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This guide can help you start a green builder program in your municipality or region. It surveys six green building programs – Austin, Metro Denver, Central New Mexico, Kitsap County and Clark County in Washington, and Suburban Maryland – comparing and analyzing each to determine the most effective requirements and incentives, as well as nitty gritty details like organizational structure and advertising budgets. It lays out the steps needed to create a program and includes a “Green Builder Program Template.” Download it (click on “Builder Programs”) or order it on CD-ROM or hard copy. If you are looking for sample contract documents and specification language for green building products, check out Ross Spiegel and Dru Meadow’s book, Green Building Materials: A Guide to Product Selection & Specification (1999: James Wiley & Sons). If it is the products themselves you are interested in, you will find an edited list of 1200 green building products in GreenSpec, produced by Environmental Building News. Listings include product descriptions, environmental characteristics, and contact information. http://www.ebuild.com
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This new website sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will be increasingly useful as a way to find and compare the many alternative fuel vehicles coming online. I chose the Honda Civic, since that’s the car I own. Two clicks later, I found the year 2000 model gets no better gas mileage than my 1999 model (28 mpg city, 35 mpg highway), the annual fuel cost is $599 and annual greenhouse gas emissions are 6.3 tons. A very useful next step for the website would be for it to automatically recommend similar cars that offer greater efficiency. http://www.fueleconomy.gov
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What are the market conditions for your product line in countries around the world? Industry Canada’s website has a growing list of briefings that give you a quick but thorough overview of individual countries. Interested in Australia? There are summaries of the market for Energy Efficiency Services or Recycling Equipment. For Austria, there are summaries for Renewable Energy and Air Pollution Control Equipment. If you are interested in renewable energy in Austria, for example, you will learn that the “share of renewables in the overall energy system reached 26.23 percent of total energy supply in 1997. The most important renewable sources of energy are hydropower with a share of 13.38 percent, and the so-called other energy sources (especially biomass) with 12.85 percent. This puts Austria third in Europe among countries relying on these environmentally sound energy sources. Within the European Union (EU) only Finland and Sweden exceed Austria in the proportion of biomass used.” The report covers each type of renewable energy and its prospects, programs that foster its development and more.
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“Building Sustainability with The Natural Step: UT-Houston’s Journey,” is a 22-minute video (there’s a shorter executive version) that illustrates the TNS system conditions through graphics and animation. University of Texas staff and an international design team describe how the new Health Science Center they are building puts each of the system conditions into practice. Order the video or view a sample , or visit the Video Project. The video is available in English and Spanish. The Portland State University Center for Watershed and Community offers two TNS public listservs. The first focuses on incorporating TNS into public policy development and implementation, and the second focuses on community programs. [sorry this link is no longer available]
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The World Resources Institute is starting a venture capital fund, New Ventures, to help sustainable businesses in Latin America. They will distribute US$100,000 to the three best environmental companies in six sectors: sustainable agriculture, sustainable tourism, sustainable forestry (certified wood and non-timber forest products), renewable energy, eco-innovation (including product innovations and original technologies for cleaner production), and information technology (digital applications for sustainable development). Twenty finalists will receive advanced mentoring services and 50 semi-finalists will receive services to improve their business plans. Finalists will be invited to participate in the first Latin American Environmental Investor Forum which brings together early- and mid-stage environmental companies with institutional, individual, and corporate investors. Companies will have the opportunity to attract joint-venture partners, other sources of financing, and meet critical market players in their sector, including multinational corporations and buyers. If you would like to submit your business plan or you are an interested investor, learn more at WRI website. Source: United Nations Association of the USA
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A $1.1 billion antitrust settlement, one of the largest in U.S. history, is nearing closure. Six of the world’s largest vitamin and supplement manufacturers are accused of conspiring to overcharge for their products for the last 10 years. The vitamins produced by Hoffman La-Roche Ltd. of Switzerland, German-based BASF AG, Rhone-Poulance S.A. of France and three Japanese pharmaceutical companies are ingredients in a wide range of foods including breakfast cereal, orange juice and animal feed. The group allegedly convened to divide the global market and raise prices for common vitamins such as A, C, E and beta-carotene. Tyson Foods Inc., Quaker Oats Co., and others are filing additional lawsuits because they believe the settlement price is too low. Individuals are also pursuing the cartel in a number of state courts. The companies that receive payment are not obliged to pass the proceeds to customers. Attorney General Janet Reno levied a $725 million fine against Hoffman-LaRoche and BASF AG. An investigation by the U.S. Justice Department resulted in criminal charges and jail time for Hoffman-LaRoche executives, a first for foreign citizens. Sales of dietary supplements in the U.S. reached $10.4 billion in 1999, almost evenly divided between vitamins/minerals (56%) and herbs […]
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Ecological tax reform could create over a million jobs and raise $78 billion (euros 75.2 billion) from taxes on energy, transportation and waste disposal over the next 10 years, according to a study prepared for the German Environment Agency. The authors suggest a phased-in plan that goes beyond present eco-taxes that would shift the tax burden to resource use and pollution. Energy costs would rise by 40 percent, energy consumption would decrease by 13 percent and gas would decrease by 25 percent. Germanys Parliament is scheduled to debate the second phase of the eco-tax reform the results of which will be become law on January 1, 2000. The German Institute for Economic Research and the Financial Research Institute at Cologne University conducted the study.
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16 percent of Canada’s October 12 Throne Speech referenced the environment, more than almost any previous Throne Speech, according to Contemporary Information Analysis Ltd.. “A clean and healthy environment is important to our long-term economic and social well-being it is central to our quality of life. Our ability to adopt innovative environmental practices and technologies will increasingly be part of Canada’s strength in the 21st century. The Throne Speech sets out eight specific environmental undertakings. They establish a new course for the federal government that has been lacking for the past five years. The commitments outlined in the Throne Speech are, o meet our country’s international commitment to address climate change by reducing greenhouse gases by six percent of 1990 levels by 2010. Canada’s Climate Change Secretariat has been working hard on recommendations to the federal government on ways to achieve the target. o set and enforce tough pollution standards. This is a departure from the “laissez faire” approach taken by the federal government since it transferred substantial responsibilities to the provinces when it signed the “Harmonization Agreement” on the environment. The agreement ties the hands of government with polluters until the provinces have taken all possible measures. This statement […]
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Do you need a demonstration eco-house? The Lane Area Pollution Prevention Coalition has constructed a “House of Pollution Solutions.” Its facades showcase household appliances, an eco-lawn, recycled plastic decking, energy efficient lighting, a bicycle for transportation, and a gas stove. Signs are placed around the house with tips describing the environmentally friendly choices people can make, such as using water-based paint. The house is designed to be reused at events like home shows and local festivals. Contact Kim Kagelaris: kkagelaris@ci.springfield.or.us
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After the recent nuclear accident in Japan, the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Geothermal Energy Association compiled data on the potential of wind and geothermanl energy in Japan. They concluded that offshore wind turbines could generate up to 40 percent of Japan’s electricity needs. The Japan Wind Energy Association projects the wind market there will grow from 150 megawatts in 2000 to 30,000 megawatts in 2030. Geothermal energy could supply more than three percent of Japan’s 1996 electricity use, enough to replace six nuclear plants.
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