Eco-Cycle Ventures Into Composting
In Boulder, CO, the name Eco-Cycle is synonymous with recycling. Now they hope it will mean composting too.
Cosmetic Ingredients, Getting Safer?
Last year, the European Union banned a range of chemicals widely used in cosmetics, which are either highly suspected or scientifically proven to be carcinogens, mutagens or reproductive toxins. Phthalates, a class of chemicals widely suspected to cause cancer and birth defects, are included.Since the U.S. hasn’t followed suit, the Breast Cancer Fund and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics took up the charge by attempting to convince multinational cosmetics companies to reformulate their products to EU standards. So far, L’Oreal and Revlon have agreed to do so. Says Jeanne Rizzo, executive director of the Breast Cancer Fund, “Regrettably, U.S. law still permits companies to put unlimited amounts of toxic chemicals into cosmetics sold here.” Unilever says its products do not contain phthalates DBP and DEHP, but refrains from committing to cease using the other 1,000 toxic chemicals banned by the E.U. directive.The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is asking all cosmetics companies to sign a pledge to immediately remove all EU-banned chemicals and develop safer alternative ingredients. The group will issue a report card this month grading cosmetics companies on their responsiveness to this request. In the end, many consumer-safety organizations believe the government will need to regulate ingredients. The FDA […]
TerraPass: Students Launch Kyoto for Cars
As part of the MBA program at the University of Pennsylvania, students recently founded a company that allows car drivers to easily and affordably negate most of the environmental impact of their cars. The idea behind TerraPass is simple. TerraPass allows individuals to tap into the growing market for carbon emission credits traded by large companies such as DuPont and IBM. These markets are structured in the same way as as the markets for sulfur emissions that were so successful in reducing acid rain.Although the workings of these markets are complex, the end result isn’t. Car drivers can completely offset the CO2 emissions of their cars for about $50 a year, without having to modify their cars or change their lifestyle. Compare it to a hybrid vehicle, which costs several thousand dollars more than a comparable non-hybrid, and offers a much smaller fuel efficiency gain. It’s kind of Kyoto for Cars. TerraPass grew out of a class project on problem solving and design at the Wharton School. During the six-week span of the class, a team of students created the business – from product design to marketing to sales to fulfillment. The idea sprang from Professor Karl Ulrich, who felt […]
SAM Launches Australian Sustainability Index
Sustainable Asset Management (SAM), the research partner for the six year old Dow Jones Sustainability Index, announced the launch of the Australian SAM Sustainability Index (AuSSI)today. The index will track the financial performance of about 70 Australian companies that lead their industry in terms of economic, environmental and social criteria. “At VicSuper, we have for many years seen sustainability as essential for long-term shareholder value.” added Bob Welsh, CEO of VicSuper – one of Australia’s largest superannuation funds with close to 190,000 members. “Short-termism is a significant risk to the competitiveness of Australia’s corporate sector. The AuSSI offers investors and other stakeholders an important platform to take a long-term view.” The AuSSI is Australia’s first index to measure the financial performance of the country’s sustainability leaders. It comprises the top 40 percent in terms of sustainability out of 184 companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. SAM will apply the same research criteria as the globally recognized Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes for which SAM selects sustainability leaders on a worldwide scale. Examples of the criteria include corporate governance, eco-efficiency, human resources management, and stakeholder relations. The integration of sustainability aspects into a bank’s project financing activities, water use among food […]
House GOP Leaders Wnat to Create Panel to Reach Energy Self-Sufficiency by 2025
Reported in Congressional Quarterly, House Republican leaders want to establish a 16-member commission that would aim to wean North America off imported oil by 2025. The new proposal is included in a draft of this year’s comprehensive energy legislation from the House Resources Committee. The bill would establish a panel of industry experts “armed with a $10 million budget” that would make recommendations to the White House for energy self-sufficiency within Canada, Mexico and the United States. According to the draft language, the panel’s members would be “knowledgeable on energy issues,” such as oil and gas exploration, electricity production and energy efficiency. House and Senate leaders would provide nominations for 12 of the slots, while the White House would nominate the remaining four. The president would appoint them, including a chairman who would guide spending. The panel, named the Commission on North American Energy Freedom, would use its budget to hire staff and consultants and also would form a science and technical advisory panel, the draft says. The commission would hold its first meeting within 30 days of the appointments and submit to Congress a report within a year of the bill’s approval. The bill calls for the president and […]
