CFOs, CIOs and sustainability teams at large companies have used spreadsheets for years to track corporate carbon emissions. 

We are now, however, at a tipping point where the benefits of carbon management software, also known as enterprise carbon accounting (ECA) software, outweigh the benefits of spreadsheets. 

With many large companies recently completing their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports and Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) questionnaires, and entering budget planning in the fall, it is time to move away from spreadsheets to reduce risk, save money, increase productivity, and establish an enterprise-class source of record for carbon emission data.

Investors and Top Customers Demand High Quality Carbon Emission Data

The calculation and reporting of carbon emissions today is a standard, mainstream business process and needs to be treated as such. The majority of Fortune 500 companies now publicly report carbon emissions via their website and registries such as CDP; companies that don't are viewed as laggards.  

Read more: http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/07/29/its-time-give-spreadsheets-tracking-carbon-emissions#ixzz0v6XeD37N

Since being appointed as the Secretary of Energy, Dr. Steven Chu has been talking all about the benefits of white roofs. Now he’s going to put his own department where his mouth is by mandating that all new roofs on Energy Department buildings be either white or reflective. In his statement this week he noted the cooling effect that white roofs have on buildings — especially air-conditioned ones — as well as their ability to drastically lower energy costs – $735 million per year to be exact, if 85% of all air-conditioned buildings in the US had white roofs. With all the crises that have been going down lately, we could really use that moolah!!!

Terra-Gen Power announced closing $1.2 billion in construction financing and wind turbine orders. The company will build four wind power projects for the Alta Wind Energy Center in Kern County, California, for which Vestas-American Wind Technology will provide 190 turbines with a capacity of 570 megawatts. This is the largest number of wind turbines ever ordered for a single site in the U.S.

The Alta Wind Energy Center currently hosts 150 megawatt GE turbines and is expected to become the largest wind energy farm in the country with a capacity of 3,000 megawatts when completed. Terra-Gen has agreements with Southern California Edison to feed the energy into its grid.

The wind farm’s financing is the largest of any wind energy project in North America and comes primarily from Citibank, which committed to buy the projects when they start operating commercially. Terra-Gen will lease the projects from Citibank and continue to operate the farm.

The United Nations Environment Program and the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century today reveal in a pair of new reports that despite an overall financial downturn in 2009, global investments in sustainable energy increased worldwide. Core clean energy investments from private and public sources totaled $162 billion.

Policies that favor the development of a green economy and businesses in the fields of renewable energy and energy efficiency also increased: more than 100 countries enacted some type of policy target and/or promotion policy related to renewable energy by early 2010.

Thirty eight developing nations had policy targets, and 41 developing nations had a policy of promoting renewable energy. Some segments declined, while others shined of course. Highlights from the clean energy 2009 reports follow below.

Shined: China
Declined: United States

China surpassed the United States for the first time as the country with the greatest investment in clean energy.

Shined: U.S. growth in renewable energy
Declined: U.S. growth in traditional energy

MILWAUKEE, WI — Healthcare organizations are more likely to invest in energy efficiency upgrades and efforts at their facilities than other industries in North America, according to research from Johnson Controls Inc. and the American Society for Healthcare Engineering. 

The organization and Johnson Controls' Institute for Building Efficiency are reporting the findings (pdf) today at the ASHE Annual Conference and Technical Exhibition, which is being held in Tampa, Fla. 

In a survey conducted earlier this year, 58 percent of the professionals with decision-making authority for healthcare facilities in North America said energy management is very or extremely important to their organization. By comparison, 52 percent of decision-makers for buildings across all sectors in North America said the same, the research for Johnson Controls and ASHE found.

Complementing the findings on attitudes toward energy efficiency, facilities decision-makers said they plan energy efficiency capital investments in the next 12 months -- with respondents in the healthcare sector again making a stronger showing than their counterparts across industries: 62 percent in healthcare said they plan capital investments in energy efficiency over the next 12 months compared to 52 percent across North American industries. 

The survey also found that respondents in the healthcare sector said they have already taken several steps to improve energy efficiency. Lighting retrofits topped the list as shown below.

Read more: http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2010/07/12/hospitals-more-likely-invest-efficiency-other-industries#ixzz0taMhoPst

It’s renewable energy standards versus cap-and-trade.

"This is such an important time for the industry," was the first thing said to me by Acciona Energy North America CFO Susan Nickey, who was fresh from meetings in Washington, D.C.

It's an important time because the Gulf oil spill has revived hope for the once lost-cause energy-climate legislation -- and because the renewable energy industries are desperately in need of such legislation.

After sustaining growth in 2009, some of the renewables' most important incentives are set to expire at the end of this year. Nickey's meetings with Republicans have revealed that there are Republican votes for new legislation.

"There is bipartisan support both on the Senate and House sides to pass a Renewable Energy Standard [RES] to create long-term growth and to also extend the grant-in-lieu of the ITC program to maintain last year's expansion," Nickey said. But, she stressed, only if the administration and the Democratic leadership forego action on greenhouse gas emissions.

In a comprehensive study released recently by the United Nations Global Compact and Accenture, a survey of 766 CEOs from around the globe indicate that despite the economic downturn, sustainability will be critical to the future success of their companies.  An amazing 93 percent of CEOs indicated that a tipping point could be reached that integrates sustainability with core business processes and systems, and its supply chains.

So this suggests that triple bottom line (TBL) practices and measurements will become commonplace in business … or will they.  Perhaps there is another way of looking at this trend  given the top-down commitments that CEO’s believe are necessary to create this massive shift in corporate behavior. This point of view is called triple top line, but has generally been trumped by its “bottom line” twin.

Setting the Context

Top-Line Definition 

The total revenues an organization reports on their income statement. While many activities within an organization are focused on reducing costs, initiatives such as innovative product and service development focus on creating more valuable and desirable offerings that increase revenues. Attention to human and natural capital (as well as financial capital) can often increase revenue by differentiating a company and its offerings in a beneficial way to the market. When this is done poorly however, it can be seen as green-washing and results in the opposite effect.

As vice president of global sustainability at Procter & Gamble, I've been lucky enough to work with NGOs, thought leaders and P&G employees throughout the world to implement sustainability initiatives across our vast organization. These experiences have shaped how I view sustainable innovation at P&G and how, as an organization, we can continue to improve our environmental performance. Here are some of the learnings I've picked up along the way.  

1. Sustainability must be viewed within the organization as a business opportunity, not an issue to be managed. Each initiative must make a meaningful impact on the company's environmental footprint and make business sense. From a business perspective, this is how a commitment to sustainability can be truly sustainable over the long term.  

2. Senior management must be committed. This crucial element sets the tone for the entire organization and shows business partners, external stakeholders and employees that company leadership views sustainability as an important enabler of growing the business. For example, at P&G, the executive sponsor of the sustainability program is our CEO Bob McDonald.  

3. Sustainability is part of the rhythm of the business, not separate work. At P&G, sustainability touches everything in the company, including product distribution, packaging, materials selection, office efficiency, manufacturing plant operations and R&D. We bring tremendous innovation resources to every part of our business, and sustainability is no exception.

Seventy-five percent of U.S. buildings will undergo a retrofit over the next two decades and idle factory space is there for the taking, notes Tay Yoshitani.

The most recent government employment reports have been disappointing because they show a profound lack of job creation on the part of the private sector.

In addition to calling the health of the overall U.S. economy into question, many analysts say that the latest data raise troubling issues about the viability of clean technology as a positive force for 21^st-century prosperity. After all, we've been told repeatedly that legions of new green-collar jobs will materialize and generate growth for communities all across the nation.

I believe the analysts are wrong; my view remains that the creation and proliferation of well-paying green-collar jobs in America will ultimately help us address the biggest employment crisis since the Great Depression.

In fact, after assessing a host of other statistics and reports, I think it's safe to forecast a far-reaching and broad-based green jobs revolution over the next decade.

When all is said and done -- from my perspective, at least -- the green jobs revolution will improve the economic quality of life in hard-hit states such as Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania. It will boost prospects for a wide range of people who are currently electricians, plumbers, machinists, and sheet metal workers, not just the scientists, engineers and software programmers. It will help transform countless numbers of solid, established and much-needed blue-collar jobs, which anchor local communities today, and turn them green for the 21^st century. And it will help spawn a new and muscular manufacturing sector here in the U.S. that will be globally competitive.

If you look closely and carefully, you can see tangible signs of the green jobs revolution starting to take hold everywhere today. Buildings are being retrofitted for greater energy efficiency; new energy systems are being installed; electric infrastructure is being rebuilt; and smart irrigation systems are being put in place.

Solar Impulse If the Solar Impulse can stay aloft in the darkness, it would be the first night flight ever for a solar-powered aircraft.

With favorable weather and a forecast of clear, sunny skies, the Solar Impulse, an experimental solar-powered plane, took off from an airfield in Switzerland early Wednesday morning with a goal to stay aloft for a full 24 hours.

Roughly 13 hours into the flight, the plane had reached an altitude of more than 27,000 feet and a speed of 75 miles per hour. And with batteries fully charged, it looked set to complete a night flight, the first ever for a solar-powered aircraft.

At the controls of the unpressurized, single-seated craft was André Borschberg, a co-founder of the Solar Impulse project.

“For seven years now, the whole team has been passionately working to achieve this first decisive step of the project,” Mr. Borschberg said shortly before stepping into the cockpit, according to a news release at the Solar Impulse Web site.

ARMONK, NY — IBM saved $26.8 in energy expenses in 2009 as a result of companywide conservation efforts that surpassed corporate targets, the firm said in annual reports that chart progress toward corporate responsibility and environmental goals. 

Last year, 1,900 energy conservation projects at 270 IBM facilities around the world helped deliver savings in energy consumption that were equivalent to 5.4 percent of the company's total energy use. The corporate goal for the year was 3.5 percent. 

The projects also enabled the company to avoid:

• Consumption of more than 246,000 megawatt-hours of electricity.
• Consumption of more than 410,000 million BTUs of fuel oil.
• More than 142,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions.

