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One of the most difficult aspects in inspiring the necessary change in consciousness is that climate change is such a hard idea to engage with. It is so abstract that it doesn’t really hit our nerve endings. Energy is invisible and intangible. But the fact of the matter is that most of our daily routine involves some sort of environmental impact. And the truth is most of our lifestyle could be made more efficient. That might sound overwhelming, but the changing of consciousness required to live efficiently does not necessarily require us to give up all the comforts that we take for granted. It’s really more about cutting out the waste. For a great glimpse of this kind of efficient future we can look to our children and our schools. Zerofootprint has partnered with the Halton Catholic District School Board to save energy by cutting out environmental waste. The effort is to bring awareness to young people, not just by educating them about the perils of climate change, but by having them directly engage with the impacts of their everyday activities. The idea behind the program is to give teachers and students feedback on their energy use through visual maps and gauges. This insight will provide them with the information needed to adjust their behaviour accordingly. Schools are outfitted with monitors in the hallway showing energy use data. They then can adjust by doing something like turning off all the computers or, if it is bright outside, turning the lights off… http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/284375/

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Launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the founding companies are Best Buy, Creative Commons, IDEO, Mountain Equipment Co-op, Nike, nGenera, Outdoor Industry Association, salesforce.com, 2degrees, and Yahoo. Continue Reading at: http://www.environmentalleader.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/135997/

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Both companies are responding to ForestEthics, a non-governmental organisation that last year began campaigning to lead the US corporate sector away from oil sands fuel, which has a higher carbon content than conventional crude oil. Industry and environmentalists disagree on how carbon-intensive oil sands fuel is, but both agree it is higher than traditional crude. The oil sands represent the largest proven oil reserve outside Saudi Arabia and reduce Washington’s dependence on Middle Eastern fuel. “There’s going to be constant tension between environmental issues and security of supply,” said Robin West, chairman of PFC Energy, a consultancy. ForestEthics is negotiating with more than 30 companies to adopt similar policies. Continue Reading at: http://www.ft.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/135074/

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Companies must consider whether the impact of existing and potential climate legislation and regulation is material and warrants disclosure, according to the guidance announced yesterday. Companies should also consider and disclose any material risks or impacts from international accords or treaties related to climate change, the SEC said. Reporting companies must also disclose material, indirect consequences of regulation or business trends such as decreased demand for goods that produce significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. “This area of indirect consequences is a more challenging area to put into practice,” said Bill Thomas, a Washington, DC-based lawyer in the environmental and climate change practice of Skadden, Arps. Continue Reading at: http://www.wbcsd.org/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/122941/

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But even as major manufacturers become more interested in tackling climate change, firms further down the supply chain are still far behind and need to catch up quickly, warn analysts with the Carbon Disclosure Project. The group compiles corporate carbon emissions data and advocates for action on climate change. Of the 1,402 suppliers asked to provide information, just 710 companies, or 51 percent, passed on data and answered questions for the project’s second annual report on emissions reductions plans and attitudes in the manufacturing supply chain. Only 27 percent of suppliers responded to last year’s survey, which the project says represents an improvement in awareness even though suppliers still lag far behind their major corporate customers in taking steps to curb their greenhouse gas output. Continue Reading at: http://www.wbcsd.org/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/122939/

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The Prince’s Mayday Network UK companies responding to climate change are increasing profits. A new film from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office shows the power of collaboration in realizing the opportunities of responding to climate change - view below: View more information at: http://www.bitc.org.uk/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/119948/

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Still, water utility managers do see the long-range benefits in adoption smart meters. About 68 percent said it would be critical for water utilities to adopt them, according to the report “Testing the Water: Smart Metering for Water Utilities.” Continue Reading at: http://www.environmentalleader.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/118949/

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The CDP Supply Chain report said that six percent of its members, which include Google, Dell, PepsiCo and Cadbury, would today stop doing business with suppliers that did not manage their carbon. “This is no longer a ‘nice to have’ for leaders, it is becoming a ‘need to have’ and we expect to see this trend growing across the whole business sector,” said the CDP’s head Paul Dickinson. Continue Reading at: http://www.reuters.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/117464/

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“As the largest energy consumer in the United States, we have a responsibility to American citizens to reduce our energy use and become more efficient,” Obama said in a statement. “Our goal is to lower costs, reduce pollution, and shift federal energy expenses away from oil and towards local, clean energy.” Obama’s emissions target comes more than three months after he signed Executive Order 13514, which required each federal agency to submit a 2020 target for cutting emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases. The order also required federal agencies to conserve water, cut waste, support sustainable urban development and use their buying power to promote the growth of “environmentally responsible” products and technologies. The nation’s largest landlord, the General Services Administration owns or leases more than 340 million square feet of office space in more than 8,500 buildings. The Energy Department estimates that all public and private buildings account for about three-quarters of the nation’s electricity consumption and half of its greenhouse emissions. The emissions goal announced today is an aggregate of 35 agency targets, uses 2008 as a baseline and encompasses direct emissions only. The cumulative effort will cut emissions by about 88 million metric tons, energy use by about 646 trillion British thermal units, and energy costs by between $8 billion and $11 billion, Obama administration officials estimate. Continue Reading at: http://www.nytimes.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/117463/

