ABC News
Dung power at U.S. ethanol plant
By Carey Gillam
Reuters
MEAD, Nebraska - The frosty-breathed cattle jostling for position at a feeding trough in rural Nebraska are not quite as typical as they appear: their manure is being captured in a new bid to quench America's thirst for ethanol.
Like other cows in the Midwestern landscape, the animals at the Mead plant, part of an experimental scheme dubbed "Genesis," churn out a steady supply of energy-rich excrement each day.
But these 27,000 cattle stand on slatted floors to deposit an estimated 1.6 million pounds (726,000 kg) of dung daily into deep pits, which are located adjacent to a new ethanol plant.
The pungent waste is then processed into methane gas, which powers the ethanol plant. Other byproducts of the manure include fertilizer for the surrounding corn fields. Corn is then fed back to the cattle or distilled into ethanol.
The operations all are contained in one 2,000-acre complex which produces about 24 million gallons of ethanol a year.
"This is the first of its kind to use this kind of closed loop system," said Ron Lamberty, a spokesman for the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE), an industry lobbying organization.
"Most ethanol plants are powered with natural gas, but not quite that natural. It is very unique."
The United States currently counts 117 operational ethanol plants with the capacity to produce 5.3 billion gallons annually. More than 70 are under construction, according to ACE.
Traditional ethanol facilities use natural gas or coal to fuel the boilers that create steam and distil ethanol from corn or other plant-based sources.
But such operations are vulnerable to volatile natural gas prices, and critics say the pollution associated with coal-fired plants offset the benefits of substituting ethanol for gasoline.
The Mead plant offers a way round those problems and, because it removes cattle manure from the environment and recycles waste water, the project is environmentally friendly, according to its backers.
"It's win, win, win," said Brian Barber, director of project development for E3 BioFuels of Shawnee, Kansas, which owns the Mead facility.
PROTOTYPE FOR MORE
The Mead plant, which is slated to launch full operations February 26, enters the market at a time when energy production is a key U.S. concern.
The Bush administration is proposing $1.6 billion in federal spending to promote ethanol and renewable fuels and Americans are expressing increasing interest in reducing their reliance on foreign oil.
A shift to fuels such as ethanol can help to slow global warming, blamed by scientists mainly on human use of fossil fuels in cars, factories and power plants.
Archer Daniels Midland Co. is the leading U.S. ethanol plant player, operating seven plants with annual capacity of 1.1 billion gallons, representing about 20 percent of the market.
In comparison, E3 BioFuels is tiny, with just one 24-million-gallon Mead plant in its ethanol portfolio. But E3 BioFuels chairman Dennis Langley said the $77 million venture is a prototype for at least 15 similar U.S. projects.
Development plans include three such complexes in Kansas, three in California, two in Nebraska and one in Iowa.
The new plants would also be teamed with feedlots or dairies and have a capacity of at least 50 million gallons a year. Langley, who formerly worked in natural gas pipeline operations, said he hopes to build about three a year over the next five years.
Langley also said his plants are more cost-efficient than competitors. A traditional ethanol plant requires about 1 British thermal unit (btu) to make 2 to 2.5 btus of ethanol, while Genesis will use 1 btu to make 46.67 btus of ethanol.
"It is just so much more energy-efficient," Langley said.
FRESH MANURE IS BEST
The Mead facility gets its manure from 300 pits laid under nine cattle buildings, which each hold about 3,000 cattle. The pits are pumped regularly because the fresher the manure, the more gas can be produced.
The closed-loop system includes two four-million-gallon anaerobic digesters -- special sealed containers -- that let bacteria break down the manure along with thin stillage, a by-product of the ethanol production process.
The biogas produced by the digesters powers the boilers in the ethanol plant instead of natural gas.
The ethanol production process also yields another by-product: wet distiller's grain, which is fed to the cattle as part of their ration. The cattle in turn produce manure which again begins the closed-loop cycle.
Langley said the projects have attracted venture capital funding and he has funding to proceed with new plants this year, though he declined to give details.
Back in Mead, start-up has been slowed by cold weather. "This concept is tremendous," said project development director Barber. "Now we have to show it works."
Copyright 2007 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Friday, April 27, 2007
Gasification May Be Key to U.S. Ethanol
ABC News
Gasification May Be Key to U.S. Ethanol
Gasification, Not Just Corn, Could Play Big Role in Ethanol's Future, Some Scientists Say
By DIRK LAMMERS
The Associated Press
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The government awarded $385 million in grants last week aimed at jumpstarting ethanol production from nontraditional sources like wood chips, switchgrass and citrus peels. What's surprising is that half of the six projects chosen will use a process first discovered almost a century ago to turn coal into a gas.
President Bush set a goal in his State of the Union address of producing 20 percent of the nation's fuel supply from renewable resources by 2017. Much of those supplies will come from the conversion of corn into enthanol, fueled by a boom in new ethanol plant construction that's already under way.
But Thursday's forecast from the Agriculture Department that half of this year's U.S. corn crop will be consumed by ethanol producers has raised red flags. Critics say surging demand for corn could push up prices of everything from corn-sweetened soft drinks to meats, since corn is a common feed ingredient for livestock.
That helps explain why the Energy Department is placing a big bet on a process called gasification. Long hailed as a more environmentally friendly way to turn coal into electricity, the process might also provide a faster and eventually cheaper way to produce ethanol from a variety of renewable sources collectively known as biomass, some scientists say.
For corn-based ethanol plants, the process of producing ethanol is as simple as brewing beer: sugars are extracted from the corn kernels and then enzymes are added to ferment it into alcohol. But biomass feedstocks don't easily give up their starches, so more expensive steps are needed to ferment cellulose in high-pressure chambers that have limited amounts of oxygen, according to Lanny Schmidt, a University of Minnesota chemical engineer.
Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman pegged the current cost of gasification as being about twice as much as the average $1.10 per gallon cost at corn-based ethanol plants.
A gasifier turns plant material into a synthesis gas consisting mostly of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The "syngas" then could be turned into a variety of fuels including ethanol, hydrogen and environmentally friendly versions of diesel or gasoline, Schmidt said.
"These gasifiers are some high-tech stuff with high pressures and some more complexities," he said. "But they're probably more versatile at the end of the day to modify them as the demand and supplies change."
Gasification is a fairly simple process, based on chemistry developed in the 1920s, said Robert Brown, an Iowa State University chemical engineering professor and director of the school's Office of Biorenewables Programs.
The syngas produced during gasification mixes more readily with chemical catalysts, so it could be more easily turned into other fuels, chemicals and materials. Just add steam and you could produce hydrogen to power a fuel-cell vehicle, Brown said.
Of the six companies awarded U.S. Department of Energy grants, three will use versions of fermentation technology. But two others will use gasification and one will use a hybrid of both technologies:
Alico Inc., a LaBelle, Fla.-based agribusiness company, would get up to $33 million to turn yard waste, wood waste and citrus peel into syngas, which would then be converted into ethanol, electricity and hydrogen.
Range Fuels Inc., of Broomfield, Colo., would get up to $76 million for a plant near Soperton, Ga., to convert timber scraps into syngas to make ethanol and methanol.
Abengoa Bioenergy, a St. Louis-based division of Spain's Abengoa SA, would receive up to $76 million for an 11.4 million gallons-per-year plant in Colwich, Kan., that would use both biochemical and thermochemical processes to convert corn stalks, wheat straw and switchgrass.
The Energy Department helped demonstrate the viability of gasification in the mid-1990s when it awarded Georgia-based FERCO $9.2 million to help build a power plant running on wood chips. By 2001, the $18 million plant in Burlington, Vt., was generating more than 200 megawatt-hours of electricity a day.
To compete in the marketplace, companies will have to make sure their feedstock supplies are consistent, do more research into catalysts that turn syngas into fuels, and develop better materials to contain the thermochemical reactions, according to the Energy Department.
The syngas would have to be cleaned and conditioned to remove contaminants, which is an expensive task. Energy officials say companies will have to bring down those costs if they're to compete in the market.
Mark Paster, a U.S. Department of Energy technology development manager who's studying ways to turn biomass into hydrogen, said both fermentation and gasification "are very viable and both routes continue to be researched and developed."
Paster said biomass helps reduce greenhouse gasses, so any method that can reach commercial viability will be better than one based on fossil fuel.
"There may not be a single winner, just like there's no winner in how we produce electricity," he said. "We do it in a variety of ways."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Gasification May Be Key to U.S. Ethanol
Gasification, Not Just Corn, Could Play Big Role in Ethanol's Future, Some Scientists Say
By DIRK LAMMERS
The Associated Press
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The government awarded $385 million in grants last week aimed at jumpstarting ethanol production from nontraditional sources like wood chips, switchgrass and citrus peels. What's surprising is that half of the six projects chosen will use a process first discovered almost a century ago to turn coal into a gas.
President Bush set a goal in his State of the Union address of producing 20 percent of the nation's fuel supply from renewable resources by 2017. Much of those supplies will come from the conversion of corn into enthanol, fueled by a boom in new ethanol plant construction that's already under way.
But Thursday's forecast from the Agriculture Department that half of this year's U.S. corn crop will be consumed by ethanol producers has raised red flags. Critics say surging demand for corn could push up prices of everything from corn-sweetened soft drinks to meats, since corn is a common feed ingredient for livestock.
That helps explain why the Energy Department is placing a big bet on a process called gasification. Long hailed as a more environmentally friendly way to turn coal into electricity, the process might also provide a faster and eventually cheaper way to produce ethanol from a variety of renewable sources collectively known as biomass, some scientists say.
For corn-based ethanol plants, the process of producing ethanol is as simple as brewing beer: sugars are extracted from the corn kernels and then enzymes are added to ferment it into alcohol. But biomass feedstocks don't easily give up their starches, so more expensive steps are needed to ferment cellulose in high-pressure chambers that have limited amounts of oxygen, according to Lanny Schmidt, a University of Minnesota chemical engineer.
Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman pegged the current cost of gasification as being about twice as much as the average $1.10 per gallon cost at corn-based ethanol plants.
A gasifier turns plant material into a synthesis gas consisting mostly of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The "syngas" then could be turned into a variety of fuels including ethanol, hydrogen and environmentally friendly versions of diesel or gasoline, Schmidt said.
"These gasifiers are some high-tech stuff with high pressures and some more complexities," he said. "But they're probably more versatile at the end of the day to modify them as the demand and supplies change."
Gasification is a fairly simple process, based on chemistry developed in the 1920s, said Robert Brown, an Iowa State University chemical engineering professor and director of the school's Office of Biorenewables Programs.
The syngas produced during gasification mixes more readily with chemical catalysts, so it could be more easily turned into other fuels, chemicals and materials. Just add steam and you could produce hydrogen to power a fuel-cell vehicle, Brown said.
Of the six companies awarded U.S. Department of Energy grants, three will use versions of fermentation technology. But two others will use gasification and one will use a hybrid of both technologies:
Alico Inc., a LaBelle, Fla.-based agribusiness company, would get up to $33 million to turn yard waste, wood waste and citrus peel into syngas, which would then be converted into ethanol, electricity and hydrogen.
Range Fuels Inc., of Broomfield, Colo., would get up to $76 million for a plant near Soperton, Ga., to convert timber scraps into syngas to make ethanol and methanol.
Abengoa Bioenergy, a St. Louis-based division of Spain's Abengoa SA, would receive up to $76 million for an 11.4 million gallons-per-year plant in Colwich, Kan., that would use both biochemical and thermochemical processes to convert corn stalks, wheat straw and switchgrass.
The Energy Department helped demonstrate the viability of gasification in the mid-1990s when it awarded Georgia-based FERCO $9.2 million to help build a power plant running on wood chips. By 2001, the $18 million plant in Burlington, Vt., was generating more than 200 megawatt-hours of electricity a day.
To compete in the marketplace, companies will have to make sure their feedstock supplies are consistent, do more research into catalysts that turn syngas into fuels, and develop better materials to contain the thermochemical reactions, according to the Energy Department.
The syngas would have to be cleaned and conditioned to remove contaminants, which is an expensive task. Energy officials say companies will have to bring down those costs if they're to compete in the market.
Mark Paster, a U.S. Department of Energy technology development manager who's studying ways to turn biomass into hydrogen, said both fermentation and gasification "are very viable and both routes continue to be researched and developed."
Paster said biomass helps reduce greenhouse gasses, so any method that can reach commercial viability will be better than one based on fossil fuel.
"There may not be a single winner, just like there's no winner in how we produce electricity," he said. "We do it in a variety of ways."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Report: Burying greenhouses gases will be key
ABC News
Report: Burying greenhouses gases will be key
To halt catastrophic climate change, the US has less than a decade learn how to capture and store carbon dioxide.
By Mark Clayton
— - Should the United States bury global warming?
Yes and quickly, says a major new report. Coal is key to America's energy future. But burning it is one of the biggest factors in climate change. So the solution is to capture the carbon dioxide it produces and store it underground.
Here's the challenge: To begin to curb climate change, the US needs to learn in less than a decade how to capture, compress, and then pump the carbon dioxide miles underground. The quantities are massive: the liquid CO2 equivalent of 20 million barrels a day roughly equal to the amount of oil the US uses every day.
How to bury CO2 on that scale is no small question, says a panel of top researchers convened by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Without more detailed knowledge of the technology that captures it most cheaply, and the geology that would store all that CO2 without leaking, coal power will remain a huge engine of global warming, the researchers say in their report released Wednesday.
"The question will end up being: How much underground capacity can we use in injecting fairly large amounts of CO2," says Ernest Moniz, an MIT professor and report coauthor. "Will we be able to inject CO2 from 50 big power plants underground for decades? That's what we have to answer."
The challenge extends far beyond US borders. Coal-fired power plants send aloft more than 9 billion tons of carbon dioxide gas annually worldwide about 1.5 billion tons in the US alone. Coal provides half of US electricity needs and that demand won't be met by renewable energy anytime soon, even under optimistic scenarios, the researchers say. Nuclear power holds promise but can't pull the whole load either, they add.
That leaves coal power set to "increase under any foreseeable scenario because it is cheap and abundant," the report says. More than 150 coal power plants are on the drawing boards in the US alone. China is building the equivalent of two coal-fired power plants a week.
That makes "carbon capture and sequestration," or CCS, "the critical enabling technology" for slashing CO2 emissions so coal can meet the world's energy needs.
Among the report's recommendations:
"To make CCS cost-competitive, nations should impose a tax or some equivalent mechanism that charges companies at least $30 for every ton of CO2 that they emit. That would lead to a significant reductions in greenhouse gases by 2050.
"Large-scale CCS demonstration projects should begin right away. At least three are needed in the US and 10 worldwide to test various geologic formations.
"Nations should close any loopholes that would allow utilities to build new coal plants that don't capture CO2, yet reap financial rewards.
"We have confidence that large-scale CO2 injection projects can be operated safely," the report says. At a minimum, such technology could halve America's carbon-dioxide emissions from coal by 2050.
Doing so would almost certainly require an investment of billions of dollars to build pipelines that ship compressed CO2 to geological formations around the country.
The research needed to create this infrastructure should go forward now, the scientists urge, even if the US hasn't settled on a specific climate-change policy.
In Congress, at least five pieces of global-warming legislation are pending. But neither Capitol Hill or the White House is acting quickly enough, the report says.
Last fall, the US Department of Energy announced $450 million in spending over 10 years on tests of underground capacity at seven locations. The department is also pursuing a $1 billion "FutureGen" coal plant that captures emissions and stores them underground. It's slated to be finished by 2012.
These issues "should be addressed with far more urgency than is evidenced today," the panel says.
Department of Energy officials respond that research is moving quickly and has identified enough suitable underground geology to store 200 years' worth of energy emissions.
"This administration is making significant investments in research and development of clean-coal technologies," says Megan Barnett, a DOE spokeswomen in a statement. She says the federal government is focused on "testing and further demonstrating carbon sequestration technology for broader commercial use."
Climate scientists unconnected to the study who have reviewed it say its findings are on target.
"The study is correct that we need to substantially ramp up the investment in order to make carbon capture and sequestration work," says John Holdren, a Harvard University professor and leading researcher on climate change. "If we don't, we're cooked."
www.csmonitor.com | Copyright © 2007 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Report: Burying greenhouses gases will be key
To halt catastrophic climate change, the US has less than a decade learn how to capture and store carbon dioxide.
By Mark Clayton
— - Should the United States bury global warming?
Yes and quickly, says a major new report. Coal is key to America's energy future. But burning it is one of the biggest factors in climate change. So the solution is to capture the carbon dioxide it produces and store it underground.
Here's the challenge: To begin to curb climate change, the US needs to learn in less than a decade how to capture, compress, and then pump the carbon dioxide miles underground. The quantities are massive: the liquid CO2 equivalent of 20 million barrels a day roughly equal to the amount of oil the US uses every day.
How to bury CO2 on that scale is no small question, says a panel of top researchers convened by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Without more detailed knowledge of the technology that captures it most cheaply, and the geology that would store all that CO2 without leaking, coal power will remain a huge engine of global warming, the researchers say in their report released Wednesday.
"The question will end up being: How much underground capacity can we use in injecting fairly large amounts of CO2," says Ernest Moniz, an MIT professor and report coauthor. "Will we be able to inject CO2 from 50 big power plants underground for decades? That's what we have to answer."
The challenge extends far beyond US borders. Coal-fired power plants send aloft more than 9 billion tons of carbon dioxide gas annually worldwide about 1.5 billion tons in the US alone. Coal provides half of US electricity needs and that demand won't be met by renewable energy anytime soon, even under optimistic scenarios, the researchers say. Nuclear power holds promise but can't pull the whole load either, they add.
That leaves coal power set to "increase under any foreseeable scenario because it is cheap and abundant," the report says. More than 150 coal power plants are on the drawing boards in the US alone. China is building the equivalent of two coal-fired power plants a week.
That makes "carbon capture and sequestration," or CCS, "the critical enabling technology" for slashing CO2 emissions so coal can meet the world's energy needs.
Among the report's recommendations:
"To make CCS cost-competitive, nations should impose a tax or some equivalent mechanism that charges companies at least $30 for every ton of CO2 that they emit. That would lead to a significant reductions in greenhouse gases by 2050.
"Large-scale CCS demonstration projects should begin right away. At least three are needed in the US and 10 worldwide to test various geologic formations.
"Nations should close any loopholes that would allow utilities to build new coal plants that don't capture CO2, yet reap financial rewards.
"We have confidence that large-scale CO2 injection projects can be operated safely," the report says. At a minimum, such technology could halve America's carbon-dioxide emissions from coal by 2050.
Doing so would almost certainly require an investment of billions of dollars to build pipelines that ship compressed CO2 to geological formations around the country.
The research needed to create this infrastructure should go forward now, the scientists urge, even if the US hasn't settled on a specific climate-change policy.
In Congress, at least five pieces of global-warming legislation are pending. But neither Capitol Hill or the White House is acting quickly enough, the report says.
Last fall, the US Department of Energy announced $450 million in spending over 10 years on tests of underground capacity at seven locations. The department is also pursuing a $1 billion "FutureGen" coal plant that captures emissions and stores them underground. It's slated to be finished by 2012.
These issues "should be addressed with far more urgency than is evidenced today," the panel says.
Department of Energy officials respond that research is moving quickly and has identified enough suitable underground geology to store 200 years' worth of energy emissions.
"This administration is making significant investments in research and development of clean-coal technologies," says Megan Barnett, a DOE spokeswomen in a statement. She says the federal government is focused on "testing and further demonstrating carbon sequestration technology for broader commercial use."
Climate scientists unconnected to the study who have reviewed it say its findings are on target.
"The study is correct that we need to substantially ramp up the investment in order to make carbon capture and sequestration work," says John Holdren, a Harvard University professor and leading researcher on climate change. "If we don't, we're cooked."
www.csmonitor.com | Copyright © 2007 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Malaysia pins hopes on herbal Viagra for biotech push
ABC News
Malaysia pins hopes on herbal Viagra for biotech push
By Clarence Fernandez
Reuters
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's answer to Viagra is a traditional herb the country has picked to spearhead its push into biotechnology, but now it faces the challenge of convincing the world the remedy is both potent and safe.
Surging interest in the herb, "tongkat ali," has spawned dozens of products, from pills to beverages, that play up its reputed aphrodisiac properties, and could even threaten the sway overseas of ginseng, a more-widely established remedy in Asia.