The figures represent just one segment of the 50-page annual Corporate Responsibility Report and 48-page report Environment Report that were released yesterday. The reports recap recent industry firsts by IBM in eliminating toxic compounds and details the company's performance in the past year in several major areas including:

• Energy conservation and climate protection.
• Process stewardship.
• Product stewardship.
• Supply chain management. 

OAKLAND, CA — We've seen a flurry of CSR reports released over the last week from high-profile companies touting their social and environmental achievements.

Though they hail from a wide variety of sectors, the metrics used to report environmental performance fall along familiar lines, including carbon footprint, energy and water use, waste and packaging.

The following is a peek at some of the reports that crossed our desks over the last seven days, along with links to the reports so you can dig in even further.

AT&T

The Dallas-based telecommunications company sees a great market opportunity to help its customers save energy and money, citing a 2008 study concluding that information and communications technologies have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. by as much as 22 percent by 2020.

To advance this potential, AT&T has launched a series of tools to help enterprise customers quantify emissions avoided by using some of its products to reduce travel, it said in its 2009 Citizenship and Sustainability Report. It also created an external advisory board to promote the use of ICT to address sustainability issues and develop metrics to track ICT environmental impacts.

In its own operations, AT&T is working toward its goal of deploying 15,000 alternative fuel vehicles over the next decade. By the end of 2009, the company's AFV fleet totaled 970 despite the fact that the vehicles it needs aren't yet readily available off the production line.

AT&T reduce the amount of electricity consumed, relative to data growth on its network, by 23.8 percent. Its 2009 goal called for a 15 percent improvement in 2009, compared to 2008.

The company is scheduled to complete a water footprint assessment in 2010.

Ball

“It is unfair to compare the first solar plant to the one hundred thousandth coal plant.”

Palo Alto -- The quick answer to the question in the headline is that we don't know.

Although electricity from fossil fuels like coal, natural gas or nuclear plants is generally quoted as being lower in price than power from solar panels, the factors in the equation aren't completely equal, according to panelists at the 2010 Silicon Valley Energy Summit sponsored by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group taking place at Stanford University.

The kilowatt-hour figures quoted for coal actually quote the marginal cost, i.e., the cost to produce the power at the moment, according to Jim Detmers, the vice president of operations at the Cal ISO. It does not include capital costs. On the other hand, prices for solar or wind include the entire capital costs, the real estate and operating costs.

"We have not totally priced what those other sources of fuel cost," he said. "Those are two different costs."

Added SunPower CEO Tom Werner: "It is unfair to compare the first solar plant to the one hundred thousandth coal plant."

John Denniston, a partner at Kleiner Perkins, added in a separate panel that in 2008 the fossil fuel industry received $550 billion in subsidies worldwide, while renewables only received $45 billion. There's another factor to add into the fossil versus solar price calculation.

The event seeks to highlight the main issues facing the green community in Silicon Valley and in the nation at large. The usual cast of characters is here -- Ed Lu from Google is looking for a turkey sandwich at the moment -- including a whole host of PG&E executives. The audience applauded when Stanford's Jim Sweeney asked PG&E president Chris Johns why the utility backed Proposition 16, which would have made it tougher for cities to set up their own utilities.

Other notable tidbits at the event:

Image via FTC

Late last year we reported that the US Federal Trade Commission proposed a new label for compact fluorescent lightbulbs that would show vital statistics like mercury content and the light output in terms of lumens rather than watts, which would make the brightness of CFLs, LEDs and other lighting technology more comparable among consumers. Well word has just hit that the new system has been approved and we'll soon see nutrition-facts-style labels on our lights.

EarthTechling gave us a heads up about the new label, pointing us to the announcement from the FTC.

The FTC states, "Under direction from Congress to re-examine the current labels, the FTC is announcing a final rule that will require the new labels on light bulb packages. For the first time, the label on the front of the package will emphasize the bulbs' brightness as measured in lumens, rather than a measurement of watts. The new front-of-package labels also will include the estimated yearly energy cost for the particular type of bulb."

Photo via the DCist

Yet another poll has rolled in, revealing in clear terms -- and by wide margins -- that US citizens want comprehensive clean energy reform. Even if they have to pay more in energy costs. The Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, conducted by McCain pollster Bill McInturff (R), along with Peter Hart (D), found that by a stunning 2 to 1 margin, Americans want good, comprehensive energy reform that reduces carbon emissions and stimulates clean energy development. Here's the breakdown:

First, the question didn't pull any punches, as sometimes is the case in such polls. Here's the question:

Do you support or oppose an energy proposal designed to reduce carbon emissions and increase the use of alternative and renewable energy sources, even if it means an increase in the cost of energy? And, do you strongly (support/oppose) or just somewhat (support/oppose) this?

And, here's how the responses lined up (via Climate Progress):

The Syncrude tar sands operation in Canada. Photo by David Dodge of the Pembina Institute.

If we could go back in time before the BP Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, what would we learn? What steps would have helped avert what is now the nation's worst environmental disaster? Could this hindsight help us prevent similar catastrophes in the future? Would our political leaders have the moral compass to "get it right" this time around?

If we could go back in time before the BP Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, what would we learn? What steps would have helped avert what is now the nation's worst environmental disaster? Could this hindsight help us prevent similar catastrophes in the future? Would our political leaders have the moral compass to "get it right" this time around?

A ready-made test case for such an exercise exists in the form of TransCanada's push for a pipeline to transport toxic tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada, through the American Heartland down to Houston.

In an effort to cut costs, the company is requesting a special safety waiver to use thinner pipes and pump oil at pressures that exceed the normal limits allowed by current pipeline safety regulations. They lack a public emergency plan in the event of a leak and have not demonstrated that emergency responders have been identified, contracted or trained.

WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is offering comprehensive technical assistance to state capitals for the design and development of more sustainable neighborhoods -- ones that incorporate green building and infrastructure to foster social, economic and environmental benefits.

The program called Greening America's Capitals is a project of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, a collaborative effort involving the EPA, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Transportation. 

Under the program, design teams provided and funded by the EPA are to work with the cities to transform neighborhoods into models of sustainability.

The program is competitive and as many as four capitals will be selected to participate each year. The EPA announced the program last week and invited letters of interest to be submitted no later than July 9. The capitals chosen for the inaugural year will be announced in the fall.

The new program is the latest example of a growing effort to make communities more sustainable. 

In April, the U.S. Green Building Council launched the LEED rating system for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) as a national benchmark for community design. USGBC President, CEO and Founding Chair Rick Fedrizzi has described LEED-ND as the vision for "the next generation of green building thinking" and an opportunity to apply lessons learned from individual green buildings to entire neighborhoods.

The unveiling of the Greening America's Capitals program came on the heels of the annual U.S Conference of Mayors meeting.

The American Power Act may be President Obama’s last chance to pass comprehensive climate legislation and prevent catastrophe this year. The legislation, drafted by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) -- before Graham dumped his commitment to a cap on carbon pollution -- is in the mix for the Senate calendar, although many Democrats want to abandon it for asmaller suite of energy policies, such as the bill that came out of Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s (D-N.M.) energy committee last year. Recognizing the political challenge, Obama has committed to finding the votes for legislation that puts a price on carbon pollution.

The Environmental Protection Agency has released its analysis of the American Power Act today, agreeing with independent studies that the legislation would cut energy bills, create jobs, and strengthen national security. Most critically, they also looked at the effect of the legislation on the fate of the planet’s climate. Scientists have repeatedly warned that catastrophic tipping points -- global species collapse, megadroughts, rapid sea level rise, ice cap destruction -- become inevitable as the planet warms more than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Quite simply, an American cap on carbon is the deciding factor:

Under reference assumptions the probability of observed temperature changes in 2100, relative to pre-industrial levels, remaining below 2° C (or 3.6° F) is roughly 1%, and the probability of observed temperature change exceeding 4° C (or 7.2° F) is approximately 32%.

Under the combined APA and the G8 international agreement assumptions, the probability of observed temperature changes in 2100 remaining below 2° C (or 3.6° F) increases to 75%, and the probability of observed temperature changes exceeding 4° C is negligible given climate sensitivity assumptions.

To be clear -- EPA’s modeling of climate sensitivity is optimistic, and the world will need to raise its ambitions for declaring independence from oil and coal pollution.

Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) released analysis today of their American Power Act, or APA, by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA's analysis definitively demonstrates that we can reduce our carbon pollution and jumpstart the clean energy economy at a very small cost to American consumers. This analysis is also consistent with several other studies showing that the American Power Act would create jobs, reduce consumer energy prices, and help the United States lead the world toward stabilizing carbon emissions at safe levels by 2050.

The EPA concluded that the APA would be affordable for American families if it is enacted. The average family will have to spend less on energy if this important legislation passes, primarily because of increases in energy efficiency mandated and stimulated by the legislation. EPA projects that passing the APA would reduce Americans' annual energy expenditures by 10 percent by 2020.

The agency also finds that Americans will be more prosperous in 2020 than we are today. While families will on average consume $79 to $146 less per year in 2020 if the bill passes, this pales in comparison to how much consumption will increase from 2010 due to predicted economic growth. The EPA also concluded that the bill's consumer protection programs work so well that those who can least afford a decline in consumption -- low-income households -- will actually be better off under this bill than in a future without it. In fact, the poorest 10 percent of the population would be almost $160 better off in 2010 under the APA.

NEW YORK, NY — The value of the voluntary carbon market shrunk 47 percent to $387 million in 2009 as the recession shrank the amount of offsets purchased for corporate social responsibility purposes.

Transactions for the year equaled 94 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions reductions, a 26 percent decline from 2008, despite growth in emissions reductions bought for pre-compliance purposes, according to the State of the Voluntary Carbon Market Report 2010. The fourth annual report, to be released Monday, was produced by Ecosystem Marketplace and Bloomberg New Energy Finance. 