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Meanwhile, environmentalists are urging the agency to move as quickly as possible to regulate major emission sources. Both sides hope they can have an impact, but lobbying EPA is different from lobbying Congress. Companies that make campaign contributions to lawmakers cannot do the same with EPA employees. Some key arguments made to lawmakers, such as how legislation would affect certain states, workers or consumer groups, are far less likely to influence EPA. And the agency is limited in how much it can factor in cost as it decides on regulations. “It’s a different ball game entirely,” said David Bookbinder, Sierra Club’s chief climate counsel. “When you’re dealing with Congress, it’s a political institution where political considerations loom large in any decision.” “EPA is clear, it is setting its own policy objectives,” Bookbinder said. “We have no influence on that.” EPA in March is expected to roll out the first-ever federal standards affecting greenhouse gas emissions from automobile tailpipes. This follows the agency’s move in December declaring greenhouse gases a danger to public health. The tailpipe standards would automatically trigger requirements that stationary sources—such as power plants—install “best available control technology,” or BACT, according to EPA. The agency has proposed a separate rule to shield smaller facilities from those requirements, the “tailoring rule,” which is also expected to be in place by March. Read More at: http://www.nytimes.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/98429/

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“Setting a target of 42% now and moving to the intended budget should increase the long-term stability of the policy framework by removing any uncertainty about whether the higher target and budget might be imposed,” the committee said in a report published Monday. Read More at: http://www.nasdaq.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/95299/

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Though the total amount of water on this planet has never changed, the nature of that water is changing. Everything from where rain falls to the chemical makeup of the oceans is in flux. Immigration, population growth and climate change are affecting the way we all think about our relationship with the world’s water supply. And by 2050, when the world’s population is expected to peak at about 9.4 billion people, it is conceivable that water could become one of the world’s scarcest and most valuable commodities in the world. Already, a staggering 884 million people in the world lack access to safe drinking water. And, by the end of the year, over 3 million of those people will die from a water-related disease. But water isn’t just a societal issue — it also affects businesses around the world. Recently, my company conducted a survey of more than 100 public and private sector executives. Their responses concerning water challenges showed some surprising and, in some cases, alarming concerns. For example, while the cost of treating and delivering water will continue to increase over the next 10 years, many companies do not know how to adapt. About 77 percent of those surveyed felt that water management was extremely critical to their business, yet 51 percent said they lacked formal guidelines for implementing it and an additional 63 percent of executives said they lacked access to integrated water management systems. Read More at: http://www.environmentalleader.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/92854/

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“Carbon accounting is a nascent and dynamic field,” says managing director Clint Wheelock.  “As such, the vendor landscape is very fragmented.  Young startups are competing against the many established firms in the market, as well as heavyweight software and IT services companies.” Wheelock adds that carbon management companies to watch over the next few years include Hara, PE International, IHS, SAP, IBM, CA, SAS, Symantec, Deloitte, PwC, and Accenture.  Competition is also emerging from corporations themselves, as a few of them have decided to provide their homegrown tools for free or at low cost to their customers. Read More at: http://www.pikeresearch.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/90879/

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2010 Expected to be a Big Year for Clean Tech Click to Read More! Smart Grid Market to Reach $35 B by 2013 Click to Read More! http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/90584/

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Initial ambitions for a legally binding agreement with numerical targets for big emitters had already been abandoned in favour of a “politically binding” deal in which developed and developing countries would commit themselves to numerical targets to cut emissions. In reality, a few countries produced a short “accord” that sets down no specific limits for future emissions beyond those that its signatories volunteer – and the commitments they have made so far do not look tough enough to limit the rise in temperature to 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels, the widely accepted boundary beyond which scientists do not recommend going. Hardly a grand response. Yet the Copenhagen accord is not the disaster that it at first appears. On two issues in particular, the Copenhagen conference may yet mark the beginning of a new way forward. Read More at: http://www.thestar.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/90291/

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In fact, rather than slowing, analyst firm New Energy Finance predicts that global clean tech investments will reach $160 billion in 2010, up from $125 billion in 2009. But, investments will still rely on three factors that can have an impact on just how much investing we’ll actually see. Business Green reports, “The survey of 200 clean tech investors representing over $400bn of assets found that respondents believe that continued government subsidies and a general recovery in the credit markets will more than offset any harm done to the sector by politicians’ failure to secure a stronger international climate change agreement.” Read More at: http://www.treehugger.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/87900/

