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Green Electronics’ Make Up 25% of Philips’ Total Sales

Royal Philips Electronics recently reported that sales of “Green Products” increased to almost 25 percent of its total sales in 2008, compared with 20 percent in 2007. This statistic also coincides with a greater company initiative known EcoVision4, in which a main goal is to increase the sales of these products to 30 percent by 2012.

According to Philips, “Green Products need to have a significantly better score (at least 10 percent) in one or more of [the company's] Green Focal Areas, compared to a competitor or predecessor product. The Green Focal Areas are: Energy efficiency, Packaging, Hazardous substances, Weight, Recycling and disposal, Lifetime reliability. In addition, the Life Cycle approach is used to determine a product’s overall environmental improvement. It calculates the environmental impact of a product over its total life cycle.” Products like these include everything from flat TVs to vacuum cleaners.

Tags: cellphone | Recycle | telephone | television

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Having a Healthy Heart is not so Hard

Sometimes when I think about what it takes to “get healthy” I am overwhelmed by the emphasis on all the big life changes to my diet, to my exercise regime, and to my stress levels.

I’ve realized, however, that getting healthy does not require a paradigmatic shift in my approach to life; it only requires a few simple modifications to my daily routines.

In celebration of Healthy Heart month, I’ve put together my top 5 tips for easily integrating exercise, healthy eating, and stress reducing activities into my everyday life.

Tags: Fitness | Food | Goals | Health

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Gasification Boilers are all the Rage

Fired with recycled sawdust and wood shavings, these stoves will put you ahead of the others on the “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” track.

Instead of using gas or gel fuel, these stoves burn scrap wood, grains and pellets. Most pellets are made from 100% recycled sawdust, but can also be made from wood chips, bark, agricultural crop waste, recycled paper or other organic materials.

Tags: Green Building Design | Green Building Techniques | Heating Systems | Natural Alternatives | Remodeling Green

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Raise Gas Tax, Then Move to Mileage Tax, Federal Commission Says

A commission established by Congress to study the nation’s financing options for highways has recommended raising the federal gas tax by 10 cents a gallon.

In the report (executive summary) released this morning, the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission called for an end to the “crisis” of neglect in funding that has contributed to worn-down highways, traffic congestion and “structurally deficient” bridges.

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Shipping Investors Advised to Watch CO2

A new report warns investors in the shipping industry that they may be at risk for losses, as it is difficult to know how looming carbon-dioxide regulations will affect individual shipping companies.

The global shipping industry is a significant source of a number of atmospheric pollutants. The black fumes belched from some ship smokestacks, which contribute to acid rain, are among the most visible. Others – like carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas – are less obvious.

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Obama’s Budget Presumes Revenue From a Carbon Market

President Barack Obama is about to unveil his budget proposal, as my colleagues Jackie Calmes and Robert Pear report today. For environmentalists and the energy industry, perhaps the most notable feature is that the 2012 projections include revenues from a source that does not yet exist: a carbon dioxide cap-and-trade system.

Although some regions have moved ahead with cap-and-trade schemes (the Northeast has a fledgling system, and Western states are working to implement one), there is as yet no national carbon cap-and-trade market in place.

Mr. Obama has repeatedly stated that combating climate change, and the greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide that contribute to it, is a goal of his administration.

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Stimulating Clean Tech Start-Ups

Clean technology start-ups desperately need the money that President Obama promised the sector in the stimulus plan, said a report Wednesday from the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Clean tech was the sole bright spot in venture investing last year, with $4 billion going into start-ups in the sector — an increase of 54 percent from $2.7 billion in 2007. Still, since last fall, when the credit crisis deepened and investors began growing skittish, many of those renewable energy and smart grid projects have stalled.

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New on the Block: Energy and Environment

For those who didn’t stumble onto Green Inc. through our new section front, I’d like to take this opportunity to direct your eyes to the nameplate at the top of this page, which now reads “Energy & Environment.”

Indeed, The New York Times and the team at Green Inc. are pleased to announce the debut of a new Energy & Environment section, at nytimes.com/energy.

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Leaky Nuclear Research Facility Stirs Debate in Canada

A Canadian nuclear facility that produces at least of half of the world’s supply of medical isotopes has a long history of leaks and unanticipated maintenance delays. And little wonder. The reactor — part of the Atomic Energy of Canada’s Chalk River Laboratories in Eastern Ontario — has been in operation for nearly 52 years.

Two successor reactors which were to replace it have been abandoned because of engineering and financial problems. And recently, the reactor at Chalk River has gone through a particularly bad patch. There have been three leaks at the facility since December.

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Obama Vows Support for Renewables — and a Carbon Cap

On Tuesday evening, in his first address to Congress, President Barack Obama identified energy as one of the “three areas that are absolutely critical to our economic future.”

Mr. Obama, who consistently listed energy before two other areas — health care and education — repeated his vow to double renewable energy in three years. He said that solar, wind and biofuels, along with “clean coal” and more efficient vehicles, would receive investments of $15 billion a year, though eventually he wants to ensure that renewables become a “profitable kind of energy.”

