumers will be able to make better-informed decisions about which model they choose to buy, based on how much it costs to operate per year.'" See FTC site.

Reva to China, Areva to India, cities to report emissions, weak U.S. wind, and Gamers' Corner

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 16:28:00 +0000

Top Stories

"US Wind Power’s Dismal Quarter"—reliability high.
"The U.S. industry added just 395 megawatts of wind-powered electric generating capacity in the third quarter of 2010, making it the lowest quarter since 2007, according to the American Wind Energy Association. ... In 2010, wind projects in the U.S. are being installed at half the rate as in Europe, and a third of the rate as in China. Factors include lack of long-term U.S. energy policies" according to the AWEA. See Environmental Leader.

"California unveils greenhouse gas trading scheme"—reliability high.
"California unveiled its final draft of a market system to curb greenhouse gases, relaxing expected rules in the face of a weak economy .... Under the plan unveiled on Friday and likely to be adopted December 16 by the powerful Air Resources Board, the brunt of the market force will not be brought to bear for years. The plan insures easy compliance terms in early years, and planners reserve the right to give preferential terms to industries that are at risk of fleeing the state. See Reuters. Press release and access to the draft regs here. [California has tried to craft a program that will avoid the problems encountered in earlier cap-and-trade schemes. Because of current economic conditions it incorporates very gradual imposition of caps, generous give-aways of permits, and mechanisms to prevent permit price spikes. California voters will decide tomorrow whether to abrogate the law underlying this program.]

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

"Areva has Rs 13,300-crore plans for solar energy"—reliability high.
French energy major Areva "is betting big on solar power in India. It plans to float two subsidiaries for channelising investment to the tune of $3 billion (Rs 13,300 crore) in solar power generation. ... The company is in talks with two financial institutions for floating a joint venture to put up 1,000 Mw of solar thermal power capacity over the next five to seven years." More in Areva's plans in India. From Business Standard.

"London, Toronto and New York to calculate city-wide carbon footprints"—reliability high.
"London, Toronto and New York have become the first three cities to sign up to a new carbon report initiative from the Carbon Disclosure Project, designed to create a public database of cities' greenhouse gas emissions and climate change strategies. ... In partnership with the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and the Clinton Climate initiative, the scheme is asking the 59 largest cities in the world that have previously committed to tackling climate change to voluntarily measure and report on their emissions to the CDP." See BusinessGreen. Press release here.

"Braskem to build Bio-PP plant"—reliability medium.
Brazilian chemical producer "Braskem announced last week that it will now build a sugarcane ethanol-based polypropylene plant". Startup is set for 2013. "Investment of the plant is around $100m and capacity is said to be a minimum 30,000 tonne/year." Post speculates on the technology to be employed. From ICIS Green Chemicals blog.

"Mahindra & Mahindra to take Reva to China"—reliability high.
"electric carmaker Reva Motors, owned by utility vehicle major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M ), plans to enter China," hoping to take advantage of its huge market and EV subsidies. "'China is one of the largest auto market and given the huge demand for eco-friendly vehicles it could generate in future, we would like to take our new cars into that market,' said Pawan Goenka, chairman, Mahindra Reva Electric." See Economic Times.

Gamers' Corner

"Climate computer game lets you decide Earth's fate"—reliability high.
"Ever wondered how one person could save the planet from the effects of climate change? A British-made computer game on trial release on Monday creates different ways of doing just that. 'Fate of the World' puts the Earth's future in players' hands, placing them in charge of an international environmental body which could save the world from the effects of rising greenhouse gas emissions or let it perish by continuing to rely on emissions-heavy fossil fuels." Game is available for preorder and download of the "special edition" trial release now. See Reuters.

"Fate of the World – review"—reliability medium.
Review of the new computer game "Fate of the World", which asks players to devise effective climate change strategies. "while Fate of the World arms you with environmental data and renewable energy policies rather than grenades and rocket launchers, the result is still compelling." From The Guardian. The game developer's site is here. [The interesting thing about this game is that it incorporates real climate science. "Fate of the World is brought to you by the award-winning Red Redemption games team and Battlestations: Midway Producer Klaude Thomas with climate science by Dr Myles Allen (University of Oxford), writing by David Bishop (Dr Who, 2000AD) and music composed by Richard Jacques (Mass Effect, Alice in Wonderland)." Just like other games have the physics of gravity built in, this has the physics of climate forcings. I wonder if you have "god" options to alter these parameters?]

GE's giant EV buy, climate financing, supply chain footprint reporting, and other green business news

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 17:24:00 +0000

Top Stories

"GE to place 'largest ever order' for electric vehicles"—reliability high.
"GE is set to order "tens of thousands" of electric vehicles in a move that will provide a major boost to the embryonic market and bear out predictions that large corporate customers will drive adoption of the emerging technology. ... under the initiative about half of GE's sales force would drive electric cars, leading to estimates that the company could purchase up to 23,000 vehicles". The orders will probably be spread among several manufacturers. More on EV prospects. See BusinessGreen. [We have been seeing orders for EVs, especially delivery trucks, in the numbers of tens or twenties. This GE order is three orders of magnitude bigger. If they buy (not lease) this is a half-billion-dollar order.]

"A preview of a flawed report on climate-change financing"—reliability high.
The Economist summarizes what can be learned from the drafts of the upcoming report of the UN "advisory group on finance" that is supposed to figure out how the rich world can provide $100 billion a year by 2020 to help the developing world deal with climate change. It appears that private investment will have to be the bulk of the funds, with carbon credit markets contributing only a small fraction. The question will be how to get governments to apply their funds so as to provide the most leverage to encourage that private finance. From The Economist. [One thing is obvious--that $100 million won't be no-strings-attached gifts from rich governments. If private capital invests in developing-world energy projects, it will want to own and profit from those projects. If it provides loans it will want a reasonable return. Carbon markets will provide nearly zero investment capital for low-carbon projects. To the extent that this $100 million is the payoff for the developing world to commit to emission reductions or carbon prices, it won't buy much. The fast-growing developing countries like China and India are already among the best fields for private investment of any kind. Firms are falling over themselves to invest in green projects and markets in China. Perhaps this UN effort is irrelevant.]

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

"3 MW Solar Installation Begins in Pennsylvania"—reliability high.
GlaxoSmithKline is installing a 3MW rooftop PV solar system on its distribution center in York, PA. This will be the largest rooftop system in North America when complete. "GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare received government funding and solar incentives to help finance the project. A $1 million grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Commonwealth Financing Authority and $4.1 million in federal tax credits will help pay for the project. GSK will also utilize energy savings and Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SREC) to offset costs." See Renewable Energy World.

"Better Place to bring battery swapping taxi program to San Francisco Bay Area"—reliability medium.
"After several months of successful operation in Tokyo, Better Place has decided that it's time for its switchable battery technology to make the trip to the Bay Area in California. Over the next three years, Better Place, with support from the U.S. Department of Transportation and other key groups, will deploy and operate four battery exchange stations in the San Francisco to San Jose corridor. A fleet of 61 electric taxis will be converted over to make use of Better Place's battery swap stations." From Autoblog Green. [Welcome home.]

