December 2010

One Green Design Fits All

Chain Reaction

     The U.S. Green Building Council is launching a "volume certification" program that allows national chains to submit plans for a prototype store, office, bank or restauranct for LEED certification.  If the design, construction and building management plan meet LEED standards, the council will waive the rigorous process of evaluating each new store as it is built.  Instead, the council will conduct random audits to ensure that its standards are being met as certified prototypes go up in city after city, state after state.

     A four-year pilot project that tested the volume concept drew tremendous interest.  Nearly 40 companies and organizations took part, including Bank of America Corp, Best Buy Co, Cushman and Wakefield, Starbucks Corp. and Target Corp.  Participants have certified 355 projects so far and have more than 1,000 in the pipeline, says Doug Gatlin, a vice president at the Washington D.C.-based Green Building Council.

     For every project, one key ingredient for success has been developing an "orientation neutral" design.  PNC Bank executives, for example, wanted each of their branches to have an atrium-like entrance with glass walls. But an entrance might face north, south, east or west, depending on the shape of each lot, traffic flow and available parking.

     The architects know that the direction an atrium faced would dramatically affect how much sunlight and heat would come into each building, affecting its energy use.  So, they sketched out an alternative entrance: still an atrium, but one with two rooflines, one on top and the other halfway up the building.  Both protrude like awnings, blocking excessive heat from the glass wall beneath.  But the undersides of the awnings are painted white to bounce daylight back into the building and minimize the need for interior lighting.  Motorized blinds can be raised or lowered to modulate the intensity of the sun as well.
     Such features, along with glazed glass, solar power and high-efficiency heating and air conditioning, helped PNC earn LEED certification for its branch prototype, while maintaining a sleek look.
     Granting LEED certification to lots of buildings based on a single set of plans has its risks.  For instance, many companies rack up LEED points by requiring that their construction crews aggressively recycle materials and minimuze waste.  Yet in parts of the country, especially in some Mid-western cities, that's not part of the construction culture.  Also, much of a building's carbon footprint comes from how it is used. So, chains must commit to training their employees in every new building on the best practices for maximizing energy efficiency.  But developers who have been through LEED certifications for individual projects say the benefits of group certifications should outweigh the hassles.   
Exerpted from the Wall Street Journal 11/29/10  by Stephanie Simon

Ford Uses Recycled Jeans in 2010 Focus

     Ford's 2010 Focus will use cottons from recycled clothing in areas such as carpet backing and sound-absorption materials for interior quietness.  One of the clothing materials used in the next-generation Focus is post-consumer cotton that comes from recycled blue jeans.  The amount of post-consumer cotton from blue jeans used in a vehicle comes out to roughly two pairs of average-sized American jeans, based on pounds of cotton used per yard of denim and the yards of denim used to make a pair of jeans.

     Over the past several years, Ford has introduced non-metal recycled and bio-based materials, including soy foam seat cushions, recycled resins for underbody systems, recycled yarns on seat covers and natural fiber plastic for interior components, into its vehicles.  

Environmental Leader 12/1/10

Tato Nano Cars
I love cars, but I am very aware of their shortcomings.  Perhaps nothing bothers me as much as parking lots.  They are in many ways just wasted space, and the bigger the store the bigger the parking log.  We've sort of grown into though, and parking lots make great meeting places for all sorts of events...though I believe we could do away with a lot of them.

What about countries like India though?  Just seven people in every 1,000 own a car (whereas America has 647 cars per 1,000 people), and yet have you seen the traffic jams they already have to deal with?    What will happen when that number goes up and up and up as India makes big economic strides?  Well, you might start to see super-garages like this Tata- designed one sprouting up.
I've seen video of the traffic jams in India and it sends shivers up my spine. Imagine what it will be like 20 years from now? Some studies say that by 2030, 25 percent of Mumbai will be covered by cars and parking lots.  That is a lot of space devoted to just parking cars and in Mumbai, space is at a premium.  The Tata Tower, however, acts as a vertical parking garage, providing ample space (and charging for electric vehicles) to 4,050 Tata Nanos, the world's cheapest car. The towers would lift the Nanos up into slots along the tower, and I am assuming some sort of ticket system or code would retrieve the car for you.
Not only would they hold Tata Nanos, but Tata employees as well. Starting to see a pattern here? The Tata Tower would have up to 930 residences for employees.  The towers wouldn't just be self-sustaining, but actually provide power to charge the cars.  It all looks good on paper, but is such a project feasible? It might have to be, as Mumbai is the second most populated city on the planet.  They are going to need somewhere to park all those cars, or come up with a better publice transportation system.  
by Christopher DeMorro  gas2.org

Setting Sustainability Goals:  10 Golden Rules
     I was recently impressed by hearing goals described by the phrase "dreams with a deadline." There tends to be a relatively 'yes' or 'no' answer to the question; "has the goal been achieved?"  With companies striving to do better by deploying the right practices without any absolute end point, sustainability goals should arguably be seen more as intentions with targets, as opposed to boxes that need to be ticked.  The best sustainability reports deliver significant internal management benefits. They provide a valuable tool for corporate leadership to negotiate realistic ambitions with its managers to secure enhancements across all areas of the operation. Goals are a central part of business management. They provide a compass to managers who need clear, benchmarkable targets that can steer them in an agreed direction.

1. Reach for motivating and aspirational goals that will benefit the business and expand opportunities for the company.
2.Senior management must be committed to the goals. Ideally, it should be the CEO who is seen as the principle trailblazer.
3.  Sustainability goals must be integral to the business, and should not require separate work, because the right sustainability strategy will enhance the efficiency of the company's existing operation.
4.  Always make sure the targets are credible, which means striking a balance between what can be practically achieved while setting the bar at a level where real improvements will accrue.

