The current economic crisis has had the predictable effect of turning formerly free-wheeling consumers into penny pinchers nearly overnight. A slowdown in spending isn't the best thing for the economy, but signs of a new frugalness are still showing up everywhere—especially in how people shop for groceries. While the reduced trips to the grocery store and eating out less often help diminish carbon impact from transportation, running a large freezer 24/7, complete with ozone depleting refrigerant, might largely negate these savings.

Fortunately, there are green options that can restore the damage to your carbon footprint, and your wallet. GE is rolling out a new line of fridges that conserve power during peak demand, and process high energy tasks, such as automatic defrosting, when electricity supply is highest—handy, considering that your local solar plant is offline roughly half the time. GE is also hoping to replace ozone chomping hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants with atmoshperically-safe-but-highly flammable isobutane as soon as it gets EPA approval.

Another great project for the home could be converting an old chest-syle freezer into a fridge, increasing your food storage energy efficiency ten- to twenty-fold.

There's little question that global warming will severely impact the balance species populations currently dwelling on planet Earth. Already, the polar bear has made the endangered species list due to the ever-increasing distances it must swim between ice sheet habitats. While such a threat seems distant to humans, it may be that global warming has similar impacts in store for all k-selected species.

A joint German-Canadian study of changing populations in aquatic creatures during the warming of the 1990s recently confirmed that animals with shorter life spans, large gene pools, and ability to tolerate temperature extremes will face fewer challenges from the warming climate than longer-lived, slower-developing species. While the human gene pool is relatively secure, and technological developments will likely protect populations from the brunt of direct eco-system changes, this is still very bad news for humanity.

Not only does this effect have the potential to decimate populations of food supply animals such as fish, cattle, and pigs, but it also gives tremendous advantage to traditional nuisance species such as insects and vermin. Mosquitos, which have proven the deadliest disease vector in recorded history, and plague-infected fleas and the mice that carry them could present an issue of pandemic proportions in the coming decades.

First Solar ended the third quarter with revenues at $348.7 million, up from $267 million in the second quarter. This strong showing puts First Solar in a better position than many other solar companies: In general, solar stocks have been dropping since this summer.

"Earnings were very strong," Pacific Crest analyst Mark Bachman told Investors.com. "I think First Solar is going to be able to weather whatever comes their way better than their peers."

First Solar also announced yesterday that the company will move into the residential market. It has focused primarily on large-scale projects in Europe, along with a joint project with Southern California Edison. To work in the U.S. residential solar market, First Solar is teaming with SolarCity, which is already well-established on the West Coast, with about 2,000 solar power systems leased to users in California and Oregon. It has been planning a number of East Coast projects for next year.

With all the good news about First Solar, its share prices went up more than 15 percent over the course of the day yesterday.

Image — First Solar

This week, California-based Viaspace bought the Chinese company, Inter-Pacific Arts. The acquisition is valuable because it's licensed to grow China Giant King Grass, a high-yield plant that has potential for cellulosic ethanol production.

"Viaspace made this acquisition to enter the biofuels industry as a major expansion of its focus in the $54 billion clean-energy market sector," said Dr. Carl Kukkonen, the CEO of Viaspace.

The company's main operations have focused on manufacturing and distributing commercial products, but Viaspace has already reported that it will use Inter-Pacific Arts' profits in other ventures to develop its biofuel operation, according to Cleantech Group.

While grass has not been at the forefront of the crops believed to have high potential for biofuels, the relative ease of growing grass may make it a practical crop in some parts of the world. China Giant King Grass is a hybrid, suitable for both biofuels and livestock feed.

Viaspace is paying $16 million — $4.8 million in cash, with the remainder in stock — for the transaction, which is expected to go through within 240 days.

Image — Viaspace

By Ben Block

 

With less than a week until the United States elects its next president, and at a time when Americans are losing their jobs in record numbers, the two leading candidates are suggesting that the financial crisis can be resolved by addressing the country's worsening energy crisis.

Combining job creation and energy policy into one economic stimulus plan is gaining steam among political and environmental leaders worldwide. Yet despite similar rationales, the plans presented by the Democratic and Republican candidates offer distinct options. And not all of the proposed jobs would truly be "green."

Democratic Senator Barack Obama touts "green jobs," the catch-phrase for high-quality, environmentally sustainable employment, as a key pillar of his campaign platform. These jobs range from retrofitting buildings with energy-efficient technologies, to manufacturing solar panels, to maintaining wind turbines.

"There is no better potential driver that pervades all aspects of our economy than a new energy economy," Obama said in a recent Time magazine interview. "That's going to be my No. 1 priority."