"10 Ways to Improve Your Company's Energy Management"—reliability high.
John Schinter of AT&T posts that "Effective energy management helps reduce a company's environmental impact and benefits the company's bottom line. Below, I have outlined 10 ways that a company can be effective in improving its energy management and efficiency." Discusses such topics as measurement, goals, communication, accountability and "Invest in power-saving technologies". See GreenBiz blog.

"Solar Power Projects Face Potential Hurdles"—reliability high.
In a flurry of approvals several giant solar projects in California and Arizona are ready to break ground before key incentives expire at the end of the year. The plants will have 4 GW capacity if all are built out completely. But the expiry of incentives mean that there will be a period when no similar plants will be undertaken. "Without continued government incentives that vastly reduce the risks to investors, solar companies planning another dozen or so plants say they may not be able to raise enough capital to proceed. ... The most crucial is a loan guarantee program, expiring next September, that allows them to borrow money on favorable terms to finance up to 80 percent of construction costs. The other is the option to take a 30 percent tax credit in the form of a cash payment once a project is built." More on the challenges facing large solar projects in the West. From The New York Times.

"The Latest CDP Results Reveal the Rise of Scope 3 Reporting"—reliability high.
Ryan Schuchard of BSR posts that Global 500 Report, Carbon Disclosure Project's (CDP) annual summary of climate reporting by the world's 500 largest companies shows nearly half reported on "scope 3" emissions, the emissions of companies in their supply chains and others over which they have influence but not direct control. "At the same time, the quality and scope of reporting is improving dramatically." Interview on how Kraft Foods developed its scope 3 reporting. More on supply chain emissions issues. See GreenBiz blog. [Big businesses will have to adopt such accounting.]

5% of green claims don't mislead, environmental costs of development, going green but not getting greener and more news

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 16:28:00 +0000

Top Stories

"95% of Consumer Products Mislead Buyers with 'Green' Claims"—reliability high.
"More than 95 percent of consumer products claiming to be 'green' commit at least one greenwashing offense, according to a report released by TerraChoice, a North American environmental marketing company and part of Underwriters Laboratories’ global network. The worst offenders are toys and baby care products, with 100 percent and 99.2 percent, respectively, guilty of some form of greenwashing. ... Nearly 5 percent of products do not mislead consumers with green claims, compared to only two percent last year." And the number of "green" products is up 79% since 2009. See Environmental Leader. Access the report here.

"Apple Slips, HP Climbs in Green Gadget Ranking"—reliability medium.
Greenpeace has come out with the latest edition of its "Guide to Greener Electronics" that ranks makers of computers, game systems, tvs, phones and other electronic devices. HP has increased its score substantially, "partly due to new notebook and desktop lines that are free of PVC and BFRs, a PVC-free printer, and a pledge to phase out beryllium and compounds by July 2011." Apple, while keeping the same score, has been leapfrogged by others and fell from 5th to 9th place. Nokia and Sony Ericsson scored highest. At Reuters from earth2tech. See rankings or download report at here.

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

"Cargill mulls scheme aimed at saving Indonesia forests"—reliability high.
Giant palm oil trader Cargill might use the reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) scheme to assure customers about the sustainability of its supply chain. Cargill Tropical Oils Chief Operating Officer John Hartmann told Reuters, "As for our direct involvement in the scheme, we're in the early days. We're exploring this option but we need to see how the rules are written before we make any commitment." From Reuters. [Using the REDD trading system could be an alternative to other palm oil certification schemes run by the oil industry itself.]

"Report: PV Industry Will Grow 92% in 2010 to Surpass 15 GW"—reliability high.
A commercial study says "Global solar photovoltaics (PV) panel production will eclipse 15 gigawatts" this year. And panel production will "exceed 25 gigawatts by 2013. At the same time, increasing competition between suppliers will lead to panel prices of less than $1/watt by 2012 for select technologies." See Greentech Media. Press release here. Access to executive summary (registration required) here. [The press release says that of the "top 15 most successful firms in terms of panel production, manufacturing costs, efficiency, and bankability by 2013", 8 are in China, 3 in the U.S.]

"Electric cars need 2 years of government aid: Renault CEO"—reliability high.
Renault / Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn says that electric cars will need government subsidies for two years to get established. "Two years of government support are needed to jump-start these markets and then the products will grow on their own and take off." Reuters story. [Could Renault be the first company to say "thank you for your support, government, but you can stop now."? The U.S. taxpayer has been supporting the corn ethanol business for 20 years. Not weanable yet.]

"Dubai Faces Environmental Problems After Growth"—reliability high.
Article looks at the problems brought on by rapid city-building in Dubai without consideration of environmental impacts. The city's one sewage treatment plant was trying to operate at two times its design capacity (new capacity recently opened). A fleet of 4,000 tanker trucks is supposed to bring untreated waste from the city to the plant, but some just dump their loads into local waters. The energy demand of desalination plants and industrial projects result in a globe-leading carbon footprint, and may require nuclear plants. Discusses efforts of Dubai and Abu Dhabi to address these and related problems. From The New York Times.

Science and Economics

"Emissions from consumption far outstrip efficiency savings"—reliability high.
New research shows "Carbon dioxide emissions from UK consumption grew by 217 Million tonnes(Mt) of carbon dioxide from increased spending between 1992 and 2004 while cuts from more efficient production only led to reductions of 148 Mt leaving a net growth of 69 Mt of carbon dioxide." Increased consumption more than offset improvements in energy efficiency along supply chains. See ClickGreen. Press release here; PDF of report here. [Increasing consumption, even of slightly greener products and services, can lead to greater emissions. All those new TVs and holidays wipe out incremental supply chain efficiency gains.]

Asian cities threatened, sustainability and M&A, building energy savings, arctic thaw and more green news

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 15:43:00 +0000

Top Stories

"Asian Megacities Threatened By Climate Change – Report"—reliability high.
"Asia’s coastal megacities will flood more often, on a larger scale, and affect millions more people, if current climate change trends continue, a new report warns. The report Climate Risks and Adaptation in Asian Coastal Megacities examines the impact of climate change on Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, and Manila, under a range of different scenarios through to 2050. ... The report finds that costs from major flooding events on infrastructure and the economy could run into the billions of dollars, with urban poor populations likely to be the hardest hit. It concludes that all three cities need to take targeted, city-specific and cutting edge approaches to meet these challenges." See World Bank site. Access the report here.

"Asian cities more vulnerable to natural disasters"—reliability high.
"The disparity between well-planned and well-built wealthy cities, and poorer ones, - called the "urban risk divide" by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in its 2010 World Disasters Report - is especially acute in Asia", where millions of poor people crowd into exposed parts of cities where nobody else wants to live. "where are some of the most dangerous cities to live if a natural disaster strikes?" Lists five, including Mumbai. The Guardian story.

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

"India aims to add 35 GW clean energy by 2015"—reliability high.
Debashish Majumdar, head of Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, says India wants to add about 35 GW of renewable power generation capacity by 2015 at a cost of about $55 billion, mostly from private investment. "The renewable energy sector policy is giving healthy returns with the preferential tariff regime, attracting investments from the private sector," he said. "India already makes loans to companies building alternative energy power plants and provides tax breaks and tariff subsidies to encourage the renewables industry". From Economic Times. [It is not clear if nuclear capacity is included in this projection. "There are also plans to scale up solar and nuclear power generation to 20 gigawatts each by 2022." Whether government incentives will create this level of private investment remains to be seen.]