Generations of aging Malaysian men have sworn by the rejuvenation effects of "tongkat ali," scouring the countryside for it so eagerly that it has almost vanished from all but the deepest rainforest, and now has the status of a protected plant.
Scientific studies show that concoctions of "tongkat ali" can help hormone production, making rats and mice more frisky, but have yet to prove it can reliably produce the same effect in humans, researchers say.
"It can have different effects on different people," said Abdul Razak, head of the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia, which is driving research and commercial production of the herb.
"For me, it gives the energy to play a game of golf without getting tired, but has no other effects," said Razak, who takes two capsule supplements of the herb before each weekly game to increase his stamina.
"Tongkat ali," which scientists call Eurycoma longifolia, is a slender evergreen shrub with bitter, brownish-red fruit that is native to Malaysia and Indonesia.
All parts of the plant which grows up to 10 meters (33 ft) tall can be chopped up fine and boiled in water to make the traditional medicine.
As Malaysia looks to biotechnology for economic growth, scientists are taking a harder look at the aphrodisiac qualities of tongkat ali, which means the "walking-stick of Ali," in Malay, and they say it could spawn drugs to treat cancer and malaria.
PREPARING FOR COMMERCIAL USE
Five years of research studies in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States have helped to identify the key compounds in the herb, Razak said.
"All these compounds have been found, have been tested and have been patented, and we are now in the process of carrying out clinical studies, and hopefully after some time we might even commercialize this," he added.
A Malaysian industry and government group says the rapidly growing global market for aphrodisiacs is worth about $4 billion and could reach nearly $7 billion by 2012, but plans for "tongkat ali" to grab a share of this pie hinge on proving it is safe.
In Taiwan this year, Taipei city officials banned six brands of coffee from supermarkets because they contained "tongkat ali," saying the plant had not been evaluated for safe use, although there were no confirmed reports of side-effects, newspapers said.
The episode in January stirred indignation in Malaysia, where some officials publicly defended the herb, saying its safety and efficacy had been demonstrated by hundreds of years of use.
Others said the incident showed how far Malaysia still has to go to prove its claims for the herb.
"We've still got a lot of homework to do as a nation," said M. Rajen, chief executive of Tropical Botanics Sdn Bhd, which counts among its products Malaysia's most popular fish-oil brand.
Makers of ginseng, which has a global market of about $2 billion a year, according to some industry estimates, would be ruthless in battling competition from "tongkat ali," he said.
"What we see in Taiwan and elsewhere is an example of this ruthlessness," Rajen added. "Because we have not done our homework, we cannot fight it."
But Malaysia is confident it will convince the world. Officials of Power Root Malaysia Sdn Bhd, which exports tea and coffee drinks containing the herb to Japan and South Korea, have said they are looking to the United States and the Middle East.
"One day 'tongkat ali' will be marketed internationally, even in Harrods of London," Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said in January, at the launch of a $7 million biotech research center that will study ways to clone the herb.
At the Forest Research Institute, workers in white protective gear poured sacks of the herb into gleaming stainless steel dryers and grinders to turn out powder for capsules.
"It's high time for 'tongkat ali' now," said researcher Mohamad Shahidan, grinning through his face mask. "Everybody wants to try it."
($1=3.509 Malaysian Ringgit)
Copyright 2007 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Malaysia pins hopes on herbal Viagra for biotech push
By Clarence Fernandez
Reuters
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's answer to Viagra is a traditional herb the country has picked to spearhead its push into biotechnology, but now it faces the challenge of convincing the world the remedy is both potent and safe.
Surging interest in the herb, "tongkat ali," has spawned dozens of products, from pills to beverages, that play up its reputed aphrodisiac properties, and could even threaten the sway overseas of ginseng, a more-widely established remedy in Asia.
Generations of aging Malaysian men have sworn by the rejuvenation effects of "tongkat ali," scouring the countryside for it so eagerly that it has almost vanished from all but the deepest rainforest, and now has the status of a protected plant.
Scientific studies show that concoctions of "tongkat ali" can help hormone production, making rats and mice more frisky, but have yet to prove it can reliably produce the same effect in humans, researchers say.
"It can have different effects on different people," said Abdul Razak, head of the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia, which is driving research and commercial production of the herb.
"For me, it gives the energy to play a game of golf without getting tired, but has no other effects," said Razak, who takes two capsule supplements of the herb before each weekly game to increase his stamina.
"Tongkat ali," which scientists call Eurycoma longifolia, is a slender evergreen shrub with bitter, brownish-red fruit that is native to Malaysia and Indonesia.
All parts of the plant which grows up to 10 meters (33 ft) tall can be chopped up fine and boiled in water to make the traditional medicine.
As Malaysia looks to biotechnology for economic growth, scientists are taking a harder look at the aphrodisiac qualities of tongkat ali, which means the "walking-stick of Ali," in Malay, and they say it could spawn drugs to treat cancer and malaria.
PREPARING FOR COMMERCIAL USE
Five years of research studies in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States have helped to identify the key compounds in the herb, Razak said.
"All these compounds have been found, have been tested and have been patented, and we are now in the process of carrying out clinical studies, and hopefully after some time we might even commercialize this," he added.
A Malaysian industry and government group says the rapidly growing global market for aphrodisiacs is worth about $4 billion and could reach nearly $7 billion by 2012, but plans for "tongkat ali" to grab a share of this pie hinge on proving it is safe.
In Taiwan this year, Taipei city officials banned six brands of coffee from supermarkets because they contained "tongkat ali," saying the plant had not been evaluated for safe use, although there were no confirmed reports of side-effects, newspapers said.
The episode in January stirred indignation in Malaysia, where some officials publicly defended the herb, saying its safety and efficacy had been demonstrated by hundreds of years of use.
Others said the incident showed how far Malaysia still has to go to prove its claims for the herb.
"We've still got a lot of homework to do as a nation," said M. Rajen, chief executive of Tropical Botanics Sdn Bhd, which counts among its products Malaysia's most popular fish-oil brand.
Makers of ginseng, which has a global market of about $2 billion a year, according to some industry estimates, would be ruthless in battling competition from "tongkat ali," he said.
"What we see in Taiwan and elsewhere is an example of this ruthlessness," Rajen added. "Because we have not done our homework, we cannot fight it."
But Malaysia is confident it will convince the world. Officials of Power Root Malaysia Sdn Bhd, which exports tea and coffee drinks containing the herb to Japan and South Korea, have said they are looking to the United States and the Middle East.
"One day 'tongkat ali' will be marketed internationally, even in Harrods of London," Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said in January, at the launch of a $7 million biotech research center that will study ways to clone the herb.
At the Forest Research Institute, workers in white protective gear poured sacks of the herb into gleaming stainless steel dryers and grinders to turn out powder for capsules.
"It's high time for 'tongkat ali' now," said researcher Mohamad Shahidan, grinning through his face mask. "Everybody wants to try it."
($1=3.509 Malaysian Ringgit)
Copyright 2007 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Portugal Celebrates Massive Solar Plant
ABC News
Portugal Celebrates Massive Solar Plant
World's Largest-Producing Solar Power Plant Inaugurated in Southern Portugal
The Associated Press
LISBON, Portugal - A project slated to become the world's largest-producing solar power plant was inaugurated Wednesday in Portugal, though construction actually began last summer.
The 11-megawatt 61 million euro ($78.5 million) plant, a joint project of U.S. and Portuguese energy companies, spreads across a 150-acre hillside in Serpa, 124 miles southeast of Lisbon.
GE Energy Financial Services and PowerLight Corporation of the United States are working with Portuguese renewable energy company Catavento on the project.
"This is the most productive solar plant in the world, it will produce 40 percent more energy than the second largest one, Gut Erlasse in Germany," said Howard Wenger, principal of Powerlight.
Southern Portugal, one of the sunniest places in Europe, has as much as 3,300 hours of sunlight a year.
The new plant will produce enough power to supply 8,000 homes and will be used in place of fossil-fuel burning plants that would emit 30,000 tons of greenhouse gases each year, planners say.
The photovoltaic system it uses employs silicon solar cell technology to convert sunlight directly into electricity. It will produce 20 gigawatt hours of power per year.
Portions of the plant began operating in January.
The facility is owned by GE Energy Financial Services, and will be operated and maintained by PowerLight, which also designed it. Catavento, which developed the project, will manage the facility.
"This project is successful because Portugal's sunshine is plentiful, the solar power technology is proven, government policies are supportive, and we are investing ... to help our customers meet their environmental challenges," said Kevin Walsh, managing director and leader of renewable energy at GE Energy Financial Services.
Portugal is almost entirely dependent on imported energy, but is developing large wave and solar power projects and building wind farms to supply some 750,000 homes.
It also is exploring new hydropower projects and plans to invest 8 billion euros ($10.8 billion) in renewable energy projects over the next five years.
Prime Minister Jose Socrates said in January that his Socialist government wanted 45 percent of Portugal's total power consumption to come from renewable sources by 2010.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Portugal Celebrates Massive Solar Plant
World's Largest-Producing Solar Power Plant Inaugurated in Southern Portugal
The Associated Press
LISBON, Portugal - A project slated to become the world's largest-producing solar power plant was inaugurated Wednesday in Portugal, though construction actually began last summer.
The 11-megawatt 61 million euro ($78.5 million) plant, a joint project of U.S. and Portuguese energy companies, spreads across a 150-acre hillside in Serpa, 124 miles southeast of Lisbon.
GE Energy Financial Services and PowerLight Corporation of the United States are working with Portuguese renewable energy company Catavento on the project.
"This is the most productive solar plant in the world, it will produce 40 percent more energy than the second largest one, Gut Erlasse in Germany," said Howard Wenger, principal of Powerlight.
Southern Portugal, one of the sunniest places in Europe, has as much as 3,300 hours of sunlight a year.
The new plant will produce enough power to supply 8,000 homes and will be used in place of fossil-fuel burning plants that would emit 30,000 tons of greenhouse gases each year, planners say.
The photovoltaic system it uses employs silicon solar cell technology to convert sunlight directly into electricity. It will produce 20 gigawatt hours of power per year.
Portions of the plant began operating in January.
The facility is owned by GE Energy Financial Services, and will be operated and maintained by PowerLight, which also designed it. Catavento, which developed the project, will manage the facility.
"This project is successful because Portugal's sunshine is plentiful, the solar power technology is proven, government policies are supportive, and we are investing ... to help our customers meet their environmental challenges," said Kevin Walsh, managing director and leader of renewable energy at GE Energy Financial Services.
Portugal is almost entirely dependent on imported energy, but is developing large wave and solar power projects and building wind farms to supply some 750,000 homes.
It also is exploring new hydropower projects and plans to invest 8 billion euros ($10.8 billion) in renewable energy projects over the next five years.
Prime Minister Jose Socrates said in January that his Socialist government wanted 45 percent of Portugal's total power consumption to come from renewable sources by 2010.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Scientists Weigh Downside of Palm Oil
ABC News
Scientists Weigh Downside of Palm Oil
Oil From Palms: Scientists Weigh the Downside of a Once-Popular Alternative
By ARTHUR MAX
The Associated Press
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Only a few years ago, oil from palm trees was viewed as an ideal biofuel: a cheap, renewable alternative to petroleum that would fight global warming. Energy companies began converting generators and production soared.
Now, it's increasingly seen as an example of how well-meaning efforts to limit climate-changing carbon emissions may backfire.
Marcel Silvius, a climate expert at Wetlands International in the Netherlands, led a team that compared the benefits of palm oil to the ecological harm from destroying virgin Asian rain forests to develop lucrative new plantations.
His conclusion: "As a biofuel, it's a failure."
Scientists and policymakers from more than 100 countries are meeting in Brussels, Belgium, starting Monday to report on the impact of global warming, including storms, flooding and the extinction of plants and animals.
Then in May, the group intends to issue recommendations on how best to fight it, through new technologies and possible use of alternatives. The lessons of palm oil are sure to figure into their discussion.
Long a primary ingredient in food and cosmetics, palm oil derivatives caught on about five years ago as a source of renewable energy, spurred by subsidies in many European Union countries. Imports have risen 65 percent since 2002.
Palm oil is attractive because it is relatively abundant, cheap at about $550 per ton, and requires few or no modifications to existing power stations.
Unlike carbon-rich fossil fuels, palm oil is considered carbon-neutral, meaning the carbon emitted from burning it is the same as what is absorbed during growth.
But the result of intensified farming has been to unleash far more greenhouse gases than will be saved at power stations.
The report issued late last year by Wetlands International, Delft Hydraulics and the Alterra Research Center of Wageningen University in Holland studied the carbon released from peat swamps in Indonesia and Malaysia that had been drained and burned to plant palm oil trees. About 85 percent of the world's palm oil comes from the two countries, and about one-quarter of Indonesia's plantations are on drained peat bogs, the report said.
The four-year study found that 600 million tons of carbon dioxide seep into the air each year from the drained swamps. Another 1.4 billion tons go up in smoke from fires lit to clear rain forest for plantations smoke that often shrouds Singapore and Malaysia in an impenetrable haze for weeks at a time.
Together, those 2 billion tons of CO2 account for 8 percent of the world's fossil fuel emissions, the report said.
Friends of the Earth, another environmental group, called the report "astonishing," and said it shows that harvesting palm oil for fuel is counterproductive. "It undermines the whole project," said a climate specialist for the group, Anne van Schaik.
The study was not independently verified by the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat in Bonn, Germany, or by the World Resources Institute in Washington, D.C., the two leading monitoring groups. But experts said the research appeared credible. It is due to be published for peer review later this year.
Deforestation is the No. 2 cause of greenhouse gas emissions after the burning of fossil fuels, said Jeffrey Dukes, a biologist at the University of Massachusetts who was not part of the research. He said clearing peat swamps for plantations is "a double whammy."
It not only releases carbon trapped over many millennia, but destroys the most efficient ecosystem on the planet for sucking carbon from the atmosphere, Dukes said.
Expanding production of palm oil is "a terrible decision. Whether or not it's consciously made, it's society going in reverse," he said.
Major power companies are divided on whether to continue or pursue palm oil generation.
Leon Flexman, of RWE npower, Britain's largest electricity supplier, said his company decided against palm oil after a year of study because it could not verify its supplies would be free of the taint of destroyed rain forest or peat bogs, he said.
The Dutch power company Essent announced in December it had stopped burning until it can trace and verify the sources.
Biox, a Dutch startup, said it plans careful scrutiny of palm oil sources but will proceed with construction of three 50 megawatt power stations that burn palm oil byproducts exclusively. That's enough electricity to light all the homes in Amsterdam.
"From the start, we knew we can't stay in business if we can't prove that production is sustainable," said Biox executive Arjen Brinkmann. "Until this report came out, peat lands was not an issue because we hadn't heard of it. Nobody had heard," he said, adding that it will now be a factor in the company's sustainability criteria.
So far, the reservations about palm oil do not seem to have affected the market. Production rose 6.6 percent last year and will increase another 5.5 percent this year to 37 million tons, according to Fortis Bank. Prices have risen 35 percent in the last year and are still rising, it said.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Scientists Weigh Downside of Palm Oil
Oil From Palms: Scientists Weigh the Downside of a Once-Popular Alternative
By ARTHUR MAX
The Associated Press
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Only a few years ago, oil from palm trees was viewed as an ideal biofuel: a cheap, renewable alternative to petroleum that would fight global warming. Energy companies began converting generators and production soared.
Now, it's increasingly seen as an example of how well-meaning efforts to limit climate-changing carbon emissions may backfire.
Marcel Silvius, a climate expert at Wetlands International in the Netherlands, led a team that compared the benefits of palm oil to the ecological harm from destroying virgin Asian rain forests to develop lucrative new plantations.
His conclusion: "As a biofuel, it's a failure."
Scientists and policymakers from more than 100 countries are meeting in Brussels, Belgium, starting Monday to report on the impact of global warming, including storms, flooding and the extinction of plants and animals.
Then in May, the group intends to issue recommendations on how best to fight it, through new technologies and possible use of alternatives. The lessons of palm oil are sure to figure into their discussion.
Long a primary ingredient in food and cosmetics, palm oil derivatives caught on about five years ago as a source of renewable energy, spurred by subsidies in many European Union countries. Imports have risen 65 percent since 2002.
Palm oil is attractive because it is relatively abundant, cheap at about $550 per ton, and requires few or no modifications to existing power stations.
Unlike carbon-rich fossil fuels, palm oil is considered carbon-neutral, meaning the carbon emitted from burning it is the same as what is absorbed during growth.
But the result of intensified farming has been to unleash far more greenhouse gases than will be saved at power stations.
The report issued late last year by Wetlands International, Delft Hydraulics and the Alterra Research Center of Wageningen University in Holland studied the carbon released from peat swamps in Indonesia and Malaysia that had been drained and burned to plant palm oil trees. About 85 percent of the world's palm oil comes from the two countries, and about one-quarter of Indonesia's plantations are on drained peat bogs, the report said.
The four-year study found that 600 million tons of carbon dioxide seep into the air each year from the drained swamps. Another 1.4 billion tons go up in smoke from fires lit to clear rain forest for plantations smoke that often shrouds Singapore and Malaysia in an impenetrable haze for weeks at a time.
Together, those 2 billion tons of CO2 account for 8 percent of the world's fossil fuel emissions, the report said.
Friends of the Earth, another environmental group, called the report "astonishing," and said it shows that harvesting palm oil for fuel is counterproductive. "It undermines the whole project," said a climate specialist for the group, Anne van Schaik.
The study was not independently verified by the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat in Bonn, Germany, or by the World Resources Institute in Washington, D.C., the two leading monitoring groups. But experts said the research appeared credible. It is due to be published for peer review later this year.
Deforestation is the No. 2 cause of greenhouse gas emissions after the burning of fossil fuels, said Jeffrey Dukes, a biologist at the University of Massachusetts who was not part of the research. He said clearing peat swamps for plantations is "a double whammy."
It not only releases carbon trapped over many millennia, but destroys the most efficient ecosystem on the planet for sucking carbon from the atmosphere, Dukes said.
Expanding production of palm oil is "a terrible decision. Whether or not it's consciously made, it's society going in reverse," he said.
Major power companies are divided on whether to continue or pursue palm oil generation.
Leon Flexman, of RWE npower, Britain's largest electricity supplier, said his company decided against palm oil after a year of study because it could not verify its supplies would be free of the taint of destroyed rain forest or peat bogs, he said.
The Dutch power company Essent announced in December it had stopped burning until it can trace and verify the sources.
Biox, a Dutch startup, said it plans careful scrutiny of palm oil sources but will proceed with construction of three 50 megawatt power stations that burn palm oil byproducts exclusively. That's enough electricity to light all the homes in Amsterdam.
"From the start, we knew we can't stay in business if we can't prove that production is sustainable," said Biox executive Arjen Brinkmann. "Until this report came out, peat lands was not an issue because we hadn't heard of it. Nobody had heard," he said, adding that it will now be a factor in the company's sustainability criteria.
So far, the reservations about palm oil do not seem to have affected the market. Production rose 6.6 percent last year and will increase another 5.5 percent this year to 37 million tons, according to Fortis Bank. Prices have risen 35 percent in the last year and are still rising, it said.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
'Water police' crack down in an ever-drier Australia
ABC News
'Water police' crack down in an ever-drier Australia
Profligate shower-takers may find their water supply cut to a trickle as country endures a long drought made worse by global warming.
By Nick Squires
Sydney - At first glance it looks like a police car a white vehicle with a black-and-yellow checkerboard stripe running along its flanks. But as the patrol vehicle turns a corner in the leafy district of Paddington, in central Sydney, its true purpose becomes clear from the bold black lettering across its trunk: "Water Restrictions."
Australia, already the driest inhabited continent on the planet, is in the grip of its worst-ever drought.
The water crisis is no longer about desperate farmers in the Outback watching their sheep and cattle perish. Over the past six years, it has extended its grip to the cities and is changing the way Australians regard a resource they once took for granted. The patrol car is one of 50 that cruise Sydney's streets around the clock, every day of the week, sniffing out water wastage.
Climate scientists agree that Australia's drought is linked to global warming.
"There is very strong consensus," says Blair Nancarrow, director of the Australian Research Centre for Water in Society. "There's a lot of climate-model evidence that says that the drought is, at least in part, human-induced."
Data from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology show that, since 1970, rainfall has increased in the barely developed northwestern corner of the continent. But it has decreased in the densely populated east and southeast, the areas where it matters most.