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Additionally, while some wind farms have been put on hold due to environmental concerns related to the proposed sites, the industry should expect some clarity in 2010. The Wind Turbine Guidelines Advisory Committee of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to issue its guidance on the subject. Read More at: http://www.environmentalleader.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/87300/

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http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/87299/

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CDP Launches Water Disclosure Project Click to Read More! http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/84075/

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More and more, the spotlight is being cast on business, one of the world’s most significant users of water. Water, and the issues that surround its use, are complex, too complex for anyone to address in isolation. But they can be simplified into three broad areas: you either have too much water (floods), too little water (droughts), or water that is too bad (poor quality, pollution). But within these areas there are so many cross-cutting trade-offs, challenges and emotional responses that the search for solutions is fascinating yet so complicated that it is paralyzing to grapple with at the same time. Water crosses national borders, so who has jurisdiction when what happens in one country affects water supplies in another? What value should we put on water, when its price varies widely across the world but seems to have no correlation with the amount of freshwater available? What should be done about ailing water infrastructure, which is three times as expensive to build and maintain as electricity infrastructure, but in some places is ageing to such an extent that some European cities lose more than 20 per cent of their water through leaks? How do we provide water and sanitation to the many people around the world who have none (2.5 billion lack access to improved sanitation, and 1.2 billion of these have no facilities at all)? And how do we develop widely recognized standards for water sustainability? These questions all need answers, but why should those answers matter to business?… http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/83267/

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President Obama’s speech wrapped up a few minutes ago with nothing new announced. But as long as this session continues there remains hope that world leaders can deliver a fair, ambitious and legally binding deal. Things continue to evolve and according to the draft version of the agreement, the major issue of the amount of greenhouse gas emissions cuts by what year, remains unanswered. As it stands, the text states: Annex I Parties to the Convention commit to implement, individually or jointly, the quantified economy-wide emission targets for 2020 as listed yielding in aggregate reductions of greenhouse gas emissions of X per cent in 2020 compared to 1990 and Y per cent in 2020 compared to 2005… Based on the best scientific research these numbers should be 25-40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and by 80-95 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Read More at: http://www.desmogblog.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/82169/

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http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/81800/

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Appearing at the Copenhagen summit this morning, U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton announced a conditional pledge to help raise US$100-billion a year to help fight climate change in the developing world. The condition is that world leaders reach a climate change agreement tomorrow, the deadline for a sweeping new agreement to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. The other condition is transparency. In a warning to China and other countries, Ms. Clinton said the United States would back down on its financing pledge unless they committed to transparency in reporting their greenhouse gas emissions and allowing them to be verified. Read More at: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/81799/

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http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/81634/

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The study’s focus is on four countries—China, India, South Africa and Brazil—which are expected to constitute 42 percent of global water demand in 2030. Adopting solutions on a lowest-cost basis will cost these countries at little as 0.06 percent of their combined 2030-level gross domestic product, the report says. “Can we close the gap?” asked Martin Stuchtey, associate principal at the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. and a contributing author to the report, while presenting the findings at an event at the World Bank yesterday. “The answer is yes, there is enough means even to the basis of today’s technology to close the gap.” Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, a nonprofit Oakland, Calif.-based organization that has done extensive research on water shortages and policy, said the report is the largest effort to date “to put economic numbers on water solutions or do economic comparisons.” Read More at: http://www.wbcsd.org/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/81470/

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The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) has been encouraging companies to disclose emissions since 2003, but from early 2010 its remit will be widened to include water consumption. Based on the CDP model, companies will be asked to complete questionnaires about their water usage and identify risks to them and their supply chains. Read More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/81063/

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Large investors, early-stage venture capitalists, governments, corporations and industry associations have all identified green investing as a new megatrend. Last quarter of 2009, cleantech became the largest category of venture capital (VC) investing in North America—attracting 27% of all VC funds, surpassing biotech (24%) and software (18%), according to the Cleantech Group. And legendary VC John Doerr, the Kleiner Perkins partner who invested in Netscape, Amazon, Sun Microsystems and Intuit, believes cleantech is “the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century.” Cleantech, also called greentech, is a category of technologies that significantly improve financial performance through energy and fuel efficiency and eliminating waste and pollution. It’s not just about efficiency; often, cleantech involves redesigning industrial processes using new ways of thinking, such as biomimicry. Read More at: http://www.financialpost.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/79353/

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I was one of six live bloggers at the Munk Debate on climate change on Tuesday. The topic, “Climate change is humankind’s defining crisis and demands a commensurate response,” pitted Elizabeth May and George Monbiot on the pro side v. Bjorn Lomborg and Lord Nigel Lawson on the con side. You can watch the debate and the streaming blog transcript at http://bit. ly/52jOMP. A topic that deserved more focus is that leading businesses and economists are increasingly citing alarming scenarios of the cost of inaction on climate change. For instance, I heard no mention that the largest insurance company in the world—German insurer Allianz—released a report Nov. 23 presenting the economic impact of a half-metre rise in global ocean levels by 2050 due to melting glaciers and ice worldwide. Read More at: http://www.financialpost.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/79352/