"Sustainability Should Come Into Play During Merger Talks"—reliability high.
"A new whitepaper from consulting firm Deloitte provide a primer on how sustainability comes into play during mergers and acquisitions". It "covers the reasons why sustainability is an M&A issue, looks at how sustainability is shaping M&A strategies and provides a number of questions related to sustainability that companies should ask." See GreenBiz. Access the white paper here.

"And the Winner Is … a Very Frugal Dorm"—reliability medium.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ran a competition as part of its EnergyStar program to compare building energy-savings improvements. Fourteen buildings competed, and the winner was a 45-year-old dorm building at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which made $30,000 worth of modifications to reduce its energy score 36%, leading to savings of $250,000 on its energy bills. "The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has already made big strides toward energy efficiency in recent years, with modifications of more than 100 buildings that reaped savings of nearly $4 million last year. The average savings per building was $33,000, on an average investment of about $7,000." From The New York Times Green blog. More about the contestants here. [The details indicate that not all dorm residents are entirely happy with the level of heating/cooling they get with the new system. Maybe students can't be as choosy as residents of commercial apartments. On the other hand, central heating and air conditioning was only installed in 2007. Who expected dorms to be air conditioned back in the day? On the third hand, students can be mobilized and motivated to conserve as tenants cannot.]

"Massive corruption undermines forest protection plan"—reliability medium.
John Vidal posts that "Tropical forestry is dominated by big companies close to some of the most corrupt governments on earth" who stand to gain a windfall from REDD and other forest-protection carbon-trading programs. "over a few years there could be $35bn a year flooding into forestry protection". More on current and potential corruption in forest protection credits. See The Guardian blogs.

"Algae-Based Biofuels Production to Reach 61 Million Gallons per Year by 2020"—reliability high.
Pike Research has published a new commercial report that says algae biofuels production will grow rapidly over the next decade, reaching 61 million gallons per year and a market value of $1.3 billion by 2020. This is a rate of growth similar to that of the early development in the biodiesel industry. See Pike Research site. Access to sample content (registration required) here. [U.S. road vehicles consume roughly 170 billion gallons of motor fuel per year. So 61 million gallons is 0.03%. Also, 61 million gallons for a value of $1.3 billion is $21 per gallon. Something doesn't compute.]

Science and Economics

"As Arctic warms, increased shipping likely to accelerate climate change"—reliability high.
"Growing Arctic ship traffic will bring with it air pollution that has the potential to accelerate climate change in the world's northern reaches. And it's more than a greenhouse gas problem -- engine exhaust particles could increase warming by some 17-78 percent, the researchers say. ... 'Arctic Shipping Emissions Inventories and Future Scenarios,' is published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics." From EurekAlert. Abstract and access to paper here.

China green suppliers, improving fuel efficiency, food and biofuels, Yemeni water crisis and other sustainability news

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 15:56:00 +0000

Top Stories

"New U.S. Standards Take Aim at Truck Emissions and Fuel Economy"—reliability high.
The U.S. EPA has announced the first national emissions and fuel economy standards for trucks, buses and similar heavy vehicles. The new standards will apply to vehicles made in 2014. "tractor-trailers would be required to achieve a 20 percent reduction in fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions by 2018." EPA Administrator Jackson "said that lower fuel costs for truckers would more than cover the costs of the technology used to meet the new standards and would create jobs in truck manufacturing and related industries." From The New York Times. The EPA announcement is here.

"New Report: Chinese Companies are Improving Environmental Standards Through Supply Chains"—reliability high.
"Chinese suppliers can improve their business performance by adopting high environmental standards, according to a new working paper by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE). The paper, 'Greening Supply Chains in China,' highlights the experiences of five companies in China that have worked to improve their environmental performance." See WRI site. Access report here. [Case studies illustrate how sustainability improvements benefit Chinese companies.]

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

"San Francisco's green taxi fleet and how it got there"—reliability medium.
How the city and the taxi industry agreed on regulations that have resulted in half the taxi fleet being hybrid or natural gas vehicles, significantly reducing fuel consumption by the fleet. From Autoblog Green.

"70 mpg, without a Hybrid"—reliability high.
The Mazda Demio (Mazda 2) to be introduced in Japan next year will get 70.5 miles per gallon, or 30 kilometers per liter, using the Japanese method of estimating fuel economy. The U.S. method will give a much lower estimate. The 30% improvement in fuel efficiency is achieved through "a more efficient engine and transmission, and a lighter body and suspension." More about the engine technology. "Michael Omotoso, manager of the power train forecasting group at J.D. Power and Associates, estimates that the new car could be rated between 50 and 60 mpg in the U.S." See Technology Review. [Internal combustion engine is not dead yet.]

"Petrobras signs $1.2 bln ethanol deal with Tereos"—reliability high.
Brazilian oil major Petrobras will buy up to 2.2 billion liters of cane-based ethanol from French-owned Tereos over four years for 2.1 billion-real ($1.23 billion). More about consolidation in the Brazilian ethanol industry. From Reuters.

"Germany to raise bioethanol blending in gasoline"—reliability high.
Germany is expected to approve an increase in the level of ethanol that can be blended in gasoline from 5% to 10% from next January. The change is expected to benefit grain and sugar farmers by creating additional demand for their crops. Reuters story.

"Global food crisis forecast as prices reach record highs"—reliability high.
The Guardian reports "Rising food prices and shortages could cause instability in many countries as the cost of staple foods and vegetables reached their highest levels in two years, with scientists predicting further widespread droughts and floods." Food commodity price volatility and nervousness, weather events, withdrawal of agricultural land for industrial uses including biofuels are seen as causes. Stocks remain adequate, but food price inflation is pronounced in some regions. "Mounting anger has greeted food price inflation of 21% in Egypt in the last year, along with 17% rises in India and similar amounts in many other countries. Prices in the UK have risen 22% in three years." Speculation by investors is also blamed. See The Guardian. Related story on "Six casualties of the world food crisis", also from The Guardian, rounds up reports on food shortages and inflation, including cabbage in Korea, garlic in China, tomatoes in Israel, maize in the U.S., sugar in Pakistan and bread in Russia.

"New Report: Access to Land and the Right to Food"—reliability high.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food has issued a report which says "up to 30 million hectares of farmland is lost annually due to environmental degradation, conversion to industrial use or urbanization. A trend exacerbated by the expansion of agrofuels and the speculation on farmland." See Rapporteur site. PDF of report here. ["The competition among various uses of farmland has recently been increased by policies favouring the switch to biofuels in transport, which leads to competing resource claims on the part of local resource users, Governments and incoming agrofuel producers, creating the risk that poorer groups will lose access to the land on which they depend." Do crop-derived biofuels offer benefits commensurate with their high social costs?]

Government and Regulation

"South Africa unveils plans for 'world's biggest' solar power plant"—reliability high.
South Africa will announce plans to build a 5 GW solar project which would cost up to 200bn rand (£18.42bn) and would be equivalent to one-tenth of the nation's current power generation capacity. The plan calls for using "a mix of the latest solar technologies." See The Guardian. [Northern Cape Province, with its Kalahari Desert climate and Orange River for cooling, could be one of the world's best solar sites.]

