By Lena Babaeva Coradini

Cintas, which designs and manufactures corporate uniforms, has introduced a new uniform shirt, the Eco Polo, which is made from recycled plastic bottles and something the company calls "eco-charcoal." The coolest thing is that used Eco Polos can be recycled once more:

Used Full Circle Eco Polo shirts can be sent back to the company to be repurposed for other uses, which Cintas said is new for the uniform market. "The biggest thing is this is a closed-loop process," said Sarah Makeijus, a merchandising manager with Cintas. "There are not many people doing this today."

The Eco Polo is the latest in Cintas' sustainability efforts with respect to its uniform business.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

New "Green Guides" are expected to be issued soon by The Federal Trade Commission, according to Advertising Age. The new Guides will be the first environmental-marketing guidelines issued in 12 years, and AdAge says they "could radically reshape how far marketers can go in painting their products, packaging or even corporate images green."

The guides are expected to tighten standards for packaging claims such as “recyclable” or “biodegradable”; regulate how marketers use terms such as “carbon neutral,”  and how close to the source of carbon output “carbon offsets” must be executed, according to the article.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

Green living is thriving in communes, but we're not talking about the hippy communities of the late 60's, rather eco-villages that focus on green building, communal spaces or other aspects of sustainability.  Here are seven examples of eco-living places:

1. EcoVillage (Ithaca, N.Y.) Ithaca, New York's answer to a modern day commune is EcoVillage, a green utopia that houses 160 residents. Its 60 houses are split into two housing groups, FROG and SONG, and are all low-impact and energy-efficient. The third housing group, TREE, is currently being constructed and will house 30 more homes. EcoVillage has a CSA vegetable farm and a U-Pick berry farm along with a root cellar and community gardens. 80 percent of the commune's 175 acres will remain as green space, 55 acres of which are already under protection through a conservation easement from the Finger Lakes Land Trust. Residents volunteer 2 to 3 hours a week by building furniture, farming or assisting with other necessary maintenance. Future endeavors for EcoVillage include creating organic orchards, greywater recycling, and biodiesel and vegetable oil fuel production.
2. Dancing Rabbit (Rutledge, Mo.) Missouri's Dancing Rabbit is an intentional community and eco-village that houses 50 residents. The goal of the intentional community is to maintain the rural prairie by restoring the land to its pre-residential state. With 10,000 trees planted already, Dancing Rabbit is on its way to achieving this goal. All power stems from renewable sources, including solar and wind power, and the homes are built from natural materials: straw veils, cob, and reclaimed lumber. The water supply comes from rainwater.
3. Toyosato, a Yamagishi village (Mie Prefecture, Japan) A main component of the Yamagishi movement, Toyosato, a sustainable farming cooperative, is home to 550 residents. Started by ten families in 1969, Toyosato is now one of the main farming corporations in Japan. Toyosato also attempts to make the neighboring area more sustainable. The cooperative donates compost to neighboring farms and also uses factory byproducts from soy sauce and tofu production as livestock feed. Since 1960, the Yamagishi movement has created 30 villages.
4. Breitenbush Hot Springs (Detroit, Ore.) Breitenbush Hot Springs is a cooperative that runs an on-site hot springs retreat and conference center. Each year, the commune hosts 25,000 guests. Located east of Salem, Oregon in the Cascades, Breitenbush houses 50 full-time residents with 30 summer time employees. The commune uses geothermal power and hydropower as off-the-grid energy sources. To join the commune, members must work for the cooperative for one year and purchase a member share for $500.
5. Twin Oaks Commune (Louisa, Va.) With 85 adults and 15 children, Twin Oaks commune in Louisa, Virginia is a communal living destination. Started in 1967, the residents at Twin Oaks share their incomes and work 42 hours per week in the communal sectors by making tofu, creating furniture and hammocks, farming, milking cows and aiding with childcare.
6. Kolonilott and Understenhodgen (Stockholm, Sweden) Kolonilott are Swedish communes ranging from gardening specific communes to summer only communes. In the 1900s, Sweden's government devoted land to be used for gardening as part of an act to provide land to the lower classes. Although developed in Denmark, cohousing communes are sprouting throughout Sweden. Located in Stockholm's wooded "green fingers" area, Understenhodgen composes 44 cohousing homes. This eco-friendly lodging is a car-free location that offers district heating, waste recycling and a kindergarten program.
7. Nubanusit Neighborhood And Farm (Peterborough, N.H.) Nubanusit Neighborhood And Farm is a cohousing community that boasts an organic farm, communal office space and residences ranging from single family to four-unit dwellings. Located adjacent to Nubanusit Brook, residents reside in their own homes yet share seventy acres of farm land, woodlands, pond and fields. The residents all participate in a CSA and rely on on-site cows and chickens for dairy and milk. Each residence in the commune is LEED Platinum certified.
    
   

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

Go Tennessee!  The City of Knoxville has unveiled the first 1 megawatt solar installation in a seven-state region! 

A new one megawatt (1 MW) solar power system, the largest in Tennessee and the Tennessee Valley Authority region, came online August 12 for the City of Knoxville.

