1435 Search Results for "energy"

• Better Light with Less Energy Better Light with Less Energy

  • From: eddiewright
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    Europe is switching to energy-saving light bulbs. But many consumers think that their performance does not match their old-fashioned counterparts. To improve citizens’ knowledge of the new 2^nd generation low-energy light bulbs, the European Commission has made a 2-minute cartoon and launched a website.

     

    The ‘Better Light with Less Energy’ cartoon is short, simple and funny. It shows the viewer that 2^nd generation low-energy light bulbs are readily available, that their performance is better than the 1^st generation's, and that they are far more economical than their incandescent counterparts. 

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• Mafia cash in on lucrative EU Mafia cash in on lucrative EU wind farm handouts - especially in Sicily

  • From: arboinks
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    An ill wind is blowing over Italy's green revolution, as the Mafia seek to capitalise on generous grants for renewable energy.

    

    Photo: AFP/GETTY IMAGES

    They rise up high above the sun-scorched countryside, looking out over hilltop villages, palm trees, neatly-tended vineyards and olive groves.

    But for all their promises of a clean, green future, Italy's windfarms have now acquired a somewhat dirtier whiff - as the latest industry to be infiltrated by the country's mobsters.

    Attracted by the prospect of generous grants designed to boost the use of alternative energies, the so-called "eco Mafia" has begun fraudulently creaming off millions of euros from both the Italian government and the European Union.

    And nowhere has the industry's reputation become more tarnished than Sicily, where windmills now dot the horizon in Mafia strongholds like Corleone, the town better known as the setting for the Godfatherfilms.

    "Nothing earns more than a wind farm," said Edoardo Zanchini, an environmental campaigner who has investigated Mafia infiltration of the industry. "Anything that creates wealth interests the Mafia."

    It is not just Italian criminals, however, who have spotted the potential for corruption. Recent research by Kroll, the international corporate security firm, has discovered examples all over Europe of so-called "clean energy" schemes being used to to line criminals' pockets rather than save the planet. Some involve windmills that stand derelict or are simply never built, while others are used to launder profits from other crime enterprises.

    "Renewable energy seems like a good thing, run by saintly people saving the world," said Jason Wright, a senior director with Kroll, which performs background checks on renewable energy schemes on behalf of legitimate investors, and which has documented a sharp rise in the number of wind farms with suspect ownership.

    "But a lot of people want to jump on board a sure-fire revenue spinner. I wouldn't say the entire sector is corrupt, but there is a small percentage of corrupt projects."

    The level of fraud has prompted calls for tighter restrictions on the use of public money in funding renewable energy, for which EU bureaucrats have grand ambitions. Brussels has ordered all 27 EU nations to ensure that one-fifth of their energy is renewable by 2020, and in recent years has given out an average of €5 billion (£4.1 billion) annually in loans and grants. The levels of subsidy allow some wind farm owners to claim generous premiums for every watt of electricity they generate.

    In Italy, for example, power from wind farms is sold at a guaranteed rate of €180 per kwh – the highest rate in the world. In a country where the Mafia has years of expertise at buying corrupt politicians and intimidating rivals, the result is perhaps inevitable, creating a new breed of entrepreneur known as the "lords of the wind".

    Around 30 wind farms have been built in Sicily, with another 60 planned, often to the anger of local people, who say they blight an otherwise picturesque landscape. Dino Leggio, 33, a barman in Corleone, claimed that many of the turbines that now dotted the island made money only for politicians and the Mafia.

    "Nobody consulted ordinary people about putting up these huge great things," he told The Sunday Telegraph. "They are very tall, and very ugly. Before they start pumping millions of euros into wind farms, they should fix the roads, which are in a terrible state."

    While many of the wind farms in Sicily are in legitimate hands, some have already attracted the attention of the police. Last year, detectives launched a major investigation into suspicions that Mafia clans had colluded with corrupt businessmen and local politicians to secure control of a project to construct wind turbines in the Trapani area of western Sicily.

    Eight people were arrested in Operation "Eolo", named after Aeolus, the ancient Greek god of winds, on charges of bribing officials in the coastal town of Mazara del Vallo with gifts of luxury cars and individual bribes of €30,000-70,000.

    Police wiretaps showed the extent of the Mafia's infiltration of the wind energy sector when they intercepted an alleged Mafioso telling his wife: "Not one turbine blade will be built in Mazara unless I agree to it."

    In another operation last November, codenamed "Gone With the Wind", 15 people were arrested on suspicion of trying to embezzle up to €30 million in EU funds. Among those arrested on fraud charges was the president of Italy's National Wind Energy Association, Oreste Vigorito. He has not been convictued of an offence and denies any wrongdoing.

    Further afield, scandals have emerged in Spain, Romania, Bulgaria and Corsica, among others. In one alleged scam on the Canary Islands, a mayor, five officials and two developers are fighting criminal charges that include abuse of office, bribery and misappropriation of land in an attempt to secure EU subsidies.

    One case in Spain, meanwhile, involved a solar energy plant which claimed, miraculously, to be generating electricity at night. Investigators found that that the power was in fact being produced by diesel generators - the "green" subsidies paid for the plant were so generous that the owners still made a handsome profit.

    As well as the prospect of fraudulent grant money, wind farms are also attractive to criminals seeking to invest money from illegal activities such as drug dealing, prostitution and illegal waste dumping. Some Mafia clans have illicitly secured licenses to build a wind farm and then sold them on to legitimate firms who have invested in good faith.

    "Foreign investors are often not aware who they are dealing with," said Mr Wright. "You start to be alarmed if the shareholders have a background in something like pizzerias."

    John Etherington, a former professor of ecology at the University of Wales and author of The Wind Farm Scam, said the industry was vulnerable to corruption because of poor regulation. The EU, which has an anti-fraud unit, currently has no criminal proceedings on any wind farm cases, insisting it is the responsibility of member states to monitor funding.

    "It has been a matter of policy in the wind farm industry to make the financing of it both opaque and complicated," said Mr Etherington. "In all countries across Europe the customer is not told how much they are paying for it, and the whole financing of the industry is coming out of subsidy on electricity generation."

    Despite the scandals over Mafia infiltration, there have been very few protests against wind farms in Italy. Instead, farmers have leapt at the chance to rent out their land for wind farm construction at a time when the price of agricultural produce such as grapes and tomatoes has plummeted.

    "Why get up early every morning to work the land, and run the risk of not being able to sell your crops for a good price, when you can sit at home and take 10,000 euros a year in rent?" said Nicola Angelo, a Sicilian businessman. "People here have swallowed the idea of wind farms, even though they have ruined the landscape."

    But David Moss, a British building contractor based in the Sicilian hilltop town of Salemi, which is surrounded by whirring turbines, suggested that was not the only reason for the absence of wind-farm "Nimbyism".

    "In the UK, if a company proposed putting up 100 turbines across the countryside, there would be an uproar," he said. "In Italy, everyone keeps quiet because they are afraid to stand up to the Mafia."

    Source:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

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• The Solar Ibex uses solar ener The Solar Ibex uses solar energy to cook food outdoors with a zero carbon footprint

  • From: arboinks
  • Description:

    Planning to steal some sunlight to cook your food out in the open? Well, you could just use the Solar Ibex, an outdoor cooking system with a high performance and an auto tracking sun ray concentrator! Now cooking food has never been so high-tech before, especially in the open. Our forefathers used stoves and pieces of coal to cook their food away from their kitchens. We could use some renewable energy instead, now that the environment needs saving. The Solar Ibex is packed with features such as an adjustable cooking time, up to 300 degrees Celsius of heating and can cook, boil and bake too!

    
    

    The Solar Ibex is lightweight and folds up easily, allowing you to carry it around with you anywhere. Also, taken that it uses renewable energy to cook food, this one has a zero carbon footprint. The clean and green Solar Ibex makes sure you don’t run out of cooked food in the outdoors.

