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Linking Pay to Social PerformanceShareholder resolutions on executive compensation are one of most contentious issues companies face. This is largely in response to Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code. It places a ceiling of $1 million that companies can deduct from the income of its top five executives – unless payments meet certain conditions. One of those conditions is if shareholders approve performance-based compensation. As a result, many companies now link executive pay to performance criteria. Companies increasingly link executive pay to social criteria such as diversity, customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction, and environmental performance.Almost two-thirds of 106 S&P 500 manufacturing companies say that environmental performance is a factor in senior executive pay. Three-quarters of the 106 companies include it as a factor in operating manager compensation. Companies include Alcoa, Black & Decker, Cinergy, Dow Chemical, FPL Group, Hasbro, Millipore, Phillips Petroleum, Raytheon and Conoco. The Investor Responsibility Research Center’s Environmental Information Service conducted the survey in 2000. “Linking Executive Pay to Social Performance” is a new report by Business for Social Responsibility. [sorry this link is no longer available]. Click on Global Business Responsibility Resource Center. Then click on Governance and Accountability. “Mild” Corporate Greening in EuropeA survey […]
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DOE Unveils EnergyPlusThe Department of Energy (DOE) has improved on its widely used DOE-2 software with its new release, EnergyPlus. The computer program allows architects, engineers, building owners and managers to dramatically lower energy use in buildings while optimizing building performance. The earlier version saved a total of $20 billion, according to DOE.EnergyPlus improves the simulation of whole building approaches in design, planning and construction. Like DOE-2, users can calculate the impact of different heating, cooling and ventilating equipment, and various types of lighting and windows to maximize building energy efficiency and occupant comfort. Now, users can also simulate the effect of window blinds, electrochromic window glazings and complex daylighting systems. Some of the buildings that have benefited from the program are the Pentagon, Monterey Bay Aquarium, San Francisco Airport, Intel and American Express corporate headquarters, and the Frank Lloyd Wright Museum in Wisconsin. Download EnergyPlus: [sorry this link is no longer available]After you’ve used EnergyPlus to optimize energy performance, you can turn to Atlantic Energy System’s Clean Power Estimator to do the same for solar systems.Enter your zip code and get an estimate of the net annual cost of a PV system (residential or commercial) in your location. The […]
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The Turner Foundation, known for its support of environmental non-profits, is the lead investor in Future Energy Resources Corporation, a company working to commercialize a gasification process that generates electricity from biomass products. Considered by many to be a significant technological advance, it is the first process that can use a wide range of feedstocks including grasses, agricultural waste, wood products and municipal waste. The resulting gas can be used for electricity and transportation; it provides renewable energy at an economical price with low emissions. It also provides an important revenue source for farmers. Farmers can market waste that was previously a burden, and plant grasses such as switchgrass that are valuable for crop rotation and to restore eroded land. The first-of-its-kind commercial scale gasifier mixes biomass products with sand and heats them to 1800 degrees Fahrenheit, transforming carbon, hydrogen and oxygen to combustible gases. The technology holds the promise of allowing bioenergy plants to compete with fossil fuels. The U.S. Department of Energy provided $27 million to FERCO as a demonstration project at the Joseph C. McNeil Generating Station in Burlington, Vermont. The company was created in 1992 to commercialize a biomass gasification process developed by the Battelle Memorial […]
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New Solar Venture Capital FundSolar Development Capital (SDC) is a 10-year, $28.75 million private equity fund designed to invest globally in PV-related businesses. It will be managed by Triodos PV Partners and invest in companies that distribute PV products or services in unelectrified rural areas in developing nations. Most companies will provide customer leasing or credit that extends payments to overcome the initial expense of installing PV systems. SDC is working with the Solar Development Foundation to support entrepreneurs with funding for management, technical and market assistance. Projects have been identified in Africa, Asia and Latin America.Lead investors are the International Finance Corporation (for its own account and acting on behalf of the Global Environment Facility), the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs and Triodos Groenfonds. Other investors include AstroPower, Inc., Calvert World Values International Equity Fund, Cordaid, Rabo Sustainability Fund and the Wind Fund. The World Bank Group and several charitable foundations initiated the Solar Development program. Management was awarded to Triodos PV Partners, formed by Triodos Bank Group, Environmental Enterprises, and Global Transition Consulting, who collectively have $280M under management and broad experience with PV businesses. See our Business Opportunities section for a list of VCs that invest […]
