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Does using renewable energy, or a particular type of renewable energy, make sense in a given situation? Making a preliminary assessment is quick and convenient using free Internet shareware, RETScreen (Renewable Energy Project Analysis Software). RETScreen, developed by Natural Resources Canada, runs on Microsoft Excel and enables users to evaluate annual energy production, costs and financial viability of renewable energy projects anywhere in the world at a fraction of the cost of conventional pre-feasibility studies. The Passive Solar Heating model, for example, can be used to examine the difference in heating and cooling energy consumption between a proposed passive solar building (retrofit or new construction) and an identical conventional building. The original version, released in 1998, allows assessments for wind, small hydro, PV, solar air heating and biomass. An upgraded 1999 version provides modules for passive solar heating, solar water heating and ground-source heat pumps. The software also includes NASA satellite weather data – the amount of solar energy that strikes the surface of the earth, global temperatures and wind speeds – critical information for determining the amount of energy a project can produce. RETScreen: [sorry this link is no longer available]
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Almost simultaneously, General Motors and Ford announced plans to require suppliers to achieve ISO 14001 environmental certification. All GM’s suppliers must be certified by December 31, 2002. Ford is asking only manufacturing suppliers (about 5000 companies) to meet this commitment – by July 1, 2003. In a survey of its suppliers, Ford found the majority plan to obtain certification over the next few years. Ford is the first automaker to achieve ISO certification world-wide – 140 plants in 26 countries.
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Every time you switch mobile phone companies you are given a new telephone. The European Union is looking at take-back programs for the millions of discarded phones. In its pilot program in Sweden, UK telecommunications company, Ectel, collected 35,000 phones in 1997, at a cost of about $1 per phone. Now the company is expanding the service into Britain, with plans for Spain and Italy. Cell phones will be returnable at some 400 UK collection outlets or by mail to increase collection rates from the present 5,000 a year. Ectel believes heading off legal mandates with a voluntary program will be more cost effective for the company. Switzerland’s program mandates a $3 surcharge on new phones to cover recycling.
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Three online directories can help you locate recycled office furniture dealers in your area. ReSources.com lists brokers of used, refurbished and remanufactured furniture in its ReCycled Furniture Directory. There is also an inventory of used furniture on the website. I clicked into “Seating” and found like-new conference tables and files, and office chairs with full warrantees from Herman Miller and Kohl. You can also browse through the Furniture Dealer Directory at Workspace Resources for recycled office furniture dealers and refurbishers, or the Office Furniture Recycler’s Forum’s member directory. Interior designers routinely request samples to help clients choose textiles. What can be done with these materials at the end of a project? The Association of Contract Textiles Sample Return and Reuse Program places sample-deposit boxes with hundreds of design firms. Designers ship full boxes to a North Carolina nonprofit, Watauga Opportunities, that sends the samples back to their manufacturers and mails the participating design firm a replacement collection box. Contract Interiors Network: http://www.ReSources.com Workspace Resources: http://www.workspace-resources.com Office Furniture Recycler’s Forum: [sorry this link is no longer available] Association for Contract Textiles: http://www.contract-textiles.com
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Dell Computer is the most environmentally sensitive computer manufacturer and IBM is number two according to Innovest Strategic Value Advisors. The others in the top five are Compaq, Quantum, and Apple Computer. The worst eco-performers are Data General, Western Digital, Silicon Graphics, and Gateway. Innovest, a NY-based company, conducts research to demonstrate the relationship between company environmental initiatives and financial performance. Their research indicates that environmentally proactive companies tend to have stronger management in general, and therefore perform better financially. The trend is consistent in the industries they have studied so far – energy, chemical and computer. Environmentally active firms outperform those ranked last by about 25 percent. Some of the indicators they used to determine environmental excellence among computer manufacturers were whether a company has a take-back program for old computers, energy efficiency ratings for computers, and the amount of pollution generated by manufacturing plants. Thanks to Robert Gregory for notifying me of this.