Australians are increasingly bombarded with pleas to conserve their most precious resource. Last October a major electricity supplier asked people to refrain from singing, daydreaming, and engaging in other "nonessential activities" in the shower to save power and water. . Exhortations range from installing a rainwater tank in the backyard to eating less meat, on the grounds that rearing livestock requires far more water than growing crops.
Under Sydney's strict water-conservation measures, introduced in 2003,, cars must not be washed with hoses, only buckets. Watering lawns and gardens with hoses or drip-irrigation systems is allowed on two days a week. A special permit is required to fill a swimming pool. Breaking any of these rules incurs a spot fine of A$220 (US$178) for householders and A$500 for businesses.
"People are sometimes hostile, but the majority are understanding," says Brendan Elliott of Sydney Water, the utility that pipes water to 4 million people. "If they've done the wrong thing, most people will freely admit it."
By issuing 5,600 infringement notices and running an education campaign, Sydney's water consumption has been cut by 13 percent over the past three years.
In the neighboring state of Victoria, the attitude toward water-wasters is even tougher. The state's water authority recently threatened to reduce to a trickle the water supply of householders who repeatedly ignore water restrictions. Earlier this month a repeat offender was punished by cutting his supply from 10.5 to 0.5 gallons a minute sufficient for drinking and cooking, but not enough for a shower.
The draconian measures lasted 48 hours. Dennis Cavagna, managing director of South East Water, admitted the punishment was harsh. "It's very tough, but I think it just shows we've got to be serious about this," he said.
Coercion is just one way Australia is reacting to its water crisis. Another is planning big new infrastructure projects. Sydney is due to start building its first desalination plant in July to convert seawater into drinking water. The A$1.9 billion project is controversial. Environmentalists call desalinated water "bottled electricity" because of the amount of coal-generated power needed to strip it of its salt.
Perth, in Western Australia, recently built a desalination plant, another is under consstruction on the Gold Coast of Queensland, and Adelaide and Melbourne are considering similar facilities.
Just as contentious is a plan by Brisbane to turn sewage into drinking water. The state government had planned to hold a A$10 million referendum on the subject, but in January said that the drought was so acute that it would forge ahead without public consultation.
The decision outraged some city inhabitants, concerned that recycled effluent could cause serious health problems.
Western Australia, the country's biggest state, has flirted with the idea of building a 2,300 mile long pipeline or canal to carry water from the rain-soaked Kimberley wilderness region. The A$2 billion project has been criticized as impractical. "It's a romantic idea, but it would be incredibly costly because the distances are so great, and you'd have to pump the water all that way," Ms. Nancarrow says..
A failure to adapt to less rainfall could have profound implications for Australia's beach and barbecue lifestyle. But Greg Miller says he has come up with an innovation that will at least ensure that Australians can continue to enjoy verdant lawns.
As head of the Turf Growers Association of New South Wales, he is busy promoting a new type of grass that thrives on seawater. Known as seashore or sea isle paspalum, it was developed by scientists at the University of Georgia in the US. Mr. Miller is convinced that it is superbly suited to drought-stricken Australia.
"It's the most salt-resistant grass out there. It can be watered with salt water as long as you flush it with rainwater or gray water one time out of four."
It may be only a small part of a very large jigsaw puzzle, but it shows that Australians are thinking about how to adapt to what could be a very different future.
Peter Cullen, one of the country's foremost water experts, told a recent conference that the attitude held by many Australians used to be "let's hope it rains."
"That hasn't turned out to be a grand strategy," Dr. Cullen said. "The climate is changing. It would be prudent for us to assume we are going to get less rainfall."
www.csmonitor.com | Copyright © 2007 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
'Water police' crack down in an ever-drier Australia
Profligate shower-takers may find their water supply cut to a trickle as country endures a long drought made worse by global warming.
By Nick Squires
Sydney - At first glance it looks like a police car a white vehicle with a black-and-yellow checkerboard stripe running along its flanks. But as the patrol vehicle turns a corner in the leafy district of Paddington, in central Sydney, its true purpose becomes clear from the bold black lettering across its trunk: "Water Restrictions."
Australia, already the driest inhabited continent on the planet, is in the grip of its worst-ever drought.
The water crisis is no longer about desperate farmers in the Outback watching their sheep and cattle perish. Over the past six years, it has extended its grip to the cities and is changing the way Australians regard a resource they once took for granted. The patrol car is one of 50 that cruise Sydney's streets around the clock, every day of the week, sniffing out water wastage.
Climate scientists agree that Australia's drought is linked to global warming.
"There is very strong consensus," says Blair Nancarrow, director of the Australian Research Centre for Water in Society. "There's a lot of climate-model evidence that says that the drought is, at least in part, human-induced."
Data from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology show that, since 1970, rainfall has increased in the barely developed northwestern corner of the continent. But it has decreased in the densely populated east and southeast, the areas where it matters most.
Australians are increasingly bombarded with pleas to conserve their most precious resource. Last October a major electricity supplier asked people to refrain from singing, daydreaming, and engaging in other "nonessential activities" in the shower to save power and water. . Exhortations range from installing a rainwater tank in the backyard to eating less meat, on the grounds that rearing livestock requires far more water than growing crops.
Under Sydney's strict water-conservation measures, introduced in 2003,, cars must not be washed with hoses, only buckets. Watering lawns and gardens with hoses or drip-irrigation systems is allowed on two days a week. A special permit is required to fill a swimming pool. Breaking any of these rules incurs a spot fine of A$220 (US$178) for householders and A$500 for businesses.
"People are sometimes hostile, but the majority are understanding," says Brendan Elliott of Sydney Water, the utility that pipes water to 4 million people. "If they've done the wrong thing, most people will freely admit it."
By issuing 5,600 infringement notices and running an education campaign, Sydney's water consumption has been cut by 13 percent over the past three years.
In the neighboring state of Victoria, the attitude toward water-wasters is even tougher. The state's water authority recently threatened to reduce to a trickle the water supply of householders who repeatedly ignore water restrictions. Earlier this month a repeat offender was punished by cutting his supply from 10.5 to 0.5 gallons a minute sufficient for drinking and cooking, but not enough for a shower.
The draconian measures lasted 48 hours. Dennis Cavagna, managing director of South East Water, admitted the punishment was harsh. "It's very tough, but I think it just shows we've got to be serious about this," he said.
Coercion is just one way Australia is reacting to its water crisis. Another is planning big new infrastructure projects. Sydney is due to start building its first desalination plant in July to convert seawater into drinking water. The A$1.9 billion project is controversial. Environmentalists call desalinated water "bottled electricity" because of the amount of coal-generated power needed to strip it of its salt.
Perth, in Western Australia, recently built a desalination plant, another is under consstruction on the Gold Coast of Queensland, and Adelaide and Melbourne are considering similar facilities.
Just as contentious is a plan by Brisbane to turn sewage into drinking water. The state government had planned to hold a A$10 million referendum on the subject, but in January said that the drought was so acute that it would forge ahead without public consultation.
The decision outraged some city inhabitants, concerned that recycled effluent could cause serious health problems.
Western Australia, the country's biggest state, has flirted with the idea of building a 2,300 mile long pipeline or canal to carry water from the rain-soaked Kimberley wilderness region. The A$2 billion project has been criticized as impractical. "It's a romantic idea, but it would be incredibly costly because the distances are so great, and you'd have to pump the water all that way," Ms. Nancarrow says..
A failure to adapt to less rainfall could have profound implications for Australia's beach and barbecue lifestyle. But Greg Miller says he has come up with an innovation that will at least ensure that Australians can continue to enjoy verdant lawns.
As head of the Turf Growers Association of New South Wales, he is busy promoting a new type of grass that thrives on seawater. Known as seashore or sea isle paspalum, it was developed by scientists at the University of Georgia in the US. Mr. Miller is convinced that it is superbly suited to drought-stricken Australia.
"It's the most salt-resistant grass out there. It can be watered with salt water as long as you flush it with rainwater or gray water one time out of four."
It may be only a small part of a very large jigsaw puzzle, but it shows that Australians are thinking about how to adapt to what could be a very different future.
Peter Cullen, one of the country's foremost water experts, told a recent conference that the attitude held by many Australians used to be "let's hope it rains."
"That hasn't turned out to be a grand strategy," Dr. Cullen said. "The climate is changing. It would be prudent for us to assume we are going to get less rainfall."
www.csmonitor.com | Copyright © 2007 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Trade-off looms for arid US regions: water or power?
ABC News
Trade-off looms for arid US regions: water or power?
Water consumed by electric utilities could account for up to 60 percent of all nonfarm water used in the US by 2030.
By Peter N. Spotts
Albuquerque, N.M. - The drive to build more power plants for a growing nation as well as the push to use biofuels is running smack into the limits of a fundamental resource: water.
Already, a power plant uses three times as much water to provide electricity to the average household than the household itself uses through showers, toilets, and the tap. The total water consumed by electric utilities accounts for 20 percent of all the nonfarm water consumed in the United States. By 2030, utilities could account for up to 60 percent of the nonfarm water, because they use water for cooling and to scrub pollutants.
This water-versus-energy challenge is likely to be most acute in fast-growing regions of the US, such as the Southeast and the arid Southwest. Assuming current climate conditions, continued growth in these regions could eventually require tighter restrictions on water use, on electricity use, or both during the hottest months, when demand for both skyrockets, researchers say. Factor in climate change and the projections look worse. This is prompting utilities to find ways to alleviate the squeeze.
Here in New Mexico, scientists and water managers are already wrestling with the issue. One of the state's main sources of electricity is the San Juan generating station. Its main source of cooling water is the Navajo Reservoir, which straddles the state's border with Colorado. Under today's climate conditions, a three-year drought might require users of the reservoir to cut their water consumption by 18 percent, according to preliminary research at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. But a three-year drought with an average temperature rise of 1 degree C (1.8 degrees F.) could mean a 65 percent reduction by the end of the third year.
"This isn't just the San Juan River basin we're talking about," says Andrew Wolfsberg, a hydrologist at the lab. If the US decides to develop oil shale deposits in southern Colorado, which is likely to be water-intensive, it will be difficult to keep oil shale development going, he adds.
A large-scale move to biofuels would be even more water-intensive, says Ronald Pate, a researcher at Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque.
Over the past five years, water availability and quality have become rallying points for opponents of new plants around the country, according to a December 2006 Department of Energy report on the issue. By some estimates, electric utilities plan to build 150 coal-fired generating stations in the US over the next 30 years.
"Utilities are beginning to recognize that water is becoming a greater permitting issue than air quality," says Thomas Feeley III, a technology manager at the US Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory in Pittsburgh.
The potential collision of water, energy, and climate is not limited to the US. "This is a big issue in other arid and semi-arid parts of the world," says Christopher Flavin, president of the Worldwatch Institute, a nonprofit environmental think tank in Washington. The challenge is especially acute in China and India. India already faces serious water shortages around the country, he says. And in China, he says, the central government is losing control over energy planning as local governments drive the push for more power plants. In the future, if climate forecasts are correct, the demand for thermoelectric power could continue to grow as mountain glaciers melt, reducing the amount of electricity hydroelectric dams downstream can generate.
In the US, utilities are exploring ways to cut water consumption at power plants or are looking for alternative water sources.
In West Virginia, for example, construction began in February on a 600-megawatt coal-fired plant that will pull its water from pools in the same mine that it's tapping for coal. Although the plant is a commercial facility, it also is a test bed for approaches to tapping mine pools, which are found throughout the region, notes Joseph Donovan, who heads the Hydrological Research Center at West Virginia University in Morgantown.
And at the San Juan generating station outside Farmington, N.M., the Public Service Company of New Mexico has been exploring a range of approaches to reducing the plant's water consumption, notes Timothy Jones, the utility's water resources manager. In June, the plant will test a new design for cooling towers that attempts to capture and recycle the cloud of condensation that towers give off. The plant already recycles water from 20 to 50 times before it's evaporated off or becomes so tainted that it needs to be hauled off for disposal. The plant also has looked into using water produced as a byproduct of oil and gas extraction in the region.
"It has a fabulous potential for power plants," he says. But today's water-treatment technologies are too expensive and don't have enough capacity to fit the need.
The plant also is using a hybrid cooling tower that uses water only when air temperatures rise too high; otherwise the plant uses air for cooling.
In the end, "there is no single silver bullet" for coping with the projected effects of global warming, Mr. Jones says. "Renewables will play an important role, but energy efficiency is the only way you can deal with it without environmental impacts."
www.csmonitor.com | Copyright © 2007 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Trade-off looms for arid US regions: water or power?
Water consumed by electric utilities could account for up to 60 percent of all nonfarm water used in the US by 2030.
By Peter N. Spotts
Albuquerque, N.M. - The drive to build more power plants for a growing nation as well as the push to use biofuels is running smack into the limits of a fundamental resource: water.
Already, a power plant uses three times as much water to provide electricity to the average household than the household itself uses through showers, toilets, and the tap. The total water consumed by electric utilities accounts for 20 percent of all the nonfarm water consumed in the United States. By 2030, utilities could account for up to 60 percent of the nonfarm water, because they use water for cooling and to scrub pollutants.
This water-versus-energy challenge is likely to be most acute in fast-growing regions of the US, such as the Southeast and the arid Southwest. Assuming current climate conditions, continued growth in these regions could eventually require tighter restrictions on water use, on electricity use, or both during the hottest months, when demand for both skyrockets, researchers say. Factor in climate change and the projections look worse. This is prompting utilities to find ways to alleviate the squeeze.
Here in New Mexico, scientists and water managers are already wrestling with the issue. One of the state's main sources of electricity is the San Juan generating station. Its main source of cooling water is the Navajo Reservoir, which straddles the state's border with Colorado. Under today's climate conditions, a three-year drought might require users of the reservoir to cut their water consumption by 18 percent, according to preliminary research at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. But a three-year drought with an average temperature rise of 1 degree C (1.8 degrees F.) could mean a 65 percent reduction by the end of the third year.
"This isn't just the San Juan River basin we're talking about," says Andrew Wolfsberg, a hydrologist at the lab. If the US decides to develop oil shale deposits in southern Colorado, which is likely to be water-intensive, it will be difficult to keep oil shale development going, he adds.
A large-scale move to biofuels would be even more water-intensive, says Ronald Pate, a researcher at Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque.
Over the past five years, water availability and quality have become rallying points for opponents of new plants around the country, according to a December 2006 Department of Energy report on the issue. By some estimates, electric utilities plan to build 150 coal-fired generating stations in the US over the next 30 years.
"Utilities are beginning to recognize that water is becoming a greater permitting issue than air quality," says Thomas Feeley III, a technology manager at the US Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory in Pittsburgh.
The potential collision of water, energy, and climate is not limited to the US. "This is a big issue in other arid and semi-arid parts of the world," says Christopher Flavin, president of the Worldwatch Institute, a nonprofit environmental think tank in Washington. The challenge is especially acute in China and India. India already faces serious water shortages around the country, he says. And in China, he says, the central government is losing control over energy planning as local governments drive the push for more power plants. In the future, if climate forecasts are correct, the demand for thermoelectric power could continue to grow as mountain glaciers melt, reducing the amount of electricity hydroelectric dams downstream can generate.
In the US, utilities are exploring ways to cut water consumption at power plants or are looking for alternative water sources.
In West Virginia, for example, construction began in February on a 600-megawatt coal-fired plant that will pull its water from pools in the same mine that it's tapping for coal. Although the plant is a commercial facility, it also is a test bed for approaches to tapping mine pools, which are found throughout the region, notes Joseph Donovan, who heads the Hydrological Research Center at West Virginia University in Morgantown.
And at the San Juan generating station outside Farmington, N.M., the Public Service Company of New Mexico has been exploring a range of approaches to reducing the plant's water consumption, notes Timothy Jones, the utility's water resources manager. In June, the plant will test a new design for cooling towers that attempts to capture and recycle the cloud of condensation that towers give off. The plant already recycles water from 20 to 50 times before it's evaporated off or becomes so tainted that it needs to be hauled off for disposal. The plant also has looked into using water produced as a byproduct of oil and gas extraction in the region.
"It has a fabulous potential for power plants," he says. But today's water-treatment technologies are too expensive and don't have enough capacity to fit the need.
The plant also is using a hybrid cooling tower that uses water only when air temperatures rise too high; otherwise the plant uses air for cooling.
In the end, "there is no single silver bullet" for coping with the projected effects of global warming, Mr. Jones says. "Renewables will play an important role, but energy efficiency is the only way you can deal with it without environmental impacts."
www.csmonitor.com | Copyright © 2007 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Going native with plants A new-old direction for water conservation
ABC News
Going native with plants: A new-old direction for water conservation
Different species of native plants can help communities tackle issues with too much or too little water.
By Jodi Torpey
Denver - Native plants are emerging as the new heroes in a growing struggle to deal with climate change. In communities that consistently have too little water, drought-tolerant mesquite trees, buffalo grass, and colorful Texas red sage provide attractive landscaping that doesn't require watering. Native plants also come to the rescue in areas with the opposite problem storms that dump heavy rainfall and overwhelm the infrastructure for dealing with storm water. There, plants such as marsh milkweed, cardinal flower, bloodroot, and great blue lobelia can soak up the excess before it can run off.
Native plants are trees, shrubs, and wildflowers that grow in a specific region where they have evolved over time, adapting to the prevalent environmental conditions. Because of this, they can conserve water resources more efficiently than nonnative plants, which are naturally adapted to other climates.
In Denver, where the water-conserving landscape movement known as xeriscaping was launched in 1981, one of the first efforts in the city's sustainability program saw the Mile High Youth Corps replanting large areas of lawn with flower beds of drought-tolerant native plants at Denver's City and County Building and in front of three area recreation centers.
These conservation gardens and the many others that followed are one part of Denver's sweeping environmental initiative called Greenprint Denver (www.greenprintdenver.org).
Before Greenprint, the city made decisions about infrastructure, purchasing, land use, transportation, and waste management based on their social and economic impacts. Now, says Beth Conover, director of Greenprint Denver, environmental effects are being considered as well. "Greenprint is an effort to make sustainability a core value and operating principle of everything we do."
The program's goals include conserving water, reducing greenhouse emissions, using renewable energy, reducing waste, promoting mass transit, and increasing the amount of "green" housing that's affordable.
"Greenprint Denver sets an action agenda for sustainable development," Mayor John Hickenlooper says. "Every agency of the city government has to pass through the filter of Greenprint." All agencies from parks and recreation to waste management must consider and follow policies and practices that encourage environmental health, economic opportunity, and smart growth strategies.
One of Mr. Hickenlooper's goals for Greenprint is to get more people and organizations involved. "If everyone plays a part, it's not as daunting a task," he notes.
One example of a growing collaboration will occur later this month. As a kickoff to the mayor's plan to plant 1 million trees over the next 20 years, at least 7,000 new trees will be planted between Earth Day (April 22) and Arbor Day (April 27). "More than 42 different municipalities and organizations are participating," Hickenlooper says. "Now it looks like we might plant 9,000 or 10,000 trees."
Denver's mayor is committed to conservation on the personal front, too. In addition to turning down the thermostat at home and driving an energy-efficient vehicle, he washes and reuses his plastic sandwich bags. "We also xeriscaped as much as possible," he adds.
Native plants ease storm-water runoff
In Kansas City, Mo., where rain often causes flooding, native plants are providing a creative solution to managing storm water. The 10,000 Rain Gardens project is a communitywide environmental initiative designed to improve the quality of water flowing into streams, rivers, and lakes. (See www.rainkc.com and www.kcmo.org/mayor.nsf/web/raingarden?opendocument.)
Rain gardens are strategically placed in low spots in the landscape and designed to catch and hold rainwater, preventing it from running off the site. (Runoff causes flooding and is also responsible for polluting waterways with fertilizers and pesticides.) When planted with water-loving native plants, a rain garden becomes a beautiful and functional landscape addition that captures water before it can cause problems.
Lynn Hinkle, the project manager, is working to rally the community to build 10,000 individual rain gardens over the next five years.
"This is a 21st-century version of the Victory Gardens promoted during the Second World War," Ms. Hinkle says. "Water is the 21st-century commodity that will most impact hunger, health, and human life on the planet, and this is part of the solution."
Rain gardens are becoming a popular method for controlling storm water in the states of Oregon, Michigan, and Minnesota. But no other city has embraced the idea of getting its citizens involved in building 10,000 rain gardens, Hinkle says.