The Future of Water

"In Yemen, Water Grows Scarcer"—reliability medium.
John Rudolf posts that "Increasingly sharp water shortages could cost Yemen 750,000 jobs and slash incomes by as much as 25 percent over the next decade, warns a new report on Yemen," prepared by McKinsey and Company for the Yemeni government. The capital Sana depends on groundwater, which is being rapidly depleted and could run out by 2025. More on water troubles in Yemen. From The New York Times Green blog. [This isn't about global warming or climate change, but about too many people trying to mine limited groundwater resources. If you think Yemen is unstable now, wait until they don't have enough water to grow khat. Growing populations and profligate water use in arid regions could bring major social disruption over coming decades. We needed a green revolution fifty years ago, and got one because of decades of investment in crop science. Now we need a blue revolution.]

Putting the "smart" in smart grid, Ford's EV, three new wind turbine factories in UK, integration and consolidation in solar, more green jobs data and other news

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 16:38:00 +0000

Top Stories

"Technology Companies Are Lining Up for Smart Grid Business"—reliability high.
About the efforts of software and hardware companies to create businesses providing the "smart" in the smart grid. Examples and quotes from participants in the GridWeek conference in Washington. See New York Times from ClimateWire. [See SAP/Siemens item below.]

"GE confirms £100m UK turbine plant investment"—reliability high.
General Electric joins Siemens in plans for new UK wind turbine production capacity. The UK government has spared its £60m program to invest in British ports to support the wind energy industry. Both GE and Siemens have confirmed they are on track to build plants in the UK. Prime minister David Cameron said, "I want us to be a world leader in offshore wind energy. We are making these investments so that major manufacturers will decide that this is the place they want to come and build their offshore wind turbines." From BusinessGreen. In related news, "Spain's Gamesa to build offshore wind factory in UK"--reliability high. "Spain's Gamesa will open an offshore wind turbine factory and research center in Britain, creating more than 1,000 direct jobs, the company said on Monday. It will invest 150 million euros ($210.6 million) until 2014 and base the global headquarters of its offshore division in London, Gamesa said, confirming a report from Reuters earlier this month." From Reuters.

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

"World’s Largest Offshore Wind Farm Begun by China"—reliability medium.
The China National Offshore Oil Company has begun construction of what will be the world's largest (1 GW) offshore wind farm in in Bohai Bay the arm of the Yellow Sea closest to Beijing. From CleanTechnica.

"SAP and Siemens Target Technologies Needed to Accelerate EVs"—reliability high.
SAP AG will work with Siemens IT Solutions and Services to develop technology to support widespread electric vehicle use, "including the infrastructure needed between charging stations and the back-end systems that will process various utility transactions. Siemens Energy will contribute an electric vehicle charging station, while SAP will supply software for the back-end system. More participants will soon be added, and demonstration and results will be shared with utilities in early 2011." From GreenBiz.

"Analysis: Investors look beyond solar modules"—reliability high.
About consolidation, integration and technology investment in the solar power industry. Participants are seeking technology partners and investments to drive down costs and lock in distribution. Quotes and strategies of various participants. See Reuters.

"Ford sets 2011 electric Focus 2011 production target at 10,000-20,000 units"—reliability medium.
While the Nissan Leaf and GM Chevy Volt are getting headlines, Ford is planning on similar production volumes in 2011 for its battery-electric Focus. From Autoblog Green.

"BMW Rolls Toward Zipcar’s Turf With Hourly Rentals"—reliability medium.
Josie Garthwaite posts about BMW's pilot car sharing program in Germany. Discusses broader participation by carmakers in car sharing. "Automakers have compelling reasons to consider shifting at least part of their business to provide mobility as more of a service, including rising vehicle ownership costs, a global population that’s increasingly urban, and declining vehicle ownership among younger drivers." See GigaOM.

"UC San Diego Survey Reveals Green Jobs Offer Great Salaries and Promotion Potential"—reliability high.
Another green jobs survey. Facts and figures on sustainability hiring and employment. Highlights of report. See CSRwire. Access the report here.

Government and Regulation

"Effort to Shift Biofuel Industry Incentives Gains Foothold in Washington"—reliability high.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack admits that the ethanol subsidy and support system will gradually have to be changed. He said the tariff on imported ethanol would "over time be phased out." He supports extending the ethanol tax subsidies, but says "We need to begin to think about reforms to the ethanol credit program to make it more efficient and effective at addressing the full range of challenges we face in meeting our goals for traditional and next-generation biofuels." More about potential programs to promote ethanol motor fuels, and the changes anticipated in federal policies. See New York Times from Greenwire. [See item on USDA economic analysis below.]

Science and Economics

"Vilsack points to report that shows ending corn ethanol tax credit will raise GDP"—reliability medium.
Sasha Lyutse posts about U.S. Agriculture Secretary's reference to recent USDA report that says that with the renewable fuels standard in place the ethanol tax credit could cut GDP by $8-12 billion over coming years. See NRDC blogs. PDF of USDA report "Effects of Increased Biofuels on the U.S. Economy in 2022" here. [Tide is turning against the $6 billion per year ethanol tax credit subsidy.]

Rare earths dustup, changing the Arctic, sustainability jobs up, PCs on 24/7, Bjørn's saga and more green business news

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 17:08:00 +0000

Top Stories

"Germany to Raise Alarm Over China Rare Earths Restrictions at G-20"—reliability high.
The German government is concerned about China's dominance of the supply of some rare earth minerals and plans to raise the issue at the G20 summit. "German companies say they are being pressed by Chinese officials to increase their investments in China if they want to be assured of access to rare earth minerals and two other obscure elements, tungsten and antimony. ... Three industry officials told The New York Times this week that China, which has been blocking all shipments of crucial minerals to Japan for the past month, has now quietly halted some shipments of those materials to the United States and Europe." More on mineral supply and trade issues. See The New York Times. [Just as rare earth minerals are becoming increasingly important to many high-tech industries, customers are realizing that they are highly dependent on China for supplies. Expect extraction to increase at other sources. Higher prices will help drive diversification of supplies. For a while China may be able to use rare earths and other raw materials sort of the way Saudi Arabia used oil in 1973.]

"Lake Mead sinks to a new historic low"—reliability high.
Lake Mead, the reservoir behind Hoover Dam, is at its lowest level since it was first filled in 1937. Drier conditions in the Colorado watershed over the past decade, and increasing water demand, have brought the lake close to the level where withdrawals for some farmers would start to be restricted. From the Arizona Republic. [NOAA expects the Southwest to be warmer and drier than normal through February 2011 due to La Niña conditions. Those same conditions will produce wind in the Pacific Northwest, boosting wind energy output.]

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

"Data shows growth in demand for global green expertise"—reliability high.
Another report on sustainability employment trends. "The latest careers and salary benchmark report produced by Environment Analyst and international recruitment specialist Allen & York concludes that sustainability skills are currently in strong demand in Latin America and the Asia Pacific region – and this is reflected in rising salary trends in these areas. ... In contrast to the UK and elsewhere in Europe - where sustainability/environmental teams are more likely to be contracting than growing in the wake of recession - the general trend globally is for an increase in the number of sustainability staff. ... The average salary for a global sustainability professional, according to the online survey, is €51,200 (US$65,400)". More highlights of report. See Environmental Analyst. Summary of report here (registration required).

