Bob Best, director of Sustainability Investors Services for Jones Lang LaSalle, provides an overview of Green Globes, an online sustainability guidance and assessment tool that can help owners and occupiers of real estate make their properties and practices greener.

Maines Paper & Food Service has cut its lighting-related energy use by 87 percent thanks to the installation of Digital Lumens’ Intelligent Lighting System in its 460,000-square-foot headquarters in Conklin, New York. The retrofit also improves lighting levels and helps the company meets is corporate sustainability targets.

With the retrofit, Maines expects to save 1,726,108 kWh of electricity per year and prevent 1,240 metric tons of CO2 emissions.

After an evaluation of lighting alternatives including fluorescents and LEDs with the help of its energy-efficiency partner Groom Energy Solutions, Maines selected the Digital Lumens solution, which combines LED-based fixtures, networking and software, as a one-for-one retrofit of highbay warehouse lights.

Digital Lumens says its Intelligent Lighting system maximizes energy efficiency by integrating LEDs, sensing, system-based intelligence and networking into a single system to achieve results not possible with LEDs alone.

In addition, Maines can track energy usage and occupancy on a fixture-by-fixture basis, enabling them to finetune the light program to maximize efficiency. The system also creates a lighting network inside the facility, which provides opportunities for future capabilities and/or measuring and monitoring other aspects of the facility, says the company.

Groom Energy installed the lighting upgrade project and replaced Maines’ existing 400-watt, high-pressure sodium fixtures, reducing both energy use and ongoing maintenance.

“Lighting represents about 20 percent of our warehouse electricity costs, and a great opportunity to reduce our facilities’ costs and improve operational efficiency,” said Pat DeOrdio, vice president of operations, Maines Paper & Food Service, Inc.

“We evaluated the Digital Lumens Intelligent Lighting System and found that it enables us to significantly reduce our energy consumption, improve overall safety by increasing light levels and decrease maintenance. This solution delivers numerous operational and environmental benefits, and positions us to better serve our customers’ needs,” he added.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) provided the project incentive. NYSERDA’s goal is to help New York reduce energy consumption, promote the use of renewable energy sources and protect the environment.

Other recent projects that NYSERDA has provided funding or incentives for include recent HVAC upgrades at six New York State commercial facilities, which together will cut their energy consumption by more than 9.9 million kWH annually, a new energy-efficient grocery store, and a medical center.

Kyocera Cuts Energy Use with “Green Curtains” of Foliage

Businesswire

U.S. Announces $26 Million Bankruptcy Settlement with Chemical Manufacturer

EPA

Four Cargill locations earn the ENERGY STAR for energy efficiency

Cargill

EPA Agrees to Give Trout Unlimited Liability Protection for Colorado Abandoned Mine Cleanup

Trout Unlimited

Perdue to invest $12.8M in headquarters remodel

Delmarvanow.com

AMP pushes ahead with almost 600MW NGCC facility project in Ohio

PennEnergy

Coast Guard celebrates tidal power in Maine

Businessweek

Texas Medical Center “Takes Flight” With GE Technology

Marketwatch

Ecover To Pioneer The Use Of Sugar Cane Based Materials To Create More Sustainable Packaging!

Ecover

Go Big Green: Stanford Lightens Its Carbon Load

KQED

Carbon Credit Prices May Increase in 2010, Emissions Trading Group Says

Bloomberg

How to Get Prompt Payback From an Aging Icon That Guzzles Energy

The New York Times

Like many corporate entities and governmental bodies, Maine has enthusiastically embraced the movement to limit, reduce, or remove greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions from the environment. Section 576, Title 38 of the Maine Revised Statutes lays the foundation for Maine’s GHG goals, which includes the reduction of GHG emissions to 10% below 1990 levels by January 1, 2020.  To accomplish its goals, Maine has adopted a variety of programs.  The most publicized program is the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (“RGGI”).  RGGI is the first mandatory cap-and-trade program in the United States. A total of ten states, including Maine, are participating in RGGI. The remaining nine states are Connecticut, Delaware Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. As of July 2010, approximately $662 Million has been generated from the sale of approximately 256 Million RGGI allowances. Individually, Maine has generated approximately $20.4 Million from the sale of approximately 7.9 Million RGGI allowances.

Another example of Maine’s carbon emissions reduction effort are Maine’s efficiency trust programs (the “Trust”). The Trust includes: (i) the Efficiency Maine Trust established for the purpose of administering programs for energy efficiency and alternative energy resources to help individuals and businesses meet their energy needs at the lowest possible cost; and (ii) the Energy and Carbon Savings Trust established to support the goals and implementation of Maine’s carbon dioxide (“CO2”) cap-and-trade programs.

