Archive for March, 2008

A new study by the Canadian bank CIBC World Markets predicts upcoming carbon taxes will change international trade patterns. Surprisingly, manufacturing in the developed world might become cheaper and more competitive. So how does a carbon tax relate to “green” collar jobs?

With oil prices skyrocketing and energy efficiency measures mandated via carbon taxes, energy savings in the developed world might offset the higher costs of labor.

“And the reason [energy-intensive industries that went where labor is cheapest] will be coming back is because in most of these industries, North America is much more energy- and carbon-efficient than the developing world is,” said the report’s author, Jeff Rubin.

The catch, however, is that countries like China would either have to tax carbon or the developed world would have to impose tariffs as a penalty.

By Stefan Deeran at The Element Agency in New York

By Mark Nejmeh of Magkinetics, today’s guest blogger

So innovation marches forward and great companies like ours , Magkinetics Inc. set out to change the world. Wow that’s exciting and fortunate position to be in. so let-s get on with it.

Being asked to write a blog here on such a forward thinking site is another honor. Mostly because we have the opportunity to reach an audience that is moving forward to change the world themselves. You out there in “read this blog world” are my heroes. You are all ready for the future now and ready to lend a hand to shape it. But what drives you ?

Let me guess, or better yet let me compare my own motivations. You must be thinking about life and family just like me. You make me chuckle as I write this, imagining you with your loved ones nearby, and the many circus events that go on in your lives , Ahh it is wonderful to have hope for the future as long as the future includes the health and wealth of mine, yours and ours.

Ours , who is ours? Ours is us to me, ours is everyone on this planet, from White to Black and everything in between. Ours is of every faith and of no faith, if so be. Ours, believes in hope of peace, prosperity and all of life’s goodness. And so that’s why I believe we are all here, working together.

My company , and for that matter , my invention is a system and method that creates electricity from moving vehicular traffic. We are new thinkers at Magkinetics Inc and we are really not that cool. We are mostly middle aged , former athletes , very competitive, that happen to be very hardworking, and smart. We are the happy scientists and intellectuals, evaluated on unusual scales. We are bright enough to know that we need to add to our corporate mix with innovative new employees from all age groups and with all capabilities that are willing to work remotely, and we welcome those who apply to MagKinetics Inc as long as they are willing to really change the world.

I personally don’t and do believe that what we are trying to do is difficult. It will be easy to actually make electricity from moving traffic but it will be hard to get the “powers that be” of the world to accept the process.

I foresee that our technology will be implemented in a very Capitalistic way.

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The Canadian oilsands, which cover roughly 140,000 square kilometres (54,000 sq mi) of northern Canadian wilderness, are the largest supplier of crude oil and refined products to the US.

The problem is that to extract the oil, or more accurately the bitumen which can be synthesized into oil, it is very energy intensive and extremely polluting. The oil sands are Canada’s single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. As well, there is anecdotal evidence of oil sands development run off diminishing fish stocks and causing cancer.

The problems faced in this industry have not gone entirely unnoticed. The Calgary Herald had an article yesterday about a new poll that shows just how much Canadians are concerned about this. The poll, conducted by McAllister Opinion Research, shows that roughly half of Canadians believe future oil sand projects should be suspended until environmental concerns are addressed.

More impressively a full 79% believe current greenhouse gas emissions should be capped at there present levels and then reduced to fight climate change. Conversely only 12% believe that increased greenhouse gas emissions should be allowed in the name of economic growth.

Check out the full article for details.

By Robert Anton at The Element Agency in Vancouver

Remember when Coca-Cola got into some PR trouble when they admitted that their Dasani brand was nothing more than bottled tap water? Obviously water issues matter most to a beverage company. And the environmental impact of their operations is where firms are coming under increasing public scrutiny.

So this week Coca-Cola has taken a leadership position and declared they are on the path to “water neutrality”–similar to the proclamations of carbon neutrality by similar, large corporations in 2007. The Element Agency had predicted “hydro footprint” proclamations would be a top sustainable business trend in 2008, and it looks like Coke is the first company to get there.