    Source: http://www.greenlaunches.com/

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• Sustainable and Green vacation Sustainable and Green vacations

  • From: arboinks
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    We all love vacations, it is what we save for, dream of and sweat for a long time in order to make few days of resting and unwinding. By principal, hospitality and Sustainability seems to be contradictory terms which cannot work together. After all, you go to a hotel so people will cook, clean, wash for you, entertain you and care for you in so many other ways. The more luxurious the hotel, the more waste is created for every small effort, and then we go into cruise ships, luxury vacation mansions and 6+ stars hotels, which we do not even need to mention. Could it be that it is only a perception problem? Can hotels really be Sustainable and Green while still being successful?

    I remember my vacation in one of the Club Med hotels in early 2000, the amount of food that was wasted in one buffet was enough of feed a medium size town, the waste was so overwhelming you could not help but wonder if all parameters flew out of the window.

    I am happy to say that things have improve in many ways, and club Med is now one of the pioneers in Green and Sustainability  industry in terms of sustainability and efficiency (http://bit.ly/abaIt7 ) it even has a dedicated line of super Sustainable retreat accommodations for nature lovers (http://bit.ly/cc7FIz ) .

    With Buildings consuming up to 40% of the energy worldwide, and up to 70% of the raw materials, working on efficiency and Sustainability in some of the most wasteful ones of all, the hotel and hospitality industry, can save enormously. There were always eco-tourism focused accommodations which were geared towards that specific market, but when it came to the mainstream, it was a marginal and minor trend until around 2002.

    Since then, as awareness rose, the industry adopted in neck breaking speed.  By today, there are already talks about hotels sustainability 2.0 and talks that even that is not enough.  For example, the new American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) 2010 Lodging Survey, the most comprehensive industry-wide survey of its kind, polled 9,000 U.S. hotel properties.  Among other findings, one of the key results was that hotels are becoming much greener and much more sustainable: hotels using energy-efficient lighting jumped from 68 percent in 2008 to 88 percent; appearing on the survey for the first time, 44 percent of participants said they have or are working toward a green certification.  http://bit.ly/b5WxyJ

    Hotel consultant Pat Maher, the ``green guru'' for the American Hotel & Lodging Association and a former hotel executive who helped develop early hotel environmental policies during a 25-year Marriott career, Maher says most hotels have now adopted at least some ``green and sustainability'' practices...

    ``We realize it can't just be a name,'' he says. ``When you come in the door, you have to see that there are differences. . . . Certainly, there is a growing class of people who are very conscious about the environment and health in general, and they tend to be a younger group of people. If you want to attract those people in the future, you have to do these things.''  http://bit.ly/cSK5fo

     

    From just hotels and sustainability, it started to reach much further, like in China, where hotels energy wastage was so high, that they started with energy efficiency, then went to monitoring the energy use and all the way to the concept of “smart buildings” :  The building was a so-called "smart building," meaning the situation was rectified much sooner than it would have been had management had to wait for a utility bill to arrive, saving money and the environment.
    
    The idea of a smart building, capable of telling operations personnel what´s happening to it and what it needs and impacting both budgets and the environment, is super space-agey. It´s happening also in Alberta in the Calgary Catholic School District, which is using IBM Maximo Asset Management software to manage its 2,800 assets, including 103 schools, and now, to improve its carbon footprint. http://bit.ly/aHuRQr
    
    
    

    Many times, the line is not yet clear, how Sustainable and Green is the hotel exactly, how much of it is real efforts with real measurable results and how much of it is green-washing and PR.  I, for one, do not accept the certification hanging on the wall as a given that things are still being done, as I go to events and conferences, I constantly check it out. I am lucky enough, that most of the conferences that I attend are anyhow about sustainability. So when all the lights in the conference room are all incandescent, when they use Styrofoam left and right for conference meals, plastic bags all over and just wasteful in food or other manners; I make sure to send them a note, copy furnish the organizers of the event and ask politely that if they would like us to attend next year, to please align the reality with the placard on the wall. How about you? Did you come across some remarkably green and sustainable hotels which their practicing deserve a nice award? How about the opposite? Some not so green and not so sustainable accommodations which can do better if they will think a bit about the planet before hurrying to serve their clients based on outdated and ill conceived paradigm. I think Green and sustainability is the game, and it will be, for the hotel industry, for a long, long time. 

     

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• The hottest Renewable Energy s The hottest Renewable Energy stocks and IPOs

  • From: arboinks
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    Renewable Energy is posing to shoot up on the various stock markets, and if you want to be in the game, you’d better wake up and make some sense of it fast, so you can ride the Renewable wave as it starts and all the way to its peak.

    First and foremost, China is showing some great potential with Renewable Energy  IPO’s coming just about the horizon:
    Propelled in part by the backing of powerful Beijing bureaucrats, Renewable-themed Chinese companies are poised to reap billions of dollars from public offerings to new investors in coming months. 

    Among a spate of clean-energy initial public offerings heading to market in the next few months is Chinese wind-turbine maker Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology, which scrapped a $1.2 billion Hong Kong IPO in June. It is reviving its plans with a $1 billion Hong Kong offering in the next few weeks. Mingyang Electric plans to raise $300 million to $500 million from a U.S. IPO this year. China Suntien, the renewable-energy division of Hebei provincial government’s investment arm, is seeking about $500 million in Hong Kong.

    Add to that Huaneng New Energy Industrial, China Huaneng Group’s wind-power unit, which is looking to tap markets for a $1.5 billion IPO in October, and Chinese clean-technology IPOs this year alone could reach record levels.

    Wind-power generator China Longyuan Power Group raised $2.2 billion in an IPO in Hong Kong in December last year, in one of the biggest clean-energy deals in Asia. Many are hoping to follow the success of China battery and car maker BYD, which won backing from U.S. billionaire Warren Buffett and has seen its shares surge in recent years.  http://bit.ly/b4ggRz

    Second, with the bloom box raising so many positive waves in the market, fuel cells (one of the most promising Renewable Energy sectors)  are looking brighter everyday; one company which looks as if it is going to benefit from this wave in a huge way is the Canadian Ballard Power Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: BLDP) :  It provides clean energy fuel cell products that enable optimized power systems for a variety of applications. The company designs, develops, manufactures and sells fuel cell products for a variety of applications. The company is also involved in proton exchange membrane fuel cell development and commercialization.

    Last month, Ballard announced the deployment of the world’s largest hydrogen fuel cell generator. The company entered into a deal with Ohio’s FirstEnergy Generation Corp., which will enable the U.S.-based utility to activate Ballard’s fuel cell generator known as CLEARgen™. CLEARgen is based on Ballard’s proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology. The technology will assist during peak demand period by taking the strain off the power grid and will also ensure uninterrupted power during the summer.  http://bit.ly/bqZ7OP

    Third, as the rule goes, you always follow the big guys, and T Boon Pickens is one hell of a big guy, which is going very strong when it comes to green and Renewable Energy: Investor T. Boone Pickens spoke in the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas and he talked to CNBC about his energy plan. For him, anything -- wind, solar, natural gas – anything reduces our reliance on foreign oil is a step forward to achieve national security in energy.

    Pickens lists the pillars to the Pickens Plan: 

    
    
    1. Create millions of new jobs by building out the capacity to generate up to 22 percent of our electricity from wind. And adding to that with additional solar generation capacity; 
    
    2. Building a 21st century backbone electrical transmission grid; 
    
    3. Providing incentives for homeowners and the owners of commercial buildings to upgrade their insulation and other energy saving options; and 
    
    4. Using America's natural gas to replace imported oil as a transportation fuel in addition to its other uses in power generation, chemicals, etc.

                                                                                                                            http://bit.ly/93hGop

    And last, from down under, there are some great opportunities which can make things turn Renewable and fast :

    Top of the list is Sims Metal. "It's the largest recycler," Thomas says. "It does what BHP does except uranium and oil, making it a good proxy for the resources sector."

    Another is CBD Energy, "a great little company." It has a foot in just about every renewable camp: wind, solar and storage using a graphite battery.

    The stock has very low gearing, has just moved into profit and the two brokers following it value it at 30¢ or 40¢, more than twice its current price. But, like all fast-growing stocks, it is capital hungry: there have been two raisings so far this year.

