Posted by Kelly Smith on Thu, Jun 10, 2010
Forty-five days after the deadly explosion at BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig, oil continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico. Attempts to stop the flow of the oil continue to fail. Coastal economies and ecologies are at great risk, and people working to clean up the oil spill are getting sick. Despite BP's continued apologies and assurances that the end is in sight, some experts are now saying that the oil will continue to flow for many more months, perhaps even until December.
This is unacceptable. Many failures led to this disaster in the first place, and it is so frustrating for us all to sit around watching the lack of a successful response in the wake of this tragedy. However, quibbling about regulatory agencies or emergency plans does not solve the underlying problem. Our excessive reliance on fossil fuels will continue to cause problems until we can wean ourselves from this unhealthy energy source.
President Obama promised on Wednesday that "The next generation will not be held hostage to energy sources from the last century." Indeed, clean, green energy is the power of the future. So why did the Minerals Management Service grant a new drilling permit for offshore Louisiana later in the day on Wednesday?
In the wake of mining disasters and oil spills and effects of global climate change, now is absolutely the time for all of us to get serious about renewable energy. All businesses and organizations that are serious about the environment need to take immediate action to conserve energy and invest in our clean energy future.
Yes, this includes oil companies, and it includes BP. We hear the apologies, but being sorry means acting sorry, too. I'd like to see BP match their oil spill cleanup expenditures with investment in green energy technology and purchases of green electricity. I'd like too see BP live up to their advertising slogan, Beyond Petroleum.
Posted by Kelly Smith on Wed, Jun 09, 2010
Residents of Paris, and visitors as well, have a fleet of 20,000 bicycles at their disposal to travel the city in a more eco-friendly fashion. Mayor Bertrand Delanoe plans to build new bike paths from the city into the suburbs, to build a thousand new bike parking spots, and to allow two-way bike traffic on one-way streets in order to encourage even more biking in Paris.
The Velib rental bike program was launched in July 2007 as a way to reduce traffic in the city and to provide a more environmentally friendly mode of transportation than even the Metro offers. The program is funded by advertisers, who pay for the bikes in exchange for billboard use in the city. The system is easy enough for bicyclists to use. A weekly pass costs about $7. All rides less than 30 minutes are free, so many people are able to travel around the city without any cost at all.
Bike transportation is an excellent way to reduce gasoline usage and thus shrink carbon footprints. Many large cities have trouble with traffic and related air pollution. Many countries such as Barcelona, Geneva, Montreal, Shanghai, and Stockholm offer similar bike rental systems. Other bike sharing programs, such as in Cambridge, UK, and Edmonton, Alberta, have failed due to vandalism and theft.
Bike sharing programs have a much stronger presence in Europe compared to North America. However, cities such as Ottowa, Boulder, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Chicago, and Seattle are considering similar programs. Green tourists and green commuters who already enjoy car share schemes can look forward to even lower impact travel if these plans materialize.
Posted by Kelly Smith on Tue, Jun 08, 2010
Seventh Generation is a company that produces green household and personal care products which are made using safe, plant-based ingredients. They avoid the use of toxic chemicals and continually seek other ways to improve the sustainability of their business practices. Seventh Generation is inspired by part of the Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy which states, “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” It is important for Seventh Generation to think about how their business affects both our environment and the environment of future generations.
One way that Seventh Generation fulfills its sustainable business mission is consumer education. Each product package tells customers how their product compares to similar products at the grocery store in terms of its environmental impact. For example:
Did you know? If every household in the U.S. replaced just one roll of 120-ct. virgin-fiber paper towels with our 100% recycled ones, we could save 1,000,000 trees.
Did you know? If every household in the U.S. replaced just one box of 48 oz. petroleum-based powder laundry detergent with our vegetable-based product, we could save 96,000 barrels of oil, enough to heat 5,500 U.S. homes for a year.
Indeed, doing the laundry has a big environmental impact. Ninety percent of the electricity used for washing clothes comes from heating hot water. Seventh Generation laundry products are specially designed to work well in cold water washes. They also make detergents especially designed for high efficiency washing machines (which use less water and electricity than standard machines).
The environmental impact of the laundry does not end with the washing machine. Dryers are notoriously big energy users. Energy Star, the US government certification agency for energy efficient appliances, does not even rate dryers since they consume so much energy (up to 15 percent of a household’s total electricity use). The best clothes drying option is a clothesline, and that is another thing that Seventh Generation is working to educate consumers about as part of their green business mission. For starters, consumers can easily shrink their carbon footprint by switching to cold water and a clothesline.
Posted by Kelly Smith on Mon, Jun 07, 2010
A truly sustainable business should go beyond purchasing green power to offset its conventional power usage and reduce its carbon footprint. Green businesses need to think about how to use less conventional energy from the start.
First, consider the office space. An office that is well-insulated and has energy-efficient windows will use less energy because it will not lose nearly as much heat in the winter or air conditioning in the summer. This allows businesses to turn the thermostat up a few degrees in the summer and down a few degrees in the winter, which saves a lot of energy. An office with lots of natural light also uses less energy for lighting. Fluorescent fixtures and light fixtures with motion sensors are both big energy savers. It can also be useful to use task lighting to light a small area such as a desk rather than a whole room.