One notable target of the Trust is to weatherize 100% of residences, 50% of businesses, and reduce Maine’s consumption of liquid fossil fuels by at least 30% by 2030. Other targets include: capturing all cost-effective energy efficiency resources available for electric and natural gas utility ratepayers; and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the heating and cooling of buildings in Maine consistent with the statewide goals of reducing such emissions ultimately to 75-85% below 2003 levels.

The Maine State Housing Authority (“MaineHousing”) “is an independent state agency that bridges public and private housing finance, combining them to benefit Maine’s low and moderate-income people.” MaineHousing operates a variety of programs, including the Weatherization and Central Heating Improvement Programs. The purpose of these programs is to finance energy related improvements, repairs or replacements for low income renters and homeowners, such as caulking, insulation, and weather-stripping.

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, MaineHousing received $41.9 million to scale-up existing weatherization efforts. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (Main Recovery Act Snapshot), Maine expects to weatherize more than 4,400 homes within three years, and as of April 30, 2010, Maine has weatherized 1,582 homes.

MaineHousing came up with the original idea of linking weatherization with the sale of carbon credits. According to MaineHousing, weatherization will save two tons of CO2 per weatherized home per annum. MaineHousing estimates that it might be able to sell 8,000 carbon credits on an annual basis.

Before MaineHousing can offer carbon credits derived from weatherization for sale on the carbon market, its weatherization project must be approved by the Voluntary Carbon Standard Association under the Voluntary Carbon Standard Program (“VCS Program”).

The VCS Program “was developed to provide a rigorous, trustworthy and innovative global standard and validation and verification program for voluntary greenhouse gas offsets,” according to the VCS Association. VCS Program methodologies include:

• applicability criteria that defines the area of project eligibility;
• a process that determines whether the project is additional or not;
• determination criteria for the most likely baseline scenario; and
• all necessary monitoring aspects related to monitoring and reporting of accurate and reliable GHG emission reductions or removals.

Earlier this year, as part of the approval process, Maine released The Methodology for the Weatherization of Single Family and Multi-family Buildings (“Maine’s Methodology”). Because Maine’s Methodology is new, it must undergo a Double Approval Process, which consists of: (i) initial independent assessment by two VCS-approved validators, and (ii) a final approval by the VCS Association if both validators provide a positive assessment.

One validator is selected by the proponent. The other validator is selected by the VCS Secretariat. The job of the validator is to review the methodology for compliance with the VCS and the Program Guidelines.  In particular, validators are looking to make sure that CO2 reductions actually exist and are verifiable and eligible for sale in the carbon market.

On July 6, 2010, MaineHousing announced that First Environment, a validator, has approved Maine’s Methodology. While Maine’s ability to sell carbon credits from the weatherization of residence has moved a major step closer to reality by this initial approval, Maine still needs to overcome the challenge of obtaining a second approval from a validator and obtaining VCS Association’s final approval. Additionally, carbon credit traders and buyers will also need to become comfortable with Maine’s innovative project.

Assuming that Maine’s Methodology is approved by all the necessary parties, the fact still remains that Maine will only have an estimated 8,000 carbon credits per year at a clearing price that is yet to be determined. RGGI allowances have sold at a one time high of $3.51 and a consistent low of about $1.87 per allowance. Using RGGI clearing prices as a baseline, it appears that there really isn’t much revenue generation capability for the weatherization project.

While future developments, awareness and movements in the carbon market will be the driving force in determining whether Maine’s innovative idea is financially worth the effort and the time invested by the State, the innovative program is certainly newsworthy and certainly appeals to the general public because it creates awareness about the benefits of weatherization and incentivizes the populace to undertake weatherization improvements to their homes and generally become more familiar with GHG and carbon credit trading.

Tricia Foley is an attorney at law with Day Pitney LLP.

Geneva, Switzerland, 25 August 2010 – During an all-day event WBCSD, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and Keidanren Committee on Nature Conservation (KCNC) will discuss adaptive business strategies and government and corporate policy frameworks to reduce and eventually reverse ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss.

Forty percent of consumers say they are likely to test drive an electric vehicle, according to an online survey of American adults from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).

Despite these findings, U.S. corporate fleets are expected to be among the steadiest customers of electric vehicles, including cargo vans, as they come to market.

The study, “Electric Vehicles: The Future of Driving,” finds that consumers are concerned about several disadvantages with electric vehicles. Fifty percent of respondents are concerned about mileage potential before needing to recharge and 34 percent are worried about battery life. Other key concerns include cost of the vehicle, reliability and availability of charging station.

The study finds running out of battery power on the road (71 percent), lack of charging stations and/or not being able to recharge (66 percent) and limited mileage (59 percent) are the most common perceived disadvantages with electric vehicles.

Home charging stations may also impact purchase decisions, say CEA analysts, with 51 percent of consumers reporting that they would be less likely to consider purchasing an electric vehicle if they would have to install special charging equipment for the batteries.

