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The world’s first commercial wave power station opened for business this month. LIMPET (Land Installed Marine Powered Energy Transformer) is connected to Britain’s national grid and will generate 500 kW of energy – enough to power 400 homes. It is located on the Island of Islay, off the West coast of Scotland. “To see a new renewable energy source reach this stage is an important day for all people involved since its beginning,” says Philippe Schild, a European Commission scientific officer. “LIMPET is there to prove energy can be extracted commercially from the ocean.” The EU financially supported the project which was developed by WAVEGEN and Queen’s University Belfast. Because a LIMPET station is simple to build and operate company officials believe it may help many coastal communities replace diesel generation. They estimate that UK’s coasts could supply the country’s entire demand through wave power. [sorry this link is no longer available]
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According to the ECS Land Reuse Report, “brownfields redevelopment is now a mainstream real estate trend.” The report looks at national and regional trends in the reuse of contaminated land, which currently amounts to 47,600 acres across the U.S. Although Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Michigan and Massachusetts have the most progressive approaches to land reuse, brownfields are being re-developed across the midwest, northeast and mid-atlantic states. Over half the sites are being constructed for mixed uses – commercial, cultural and residential. The authors conclude that communities and developers now feel more comfortable with these development opportunities, and states are increasingly encouraging them. http://www.ecsinc.com/landreuse
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A 2,800-panel, 100 kW multi-celled thin-film PV system is now installed at the U.S. General Services Administration’s Suitland, Maryland Federal Center. Through the Million Solar Roofs initiative over 100,000 solar roofs have been installed since 1997 – nearly double the goal of 51,000 solar roofs by 2000. The federal government also exceeded the goal set forth in President Clinton’s Executive Order 13123, which requires 2,000 solar energy systems be installed on federal buildings by the end of 2000. 2,100 systems are operational now – the government plans to meets its goal of 20,000 PV system installations by 2010. In early 2002, the U.S. EPA’s Environmental Science Center – the federal government’s principal environmental laboratory – at Fort Meade, Maryland will be powered by the most efficient on-site power plant in the world. The fuel cell-gas turbine hybrid power system will be built by the Siemens-Westinghouse Power Corporation. Says U.S. DOE Secretary Richardson, “The Fort Meade project will preview a future of ‘good neighbor’ power generators that can be sited at or near the customer.” The power plant will combine a solid-state fuel cell (powered by natural gas) and a microturbine. It will generate 1,000 kilowatts of electricity at about 60% […]
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Do environmental management systems (EMS) improve environmental performance? Because widespread adoption of EMSs by industrial and governmental facilities has the potential to change the nature of environmental regulation, the Environmental Law Institute and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are examining this question. They are constructing a National Database on Environmental Management Systems which currently profiles 50 pilot facilities that are implementing EMSs. The project is supported by the U.S. EPA and a consortium of states known as the Multi-State Working Group. They have produced a companion report based on their initial analysis of baseline data from the 50 facilities, “The Effects of Environmental Management Systems on the Environmental and Economic Performance of Facilities.” [sorry this link is no longer available]
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The general tone was deep disappointment as the COP-6 climate change negotiations closed unresolved. Unfortunately, 183 governments need more than two weeks to settle how the world will contend with such a complex issue. The next round of negotiations will continue in spring 2001 – in the meantime, the world keeps heating up. Much of the criticism focuses on U.S. intransigence – its insistence on using carbon sinks as a primary method to reduce emissions, rather than direct reductions. It has been shown over and over again that emission reductions are well within our means through simple measures such as energy efficiency standards. But, as Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change points out, it took about 10 years to pass today’s international trade rules and the U.S. Clean Air Act. Many observers indicate that much of the groundwork as been laid to settle the outstanding issues – sinks, supplementarity, compliance, and funding – in the next round of talks. Before the talks began, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change distributed a draft of the first full-scale update of the state of climate change since 1995. The report takes a stronger stand now on the cause […]
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Customers purchase products because they want the service delivered by a product, not the product itself. We don't want washing machines, we want clean clothes. Servicizing means that manufacturers make money by satisfying customers' service needs, rather than selling more product. Good for the economy and our environment.
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Should public policy aggressively promote burning of plant matter to generate electricity? That question is at the center of a growing national debate.
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39 leading social financial investors sent a letter to CEO’s of the 500 largest U.S. companies, urging them to use standardized sustainability reporting measures for year 2000. According to an Institute for Environmental Management study, 35% of the world’s largest companies produce environmental reports. 30 multinational corporations, including AT&T, Bristol-Myers Squibb, British Airways, General Motors, NEC, Nokia, and Shell use the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, which also contain social performance measures. The letter’s signatories manage combined assets of over $140 billion. They include Calvert Group, Domini Social Investments, and City of New York and United Church of Christ pension funds. Noted Frank Coleman of Christian Brothers Investment Services, “Corporate social and environmental practices have a profound impact on companies’ bottom-lines. Companies that fail to provide investors and consumers with more comprehensive, accurate and reliable information will fall behind in the increasingly global economy.” GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines were released in June 2000 after an extensive pilot period. [sorry this link is no longer available]
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Fuel cell companies have recently experienced the kind of meteoric rise in share price previously reserved for biotech and Internet stocks. But most fuel cell companies do not yet have a commercial product to offer and have never turned a profit. One company’s stock increased by 648% this year but another company’s stock dropped 22% in one day. How do you make informed investment decisions? Tom Koppel, author of Ballard Power Systems, Powering the Future (which SB.com recently featured), and Jay Reynolds have produced an inexpensive report which briefly explains the fuel cell landscape. You’ll learn how they work, their various applications, and be introduced to the leading companies. You’ll learn about the uncertainties and issues facing this new industry. You can order and download the 30-page report at: Tom Koppel’s website. The $25 includes frequent future updates, by email, as the fuel cell industry evolves. You can preview the first few pages at the website.
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