"$1B Market for Wind Energy Storage By 2015"—reliability high.
NanoMarkets has published a new report estimating that the market for energy storage for wind power will hit $1.1 billion by 2015, one-third of which will be in China. It says the key technologies that will benefit include lead-carbon, sodium-sulfur and flow battery systems, pumped hydro, and compressed air storage. "The utility-scale energy storage market as a whole is expected to reach $35.3 billion by 2020, according to a separate analysis." From Sustainable Business.com.

"The New Silicon Valley: Why Entrepreneurs Are Flocking to Energy"—reliability medium.
Seth Kisch posts about the seismic shift in Silicon Valley toward clean energy startups and investments. He interviewed Jigar Shah, founder of SunEdison, who says, "I think the energy business is the largest wealth creation sector on the planet. If you are an entrepreneur and you are smart, this is where you should be. ... there is more money chasing renewable energy than there are projects." He sees a big gap still in financial products. Other predictions. See CleanTechies blog.

"PC Power Management Tools Reduce Energy Use by 45%"—reliability high.
A study shows that "more than 100 million corporate and government PCs are left 'powered on' 94 percent of the time", and that "a centralized PC power management solution reduced PC energy consumption by 45 percent." The study used software agents running on 11,000 PCs to monitor their activity. The research was done by Verdiem, a maker of PC power management software. Desktop PCs were found to be on more than 93% of the time overnight and on weekends. Even laptops were on half the time overnight and on weekends. The study calculates savings from automated, centralized power management for large organizations. See Environmental Leader. PDF of the report here.

"Walmart and General Mills Bullish on Sustainable Palm Oil"—reliability medium.
Mindy S. Lubber posts about recent Wal-Mart and General Mills commitments to sustainably produced palm oil. Palm oil is widely used in foods, health & beauty aids and other consumer products. "Companies that ignore supply chain risks such as deforestation put their company's reputation and profits at risk, and investors are starting to notice," she writes. More on palm oil supply chains and issues. From GreenBiz blog.

Science and Economics

"Return to previous Arctic conditions is unlikely"—reliability high.
An "Arctic Report Card: Update for 2010" from the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration says "the Arctic is continuing to move into a new and different climate state." The report summarizes changes in several areas, including loss of sea ice, which could be bringing colder weather to southern locations, and more rapid ice loss from Greenland than in previous decades. Changes in the Arctic are affecting Northern Hemisphere weather. See NOAA site.

And . . .

"Cool It--Movie Review"—reliability medium.
Review of new documentary about controversial "Danish political scientist Bjørn Lomborg and his views on how the world should, and should not, address climate change. ... For a mere $250 billion a year, he calculates, we could deal with climate change, and eliminate disease and poverty too." He says our current strategies for addressing climate change, which he agrees is a big problem, are "broken" and won't work. From Doc's Green Blog.

Water risks, green fund performance, CSO salaries, bioplastic packaging and more sustainability news for business

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 16:04:00 +0000

Top Stories

"Water Scarcity a Bond Risk, Study Warns"—reliability high.
A new report from Ceres, Water Asset Management and PricewaterhouseCoopers says that some municipal bonds carry significant unpriced water-related risk. The Times quotes the report announcement: "Municipal bonds are bought and sold on the basis of their credit ratings. Yet today these ratings take little account of utilities’ vulnerability to increased water competition, nor do they account for climate change, which is rendering utility assets obsolete." The story says: "Just as mortgage ratings reflected historical patterns but didn’t capture recent market changes, water bond ratings tend to reflect a past when water was plentiful, and not a future when supplies of fresh water may be less abundant, the study noted." More highlights and comments. See The New York Times. [Study isn't available yet on Ceres site, but should be soon.]

"U.N. urged to freeze climate geo-engineering projects"—reliability high.
"The United Nations should impose a moratorium on "geo-engineering" projects such as artificial volcanoes and vast cloud-seeding schemes to fight climate change, green groups say, fearing they could harm nature and mankind." Pat Mooney, from Canada-headquartered advocacy organization ETC Group, told Reuters: "It's absolutely inappropriate for a handful of governments in industrialized countries to make a decision to try geo-engineering without the approval of all the world's support. They shouldn't proceed with real-life, in-the-environment experimentation or the deployment of any geo-engineering until there is a consensus in the United Nations that this is okay." From Reuters. [But what about geoengineering projects already under way?]

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

"Odwalla, Replenish Offer Eco-Friendly Packaging"—reliability high.
"Odwalla plans to transition all of the brand’s single-serve natural health beverage bottles to PlantBottle packaging in March 2011. The high-density polyethylene (HDPE) is made of up to 100-percent plant-based materials and is 100 percent recyclable." The original PET PlantBottle was only 30% renewable material, though Coca-Cola said it planned to transition to 100%. In related news, "Replenish has unveiled its flagship eco-friendly household cleaning product in a reusable bottle with a replaceable concentrate pod. The reusable bottle is also made of 100-percent recyclable materials." From Environmental Leader. [If all it takes for a container to be "eco-friendly" is that it be made of recyclable materials, mighty few containers are excluded. Headline writer probably goes beyond what Replenish would claim.]

"Facebook, eBay share energy tips for data centers"—reliability high.
Facebook got a $294,000 rebate from its energy supplier to upgrade air flow management at it s Santa Clara, California, data center and saved $230,000 a year. More details of the technical changes it made. Also describes what eBay did at a server facility in Phoenix, Arizona, that reduced power consumption by 16%. More details. See Computerworld.

"Autodesk, Granta Design Deliver New SW For Sustainable Product Design"—reliability high.
Autodesk and Granta Design are working together to develop"Web-based software that will allow businesses to assess the environmental impact of their materials choices during the product design stage." Granta brings materials information and eco-design technology. According to the article, 80% of a product's environmental footprint is determined during the design phase. See Environmental Leader.

"Can sustainable investing beat the markets?"—reliability medium.
Marc Gunther interviews Cary Krosinsky of Trucost. Cary says funds investing in companies taking advantage of sustainability innovation, and firms actively managing sustainability risks, do outperform the market. "We found that for the 1, 3 and 5 years leading up to the end of 2007, when looking at SRI funds with this positive, opportunity-focused sustainable investing methodology, that they consistently outperformed their mainstream index equivalents. When updating this study for a UN Principles of Responsible Investment academic paper in 2009, this still held true, both before, through and after the recent financial crisis of 2008 into 2009." More comments and examples. From Marc Gunther blog.

"GreenBiz Salary Survey Takes a First-Ever Look Inside the World of CSOs"—reliability high.
The GreenBiz Salary Survey based on interviews with 500 sustainability professionals says that "Vice presidents of sustainability earn an average of $192,064, whereas directors of sustainability earn an average of $160,320 and sustainability managers earn an average of $103,197." Other highlights. See GreenBiz.

Government and Regulation

"India set to be first country to publish 'natural wealth' accounts"—reliability high.
India says it will be the first country to develop "a new set of accounts which track the nation's plants, animals, water and other 'natural wealth'". Work on agreeing common measures, such as the value of ecosystems and their "services" for humans – from relaxation to clean air and fertile soils – will be co-ordinated by the World Bank, which hopes it can sign up 10-12 nations and publish the results by 2015 at the latest. See The Guardian.

