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Renowned University of Alberta ecologist David Schindler said in a speech Friday that children are our best hope for slowing climate change.

Speaking at the Trails To Sustainability conference on environmental education near Calgary, Schindler said,

"By the time people who are six to 12 years old now are grown up, we're going to see a different political landscape and a different environmental one."

A world-renowned expert on climate change and fresh-water ecology, Schindler was the 2001 winner of the NSERC Gerhard Herzberg Gold Medal for Science and Engineering, Canada's highest scientific honor. Schindler also noted,

"We're all pretty set in our ways and I think looking at people who really don't get it – who leave their cars idling while they're in the grocery store for an hour in the winter and things like that – we're not going to reach those folks. We can reach their kids."

Schindler, who also teaches environmental decision making at the University of Alberta, also said that while today's generation and their elected leaders have refused to deal with looming water shortages and global warming issues, unavoidable change is coming.

Last week, on the second anniversary of the launch of GE’s ecomagination initiative, the company held a massive press conference in Los Angeles to announce its many new partnerships. Since this was a press conference, I was skeptical of the information to be provided…was this just going to be one big GE commercial love fest? And perhaps more importantly, would I drink the Kool-Aid?

The answer on both questions? Yes and no. My skepticism of the motives of corporations aside, I must admit a bias in favor of the impact that businesses (especially businesses the size of GE) can have on the climate crisis we currently face. However, companies must be able to make a “business case” for green initiatives. In other words, going green has to be profitable for the company. Remember, the three elements of the triple bottom line include profit. Yes, it would be nice if companies made changes to improve their footprint out of a concern for people and the environment, and a few companies do just that, but the business world is not designed to reward such behavior. To get a critical mass of companies on board, profit must be achievable.

Apparently, GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt feels the same way. His new mantra is “green is green,” meaning that green business equals green money. This could not be more true for GE. According to their May 24th press release, “Revenues from its (ecomagination) portfolio of energy efficient and environmentally advantageous products and services surged past $12 billion in 2006, up 20% from 2005, while the order backlog rose to $50 billion.”

Wow.

Immelt goes on to say, “These extraordinary revenues and orders are the initial payoff from directly aligning our product portfolio with our customers’ needs and evolving trends, while ‘doubling-down’ on investments in leading edge technology and innovation. Ecomagination is growing beyond our expectations, evolving into a sales initiative unlike any other I’ve seen in 25 years at GE.”

Though skeptics will point to the fact that ecomagination represents a small piece of GE’s business, this growth can only be good news. A company the size of GE can have a huge impact with their investment in new technologies, as well as in spreading the word through their visibility.

Immelt announced at the press conference a series of new partnerships and investment in many divergent industries, including:

• Water desalination: slated to open in 2010, the Carlsbad Seawater Desalination Plant will draw water from the Pacific Ocean for use in San Diego County. The facility will use GE’s ZeeWeed® ultra filtration technology.
• Hydrogen energy: GE, along with BP, is forming a global alliance to develop and deploy 10 to 15 hydrogen power projects.
• Wind energy: GE Energy Financial Services will invest in its biggest wind farm to date, the 241-megawatt Sweetwater 4 facility and a sister project, both in Texas.
• Transportation: efforts here include the first hybrid locomotive with Union Pacific, and investment in A123’s work toward the next-generation battery technology for hybrid electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
• Lighting: Wal-Mart, the largest individual electricity user in the country, will be installing motion-activated LED lighting in its refrigerated cases. In addition to using less energy for lighting, less heat will be generated reducing the amount of energy used for refrigeration.
• Housing: RWO Acquisitions is retrofitting an old Air Force base in coastal South Carolina into a green community, featuring energy efficient homes and GE’s first energy-efficient mortgage. Homes will offer the GE SmartCommand™ Dashboard, which provides current and historical data on water and electricity usage.
• Carbon emissions offsetting: with AES Corp., GE will invest in projects to capture and destroy GHG emissions from agricultural waste, landfills, coalmines and the like. The partnership will then sell the resulting offsets.
• Entertainment: NBC Universal has launched “Get On Board,” a program to improve the environmental impact of its operations by reducing greenhouse gases, raising awareness about green issues, and stimulating change in the media and entertainment industry.

After the press conference, we had time to view examples of some of the new technologies in the exhibit hall, before returning for a discussion on sustainability with Immelt and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Though the questions posed by NBC’s Lester Holt were pretty much softballs, it was an interesting discussion. The gist? From the Governor’s point of view, in finding ways to balance environmental initiatives with economic concerns California can lead the way for the rest of the nation, including the federal government. Keys to success include giving industry enough time to meet new standards, and the realization that new technology brings new jobs.

