Environment Forum
Global environmental challenges
from MediaFile:
CES: Tablets, ereaders, TVs — need power savers?
Power sockets that sense when you leave a room and shut down. Portable hydrogen fuel cells. Pocket windmills that store electricity. Those were some of the little-noticed green power-savers tucked into a little corner of the otherwise monstrous Consumer Electronics Show floor in Las Vegas.
Gadgets that help conserve electricity are nothing new, but if there's one thing the profusion of giant TVs, backlit tablet computers and 3D projectors trotted out at this year's show will need, it's gizmos that help cut down your electricity bill. Industry executives say they have yet to filter into the mass public consciousness despite the heightened environmental awareness of today.
"The biggest problem we're having is teaching the public about this technology," said Scott Wilson, VP of sales at Bits Ltd, which was hawking a $39 power strip that can sense when a device goes to sleep or is turned off, and automatically shuts down a pre-determined number of linked devices.
One gadget that drew a crowd of curious onlookers was Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies' "MiniPak" handheld fuel-cell charger, which takes bottled water, breaks it down, and funnels power to any USB device, letting, say, campers charge their cellphones in the wild.
Still, saving power may not come as cheap as you might think. HiSaver's motion-sensing power strip (the one that automatically shuts down your TV after you've left the room for awhile) goes for $99 -- about 10 times the cost of your regular version. Kinesis's wind and solar charger -- displayed at CES in lurid green -- goes for $99.95. The MiniPak will relieve you of $500.
Executives argue you can recoup that initial outlay eventually on your eletricity bill.
"It pays for itself in less than a year," said Bits engineer Bruce Barton of his power strip.
Trade lessons for climate negotiators
- John Kemp is a Reuters columnist. The views expressed are his own –
As hopes for reaching a binding agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions at the Copenhagen summit die, climate negotiators could learn useful lessons on how to structure the negotiations from the multiple rounds of trade talks within the GATT/WTO framework.
Climate negotiations are about limiting carbon dioxide emissions, but the negotiators are also hammering out a complex economic instrument that will define the distribution of production, energy use and income in the next few decades. It is the agreement’s profound economic effects that are making it so hard to reach a final deal.
While the stalled negotiations on the Doha Round might make it seem likely an unlikely role model, the GATT/WTO process has successfully created a legal framework for liberalising world trade through eight successive rounds of increasingly complex negotiations, as well as a dispute settlement system accepted by all major countries.
In the process, negotiators have already had to resolve many of the difficult issues bedevilling attempts to reach an emissions deal:
* How to obtain treaty commitments from a huge range of countries at different stages of economic development.
It is unfortunate that negotiations are required for nations to act to save the planet. The world is still reeling from the broken down negotiations in Paris 1919(Treaty of Versialle). I hope the “climate negotiators” exercise logic and not emotion. The consequences of flawed negotiations and another ineffective climate accord will prove to be calamitous for humanity.
Blue business washes in
Green is good and blue is better.
Keeping a business sustainable – or blue – goes beyond philanthropic nods to the environment. It needs to be a core business goal, says Adam Werbach, creator of Wal-Mart’s sustainability program and chief executive of Saatchi & Saatchi S, the sustainability wing of the marketing and consultancy company.
Blue innovation embraces the social, cultural, and economic aspects of business along with green issues like protecting our last wild places and reducing carbon emissions.
“Sustainability is about long-term profitability. It doesn’t mean just the environment,” Werbach told a room of 100 business professionals in Toronto on Wednesday, pointing to the four-part breakdown of sustainability built on social, economic, cultural and environmental trends in addition to an integral value of transparency.
“The idea is to think a little bit broader. Of course we need to protect the environment, but there are so many other things to connect to it,” Werbach said, exploring a theme in his new book Strategy for Sustainability: A Business Manifesto.
“This is an extraordinary business opportunity that’s been left to the environmentalists and we need to steal it back and make it the business opportunity to grow companies that are going to be the companies of the future.”
Victoria Kamsler, chief ethics officer and research director at Greenfiniti Consulting and Investment in Toronto and former professor of environmental ethics at Princeton University, said Werbach was on to something with his ideas about internal changes in business culture having to do with transparency and engagement, and motivating employees to engage in purposes that align with their own values and ideals larger than themselves.
I believe I read somewhere that consumers were outraged to find out wal-mart actually has soda refrigerators. But now that the backlights have been replaced, it has held off the public boycott. Customers of wal-mart should begin to see an estimated .000000002345678910111213% difference in global temperatures by 2069. And a .00000777777775656565656566565656646464% price decrease because they feel they should pass the savings onto the consumers. I feel that with such ground breaking ideas as this one, we are on the road to a better more blueish green tomorrow!
from MediaFile:
In latest green move, Apple quits U.S. Chamber
Apple, which made news in environmental circles recently with its new approach to environmental accounting, took another high-profile action on climate change Monday when it resigned its membership in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over the group's environmental policies.
Apple became just the latest defection from the business lobbying group. And given that Apple's every move generates buckets of publicity, the action may serve to thrust the climate change issue into greater focus for the buying public.