Obama's plan [PDF] would inject $150 billion of government aid into programs that support renewable energy and energy efficiency over the next decade. He estimates the program would create 5 million jobs "that pay well and can't be outsourced, jobs building solar panels and wind turbines and fuel-efficient cars," according to a statement he made at a "jobs summit" last week. Obama also advocates a national "renewable energy portfolio standard" that would mandate that utilities supply 25 percent of their electricity from clean energy sources.

Yet Obama comes from Illinois, a state with heavy reliance on nuclear and coal energy. Before running for president, he sponsored legislation that would subsidize coal-fired power plants, but Obama has since stated that he supports coal only if the greenhouse gas emissions from power plants are stored underground-an unproven technology known as carbon, capture, and sequestration (CCS). Obama says he is "not a nuclear proponent," but nuclear may be included in his energy portfolio if a solution to store nuclear waste is discovered.

Republican Senator John McCain supports scaling up renewable energy and energy efficiency as well, although his plan excludes details about how he would expand these green jobs. He has been much more enthusiastic about the additional 45 nuclear plants he advocates by 2030, which he estimates would create 700,000 new jobs.

"If we really want to enable technologies of tomorrow, like plug-in electric cars, we need electricity to plug into," McCain said earlier this year in reference to nuclear power. More recently, however, the candidate has downplayed the environmental concerns related to nuclear power, such as waste disposal and uranium mining.

McCain's "Jobs for America" plan [PDF] also highlights the potential employment opportunities in extractive industries. He calls for expanded oil and natural gas drilling in the United States, and he suggests that expanded research into CCS would lead to employment. The coal, oil, and natural gas industries, however, have steadily required fewer workers in recent years as mining equipment replaces jobs.

The Green Jobs for America Campaign, a coalition of environmental and labor groups, has requested that the U.S. government set aside $100 billion for tax credits, loan guarantees, and public investment in green job-related technology. The campaign estimates that 2 million jobs would be created over two years.

Leaders from around the globe are also calling for increased support for green jobs as financial instability spreads worldwide.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) last week requested international support of a "Global Green New Deal," a proposal similar to the Depression-era policies of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. If green jobs take off worldwide, the concurrent crises of global energy shortages and climate change could also be alleviated, UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said.

"The financial, fuel, and food crises of 2008 are in part a result of speculation and a failure of governments to intelligently manage and focus markets," Steiner said in a prepared statement. "The flip side of the coin is the enormous economic, social, and environmental benefits likely to arise from...new green jobs in clean tech and clean energy businesses up to ones in sustainable agriculture."

The European Commission, Germany, and Norway are supporting the initiative by providing nearly $4 million to research how governments can integrate green jobs into their economies.

Renewable energy and supplier industries have created an estimated 2.3 million jobs worldwide, and more are expected as wind, solar, and geothermal power sources expand across the globe, according to Worldwatch Institute analyses.

Energy efficiency has long been touted as a policy option for economic growth. In California, efficiency mandates implemented in the 1970s saved residents $56 billion between 1972 and 2006, while creating about 1.5 million jobs, according to a recently released University of California at Berkeley study.

The UNEP plan is the first that mentions organic farming as an answer to the global market meltdown. Organic agriculture is often considered a niche market with limited large-scale economic advantages.

Locally grown, organic produce, however, requires labor-intensive employment in the countries where the food products are demanded. The higher price of organic foods has led to greater profits, due largely to the avoidance of expensive fertilizers, UNEP said in a report co-authored by the Worldwatch Institute and released alongside UNEP's Green New Deal plan. Avoiding fertilizers also reduces energy use.

But in some regions, especially where farmers are competing with cheap imports and large-scale farms, the greater demands of organic compliance may force farmers to "operate on razor-thin margins," the report said. Also, employees on organic farms are often paid the same as they would if they worked on a conventional farm, according to a 2005 survey of organic farmers in California.

For more information about green job opportunities that could support a "Global Green New Deal," read Green Jobs: Working for People and the Environment, written by Worldwatch researcher Michael Renner in collaboration with researchers at Cornell University's Global Labor Institute. See also our special online series, "The Greening of Labor."

Reprinted with permission from Worldwatch Institute.

One of the most frequently lampooned images of American excess is parents splurging on and accessorizing their children. Clothing, especially, has drawn the ire of critics -- a great deal of it is produced overseas, where very few factories can operate under environmental standards and labor conditions comparable to those in the United States.

So where are eco-conscious parents to look when it's time clothe their toddlers? No further than upstart Montana-based clothier Swell Foop. The company has delivered American-made, organic clothing to all but four states.

Designs feature indigenous and endangered Western species, from the American bison to the grey wolf. The company guarantees that no pesticides or other farming chemicals entered the ecosystem in order to make your child's T-shirt. And Swell Foop donates 10 percent of its proceeds to environmentally oriented non-profits each year, including the Earth Island Institute and American Wildlands.