Immelt’s answers did not waiver from his earlier message: GE is into green as a business initiative. When asked about GE’s biggest areas for growth, Immelt responded that taking these new technologies to India and China, where they are needed most, would be a coup for whoever delivers them affordably.

Both agreed that the US must provide leadership for the rest of the world by first cleaning up its own act. The US remains the world’s biggest polluter, representing just 5% of the population while being responsible for 25% of greenhouse gas emissions. The US must remedy this situation to have credibility when offering help to developing nations.

After a long day, I left the event with the sense that we’ve turned a corner. If companies like GE and Wal-Mart can make tons of money with green initiatives, while communicating the message that greening doesn’t cost money but makes money, other companies will follow their lead. This offers real hope, without the Kool-Aid.

Greenpeace activists in Finland spent the night 80 meters in the air on a crane at a nuclear power plant under construction in Olkiluoto. The protest is a direct reaction to the quality problems at the construction site, which has lead to over one thousand reported breaches of safety standards.

TVO, the company that ordered plant, estimated in the application to the Finnish government that a 1600 MW reactor would cost EUR2.5 billion and take four years to build. Now the costs are exceeding four billion euros and the project will take at least six years.

The project was supposed to require no public subsidies. In reality it is reliant on an export guarantee financed by French and Swedish taxpayers and a dirt-cheap loan from public banks.

As the Finnish government begins preparing a long-term climate strategy, it needs to take a hard look at nuclear power’s track record of failing to deliver on promises of being the cheap, clean solution to climate change.

Finland needs a plan to phase out existing reactors. They’re really not comfortable places to sleep. More images of the occupation from Flickr.

by Adrian Muller Mexico City is one of the world’s largest metropolitan areas, home to nearly 21 million inhabitants. About four million cars travel every day through the city, causing serious pollution and congestion problems. Mexico City’s Major Marcelo Ebrard, who goes to work on a bike at least once a month, is committed to adopting and adhering to environmentally friendly practices to improve the sustainability of the city. Mr. Ebrard recently joined other leaders of the world’s largest cities and CEOs of international corporations to pursue joint efforts to combat global warming while ensuring economic benefits for cities. The occasion was the C40 Large Cities Summit, a gathering of Mayors dedicated to reducing carbon emissions and to developing infrastructure that encourages more efficient use of energy. His objective was securing $ 200 millions of external funding from Bill Clinton’s recently crated Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program. The Program aims to reduce carbon emissions by outfitting city-owned buildings with green technology. Under the umbrella of the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI), 16 cities around the world (among them, Mexico City) will receive more than $1 billion worth of financing for renovation projects such as: making roofs white or reflective to deflect… (more)

(Posted by WorldChanging Team in Worldchanging Guests at 7:14 PM)

The history of industrialization involves a long, ugly series of civil injustices through the environmental degradation of communities at the receiving end of industrial waste streams. It’s no coincidence that huge manufacturing plants dispose of their byproducts where people have the least power, money and influence to fight back. As a result, these communities have suffered disproportionate health problems and dealt with substandard environmental conditions for decades, while having the least access to the resources industry both exploits and provides. During the same period, the environmental movement has grown and become known (at least early on) more for its vehement advocacy for whales and rainforests than for disenfranchised citizens; that was presumed to be the work of the civil rights and social justice movements. More recently, though, it’s become glaringly obvious that these movements are inextricably linked — that environmental degradation is a civil injustice — and from the junction of the two, the environmental justice movement has emerged. Environmental justice defines environment to include communities, human health and racial equality in equal proportion to resource depletion, pollution, extinction, and the numerous other issues associated with environmentalism. Not surprisingly, many of the initiatives towards achieving environmental justice have sprouted within… (more)

(Posted by WorldChanging Team in Community at 6:43 PM)

Filed under: Hybrid, Toyota

Click on the photo for a high-res gallery of the FT-HS concept

It looks like the Toyota FT-HS hybrid sports car concept that appeared at the Detroit Auto Show may become a reality to compete with Nissan 350Z. The problem is it’s looking like Toyota is primarily using the hybrid system as means of improving performance rather than efficiency. Apparently Toyota will offer two versions of the car, the base model using a 330hp version of their 3.5L V-6 to match the Z, and a higher performance 400hp version with the hybrid powertrain.