Yet, the study finds that consumers are open to considering an electric vehicle in the future, with 42 percent reporting they are likely to follow news reports about electric vehicles. But overall awareness of the various types of alternative vehicles remains low. While nearly one-third (32 percent) report they are familiar, or very familiar, with hybrid vehicles, only about one-quarter are familiar with electric-powered vehicles (25 percent), according to the report.

Those consumers who are open to buying an electric vehicle cite the positive environmental impact and potential cost savings as primary reasons for purchasing electric vehicles. More than three-quarters of those surveyed (78 percent) said the vehicle’s ability to run without gasoline is the greatest advantage, followed by less pollution (67 percent), and the lack of need for oil changes and tune-ups (60 percent).

AT&T has activated a 296-kW rooftop solar power installation at its Trade Street site in San Diego, which will generate an estimated 420,000 kWh of energy in its first year of operation. Over 20 years, the solar power installation will generate more than 7.7 million kWh of energy, and is projected to help AT&T avoid more than 8 million pounds of carbon dioxide during the initial 20 years of operation.

Under contract with SunEdison, AT&T plans to deploy five other solar power installations in California for a total of about 2 megawatts (MW) of solar capacity by the second quarter of 2011. Those deployments will be located in Dunnigan, Commerce, Mojave, Santa Ana and West Sacramento.

Under the power purchase agreement (PPA) between SunEdison and AT&T, SunEdison will construct, monitor and maintain an additional five solar power installations in California, and AT&T will buy the energy produced from the solar systems to offset their grid demand.

Once activated, the six systems will generate over 3.2 million kWh of energy within the first year of operation. According to SunEdison projections, these systems will avoid an estimated 62 million pounds of CO2 over 20 years of operation.

In June, AT&T released its 2009 Citizenship and Sustainability Report that shows that renewable energy is a key initiative for the company. In 2009, a second large-scale solar power plant was installed at AT&T’s campus in Secaucus, New Jersey. The 841-kW system will produce 1.0 million kWh of electricity per year.

In other solar news in California, Kikkoman Foods announced plans to install a 106.6 kW solar array, powered by 576 Mitsubishi Electric PV modules on its soy sauce factory in Folsom. The system is expected to produce 150,000 kWh annually.

The company says the new system will significantly reduce the need for fossil fuel-based electricity to power production and allow the company to sell solar electricity back to the grid when the facility is not in operation.

Kikkoman said it made the decision to install a solar system at its Folsom facility due to the high number of sun hours in California, rebates from the California Solar Initiative Program and the Federal Tax Credit. The state and federal incentives along with the reduction in the company’s monthly electric bill made the economics of the solar system very attractive, said Kikkoman.

The solar power system will be installed as a fixed carport over the employee and visitor parking lot. Similar to most other carport installations, it will serve a dual purpose of providing shade for cars while creating green energy for the company.

The new solar electric system is expected to be in operation in late September 2010.

Kikkoman Foods also has several other sustainability initiatives in place including recycling and reusing almost all waste streams from the production process, energy conservation and energy efficiency improvements and improved water management.

In partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, IKEA currently has a geothermal system under construction for its store in Centennial, Colorado, reports Sustainable Business. The Swedish home furnishings retailer says it will be the first IKEA store in the United States to be built with geothermal heating and cooling. The store is expected to open in the fall of 2011.

Geothermal heat pumps use about 25 percent to 50 percent less electricity than conventional heating or cooling systems, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says geothermal heat pumps can reduce energy consumption and related emissions by up to 72 percent compared to traditional electric resistance heating and standard air-conditioning equipment, according to the article.

In addition, geothermal cooling and heating also improves humidity control by maintaining about 50 percent relative indoor humidity, which makes them well suited for humid areas.

Erin Anderson, a senior geothermal analyst at NREL, told Sustainable Business that the IKEA/NREL project could be the benchmark for a credible standard for geothermal installation in large-scale retail stores nationwide, and NREL’s data base will be open to researchers to use for their models.

She also said that NREL’s monitoring and data will help IKEA make decisions about adding different mixtures to the liquid, tempering the flow,  as well as adding more pumps or an additional cooling system.

Douglas Wolfe, IKEA project construction manager for the store said in the article that the company launched an internal energy-efficiency initiative several years ago that included the evaluation of geothermal programs for the construction of new stores, and this is “the first project where the timing, the economics and the geotechnical aspects all make sense.”

According to a report from the Geothermal Energy Association released in January, the U.S. geothermal energy industry has a total installed capacity of 3,152.72 megawatts (MW) in states including Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, and is considered the largest renewable energy power source in California.

