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Cornell’s Work and Environment Institute is at the center of eco-industrial park development. An impressive number of EIPs are moving from concept to reality; you can stay informed through their new newsletter. Bet you didn’t know all these parks are in the works: Mesa Del Sol, Albuquerque, NM (covered in March Spotlight section) Sustainable Technology Park, Cape Charles, VA Ebara Corporation, Japan Londonderry Eco-Industrial Park, NH Riverside Eco-Park Project, Burlington, VT Red Hills Ecoplex, Jackson, MS Fairfield Industrial Park Baltimore, MD Sustainable Boston, MA Industrial Ecosystem Development Project, Research Triangle, NC Eco-Industrial Park, East San Francisco Bay, CA Burnside Industrial Park as an Ecosystem, Nova Scotia, Canada The Aurora Project, Endicott, NY Brownfield Redevelopment, Cowpens, SC Wood Products-Based Eco-Industrial Park, Edisto River Basin, SC SMART Park, Chattanooga, TN Phillips Eco-Enterprise Center, The Green Institute, MN [sorry this link is no longer available]
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Based on the experience of Renewable Energy Alliance (REA) members in the deregulated markets of California, New England and Pennsylvania, the group released a paper which lists the policies necessary to develop a vibrant, competitive retail market for renewable power. “The rules adopted by each state literally make or break the existence of a competitive retail market,” says Tom Rawls, Director of Environmental Affairs for Green Mountain Energy Resources. REA calls for states to: — Establish meaningful price competition, — Open competition to all customer classes simultaneously, — Avoid unnecessary regulatory barriers to customers who want to switch, — Make renewable energy policies friendly to the market REA also provides guidelines on the type of information needed for individuals to evaluate competing electricity products. Read the full text of “Electric Industry Restructuring Principles: Realizing the Benefits of Retail Electricity Choice”: [sorry this link is no longer available] A working group of organizations is building support for public benefits funding to underwrite energy efficiency, renewable energy, and low-income programs. Learn more about the group’s progress and how to initiate similar efforts in your state: [sorry this link is no longer available]
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A new DaimlerChrysler policy requires 30 percent recycled content in all auto parts by 2002. The policy will be adopted in phases: plastic parts must contain 10% this year, and 20% by 2000. There are about 350 pounds of plastic in a typical car. The requirement for metal parts will be higher, but steel commonly has a high recycled content. FROM Waste Reduction Tips
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The idea of producing zero emissions doesn’t seem so impossible once major corporations find they can do it. Beer-making is one of the easiest manufacturing processes to operate under a no-waste, closed-loop system, and four leading Japanese breweries have signed on – Kirin, Sapporo, Asahi, and Suntory. Sake maker Kizakura and Fuji Xerox have a zero-waste factory. NEC, Honda, Sharp, Hitachi, and Omron are committed to implementing it at one or more factories, and Sanyo and Coca-Cola Bottling Japan have expressed interest in the concept. Ebara Corporation is promoting the zero emissions concept throughout Japan through its recently established Zero Emissions Network. Ebara also has started an eco-industrial park in Fujisawa. For more information, contact Lawrence Molloy: molloy@halcyon.comZERI Foundation: http://www.zeri.org FROM The Green Business Letter
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We keep hearing about the availability of electric bikes, but where do you buy one? On the Internet, of course! Two online shops are now open for business, ZAP and EV World. ZAP, a leading manufacturer of electric bikes and scooters, sells bikes, an electric power assist kit to install on any bike, scooters, and other electric vehicles. EV World sells ZAP and U.S. Prodrive bikes. [sorry this link is no longer available] [sorry this link is no longer available]
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Shannon Glynn is one of 50 college students at Biosphere 2 (Arizona) participating in Columbia University’s “Earth Semester,” an innovative four-and-a-half-month, 16-credit undergraduate program. Since 1996, more than 250 students from around the world have participated in the program. Stellar faculty and students are chosen through a rigorous application and interview process–no slackers here. The days are long and the work is hard. A typical day begins with a hike around campus, followed by morning classes such as Conservation Biology, Planetary Management and a course in Law, Politics and the Economics of Global Change. Lectures and research occupy the afternoons and evenings. Originally constructed as a miniature version of Earths biosphere, the $200 million glass-and-steel structure covers three acres and contains five wilderness biomes: a coastal desert, a marsh, a savanna, an equatorial rainforest and an artificial ocean. In 1991, eight people passed through an airlock to spend two years as human guinea pigs in the land-locked space station. Although things went well for the first year, the second was plagued by a mysterious drop in oxygen, high levels of nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide, and massive crop failures. Regarded as pseudoscience by many academics, the Biosphere was finally shut […]