"The economic recession had a marked impact on the part of the market primarily concerned with buying credits to offset emissions of companies and individuals," Milo Sjardin, Bloomberg New Energy Finance Director and report co-author, said in a statement. "In contrast, expectations of a possible U.S. carbon trading program lifted the importance of the U.S., which figured as the largest buyer and seller in the market and the most popular transactions were those that could count towards future compliance.  However, with the current state of play of U.S. politics this situation is likely to be very different this year.”

Read more: http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2010/06/14/2009-great-recession-slashed-voluntary-carbon-market-half#ixzz0qt7OFiY4

If you've paid attention at all to the headlines today, you've undoubtedly noticed that during his latest trip to view the BP oil spill clean-up efforts President Obama likened the changes this disaster could have in energy policy to the way 9/11 changed US security policy. I've been sitting with this comment all day, wondering if it's accurate or just evocative rhetoric. The thing is, transforming the way we use energy is even more complex than changing security policy.

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and the United Steelworkers (USW) today released a joint "Framework Agreement" to create a "Partnership for Progress" in accelerating the development and deployment of wind energy production in the U.S.

Leo W. Gerard, USW International President, said, "The Framework Agreement we're announcing is the beginning of a road map to help ensure that our nation makes real progress in developing alternative and renewable sources of energy production on a scale that is commensurate with its vast potential.

"We expect this framework will help advance the promise of green jobs being key to our future. The nation cannot continue to fall behind other countries on clean energy manufacturing. America must be a global leader and establish new manufacturing jobs. If we do not act quickly on this opportunity through federal leadership and industry commitment, we will have done a disservice to our citizens. The Framework Agreement is designed to create a Partnership for Progress that doesn't accept second place, and instead, puts the U.S. at the leading edge of clean energy manufacturing."

Talking about the Gulf oil disaster in a speech last week at Carnegie Mellon University, President Obama said we need an energy-and-climate bill because

the only way the transition to clean energy will ultimately succeed is if the private sector is fully invested in this future -- if capital comes off the sidelines and the ingenuity of our entrepreneurs is unleashed. And the only way to do that is by finally putting a price on carbon pollution.

Now, many businesses have already embraced this idea because it provides a level of certainty about the future. And for those that face transition costs, we can help them adjust. But if we refuse to take into account the full costs of our fossil fuel addiction -- if we don't factor in the environmental costs and the national security costs and the true economic costs -- we will have missed our best chance to seize a clean energy future.

The House of Representatives has already passed a comprehensive energy and climate bill, and there is currently a plan in the Senate -- a plan that was developed with ideas from Democrats and Republicans -- that would achieve the same goal... the votes may not be there right now, but I intend to find them in the coming months. (Applause.) I will continue to make the case for a clean energy future wherever and whenever I can. (Applause.) I will work with anyone to get this done -- and we will get it done.

Driven by the need to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels, improve the economy and national security, create green jobs and reduce environmental impact, the federal government is taking the lead on green purchasing in a number of markets and sectors.

All agencies are directed to acquire recycled content, energy efficient, renewable, bio-based and environmentally preferable products and services towards achieving certain goals. Under the Energy Independence and Security Act, all federal managers are required to cut their fossil fuel use at new and renovated government facilities to 55 percent by the end of 2010 and 100 percent by 2030.

There are many "Buy Bio" and "Buy Green First" programs throughout the government, and the Department of Defense requires that green products and services must be considered as the first choice in all procurements. The government's premier purchasing agency, the General Services Administration (GSA), has implemented Go Green Initiatives giving preference to products and services that meet green purchasing criteria. These policies are not limited to products. The environmental services and green or LEED construction management sector are also in high demand.

Green procurement does not intend to rewrite the book on buying, but merely adds an environmental dimension to the decision-making process. The standard purchasing criteria of price, quality, and availability remain paramount. The environmental impacts can be seen as part of the quality criterion.

First and foremost, you must understand the basics on how to do business with the government and then you can use these attributes as part of your marketing strategy. The bottom line when dealing with the government is to make it easier for them to do business with you over others. Here are some tips:

Read more: http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/06/10/crash-course-selling-green-government#ixzz0qU5LYlhJ

A new study finds optimism and expansion in commercial energy efficiency across the globe.

Energy efficiency continues to grow in importance over the past year despite the still-struggling global economy, according to the latest global survey on the subject by Johnson Controls and the International Facility Management Association.

The international drivers for energy efficiency are based in cost savings, suggesting that the sluggish economy could be a driver for companies to grab low-hanging fruit to help their bottom line. While energy management is important in every country, some emerging economies outstripped Europe and the U.S. when it came to how high they ranked.

Here are some of the highlights from this year's report, which reflects the attitudes and priorities of more than 2,800 decision-makers in the commercial building sector around the world:

• India lead the pack with 39 percent of respondents ranking energy management "extremely important," compared to 27 percent for China, 16 percent in the U.S. and 14 percent for Pan-Europe.

• Energy cost savings topped the list as a driver for investing in energy efficiency, with 97 percent saying it was at least somewhat significant. Greenhouse gas reduction and enhanced public image followed with 74 percent finding it was somewhat important.

• Attracting and retaining customers ranked second as an "extremely significant" driver for influencing energy efficiency decisions.

New York Times Editorial

The nation’s political leaders have had a lot to say in recent years about America’s addiction to fossil fuels and the need to find cleaner, more climate-friendly alternatives. In recent weeks, they have had a lot to say about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. On Wednesday, President Obama put them together.

In a speech at Carnegie Mellon University, he invoked the spill to pound on Congress about its duty to pass a comprehensive energy bill that addresses oil dependency and global warming. The House has passed such a bill, but a companion measure in the Senate languishes, hostage to solid Republican opposition, exaggerated fears about its costs and timidity on the part of the Democratic leadership. “I will work with anyone from either party to get this done,” he said.

Mr. Obama’s task is to follow up that vow with action. We are not optimistic that his implacable Republican opposition will work with him on anything. But perhaps the spreading nightmare on the waters of the gulf will get a few to break with the party line.

Solar power nerds are fond of an estimate that 100 square miles of Nevada desert -- filled with solar panels -- could provide enough electricity for the entire United States. But right now, solar supplies just 1 percent of the country's energy. Cost is one reason that figure is so low. Unless you're an independently wealthy solar hobbyist, chances are you can't afford the $30,000 or so it takes to install panels at home.  That's why Gary Nystedt, as resource manager for Ellensburg, came up with a way to bring solar power to all the people in this smallish city in eastern Washington State. The city asked its residents to pitch in what they could -- the minimum contribution was $250 -- and built the country's first community solar project, or "solar garden," in 2006. Ellensburg now pumps an average of 102,000 kilowatt-hours of solar power into its grid each year. That's enough to completely power about 10 average U.S. homes.

In February 2009, I visited the Good Jobs, Green Jobs conference in Washington and wrote a column about the hope and excitement elicited by the incoming Obama administration and newly minted federal stimulus programs.

The 2010 edition of Good Jobs, Green Jobs returned to Washington in May, and I attended to see how a deep green audience of over 3,000 labor and environmental activists viewed the president's progress some 15 months later.

What I found was hope tempered by a gritty realism.

Conference participants had endured a difficult year of continuing job losses, grueling Congressional battles, and the spectacle of Deepwater Horizon spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico. But, remarkably, there was satisfaction about what had been achieved and hope -- albeit more guarded than it had been in 2009 -- for continuing progress on the green jobs front.

At the sessions I attended, speakers stressed that the federal stimulus created under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) remained very much a work in progress.

The consensus: It had been unrealistic to expect a green jobs program to have been implemented fully in 12 to 15 months, especially in newly emerging industries.

The Department of Energy's $6 billion home weatherization program, for example, put the federal government and its state and local partners into a sector where retrofit protocols, wage standards and training opportunities were fluid and evolving. As of mid-2010, the weatherization program is just getting off the ground.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama says it's time to roll back "billions of dollars in tax breaks" for oil companies and use the money for clean energy research and development.

Obama made the comments Wednesday in prepared remarks for a speech at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

He said the catastrophic Gulf oil spill shows the country must move toward clean energy by embracing energy efficiency, tapping natural gas and nuclear power and eliminating tax breaks for big oil.

Obama said that the Gulf spill "may prove to be a result of human error -- or corporations taking dangerous shortcuts that compromised safety" -- but that deepwater drilling is inherently risky and America cannot rely solely on fossil fuels.

Is Coca Cola a more sustainable company than PepsiCo? Which company is greener, Dell or Hewlett Packard? Both UPS and FedEx say they are environmental leaders -- who's right?

Underwriters Laboratories (UL) -- one of the world's oldest and most respected standard-setting organizations -- is going to help settle some of those arguments.

In cooperation with Greener World Media -- publisher of GreenBiz.com, where I'm a senior writer -- UL plans to launch a ratings system for companies by the end of the year. This is a big deal because it could help bring credibility and clarity to the very crowded and confused business of sustainability ratings, rankings and eco-labels.

The news that Greener World Media and UL are working together on a sustainability standard surfaced last week when Marcello Manco, the vice president and general manager of UL Environment, spoke on a panel at the Amsterdam Global Conference on Sustainability and Transparency convened by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). At the same time, my friend Joel Makower, the founder of Greener World Media, wrote a detailed blogpost, explaining the origins of the project, which go back to the early 2000s. Joel calls the new venture "LEED for companies," saying:

Given that we're smack dab in the middle of graduation season, the time is right for an article providing career advice to freshly minted MBAs. As a head hunter specializing in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate sustainability executive searches, I'm here to offer you some insight on trends in the job marketplace, and what that means for you as you hit the bricks on the job front.

Trends in the Market

My company, Sustainability Recruiting, recently published our biennial CSR Jobs Report, which followed trends of corporate social responsibility job postings over six years. One of the key findings revealed an 80 percent increase in CSR job postings between 2006 and 2007 -- and then a precipitous 57 percent decline between 2008 and 2009. 