    AGL, with both wind and solar farms, is also a well-regarded green chip that has outperformed the sharemarket during the past 10 years.

    One of the smaller stocks Ethinvest favours is solar panel and pump supplier Solco, which has just posted its third consecutive and so far biggest profit, is debt-free as well as paying a tiny dividend.

    The other is Dyesol, which is also debt free but loses money. It's the only solar energy company that doesn't need much sun to generate electricity. It has adapted photosynthesis from the plant world and using its special dye can generate power more cheaply than traditional silicon-based solar cells, working in low light and not even having to face the sun.   http://bit.ly/aJoEZp

    So, if I were you, I would look into these Renewable energy stock options, especially the natural gas one, there are some great findings in the market right now, which you really do not want to miss. Good luck, and please write to us back and share with us you techniques of  “going Renewable in the stock market” !!
    
    

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• Renewable Energy jobs anyone? Renewable Energy jobs anyone?

  • From: arboinks
  • Description:

     

    

    Within the last few years, there are so many new Renewable Energy companies that the job market is just not supplying enough new hires and they basically get whoever they can put their hands on. It is surprising, since in other sectors (except Renewable Energy) are seeing rising numbers of unemployment and the crisis just seems to be getting worst by the week. 

    For example : New Energy Finance ((a leading Renewable Energy information company) CEO Michael Liebreich said that the rapid influx of capital and strong demand for clean technologies is at the root of the talent problem.

    Hundreds of new clean-tech companies have been created over the past five years.

    The Greentech Media article also notes that job boards in the field have plenty of unanswered listings for clean-tech related jobs, including C-level positions.

    “Now there’s a crisis where we’ve got a bunch of work to do, and given the capital intensity in this sector, what’s missing today is serial entrepreneurs,” Hemant Taneja, a managing director at venture-capital firm General Catalyst Partners, told Greentech Media on Thursday.

    Getting appropriate people, particularly chief technology officers and chief executive officers, is a challenge comparable to getting sufficient capital and regulatory support, according to the study. http://bit.ly/dwrq5e

     When investors and politicians sat together to the national Renewable Energy summit last week,  they were trying to figure out how the rising industry of clean and renewable energy can help the rest of the market, which is having such a hard time, the conclusion? Renewable Energy jobs! there are plenty available and not enough takers :

    Many of the nation's leading investors, politicians and environmentalists are in Las Vegas Tuesday night for the third National Renewable Energy Summit.  The focus of this year's conference is how renewable energy can help the slow economy.

    Putting the American people back to work was the talk of today's summit, with Senator Harry Reid at the head of the discussions.    

    "They see the writing on the wall and see that this is where the new jobs are (in the Renewable Energy sector)" said Thomas Piechota, Director of Sustainability and Multidisciplinary Research, at UNLV. http://bit.ly/diqA2z

    Not only in the US, Europe is also seeing some great potential in Renewable Energy jobs over the next few years:

    EWEA’s latest statistics show that the wind power sector will create some 250,000 new Renewable Energy jobs in Europe in the next decade. This would take the total of wind energy jobs to 450,000 by 2020...

    Moreover, yesterday, José Manuel Barroso – European Commission President – in his State of the Union speech said that the EU must create an extra three million Renewable Energy jobs within a decade.
    
    It is not hard to imagine that wind energy (the leading Renewable Energy sector) is already a key source of green jobs. What is more impressive is EWEA’s latest statistics show that the wind power sector will create some 250,000 new jobs in Europe in the next decade. This would take the total of wind energy jobs to 450,000 by 2020.
    
    

    http://bit.ly/cnIrp7

    The growth of opportunities is not just in traditional Renewable Energy and power generation fields, there are many other sectors of clean-tech and green which are exploding with new opportunities :

    When you think of green jobs, usually some kind of new technology comes to mind: solar energy panels or wind power or electric cars. But there's a growing field that's more about re-use than the creation of anything new. KPLU's Bellamy Pailthorp has the details on a green jobs training program that will teach disadvantaged Seattle residents the craft of deconstruction. http://bit.ly/bRhYZl

    And Lat, If you are unemployed, underemployed or need a career change, the E3 Job Fair is the place to be. Guess what is the focus in this year job fair? That’s correct, green jobs - 

    Get Into Water: Careers In the Water Industry 
    This workshop provides an introduction to the careers available with utilities, cities, counties and special districts in positions such as engineering, management, customer service and operations.

    Green Jobs 
    This workshop provides an overview of the industries and occupations that make up green jobs (such as solar, wind, renewable energy and clean energy) and offers tips on how you can start the search to find your dream green job.

    There are many others who are still disputing the full potential of Renewable Energy jobs and cannot see the wave of new opportunities the way some experts say it is coming. Time will be the one to tell us just how much of this potential would really end up in more jobs in the market. 

     

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• Fashion Designer's Collection Fashion Designer's Collection to Offer a New Way of Looking at Solar Energy

  • From: arboinks
  • Description:

    
    PHOTO CREDIT: QUAVONDO
    Megan Marie Butler models a solar-
    inspired little black dress in advance
    of Portland Fashion Week.

    
    

    The women's fashion staple known as "the little black dress" has been reinterpreted as a novel way to plug solar power and sustainable living.

    Seth Aaron Henderson, recent winner of television's "Project Runway," has released a sneak preview of a runway collection reflecting his fashion evocations of solar energy, technology and industry. The collection is to make its debut in Oregon during Portland Fashion Week from Oct. 6 through 10, a fashion event that emphasizes sustainability.

    Mr. Henderson drew inspiration for his collection by visiting the Hillsboro, Ore., operations of SolarWorld, a major global solar module manufacturer based in Germany that has been expanding and adding jobs in the United States.

    "Solar Is the New Black" is the theme of this year's Portland Fashion Week, designed to complement SolarWorld's introduction of a new black-front module. The models will appear on a runway constructed of solar panels. Mr. Henderson's part of the show is called the "Seth Aaron SolarWorld Collection Presented by Portland Fashion Week."

    By combining fashion with solar-technology design influences, Mr. Henderson joins SolarWorld and Portland Fashion Week in making a statement that sustainability is fashionable.

    “The first look really captures my first impression when we walked onto the floor of the SolarWorld factory,” he said in a news release. “It’s been interesting to see how one piece branches from the last. This will be a fun mix of fantasy and ‘wearability,’ hardness and softness – pieces that take concept and costume and connect them with reality. It’s an artistic story about solar power and renewable energy. But, as it should be, it’s a fashion story, a fashion collection.”

    Portland Fashion Week is an eco-friendly production; its promoters say that it showcases the highest number of sustainable labels of any fashion week in the country, along with independent and fair-trade high-fashion designers.

    "This exciting collaboration between a fashion designer and a world-class solar tech company reflects our region's values -- sustainability and creativity -- and showcases our economic competitive advantages," said Portland Mayor Sam Adams in the news release. 

    In addition to Mr. Henderson, who was the winner during Season 7 of the "Project Runway" show last spring, two other "Project Runway"   alumni, Jonathan Peters and Jay Sario, also will present designs Oct. 9 at the show. All three designers will be staging their first collections since their TV appearances.

    Source:  http://sunpluggers.com/

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• Green Building: A Real Estate Green Building: A Real Estate Revolution?Green Building: A Real Estate Revolution?

  • From: yiehk21
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    While much of the U.S. real estate market has been floundering, one area has not seen a dip. Green building now accounts for nearly one-third of new construction in the U.S. That's up from 2 percent in 2005, according to McGraw-Hill Construction, which tracks the industry.

    The numbers suggest a revolution is taking place within an industry that is historically slow to change. There are many factors — and many players — in this move toward green building.

    But one company and its rating system have been undeniably influential in changing construction practice and policy around the country, despite some people's reservations about whether it's really helping the environment.

    University Of Michigan Banks On LEED

    The new Ross School of business building at the University of Michigan is full of environmentally friendly technology.