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Fossil Fuel Emissions Rose 29% since 2000 Click to Read More! World Leaders Asked to Seal Climate Deal in Person in Copenhagen Click to Read More! http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/77050/

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A recent study from the International Union for Conservation of Nature concluded [2] that marine ecosystems including seagrass meadows, mangroves and salt marshes have a much greater capacity to trap carbon than land carbon sinks such as forests, and should be protected. Two NOAA scientists were among a team of 31 who contributed to the Global Carbon Project report and the recent article, Trends in the sources and sinks of carbon dioxide [4], published in Nature Geosciences. Read Full Article http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/75836/

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The urgency of dealing with climate change means that many countries are drawing up national policies to limit emissions. Yet in a globalised world, where production is increasingly mobile across national borders, some worry that there is a fundamental tension between the effectiveness of such policies and a commitment to open trade. These carbon-reduction policies, such as America’s proposed cap-and-trade scheme, typically put a price on carbon in the hope that this will force producers to bear the costs that their activities impose on the climate. But if different countries cut emissions by different amounts, as is likely, then the price of carbon will vary across nations. If so, manufacturers in countries with tighter environmental rules will face added costs which foreign competitors do not. This could in turn prompt them to relocate some of their production to “carbon havens”, where the cost of polluting is lower. If enough production emigrates, global emissions might even increase. The likely scale of relocations may be overstated. A new study* by economists at the World Bank and the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a think-tank in Washington, DC, finds that some production would migrate, but that the net increase in emissions in poor countries would be small. Read More at: http://www.wbcsd.org/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/75241/

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But critics said the long-awaited White House initiative would do little to ensure a successful outcome to the talks, and that it came at the wrong time in the negotiations. Obama will travel to Copenhagen on 10 December, on his way to collect the Nobel peace prize in Oslo the next day. But the White House gave no indication that the president was prepared to return to the city when Gordon Brown and 60 or more world leaders fly in to add impetus to the final deal one week later on 18 December - the last day of the talks. The Observer revealed this week that the US administration was poised to announce a specific figure for cuts ahead of the Copenhagen talks. Obama’s commitment to attend the talks was welcomed by the UN and many environment groups but dismissed by others as a photo opportunity designed to upstage the other 60 world leaders. Read More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/75123/

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The group, which is backed by 475 institutional investors, will announce that from next year it is to send questionnaires on water use to approximately 300 of the world’s largest corporations in water intensive sectors such as chemicals, consumer goods, food and beverage, mining, forestry, pharmaceuticals, power generation and semiconductor manufacturing. Emulating the model pioneered the Carbon Disclosure Project, firms will be asked to detail their water use, water management and improvement plans, and the risk and opportunities presented by water use across their supply chains. The results will then be made available to institutional investors and summarised in an annual report to be published in late 2010. Read More at: http://www.businessgreen.com http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/73999/

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Near-zero-energy buildings are defined under the agreement as constructions that have “a very high energy performance”. Any energy that they use should come “to a very large extent” from renewable sources generated “either on-site or nearby”. Public authorities will have to lead the way by ensuring that all new buildings they own or occupy after 2018 meet the near-zero-energy standard. Agreement on the targets was a victory for MEPs, as governments had dismissed the goals as being “unrealistic” when first proposed by the European Parliament. MEPs were less successful in their attempts to force governments to upgrade the efficiency of existing buildings. Governments agreed to “develop policies and take measures such as targets” to transform existing buildings into near-zero-energy buildings when they are refurbished. Read More at: http://www.wbcsd.org/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/73746/

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The BoSS Awards program was announced in January 2009 as the latest initiative by THINKstrategies to bring attention to SaaS and cloud computing companies which are producing tangible business benefits for specific user organizations. These benefits include increased sales, lower costs, higher customer satisfaction, faster operations, and greater profitability. Cast Iron provides integration solutions and Integration-as-a-Service which allows providers and consumers of SaaS and cloud computing solutions to more quickly and economically connect their on-demand and on-premise applications and systems. Cast Iron offers its customers unmatched deployment flexibility - they can choose a completely cloud-based integration service called Cast Iron Cloud or on-premise integration appliances (physical or virtual) as an organization’s application ecosystem expands and diversifies. One Cast Iron customer, AmerisourceBergen Specialty Group (ABSG), a subsidiary of AmerisourceBergen Corporation, handles specialty pharmaceutical distribution and related services. The company deployed Salesforce CRM in three of its distribution business units using the Cast Iron Integration Solution to connect the SaaS application with its corporate data warehouse. This has given ABSG’s customer service associates immediate access to accurate, real-time data across three business units so they can rapidly resolve issues and respond to customer requests. The company is pushing tens of thousands of record updates a day through Cast Iron integration into Salesforce CRM to service sales of medicine and other healthcare products through the company’s ecommerce-enabled call centers. About Cast Iron Systems Founded in 2001, Cast Iron Systems is The #1 SaaS and Cloud Integration Company . Cast Iron has thousands of deployed… http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/73492/