The system is comprised of 4,608 solar modules. It is anticipated that the solar power array will generate 1,198,920 kWh of solar energy annually for the Knoxville Utility Board grid. That represents the equivalent energy to power more than 120 average-sized American homes.

The $5 million project was developed, designed and constructed by Natural Energy Group, a Knoxville firm that was founded and funded by a group of East Tennessee investors led by Mike Malicote. The company’s mission is to help cities, airports and government organizations get into large-scale solar power generation.

The project was accomplished in conjunction with fellow Knoxville firm, Efficient Energy of Tennessee (EETN), Natural Energy Group’s integrator arm based in Powell. EETN will also maintain the facility.

Also worth noting is that the solar modules were made by Sharp in its Memphis plant.  Tennessee is making real progress with its alt energy goals!

In other TVA news: the Tennessee Valley Authority’s board of directors approved $250 million toward the possible reopening of one of its nuclear reactors in Alabama.

-----------------------------------------

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

An interesting article on President Obama’s lead advisor on electric cars, the Energy Department’s Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs’ David Sandalow:

If American consumers begin to shift to electric cars this decade, Sandalow will be one of the government's driving forces behind the change. Crafting policy from the vantage point of an electric car driver himself, the former Brookings Institution scholar has helped shape the Obama administration's ambitious plan to pump billions of dollars into partnerships aimed at developing cars running on electric power, creating an advanced battery industry and helping communities prepare for the transition.

President Barack Obama has pledged to bring 1 million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to U.S. highways by 2015, and turned to the nascent battery industry as one of the hallmarks of his economic recovery plan. Electric vehicles built by General Motors and Nissan are arriving in showrooms later this year and every major auto manufacturer is working on an electric strategy, encouraged by federal funding and tax incentives.

The whole article is worth a read, and it definitely briefly discusses some challenges in promoting electric vehicles that the administration will face in the near future.

And this may help Sandalow's plans, as it shows that the enthusiasm for the EVs is building: The online survey of American adults by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) shows that more than a third of U.S. consumers are likely to test drive electric vehicles.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

Product packaging has really been in the news lately as an area ofr great innovation, including the recent introduction of compostable packaging for snack foods made by Boulder Canyon Natural Foods. The packaging will be utilized for All Natural Kettle Cooked Potato Chip line, and the bag will be made of wood pulp that comes from Forestry Stewardship Council wood or similarly certified wood.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

Greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) tracking is difficult.  Currently, GHG emissions are classified in three categories: Scope 1 (direct emissions form consumption of fossil fuels), Scope 2 (indirect emissions from purchased electricity and steam), and Scope 3 (the remaining indirect emissions).  There already exists a standard for Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions that is utilized by many companies.  In December, the emerging global standard for companies to measure and track Scope 3 emissions will be finalized.

Scope 3 emissions often represent the largest area of a company's GHG impacts by far -- up to 75 percent in many cases -- yet a widely supported industry measurement methodology does not exist.  

Initial reactions to the current draft standard vary. Some companies testing the new standard are bullish and plan to implement it, while others are more cautious and taking a wait-and-see approach. Sustainability leaders should continue to track the progress of this standard for this important emissions area in order to determine if it makes business sense to calculate their own Scope 3 emissions. . . .

The draft measures emissions from 16 areas, include upstream activities (such as direct emissions from suppliers, product emissions, inbound transportation, and waste) and downstream activities (outbound product transport, product use, and end of life disposal). Employee commuting and business travel are also covered.  . . .

Since Scope 3 emissions dwarf Scope 1 and 2 emissions, conscientious sustainability leaders need effective tools to identify the activities that drive the largest GHG emissions. The new Scope 3 standard is a promising tool for this. Leaders should monitor the emerging Scope 3 standard and its early lessons to determine if this calculation would benefit their organization.

The final standard will be released in late December, with second draft released in September

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

In Texas, wind curtailment ate up an estimated 17 percent of the potential generation of wind power, mostly because the energy was unable to reach demand:

"Wind curtailment in Texas has become a very, very big story," said Ryan Wiser of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and co-author of the report.

"This was primarily due to the lack of transmission capacity," Wiser said. "Or, there was negative pricing so there was the (incentive) not to generate."

At times, often at night, total wind generation exceeds demand in transmission-constrained regions of areas operated by the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to such a degree that wind farms curtail their operations. . . .

The curtailment trend in Texas has been rather dramatic. About 1 percent of potential Texas wind generation was curtailed in 2007 and 8 percent in 2008. That figure more than doubled to 17 percent last year.

Wiser said the figure was estimated by examining available data. He conceded the difficulty in fully knowing how much electricity might have been generated if transmission were available. How extensive the problem is nationally is a matter of conjecture. "Certainly some regions of the country were more willing to share their data than others," he said.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

What a battle! In West Virginia a showdown is coming between a pro -“mountaintop removal mining” company and a group that wants to save the mountain with a wind farm. For some renewable-energy advocates, the confrontation is symbolic of the battle between alternative energy fuels and fossil fuels.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

After earlier finalizing rules to require factories and power plants to obtain permits for the emission of greenhouse gases starting next year, EPA has now proposed new rules for the facilities to obtain the permits.

