Justmeans

Eucalyptus in Brazil: Wooing Investors, Ignoring Science

Reynard Loki — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:14:12 GMT

"Eucalyptus plantations are destructive." -- Anne Petermann, executive director, Global Justice Ecology Project[1]Most of the 700 species of eucalyptus are native to Australia. First introduced in Brazil in the early 1900s as an alternative wood source, it become a prime non-native crop there, with plantations taking up 4.7 million hectares, giving the nation the biggest share of world's total of 19.6 million hectares. India comes in second with 4.3 ha, followed by China with 2.6 ha.[2]PRODUCTIVE INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY"Eucalyptus plantations in Brazil are among the most productive ecosystems in the world...typically producing more than 40 m3/ha/yr of wood," according to Brazil Eucalyptus Potential Productivity (BEPP), a cooperative research project of the University of Sao Paulo ESALQ, Colorado State University, the Rocky Mountain Research Station of the USDA Forest Service and six forest companies: VCP, International Paper, Veracel, Bahia Sul Cellulose, Copener Florestal and Aracruz. "The world-record rates of production are sustained by intensive silviculture, including genetic selection of superior trees, clonal propagation, intensive site preparation, and fertilization."[3]And now, institutional investors have a new opportunity to invest in Brazilian eucalyptus with the recently launched VBI Timberland fund, a 15-year closed-end fund looking to raise $350 million with an expected closing in December and an annual internal rate of return target of 14 percent. The Sao Paolo-based alternative asset management firm Vision Brazil Investments (VBI) is the investment manager for the fund, which will be managed by Brazil Timber. According to the Bainbridge Island, Washington-based advisory consultancy Forest Research Associates, the fund will invest in sustainable forestry projects in Brazil, "aiming to put most of the money towards plantations of eucalyptus, a timber that is popular in the manufacture of furniture and can also be used in the steel industry once turned into charcoal."[4]CAVEAT EMPTOR: MONOCULTURE PLANTATIONS ARE BADBut are Brazil's eucalyptus plantations truly sustainable? Anne Petermann, the executive director of the non-profit environmental group Global Justice Ecology Project, based in Hinesburg, Vermont, says no. "Eucalyptus plantations are destructive," writes Petermann in a blog post on Climate-connections.org. "Rapidly increasing their productivity (and hence their need for fertilizers, ground water, herbicides, etc) will cause even more severe impacts. And engineering them to be cold tolerant (such as they are attempting in the US) will enable their production in new regions meaning the loss of even more forests at exactly the time when we need our forests more than ever."[5]The World Rainforest Movement, a non-profit environmental advocacy organization based in Montevideo, Uruguay, notes a study by Carlos Cespedes of the Uruguayan Faculty of Science that "verified that monoculture eucalyptus plantations cause a considerable loss of organic matter and increased acidity, associated to the alteration of the normal values," which leads to the spread of fungi that prevents water from penetrating the soil, causing surface runoff and soil erosion.WRM also notes that the argument that large-scale monoculture tree plantations are effective carbon sinks that help mitigate the effects of climate change is misguided. Carbon storage by plantations is short-term because the trees will be cut down, and the transformation of South America's grasslands into monoculture tree plantations destroys the carbon sinks that already existed in those ecosystems, releasing tons of carbon into the atmosphere. "In spite of all the scientific evidence existing on the negative impacts of large scale monoculture tree plantations, the Climate Change Convention insists on promoting them under the false argument that plantations can alleviate the effects of climate change," asserts WRM.[6]INFLUENCING INDUSTRY: CONSUMERS AND INVESTORS HOLD THE POWER"Corporations have today replaced small-scale farmers as the prime drivers of deforestation, a shift that has critical implications for conservation," writes forest expert Rhett Butler on the Yale Environment 360 website. "Yet while industrial actors exploit resources more efficiently and cause widespread environmental damage, they also are more sensitive to pressure from consumers and green groups. As a result, activists have more power today than ever to affect corporate behavior and slow the dizzying pace of tropical deforestation worldwide."[7]But there's another actor who exerts quite a bit of influence as well -- the socially responsible investor. As President Obama noted in a speech in Rio de Janeiro in March, "The United States was the first nation to recognize Brazil's independence."[8] Likewise, socially responsible investors should recognize the importance of maintaining Brazil's unique and globally important environment.###NOTES[1] http://climate-connections.org/2011/07/01/blog-post-for-friday-eucalyptus-time/[2] Ibid.[3] http://lamar.colostate.edu/~binkley/Brazileucalyptus.htm[4] http://www.forestry-research.com/forestry-investment/344/fra-seeks-support-for-new-brazilian-forestry-fund[5] Ibid., 1.[6] http://www.wrm.org.uy/bulletin/136/Uruguay.html[7]http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2267[8] http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/03/20/remarks-president-people-brazil-rio-de-janeiro-brazilimage: Eucalyptus tereticornis buds, capsules, flowers and foliage (credit: Ethel Aardvark, Wikimedia Commons)