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Freshwater Wind Farms for the Great Lakes?

Here’s a pressing question about freshwater offshore wind farms: what about the winter ice?

That’s one of the many engineering challenges posed by developing massive offshore wind farms in the Great Lakes, an idea that’s now very much on the policy radars of renewable energy planners in Ohio and Wisconsin.

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Cleantech Job Growth: California Leads the Way

A lot has been reported this past week about the growth in cleantech jobs in California over the latter part of 2008. Cleantech seems to be providing a small bit of relief to California’s economy at the moment.

While job loss in Silicon Valley has risen in the last year, capital invested into cleantech companies and green technology research has boomed at the same time.

The term cleantech covers a range of industries in the green sector some of which include renewable energy (solar, wind, biofuels, etc.), electronic and computing innovations, environmental safety (household cleaning products, for example), automotive engineering, LEED construction, and creating a smart grid.

Silicon Valley receives the most funding for cleantech with a whopping 94 percent growth in venture capital funding over the previous year. And while job loss in the valley has taken a severe downturn the last part of 2008, green job growth has enjoyed a steady rise over the last eight years.

Tags: clean energy | Invest Green | Design & Innovation | Clean Tech | Business News

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Go for the Greens!

Cultivated for more than two thousand years, kale is a nutritional powerhouse! This leafy green vegetable has more dietary value and fewer calories than just about any other vegetable.

One cup of cooked kale contains over 94mg of calcium and more than 1300 percent of the Daily Value of Vitamin K,¹ which has been linked to bone health and a reduced risk of bone fractures.

Tags: Healthy Eating | Recipes | Food

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Bordeaux Wine to Cut Emissions by 2020

by Jennifer Berry

According to Wine Spectator, the Bordeaux Wine Trade Board (CIVB) has pledged to reduce its carbon footprint by 20 percent, along with the European Union’s 2020 Climate Plan.

A nine-month study conducted by the board found that the greenhouse gas “emissions generated by the Bordeaux wine industry’s various activities, from grapegrowing to worldwide shipping, indicated that it produces some 203,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year. Much of this output is linked to the fabrication and transportation of bottles and cardboard boxes, as well as the fuel used by tractors in the vineyards,” according to Wine Spectator.

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Plastic Bag Recycling Up Across U.S.

by Jennifer Berry

Driven by greater consumer access to recycling programs and new markets for recycled materials, plastic bag and film recycling increased across the U.S. in 2007, according to the American Chemistry Council (ACC).

The latest National Post-Consumer Recycled Plastic Bags and Film Report by Moore Recycling Associates, Inc. estimated 830,180,000 pounds of post-consumer film (including plastic bags and product wraps) was recovered, a 27 percent increase from 2005.

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E.U. Official: Organic Farming Fights Climate Change

For many years there has been increasing interest in growing and eating organic produce. Consumers cite its health benefits, more robust taste, and its tendency to come from small-scale producers.

That said, the environmental benefits of organic farming over conventional farming have been a matter of a long, sometimes roiling discussion — and often enough, organic farming has come down on the wrong side of the equation.

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First Solar Claims $1-a-Watt ‘Industry Milestone’

The solar photovoltaic industry has plenty of supporters, but wider uptake of the technology has long been hampered by cost.

High costs have not just prevented consumers and companies plastering more homes and offices with solar cells. They also have bolstered the claim that large quantities of fossil fuels and nuclear power will be necessary in the future in part because solar panels do not provide value for money.

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Environmental Studies Enrollment Soars

With his emphasis on renewable energy and green jobs, President Barack Obama has picked an issue that resonates with his core supporters — young people.

At colleges around the country, students seem to be flocking to environmental studies courses.

At Boston College, 17 students minored in environmental studies in 2003; this year 44 students will do so (assuming everyone graduates).

Iowa State University has seen the number of students enrolled in environmental studies and environmental science programs soar from 99 students in fall 2003 to more than 150 last fall.

Tags: Alternative Energy | The Environment | environmental sciences | environmental studies | universities

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A Solar Controversy Heats Up in L.A.

On March 3rd, residents of Los Angeles will go to the polls to decide the fate of a controversial solar-power proposal.

Measure B, as it is known, would require the local utility — the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power — to dramatically ramp up solar power production in the city by installing 400 megawatts worth of panels 2014.

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The New Wood Stove

Wood stoves and wood burning systems come in a huge variety of shapes, sizes, uses and price ranges. Some of the names they go by are pellet stoves, fireplace inserts, pot belly, cast iron, soapstone, etc.

Additionally, the assortment of fuels these stoves burn can vary, some are set up for dual or multiple fuels that can burn wood one day, and corn the next. Either way, knowing the different types of fuels and how well they burn is important.

Tags: Green Building Design | Green Building Techniques | Heating Systems | Natural Alternatives | Remodeling Green

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