Purchasing choices make a big difference, too. Make sure that any new appliance or equipment purchased is Energy Star certified. Have office managers look for Green-e certified products ranging from printer paper to teabags for the break room. Products with recycled content is also preferable, since recycled materials use less energy than virgin materials in the manufacturing process.
Next think about employee habits. Cultivate a climate of dressing for the weather in order to use less electricity for heating and cooling. Encourage employees to turn off all lights, computers, and other equipment when they go home each day. Unplugging items such as computers can also save energy. Start an office recycling program. Have employees bring their own coffee cups each day. Encourage biking, carpooling, and the use of mass transportation. But beware of lecturing. Instead, educate your employees by serving as a model of energy-saving behavior, and by coming up with contests and incentives to make conservation fun.
Posted by Kelly Smith on Tue, Jun 01, 2010
A truly sustainable business must look at the impact of their operations in the short term and in the long term. Technology corporations can have questionable environmental record, simply because of the seemingly constant need for consumers to upgrade to the latest appliance or gadget. Short-term eco efforts can be quickly superceded by the disposable nature of technology products over the long term.
Hitachi is working to change this stereotype. They are hard at work reducing carbon dioxide emissions during the manufacturing and shipping processes to lower their carbon footprint. Hitachi's longer-range plans specifically include a reduction of their carbon dioxide emissions by 100 million tons by 2025. Hitachi already successfully reduced their carbon emissions in their Japanese operations by 14 percent from 1990 to 2009.
Another way that Hitachi will proceed with a more green business model is by making their products greener. They are working on using more recyclable materials for lighter-weight products that are energy efficient and have a long, low-impact lifespan. These products will also use more eco-friendly packaging materials to carry them from factory to consumer.
In North America, available Hitachi products include televisions, camcorders, power tools, external hard drives, and car audio systems.
Specific green technology innovations are also in the works. At Hitachi's 2009 Climate Change Forum in Washington, D.C., the company displayed many of its environment-specific technologies. Hybrid cars, lithium ion batteries, monorail and hybrid railway systems, energy conserving air conditioning systems, wind turbine generators, nuclear power plants, and photovoltaic power generation materials were among the technologies shared with conference attendees.
Posted by Kelly Smith on Mon, May 31, 2010
When most of us think about reducing our carbon footprint these days, we think about things like driving less, using less electricity,purchasing green power, or planting trees. We are aware of recycling as something that is good for the planet, but many do not make the connection between recycling and climate change.
In fact, it takes much less energy to make a product from recycled materials rather than freshly chopped trees or newly mined metal ores. According to the state of Minnesota’s environmental website doitgreen.org, “Production of recycled paper uses 65 percent less energy than paper production using raw materials.”
Less energy usage means less carbon dioxide pollution, and that means less climate change. Energy conservation and energy efficiency, together with renewable energy, are some of the best things we can work on to improve our energy future.
Paper recycling is especially important to reducing climate change, because it reduces the need to cut down carbon dioxide-absorbing trees to make more paper. And doesn’t it just make more sense to recycle resources we already have rather than let them sit for hundreds of years in a landfill?
Fortunately, people are catching on. According to a recent Mother Nature Network article, “The American Forest & Paper Association reports that in 2008, a record high 57.4 percent of the paper consumed in the U.S. was recovered for recycling.” That is a good jump from 53 percent in 2006.
The U.S. paper industry hopes to continue the growth trend in paper recycling to collect and use 60 percent of American waste paper in the next two years. Since 86 percent of Americans have access to paper recycling facilities of some kind, this seems like a very achievable goal. Every home and business should think more seriously about how to make the easy commitment to recycling.
Posted by Kelly Smith on Wed, May 26, 2010
A report last week from the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences takes the worst-case scenario for climate change to paint a rather gloomy picture: if average global temperatures rise 21 degrees, then half of the world's people will need to find a new place to live. In addition to
extreme weather, stressed agriculture, various
health problems, rising sea levels, and the like, there may reach a time in the next 300 years when much of the planet is just too hot for human habitation.
The
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that average global temperatures will rise about 7 degrees by the year 2100 if we don't clean up our act. At temperatures of 12 degrees above the current average, heat stress may become a serious problem. Humans will be too hot at those temperatures even if they are standing naked in the shade, drenched in cold water and being blown on by a fan.
This is a frightening prospect, especially since the year 2100 is within the scope of our children's lifetimes. The negative effects of fossil fuel usage, such as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the recent coal mining disasters, have gotten a lot of press lately. Predictions of the stress of climate change on human life make change even more urgent.
Fortunately, it is not too late to make a difference. We can work together with our children and our communities to create a brighter future for us all. There are easy ways to reduce our carbon footprints at home and at work. We can turn off and unplug electronic devices that we are not using. We can purchase green power. We can shop at sustainable businesses and research green investments. We can drive less and bike more. We can recycle. We can be sure to only run full loads in the washing machine or the dishwasher. We can adjust the thermostat a few degrees. We can dress appropriately for the weather. We can eat seasonal produce. As we make these lifestyle changes, we need to keep a positive attitude and work together.