Waste Not, Want Not: The "Cradle to Cradle" Paradigm Gets Competitive

Reynard Loki — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 10:48:11 GMT

"Companies who embrace this into their strategies and key performance indicators will be the winners of tomorrow. The people who just talk a little bit and are defensive will be the losers." -- Desso chief executive Stef Kranendijk on the "cradle-to-cradle" business paradigm[1]2012 will mark a decade since German chemist Michael Braungart and American architect and designer William McDonough introduced the "cradle-to-cradle" (C2C) concept in Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. In that book, which Publisher's Weekly called a "clarion call for a new kind of ecological consciousness,"[2] Braungart and McDonough laid out a biomimetic methodology to design in which designers and manufacturers apply "eco-effective" principles of nature and biology to their work, creating product life cycles that eliminate waste, maintain commerce and instead of damaging the environment, promote its well-being. To Braungart and McDonough, our lives are filled with products whose total impact on our health, the health of our pets and of course, the environment, are rarely fully known by consumers, even ones who are generally environmentally conscious.NOT RECYCLING, BUT DOWNCYCLING"You care about the environment," the authors write. "In fact, when you went shopping for a carpet recently, you deliberately chose one made from recycled polyester soda bottles. Recycled? Perhaps it would be accurate to say downcycled. Good intentions aside, your rug is made of things that were never designed with this further use in mind, and wrestling them into this form has required much energy -- and generated as much waste -- as producing a new carpet. And all that effort has only succeeded in postponing the usual fate of products by a life cycle or two. The rug is still on it way to a landfill; it's just stopping off in your house en route. Moreover, the recycling process may have introduced even more harmful additives that a conventional product contains, and it might be off-gassing and abrading them into your home at an even higher rate."[3]It seems that the carpet industry took the criticisms and tenets of the book seriously, because, as Jo Confino notes in a recent Guardian Professional Network article, there is a bit of a C2C battle going on between two carpet tile makers, InterfaceFLOR based in the United States and Desso based in the Netherlands, a situation that demonstrates that the drive be a C2C leader is not only fueled by consumer interest, but by intra-industry business competition.[4]THE SUSTAINABLE HOT POTATO: FROM INSPIRATION TO ACTIONDesso chief executive Stef Kranendijk had his epiphany after watching Braungart and McDonough's documentary, Waste = Food. "I started sweating and felt a panic in my head," he said. "I thought that this is fantastic. Such a logical, meaningful concept and I wanted to do this. The reason I started to panic is because I recognised this would mean we would have to change the whole way we work: R&D, manufacturing, the way we market and sell." InterfaceFLOR founder Ray Anderson had his awakening after reading Paul Hawken's book, The Ecology of Commerce, saying that he felt "the point of a spear driven straight into my heart."[5]Confino notes that Ray Anderson was "responsible for leading the way at InterfaceFlor, pioneering the goal of achieving zero impact through a change in the business paradigm." But Kranendijk says that today, Desso is "being seen as the number one carpet company going beyond sustainability."[6]THE UPHILL CRADLE-TO-CRADLE CLIMBWhile these green industry leaders are changing the nature of the carpet business by eliminating toxins in the supply chain, there is still a long way to go. Desso plans to be completely cradle-to-cradle by 2020, which Confino says means "all the raw materials it uses will be free of toxic chemicals and designed for easy disassembly and able to be recycled as technical nutrients or composted as biological nutrients."[7] But changing the manufacturing process is one thing. Getting consumers to cough up 15 percent more for a more sustainable product is another.According to a survey conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media and the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, many Americans and Canadians say they are willing to pay more for environmentally friendly products. Half of the respondents said they would definitely or probably pay 15 percent more for eco-friendly clothes detergent or an automobile. Forty percent said that would spend 15 percent more on green computer printer paper or wood furniture.[8]But that report was released in July 2008, before the global financial crisis took hold. Consumers are now more concerned about protecting their pocketbooks than making sustainable decisions if those decisions cost more. Released last month, the Nielsen report "Sustainable Efforts & Environmental Concerns Around the World" found that only 12 percent of Americans and Canadians were willing to pay extra for eco-friendly goods.[9] For Desso, InterfaceFLOR and any manufacturers, pursuing a cradle-to-cradle strategy is tough when consumers feel like their financial stability has been like a rug that has been pulled from under them.###NOTES[1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/cradle-to-cradle-desso-carpet-tiles-innovation?CMP=[2] http://www.amazon.com/dp/0865475873/ref=rdr_ext_tmb[3] Ibid.[4] Ibid., 1.[5] Ibid.[6] Ibid.[7] Ibid.[8] http://environment.research.yale.edu/documents/downloads/a-g/GfK-Roper-Yale-Survey.pdf[9] http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/corporate/us/en/reports-downloads/2011-Reports/nieslen-sustainability-report.pdfimage: compost trail laid by top dresser (credit: LAJ2006, Flickr Creative Commons)

Cleantech vs. Keystone XL: Could a Controversial Pipeline Undermine Obama's Case for Green Investment?

Reynard Loki — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 13:23:22 GMT

"If we don't lead in clean energy, we'll follow. I'd hate to see us replace the importing of foreign oil with the importing of foreign technology." -- Vice President Joe Biden[1]Even as the protests against the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline continue outside the White House (described by Bill McKibben as "the biggest civil disobedience protest in the environmental movement for many, many years"[2]), Vice President Joe Biden was pumping up clean energy at the National Clean Energy Summit 4.0 in Las Vegas. The Keystone XL project, which plans to expand an existing pipeline to transport some 830,000 barrel of crude oil daily from oil sands in Alberta, Canada, to Oklahoma and Texas, has been a political flashpoint, pitting environmentalists against the oil industry with the Obama administration -- which will make a final decision on it by the end of the year -- caught in the middle. The project proposes to build a new 7-billion-dollar pipeline through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas, a plan that has been slammed by James Hansen, the head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and one of the first scientists to issue warnings about global warming.In his essay "Silence Is Deadly," released in June, Hansen notes that the impacts of the pipeline project include "irreversible effects on biodiversity, the natural environment, reduced water quality, destruction of fragile pristine Boreal Forest and associated wetlands, aquatic and watershed mismanagement, habitat fragmentation, habitat loss, disruption to life cycles of endemic wildlife particularly bird and Caribou migration, fish deformities and negative impacts on the human health in downstream communities."[3]PLANNING AMERICA'S ENERGY FUTURE...The various negative impacts on human health and the natural environment causd by current energy consumption and carbon emission were not far from anyone's lips at the clean energy pow-wow in the Mojave Desert. Hosted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and the Center for American Progress, the summit brought together some 700 of the nation's industry executives, entrepreneurs, investors and public officials to shape America's energy future. Vice President Joe Biden led the pack of Obama administration officials who were on hand to circle the wagons around a green energy commitment to help combat the effects of climate change and also pave a path to a low-carbon, clean energy economy.Biden called on summit attendees to imagine "if the U.S. was the first country able to make solar power that is cheaper than coal. Imagine lithium-ion batteries made here that are capable of carrying an electric car 300 miles or more. Imagine being able to capture waste power from factories and vehicles and convert it to electricity. I think we're going to see stunning breakthroughs."[4]...AS OTHER COUNTRIES TAKE THE LEAD Those stunning breakthroughs, however, might not happen on American soil. In 2009, China surpassed the US in clean energy investment and clean energy capacity, taking the top spot by investing USD 34.6 billion out of the total USD 162 billion spent worldwide, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts report "Who's Winning the Clean Energy Race." The US was relegated to second place, with USD 18.6 billion, followed by the United Kingdom at USD 11.2 billion.[5]The latest version of that report, issued in March, shows China to have solidified its position at the top of the pack, with private investment in the nation's clean energy sector rising to a world-record USD 54.4 billion, an increase of 39 percent. China can also brag about being the world's number one producer of solar modules and wind turbines. The report also revealed another fact that throws a little cold water on Biden's enthusiasm: As the worldwide investment in clean energy rose to a record USD 243 billion last year, America slipped to third place, with total clean energy investment at USD 34 billion, while Germany rose to second place, spending USD 41.2 billion.[6]Could it be that the US is lacking clean energy leadership at the top? Greenpeace executive director Phip Radford thinks so. "President Obama's record on the environment and energy policy has been lackluster," he wrote in a Yale Environment 360 article that asked several environmentalists to rate Obama performance on energy and the environment. "He took office promising to lead the fight against global warming, and yet stood silently by as polluters and their lobbyists took over the legislative process."[7]CHU: 5 DEGREES IS TOO MUCHSpeaking at the summit, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu noted that there is a 50 percent chance that within this century, the Earth's average surface temperature will increase by 5 degrees Centigrade (11 degrees Fahrenheit). While he acknowledges that it sounds like a small amount, Chu pointed out that such a change that is the same difference between Earth today and Earth during the last Ice Age, during which "Canada [and] the United States down to Ohio and Pennsylvania was covered in ice year-round. So think about what 5 degree Centigrade will mean going the other way: a very different world."[8]The Pew report asserted that "countries with clear, consistent and constructive clean energy policies are powering investment forward." Unfortunately, Washington has proven to be unclear, inconsistent and unconstructive. And now President Obama finds himself in the difficult position of choosing between jobs in the short-term or the environment in the long-term. As the arrests of Keystone XL protesters outside the White House mount and the presidential election draws ever nearer, the opportunity for him to carve out his enviromental legacy recedes further into the background.BIDEN: AMERICA'S BIGGEST MISTAKE? FAILURE TO BE CLEANTECH LEADERAt the climate summit, Biden said that a failure by America to be the global leader in developing technology in the clean energy sector would be "the biggest mistake this nation has made in its entire history." What's scary is that avoiding that mistake would mean achieving something on a big issue that just doesn't seem possible in Washington these days: meaningful bipartisan legislation.Chu said that a temperature change of 5 degrees Centigrade "will cause enormous resource wars over water [and] arable land and massive population displacements, and we're not talking about 10,000 people, we're not talking about 10 million people, we're talking hundreds of millions to billions of people being flooded out permanently." As the two parties duke it out on the energy front, they would do well to think past the 2012 election and note the warning the secretary issued at the summit. After describing the nightmare of living on an Earth that was 5 degrees hotter, Chu said bluntly, "If you want that for your kids and grandkids, we can continue doing what we're doing."###NOTES[1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/eco-nomics/2011/08/31/biden-and-other-politicians-extol-green-energy-at-vegas-conference/[2] http://www.dailykos.com/comments/1000427/42803031#c15[3] http://www.columbia.edu/%7Ejeh1/mailings/2011/20110603_SilenceIsDeadly.pdf[4] http://www.forbes.com/sites/eco-nomics/2011/08/31/biden-and-other-politicians-extol-green-energy-at-vegas-conference/[5] http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Reports/Global_warming/G-20%20Report.pdf[6] http://www.pewenvironment.org/uploadedFiles/PEG/Publications/Report/G-20Report-LOWRes-FINAL.pdf[7] http://e360.yale.edu/feature/forum_assessing_obamas_record_on_the_environment/2427/[8] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfLaQUD86Mwimage: Keystone XL protesters outside White House (credit: Josh Lopez, Flickr Creative Commons)