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Kjell Aleklett, professor of physics at Uppsala and co-author of a new report “The Peak of the Oil Age”, claims oil production is more likely to be 75m barrels a day by 2030 than the “unrealistic” 105m used by the IEA in its recently published World Energy Outlook 2009. The academic, who runs a Global Energy unit at Uppsala, described the IEA’s report as a “political document” developed for consuming countries with a vested interest in low prices. The report from Aleklett and others, including Simon Snowden from the University of Liverpool, says: “We find the production outlook made by the IEA to be problematic in the light of historical experience and production patterns. The IEA is expecting the oil to be extracted at a pace never previously seen without any justification for this assumption.” There is particular concern about high future production rates from “unconventional” sources such as tar sands, with the Uppsala report saying there is a lack of information about the figures in the 2008 Outlook and largely repeated in the latest one. “We must therefore regard the IEA production figure as somewhat dubious until it is explained more fully,” added the Swedish report, which is to be published in the journal Energy Policy. Read Full Article http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/73491/

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VELO™ Release Notes for November 13, 2009 Multiple Activity Types entry per Supplier are now separate forms Various Bug Fixes http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/71990/

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American Electric Power and BP invested in the pilot project alongside environmental groups such as the Nature Conservancy to find out if protecting forests compensates for their own pollution. The burning of tropical forests emits more carbon dioxide every year than all the cars, planes, and boats on the planet - between 15 and 20% of global emissions. A deal at Copenhagen could mean both governments and businesses paying billions to keep the forests standing. Read More at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/70173/

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It says money ploughed into protecting wetlands, coral reefs and forests can bring a hundredfold return on capital. The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity study (Teeb) is backed by the UN and countries including the UK. The project’s leader says governments should act on its findings at next month’s UN climate summit. Teeb is the first attempt to evaluate the economic value of “ecosystem services” - things that parts of the natural world do for free, such as purifying drinking water or protecting coasts from storms - on a systematic and global basis. “We can say quite confidently that there is a solid benefit from investing in protected areas” - Pavan Sukhdev “We have now evaluated 1,100 studies ranging across different countries and different ecosystem services,” said study leader Pavan Sukhdev, a Deutsche Bank economist. “And we find that with protected areas, for example, no matter how you slice the figures up you come up with a ratio of benefits to costs that’s between 25-to-one and 100-to-one. “Now we can say quite confidently that there is a solid benefit from investing in protected areas,” he told BBC News. Read More at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/69327/

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Probably a Good Place to Start These kind of improvements to the existing infrastructure could apparently add 70,000 MW of capacity. “We will be pushing this,” Chu said at a White House forum. “We’re not talking about a lot of large, new reservoirs. Just work with what we have and it’s a massive amount of power.” Read More at: http://www.treehugger.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/68977/

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And as readers of our sites should know, IBM is focused in a big way on sustainability and the role technology can play in achieving greener operations in any number of arenas, from water to supply chains, data centers to traffic. But a new announcement from Big Blue this week serves to underscore the shifting role that technology can play in environmental issues, and how IBM is changing its own role to focus on that shift. IBM yesterday announced the top five technologies developed under its Corporate Environmental Innovation Program in the past year, the five solutions that can have a significant impact on energy efficiency or environmental impacts. Read More at: http://www.greenercomputing.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/68762/

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The report, Climate Leadership, Economic Prosperity, shows how Canada can achieve both the federal government’s current target to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 20 percent below the 2006 level by 2020, as well as a more ambitious target of 25 percent below the 1990 level by 2020. The second target is derived from analysis of the emission reductions needed to limit average global warming to 2 degrees C — a limit supported by a broad scientific consensus, according to the report. This is said to be the first Canadian study of its kind to show regional impacts on employment and gross domestic product, and the first to comprehensively examine how Canada can meet a GHG reduction target for 2020 that goes beyond the federal government’s target. Read More at: http://www.environmentalleader.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/64189/

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A new environmental focus is driving momentum in the forestry sector, with new demand for wood to replace coal and natural gas in Europe, and emerging markets for carbon offsets. But a focus on the carbon benefits of trees has exposed differences between some green groups and investors on what counts as “sustainable” forestry. Growing awareness of the environmental value of plantation forests is overdue, say managers. “When you see ‘think carefully before you print this email’ that’s just silly,” said Liane Luke, chief timber officer at the $550 million, London-listed Phaunos Timber Fund. “The more plantations there are the more carbon you’re sucking out of the air. People need to get less sentimental about forests, it’s like growing corn,” she said. Burning wood to produce energy emits less carbon than burning fossil fuels, especially if the trees are replanted, because plants trap CO2 from the air as they grow. Read More at: http://www.wbcsd.org/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/64188/

