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The Green Week in Review is a podcast, hosted by SustainableBusiness.com News Editor Bart King. It’s posted every Friday morning and is about 15 minutes long. You can listen to it through your browser or download it to a portable MP3 player. Sign up for our General News RSS Feed and it will be automatically downloaded to your computer’s media player each week. In this week’s show… A summary of announcements coming from the 2009 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Ford, BYD, Toyota and Honda announce timelines for the rollout of new hybrids and plug-ins, and Tesla Motors announces a deal with Daimler AG. A new bill proposed in the U.S. House and Senate that would create incentives for people to upgrade from gas guzzlers to more fuel efficient vehicles. And president-elect Barack Obama’s pledge to double the nation’s supply of alternative energy in the next three years. Plus, as always, a quick review of top cleantech stories from the week. ++++ The music in today’s show is from the CD Union Park and Magnolia Street by Athens, GA-based singer-songwriter Jason Beckham.
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By Bart King I live in one of the many brick, ranch-style houses built across the United States in the 1960s. Along with split-levels from the same period, these homes seem to be rock-solid and have weathered well over the years. But energy efficiency is a different story. My house is certainly “tighter” than the turn-of-the-century homes in more desirable in-town neighborhoods, but this time of year my furnace only takes brief pauses to catch its breath. I’ve done what I can—insulating hot water pipes, caulking windows and adding weather stripping. But I’ve had to prioritize the big jobs—weighing my desire for new windows, metal roofing, and more insulation against my willingness (or ability) to take on home-equity debt. That’s one reason why I’ve got my eye on the National Clean Energy Lending Authority, as proposed by U.S. Representatives Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.). Like hundreds of other lawmakers, lobbyists and scientists with an idea for saving the country, these two have written to president-elect Obama, asking for the creation of a $10 billion “green bank” to finance the transformation of the energy sector. In addition to funding alternative energy projects for which private financing has become […]
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GM to Buy Lithium-Ion Batteries for the Chevy Volt from LG Chem Chrysler, Ford, and Other Automakers Pursue Electric Vehicles Honda and Toyota Face Off with New and Updated Hybrids Advanced Gasoline and Diesel Engines Also Offer High Fuel Economy Progressive Automotive X Prize Expanded to Include Major Automakers U.S. Army to Lease 4,000 Neighborhood Electric Vehicles GM to Buy Lithium-Ion Batteries for Chevy Volt from LG Chem General Motors Corp (GM) announced on Monday that South Korea’s LG Chem will supply the lithium-ion batteries for the automaker’s upcoming plug-in hybrid vehicle, the Chevrolet Volt. In mid-2007, GM awarded a battery development contract to Compact Power, Inc. (CPI), a subsidiary of LG Chem, under which LG Chem developed the lithium-ion batteries and CPI integrated them into battery packs. However, GM has decided to build the battery packs itself at a U.S. manufacturing plant to be located in Michigan. Facility preparations will begin in the near future, with the production tooling installed by mid-year to support actual production in 2010. While the GM facility is being prepared, CPI will continue to manufacture the battery packs for the Chevy Volt prototypes. The Chevy Volt’s 16-kilowatt-hour battery pack is T-shaped, with the longer […]
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Two months ago, the New York Times ran a major spread about an economic renaissance in our neighboring town of Hardwick, Vermont. The upbeat story highlighted a group of fledgling, food-related companies that have aligned themselves in building a sustainable local economy. In an article a few weeks earlier, the Times had reported that in the first six months of 2008, 30 countries had seen food riots in the face of dwindling supplies and soaring costs. These two stories-worlds apart in all obvious respects but they can be linked in at least one way: the cooperative, local-foods model of the Hardwick entrepreneurs points in a direction that could help ease food shortages in Haiti, Indonesia, Mauritania, and myriad other hungry places around the world. The basic model consists of small-scale, locally based businesses cooperating intensively with each other to mutual advantage in a competitive marketplace. Here’s how it works in Hardwick, Vermont: Brothers Andy and Mateo Kehler make prize-winning organic cheeses at nearby Jasper Hill Farm. Their whey byproduct is a key ingredient in a new, nontoxic wood finish manufactured by Vermont Natural Coatings, a company owned by their friend, Andrew Meyers. Vermont Soy, co-located with the wood-finish company, makes […]
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The Green Week in Review is a podcast, hosted by SustainableBusiness.com News Editor Bart King. It’s posted every Friday morning and is about 15 minutes long. You can listen to it through your browser or download it to a portable MP3 player. Sign up for our General News RSS Feed and it will be automatically downloaded to your computer’s media player each week. In this week’s show… The coal ash disaster in Tennessee and Dynegy’s withdrawal of a joint venture to build additional coal-fired power plants. Also, groundbreaking recycling initiatives by Hewlett-Packard and Motorola. Plus, a review of international and domestic policy stories: Asia News Summary Low Carbon Fuels Standard NYC LED Street Lamps State News Round-Up And, as always, a quick review of top cleantech stories from the battery industry, solar and more. ++++ The music in today’s show is from the CD Life in the Mirror by Athens, GA-based singer-songwriter Spencer Frye.
