Preparing for a Carbon-Constrained Future

From SAIC: ” American business faces a carbon-constrained future, and SAIC’s Michael Mondshine offers a central insight into dealing with that fact: “As new regulations are implemented, carbon may have a larger impact on your balance sheet than the actual energy purchased.” Mondshine has been named to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Roster of Experts and was recognized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for his contributions to IPCC’s 2007 Nobel Peace Prize-winning work.”

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Airships Environmental Impact – Reducing CO2

From Worldskyrace.com: “Buoyant Flight is an inherently efficient form of transportation. This is the main reason why skyships were so promising in the1920s when airplanes still seemed a speculative venture. While today they are forgotten by many, skyships were actually very successful. By 1937, commercial passenger skyships of the Deutsche Zeppelin Reederei (DZR) had flown over half a million passenger-hours and a total of 52 million passenger-km safely on regional, transoceanic, transcontinental and artic voyages.” Airships Environmental Impact – Reducing CO2

Measuring your water footprint

Most people by now will be familiar with the term ‘carbon footprint’ and may even have calculated it themselves, but how many are familiar with their ‘water footprint’? It’s about time we all learned what it is, says Professor Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Professor in Multidisciplinary Water Management at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, as soon it will be influencing how we live our lives.
Hoekstra created the water footprint concept in 2002 when he was undertaking research on what is known as virtual water trade flows for the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education.

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Carbon Offsetting Trends Survey 2008

From GreenBiz.com: ” This survey is among the first to look at the ways that large, multinational corporations are addressing their carbon footprints from within, and what strategies they’re using to offset the emissions they can’t avoid. The study sampled 65 companies across industries about their attitudes towards offsets and what steps they’re taking to improve their environmental performance.

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Explore the Supply Chain as a Carbon Target

From Australian Business: “While the Australian Government continues its consultations on the proposed emissions trading scheme, companies in Britain have begun looking for creative ways to reduce their carbon footprint by reducing energy use in their supply chains. Booz & Co Sydney-based consultant Greg Lavery said several British companies had been examining more energy-efficient supply chains as a “hidden source of emissions reductions”.

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Transportation Matters Video – Can You Stand the Heat?

Carriers large and small are looking into options to create green plans for their transportation business for both financial reasons and to be prepared for any future legislation on the environment and carbon emissions reduction. In Part 3 of this series James Menzies introduces some simple steps carriers can take to implement a green plan. Transportation Matters Video – Can You Stand the Heat?

Grocers Going Green with GreenChill Program

(Washington, D.C. – Sept. 9, 2008) Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) named Giant Eagle Inc. and Harris Teeter Inc. as the first winners of its GreenChill Advanced Refrigeration Partnership Environmental Achievement Award. The award recognizes the two food retailers for emitting the lowest rates of ozone-depleting refrigerant in GreenChill’s first year.

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Japan Announces 2008 Green Logistics Projects

From meti.go.jp: “The Green Logistics Partnership Conference (held by the Japan Institute of Logistics Systems, Japan Federation of Freight Industries, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, cooperation from Nippon Keidanren) selected projects that it will promote in FY 2008 from among those in which cargo owners and logistics businesses will make joint efforts to reduce CO2 emissions (institutional support projects and dissemination projects) in addition to projects selected from those submitted to the first call for invitation (11 institutional support projects and 35 dissemination projects). Projects selected this time are two institutional support projects and nine dissemination projects.” Japan Announces 2008 Green Logistics Projects

World Sky Race to Promote Airship Alternative

From worldskyrace.com: ” The World Sky Race is an historic tour and competition of lighter-than-air skyships racing 30,000+ miles. In sixteen back to back races that completely span the globe, the overall winner will be crowned World Sky Champion. The competing skyships will travel from the Greenwich Prime Meridian southward to Africa and the Middle East, across the Indian Ocean to Equatorial Asia and through the Orient, island hop across the Pacific to the western shores of North America, down to Central America, up to the North Atlantic and crossing back to Prime Meridian for an exciting finish in an historic race, completing a full global circumnavigation.

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Global Survey Shows “Green” Construction Costs Dramatically Lower Than Believed

From wbcsd.org: “Survey finds green costs overestimated by 300% and a need to foster zero net energy construction. Key players in real estate and construction misjudge the costs and benefits of “green” buildings, creating a major barrier to more energy efficiency in the building sector, a new study by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) reports.”

Respondents to a 1400 person global survey estimated the additional cost of building green at 17 percent above conventional construction, more than triple the true cost difference of about 5 percent. At the same time, survey respondents put greenhouse gas emissions by buildings at 19 percent of world total, while the actual number of 40 percent is double this.” Global Survey Shows “Green” Construction Costs Dramatically Lower Than Believed