    Andy Hoffman, a professor of sustainable enterprise, who teaches a course in green construction, and facilities manager John Bresette gave a tour of the facilities. Oddly enough, among the highlights is a men's room equipped with dual-flush toilets.

    "One of the humorous things about studying this kind of topic is you can talk about dual-flush toilets and waterless urinals in polite company," Hoffman says.

    Bresette says it saves a little water to pull the lever up — it uses 0.8 gallons instead of 1.6 gallons if the lever is pressed down.

    "It's pretty intuitive," he says. "I think ... the more culturally challenging issue for some people is a waterless urinal. People immediately think, 'Oh this is gonna stink.' But it doesn't smell. You can't smell it right now."

    That's as long as the filters get changed regularly. In construction, as in other arenas, green manufacturers have sometimes had to contend with the perception that their products are inferior. Plumbers unions have opposed waterless urinals. Nonetheless, the sector for green building products — paint, wallpaper, windows, flooring — is burgeoning.

    That sector was practically nonexistent in 1993, when the U.S. Green Building Council got its start. The USGBC created the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, program. Hoffman gives the council a lot of credit for helping create demand.

    "They created a cachet around the LEED certification," he says. "And they got people to want to do this as a marketing pitch — and I think that was really a stroke of genius to get a rather inertial industry to start to shift."

    Certified buildings get a plaque for prominent display. And if you already know all of this, it's a sign of the brand recognition LEED has developed. Hoffman says he thinks this is now key to attracting top students.

    "College campuses are all starting to go this way," he says. "If you want to keep up with the Joneses, you kinda gotta do that."

    The University of Michigan leadership agrees. This summer, it committed to seek LEED certification for every new construction project of at least $10 million. On the average $100 million project, the leadership figures it will add 2 percent to the cost. This is a big endorsement of LEED. The university has a $2 billion construction program.

    How LEED Works

    LEED is set up like an arbiter of a sort of building Olympics. Projects earn points for various features. Use renewable cork flooring, for instance, get a point in the materials and resources category. Use paint that doesn't give off toxic substances — score a point for indoor environmental quality. There are categories for water efficiency and energy. Pay the fees, rack up enough points, and win a basic, silver, gold or platinum rating. The Ross building achieved silver.

    

    EnlargeFranklyn Cater/NPR

    Andy Hoffman, Holcim professor of sustainable enterprise at the University of Michigan, peers out of a trapdoor in a green roof. Hoffman teaches a course in green construction.

    The company dumped its bronze rating — and renamed it simply "certified."

    "They're one of the most savvy nonprofits when it comes to how do you reach out to the press, how to do marketing, and how to communicate their message," says Michele Russo, director of green research for McGraw-Hill Construction in Washington. "The word LEED meant nothing 10 odd years ago. And now that is literally like Kleenex is to tissues. I mean, you think of a LEED building and people think, 'Oh, it's a green building.' "

    Russo says the USGBC has been smart to network with people in every sector. And there's a growing army of professionals who now have LEED credentials.

    Around 155,000 designers, contractors, consultants and others have studied up online using courses, then passed the test to earn the designation LEED Accredited Professional — or "green associate."

    Employ a LEED AP on a project and you get a point for that. The human infrastructure around LEED far exceeds the number of actual projects. Since 2000, the USGBC says it has registered just a little under 55,000 commercial and residential projects and certified around 12,000. So why are so many people getting credentialed?

    As an industry observer, Russo says the LEED AP gives her added credibility. "It is nice to have on the business card," she says.

    So many people want the professional designation that it's a big source of revenue. The USGBC brought in about $107 million last year. Some $42 million of that was related to accreditation.

    And here's another reason for professionals to get familiar with LEED: In more and more places, LEED is becoming law. Part 2 of this report will look at how many lawmakers buy the idea that encouraging or forcing developers to build green is not only good for the environment but is also good for economic development, and good for the health of workers who occupy those buildings. But there are those who say LEED doesn't deliver on all of those promises.

    NPR's Franklyn Cater was a 2010 Knight Wallace Journalism Fellow at the University of Michigan, where he studied the intersection of the green economy and the built environment.

    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129699450

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• London eyes pole position with London eyes pole position with low carbon investment plan

  • From: yiehk21
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    London (Platts)--7Sep2010/652 am EDT/1052 GMT

     

      
    
        UK climate change minister Greg Barker is set Tuesday to launch the
    Capital Markets Climate Initiative--a new forum which aims to dismantle
    barriers to clean investment in developing countries and make London the world
    leader in low carbon finance.
    
         The CMCI aims to help unlock the private sector's role in helping to
    provide $100 billion of new green investment required annually by 2020 to
    fight climate change in developing countries.
    
         Under the new initiative, the UK's Department of Energy and Climate
    Change is bringing together key City players with international financiers and
    policy makers. 
    
         "The vital role of capital markets in tackling climate change has been
    overlooked for far too long," Barker said in a DECC statement Tuesday.
    
         "The finance needed to help developing countries become low carbon isn't
    flowing at the rate and scale needed."
    
         He added: "However, this is a huge opportunity for the UK financial
    services industry to grab a share of a completely new international market
    that will be worth billions in the years to come.
    
         "We need to put the sub-prime disaster behind us and focus back on
    investment in genuine wealth creation in ways that don't damage the
    environment." 
    
         London's Mayor Boris Johnson wants the capital--already a major center
    for carbon trading--to cement its place at the cutting edge of global clean
    investment.
    
         Said Johnson: "That's why City Hall has teamed up with others to set up
    the GBP100 million ($154 million) London Green Fund to provide investment for
    climate change programs and to prove their commercial viability."
    
         "I want to ensure London's competitiveness as a leading global city and
    the Capital Markets Climate Initiative is a great opportunity to help us do
    that," he said.
    
         The London Green Fund is made up of contributions of GBP50 million from
    the London European Regional Development Fund Program, GBP32 million from the
    London Development Agency and GBP18 million from the London Waste and
    Recycling Board.
    
         The CMCI was set for launch Tuesday at the London Stock Exchange.
    
         LSE chief Xavier Rolet said the exchange was "already home to over 100
    clean tech firms, with our market's deep pool of equity capital powering the
    development of low carbon companies from around the world."
    
         He added: "But we want to do more, and by working together, building on
    the UK's leadership in green technology and harnessing the global expertise
    gathered here today, we can help build a vibrant business environment for the
    low carbon age."
    
         Several major economies agreed in Copenhagen in December 2009 to work
    toward delivering $100 billion/year of funding by 2020 to help developing
    countries cope with the physical effects of climate change. Many governments
    agree that most of this aid will have to come from the private sector.
    
         The International Energy Agency estimates that total investment of $1
    trillion/year will be needed by 2030 to reduce emissions by 50% by 2050.
    
         From 2005-09, investment in clean energy grew by 230%, with $162 billion
    invested globally last year.
     
    http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/HeadlineNews/ElectricPower/8923882/

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• Global Solar Energy Rolls Out Global Solar Energy Rolls Out the Most Powerful Flexible Module to Roofing Industry.

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    Global Solar Energy, of Tucson, Arizona, a leading manufacturer of high-efficiency Copper Indium Gallium diSelenide (CIGS) solar material, has unveiled its flexible building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) module: the PowerFLEX™ BIPV. Specially designed for commercial and industrial rooftops.

    With 12.6 percent aperture efficiency, Global Solar PowerFLEX BIPV delivers the highest efficiency in the flexible module industry. The module has a large format (5.75m x 0.5m) and a high power density (300W) enabling it to outperform other flexible solar roofing solutions currently on the market, including 50 percent more energy and power than the current amorphous silicon standard.

    Global Solar’s PowerFLEX BIPV module directly addresses the biggest concerns posed by the roofing industry regarding solar integration. It is lightweight and can be applied directly to a roofing surface, requiring no mounting hardware, no roof penetrations, and creates no additional wind load. Designed especially for roofs, Global Solar’s PowerFLEX BIPV maintains the integrity and aesthetics of a building structure. Because of its large format and high power density, Global Solar’s PowerFLEX BIPV will also lower installation and balance of system (BOS) costs.