The campaign was embraced by residents in early 2006. "Mayor Kay Barnes really understood the issue and engaged the public to help relieve pressure on aging storm-water systems by capturing raindrops where they fall naturally," Hinkle adds.
Corporations, as well as individuals, are participating in the project. The Kansas City Art Institute, in partnership with the Brush Creek Community, is building a rain garden designed by its students. And Hallmark Cards is also planning a large rain garden at its headquarters in the city.
Nearly 200 individual rain gardens have been registered on the project's website, and one of those is in Hinkle's yard. She says that her basement flooded during heavy rains before she installed her rain garden. During a recent storm, she was pleased to see that the basement remained dry. "I'm pretty excited about what I've done in my own backyard," she says.
Landscaping that needs little water
While native plants help Kansas City residents deal with too much water, native species in New Mexico help conserve it. Intel, one of the world's largest makers of semiconductor chips, invested $1 million to add drought-tolerant plants to 50 acres at its Rio Rancho facility.
By xeriscaping the entire east slope of the factory grounds with more than 2,000 native trees and shrubs, Intel significantly reduced its need for irrigation water. Because the landscaping project includes a path almost a mile long that connects the Rio Rancho, Corrales, and Skyview communities, the residents of those neighborhoods provided input into the design.
"Part of being a good corporate citizen is looking for opportunities to improve water efficiency in every aspect of our operations, from making the ultrapure water for the manufacturing process to using water in the landscape," says Dave Stangis, director of corporate relations.
In addition to the xeriscape project, Intel is improving its water efficiency by reducing the amount of water used during production and by reusing and recycling that water.
"Intel invested $20 million to make the process of turning tap water into ultrapure water more efficient," says Mr. Stangis. He adds that the company has saved 3 billion gallons of water over the past eight years by reusing and recycling the ultrapure water instead of using fresh water for its operations.
Young environmentalists
Meanwhile, at the Highlands Center for Natural History in Prescott, Ariz., native plants are helping to educate the next generation of scientists, conservationists, and architects. The center (www.highlandscenter.org) is committed to helping children and adults become wise caretakers of the land.
Conservation concepts are woven into every program at the Lynx Creek Site, an 80-acre classroom without walls that it operates in the Prescott National Forest. Executive director Nichole Trushell has modeled the center's learning philosophy on her own experience. She says roaming in the woods inspired her to become a botanist.
In addition to the outdoor experiential learning, the campus itself is a model for ecofriendly green building concepts and conservation. A new learning center generates the electricity it needs by using solar panels and a battery backup system. The center's butterfly roof has its low point in the center to direct rainwater at two points toward native plantings.
A maintenance building sheds rainwater into collection tanks, which is then used to enhance constructed wetlands that treat the center's waste water.
In the future, the center will plant an arboretum to showcase the native plants it offers during its biannual public plant sales. The arboretum will also serve as a living demonstration of how native plants help conserve water in the landscape.
Whether saving irrigation water, improving water quality, or teaching lessons in conservation, native plants are doing their part to help the environment, just as nature originally intended.
www.csmonitor.com | Copyright © 2007 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Going native with plants: A new-old direction for water conservation
Different species of native plants can help communities tackle issues with too much or too little water.
By Jodi Torpey
Denver - Native plants are emerging as the new heroes in a growing struggle to deal with climate change. In communities that consistently have too little water, drought-tolerant mesquite trees, buffalo grass, and colorful Texas red sage provide attractive landscaping that doesn't require watering. Native plants also come to the rescue in areas with the opposite problem storms that dump heavy rainfall and overwhelm the infrastructure for dealing with storm water. There, plants such as marsh milkweed, cardinal flower, bloodroot, and great blue lobelia can soak up the excess before it can run off.
Native plants are trees, shrubs, and wildflowers that grow in a specific region where they have evolved over time, adapting to the prevalent environmental conditions. Because of this, they can conserve water resources more efficiently than nonnative plants, which are naturally adapted to other climates.
In Denver, where the water-conserving landscape movement known as xeriscaping was launched in 1981, one of the first efforts in the city's sustainability program saw the Mile High Youth Corps replanting large areas of lawn with flower beds of drought-tolerant native plants at Denver's City and County Building and in front of three area recreation centers.
These conservation gardens and the many others that followed are one part of Denver's sweeping environmental initiative called Greenprint Denver (www.greenprintdenver.org).
Before Greenprint, the city made decisions about infrastructure, purchasing, land use, transportation, and waste management based on their social and economic impacts. Now, says Beth Conover, director of Greenprint Denver, environmental effects are being considered as well. "Greenprint is an effort to make sustainability a core value and operating principle of everything we do."
The program's goals include conserving water, reducing greenhouse emissions, using renewable energy, reducing waste, promoting mass transit, and increasing the amount of "green" housing that's affordable.
"Greenprint Denver sets an action agenda for sustainable development," Mayor John Hickenlooper says. "Every agency of the city government has to pass through the filter of Greenprint." All agencies from parks and recreation to waste management must consider and follow policies and practices that encourage environmental health, economic opportunity, and smart growth strategies.
One of Mr. Hickenlooper's goals for Greenprint is to get more people and organizations involved. "If everyone plays a part, it's not as daunting a task," he notes.
One example of a growing collaboration will occur later this month. As a kickoff to the mayor's plan to plant 1 million trees over the next 20 years, at least 7,000 new trees will be planted between Earth Day (April 22) and Arbor Day (April 27). "More than 42 different municipalities and organizations are participating," Hickenlooper says. "Now it looks like we might plant 9,000 or 10,000 trees."
Denver's mayor is committed to conservation on the personal front, too. In addition to turning down the thermostat at home and driving an energy-efficient vehicle, he washes and reuses his plastic sandwich bags. "We also xeriscaped as much as possible," he adds.
Native plants ease storm-water runoff
In Kansas City, Mo., where rain often causes flooding, native plants are providing a creative solution to managing storm water. The 10,000 Rain Gardens project is a communitywide environmental initiative designed to improve the quality of water flowing into streams, rivers, and lakes. (See www.rainkc.com and www.kcmo.org/mayor.nsf/web/raingarden?opendocument.)
Rain gardens are strategically placed in low spots in the landscape and designed to catch and hold rainwater, preventing it from running off the site. (Runoff causes flooding and is also responsible for polluting waterways with fertilizers and pesticides.) When planted with water-loving native plants, a rain garden becomes a beautiful and functional landscape addition that captures water before it can cause problems.
Lynn Hinkle, the project manager, is working to rally the community to build 10,000 individual rain gardens over the next five years.
"This is a 21st-century version of the Victory Gardens promoted during the Second World War," Ms. Hinkle says. "Water is the 21st-century commodity that will most impact hunger, health, and human life on the planet, and this is part of the solution."
Rain gardens are becoming a popular method for controlling storm water in the states of Oregon, Michigan, and Minnesota. But no other city has embraced the idea of getting its citizens involved in building 10,000 rain gardens, Hinkle says.
The campaign was embraced by residents in early 2006. "Mayor Kay Barnes really understood the issue and engaged the public to help relieve pressure on aging storm-water systems by capturing raindrops where they fall naturally," Hinkle adds.
Corporations, as well as individuals, are participating in the project. The Kansas City Art Institute, in partnership with the Brush Creek Community, is building a rain garden designed by its students. And Hallmark Cards is also planning a large rain garden at its headquarters in the city.
Nearly 200 individual rain gardens have been registered on the project's website, and one of those is in Hinkle's yard. She says that her basement flooded during heavy rains before she installed her rain garden. During a recent storm, she was pleased to see that the basement remained dry. "I'm pretty excited about what I've done in my own backyard," she says.
Landscaping that needs little water
While native plants help Kansas City residents deal with too much water, native species in New Mexico help conserve it. Intel, one of the world's largest makers of semiconductor chips, invested $1 million to add drought-tolerant plants to 50 acres at its Rio Rancho facility.
By xeriscaping the entire east slope of the factory grounds with more than 2,000 native trees and shrubs, Intel significantly reduced its need for irrigation water. Because the landscaping project includes a path almost a mile long that connects the Rio Rancho, Corrales, and Skyview communities, the residents of those neighborhoods provided input into the design.
"Part of being a good corporate citizen is looking for opportunities to improve water efficiency in every aspect of our operations, from making the ultrapure water for the manufacturing process to using water in the landscape," says Dave Stangis, director of corporate relations.
In addition to the xeriscape project, Intel is improving its water efficiency by reducing the amount of water used during production and by reusing and recycling that water.
"Intel invested $20 million to make the process of turning tap water into ultrapure water more efficient," says Mr. Stangis. He adds that the company has saved 3 billion gallons of water over the past eight years by reusing and recycling the ultrapure water instead of using fresh water for its operations.
Young environmentalists
Meanwhile, at the Highlands Center for Natural History in Prescott, Ariz., native plants are helping to educate the next generation of scientists, conservationists, and architects. The center (www.highlandscenter.org) is committed to helping children and adults become wise caretakers of the land.
Conservation concepts are woven into every program at the Lynx Creek Site, an 80-acre classroom without walls that it operates in the Prescott National Forest. Executive director Nichole Trushell has modeled the center's learning philosophy on her own experience. She says roaming in the woods inspired her to become a botanist.
In addition to the outdoor experiential learning, the campus itself is a model for ecofriendly green building concepts and conservation. A new learning center generates the electricity it needs by using solar panels and a battery backup system. The center's butterfly roof has its low point in the center to direct rainwater at two points toward native plantings.
A maintenance building sheds rainwater into collection tanks, which is then used to enhance constructed wetlands that treat the center's waste water.
In the future, the center will plant an arboretum to showcase the native plants it offers during its biannual public plant sales. The arboretum will also serve as a living demonstration of how native plants help conserve water in the landscape.
Whether saving irrigation water, improving water quality, or teaching lessons in conservation, native plants are doing their part to help the environment, just as nature originally intended.
www.csmonitor.com | Copyright © 2007 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Going Green -- or Gifting a Right to Pollute
ABC News
Going Green -- or Gifting a Right to Pollute?
Some Believe Giving Others Carbon Offsets Can Help the Environment
By BRIAN ROONEY
April 22, 2007 — - At the 2007 Academy Awards, where it's traditional for the stars to walk away with bags of expensive swag, A-list attendees received certificates for 100,000 pounds of something called "carbon offsets."
And one night on "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart," guest Dennis Miller also came out and handed the host some carbon offsets.
Like a designer dress, carbon offsets are an environmental tool that have become suddenly fashionable.
"I think people are very frustrated with the government and business response to climate change," said Tom Arnold, chief environmental officer for Terrapass in San Francisco.
A carbon offset is a way to, theoretically, cancel out or neutralize the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) you create in your daily life. For instance, every gallon of gasoline burned by your car creates 20 pounds of the gas carbon dioxide, which is believed to contribute to global warming.
When you buy carbon offsets from a company that trades in them, that company in turn pays another company to do something that either eliminates CO2, or generates energy in a way that does not create CO2. They might plant trees, or create electricity with solar or wind power.
The idea is to balance every act of carbon creation with something that either eliminates it or at least does not contribute to the problem.
Multi-Billion-Dollar Industry to Benefit the World
Carbon credits and offsets are a multi-billion-dollar-a-year commodity traded on open markets. Some big companies, from Seattle City Light to Vail Resorts, the Colorado ski area, have declared themselves carbon neutral through credit trading.
Carbon dioxide is created in stunning amounts according to the Web site calculators of several organizations that sell carbon offsets. A four-cylinder car driven 12,000 miles a year creates nearly 11,000 pounds of CO2. A round-trip flight between Los Angeles and San Francisco creates an estimated 400 pounds of CO2 per passenger.
So Charlotte Seligman, who lives in a small house in San Francisco, bought carbon offsets for her home and even gave some out as Christmas gifts.
"It made sense to me," she said. "If more people did it and it gets to a tipping point, I think it could make a difference."
Paul Lowrey, who lives in San Francisco and has two cars, one of them an SUV, bought a year's worth of carbon offsets.
"For each car, it's about $35, the cost of a night out on the town," Lowrey said.
The question some people have is whether Lowrey and people like him should still be driving that carbon dioxide-belching SUV.
Former Vice President Al Gore, now campaigning against global warming, recently got in a jam because he lives in a 20-room house with a $30,000 utility bill. Gore said his life is "carbon neutral" because he buys offsets.
But Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch, believes this is all well-intentioned -- but possibly off the mark.
"In many cases, it reminds me of the Middle Ages, where a sinner would buy indulgences from the church to make up for their misdeeds, and then they'd go right back to sinning," O'Donnell said. "I mean, it really doesn't change things."
"One of the real problems with this is that it may divert attention from what we really need, and that is strong, decisive action by the federal government to actually limit and reduce carbon emissions nationwide," O'Donnell added.
Even the carbon traders see the flaws. At DriveNeutral, a non-profit organization in San Francisco, director Jason Smith said, "We want people to know what climate change looks like, how their personal behavior contributes to it, and we're giving them a solution to contribute to right away to make a difference."
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Going Green -- or Gifting a Right to Pollute?
Some Believe Giving Others Carbon Offsets Can Help the Environment
By BRIAN ROONEY
April 22, 2007 — - At the 2007 Academy Awards, where it's traditional for the stars to walk away with bags of expensive swag, A-list attendees received certificates for 100,000 pounds of something called "carbon offsets."
And one night on "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart," guest Dennis Miller also came out and handed the host some carbon offsets.
Like a designer dress, carbon offsets are an environmental tool that have become suddenly fashionable.
"I think people are very frustrated with the government and business response to climate change," said Tom Arnold, chief environmental officer for Terrapass in San Francisco.
A carbon offset is a way to, theoretically, cancel out or neutralize the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) you create in your daily life. For instance, every gallon of gasoline burned by your car creates 20 pounds of the gas carbon dioxide, which is believed to contribute to global warming.
When you buy carbon offsets from a company that trades in them, that company in turn pays another company to do something that either eliminates CO2, or generates energy in a way that does not create CO2. They might plant trees, or create electricity with solar or wind power.
The idea is to balance every act of carbon creation with something that either eliminates it or at least does not contribute to the problem.
Multi-Billion-Dollar Industry to Benefit the World
Carbon credits and offsets are a multi-billion-dollar-a-year commodity traded on open markets. Some big companies, from Seattle City Light to Vail Resorts, the Colorado ski area, have declared themselves carbon neutral through credit trading.
Carbon dioxide is created in stunning amounts according to the Web site calculators of several organizations that sell carbon offsets. A four-cylinder car driven 12,000 miles a year creates nearly 11,000 pounds of CO2. A round-trip flight between Los Angeles and San Francisco creates an estimated 400 pounds of CO2 per passenger.
So Charlotte Seligman, who lives in a small house in San Francisco, bought carbon offsets for her home and even gave some out as Christmas gifts.
"It made sense to me," she said. "If more people did it and it gets to a tipping point, I think it could make a difference."
Paul Lowrey, who lives in San Francisco and has two cars, one of them an SUV, bought a year's worth of carbon offsets.
"For each car, it's about $35, the cost of a night out on the town," Lowrey said.
The question some people have is whether Lowrey and people like him should still be driving that carbon dioxide-belching SUV.
Former Vice President Al Gore, now campaigning against global warming, recently got in a jam because he lives in a 20-room house with a $30,000 utility bill. Gore said his life is "carbon neutral" because he buys offsets.
But Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch, believes this is all well-intentioned -- but possibly off the mark.
"In many cases, it reminds me of the Middle Ages, where a sinner would buy indulgences from the church to make up for their misdeeds, and then they'd go right back to sinning," O'Donnell said. "I mean, it really doesn't change things."
"One of the real problems with this is that it may divert attention from what we really need, and that is strong, decisive action by the federal government to actually limit and reduce carbon emissions nationwide," O'Donnell added.
Even the carbon traders see the flaws. At DriveNeutral, a non-profit organization in San Francisco, director Jason Smith said, "We want people to know what climate change looks like, how their personal behavior contributes to it, and we're giving them a solution to contribute to right away to make a difference."
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
New ways to gasify and clean coal emerge
ABC News
New ways to gasify and clean coal emerge
By Timothy Gardner
Reuters
ST. LOUIS - New ways to gasify coal are emerging that could help reduce the cost of managing the fuel's greenhouse gas emissions, officials at small companies said.
A race to develop cleaner ways to burn coal is emerging as the United States hopes to use its vast reserves of the fuel to cut imports of expensive natural gas and oil. But coal emits more carbon dioxide, the main gas scientists link to global warming, than any other fossil fuel.
Big U.S. utilities are beginning to consider using heat and pressure to turn coal into a natural gas-like fuel at power plants because it can reduce pollutants like acid rain and smog components. Technology can be added to the process to siphon off CO2 and bury it underground so that it does not reach the atmosphere.
Adding such technologies to power plants can be expensive. A recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology report said carbon capture and sequestration at the plants could boost power bills by 20 percent.
That leaves opportunities for companies to gasify coal close to where it is mined, send the natural gas via pipeline for home heating or for burning at power plants, and sell the carbon dioxide for pumping into nearby aging oil fields where it can boost production.
"We can save money because we don't have to transport coal via rail all the way across the country to make power," Andrew Perlman, chief executive of GreatPoint Energy, said on the sidelines of a McCloskey Group conference on the future of coal.
Some environmental groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council are optimistic about carbon capture and sequestration. But many others are concerned about whether the gas can be kept permanently underground.
Perlman said the company's gasification process, similar to catalytic cracking at oil refineries, also saves money because it uses lower temperatures than conventional gasification and can process cheaper feedstocks like lignite to make natural gas for $3 per million British thermal units.
GreatPoint, funded by private money from sources including California venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, developed a pilot plant in Illinois. Perlman said the company hopes to produce 1 percent of U.S. natural gas by 2016.
Another method of gasification is being developed by Econo-Power International Corp., which uses a technique from China to turn coal into natural gas to fuel ethanol plants. Bill Douglas, a vice president at the company, said it can be convenient for ethanol plants to receive coal shipments because most of them are already situated on rail lines. The carbon dioxide can be extracted "relatively easily" from the process, he said.
The Underground Coal Gasification Partnership hopes coal can be gasified at formations where the fuel is found. Michael Green, the director of the partnership, said the technology holds promise, as long as it doesn't pollute local water supplies.
Copyright 2007 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
New ways to gasify and clean coal emerge
By Timothy Gardner
Reuters
ST. LOUIS - New ways to gasify coal are emerging that could help reduce the cost of managing the fuel's greenhouse gas emissions, officials at small companies said.
A race to develop cleaner ways to burn coal is emerging as the United States hopes to use its vast reserves of the fuel to cut imports of expensive natural gas and oil. But coal emits more carbon dioxide, the main gas scientists link to global warming, than any other fossil fuel.
Big U.S. utilities are beginning to consider using heat and pressure to turn coal into a natural gas-like fuel at power plants because it can reduce pollutants like acid rain and smog components. Technology can be added to the process to siphon off CO2 and bury it underground so that it does not reach the atmosphere.
Adding such technologies to power plants can be expensive. A recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology report said carbon capture and sequestration at the plants could boost power bills by 20 percent.
That leaves opportunities for companies to gasify coal close to where it is mined, send the natural gas via pipeline for home heating or for burning at power plants, and sell the carbon dioxide for pumping into nearby aging oil fields where it can boost production.
"We can save money because we don't have to transport coal via rail all the way across the country to make power," Andrew Perlman, chief executive of GreatPoint Energy, said on the sidelines of a McCloskey Group conference on the future of coal.
Some environmental groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council are optimistic about carbon capture and sequestration. But many others are concerned about whether the gas can be kept permanently underground.
Perlman said the company's gasification process, similar to catalytic cracking at oil refineries, also saves money because it uses lower temperatures than conventional gasification and can process cheaper feedstocks like lignite to make natural gas for $3 per million British thermal units.
GreatPoint, funded by private money from sources including California venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, developed a pilot plant in Illinois. Perlman said the company hopes to produce 1 percent of U.S. natural gas by 2016.
Another method of gasification is being developed by Econo-Power International Corp., which uses a technique from China to turn coal into natural gas to fuel ethanol plants. Bill Douglas, a vice president at the company, said it can be convenient for ethanol plants to receive coal shipments because most of them are already situated on rail lines. The carbon dioxide can be extracted "relatively easily" from the process, he said.