The Asian Explosion: Searching for Sustainability on the World's Most Populous Continent

Reynard Loki — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 14:10:31 GMT

"Countries that move quickly down a clean energy pathway will be the economic powerhouses of the 21st century." -- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon[1]The majority of the world's people live in Asia. With a total population of over 3.8 billion, it dwarfs Africa, the second-most populous continent, which has 922 million. Asia is home to the world's most populous city, Shanghai, with 17.8 million people, making huge metropolises like Mexico City (8.8 million) and New York (8.1 million), look puny in comparison.[2][3]MORE PEOPLE, BIGGER PROBLEMSConsidering all those people, it's not surprising that Asia contributes the highest annual global warming emissions among all the continents. The Union for Concerned Scientists, a non-profit environmental advocacy group headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusettes, also notes that "the Asian region also faces a range of climate impacts, including extreme heat, imperiled drinking water resources, and accelerated sea-level rise, which can lead to widespread population displacement, food insecurity, and costly damage to coastal cities and towns."[4]UCS contends that the solutions to mitigating the effects of climate change throughout Asia include "providing cleaner cook stoves to rural families, improving rice cultivation to decrease methane emissions, reducing emissions from deforestation, cutting a deepening dependence on carbon-emitting coal, and tackling emissions from a growing number of cars, trucks and buses."[5]ASIAN PROBLEMS, ASIAN SOLUTIONSThese and more solutions are likely to be found within Asia, which is rapidly emerging as a leader in research and development, bolstered by growing economies and talented professionals who no longer look to the United States or Europe as the place to go to develop cutting-edge technologies.As Juliana Chan notes in the Singapore-based Asian Scientist Magazine, "The emerging Asia-8 economies (China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand) are currently leading this change in status quo, driving a shift from the traditional hubs of research in the US and countries in the EU-27."[6]Indeed, the "Asian explosion" isn't limited to population. It also applies to research and development. "Over the past decade, R&D intensity has grown in Asia and has remained steady in the United States and EU-27," according to the National Science Board's 2010 report "Key Science and Engineering Indicators," which found that R&D growth in the US and EU-27 averaged 5 to 6 percent over the ten-year period leading to 2007, compared to Asia-8 economies that often exceeded 10 percent, and China, which managed a jaw-dropping 20 percent.[7]The NSB contends that the explosive growth in R&D expenditures across Asia "reflects rising private spending by domestic and foreign firms as well as increased public R&D spending, designed to support strategic policies that aim to raise economic competitiveness through the development of knowledge-intensive economies."THE CHALLENGE OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN ASIAAsia will need to channel a good chunk of that R&D towards finding solutions to a whole host of problems, many of which are tied to climate change and exacerbated by explosive population growth and industrial development. Issues such as solid waste, electronic waste, air pollution, agricultural runoff, deforestation, water contamination, biodiversity loss, ecosystem degradation and disease control are interrelated concerns that challenge the health and sustainable development across the region.In 2004, for example, China surpassed the US as the world's largest generator of waste, according to the 2005 World Bank report "Waste Management in China: Issues and Recommendations." The report also estimates a growth in China's annual solid waste quantity from about 190 million tons in 2004 to over 480 million tons in 2030, an increase of 150 percent.[8]The Asian Development Bank (ADB), a majorAsia-Pacific development financing organization based inManila bank that is brimming with over $17.5 billion in approved financing, is leading the money charge in green energy. It recently announced plans to expand its annual lending for clean energy investments, including the areas of energy efficiency and renewable energy, from the current USD 1 billion annual target to USD 2 billion by 2013.[9]A GOOD TIME FOR A MEETINGIt's clear that there will be a lot to discuss when environmental technology providers from around the world gather in Singapore next month for the International Environmental Technologies Exhibition & Conference (EnviroAsia2011), an event that aims to address "the urgent demand for governments and industries to alleviate the undesirable outcomes of relentless urban growth in Asian cities."[10]EnviroAsia2011 is held concurrently with two other related events. The International Exhibition & Conference on Controls, Instrumentation & Automation (CIA2011), Asia's leading exhibition of process engineering, controls instrumentation and scientific equipment, will present new offshore automation solutions for offshore oil and gas, while the International Scientific & Analytical Technology & Equipment Exhibition and Conference (AnaLabAsia2011) will target solutions and business opportunities in the fields of analytical and lab technology, biotechnology and diagnostics. The three events will be held simultaneously over four days at Suntec Singapore from November 22 - 25.[11][12][13][14]CHANGING BAD HABITS: FORGET THE DIFFERENCES, FOCUS ON THE SIMILARITIESWith all the R&D investment, talent and desire for sustainable development flowing throughout Asia, there is every chance to discover and enact socially responsible solutions to the various problems tied to the region's explosive growth. But organizing so many nations, politicians, citizens and businesses is no easy task. Ultimately, the consumer may hold the key. Adapting current modes of personal consumption on a consumer level to be more in line with larger sustainable goals will effect change that will radiate outward, impacting decision-making on industry-wide levels. And those consumers aren't just Asian; pocketbooks around the globe open up every single day to purchase Asian-produced goods and services.If people have an opportunity to purchase sustainably-made products and start avoiding products that are damaging to their health or the health of the environment, then the money flows will undoubtedly follow. On the basic level of ethical consumption, perhaps the differences between the citizens of the world's nations aren't so stark. As Asia's political and business leaders maneuver through the Asian explosion, they might consider the words of the ancient Chinese sage Confucius, who once observed, "Men's natures are alike, it is their habits that carry them far apart."###NOTES[1] http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2011/08/26/Ban-Ki-Moon-urges-green-energy-investment/UPI-38661314383022/[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent#Area_and_population[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_proper_by_population[4] http://www.climatehotmap.org/global-warming-solutions/asia.html[5] Ibid.[6] http://www.asianscientist.com/features/asia-future-hub-scientific-research/[7] http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/digest10/nsb1002.pdf[8] http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTEAPREGTOPURBDEV/Resources/China-Waste-Management1.pdf[9] http://www.adb.org/clean-energy/[10] http://en.acnnewswire.com/press-release/english/7349/international-scientific,-environmental-and-analytical-technology-business-event-returns-to-suntec-singapore-this-november[11] http://www.cia-asia.com/[12] http://www.analab-asia.com/[13] http://www.enviro-asia.com/[14] http://www.suntecsingapore.com/image: Orthographic map of Asia (Wikimedia Commons)

