Top Stories
California's Building Code Turns a Deeper
Shade of Green.—reliability high.
"On a unanimous vote, the California Building Standards Commission
approved provisions on Tuesday that revise the code adopted in July
2008. That rules package was a set of voluntary green building measures
for new construction and took effect in August 2009 with a timetable
for transitioning to mandatory standards. Starting January 1, 2011,
adherence to the rules adopted this week becomes a requirement for all
new construction." There have been some complaints that the code
creates a quasi-certification standard, since buildings can be labeled
as compliant. From
GreenBiz.
Germany moves toward trimming solar power
incentives.—reliability high.
"The government, photovoltaic companies and consumer lobby groups
moved closer on Wednesday toward an agreement on trimming
state-mandated incentives for solar power to reflect a steeper overall
slide in costs." Having built a large PV industry based on lavish
government incentives, Germany is puzzled how to adjust those
incentives to avoid a bubble, while not hurting the industry too much. From
Reuters.
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
Integra own brand paper now Carbon Neutral®.—reliability
high.
"Integra Office Solutions Ltd, the leading dealer group in the UK
office and IT supplies industry, has achieved CarbonNeutral®
accreditation for its own brand initiative multipurpose office paper. .
. . To achieve the CarbonNeutral® brand mark, Integra worked with The
CarbonNeutral Company to complete an independent assessment of the CO2
emissions produced from the manufacturing, packaging, storage and
distribution . . . ." "Integra took the decision to additionally offset
the CO2 emissions through carbon offsetting." From Office
Supplies News. [Note that they
have not offset the emissions generated from the paper after disposal.
A pound of paper in a landfill, or in an incinerator, produces more
than a pound of CO2 emissions, probably more than was emitted in
manufacture, packaging, storage and distribution. This paper is only
"Carbon Neutral" in some weird branding sense, not in reality. Also,
has someone really
registered "Carbon Neutral" as a trademark? No, the headline writer
erred: only "CarbonNeutral®" is registered.
(Is "CarboNeutral" still available?]
Ecollywood: Kiefer Sutherland on how '24' is
going green.—reliability high.
Hollywood says it is green. Actors and others tell how much they care
about the environment. All trucks blown up in new season of "24" to be
hybrids? "Although the show is set in the Big Apple, it still shoots in
Los Angeles so Diamantopoulos and his wife Becki Newton (Amanda in the
New York-based Ugly Betty) continue their commuter marriage. He took a
fuel-burning 51 flights last year, but tries to make up for it by
conserving at home. 'Not using bottled water and drinking filtered
water is a big thing for us. We switched every single bulb to
fluorescents,' he notes, 'and we recycle both in New York and L.A.'" See
Mother Nature Network. [Would be funny if
it weren't so sad. Do these
people realize how lame they sound? Do they think they are setting a
good example?]
Gov't cleantech spending successfully
soothing VC fears.—reliability high.
"Venture capitalists looking for clean energy investments say that the
billions in stimulus grants, tax credits and loan guarantees
distributed by the U.S. government, particularly the Department of
Energy, have taken a lot of risk out of investing in early-stage
startups. . . . 'We have a new partners, and that’s the Department of
Energy,' said Bruce Pasternack, a venture partner at CMEA Capital . . .
." From
VentureBeat. [This
won't help start-ups, however.]
Government and
Regulation
S.Africa to introduce new car tax despite
concerns.—reliability high.
South Africa's National Treasury will press on with plans to introduce
a new tax on vehicles designed to curb carbon dioxide emissions, an
official said Wednesday, despite concerns this could hamper the ailing
auto sector's recovery. "The adjusting of existing ad valorem excise
duties on motor vehicles to take CO2 emissions into account will still
be implemented on 1 March 2010," said a Treasury spokesperson. The
government needs the money. From
Reuters.
[Crossposted from HaraBara.com courtesy of HaraBara, Inc. Copyright © 2010 HaraBara, Inc.]