5.  Prioritize sustainability goals towards areas where you can make the most meaningful impact and generate the biggest results.
6.  Publishing sustainability goals must be much more than an expression of hope and desire.  No goals should be included without there being a clear roadmap as to how they can be achieved in reality.

7.  Company employees can provide the richest source of ideas as to what sustainability goals should be set- they are among the first to recognize opportunities.

8.  Establish goals that have real traction with customers and consumers.  A company's drive for sustainability must neither be seen purely as an internal management tool or as an external public relations opportunity.

9.  Meaningful goals cannot be set in isolation from the world at large.  Collaboration with external 'watchdog' organizations, NGOs and partners is necessary to advance a sustainability agenda and communicate with the public in a credible and authentic manner.

10. While sustainability goals must be designed to benefit the business, it is important that they include elements that position the company as a good corporate citizen. Innovation is key to driving new sustainable products which can also enable the solving of environmental or social sustainability issues.  This should be factored into the thinking when developing new goals.  
Excerpted from Jonathan Wootliff, Reputation Partners

Best wishes for a Happy, Healthy and Green Holiday Season ~ from all of us at Impact Energy Solutions, Inc.

November 2010

How Algae Fuels the U.S.
South San Francisco, Calif. - The forest green algae bubbling in a stainless steel fermenting tank in a suburban warehouse may look like primordial pond scum, but it is a promising new source of domestically produced fuels being tested on the nation's jets and warships.
     In a laboratory just a few steps away from the warehouse, white-coated scientists for a company called Solazyme are changing the genetic makeup of algae to construct a new generation of fuels.  These "bioengineered" algae are placed into tanks where they get gat on sugar beets, switch grass or a host of other plants.  The sun's energy, which is stored in the plants, is transormed by the hungry algae into oil, which can be refined into jet fuel, bio-diesel, cooking oil or even cosmetics.

     While it may sound far-fetched, the U.S. Navy in September ordered more than 150,000 gallons of ship and jet fuel from Solazyme and the company received a $21.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy last year to build a new refinery in Riverside, PA to help push production to commercial levels.
     "Most of the the planet is producing some kind of plant matter, even in the oceans," said Jonathan Wolfson, the CEO and co-founder of Solazyme. "(Our) unique microbial conversion technology process allows algae to produce oil in standard fermentaion facilities quickly, efficiently and at commercial scale."
     The U.S. military hopes to run 50 percent of its fleet on a mixture of renewable fuels and nuclear power by 2020.  As part of this drive, the Department of Defense has been investing in companies like Solazyme to help jump-start the young industry. The military as a whole uses more than 90 percent of the energy consumed by the federal goverment, officials said.  The federal government uses about 2 percent of the energy consumed in the United States.  
Excerpt from Fox News/Associated Press 10/27/10


USGBC Requests Public Comment for LEED Program Update

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is requesting public comment on a proposed update to the LEED green building rating system as part of the organization's continuous improvement process and on-going development of the LEED program.  The public comment period will close on December 31, 2010.
     The proposed update builds on the foundation of LEED 2009, including the alignment and weighting of credits, and advances the "bookshelf" framework where credits are applied to specific building types.  This latest draft also places increased emphasis on an intergrated process and building performance.  USGBC also is improving the process it uses to collect and respond to stakeholder feedback on the ideas presented in the public comment drafts of LEED. 
     In addition to the public comment Web pages at usgbc.org, USGBC will also take feedback from projects testing pilot credits, and use input from a moderated forum dedicated to discussing the LEED program as well as comments from various webinars that will be held with key stakeholders.    
Environmental Leader 11/10

BMW has been lagging behind other carmakers by not having solid plans for a mass production electric vehicle.  There have been auto show concepts and there's the Mini E conversion, but that's about it.  The European Federation for Transport and Environment even called out the automaker recently for not doing enought to meet new EU emissions targets (130 grams of CO2 per kilometer by 2015).
     Well, that's finally changing.  BMW has announced that it's investing $560 million by 2013 to develop and produce an EV.  The BMW plant in Leipzig, Germany, will be expanded to produce the new vehicle, which is currently being called Megacity.  BMW will of course be using its luxury car expertise and materials in this new car.  The head of BMW has said that this will be the first production model "with a carbon fiber passenger compartment" to lighten the weight while retaining strength and resistance -- and keep up the cost.
     That's about where the details end for now.  It is being called a series model, so we'll have to wait and see where this vehicle falls in the BMW range.    
Megan Treacy for AFP

Greenbuild 2010 Returns to Chicago

Greenbuild 2010 will be held in Chicago's McCormick Place West on November 17-19.  As one of the first cities to adopt LEED for public buildings, Chicago is home to more LEED certified buildings than any other  city.  Scientific Conservation will be hosting  "Greentalk" with John Picard, Rob Watson and David Gottfreid, founders of LEED.  Be sure to visit the Impact Energy Solutions team while you are there!

October 2010

 Sustainability Builds Brands

     The more sustainable a brand is perceived, the more meaningful it becomes to consumers, according to research from Havas Media.  A key finding of the "Brand Sustainable Futures" analysis find that only one-third of brands are considered meaningful to consumers.  It also reveals that while sustainability is a key issue for consumers worldwide, few brands live up to increasing expectations.
     According to the survey of more than 30,000 people across four continents and nine markets, the vast majority of mainstream consumers wouldn't care if two thirds of today's global brands disappeared in the future.  More than half of the consumers surveyed say confusion, a lack of clarity, and perceived higher prices prevent responsible purchasing.  The analsysis also shows that social issues and sustainability still rank as major concerns among consumers worldwide, with 80 percent of consumers expecting business to act responsibly.  In addition, an increasing majority (76 percent vs. 70 percent in 2009) place the responsibility for environmental and social issues on business, rather than governments, say researchers.