EPA and NARUC Announce Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy Projects with Six States
Today, EPA and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) announced the formation of EPA-State Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Projects between EPA and utility regulators from six states. The six states involved in the initiative are Arkansas, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Minnesota and New Mexico. The projects involve state utility regulators working with EPA to explore approaches for reducing the cost of consumer electric and gas bills through cost-effective energy efficiency, renewable energy and clean distributed generation. Based on a number of recent studies, EPA estimates that if all states were to implement cost-effective energy efficiency and clean energy policies, the expected growth in demand for electricity could be cut in half by 2025, providing billions of dollars in customer savings, contributing to lower prices for natural gas and substantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Through the EERE projects, EPA and the states will explore policies and programs for delivering more energy efficiency to electric and gas customers, which in a growing number of states across the country is delivering energy savings at a significantly lower cost than the construction of new electricity supply or buying natural gas. The initiative will also explore opportunities for combined […]
DOE Announces 12 Projects To Increase Vehicle Efficiency
Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman today announced the selection of projects that will increase the energy efficiency of passenger and commercial vehicles while maintaining low emissions. Twelve projects, with a total value of $175 million (50 percent, or $87.5 million contributed by the private sector) will focus on development of advanced combustion engine and waste heat recovery technologies. “Together with our private sector partners, the Department of Energy is pursuing innovative new technologies to improve vehicle fuel efficiency and reduce vehicle emissions. Partnerships like these are a critical component of our strategy to protect the environment and reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign sources of oil, two priorities of President Bush,” Secretary Bodman said. The projects selected support the Bush Administration’s goal of improving efficiency of internal combustion engines from 30 percent (2004 baseline) to 45 percent by 2012 for passenger vehicles and from 40 percent (2002 baseline) to 55 percent by 2013 for commercial vehicles, while meeting cost, durability, and emissions constraints. Vehicles utilizing these technologies would use 10 to 15 percent less fuel than current vehicles, reducing America’s dependence on foreign sources of oil and improving the environment through reduced emissions. Seven of the twelve projects will conduct […]
Tilting at Windmills
by Bill McKibben, February 16, 2005 Finally, American environmentalists have a chance to get it right about wind power. News broke this week of plans for the first big wind energy installation in the Adirondack Park. Ten towering turbines would sprout on the site of an old garnet mine in this tiny town. They’d be visible from the ski slopes at nearby Gore Mountain, and they’d be visible too from the deep wild of the Siamese Ponds Wilderness, one of the loneliest and most beautiful parts of New York’s “forever wild” Adirondack Forest Preserve, the model for a century of American conservation. In fact, it would be hard to imagine a place better suited to illustrate the controversy that wind power is causing in this country. I know the area well; I’ve lived most of my adult life in this part of the world, and I’ve skied and backpacked through the old mine and the woods around it, searched for (and found) lost hunters, encountered its bears and coyotes and fisher, sat on its anonymous peaks and knolls and watched the hawks circle beneath. In fact, this very wilderness – these yellow birches, the bear that left that berry-filled pile […]
Arctic Becoming Chemical Waste Sump, Says WWF
URL: http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/29577/story.htm Website: http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/29577/story.htm
Dell Expands Computer Recycling to Canada
Dell Inc. has expanded its computer recycling to Canadian customers, allowing them to recycle or donate used computers at no cost, the company said Feb. 15. Dell Canada customers who purchase a computer or printer can use the companys online recycling service for free. Dell will provide home pickup of the used equipment, which the company will recycle or donate to the National Cristina Foundation.
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