CRISA and Regulation 28: South Africa Boosts Sustainable Investing

Reynard Loki — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 15:56:39 GMT

"ESG issues are mainstream investment considerations and not peripheral, especially at a time the world is facing serious sustainability challenges." -- John Oliphant, Chairman, Committee on Responsible Investing by Institutional Investors in South Africa[1]So far, 2011 has been a banner year for sustainable investing among South Africa's institutional investors. In March, the National Treasury issued a revamped version of Regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act, which regulates R 1.1 trillion (USD 152.5 billion) in private pension funds and R 1 trillion (USD 138 billion) in the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), South Africa's first signatory to the international Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).[2]The revised Regulation 28, which went into effect on July 1 and will become mandatory in January, makes it clear that the South African government is serious about sustainable investment. It outlines a fund's fiduciary duty to "give appropriate consideration to any factor which may materially affect the sustainable long-term performance of a fund's assets, including factors of an environmental, social and governance character."[3]SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENTS, SUPERIOR RETURNSAlso last month, the Institute of Directors in Southern Africa (IoDSA) released the Code for Responsible Investing in South Africa (CRISA), which directs institutional investors to "incorporate sustainability considerations, including environmental, social and governance, into [their] investment analysis and investment activities as part of the delivery of superior risk-adjusted returns to the ultimate beneficiaries."[4]The Association for Savings & Investment South Africa (ASISA), one of CRISA's endorsers, notes that the issuance of the code "makes South Africa the second country next to the United Kingdom to formally encourage institutional investors to integrate into their investment decisions sustainability issues."[5]"At the heart of CRISA is the recognition of the importance of integrating sustainability issues, including ESG, into long- term investment strategies," wrote John Oliphant, chairman of the Committee on Responsible Investing by Institutional Investors of South Africa and chief investment officer of GEPF in his foreword to CRISA. "These issues become more important in a market such as ours, which is predominantly driven by a non-mandatory market-based code of governance for companies (King Report on Governance), as opposed to legislation."[6]THIRSTY FOR ESG: THE PROACTIVE HORSE WINSHeather Jackson, Head of Socially Responsible Investing at Cadiz Asset Management, an asset management firm that manages R 42 billion (USD 5.8 billion) for third-party clients in South Africa, notes the importance of "socially-oriented capital projects to promote growth and stability...[and] the vital role of sustainable impact investing in offering the capital and ingenuity necessary to solve some of our pressing social and environmental challenges."[7]"It is the companies and organisations with the capabilities to turn these challenges into business opportunities that are more likely to be the winners of tomorrow," Jackson said. Indeed, the challenge to incorporate ESG into investment strategy should be viewed as chance to get ahead of the competition and set the stage for long-term SRI growth. While the code is non-mandatory, "industry can either be reactive or proactive," said Wits University law professor Bonita Meyersfeld, "because we know effective regulation is coming."[8]As South Africa's institutional investors adjust to the nation's new socially responsible investing environment, they would do well to remember the Zulu proverb, "The horse that arrives early gets good drinking water."###NOTES[1] http://www.iodsa.co.za/Portals/0/library/documents/CRISA_19_July_2011.pdf [2] http://www.jmca.co.za/industry-news/regulation-28-proposals-open-doors-to-hedge-funds/[3] http://www.greengazette.co.za/docs/2011/03/Gazettes/Regulation/20110304_-_Regulation_Gazette_No_34070_of_04-Mar-2011,_Volume_549_No_9485.pdf[4] http://www.iodsa.co.za/Portals/0/library/documents/CRISA_19_July_2011.pdf[5] Ibid.[6] Ibid.[7] http://www.cadiz.co.za/media/news/article2.asp?Id2=233&synthroid[8] http://www.fm.co.za/Article.aspx?id=151080image: This South African garden uses urine and compost from UDDTs (urine diversion dehydration toilets) (credit: Sustainable sanitation, Flickr Creative Commons)