There are two divergent trends in the marketplace that explain this: The economy and the sustainability movement. As the figure below shows, the economic downturn in 2009 put a large percentage of sustainability efforts on hold. Countering this, the sustainability movement has gained momentum, particularly in 2010.

May 26, 2010
Source: Clean Edge News

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently released an initial study assessing the operational impacts and economics of increased contributions from wind and solar energy producers on the power grid. The Western Wind and Solar Integration Study examines the benefits and challenges of integrating enough wind and solar energy capacity into the grid to produce 35 percent of its electricity by 2017. The study finds that this target is technically feasible and does not necessitate extensive additional infrastructure, but does require key changes to current operational practice. The results offer a first look at the issue of adding significant amount of variable renewable energy in the West and will help utilities across the region plan how to ramp up their production of renewable energy as they incorporate more wind and solar energy plants into the power grid.

“If key changes can be made to standard operating procedures, our research shows that large amounts of wind and solar can be incorporated onto the grid without a lot of backup generation,” said Dr. Debra Lew, NREL project manager for the study. “When you coordinate the operations between utilities across a large geographic area, you decrease the effect of the variability of wind and solar energy sources, mitigating the unpredictability of Mother Nature.”

In another visit intended to showcase a recipient of economic stimulus dollars, President Obama toured a solar panel plant on Wednesday in Fremont, Calif. He took the opportunity to contrast the potential of clean energy with the environmental perils of fossil fuels, reflected in what he called a “heartbreaking” oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

“We’re not going to be able to sustain this kind of fossil fuel use. The planet can’t sustain it,” he told about 250 employees after a tour of the expanding Solyndra Inc. plant, which has received a $535 million loan guarantee from the Energy Department for new construction.

Mr. Obama said he had spoken with Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who is at the scene in the gulf, and that he did not know whether BP’s “top kill” attempt on Wednesday to cap the gushing leak on the gulf floor would work. “There’s no guarantee,” Mr. Obama said.

SANTA CLARA, CA — Nearly 70 percent of Americans have never heard the phrase "smart grid," but once they learn more, they come to expect it to carry significant benefits and save them money.

A recent survey of Americans from EcoAlign revealed ample opportunity to positively define the smart grid for the public. It also uncovered several obstacles companies must overcome as smart technologies reach greater market penetration.

The company defines smart grid as the "larger network of interconnected devices in homes, businesses and communities that will allow service providers to offer new applications, including new billing and payment options."

"Everything's up for reinvention," according to keynote speaker Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious Materials.  Surace spoke to more than 250 building operations executives at the Sustainable Operations Summit in San Antonio, Texas. In a theme repeated by many of the speakers at the conference, he urged attendees to think outside the box and pursue disruptive innovation.

While innovation is key, the other theme of the conference, voiced by closing keynote speaker President Bill Clinton and others, is that business needs to prove that environmental sustainability projects make good economic sense.  This intersection of innovation and investment threaded through all aspects of the two-day conference.

Follow the Money

When Kevin Surace started Serious Materials, he was sometimes baffled by the efforts of cleantech startups in Silicon Valley. He saw many of them focused on developing technology without having clearly defined what problem they were solving and, more importantly, who would pay them to solve it.

Two down, one to go?

Of the three major legislative initiatives advanced by the Obama administration, health care reform has become law, and the U.S. Senate finally passed its version of financial regulatory reform last week. Social investors and shareowner activists will be relieved to learn that an effort by Senator Tom Carper of Delaware to remove important corporate governance provisions from the Senate bill failed.

The bill passed by the Senate includes authorizing the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to grant shareowners proxy access to nominate directors. It also requires that directors win majority votes in uncontested elections, and allows for nonbinding votes by shareowners on executive compensation.

With two legislative victories over the party of "Hell, no," only meaningful legislation addressing climate change remains to be accomplished. Because meaningful climate change legislation will have to direct a significant retooling of the U.S. economy away from its dependence on fossil fuels, extravagantly funded interest groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have devoted millions of dollars to opposing its passage.

WASHINGTON, DC — A month after the federal government finalized fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards for passenger and light-duty vehicles, President Barack Obama announced plans to set 2025 rules and create first-ever standards for medium- and heavy-duty trucks.

The president said Friday the moves are aimed at halving fuel use and greenhouse gas pollution over the next 20 years. The memorandum signed today also targets alternative fuel infrastructure development to support plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles.

"As a sign of the broad support behind this plan, we are joined by the representatives from more than a dozen car and truck manufacturers, as well as fleet operators, auto workers, labor leaders, environmental groups, and officials from California and other states," President Obama said in a speech Friday. "This is going to bring down the costs for transporting goods, serving businesses and consumers alike," he continued. "It will reduce pollution, given that freight vehicles produce roughly one fifth of the greenhouse gas emissions related to transportation."

Tesla Motors Inc., bolstered by a $50-million investment from Toyota Motor Corp., will start making electric cars next year at a recently closed plant in Northern California.

The move disappointed Downey officials who had been wooing the automaker, hoping the company would set up shop in a closed facility that had been used to manufacture the space shuttle.

"We are shocked, upset and betrayed. We can see why the public is so upset with corporate America," said Downey City Councilman Mario Guerra, adding that Tesla had told the city it would sign the lease for the Downey plant on Friday.

Tesla, based in Palo Alto, instead will make its cars in a factory that Toyota and General Motors Co. formerly operated in Fremont.

NEW ORLEANS, La. - The tube inserted by BP into a ruptured oil pipe is sucking up about one-fifth of the crude spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, a top company official said Monday.

BP's Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles told CNN that about 1,000 barrels of oil per day are being suctioned up by the tube, out of about 5,000 barrels that the company believes is gushing out daily.

"I'm really pleased we've had success now. We've actually had what we call this rise insertion tube working more than 24 hours now," he told CNN. "This morning we were producing over 1,000 barrels of oil into the drill ship. So it's good progress."

Suttles acknowledged that most of the oil continues to spill into the open Gulf waters, but said he hoped to be able over time to increase the ratio of captured oil.

"This doesn't capture all of it. There's still oil coming out. But what we hope to do over the next 24 hours is continue to raise the rate, increase the rate coming out of that insertion tube and capture more and more of the flow," Suttles said.

HOUSE PASSES BILL | Obama-backed $6 billion program would give rebates to owners who make their homes more energy-efficient

WASHINGTON -- Legislation to save homeowners money through energy efficiency has passed the House.

Supporters say the $6 billion Home Star rebate program, known as "Cash for Caulkers" -- a takeoff on the popular Cash for Clunkers initiative -- would put 168,000 people to work in sectors hard-hit by the recession, such as the construction industry, and save homeowners $10 billion over the next decade by giving them incentives to become more energy efficient.

The bill, which is supported by the Obama administration, passed the House 246-161, with 12 Republicans voting in favor. Similar bills await consideration in the Senate.

Most Republicans objected to the cost, which they pegged at $6.6 billion, and said the bill should detail how Congress would pay for it. They also questioned why the government should spend more on energy efficiency when funds for home weatherization grants to states under the economic Recovery Act are still unspent.

May 12, 2010 -- Yesterday, crews lowered a second containment box, called a 'top hat', to cap the broken well pipe spewing light crude into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

This containment box is designed to allow injection of methanol and hot water, which will hopefully combat the formation of hydrates. It's these ice-like crystals that caused the first, larger containment box to clog.

BP hopes, once again, that this will stem the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, but cautions that these mitigation strategies have not been attempted before under these same conditions, namely a mile below the surface. The 'top hat' is expected to be operational by Thursday.

The U.S. military has also provided commercial and military aircraft to transport a boom to help combat the spill.

The Kerry-Lieberman (nee Kerry-Graham-Lieberman) climate and clean-energy bill is set to be introduced on Wednesday. Given all the chaos that's surrounded it for the last few weeks, it's worth taking a step back and taking a broad look at the current political dynamic and the chances for a successful outcome. Here's the one-sentence summary: Chances for passage are quite slim, but not as slim as generally perceived, and ironically, the path to passage now involves the bill getting stronger, not weaker. Read on.

Will it pass?

This is what everyone keeps asking me. (And everyone keeps asking everyone else.) The smart money, of course, is on No. Generally, predicting the death of major legislation is a smart move when it comes to the U.S. Senate. And after Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-S.C.) bailing and the oil spill, lots and lots of folks are completely convinced that the coalition's fallen apart and the bill's dead.

I don't necessarily disagree that the odds are against passage. But I don't think the chances are as bad as conventional wisdom now has it -- i.e., I don't think they're zero. (Wo0t optimism!) Put another way: I think the chances are roughly as good as they've ever been in the Senate: low but non-trivial.

Graham WTF

All of D.C. is currently engaged in the seemingly intractable project of psychoanalyzing Graham. What's he thinking? What does he want? Is he in or out?

Photo via CDN

The New York Times just ran a column called Don't Think That Cap-and-Trade Is Over--paradoxically, I might add, since just before that they ran one called Tracing the Demise of Cap and Trade. Anyhow, the conflicting reportage isn't the point (I already showed how the notion that cap and trade is somehow 'dead' is nonsense). No, the more interesting thing is the angle of the new column, which argues that cap and trade will persist, not because it is the best-crafted policy for curbing greenhouse gas emissions, but because it could be a cash cow for funding-starved governments still digging their way out of a global recession. Or, as the Times puts it, "carbon trading should soon look like manna from heaven for cash-strapped treasuries."

Ooh--manna from heaven!

The American Wind Energy Association has just released its annual market report for the US and the super-quick summary is 2009 saw record installation of wind power but though manufacturing continues to see growth, it's happening more slowly than in 2008. Here are the fast facts to remember:

• In 2009 US wind power saw a record number of new installations, bringing an additional 10 GW online--a figure AWEA reminds us is enough to power 2.4 million average homes, and equivalent to about three large nuclear power plants.
• Leading the way in US turbine sales was GE Energy; NextEra Energy Resources is the largest owner of wind farms; and, Xcel Energy leads utilities in wind power usage.
• 36 states now have utility-scale wind power projects, with 14 states have more than a gigawatt of wind power installed.
• Texas continues to lead the nation in terms of overall wind power capacity, but Iowa takes the number one spot for percentage of electricity generated by wind (14%).

