IBM’s Green Drive Reaches South Africa

December 12, 2007 08:45 AM - , Triple Pundit

According to the base case reference scenario built into the US Energy Information Administration's International Energy Outlook 2006, worldwide electricity demand is expected to grow at a healthy average 2% per annum pace between 2000 and 2030—increasing from 400 to more than 700 quadrillion BTUs per year. The majority of increasing demand will be in industrializing countries where more than 80% of the world’s population will live by 2030.

Treasure Island Plan: Most sustainable city on the planet

December 11, 2007 09:35 AM - Lexington Blood, Triple Pundit

Treasure Island, the man-made lump made up of 20 million cubic yards of sea floor soil sandwiched between 287,000 tons of rock and finally glazed over with 50,000 yards of loam.

The island was created for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition and then claimed as a Naval base until it was decommissioned 11 years ago. Since that time the city of San Francisco has been mulling over a re-facing and studying how to redevelop the bleak landscape on the horizon.

Following some-odd 300 meetings among officials, engineers, architects and the public, a plan has emerged and it is a bright green one. The task is to create a 13,500-person inhabited “urban oasis” consisting of the latest technology and natural systems that is expected to leave the slightest footprint on Earth!

Grasscrete: Sustainable Urban Drainage Product

December 9, 2007 09:34 AM - Lexington Blood, Triple Pundit

Grasscrete, the green alternative to standard concrete surfaces for parking lots, driveways, and access roads for vehicles or fire trucks. The benefit to Grasscrete for businesses and developers is that it drains at about the same rate as would an ordinary lawn in the same location. The presence of concrete has little effect on the drainage; the soil and the slope are the controlling factors which makes it beneficial for erosion control as well.

Meter, Meter on the Wall: Giving & Taking from a Smarter Grid

December 7, 2007 09:25 AM - , Triple Pundit

Use of, and plans to use, electricity net metering are spreading around the country driven by a pressing need to modernize and upgrade the nation’s electricity grid in the face of forecast increases in demand and an equally urgent drive to reduce carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, net metering is a key element of efforts to build a Smart Electrical Grid, which in and of itself may be one of the largest generators of power and cost savings, as well as catalysts for increasing use of renewable energy sources.

More than 35 states currently offer net metering programs. In addition to enabling electricity suppliers to better manage and increase the efficiency of power generation and distribution, net metering is considered to be among the best ways of providing incentives for consumers to invest in renewable energy generation.

New Battery-Electric Vehicles Entering the U.S. Market

December 7, 2007 09:21 AM - Shannon Arvizu, Triple Pundit

At this week's International Electric Vehicle Symposium in Anaheim, California, several exciting all-battery electric vehicles were on display. These vehicles have already been successfully introduced into the European market and are now available to American consumers. If you are looking for ways to reduce your corporate carbon output, it is worthwhile to invest in electric vehicles because they are currently our cleanest form of transportation.

For Heavy-Load Local Deliveries: Consider Smith's Edison (3.5 ton, 1338 kg payload, 150-mile range) or Smith's Newton (7.5 ton, 3400 kg payload, 130-mile range). These trucks are currently in use by DHL and Starbucks in Europe.

Stop the Vote! Can a Cap-and-Trade System Really Work to Reduce Emissions in the U.S.?

December 6, 2007 09:04 AM - , Triple Pundit

In theory, a U.S. Federal Cap-and-Trade System provides market incentives to lower our nations's carbon emissions. That is why the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is seriously considering adopting the Warner-Lieberman Bill this week (albeit with currently over 150 amendments). But the E.U. experience with a Cap-and-Trade market shows that carbon emissions have increased under this policy.

NREL to Cut Emissions 75% by 2009

December 6, 2007 09:01 AM - , Triple Pundit

The Environmenat Protection Agency’s National Renewable Energy Lab is at the forefront of change in the nation’s energy resources sector. Its R&D and public-private partnership programs run the gamut of emerging new renewable energy and clean technology, enabling the crucial transition from “bleeding edge” to “leading edge” to take place. Its outreach efforts, meanwhile, are catalysts for the adoption of comprehensive, long-term climate change strategies in both the private and public sectors.

On Tuesday at the EPA's Climate Leaders meeting in Boulder, Colo., NREL committed itself to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions 75% between 2005 and 2009. Two new renewable energy projects are expected to go a good way towards achieving its goal: a five-acre solar cell array will provide some 7% of the Lab’s electricity needs while a biomass combustion plant using forest thinnings as fuel stock will replace 75% of the natural gas currently used to heat the Lab’s research buildings.

AskPablo: Should I buy a hybrid?

December 4, 2007 08:22 AM - Pablo Paster, Triple Pundit

I began by researching the prices and fuel economy of five hybrid vehicles and their non-hybrid counterparts: Ford Escape, Honda Civic, Nissan Altima, Saturn Aura, and the Toyota Camry. The Saturn Aura Hybrid is not priced much higher than the standard model but some research showed that this vehicle is a bit of a joke in the hybrid vehicle world. It's mpg increase is not impressive, the electric motor is weak, and the vehicle can apparently only run in fully electric mode up to 3 miles per hour. For these reasons I have excluded the Saturn Auro from the results. The Toyota Prius is also notably absent, a decision made due to the fact that the Prius is a hybrid specific vehicle and there is no non-hybrid baseline vehicle to compare it to.

Global Warming Warrior

December 1, 2007 10:14 AM - Lexington Blood, Triple Pundit

In June of this year, WEATHERBIRD II, a 115-foot research vessel trolled the Pacific Ocean dumping more than 20 tons of iron dust into the water near the Gallapagos Islands. Why? This proved to be the first attempt to profit from the long studied however unproved antidote to global warming. This is an idea spawned by the company, Planktos, spearheaded by D. Russ George a Greenpeacer and environmental project manager with the Canadian government. The iron dust has caused phytoplankton to bloom upon the ocean's surface which should, in theory, then suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere by the tons and sink it deep into the ocean.

IT's Drive to Go Lean, Clean & Green

November 30, 2007 08:32 AM - Andrew Burger, Triple Pundit

Hats off to Google…I’ve been around a while now and I’ve never seen what has so quickly grown into such a large, influential organization be so openly idealistic, agile, innovative and committed, not only to green tech but to corporate social and environmental responsibility in general. Better yet, leading IT companies in general are making real and substantial commitments to becoming more energy efficient, reducing carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions, and minimizing pollution. It’s a good thing and it couldn’t come at a better time as by instituting such change transnational IT industry leaders can blaze a clean and green tech trail in developed and developing nations alike.