Top Stories
Nissan ready for electric vehicle offensive.—reliability
high.
Carlos Ghosn, the head of the Nissan-Renault alliance, comments on EV
plans. "Ghosn said he already has 56,000 orders for the Leaf in the
United States, and they will begin taking orders soon in Japan and
Europe. On top of that, he expects fleet orders for taxi companies,
post offices and municipalities. Ghosn said the French government wants
100,000 of government vehicles to be electric. ... Nissan believes that
10 percent of global auto market will be fully electric in 10 years."
Story from AP at BusinessWeek.
For California vintners, it's not easy being
green.—reliability high.
"'Green' labels do not pack the same wallop for California wines that
they do for low-energy appliances, organically grown produce and other
environmentally friendly products, but it's not because there's
anything wrong with the wine, a new UCLA-led study has found. In fact,
wines made with organically grown grapes actually rate higher on a
widely accepted ranking, said Magali Delmas, a UCLA environmental
economist and the study's lead author. And these wines tend to command
a higher price than their conventionally produced counterparts, so long
as wineries don't use the word 'organic' on their labels. But when
wineries do use eco-labels, prices plummet. ... 'Wine made with organic
grapes — especially if it has an eco-label — is a really good deal,'
Grant said. 'For the price of conventional wine, you get a
significantly better quality wine.' " See more at EurekAlert.
[Growing
organically has to be its own reward, at least in this market.]
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
Daimler’s Tata Cash Offsets Losses From EADS
Holding.—reliability high.
"Daimler, the world’s largest truckmaker and the No. 2 manufacturer of
luxury cars, sold its 25.6 million Tata Motors shares ... . ...
'Daimler appears to be moving away from partnering with traditional
players and shifting towards CO2-friendly cooperation,' said Arndt
Ellinghorst, a Credit Suisse analyst in London at with an 'outperform'
rating on the Stuttgart- based company. 'Cutting ties with Tata may
help clear the slate for an eventual deal with Renault on small
cars.'". See BusinessWeek.
Ecomove awarded best startup.—reliability
medium.
Mumbai-based bicycle-sharing startup Ecomove Solutions has "won two
awards at the 3rd Indira India International Innovation Summit held at
Taj Lands End, Mumbai on 11th February 2010. Best Innovative Business
Idea - Presented to V Ramesh; Best Innovative Startup of the Year -
Presented to Ecomove Solutions Pvt Ltd." Source: email from Ecomove.
100% Bio-Plastic Water Bottles Trickle Into
Marketplace.—reliability high.
"A new trend emerging in the bottled water market is bio-plastic
bottles made 100 percent from plants, as opposed to the mixed
composition bottles that came out in recent years. The latest
eco-bottles come from Green Planet Bottling and Keystone Water Company.
Green Planet launched a new water brand in a 100-percent plant-based
bottle that is toxin-free and carbon neutral, compared to popular
plastic bottles containing petroleum and BPA, according to a press
release. They are also reusable, recyclable and compostable in 80
days." Story at Environmental
Leader.
Fruition Sciences takes Imagine H2O top
honors.—reliability high.
"More than 50 companies around the world specializing in water
efficient technologies competed in the inaugural business plan
competition. The first place winner of the Imagine H2O Prize goes to
California- and France-based Fruition Sciences, which has developed a
special way to give the vineyard farmer real-time status of key
variables for growing wine grapes, including when they need water."
The method saves farmers significantly on irrigation. From Cleantech
group.
Science and
Economics
Counting 'Outsourced' Greenhouse Gas
Emissions.—reliability high.
"two scientists at the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford
University have published a new study in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences (subscription required) that aims to
quantify how much of each nation’s carbon dioxide consumption is
produced locally and how much is “embedded” in imported goods. In the
United States, about 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide are consumed per person
each year but are produced somewhere else, the co-authors, Ken Caldeira
and Steven Davis of the Carnegie Institution, found." See New
York Times Green Inc. blog. Abstract here.
[Crossposted from HaraBara.com courtesy of HaraBara, Inc. Copyright © 2010 HaraBara, Inc.]