The availability of hydropower has attracted BMW to establish a $100 million manufacturing facility in Washington State, to build components for its new electric car.

The German motor manufacturer revealed yesterday that it will build a state-of-the-art plant in Moses Lake to make carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) bodypanels for its new “Megacity” electric vehicle.

The project is part of a joint venture with BMW’s German carbon fiber partner SGL Group, and should see 80 local jobs created in the initial phase of production for future concept vehicles.

BMW is aiming to launch the Megacity before 2015, and the Moses Lake facility will form a “key piece” of the vehicle’s production, it said.

The company said its decision to locate the plant in the state of Washington had been “primarily” taken because of the availability of hydropower and competitive energy.

President Obama's decision to have Interior Secretary Ken Salazar open vast new areas of federal ocean waters to offshore oil drilling is no surprise. In his State of the Union address, the president explained that his vision for a clean energy future included offshore drilling, nuclear power and clean coal. Unfortunately, that's like advocating a healthy diet based on fast-food snacking, amphetamines and low-tar cigarettes.

If the arguments you hear in the coming days for expanded drilling sound familiar, it's because they've been repeated for generations. We've been hearing promises about safer drilling technologies since before Union Oil began drilling in the Santa Barbara Channel. And if you don't remember what happened that time, you should. Soon after the wells were bored, one of them blew out in January 1969, causing a massive oil slick that slimed beaches and killed birds, fish and marine mammals. The resulting catastrophe helped spark the modern environmental movement.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration set tougher gas mileage standards for new cars and trucks Thursday, spurring the next generation of fuel-sipping gas-electric hybrids, efficient engines and electric cars.

The heads of the Transportation Department and the Environmental Protection Agency signed final rules setting fuel efficiency standards for model years 2012-2016, with a goal of achieving by 2016 the equivalent of 35.5 miles per gallon combined for cars and trucks, an increase of nearly 10 mpg over current standards set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The EPA set a tailpipe emissions standard of 250 grams (8.75 ounces) of carbon dioxide per mile for vehicles sold in 2016, equal to what would be emitted by vehicles meeting the mileage standard. The EPA issued its first rules ever on vehicle greenhouse gas emissions following a 2007 Supreme Court decision.

"These historic new standards set ambitious, but achievable, fuel economy requirements for the automotive industry that will also encourage new and emerging technologies," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. "We will be helping American motorists save money at the pump, while putting less pollution in the air."

The Environmental Protection Agency issued a rule Monday affirming that it won't regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants under the Clean Air Act until Jan. 2.

The ruling, known as "the Johnson memo" because it stems from a memo issued by former EPA administrator Steven Johnson at the very end of the Bush administration, will ensure that major greenhouse emitters such as coal-fired utilities don't face immediate regulation. The prospect of regulation for stationary sources of carbon dioxide would have kicked in once the administration issues greenhouse gas regulations for cars and light-trucks, which will happen by midnight Wednesday.

State and local officials had complained to the EPA that they were not prepared to grapple with greenhouse gas permits this soon, and asked for a nine-month delay so they could reconcile their programs with the federal one.

NEW YORK, NY — Paper recovery and recycling continues to grow more rapidly than even industry experts can predict, continuing a trend we've reported in our State of Green Business report for the past three years.

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), an industry association that tracks paper use, released its 2009 figures for paper recovery and recycling, and found that a record-high 63.4 percent of the paper consumed in the U.S. was recovered last year for recycling.

The achievement marks the continuation of big leaps in the percentage of paper recovered, even as the overall amount of paper used declines. By surpassing 60 percent recovery, the AF&PA has surpassed its goal three years early.

"Recycling is one of America's great environmental success stories and the paper industry is proud of our ongoing leadership role in this arena," AF&PA President and CEO Donna Harman said in a statement. "Today's announcement is a testament to the work of the industry and the commitment of millions of Americans who recycle at home, school and work on a daily basis."

The early achievement of the recovery goal is another ongoing trend in paper recovery. As we wrote in the State of Green Business report this year:

From shipping container homes to houses built into caves, these are some of the strangest -- and smartest -- green homes.

• 7 Home Improvements Worth $1,500
• 19 Home Winterization Tips
• Home Energy Tax Credits
• DIY Home Energy Audit
• Solar Power A-Z
• Best-Value Solar Panels
• 7 Easy Ways to Save Energy at Home
• Cash For Appliances
• 10 Most Walkable U.S. Cities
• 10 Greenest U.S. Colleges

Can snazzier batteries jump-start Honda's hybrid sales? The Honda Civic Hybrid is planning to switch to lithium-ion batteries in a bid to make it more competitive with the embattled Toyota Prius (which has the lion's share of the hybrid market).

Li-ion is, of course, the default battery for nearly all the world's coming plug-in EVs, and it has by far the greatest energy density of any available chemistry. Hybridcars.com reports that li-ion packs could even be cheaper than the nickel-metal packs standard in hybrids today.

While not the biggest deal in the world, it's still very significant--the only hybrid to use li-ion right now is the Mercedes S400, and that's in a whole other price category. Bloomberg got its scoop, as it often does, from its Japanese reporters (Makkio Kitamura and Yuki Hagiwara). Honda Executive Vice President Koichi Kondo told them in a Tokyo interview that the Civic Hybrid would have li-ion within the next two to three years. "Lithium will become a lot more prevalent," he said.

In a recent interview on Blog Talk Radio, Tim Spring, president of Marcal Paper, explained to me that virgin tree pulp is the most common source for paper towels, napkins, bath and facial tissues found on store shelves.

However, virgin tree fiber is obtained only one way: by killing trees.

As we all know, cutting down trees contributes to the release of greenhouse gases, whereas planting trees sequesters them. This, of course, can have a direct impact on the effects of global warming. While industry spokespeople like to say that the virgin fiber industry actually supports sustainable forests, which can take up carbon, there's no denying the fact that it takes less energy to make something out of recycled fiber than to harvest and transport pulp from a felled tree.

As I stated in another article I wrote about Marcal Paper's Marcal Small Steps campaign, 98% of all paper towels, napkins, bath and facial tissue used in American homes is made from virgin fiber,

Don't you hate it when something breaks just after the warranty runs out? Or what about that new electronic gadget that fails to work with your old accessories from the same manufacturer? Some of these infuriating problems were caused on purpose, by product designers practicing "planned obsolescence." More than a10,000 Maniacs song, planned obsolescence occurs when something is intended to wear out or stop being useful after a predetermined period of time -- and that time is often as short as a few years.

Planned obsolescence isn't always easy to identify, since there can be many reasons why something becomes no longer useful, including technological irrelevance or changing social

Gasoline prices have been hovering in the neighborhood of $2.75 of late, but it isn't that long ago that we were all cringing at $3 and even $4 a gallon gas. And while the sagging global economy has taken the steam out of oil prices, shrinking supplies, increasing demand and (possibly) new climate change regulations promise, ultimately, to drive oil prices back up.

Here are five^* road-tested ways to save money on gas. Of course saving money isn't the only goal: the more gas we save, the less pollution we create, and the less beholden we are to those who control the oil supply.

^* Plus one bonus tip (no extra charge).

There are only 7 cars that both get better than 30 mpg and cost less than $20,000. Here they are.
See all 2010 cars and SUVs with better than 30 mpg and watch TDG discuss fuel-efficient cars on ABC News Now.

The Go Green Expo claims to be the "nation's largest eco-friendly trade and consumer lifestyle showcase." It's an event for both businesses and people interested in going green, and it will take place March 19-21 at New York City's Pier 92. The Daily Green will be there, and you should be too. Here are just a few reasons to think about attending:

1. Big names
Green celebrities Ed Begley Jr., Mariel Hemingway and Matthew Modine will be there, discussing green activism Robin Wilson and more than 200 exhibits displaying eco-friendly alternatives to everyday products that can help you to lead a clean, healthy & low-carbon lifestyle.

2. Expert Panels
The Daily Green's senior editor, Dan Shapley, will moderate a panel discussion on Sunday March 21 at 2 p.m. titled "State of My Environment." Learn what representatives of local, national and international environmental groups and media (Riverkeeper, the Pew Environment Group, Rainforest Alliance and Ecorazzi) think individuals can do to protect the environment in real ways. This is one of many informative speaking events planned. Others will cover topics including greening your business, eco-entrepreneurship, greening your home and sustainable design.

3. Exhibitors
More than 200 exhibitors will be displaying eco-friendly alternatives to everyday products that can help you to lead a clean, healthy & low-carbon lifestyle. Exhibitors include The Home Depot, which will showcase the array of Eco-Options available in its stores; automakers Volkswagen and General Motors; earth-friendly paper goods company Marcal; eco-responsible dental care company Aquafree, sustainable printers Print Responsibly and Linda Loudermilk’s eco-fashion line.

Meat is a conversation starter. You can no longer identify yourself as an omnivore or a herbivore anymore. There are carnivores who really eat meat and revel in it. There are caring omnivores who only eat humanely raised meat. There are people who are vegetarians out in public but might cook themselves meat at home. And then there's the gateway drug: bacon. Bacon has been known to make even the most dedicated vegetarian stray, creating a "bacontarian."

The complicated and sometimes humorous and weird world of meat is explored with honesty in Tara Austen Weaver's new book, The Butcher and the Vegetarian. Weaver is a West Coast food writer and author of the award winning Tea and Cookies blog, who, after suffering from chronic fatigue, is told by her doctor to start eating meat. The lifelong vegetarian, who was raised in the counter-culture of Northern California in the 1970s, faces a moral crisis. Her desire to get healthy and her journalistic instinct help her turn that crisis into an examination of the world of meat.

Last night "The Cove," the controversial film about the practice of dolphin hunting in the Japanese town of Taiji, took home the Academy Award for Best Documentary.

