Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Saturn

Battery supplier A123 Systems has unveiled two new batteries specifically optimized for automotive applications. One of the new cells is configured for high power applications in regular hybrid configurations while the other is biased toward higher energy capacity for plug-in hybrid vehicles. The latter cell is being used in the plug-in hybrid development program for the Saturn Vue.

The PHEV cell is designed to be discharged to a lower level than the power battery so that the plug-in hybrid can go farther on battery power alone. Both cells are designed to be more robust over the wider range of operating conditions that cars encounter in the real world while also lasting 150,000 miles and ten years.

[Source: A123Systems]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: MPG, Legislation and Policy

John Dingell has been in the House of Representatives for fifty-two years, seven years longer than Barak Obama has been alive. When the prospective Democratic presidential nominee came to Detroit recently and berated the domestic carmakers for not building more efficient cars, Dingell was not pleased.

Over the past half century Dingell has made a point of defending his home town industry at every turn. While it’s not totally unreasonable for a politician to promote policies that benefit business in their district, it’s time for Dingell to change his tune. I live in Dingell’s district and a lot of autoworkers have lost their jobs in the past decade. If the carmakers don’t start making some serious headway on fuel economy they will continue getting less and less competitive.

Instead of criticizing Obama, Dingell should be promoting policies to light a fire under the companies in his constituency. If the carmakers are forced to get more efficient, they will end up being in a more advantageous position in the market. Dingell should also be looking at ways to stimulate demand for more efficient cars.

[Source: Detroit Free Press]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Well, if you’re reading this, you probably are.

LOHAS stands for Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability. Representing an estimated 50 million American adults, the name LOHAS is now synonymous with the “Cultural Creatives” segment of the population originally identified in 1996 by sociologist, author, and market researcher Paul Ray, Ph.D. Ray, along with psychologist Sherry Ruth Anderson, described the segment in their 2000 book, The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World.

So what’s so special about the LOHAS segment? Usually, market segments are identified using things like lifestyle, buying behavior, and demographics. But here’s where the LOHAS consumers diverge: they are distinguished solely by their values, as they care strongly about issues like the environment, social justice, sustainability, and health. Is this starting to sound familiar?

As the segment grows, more and more businesses have begun to take notice – the marketplace for LOHAS consumers is now valued at over $220 billion. This means that more products and services, meant to serve our needs, will be coming to the market. Good news for anyone tormented over having to buy a product that is no friend of the environment, due to the lack of an alternative.

I got to learn about and even sample some of these alternatives this week at the 11th annual LOHAS Forum, held in Marina del Rey, CA. Though some established brands, like Burt’s Bees, were in attendance in the exhibit hall, many were new to me. I especially liked Green & Black’s Organic Chocolate and VeeV, a spirit made from Brazil’s açai fruit and billed as “a better way to drink.” Count me in!

Of course, the Forum wasn’t all about food and drink. The program featured a variety of speakers and break-out sessions designed to educate and inform LOHAS companies. My favorite session, “Giving Sustainability More SIZZLE”, focused on the shift of the LOHAS segment from a small niche to the mainstream, and some of the keys to making that jump as a company. Not surprisingly, communicating with authenticity was at the top of the list. LOHAS consumers can see through greenwashing a mile away…even through a chocolate haze.

For those unable to attend the conference, session videos will be posted on the website: www.lohas.com

Earlier this week, an article in the local paper noted that a local school had been recognized as one of 18 "Green School certified" schools in the state of Michigan. I wasn't familiar with the program (in part because this is the first year of the program), but I quickly found that rather than a building program, it is instead an educational program for the students.

The Green School program requires a degree of involvement from the school's students in a variety of green projects in order to obtain the certification. A school is eligible for this certification if it completes at least 10 criteria from a list of programs including such obvious green steps as recycling paper, reusing magazines from the library, and holding an Earth Day event. But the list also includes more ambitious projects such as establishing a natural Michigan garden project with native plants, holding solar power presentations or experiments, such as a solar cookout, doing energy audits of their classrooms, and even making improvements to their classrooms as a result of the energy audits.

Participating in a printer cartridge recycling program or a cellular telephone recycling program (both of which can also help the school to earn money) are also suggestions on the list.

All of these programs help to bring environmental awareness to the classroom, and provide practical examples the students can learn from. Students take leadership in getting the programs adopted in their schools.

"With all the environmental stuff that has been going on, all the rising problems, I just wanted to chip in and do my part for the community,'' Pendleton said. Individual efforts, such as recycling plastic, can add up, he said. "It's all the small things that people could do but sometimes just don't take the time to do.''

For Donahue, global warming is the thing to worry about. "We need a big focus on global warming – anything that can help that,'' Donahue said.

The state webpage with information about the program (PDF) is less than two pages long but has a list of 20 programs for students to participate in. Teachers looking for ideas for introducing some green programs to their classes may find this a useful list to work from. There are also a list of resources attached. A number of them are specific to Michigan, though corresponding sites (such as state conservation districts, state endangered plants, etc.) for other states should be easy enough to find.

