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Achieving a green building demands a holistic approach, far beyond a little recycled plastic decking here, a few solar panels there, and a coat of low-VOC paint, says Steven Winters Associates, organizers of a new web site, the Whole Building Design Guide. Its producers hope to educate designers in environmentally sound design and simplify access to criteria and standards. www.wbdg.orgAnother site, Roadmaps to Energy Efficiency, is a step-by-step guide to retrofitting commercial properties to improve energy efficiency and reduce operating costs. There are three ways (RoadMaps) to do it: do it yourself, hire an energy consultant firm, or work with an energy service company. Case studies and calculators demonstrate the benefits that have been achieved in buildings throughout the country.http://energyroadmaps.org
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Globalization and Sustainable Development: Opportunities and Challenges for the Financial Services Sector, a UNEP Finance Initiatives Roundtable report. It covers implications for the insurance sector, lending banks and asset management, innovative approaches to environmental management and reporting in financial institutions, and microfinance as an opportunity for the financial services sector. fi@unep.ch“Sustainable and Responsible Investment Strategies: A Guide for Fiduciaries and Institutional Investors” is a new guide from SRI World Group to help institutional investors incorporate social, economic, and environmental factors into the investment process. It explains how institutional investors – representing about approximately $7 trillion in assets – can capitalize on market opportunities and generate social and environmental benefits for their participants. Strategies analyzed in the guide include corporate governance, proxy voting, shareowner resolutions, screening, and best-in-class investing. www.ishareowner.comAmy Domini, one of the originators of social investing, has published a book, Socially Responsible Investing: Making a Difference and Making Money. She shows readers how to evaluate companies to invest in as well as methods of investment.
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Conservation International and Ford Motor Company have joined to create the Center for Environmental Leadership in Business. A five-year, $25 million contribution from the Ford Motor Company Fund supports the effort, which engages the private sector to create solutions to global environmental problems. The Center concentrates on industries with the greatest environmental impact and those with the potential to bring about positive environmental change – agriculture and fisheries, forestry, energy and mining, travel and leisure, transportation, manufacturing, and financial services. The goal is for industries to replicate proven best practices around the globe. Some of the initial projects are: * Water Conservation. The site of a Ford Motor Company manufacturing plant in Sonora, Mexico, will be used to develop replicable business practices and public policies that conserve water resources, enhance water quality, and protect watersheds in critical ecosystems. * Natural Resource Development. Industry and environmental leaders are developing best practices for oil, gas and minerals exploration and development. * Food and Agriculture. Leaders in the food and beverage industry are developing sourcing guidelines to conserve ecosystems affected by global agriculture.* Tourism. Tour operators are developing conservation principles for day-to-day operations environmental criteria for suppliers. http://www.celb.org
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The newly re-named Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World) is two years old and is on its way to fulfilling its mission as a carrot for sustainability. Each year, the Zurich-based SAM Group analyzes the 2,500 largest companies in the Dow Jones Global Index looking for cream of the crop of companies that meet sustainable business criteria – the top 10 percent of each industry group. A year ago, the index consisted of 236 companies around the world. This year, the number of companies increased to 312 – 62 industries in 26 countries. SAM credits this increase to a greater interest among companies in incorporating sustainable business practices. ” It is encouraging to see the progress different sectors and companies made during the last twelve months,” says Ivo Knoepfel, Head of Index Research at SAM. ” The increasing level of sustainability competition creates value for the companies and for investors.” Alcoa and Starbucks are new additions to the index this year. Placer Dome, a Canadian mining company and Bethlehem Steel have been dropped. New indexes will be added to the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes family. Dow Jones Indexes, SAM Group and STOXX Limited just launched a regional index that […]
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How do you know solar is going mainstream? When you can buy it at Home Depot! Lots of other energy highlights here.