Said producer Louie Psihoyos while accepting the award: “I just want to say it was an honor to work on this film and to try make an entertaining film that also tries to enlighten everybody. I have to thank Jim Clark who financed the film and who was also kind of the guiding wisdom behind the film, Paula DuPre Presman, my producing partner, and my hero, Rick O’Barry, who is not only a hero to this species but to all species.”

During the acceptance speech, Rick O'Barry hoisted up a sign encouraging viewers to text the word "DOLPHIN" to 44144 to sign a petition to stop the slaughter of dolphins.

Now that "The Cove" has won an Oscar, it could mean the film will be shown in Japan, where it has thus far not been widely distributed.

Check out a clip from the film, and our reviewer Carolyn Merino Mullin's thoughts on this award-winning documentary.

So, have you enjoyed the debate over health care reform? Have you been impressed by the civility of the discussion and the intellectual honesty of reform opponents?

If so, you’ll love the next big debate: the fight over climate change.

The House has already passed a fairly strong cap-and-trade climate bill, the Waxman-Markey act, which if it becomes law would eventually lead to sharp reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. But on climate change, as on health care, the sticking point will be the Senate. And the usual suspects are doing their best to prevent action.

Some of them still claim that there’s no such thing as global warming, or at least that the evidence isn’t yet conclusive. But that argument is wearing thin — as thin as the Arctic pack ice, which has now diminished to the point that shipping companies are opening up new routes through the formerly impassable seas north of Siberia.

Even corporations are losing patience with the deniers: earlier this week Pacific Gas and Electric canceled its membership in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in protest over the chamber’s “disingenuous attempts to diminish or distort the reality” of climate change.

I'm hosting a dinner party next week, and I'll be serving both beer and wine alongside the meal. But it got me wondering: Which has the lower carbon footprint? Beer has to be kept refrigerated, which requires energy, but shipping wine in those heavy bottles can't be good for the planet, either.

It's hard to come up with a simple answer for this one, because so many factors affect the calculation: Where was your beverage made? What's it packaged in, and how did that package get to you? How was it stored at the point of sale? Accounting for all these variables can make your head spin, but the best available research suggests that parsing out the difference might not be worth the headache.

In 2007, an analyst for the U.K.-based Food Climate Research Network attempted to tally up the nation's alcohol consumption-related emissions. Across the three categories considered—beer, wine, and spirits—the research didn't find any significant differences in greenhouse gas intensity. Wine came out with "marginally lower" greenhouse gas output than beer, though the author stressed that the tiny differences calculated—about 10 grams of carbon-dioxide equivalent per unit of alcohol—were well within the margin of error for the data. (One unit of alcohol represents about a half-pint of ordinary strength beer or half a glass of white wine.)

UNITED NATIONS — China laid down a significant plan for curbing greenhouse gases on Tuesday, outlining ambitious goals of planting enough forest to cover an area the size of Norway and generating 15 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources within a decade.

Chinese President Hu Jintao also promised at the opening of the United Nations climate summit that the communist nation would take "determined and practical steps" to boost its nuclear energy, improve energy efficiency and reduce "by a notable margin" the growth rate of its carbon pollution as measured against economic growth.

Experts were watching the Chinese closely because it had in the past largely ignored global efforts to diminish emissions. The goals Hu outlined also were held in contrast to the United States, where the Senate has yet to take up climate legislation and likely will not have produced a new law by the time world leaders gather this December in Copenhagen, Denmark, to negotiate a treaty to replace the 1997 Kyoto pact.

"At stake in the fight against climate change are the common interests of the entire world," Hu said. "Out of a sense of r

A Ford car plant which was recently shut down as part of cost savings by the car maker is being converted into a facility for renewable energy companies.

The facility in Wixom, Michigan, which at the height of production had about 5,000 workers, closed in 2007 with the loss of 1,000 jobs. The site will now be converted into a business park for a series of renewable energy companies, which the backers claim could generate about 4,000 jobs.

Ford said it has been working with energy storage system provider Xtreme Power and solar panel maker Clairvoyant Energy, who will be the first companies to take up residency in the 320-acre site and its 4.7 million square feet of plant space. The two renewable energy providers have invested about $725m (£635m) to redevelop the site, with work expected to begin early next year and clean tech manufacturing expected to get underway in 2011.

FRANKFURT — German carmaker Volkswagen AG said it would unveil several new models at this week's Frankfurt Auto Show, including an electric car called the E-Up.

At a reception before the start of the show Monday evening, the company said the E-Up compact would likely only go into production in 2013 and approach production levels of that of its other popular compact cars only by 2020.

The company said the front wheel drive car's lithium ion battery will have 18 kilowatt hours energy capacity enabling a driving distance of around 130 kilometers, or about 80 miles, depending on driving style.

"One of the basic milestones on this timeline is the mass produced electric car," Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn said in a statement.

He said only in high volumes and on all continents could one truly speak of the beginning of the electric age in automobiles and a perceptible reduction of their environmental impact.

A weekly wrap up of green and socially minded business news from the gang at TriplePundit.com

A Green Labor Day
What's the definition of a "green job"?. What's a "green economy"? Can either represent a better, more viable economy than the one we've got now? 3p contributors and readers pondered these questions in our week long green labor day series.

Age of the Anti Starbucks?
Starbucks' new unbranded 15th St. Coffee & Tea Shop (aka the "anti-starbucks") could be a new model for large companies to re-engage with local communities - or is it just local-washing?

So, Can a Global Company Be Local?
Keeping with the same theme, Terracycle's Tom Szaky invents the term "glocalizing" to describe a UK project with Kraft that's aimed at sourcing local waste to create interesting products locally while introducing the global TerraCycle brand to the UK.

How Green Should Kiva Be?
Microlending has the potential to bring millions out of poverty, in both developing nations as well as the United States. Should it carry an explicitly green message or is it already green just by its very nature?

Snow Leopard Fails the Green Test
It may save millions on energy, but when you get a box in the mail big enough for 15 DVDs you have to ask questions.

ATHENS, Ohio -- The oil lobby was sponsoring rallies with free lunches, free concerts and speeches warning that a climate-change bill could ravage the U.S. economy.

Professional "campaigners" hired by the coal industry were giving away T-shirts praising coal-fired power.

But when environmentalists showed up in this college town -- closer than ever to congressional passage of a climate-change bill, in the middle of the green movement's biggest political test in a generation -- they provided . . . a sedate panel discussion.

And they gave away stickers.

Next month, the Senate is expected to take up legislation that would cap greenhouse-gas emissions. That fight began in blazing earnest last week, with a blitz of TV ads and public events in the Midwest and Mountain West.

Students at Bates College, a Green Honor Roll Campus
Image: Flickr, Seth Tisue

Since 70% of college candidates prefer green universities, it comes as little surprise to see that GreenBiz reports that U.S. colleges are striving to pimp their green credentials. The real questions are: what are colleges doing to earn our green respect? And why should students factor that into their college choice?

What is a Green College?
In the recently published Princeton Review college rankings, green is still an "honor roll" rather than a ranking category, which suggests that students are not placing green above priorities like academic prestige, the community of friends found on campus or off, the extracurriculars, or a beautiful campus teeming with happy students. But the trend is just beginning.

The Princeton Review gives colleges a green rating based on a variety of factors:

Graphic via UCS

They can't say they weren't warned. At the Southern Governors' Association's annual meeting near Williamsburg, VA, retired military officials told the governors that climate change will have major impacts on their states. Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard Engel, who directs the Climate Change and State Stability program of the National Intelligence Council, told the governors that global warming will cause drought, floods, and storm damage.

Ironically, many polluters sponsored the conference, including the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Dominion Resources Inc., and Exxon Mobil Corp. Outgoing chair Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia said his goal was to see how the South can increase its use of renawble energy technologies while increasing efficiency and reducing greenhouse gases.

photo: faul via flickr

In an effort to highlight the genuine economic gains for workers that can be had in a low-carbon economy, The Alliance for Climate Protection and the Blue Green Alliance have kicked off the Made in America Jobs Tour. The tour will take place in 22 states, encompass more than 50 separate events, and begins in Cleveland, Ohio:

Other events will be held in places far afield as Tucson, Arizona (Sept. 1) and Portland, Maine (Aug. 26), with the final location being Columbia, South Caroline on September 3rd -- here's the full list of tour dates -- and all will stress the job-creation benefits of clean energy policies.

Maggie Fox of The Alliance for Climate Protection:

Nearly five decades ago, JFK challenged us to go to the moon; not because it was easy, but because it was hard. He called it a challenge Americans were “willing to accept,” “unwilling to postpone” and one which they intended to win. History has recorded the scale of that triumph.

The American space program was a massive undertaking. It cost billions of dollars and required the bipartisan cooperation of our nation’s top policymakers. Yet, the rewards of a successful space mission were not primarily financial or economic; they weren’t exclusively social or military. There were political benefits of a successful mission, to be sure, but the real fuel behind America’s space program was the sense of hope and inspiration that it gave to millions of ordinary Americans. If the United States could send a man to the moon, so the thinking went, what couldn’t our nation do? America had then – and still has now – the brightest minds on the planet, one of the freest and most dynamic economies in human history and a unique sense of possibility and hope seared into the DNA of every citizen.

So, why is it that we’re falling so far behind in the space race of the 21st century – the development and deployment of green energy technology?

 BSR has recently fielded inquiries from a range of member companies asking how climate change is relevant to their business. 

The timing of these questions is obvious: With prospective climate change legislation and policy discussions in the United States and elsewhere, intensive international negotiations culminating later this year, and ongoing stakeholder interest, companies are scrambling to develop or boost their climate change strategies, assess their internal and supply chain emissions, and examine the potential risks and opportunities throughout their operations, value chain, and industry. 

