Climate Technology

Trade to Black

U.K. market leads the pack in lucrative carbon-emissions trading Newfangled carbon trading has become quite lucrative in the Old World, where the European Union’s fledgling carbon market has taken off. […]

For This Relief Much Tanks

Big SUVs likely to keep guzzling gas under forthcoming fuel-economy plan The Bush administration is said to be abandoning efforts to set fuel-economy standards for huge SUVs like the Hummer […]

Beware the hype around plug-in hybrids

An article in Business Week Online tells us that experimental hybrid cars get up to 250 mpg (a very similar article appeared in the New York Times business section a couple of months earlier). I enjoy reading between the lines of lay press science and technology articles. There was a great discussion in Grist on this subject not too long ago.

Gremban ...spent... $3,000 tinkering with his car... [I]n the trunk sits an 80-miles-per-gallon secret -- a stack of 18 brick-sized batteries... [T]he extra batteries let Gremban drive for 20 miles with a 50-50 mix of gas and electricity.

In other words, for his $3000 he will get 80 miles per gallon for 20 miles before his carriage turns back into a pumpkin. For the rest of the day he will carry a hundred pounds of bricks around in his now-useless trunk, which by the way will degrade his gas mileage. For the first 20 miles he drives each day he will save 0.25 gallons, thus recouping his $3000 in about twenty years, assuming his batteries last that long. The more miles he drives after the batteries go dead, the worse things get because of the extra weight of the dead batteries in his trunk. Which leads me to ask: If his commute is only ten miles each way, why not just ride a bike, get a little exercise, and save $3000? You can also get 80 mpg out of a 40-mpg car by carpooling with one passenger, or get 120 mpg with two passengers, or 160-mpg with three passengers.

Wired profiles companies striving for zero waste

Here in Gristmill, we like to present companies and their eco-friendly practices to see if they should be praised for their efforts. Today I give you: Subaru, Cascade Engineering, HP, Xerox, Toyota, Fetzer Vineyards, and Collins & Aikman Floorcoverings.

What do these companies have in common, you might be asking? One, they are all mentioned in the Wired article that I'm writing about. Two, and more importantly, they are all actively reducing waste in some fashion.

For example, a Subaru factory in Lafayette, Indiana produces less waste than you and me. In fact, the article claims the amount is zero:

The factory is the first auto assembly plant in North America to become completely waste-free: Last year, 100 percent of the waste steel, plastic and other materials coming out of the plant were reused or recycled. Paint sludge that used to be thrown away, for example, is now dried to a powder and shipped to a plastics manufacturer, ending up eventually as parking lot bumpers and guardrails. What can't be reused -- about 3 percent of the plant's trash -- is shipped off to Indianapolis and incinerated to generate electricity.

So, way to go Subaru! Next step: start producing hybrid vehicles built in a solar-powered manufacturing plant where the employee cafeteria serves nothing but locally produced organic food.

Inspect Your Gadget

Impending regulation in Europe may de-toxify electronics worldwide As the clock ticks down toward a tough new environmental regulation in Europe, electronics manufacturers worldwide are busily reworking their supply chains […]

Bidding a fond farewell to ExxonMobil CEO Lee Raymond

Exxon Valdez: No, your other left! Photo: NOAA. Lee, we barely knew ye. Oh, wait, yes we did. “You either retire or die and I’d just as soon not die,” […]

Silicon Dally

Big demand for solar energy runs up against finite panel supply Global demand for photovoltaic panels is causing months-long delays and price hikes for would-be buyers in the U.S. American […]

Umbra on oil subsidies

Dear Umbra, Grist keeps mentioning that the U.S. government gives large subsidies to oil companies, but doesn’t go further into what these subsidies are. I can’t make a good argument […]

I’ll Take Menhaden

Tiny fish being wiped out to make health-food supplements Omega Protein Corp. is overharvesting a little Chesapeake Bay fish called menhaden in order to make omega-3 fatty-acid food supplements for […]

Wal-Mart store goes eco-friendly?

Wal-Mart's new big-box store being constructed in McKinney, Texas, has a twist: It will employ several conservation methods and green technologies, making it the company's first "environmentally friendly" store. Apparently, not only will it have a wind turbine to generate 5% of its power, and a rainwater catchment system for 95% of its irrigation needs, but it will use waterless urinals in its restrooms and recycle its oil from the deli and automotive departments to help heat the building.

The inspiration for all this being "to save money and keep costs down."  I guess if you overlook the proliferation of suburban sprawl, the ruination of local businesses, and the poor treatment of its employees, this could almost be seen as a good thing. But, oh wait, they're building it near an already existing "traditional" Wal-Mart so they can "gauge its progress."