FEATURES AND NEWS
Is there really long term growth for air pollution control (APC) equipment with the current volatile energy markets? With soaring energy prices, everyone focusing on cleaner fuels and lowering emissions, is the long term future looking bleak for APC solution providers? The global APC equipment market is highly driven by ... Read more »
China’s insatiable appetite for growth has created some of the world’s most polluted cities and rising concerns about food safety, air quality and health risks associated with heavy industry, according to this video from Thoughtful China. As consumers take a greater interest in “green” behavior, marketers like Coca-Cola are taking ... Read more »
Poor project aggregation and a lack of data standardization are among the factors keeping the energy efficiency marketplace from fulfilling its potential, according to a report by the Environmental Defense Fund. The report, Show Me the Money: Energy Efficiency Barriers and Opportunities (pdf), said that although investors stand to gain ... Read more »
Services offered by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) are evolving to help companies at every stage of their reporting, representatives from the two organizations said last week. CDP development manager Patrick Crawford and GRI technical development manager Bastian Buck were speaking on an Environmental Leader ... Read more »
The extreme heat wave that swept through the Midwest and has now moved to the northeast has massively increased the demand for electricity as people turn to their air conditioning for relief from the sweltering temperatures. Midwestern energy supplier MISO recorded its highest ever demand for electricity on July 20. ... Read more »
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Part of the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., has been awarded LEED Platinum status. NREL’s Research Support Facility (pictured), at 220,000 square feet, is the largest net-zero energy building in the United States, NREL says. The building uses concrete slabs embedded with hydronic tubing for ... Read more »
The House will debate this week the EPA and Department of Interior fiscal 2012 spending bill, the Hill said. The proposal would give the EPA $7.1 billion and the Interior $9.86 billion. Among its restrictions, the EPA spending bill would delay agency greenhouse gas emission regulations for power plants and ... Read more »
Goals signal intent and drive behavior. Some companies announce sustainability goals to signal their commitment to become sustainability leaders and to compete for superior positioning with their rivals. According to a recent Green Research sustainability executive survey, 15 percent of sustainability executives say their goals were significantly influenced by the ... Read more »
In the U.K., the self-proclaimed “greenest government ever” announced in October some of its most vicious spending cuts to the environment. This year alone, the budget of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will shrink – from about £3bn ($4.9bn) and by about £700m by the end ... Read more »
Texas military leaders and environmental specialists met with the community and various agency counterparts at the Power of Partnerships Sustainability Conference.
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Serious Energy: The manufacturer of energy-efficient building components and software has appointed John Pitcher as vice president of research and development. Pitcher founded energy management software company Scientific Conservation in 2007, and most recently served as its chief operating officer. Chip Pieper, also formerly with SC, has joined Serious Energy’s ... Read more »
GE Lighting has announced that it will buy Lightech, a privately held lighting technology company based near Tel Aviv. Lightech specializes in LED electronic drivers and halogen transformers. The purchase price was not disclosed. “For our customers, this acquisition means we will deliver a more optimized, energy-efficient LED lighting system ... Read more »
The U.S. Postal Service has accumulated over $400 million in avoided energy costs since fiscal year 2007, the service has announced. USPS made the announcement on the second anniversary of New York City’s largest green roof, atop the Morgan mail processing and distribution facility, which has saved more than $1 ... Read more »
Tetra Pak, one of the world’s biggest food packaging firms, says it is developing packaging based on 100 percent renewable materials. It also plans to increase the supply of Forest Stewardship Council-certified paper board used in its products to 100 percent, with an interim target of 50 percent in 2012. ... Read more »
Fewer than a quarter of US local governments employ any form of alternative energy generation, according to survey results. Just 23.4 percent of the more than 2,100 local governments surveyed for Breaking New Ground: Promoting Environmental and Energy Programs in Local Government reported using any kind of renewable or alternative ... Read more »
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday approved guidelines for growing the nation’s electricity grid to accommodate renewable energy and market competition, The New York Times said. The guidelines say that costs should be paid by those who benefit. The agency also suggested that federal regulators will enable transmission line ... Read more »
At the NECSC conference, a panel of presidents from Vermont institutions of higher education address the driving forces likely to affect higher education and our sustainability efforts. Moderator: Julie Newman, Ph.D, Director at Yale University’s Office of Sustainability Panelists: President Daniel Mark Fogel, University of Vermont Dean of Faculty Felicity ... Read more »
Pharmacy chain Walgreens plans to offer electric vehicle charging stations at about 800 locations across the country by the end of the year, making it the nation’s largest charging station retail host. The charging stations will feature either a high-speed direct current charger that can add 30 miles of range ... Read more »
Owens Corning cut its greenhouse gas intensity by 24 percent in 2010, according to its 2010 sustainability report, which also sets out the company’s eight-point goals for 2020. The company reduced its GHG emissions from 5.2 million metric tons in 2009 to 4.5 million metric tons in 2010. It has ... Read more »
Dell, Sprint and Sony have agreed to help the Environmental Protection Agency encourage certified electronics recycling, as the Obama administration unveiled a national strategy to encourage better e-waste management. The three companies have joined an EPA-industry partnership designed to promote environmentally sound management of used electronics. In addition, the CEOs ... Read more »
IBM, Accenture, HP, Merck, Dell, Boeing and McKesson have all held their positions among the most responsible government contractors, according to rankings by Corporate Responsibility magazine. The second annual Best Corporate Citizens in Government Contracting List (pdf) is designed to encourage government to take transparency and responsibility data into account ... Read more »
Duke Energy Ohio is threatening to decommission all six coal-fired generation units at a plant near Cincinnati, by Jan. 1, 2015, unless changes are made to a proposed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulation. The energy company announced its intent to retire the six units at its W.C. Beckjord Station, – ... Read more »
A manufacturer of home decorative items engaged my company sometime ago to conduct a scope 1 and scope 2 GHG emissions inventory, mainly to meet the requirements of a retailer’s sustainability scorecard. The manufacturer was eager to take this a step further and engage 20 of their key suppliers and ... Read more »
Wyoming senator John Barrasso on Wednesday reintroduced a bill to stop the Securities and Exchange Commission’s policy of requiring companies to reveal their climate change risks. The Hill article says the lawmaker would rather the agency focus on protecting investors and maintaining fair markets. The Bonneville Power Administration, which has ... Read more »
Consider for a moment: What is the most obvious form of pollution? Some may think of smog, a gray band of sooty haze hanging low in the urban sky. Others may envision patches of chemical and oil film floating on waterways. And of course there’s litter, lining the edges of ... Read more »