Top Stories
Study claims meat creates half of all
greenhouse gases.—reliability high.
"In a paper published by a respected US thinktank, the Worldwatch
Institute, two World Bank environmental advisers claim that instead of
18 per cent of global emissions being caused by meat, the true figure
is 51 per cent." Highlights. From
The Independent. PDF of report here.
[This should drive
commentators and agricultural interests into a tizzy. Report makes some
good points, though.]
Sins of Emission - The ethanol boondoggle is
also an environmental catastrophe.—reliability medium.
Opinion piece notes Searchinger et alia's Science article and the
resistance of legislators like Waxman of California to face up to the
lack of environmental benefits from crop ethanol. See
The Wall Street Journal. [Will ADM cancel its
WSJ subscription?]
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
Sustainable Value in Automobile
Manufacturing.—reliability high.
Study "assesses the sustainability performance of 17 major automobile
manufacturers worldwide using the Sustainable Value approach over the
period of 1999 to 2007." U.S. firms trail, Asians lead. See
Sustainable Value site. PDF of report here
via GreenBiz. [This
item has been widely picked up, with most articles noting the poor
showing of U.S. and some European firms.]
How much is green worth? PG&E's
carbon-offset program struggling.—reliability high.
"A 2-year-old PG&E program to help customers offset the size of
their carbon footprint has drawn little interest and consumer advocates
are arguing it should be allowed to expire at the end of the year. Only
30,000 households and businesses have enrolled in 'ClimateSmart,' which
allows residential and commercial customers of the San Francisco-based
utility to add a tax-deductible 'donation' to their monthly bill that
allows PG&E to buy carbon offsets." From
San José Mercury News.
Green Home Builder ZETA Readies Energy
Management System to Achieve Net Zero.—reliability high.
"ZETA Communities, a San Francisco-based green prefab builder, has
been quietly developing an energy management system that it says will
be ready to be installed in all the startup’s projects starting next
year. The system, called zTherm, automatically opens vents, draws heat
from thermal mass, and takes other low-cost measures to cool or heat a
house without cranking up the air conditioner or furnace." See
earth2tech.
Dole Facility Cuts Lighting Energy Use 95%.—reliability
high.
"Switching to solid-state LED high-bay lighting has helped Dole Fresh
Produce Co. save about 95 percent on lighting energy at a particular
cold storage warehouse." From
Environmental Leader.
Kraft Foods Launches First Mainstream
Sustainable Chocolate Brand.—reliability high.
"Kraft Foods is extending its commitment to sustainable cocoa farming
by launching the first European mainstream chocolate brand to carry the
Rainforest Alliance Certified(TM) seal. By the end of 2012, the company
has committed to use only cocoa beans from Rainforest Alliance
Certified(TM) farms across its entire Cote d'Or and Marabou ranges,
equal to some 30,000 tons of beans." See
Sustainable Business.
Nissan CEO targets 500,000 electric
batteries a year.—reliability high.
"Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said on Thursday that his
Franco-Japanese alliance is ready to produce a half million electric
car batteries annually, but market conditions would determine when." From
Reuters.
Government and
Regulation
Tempers Flare in U.S. Over Chinese
Involvement in Wind Farm Planned for Texas.—reliability
medium.
Reaction to the announcement of a big wind farm in Texas financed by
Chinese banks and using Chinese turbines. Partly because U.S.
turbine-building capacity is so small, lots of the government stimulus
spending on wind farms so far has gone to buy turbines made abroad. See
New York Times Green Inc. column.
[Crossposted from HaraBara.com courtesy of HaraBara, Inc. Copyright © 2009 HaraBara, Inc.]