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The Staff Legal Guidance said it’s changing how it analyzes companies’ “no-action” requests [2] on shareholder proposals relating to environmental, financial or health risks, according to Nasdaq. The decision, outlined in SEC Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14E (CF), reverses [3] an SEC rule that prevented investors from directly asking companies about the impacts of climate change and other issues on their financial bottom lines, according to Ceres, a network of investors and environmental organizations that represent around $8 trillion in assets. Read More at: http://www.environmentalleader.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/64186/

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So far, Obama has held three of these meetings with business leaders, reports the New York Times [1]. Read More at: http://www.environmentalleader.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/63861/

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In a wide-ranging address to the Council For Clean and Reliable Energy this week, Environment Minister Jim Prentice outlined the context for Canada’s emerging regulations on the environment and climate change. Integration and Harmonization were the keywords reflected throughout his comments - referring to the need for Canada to harmonize with (not follow) the regulatory regimes that are evolving south of the border. The reasons for this are obvious, noted the Minister. Canada shares a common environment with the United States, our economies are integrated, and Canada is a major part of the North American energy equation. Read More at: http://www.globe-net.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/63860/

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The communist country is honing in on the Texas wind industry with a $1.5-billion, 36,000-acre project in West Texas. It’s not quite Pickens-scale, but it is the biggest Chinese investment in U.S. renewable energy to date. Read More at: http://www.fastcompany.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/63859/

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Governments and companies are pouring billions of research dollars into advanced fuels made from wood and grass, meant to cut carbon emissions compared with gasoline, and not compete with food as corn-based biofuels do now. But such advanced, “cellulosic” biofuels will actually lead to higher carbon emissions than gasoline per unit of energy, averaged over the 2000-2030 time period, the study found. That is because the land required to plant fast-growing poplar trees and tropical grasses would displace food crops, and so drive deforestation to create more farmland, a powerful source of carbon emissions. Biofuel crops also require nitrogen fertilizers, a source of two greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide (CO2) and the more powerful nitrous oxide. Read More at: http://www.wbcsd.org/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/63858/

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The plane, which is a modified Boeing 737-700, features reduced weight, as well as environmentally friendly features, including the carpet and seat covers, as well as life vest pouches, according to a press release. All combined, the new features amount to a weight savings of about five pounds per seat, or about 472 pounds per plane. The reduced weight equates to about 9,500 fewer gallons of jet fuel per plane, per year, according to China View. Read More at: http://www.environmentalleader.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/58409/

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By 2014, this share is projected to grow to 20-30 percent, making it a $10 billion to $15 billion market for major retrofit projects, according to the SmartMarket Report. The report, Green Building Retrofit Renovation: Rapidly Expanding Market Opportunities Through Existing Buildings, profiles more than 20 projects that provide insight into the growing green building industry. Researchers say that market opinion and indicators suggest much higher levels of activity long-term for retrofits and renovations overall, which is expected to reach a tipping point in 10 to 15 years. At this time, half of all retrofits and renovations will be green, according to the report. Read More at: http://www.environmentalleader.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/58408/