    Global Solar’s thin film solar cells are incorporated into a variety of applications ranging from lightweight portable solar chargers, traditional glass solar modules, and now building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) products and designs. (9/1/10)

    Source: http://www.green-energy-news.com/

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• New Green, Sustainable Roofing New Green, Sustainable Roofing Material Designed by EcoTech

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    EcoTech, a Los Angeles based company, claims their new roofing materials are the greenest and most sustainable product to date. Their new roofing panels promise to reduce energy costs and increase a home’s value easily.

    “First and foremost, EcoTech is all about being green, eco-friendly and sustainable,” says the company’s CEO Jeffrey Barrett, Sr. “We’re committed to environmental leadership in all aspects of our business. Eco-friendly and sustainable responsibility is crucial to the future of our country and the future of our children and grandchildren.”

    According to Barrett, the new roofing material is both durable and eco-friendly because they are made from interlocking highly-advanced polymer panels. The panels are supposed to be unbreakable, as well as resistant to mold, mildew and algae. Making them long lasting and cost saving for home owners. The highly-advanced polymer material also reflects heat off of homes, in a similar way white roofs would, which reduces energy costs for homes during the warmer months.

    The Nu-Slate panels are designed to resemble other roofing materials, offering home owners both style and sustainability. The panels come in a wide array of colors, and can mimic wood, cedar, shake, and quarry slate roof panels. The Nu-Slate panels, however, are stronger and more durable than the typical building materials.

    “EcoTech meets the industry’s stringiest certification programs, including the Cool Roof Rating Council, United States Green Building Council and Energy Star,” Barrett says.

    Each panel is made from polymers that create 0 production waste, and are completely recyclable. They are strong enough to resist winds up to 130 miles per hour, as well as being class A fire resistant. They are so durable, EcoTech says they may be the last roofing panels a homeowner needs to buy.

    Source: http://greenbuildingelements.com/

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• eBay Unveils Reusable Green Sh eBay Unveils Reusable Green Shipping Boxes

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    eBay has done it again by unveiling its latest innovation: a box that is designed to be reused, sent from eBay seller to buyers, and then sent further along, until the end of its useful life.
    
    The “eBay Box” is made of 100 percent FSC-certified and recycled material, printed with watermark ink, and designed to use a minimal amount of tape. The purpose behind this project is to prompt sellers to reuse boxes and encourage users to become sellers.

    The box is expected to have great environmental benefits. According to the eBay Green Team website, if every box gets reused at least five times it could protect nearly 4,000 trees, save 2.4 million gallons of water and conserve enough energy to power 49 homes a year.
    
    These figures are based on the pilot run of 100,000 boxes which will start being distributed in October. Sellers can place their orders for free eBay boxes until supplies run out. At that point the boxes will start making their way across the country while connecting sellers to buyers and promoting the green habit of reusing.
    
    The inside of the Box contains space for each recipient to write their name, address, and any other notes. Additionally, there are also several green living and resource saving tips printed in each box.
    
    Recipients can log the location of the eBay Boxes at TheBox.eBay.com at which point eBay's Green Team will track the boxes' progress and connect with the people using them. After a few months the company will assess how the pilot has performed and where to take it next.
    
    The eBay Box program was one of five ideas that came out of eBay's annual Innovation Expo. The Expo invites eBay employees from every level of the organization to develop prototypes of future projects. The eBay Box was the grand prize winner with the pitch "simple green shipping." The boxes were unveiled six months later at an eBay on location event in San Jose where participants had a chance to sign up for the prototype.
    
    It is perfectly normal for boxes to get a few bumps and bruises from the wear and tear of the road. Consequently, once the box is no longer usable its can be easily recycled.

    Although the concept of the eBay Box is simple, it is also very powerful. Thanks to the innovation of eBay thinkers, buyers and sellers will be able to partake in the green movement while promoting a country.
    

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• Green gym generates electricit Green gym generates electricity from bikers

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    With their row after row of exercise machines, most gyms burn far more electrical power than calories. But by equipping stationary bikes and elliptical machines with generators, a San Diego gym has become as healthy for the Earth as it is for its patrons.

    The gym, named the Greenasium, uses a special bike called the visCycle. Produced by Resource Fitness, the visCycle generates enough electricity to offset the box fan that the Greenasium uses to cool down the room. That fan constitutes most of the gym's electricity use, as there is no air conditioning. When more than one person uses a visCycle or similarly equipped elliptical, the cardio machines put out enough power to offset the music, computer and lights as well.

    "The inspiration came from just going to the big chain gyms for so long, looking at all the equipment going there, and you just think, 'there has to be a better way,'" said Byron Spratt, the co-owner and business manager of the Greenasium. "You start thinking about all the people coming into the gym, and they’re burning double energy — energy off the grid and their own energy."

    The Greenasium also takes other steps to help offset its carbon footprint. They only turn on the lights at night, the floor is made from recycled tires and the gym sponsors outings to clean up garbage.

    While picking up garbage may seem like the only gym activity less fun than ski jumps, it remains an integral part of the Greenasium experience.

    "We’re in a very health conscious and green oriented community," Spratt said.

    "By living in that community, we have to contribute to it if we want to stay in good standing."

    Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

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• Sustainable living event has a Sustainable living event has a twist: ice cream

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    If your idea of a fun Friday afternoon includes local gourmet ice cream and learning how to go green, then the Sustainable Development Task Force's third annual sustainability fair might be just the place for you.
    
    The Snohomish County group is hosting an educational fair from 12:30 to 4 p.m. Friday at Snoqualmie Gourmet Ice Cream, 21106 86th Ave. SE, Maltby.
    
    In addition to sampling ice cream, you can tour the ice cream factory and explore educational displays featuring local sustainable building projects and organizations. 
    
    You'll find an electric car company and a business specializing in water-pervious pavers. Other booths set up in the parking lot at Snoqualmie Gourmet Ice Cream will focus on eco-friendly composting and gardening and water and energy conservation. 
    
    Proceeds from ice cream sales will benefit the task force, a nonprofit organization that provides information about sustainable development to developers, builders and the public. 
    
    Developments assisted by the task force in recent years include Snoqualmie Gourmet Ice Cream, Going Green at the Beach in Stanwood and Cottage Werks in Mukilteo, among others. 
    
    Go to www.snoqualmie gourmet.com for a full menu, including sandwiches, and more information about the ice cream shop or call 360-668-8535. 

    Source: http://www.heraldnet.com/

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• Adorable alternative energy Adorable alternative energy

  • From: arboinks
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    Gaia Vince explains how a sustainable farm in Peru runs on guinea pig power.

    No, it does not involve hundreds of tiny exercise wheels. (Although that would be pretty damn cute, too.)

    Instead, every month, the farmers process more than 400 pounds of guinea pig poop into combustible gas—and a liquid byproduct that works as plant food—by allowing bacteria to break the waste down in a warm, oxygen-free environment. It's called anaerobic digestion, and it's a process that's increasingly popular on American farms, as well. Dairy farms—with their easy access to lots of consolidated cow shit—in particular.

    What's cool about this Peruvian model is that it shows you don't necessarily need fancy, expensive equipment to make anaerobic digestion work. The process can be applied at different levels of tech intensity, depending on resources, location and how much energy you actually want to produce. This Peruvian family makes enough gas for themselves, plus a little extra. Meanwhile, a dairy farm in Wisconsin uses the gas to make electricity that they sell back to the utility company. All told, there's enough to power 70 households.

    Image: Some rights reserved by MJames

    Source: http://www.boingboing.net/

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• When you go to a hotel – do yo When you go to a hotel – do you check if it is green?

  • From: arboinks
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    We all love vacations, it is what we save for, dream of and sweat for a long time in order to make few days of resting and unwinding. By principal, hospitality and sustainability seems to be contradictory terms which cannot work together. After all, you go to a hotel so people will cook, clean, wash for for you, entertain you and care for you in so many other ways. The more luxurious the hotel, the more waste is created for every small effort, and then we go into cruise ships, luxury vacation mansions and 6+ stars hotels, which we do not even need to start mentioning.
    