For energy companies and heavy manufacturers, it has long been clear that climate change regulation would have a significant impact on business. And while some representatives from other industries still insist climate change is not relevant for them, the best available research indicates it is material for virtually every company, both in the traditional accounting sense and the sustainability context, which incorporates wider stakeholder concerns. Unlike issues such as animal welfare or toxic waste that may be irrelevant to some firms, climate change is never off the playing field for any company.

photo: Jurvetson via flickr

I'm not saying there's a linear connection between the news from two weeks back of lobbyists sending forged letters urging opposition to the climate bill to a Virginia Congressman, but it does show the level of manipulation going on to protect vested interests of polluters -- Think Progress reports that Greenpeace has obtained internal documents from the American Petroleum Institute that show they plan on staging so-called "energy citizen" rallies during the August Congressional recess:

The API would coordinate transportation for oil industry employees to these rallies, where the objective would be,

...to put a human face on the impacts of unsound energy policy and to aim a loud message at those states' US Senators to avoid the mistakes in the House climate bill and the Obama Administration's tax increases on our industry. Senate Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid reportedly has pushed back consideration of climate legislation to late September to allow Senators time to get their constituents' view during the August recess. It's important that our views be heard.

Which is all to say, to ensure that anything that cramps the business-as-usual, carry us down the path to catastrophic climate through continued rampant use of fossil fuels, plans of the petroleum industry is pushed aside in continued favor of big profits.

WASHINGTON — The changing global climate will pose profound strategic challenges to the United States in coming decades, raising the prospect of military intervention to deal with the effects of violent storms, drought, mass migration and pandemics, military and intelligence analysts say.

Such climate-induced crises could topple governments, feed terrorist movements or destabilize entire regions, say the analysts, experts at the Pentagon and intelligence agencies who for the first time are taking a serious look at the national security implications of climate change.

Recent war games and intelligence studies conclude that over the next 20 to 30 years, vulnerable regions, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and South and Southeast Asia, will face the prospect of food shortages, water crises and catastrophic flooding driven by climate change that could demand an American humanitarian relief or military response.

Flickr: madiko83

Taking advantage of a slowdown in electricity demand, China has sped up a campaign to close small, inefficient coal-fired power plants, often considered a major source of the country's pollution.

But even as the country improves its energy efficiency in advance of climate talks in December, China's overall power demand will keep rising. More wind and solar energy is on the way, but in the mean time closed coal plants will be replaced by ... more coal plants. Huh?

"Cleaner," More Efficient Coal Plants
The National Energy Administration has mandated that all new coal plants be cleaner and more efficient. The least efficient plants in use in China today convert only 27 to 36 percent of the energy in coal into electricity. But the most efficient ones are as much as 44 percent efficient. In other words, they can cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than a third compared with the older plants.

The average efficiency of an American coal-fired plant is 40 percent, but China is rapidly closing the gap.

Photo via Frot

Guess it pays to be the biggest oil company in the world--even though their profits are at the lowest they've been in six years, Exxon still managed to spend more money on lobbying efforts for the climate bill than the entire clean energy industry combined.

Even with their gargantuan effort, the oil company still felt slighted in the version of the climate bill that passed the House last month (coal and agriculture got far more free permits to pollute than the oil company). Perhaps they at least got a consolation prize? Maybe an "I Spent $15 Million on Lobbying and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt" tee, or something?

Because that's how much the oil giant shelled out--$14.9 million over the last six months. As Bloomberg points out, that's a solid 23% more than the $12.1 million clean energy companies spent all told. Altogether, oil and gas companies spent $82.2 million on Washington lobbyists, dwarfing the wind, solar, and biofuel companies that nonetheless spent more than ever before. From Bloomberg:

Image via McKinsey

Energy efficiency is always touted at the primary (and easiest) option for saving both money and the environment. Yet so many people are slow to latch on. Perhaps a new figure put out by the latest McKinsey Report will get people to make a mad dash towards energy efficiency.

We Could Save $1.2 Trillion Over Next 10 Years
According to the latest figure put out by McKinsey, if we invested $520 billion over 10 years in energy efficiency measures from weatherizing homes to better power systems, we'll see a savings of $1.2 trillion by 2020 - a return of $680 billion. Plus, that other great side effect of making big strides towards saving the planet. Just how big a stride? Well...

The reduction in energy use would also result in the abatement of 1.1 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions annually – the equivalent of taking the entire U.S. fleet of passenger vehicles and light trucks off the roads.

We Already Have Tools We Need for Energy Efficiency
Best of all, we don't need to sit around waiting for new technology. The report shows that we can use existing tech and practices to make the changes necessary for such big savings.

Diesel crop irrigation pump.
Image credit:BEI International

Today we are an oil-based civilization, one that is totally dependent on a resource whose production will soon be falling. Since 1981, the quantity of oil extracted has exceeded new discoveries by an ever-widening margin. In 2008, the world pumped 31 billion barrels of oil but discovered fewer than 9 billion barrels of new oil. World reserves of conventional oil are in a free fall, dropping every year.

Discoveries of conventional oil total roughly 2 trillion barrels, of which 1 trillion have been extracted so far, with another trillion barrels to go. By themselves, however, these numbers miss a central point. As security analyst Michael Klare notes, the first trillion barrels was easy oil, “oil that’s found on shore or near to shore; oil close to the surface and concentrated in large reservoirs; oil produced in friendly, safe, and welcoming places.” The other half, Klare notes, is tough oil, “oil that’s buried far offshore or deep underground; oil scattered in small, hard-to-find reservoirs; oil that must be obtained from unfriendly, politically dangerous, or hazardous places.”

The oil-food-security link.
At Earth Policy Institute we note that the prospect of peaking oil production has direct consequences for world food security, as modern agriculture depends heavily on the use of fossil fuels.

SAN FRANCISCO — Returning to their ranch-style house in Sacramento after a long summer workday, Jon and Kim Waldrep were routinely met by a wall of heat.

“We’d come home in the summer, and the house would be 115 degrees, stifling,” said Mr. Waldrep, a regional manager for a national company.

He or his wife would race to the thermostat and turn on the air-conditioning as their four small children, just picked up from day care, awaited relief.

All that changed last month. “Now we come home on days when it’s over 100 degrees outside, and the house is at 80 degrees,” Mr. Waldrep said.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Dell unveiled an energy savings calculator today that goes beyond what most others offer.

More than just monitoring energy usage, this tool allows a customer to view power consumption for individual components, such as monitors or graphics cards, and compare the current savings to older configurations. It can establish aggregate savings for an entire year in a variety of currencies.

The goal was to create a best-in-class energy calculator, Jay Taylor, Dell's energy efficiency strategist, said in a telephone interview.

"We have made a generational leap in terms of what you can measure," Taylor said.

"Many Californians were sickened or became ill after going to polluted beaches last year," Michelle Mehta, an attorney with the council's water program, said in a written statement. "The problem of beach water pollution has not improved and millions of people visiting California's world-renowned beaches continue to be at risk."

photo: Ricardo Villela via flickr

It's pretty much conventional wisdom in the green community that the cost of preventing climate change now will be less than the cost of doing nothing and trying to adapt later, even if it costs 1-2% of global GDP. Well, IPCC chairman Dr Rajendra Pachauri has take one more step, The Guardian quoting Pachauri saying "the cost [of tackling climate change now] could undoubtedly be negative overall." As in the economic benefits are greater than the costs incurred:

He went on to say that if the costs are negative that "inertia and vested interests would be washed away. As the Americans say, it would be like dollar bills lying on the sidewalk."

Pachauri highlighted greater energy security with consumers being protected from wild price spikes for energy, expanding green jobs, more productive agriculture, lowered air pollution, and lower health care costs as all being benefits of tackling climate change now, which have genuine, quantifiable economic benefits.

Austin, Texas -- Whole Foods Market said last week each of its 273 U.S. stores earned organic certification.

Third-party organic certifier CCOF confirmed the retailer met tougher new rules for organic certification that went into effect last year.

Whole Foods became the first national chain to earn “group certification” status in 2003. Under the original program, a third-party certifier inspected a certain number of stores, along with the overall company and monitoring systems to assure compliance. In 2008, the USDA decided each store must be inspected.

“We believe that our customers benefit from having everyone who handled their organic food certified, not everyone except the retailer,” Joe Dickson, Whole Foods’ quality standards coordinator, said in a statement last week. “While some certified retailers may have just a few departments certified, and focus on shrink-wrapped organic produce, we’ve opted to go all out. In our stores, every department that handles organic food is certified -- produce, meat, bulk, cheese, even stores with organic salad bars are certified.”

John Hinderaker at the popular conservative blog PowerLine reports that it's been cold, cold, cold in his home town of Minneapolis, Minnesota, going to far as to compare it with "The Year Without a Summer", 1816, when global temperatures were abnormally low as a result of the eruption of Mount Tambora:

I don't think things are quite so bad this year, but if something doesn't change pretty soon 2009 may go down in history, in some parts of the U.S. at least, as another year with barely any summer. Here in Minnesota and across the Midwest, temperatures are abnormally cold. I don't know whether the phenomenon is world-wide--data that will answer this question have probably not been assembled, and may not be honestly reported--but the current low level of solar activity suggests that the cooling trend could indeed be universal.

Indeed, it's been pretty cool in Minneapolis for the past couple of days; the temperature hasn't hit 70 since midday Thursday. But has it been an unusually cool summer? No, not really. Since summer began on June 21st, high temperatures there have been above average 15 times and below average 13 times. The average high temperature there since summer began this year has been 82.4 degrees. The average historic high temperature over the same period is ... 82.4 degrees. It's been a completely typical summer in Minneapolis, although with one rather hot period in late June and one rather cool one now. (Note: actual high temperatures can be found here and historical averages can be found here.)



Read on for the challenge...

AUSTIN, Tex. — Peering behind a bathtub in a newly built house, an inspector, John Umphress, spotted a big gap in the wall insulation. “Somebody took a lunch break!” he complained to the builder, who sheepishly agreed to patch the hole.

With the fix, the house, already a model of energy efficiency, will use even less energy and save its residents money — for decades.