After the big hype made over the slave labor Nike used to produce its ever-famous sneakers, the source of footwear has gotten as much attention as the clothing we wear. With the weather warming quicker than ever before (you know, that global warming myth-thing), summer is right around the corner; time to break out the seasonal footwear! Hand-made in the Northern countryside of Thailand, Chabah makes very stylish sandals for men and women:

Chabah offers stylish, unique products for a surprisingly low price. We believe in making a fair profit, not exploiting consumers or our workers. Through such reasonable pricing, we encourage our customers to make multiple purchases – you receive more goods, and our workers receive more compensation for their efforts. The rustic fabrics such as hemp, woven grass, and sack cloth are locally made and have been used in daily life for centuries.

A number of special promotions are available on the company's website – if you are looking to update your shoe collection or buy gifts for friends, these are great deals. All shoes come in a small cotton bag, almost made under fair conditions in Northern Thailand, and all orders places in the US over $20 (over $40 for any other country) receive free shipping. The company's sizing guidelines are explained clearly as well, making it easy to order a comfortable fit in minutes. Yahoo! Shopping has over 80 reviews from customers, many with glowing testimonials.

Seven designs are available for women, but factoring in the heels, straps, and fabrics, over 40 unique choices are available. As with most brands, the options for men are fewer, but by no means less stylish. Each style is named after a character from Greek mythology, adding extra personality to these lightweight slides. All sandals are priced at an affordable rate of $20 per pair, making it all the more tempting to splurge on a few styles – at least you know your money is funding an honest business.

Posted by Dave (in Ireland)

© Greenpeace / Ralf Kiefner

Instead of simply hunting endangered whales like humpbacks, here’s a novel way of using whales as a resource – a Canadian Company has come up with a kind of wind-turbine blade that mimics the movement of a humpback flipper.

A Canadian Company as designed a new type of wind-turbine blade that mimics the aerodynamic performance of a humpback whale’s flipper, allowing a turbine to capture more of the wind’s energy at much lower speeds.

Continue reading Using humpback whales to catch the wind…

Athena is the face of Greenpeace’s climate and energy campaign in Asia. She has just returned from Kyoto, where she led a team pressuring the Asian Development Bank to put their money where their mouths are and invest in Clean Energy. Here’s her round up.

2 weeks ago I welcomed myself back to the city of Kyoto with high expectations: for the Asian Development Bank to honour the spirit of one of the most important environmental agreements in history – the Kyoto Protocol.

I finally got to see Kyoto on the last day of my visit to this historic city. A visit to the Kiyomizu-dera Temple and a walk along Gion made me appreciate its beauty – something I missed10 years ago during my first visit. The people of Kyoto should be proud of their home. The ADB could have made them even prouder, but they were a few steps short…

Continue reading Wanted – Energy Revolution leader for Asia…

Posted by Dave (in Ireland)

© Greenpeace / Aoyama

One of our colleagues, George Pletnikoff, an Aleut working for Greenpeace as an oceans campaigner in Anchorage, has written an article for the Anchorage Daily News on how Japan exploits a loophole that allows it to kill nearly 1000 whales every year.

This May, Anchorage will become ground zero for a very important political battle. The 59th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) will be held here for nearly three weeks. As the international body that manages the world’s populations of great whales, the IWC has as its most important and lasting concern to maintain the 27-year-old moratorium on commercial whaling.

Continue reading Japan’s ‘scientific’ whaling a slap in face of conservation…

Designing Cities for People, Rather than Cars
Nokia Gets It Right for South Asia
Planning for a Climate-Changed World
Land of Milk and Biofuel.
Something Earth-Changing is Afoot Among Civil Society

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(Posted by David Zaks in News and Views at 8:42 PM)

If you teach an actor to farm, and you give him two acres and tell him to work the land, is he acting or farming? Is it performance art or food production? For artist David Levine, this is a riddle for which all answers are correct. His current project, Bauerntheater (“farmers’ theater”), recently began its season in Brandenburg, in northern Germany. Levine trained an American actor in farm technique for one month in New York, as any director would rehearse a show, then flew the actor to Brandenburg for the debut. Bauerntheater will run continuously for one month, during which time the actor-turned-farmer will cultivate two acres of potatoes, “in character,” for fourteen hours per day. Why do this? Levine characterizes it as an exploration of the interplay and conflict between tradition, performance, labor and art: Bauerntheater is concerned with global labor markets, with the performance of cultural tradition, with the representation of labor, with representation as labor, and with the troubled relationship of Endurance and Land Art to questions of “authenticity.” The project is sited on part of a UNESCO nature preserve, at the Biorama Projekt, an arts and green product design center, eco-tourism destination and demonstration facility for… (more)

(Posted by Sarah Rich in Arts at 1:22 PM)