Top Stories
"New U.S. Standards Take Aim at Truck
Emissions and Fuel Economy"—reliability high.
The U.S. EPA has announced the first national emissions and fuel
economy standards for trucks, buses and similar heavy vehicles. The new
standards will apply to vehicles made in 2014. "tractor-trailers would
be required to achieve a 20 percent reduction in fuel consumption and
carbon dioxide emissions by 2018." EPA Administrator Jackson "said that
lower fuel costs for truckers would more than cover the costs of the
technology used to meet the new standards and would create jobs in
truck manufacturing and related industries." From The
New York Times. The EPA announcement is here.
"New Report: Chinese Companies are Improving
Environmental Standards Through Supply Chains"—reliability
high.
"Chinese suppliers can improve their business performance by adopting
high environmental standards, according to a new working paper by the
World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Institute of Public and
Environmental Affairs (IPE). The paper, 'Greening Supply Chains in
China,' highlights the experiences of five companies in China that have
worked to improve their environmental performance." See WRI
site. Access report here.
[Case studies
illustrate how sustainability improvements benefit Chinese companies.]
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
"San Francisco's green taxi fleet and how it
got there"—reliability medium.
How the city and the taxi industry agreed on regulations that have
resulted in half the taxi fleet being hybrid or natural gas vehicles,
significantly reducing fuel consumption by the fleet. From Autoblog
Green.
"70 mpg, without a Hybrid"—reliability
high.
The Mazda Demio (Mazda 2) to be introduced in Japan next year will get
70.5 miles per gallon, or 30 kilometers per liter, using the Japanese
method of estimating fuel economy. The U.S. method will give a much
lower estimate. The 30% improvement in fuel efficiency is achieved
through "a more efficient engine and transmission, and a lighter body
and suspension." More about the engine technology. "Michael Omotoso,
manager of the power train forecasting group at J.D. Power and
Associates, estimates that the new car could be rated between 50 and 60
mpg in the U.S." See Technology
Review. [Internal
combustion engine is not dead yet.]
"Petrobras signs $1.2 bln ethanol deal with
Tereos"—reliability high.
Brazilian oil major Petrobras will buy up to 2.2 billion liters of
cane-based ethanol from French-owned Tereos over four years for 2.1
billion-real ($1.23 billion). More about consolidation in the Brazilian
ethanol industry. From Reuters.
"Germany to raise bioethanol blending in
gasoline"—reliability high.
Germany is expected to approve an increase in the level of ethanol that
can be blended in gasoline from 5% to 10% from next January. The change
is expected to benefit grain and sugar farmers by creating additional
demand for their crops. Reuters
story.
"Global food crisis forecast as prices reach
record highs"—reliability high.
The Guardian reports "Rising food prices and shortages could cause
instability in many countries as the cost of staple foods and
vegetables reached their highest levels in two years, with scientists
predicting further widespread droughts and floods." Food commodity
price volatility and nervousness, weather events, withdrawal of
agricultural land for industrial uses including biofuels are seen as
causes. Stocks remain adequate, but food price inflation is pronounced
in some regions. "Mounting anger has greeted food price inflation of
21% in Egypt in the last year, along with 17% rises in India and
similar amounts in many other countries. Prices in the UK have risen
22% in three years." Speculation by investors is also blamed. See The
Guardian. Related story on "Six
casualties of the world food crisis", also from The
Guardian, rounds up reports on food shortages and inflation,
including cabbage in Korea, garlic in China, tomatoes in Israel, maize
in the U.S., sugar in Pakistan and bread in Russia.
"New Report: Access to Land and the Right to
Food"—reliability high.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food has issued a report
which says "up to 30 million hectares of farmland is lost annually due
to environmental degradation, conversion to industrial use or
urbanization. A trend exacerbated by the expansion of agrofuels and the
speculation on farmland." See Rapporteur
site. PDF of report here.
["The competition
among various uses of farmland has recently been increased by policies
favouring the switch to biofuels in transport, which leads to competing
resource claims on the part of local resource users, Governments and
incoming agrofuel producers, creating the risk that poorer groups will
lose access to the land on which they depend." Do crop-derived biofuels
offer benefits commensurate with their high social costs?]
Government and
Regulation
"South Africa unveils plans for 'world's
biggest' solar power plant"—reliability high.
South Africa will announce plans to build a 5 GW solar project which
would cost up to 200bn rand (£18.42bn) and would be equivalent to
one-tenth of the nation's current power generation capacity. The plan
calls for using "a mix of the latest solar technologies." See The
Guardian. [Northern
Cape Province, with its Kalahari Desert climate and Orange River for
cooling, could be one of the world's best solar sites.]
The Future of
Water
"In Yemen, Water Grows Scarcer"—reliability
medium.
John Rudolf posts that "Increasingly sharp water shortages could cost
Yemen 750,000 jobs and slash incomes by as much as 25 percent over the
next decade, warns a new report on Yemen," prepared by McKinsey and
Company for the Yemeni government. The capital Sana depends on
groundwater, which is being rapidly depleted and could run out by 2025.
More on water troubles in Yemen. From The
New York Times Green blog. [This isn't about
global warming or climate change, but about too many people trying to
mine limited groundwater resources. If you think Yemen is unstable now,
wait until they don't have enough water to grow khat. Growing
populations and profligate water use in arid regions could bring major
social disruption over coming decades. We needed a green revolution
fifty years ago, and got one because of decades of investment in crop
science. Now we need a blue revolution.]