      Other key findings reveal that only 29 percent of respondents believe that brands are working hard to resolve sustainability issues and 68 percent (64 percent in 2009) believe companies only act responsibly in order to improve their image.  The analysis also shows opportunities for brands who adopt clear and engaging communications, offer greater product incentives (such as price) and availability, which were all cited as key barriers to responsible consumption, say researchers.
     These barriers varied by country, with price the main issue in western economies (France, UK, US and Germany) and lack of information the most important in Spain and fast growing markets such as China, Brazil, Mexico and India.  Havas Media says the project's proprietary metric, the Brand Sustainable Futures Quotient (BSF Quotient), allows a company to assess, track and compare its brand's sustainable health over time.

     In the 2010 analysis, IKEA received the highest score of the "multi-market" brands, while scores have risen for almost all brands surveyed from 2009.  Companies that improved the most this year include Volkswagen, BMW, L'Oreal, BBVA, Reckitt Benckiser and Carrefour.  The study also looks at brands by sector.  The brands with the most defined sustainability profiles last year included food and consumer-product brands and retailers such as Danone, Nestle and Unilever, say researchers.  This year a more diverse selection of brands from other industries are making a difference versus their competitors by raising their sustainability brand profile include BMW, Volkswagen and Philips, say researchers. The study also finds that integrated 360-degree approaches are needed to communicate sustainable issues.  These include digital and indirect communications channels (such comments from employees, friends and family, key opinion leaders, experts, NGOs, certification labels).
     Branding of green products also is considered to be more difficult than traditional products.   
Environmental Leader  10/15/2010

IBM Plays 'Smart' Games

     IBM has unveiled CityOne, a Smarter Planet interactive simulation game that is designed to help business and civic leaders make their cities and industries smarter by solving real-world business, environmental and logistical problems.  The simulation game enables players - business leaders, city planners, government workers -  to develop and budget improvements that address some of the biggest challenges in global cities.  It provides more than 100 real-world scenarios to transform cities through technologies that reduce traffic congestion, save water, streamline supply chains and tap alternative energy sources, says IBM.  You can view a trailer of the Smarter Planet Game at Youtube.

     In all of the missions, players must determine the best way to balance the city's financial, environmental and sociological interests, says IBM. They are challenged with improving the city by attaining revenue and profit goals, increasing customer satisfaction, and making the environment greener with a limited budget.  Players also will learn how to adopt technologies such as business process management, service reuse, cloud computing and collaborative technologies to help make organizations in city systems more intelligent.

     Cities consume an estimated 75 percent of the world's energy, emit more than 80 percent of the greenhouse gases, and lose as much as 20 percent of their water supply due to infrastructure leaks, according to IBM.  CityOne is a virtual environment that helps business and government leaders learn how to use advanced technology and to better understand how their city infrastructure works in order to improve their energy and water efficiency and cut greenhouse gas emissions.  In addition, CityOne content is linked with cloud-delivered business process management capabilities that allow real-time communication with other players and IBM industry experts.  This allows players to discuss how the process models from the game relate to real world implementations.

     Since plans for the game were announced in May, more than 8,000 people have pre-registered to play CityOne, IBM says.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also provided content and resources to help develop the CityOne simulation game.  IBM's Smarter Planet strategy is aimed at helping cities and utilities become smarter with new technologies and tools that help them better manage their resources, while reducing cost, increasing reliability and lowering energy and water consumption.     
Environmental Leader  October 5, 2010

Do Not Fly at Night-
Flying during the day is greener and bluer

     We all know that flying in an airplane takes a terrible toll upon the environment.  Skipping on flight saves as much CO2 as going vegetarian for an entire year.  And going vegetarian is one of the greenest things you can do in terms of CO2 savings.  But in this fast-paced, modern world, plane travel is almost unavoidable.  Our society revolves around being able to transport ourselves and each other over vast distances.  Until we can change the way the world works, we just have to make decisions that are more environmentally friendly and hope we get it all figured out before global warming does some serious damage.
     One thing that you can do to reduce carbon emissions when traveling by plane is by booking a flight in the daytime instead of at night.  Contrails left by airplanes at night have a greater impact on global warming than the ones left in the day.  At certain altitudes, aircraft produce contrails- condensation trails caused when the plane's hot exhaust     hits the chilly atmosphere. These contrails have a surprisingly big, but also complex effect on the climate.  Because they are clouds, they trap heat that is emitted by the Earth's surface, creating a "greenhouse effect" that adds to warming.  Yet during daytime, these clouds have a cooling effect because they are white and thus reflect some of the Sun's energy back into space.
     As weird as it sounds, flying during the daytime can help reduce your carbon footprint.  So if you have a choice of when you are going to fly, opt for the afternoon flight.  It's the greener way to fly.  
Josh Peterson, News in Science

Aquafina's New Eco-Fina Bottle: Greenwash or Progress?

     Aquafina, Pepsi's bottled water brand, is apparently paying attention to consumer demands.  the new Eco-Fina bottles are designed to reduce their environmental impact, using 50 percent less plastic than bottles produced seven years ago.  They are actually a pretty snazzy bit of industrial design.  The plastic is paper-thin through the body of the bottle.  It would crush in your hand if it weren't for a cleverly designed system of decorative ridges.  These add enough strength to the container that it performs like a conventional bottle.  The whole thing weighs a bit less than 11 grams.