Large emitters will be required to gain emission permits when they retool or add new capacity at a facility. The EPA will only grant permits to those firms that demonstrate that they have used the cleanest technologies available when upgrading their plant.

The permitting rules will cover large industrial facilities that are responsible for 70 percent of all GHG emissions from stationary sources.

The public meeting regarding the proposed rule will be held on August 25th.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

Good headline for sustainability: "Insurance Companies Find There Is Money to Be Made in Green Technology."

Increasingly, insurers are stepping in to bridge the gap between green intentions and actual capital outlays on green technology.

They are backstopping warranties on solar panels, helping start-up companies with short track records offer multidecade guarantees on their products and win over skeptical customers and project financiers. They are studying weather patterns to offer protection in the event of, say, unusually weak winds that fail to spin turbines, or a volcanic ash cloud from Iceland that diminishes the output of a solar energy facility in Spain.

They are advising companies on how best to incorporate renewable energy systems into their factory operations and offering property insurance that will pay not just to rebuild a structure in the event of a loss like fire but reconstruct it in a more environmentally friendly and energy-efficient way.

They are even offering coverage to carbon traders. So, if you are a European utility engaged in an emissions offset program in China and a devastating earthquake damages your partner power plant in Sichuan, you have some peace of mind. 

What I found curious in the article is the line: “Cynics might say that insurers are just the latest industry to see green — i.e., money — in the green movement.”  I find it peculiar because the line sounds as if insurance companies’ seeing money in the renewable energy field is a negative thing.  I think the fact that insurance companies are seeing the financial benefit in advising clients with respect to renewable energy is very positive news for the sustainability movement in general!  The financial viability of the movement is perhaps the most important driver that will allow sustainability initiatives and movements to gain a foothold in today’s world.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

Here's an interesting topic: "How to Conduct Internal Audits of Your Environmental Management System."

[A] common mistake I often see in certified environmental management systems is an organization that does not identify the driving mission of the EMS and the processes that accomplish the mission.

If the driving mission of your EMS is maintaining perfect compliance then the processes – and people – who perform those functions are each critical to your mission.

Similarly, if the driving focus of your EMS is cost containment and you are not monitoring and measuring the fluid that leaks from your machines, you cannot control the cost of fluid replacement, clean-up, and disposal (not to mention slips, trips and other OSHA reportables).

The establishment of key performance indicators for environmental processes is no different than establishing KPI’s for production controls, product inspections, scrap rates, product delivery and customer satisfaction. And just as in production control, potential failure or breakdowns in the environmental management processes need to be identified, monitored and prevented.

What you monitor and what you measure is what you control and what you improve.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

In the recent heat wave, it is hard to imagine that a passive house would work, but it does as the South gets first ultra-efficient, passive-rated home – in Louisiana, of all the humid and hot places!

The house is the first house in the South to be certified by the Passive House Institute, which requires 90% less energy use than regular homes, and is a rigorous rating system that began in Germany and is just now being introduced in the United States. The house, a thin home built on the side of the property to create a courtyard in the middle of the lot, will use zero grid power over the course of the year.  It will generate all of its power from rooftop solar laminates. The house did have a 10% premium when it was build.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

This article captured my interest with this line pertaining to carbon and climate change and the question of why the United States is behind: “[W]e're stuck with carbon-producing fossil fuels because any alternative would create an immediate loss to many actors, private and public: from energy companies to automobile manufacturers, transportation operators, regulators and even consumers, who have developed a fossil-fuel dependent lifestyle.” 

The concept described above is referred to as “carbon lock-in,” a creation of self-perpetuating inertia when institutional forces and cultural norms inhibit efforts to develop energy systems due to the fact that they are interlocked.  So how to break away from this lock-in?

Unlocking the U.S. economy from carbon won't be easy. According to Unruh, "social change often precedes institutional change in democratic societies" because of the inherent difficulties in transforming institutions (let alone interdependent, mutually supporting institutional systems). Change can likely be only initiated by a broad social movement. If so, the best thing political leaders can do is to facilitate the emergence of such movement through education and awareness campaigns and by trying to be more precise about the tangible costs of not doing anything.

The blame for not enacting a climate change bill has to be shared by several parties. First the president has not demonstrated any leadership or courage on the matter. Nor has the leadership in the Senate or among Democrats. Finally, the Republicans -- beholden to energy companies, business and outmoded ideology -- have opposed any reasonable policies to tackle the carbon, air quality and energy problems that currently face this country. Also the public has not lighted the fires required for reform or to hold our politicians accountable.

 

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

Hmmm.

"How to Use Sustainability Metrics to Drive Business Performance, Innovation and Stakeholder Satisfaction" discusses the importance of metrics to driving performance improvements. But the problem seems to be a perceived lack of information and credible resources holding back U.S. businesses from becoming environmentally responsible, according to a study from Ipsos Public Affairs.