Top Stories
World Bank adds $200m to Indonesian
environmental efforts.—reliability high.
"The World Bank has approved a $200m (£139m) loan to the government of
Indonesia to support its climate change policies. The bank said in a
statement that the Climate Change Development Policy Loan programme
will help the Indonesian government to address the need to mitigate
greenhouse gas emissions; enhance adaptation and resiliency to the
effects of climate change; and strengthen government institutions in
implementing and enforcing its climate change policy agenda." See BusinessGreen.
BP faces extra $60bn in legal costs as US
loses patience with Gulf clean-up.—reliability high.
"The oil disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico could present BP
with much higher costs than previously thought as a result of US
government penalties of up to $60bn (£40bn), according to City
analysts. The penalties are in addition to BP's already huge bill for
the clean-up mission, which stood at $760m yesterday, and potentially
unlimited damages payable by the company to fishermen and other
affected local communities. BP also faces billions of dollars of lost
earnings as a result of its damaged reputation in the US, which could
result in it being barred from bidding for future contracts." More on
BP exposure. Story at The
Guardian. [A
bonanza for lawyers. Deepwater Horizon gusher could pump tens of
billions of dollars into U.S. legal industry?]
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
Microsoft Looks to Peer Pressure for Energy
Tool Hohm.—reliability medium.
"Microsoft added a 'score' functionality to its energy management tool
Hohm, which gives a Hohm score to every address entered based on how
energy efficient the building is. Users can use that score to compare
it to their neighborhood, state and across the U.S. ... The Hohm score
can be tweaked by users that want to add in more detailed information
about their own home and users that are customers of utilities Seattle
City Light, Sacramento Municipal Utility District and Xcel Energy can
also link in real, billed, energy consumption data for an even more
accurate score." From earth2tech.
[The neighbors can
see your car, but they can't see your electricity use. What if they
could?]
Pepsi India touches eco watershed, first
unit to achieve positive water balance.—reliability high.
"The Indian arm of PepsiCo has become the first of its global units to
put more water back into the environment than it consumes, the company
said. The beverage giant has achieved ‘positive water balance’ by
recharging 6 billion litres and using 5.17 billion litres during 2009
with a net saving of 836 million litres. PepsiCo, which has 45 beverage
bottling and snacks plants in India, said the figures were verified by
audit firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu." See Economic
Times.
Large-Scale Solar Water Heating in North
America.—reliability high.
"This article combines a broad overview of the nearly untapped market
of commercial and institutional customers in the U.S. and Canada with a
profile of the new California program and asks: Will the new program
trigger a significant uptick in the non-residential market? Which
industry types are best suited to take advantage of the technology and
new program provisions? What are some opportunities and challenges
ahead for the solar water heating industry in North America?" From Renewable
Energy World.
Haworth says 'no' to RECs, 'yes' to offsets.—reliability
high.
"The company decided to go with carbon credits instead of RECs because
they offered assurance that its purchase would add renewable energy to
the grid, according to Haworth's senior environmental engineer, Steve
Kooy. The 4,100 metric tons of carbon credits, which were purchased
from The CarbonNeutral Company and certified by Voluntary Carbon
Standard, come from a run-of-river hydro project in China. The company
chose to work with a Chinese project because it could not find a
project in the United States that met its additionality requirements,
says Kooy." Story at Sustainable
Industries.
Government and
Regulation
Lawsuit Filed Over Renewable Fuels Standard.—reliability
high.
"The legal challenge results from the EPA using "optimistic"
projections about emissions from biofuel production in 2022, rather
than current data regarding emissions from biofuel production, to
finalize lifecycle greenhouse emissions assessments. Using this flawed
method, the EPA determined that all biofuels meet 2007 emissions
standards, despite a growing body of research that indicate some
biofuels result in worse emissions than conventional gasoline, the
environmental groups said." From SustainableBusiness.com.
[If you are using
biofuels are you exposed to some NGO revealing they are actually
increasing GHG emissions compared to gasoline or diesel?]
Science and
Economics
Deforestation Reductions Could Save US
Farmers, Ranchers, & Foresters $220 Billion.—reliability
medium.
"A new report from the National Farmers Union and Avoided
Deforestation Partners shows how much money could be saved in the US
farming and forestry sectors from efforts to halt tropical
deforestation ... . It concludes that
U.S. soybean, oilseed, beef and timber producers will see total revenue
increases of $141 - $221 billion from 2012-2030--$7-9 billion per
year—if the U.S. joins other developed nations in investing in stopping
deforestation. The report was launched at a press conference with
representatives from the National Farmers Union, the American Forest
& Paper Association, the United Steelworkers (representing forest
products workers), and the Ohio Corn Growers Association". See NRDC
blog. [Every
sector in the U.S. is asking whether a potential energy/climate change
bill will be of net benefit or cost to it.]
[Crossposted from HaraBara.com courtesy of HaraBara, Inc. Copyright © 2010 HaraBara, Inc.]