The Underground Coal Gasification Partnership hopes coal can be gasified at formations where the fuel is found. Michael Green, the director of the partnership, said the technology holds promise, as long as it doesn't pollute local water supplies.
Copyright 2007 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Thursday, April 26, 2007
In Real Estate, Green Is Becoming Gold
ABC News
In Real Estate, Green Is Becoming Gold
Businesses and Individuals Are Finding It Can Pay to Adopt Environmentally Friendly Building Methods
By GIGI STONE
ATLANTA, Aug. 13, 2006 — - With energy costs going sky-high and concern about the environment on the rise, the business of "green building" is booming.
People are "going green" because it's good for the environment and can be good for the bottom line.
That may be why some of the newest, most extravagant additions to New York City's already spectacular skyline are part of a growing trend of companies going green. The futuristic headquarters for the Hearst Corporation is lit nearly entirely by the sun. And the new Bank of America Tower will turn scraps from the cafeteria into methane to supply the building's electricity -- good for the environment, but also good for business.
Texas Instruments predicts its new Dallas facility will actually save up to $4 million a year by using energy-efficient engineering methods.
"If you can save money and do something good for the planet, then why wouldn't you do it?" said Paul Westbrook of Texas Instruments. "Big ducts, big pipes, straight runs, all contribute to lower pressure drop -- and that's an energy saving feature."
The green building ethos isn't confined to the corporate world. Consumer interest is growing, too. A poll by the American Institute of Architects showed 90 percent of respondents would be willing to pay more for a house that would use less energy.
Everyday Americans are moving into green construction projects like Glenwood Park in Atlanta, where everything is environmentally friendly. The complex even saves rainwater in a pond and uses it to recycle later.
The homes were designed to use 30 percent less energy, with features like insulation made of recycled newspaper.
Jamie Diacou said her house cost about $4,000 more, but she's making up for it in utility savings.
"When we get our electricity bill, it's so nice to know its not going to be outrageously expensive," she said.
For celebrities who have long made the environment a cause celebre, it's not about saving money.
"Ultimately, I'm investing in my quality of life," said Adrian Grenier, star of the HBO show "Entourage." "And the bonus is that I'm helping the environment."
Grenier uses all nontoxic materials in his Brooklyn home, including insulation made of recycled denim.
"You can put it in with your bare hands," he said. "It's just basically jeans and its great stuff."
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
In Real Estate, Green Is Becoming Gold
Businesses and Individuals Are Finding It Can Pay to Adopt Environmentally Friendly Building Methods
By GIGI STONE
ATLANTA, Aug. 13, 2006 — - With energy costs going sky-high and concern about the environment on the rise, the business of "green building" is booming.
People are "going green" because it's good for the environment and can be good for the bottom line.
That may be why some of the newest, most extravagant additions to New York City's already spectacular skyline are part of a growing trend of companies going green. The futuristic headquarters for the Hearst Corporation is lit nearly entirely by the sun. And the new Bank of America Tower will turn scraps from the cafeteria into methane to supply the building's electricity -- good for the environment, but also good for business.
Texas Instruments predicts its new Dallas facility will actually save up to $4 million a year by using energy-efficient engineering methods.
"If you can save money and do something good for the planet, then why wouldn't you do it?" said Paul Westbrook of Texas Instruments. "Big ducts, big pipes, straight runs, all contribute to lower pressure drop -- and that's an energy saving feature."
The green building ethos isn't confined to the corporate world. Consumer interest is growing, too. A poll by the American Institute of Architects showed 90 percent of respondents would be willing to pay more for a house that would use less energy.
Everyday Americans are moving into green construction projects like Glenwood Park in Atlanta, where everything is environmentally friendly. The complex even saves rainwater in a pond and uses it to recycle later.
The homes were designed to use 30 percent less energy, with features like insulation made of recycled newspaper.
Jamie Diacou said her house cost about $4,000 more, but she's making up for it in utility savings.
"When we get our electricity bill, it's so nice to know its not going to be outrageously expensive," she said.
For celebrities who have long made the environment a cause celebre, it's not about saving money.
"Ultimately, I'm investing in my quality of life," said Adrian Grenier, star of the HBO show "Entourage." "And the bonus is that I'm helping the environment."
Grenier uses all nontoxic materials in his Brooklyn home, including insulation made of recycled denim.
"You can put it in with your bare hands," he said. "It's just basically jeans and its great stuff."
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Silicon Valley Betting on Solar Power
ABC News
Silicon Valley Betting on Solar Power
Entrepreneurs Expect Green Movement Will Move Solar Panels Firmly into the Mainstream
By BRIAN ROONEY
SAN JOSE, Calif., April 7, 2007 — - Using machinery that looks like giant aluminum film developers, a company called Miasole in the heart of Silicon Valley is rolling out sheets of stainless steel coated with materials that will convert sunlight into electricity.
The company hopes to mass-produce affordable solar panels to power homes and businesses across the country.
"I'm sort of a serial entrepreneur," said David Pearce, president and CEO of Miasole. "This is my sixth venture-backed company and this is the most exciting market opportunity I've ever been in."
He's excited because only one or two percent of electricity in the United States is generated by the power of the sun, and this may be the dawn of a new age for solar power and alternative energy.
Watch Brian Rooney's report on Silicon Valley "Going Green" tonight on "World News." Check local listings for air times.
Still smarting from the Internet bubble burst, some of the technical braintrust of Silicon Valley is turning to what may be the next big thing, generating new kinds of energy for a country increasingly worried about dependence on foreign oil and the threat of global warming caused by the release of greenhouse gases.
These are some of the same people who changed the world with the silicon computer chip, the hard drive, digital technology, even the Apple iPod.
"Looking at the world's biggest problems, software is not going to address it," said Lyndon Rive, CEO of a company called Solar City that is pushing affordable solar power by convincing whole residential neighborhoods to go solar, thereby keeping down the cost.
Rive used to be in the software business but now says his future is in developing a new form of electric production that holds down the emission of harmful carbon dioxide.
"It's one of the few industries where you have the opportunity to make some money and do good," Rive said.
Stephen Levy, a Silicon Valley economist, said, "It's a moment in time when the next great possibility is launched. We don't know that it's going to be a certainty, and we don't know how big it's going to be. But it's right now where the companies are trying to get in on the ground floor."
Investors are beginning to pour in hundreds of millions of dollars, hoping to catch the next wave at a time when cost, technology and the need for new energy are all coming together.
Silicon Valley companies are also working on fuel cells, devices that convert hydrogen and oxygen into electricity, plus biomass fuels that are derived from such things as grass and seaweed, and a new generation of electric cars.
A company called Tesla Motors is trying to re-invent the electric car with a $100,000 two-seater designed to put some flash into green driving. As an example of the crossover thinking going on in Silicon Valley, the Tesla will be powered by 6,800 lithium-ion cells, batteries similar to those used in laptop computers. Tesla plans to follow with a four-door electric sedan.
But the most promising in the short run could be solar power. The technology for converting sunlight into electricity has been around for as long as 50 years, but now scientists and company managers are conquering the problems of production and cost that have discouraged the use of solar panels.
Most solar-electric panels are made with silicon, the basic stuff of the computer chip, and require similar manufacturing techniques to those used in the computer industry, Silicon Valley veterans are bringing knowledge and experience to solar development.
An 11 megawatt solar power plant was recently completed in Portugal. It's small by the standards of power plants, but it stands as proof that solar power can be produced dependably at an acceptable cost.
Richard Swanson, president of a company called Sunpower, which makes high-efficiency solar panels, said the solar industry today is like 1983 for the computer chip, just on the brink of becoming everyday technology.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Silicon Valley Betting on Solar Power
Entrepreneurs Expect Green Movement Will Move Solar Panels Firmly into the Mainstream
By BRIAN ROONEY
SAN JOSE, Calif., April 7, 2007 — - Using machinery that looks like giant aluminum film developers, a company called Miasole in the heart of Silicon Valley is rolling out sheets of stainless steel coated with materials that will convert sunlight into electricity.
The company hopes to mass-produce affordable solar panels to power homes and businesses across the country.
"I'm sort of a serial entrepreneur," said David Pearce, president and CEO of Miasole. "This is my sixth venture-backed company and this is the most exciting market opportunity I've ever been in."
He's excited because only one or two percent of electricity in the United States is generated by the power of the sun, and this may be the dawn of a new age for solar power and alternative energy.
Watch Brian Rooney's report on Silicon Valley "Going Green" tonight on "World News." Check local listings for air times.
Still smarting from the Internet bubble burst, some of the technical braintrust of Silicon Valley is turning to what may be the next big thing, generating new kinds of energy for a country increasingly worried about dependence on foreign oil and the threat of global warming caused by the release of greenhouse gases.
These are some of the same people who changed the world with the silicon computer chip, the hard drive, digital technology, even the Apple iPod.
"Looking at the world's biggest problems, software is not going to address it," said Lyndon Rive, CEO of a company called Solar City that is pushing affordable solar power by convincing whole residential neighborhoods to go solar, thereby keeping down the cost.
Rive used to be in the software business but now says his future is in developing a new form of electric production that holds down the emission of harmful carbon dioxide.
"It's one of the few industries where you have the opportunity to make some money and do good," Rive said.
Stephen Levy, a Silicon Valley economist, said, "It's a moment in time when the next great possibility is launched. We don't know that it's going to be a certainty, and we don't know how big it's going to be. But it's right now where the companies are trying to get in on the ground floor."
Investors are beginning to pour in hundreds of millions of dollars, hoping to catch the next wave at a time when cost, technology and the need for new energy are all coming together.
Silicon Valley companies are also working on fuel cells, devices that convert hydrogen and oxygen into electricity, plus biomass fuels that are derived from such things as grass and seaweed, and a new generation of electric cars.
A company called Tesla Motors is trying to re-invent the electric car with a $100,000 two-seater designed to put some flash into green driving. As an example of the crossover thinking going on in Silicon Valley, the Tesla will be powered by 6,800 lithium-ion cells, batteries similar to those used in laptop computers. Tesla plans to follow with a four-door electric sedan.
But the most promising in the short run could be solar power. The technology for converting sunlight into electricity has been around for as long as 50 years, but now scientists and company managers are conquering the problems of production and cost that have discouraged the use of solar panels.
Most solar-electric panels are made with silicon, the basic stuff of the computer chip, and require similar manufacturing techniques to those used in the computer industry, Silicon Valley veterans are bringing knowledge and experience to solar development.
An 11 megawatt solar power plant was recently completed in Portugal. It's small by the standards of power plants, but it stands as proof that solar power can be produced dependably at an acceptable cost.
Richard Swanson, president of a company called Sunpower, which makes high-efficiency solar panels, said the solar industry today is like 1983 for the computer chip, just on the brink of becoming everyday technology.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Will Biofuels Do More Harm Than Good?
ABC News
Will Biofuels Do More Harm Than Good?
Stung by Bad Experience, Dutch Consider Tough Criteria for Importing Sustainable Biofuels
By ARTHUR MAX
The Associated Press
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - It's the new climate change dilemma: finding alternatives for oil and gas without doing more harm than good.
In the rush to develop biofuels, forests are burned in Asia to clear land for palm oil, and swaths of the Amazon are stripped of diverse vegetation for soya and sugar plantations for ethanol.
On Friday, a Dutch committee will unveil stringent criteria for growing biofuels in ways that don't damage the environment or release more greenhouse gases than they save.
Other European countries are working along similar lines and closely watching the Dutch initiative -- the first to reach the level of government consideration.
More than a year in the making, the report reflects a heightened awareness of the risks and complexity in efforts to reduce emissions of the gases blamed for global warming.
Among the criteria in a draft obtained by The Associated Press: Production of biomass cannot contribute to deforestation, deplete reservoirs of carbon captured in the earth, compete with food crops, degrade soil or water supplies, upset biodiversity, or displace local populations,
The report is by the Cramer Commission, named for its former chairwoman, Jacqueline Cramer, who in February became environment minister.
Without going into specifics, it suggests developing a track-and-trace system to follow a product from plantation to power plant, like an express delivery package.
"It should be implemented on a European scale because it will be difficult for Holland to do it on its own," said Kees Koede, of the Dutch branch of Friends of the Earth, an environmental group.
"Everyone is aware that it's crazy to pour money into a system that is not sustainable," he said.
But the European Commission, executive arm of the 27-nation European Union, is only beginning to look at the problem.
"We are working on a system of green certificates to make sure no unsustainable biofuel makes its way into the European market. But this is very embryonic at the moment," said Ferran Tarradellas Espuny, an EU energy official.
An organization of palm oil planters, processors, financiers and environmentalists in Malaysia and Indonesia has been working for more than two years to devise criteria and verification schemes.
The campaign is driven by evidence that developers in the two Asian countries have burned vast tracks of rain forest to grow palm oil. The fires unleash millions of tons of carbon dioxide and smoke that shroud entire areas of Southeast Asia in eye-watering smog for weeks at a time.
The Netherlands is Europe's biggest importer of palm oil, used in a wide range of supermarket products as well as a fuel oil supplement. One Dutch company has plans to build three 50 megawatt power stations exclusively running on palm oil.
The Cramer Commission envisions imported biomass from sustainable sources by 2020, but calls for a transition period.
"Sustainability in the long term can only be achieved if a start is made with it now," the draft says.
It calls for greenhouse gas emissions to be cut by 70 percent for generating electricity, and 30 percent for transportation fuels.
The draft criteria say new plantations must not be built in protected areas, plantations should leave 10 percent of their area in "its original state" to preserve diversity, and soil and water quality of the soil and water should be improved.
The Europeans have set high targets for cutting carbon emissions. In February, EU leaders approved a plan to trim them by at least 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020. At least 10 percent of transport fuels will come from biomass, they decided.
With that goal in mind, a huge emphasis will shift toward biofuel production, risking even greater environmental damage.
"You need to be very quick with implementing criteria," said Sander van Bennekom of the Oxfam charity, one of the report's 14 contributors, in an interview. "Maybe we are already too late."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Will Biofuels Do More Harm Than Good?
Stung by Bad Experience, Dutch Consider Tough Criteria for Importing Sustainable Biofuels
By ARTHUR MAX
The Associated Press
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - It's the new climate change dilemma: finding alternatives for oil and gas without doing more harm than good.
In the rush to develop biofuels, forests are burned in Asia to clear land for palm oil, and swaths of the Amazon are stripped of diverse vegetation for soya and sugar plantations for ethanol.
On Friday, a Dutch committee will unveil stringent criteria for growing biofuels in ways that don't damage the environment or release more greenhouse gases than they save.
Other European countries are working along similar lines and closely watching the Dutch initiative -- the first to reach the level of government consideration.
More than a year in the making, the report reflects a heightened awareness of the risks and complexity in efforts to reduce emissions of the gases blamed for global warming.
Among the criteria in a draft obtained by The Associated Press: Production of biomass cannot contribute to deforestation, deplete reservoirs of carbon captured in the earth, compete with food crops, degrade soil or water supplies, upset biodiversity, or displace local populations,
The report is by the Cramer Commission, named for its former chairwoman, Jacqueline Cramer, who in February became environment minister.
Without going into specifics, it suggests developing a track-and-trace system to follow a product from plantation to power plant, like an express delivery package.
"It should be implemented on a European scale because it will be difficult for Holland to do it on its own," said Kees Koede, of the Dutch branch of Friends of the Earth, an environmental group.
"Everyone is aware that it's crazy to pour money into a system that is not sustainable," he said.
But the European Commission, executive arm of the 27-nation European Union, is only beginning to look at the problem.
"We are working on a system of green certificates to make sure no unsustainable biofuel makes its way into the European market. But this is very embryonic at the moment," said Ferran Tarradellas Espuny, an EU energy official.
An organization of palm oil planters, processors, financiers and environmentalists in Malaysia and Indonesia has been working for more than two years to devise criteria and verification schemes.
The campaign is driven by evidence that developers in the two Asian countries have burned vast tracks of rain forest to grow palm oil. The fires unleash millions of tons of carbon dioxide and smoke that shroud entire areas of Southeast Asia in eye-watering smog for weeks at a time.
The Netherlands is Europe's biggest importer of palm oil, used in a wide range of supermarket products as well as a fuel oil supplement. One Dutch company has plans to build three 50 megawatt power stations exclusively running on palm oil.
The Cramer Commission envisions imported biomass from sustainable sources by 2020, but calls for a transition period.
"Sustainability in the long term can only be achieved if a start is made with it now," the draft says.
It calls for greenhouse gas emissions to be cut by 70 percent for generating electricity, and 30 percent for transportation fuels.
The draft criteria say new plantations must not be built in protected areas, plantations should leave 10 percent of their area in "its original state" to preserve diversity, and soil and water quality of the soil and water should be improved.
The Europeans have set high targets for cutting carbon emissions. In February, EU leaders approved a plan to trim them by at least 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020. At least 10 percent of transport fuels will come from biomass, they decided.
With that goal in mind, a huge emphasis will shift toward biofuel production, risking even greater environmental damage.
"You need to be very quick with implementing criteria," said Sander van Bennekom of the Oxfam charity, one of the report's 14 contributors, in an interview. "Maybe we are already too late."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
US mining company agrees to 'green' review
ABC News
US mining company agrees to 'green' review
The move shows the power shareholders hold in getting corporations to address social and environmental concerns.
By Ben Arnoldy
Oakland, Calif. - For the first time, an American mining firm has supported a "social responsibility" resolution put forward by shareholder activists.
Shareholders of Newmont Mining Co., the world's largest gold mining firm, approved this week an independent review of the environmental and social impacts of the company's global operations. And before the vote Tuesday, the Denver-based company took what activists say is the unprecedented step of endorsing the measure.
The milestone shows the ability of the "ethical investing" movement to gain the ear of major corporations, especially for environmental concerns as companies come under increased pressure to go green, say specialists in the field.
"Social investors are small in number, but their ability to attract the attention of substantial numbers of traditional investors on particular issues or particular companies is becoming increasingly easy," says Steven Lydenberg, chief investment officer for Domini Social Investments, a New York-based firm that specializes in socially responsible investing (SRI).
Shareholder activists filed 75 environmental proposals in the first half of 2006, including proposals asking companies to report on energy efficiency, reduce greenhouse emissions, and limit use of toxic chemicals, according to Institutional Shareholder Services.
In 21 cases, the motions resulted in deals with companies, including Home Depot, Lowe's, and General Motors, all of which agreed to provide significant information on aspects of their environmental impact.
Newmont says it urged shareholders to support the review of locally controversial company practices because the company wanted to demonstrate to the outside world that it operates properly.
The company has suffered from recent publicity debacles, including large street protests in South America and a high-profile court battle in Indonesia.
An Indonesian court this week acquitted the company of charges that its operations poisoned Buyat Bay and local residents with mercury and arsenic. Indonesian prosecutors reportedly will appeal the decision.
The shareholder resolution recommends that independent members of the company's board of directors not management conduct the global review and produce a report.
"It will contain the good, bad, and the ugly, but we're not necessarily afraid of that," says Newmont spokesman Omar Jabara. "We do need to know where we can improve. There's nothing worse than having an issue out there and not knowing about it until it's too late or festered into a big problem."
Whether the report becomes a "greenwash" or truly credible depends on its implementation, says Julie Tanner, corporate advocacy coordinator with Christian Brothers Investment Services, a Catholic SRI firm based in New York, which led the successful shareholder effort.
"The implementation is really the key," says Ms. Tanner. "There needs to be recommendations on how the company is going to address community opposition and reduce risk to operations, and at the same time protect the human rights of people in the communities impacted by their operations."
During the review, Tanner will push for Newmont to draw on internationally recognized experts ranging from academics to nongovernmental (NGO) groups.
Tapping NGOs and community activists for input may help defray problems on the ground, but it could also backfire on Newmont.
"Time and again there are examples of blowups where NGOs are involved. They are invited in with the expectation that they will be a constructive partner in this, but in fact they're secretly trying to undermine operations," says Jon Entine, editor of the book "Pension Fund Politics: The Dangers of Socially Responsible Investing."
"A lot of the NGOs," he says, "would just as soon see many of these companies actually pull out of these operations."
EARTHWORKS, a mining watchdog NGO, however, argues that talking with groups active in the impacted communities would help the company head off messy confrontations.
In 2004, massive street protests erupted when Newmont proposed to mine Peru's Cerro Quilish deposit, a watershed and sacred site for locals.