The Bell Group headquarters’ parking structure is now home to the largest solar array in New Mexico. The installation covers five acres of parking area and will generate more than 1,600,000 kWh of clean electricity annually, which is enough to meet 80 percent of the company’s electricity needs.

The 1.1-megawatt project uses more than 5,000 locally-made solar modules by SCHOTT Solar PV. The solar power system will avoid approximately 1,125 tons of CO2 emissions annually, while the solar structures provide shaded parking for employee and visitor vehicles.

However, in June, the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Health Care System in Albuquerque, New Mexico, announced it is installing a 3.2 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) system, which will be the largest PV system in the state. The VA system will include a car port and roof-mounted arrays, and will implement a building-integrated system to reduce demand from the grid.

In addition to SCHOTT, the Bell Group project implementation team included Affordable Solar Group and VE Group (Valley Electric), the prime contractor with offices in New Mexico and Colorado, and VE Group’s local and regional subcontractors including Coupland-Moran Engineers, US Prefab, and National Roofing.

“As a business, we’re always looking for ways to reduce our costs, and our new solar installation is lowering our electricity bills with clean, reliable energy generated by a local, high quality product,” said Alan Bell, Managing Director of The Bell Group, an Albuquerque-based industrial distributor, in a statement. ”It also helps us to meet our responsibilities as a business committed to environmentally friendly practices and the local economy.”

U.S. Enivronmental Protection Agency (EPA) won’t meet its goal of releasing new nationwide standards for ground-level ozone this month, reports the New York Times.

Finishing the standards has taken longer than expected, EPA said in a filing with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The agency will now move forward “on or around the end of October,” according to the brief (PDF).

EPA had been expected to lower the standard to between 60-70 parts per billion from the present standard of 75 ppb.

Two weeks earlier Sens. Christopher “Kit” Bond and Claire McCaskill complained about the costs of the new rule. Bond and McCaskill were among seven senators who argued in a letter that the new rules would have a negative economic impact and “compound the hardship that many are now facing in these difficult economic times.”

Bond said in an stltoday.com article that “this administration must be realizing that its job-killing, big-government agenda isn’t what the voters want. But I want to ensure these EPA regulations are stopped, not just delayed until a more convenient time after the election.”

Frank O’Donnell, president of advocacy group Clean Air Watch, agreed. The decision to delay the final rule could reflect intense political pressure on the agency, he told stltoday.com in an e-mail.

“This does raise the question of whether political pressure is slowing this decision. I hope not because ozone is a very dangerous pollutant that can make people sick and kill them,” he said.

The American Lung Association, which sued EPA for setting looser standards than recommended by scientists, criticized the agency for missing its self-imposed deadline.

The ozone reconsideration has also drawn heavy criticism from businesses, some of which would be required to reduce emissions of ozone precursors. EPA has estimated that a standard between 60 and 70 ppb would offer health benefits ranging from $13 billion to $100 billion at a cost of between $19 billion and $90 billion,  reports The New York Times.

In Sens. Bond and McCaskill’s letter, sent earlier this month, Sens. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and George Voinovich (R-Ohio) urged EPA to scrap its reconsideration of the Bush-era ozone rule, according to stltoday.com. The letter, which was also signed by Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and David Vitter (R-La.), raised concerns about the economic impacts of the rule.

“Given the absence of new or different scientific data, EPA should maintain the current ozone standards,” the letter said. “Moving to change the standard again, outside of the Clean Air Act’s normal five-year review process, as local communities are struggling to meet the existing standard, would be unfair and unwise.”

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is on track to release an updated set of Green Guides that are used by the agency to enforce environmental marketing laws against unfair and deceptive advertising, reports Advertising Age. Experts tell the magazine that the pending guidelines could make about 300 environmental seals of approval useless.

Christopher Cole, an advertising-law specialist and partner with law firm Manatt Phelps & Phillips in Washington, told Advertising Age that the guides could make most of the more than 300 environmental seals of approval now in use on packaging and products largely useless and possibly in violation of FTC standards.

They could also influence efforts by retailers such as Walmart to institute a sustainability-rating system for products, he said.

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.

The guidelines may also define other terms such as “sustainability” or address  “greenwashing” controversies such as how far companies can market themselves as green in advertising when they or their products also have a negative impact on the environment.

A FTC spokesman told the magazine that the commission is on track to issue updated guidelines by the end of the summer, and will likely cover areas that were the subject of FTC workshops over the past three years.

Last year, the FTC has held three workshops to examine issues concerning the marketing of carbon offsets and renewable energy, green packaging, and green buildings and textiles.

So far, the FTC has brought seven environmental advertising enforcement actions under the Obama adminstration, compared to zero during the eight years of the Bush administration, according to the article.