During his 30 minute televised address to the nation yesterday evening, Barack Obama reiterated his commitment to pursue "clean coal" technology. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he means to require carbon sequestration as part of the process in order to avoid the myriad of problems associated with greenhouse gases and climate change.

We can't forget the the other environmental impact of mining, including coal, minerals and metals -- the excavation process. A looming environmental disaster in Peru serves as an important reminder of the dangers inherent to all mining operations.

A Canadian mining company, Gold Hawk Resources, stopped production at its Coricancha facility in May, as geological evidence suggested several of mine's tailing ponds were unstable, and could collapse or overflow into the nearby watershed. Tailing ponds, which are used to allow metals and other waste materials extracted from a mine to settle out of the water used in mining. Due to the combination and concentration of chemicals in them, they're often some of the most toxic bodies of water in the world.

Farmers near the Peruvian mine site have already been ordered to stop irrigation efforts, but many officials fear the coming rainy season will flood the ponds, resulting in environmental catastrophe.

Point Park University's state-of-the-art dance complex is the first building of its kind to receive  LEED Gold certification. The building's construction began in the fall of 2006 and students began to use the facilities in the fall of 2007 — at which point the building had received its Silver LEED certification. That wasn't enough for Point Park University, however, and the school's administration began to consider the steps necessary to move into LEED Gold territory, such as purchasing renewable energy to cover a portion of the already-efficient building's energy needs.

The complex is 44,000 square feet and contains five rehearsal studios and performance spaces. In addition to meeting the certification requirements for LEED certification, Point Park's facility also meets the benchmarks used to endorse the leading dance facilities in the country.

The Design Alliance (a Pittsburgh architectural firm) took the lead on designing Point Park University's newest facility. Its features include recycled building materials, water-efficient fixtures, an Energy-Star rated roof and sustainable wood floors.

The new facility represents a trend towards greener university campuses, as well as an effort to integrate energy efficiency and the other qualities that mark a green building with the qualities necessary for very specialized architecture.

Image — Park Point University

Ocean power is hardly making a ripple in the energy sector today but could quickly become a half a billion dollar annual industry, according to a new report from Greentech Media and the Prometheus Institute for Sustainable Development. Forecasting the Future of Ocean Power says investments of more than $2 billion in production and installation of commercial-grade projects — as well as a similar amount for research and development are needed to realize the potential of ocean power.

Ocean power is a term used to describe several different power generation techniques including tidal turbines and other methods dependent on waves, tides and current. Many of the techniques for harvesting ocean power are based on principals that have been used for centuries, so no technological breakthroughs are required, according to the report.

However, today few renewable power companies use any sort of ocean power: not even 10 megawatts capacity is currently operational. Despite the slow adoption of this technology, however, "Forecasting the Future of Ocean Power" suggests that the industry could install 1 gigawatt worth of capacity within six years.

These predictions are certainly possible, but to make accelerated growth a reality for ocean power, certain actions must be taken: these projects will need the same sort of tax incentives as solar power to grow at a significant pace. Furthermore, there's simply not any sort of public awareness for ocean power — at least not on the level that solar power enjoys. It would not be unreasonable to suggest that ocean power needs an investment on the order of what this report suggests for research and development, but budgeted for public education, lobbying and the like.

Photo — CTD 2005

Computer maker Dell has announced that through increased operations efficiency, investment in renewable energy, and carbon offset purchases, the computer retailer has met the goal of offsetting its environmental impacts and reached a carbon neutral status, five months earlier than scheduled. Dell has offset their entire amount of energy consumption by purchasing renewable energy supplies.

Dell has invested in over 550 million kilowatt hours in wind, solar and gas renewable power supplies.

As part of the company's "walk-the-walk" effort, Dell is requiring suppliers to audit and report their carbon dioxide emissions as part of the Carbon Disclosure Project’s (CDP) Supply Chain Leadership Collaboration. CDP is a non-profit organization that brings together shareholders and corporations on climate change issues and solutions.

Dell is part of EPA’s Fortune 500 Challenge, in which companies voluntarily increase their energy efficiency and use of renewable energy.

Dell moved up to number three on the list, ahead of competitors HP, Apple and IBM, but behind Intel and PepsiCo.

Dell offers consumers an opportunity to cut their carbon footprint by paying for the planting of a tree during the PC purchase process.

Dell’s other environmental efforts include waste reduction by eliminating-when feasible- harmful parts of products and by using products that can be easily recycled. Dell also uses and continues to increase their use of recycled products for office supplies and computer equipment.

Dell also announced a new line of environmentally safe desktops. The OptiPlex line includes a PC that requires 43 percent less energy than previous PCs, is made of 10 percent post consumer waste plastic, and comes in a package made from nearly 100 percent  recycled materials. Dell also offers consumers with easy disposal opportunities for old and unwanted Dell computers to prevent computers and harmful toxic parts from ending up in landfills.