Posted by Kelly Smith on Mon, May 17, 2010
Businesses and organizations are not the only investors in green energy. Communities across the United States (and presumably around the world) are coming together to invest in a cleaner future by purchasing green power together. Municipalities that wish to become designated
Green Power Communities through the U.S. EPA must purchase green power that is equivalent to 2 to 10 percent of their total conventional electricity usage, depending on how much that municipality uses. Communities that wish to become more sustainable should consider reducing their collective carbon footprint in this way.
Green power purchases must adhere to national guidelines in order to qualify for this EPA program. This is especially important in the wake of recent news reports questioning the validity of some carbon offset projects. One sure way of finding a reliable source of renewable energy is to purchase Green-e certified green energy.
Green Power Communities bring citizens together to take pride in cleaning up the environment and reducing climate change. The EPA recognizes such communities with special Green Power Community road signs, among other distinctions. Currently, the communities offsetting the largest percentages of their conventional power usage are Gresham, Oregon, (17 percent), River Falls, Wisconsin, (15 percent), Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, (14 percent), Bellingham, Washington, (13 percent), and Corvallis, Oregon, (12 percent).
A Green Power Community is a little different from a Green Power Partner. According to the EPA, "GPCs are cities, towns, and villages in which the local government, businesses, and residents collectively buy green power in amounts that meet or exceed EPA's Green Power Community purchase requirements." This collective purchase of green power is the difference between a Green Power Community and a Green Power Partner. For example, the City of Houston is one of the top Green Power Partners with a green power purchase of 34 percent of the city's conventional energy usage. The City of Dallas (40 percent) and the City of Chicago (20 percent) are also in the list of the top twenty Green Power Partners. But without the investment of individuals and businesses to a specified level, these forward-thinking cities are not yet listed among the ranks of the Green Power Communities.
Posted by Kelly Smith on Thu, May 13, 2010
Now is the time when summer vacations begin to creep into our minds. Even when we have started to shrink our carbon footprint at home and at the office, many of us forget to think about the impact the carbon emissions from our travel may have. Fortunately, it is easier than ever to find green hotels, green rental cars,
green restaurants, and more.
From individual inns to large hotel chains, sustainable hotels are becoming more common. Hotels such as Doubletree are working to get their hotels certified by different environmental organizations and programs by decreasing waste and increasing sustainable business practices. Hotels are investing in energy efficiency, low-flow water fixtures, and recycled paper products to improve their environmental impact and to increase their customer satisfaction. Some hotels are also choosing to purchase green energy. Washington D.C.'s Fairmont Hotel, Austin's Four Seasons Hotel, several locations of Forever Resorts, and a few locations of Hampton Inn & Suites are all Green Power Partners, just to name a few.
Websites such as Responsible Travel are very helpful in finding and booking trips to small, local ecotourism spots around the globe. My husband and I used their site to book an amazing walking holiday through a sustainable travel company for our honeymoon. We stayed in a small villa in Torrox, Spain, and wandered beautiful scenery nestled between the mountains and the Mediterranean.
One looming question is how to get to these amazing green travel opportunities. Sustainable transportation options are not quite as prevalent as sustainable hotels, but they do exist. Rental car companies such as Budget make it easy to reserve a low-impact vehicle such as a Toyota Prius. Southwest Airlines purchases green power to offset its conventional electricity usage for its Texas facilities. Public transportation and car share companies are another viable option. You can also purchase carbon offsets on an individual basis, but make sure that you are choosing a reputable company if you choose to do so.
Posted by Kelly Smith on Fri, May 07, 2010
The first clue that Dell is a good company to look at for green IT needs is that it is a member of the illustrious Leadership Club of the U.S. EPA's
Green Power Partnership. Dell is an environmental leader in the IT field, purchasing 129% of its conventional electricity usage in green power company-wide. That is, Dell purchases green power for its international operations as well.
By comparison, Hewlett-Packard only purchases green power to offset 3% or 4% of their electricity usage at facilities in a few states. IBM purchases between 12% and 100% green power at their facilities in a few states. Apple purchases green power that is equivalent to 88% of their electricity usage at their Austin, Texas, facility. Microsoft is not a Green Power Partner at all. Investment in green electricity is an easy way for companies to reduce their carbon footprint and improve their green image.
Investment in green power is not Dell's only step towards operating an environmentally sustainable business. According to their website, certain lines of Dell computers such as the Latitude E-Series laptops and the Optiplex desktops are designed for energy efficiency. These same computer models are noted for a reduction or elimination of harmful chemicals such as PVC and mercury.
In general, Dell has been able to improve the energy efficiency of their desktop computers by 50% in the last five years and the efficiency of their laptop computers by 16% in the last five years. Using LED monitors in laptop computers is one technological advance that has allowed an increase in energy efficiency. Certain types of Dell notebook computers are now being shipped to customers in packaging made from sustainably harvested bamboo, which is better for the environment than traditional paper packaging. For customers seeking a more sustainable computer, Dell is a good place to start looking.