With 300 bottling companies in countries across the planet, measuring, tracking and reducing water consumption is surely a challenge. Here is what Coke must now do to legitimatily use the term “water neutral”:

1. Define, measure and report its “water footprint”;
2. Take all action that is “reasonably possible” to reduce the existing operational water footprint;
3. Reconcile the residual water footprint (amount remaining after a company does as much as possible to reduce footprint) by making a “reasonable investment” in establishing or supporting projects that focus on the sustainable and equitable use of water.

By Stefan Deeran at The Element Agency in New York

By Ayako Ezaki of The International Ecotourism Society, today’s guest blogger

“Is ecotourism sustainable?” “Should we even be promoting travel, eco or not?”—These are among the most frequently asked questions that many conscious consumers seem to be grappling with.

My answer to the first question is a very solid Yes, although unfortunately there is a “but.”

Ecotourism is tourism done in a specific way that follows a set of principles promoting social, environmental and economic sustainability. While there are many variations of the definition of ecotourism, The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) uses the following widely accepted definition that clearly outlines the key components of ecotourism: Ecotourism is “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people.” (TIES, 1990)

There are two sides to the principles of ecotourism: one is about minimizing the negative impacts of tourism, and the other maximizing the positive impacts.

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From across cyberspace, some green blogs to check out over the holiday weekend.

Handheld devices that measure your carbon footprint via GPS? Celsias takes a look at the new green gadget for you cell phone called “Carbon Hero.”

Jetson Green examines a Chicago skyscraper that could also be a wind turbine.

Triple Pundit examines whether the recent corporate green initiatives (i.e. McDonalds, Dupont, FedEX) amount to greenwashing or true change.

Grist compares money spent on Iraq with investments in renewable energy.

No Impact Man philosophizes on environmentalism and social justice.

Yes, you can have a “greener” Easter.  Check out the tips at GreenOptions. 

And be sure to check out US President Bush, addressing the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference, currently featured as our “Green Video.”

By Stefan Deeran at The Element Agency in New York

Now that Client-9 is out, back to business for New York State.  Do the elected officials have a plan to address the State’s energy needs?  How will we fight global warming?

The New York League of Conservation Voters has just launched Climate Action PAC and a new website to get action on this most important issue in Albany.

The Climate Action PAC will offer direct financial support and independent campaign expenditures to help elect individuals who have demonstrated their passion and ability to advance strategies to aggressively tackle climate change. The Climate Action PAC will target state legislative seats in 2008 and local races throughout the state - including New York City - in 2009.

This is one of the first PACs in the nation with the specific goal of putting money behind candidates that will fight global warming.   We recommend visiting www.WhatIsNewYorkWaitingFor.com to sign-up and demand action today.

By Stefan Deeran at The Element Agency in New York

By Dennis Arfmann and Adrian Eissler of Hogan & Hartson LLP, today’s guest bloggers

This week Xcel Energy (NYSE: XEL) and the City of Boulder announced that Boulder, Colorado will become the nation’s first “Smart Grid” city. The announcement provides a tremendous boost to the “smart grid” concept, which will facilitate substantial advances in the efficiency of the existing transmission infrastructure and greater integration of renewable energy and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Xcel describes its vision of a “smart grid” as a fully network-connected system that identifies all aspect of the power grid and communicates its status and the impact of consumption decisions to automated decision-making systems on that network. The smart grid will allow Xcel to refine its distribution and generation management with real-time system information, thereby responding to peak demand loads more efficiently and rerouting energy as needed to meet consumer demand without placing unnecessary strain on the grid.

Customers will gain greater control over their own energy management decisions through availability of real-time information on energy cost, fuel mix, peak grid demand, etc. Perhaps most importantly, the smart grid will allow greater grid responsiveness to and inclusion of distributed renewable generation such as on-site solar installations.

In the City and County of Boulder, updated building codes including stringent Home Energy Rating System (HERS) requirements will frequently require the inclusion of solar power for new construction and significant renovations, in addition to increased energy efficiency in the construction/remodeling. The “greening” of the building codes in conjunction with recent announcements of dramatically reduced prices per watt possible with the newest wave of thin-film PV technology (see AVA Solar, First Solar), suggests a dramatic expansion in demand for on-site solar.