    I remember my vacation in one of the Club Med hotels in early 2000, the amount of food that was wasted in one buffet was enough of feed a medium size town, the waste was so overwhelming you could not help but wonder if all parameters flew out of the window.
    
    I am happy to say that things have improve in many ways, and club Med is now one of the pioneers in the industry in terms of sustainability and efficiency (http://bit.ly/abaIt7 ) it even has a dedicated line of super sustainable retreat accommodations for nature lovers (http://bit.ly/cc7FIz ) .
    
    With Buildings consuming up to 40% of the energy worldwide, and up to 70% of the raw materials, working on efficiency and sustainability in some of the most wasteful ones of all, the hotel and hospitality industry, can save enormously. There were always eco-tourism focused accommodations which were geared towards that specific market, but when it came to the mainstream, it was a marginal and minor trend until around 2002.
    
    Since then, as awareness rose, the industry adopted in neck breaking speed.  By today, there are already talks about hotels sustainability 2.0 and talks that even that is not enough.  For example, the new American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) 2010 Lodging Survey, the most comprehensive industry-wide survey of its kind, polled 9,000 U.S. hotel properties.  Among other findings, one of the key results was that hotels are becoming much greener: hotels using energy-efficient lighting jumped from 68 percent in 2008 to 88 percent; appearing on the survey for the first time, 44 percent of participants said they have or are working toward a green certification.  http://bit.ly/b5WxyJ
    
    Hotel consultant Pat Maher, the ``green guru'' for the American Hotel & Lodging Association and a former hotel executive who helped develop early hotel environmental policies during a 25-year Marriott career, Maher says most hotels have now adopted at least some ``green'' practices...
    
    ``We realize it can't just be a name,'' he says. ``When you come in the door, you have to see that there are differences. . . . Certainly, there is a growing class of people who are very conscious about the environment and health in general, and they tend to be a younger group of people. If you want to attract those people in the future, you have to do these things.''  http://bit.ly/cSK5fo
    
     
    
    From just hotels and sustainability, it started to reach much further, like in China, where hotels energy wastage was so high, that they started with energy efficiency, then went to monitoring the energy use and all the way to the concept of “smart buildings” :  The building was a so-called "smart building," meaning the situation was rectified much sooner than it would have been had management had to wait for a utility bill to arrive, saving money and the environment.
    
    The idea of a smart building, capable of telling operations personnel what´s happening to it and what it needs and impacting both budgets and the environment, is super space-agey. It´s happening also in Alberta in the Calgary Catholic School District, which is using IBM Maximo Asset Management software to manage its 2,800 assets, including 103 schools, and now, to improve its carbon footprint. http://bit.ly/aHuRQr
    
    
    Many times, the line is not yet clear, how sustainable is the hotel exactly, how much of it is real efforts with real measurable results and how much of it is green-washing and PR.  I ,for one, do not accept the certification hanging on the wall as a given that things are still being done, as I go to events and conferences, I constantly check it out. I am lucky enough, that most of the conferences that I attend are anyhow about sustainability. So when all the lights in the conference room are all incandescent, when they use styrofoam left and right for conference meals, plastic bags all over and just wasteful in food or other manners; I make sure to send them a note, copy furnish the organizers of the event and ask politely that if they would like us to attend next year, to please align the reality with the placard on the wall. How about you?

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• Korean phone makers rank among Korean phone makers rank among greenest

  • From: ashleysoon
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    Korean phone makers LG and Samsung have managed to rank among the top five greenest handset makers surveyed by IDC. However, the analyst firm said the mobile phone industry still has a long way to go.

    In a Thursday report, IDC ranked--in alphabetical order--Apple, LG, Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson as the top five phone makers in terms of the companies' sustainability policies and practices.

    The results were judged based on five criteria--packaging, materials, energy, end-of-life program, and overall sustainability efforts--and 20 sub-criteria, said IDC.

    However, mobile phone recycling is "amazingly low today", said IDC, noting that a recycling rate of 10 percent is considered good.

    "Given the ubiquity of mobile phones around the globe, it is critical for manufacturers...to demonstrate their corporate responsibility," said IDC, adding that this can be achieved through greener phones that simplify disposal and the reusing of phone parts.

    IDC noted that Nokia is the leader when it comes to reusing recycled materials. The Finnish phone maker was also praised for its green materials as 65 to 80 percent of its device can be recycled, while the rest which are primarily plastic can be used to fuel recycling processes.

    LG's power management functions were acknowledged by IDC, which added that the Korean company has developed a solar charger that it plans to include in its entire range of products.

    With regard to Samsung, IDC said the firm "scored well" in the reduction of hazardous materials as all its new models were free of brominated flame retardants (BFR) by Jul. 1 last year. The electronics company also plans to make its mobile phones free of phthalates, beryllium, brominated compounds, and antimony trioxide by Dec. 21, 2010, said IDC.

    Also in the top five charts was Sony Ericsson, which has optimized its packaging to be more environmentally-friendly. The phone company recycles its mailers and has developed lighter boxes that help to reduce carbon emission in transport by 80 percent compared with standard boxes.

    Interestingly, Research In Motion, which managed to make it to the top five phone makers chart, was not in IDC's top five greenest list. The rest of the gang--Nokia, Samsung, LG, and Sony Ericsson--are in.

    Apple snagged a spot in IDC's list as the Cupertino giant has recycling services in 95 percent of the countries it sells its products in, said the analyst firm.

    "Apple has been a leader in influencing its supply chain and has taken strong steps as a key advocate for others to develop green technologies," said IDC in its press release.

    The firm noted that Apple's green efforts extend to its executive level, led by Apple CEO Steve Jobs who is "very active" in the company's green programs.  

    By Liau Yun Qing, ZDNet Asia on September 3, 2010

    Original Source: http://www.zdnetasia.com/korean-phone-makers-rank-among-greenest-62202675.htm

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• Are solar panels the next e-wa Are solar panels the next e-waste?

  • From: ashleysoon
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    As solar photovoltaic panels go mainstream, Eric Gies looks at the environmental impact of making and disposing of them.

    

    Larry Hagman, who played oil baron JR Ewing in the TV drama Dallas, switches to alternative energy with American solar panel company, SolarWorld. Photograph: Impress PR Photograph: Impress PR

    In recent years the electronics industry has gained notoriety for creating an endless stream of disposable products that make their way at life's end to developing countries, where poor people without safety gear cut and burn out valuable materials, spilling contaminants into their water, air, and lungs.

    Solar modules contain some of the same potentially dangerous materials as electronics, including silicon tetrachloride, cadmium, selenium, and sulfur hexafluoride, a potent greenhouse gas. So as solar moves from the fringe to the mainstream, insiders and watchdog groups are beginning to talk about producer responsibility and recycling in an attempt to sidestep the pitfalls of electronic waste and retain the industry's green credibility.

    Solar modules have an expected lifespan of at least 20 years so most have not yet reached the end of their useful lives. But now, before a significant number of dead panels pile up, is the perfect time to implement a responsible program, according to Sheila Davis, executive director of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition.

    The nonprofit environmental group has been a leader in recognizing the problems of e-waste, including hazardous disposal sites in the Bay Area left by the semiconductor industry. Now it is focused on the solar boom in Silicon Valley. Last year the group published a report calling for a "just and sustainable" solar industry, and this year it issued a scorecard of solar companies. The scorecard evaluates recycling and extended producer responsibility for the product's end of life, called takeback; supply chain and green jobs; chemical use and lifecycle analysis; and disclosure.

    Solar energy is the most widely available resource we have. Every hour, enough solar energy strikes Earth to meet human energy needs for more than a year, according to NASA. Now the solar industry is poised for huge growth in the United States, thanks to policy changes, incentives, technological improvements, and economies of scale. Solar photovoltaics have recently become less expensive than nuclear energy on a per-kilowatt-hour basis, according to a new report from Duke University. Also, solar is widely expected to reach cost parity with fossil fuels in most markets by 2013.