In June last year, the FTC charged Kmart Corp., Tender Corp., and Dyna-E International with making false and unsubstantiated claims that their paper products were “biodegradable.” In August 2009, 

The FTC also charged four companies — Sami Designs LLC, dba Jonäno; CSE Inc., Mad Mod and Pure Bamboo LLC and the M Group — selling clothing marketed as made from bamboo with deceptive advertising and marketing claims.

Dell has reduced the indirect emissions associated with its energy use by 10 percent in fiscal year 2010, according to the company’s corporate responsibility report for fiscal year 2010. The PC maker also is working with its top suppliers to have them report their greenhouse gas emissions through the Carbon Disclosure Project.

Dell has provided updates on 77 measurable indicators of corporate responsibility in this year’s summary report, up from 32 in last year. Here are some environmental highlights:

Dell has collected about 484 million pounds (220 kilograms) of computer equipment since 2006, offering free recycling of PCs and related accessories to consumers around the world.  The company has banned the export of electronic waste including non-working electronics to developing countries as part of its global policy on responsible electronics disposal.

The computer maker is on track — at 44 percent — to meet its goal of eliminating the use of approximately 20 million pounds of packaging materials by 2012.

Dell also became the first PC maker to create packaging from bamboo last year, and shipped products built with more than 7.2 million pounds of post-consumer recycled plastic.

Dell also is striving to make its operations more energy efficient. Over the past three years, Dell has completed more than 170 improvement projects in its facilities. These upgrades are estimated to reduce energy usage by 36 million kWh, prevent 21,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and save roughly $5.8 million each year.

By applying its “green efficiency” approach, Dell IT has achieved more than $29 million in energy savings to date. The company says this has postponed the need to build a new data center to support its internal operations.

In fiscal year 2010, Dell sourced 25 percent of its global electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar. The company was named one of the top five purchasers of renewable electricity in the U.S. according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Fortune 500 Partners rankings in April 2010.

Dell powers its Round Rock, Texas, headquarters campus plus seven of its facilities in the U.S. and Europe with 100 percent purchased renewable electricity. The HQ parking lot houses solar arrays that are designed to produce 131,051 kWh of renewable source electricity, helping the company avoid generating 221,000 pounds of GHG emissions each year.

In the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2010, Dell acquired Perot Systems, and has been tracking the combined GHG totals since that time. Dell intends to publish new GHG emission estimates later this year to adjust for acquisitions and divestitures.

According to the CSR report, Dell has met its goals to produce mercury-free laptops by calendar year 2010, double the number of 80 PLUS Gold, Silver and Bronze power supply units (PSUs) available to customers, and recycle 125 million kilograms (about 275 million pounds) of equipment by calendar year 2009.

Dell is in progress to meet several goals including making its laptop and desktop products 25 percent more energy efficient by calendar year 2010. Dell estimates that customers using desktop power management features and settings have saved a total of more than $4 billion on energy costs.

The company also is working to implement server-managed power management for customers worldwide to avoid 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions between FY08 and FY12, increase sustainable content in cushioning and corrugated packaging by 40 percent by FY11, and achieve 75 percent curbside recyclability of packaging components.

Dell also is working to reduce global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 15 percent per dollar of revenue from calendar year 2007 to 2012, achieve net zero global GHG emissions by calendar year 2008 and maintain that level through calendar year 2012, and reduce GHG emissions from Dell products by 25 million tons through improved product performance and preconfigured systems with Energy Smart operational settings.

Other goals include increasing the company’s takeback volume totals to a worldwide cumulative 1 billion pounds of collected equipment by calendar year 2014, further reducing worldwide facilities’ GHG emissions by 40 percent by calendar year 2015, and recycling or reusing 99 percent of non-hazardous manufacturing wastes by calendar year 2012.

Dell’s initial goal to eliminate all remaining uses of brominated flame retardant (BFR) chemicals and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics by calendar year 2009, including tetrabromobisphenol-A in circuit boards has been changed, although the report doesn’t state a new deadline other than its goal to make all newly introduced Dell personal computing products BFR- and PVC-free by the end of 2011.

But Dell says achieving this goal is contingent on when the industry identifies acceptable alternatives that will lower product health and environmental impacts without compromising product performance, says Dell.

Dell is proactively eliminating the four chemicals expected to be restricted when RoHS is updated around 2014: hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD),bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP), butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP) and dibutyl phthalate (DBP). As of July 1, 2010, all newly designed Dell products are free of these four chemicals.

Despite Dell’s progress, in May, Greenpeace launched a campaign against Dell for backtracking on its public commitment to eliminate key toxic chemicals in its products by 2009.

Goals for fiscal year 2011 and beyond include achieving 50 percent PCW for paper used in its U.S. catalogs, sustaining 25 percent of Dell’s catalog fiber from FSC-certified sources, reducing fresh water use by 5 percent by 2013, and avoiding 100,000 tons of lead and 600,000 tons of BFRs between FY04 and FY12.