"Incentives, tax to drive Japan low-carbon push"—reliability high.
The Japanese government wants to pass a climate bill in the current Diet session to make the country's pledge "to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 if all major emitters adopt similar targets" into law. The package includes both incentives and taxes. Its fate in the upper house, where the DPJ government lacks a majority, is uncertain. Reuters story.

Big droughts coming? £1bn carbon tax imposed, geoengineering in NYC, solar cell costs, and other green news for business

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 16:33:00 +0000

Top Stories

"Bangladesh, India most at risk from climate change"—reliability high.
Risk consulting firm Maplecroft has produced a report ranking countries by their exposure to risks from global warming. Bangladesh and India were found the most vulnerable, and the Nordic countries least. "The ranking combined exposure to extremes such as droughts, cyclones and mudslides, sensitivity to damage tied to poverty, population, internal conflicts and dependence on agriculture, and the capacity of a country to adapt." Article quotes Matthew Bunce at Maplecroft: "Understanding climate vulnerability will help companies make their investments more resilient to unexpected change." From Reuters. Press release here.

"A Cheaper Route to Solar Cells"—reliability medium.
Matthew Wald tells the story of 1366 Technologies, a startup that received $4 million from the Department of Energy to develop its cheaper solar cell manufacturing technology and has now raised $20 million from customers and venture capitalists to commercialize. "The chairman of Hanwha, Ki-joon Hong, said in a statement that his company had 'every confidence that 1366’s innovations will fundamentally change solar manufacturing.' ... The president of 1366 Technologies, Frank van Mierlo, predicted that the development would make solar power cheaper than coal power" See New York Times Green blog. [This particular process improvement may or may not revolutionize solar cell manufacture. Many startups dreams don't come true. But it is an example of the flood of technological improvements coming out of entrepreneurial activities that will make renewable energy increasingly competitive with fossil energy. Today substantial subsidies or other government support is usually necessary to make investment in renewable generation preferable to coal. This is why China and India are still building coal plants. But the type of breakthrough described here suggests that it is only a matter of time before solar power is cheaper than coal even without subsidies or charging coal plants for their externalities.]

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

"Siemens secures major deal to work on Masdar's green city"—reliability high.
"Siemens has today signed a multimillion-euro contract with the high-profile Masdar project, which will see the engineering giant play a key role in the construction of Masdar City. The company said the agreement constituted its biggest clean tech research and development deal to date and would see the two organisations collaborate on the roll out of smart grid, advanced building technologies and carbon capture and storage" The deal could be worth around 100 million euros. "Siemens will provide automated building management technologies and help roll out smart grid systems". See BusinessGreen.

"UK moves ahead with eight new reactor sites"—reliability medium.
The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change has issued a Nuclear Policy Statement identifying eight sites suitable for new nuclear generation facilities, and has approved two reactor designs, the Westinghouse 1,100 MW AP 1000 PWR and the Areva 1,600 MW European Pressurized Water Reactor. From Nuke Notes. The policy document is here.

"Green movement prying loose details about cleansers"—reliability high.
"amid pressure from environmental, health and consumer groups, makers of household cleaning agents are beginning to reveal more about the chemicals in their products, in some cases hoping to head off requirements for greater disclosure." Comments from various stakeholders. See MSNBC.

"Coalition hits big business with stealth carbon tax"—reliability high.
The UK "government today quietly imposed a £1bn-a-year carbon tax on around 4,000 of the largest businesses and public sector bodies in the UK as part of its spending review. ... a statement by the Department of Energy and Climate Change ... detailed its spending review settlement and confirmed the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) would be reformed so that the Treasury keeps revenue raised through the carbon pricing scheme" rather than returning it to participants as formerly. This will bring in £1bn by 2014/15 to the exchequer. "Under the CRC, companies and public sector bodies that use over 6,000MWh of electricity a year have to participate in the scheme and purchase carbon allowances in line with the amount of energy they use each year." From BusinessGreen.

Government and Regulation

"It's all white for New York's energy-saving CoolRoofs initiative"—reliability high.
"New York's innovative plan to slash building energy use by painting the city's roofs white reached a major milestone late last week when the mayor, Michael Bloomberg, coated the one millionth square foot of rooftop with whitewash. ... 1,500 volunteers including employees from 17 companies had painted the roofs of 105 buildings." The program aims to save money on air conditioning and reduce associated carbon emissions. See BusinessGreen. [Besides saving energy, turning city roofs (and ideally city asphalt) white can actually make cities cooler by several degrees. Local geoengineering to reverse global warming?]

"Defence Review highlights rising energy and climate security risks"—reliability high.
Britain's Strategic Defence and Security Review discusses the issues of global warming and associated costs and conflict as they will affect the needs of the UK armed forces in the future. "The review states that the government will give energy a higher priority in UK foreign policy and reprioritise diplomatic relations with key energy suppliers in order to help secure long-term energy supplies. But it also says that the government's low-carbon and energy-efficiency agenda will become a key component of its security strategy as part of efforts to reduce reliance on energy imports." From BusinessGreen. PDF of review document here.

Science and Economics

"Climate change: Drought may threaten much of globe within decades"—reliability high.
Research using "an ensemble of 22 computer climate models and a comprehensive index of drought conditions, as well as analyses of previously published studies," and "the best current projections of greenhouse gas emissions" "finds most of the Western Hemisphere, along with large parts of Eurasia, Africa, and Australia, may be at threat of extreme drought this century." Study author Aiguo Dai says: "We are facing the possibility of widespread drought in the coming decades, but this has yet to be fully recognized by both the public and the climate change research community. If the projections in this study come even close to being realized, the consequences for society worldwide will be enormous." From UCAR. Access article here. [The abstract says: "Climate models project increased aridity in the 21st century over most of Africa, southern Europe and the Middle East, most of the Americas, Australia, and Southeast Asia. Regions like the United States have avoided prolonged droughts during the last 50 years due to natural climate variations, but might see persistent droughts in the next 20–50 years." This is scary, especially for Africa where droughts could severely affect economic growth and even lead to famines.]

PepsiCo to cut farming footprint, water issues in Chile and England, charging drivers for pollution, carbon competitiveness and other green news

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 17:23:00 +0000

Top Stories

"In Kansas, Climate Skeptics Embrace Cleaner Energy"—reliability high.
In Salina, Kansas, activists work toward energy efficiency without trying to convince people about global warming. "'Don’t mention global warming,' warned Nancy Jackson, chairwoman of the Climate and Energy Project, a small nonprofit group that aims to get people to rein in the fossil fuel emissions that contribute to climate change. 'And don’t mention Al Gore. People out here just hate him.'" The local Project "set out to extricate energy issues from the charged arena of climate politics. ... the project ran an experiment to see if by focusing on thrift, patriotism, spiritual conviction and economic prosperity, it could rally residents of six Kansas towns to take meaningful steps to conserve energy and consider renewable fuels." See New York Times story. The project's site is here. [While the science vs. skeptic arguments get the ink, some people in Kansas know how to just get the job done. Convincing James Inhofe is not on the critical path.]