The J. C. Penney Company announced late last week that it's breaking ground on its first green building in Farifview, Texas. The design will use recycled and local materials and be energy efficient.

Penney’s hopes to provide a model for large retailers and the building industry for huge green stores, contributing some best practices to the U.S. Green Building Council, administrators of LEED.

The store, to open in August 2009, is expected to use 41 percent less energy than if it were built with standard construction. Its energy-efficient lighting and air-conditioning systems will both be monitored to reach peak efficiency by an energy-management system. The landscaping design will help reduce frequent watering by an estimated 50 percent and should deter polluted runoff from entering local creeks. Plumbing will minimize water use by 20 percent.

The building will be constructed from such materials as recycled cotton and denim, along with wood and concrete that originates within 500 miles of Fairview. The idea is to create jobs and reduce future greenhouse gases and air-pollutants.

Penney’s attitude is “every day matters.” It certainly will for environmental health.

 

Two Connecticut communities, Putnam and Pomfret, are uniting to bring cleaner, greener energy to their towns. Each has pledged to make renewable energy account for 20 percent of their municipal electricity needs within the next two years.

While other communities are pursuing green energy goals, reaching 20 percent in two years is an aggressive schedule. To help with costs and support, the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund is sponsoring the project while setting a few goals of their own. The fund requires that 100 homes in each town be powered by renewable energy supplies. By meeting this requirement, Putnam and Pomfret are eligible for free solar photovoltaic systems.

Putnam has set up a task force to research methods of achieving the 20 percent goal. In Pomfret, the board of selectmen, a standing community town board, approved the efforts to reduce fossil energy consumption. In fact, Pomfret estimates that solar panel installation alone will provide 40 to 50 percent of the town’s total energy needs, easily surpassing the established 20 percent goal.

The fund will continue supporting both towns, as well as communities across the state, providing financial assistance and educating homeowners and businesses about options for renewable energy power.

If a couple of small New England towns can do it, why can’t all of America? One town at a time.

 

Nehalem, Intel's newest processor chip,  is designed with the environment in mind. The company says the chip has has buku processing power and it's super energy efficient. Nehalem is the newest microprocessor chip, following the Intel Core II and IV series.

“Going into this project … we insisted on energy efficiency … and power,” said Steve Gunther, an engineer for Intel. The goal was to maximize every bit of energy efficiency, but offer more power than previous chips. Because adding more power generally requires draining more energy, the challenge wasn’t an easy one.

Nehalem engineers tweaked resources like the chip’s clock cycle and operating voltage, which have typically gobbled energy. A big part of increasing energy efficiency was cutting the energy that powers an idle machine. In other processors, when instructions are not being given to the chip to work, the chip is idle (a lot of the chip’s life cycle). But to keep that chip “active” enough for moments when instructions are sent, a typical idle chip stays fully powered. Eliminating the power associated with this step added a major bump in energy efficiency. The chip can run on Intel’s Turbo Boost technology, which scales the amount of performance the chip needs to run over multiple energy-efficient threads. So, performance can be scaled to peak performance or to run on less without the consumer noticing a stall. And the consumer saves energy.

Intel estimated that switching to Nehalem processors would save $2 billion in energy costs and 20 terawatt hours of electricity (based on calculations of the processors shipped in recent years that use $0.10 per kilowatt hour). The company suggests tnat approximately 2 percent of global carbon-dioxide emissions are associated with computers. So it has other environmental initiatives, include switching product materials to halogen-free substitutes over the next year and eliminating lead.

Intel’s John Skinner says the company's ongoing effort is to keep toxins from entering landfills by not constructing parts from them in the first place. “We removed lead so when semi conductors are recycled … the toxic materials are out early on,” he said.

Intel is also collaborating with their suppliers to remove toxic materials and components through the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT), where purchasers can evaluate the environmental safety of computer parts prior to purchase.

“[Intel is] working with customers to take out hazards from other parts and more easily repurpose or recycle those parts. We are also working with Best Buy and other retailers to take back computers for recycling,” said Skinner. Intel has also reduced its packaging materials and has heavily invested in renewable energy, more than $100 million in solar power alone.

More than 2,000 teens have signed on with an organization called Inconvenient Youth, proclaiming that  "global warming is here, it’s real." The founder of Inconvenient Youth, Mary Doerr, believes the young people “can solve it.”

After seeing An Inconvenient Truth presented by Al Gore at Stanford University, and learning about environmental issues in school, Doerr started the organization. It aims to make a difference in the national climate-change discussion. 

Members of IY want to tell their friends, neighborhoods, generation and anyone who will listen that the time to take action is right now. They speak to others at schools, turn off the lights in their homes and get in front of local elected officials. Doerr and others measure their success with each “piece of legislation that gets passed.”