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By Bart King When I read that Dr. James Hansen, head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, sent a letter to Barack Obama asking that-among other things-he renew funding for nuclear research, it got my attention. I have been against the proliferation of nuclear power on the grounds that air and water pollution are bad enough. Radioactive pollution that remains a threat for thousands of years is simply abhorrent. Also, like many other people, I am frightened by nuclear’s unnaturally destructive potential. However, I admit that my knowledge of what are called "fourth generation" nuclear power plants (NPPs) was exceedingly limited. Thus, when Hansen, whom I respect for his early and sustained warnings on climate change (not to mention his stand against the Bush Administration’s censoring of scientists) said a new class of NPPs could burn nuclear waste as fuel, I decided to get more informed. Of course, doing so is no easy task, because when an industry is positioning itself for billions of dollars worth of investments and revenues, it’s easy to see how information might get "massaged" to fit a particular end. And on the other side of the fence there are people like myself, who-despite its […]
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EIA Projects a Clean Energy Shift that Stifles Oil Growth Federal Tax Credits Return for Efficiency Improvements to Homes DOE Awards 16 Contracts for Energy Savings at Federal Facilities Residential Water Heaters can now Carry the Energy Star Label BLM Finalizes Plans to Open 190 Million Acres to Geothermal Power DOE Offers up to $200 Million for Integrated Biorefineries EIA Projects a Clean Energy Shift that Stifles Oil Growth The latest look into the future of U.S. energy use from DOE’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects a steady growth in renewable energy use, a dramatic shift toward cleaner vehicles, and a rapid growth of biofuels, resulting in virtually no growth in U.S. oil consumption through 2030. The reference case for the EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2009, released on December 17, projects renewable energy use to increase steadily at 3.3% per year, with renewable energy power plants competing mainly with natural gas for new additions to the nation’s power generating capacity. The EIA’s crystal ball also reveals a significant decline in light truck sales and a sharp increase in the sale of unconventional vehicle technologies, as hybrid vehicles account for 38% of all new vehicle sales by 2030. That includes sales […]
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On December 18th, 2008, our Marketing Director Terry Reiber had the privilege of interviewing James Howard Kunstler, author of "The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Tweny-First Century". For those of you unfamiliar with The Long Emergency, Kunstler’s book is based on the premise that we’re past peak oil – easy access to abundent and cheap oil is no longer an option. Kunstler paints a bleak picture of a painful and unplanned transition from an oil economy, made more painful if society prefers to be in denial that a Long Emergency awaits us if we don’t act prudently now. I asked Jim if the sustainable movement could some way help and ameliorate this transition. I hope you enjoy the conversation that follows!
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This is the third installment of Green Week in Review, SustainableBusiness.com’s podcast, hosted by SB.com News Editor Bart King. We post a podcast every Friday morning–about 15 minutes long. You can listen to it through your browser or download it to a portable MP3 player. Sign up for our General News RSS Feed and it will be automatically downloaded to your computer’s media player each week. The next show will be posted on Friday, January 9, 2009. This week’s show… Our top story is the world’s first mass-produced plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, on sale now in China. Also, we’ll take a look at Obama’s picks to head the Department of the Interior and the Agriculture Department. A promising carbon sequestration method revived from a soil amendment technique practiced 500 years ago in the Amazon Basin. And a disturbing report about oil supply predictions as determined by the International Energy Agency. Plus, get a quick review on Toyota’s cancelled Prius plant, the first commercial hydrokinetic project in the U.S., a new solar factory in New Mexico and more.
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By Bart King News of a potential collapse in the U.S. recycling industry is beginning to spread. The industry has enjoyed record-setting growth in the last five years, driven by rising commodity prices for oil and metals, as well as increased demand for post-consumer materials in China, where rubber and paper are given second lives as shoe soles, shower mats and packaging for thousands of other products manufactured in the country. But as the effects of economic downturn have spread around the globe in recent months, demand for consumer goods has fallen and the bottom has dropped out of the market for oil and metals. As a result, the demand for recyclables is drying up. The New York Times reported last week that scrap cardboard, plastic and metal are piling up across the nation. Recycling contractors are warehousing these materials, because they are either unable to find buyers or they hope prices will soon rebound. Awareness is beginning to flow up the recycling stream to families and businesses who dutifully set their recycling bins curbside each week: recycling is driven by profit, not principle. And if municipalities begin directing cans and newspapers to the dump, I expect there will be […]
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