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How to motivate consumers to save money and electricity
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Tembec Inc., one of Canada’s largest forest products companies and owner of over 13 million hectares (50,000 square miles) is undergoing Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for all its forest operations. They hope to complete the process by 2005, a “challenging but realistic” timeframe, according to World Wildlife Fund of Canada, the group that secured the pledge. Currently, 19 million hectares worldwide are FSC-certified. The company recently received ISO 14001 certification for all forestry operations, pulp and paper mills, and most sawmills. Both certifications are part of Tembec’s “Forever Green” program to integrate sustainable forest management practices throughout company operations. Another Tembec program, “Impact Zero”, focuses on minimizing the environmental impact of fiber processing activities, also with an implementation target of 2005. Tembec is one of the 30 largest wood product companies in the world with 8000 employees, 39 manufacturing facilities, and gross sales of CA$2.6 billion. Its mills produce more than 1 billion board feet of softwood, finger-jointed and hardwood lumber, flooring, Oriented Strand Board, and laminated-veneer lumber. Tembec also runs pulp, paper, paperboard, and chemical operations. http://www.tembec.comTimber company Cikel Brasil Verde in Brazil announced the company will seek FSC certification of over 140,000 hectares of forestland. This doubles […]
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From From left: Agricultural ministers Renate Knast (Germany), Ritt Bjerregaard (Denmark) and Margareta Winberg (Sweden) at the presentation of the Copenhagen Declaration at the European Conference – Organic Food and FarmingOn May 11, Agriculture ministers from 12 European countries signed the Copenhagen Declaration – it calls for the development of a European action plan for organic farming and food to be created over the next two years. Denmark’s agriculture ministry calls it a breakthrough for the European organic movement. Signatories to the Declaration are Denmark, Germany, Austria, Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK, Ireland and Greece, plus non-EU members Estonia, Lithuania, Norway and Switzerland. The Declaration acknowledges the important role organic food production can play in addressing food issues such as the safety of genetically modified foods, mad cow disease, dioxin in animal feeds, and foot and mouth disease in cattle and sheep. It notes that organic food is becoming a major opportunity for European food producers in light of the “growing consumer interest in certified organic products.” [sorry this link is no longer available]In the UK, organic food prices dropped dramatically in recent months, spurred by record sales last year. Supermarket chain Tesco reports that the number of organic food […]
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Find a car pool buddy in any U.S. region
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LEAP2000 (Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning), is a Windows-based software tool that helps energy and environmental professionals grasp key energy policy questions by allowing them to move rapidly from policy ideas to policy analysis. The scenario-based energy-environment modeling tool enables users to predict The Diagram view shows the main energy flows in your system from resource extraction, through conversion and transport of fuels, through to final energy demand.energy requirements, social costs/ benefits and environmental impacts of various energy systems under specific policy conditions and socio-economic settings. Earlier versions of LEAP have been used by 200 organizations in over 60 countries to develop local, national and regional energy strategies, conduct greenhouse gas mitigation assessments, and train professionals in sustainable energy analysis. LEAP 2000 offers updated information on energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other technologies. The software is on-line and is free to non-profit and governmental organizations in developing countries.LEAP2 training materials include region-specific exercises in local languages. The materials challenge participants to analyze typical energy-environment policy dilemmas, and think about the tradeoffs inherent in different policy options. The Stockholm Environment Institute, at the Boston Center, designed the tool with funding from The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Directorate General for Development Cooperation.Decision […]
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Few green businesses have branded themselves clearly in the public eye. This is an immense opportunity.
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