     So -  does this make Aquafina's new bottle eco-friendly? While no disposable plastic product will ever be truly sustainable, we'd be less than honest if we didn't admit that the new bottles are a step in the right direction. If every manufacturer of bottled water adopted similar technology, the industry would save more plastic each year than is currently being conserved through recycling.  Given the economic slowdown and reduction in demand for recycled materials, this seems like a pretty good deal.  Sure, you'd be a lot better off filtering your own water and carrying it in a reusable, BPA-free container.  But less plastic is less plastic.    
Chris Baskind in Recycling 10/18/10

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September 2010

Stickers for Buildings: Monitoring Environmental Impact

Cars Have Mileage Ratings - Why Don't Buildings Have the Same for Carbon Emissions?
     It is hard to believe, but there is a lot to learn from the automobile industry in terms of environmentsl efficiency.  One model, in particular, is how car dealerships display stickers on each car stating its fuel consumption.
     These stickers effectively communicate, and help control, the overall fuel consumption and the carbon emissions in all cars.  The U.S. government was able to double new car uel efficiency between 1975 and 1985.  These results eventually lead to President Obama's decision, in May 2009, to continue raising the average for cars and light trucks.  By 2016, the estimated savings are expected to be 900 million metric tons of carbon, the equivalent of closing 194 coal-fired power generators.

What about Our Buildings?

     What is preventing us from replicating this and applying it to our buildins?  Buildings are responsible for about 40 percent of total carbon emission in North America, while SUVs are responsible for only three percent. Imagine the difference we could make by placing efficiency stickers on buildings and decreasing their emissions by 50 percent over a 10 year span.  In only one year, a 50 percewnt reduction of building emissions could save 1.14 billion tons of carbon in the U.S.
     There is no general standard for building performance and there are challenges when it comes to tracking energy efficiency of our buildings.  City and government authorities do not have visibility into the "fleet average" performance of their buildings.  Lack of information prevents the implementation of a policy to minimize building carbon emissions using the same procedure as seen with automobiles.
     Change is really possible.  Emerging technologies provide appropriate tools to perform measurements and calculations of carbon emissions, water usage and total energy usage.  By introducing these measurement capabilities, we can evaluate each building's performance and assign an efficiency sticker.  When a city has acquired all measurements for its buildings, an average can be calculated in footprint per square meter of floor space.

     Imagine that a city averages 50 kilograms of carbon per square meter, but government regulations under jurisdiction must achieve a target of under 40 kilograms of carbon per square meter in a five year span.  This results in a 20 percent reduction.  To reduce the overall footprint, a similar limitation can be placed on water and total consumption.
Comparison Brings Improvements
     The U.S. government does not require in-depth information on a city's buildings or specific targets for individual building types.  It requires only an overall benchmark of the average footprint (comprised of carbon, water and total energy) and for individual cities to independently determine based on knowledge of building stock.
     Residential buildings could be controlled through similar use of a footprint sticker and the benchmark average methodology.  If houses provided visible stickers, comparison of carbon ratings and evergy performance could be a determining factor towards buying a house.  Neighbors could compare performance with one another, which would help drive change.
Driving Towards Positive Change
     We are currently headed in the right direction.  President OBama hopes to make all U.S. buildings carbon neutral or with zero emissions by 2030.  Other countries like the U.K. now require houses on the market to be nergy rated.  By having footpring stickers on buildings, city building stock averages and building emissions are severly lower, and they have created substantial global carbon savings.
     Automobile companies have made a huge progress in the reduction of car pollution using measurement stickers and enabling direct comparisons.  With the right tools, we can achieve the same improvement of operating efficiency in our buildings as we have with automobiles.  
Ron Dembo, Zerofootprint  9/23/10 for Environmental Leader              comment on our facebook page




Why is Energy Efficient Lighting Outpacing Lighting Controls in Existing Buildings?

Why are so many building owners implementing projects to improve the efficiency of their lighting without also improving the control of their lighting? At the core of the issue is the reality that lighting controls are very different from energy efficient lighting. The result of this dichotomy in the marketplace, is the under-utilization of lighting controls as a way to drive sustainability, energy savings and financial returns. Lighting control or sensor projects are often 20 to 50 percent smaller than they should be, leaving energy savings opportunities untouched.

Why does this happen? Two primary reasons: 1) Lighting controls and sensors can be complicated and confusing and 2) quantifying the energy savings with accurate empirical data is rarely offered. Although lighting manufacturers have strived to make user-friendly products, lighting controls are much more challenging, so lighting contractors may not offer the option, and building owners often avoid them.

Quantifying energy savings is most likely the single largest barrier to comprehensive lighting control and sensor projects. The challenge of accurately modeling the use of a building in order to calculate energy savings from lighting controls requires not only a thorough understanding of the building space, but also the collection of enough data to be statistically significant. In the absence of this data, service providers become hesitant to present savings with any level of confidence and buyers become hesitant to invest in comprehensive projects.
When lighting controls and sufficient data have been addressed, a comprehensive project can be implemented and the financial returns often outpace those of an energy efficient lighting upgrade.

The fact that the market has relied on service providers to provide technology that they are not qualified to deliver, has led us down a path where each new LED or high performance system that is installed without controls, significantly diminishes our continuing conservation and sustainability efforts. In the final analysis, 'lighting' is not the same as 'lighting controls.'   
Brad Jenkins, PES Controls 9/10       comment on our facebook page




Wind Turbines Slated for New York

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey hopes to have the five wind towers, each more than 280 feet tall, operating on the west side of New York Harbor within three years, while the Department of Veterans Affairs considers wind turbines on or near its hospitals in manhattan and Brooklyn, reports The New York Times.

