Top Stories
New Vehicle Emissions Rules to Save
Corporate Fleets Billions.—reliability high.
"The nation's first federal rules regulating greenhouse gas emissions
from light-duty vehicles stand to save the country's corporate fleets
billions of dollars from improved fuel economy.'As companies typically
turn over their passenger vehicle stock every three to four years,'
Mathers said, 'corporate fleets will be among the first to adopt these
new, cleaner cars.' " See GreenBiz.
US, Canada working on heavy truck emissions
rules.—reliability high.
"The United States and Canada are working together on proposed
emissions standards for heavy trucks, which should be released in the
next few months, Canadian Environment Minister Jim Prentice said on
Thursday." From Reuters.
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
By Slashing Saturday Service, USPS Would
Save 500K MT of GHGs.—reliability high.
"In addition to saving money, by cutting out Saturday delivery, the
U.S. Postal Service would trim its annual emissions by up to a half
million metric tons. The USPS estimates that mail volume will drop to
about 150 billion pieces in 2010, down nearly 30 percent from the 213
billion pieces delivered in 2007. ... This amount represents 3-5
percent of USPS’s 2007 emissions from facilities, owned vehicles and
contract transportation, which totaled 11.2 million metric tons. Nearly
all the GHG reductions will come from fuel saved by reducing the miles
driven." See story at Environmental
Leader.
CN offers online tool to calculate carbon
emissions, rate at same time.—reliability high.
"CN announced that shippers now can use an online tool to
simultaneously secure a rate and calculate carbon emissions by
switching shipments from truck to rail. ... The online application
calculates carbon emission reductions based on the average shipment
lading weight for a single rail car or container, while CN's 'Get
Carload Price' and 'Get Intermodal Price' public pricing tools provide
an estimated rate." From Progressive
Railroading.
The Bayer Group and Exxon Mobil Top Toxic
100 Air Polluters Index.—reliability medium.
"Based on the EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) from industrial
facilities across the United States, the Toxic 100 Air Polluters
index takes into account not only the quantity of chemical releases,
but also the toxicity of chemicals, transport factors such as
prevailing winds and height of smokestacks, and the number of people
exposed. It provides access to this information on all firms operating
in the United States, regardless of size. ... PERI researchers found
that the top five air polluters among large corporations are: Bayer
Group, ExxonMobil, Sunoco, DuPont, and Arcelor Mittal." From 2Sustain.
Access report here.
French firms pull the plug on palm oil.—reliability
high.
"French firms have stepped up restrictions on the use of palm oil,
decried for being linked to deforestation in Asia, in a move that may
boost demand for local oils but some warned it could raise new food and
land problems. .. "By removing palm oil from our products in favor of
rapeseed oil, we act in a responsible way both in terms of environment
and public health," Findus, France's largest frozen food maker, said in
a statement on Monday. Using the same arguments retailer Casino said
last week that more than 200 food products would be guaranteed to be
palm oil-free by the end of the year and another 370 would follow. Palm
oil would be replaced by rapeseed or sunflower oil." Reuters
story.
Clean technology underperforms market by 15
per cent in 2010, bank says.—reliability high.
"Since the start of the year, clean technology has been under
performing the market by about 15 per cent, according to analysis by
Bank of America Merrill Lynch. ... 'Clean technology stocks performed
very well in 2007 and 2008 when there was a lot of issuance in the wind
space. But in 2009, our index was down 60 per cent versus the market,'
he said, on a conference call. 'It has been a very difficult year with
clean technology underperforming the market by 15 per cent.'" See NewNet.
Record Number of Clean Technology Venture
Deals in 1Q 2010 Finds Cleantech Group and Deloitte.—reliability
high.
"Cleantech venture investment was up 29% from the previous quarter and
up 83% from the same period a year ago. The number of deals recorded in
1Q 2010 represents a new record total, edging ahead of the previous
high set in 4Q09 (165 deals). 'The bounce back in venture investment
from lows in early 2009 has continued, with the first three months of
2010 representing the strongest start to a year we have ever recorded,'
said Sheeraz Haji, President of Cleantech Group. 'Key to the growth has
been increasing interest in a broader range of cleantech themes, such
as smart mobility and resource efficiency, which are now taking over
from the historically dominant renewable energy sector.'" Highlights of
report. From Cleantech
Group.
[Crossposted from HaraBara.com courtesy of HaraBara, Inc. Copyright © 2010 HaraBara, Inc.]