IY has enlisted Disney to tout its cause. Thousands of America’s youth will hear Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth presentation across the country and Disney concerts will showcase ways to reduce a carbon footprint. IY provides small- and large-scale tools for energy efficiency: Unplug electronics when not in use or lead a school energy audit. Doerr hopes the next phase of IY will place more students into the offices of elected officials to push for enacting real change. IY's agenda includes ways to  communicate about climate change and tips on handling government officials in a professional and appropriate manner.

The blogs and posts of thousands of young people discuss environmental protection and conservation. 

“it's been amazing to see such a strong reception to our efforts so far, and we've only just begun," says Doerr. The organization launched just last summer, and has motivated hundreds of teens and adults to make changes.

Youth? Yes. Inconvenient? Nope, necessary.
 

 

The bad press about corn ethanol over the last year may have made it seem dead in the water. But don't underestimate the power of the pander. Barack Obama, whose home state of Illinois is a major corn producer, has staunchly supported ethanol subsidies. McCain, on the other hand, has changed his tune on the issue numerous times.

Obama said in April of this year, "Look, I've been a strong ethanol supporter because Illinois ... is a major corn producer." Now, the The New York Times reports his arguments focus more on oil independence, saying that ethanol "ultimately helps our national security, because right now we’re sending billions of dollars to some of the most hostile nations on earth."

For his part, McCain has reversed his position, sometimes rapidly. In 2003, McCain said ethanol is "a product that would not exist if Congress didn’t create an artificial market for it," and that it does “nothing to reduce fuel consumption, nothing to increase our energy independence, nothing to improve air quality.”

By 2006, he had changed his tune as he ramped up his presidential bid: "I support ethanol and I think it is a vital, a vital alternative energy source not only because of our dependency on foreign oil but its greenhouse gas reduction effects."

During this year's October 15 presidential debate, he carried on this exchange with moderator Bob Schieffer:

MCCAIN: I know how to eliminate programs.

SCHIEFFER: Which ones?

MCCAIN: I have fought against -- well, one of them would be the marketing assistance program. Another one would be a number of subsidies for ethanol.

Finally, last Sunday before a crowd in Iowa (where he now trails by double digits), he told supporters "On the subject of ethanol, my friends, I will open every market in the world to the best products in the world, and that’s the American agricultural farmer and worker." Republican running mate Sarah Palin has also touted ethanol before Iowa crowds of late.

At the same time, the Illinois Corngrowers Association is pushing two studies that compare corn ethanol favorably to conventional gasoline.

Obama is clearly trying to parlay a state political necessity into a plank in his oil independence platform. McCain seems to be caught in the trap of trying to please two interest groups: Midwestern farmers and pork barrel budget cutters.

The upshot is that, much like the Star Wars program, even though it may seem wasteful, corn ethanol is likely not going anywhere soon.

The number of U.S. companies reporting sustainability data has doubled since 2005, according to an analysis by KPMG. Of the top 100 U.S. companies (by revenue), 74 published corporate responsibility information in 2008 — up dramatically from the 37 that provided the same data in 2005, KPMG said.

Eighty percent of the Global Fortune 250 companies now release their corporate responsibility data, either as part of their annual financial report or through a separate document.

"With increasing evidence that conducting business responsibly contributes to shareholder value, it's not surprising that more U.S. companies are highlighting their corporate responsibility efforts," said Eric Israel, a managing director and sustainability services leader for the the U.S. audit, tax and advisory branch of KPMG International, in a press release. "More U.S. companies are beginning to see the link between profits and principles. Even in a difficult economy we expect this trend to continue, as enhanced transparency and disclosure on non-financial matters will likely grow in importance."

The KPMG International Survey on Corporate Responsibility Reporting is currently the most comprehensive review of environmental, social and governance disclosures conducted on an international scale.

Image — KPMG

Goldman Sachs has taken a minority equity stake in Blue Source, according to a joint announcement made Monday by the two companies. Blue Source develops voluntary greenhouse gas emissions credits and, in exchange for its stake in the company, Goldman Sachs will market those credits to its clientele. While the exact terms of the deal were not released, Reuters is reporting that Goldman Sach's stake is less than 10 percent.

"Interest in the pre-compliance carbon market in the U.S. is growing rapidly and we are excited to be able to offer our clients immediate access to a diverse selection of emission reductions to manage their carbon risk," Leslie Biddle, the global head of Goldman Sach's commodity sales, said in a press release.

Blue Source will also benefit from Goldman Sach's interest. Among the investment firm's clients are some large polluters, including a number of utilities with coal-burning power plants. Blue Source reports that it has already produced nearly 40 million tons of voluntary greenhouse emissions credits and will generate another 20 million tons worth of credits this year.