Although the hybrid version is probably more efficient than a comparable 400hp conventional drivetrain, if Toyota is serious about being an environmental leader they would say the 330hp (or less) is enough and do a hybrid with a smaller ICE and better efficiency and emissions than the Nissan at comparable performance levels. But even mighty Toyota is susceptible to the schizophrenia (I know it is surely the wrong medical term, but most people will get my meaning) that afflicts most carmakers who want to be seen as green while still appealing to as large and as profitable a customer base as possible.

[Source: Winding Road]

 

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

Filed under: Etc.

Politicians may be frenzy about gas prices and may wish to create laws to control price gouging and blame the OPEC for the high gas prices. However Jerry Taylor, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, argues that American fuel consumption hasn’t been affected by rising prices — and won’t be — since gas remains inexpensive compared to historic highs.

“Maybe symbolic blather is the best we can hope for from Congress under the circumstances, but it would be nice if the federal code were something other than the product of a freshmen dorm-room bull session,” says Taylor. “High pump prices are not reducing demand because they are not imposing anything like the economic pain politicians allege.”

He also affirms that in 1972, defined as the “last year of energy innocence”, prices averaged 36 cents per gallon. Add inflation and it comes to an equivalent of $2.77 in today’s prices. Current prices might be high but not that far from the ones paid at the beginning of the year. He also affirms that “Politicians who think that the government should or, more importantly, can do something about gas prices are deluding themselves — recent federal action is lurching toward price controls, which is the stupidest, most ineffective policy option out there.”

He concludes that the war against “price gouging” might artificially lower prices but “that will benefit the few who manage to buy gas before it’s all bought up. Right now supply-and-demand fairly determines the current — and fair — price of gasoline. It’s a law of economics that has been proven time and time again”.

Does that mean we can expect to pay even more at the gas-pump? Then maybe if we all used more efficient vehicles, demand would go down and prices would be cheaper?

[Source: Cato Institute]

 

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

Photo Credit: GRID AlternativesAs you may remember from my previous post, Grid Alternatives is a Bay Area non-profit that teaches volunteers how to install solar panels while helping low income residents cut costs on installing a new solar system for their home.

This weekend I took the plunge and found myself standing on top of a roof, where I discovered there are many steps involved in a solar installation, only the last of which involves the panels.

When we arrived, the team leaders quickly divivded us up into a ground team and a roof team and then launched right into the project. While the ground team stayed below to size up the inverter and electrical circuits, the rest of us went up to the roof to learn how to set the feet and tracking system that support the rooftop panels.

I quickly learned that setting the feet can be a messy process. Applying tar to secure the feet and to stop up any potential roof leaks, I soon had tar all over my pants, hands, feet, and even in my hair… Luckily, the Grid Alternatives team came prepared with some biodeisel to clean all it off and I was soon reabsorbed in the next steps of aligning the tracking and testing the efficiency percentage of each panel.

The teams were an interesting mix of Grid Alternatives veterans and newcomers, and it quickly became apparent why people get hooked on volunteering for installs with Grid Alternatives: not only were the team leaders easy-going and interested in sharing their seasoned knowledge, the other volunteers were also quick to exchange practical and scientific experience with the those who didn’t have as much familiarity with the solar realm.

All in all, it’s safe to say I’m officially hooked. Learning how to install solar panels (for free!) was one of the easiest and most fun ways to spend my Saturday, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. If you’re interested in signing up for a training and an install day, check out www.gridalternatives.org, and I will probably see you there.

People of faith from around the globe are taking the lead on global warming solutions. Following on the heels of an alliance among some U.S. faith leaders to fight global warming, the Vatican has announced plans to install a giant solar power system.

The 1,000 solar panels will adorn the football-sized roof of the Paul VI audience hall, one of the top energy guzzlers in the sovereign city state. The solar system will be able to provide all the heating, cooling, and lighting needs of the entire building year-round, and any extra electricity generated will be fed back into the Vatican’s grid.

Pier Carlo Cuscianna, head of the Vatican’s department of technical services and mastermind of the project, was inspired by the calls of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II to treat the planet with respect and their warnings that global warming will effect the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.

This isn’t the first time the Vatican has shown leadership on clean energy. In 1999, the entire lighting system of St. Peter’s Basilica was refurbished with energy-efficient lighting, which cut its energy consumption by about 40 percent.

Although Vatican City is not a signatory of the Kyoto Protocol, the Catholic News Service reports that this solar project marks “a major move” to reduce its carbon-footprint and move away from its dependence on Italy’s power grid.

CathNews
Catholic News Service