The five turbines are expected to produce as much as 7.5 megawatts, which the authority plans to use to operate the container port, then feed the surplus energy into the local power grid, offsetting some of the authority's consumption elsewhere, according to the article.

In 2998, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed to install wind turbines on top of the city's skyscrapers and bridges, as well as off the coastline of Queens and Brooklyn to help reduce the ciy's dependence on power plants that run on fossil fuels. Currently there are large-scale projects underway and only a few samll turbines on the roof of an apartment building in the Bronx and a wind-powered electronic billboard for Coca-Cola in Times Square.

However, the city's Economic Development Corporation is evaluating the feasibility of putting turvines atop buildings, including a warehouse at the Hunts Point Cooperative Market in the Bronx. There is also an ambitious project underway in partnership with utility companies and the New York Power Authority to build a wind farm on about 65,000 acres of the Atlantic floor, which will generate as much as 700 megawatts of power by 2016. Nearby in the city of Bayonne, MJ, an equally harge turbine as the ones at the port authority will be installed to power a sewage-pumping station.

Touted as the first windmill in New York Harbor, construction of a 262 foot tall turbine has already started at a plant operated by the city's Municipal Utilities Authority.  The $5.6-million tower, which would be the biggest wind turbine in New Jersey outside of Atlantic City, will generate more electricity than it needs to power the plant by September.

Stephen J.Gallo, executive director of the utilities authority told The New York TImes the city plans to sell the excess power, saving at least $150,000 a year. Both projects in Bayonne will help New Jersey achieve its goal of developing 200 megawatts of wind evergy onshore by 2020, according to the article. The state's energy plan also calls for 3,000 megawatts of offshore wind energy offshore within 10 years.  
The New York Times  8/2010             comment on our facebook page



Color Filter Could Boost LCD Efficiency by 400%

Researchers at the University Of Michigan have created a color filter that could boost the efficiency of LCDs, the power hog of all your gadgets, by more than 400 percent, and no, I didn't add an extra zero there.

The researchers made an optical film that colors and polarizes the light that passes through an LCD, taking the place of the several layers of optical devices that typically serve the same function in an LCD. Those multiple layers give rise to inefficiencies: the best LCDs out today only emit eight percent of the light their backlights produce. The researchers found that the film allowed 36 percent of the light to make it through - a huge increase.

The color filter is made up of three ultra-thin layers--two layers of aluminum enclosing a layer of insulating material--and it only measures 200 manameters thick. The filter is etched with slits that produce different colors when illuminated by the backlight. The slits are matched in scale to the wavelength of visible light and their length and distance apart determine the color produced.

This grating pattern is where the efficiency boost comes in. In current LCDs, a polarizing filter absorbs half the light (the part with the wrong polarization). The grating on the new filter doesn't absorb the light with the wrong polarization, it instead reflects it back towards a mirror that flips some of its polarization, letting more light pass through the filter.
Researchers are trying to improve the efficiency further and are coming up with ways to mass produce the filters, like with roll-to-roll printer.  
EcoGeek, by Megan Treacy via MIT Tech Review      comment on our facebook page





Does your company have energy-related news to share? Please submit it to info@impactenergysolutions.com and we will publish it in an upcoming Newsletter.

August 2010

From Coin Counting to E-cycling Coinstar:

All hail the kiosk! Coinstar, which runs businesses around kiosks that count coins and kiosks that rent DVDs (redbox), announced that it has invested in ecoATM, a startup that has developed a kiosk for recycling electronics.  San Diego, California based ecoATM was also one of the Green:Net 2010 launchpad winners and raised its first round of VC financing from Tao Venture partners back in February.  The terms of Coinstar's investment were not disclosed.

Cash for high-tech trash.  That's the basic concept for the recycling kiosk from ecoATM.  You drop off old electronics at one of these machines, it calculates their value, then pays you on the spot, in cash or coupons.  The company says its secret sauce is its kiosks' ability to automatically estimate- using electronic and visual techniques- a price of the unwanted items that will give consumers an immediate financial incentive to recycle at the station.

The two year old company says it has built a network of 50 buyers around the globe that will take used consumer electronics devices that it collects from its kiosks (from mobile phones to iPods to MP3 players to game cartridges) and recycles the components.  ecoATM finds the best price for the devices and then passes a portion of that revenue onto its customers.

The company told us earlier this year that it aims to deploy 200 kiosks across the U.S. by the end of the year, mostly in electronics retailers.  Typically, customers receive coupons for buying products in the store where the kiosk resides, and ecoATM then reimburses the store for the value of the exchange.  Incentivizing consumers to recycle gadgets and cell phones has been incredibly difficult.  The EPA says that in 2005, the U.S. generated 2 million tons of e-waste and only about 350,000 tons of it was recycled. The remaining bulk ends up in landfills.

All that valuable waste has led to a flurry of activity in the recycling market, with a half dozen startups launching web sites like SecondRotation, that help consumers find homes for their used goods.  The high profile green VCs at Kleiner Perkins, backed RecycleBank, which partners with cities to provide incentives for residential recycling.

ecoATM's CEO Mark Bowles told us earlier this year that he thought the web site, as recycling center model, doesn't work.  Most people don't want to go through the hassle of labeling and shipping their used items and finding prospective buyers.  ecoATM is all about convenience.  

