Top Stories
300 Gallons for $1 of Sugar and Other Hidden
Water Use.—reliability high.
A recent study from Carnegie Mellon University about the direct and
indirect uses of water found, among other things, that production of $1
worth of sugar requires almost 300 gallons of water. "The researchers
found that indirect use, also called embodied and virtual water,
accounts for the majority of water withdrawals, coming to about 60
percent. That supply chain, or indirect, use exceeds direct use in 96
percent of all the sectors" The report analyzed water use in 498
industrial sectors. See story at GreenBiz.
See abstract here
(article is behind pay wall). [Sugar isn't the
worst. That 300 gallons per $1 output is just for refining. Sugar
farming is about 800 gallons per dollar. Grain farming costs 1,400
gallons per dollar, cotton farming 1,300 gallons per $1 raw cotton
produced. Our blog will have more details soon. Supply chains hide big
impacts.]
EPA proposes blocking largest mountaintop
mine in West Virginia.—reliability high.
"The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday proposed to halt the
largest mountaintop mine in Central Appalachia, saying the project
would pollute drinking water and harm wildlife in mountain streams, and
that the damage to the mountains would be irreversible. Despite the
strong language, however, the EPA's action only begins another lengthy
process involving the controversial mine. In the end, the agency could
prohibit the mine altogether or allow it to continue with
restrictions." From Kansas
City Star. [Enforcing Clean
Water Act rules could cut this type of coal mining, which makes up a
small fraction of all U.S. coal production.]
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
Plant expansion for recycling specialist.—reliability
high.
"Leigh Fibers Inc. is to invest more than US$10 million to expand its
production of fibres made from recycled textiles. The investment will
involve the expansion of the company’s one million-square-foot Wellford
plant in South Carolina where it recycles post-industrial and
post-consumer textile waste and uses the recycled material to
manufacture reprocessed fibres for a variety of global industries
including automotive, traditional textiles, nonwovens, construction and
home furnishings. Around 40 jobs are likely to be created." From EcoTextile
News.
General Electric to build offshore wind
manufacturing plant in UK.—reliability high.
"The US conglomerate General Electric (GE) announced plans for an
offshore wind turbine manufacturing plant in Britain, creating up to
2,000 jobs. The company said it had not yet decided where to build the
facility, but its plans would result in about £100m being invested in
Britain, creating clean energy jobs at both the new site and in the
supply chain. ... "This investment is tied to the successful deployment
of the UK government's port development fund," a company statement
said." Story at The
Guardian.
And Siemens
to build UK wind turbine plant.—reliability high.
"Siemens of Germany announces plans to create hundreds of jobs in
Britain and invest more than £75m in a new wind turbine plant. ... The
decision comes after months of talks – including meetings at 10 Downing
Street with the Siemens president, Peter Löscher – and is believed to
have been finalised as a result of an important change in the budget
last week, which brought public grants for ports to build green
manufacturing hubs around them." Also from The
Guardian.
Daimler Bus completes delivery 1,350 vehicle
hybrid order for New York City.—reliability high.
"Daimler Buses North America has completed the delivery of a major
order for hybrid buses to the New York City Transit authority. The New
York bus system bought 1,350 Orion VII buses that use a series hybrid
drive system produced by BAE systems. ... New York now has 1,679 hybrid
buses with all but four being sourced from Daimler. That makes it the
largest operator of hybrid buses in the world." The Orion VII is a
series hybrid with LiIon batteries and a 6.7 liter Diesel engine. The
Diesel runs at a constant speed charging the batteries and electric
motors provide all the traction. Includes press release. From Autoblog
Green.
Cisco buys into WiMax for Smart Grid,
acquires stake in Grid Net.—reliability high.
"Cisco Systems has been scouting for major plays in the Smart Grid
infrastructure arena for about a year — some analysts even speculated
that it would buy wireless networking provider Silver Spring Networks.
But today, it announced its decision to go with Grid Net, one of the
first and only companies to trumpet WiMAX as the ultimate solution for
transmitting data between utilities and smart meters." Story at GreenBeat.
Government and
Regulation
Washington Imposes Mercury Recycling Fee on
CFL Producers.—reliability high.
"Under a new Washington state law, companies that make lights that
contain mercury will need to pay for recycling programs for their
products. The law goes into effect in 2013, and will require companies
that create compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs and fluorescent tubes
to pay $15,000 a year to fund recycling programs." Also mentions
Maine's law. From GreenBiz.
U.N. ship agency adopts North America
pollution cut plan.—reliability high.
"Delegates from member states have met this week in London for a
session of the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) marine
environment protection committee. They adopted a plan on Friday to
create an Emissions Control Area which would extend 200 nautical miles,
which is 230 statute miles, around the coast of the two nations and
aimed at the control of nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, and
particulate matter from ships. Once an IMO plan is adopted there needs
to be 16 months for it to enter into force, meaning the Emissions
Control Area would become mandatory around July 2011." See story at Reuters.
[Crossposted from HaraBara.com courtesy of HaraBara, Inc. Copyright © 2010 HaraBara, Inc.]