"There's numerous cases like that where it would benefit both the company and the affected communities if there was a dialogue and process to determine where mining is appropriate," says Radhika Sarin, international campaign coordinator for EARTHWORKS based in Washington.
Indeed, the independent voices brought in during a review process can provide "an early warning system for the company," says Tim Smith, director of socially responsive investing with Walden Asset Management in Boston. Such outside expertise can become a "broader think tank" for the company to resolve problems, he adds.
In the end, shareholder resolutions are only recommendations, and companies maintain a good deal of control over how and even whether to implement them. And Christian Brothers admits its stake in Newmont represent only a small fraction of shares.
Mr. Entine questions the whole premise of socially responsible investing given such systemic lack of power.
"It's a waste of time and money except for the part that can generate some publicity," he says. "But that's a pretty high price to pay with all the costs involved with social investing to get that goal."
www.csmonitor.com | Copyright © 2007 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
US mining company agrees to 'green' review
The move shows the power shareholders hold in getting corporations to address social and environmental concerns.
By Ben Arnoldy
Oakland, Calif. - For the first time, an American mining firm has supported a "social responsibility" resolution put forward by shareholder activists.
Shareholders of Newmont Mining Co., the world's largest gold mining firm, approved this week an independent review of the environmental and social impacts of the company's global operations. And before the vote Tuesday, the Denver-based company took what activists say is the unprecedented step of endorsing the measure.
The milestone shows the ability of the "ethical investing" movement to gain the ear of major corporations, especially for environmental concerns as companies come under increased pressure to go green, say specialists in the field.
"Social investors are small in number, but their ability to attract the attention of substantial numbers of traditional investors on particular issues or particular companies is becoming increasingly easy," says Steven Lydenberg, chief investment officer for Domini Social Investments, a New York-based firm that specializes in socially responsible investing (SRI).
Shareholder activists filed 75 environmental proposals in the first half of 2006, including proposals asking companies to report on energy efficiency, reduce greenhouse emissions, and limit use of toxic chemicals, according to Institutional Shareholder Services.
In 21 cases, the motions resulted in deals with companies, including Home Depot, Lowe's, and General Motors, all of which agreed to provide significant information on aspects of their environmental impact.
Newmont says it urged shareholders to support the review of locally controversial company practices because the company wanted to demonstrate to the outside world that it operates properly.
The company has suffered from recent publicity debacles, including large street protests in South America and a high-profile court battle in Indonesia.
An Indonesian court this week acquitted the company of charges that its operations poisoned Buyat Bay and local residents with mercury and arsenic. Indonesian prosecutors reportedly will appeal the decision.
The shareholder resolution recommends that independent members of the company's board of directors not management conduct the global review and produce a report.
"It will contain the good, bad, and the ugly, but we're not necessarily afraid of that," says Newmont spokesman Omar Jabara. "We do need to know where we can improve. There's nothing worse than having an issue out there and not knowing about it until it's too late or festered into a big problem."
Whether the report becomes a "greenwash" or truly credible depends on its implementation, says Julie Tanner, corporate advocacy coordinator with Christian Brothers Investment Services, a Catholic SRI firm based in New York, which led the successful shareholder effort.
"The implementation is really the key," says Ms. Tanner. "There needs to be recommendations on how the company is going to address community opposition and reduce risk to operations, and at the same time protect the human rights of people in the communities impacted by their operations."
During the review, Tanner will push for Newmont to draw on internationally recognized experts ranging from academics to nongovernmental (NGO) groups.
Tapping NGOs and community activists for input may help defray problems on the ground, but it could also backfire on Newmont.
"Time and again there are examples of blowups where NGOs are involved. They are invited in with the expectation that they will be a constructive partner in this, but in fact they're secretly trying to undermine operations," says Jon Entine, editor of the book "Pension Fund Politics: The Dangers of Socially Responsible Investing."
"A lot of the NGOs," he says, "would just as soon see many of these companies actually pull out of these operations."
EARTHWORKS, a mining watchdog NGO, however, argues that talking with groups active in the impacted communities would help the company head off messy confrontations.
In 2004, massive street protests erupted when Newmont proposed to mine Peru's Cerro Quilish deposit, a watershed and sacred site for locals.
"There's numerous cases like that where it would benefit both the company and the affected communities if there was a dialogue and process to determine where mining is appropriate," says Radhika Sarin, international campaign coordinator for EARTHWORKS based in Washington.
Indeed, the independent voices brought in during a review process can provide "an early warning system for the company," says Tim Smith, director of socially responsive investing with Walden Asset Management in Boston. Such outside expertise can become a "broader think tank" for the company to resolve problems, he adds.
In the end, shareholder resolutions are only recommendations, and companies maintain a good deal of control over how and even whether to implement them. And Christian Brothers admits its stake in Newmont represent only a small fraction of shares.
Mr. Entine questions the whole premise of socially responsible investing given such systemic lack of power.
"It's a waste of time and money except for the part that can generate some publicity," he says. "But that's a pretty high price to pay with all the costs involved with social investing to get that goal."
www.csmonitor.com | Copyright © 2007 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Monday, April 16, 2007
Bottom Line Design Awards
Bottom Line Design Awards
ENERGY
Eco-power doubles as modern art
Want to turn your backyard into a wind farm? The QR5, from U.K.-based Quietrevolution, is a residential-scale wind turbine that generates enough electricity to power a standard U.S. home or a small office. It also looks like a piece of wind-powered sculpture, which may prove to be one of its most important selling points. Quietrevolution's Richard Cochrane designed the QR5 to masquerade as an objet d'art to mollify critics who might grumble about ugly, noisy propellers.Beneath the skin is what Quietrevolution calls the world's most efficient turbine for capturing air currents near buildings and other structures, with carbon-fiber blades shaped to grab gusty city winds without making much noise. But make sure your checkbook is fully charged: At $48,000, the QR5 costs twice as much as a traditional propeller-style unit that generates the same output.Product QR5MANUFACTURER QuietrevolutionDESIGNER Richard CochraneBottom Line Two units have been installed in commercial development projects around London, with 70 to 80 planned for the coming year.
ARCHITECTURE
Prefab homes go deluxe
What if ordering a new house were no more complex than ordering a stack of books from Amazon.com (AMZN)? That's the basic idea behind a new line of prefabricated housing from LivingHomes of Santa Monica. Designed by renowned California architect Ray Kappe and aimed at a high-end, environmentally conscious clientele, the RK1 model has hit the market at $775,000 (not including land and extras). When an order is placed, the house is built in a factory, trucked to the homesite, and assembled in just one day. The 3,100-square-foot RK1 is a far cry from the trailer-park stereotypes of prefab living. Sleek, modern, and eco-friendly, it comes with high-efficiency LED lighting, solar panels, and an optional environmental monitoring system to keep energy use in check. Countertops, tiles, structural steel, and insulation are made from recycled materials.PRODUCT RK1MANUFACTURER LivingHomesDesigner Ray KappeBottom Line One show home has been installed; six are contracted to go up during the next year.
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/biz2/0703/gallery.bottom_line_design.biz2/2.html
The Prius of Power Plants
The Prius of Power Plants
The California Energy Commission has greenlighted an application to build the U.S.'s first solar-natural gas hybrid power plant in Southern California's High Desert. The plant will be built on a former Air Force Base outside Victorville - about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles - and would integrate a 50-megawatt solar trough power station into a 500-megawatt natural gas-fired plant. Solar energy would produce 10 percent of the plant's electricity during peak demand times to lower greenhouse gas emissions from the facility, according to the application. The project is being developed by Newport Beach's Inland Energy for the city of Victorville. "We felt there was a direct analogy between the way renewable resources are used and hybrid cars," Inland Energy executive VP Tom Barnett told Green Wombat. "Electric cars have their limitations but hybrids have taken off. We felt same concept applied to a power plant. We have a solar power plant with the reliability of a combined natural gas cycle plant. We set out to figure out how to integrate solar thermal with gas."
The Victorville 2 plant will use solar trough technology. Fields of parabolic mirrors heat oil or another liquid to create steam that drives an electricity-generating turbine. Several solar trough power plants built in the nearby Mojave Desert in the 1980s and '90s by Luz continue to operate. Some of those plants use natural gas to extend their operating time - say, when its cloudy or when the sun begins to set. So why did Inland Energy decide to make solar a relatively small part of its plant rather than the main power producer? Reliability, says Barnett. "We really didn’t like that idea because we wanted the ability to provide a baseload plant." In other words, Victorville 2 will generate power 24/7. While the plant will supply electricity to the local area, it also will connect to the grid operated by Southern California Edison (EIX), the utility that powers Los Angeles. "We have the best solar resources in world located in close proximity to one of world’s largest cites," Barnett notes. "The fact that we’re just over the hill from L.A. makes this a valuable resource."
And building a solar-powered conventional natural gas plant means that that it may qualify for a federal investment tax credit. The solar component will also be attractive to California's investor-owned utilties, which must get 20 percent of their electricty from renewable sources by 2010 and 30 percent by 2030. "We hoped initially that we would have been able to put a much larger solar facility in the overall plant, but we felt 50 megawatts was the optimal ratio," Barnett says, noting it may be possible to eventually expand the size of the solar fields at the plant, set to begin operation in 2010. He sees opportunity to build more hybrid plants or retrofit existing plants that supply power to PG&E (PCG), San Diego Gas & Electric (SRE) and other utilities. "There's a land rush on for solar," he says. "Everyone's looking at this."
http://blogs.business2.com/greenwombat/2007/04/a_new_hybrid_ca.html
The California Energy Commission has greenlighted an application to build the U.S.'s first solar-natural gas hybrid power plant in Southern California's High Desert. The plant will be built on a former Air Force Base outside Victorville - about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles - and would integrate a 50-megawatt solar trough power station into a 500-megawatt natural gas-fired plant. Solar energy would produce 10 percent of the plant's electricity during peak demand times to lower greenhouse gas emissions from the facility, according to the application. The project is being developed by Newport Beach's Inland Energy for the city of Victorville. "We felt there was a direct analogy between the way renewable resources are used and hybrid cars," Inland Energy executive VP Tom Barnett told Green Wombat. "Electric cars have their limitations but hybrids have taken off. We felt same concept applied to a power plant. We have a solar power plant with the reliability of a combined natural gas cycle plant. We set out to figure out how to integrate solar thermal with gas."
The Victorville 2 plant will use solar trough technology. Fields of parabolic mirrors heat oil or another liquid to create steam that drives an electricity-generating turbine. Several solar trough power plants built in the nearby Mojave Desert in the 1980s and '90s by Luz continue to operate. Some of those plants use natural gas to extend their operating time - say, when its cloudy or when the sun begins to set. So why did Inland Energy decide to make solar a relatively small part of its plant rather than the main power producer? Reliability, says Barnett. "We really didn’t like that idea because we wanted the ability to provide a baseload plant." In other words, Victorville 2 will generate power 24/7. While the plant will supply electricity to the local area, it also will connect to the grid operated by Southern California Edison (EIX), the utility that powers Los Angeles. "We have the best solar resources in world located in close proximity to one of world’s largest cites," Barnett notes. "The fact that we’re just over the hill from L.A. makes this a valuable resource."
And building a solar-powered conventional natural gas plant means that that it may qualify for a federal investment tax credit. The solar component will also be attractive to California's investor-owned utilties, which must get 20 percent of their electricty from renewable sources by 2010 and 30 percent by 2030. "We hoped initially that we would have been able to put a much larger solar facility in the overall plant, but we felt 50 megawatts was the optimal ratio," Barnett says, noting it may be possible to eventually expand the size of the solar fields at the plant, set to begin operation in 2010. He sees opportunity to build more hybrid plants or retrofit existing plants that supply power to PG&E (PCG), San Diego Gas & Electric (SRE) and other utilities. "There's a land rush on for solar," he says. "Everyone's looking at this."
http://blogs.business2.com/greenwombat/2007/04/a_new_hybrid_ca.html
Fifty Ways to Help Save the Planet
The Environment
Illustrations by Guy Billout.
Fifty Ways to Help Save the Planet
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/05/savetheplanet200605?printable=true¤tPage=all
What you can do.
introduction by Henry Porter May 2006
The problem is so vast and the urgency so great that advice which suggests you turn off the tap while brushing your teeth or switch off lights and standbys when they are not needed or go vegetarian for one day a week seems, well, ridiculous. Global warming is probably the greatest threat our species has ever faced. The sheer scale of the processes under way in the atmosphere and the oceans makes it hard not to view anything an individual does to reduce emissions as being too little too late. Not true. The astonishing fact is that each of us can have an immediate impact on the production of greenhouse gases, and if enough of us act together in these minor ways, the cumulative effect will be dramatic. That's because so much of the way we live our lives is wasteful and, to put it bluntly, thoughtless. It takes nothing to switch off a lamp, unplug the phone charger, take a shorter shower, cook without pre-heating the oven, skip the pre-wash part of the dishwasher cycle, or, often, walk or bike instead of drive. And they all save money, which is one of the rather striking things about reducing your carbon footprint—the standard way of measuring the CO2 emissions each person is responsible for.
Some of the suggestions that follow may involve a little more effort—recycling, ditching plastic bags, and fixing leaky faucets and toilets; others require you to spend money—insulating your home, installing solar panels, or buying a fuel-efficient car. Even with these, however, there is almost always an eventual payback in terms of reduced bills.
The overwhelming and heartening point about the ideas here is that, if adopted by large numbers of people, they will have an immeasurable effect. When it comes down to it, the continued rise in carbon emissions is a matter of individual conscience: each of us can and should do something, however small. In 5 or 10 years' time that thought, together with everything written here, should be second nature to us. Ladies and gentlemen, this little booklet is the future—a more ingenious, more satisfying, and less wasteful future. Welcome to it.
Reporting for V.F.'s Green Guide by Daisy Prince and Emily Butselaar.
1. Lightbulbs Matter
Switch from traditional incandescent lightbulbs to compact fluorescent lightbulbs (C.F.L.). If every American household replaced one regular lightbulb with a C.F.L., the pollution reduction would be equivalent to removing one million cars from the road. A 30-watt C.F.L. produces about as much light as an ordinary 100-watt bulb. Although the initial price is higher, C.F.L.'s can last 12 times as long. C.F.L.'s are available at most home-improvement stores and at bulbs.com.
2. Ditch Plastic Bags
Californians Against Waste (cawrecycles.org), a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, estimates that Americans use 84 billion plastic bags annually, a considerable contribution to the 500 billion to one trillion used worldwide. Made from polyethylene, plastic bags are not biodegradable and are making their way into our oceans and waterways. According to recent studies, the oceans are full of tiny fragments of plastic that are beginning to work their way up the food chain. Invest in stronger, re-usable bags, and avoid plastic bags whenever possible.
3. Rinse No More
According to Consumer Reports, pre-rinsing dishes does not necessarily improve a dishwasher's ability to clean them. By skipping the wash before the wash, you can save up to 20 gallons of water per dishload. At one load a day, that's 7,300 gallons over the course of the year. Not to mention that you're saving time, dishwashing soap, and the energy used to heat the additional water.
4. Forget Pre-heating
Ignore cookbooks! It is usually unnecessary to pre-heat your oven before cooking, except when baking bread or pastries. Just turn on the oven at the same time you put the dish in. During cooking, rather than opening the oven door to check on your food, just look at it through the oven window. Why? Opening the oven door results in a significant loss of energy.
5. A Glass Act
Recycle glass (think beer bottles, jars, juice containers) either through curbside programs or at community drop-off centers. Glass takes more than one million years to decompose; Americans generate almost 13 million tons of glass waste a year. Glass produced from recycled glass reduces related air pollution by 20 percent and related water pollution by 50 percent. Go to earth911.org for local recycling information.
6. Banking on the Environment
Want to have a more energy-efficient home or office? Save green by being green. Purchase appliances and electronics with the Energy Star certification. Begun in 1992 by the E.P.A. to rate energy-efficient computers, the Energy Star program today includes more than 40 product categories, and it also rates homes and workplaces for energy efficiency. Energy Star estimates that, with its help, Americans saved enough energy in 2004 to power 24 million homes, amounting to savings of $10 billion. To learn more about Energy Star, visit energystar.gov.
7. Hang Up Your Dryer
It goes without saying—clothes dryers are huge energy gluttons. Hints to reduce energy use: Clean the lint filter after each load (improves air circulation). Use the cool-down cycle (allows clothes to finish drying from the residual heat inside). Better yet, abandon your dryer and buy some drying racks, if you don't have a clothesline. Generally, clothes dry overnight.
8. Get a Gold Laundry Star
An Energy Star–qualified washing machine uses 50 percent less energy and could reduce your utility bills by $110 annually. Standard machines use about 40 gallons of water per wash; most Energy Star machines use only 18 to 25 gallons, thus also saving water. Whenever possible, wash your clothes in cold water using cold-water detergents (designed to remove soils at low temperatures). And do your laundry only when you have a full load. If you must do a small load, adjust the water level accordingly.
9. Green Paint
Most paint is made from petrochemicals, and its manufacturing process can create 10 times its own weight in toxic waste. It also releases volatile organic compounds (V.O.C.'s) that threaten public health. (V.O.C.'s are solvents that rapidly evaporate, allowing paint to dry quickly.) They cause photochemical reactions in the atmosphere, leading to ground-level smog that can cause eye and skin irritation, lung and breathing problems, headaches, nausea, and nervous-system and kidney damage. The best alternative? Natural paints. Manufactured using plant oils, natural paints pose far fewer health risks, are breathable, and in some cases are 100 percent biodegradable. Remember: Never throw your paint away. Check out Earth 911's "Paint Wise" section for re-use programs in your community; earth911.org.
10. Build Green
Before embarking on any home remodeling, make sure your architect has green credentials. Although there is no national organization of green architects in the U.S., that doesn't mean you can't get an architect who will build along sustainable lines. Ask where he or she sources materials, and request that energy-saving devices, such as solar paneling, be installed. Visit directory.greenbuilder.com or environmentalhomecenter.com for more green-building information.
11. Get a Green Roof
A green roof is more than simply a roof with plants growing on it. It functions like a "breathing wall," consuming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and emitting oxygen. Green roofs generally use low-maintenance, drought-resistant plants. Vegetation is planted or laid down as pre-vegetated mats on a thin layer of soil. More intensive green-roof systems may contain trees and larger plants, but these require deeper soil and are more expensive. One of the biggest benefits of a green roof is water management: it can absorb more than 50 percent of rainwater, thereby reducing runoff, a major source of pollution in our waterways. Plus, it can help reduce air-conditioning costs during the hot summer months. The vegetation looks after itself through the seasons and creates a habitat for insects, which, in turn, provide food for birds. Green roofs can also last more than twice as long as conventional rooftops. They look better too. For more information, visit greenroofs.com.
12. Play It Cool
Avoid placing your air conditioner next to a TV, lamp, or other electrical appliance that generates heat. A heat source will confuse the unit's thermostat, causing it to misread how hot the room is and make the air conditioner run longer than it should. You can also program an air conditioner to start running 30 minutes before you arrive home (as with heating). There is no need to cool a home if no one is in it.
13. Food Miles Matter
Food is traveling farther than ever. Once upon a time people ate seasonally—artichokes in the winter, cherries in June. Now you can buy most fruits and vegetables practically year-round. The average American meal contains ingredients produced in at least five other countries. The transportation of food and agricultural products constitutes more than 20 percent of total commodity transport within the U.S. To help reduce CO2 emissions (released from trucks, airplanes, and cargo ships), it's best to buy food that's in season, organic, and grown locally. Go to ams.usda.gov to find the farmers' market nearest you.
14. Go Vegetarian One Day a Week
To produce one pound of beef requires 2,500 gallons of water—that's 40 times more water than is used to produce a pound of potatoes. Before buying beef, think about the immense cost of energy used to raise cattle and to transport meat to your supermarket shelf. Besides all this, cows consume enormous amounts of antibiotics and are a prodigious source of methane, which is the number-two greenhouse gas; livestock are responsible for almost 20 percent of the methane in the atmosphere.
15. Buy Eggs in Cardboard Cartons
Cardboard egg cartons are normally made from recycled paper, which biodegrades relatively quickly, and are also again recyclable—Styrofoam or plastic cartons take a much longer time to biodegrade and their manufacture produces harmful by-products.