Air Force: Science and Regulation Dovetail to Give Wind Power a Boost

Reynard Loki — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:30:40 GMT

"The global wind power available 30 feet off the ground is greater than the world's electricity usage, several times over." -- John Daibri, California Institute of Technology."[1]In northern Los Angeles County, there is a two-acre plot of land covered with two dozen wind turbines. But they don't look like the ones that you've most likely seen, the horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs) that resemble giant pinwheels slowly turning, all in the same direction. They are actually the newer and less common veritical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) that have been described as "eggbeaters sticking out of the ground."[2]These 10-meter-high kitchen appliance lookalikes are part of the Field Laboratory for Optimized Wind Energy (FLOWE), an experimental wind farm where John Daibri, a professor of aeronautics and bioengineering at the California Institute of Technology, has been figuring out more efficient ways to harness the power of those large masses of air sweeping back and forth across the surface of the Earth.In a study published in the July issue of the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, Daibri describes how his team was able to maximize wind collection at least tenfold simply by being more tactical about where to place the turbines and of course, choosing the right turbine.A NEW WAY TO HARVEST WINDDaibri's overall approach, as he writes in his paper, "is fundamentally different from current practices in wind energy harvesting: here, a large number of smaller VAWTs are implemented instead of fewer, large HAWTs. The higher levels of turbulence near the ground both naturally occurring and induced by the VAWT configuration -- enhance the vertical flux of kinetic energy delivered to the turbines, thereby facilitating their close spacing."[3]But it's not just about a more efficient wind gathering. Daibri goes on to note that his simple yet novel approach "has the potential to concurrently alleviate many of the practical challenges associated with large HAWTs, such as the cost and logistics of their manufacture, transportation, and installation (e.g., by using less expensive materials and manufacturing processes and by exploiting greater opportunities for mass production); environmental impacts (e.g., bird and bat strikes); acoustic and radar signatures (e.g., lower tip speed ratios than HAWTs); visual signature; and general acceptance by local communities. These issues, although not strictly scientific, limit the further expansion of existing wind energy technology."[4]Investors engaged in socially responsible investing (SRI) and sustainable investment, and in particular those interested in the future of renewable energy, should look to Daibri's findings with keen interest. But they also have another reason to smile, thanks to a new ruling by America's energy regulator.WIND POWER IN AMERICA GETS A FEDERAL JUMPSTARTOn July 21, the US government gave a boost to America's power infrastructure when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued "Order 1000," a new directive for public utility transmission providers that gives sets rules for the financing and planning of high-voltage power lines, giving a green light to increase investments in how the nation's energy is moved and stored.According to the 614-page docket, the order also aims "to ensure that Commission-jurisdictional services are provided at just and reasonable rates and on a basis that is just and reasonable and not unduly discriminatory or preferential."[5]"We're hoping it will create jobs and spur investment," said FERC chairman Jon Wellinghoff on the Bloomberg News program Talking Stock. "What we're setting forth is a framework to allow for comprehensive planning and paying for a new transmission investment in this country."[6]A BREATH OF FRESH AIR FOR THE WIND MARKETLast year, wind energy represented 11 percent of the renewable energy distribution in the US, ranking fourth behind hydropower (31 percent), biomass wood (25 percent) and biomass biofuels (23 percent).[7] But it is a rapidly growing sector. While Wellinghoff conceded that there are specific challenges to plugging variable energy resources like wind and solar into the national grid, he also noted that the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) estimates that "over the next 10 years, 60 percent of our new energy that will go into the grid will come from these variable resources."[8]"For the wind marketplace, the order allows developers to move ahead knowing that FERC has set a priority for clean-energy projects," said Gerald Schulz, vice president of electrical engineering for Michels Corp., a transmission contractor based in Brownsville, Wisconsin. "It really gives us confidence that we can move ahead in terms of economics and spend money."[9]HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF JOBS"Wind power has the potential to provide a much larger share of our electricity and create hundreds of thousands of jobs," said US energy secretary Steven Chu, in a statement applauding the commissioning of new wind turbines by the Consortium for Wind Energy Research, Education, and Workforce Development, led by the Illinois Institute of Technology.[10]Nodding to the market forces of the private sector and the importance of sustainable investment in cleantech, Secretary Chu said that projects like this "will help ensure that America has both the talent and the technology we need to compete in the clean energy economy. As the global wind power market expands, efforts such as these will support the long-term development of a clean energy workforce in order to achieve the Administration's goal of generating 80 percent of our nation's electricity from clean resources by 2035."[11]Money may not grow on trees, but perhaps it's blowin' in the wind. Thanks to innovations like Daibri's VAWTs at FLOWE and investment-spurring regulations from FERC, the forecast for wind power in America is looking positively breezy.###NOTES[1] http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110713092153.htm[2] Ibid.[3] http://arxiv.org/pdf/1010.3656[4] Ibid.[5] http://www.ferc.gov/whats-new/comm-meet/2011/072111/E-6.pdf[6] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTU_3z9Ev_E[7] http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/energy-overview/renewable-energy/[8] Ibid., 6.[9] http://enr.construction.com/infrastructure/power_industrial/2011/0816-windsolarbackershopefercsorder1000willspurdevelopment.asp[10] http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/news_detail.cfm/news_id=17582[11] Ibid.image: Vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) at the Field Laboratory for Optimized Wind Energy (FLOWE) facility in northern Los Angeles County. (credit: John O. Daibri, California Institute of Technology)

Social Venture Exchange: Funding Social and Environmental Change

Vikas Vij — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 13:57:59 GMT

Social Venture Exchange (SVX) is a highly innovative concept designed in Toronto, Canada to tackle the perennial problem of financial constraints faced by social and environmental groups around the world. Poverty alleviation and climate change are the most pressing global issues at a time when governments around the world are struggling with public debt and growing fiscal deficits.SVX is a social enterprise designed to connect social entrepreneurs with financial investors who are keen to invest in social innovation projects. Socially conscious investors are usually interested in sound environmental or social ventures that can have a positive impact on the local communities as well as the environment.Adam Spence, who pioneered the Social Venture Exchange concept in 2007, modeled after the Toronto Stock Exchange, says that, "The idea is to mobilize private capital for public good within a strong public policy environment." Spence has been leading the SVX since 2009 from the MaRs Center for Social Innovation Generation in Toronto.The goal of SVX is to expand the pool of funding rather than replacing government funding. The concept has received the support of the TMX Group, which owns the Toronto Stock Exchange. Other collaborators for the project include Imagine Canada, Causeway Social Finance and Torys LLP. The project is expected to go online in September, subject to approval from the Ontario Securities Commission.The venture's short-term goal is to raise a minimum of $2.5 million for 10 new social ventures and enlist at least 50 new investment opportunities by the third quarter of 2012. The Social Venture Exchange will enable investors and socially responsible companies to share due diligence, identify high quality investment avenues and opportunities, and collaborate on social entrepreneurship deals.SVX will provide social entrepreneurs with greater access to capital funding and financial expertise. Rather than choosing the traditional business model of donating a portion of profits to charities, the exchange urges socially responsible companies to integrate their business by investing in ventures that help the communities.Photo Credit: Duchesssa www.sxc.hu

Green Fireworks Go Green

Kendra Pierre-Louis — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 08:00:06 GMT

With the dog days of summer just a hair's breath away, thoughts naturally wander to what for many of us is the period at the end of a sentence filled with potlucks, cookouts, and swimming: namely, fireworks.From our neighbor to the north's Canada Day celebrations, to the Cannes Fireworks Festival, to the Sumida River Fireworks Festival in Japan, to our very own 4th of July celebrations, for people around the world celebrating summer often involves pyrotechnics.Unfortunately, fireworks, though pleasing to the eye, are heavy on the earth. They often contain a heady mix of benzenes, heavy metals, pechlorates and sulfur oxides. These endocrine disrupting, cancer causing chemicals don't merely disappear upon eruption - as spectators we breathe them in and they trickle into nearby water supplies as well as into the soil where they can become a persistent problem.It is welcome news then, that army pyrotechnic experts have found a way to turn green fireworks (as in the color), well, more green(as in sustainable). According to an article in the April issue of Nature, the army has a vested interest in making fireworks less toxic because they use them regularly in everything from celebrations to in the field. Current methods involves lighting barium nitrate, a toxic substance when eaten or inhaled that can cause muscle tremors, vomiting, diarrhea, kidney damage and even death, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), an endocrine disruptor which amongst other things can cause reproductive abnormalities. Researchers, have discovered however, that by submitting born carbide - a less toxic , readily available and cheaper to boot chemical - for the barium nitrate that the result was a less toxic flair.Now we just have to tackle the rest of the color spectrum.Photo Credit: < a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixellou/4764542385/" target="_blank">Lisa Williams

EPA Energy Star building certifications spark cost and emissions reductions

Daniel McDonell — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 09:00:12 GMT