    In 2009, Greentech Media estimated that U.S. solar demand will continue to increase about 50 percent annually through 2012. The report said the US capacity installed during 2008 was about 320 megawatts, and it predicted that about 2,000 megawatts would be installed during 2012. Such growth would put US capacity ahead of solar leader Spain and potentially Germany as well.

    While most of the new modules will likely have a long, productive life, factory scrap, transport breakages, and field failures are ready for recycling now. Jennifer Woolwich is collecting these broken solar modules in a warehouse near Phoenix.

    She founded her company PV Recycling in February 2009 after estimating that she could harvest 500 panels a week from these sources. She is not yet collecting at that capacity, nor does she have enough panels to begin recycling them, but she is talking with solar manufacturers in an effort to win their recycling business.

    "Of those we interviewed, 100 percent want recycling," she said. "Eighty percent want an independent third-party doing the recycling."

    Woolwich said she has seen a quick evolution in solar manufacturers' attitudes toward recycling: "Last year, there was kind of a 'wait and see, we're not sure how this is going to work' attitude. Over the past 12 months, I've seen a 180. I've seen companies who are hiring consultants to research their whole value chain to identify waste, including the end of life of modules. We've received calls from consumers asking us which companies have takeback programs in place."

    Solar companies tend to be secretive about their product recipes, making some manufacturers cautious about, yet conceptually open to, third-party recycling.

    "We guarantee that intellectual property will not be put at risk," Woolwich said. "We're not interested in reverse engineering or selling company secrets. We have certificates of destruction that we provide."

    For now, though, some companies are doing their own recycling.

    SolarWorld, which received an 88 out of 100 on the toxics coalition's scorecard, has been recycling its own panels since 2003 at its main factory in Freiberg, Germany. That factory now receives broken panels from its U.S. plants in Cabrillo, Calif., Hillsboro, Ore., and Vancouver, Wash.

    "The fact is, there isn't much to recycle," said Ben Santarris, a spokesman for SolarWorld. "In the future we might expand recycling to our U.S. plants or contract with a third-party recycler."

    First Solar earned a rating of 67 on the scorecard. Headquartered in Tempe, Ariz., it has recycling facilities at its manufacturing sites in Perrysburg, Ohio; Frankfurt (Oder), Germany; and Kulim, Malaysia. Lisa Krueger, vice president of sustainable development, said that so far the company is primarily recycling manufacturing scrap.

    "It's our intention that there would be other recycling facilities worldwide as you get into those volumes," she said.

    Solar modules employ a variety of technologies, and even models within the same technology can have different ingredients. These materials may or may not be classified as toxic depending on who is regulating them.

    Dustin Mulvaney is a scientist who works on solar issues at the University of California, Berkeley, and serves as a consultant to the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. He has analyzed solar modules currently on the market and has outlined for each its key ingredients, including potentially toxic elements and materials that would be valuable to recover in recycling.

    Used in SolarWorld modules, crystalline photovoltaic is the oldest and most widespread solar technology in the United States, holding 57 percent market share in 2009, according to Greentech Media. "As far as hazardous materials go, you're primarily talking about lead," Mulvaney said.

    A thin film technology called cadmium telluride makes up about 21 percent of the U.S. market. First Solar panels use this technology.

    Cadmium may be carcinogenic. Exposure affects the lungs and kidneys and can be fatal. "It's gene toxic and a mutagen, so it has the ability to affect DNA, meaning it could affect reproduction and future generations' DNA," Mulvaney said.

    Cadmium is technically banned by the European Union's Restriction on Hazardous Substances directive, although the policy currently allows an exemption for its use in solar modules.

    Still, there's not a lot of data about whether cadmium is toxic in the alloy form in which it's used in thin film. And cadmium isn't likely to go away anytime soon, as it is uniquely efficient at absorbing light.

    Another thin film material, copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), also has a cadmium layer. Indium is a potentially hazardous substance, too, particularly in the form of indium tin oxide, Mulvaney said. Studies have linked it to pulmonary disease in flat-screen TV recycling facilities. And selenium has been documented to be a hazardous material.

    While CIGS currently has a market share of just 6 percent, amorphous silicon, which also has an indium tin oxide layer, holds 16 percent.

    California's Department of Toxic Substances Control has taken note of the European Union's concern about cadmium and is researching the chemical and physical makeup of various types of modules.

    "We think some solar panels, probably the cadmium thin film type, might be hazardous waste when shredded or disposed of in a landfill," said Charles Corcoran, a hazardous substances scientist at the department.

    Only panels classified as hazardous would fall under the jurisdiction of the department. It is considering regulatory options to try to steer end users toward recycling rather than disposal.

    "That gets a little complicated because California and U.S. regulations aren't necessarily in sync," Corcoran said. "An option might be to transport it out of state where disposal is legal."

    Today California has no solar module recycling facilities. But recycling locally is an important tenet of an ethical, sustainable industry, said the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition's Davis. Recycling locally reduces the process' carbon footprint.

    "It would also make people more conscious about what goes into the products," Davis said. "And it would create local jobs."

    Extended producer responsibility, including module recycling, is currently an expense rather than a source of profit for companies, including Solar World and First Solar.

    "As we get to scale, we hope those costs will come down," Krueger said.

    A dedicated recycler like Woolwich is counting on economies of scale. Her business plan also includes various revenue streams, including reclaiming and selling materials and providing a service of managing manufacturers' collection and recycling systems.

    Davis said recycling costs could be reduced if manufacturers would take the notion of extended producer responsibility to the next level: the design phase.

    "If you don't look at the recycling when you're designing the product, then it's really, really difficult to recycle," Davis said. "But if you know you're going to have to pay for the recycling at the end of life, you might make the necessary design changes in your product now to reduce that cost."

    Mulvaney said that if the government were to set a price on carbon emissions, that would also help make solar recycling more affordable. Because turning sand into crystals takes 70 to 80 percent of the energy used to make crystalline photovoltaics, he said recycling silicon would "save so much energy in production, it could become a money saver."

    Still, most companies that are beginning recycling programs today are proceeding under the assumption that recycling will be a cost. They are preparing for that expense by creating a variety of funding mechanisms based on the principle of producer responsibility.

    Via her surveys, Woolwich has found that solar companies are using an annuity program, escrow, maturity bonds, annual fixed contracts, and pay as you go.

    Krueger said First Solar uses a trust: "First Solar doesn't have access to those funds except for collection and recycling," she said. "It's designed that way because of the long product life. If something happens to First Solar, the industry won't have to deal with orphan waste."

    Some materials in solar modules such as silicon and rare metals could be more valuable in the future, providing an additional incentive to recycle. Material price spikes have caused industry turmoil in recent years. For example, polysilicon shot to $400 per kilogram between 2006 and 2008. It is now down around $55.

    Krueger said First Solar currently harvests cadmium and tellurium from its recycling program to use in new modules, even though buying it from a supplier is currently less expensive. She said she expects harvesting costs to come down as recycling scales up.

    Mulvaney said that the industry would do well to plan now for the recovery of rare metals such as indium and tellurium.

    Of course, materials recovery has an environmental benefit as well. "We'll be able to reduce impact from mining and other environmental hazards by collecting a lot of the metals and other valuable minerals that are being used in panels," Davis said.

    Being truly sustainable — and maintaining that green credibility — is a powerful motivator for renewable energy companies.

    Santarris said the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition's scorecard was an "important step" toward figuring out which manufacturers are the most environmentally benign.

    "There's not a lot of sophistication in the marketplace to differentiate among products and manufacturers of varying environmental performance," Santarris said. "Are solar modules all the same? They're not."

    By: Erica Gies for Earth Island Journal, part of the Guardian Environment Network

    Original Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/sep/03/solar-panels-ewaste

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• Scientists Mimic Chloroplasts Scientists Mimic Chloroplasts - Meaning Solar Cells That Fix Themselves

  • From: ashleysoon
  • Description:

    It would seem that mimicking nature would be among the easiest things to do for science.  After all, it's right there, in front of us, happening for millions of years.