"New Tactic in California for Paying Pollution Bill"—reliability high.
"Faced with a fine of at least $29 million for exceeding federal ozone limits, the San Joaquin Valley’s air quality regulators are proposing an annual surcharge of $10 to $24 on registration fees for the region’s 2.7 million cars and trucks beginning next year. ... regulators are exploring what they can do to force consumers to face up to the pollution they cause. ... it is extremely unusual, if not unprecedented, for such an agency to make a point of penalizing drivers for the smog they create." From The New York Times. [Externalities? Deposit $20 please. If your actions cost other people money, sooner or later you might expect to receive a bill. (The board still has to pass the rule, so it might not happen.)]

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

"PepsiCo aims to crunch carbon out of apples and potatoes"—reliability high.
PepsiCo plans to work with its agricultural suppliers to reduce its carbon and water footprints. "Under the initiative, farmers growing potatoes, apples and oats for PepsiCo UK and Ireland have started testing internet crop management tools, low carbon fertilisers and greener machinery in a bid to halve carbon emissions and water usage across PepsiCo core crops within just five years." See BusinessGreen. PepsiCo press release on the global plan here. PepsiCo's UK/Ireland "Sustainable Farming Report" here.

"Wind Power Soars by 16GW in first half of 2010"—reliability high.
The WWEA reports that global wind turbine capacity hit 175 GW in mid-2010 and is heading for 200 GW by the end of the year. Total capacity added in 2010 will be between 35 and 40 GW, they estimate, in line with the 38 GW added in 2009. The association called for more government support for the industry. See Renewable Energy World. WWEA press release with table here.

Science and Economics

"Low Carbon Competitiveness Report"—reliability high.
Australian think tank The Climate Institute and European think tank E3G have published a study on "G20 low carbon competitiveness". It finds "Only two G20 countries – Mexico and Argentina – are currently improving carbon competitiveness fast enough to be on track to a 450 ppm outcome. ... In a world that limits carbon, the countries that are currently best placed to offer economic prosperity to their citizens are France, Japan, UK, South Korea and Germany. ... China has shown a strong improvement in its carbon productivity over the last fifteen years and is well placed to play a leading role globally in the future, although performance has recently lagged. Australia needs to more than double its rate of carbon productivity improvement" if it is to meet its share of the 450ppm target. See The Climate Institute site. PDF of report here. [An interesting economic analysis that reveals that China is among the leaders in making progress toward an economy in line with the 450ppm target. The USA is doing better than some, in spite of confusion in Washington.]

"Britain leads major economies on carbon pricing: survey"—reliability high.
Another take on the Economics for the Climate Institute study notes that "Britain ranked first with an implied carbon price per tonne of $29.30. ... China was second with an implied carbon price of $14.20 per tonne, followed by the United States at $5.10, Japan $3.10, Australia $1.70 and South Korea $0.70." Reuters story quotes Erwin Jackson, deputy chief executive of the Climate Institute: "Investment in clean energy in the United Kingdom reached around $11 billion in 2009. In 2009, clean energy investment in China reached $35 billion compared with $18 billion in the United States and less than $1 billion in Australia." See Reuters. Link to report in item above.

"UK crops to face water supply crunch, may relocate"—reliability high.
"Agricultural crops in Britain may need to be moved to new areas as the threat of both drought and flooding rises in the coming decades, a report commissioned by the Royal Agricultural Society of England said on Monday. ... River flow was seen reducing by about 20 percent by 2020 and 40 percent by the 2050s." From Reuters. PDF of Society's press release here.

"Chile Measures Its 'Water Footprints'"—reliability high.
Chile is starting to develop a database of the water footprints of agricultural and mining companies to evaluate their impacts on local watersheds. "In a pilot effort, the [Chile Foundation, formed by ITT, the government, and copper miner Minera Escondida (owned by BHP Billiton)] is measuring the water footprint of products and companies, mostly in the northern region of Atacama, which is a semi- desert area, with scarce water resources, several major mining projects, and for-export agriculture. ... With a portion of that data, the institution is calculating the situation of the entire Huasco watershed. To create a complete map, it is preparing to measure -- for the first time in the world -- the full impact of mining activity on water resources." More about footprinting, water markets and water policy in Chile. From IPS.

Green trade spat, IBM greenest? PV companies race to add capacity and other sustainability news for business

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:21:00 +0000

Top Stories

"U.S. to probe if China clean energy actions violate WTO rules"—reliability high.
"U.S. trade officials said on Friday they will investigate whether Chinese support for its clean energy sector is a violation of World Trade Organization rules, as requested by the United Steelworkers Union." See Reuters. China replied saying the United States was also promoting its energy sector and more than 2,300 projects, including those related to clean energy, were eligible for government subsidies. "As such, the U.S. has no reason to blame other countries' efforts to improve the well-being of mankind." Another Reuters story. [Of course the investigation will take until after the election, and who knows what will happen then.]

"Newsweek's 2010 Green Rankings"—reliability high.
Newsweek has published a "data-driven assessment" of how the largest companies in the U.S. and in the world rank in terms of sustainability. Among the top scorers: HP, Johnson & Johnson, IBM, Sony, GlaxoSmithKline. At the bottom: Nestle, China Petroleum & Chemical, ArcelorMittal and Rio Tinto. Top of the U.S. list: Dell; bottom, Peabody Energy. From Newsweek. The method of calculating the rankings is described here. [Does anyone else feel that rankings of this sort are becoming increasingly irrelevant?]

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

Toyota "to Use Bio-PET 'Ecological Plastic' in Vehicle Interiors"—reliability high.
Toyota says it will be using "bio-PET2", a plastic partly derived from sugar cane, "to make vehicle liner material and other interior surfaces ... . ... Starting with the luggage-compartment liner in the Lexus 'CT200h' due at the beginning of 2011, TMC plans to increase both the number of vehicle series featuring the new material, as well as the amount of vehicle-interior area covered by it, and intends to introduce a vehicle model in 2011 in which Ecological Plastic will cover 80 percent of the vehicle interior." "Bio-PET" is made by replacing the (some of?) the 30% of PET that is monoethylene glycol "with a biological raw material derived from sugar cane", but the other 70% is still terephthalic acid. More on Toyota and bioplastics. See Toyota site.

"IKEA, McDonald's Add Solar Panels in CA"—reliability high.
IKEA will add rooftop solar panels on most of its facilities in California, with total capacity of 4.5 megawatts. More on solar at IKEA. The McDonald's installation is on a rebuilt restaurant in Riverside, which will be its "fourth in the U.S. to seek LEED Gold certification." See Environmental Leader.

"China's annual output of electric vehicles to hit 1 mln by 2020"—reliability high.
China's Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang says that new energy vehicles are key to the development of China's auto industry and that the country's annual production capacity of electric motor vehicles will reach 1 million units by 2020. "A total of 8.5 billion yuan (1.28 billion U.S. dollars) from the capital market has entered the electric car industry since the debut of the project in 2009, he said." From People's Daily Online. [China made about 13.8 million motor vehicles in 2009. Maybe it will make 20 million in 2020. So EVs would be only 5% by this projection.]

"Yingli Green to add 700 MW manufacturing capacity"—reliability high.
Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. will build additional monocrystalline and multicrystalline silicon PV capacity in China. This follows First Solar's announcement of two new plants, one in Vietnam and one in the U.S., and China's Suntech opening of its first manufacturing plant in the U.S. Booming demand for solar panels is causing current capacity to sell out. Reuters story. (Story on First Solar plans here from Bloomberg Businessweek.)

