Dovetailing with the “cradle to cradle” concept, in a statement today GE has announced the establishment of an Ecoassessment Center of Excellence to research a product’s environmental footprint throughout its life cycle. According to the press release: Life cycle assessment evaluates products for their environmental impact from the raw materials used in early stage research [...]
Archive for April, 2009
GE’s “Ecoassessment Center” to Gauge Environmental Impact of Products Throughout Their Lifespan
April 30th, 2009 
Justin Manger 
Posted in Business, Green Economy, Justin Manger, Sustainable Development 
Tags: Business, Cradle to Cradle, Lifecycle 
No Comments »Recap of Tuesday’s Electricity in America Series from NPR
April 30th, 2009 Eric Wilson Part 3: The Obama Administration plans to add solar and wind power to the grid, aiming for upward of 20% by 2020. However, the existing electric grid needs additional transmission lines with $11 billion (US) of the stimulus bill set aside to increase capacity. A majority of solar energy production comes from the southwest and [...]
Cut Emissions or Focus on Research and Development? Copenhagen’s Bjorn Lomborg Weighs In
April 29th, 2009 Justin Manger Last Saturday’s edition of the New York Times had an op-ed by Bjorn Lomborg, Director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center at Copenhagen Business School, that raised a good argument. In regards to climate change, his main point was that the focus should be making clean energy cheaper in order to “make low-carbon alternatives like solar [...]
Posted in Clean Technology, Economics, Justin Manger, Policy, Renewable Energy Tags: Cap and Trade, Energy, Thomas Friedman No Comments »Chinese Attempt to Corner the Market on Electric Cars
April 29th, 2009 Eric Wilson Last week’s post on BYD motors out of China detailed the company’s attempt to produce electric cars using cheap Chinese labor and batteries that aim to be 100% recyclable. Another recent post looked at the effect of the massive Chinese labor force’s impact on the clean energy economy. According to an NPR story from last [...]
Posted in Eric Wilson, Transportation Tags: BYD, Cars, Electric Vehicles, Solar Energy No Comments »Green Festivals Across the Country
April 28th, 2009 Eric Wilson Green Festivals, a joint project of Global Exchange and Green America, will be holding its second festival of the year this weekend in Denver, Colorado. The festivals feature speakers, events, and exhibitors which include “everything from organic body care products and great-looking eco-fashion to Fair Trade gifts and healthy home and garden products made from [...]
Recap of Monday’s Electricity in America Series from NPR
April 28th, 2009 Eric Wilson Part 1: In the first part of a ten part series, NPR provided some background information on the nation’s electric grid. It is largely unchanged since the days of Thomas Edison, contains 5.5 million miles of wires (130 million meters) connecting houses and business to the grid)and generates 950GW of electricity at peak usage (more [...]
Public Hearing on the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009
April 27th, 2009 Justin Manger Testimony:Former Vice President Al Gore At a House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing last Friday, Mr. Gore testified to the urgent nature and prime importance of the clean energy and security bill being debated in Congress. Mr. Gore focused on three main areas in calling on representatives to pass “one of the most important [...]
American Cities Innovate to Reduce Energy Consumption
April 27th, 2009 Eric Wilson As the economic downturn hits municipal budgets, towns are looking for ways to cut back on their expenditures. One easy to achieve step is referred to as “low hanging fruit.” An earlier post discussed President Obama’s plan to help insulate older homes, a quick and effective way to inexpensively reduce heating and cooling costs. In [...]
