Top Stories
The Sustainability Imperative.—reliability
high.
Sustainability is a "megatrend" influencing business, like the cold
war, electrification, the rise of mass production, IT, globalization
and the quality movement. "Our research into the forces that have
shaped the competitive landscape in recent decades reveals that
'business megatrends' have features and trajectories in common.
Sustainability is an emerging megatrend, and thus its course is to some
extent predictable. Understanding how firms won in prior megatrends can
help executives craft the strategies and systems they'll need to gain
advantage in this one." Article in The
Harvard Business Review.
Green Marketing: What Works; What Doesn't -
A Marketing Study of Practitioners.—reliability high.
Highlights of commercial report. "80% expect to spend more on green
marketing, 4 times as many marketers said green marketing was more
effective than those who said it was less effective, The internet was
both the most popular medium employed, and also the one that marketers
found the most effective, Nearly half said decision-makers hold green
marketing in high regard" Environmental
Leader site. PDF of executive summary here.
[The executive
summary has a lot of interesting information and is definitely worth a
read.]
States prepare to rise to CO2 challenge as
Senate climate bill collapses.—reliability high.
"The collapse of an energy reform proposal in Congress last week could
return power to north America's historic actors on climate change: the
regions. ... Though Washington and Ottawa have yet to pass
cap-and-trade legislation, 23 US states and four Canadian provinces
have already put a price on carbon. Between them, the carbon cutting
regimes will eventually cover half of America's population and about a
third of its emissions and about three-quarters of Canada's population
and half of its emissions." Examples of actions of specific states and
provinces. Story in The
Guardian.
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
China is parlaying its hunger for power into
yet more economic clout.—reliability high.
"China’s endless power-plant construction boom has accounted for 80%
of the world’s new generating capacity in recent years and will
continue to do so for many years to come, says Edwin Chen of Credit
Suisse, an investment bank. Capacity added this year alone will exceed
the installed total of Brazil, Italy and Britain, and come close to
that of Germany and France. ... The huge expansion of generating
capacity serves many purposes, not least of which is bolstering
national pride, especially in rural areas that, not long ago, were
consigned to darkness after sundown. Officials are also aware that
China’s abundant power helps attract investors who are leery of the
flickering industrialisation of other emerging markets. ... Cheap power
has fuelled the expansion of energy-intensive heavy industries, such as
steelmaking and aluminium smelting, which have made China more
dependent on electricity than any other big economy." More on Chinese
energy policy and its consequences. See The
Economist.
Asian Development Bank Announces $9B Solar
Energy Initiative.—reliability high.
"The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Monday announced a solar energy
initiative that aims to inject $9 billion into the regional market and
generate some 3,000 megawatts (MW) of solar power over the next three
years. ADB plans to provide $2.25 billion in finance to the Asia Solar
Energy Initiative (ASEI), which is expected to leverage an additional
$6.75 billion from the private sector and regional governments." See Sustainable
Business.
Pricing for Utility Green Power Continues to
Fall.—reliability high.
"Edmond Electric, OG&E Company, Avista Utilities, Park Electric
Cooperative and Arizona Public Service offer the lowest price premiums
for renewable energy, according to the annual assessment of leading
utility green power programs by the National Renewable Energy
Laboratory (NREL). Price premiums range from -0.17 cents/kWh to 0.80
cents/kWh. NREL analysts report that the rate premium that customers
pay for green power continues to drop. The average net price premium
for utility green power products has decreased from 3.48 cents/kWh in
2000 to 1.75 cents/kWh in 2009." Story in Environmental
Leader. [Some
utility is charging less for renewably generated electricity than for
"ordinary" electricity?]
Greenpeace lauds Cisco on climate, chides
Google.—reliability high.
"The environmental watchdog group released its annual Cool IT
Leaderboard on Thursday, which judges large IT and consumer electronics
companies on a range of criteria related to climate change, including
efforts to lower their environmental footprints and commercial efforts
in energy and efficiency. This year, Greenpeace placed Cisco at the top
of the list because of its move into building energy management and the
smart grid, technologies that can boost renewable energy use and
efficiency. Ericsson and Fujitsu scored well for developing methods for
measuring the environmental impact of IT and for setting credible
carbon reduction estimates for its customers." From CNET News.
Access report here.
Government and
Regulation
EPA Announces Plans to Regulate Coal Ash.—reliability
high.
"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today is proposing the
first-ever national rules to ensure the safe disposal and management of
coal ash from coal-fired power plants. ... Today’s action will ensure
for the first time that protective controls, such as liners and
groundwater monitoring, are in place at new landfills to protect
groundwater and human health. Existing surface impoundments will also
require liners, with strong incentives to close the impoundments and
transition to safer landfills, which store coal ash in dry form.
... Today’s action also will promote environmentally safe and
desirable forms of recycling coal ash, known as beneficial uses." See EPA
site. [The
EPA is really making up for lost time in establishing environmental
regulations.]
500 cities pledge to reduce CO2 by more than
20%.—reliability high.
"More than 500 European mayors will commit today (May 4) to cut CO2
emissions by more than 20% by 2020. ... By signing the Covenant of
Mayors, they pledge to save energy, foster renewable energy and raise
awareness among their citizens." From edie.net.
[Crossposted from HaraBara.com courtesy of HaraBara, Inc. Copyright © 2010 HaraBara, Inc.]