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A Comments (0) Print | Email | ShareThisa2a_linkname=document.title;a2a_linkurl=location.href; | |<div id="start_rating"> <form id='ratingform56967' method="post" action="http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/kids-parents-teachers/email/teaching-green-kids/" > <div class='hiddenFields'> <input type="hidden" name="ACT" value="20" /> <input type="hidden" name="RET" value="http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/kids-parents-teachers/email/teaching-green-kids/" /> <input type="hidden" name="URI" value="/kids-parents-teachers/email/teaching-green-kids/" /> <input type="hidden" name="PRV" value="" /> <input type="hidden" name="XID" value="512911f798bc81f6a4f26baa837d2a5df066545d" /> <input type="hidden" name="entry_id" value="56967" /> <input type="hidden" name="form_name" value="rating" /> <input type="hidden" name="status" value="open" /> <input type="hidden" name="anonymous" value="n" /> <input type="hidden" name="require_membership" value="n" /> <input type="hidden" name="allow_duplicates" value="n" /> <input type="hidden" name="user_template" value="" /> <input type="hidden" name="admin_template" value="" /> <input type="hidden" name="owner_template" value="" /> <input type="hidden" name="required" value="" /> <input type="hidden" name="params_id" value="11282075" /> <input type="hidden" name="site_id" value="1" /> </div> <div id="livestars" style=""> <span id="star1" rel="1" class="star ratingStar-over"></span> <span id="star2" rel="2" class="star ratingStar-off"></span> <span id="star3" rel="3" class="star ratingStar-off"></span> <span id="star4" rel="4" class="star ratingStar-off"></span> <span id="star5" rel="5" class="star ratingStar-off"></span> </div> <input class="hiddenFields" type="hidden" name="rating" id="rating" value="0"/> <input class="hiddenFields" type="hidden" name="entry_id" id="entry_id" value="56967"/> <input class="hiddenFields" type="hidden" name="name" id="name" value="Guest" class="hidden"/> </form> </div> Rate This Tell a friend about - VELO™ Release - 2009-10-21 Posted on October 21 2009 by Michael Glenn - VP Technology and CTO and filed in VELO™</a Your Email: Your Name: Friends Email: Subject: Message: M20o93H7pQ09L8X1t49cHY01Z5j4TT91fGfr http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/67711/ Comments (0) Print | Email | ShareThisa2a_linkname=document.title;a2a_linkurl=location.href; | |<div id="start_rating"> <form id='ratingform67711' method="post" action="http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/kids-parents-teachers/email/teaching-green-kids/" > <div class='hiddenFields'> <input type="hidden" name="ACT" value="20" /> <input type="hidden" name="RET" value="http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/kids-parents-teachers/email/teaching-green-kids/" /> <input type="hidden" name="URI" value="/kids-parents-teachers/email/teaching-green-kids/" /> <input type="hidden" name="PRV" value="" /> <input type="hidden" name="XID" value="0506dc440a535f2787e4c4ec10255681e271aa87" /> <input type="hidden" name="entry_id" value="67711" /> <input type="hidden" name="form_name" value="rating" /> <input type="hidden" name="status" value="open" /> <input type="hidden" name="anonymous" value="n" /> <input type="hidden" name="require_membership" value="n" /> <input type="hidden" name="allow_duplicates" value="n" /> <input type="hidden" name="user_template" value="" /> <input type="hidden" name="admin_template" value="" /> <input type="hidden" name="owner_template" value="" /> <input type="hidden" name="required" value="" /> <input type="hidden" name="params_id" value="11282076" /> <input type="hidden" name="site_id" value="1" /> </div> <div id="livestars" style=""> <span id="star1" rel="1" class="star ratingStar-over"></span> <span id="star2" rel="2" class="star ratingStar-off"></span> <span id="star3" rel="3" class="star ratingStar-off"></span> <span id="star4" rel="4" class="star ratingStar-off"></span> <span id="star5" rel="5" class="star ratingStar-off"></span> </div> <input class="hiddenFields" type="hidden" name="rating" id="rating" value="0"/> <input class="hiddenFields" type="hidden" name="entry_id" id="entry_id" value="67711"/> <input class="hiddenFields" type="hidden" name="name" id="name" value="Guest" class="hidden"/> </form> </div> Rate This Tell a friend about - Airlines Commit to Fuel Reduction Posted on October 21 2009 by zerofootprint and filed in Your Email: Your Name: Friends Email: Subject: Message: The world’s major airlines - together with aircraft manufacturers, airports and air navigation service providers - pledged to improve the sector’s fuel efficiency by 1.5% annually up to 2020, when increasing air travel should no longer lead to a rise in emissions. In the longer term, the industry is planning to slash carbon emissions by 50% from 2005 levels by 2050. Read More at: http://www.wbcsd.org/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/56310/

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By Jan. 1, the company expects to release 500 plug-in versions of its Prius onto American, European and Japanese roads, said Toyota spokeswoman Cindy Knight. The cars will use lithium-ion batteries, not the nickel-metal hydride packages seen in Priuses today. The pilot will kick off a three-year effort by the Japanese auto giant to get data on how these cars fare in the real world: how they’re charged, how their batteries perform, and what sort of mileage they get. In recent years, Toyota has resisted pressure to develop a plug-in, even using commercials suggesting that plugging in hybrid vehicles is a bother. Engineers will use the new plug-in data to design a more widely produced plug-in version of the Prius, but they don’t intend to copycat other companies’ plug-in efforts, said Tom Stricker, director of the energy and environmental research group for Toyota North America. Read More at: http://www.wbcsd.org/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/56309/

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It recommends that governments exercise caution when attempting to fit biofuels into an overall energy, climate, land-use, water and agricultural strategy if their deployment is to benefit society, the economy and the environment as a whole.  The report, the first by the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management, says some first generation biofuels such as ethanol from sugar cane can have positive impacts in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.  Read More at: http://www.wbcsd.org/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/56308/

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The chemical most commonly used in autos today, HFC-134a, packs 350 times more global warming power than the approved alternative, called HFO-1234yf. The new refrigerant’s use would be subject to certain safety conditions meant primarily to address flammability concerns, according to the proposal to be published today in the Federal Register . Major automakers are betting that the alternative, developed by DuPont and Honeywell, will help them meet new federal greenhouse gas emission emissions standards for motor vehicles recently proposed by the Obama administration (ClimateWire, July 31). Climate legislation moving through Congress also calls for the general phase down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), the powerful climate-warming class of chemicals that includes HFC-134a. Read More at: http://www.wbcsd.org/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/56307/