But that small catch would not have been made in many American towns. Mr. Umphress is a particular kind of inspector, an energy auditor, and Austin, with one of the toughest building codes in the country, requires an energy inspection before a building can be occupied.

Velib, Paris' public bicycle rental program, celebrates its second birthday today. Velib or "bike freedom" distributes 20,000 bicycles across Paris at 1800 locations. Riders can access the bikes through a variety of payment methods: a one-day card for 1 euro, a weekly card for 5 euros, or an annual card for 29 euros. Over the past two years, Velib has been used over fifty-three million times. The 22.5 kilogram bikes are equipped with three-speed settings, a locking system, and powered by an LED light.

There are currently four times as many Velib locations as Metro stations making it the newest and greenest form of public transportation in Paris. Mayor Bertrand Delanoe initiated the program to decrease Paris' pollution and to deter Parisians from relying on cars and taxis. 120,000 trips are taken daily for commutes around the city. The bikes even come equipped with a basket to transport ones daily purchases around the city, so skip the plastic bags and hop on an eco-friendly Velib!

DALLAS, Texas -- Texas Instruments (TI) saved $5.1 million last year by undertaking 159 projects designed to save energy, water and other resources.

The wafer fabrication processes used in semiconductor manufacturing cause energy to account for more than 60 percent of the Texas-based company’s carbon footprint, and 94 percent of its overall utility budget. Water is responsible for 6 percent of its utility expenses. TI shrunk its global carbon footprint by 2.8 percent in 2008 to 2.07 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. Since 2005, TI has reduced emissions by roughly 6 percent, the company said in its 2008 Corporate Social Responsibility Report, which is available online.

To do this, TI cut energy use by 5 percent and water consumption by 7.3 percent in 2008 through 159 initiatives that include:

The environmental community is backing Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court, despite the federal appeals court judge’s sparse record in dealing with environmental cases.

Environmental issues

PepsiCo (PEP) buys lots of renewable energy, while a Coca Cola (KO) plant recycles plastic bottles. Should environmentalists drink Pepsi or Coke?

Dell (DELL) is "carbon neutral." Hewlett Packard (HPQ) says it designs for the environment. Whose laptops are more "green"?

So many choices, so little reliable guidance: Clorox GreenWorks or Seventh Generation? Local or organic strawberries? Paper or plastic? Who's to say?

The giant retailer ($406 billion in revenues in 2008) is developing an ambitious, comprehensive, and fiendishly complex plan to measure the sustainability of every product it sells. Wal-Mart has been working quietly on what it calls a "sustainability index" for more than a year, and it will take another year or two for labels to appear on products. But the company's grand plan-"audacious beyond words" is how one insider describes it-has the potential to transform retailing by requiring manufacturers of consumer products to dig deep into their supply chains, measure their environmental impact, and compete on those terms for favorable treatment from the world's most powerful retailer.

While July may bring sweltering heat, here at HuffPost Green, our favorite summer treats are the bountiful farmers markets that get people out of the A/C and into the sunshine to buy fresh fruit and vegetables. Not only are farmers markets just plain delicious, their impact on physical, environmental, and community health is worth celebrating.

We've put together a top ten list of the best farmers markets in the country -- but we know this is far from an exhaustive list of the amazing markets that are happening nationwide. That's why we want YOU to send in your pictures of your favorite local farmers market. Please Include your name, location and one detail about your pick to huffpostgreen [at] huffingtonpost [dot] com.

Monthly US Natural Gas Electric Power Price. Image credit:US Energy Information Administration.

As the title indicates, some of the nation's most coal-dependent states face dramatic price increases for electricity without a Cap & Trade mechanism in place. One cause is the de-regulation of electrical utilities, a process begun while Congress was also busy deregulating the financial industry. More recently, investments in new coal-fired plants became a contributing factor, as did price increases in the best grades of coal. What's with coal-state congressional delegations resisting and warning us about the dangerous impacts of Cap & Trade?

These electricity rate increases, already in progress, came about on the watch of some of today's climate-bill opposing politicians. If that bill does pass the US Senate this September, it will provide a convenient scapegoat for politicians, once their constituents start screaming loud enough about the increased cost of electricity. More on that down the page.

After a tense debate, in which the margin of success or failure never moved beyond a handful of votes, the House of Representatives passed the most sweeping climate change policy ever considered by Congress early Friday evening.

The outcome had remained up in the air up until the actual vote, with the White House and the president himself engaging in a heavy lobbying campaign aimed at restoring Democratic Party unity that seemed to be fracturing.

Hoping to stem what seemed increasingly like a Democratic victory, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) deployed an infrequently used parliamentary procedure to delay the bill's consideration - reading before the House a 300-page amendment that had been offered to the 1,200-page bill Friday morning.

After an hour of reading the text derisively, Boehner finally surrendered the floor. A raucous Democratic caucus quickly asked for vote to be taken, after which it was revealed that the White House and Democratic leadership's efforts had paid off. The House passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 by a vote of 219 to 212. Forty-four Democrats voted against the measure and only eight Republicans yes.

There's been plenty of hype about the Smart Grid --- some justified and some not. But the gold award for Smart Grid hype has to go to Cisco, whose spokesperson last month said that the grid could end up being up to 1,000 times the size of the Internet.

Martin LaMonica of CNet wrote last month that Cisco believes that just the communications portion of the Smart Grid represents a $100 billion opportunity --- "$20 billion a year over the next five years."

That's certainly reasonable and believable. LaMonica interviewed Marie Hattar, vice president of marketing in Cisco's Network Systems Solutions group, who then seemed to ratchet up the hype at least a notch.

Hattar noted that Cisco already had a variety of products designed for the Smart Grid, such as various pieces of data center equipment. It also has released EnergyWise software, which will be used to manage energy use throughout an enterprise.

WASHINGTON — Millions of people living in nearly 600 neighborhoods across the country are breathing concentrations of toxic air pollutants that put them at a much greater risk of contracting cancer, according to new data from the Environmental Protection Agency.

The levels of 80 cancer-causing substances released by automobiles, factories and other sources in these areas exceed a 100 in 1 million cancer risk. That means that if 1 million people breathed air with similar concentrations over their lifetime, about 100 additional people would be expected to develop cancer because of their exposure to the pollution.

The average cancer risk across the country is 36 in 1 million, according to the National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment, which will be released by the EPA on Wednesday.

That's a decline from the 41.5 in 1 million cancer risk the EPA found when it released the last analysis in 2006. That data covered 1999 emissions.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Investors who want to put their money behind companies that manage environmental impacts responsibly received news of two new options this week.

Carbon Disclosure Project and Markit said Thursday they will launch a family of investment indices tracking the performance of companies with robust carbon management strategies. Meanwhile, a new index that tracks leaders in sustainability reporting was unveiled Monday by NASDAQ and CRD Analytics.

The indices enter an increasingly crowded field of investment vehicles that track corporate environmental performance. FTSE, Dow Jones and HSBC offer green-focused indices, while Standard and Poor’s launched a U.S. Carbon Efficient Index earlier this year in addition others already in place. HSBC reported this week that companies in the Energy Efficiency and Energy Management sector have earned 16 percent returns this year, compared to the 6.7 percent return of the global equities market as a whole.

For at least 3700 years, since the code of Hammurabi, builders of houses have had building codes, a government minimum standard intended to protect the health and safety of its citizens. Possibly in all that time, the majority of builders have considered it the maximum as well- don’t do any more or build any better than you have to.

Now it looks like builders might actually have to build better, as building codes move beyond health and safety and get serious about energy efficiency. Everybody loves to talk about increasing the efficiency of cars, but buildings are boring. Even though Edward Mazria and Architecture 2030 tell us that buildings are responsible for almost half of our energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, and over three quarters of our electricity consumption, radical and significant measures have not been taken. Yet.

But there is action on two fronts: the Waxman Markey Bill "establishes enforceable “national energy effficiency building codes,” and the New Buildings Institute and the American Institute of Architects are proposing big changes to International Code Council.

But they both do too little, too late, and too slow.

China's impressive target for renewable energy could be getting a serious upgrade. "We are now formulating a plan for development of renewable energy," Zhang Xiaoqiang, the vice-chairman of China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), told the Telegraph, in London. "We can be sure we will exceed the 15 per cent target. We will at least reach 18 per cent. Personally I think we could reach the target of having renewables provide 20 per cent of total energy consumption."

The upping of the target is not necessarily news. China's been talking about it for years, recently proposing, for instance, that 40 percent of its energy use would come from renewable sources by 2050, or that 35 percent would be standard by 2020. But the strong wording here, and the messenger, indicates more serious moves, and at a politically shrewd moment.

Google's (GOOG) green energy czar tells Reuters it's closing in on paying the same price for energy from renewable sources as it would if that energy came from coal.

It's not guaranteed that the company can achieve 'grid parity' but, Bill Weihl, the Green Energy Czar tells the newswire "It is even odds, more or less, I would say...In, you know, three years, we could have multiple megawatts of plants out there."

This is all well and good, but keep in mind, with alternative energy, "grid parity in three years," is a popular refrain.

Photo via: anomalous4

Duct tape is wonderful stuff! While there are some individuals who will tell you that you can fix just about anything with it, the best way to ensure your things last a long time is through plain old fashioned common sense and proper care. Here are a few preferred ways to take care of all your stuff...

During the first quarter of 2009, more bicycles were sold in the US than cars and trucks. While the Great Recession is hurting bike sales, they didn't fall as fast as automobiles. Around 2.6 million bicycle purchases were made, compared to less than 2.5 million cars and trucks that left our nation's lots.

Bicycle Sales Still Hurt by Recession

I don't mean to say that bicycle sales are unfazed by the recession. They are actually down more than 30% from the first quarter of 2008. But that percentage drop is slower than the 35+% drop in sales for cars and trucks. Since nationwide gasoline prices are now rising above $2.40 per gallon at the pump, we may see another wave of US residents shifting to bicycles for their everyday trips. The large savings from riding a bike over short distances rather than driving can help consumer confidence and support economic recovery.