Its projects include burning methane at coal mines, waste water treatment, landfills and animal waste. Blue Source continues to look for opportunities to expand and Goldman Sachs can provide the clientele to make it possible.

Image — Blue Source

Plug-in hybrids may be the future, but they haven't been embraced with open arms. Yet.

James Poch, the director of the Plug-In Hybrid Coalition of the Carolinas, is trying to change that in his little corner of heaven, where the group  will launch an educational campaign in both North and South Carolina this month. The idea of a regional coalition grew out of Poch's work with Plug-In Partners, a national organization based in Austin, Texas, as well as Toyota, which makes the prototype plug-in hybrid Prius that Poch drives.

The Carolinas Group's official debut will be Oct. 30 in Myrtle Beach, when Poch will address the annual meeting of the Southeastern Governmental Fleet Managers Association. This puts Poch in the face of people who make car-purchasing decisions every day. He plans to ask the meeting's participants to commit to the Plug-In Carolinas Challenge: Poch wants them to think about what it would take to make purchasing a plug-in hybrid a viable option. Price? Warranties? Return on investment?

"Our goal is to accelerate the adoption of the technology," Poch told the Charleston Regional Business Journal. "We want to get business, civic and environmental groups together to learn about the technology and then we want to ask them to set the criteria by which they would buy a hybrid. Once we outline our commitment, we’ll take those demands to the automakers."

There are already some plug-in hybrids on the road: school buses, fleet vehicles and other prototypes bought by organizations that can afford the substantial cost of converting a hybrid to a plug-in hybrid. Poch estimates the conversion cost to be between $15,000 and $24,000 for a Prius, which already carries $23,000 sticker price. The savings seem minimal: Poch expects to save $100 a month on gas, but thinks his electric bill will go up by about $20.

In his interview with the Regional Business Journal, Poch explained his group's approach to the expense issue: "We don’t expect people to buy at this price, but we wanted to get the cars on the road.... By the time we market these in mass quantity, we aim to have the premium around $1,000 to $3,000."

The organization's approach really is practical, however: By targeting fleet managers for their initial education efforts, the Plug-In Hybrid Coalition of the Carolinas is talking directly to those individuals who buy multiple cars per year. Convincing just one fleet manager to switch over to plug-in hybrids is the equivalent of going out and educating a host of individual buyers. Furthermore, if Poch can demonstrate even a small financial savings for plug-in hybrids over more traditional fleet vehicles, he should be able to get fleet managers interested in making the switch.

Photo — Plug-In Hybrid Coalition of the Carolinas

England's Advertising Standards Authority recently required Lexus to pull an ad claiming that its premium hybrid SUV was "perfect for today's environment." The auto manufacturer claimed that the language only intended to compare the hybrid favorably to standard SUVs. The watchdog agency ruled against the company, though, concluding that the ad invited the incorrect inference that "the car caused little or no harm to the environment."

In stretching the truth on its green claims, Lexus has company. Greenwashing is widespread—so much so, in fact, that MTV International recently felt inspired to issue a public service announcement warning its audience against the practice.

It's not just corporations that greenwash. Politicians do it too. And how.

Back in the year 2000, George W. Bush protested during a presidential debate that he was quite "concerned" about climate change. Oh, really?

More recently, the Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who had previously expressed doubt about global warming being man-made, did some serious hedging in her debate with Joe Biden (at least I think she did; I don't speak Palin-ese very fluently): "I'm not one to attribute every man—activity of man to the changes in the climate. There is something to be said also for man's activities, but also for the cyclical temperature changes on our planet. But there are real changes going on in our climate. And I don't want to argue about the causes. What I want to argue about is, how are we going to get there to positively affect the impacts?"

Greenwashing is happening in down-ballot races, too. In Colorado, for instance, a conservative political group calling itself the, ugh, Western Skies Coalition recently underwrote an ad buy for Republican state Senate candidates, depicting them as champions of renewable energy when they are anything but.

Meanwhile, over on the east coast, Republican Senator John Sununu of New Hampshire touted his concern about climate change in a debate with rival Jeanne Shaheen, despite having denied a year earlier that global warming and human activity are linked.

Of course, what you say depends on who you're saying it to. In a radio interview with climate change denier Glenn Beck, Sununu sounded a different note:

Beck: All right. Talk to me a little about oil. Are you a global warming guy?
Sununu: Drill here, drill now.

It's a law of nature, almost. If you're in the business of selling yourself, it helps to come across as squeaky-green, the only exception being if you're playing to a deep-brown crowd. So out come the paint brushes, almost reflexively. Greenwashing is a fixture on the marketing and public-relations scene and there's no reason to expect it to change, watchdog reprimands notwithstanding. There's another law of nature at work here: people will test boundaries.

People come and go, it seems, but greenwashing is forever.
 