Katie Fehrenbacher for Earth2tech 8/10              Comment on our Facebook page   

Two-Thirds of Healthcare Organizations are Planning Efficiency Investments:

Sixty-two percent of healthcare oranizations said they plan to make capital investments in energy efficiency over the next 12 monthe, according to a new survey by Johnson Controls.  In March, they commissioned the 2010 Energy Efficiency Indicator (EEI) survey, which polled 2,882 executives and managers responsible for making investments and managing energy in facilities worldwide.  Of these respondents, 288 operated in North America.

The results show the healthcare industry to be a leader among sectors in pursuing energy efficiency initiatives. The survey also found that 58 percent of healthcare building decision-makers say that energy management was very or extremely important to their organization, compared with 52 percent among North American respondents across all sectors. The most important decision driver for energy efficiency investment they found is the potential for cost savings.
The sector, which constitutes 8 percent of the U.S. carbon footprint, has been trying to reduce its energy needs in recent years.  Suppliers have been making commitments to reduce energy needs as well, such as GE Healthcare's commitment to cut energy use in ultrasound equipment by 25 percent, Sharp's Compliance breakthrough process that eliminates medical waste to landfills by 100%, and a new co-generation plant for St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Utica, New York.
The healthcare segment comprised of 20 percent of the North American respondents, and 85 percent of this segment were members of the American Society for Healthcare Engineering.  Eighty-six percent of the respondents were employed in a private heatlhcare organization, compared with the remaining 14 percent working for government-owned organizations.  Most of the respondents held a VP/director of facilities or a facility manager role.  
Environmental Leader 8/10      Comment on our Facebook page



Benchmarking Ensures Energy Management Programs Remain a Priority:
To implement an effective corporate energy management system, businesses need a combination of senior management support, good data, clear targets and technical, managerial and economic resources, as well as consistent implementation over decades, says energy expert Peter Garforth in an article written for Plant Services.  View video of Peter Garforth addressing the city of Cleveland:
However, the reality is that other business priorities typically take precedence over the energy challenge and few companies can keep up with the implications of a changing energy world, says Garforth.  This often means that companies continue to use tried and tested approaches using data and assumptions that may be out of date.  In addition, engagement at the start of a program can fade, which jeopardizes the sustained consistency needed for successful energy management, he says.
Garforth's recommendation is to use regular detailed benchmarking to ensure that your company's energy management strategy is "refreshed, challenged and adjusted."  He cited a recent meeting between sustainability and energy teams of major U.S. corporations, which shared their different approaches to energy management.
Topics included energy metering and reporting systems, employee motiviation and incentives, low-cost efficiency practices, climate change legislation, efficiency and clean supply technologies and the energy efficiency in all major procurement decisions.
While each company was building its own energy management expertise in different ways, they "all recognized the importance in understanding the direct and indirect carbon footprints, as much for avoiding business risks associated with climate legislation as for mitigating climate change," says Garforth.
It also reengergized their programs by sharing their approaches with other companies.  The upshot: "Systematic benchmarking of energy management programs keeps them relevant and successful." Environmental Leader                  Comment on our Facebook page

Green Mountain Coffee has a sizable carbon footprint:  Coffee production is known for emitting methane gases, and the fertilizers used to treat the soil can be considerable.  Green Mountain Coffee of Vermont has long been known as a practitioner of eco-friendly business methods.  But the company's use of the single-use K-Cup has left a lot of environmentalists protesting.  Recently, The New York Times reported on the "coffee conundrum: that Green Mountain Coffee faces with its K-Cups.

Last year Green Mountain Coffee made $803 million in sales, and 80 percent came from the single-use K-Cups.  K-Cups are all made from non-recyclable plastic and tinfoil pods that are thrown out after one use.  And as Green Mountain Coffee reports, "in the Keurig system broadly, over 2.7 million K-Cup portion packs were brewed every day in FY '08." 
Environmentalists are concerned that a company with the motto "brewing a better world" would embark on such a wasteful enterprise.  After all, the company's green initiatives have been abundant.  Green Mountain Coffee, which has been composting since 1983, has developed oxygen-whitened and dioxin-free Earth-friendly filters and opened a 10,000 gallon biodiesel fueling station at its Vermont distribution center.  Further, in 2008 the company commissioned a life-cycle analysis of its package types to determine the most eco-friendly practices.

Green Mountain Coffee maintains that brewing one cup of coffee at a time reduces the environmental waste, therefore limiting the environmental impact per cup.  Further, they say that 30 percent of the company's sales are of fair trade-certified coffees, which come from environmentally friendly farms and growers who are paid an ethical price for their beans. They also offer the "My K-Cup" which is a reusable filter assembly, and they have developed all K-Cups to be free of bisphenol-A (BPA).
Michael Dupee is Green Mountain's vice president for corporate social responsibility.  As he told the NY Times, "Consumers see the waste stream and they compare it to what they had done before, and they have a perception that there is a problem." The company plans to test come recyclable paper K-Cups that they deem more eco-friendly.  
Katherine Butler for MMN network            Comment on our Facebook page

July 2010

HEAT WAVE   ~ ~ ~
White Roofs Can Save 15% on Energy Costs
U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu this month announced a series of initiatives underway at the Department of Energy to more broadly imlplement cool roof technologies on DOE facilities and buildings across the federal government.  Cool roofs use lighter colored roofing surfaces or special coatings to reflect more of the sun's heat, helping improve building efficiency by reducing cooling costs and offsetting carbon emissions.
Under the Executive Order on Sustainability, the federal government has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions 28 percent by 2020.  As part of that effort, Secretary Chu has directed all DOE offices to install cool roofs, whenever cost effective over the lifetime of the roof, when constructing new roofs or replacing old ones at DOE facilites.  With cool roofs, these federal buildings will consume less energy, offset additional carbon emissions, and save money.
Roofs and road pavement cover 50 to 65 percent of urban areas.  Because they absorb so much heat, dark colored roofs and roadways create what is called the "urban heat island effect," where a city is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas.  Cool roofs significantly reduce the heat island effect and improve air quality by reducing emissions.  A recent study by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) found that using cool roofs and cool pavements in cities around the world can help reduce the demand for air conditioning, cool entire cities, and potentially cancel the heating effect of up to two years of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions.   
source:  Environmental Leader

