Top Stories
"U.S. to probe if China clean energy actions
violate WTO rules"—reliability high.
"U.S. trade officials said on Friday they will investigate whether
Chinese support for its clean energy sector is a violation of World
Trade Organization rules, as requested by the United Steelworkers
Union." See Reuters.
China replied saying the United States was also promoting its energy
sector and more than 2,300 projects, including those related to clean
energy, were eligible for government subsidies. "As such, the U.S. has
no reason to blame other countries' efforts to improve the well-being
of mankind." Another Reuters
story. [Of
course the investigation will take until after the election, and who
knows what will happen then.]
"Newsweek's 2010 Green Rankings"—reliability
high.
Newsweek has published a "data-driven assessment" of how the largest
companies in the U.S. and in the world rank in terms of sustainability.
Among the top scorers: HP, Johnson & Johnson, IBM, Sony,
GlaxoSmithKline. At the bottom: Nestle, China Petroleum & Chemical,
ArcelorMittal and Rio Tinto. Top of the U.S. list: Dell; bottom,
Peabody Energy. From Newsweek.
The method of calculating the rankings is described here.
[Does anyone else
feel that rankings of this sort are becoming increasingly irrelevant?]
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
Toyota "to Use Bio-PET 'Ecological Plastic'
in Vehicle Interiors"—reliability high.
Toyota says it will be using "bio-PET2", a plastic partly derived from
sugar cane, "to make vehicle liner material and other interior surfaces
... . ... Starting with the luggage-compartment liner in the Lexus
'CT200h' due at the beginning of 2011, TMC plans to increase both the
number of vehicle series featuring the new material, as well as the
amount of vehicle-interior area covered by it, and intends to introduce
a vehicle model in 2011 in which Ecological Plastic will cover 80
percent of the vehicle interior." "Bio-PET" is made by replacing the
(some of?) the 30% of PET that is monoethylene glycol "with a
biological raw material derived from sugar cane", but the other 70% is
still terephthalic acid. More on Toyota and bioplastics. See Toyota
site.
"IKEA, McDonald's Add Solar Panels in CA"—reliability
high.
IKEA will add rooftop solar panels on most of its facilities in
California, with total capacity of 4.5 megawatts. More on solar at
IKEA. The McDonald's installation is on a rebuilt restaurant in
Riverside, which will be its "fourth in the U.S. to seek LEED Gold
certification." See Environmental
Leader.
"China's annual output of electric vehicles
to hit 1 mln by 2020"—reliability high.
China's Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang says that new
energy vehicles are key to the development of China's auto industry and
that the country's annual production capacity of electric motor
vehicles will reach 1 million units by 2020. "A total of 8.5 billion
yuan (1.28 billion U.S. dollars) from the capital market has entered
the electric car industry since the debut of the project in 2009, he
said." From People's
Daily Online. [China made about
13.8 million motor vehicles in 2009. Maybe it will make 20 million in
2020. So EVs would be only 5% by this projection.]
"Yingli Green to add 700 MW manufacturing
capacity"—reliability high.
Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. will build additional monocrystalline
and multicrystalline silicon PV capacity in China. This follows First
Solar's announcement of two new plants, one in Vietnam and one in the
U.S., and China's Suntech opening of its first manufacturing plant in
the U.S. Booming demand for solar panels is causing current capacity to
sell out. Reuters
story. (Story on First Solar plans here from Bloomberg
Businessweek.)
"15 Algae Fuel Startups, 2010 Edition"—reliability
medium.
Katie Fehrenbacher posts a list of 15 leading algae startups, (mostly
for biofuel) including several that weren't in earth2tech's 2008 list.
And some from 2008 aren't around any more. See The
GigaOM Network.
"Green movement prying loose details about
cleansers"—reliability high.
"amid pressure from environmental, health and consumer groups, makers
of household cleaning agents are beginning to reveal more about the
chemicals in their products, in some cases hoping to head off
requirements for greater disclosure." Comments from various
stakeholders. See MSNBC.
Government and
Regulation
"EU ministers tell hauliers: polluters should
pay"—reliability high.
The EU Council of Ministers has said EU member states can charge road
tolls related to the environmental damage trucks cause. States "will be
able to charge an extra 3-4 cents to reflect the cost to public health
caused by air and noise pollution. Road authorities will also be able
to vary tolls during the day in an attempt to control congestion, for
instance by charging more during rush hours." See Reuters
article.
"China aims to cut energy intensity 17.3
percent by 2015"—reliability high.
As part of an effort to cut energy intensity by 31 percent by 2020
China will reduce energy used for each dollar of economic output by
17.3% by 2015, compared with 2010 levels, according to a statement by
Huang Li of the National Energy Administration. He said the plan calls
for further reductions of 16.6% during 2016-2020. From Reuters.
[How much of this
improvement will come from changing the energy mix, how much from
energy conservation, and how much from switching to higher-value-added
products?]