    Take plants, for instance.   Every day they absorb sunlight and turn it into energy but our solar technology is bordering on laughable and, if solar lobbyists get there way and it gets more subsidies and even mandates, criminal.   
    
    The issue science has is that the sun's rays are highly destructive to man-made materials and that leads to a gradual degradation of many systems developed to harness it.
    
    Plants don't suffer the same way because they constantly break down their light-capturing molecules and reassemble them from scratch, so the basic structures that capture the sun's energy are, in effect, always brand new.  Casual observers might see a leaf as a static photocell but it is recycling its proteins about every 45 minutes.
    
    Maybe we can do it too.   A group writing in Nature Chemistry say they have created a set of self-assembling molecules that can turn sunlight into electricity, in that the molecules can be repeatedly broken down and then reassembled quickly, just by adding or removing an additional solution. 
    
    What they discovered is that in the molecules used for photosynthesis in plants, the reactive form of oxygen produced by sunlight causes the proteins to fail in a very precise way. As Michael Strano, the Charles and Hilda Roddey Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT, describes it, the oxygen "unsnaps a tether that keeps the protein together," but the same proteins are quickly reassembled to restart the process.

    

    This action all takes place inside tiny capsules called chloroplasts that reside inside every plant cell — and which is where photosynthesis happens. The chloroplast is "an amazing machine," Strano says. "They are remarkable engines that consume carbon dioxide and use light to produce glucose," a chemical that provides energy for metabolism.
    
    To imitate that process, Strano and his team, supported by grants from the MIT Energy Initiative and the Department of Energy, produced synthetic molecules called phospholipids that form discs; these discs provide structural support for other molecules that actually respond to light, in structures called reaction centers, which release electrons when struck by particles of light. The discs, carrying the reaction centers, are in a solution where they attach themselves spontaneously to carbon nanotubes — wire-like hollow tubes of carbon atoms that are a few billionths of a meter thick yet stronger than steel and capable of conducting electricity a thousand times better than copper. The nanotubes hold the phospholipid discs in a uniform alignment so that the reaction centers can all be exposed to sunlight at once, and they also act as wires to collect and channel the flow of electrons knocked loose by the reactive molecules.
    
    The system Strano's team produced is made up of seven different compounds, including the carbon nanotubes, the phospholipids, and the proteins that make up the reaction centers, which under the right conditions spontaneously assemble themselves into a light-harvesting structure that produces an electric current. Strano says he believes this sets a record for the complexity of a self-assembling system. When a surfactant — similar in principle to the chemicals that BP has sprayed into the Gulf of Mexico to break apart oil — is added to the mix, the seven components all come apart and form a soupy solution. Then, when the researchers removed the surfactant by pushing the solution through a membrane, the compounds spontaneously assembled once again into a perfectly formed, rejuvenated photocell.
    
    "We're basically imitating tricks that nature has discovered over millions of years" — in particular, "reversibility, the ability to break apart and reassemble," Strano says. The team, which included postdoctoral researcher Moon-Ho Ham and graduate student Ardemis Boghossian, came up with the system based on a theoretical analysis, but then decided to build a prototype cell to test it out. They ran the cell through repeated cycles of assembly and disassembly over a 14-hour period, with no loss of efficiency.
    
    Strano says that in devising novel systems for generating electricity from light, researchers don't often study how the systems change over time. For conventional silicon-based photovoltaic cells, there is little degradation, but with many new systems being developed — either for lower cost, higher efficiency, flexibility or other improved characteristics — the degradation can be very significant. "Often people see, over 60 hours, the efficiency falling to 10 percent of what you initially saw," he says.
    
    The individual reactions of these new molecular structures in converting sunlight are about 40 percent efficient, or about double the efficiency of today's best commercial solar cells. Theoretically, the efficiency of the structures could be close to 100 percent, he says. But in the initial work, the concentration of the structures in the solution was low, so the overall efficiency of the device — the amount of electricity produced for a given surface area — was very low. They are working now to find ways to greatly increase the concentration.
    
    Citation: Moon-Ho Ham, Jong Hyun Choi, Ardemis A. Boghossian, Esther S. Jeng, Rachel A. Graff, Daniel A. Heller, Alice C. Chang, Aidas Mattis, Timothy H. Bayburt, Yelena V. Grinkova, Adam S. Zeiger, Krystyn J. Van Vliet, Erik K. Hobbie, Stephen G. Sligar, Colin A. Wraight&Michael S. Strano, 'Photoelectrochemical complexes for solar energy conversion that chemically and autonomously regenerate', Nature Chemistry (2010) doi:10.1038/nchem.822

    Source: http://www.science20.com/news_articles/scientists_mimic_chloroplasts_meaning_solar_cells_fix_themselves

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• Clark physicist’s green coolin Clark physicist’s green cooling tech startup gets $1M stimulus grant

  • From: yiehk21
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    Jeffrey A. Simon, director of the Massachusetts Recovery & Reinvestment Office, came to Clark University with a small entourage on Monday (Aug. 30) to admire an innovative “green” technology under development by Professor Charles Agosta, of the Physics Department at Clark.

    Simon was also following the money—traveling the state at the behest of Gov. Deval Patrick to visit recipients of federal stimulus grants from the Department of Energy.  Machflow Energy Inc., Agosta’s small startup company housed at Clark, received   $1 million.

    At the gathering in the Machflow laboratory in the basement of the Math-Physics Building, Agosta explained prototype models of a device that holds promise for providing clean and more effective cooling in a range of commercial uses, such as with electric car batteries and in computers.

    Simon called Agosta’s startup “interesting and exciting” with the “potential to have a big impact. This stimulus money is an investment in the future, part of getting people back to work.”

    As reported in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette (Aug. 31): “Machflow was formed in 2005 and funded in 2006, according to Mr. Agosta. Since its creation, the four-employee business has secured $750,000 from small investors known as “angels” and $1 million from the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The Phase II grant of $1 million from the federal government follows a $150,000 Phase I grant that was awarded to Machflow last year. So far, the company has filed eight patent applications regarding its technology, which involves cooling based on a principle of physics called the Bernoulli Effect: force a gas through a narrow pipe or channel, and the pressure will go down as well as the temperature.”

    

    Simon, far right, meets the Machflow team, from left: employees Sergei Ivanov and Elham Ghaem-Maghami, intern Daniel Olecki, and Prof. Agosta.

    Agosta notes that the grant was the result of a team effort with other Machflow employees: Director of Engineering, Sergei Ivanov as the Principle Investigator and Director of Fluid Physics, and Elham Ghaem-Maghami as one of the main writers. Daniel Olecki an engineering student from WPI also contributed.  

    Courses taught by Agosta at Clark include Energy and the Environment, Atomic and Nuclear Physics, Advanced Electronics, and Technology of Renewable Energy.  He and his students have developed a pulsed magnetic field laboratory where experiments are performed in the highest magnetic fields available at any university in the United States.

    Clark students benefit greatly in having teaching faculty who are also involved in cutting-edge research, and Agosta’s business venture demonstrates how lab-based innovations can be applied to solve real-world problems, said Nancy Budwig, Associate Provost and Dean of Research. “Students learn best when they get to see the authentic excitement in the eyes of their professors. Clark offers an educational experience where graduates and undergraduates get to share the enthusiasm and be part of the process.”

    Agosta, who chairs the 3/2 Engineering Program Committee at Clark, received his B.A. from Wesleyan University and his Ph.D. from Duke University. He did post-doctoral work at Harvard University and at the Francis Bitter National Magnet Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and joined the Clark faculty in 1991.

    “We've proven this works,” Agosta told the news reporter and other visitors to the Machflow lab. “Now we have to get it packaged to something practical.”

     An archive of News & Media Relations posts can be found at https://news.clarku.edu/news.

    http://news.clarku.edu/news/2010/09/01/clark-physicist’s-green-cooling-tech-startup-gets-1m-stimulus-grant/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+ClarkNewsMediaRelations+(Clark+News+%26+Media+Relations)

     

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