The implementation of Xcel’s smart grid initiative comes at a perfect time to capitalize on these policy and technological advances leading us in the direction of distributed renewable generation. Congratulations to Xcel and the City of Boulder!

Editors note: Dennis Arfmann is Co-Chair of the Climate Change Practice Group at Hogan & Hartson LLP, and Adrian Eissler is Associate in the firm’s Corporate and Securities Practice Group.

The views expressed above are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent The Element Agency. If you are interested in penning guest posts for My Green Element, please email Stefan Deeran via stefan@theelementagency.com.

Everyone knows Lambeau Field and Yankee Stadium. Who knows TD Waterhouse Center or Citi Field?

Well, it seems the green energy industry is taking a page from the world of professional sports. Today’s New York Times has an article about the naming rights of wind farms. This all seems a little strange, but it boils down to the fact that major companies and corporations increasingly want to tie their image to the sustainability movement.

The crux of the article is that a new wind farm in Panhandle, Texas will be called Wege Wind Energy Farm. Wege is for Peter Wege, the environmentalist son of the founder of Steelcase. Steelcase is a substantial furniture company based out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Steelcase has also purchased all of the Renewable Energy Credits for the first five years of output. In addition, they payed an undisclosed sum for the naming rights. One has to think of the reason they would want to do this is the same reason they might want the Yankees playing in their stadium.

 Posted by Robert Anton of The Element Agency.

By Dean Down of CalFinder, today’s guest blogger

As a free contractor screening and referral service, CalFinder works with homeowners across the country on a daily basis. My Green Element recently asked us a very good question: tell us about the demand for green from your customers. In response, it’s fair to say that green demand has brought about a whole new set of remodeling principles, reconfiguring industry practice in general.

Today, homeowners want much more from a remodel. The real estate market is down and it’s more important now to settle in and make your dream home come to life with a successful remodel. At the same time, environmental standards are higher than ever. As a result, increasing a home’s resale value is no longer the be-all-end-all of a remodel so much as raising daily living standards, lowering the carbon footprint, and contributing to a sustainable lifestyle. In addition to matching homeowners with qualified contractors for their home improvement projects, we do our best to keep up with the following green demands.

Green Demand #1: Give me environmentally friendly remodeling options.

Hardwood no longer fits the bill unless it’s sustainably harvested. In addition, homeowners want to know the difference between synthetics, soft woods, and hard woods for their floors or decks. They want to know where chemicals can potentially decrease indoor air quality. Our Green Remodeling Blog answers these questions with product information, local buying guides, and continual research into alternative choices, such as salvaged wood floors, VOC-free paint, pellet stoves, terrazzo countertops, and natural clay wall finishes. Moreover, the contractors we refer should be willing to utilize these options, leaning towards reuse and minimal impact.

Green Demand #2: Direct me to resources for green remodeling support.

Whether or not they’re looking for a contractor, homeowners are always thirsty for information. Our network of thousands of certified contractors serve double duty as a base of information on every arena of remodeling. We interview them regularly on subjects such as the most popular choices in material and potential remodeling risks. More than that, we’ve expanded our network to interview green experts, including eco-architects, ecosystems experts, and solar pros. Homeowners want to know which companies support green building. This means that we’re constantly on the look-out for resources such as Energy Star, Water Sense, the U.S. Green Building Council, Green Seal, the FSC, and others, to determine how they can help homeowners. All of this information is published on our blog and library pages.

Green Demand #3: Am I a good candidate for the next big thing – residential solar power?

The questions and requests for residential solar installations have dominated every other arena of green remodeling. To meet this demand, we’ve created a new solar reference: CalFinder Solar. Here, homeowners can read a daily blog dedicated to relevant solar topics on solar products, environmental implications, rebates, and current developments. And because homeowners want to spend their free time finding home ideas that suit their lifestyle choices, the pain of finding a reliable solar contractor or general remodeler is one more thing they can cross of the list.

Editor’s note: Dean Dowd is the CTO of CalFinder, a national remodeling firm with green building expertise.

The views expressed above are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent The Element Agency. If you are interested in penning a guest blog for MyGreenElement.com, please email Stefan Deeran at stefan@theelementagency.com.