While many climate scientists greeted with cautious optimism this summer's failure to set a new arctic ice retreat record, hopes for a significant slowing in the pace of arctic habitat degradation may have been dashed by a new British study.

Using satellite data from the new "Green eye" system, the study found that average ice thicknesses in the northern Polar region had been decimated by recent increases in global temperature. Even against the average for the abnormally warm 2002-2008 time period, Arctic ice thicknesses this past summer were nearly a foot below average. Despite the magnitude of this plunge, localized thickness losses were even higher, exceeding 36 inches in western areas of the ice sheet.

While historical data has relied on simple satellite photos, meaning that recessions of ice could be attributed to ice congealing along coastlines instead of the open ocean, thickness measurements are unequivocally the result of heat-induced melting.

The news should serve as yet another irrefutable alarm that the effects of global warming are being felt in the here and now. Indeed, projections for the complete disappearance of the Arctic ice sheet, aimed at 2080 as recently as 2003, are now being scaled drastically forward, to as soon as 2030.

It's no stretch to say that the relationship between environmentalists and high-performance motor vehicle enthusiasts has been strained over the past few years. Despite some common ground where motorcycles are concerned, horsepower and carbon emissions tend to be heated rivals.

But in a sign of the changing times, a team hell-bent on breaking the land-speed record is dedicating their effort to training the next generation of eco-conscious engineers. As Richard Noble, a major cog in the Project Bloodhound machine that aims to break the 1,000 mph barrier with their supersonic car, states, "Our industries are starved of engineers. There are real problems on the education front; and, of course, what we've got now is the environmental challenge coming up."

While the end results of the project may not yield an immediate clean vehicle solution, the interest it develops in schoolchildren worldwide may spawn the next carbon-free vehicle breakthrough.

Like similar contests that stretch the bounds of vehicle capabilities—such as the World Solar Challenge—the real victory is not measured in miles per hour, but in future technical developments. A subtle aerodynamic refinement on the Bloodhound SSC might add only 1 or 2 mph, but implemented across a fleet of vehicles a decade from now, it could keep hundreds thousands of tons of carbon dioxide from entering our atmosphere.

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, who championed the establishment of alternative power sources in his state, has earned himself a shout-out from the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance.

The MEEA made Doyle the recipient of its 2009 Inspiring Efficiency Leadership Award for his efforts in encouraging using wind turbines and solar panels to generate power, and for retrofitting fuel stations. 

Doyle signed the state's Energy Efficiency and Renewables Act, which requires state agencies and university campuses, among the largest energy consumers in Wisconsin, to obtain 20 percent of their power from renewable energy sources like wind or solar power. They must reach this goal within three years.

Doyle also published Clean Energy Wisconsin, his plan for a greener future for the state. In it, he sets a goal of obtaining 25 percent of the needed electricity and transportation energy from renewable supplies by 2025. He expects to achieve this by using grants and loans from the Wisconsin Energy Independence Fund to invest in R&D and the commercialization of greener, cleaner power.

 

Remember the old gag about "Save water! Shower with a friend!"?

For better or worse, it's back. I recently happened on a variation on the joke in a green public service announcement (PSA) by Ogilvy Advertising London for MTV Networks International. The one-minute spot shows people urinating in public places to a sacred-music sound track. A guy with a suspiciously official-looking cap waters a fountain; a female squats in front of a cathedral; an intrepid fellow, presumably endowed with the risk-taking gene, does his thing while bouncing on a trampoline. The montage closes with an exhortation: "Save water. Flush less." Ha.

The spot is one of ten promotional clips and short films that the company recently began distributing as part of MTV Switch, a year-old initiative intended to encourage its youthful audience to make planet-friendly lifestyle changes. Other recent PSAs warn viewers of the dangers of greenwashing and encourage them to get away from their video games and PCs and spend more time out in the real world. The ads all reflect MTV's trademark tongue-in-cheek style and aim, according to John Jackson, the company's director of social responsibility, to prompt action through entertainment, not fear.

The PSAs will be available across MTV's global network of 165 TV channels in 162 countries. It's a worthy and, yes, entertaining initiative, in an adolescent kind of way.

Speaking of which, the, um, urination ad is called, for reasons that escape me, "Slash." I don't get it. Why not, "Imagine World Pee's?"

Although the car won't be released until 2010, the smallest tidbit about the Chevy Volt makes headlines. In that spirit, Reuters is reporting that GM has settled on a division of LG Chem, called Compact Power, to supply the lithium-ion batteries.

The Volt will be a plug-in hybrid, running 40 miles on battery power before a small engine begins recharging duties. (We had a sneak peek at the car this summer.)

According to the Reuters article, Compact Power and GM are still hammering out important contract details such as warranty costs. GM is expected to make an official announcement regarding the Volt's batteries in November, but neither they or LG has confirmed the article's claim.