16. Drink Shade-Grown Coffee
Shade-grown coffee is for the birds, literally. According to coffeeresearch.org, about 150 species of birds live on shade-grown-coffee farms, while only 20 to 50 inhabit full-sun farms. With increased demand for cheap coffee, many Latin American growers have moved toward full-sun plantations, clearing the habitat of numerous native birds and increasing the use of pesticides and fertilizers. By drinking shade-grown coffee, you can help bird habitats and reduce the need for farming chemicals. Shade-grown coffee beans can be purchased at many grocery stores. Starbucks offers shade-grown coffee as well.
17. Save Water Indoors
A typical American household uses 350 gallons of water each day. About half that—175 gallons—is used indoors (toilets consume about 30 percent of the indoor total). Unnecessary water usage comes in the form of leaks. Fixing leaky faucets and toilets is a quick and easy way to conserve water. A steady faucet drip can waste 20 gallons of water a day. Leaky toilets are even worse, wasting upward of 100 gallons a day. Since toilet leaks are generally silent, check for them regularly by removing the tank cover and adding food coloring. If the toilet is leaking (and 20 percent of them usually are), color will appear in the bowl within 30 minutes.
18. Take Showers, Not Baths
The average American household consumes about 60 gallons of water a day from showers and baths. To reduce this number, take quick showers and install a low-flow showerhead that uses fewer than 2.5 gallons of water per minute, as compared to about 5 gallons with an older showerhead. Baths are relaxing, but it can take 50 gallons of water to fill a tub.
19. Stop the Water
By leaving the water running while you brush your teeth, you can waste 150 gallons of water per month—that's 1,800 gallons a year! Turning the water off while you brush can save several gallons of water per minute. Also pay attention to this water-saving principle while shaving or washing your face.
20. Insulate Your House
Good insulation is one of the best ways to reduce your heating bills and cut your CO2 emissions. Heating and cooling make up 50 to 70 percent of energy use in the average American home. Also, replace old windows and be sure to seal holes and cracks in your house with weather stripping or caulk. A well-insulated house can prevent hundreds of pounds of CO2 emissions per year and can cut your heating and cooling bills by up to 20 percent. For more information, visit eere.energy.gov.
21. Turn Your Thermostat Down One Degree
If you turn your thermostat down by one degree, your heating costs will decrease by about 3 percent. Turn it down five more degrees for four hours a day and reduce your heating bills by almost 6 percent. If you're going to be away for the weekend or out in the evening, turn your thermostat down. It's not true that reducing the temperature means it will take more heat to bring it back up to a warm level (unless you have a heat pump in your home). Also, turn the heat down if you are throwing a party—every guest will be the equivalent of a 100-watt heater.
22. Don't Be a Butt Tosser
About 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered worldwide each year—making them the most-littered item. The myth that cigarette filters are biodegradable is just that, a myth. Although the filters do eventually decompose, they release harmful chemicals that enter the earth's land and water during the decaying process. There is nothing earth-friendly about the breakdown. If you must smoke, carry a 35-mm. film canister to store your used butts in until you can properly discard them.
23. Don't Just Dump
Envelopes come in huge quantities for free every day. If you are careful when opening letters, you can use the envelopes again by simply putting a label over the original address. This saves money and trees, while reducing waste. Try to re-use jars and plastic containers—for example, when taking your lunch to work. (Doing so prevents waste, and making your food at home is less expensive than the alternative.) Ask your office manager to buy re-usable mesh coffee filters instead of bleached paper ones, which may contain dioxins. They are tree-free and should save your company money.
24. Avoid Disposable Goods
Institute a mug policy in your office. Americans throw away some 25 billion polystyrene cups every year, most of which end up in landfills. Refill your water bottles once or twice, and make your coffee in a ceramic mug. If you bring in cutlery from home, you will also cut down on those pesky plastic forks, knives, and spoons.
25. Grow Your Own Garden
In 1826, J. C. Loudon wrote in An Encyclopaedia of Gardening, "For all things produced in a garden, whether salads or fruits, a poor man that has one of his own will eat better than a rich man that has none." To start a vegetable garden costs nothing but a few packs of seeds and rudimentary garden implements, and it saves enormous amounts of money, to say nothing of the food miles and the packaging that go into supplying you with fresh fruits and vegetables. Of course, a vegetable garden is only productive for part of the year, but it is amazing how long that growing season lasts and how much you can produce from one small patch.
26. Buy Recycled Products
There has to be a market for products made with recycled goods. Support this movement by purchasing recycled goods—you will save virgin materials, conserve energy, and reduce landfill waste. Recycled paper products include toilet paper (which is no longer scratchy, like it used to be), copy paper, paper towels, and tissues. Look for garbage bags and bin liners labeled "recycled plastic," and buy recycled toner cartridges for your fax machines and printers.
27. Plane Better
Air travel is currently responsible for 3.5 percent of the global-warming gases from all human activity and is growing fast. Cargo transport by air is increasing by about 7 percent annually and passenger air travel is up in the last few years by between 4 and 7 percent. The impact of air travel is enormous; a round-trip between New York and Los Angeles emits one ton of CO2 per passenger. (To determine CO2 emissions for your next flight, go to co2.org.) Try to limit the number of flights you take. If you're traveling within a country, why not take a train? (Air travel releases at least three times more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than rail travel does.) If you're planning a business trip, consider whether a video linkup or a conference call will suffice.
28. Carbon Offsetting
Air traffic is the fastest-growing source of greenhouse-gas emissions, so when you do fly, consult a carbon-offsetting organization such as Climate Care to "carbon-offset" your journey. Climate Care determines your flight's emissions and the cost to offset the CO2. For example, to offset that round-trip flight between New York and Los Angeles, you would pay about $10 to Climate Care, which invests in forestry and energy-efficiency projects. For more information, visit climatecare.org.
29. Switch to Green Power
The leading cause of industrial air pollution is electricity production. According to the American Lung Association, more than 50,000 Americans die each year from air-pollution-related causes. If available, get your electricity from renewable energy sources such as wind, sun, water, and biomass, all of which generate electricity with fewer environmental impacts. With utility companies in 35 states offering green-power pricing plans, around half of all electricity consumers could buy green, yet only half a million do. Does green power cost more? Yes, but barely. For example, New York's Con Edison charges an additional one-half cent per kilowatt-hour for its green-power products. To see if your energy provider offers green-power options, visit eere.energy.gov.
30. Standby No Longer
Electricity "leaks" are no laughing matter. Televisions, video and DVD players, cable boxes, and other electronic equipment found in nearly every American home are wasting huge amounts of energy. When these devices are left on standby (the equivalent of "sleep" mode for computers) they use about 40 percent of their full running power. Every year, the energy wasted in this way is the equivalent of the annual output of 26 power plants. To avoid the drain of these "energy vampires," plug them into a power strip and turn it off when they are not in use.
31. Turn Off Your Chargers
Most cell-phone chargers continue to draw electricity even when the phone isn't plugged into it. If your cell-phone charger averages five watts per hour and is plugged in all the time, that means a total of more than 40 kilowatt-hours every year, or about 93 pounds of CO2. The same problem applies to your other electronic equipment—your laptop, iPod, digital camera, and BlackBerry. Unplug all your chargers when they are not in use.
32. Recycle Your Batteries
Although the number of electrical gadgets that use disposable batteries is on the decline, each person in the U.S. discards eight batteries per year. Overall, Americans purchase nearly three billion batteries annually, and about 179,000 tons of those end up in the garbage. Batteries have a high concentration of metals, which if not disposed of properly can seep into the ground when the casing erodes. Avoid disposable batteries by using your outlets whenever possible. If you can't do without batteries, use rechargeable and recycled ones. You should also have your batteries collected and recycled. Go to rebat.com for a list of companies that participate in battery reclamation.
33. Turn Off Your Computer When You Leave at Night
While computers do require a power surge when you first turn them on, they don't need enormous amounts of electricity to function for lengthy periods. Also, you can set your computer on "sleep" mode, which uses about three watts per hour, if you are going to be away from your desk for more than 15 minutes.
34. Get Involved
Recycling at home doesn't get you off the hook at work. If your office doesn't recycle, or recycles only paper, find out why. If you work in a small office, call your local authority to discover what recycling equipment and services are available. These may include storage containers and compacters as well as collection. If you work in a larger office, ask your building-services coordinator why there are no recycling facilities and whom you would need to speak to about starting a recycling program for paper, glass, metal, and plastic. For more information, visit earth911.org.
35. Print Double-sided
American businesses throw away 21 million tons of paper every year, 175 pounds per office worker. For a quick and easy way to halve this, set your printer's default option to print double-sided (duplex printing). This has the added advantage of halving the paper pile on your desk. To further cut your paper wastage, make sure you always use "print preview" mode to check that there are no overhanging lines and that you print only the pages you need. Other ways to cut down on paper before you get to the printing stage include using single or 1.5 spacing instead of double spacing, and reducing your page margins.
36. Conserve Water in Your Garden
Attach a barrel to your downspout that will collect rain from your roof's eaves. Your plants will thank you: rainwater is better for your garden, as the chlorine in tap water can inhibit plant growth. You can also save six gallons every minute of watering simply by attaching a trigger nozzle to your hose so that you use water only when it's needed. In addition, if you grow your grass a little longer, it will stay greener and require less water than a closely mowed lawn.
37. Create a Living Fence
When replacing yard fences, instead of building a wooden fence, opt for a living fence. A living fence is a hedge or row of trees, which can be groomed to maintain appearance. Not only is a living fence less expensive than a traditional fence, it also never needs to be painted. This saves you money and time and keeps harmful chemicals out of the environment. Try to use native flora and to avoid hedges comprised of only one species.
38. Recycle Your Newspaper
There are 63 million newspapers printed each day in the U.S.; 44 million, or about 69 percent, of these will be thrown away. Recycling just the Sunday papers would save more than half a million trees every week.
39. Plant a Tree
It's the simplest thing in the world to gather acorns, chestnuts, sweet chestnuts, and sycamore seeds in the autumn, plant them immediately, and forget them until the following spring. The success rate for acorns is not as high as for the other three, but in a good year about 40 percent germinate into oak trees. There's little that will stop the others from growing into healthy trees within the first year. Start saplings in Styrofoam coffee cups, which can be split with a knife so that the roots aren't disturbed when you plant them outdoors. Keep the saplings for four or five years, then plant them in your own garden, offer them to friends, or return them to nature. It may seem like a very small contribution, but if 5 percent of the U.S. population were to germinate one tree in one year, there would be almost 15 million extra trees absorbing carbon from the atmosphere. For more information, visit arborday.org.
40. Avoid Pesticides
Use natural methods of pest control. Form a log pile—dead wood provides a habitat for many kinds of wildlife, such as snakes and ground beetles. Both are natural predators for snails and slugs. If you create a small pond to encourage frogs and toads, they will help mop up the rest of your slug life. In the short term you can get rid of slugs using beer traps (slugs are attracted to yeast). To get rid of whiteflies, buy Encarsia formosa, small parasitic wasps that eat whiteflies. Grow flowers such as marigolds to attract ladybugs, hoverflies, and lacewings, all of which protect against aphids.
41. Bat Boxes
Want to reduce the number of mosquitoes in your backyard? Then invest in a bat box. One bat can eat up to 1,000 mosquitoes a night. You will also be making a contribution to our country's temperate biodiversity: bat populations in America and around the world are declining, especially in urban areas, where they have few roosting spaces. Ideally, group two or three boxes together, place them as high as possible, and face them so the sun directly heats them for six to seven hours each day. If you are making a bat box yourself, use untreated and unpainted wood. It is essential that bats not be disturbed, so make certain your bat boxes cannot be reached by any local cats. For more information, visit batconservation.org.
42. Walk or Bike
Always consider alternatives to driving, especially for journeys under two miles. It's better for the environment to walk, cycle, or even take the bus than to hop in your car. Currently, only 2 percent of employed adults walk to work in the U.S. Walking adds to life expectancy, is safe, helps with mental and physical health, and, best of all, is completely free. Cycling is another way to get around and has recently become more popular, what with more bike paths and cool new gadgets like L.E.D. lights for riding in the dark. New kinds of folding bikes have been specially developed for the commuter. Surprisingly, recent studies have shown that bicyclists in cities are less exposed to air pollution than people in cars and taxis.
43. Buy a Hybrid
Hybrid cars, which run on a combination of a gasoline engine and an electric motor, are all the rage these days. They get up to 50 miles per gallon, while a typical S.U.V. might travel around 15 m.p.g. Hybrids can offer substantial savings, and you may qualify for a one-time tax credit of up to $3,400. For information on U.S hybrid-car incentives, go to hybridcars.com.
44. Biofuels 101, Part 1
Have you heard of biofuels? Biodiesel and bioethanol are alternative fuels derived from crops such as sugarcane, oilseed rape, and used cooking oil, which are generally blended with diesel fuel or gasoline. Biofuels are available in a range of different blends—for example, 30 percent biofuel and 70 percent gas or diesel. Biodiesel is generally appropriate for any diesel vehicle designed to run on low-sulphur diesel. Biodiesel blends are becoming more widely available in the U.S. Check biodiesel.org to find out about local availability.
45. Biofuels 101, Part 2
Bioethanol is an alcohol-based fuel. A 5 percent blend of bioethanol can be included in ordinary gas and used by any car in the U.S. that runs on unleaded gas. You may already be using bioethanol-blended gas, as the 5 percent version is now being sold in the U.S. through unmarked unleaded-gas pumps. Saab and Ford both have a flex-fuel model available, which can run on bioethanol-based fuel or on straight gasoline. If you drive an older model, you can still use biofuel if you are willing to have your car converted to flex-fuel.
46. Discover Your Carbon Footprint
If you think you're already pretty green, determine your carbon footprint: a measurement of how your lifestyle choices affect carbon emissions. Your footprint will take into account your habits, the food you eat, your gas and electricity usage, your car and air mileage. Your score will be compared to the average figures for your county. These online tests aim to help you estimate your own carbon emissions and calculate how much of the planet's resources are required to sustain your lifestyle. They may motivate you to make changes, helping you set simple goals to reduce your negative impact on the planet. To learn about your carbon footprint, go to carbonfootprint.com.
47. Get an Electric Lawn Mower
Surrender your gas lawn mower. Gasoline lawn mowers are among the dirtiest of modern machines. A study funded by the Swedish E.P.A. found that using a four-horsepower lawn mower for an hour causes the same amount of pollution as driving a car 93 miles. The trouble with gas lawn mowers is that they not only emit a disproportionate amount of CO2, they are also responsible for releasing carcinogens such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons into the air. Retire the noisy monster and buy an electric or manual model. Better still, reduce the number of times you mow per season and let some of your lawn grow wild, which has added benefits for bugs, butterflies, and birds. For more information, visit greengrasscutters.com.
48. Green Grilling
If you have a charcoal barbecue grill, make sure your charcoal comes from a sustainable source. Enormous areas of tropical rainforest are destroyed every year to produce the 900,000 tons of charcoal burned annually in the U.S. Chimney starters are the most environmentally friendly solution to lighting charcoal. They use only a couple of pieces of newspaper, meaning you can avoid the gas-flavored meat that accompanies barbecues started with lighter fluid or fire starters. If you are replacing your grill, remember that using a gas, rather than charcoal, grill is the most environmentally friendly way to barbecue. It avoids forest destruction and doesn't add to local air pollution.
49. Re-gift Gift Wrap
Help cut down on the consumption of paper and plastic by re-using wrapping paper, ribbons, bows, and gift bags. These items should be good for at least one more wrapping. If you are feeling creative, use old calendars, pages from magazines, or even newspaper to wrap gifts.
50. A Green Ending
Green funerals don't just mean a woodland burial. Very few people actually know about the green alternatives to steel or hardwood coffins. Many private funeral homes present green alternatives to traditional coffins, including wicker caskets and shrouds. Currently, 89 percent of coffins sold are made of chipboard that is manufactured using formaldehyde. When chipboard coffins are cremated, they can release toxic gases. If buried, they disrupt local ecosystems; as the chipboard decays, the formaldehyde and glue leach into the soil and groundwater. Finally, most people opting for a green good-bye will choose a meadow or woodland burial, with only a memorial tree marking the grave. For more information, visit fullcirclecare.org.
Illustrations by Guy Billout.
Fifty Ways to Help Save the Planet
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/05/savetheplanet200605?printable=true¤tPage=all
What you can do.
introduction by Henry Porter May 2006
The problem is so vast and the urgency so great that advice which suggests you turn off the tap while brushing your teeth or switch off lights and standbys when they are not needed or go vegetarian for one day a week seems, well, ridiculous. Global warming is probably the greatest threat our species has ever faced. The sheer scale of the processes under way in the atmosphere and the oceans makes it hard not to view anything an individual does to reduce emissions as being too little too late. Not true. The astonishing fact is that each of us can have an immediate impact on the production of greenhouse gases, and if enough of us act together in these minor ways, the cumulative effect will be dramatic. That's because so much of the way we live our lives is wasteful and, to put it bluntly, thoughtless. It takes nothing to switch off a lamp, unplug the phone charger, take a shorter shower, cook without pre-heating the oven, skip the pre-wash part of the dishwasher cycle, or, often, walk or bike instead of drive. And they all save money, which is one of the rather striking things about reducing your carbon footprint—the standard way of measuring the CO2 emissions each person is responsible for.
Some of the suggestions that follow may involve a little more effort—recycling, ditching plastic bags, and fixing leaky faucets and toilets; others require you to spend money—insulating your home, installing solar panels, or buying a fuel-efficient car. Even with these, however, there is almost always an eventual payback in terms of reduced bills.
The overwhelming and heartening point about the ideas here is that, if adopted by large numbers of people, they will have an immeasurable effect. When it comes down to it, the continued rise in carbon emissions is a matter of individual conscience: each of us can and should do something, however small. In 5 or 10 years' time that thought, together with everything written here, should be second nature to us. Ladies and gentlemen, this little booklet is the future—a more ingenious, more satisfying, and less wasteful future. Welcome to it.
Reporting for V.F.'s Green Guide by Daisy Prince and Emily Butselaar.
1. Lightbulbs Matter
Switch from traditional incandescent lightbulbs to compact fluorescent lightbulbs (C.F.L.). If every American household replaced one regular lightbulb with a C.F.L., the pollution reduction would be equivalent to removing one million cars from the road. A 30-watt C.F.L. produces about as much light as an ordinary 100-watt bulb. Although the initial price is higher, C.F.L.'s can last 12 times as long. C.F.L.'s are available at most home-improvement stores and at bulbs.com.
2. Ditch Plastic Bags
Californians Against Waste (cawrecycles.org), a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, estimates that Americans use 84 billion plastic bags annually, a considerable contribution to the 500 billion to one trillion used worldwide. Made from polyethylene, plastic bags are not biodegradable and are making their way into our oceans and waterways. According to recent studies, the oceans are full of tiny fragments of plastic that are beginning to work their way up the food chain. Invest in stronger, re-usable bags, and avoid plastic bags whenever possible.
3. Rinse No More
According to Consumer Reports, pre-rinsing dishes does not necessarily improve a dishwasher's ability to clean them. By skipping the wash before the wash, you can save up to 20 gallons of water per dishload. At one load a day, that's 7,300 gallons over the course of the year. Not to mention that you're saving time, dishwashing soap, and the energy used to heat the additional water.
4. Forget Pre-heating
Ignore cookbooks! It is usually unnecessary to pre-heat your oven before cooking, except when baking bread or pastries. Just turn on the oven at the same time you put the dish in. During cooking, rather than opening the oven door to check on your food, just look at it through the oven window. Why? Opening the oven door results in a significant loss of energy.
5. A Glass Act
Recycle glass (think beer bottles, jars, juice containers) either through curbside programs or at community drop-off centers. Glass takes more than one million years to decompose; Americans generate almost 13 million tons of glass waste a year. Glass produced from recycled glass reduces related air pollution by 20 percent and related water pollution by 50 percent. Go to earth911.org for local recycling information.
6. Banking on the Environment
Want to have a more energy-efficient home or office? Save green by being green. Purchase appliances and electronics with the Energy Star certification. Begun in 1992 by the E.P.A. to rate energy-efficient computers, the Energy Star program today includes more than 40 product categories, and it also rates homes and workplaces for energy efficiency. Energy Star estimates that, with its help, Americans saved enough energy in 2004 to power 24 million homes, amounting to savings of $10 billion. To learn more about Energy Star, visit energystar.gov.