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Over 300 global companies, including 31 carbon companies, responded to a survey published recently by EcoSecurities, ClimateBiz, and Baker & McKenzie, which sought to identify corporate trends in carbon management and offsetting. The survey, entitled Carbon Management and Offsetting Trends Survey Results 2009, is the second published by the organizations, and the first since the global economic crisis. Despite the effects of the crisis, the number of respondents to the survey increased by more than 400% since its predecessor was published in early 2008, with a marked increase in participation of North American companies noted. And while budget concerns were cited by many companies as a motivation for delaying the purchase of carbon offsets, 60% of respondents reported that they measure their organizational carbon footprint, 44% have a defined carbon management strategy, and 32% report having such a plan in development. However, only 54% of North American companies measure their carbon footprint, compared to 92% of Australasian, and 62% of European, respondents. Read More at: http://www.wbcsd.org/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/55444/

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British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told representatives of 17 major emitters meeting in London that success was still within reach for the 190-country meeting in Denmark from Dec. 7 to 18, up to now intended as a gathering for environment ministers. “Over the remaining weeks to Copenhagen and in the two weeks of the conference itself I will work tirelessly with fellow leaders to negotiate a deal,” Brown said. “I’ve said I’ll go to Copenhagen, and I’m encouraging them to make the same commitment,” he said at the two-day talks ending on Monday. “We must frankly face the plain fact that our negotiators are not getting to agreement quickly enough.” Talks are bogged down in disputes between industrialised and developing countries over how to share out curbs on emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels. Just one week of formal talks remains before Copenhagen, in Barcelona in early November. Read More at: http://www.wbcsd.org/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/55443/

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Countries such as China and India have pushed for rich countries to grant them free access to lowcarbon technologies ever since the lead-up to the 1997 Kyoto protocol. The demand has been a sticking point in negotiations before this December’s climate change summit in Copenhagen with rich countries, arguing that any such move could force private sector companies to give away their intellectual property. The softening of the developing countries’ position comes close to resolving one of the five key elements the United Nations says are necessary for a deal on climate change at Copenhagen this December. Read More at: http://www.ft.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/55442/

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Radiative forcing anyone? Well, to address these concerns the International Air Transport Association committed Saturday to new emission reductions targets and fuel efficiency improvements: Read More at: http://www.treehugger.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/53118/

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To help businesses reduce both water and energy consumption in their irrigation systems, ITT Flowtronex is offering a cash rebate for the replacement of old and inefficient irrigation pump systems, while SunPods delivers a modular solar-power platform for irrigation and water distribution systems. Conducted by Texas AgriLife Extension Service, the study finds that all six devices tested, all currently on the market, produced excessive irrigation amounts. The bench-tested controllers exceeded recommended irrigation amounts 100 percent of the time, applying on average 6.73 inches more water, while the outdoor-tested controllers exceeded the recommended amount 75 percent of the time applying on average 1.88 inches more water, according to the study. Smart controllers use weather data to automatically adjust the amount of irrigation water applied, reports Water Efficiency. Read More at: http://www.environmentalleader.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/53117/

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Buildings that underperform in the audits would be required to make energy efficiency improvements. Read More at: http://www.environmentalleader.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/52799/

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Cost savings, environmental pressures on reducing emissions, and energy security issues related to petroleum consumption all favor electric transportation. Automobile makers are seeing some success with electric drive systems – they’ve matured and proven hybrid-electric technologies and experienced good market growth, and are now developing plug-in vehicles. Consumers like the notion of electric vehicles too, and more will likely buy them as they continue to become more available, efficient and affordable. It’s quite possible that plug-in electronic vehicles will become the preferred mode of personal transportation in the next decade. But there is one major obstacle to the development, deployment and adoption of electrical vehicles on a large scale – the electrical utility grid as it exists today simply can’t support large numbers of vehicles. Read More at: http://www.environmentalleader.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/52798/

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The Hungarian-born U.S. investor also announced he would form and fund a new climate policy initiative with $10 million a year for 10 years. Read More at: http://planetark.org/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/52797/

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Energy efficiency in the industrial sector represents a low-cost resource compared with other sectors, but operating successful programs requires different approaches than are traditionally used in other sectors, according to the study. Consuming nearly 32 percent of the nation’s energy in 2007, the U.S. industrial sector offers significant opportunities for energy savings and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, according to the report. Although industrial energy efficiency programs have existed for decades across the U.S. and Canada, these programs have not historically maximized savings opportunities, said ACEEE. Read More at: http://www.environmentalleader.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/52796/

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Clean-tech entrepreneurs and investors believe a bill that includes a cap on carbon emissions will help drive billions of dollars in clean-energy investments and ease the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, according to the article. The investor coalition Ceres and the Clean Economy Network organized this week’s fly-in of executives from more than 100 companies, reports the New York Times. Read More at: http://www.environmentalleader.com/ http://www.zerofootprintfoundation.org/52795/