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The San Francisco-based nonprofit Investors’ Circle (IC) is a relatively exclusive club; it requires its members have at least $1 million ready to go to work. Its 160 members, chosen on an invitation-only basis, have circulated $44 million in investment capital among 100 socially-responsible companies. IC, founded in 1991, holds two Social Venture Fairs each year, and 15 startups lucky enough to survive the cut (thousands apply) are allowed to make presentations to an audience they know have checkbooks ready. According to Jeanne Trombly, IC’s manager of west coast operations, some members have inherited wealth, others are cashed-out entrepreneurs or foundation fund managers. “We have members who aren’t savvy in venture capital investing, but they have the tools, the means and the money,” says Trombly, who adds that IC holds regular investment seminars and other programs. At IC’s Social Venture Fairs, the “hit rate” for new investments ranging from $25,000 to $3 million is 44 percent, considered to be extremely high in the world of investor capital. According to Bruce Holm, CFO of Agra Quest, an agricultural biology company that made a pitch at a recent fair, “After the presentation, we were swarmed by interested potential investors. Mike Korchinsky, president […]
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Volvo’s new S80, available in Europe, is the first car to be put through the paces of life cycle analysis. Its five-cylinder engine of 140 bhp is rated at EEG 93/116 for fuel consumption; it weighs 1,500 kg and has a top speed of over 200 km/h. Volvo’s Environmental Priorities System analyzes the environmental impact of every material element in the vehicle including mining, production of raw materials, transportation of the products, vehicle manufacture, what the vehicle will consume during its use, and finally, its disposal. The Volvo MOTIV Chemical Database details the environmental and health effects of each chemical used in the manufacturing of its cars, as well as 2000 chemicals the company will not use such as CFCs, halogens, and chlorinated paraffins. The company has started the “Environmental Car Recycling in Scandanavia” program which dismantles vehicles to minimize environmental impact and finds markets for recycled materials. A bi-fuel version of the S80 will be introduced this year, which will run on a choice of methane (natural gas or biogas) or petrol.
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Even with the growth currently occurring in many renewable energy sectors, DOE predicts only an 8 percent share of world energy use through 2020, according to its International Energy Outlook for 1998. As long as oil prices are low, it will be difficult to make much more progress, although the Kyoto protocol has increased interest. DOE expects renewable consumption to increase by 67 percent (from 1995), or 8 percent of the total market. The major increase will be in developing nations, where major hydro projects are in the works. The report notes positive developments such as Enron’s purchase of Zond and Tacke, BP’s plans to exceed solar sales of $1 billion a year within a decade, and Royal Dutch Shell’s plan to invest $500 million in renewables over the next five years. North America: renewable energy use will increase by 1.3% annually, to 10% of total energy use. In the U.S., municipal solid waste, wind and biomass will lead growth; wind capacity will double. In Canada, there will be a 30% increase in hydro between 2010-2020. Despite a range of Canadian initiatives, DOE expects only a small part of total energy needs will be met from renewables. Western Europe: renewables […]
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Two U.S. Navy facilities in Virginia will be the first beneficiaries of a Department of Energy program to place performance-based geothermal heat pump projects at federal facilities throughout the nation. DOE expects the contracts to provide $500 million in jobs while saving 20-40 percent in energy consumption at each site. Any of the 500,000 federal sites in the U.S. may use the contracts. During the term of the contract, the selected companies finance and implement the projects in exchange for a percentage of the energy cost savings. After the contract expires, the government keeps all remaining cost savings. DOE expects to save close to $10 billion.
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