As policymakers in Washington ponder next steps for energy and climate legislation, one thing is clear: the federal government has a time-sensitive opportunity to lead by example and embrace what’s already working across multiple industry sectors.

Nowhere is there a more relevant example than information and communications technology (ICT), arguably one of the strongest assets we have in our nation’s arsenal to reduce carbon emissions, drive greater efficiencies and unlock innovation. From health care and manufacturing to agriculture and transportation, green data centers, virtualization and other smart technologies can each be credited for their role in greening global operations.  It’s time to cast a wider net and extend this impact.

To do so, public and private sector-leaders must unite behind shared objectives and deliverables. When considering the role of the federal government, a perfect starting place is the greening and modernization of federal data centers – an initiative the Obama Administration has recognized as a potential opportunity. According to a 2007 study by the EPA, federal servers and data centers account for approximately 6 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity use – a total of about $450 million annually – and energy use is expected to double by 2011. Upgrading federal data centers will make our government more efficient, more green, more open and more secure.

The influence of the ICT industry (and by extension of our millions of customers and end users) is felt across our economy. Federal and state policymakers must identify the ways ICT is having a ripple effect and replicate them to reap measurable economic and environmental benefits.  According to the SMART 2020 report released by The Climate Group, there is significant potential at hand: ICT-enabled solutions can cut down 15 percent of global emissions by 2020 – equivalent to $946.5 billion in cost savings.

Interconnectedness is also key. Smart grid technologies can monitor and reduce an organization’s energy use through a broadband connection. Meanwhile, expanded access to broadband enables more consumers, more businesses, and more governments to be creatively engaged online.  More people online increases the percentage partaking in emission-friendly practices like telecommuting, but it also will enable daily advancements such as improved health care, GPS-guided highway grading and construction, precision agriculture, smart buildings, and home energy costs controlled via a smart phone.  The web of cause-and-effect quickly becomes clear, and we have barely brushed the surface of what can be done.

This kind of technology has proven to be a saver on a number of fronts – reducing power outages and electricity costs nationwide.  Public agencies and private citizens alike are able to maximize returns by incorporating energy-saving retrofitting measures in their homes or offices, such as solar panels. State net metering policies – currently in place in 43 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico – allow consumers to sell excess power generated by their solar panels back to local utility providers. Incentives like this will remain a major catalyst in empowering consumers to buy-in and adopt new technologies.

Encouraging businesses and consumers to share ideas must be another top objective. Both Congress and the Obama Administration should step to the plate on this issue, but they alone cannot dictate the conversation.  Today, the subject of ICT-enabled solutions is the focus of groups such as the Digital Energy Solutions Campaign (DESC), but it’s critical that policymakers and industry leaders do more to cultivate new ideas both online and off. Many of the nation’s leading consumer-facing companies – including Dell, Intel, Verizon and Starbucks – have implemented online forums and communities to help source new ways of going about internal policies and practices. The same can be applied to government.

So often we hear that talk is cheap. In this case, that’s not true – talk is both important and necessary. But action needs to follow. By working together, we can set a national strategy and roadmap for the use of ICT to improve energy efficiency and reduce green house gas emissions, identifying and removing the barriers to expanding U.S. leadership. The result will be meaningful progress at a time when Americans expect no less.

Chris Hankin is senior director of Environment and Sustainability at the Information Technology Industry Council.

Johnson Matthey SCRT System First Emission Control Technology Verified by EPA for On-Road Vehicle NOx Reduction PR Newswire California GHG compliance could save carriers money over time PR Newswire California should approve NextEra Genesis solar plant FleetOwner Utility-Scale Geothermal Turns 50 Renewable Energy World Waste and the world bank Waste Management World Is ERP Ready for Corporate Social Responsibility? Computerworld Phase-in help for meeting CARB GHG mandate FleetOwner UNI-SOLAR Brand Rooftop Integrated Photovoltaics Recently Installed at Ameridian Corporate Headquarters MarketWatch Western Sugar Cooperative to Pay $56,736 Penalty and Upgrade Plant to Settle Clean Water Act Issues at Scottsbluff, Neb. EPA Nestle Waters North America Wins Innovation Award for Its Eco-Shape Bottle PR Newswire The Lancaster Landmark Hotel Company wins Carbon Trust Standard Eat Out Magazine Statoil Chief Says Oil Producer Is Committed to Renewable Energy Projects Bloomberg Genuinely Green, Staybull Flooring Produces a One-of-a-Kind Recycled Wood Product VPO DNV Sets Up Sustainability and Innovation Division DNV

For sustainable-minded businesses as much as -- if not more than -- traditional companies, your website offers the fastest way to draw attention to your work and your products, and there are plenty of lessons green businesses can learn from the SEO successes of other firms.