In March, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a report on the U.S. Cities with the most Energy Star certified buildings that shows significant cost savings and emissions reductions from energy efficiency. Since the program's inception in 1999, the energy efficient buildings certified as energy star in these top 25 cities have saved over $866 million in energy costs and prevented greenhouse gas emissions from the equivalent of over 543,000 average homes.These statistics, however, represent only the 3,808 buildings in the top 25 cities. With almost 14,000 buildings certified, the program overall suggests massive savings in costs and emissions avoided from traditional, energy-intensive construction. With a 60% increase in buildings registered with the project from 2009 to 2010, the Energy Star program also shows dramatic growth in interest in energy efficiency construction.Los Angeles lies at the top of the city list which has over 500 Energy Star labeled buildings, followed by Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Chicago and New York. The list, ranked by numbers of projects, also gives statistics on square footage, cost savings, and avoided emissions.For the most part, the city ranking stays the same for square footage and cost savings. However, when ranked by greenhouse gas emissions reductions, Chicago comes in first place followed by Minneapolis-St.Paul and Houston. Although the EPA report does not investigate this distinction, these cities likely are powered by dirtier sources of energy, like coal-fired power plants.According to the EPA, energy use in commercial and manufacturing buildings costs more than $200 billion and represents more than half of all energy consumption in the United States in a single year. Energy Star Certifications in buildings require that the buildings perform in the top 25% of all similar buildings nationwide, and it requires verification by a professional engineer or registered architect.Buildings such as hospitals, data centers, schools, offices, retailers, supermarkets and warehouses can get certified under the commercial buildings program. Manufacturing facilities like auto plants, cement plants, glass manufacturing facilities, pharmaceutical facilities and petroleum refineries can also get certified under the manufacturing category of the program.The Energy Star certification for buildings and manufacturing plants are only one type of certification in the Energy Star program. Other certifications include labels for energy efficient products and appliances, energy efficiency for home installations and certifications for new homes.All Energy Star programs are intended, as the EPA site says, to "[help] us all save money and protect the environment through energy efficient products and practices." Significant growth in the program is expected to continue due to the significant savings and cost and energy reductions displayed by buildings are certified by the Energy Star program.

FedEx Sustainability Soars with EarthSmart EMEA Launch

Daniel McDonell — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 22:34:39 GMT

FedEx, the world's largest express transportation company, announced the launch of EarthSmart, a sustainability program for its Europe, Middle East, Indian subcontinent and African (EMEA) operations.The program, which is an expansion of the EarthSmart program launched in 2009 in North America as part of its Global Citizenship Report, enhances stewardship initiatives already taking place and makes a concrete commitment to financial and environmental sustainability.According to Beth Galetti, VP of Planning and Engineering at FedEx Express EMEA, the program denotes an is expanded and deepened pledge for "implementing initiatives with tangible business and environmental benefits." Galetti goes on to say that the EarthSmart program aims to create "formal avenues to engage our team members, customers, and community stakeholders in achieving shared environmental goals."The EarthSmart program is already touting some of its initiatives, including the introduction of new Boeing 777s to the fleet that are 18% more fuel efficient and fewer emissions than the standard MD-11 airplanes. Initiatives also include zero emission all-electric delivery vehicles in London and Paris and an automated shipping tool called Electronic Trade Documents (ETD) that reduces the need for paper copies of trade documents.These sustainability initiatives come on the heels of several recent environmental announcements by FedEx in 2011, including the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001:2004 certification for responsible environmental management at its European hub in Roissy-Charles de Gaulle, France. The certification, which is one of the most widely recognized environmental management certifications worldwide, includes a commitment for continual future environmental improvement.Other significant sustainable FedEx initiatives in the United States include making a commitment to the USGBC's LEED standard for new construction, including its "green" data center built in Colorado Springs, Colo. that was unveiled in 2011. FedEx achieved LEED Gold certification at its flagship Memphis, Tenn. based world headquarters and a newly constructed Las Vegas facility. The Las Vegas building features a 49% reduction in water and a 42% reduction in energy compared to normal buildings of the same size, and the facility diverted 86% of all its construction waste from landfills to recycling and reuse programs.Although programs like EarthSmart have made corporate social responsibility a standard, Fedex has focused on retaining a ground-up process for the initiatives. According to Galetti, "We cannot underestimate the contribution of our people. We know change starts here. We are heavily indebted to our employees who have undertaken the commitment of environmental stewardship with unwavering resolve, dedication and enthusiasm."Photo: Adrian Pingstone

Government Sector Leads the Green Building Movement from the Front

Vikas Vij — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 23:06:34 GMT

Governments at all levels in the United States have made a significant contribution to the green building movement in recent years. Many governments have clear policies that mandate LEED certification for public buildings. One out of every four building projects in the LEED pipeline is a governmental project.It is important to maintain this momentum because a very large number of existing government-owned buildings still need a serious improvement in their energy efficiencies. At the same time, new construction continues to grow a rapid pace in the government sector, which is where the opportunity is ripe for introducing energy-efficient building norms. The Obama Administration's "Better Building Initiative" is one of the key programs aimed at meeting energy efficiency challenges in new and existing buildings across the nation.The annual USGBC Government Summit, scheduled to be held on May 10 and 11, 2011 in Washington, D.C., is expected to bring together various government agency representatives and green building experts to push the green building agenda forward. Such events provide an opportunity for brainstorming of ideas that usually leading to lasting changes in the manner in which the green building movement is pursued in both government and private sectors.The annual summit in 2010 had result in the formation of a working group on healthy buildings based at National Institutes of Health. That became the foundation for a major research initiative on establishing the relationship between green buildings and human health. The 2011 summit will provide a common platform for building professionals in private and public sectors as well as government building contractors to discuss innovative ideas to expand the scope of the green building movement.The summit will be marked by innovative ideas and guidance provided by experts from the government and the building industry, policy-oriented discussions, and plenty of opportunity for networking and creation of working groups to carry the movement forward. Events such as the USGBC Government Summit are an important way to promote the goals of sustainable development in the building and construction arena, with particular attention to the government sector.Photo Credit: spidernash

USGBC's Top 10 States List Shows Regional Diversity, Expansion

Daniel McDonell — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 04:03:17 GMT

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) recently released a list of the top 10 states for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified U.S. projects in 2010. The list, which includes calculations only from commercial and institutional buildings, shows a wide range of regional diversity and an important expansion trend for the green building industry. The LEED rating system, which scores buildings on energy, water, land, materials and other environmental metrics, is the standard in green building ratings and is an important indicator for green building trends nationally.The top 10 list includes states that are spread widely across the West, Northwest, Northeast, South and Midwest regions of the United States. Nevada tops the state LEED-certified building list with 10.92 square feet per person, but Washington D.C. as a city is included and more than doubles Nevada's square footage with 25.15 square feet per person. Chicago is also cited as the city with the second most square footage per capita of LEED-certified projects.The USGBC makes a more valuable statement on the use and impact of green building by utilizing square footage per capita rather than number of buildings or square footage alone. As SVP of LEED Scot Horst is quoted, " Using per capita, versus the more traditional numbers of projects, or pure square footage, is a reminder that the people who live and work, learn and play in buildings should be what we care about most."The final list reported in the USGBC press release, including Washington, D.C., is based on 2010 U.S. Census data and is reported in square feet per capita:District of Columbia (25.15)Nevada (10.92)New Mexico (6.35)New Hampshire (4.49)Oregon (4.07)South Carolina (3.19)Washington (3.16)Illinois (3.09)Arkansas (2.90)Colorado (2.85)Minnesota (2.77)Because most of the LEED-certified projects analyzed for the list were registered since the beginning of 2009, the report also signifies positive signs for the green building industry. According to the USGBC's database from which this list derives, the U.S. has over 41,000 LEED-certified buildings across the country containing over 4.5 billion square feet of construction space since its inception in 2001. Over 53% of the projects, however (about 22,000 projects), were registered since the beginning of 2009, representing 49%, or 2.2 billion square feet of building space.As the leader in green building standards, the USGBC LEED-certification system is a significant indicator of the sustainable development and green building industry in the United States. The USGBC's top 10 states list for LEED-certified construction displays promising trends, both in regional diversity of applications and a continued expansion in certified projects in the last several years.