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With NY., Nevada and other states mandating that state facilities and utilities purchase some of their power from renewable sources, and with states like California offering incentives to install renewables, the demand for solar is skyrocketing. The solar industry is at the point where it is critical to PV professionals to be certified, and, after six years of development, a voluntary program is ready to become a reality. PV practitioners, followed by solar thermal practitioners, system designers and systems inspectors, will soon be able to receive national certification for their professional skills. The program begins next year. Learn more at the Interstate Renewable Energy Council: [sorry this link is no longer available]
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On October 9, The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) published rules regarding industrial hemp products in the Federal Register, effective immediately. Without any compelling reason or the required public notice and comment period, the DEA issued an interpretive rule banning hemp seed and oil food products that contain any amount of trace residual THC, potentially subjecting businesses and consumers to federal criminal penalties. DEA also issued an interim rule exempting hemp bodycare and fiber products from DEA control. Hemp seed is one of nature’s best sources of all essential amino acids in an easily digestible form. Hemp oil offers high concentrations of balanced essential fatty acids (EFA’s). The seed and oil are used in a wide range of natural food products, such as corn chips, nutrition bars, nondairy milks, breads and cereals.Hemp is grown in 29 countries including Canada, England, France, Germany and Spain. Each of these countries has adopted regulatory models that allow for safe human consumption of hemp products. Legislation relating to hemp has been passed in 16 states. This past year, the National Conference of State Legislatures adopted a resolution calling for changes to federal laws to allow for domestic hemp cultivation. The DEA states in 01-25024-filed: […]
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Sales of U.S. manufactured organic products grew 38 percent during the past year, reports the Organic Trade Association’s 2001 Manufacturers’ Market Survey. This rate far surpasses the estimated 20 – 25 percent annual growth for the organic market in general and the conventional grocery industry’s annual growth rate of 3 to 5 percent.The fastest-growing categories are meat/dairy alternatives such as soyfoods (215%), organic meat, poultry, eggs (64%), miscellaneous canned and jarred products (51%) and dairy (40%). from OTA’s The survey projects similarly continued strong growth for the coming year. One of the most dramatic changes, compared to 1998, was the shift to mass-market channels. Mass-market groceries accounted for 45 percent of organic food product sales in 2001, compared to only 31 percent in the 1998 survey. 43 percent of the U.S. population purchased organic foods or beverages in the past year, according to the Natural Marketing Institute’s Organic Consumer Trends Study.Canada’s organic sector rang up $1 billion in retail sales last year. The number of certified organic producers rose by 20 percent from 1998- 1999, to about 2,321. This is still a tiny .8 percent of the total number of farms in Canada, according to Canadian Organic Growers. Canadian Agriculture […]
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FoxFibre Cotton Twill Slacks from Chi WearMen’s Wearhouse, a national leader in men’s clothing, and the largest seller of men’s suits in the U.S. will be offering a new environmental product line in partnership with Chi Wear. Pants, shirts, jackets, underwear and socks made from hemp/ cotton blends, organic cotton, and color-grown organic cotton (the cotton is grown in color, eliminating dyes), will be available on-line and in all 500 stores as early as Spring, 2002. [sorry this link is no longer available]Several activewear producers are switching to all organic materials. They are the largest purchasers of organic cotton, driving the increase in acreage worldwide. Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC), Nike, Patagonia, and Gaiam/Ecosport are some of the manufacturers involved. Nike plans to use 1.2 million pounds of certified organic or transitional cotton this year. The company used 900,000 pounds last year, two thirds of which came from the U.S. Nike plans to incorporate three percent organic cotton into all its cotton apparel worldwide by 2010.Nike signed a landmark agreement committing the company to reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide and to begin measuring emissions from contracted manufacturing and shipping operations. The company, which employs some 500,000 people at 750 factories worldwide, […]
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In Aspen and Pitkin County, Colorado, a new home over 5000 square feet (465 m) either has to include a renewable energy system, or its builder/ owner has to pay a $5000 mitigation fee. This component of a new Renewable Energy Mitigation Program (REMP) is, perhaps, the most unique and innovative addition to an energy code in the last 10 years. It started with big energy hogs – spas, heated pools, and snowmelt systems – that fell outside the residential energy code. When the local building code was tightened to include these energy uses, there was no way to improve the structure’s performance enough to offset the massive amounts of energy that pools, driveway heaters or very large homes use.According to Stephen Kanipe, the county and city building inspector, about $1.2 million has been collected in the last year, with mitigation fees as high as $80,000 from a single residence! How is the fee calculated? A system’s energy use over a 20 year period is multiplied by twice the marginal cost of locally available windpower.The Community Office for Resource Efficiency (CORE), a local nonprofit, administers the funds. CORE has used the funds for projects such as PV panels for a […]
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