If you are a regular on this site you know that green=good business is a mantra of mine. Well now several established MBA programs are offering the ‘Green MBA’. Visit the ecopreneurist to get the whole story.

For all those who love the random facts and enjoy plying the trade watching Jeopardy. Treehuggerhas a cool rundown of some interesting greennews items from the last little week.

Thisis a great post at jetsongreen about some fairly impressive looking solar powerplants. I am reminded of the Year 2000 project where the America Big-3 put off building greener cars only to be leapfrogged by the Asian automakers. The upshot is that now the Big-3 buy the technology from Toyota, Honda etc… This is the oldest story in economics. The message today is get green or go bankrupt.

Nothing bothers me more than a panel of important people discussing climate change while sipping bottled water. Well Seattle is fighting back. Thanks to groovygreen.com for the info. They also have more on the solar tower.

You probably don’t need an SUV, but you need a place to live. Luckily having a green home not only adds value in the long run but saves money in the short run. The dailygreen.com has more.

I’ve spent time in New Zealand where they tried, and failed, to introduce a methane tax. It got called the ‘fart tax’ because the vast majority of methane is emitted by livestock. Anyway this is a hard nut to crack but the evangelical ecologist has a cool post. I have to admit I have some Hitchens on my bedside table, but where we can all agree, we should concentrate.

One of the biggest and false expectations out there is the idea of a silver bullet to solve our environmental problems. There will be drawbacks to all things. The point is we try them all and choose the best. The Invisible Green Hand has a great post about a possible drawback in the solar power industry. I can’t speak with any direct knowledge on this particular issue, but these things should be put in the larger context. For example, the idea of birds flying into windmills is always trotted out as a reason to oppose wind-farms. But the number of birds that fly into wind-farms is minuscule compared to the number that crash into skyscrapers.

With that, enjoy the weekend. Check out our blogroll on the right for even more great stuff.

Posted by Robert Anton of The Element Agency

Perhaps no sector has gone green as quickly as the building industry. The US Green Building Council’s LEED certification for new and renovated buildings has become the industry standard, as it is consensus-based, voluntary and rewards sustainability leaders with a tiered rankings system (platinum, gold, etc.).

New Federal buildings must be LEED-certified and some folks are now arguing that every new skyscraper will seek certification. Even becoming a LEED-certified professional (LEED-AP) has gained in popularity, and the application tests are now more difficult.

So will LEED maintain its leadership position? A new ordinance in Boston mandates that buildings become “LEED-certifiable.” To a new report by Greener Buildings, LEED-certifiable is a legal loophole. The buildings just need to show that they could receive certification rather than committing to the strenuous application process.

Critics of LEED argue that the standards thwart innovation by forcing architects to design with an eye towards earning LEED points. There may be worthier ways to build green outside the LEED rubric. Does Boston’s LEED-lite position amount to greenwashing? Let’s give the architects the benefit of the doubt.

By Stefan Deeran at The Element Agency in New York

By Russell Simon of Carbonfund.org, today’s guest blogger 

In light of a spate of bad publicity and increased scrutiny by the Federal Trade Commission, our friends at MyGreenElement.com recently asked us to contribute a guest blog answering a simple question: are carbon offsets here to stay?

 The answer is an unequivocal “yes.”

 As it has in the past two years, the voluntary carbon offset market will continue to grow rapidly, particularly as the public becomes more educated about the role offsets have to play in fighting global warming. ICF International’s new Voluntary Carbon Offsets Market Outlook report estimates that the market will be responsible for offsetting 220 million tons of CO2 in 2012, up from 20 million tons offset in 2006.

 Meanwhile, Center for American Progress in its most recent offset report has said that carbon offsets backed by strong independent certification standards should be a part of any cap-and-trade bill passed by the Congress.

 In addition to making offsets an option for industries whose emissions would be capped under such a bill, the law would leave the majority of U.S. industries untouched, including most of the industries that are already leading the way by purchasing offsets voluntarily.

 All this adds up to a pretty clear picture: carbon offsets are here to stay.

Editors note: Russell Simon is the Communications Manager at Carbonfund.org.
The views expressed above are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent The Element Agency. If you are interested in penning guest posts for My Green Element, please email Stefan Deeran via stefan@theelementagency.com.