World Cup Responsible for 2.7M Tons of CO2 Equivalent
The total carbon footprint for the recently concluded 2010 World Cup came to 2,753,250 tons of CO2 equivalent, according to a recent study by Ernst & Young, an eight-fold increase over the last World Cup in Germany.

The majority of emissions were the result of international travel: teams, fans, administrators, and support staff all contributed to the 1,856,589 tons emitted as the result of international travel to South Africa, by far the largest component of the World Cup's carbon footprint, representing 67.4 percent.  The second largest component, intercity travel, generated 484,961 tons and represented 17.6 percent of the total.  The third largest component, energy used for accommodations, emitted only 340,128 tons, or 12.4 percent.  Although South Africa struggled to build environmentally friendly stadiums, they only accounted for 0.5 percent of the tournment's footprint.
The Ernst & Young study was part of an effort to plan for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil with an eye toward reducing its carbon emissions.  Since the German World Cup in 2006, FIFA has been developing "The Green Goal," an official program aimed, among other aspects, at reducing CO2 emissions.  It focuses on four aspects: water, waster, energy and transport.
Given Brazil's location and its size, the Ernst & Young study suggested that carbon emissions from international travel will likely not change very much in 2014.  But the report named several steps FIFA could take in Brazil to reduce the next Cup's footprint.  Among some of the transportation solutions mentioned in the study are the use of energy-efficient eco-taxis to ferry spectators to the games, the creation of bike and pedestrian paths to discourage the use of automobiles, and increasing the efficiency of existing public transportation options.  Using vehicles that run on biodiesel or ethanol were also recommended.
The study also recommended steps to increase the energy efficiency of facilities built for the Cup, including having new construction certified under internationally recognized design auditing programs, such as LEED, Acqua and Breeam certification, which would help reduce the CO2 emissions in both the construction process and in the use of the buildings. Establishing carbon offset programs associated with the tournament could be another way to reduce the net effect of its carbon emissions, the report said.  London is currently struggling with similar issues as it tries to reduce the carbon footprint of the 2010 Olympics.  
source: Green Web


Colleges Selling Their Green Bona Fides to Students
Colleges are using their green credentials to burnish their reputations with prospective students, according to a report in USA Today.

The paper reported that according to 2010's College Sustainability Report Card, 69 percent of colleges and universities are now including environmental pitches into their admission and enrollment systems, a massive increase from the 27 percent from the year before.  The College Sustainability Report Card is produced by the Sustainable Endowments Institute in Massachusetts.

As part of the pitch, colleges are showing off new energy efficient buildings and introducing students to their recycling programs.  The paper reported that at the American University, the school uses online communication methods to interact with new students, reducing its demand for paper.  Colorado State University, meanwhile, is publicizing the fact that it is building what may be the largest solar power plant on a college campus in the country, and uses battery powered vans to take families on tours of their campus.  The paper interviewed one student at the University of Colorado at Boulder who said she chose its business school specifically because it offered an MBA program with a focus on sustainability issues.
Texas Am& M publicized that is has managed to reduce its energy intensity by 33 percent while expanding the size of the campus.  The University of California, San Diego touted the $900,000 it saved by incorporating an energy dashboard.  Even many college athletic departments are starting to see their environmental footprints as a top priority.
Over half of the schools surveyed by the College Sustainability Report Card have made a carbon reduction commitment.  Increased attention to climate change is reflected at an impressive 58 percent of the schools through a commitment to carbon reduction.  Fifty-two percent of the schools have signed the Presidents' Climate Commitment, while 23 percent made carbon reduction commitments in addition to, or instead of, the Presidents' Climate Commitment.
Nearly half of the schools produce renewable energy on campus.  Facilities for producing solar, wind, bio, or geothermal energy are in operation at 45 percent of the schools.  
Source: Environmental Leader  7/10

Turn Blighted Property into Community Assets through Re-powering

Left untouched, contaminated sites create public health and safety risks, drag down property values, drain the tax base and tend to attract criminal or other undesirable activity.  While many sites can be cleaned up and reused as residential, commercial, or conventional industrial facilities, blighted and abandoned sites that are not readily put to these uses may be perfectly suited for solar arrays, wind farms, geothermal installations, or manufacturing centers for renewable energy components.  According to one high ranking political appointee, "Re-powering is not just a win-win; it's a triple win because communities are fully engaged, economy flourishes with new jobs and renewed hope, while forgotten or abandoned eyesores are given new life."  
Marjorie Buckholtz,  Environmental Consulting Solutions

June 2010

Cape Lobster Industry Faces Crisis
"Regulators say warmer seas are the reason traps in Buzzards Bay have come up increasingly empty in the last decade"