"15 Algae Fuel Startups, 2010 Edition"—reliability medium.
Katie Fehrenbacher posts a list of 15 leading algae startups, (mostly for biofuel) including several that weren't in earth2tech's 2008 list. And some from 2008 aren't around any more. See The GigaOM Network.

"Green movement prying loose details about cleansers"—reliability high.
"amid pressure from environmental, health and consumer groups, makers of household cleaning agents are beginning to reveal more about the chemicals in their products, in some cases hoping to head off requirements for greater disclosure." Comments from various stakeholders. See MSNBC.

Government and Regulation

"EU ministers tell hauliers: polluters should pay"—reliability high.
The EU Council of Ministers has said EU member states can charge road tolls related to the environmental damage trucks cause. States "will be able to charge an extra 3-4 cents to reflect the cost to public health caused by air and noise pollution. Road authorities will also be able to vary tolls during the day in an attempt to control congestion, for instance by charging more during rush hours." See Reuters article.

"China aims to cut energy intensity 17.3 percent by 2015"—reliability high.
As part of an effort to cut energy intensity by 31 percent by 2020 China will reduce energy used for each dollar of economic output by 17.3% by 2015, compared with 2010 levels, according to a statement by Huang Li of the National Energy Administration. He said the plan calls for further reductions of 16.6% during 2016-2020. From Reuters. [How much of this improvement will come from changing the energy mix, how much from energy conservation, and how much from switching to higher-value-added products?]

Wal-Mart and agriculture, Korea and China investments, BP charges ahead, SME green drivers, other news and Geek Corner

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 17:03:00 +0000

Top Stories

"Global Agriculture Gets the Walmart Sustainability Treatment"—reliability high.
"In a spate of new goals announced this morning at a Global Sustainability Milestone Meeting in Bentonville, Walmart aims to overhaul the global food supply chain." It will increase local sourcing of food, cut food waste by 15% in its stores in emerging markets and by 10% in the developed economies, and apply the transparency tools of its Sustainability Index to growers. CEO Mike Duke said they will be "asking our top growers for the first time to provide detailed information on their agricultural practices." More details on the announcement. At Reuters from Greener World Media.

"South Korea kicks off $36bn low-carbon investment drive"—reliability high.
South Korea will "spend $36bn (£22.6m [sic]) over the next five years to develop renewable energy sources and accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy. The government forecasts that the country's exports of clean energy will reach more than $30bn in 2015 if the plan is implemented successfully, creating 110,000 jobs." President Lee Myung-bak was quoted in Korea Times: "Given the sharp growth in the world's market, we will be able to nurture solar energy and wind power industries as the second semiconductor and the second shipbuilding industries and make them the pillar of the future national economy." The Korean government sees the global renewable energy market growing from $162bn last year to around $400bn by 2015. From BusinessGreen. [Who wouldn't be interested in part of a $400 billion market?]

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

"BP, Arco, Best Buy to install fast chargers for electric cars"—reliability medium.
About ECOtality's plan to install 400 Blink DC Fast Chargers. 350 are being funded by a $114.8-million federal grant. Most of these will be along I-5 between Vancouver and Tijuana. Best Buy has also ordered 12 for its stores, and BP/Arco wants another 45 to try out at its stations. The Blink can charge an EV in "15 to 28 minutes". See Los Angeles Times blog.

"China 4th in world energy investment hot spots: report"—reliability high.
A report from EC Harris on National Policies and Incentives for Investors in the Energy Sector ranked the U.S. first, then France, Germany and China in terms of energy policies relating to fossil fuels and renewable energy sectors. "The rankings were based on key factors including government policies and incentives, business environment, forecast of economic growth and electricity consumption. China is the world's top investor in renewable energy projects, having invested around $120 billion to $160 billion between 2007 and 2010, the report said." See Reuters story.

"52 Percent of Americans Flunk Climate 101"—reliability medium.
About the results of a survey by Yale researchers that found much confusion among the public about climate change. Mentions some of the misconceptions, erroneous and self-contradictory opinions people have, along with some of the correct knowledge that's out there. "Researchers said that the results 'reflect the unorganized and sometimes contradictory fragments of information Americans have absorbed from the mass media and other sources.'" "45 percent said they were not very worried or not at all worried about" climate change. See New York Times green blog. Access the study here. ["Overall, we found that 63 percent of Americans believe that global warming is happening, but many do not understand why." Who's surprised that most Americans don't know the details about a complicated topic that most of them don't care much about anyway?]

"German power bills to rise on surge in renewables"—reliability high.
The levy that German electricity users pay to subsidize feed-in tariffs for renewables like solar will rise from 2.05 cents per kW-h today to 3.53 cents in 2011. From Reuters. ["The average power price in Germany is about 20 cents per kw/h." So the cost of electricity will rise 1.48 cents per kW-h or 7%. Installation of PV panels has surged this year since Germany announced that the subsidies would soon be reduced to try to cool the overheated solar market. This 3.53 cents per kW-h fee represents a transfer of billions of euros from electricity ratepayers to those who installed renewable energy systems. Those billions have driven Germany above 15% of electricity from green sources.]

"Staples Pushes Key Suppliers for Sustainable Products, Packaging"—reliability high.
Office supply chain Staples will challenge key suppliers to improve sustainability in product manufacturing, packaging and distribution. EVP of merchandising and marketing said: "We’re letting our key suppliers know that sustainable business practices will join price, quality and service as a major factor in driving purchasing decisions. Starting now and over time, we’ll work with all of our suppliers in a Race to The Top to improve product sustainability and quality and reduce cost." The focus over the next six months will be on packaging reduction and sustainability. See Environmental Leader.

"5 Reasons Why Small Businesses Should Care about Sustainability"—reliability medium.
Kathy Miller Perkins posts five drivers for small-business sustainability action. "even though the larger companies are in the sustainability limelight currently, small businesses have much to gain by developing their own sustainability strategies. And let's face it: No company will be able to hide from the issues for long." See GreenBiz blog. [Not news, but a useful reminder for SMEs.]

Government and Regulation

"Agencies Urged to Plan for 'Inevitable Effects' of Warming in U.S. Report"—reliability high.
The Obama administration's interagency task force on adapting to climate change, which includes NOAA, the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the White House Council on Environmental Quality, says government agencies should prepare for the "inevitable effects" of global warming and consider it in all planning. It also recommends that the U.S. develop a strategy to support adaptation in poorer nations. See Bloomberg story. PDF of the report here. [Thus the U.S. joins Britain in advising government and companies that warming impacts are inevitable and they better be planning for them (See this earlier post at sister blog).]

Geek Corner

"Video: ABC News gets taken for a spin in Google's self-driving Toyota Prius"—reliability medium.
See it in action. "Becky Worley, the news correspondent in the video clip, even gets up the guts to give the Google car a real-life brake test. She steps in front of it as it's motoring down the road. What happens? The car "sees" her and slams on the binders." From Autoblog Green. [Latest of Google's geek green dreams. See full list here. You know commuting geeks begrudge those hours when they could be surfing, playing or coding.]