7. Hang Up Your Dryer
It goes without saying—clothes dryers are huge energy gluttons. Hints to reduce energy use: Clean the lint filter after each load (improves air circulation). Use the cool-down cycle (allows clothes to finish drying from the residual heat inside). Better yet, abandon your dryer and buy some drying racks, if you don't have a clothesline. Generally, clothes dry overnight.
8. Get a Gold Laundry Star
An Energy Star–qualified washing machine uses 50 percent less energy and could reduce your utility bills by $110 annually. Standard machines use about 40 gallons of water per wash; most Energy Star machines use only 18 to 25 gallons, thus also saving water. Whenever possible, wash your clothes in cold water using cold-water detergents (designed to remove soils at low temperatures). And do your laundry only when you have a full load. If you must do a small load, adjust the water level accordingly.
9. Green Paint
Most paint is made from petrochemicals, and its manufacturing process can create 10 times its own weight in toxic waste. It also releases volatile organic compounds (V.O.C.'s) that threaten public health. (V.O.C.'s are solvents that rapidly evaporate, allowing paint to dry quickly.) They cause photochemical reactions in the atmosphere, leading to ground-level smog that can cause eye and skin irritation, lung and breathing problems, headaches, nausea, and nervous-system and kidney damage. The best alternative? Natural paints. Manufactured using plant oils, natural paints pose far fewer health risks, are breathable, and in some cases are 100 percent biodegradable. Remember: Never throw your paint away. Check out Earth 911's "Paint Wise" section for re-use programs in your community; earth911.org.
10. Build Green
Before embarking on any home remodeling, make sure your architect has green credentials. Although there is no national organization of green architects in the U.S., that doesn't mean you can't get an architect who will build along sustainable lines. Ask where he or she sources materials, and request that energy-saving devices, such as solar paneling, be installed. Visit directory.greenbuilder.com or environmentalhomecenter.com for more green-building information.
11. Get a Green Roof
A green roof is more than simply a roof with plants growing on it. It functions like a "breathing wall," consuming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and emitting oxygen. Green roofs generally use low-maintenance, drought-resistant plants. Vegetation is planted or laid down as pre-vegetated mats on a thin layer of soil. More intensive green-roof systems may contain trees and larger plants, but these require deeper soil and are more expensive. One of the biggest benefits of a green roof is water management: it can absorb more than 50 percent of rainwater, thereby reducing runoff, a major source of pollution in our waterways. Plus, it can help reduce air-conditioning costs during the hot summer months. The vegetation looks after itself through the seasons and creates a habitat for insects, which, in turn, provide food for birds. Green roofs can also last more than twice as long as conventional rooftops. They look better too. For more information, visit greenroofs.com.
12. Play It Cool
Avoid placing your air conditioner next to a TV, lamp, or other electrical appliance that generates heat. A heat source will confuse the unit's thermostat, causing it to misread how hot the room is and make the air conditioner run longer than it should. You can also program an air conditioner to start running 30 minutes before you arrive home (as with heating). There is no need to cool a home if no one is in it.
13. Food Miles Matter
Food is traveling farther than ever. Once upon a time people ate seasonally—artichokes in the winter, cherries in June. Now you can buy most fruits and vegetables practically year-round. The average American meal contains ingredients produced in at least five other countries. The transportation of food and agricultural products constitutes more than 20 percent of total commodity transport within the U.S. To help reduce CO2 emissions (released from trucks, airplanes, and cargo ships), it's best to buy food that's in season, organic, and grown locally. Go to ams.usda.gov to find the farmers' market nearest you.
14. Go Vegetarian One Day a Week
To produce one pound of beef requires 2,500 gallons of water—that's 40 times more water than is used to produce a pound of potatoes. Before buying beef, think about the immense cost of energy used to raise cattle and to transport meat to your supermarket shelf. Besides all this, cows consume enormous amounts of antibiotics and are a prodigious source of methane, which is the number-two greenhouse gas; livestock are responsible for almost 20 percent of the methane in the atmosphere.
15. Buy Eggs in Cardboard Cartons
Cardboard egg cartons are normally made from recycled paper, which biodegrades relatively quickly, and are also again recyclable—Styrofoam or plastic cartons take a much longer time to biodegrade and their manufacture produces harmful by-products.
16. Drink Shade-Grown Coffee
Shade-grown coffee is for the birds, literally. According to coffeeresearch.org, about 150 species of birds live on shade-grown-coffee farms, while only 20 to 50 inhabit full-sun farms. With increased demand for cheap coffee, many Latin American growers have moved toward full-sun plantations, clearing the habitat of numerous native birds and increasing the use of pesticides and fertilizers. By drinking shade-grown coffee, you can help bird habitats and reduce the need for farming chemicals. Shade-grown coffee beans can be purchased at many grocery stores. Starbucks offers shade-grown coffee as well.
17. Save Water Indoors
A typical American household uses 350 gallons of water each day. About half that—175 gallons—is used indoors (toilets consume about 30 percent of the indoor total). Unnecessary water usage comes in the form of leaks. Fixing leaky faucets and toilets is a quick and easy way to conserve water. A steady faucet drip can waste 20 gallons of water a day. Leaky toilets are even worse, wasting upward of 100 gallons a day. Since toilet leaks are generally silent, check for them regularly by removing the tank cover and adding food coloring. If the toilet is leaking (and 20 percent of them usually are), color will appear in the bowl within 30 minutes.
18. Take Showers, Not Baths
The average American household consumes about 60 gallons of water a day from showers and baths. To reduce this number, take quick showers and install a low-flow showerhead that uses fewer than 2.5 gallons of water per minute, as compared to about 5 gallons with an older showerhead. Baths are relaxing, but it can take 50 gallons of water to fill a tub.
19. Stop the Water
By leaving the water running while you brush your teeth, you can waste 150 gallons of water per month—that's 1,800 gallons a year! Turning the water off while you brush can save several gallons of water per minute. Also pay attention to this water-saving principle while shaving or washing your face.
20. Insulate Your House
Good insulation is one of the best ways to reduce your heating bills and cut your CO2 emissions. Heating and cooling make up 50 to 70 percent of energy use in the average American home. Also, replace old windows and be sure to seal holes and cracks in your house with weather stripping or caulk. A well-insulated house can prevent hundreds of pounds of CO2 emissions per year and can cut your heating and cooling bills by up to 20 percent. For more information, visit eere.energy.gov.
21. Turn Your Thermostat Down One Degree
If you turn your thermostat down by one degree, your heating costs will decrease by about 3 percent. Turn it down five more degrees for four hours a day and reduce your heating bills by almost 6 percent. If you're going to be away for the weekend or out in the evening, turn your thermostat down. It's not true that reducing the temperature means it will take more heat to bring it back up to a warm level (unless you have a heat pump in your home). Also, turn the heat down if you are throwing a party—every guest will be the equivalent of a 100-watt heater.
22. Don't Be a Butt Tosser
About 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered worldwide each year—making them the most-littered item. The myth that cigarette filters are biodegradable is just that, a myth. Although the filters do eventually decompose, they release harmful chemicals that enter the earth's land and water during the decaying process. There is nothing earth-friendly about the breakdown. If you must smoke, carry a 35-mm. film canister to store your used butts in until you can properly discard them.
23. Don't Just Dump
Envelopes come in huge quantities for free every day. If you are careful when opening letters, you can use the envelopes again by simply putting a label over the original address. This saves money and trees, while reducing waste. Try to re-use jars and plastic containers—for example, when taking your lunch to work. (Doing so prevents waste, and making your food at home is less expensive than the alternative.) Ask your office manager to buy re-usable mesh coffee filters instead of bleached paper ones, which may contain dioxins. They are tree-free and should save your company money.
24. Avoid Disposable Goods
Institute a mug policy in your office. Americans throw away some 25 billion polystyrene cups every year, most of which end up in landfills. Refill your water bottles once or twice, and make your coffee in a ceramic mug. If you bring in cutlery from home, you will also cut down on those pesky plastic forks, knives, and spoons.
25. Grow Your Own Garden
In 1826, J. C. Loudon wrote in An Encyclopaedia of Gardening, "For all things produced in a garden, whether salads or fruits, a poor man that has one of his own will eat better than a rich man that has none." To start a vegetable garden costs nothing but a few packs of seeds and rudimentary garden implements, and it saves enormous amounts of money, to say nothing of the food miles and the packaging that go into supplying you with fresh fruits and vegetables. Of course, a vegetable garden is only productive for part of the year, but it is amazing how long that growing season lasts and how much you can produce from one small patch.
26. Buy Recycled Products
There has to be a market for products made with recycled goods. Support this movement by purchasing recycled goods—you will save virgin materials, conserve energy, and reduce landfill waste. Recycled paper products include toilet paper (which is no longer scratchy, like it used to be), copy paper, paper towels, and tissues. Look for garbage bags and bin liners labeled "recycled plastic," and buy recycled toner cartridges for your fax machines and printers.
27. Plane Better
Air travel is currently responsible for 3.5 percent of the global-warming gases from all human activity and is growing fast. Cargo transport by air is increasing by about 7 percent annually and passenger air travel is up in the last few years by between 4 and 7 percent. The impact of air travel is enormous; a round-trip between New York and Los Angeles emits one ton of CO2 per passenger. (To determine CO2 emissions for your next flight, go to co2.org.) Try to limit the number of flights you take. If you're traveling within a country, why not take a train? (Air travel releases at least three times more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than rail travel does.) If you're planning a business trip, consider whether a video linkup or a conference call will suffice.
28. Carbon Offsetting
Air traffic is the fastest-growing source of greenhouse-gas emissions, so when you do fly, consult a carbon-offsetting organization such as Climate Care to "carbon-offset" your journey. Climate Care determines your flight's emissions and the cost to offset the CO2. For example, to offset that round-trip flight between New York and Los Angeles, you would pay about $10 to Climate Care, which invests in forestry and energy-efficiency projects. For more information, visit climatecare.org.
29. Switch to Green Power
The leading cause of industrial air pollution is electricity production. According to the American Lung Association, more than 50,000 Americans die each year from air-pollution-related causes. If available, get your electricity from renewable energy sources such as wind, sun, water, and biomass, all of which generate electricity with fewer environmental impacts. With utility companies in 35 states offering green-power pricing plans, around half of all electricity consumers could buy green, yet only half a million do. Does green power cost more? Yes, but barely. For example, New York's Con Edison charges an additional one-half cent per kilowatt-hour for its green-power products. To see if your energy provider offers green-power options, visit eere.energy.gov.
30. Standby No Longer
Electricity "leaks" are no laughing matter. Televisions, video and DVD players, cable boxes, and other electronic equipment found in nearly every American home are wasting huge amounts of energy. When these devices are left on standby (the equivalent of "sleep" mode for computers) they use about 40 percent of their full running power. Every year, the energy wasted in this way is the equivalent of the annual output of 26 power plants. To avoid the drain of these "energy vampires," plug them into a power strip and turn it off when they are not in use.
31. Turn Off Your Chargers
Most cell-phone chargers continue to draw electricity even when the phone isn't plugged into it. If your cell-phone charger averages five watts per hour and is plugged in all the time, that means a total of more than 40 kilowatt-hours every year, or about 93 pounds of CO2. The same problem applies to your other electronic equipment—your laptop, iPod, digital camera, and BlackBerry. Unplug all your chargers when they are not in use.
32. Recycle Your Batteries
Although the number of electrical gadgets that use disposable batteries is on the decline, each person in the U.S. discards eight batteries per year. Overall, Americans purchase nearly three billion batteries annually, and about 179,000 tons of those end up in the garbage. Batteries have a high concentration of metals, which if not disposed of properly can seep into the ground when the casing erodes. Avoid disposable batteries by using your outlets whenever possible. If you can't do without batteries, use rechargeable and recycled ones. You should also have your batteries collected and recycled. Go to rebat.com for a list of companies that participate in battery reclamation.
33. Turn Off Your Computer When You Leave at Night
While computers do require a power surge when you first turn them on, they don't need enormous amounts of electricity to function for lengthy periods. Also, you can set your computer on "sleep" mode, which uses about three watts per hour, if you are going to be away from your desk for more than 15 minutes.
34. Get Involved
Recycling at home doesn't get you off the hook at work. If your office doesn't recycle, or recycles only paper, find out why. If you work in a small office, call your local authority to discover what recycling equipment and services are available. These may include storage containers and compacters as well as collection. If you work in a larger office, ask your building-services coordinator why there are no recycling facilities and whom you would need to speak to about starting a recycling program for paper, glass, metal, and plastic. For more information, visit earth911.org.
35. Print Double-sided
American businesses throw away 21 million tons of paper every year, 175 pounds per office worker. For a quick and easy way to halve this, set your printer's default option to print double-sided (duplex printing). This has the added advantage of halving the paper pile on your desk. To further cut your paper wastage, make sure you always use "print preview" mode to check that there are no overhanging lines and that you print only the pages you need. Other ways to cut down on paper before you get to the printing stage include using single or 1.5 spacing instead of double spacing, and reducing your page margins.
36. Conserve Water in Your Garden
Attach a barrel to your downspout that will collect rain from your roof's eaves. Your plants will thank you: rainwater is better for your garden, as the chlorine in tap water can inhibit plant growth. You can also save six gallons every minute of watering simply by attaching a trigger nozzle to your hose so that you use water only when it's needed. In addition, if you grow your grass a little longer, it will stay greener and require less water than a closely mowed lawn.
37. Create a Living Fence
When replacing yard fences, instead of building a wooden fence, opt for a living fence. A living fence is a hedge or row of trees, which can be groomed to maintain appearance. Not only is a living fence less expensive than a traditional fence, it also never needs to be painted. This saves you money and time and keeps harmful chemicals out of the environment. Try to use native flora and to avoid hedges comprised of only one species.
38. Recycle Your Newspaper
There are 63 million newspapers printed each day in the U.S.; 44 million, or about 69 percent, of these will be thrown away. Recycling just the Sunday papers would save more than half a million trees every week.
39. Plant a Tree
It's the simplest thing in the world to gather acorns, chestnuts, sweet chestnuts, and sycamore seeds in the autumn, plant them immediately, and forget them until the following spring. The success rate for acorns is not as high as for the other three, but in a good year about 40 percent germinate into oak trees. There's little that will stop the others from growing into healthy trees within the first year. Start saplings in Styrofoam coffee cups, which can be split with a knife so that the roots aren't disturbed when you plant them outdoors. Keep the saplings for four or five years, then plant them in your own garden, offer them to friends, or return them to nature. It may seem like a very small contribution, but if 5 percent of the U.S. population were to germinate one tree in one year, there would be almost 15 million extra trees absorbing carbon from the atmosphere. For more information, visit arborday.org.
40. Avoid Pesticides
Use natural methods of pest control. Form a log pile—dead wood provides a habitat for many kinds of wildlife, such as snakes and ground beetles. Both are natural predators for snails and slugs. If you create a small pond to encourage frogs and toads, they will help mop up the rest of your slug life. In the short term you can get rid of slugs using beer traps (slugs are attracted to yeast). To get rid of whiteflies, buy Encarsia formosa, small parasitic wasps that eat whiteflies. Grow flowers such as marigolds to attract ladybugs, hoverflies, and lacewings, all of which protect against aphids.
41. Bat Boxes
Want to reduce the number of mosquitoes in your backyard? Then invest in a bat box. One bat can eat up to 1,000 mosquitoes a night. You will also be making a contribution to our country's temperate biodiversity: bat populations in America and around the world are declining, especially in urban areas, where they have few roosting spaces. Ideally, group two or three boxes together, place them as high as possible, and face them so the sun directly heats them for six to seven hours each day. If you are making a bat box yourself, use untreated and unpainted wood. It is essential that bats not be disturbed, so make certain your bat boxes cannot be reached by any local cats. For more information, visit batconservation.org.
42. Walk or Bike
Always consider alternatives to driving, especially for journeys under two miles. It's better for the environment to walk, cycle, or even take the bus than to hop in your car. Currently, only 2 percent of employed adults walk to work in the U.S. Walking adds to life expectancy, is safe, helps with mental and physical health, and, best of all, is completely free. Cycling is another way to get around and has recently become more popular, what with more bike paths and cool new gadgets like L.E.D. lights for riding in the dark. New kinds of folding bikes have been specially developed for the commuter. Surprisingly, recent studies have shown that bicyclists in cities are less exposed to air pollution than people in cars and taxis.
43. Buy a Hybrid
Hybrid cars, which run on a combination of a gasoline engine and an electric motor, are all the rage these days. They get up to 50 miles per gallon, while a typical S.U.V. might travel around 15 m.p.g. Hybrids can offer substantial savings, and you may qualify for a one-time tax credit of up to $3,400. For information on U.S hybrid-car incentives, go to hybridcars.com.
44. Biofuels 101, Part 1
Have you heard of biofuels? Biodiesel and bioethanol are alternative fuels derived from crops such as sugarcane, oilseed rape, and used cooking oil, which are generally blended with diesel fuel or gasoline. Biofuels are available in a range of different blends—for example, 30 percent biofuel and 70 percent gas or diesel. Biodiesel is generally appropriate for any diesel vehicle designed to run on low-sulphur diesel. Biodiesel blends are becoming more widely available in the U.S. Check biodiesel.org to find out about local availability.
45. Biofuels 101, Part 2
Bioethanol is an alcohol-based fuel. A 5 percent blend of bioethanol can be included in ordinary gas and used by any car in the U.S. that runs on unleaded gas. You may already be using bioethanol-blended gas, as the 5 percent version is now being sold in the U.S. through unmarked unleaded-gas pumps. Saab and Ford both have a flex-fuel model available, which can run on bioethanol-based fuel or on straight gasoline. If you drive an older model, you can still use biofuel if you are willing to have your car converted to flex-fuel.
46. Discover Your Carbon Footprint
If you think you're already pretty green, determine your carbon footprint: a measurement of how your lifestyle choices affect carbon emissions. Your footprint will take into account your habits, the food you eat, your gas and electricity usage, your car and air mileage. Your score will be compared to the average figures for your county. These online tests aim to help you estimate your own carbon emissions and calculate how much of the planet's resources are required to sustain your lifestyle. They may motivate you to make changes, helping you set simple goals to reduce your negative impact on the planet. To learn about your carbon footprint, go to carbonfootprint.com.
47. Get an Electric Lawn Mower
Surrender your gas lawn mower. Gasoline lawn mowers are among the dirtiest of modern machines. A study funded by the Swedish E.P.A. found that using a four-horsepower lawn mower for an hour causes the same amount of pollution as driving a car 93 miles. The trouble with gas lawn mowers is that they not only emit a disproportionate amount of CO2, they are also responsible for releasing carcinogens such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons into the air. Retire the noisy monster and buy an electric or manual model. Better still, reduce the number of times you mow per season and let some of your lawn grow wild, which has added benefits for bugs, butterflies, and birds. For more information, visit greengrasscutters.com.
48. Green Grilling
If you have a charcoal barbecue grill, make sure your charcoal comes from a sustainable source. Enormous areas of tropical rainforest are destroyed every year to produce the 900,000 tons of charcoal burned annually in the U.S. Chimney starters are the most environmentally friendly solution to lighting charcoal. They use only a couple of pieces of newspaper, meaning you can avoid the gas-flavored meat that accompanies barbecues started with lighter fluid or fire starters. If you are replacing your grill, remember that using a gas, rather than charcoal, grill is the most environmentally friendly way to barbecue. It avoids forest destruction and doesn't add to local air pollution.
49. Re-gift Gift Wrap
Help cut down on the consumption of paper and plastic by re-using wrapping paper, ribbons, bows, and gift bags. These items should be good for at least one more wrapping. If you are feeling creative, use old calendars, pages from magazines, or even newspaper to wrap gifts.
50. A Green Ending
Green funerals don't just mean a woodland burial. Very few people actually know about the green alternatives to steel or hardwood coffins. Many private funeral homes present green alternatives to traditional coffins, including wicker caskets and shrouds. Currently, 89 percent of coffins sold are made of chipboard that is manufactured using formaldehyde. When chipboard coffins are cremated, they can release toxic gases. If buried, they disrupt local ecosystems; as the chipboard decays, the formaldehyde and glue leach into the soil and groundwater. Finally, most people opting for a green good-bye will choose a meadow or woodland burial, with only a memorial tree marking the grave. For more information, visit fullcirclecare.org.
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