1. Home
  2. Articles posted by: Rona Fried (Page 1743)

No Oomph in LA Dept of Water and Power Green Power Program

As the new leadership of the Department of Water and Power makes clean energy a top priority, one of the utility’s earliest and most prominent green-power programs is languishing in limbo. Participation in the DWP’s Green Power Program, in which customers voluntarily pay extra to fund environmentally sound energy, plummeted for the third consecutive year in 2005, records show. Participants totaled 24,320, down from a peak of 31,543 in 2002. Revenue from the program, meanwhile, sank to $1.8 million from a peak of $2.8 million. Some environmentalists say the declining Green Power Program symbolizes a lack of commitment to move toward clean energy. “They don’t let the people do their part, and the department’s not doing its part,” said John White, executive director of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies. “Nothing is happening.” Tensions surrounding the clean-power efforts boiled over last week when DWP commissioners lashed out at department managers for moving too slowly toward renewable energy. While Commission President Mary Nichols joined her colleagues in expressing frustration, she said in an interview that, although reaching clean-energy goals will take time, the crucial first steps are being taken. “There are a lot of things to work on, and […]

Read More

DaimlerChrysler Testing Plug-in Hybrids

40 Dodge Sprinter Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) will be placed in operation with customers in California, Kansas City and New York among other locations in the US as part of a test fleet program. Plug-in technology lends itself to commercial applications in which the vehicle returns to base after each shift to be plugged into the power grid but also works well in urban traffic situations for daily commuters. Battery development is one of the keys to the success of hybrid transportation and PHEV’s yield valuable information through durability tests. Based on Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicle technology, The Dodge Sprinter PHEV has the ability to drive up to 20 miles on electric only power. It accomplishes this with a switch on the dashboard giving the operator the ability to manually switch between modes as needed or automatically by the vehicle control system. Two different combustion engines are being mated to the PHEV system, a five cylinder diesel and a V6 gasoline. The diesel version will yield the highest fuel economy benefit and is the first fleet test of a diesel plug-in hybrid system.

Read More

Bids Received to Host FutureGen 'Clean Coal' Plant

The FutureGen Industrial Alliance reported that offerors in nine states (totaling 22 sites) have expressed an interest in hosting the FutureGen Project – the coal-fueled “zero emissions” power plant that generates electricity and hydrogen while capturing and permanently storing carbon dioxide deep underground. FutureGen has an aggressive schedule to site the plant and begin construction within three years. The project is expected to accelerate the commercialization of the technology so that a fleet of plants based on the FutureGen design can be sited and developed worldwide. The FutureGen Alliance is a coalition consisting of the world’s largest coal companies and electric utilities including: American Electric Power; Anglo American; BHP Billiton; the China Huaneng Group; CONSOL Energy Inc., Foundation Coal; Kennecott Energy, a member of the Rio Tinto group; Peabody Energy; and Southern Company. Website: [sorry this link is no longer available]     

Read More

COSTCO Removes SEAL Products From Shelves

Costco is taking a stand against the Canadian annual seal slaughter by removing seal oil capsules from its Canadian stores. Says the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, whch is behind the move, “By removing this despicable product, Costco has sent a message that they will not participate in the promotion of products obtained through the world’s largest slaughter of marine wildlife: the annual Canadian harp seal hunt, where more than 325,000 seal pups between the ages of 2 weeks to 3 months are killed each year.” Canada has spent millions of dollars searching for and creating new products and markets for seals. Some of these products have been perverse and ridiculous, such as the dried seal penises sold to Asian markets to be used as aphrodisiacs during the mid to late 1990’s. With seal products banned in the United States due to the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, the Omega-3 seal oil capsule product was developed for the Canadian market to sell as some sort of health benefit. Still acting like snake oil salesmen, Canadian government civil servants working as seal product promotional salesmen began pushing Omega-3 as a cure for everything from warts to a remedy to prevent heart […]

Read More

Beacon Announces Loss for Q4, Full Year 2005

Beacon Power Corporation (NASDAQ:BCON), a development stage company that designs and develops flywheels, reported a loss for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ending December 31, 2005. For 2005, Beacon reported a net loss of $9.3 million, or ($0.20) per share, compared with a $5.3 million, or ($0.12) per share in 2004. The company attributes the higher loss in 2005 to a non-recurring gain on the sale of equity investments in Evergreen Solar, Inc., of $3.6 million in 2004, as well as higher spending in 2005 on several research and development contracts and nonrecurring expenses of $1.3 million relating to a proposed acquisition that was terminated. For the fourth quarter of 2005, the Company reported a net loss of $3.2 million, or ($0.07) per share, compared to net income of $0.9 million, or $0.02 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2004. This result is also primarily attributable to the nonrecurring gain on the sale of equity investments in Evergreen Solar, Inc., which were reported in the fourth quarter of 2004. At December 31, 2005, the Company had $13.9 million in cash and cash equivalents, compared to $5.1 million at December 31, 2004. The Company’s working capital was $13.2 million. […]

Read More

Safeway: Organic Food Contender?

Safeway (NYSE: SWY), the third largest supermarket chain in the U.S., has seen Whole Foods Market (WFMI) move into many of its key markets. Since the two chains attract a similar demographic, Safeway decided to compete head to head by introducing organic foods that are competitively priced with conventional foods. Safeway has introduced “O Organics”, its own private label line of 150 organic products that run the gamut – beverages, bakery goods, cereals, canned and frozen foods, dairy products and snack items. Prices are comparable or, in some cases, less expensive than even conventional products. This month, O Organics was introduced throughout Safeway’s chain of 1,775 stores in the United States and Canada. In an interview with Reuters, James White, Safeway’s senior vice president of corporate brands, said O Organics is the broadest range of organic products offered by a major retailer other than Whole Foods Market. Some products are sourced from outside suppliers, while others are manufactured by Safeway. The goal is to make it possible for shoppers to “avoid additional shopping trips” by buying conventional and organic products in one place. Organics are now big business – annual sales in the US stand at $20 billion as of […]

Read More

Compass Group's Landmark Sustainable Seafood Policy

Compass Group USA, the largest contract food service company in the US, announced a major policy change – it will shift purchases away from threatened fish species and toward sustainably sourced supplies. The new policy will impact about one million pounds of fish a year. The company has $7.5 billion in revenues and more than 152,000 employees throughout the US, Canada and Latin America. Under the policy, scheduled to begin implementation on March 1, 2006, Compass Group will replace Atlantic cod, a species which leading conservationists recommend people avoid, with the more environmentally-safe Pacific cod, Pollock and other alternatives. The company also plans to decrease its use of shrimp and salmon that are farmed in unsustainably. It will eliminate all other ‘Avoid’ species from the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch list, and increase its use of ‘Best Choices.’ The policy is expected to be fully implemented within three years. “Compass Group is proud to embrace a sustainable seafood policy that will support the health of our oceans. When we learned about the significant impact that our purchasing shift could make, it was clear that this was the right thing to do,” said Gary Green, CEO of Compass Group – The […]

Read More