A1 Telekom Austria AG plans to expand its Smart Energy Control (SEC) pilot project nationwide, which is expected to save 1.2 GWh of electricity and prevent at least 432 tones of CO2 emissions in 2010. This translates into annual savings of about 175,000 Euros (about $223,000).

The pilot project, aimed at reducing power consumption at its mobile network, is part of the company’s “A1 energy management program” in which energy efficiency is aimed for through the intelligent use of GSM resources. The company called on Nokia Siemens Networks to help implement its intelligent energy management system in its mobile networks, which uses Nokia’s Event Analyzer (EvA) at the core of its SEC pilot project.

Mobile carriers like Nokia, Ericsson and Vodaphone have been looking for ways to improve energy efficiency for several years to reduce their energy consumption and cut their CO2 emissions.

The Nokia EvA automation solution delivers four functions to solve network challenges including automatic power down of cells to save energy, auto reset to repair network faults for lower downtime, auto change of network parameters to reduce the impact of faults on the network, and automated processes to increase fault detection, escalation or repair.

The initial project, implemented in Vienna at 303 locations with both 900 MHz and 1800 MHz resources, showed the greatest energy-saving potential at night and at weekends. In addition, the intelligent algorithms used by the SEC differentiated between short-, medium- and long-term energy-saving models, which allowed for automatic activation and deactivation of finely-tuned hotspots such as those encountered at events, spontaneous happenings or city tourism, said Nokia.

As a result of the pilot project’s success, A1 Telekom Austria is now planning to incorporate “intelligent energy savings” into its high-capacity UTMS network.

The telecommunication services provider has implemented a number of sustainability projects over the years that range from providing company bicycles for employees to equipping transmission stations with energy-efficient air-conditioner units and using wind turbines.

Changes in transport financing are needed to drive more sustainable and affordable transportation in developing countries, according to a report from the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL).

The report, ” A Paradigm Shift Towards Sustainable Low Carbon Transport: Financing the Vision ASAP” (PDF), released by ITDP and the Partnership for Sustainable Low Carbon Transport, reveals that that more than $1.5 trillion is spent annually on transport globally. However, TRL researchers say the investment is spent mostly in ways that worsen rather than solve the problems associated with traffic growth, including congestion, health-harming air pollution, accidents, energy insecurity, and climate change.

The report notes that transport accounts for more than half of global liquid fossil fuel consumption and nearly a quarter of the world’s energy related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, according to a 2009 report from the International Energy Agency (IEA). If current trends continue, transport-related CO2 emissions are expected to increase by 57 percent worldwide between 2005 and 2030, primarily driven by rapid motorization in developing countries, according to the report.

The report finds that developing countries can benefit from “leapfrogging” to a new sustainable and low-carbon paradigm, which can deliver various economic, social and environmental benefits during the next half century and beyond.

The report also suggests that reform is needed at all levels of the policy-making process including needs assessment, formulation, implementation, monitoring as well as evaluation and feedback. And at each stage, key questions need to asked including:

–What type of investments are needed to move towards a sustainable transport system?

–How can sustainable transport be designed to meet the specific situation of the country/region?

–How can sustainable transport be integrated into long-term country/regional development plans?

–How can budgetary resources be set aside for sustainable transport?

–How can pricing and subsidy schemes be combined to support sustainable transport?

–Which individual programs/projects need to be financed?

–How can carbon emissions be included in program/project appraisal?

–How are the programs/projects scoring in terms of sustainability?

–What are the key indicators one could use to track sustainability outcomes?

–To what extent did the programs/projects meet the overall objective of sustainable low-carbon transport?

–What could be improved next time?

The report recommends several steps for financing transport reform. These including analyzing the impacts of financing decisions taken by relevant stakeholders on sustainability, shifting existing resources towards a sustainable direction, adding or increasing funding for those areas where resources are lacking, and paying for the full costs of transport including environmental depreciation.

Top transportation and environment leaders from two dozen governments across Asia, at the Fifth Regional EST Forum in Asia, which is focused on adopting sustainable transport goals for the upcoming decade, said changes in how transport is financed are essential if cities and nations are to deal with the rapid growth in motor vehicle traffic and related environmental and health problems, including climate change.

Although a recent study by the International Transport Forum finds that the current economic crisis has caused GHG emissions by the transportation industry to decline on a global scale, GHG emissions are expected to climb another 40 percent from 2007 to 2030 unless changes are made. The transportation industry accounts for 15 percent of total global GHG emissions, according to the report.

In addition, a study from the Carbon Disclosure Project indicates that the global transportation sector is behind other industries in terms of setting goals to reduce carbon emissions and energy consumption. They are also struggling to identify and report on climate-related risks and complete carbon emissions.