Chevy is taking a big risk on the Volt by using a new and expensive technology as the central component of the powertrain. A great article in the Atlantic tells the story of how the big automaker threw out the usual corporate rulebook in order to develop the car.

You've got to give it to GM for rolling the dice on an essentially unproven technology. Even if it pays off, I wonder if it will be enough to stop the tide of Teslas from washing over Detroit.

The Center for Resource Solutions (CRS) recognized four leading organizations and one individual today for their efforts in the renewable energy market. CRS honors renewable energy leaders through three awards: the Green Power Pioneer Award (which recognizes individual achievements), the Green Power Pilot Award (for outreach efforts meant to increase interest in renewable power), and the Green Power Beacon Award (which honors innovative marketing campaigns for renewable energy projects).

The winner of this year's Green Power Beacon Award is Portland General Electric, for its launch of GreenPowerOregon.com. Detroit Edison also received an honorable mention in this category for its GreenCurrents Ark promotion.

This year's Green Power Pilot Award went to the Energy Action Coalition for its Campus Climate Change. An honorable mention was awarded to Green Mountain Energy Company for its Hispanic marketing campaign.

Dr. Jan Hamrin, the founder of CRS, received the Green Power Pioneer Award.

Along with CRS, the U.S. Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency co-sponsor the Green Power Leadership Awards. The EPA augments the awards with the EPA Purchaser Awards, while the DOE also offers the Green Power Supplier Awards. With its Purchaser Awards, the EPA recognizes 16 leading green power purchasers in three categories: Green Power Partner of the Year, On-Site Generation and Green Power Purchasing. With the Green Power Supplier Awards, the DOE recognizes four organizations in three categories: New Green Power Program or Company, Small Residential/Commercial/ Green Power Program or Supplier of the Year, Large Commercial/Institutional Green Power Program or Supplier of the Year.

Image — CRS

In commemoration of the historic Green Dubai declaration, a forum is being held in Dubai to both review the progress the emirate has made as well as to look to the future plans for greening the city. The Green Dubai World Forum 2008 is co-sponsored by the Middle East Center for Sustainable Development (MECSD), Pacific Controls Systems and Solar Technologies, and is hosting an impressive guest list. F. W. De Klerk, the former President of South Africa, is the key note speaker of the event.

During the first evening of the forum, Sultan bin Sulayem, the chairman of Dubai World, announced plans to create the Middle East's largest photovoltaic manufacturing facility in Dubai, and virtually inaugurated the project.

The initial Green Dubai declaration was issued on October 24, 2007 by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. He mandated that Dubai would have a roadmap to a sustainable future by 2015 and that Dubai would move towards global leadership in sustainable development. The Green Dubai World Forum was organized as a means to that end. The annual meeting — the first of which is currently being held in Dubai — is invitation only, but the plenary session will be available on YouTube and other forum information will be made available through Flickr and Twitter.

Photo — John Wards

Seaweed power got another shot in the arm today as a team of experts recommended extended study into the aquatic plant as a power source in Scotland. The announcement marks the second occasion in recent weeks in which a European nation has focused additional efforts into developing seaweed as a viable energy resource.

Like other aquatic biofuels such as algae, seaweed power is attractive because it offers impressive energy returns for minimal initial investments. Additionally, it takes up no arable land, which, in the rocky soils of Scotland, or in the agricultural export-heavy economy of Italy, is an extremely attractive feature. Seaweed cultivation would also decrease demands on existing water tables, and create jobs monitoring and harvesting the energy crop.

However, aquatic farming does come with some added risk of contaminating the surrounding ecosystem if biofuel-specific seaweed strains are imported, or if genetically engineered strains of biofuel seaweed are developed.

Still, with careful implementation of safety measures, seaweed could represent both an impressive step toward reducing carbon emissions, and an important means of economic stimulus during the current market crisis.

In what looks to be more good news for proponents of organic agriculture, a new study reveals that many pesticides currently in wide use in the European Union could damage the brain development of fetuses and young children. 

The study, produced jointly by the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Southern Denmark, reviewed data from nearly 200 papers and reports involving pesticides and the brain from around the world.

Inexplicably, EU trials of new pesticide chemicals do not generally include assessments of brain toxicity. Given that many of these pesticides target the brain and nervous system in insects, the risk of possible damage to these same structures in humans is very real. The EU, which tightened pesticide standards earlier this year, has restrictions in place similar to those of most developed nations.

The report could spur further interest in organic agriculture practices, which by and large avoid the problems presented by chemical pesticides, sewage-sludge fertilizer, and other environmental problems posed by more traditional industrial-scale agriculture. Last month, an organic farm in California was granted a $1 million settlement against neighboring farms that accidentally contaminated its land with chemical fertilizers.