Owens Corning HQ in Ohio Achieves LEED-EB Gold Certification

Vikas Vij — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 00:33:23 GMT

Owens Corning headquarters in Toledo, Ohio has earned the coveted LEED Gold certification under its Existing Building program. This makes it the third existing building in the state to have achieved this status. The building had already been awarded with a silver certification in 2007 under the LEED-EB program.The building has met with strict standards in its design and operation as an environmentally responsible and energy-efficient structure. The building has already earned an Energy Star rating, which makes one of the top 25 percent energy-efficient buildings in the United States.The LEED-EB gold certification is usually harder to achieve because it involves making improvements in an existing building with its inherent design and operational limitations. This task becomes easier in a new construction that can incorporate all the requirements from the planning stage itself. This makes the Owens Corning building's LEED-EB status more special.The company's Chief Sustainability Officer Frank O'Brien-Bernini says, "The gold-certified LEED-EB status of our global headquarters building in Ohio is an iconic representation of Owens Corning's deep commitment to sustainability and energy efficiency. It's also an example of the operating cost advantages that are achievable through sustainable building practices. There are significant economic and environmental benefits to ensuring that new and existing buildings exceed today's energy efficiency standards through the use of insulation, air-sealing solutions, and many other energy-saving technologies."Owens Corning global headquarters building came up in 1996. From the beginning, the building included a number of environment-friendly features such as optimal utilization of daylight, under-floor ventilation for energy-efficient air delivery, and recycling of office partitions and carpets. More than half the site was restored to a natural environment with plantation of native vegetation that requires low maintenance.The U.S. Green Building Council's President Rick Fedrizzi recognizes the importance of green buildings and the efforts of companies that promote green construction. He says, "Building operations are nearly 40 percent of the solution to the global climate change challenge. While climate change is a global problem, innovative companies like Owens Corning are addressing it through local solutions."Photo Credit: ghost

Easy Ways to Green Your Home

Kendra Pierre-Louis — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 12:12:00 GMT

According to the U.S. Green Building Council, the building sector comprises roughly half of all the green house gas emissions released in the US, with roughly 25% of that coming from on site use of fossil fuels. For most of us who aren't in a position to either build a home from the ground up, or engage in costly retrofits that though may save money in the long run do not fit into our budget in the short-term, it can often seem like there isn't much we can do to reduce the carbon footprint of our homes.And while it's true that short of swapping ones home for a tumbleweed tiny home, most of us would be hard pressed to drastically slash our carbon emissions in short order, there are small steps we can take right now to reduce our carbon load.Take for example the humble roof. Its black (at least in the US) color attracts heat in the summer months, forcing those of us in warmer climates to pump the air conditioningin order to overcome this solar heat gain. In fact, 15-30% of air conditioning costs go simply to overcoming the heat brought in by black roofs.Yet there is a simple way of reducing this effect.Simply paint your roof white. White roofs, because they reflect the sun's rays, reduce building heat-gain substantially. Whereas a black roof can become as much as 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius) hotter than surrounding air temperatures, white roofs increase only a mere 10-25 degrees Fahrenheit (5-14 degrees) Celsius above daily ambient temperature. This isn't an intellectual exercise either - New York City Utility ConEdison found that painting the roof of one of its facilities white greatly reduced electrical use. Even Wal-Mart's gotten into the act - painting the roof of its Las Vegas facility white.Similarly, purchasing a water heater insulator - one with an insulating value of at least R-8 at a cost of 10-20 dollars - can shave roughly 10% off of one's monthly energy usage. Adding a bottom board of rigid insulation further reduces energy use up to another 10%.Finally, inexpensive, easy to install low-flow shower heads can reduce home water consumption and energy costs by as much as fifty percent without sacrificing water pressure.There you have it - three cheap, easy, ways of greening your home. What are you waiting for? Hop to it.Photo Credit:Walmart Stores

Green McDonald's to Educate Customers on Environment

Vikas Vij — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 05:08:52 GMT

A handful of McDonald's restaurants in the U.S. are seeking LEED certification for green building and operations. The latest one to join ranks is a McDonald's restaurant in Riverside, California. The restaurant expects to be awarded a LEED Gold rating within a year's time. Tom Spiel, the owner and operator of the restaurant believes that by following green building standards it is possible to lead by example and educate and encourage the customers in the matters of environmental sustainability."For us, this is a way to give back to our community," says Tom. "We hope that what we learn from this restaurant can be utilized to build more efficient and environmentally friendly restaurants in the future, which will then benefit more communities." As a unique community initiative, it aims to create an interesting and interactive platform for the customers to know more about the sustainable endeavors that help to make this Riverside McDonald's restaurant green.Towards this aim, the restaurant engaged the services of QA Graphics, creative firm in Midwest to set up an Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard at the premises. This dashboard is an interactive application that works quite similar to a website. It is informative and presents real-time energy efficiency data, and provides details on various sustainable initiatives operating at the premises. The best part of this innovative solution is that it provides a link between the restaurant's solar photovoltaic array and the display board to provide real-time energy data in a user-friendly manner.The customers can interact with the 42-inch LCD touchscreen, which is a part of the dashboard, and learn all about the sustainable features incorporated in the restaurant. A 3D virtual tour lets the customers explore the entire interior and exterior parts of the restaurant and know about the green innovations used in each part. The customers are also encouraged to see a demonstration of how the solar photovoltaic system works. LED lighting, solar hot water panels, Solatubes and porous pavers are other energy saving systems that customers can understand through demos. The aim is to educate and inspire people to implement green ideas in their personal lives.Photo Credit: somaddjinn

Server Farms: How Biggest Resource Users Drive Sustainable Innovation

Daniel McDonell — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 14:42:15 GMT

