Top Stories
"Google invests in offshore wind
super-highway"—reliability high.
Google has agreed to provide 37.5% of the equity in the initial
development stage of the Atlantic Wind Connection (AWC) transmission
project. The project would cost $6.09bn and would lay a high-capacity
backbone along 350 miles of the continental shelf from New Jersey to
Virginia. BusinessGreen quotes Rick Needham, Google's green business
operations director: "We're willing to take calculated risks on early
stage ideas and projects that can have dramatic impacts while offering
attractive returns. This willingness to be ahead of the industry and
invest in large-scale innovative projects is core to our success as a
company." See BusinessGreen.
Google official blog post here.
Another article in The
New York Times.
"World Bank Pressured on Clean Energy"—reliability
high.
This International Herald Tribune special report says "The amount of
money that the World Bank is lending for fossil fuel energy projects
... — for coal in particular — is rising faster than ever". The Medupi
Power Station South Africa and the Tata Ultra Mega plant in India, both
financed with World Bank loans, will together emit more carbon dioxide
annually than countries such as Ireland or Norway. Dan Kammen, the
bank's new "clean energy chief", says the bank "had long focused on big
energy projects, many based on fossil fuels, but he insisted that this
was changing." More about the bank's way of thinking about high-carbon
projects. From The
New York Times. [Such change might
come a little late to prevent the 2 billion tonnes of carbon emissions
from the Medupi and Tata plants. According to Doc's
metric that's enough to ruin the lives of millions of people. I bet
the World Bank did not work that into its cost/benefit analysis.]
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
"Lessons Learned from Creating Coke's
PlantBottle"—reliability medium.
Scott Vitters, global director of sustainable packaging for The
Coca-Cola Company, posts about the development and introduction of the
"PlantBottle", a redesigned PET bottle made partly with a component
made from plant sugars from sugar cane juice and molasses. See GreenBiz
blog.
"Japan invests $120m in [Philippines] ethanol
plant"—reliability high.
Japanese company Itochu Corp. and partners will invest $120 million to
build a 54 million-liters-per-year sugar cane to ethanol plant in the
Philippines. 11,000 hectares of cane will be planted. The facility will
generate 19MW of electricity from bagasse, most of which will be sold
to the national grid. From Biofuels
International. [Philippines is
mandating renewables content in motor fuel, creating huge domestic
market for ethanol. Probably there are other incentives also being used
in this project.]
"Analysis: Fidelity records first"—reliability
high.
Reuters reports: "Four mutual funds at Fidelity Investments recently
backed an environmentalist proxy proposal for the first time on record,
showing how even the historically aloof fund giant has begun to join
other investment firms lending more support to green measures." The
article notes that there were "scores of occasions when Fidelity's
funds abstained on shareholder environmental proposals," but
campaigners took heart anyway. More on other firms' and funds' support
of environmental proxy bids. Reuters
story.
"Daqo Solar IPO, Fat Spaniel Acquired,
Greentech VC Deals and M&A"—reliability high.
This article provides a summary of recent venture financings, IPOs and
acquisitions in the solar and related cleantech sectors. See Greentech
Media.
Government and
Regulation
"Brazil Amazon forest to be privately managed"—reliability
high.
To reduce destruction of publicly-owned Amazon forests by illegal
logging and land clearance Brazil plans to offer commercial forestry
concessions on 1 million hectares of land this year, rising to 11
million hectares within five years. More on the controls embodied in
the proposed concessions, and other forest-protection policies in
Brazil. "'The future of the Amazon -- combating deforestation and
climate change -- is strengthening forest management. I don't see any
other solution,' Antonio Carlos Hummel, head of Brazil's National
Forestry Service, said". See Reuters
article. [To
avoid the tragedy of the commons, make them not common.]
Science and
Economics
"Half the productivity, twice the carbon [in
IT]"—reliability high.
A report from scientists at the Institute for Sustainable and Applied
Infodynamics (ISAID) in Singapore and Rice University's Baker Institute
for Public Policy in Houston finds that limits on carbon emissions
could reduce the contribution the information and communication
technology industry could make to increasing GDP. Co-author Chris Bronk
says, "In the U.S. in 2009, the economic output of the ICT industry per
kilogram of CO2 emitted was about $2.83, and in a business-as-usual
scenario, that output will fall to about $1.06 per kilogram of CO2 by
2020. Based on those numbers, the industry is headed for a brick wall
if limits are placed on CO2 emissions. In a carbon-constrained economy,
green innovation will be absolutely essential for ICT profitability."
More highlights of report. See EurekAlert.
PDF of the research paper here.
And . . .
"Cleantech Open: $180,000 to California
Finalists"—reliability medium.
The world's largest cleantech business competition has selected the six
finalists in its California region, out of 36 semi-finalists. Each of
these six entrepreneurial teams received $30,000 in cash/investment and
services. Article lists the finalists with thumbnail profiles. Final
national winner will be selected from among these and the finalists of
the four other regions and will be announced at the National Awards and
Expo on 17th November. Winner will get $250,000 in investment and
services. See Doc's
Green Blog.