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In May, just a few weeks after receiving their country license from The Natural Step International Board, TNS South Africa learned that Desmond Tutu agreed to be their Patron. “Of all the great South African leaders to have emerged at the end of this century, none carries the torch of integrity and compassion for humanity higher than Tutu. We are deeply honored and enormously excited that The Natural Step will be traveling under his banner in this part of Africa,” commented Peter Willis, Executive Director of TNS South Africa.
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Greenleaf Publishing is looking for contributors for its forthcoming book, “Greener Manufacturing and Operations, From Design to Delivery and Back”, to be edited by Joseph Sarkis and published around November 2000. Send an abstract of 300-400 words via email attachment before December 15, 1999. The book will cover design for the environment, total quality environmental management, green supply chains, environmental management systems and standards, zero emissions, and source reduction. Joseph Sarkis, Clark University, Graduate School of Management http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com
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Monsanto is far from giving up on GMOs, but in response to world-wide pressure the company decided to halt its efforts to commercialize Terminator seeds. The technology renders seeds sterile after one season and forces farmers to purchase seeds each year from Monsanto. Although European resistance to genetically modified organisms in food is well-know, Asian governments and activists are confronting the issue even more aggressively. Kirin and Sapporo, the two largest Japanese breweries, no longer use GM grains, and the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is investigating whether corn snacks sold there contain the organisms and may conduct random tests of all snack foods. South Korea’s Agriculture and Forestry Ministry is deciding which items must be labeled by year end. In the Philippines, the government declared that if environmental disasters result from current field tests of GM corn the companies will face civil and criminal sanctions. Farmers can sue the companies if tests prove damaging to their farmlands. Labeling may become easier now that a simple test – as simple as a home pregnancy test – can determine in minutes whether a product contains GMOs. Since GMOs have a different protein than naturally occurring plants, the test determines […]
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In 1995, Indonesia introduced the first public environmental reporting initiative in a developing country, the Program for Pollution Control, Evaluation, and Rating (PROPER). Under this system, companies receive one of five color ratings based on their environmental performance, and the results are publicly reported. Gold: clean technology, waste minimization, pollution prevention. Green: exceeds minimum standards Blue: meets minimum standards Red: do not meet minimum standards Black: no pollution control effort, serious environmental damage Between 1995-1997, the 200 large water polluting factories that participated improved their compliance level from 34 – 51 percent. Shakeh Afsah, PROPER developer, conducted a survey of these facilities and found that accurate information and structured reports and ratings enabled the companies to identify and compare their performance with similar facilities. Afsah is tailoring versions of the system for governments in Columbia, Thailand and India. In India, the Cement Manufacturers Association is modifying the program to focus on environmental performance, energy efficiency and carbon emissions. He is applying the principles to forest certification as part of a USAID project in Indonesia. Shakeh Afsah, International Resources Group: safsah@irgltd.com Source: Environment Health & Safety Newsletter: thunder@pipeline.com
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The Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems is a mammoth project that will summarize the totality of human knowledge about sustainable development at the beginning of the new millennium. Supported by UNESCO, this global research project is designed to educate policy makers and individuals and set the research agenda on sustainable development in all disciplines that affect knowledge of the issue. The Encyclopedia will be published on a CD-ROM. It is divided into six areas: Global Sustainable Development, Water, Energy, Environment, Food and Agriculture, and Knowledge Foundations. One of the sub-sections is on ecological economics and experts in the field are invited to contribute. There are eight themes in the section: 1) ecologically sustainable corporate practices 2) complexity and chaos in environmental-economic interactions 3) system dynamics in policy making 4) system dynamics in resource management policy 5) foundations and historical roots of ecological economics 6) principles of ecological economics 7) policy Issues and ecological economics 8) the cultural dimension of ecological economics Contact Roderic A Gill, New England Ecological Economics Group (NEEEG) and visit the website. Encyclopedia website: http://www.eolss.co.uk
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