Server farms, also known as data or processing centers, are the nuts and bolts that keep almost 2 billion people worldwide online, and as such they use resources intensively. A modest server farm might use 15 megawatts a day, 10 megawatts of which go to powering processers and five of which go to cooling them. Another 360,000 gallons of water each day would additionally be used in the cooling process.As Google has been exploring ocean-based server farms that efficiently use the wind and sea water for energy and cooling, Facebook has just announced that their new server farm is 31% more efficient than the industry average and should save millions of dollars in electrical costs each year. As the data processing industry becomes one of the biggest industrial users of energy and water resources, the sector is starting to make its mark on efficiency innovation.Energy UseMicrosoft's 198 megawatt plan in Northlake, Illinois can use enough electricity to power almost 100,000 American homes. The capacity for this amount of energy not only stresses the grid, it has a huge carbon footprint from coal based suppliers and costs the companies millions in electrical bills. Even with this huge energy footprint, Microsoft spent 82% of its $500 million design and construction budget on mechanical and electrical infrastructure in order to get the most performance from every watt.These enormous electrical concerns are also what prompted Facebook's recently announced energy efficiency innovation at its Pineville, Oregon data center. The center includes a 480 volt electrical distribution system to ensure 93% of grid electricity makes it into the servers. LED lighting, hot air recycling and streamlined components add to increased efficiency. Even with these improvements, the design of the center made it cheaper than normal to build. Fortunately for the sustainable design world and unlike many of its tight-lipped competitors, Facebook is publishing all its innovative design specifications in its Open Compute Project.Water Use When Microsoft built its enormous new server farm in Northlake, Illinois in 2008, part of the agreement was that Northlake would buy an extra 2 million gallons of water capacity from neighboring Franklin Park. This amount represents a massive increase in water usage, as the town of Northlake only used about 5 million gallons of water per day before the server farm.Fortunately, in terms of sustainability, the water that is used to cool server farms does not need to be treated to drinkable standards at large costs (although most of it currently is). Additionally, the water used is not polluted when it is released other than being at higher than normal temperatures. These attributes make it easy for companies to recycle water and reuse greywater to limit their resource footprint and lower costs.Microsoft also developed its San Antonio server farm in 2008, which uses up to 8 million gallons of month of recycled greywater to cool its processers. Google has been experimenting with treating its own water from an industrial canal in Belgium, locating next to municipal wastewater plants to tap effluent and a data center in 2010 where harvested rainwater would provide between 40 and 100 percent of its water needs, depending on the time of the year. The companies, of course, clearly state that they are investing in these innovative solutions not only to improve their environmental footprint, but to save money and increase reliability of water sources.Despite the improvements in resource efficiency, server farms are still highly intensive users at even at their most efficient, prompting some critics to ask if energy efficiency is enough. Greenpeace, in response to Facebook's newly announced data center, commended the energy efficiency efforts, but also stated that as the IT industry grows, "Efficiency is simply not enough." The answer, according to a Greenpeace climate campaigner Casey Harrel, is to "decouple its growth from its emissions footprint by using clean, renewable energy to power its business instead of dirty coal and dangerous nuclear power." Time will tell if the server farm industry, with its track record of resource efficiency advancements, will continue to drive sustainable design innovation.Photo: Global Access Point

Zero Carbon Buildings that Generate their own Energy

Vikas Vij — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 04:50:45 GMT

Tata Steel Europe, in collaboration with the Welsh Government and the Low Carbon Research Institute has set up the Sustainable Building Envelope Center, which will develop and promote green technologies for building projects. The center's team of technologists and researchers is developing special types of steel sheets that can turn a building from an energy consumer into an energy generator.Tata Steel has set a tough benchmark to create zero carbon emission buildings that generate their own power at a cost that will be on par with conventional grid power. The new, revolutionary green building systems with self-generated power could come up within the next three to five years, according to the company's officials at the SBEC in North Wales.The new green building technologies will make use of advanced steel sheets that will be coated with special paints. The company plans to use these sheets not only for the new buildings, but also for existing buildings as a bolt-on option. In principle, these steel sheets have the potential to improve top line by as much as six times, as per the company. The payback period of the end users will range between three and six years, depending on whether they are used on new buildings or the existing ones.The company's CTO, Uday Chaturvedi, said, "Buildings are responsible for almost half of UK's carbon emissions, half of its water consumption, around a third of its landfill waste and a quarter of all raw materials used in the economy. This means that the UK's sustainable development targets cannot be met without a fundamental change to the way in which buildings are constructed. The steel industry can be part of the solution and these projects demonstrate our commitment to helping to develop a sustainable future."The managing director of Tata Steel Colors, Peter Strikwerda, said that the key idea is to "micro-generate energy on a macro scale." The idea has the potential to leverage a new generation of technologies with multiple usages. For instance, the power generated from these buildings could be used to power electric cars. The SBEC project is expected to enhance environmental sustainability of not only the steel industry but also of the various industries it supports.Photo Credit: mihow

American Power of the Fossil Variety

Kendra Pierre-Louis — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 22:57:21 GMT

A Simpsons-esque squat yellow house sits in the shadow of a looming nuclear power plant.A B.P. refinery in Southern California hangs a massive American flag hanging from its endless structure pipes and turrets.A quaint Iowa village with a neatly laid out square, large verdant trees, and modern windmills in the distance.These images and more are captured by Prix Pictet Growth Winner Mitch Epstein in his photographic series entitled "American Power".The series, described by the photographer as an examination of "how energy is produced and used in the American landscape." Says the author:"Made on forays to energy production sites and their environs, these pictures question the power of nature, government, corporations, and mass consumption in the United States."The effect for the viewer is a haunting sense of isolation and wanton destruction that comes with fossil fuel use, and hope for a better future embodied in alternative energy.In other words, without being preachy, or standoffish, the piece educates and elevates and is worth a rowdy discussion amongst friends.Photo Credit:Mitch Epstein

So Fresh and So Clean

Kendra Pierre-Louis — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 22:26:07 GMT

What often gets lost in amidst the discussion of our use of fossil fuels is this - fossil fuels are incredibly dirty. Burning fuel for energy rarely results in pristine, fresh air.This is why in January of this year the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) finally issued a ruling that will phase out permits for the most polluting grades of heating oil - No. 4 and No 6. These oils, according to a report by the Environmental Defense Fund, although they make up a mere 1% of the oils burned in New York City emit more soot pollution than all of the city's cars and trucks.In other words by dealing with a mere 1% of the city's problem, we can drastically improve the city's air quality.Shockingly, some 41 years after the nation's first Earth Day there is still a lot of similarly low hanging fruit. A handful of tiny changes effectively applied can do much to usher in sustainable development and work towards environmental conservation.Another example?In 2002 when Ireland externalized the true cost of plastic bags (like the kind given out at supermarkets), by charging a 15 cent plastic bag tax, the nation's use of plastic bags declined some 90%. These, after all, are the same plastic bags that choke wildlife and contribute to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.Sometimes, the biggest steps we can make, are the smallest steps.Photo Credit: Kate Ter Haar

Meat Glue, Pink Slime and Food Transparency

Kendra Pierre-Louis — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 21:53:07 GMT

It takes someone with quite the cast iron stomach to hear the words "meat glue" and think "I want some of that".There's a decent chance, however, if you've eaten meat, you've likely bitten into something held together by meat glue.Why yes, meat glue is not the product of dystopian novel but is rather a very real product.Officially meat glue is a transglutaminases enzyme derived from pig and /or beef blood. When sprinkled on scraps of meat, which are then pressed together using plastic wrap or a mold, the result is a structured steak.It's molecular gastronomy gone awry.While it's still far less gross than pink slime - the fatty slaughterhouse trimmings once relegated to pet food, that are now thrown into a centrifuge to remove fat, and treated with ammonia to reduce spoiling that comprises most American hamburgers - it suffers from similar problems.Namely, meat glued steaks have higher bacterial counts than normal steaks. This is structural. In meat most of the bacteria lies on the outer surface. Since meat glue steaks are comprised of many pieces of meat, some of those outer surfaces end up in the interior of the steak. The outside bacteria goes inside. And, since they don't have require labeling, unaware citizens can easily undercook the steaks exposing themselves to potentially serious health risks.Meat Glue - once you get past the name - is not that gross. We have, after all, molded scraps of waste meat together for centuries.It's called sausage.What is problematic, however, is the hidden nature behind meat glue. It's a transparency problem in which it is decided that individuals simply don't need to know what they're eating.And that's problematic.Photo Credit: Sarae