Too hot for a lobster? The imagination leaps to boiling water, followed by lots of melted butter.  But the water temperatures that are killing off far more lobsters than make it into a cooking pot, are of a much lower order.  In what could be the first major economic blow to local fisheries pinned on global warming, regulators are comtemplating shutting down the lobster industry from Buzzards Bay to Long Island Sound for five years due to a drastic population drop brought on by temperature changes of just a few degrees in inshore waters.
Lobstermen south of Cape Cod have seen their catches nosedive for the past decade, from more than 20 million pounds in 1997, to less than 5 million last year.  In the past, overfishing, water pollution, pesticides and an outbreak of shell disease were blamed for the failure of the fishery.
But tough fishing regulations have done nothing to reverse the trend, and some scientists now believe water temperature may be the primary obstacle to recovery.  "(The lobster decline) is a combination of factors that are all related back to changes in water temperature," said Robert Glenn, a senior marine fisheries biologist with the state Division of Marine Fisheries.  It's called trophic shift- when the environment changes so dramatically that the least tolerant resident species move out, and more adaptable species move in.
To the north on Georges Bank and continuing up into Maine, lobster populations remain relatively robust. Although temperature increases have been noted in Boston and in Maine, the water is so much colder north of Nantucket Sound that it would take a huge increase in the average temperature, of 15 degrees or more, to reach levels that lobsters can't tolerate, said Glenn.  
Cape Cod Time, by Doug Fraser  6/13/10

 Impact of B2B Green Marketing in an Increasingly Environmentally Conscious World
One could make the point that marketing is often about answering the question: "Why would someone buy your product?" That question is often answered based on one or more of the following three variables: Cheaper, Faster, Better.
Volumes of research suggest that purchasing decisions are largely based on factors of cost, performance and quality. Today, however, there is a new variable in this mix; Green has become a category all to itself. The marketing paradigm has shifted to become: Cheaper, Faster, Better, Greener. 

Marketing strategies and messages still need to make legitmate and credible claims about their products and services. Consider the case of Miura Boiler, a Japanese manufacturer of industrial steam boilers- and their effort to become a market leader in the North American market.
Steam remains a primary source of energy in manufacturing and processing. Steam supply is needed for not only heat, but hot water, sterilization, and other important systems.  The typical industrial steam boiler manufacturer uses oil and gas to boil large amounts of water and turn them into steam in about two hours.  Miura, with experience working under strict water conservation and emissions regulations in the Japanese market, developed a technology that could actually turn water to steam in about five minutes, prior to entering the North American market.
This technology, developed before being "green" meant something other than money or a popular frog on a children's TV show, boils the same amount of water as its counterparts.  However, instead of using "one large pot," these boilers distribute a similar amount of water boiled in several smaller pots enabling faster boiling times and increased water usage efficiency.
In turn, this reduced the amount of fuel required to run these systems- an advantage that, as the cost of oil and gas began to climb, increasingly caught the attention of North American industrial boiler buyers. 
We will eventually pay a higher price not to produce greener products and services. But for now, while green marketing is an increasingly important way to attract B2B customers and deliver your message, cheaper, faster and better, remain cornerstones of attracting customers. 
Excerpted from The Environmental Leader,  by Bob Lipp, President of Marcomm Group, Inc.

Compostable Packaging Increases Overall Rates
A survey by the Sustainable Packaging Coalition found that the use of compostable materials in packaging has the corollary effect of increasing the rate of food composting.

According to a report on Greener Packaging, the survey interviewed 40 composting facilities on the effects of compostable consumer packaging.  The sector has received a significant boost since Frito-Lay introduced its 100 percent compostable potato chip bag last year.  Since then, Green Planet, Dell and Cereplast have all announced new compostable packaging.  According to a Pike Research study last year, compostable packaging is expected to grab 32 percent of the market by 2014.
Pactiv, the makers of Hefty garbage bags, recently introduced the first compostable meat tray.  The tray is being used by grocery stores in Seattle in order to comply with a new city-wide ban on the use of Styrofoam in stores and restaurants, which goes into effect July 1.  The new tray is a bioplastic made from corn, and will be used by local Seattle supermarket chain Metropolitan Market.  The new Seattle law is expected to reduce landfill waste by 6,000 tons a year.
The survey found that 72.5 percent of respondents said accepting compostable packaging allowed them to increase their overall rate of food waste tonnage, due to increased hauling efficiencies.  Ninety percent of respondents said that they accept compostable packaging.  Those that do not cited difficulty in certifying whether material was compostable, longer composting times and fear of contamination from regular plastics, as their reasons.
The survey also found that a large majority, 82.5 percent, said that standardized labeling of compostable materials was the most significant area of potential improvement, with responders saying they would be more likely to accept compostable packaging if it were more clearly labeled.  
Source: Environmental Leader 6/24/10

Microsoft App Reduces PC Energy Use up to 80 Percent
Microsoft has created a new application with the potential to reduce energy use by personal computers by up to 80 percent, according to a report in PC World- "Sleepless in Seattle No Longer." 

The six month study included 50 PC users.  Researchers developed a "sleep proxy" which allows the computer to enter sleep mode when not in use, but remain connected to the network.  The computer can then be "reawakened" by the user or IT administrator either directly or remotely when its resources are needed.  The report stated that implementation of the sleep proxy by large enterprises could create several millions of dollars worth of savings.
The system Microsoft implemented allowed computers to sleep more than 50 percent of the time.  The system is composed of two components, the SleepServer and SleepNotifier programs.  According to a second study on the SleepServer component, energy savings from implementing the system could range from 60-80 percent.  Fifity to eighty percent of electricity use in modern buildings can be attributed to IT use, according to the second study.
Microsoft plans to present the paper at the Usenix conference in Boston.  The software company recently won the Uptime Institute's Audacious Idea Award for its data center efficiency strategy.  The company also recently unveiled its Hohn tool for computing home energy use.  
PC World 6/10