CDP says this is relevant since the transport industry accounts for 13 percent of global emissions and 60 percent of oil consumption in high-income countries. Road transportation accounts for 80 percent of the sector’s total CO2 contribution, followed by air at 13 percent and sea transportation at 7 percent.

Chart: Strategies to achieve low carbon mobility (DALKMANN AND BRANNIGAN, 2007)

UK businesses are facing hefty fines for failing to comply with new carbon emission regulations under the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) energy-efficiency scheme, reports Business.Scotsman.com.

The Energy Agency estimates that only 1,229 out of about 4,000 large businesses and other commercial organizations that qualify have registered under CRC. If companies fail to register by the September 30 deadline, the will have to pay an initial fine of £5,000 (about $7,788) plus an additional £500 (about $780) per day up to a maximum of £45,000 ($70,000) until they comply.

The Agency also says an additional 15,000 lower-energy users have to make an “information disclosure” under the scheme, according to the article.

“The CRC is hardly new news — the CRC has been widely debated in the industry for sometime, so in our view lack of preparation is not going to wash. Companies have had plenty of time prepare,” said Alan O’Brien, CEO at Sabien Technology, in a statement.

Some analysts don’t agree. Tony Fisher, managing director of Greenocity, a consultancy specializing in IT-related commercial energy use, told the newspaper that general business knowledge of the CRC scheme is low.

According to Rakesh Kumar, a research vice-president for Gartner, companies diverted their attention away from “green’ IT projects to save money and last year had been a “gap year” for green IT initiatives, reports Business.Scotsman.com.

Sabien’s O’Brien says the real challenge will come in April 2011 as organizations need to demonstrate year-on-year reductions and buy their allowances.

The CRC legislation is designed to encourage investment in technology to reduce carbon emissions and to help the UK meet its 2020 target of a 34 percent reduction, and will create a carbon market worth £600m (about $780 million) a year, according to Sabien.

PricewaterhouseCoopers offers a guide for UK firms that must comply with carbon emissions reporting in the UK’s CRC legislation.

U.S. utilities must improve and integrate customer and infrastructure data before a smart grid can be effectively implemented, according to a benchmark study conducted by Esri.

Of the 226 study respondents, 71 percent believe geographic information system (GIS) technology is strategic to the smart grid, while the remaining 29 percent believe GIS plays a significant role.

The Esri report, “Is your GIS Smart Grid Ready?,” finds that utilities report a lag time of up to 90 days to move data from the field into the GIS. In addition, respondents report that data accuracy is “spotty” and data is either incomplete or not GPS accurate. Only 15 percent of respondents report high confidence (less than 2 percent errors) in their GIS data.

Respondent says that the biggest challenges in having smart-grid ready GIS are staffing and budget constraints, followed by educating management about why GIS is critical to a smart grid.

Other findings reveal that only about 10 percent of the companies update GIS data within one day of work completion, and about 25 percent say work orders older than six months still need to be added to the GIS database.

Esri says utility operators will need GIS for smart-grid requirements such as collecting and updating data and managing the installation of smart meters and sensors. GIS is also seen as a critical tool for analyzing energy consumption and incorporating renewable energy resources.

A 2009 Pike Research report indicates that more than 250 million smart meters will be installed worldwide by 2015, representing a penetration rate of 18 percent of all electrical meters, up from 46 million in 2008.

In April, about 45 companies and organizations united in an effort to push for greater national integration of the smart grid, pointing to a potential $46 billion in nationwide energy savings.

Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) has demolished the most visible structures at its 42-acre, 45-year-old Cape Canaveral Power Plant, in preparation to build the new Cape Canaveral Next Generation Clean Energy Center, which will use about 33 percent less fuel per megawatt of power generated with advanced combined-cycle, natural gas technology capable. The new power plant, which will be capable of generating 1,250 megawatts of electricity,  is expected to open in 2013.

FPL says the site is designed to meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification and will feature rooftop solar panels and an electric car recharging station.

The Clean Energy Center also will feature three sleeker stacks, half as high as the original stacks, which will emit 88 percent fewer air particulates and 50 percent less carbon dioxide without any additional water or land use. The power company expects the new unit will also save customers “hundreds of millions of dollars over the life of the plant.”

In April, FPL commissioned its Space Coast Next Generation Solar Energy Center located on NASA property at Kennedy Space Center. The center is estimated to annually produce 10 megawatts of clean, emissions-free power. This is FPL’s second large-scale solar facility completed in Florida.

The first, FPL’s DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center, touted as the country’s largest solar PV facility at 25 megawatts, was commissioned in October 2009 by President Barack Obama.

Later this year, FPL plans to open the world’s first hybrid solar thermal facility to connect to an existing fossil fuel plant. The Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center in Indiantown, Fla., will be the largest of FPL’s solar facilities at 75 megawatts.