Last month three big power utilities -- Exelon Corp, PG&E Corp and PNM Resources Inc -- said they were leaving the Chamber over its stance on global warming legislation. Nike last week resigned from the board of the Chamber, which has pushed for public hearings to challenge the scientific evidence of manmade climate change.
Apple made its resignation in a letter to Chamber CEO Thomas Donohue:
"As a company, we are working hard to reduce our own greenhouse gas emissions ... We have undertaken this unilaterally and without government mandate, because we believe it is the right thing to do. For those companies who cannot or will not do the same, Apple supports regulating greenhouse gas emissions, and it is frustrating to find the Chamber at odds with us in this effort."
"We would prefer that the Chamber take a more progressive stance on this critical issue and play a constructive role in addressing the climate crisis. However, because the Chamber's position differs so sharply with Apple's, we have decided to resign our membership effective immediately."
The iPhone and Mac maker last month unveiled a new method for assessing its environmental impact. It now calculates what it calls its entire carbon footprint-–from design to production to the emissions generated by those who use it products.
from Summit Notebook:
BrightSource CEO talks about building carbon-free future
John Woolard, the chief executive of solar thermal energy company BrightSource, sat down at Reuters' Global Climate and Alternative Energy Summit in San Francisco to talk about energy efficiency, project financing and the future of carbon-free power.
His advice: build fast!
(Editing/video by Courtney Hoffman)
from MediaFile:
Disney Stores get face lift for Earth Day
The Walt Disney Co rolled out a new look and mission for its North American Disney Stores in an Earth Day celebration designed to reposition the chain it bought back from The Children's Place last year as a "light education" destination, Jim Fielding, president of Disney Stores Worldwide said.
Disney reacquired the 225 stores after Children's Place fell behind on a pledge to invest millions to fix up the outlets. Disney had a tough time making the stores profitable before it handed them off to Children's Place, but Fielding said he just completed the chain's five-year plan and is "optimistic" about its prospects, even in one of the worst retail environments in living memory.
In addition to a new store design to be rolled out over the next year, the chain is looking for new digs in cities where bankruptcies and foreclosures have reshaped communities and the commercial real estate surrounding them. "We are still repositioning that portfolio to make sure we are in the right malls, in the right cities, and the right states," Fielding said.
As its first global initiative, Disney Stores launched a global Earth Day effort organized around an offering of recycled products, conservation-themed games for kids, and a giveway of reusable bottles that had families lining up at the stores on Wednesday. The global celebration also includes a tree planting initiative linked to sales of recyclable shopping bags, and Disney is working on signing up U.S. partners for more charitable endeavors like it frequently sponsors at its 106 European stores, Fielding said.
The worldwide do-gooderism is aimed at reminding kids -- most of whom come to the stores for the latest Princess dress, Buzz Lightyear or stuffed Mickey -- that "they are part of a bigger world and to be conscious of what's going on around them," Fielding said.
Yay, Earth Day ... Now hand over the Pooh Bear before my kid starts screaming.
from MediaFile:
Nokia retains top spot on Greenpeace list
Nokia has retained the top spot in Greenpeace's latest ranking of 17 consumer electronics companies over their environmental practices, while Philips and Apple made strides up the list.
Philips leaped to 4th place from 11th and Apple moved up to 10th place from 14th -- best among the top 5 PC makers -- in Greenpeace's latest "Guide to Greener Electronics" report. Companies are ranked based on a number of criteria related to chemicals, e-waste and energy, and Greenpeace uses the report to help pressure companies to change.
Samsung moved up to second place from fourth, while Sony Ericcson dropped a spot to third. Sony rounded out the top five.
Greenpeace said it penalized Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and Dell for "backtracking" on their commitment to eliminate toxic vinyl plastic (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) by the end of 2009. The environmental group said only Apple and Acer are sticking by pledges to phase out the substances.
Todd Tod Arbogast, director of sustainable business at Dell, said Dell scores well on other portions of the Greenpeace scorecard but that doing away with PVCs and BVRs is challenging.
"Dell continues to commit to eliminating those materials, however as many in our industyr have also acknowledged, its challening to find viable, scaleable substitutes."
Acer ranked 11th on the overall list, with Dell 13th, Lenovo 14th and HP 16th.
from MediaFile:
CES: “Green” envy on Day 2
Several exhibitors took up the “green” theme at CES 2009 as the “Pre” party continued. Any chance Dell had to upstage Palm disappeared in a cloud of secrecy with the “Adamo” laptop it briefly presented, but gave no details about.
Fuji said its EnviroMAX alkaline batteries were made of more than 90 percent recycled materials, had no mercury, cadmium and were PVC free.
Singapore-based Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies said their “HydroPack” water-activated and portable power system HydroPak could provide 4 to 5 hours of 50 watt emergency power without pollution or noise.
Design conscious Areaware showed off a retro and playful radio called “Magno”, that it said was made in Indonesia with sustainable harvest timber.
And Greenpeace held a press conference praising gadgets by Lenovo, Sharp, Samsung, Nokia and Toshiba in its 2008 Green Electronics Survey.
Intel rolled out the next generation of its netbooks aimed at the education sector and emerging markets. The third generation Classmate PC netbook is actually a netbook tablet, adding a touch screen and powered by Intel's Atom processor.
